Prank was walking through the lobby with seven men "She said her and her daddy had something pressing. I want to know what it is because if they're not working with us, they're working with somebody. Find out". One of the men was suddenly thrown into one of the tables. A shrunken Mina was flying in mid-air near the body wearing a suit and a medallion that resembled a microphone with the regulator in the speaker. On the back of her suit was a jetpack.
Manic stared at the screens in surprise "Hold on, you gave her a jetpack?" "Not just a jetpack". They watch Mina grow to normal size, take out two guards before screaming that released sonic waves which threw two more into a wall knocking them out.
She shrunk back down and flew to another punching him out. Prank handed the component to one of his men "Go. Go, go, go!". He ran into the kitchen along with three more guards. Mina flew through a window and crashed into the kitchen. She grabbed a saltshaker and threw it at the doorway the criminal was heading to along with a blue disc. The saltshaker grew covering the door, the criminal ran into it and fell back unconscious. Another threw a knife at Mina who shrunk back down, dodged the knife and then hit the man with a pot. She then grew to normal size and took out the remaining two easily. She walked out of the kitchen carrying the component and the money.
Manic glanced at Arthur "Jetpack and a super scream. So, I take it you didn't have that tech available for me" "No, I did". Manic lowered his head and Arthur shrugged "I gave you a bottomless bag. Don't whine".
Mina walked past Prank who was sitting back at his table. She gave him the bag of money "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Prank" "Oh, our business isn't finished yet, Mina. I can assure you of that!". As Mina walked away, they both suddenly spotted what looked to be a transparent medieval knight. Prank rose to his feet "What in the hell is that?". The knight walked towards Mina before suddenly disappearing. Mina looked around when the Knight reappeared right in front of her. It phased through her body and tried to take the component, but Mina kicked it back. It disappeared again "Dad, are you seeing this?" "Mina, get out of there!". The Knight reappears and tackles her, Mina shrinks and flies behind a cart. She kicks it at the Knight who phases through it.
Manic got up "I gotta do something" "Wait!". Arthur opened a little compartment above him and takes out a new medallion along with armour. He gave them both to Manic "The medallion is still a work in progress".
Mina screams at the Knight, but it does nothing, it grabs her by the throat. Manic suddenly appeared and kicked the Knight back. Manic smirked "You taught me that kick. Remember?" "Yeah, great form". Manic jokingly looked away reminiscently "Those were the days. Whatever happened to us?" "Not the time Manic". They looked around but the Knight disappeared. They run into the kitchen "We've lost it" "I'm not seeing anything on the ant cams. Try-". Mina tapped her earpiece "Dad?".
In the van the Knight's intangible hand was part way through Arthur's throat. The Knight uses its other hand and points at the shrunken office building "Give me that" it said in a female voice.
Manic and Mina arrive at the van and see Arthur sitting alone holding his neck looking shaken "Are you okay?" "No. She got the lab. Come on!". They get inside and Mina drives the van away "What was that?" "I don't know. But we need to find somewhere to regroup and figure out where the lab is". Manic sat behind them "So, where to now? How about my house? Hmm? I'm supposed to be there anyway and Larry could walk in any second" "Exactly why we're not going to your house" "What about your house?". Arthur glared at him, Manic nodded "Sorry. Well, there is one place I can think of". There was a pause but Arthur then started shaking his head "No, no, no, no!".
The group were not sitting in the X-Con office which sat above a coffee shop. Max came over and gave Arthur and Mina tea "Wow, Dr Arthur, who would've thought that, once again, in your hour of need that you would turn to us, you know?" "Not me". Clifton put down a box of cakes "Here. Help yourself". Max raised his hands and stared disapprovingly "Hey, what's up with the fancy pastry? We gotta keep the food budget down". Allegra was sitting at a desk and turned to them "Well, what are we supposed to have for breakfast?" "The oatmeal packets". Allegra scoffed "Oatmeal packets" "It's an insult" Clifton added. Max seemed to completely forget about Arthur and Mina "Why is it an insult?" "Because it tastes like sand" "You know why? Cause it's organic". Clifton shook his head "It's sand" "It's the most important meal of the day" Allegra added. Max shrugged "Well, you know what, you can get creative with it. Put a little brown sugar on it. You can put some cinnamon". Manic raised both his hands shutting them up "Guys. Come on, man. We got bigger fish to fry". The then noticed an old table with his name on it "Is that my desk?" "Yeah" "What? What do I have such a small desk?". Max shrugged "Because you weren't there when we were choosing desks".
