Trick or Treat, Pt 20
By Jill Weber
Big Guy and Rusty characters owned by Sony and Darkhorse and are used without permission or intent to make a profit.
"It's the thrilling climax, guys!"
***
Inadvertently, Donovan made himself useful once again by solving Slate's problem. As he heaved himself out of the tub of ice water, tipping it over and spilling the water and apples all over the floor.
The fall was humiliating, but it broke Neugogg's hold on his mind. It also gave Hunter and Slate something to toss the dry ice into.
Neugogg covered his uneasiness at his mind control's failure by laughing. "Oh, too bad, I think you've ruined your pretty party dress," he mocked. "But don't worry, I'll take your mind off your worries as soon as I eat your brain."
Hunter shook his head. Neugogg was just having too much fun.
This was too much for Rusty. He planted himself firmly in front of Neugogg. "Leave him alone!" Rusty demanded. "Or I'll…"
"Or you'll what?" sneered Neugogg.
Rusty lost his temper, aimed his finger and fired. A bolt of greenish light struck Neugogg, causing him to flinch and stagger backward into one of the tables.
Unnoticed by most, the visitors closest to the Quark employees were beginning to slide out of the room in ones and twos.
Rusty was blown back by the recoil of his own blast and smashed through the wall. Slate dashed through the hole in the wall, followed by several bystanders.
Donovan crawled away and headed for the door. Neugogg looked for him and noticed the small scale evacuation.
"Oh, no you don't," snarled Neugogg. He started after the refugees. Something bounced off his exposed braincase. It didn't hurt, but it was just annoying enough to make him turn around to face his challenger and let Donovan make good his escape.
"Ah, you again," he smirked. "The so brave military pilot. I'm sorry, but I don't think we've been introduced."
"Cy Young, at your service," Hunter said. He hurled another apple, nailing Neugogg right between the eyes. As far as plans went, this one was, well, idiotic, Hunter knew. Unfortunately, he had no ideas and no time to come up with an idea. So, it was time to fall back on the old standby of blind aggression and trust to dumb luck to pull him through it.
"Cute," snarled Neugogg. "You know, your sense of humor isn't to my taste."
"So sorry to hear that," Hunter said, backing towards the