Clifton nodded "You snooze, you lose" "I was under house arrest. You know what, this isn't even a desk. This is garbage. You found this outside amongst garbage". Max shook his head "I got it at a rummage sale" "So, you save money on my desk?". Mina sighed in frustration "Guys!" "Mina, please, we need to focus, alright? We gotta find that lab already. Jeez". Mina glared at Manic who turned away. Max's eyes widened "Oh, you know what? I heard stories, like what happened to you. Like this creepy ghost duo who combines into a big green monster" "Back on track. We need to find it". Allegra slowly shook her head "Oh, you don't find someone like that. They find you". Max ignored her "Dr Arthur, you're the smartest genius I know. Didn't you put some kind of LoJack on your lab? Because if you didn't, we have a variety of affordable options" "Of course I did, Max. It was disabled. Whoever stole the lab knew exactly what they were doing". Mina thought back to the fight "They also phased through objects" "Phased?" Manic asked. Arthur nodded "Quantum phasing. When an object moves through different states of matter" "Oh, yeah, that's what I was thinking". Mina had an idea "The lab emits radiation. Can we modify a quantum spectrometer and track it?" "That could work, yes, but all my equipment is in the lab". Manic sighed "Is there anywhere we can get the equipment?". Arthur scowled "Well, there is one person. Chuck Thorndyke" "Great… Who's that". Mina turned to Manic "He's an old colleague of my dad's from G.U.N. They had a falling out years ago". Max chuckled "You seem to have a lot of falling outs with people". Manic looked to Arthur who had a reluctant look "Arthur, I'm risking everything being here. Don't you think we should check?".
The Knight enters an old warehouse in the forest. Inside was an advanced makeshift lab and she puts down the shrunken lab. Her body starts to morph and turns into a ghost girl with blue hair and wearing a red dress. She gasps and crunches her face in pain. She stumbles into a chamber with glass walls. She gets inside and it activates. She lies on the bed as energy is emitted into her. Her pale white skin turns to normal, and she is no longer transparent. She starts to relax on the bed and sleeps.
The trio walked through the grounds of a university wearing jackets, sunglasses and hats "Guys, it's not a good idea to be out in the open like this" "Relax, no one's gonna recognize us" Arthur said casually. Manic stared at him in disbelief "What, because of the hats and sunglasses? That's not a disguise, Arthur. We look like ourselves at a baseball game.
In a large lecture hall, an old human man with grey hair in a lab coat was speaking to students "In an isolated system particles co-exist in a stable phase relationship. If the system is interfered with, that stability becomes chaos. Unpredictable. Dangerous. Beautiful. Isolated completely, a quantum system would revert back to separate states of matter each entangle with a distinct state of its environment. In other words, the object in question would be both in and out of phase with multiple parallel realities". Chuck stops and notices Arthur and the others standing at the back of the hall. He sighs "Speaking of being out of phase I am noticing an unusually high number of glazed eyes out there among you. So, why don't we call it a few minutes early? That'll be enough for today".
The group were now in Chuck's office with him staring at Manic "It's incredible. You're linked with Bella. It's quantum entanglement between the quantum states of Posner molecules in your brains" "Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Do you guys just put the word quantum in front of everything?". Arthur was standing at the back of the office staring at the wall. Mina leaned forward in her chair "Doctor, we need to find our lab" "Mina, I'd love to help you, but I don't have anything like the equipment you're describing". Arthur rolled his eyes "I told you this is a waste of time. Come on, let's go". Chuck smirked mockingly "Don't condescend, Arthur. You're the one who's on the run from the FBI. All because you had to grow to a size that finally fit your ego" "I didn't send this idiot to Echidnaopolis. He went himself". Chuck then looked back to Manic "I was wondering. Was going that big exhausting" "I slept for three days straight. You have no idea" "Actually, I do. Back in the day, I was Arthur's partner on a project called Goliath". Arthur scoffed "Excuse me? You were my partner?". Chuck barely acknowledged him "The only thing more tiring than going that big is putting up with Arthur's bullshit". Manic laughs then notice Arthur staring daggers at him "I don't know. How big did you get?".
Chuck smiled proudly "My record? 21 feet. You?" "Well, that's not bad. But I got to 65 feet" "Whoa. Huge". Manic nodded, Mina looked between them "If you two are finished comparing sizes we need to figure out a way to track down the lab". Chuck nodded and tilted his head "And the great Arthur Mongoose hasn't figured that one out yet? Strange. You had all the answers back in the day". Mina groans and gets up from her chair. Chuck smirked at Manic "That's why I left the project". Arthur crossed his arms "Left? I fired you" "Best decision I ever made. Arthur was a terrible partner. Temperamental, stubborn, impatient. Sooner or later, he just pushed everyone away" "Just the mediocrities". Chuck rolled his eyes "Bella was the only one who could endure him and chose to stick it out". Arthur walked up to the desk "Watch it, Chuck" "She paid the price, though, didn't she" "You son of a bitch!". Mina and Manic both had to hold him back "I didn't come here to listen to you two squabble. Chuck, I'm trying to save my mother". Manic hears a familiar voice outside. He looks out of the window and sees a campus security guard talking to Larry Lynx "Oh, no. Guys, someone must have seen me" "Relax. If this is about you, they'd be in your house by now". Arthur checked his phone and saw the ant playing Manic's drums "What're you, 15?" "Come on. We gotta go right now". Chuck sighed "Wait. You might be able to improvise a tracker if you modify the diffraction units on one of your regulators". Mina looked to Manic "That could work" "I don't know what that means" "Thank you" they quickly leave.
A short time later Larry and his men were in Chuck's office "But, Doctor, campus police say they ID'd Arthur and Mina Mongoose" "I don't know what to tell you, Agent. I haven't talked to Arthur Mongoose in 30 years. I can assure you I'm the last person he'd want to visit". Larry stared suspiciously at him "Why is that?" "Simple. We hate each other's guts".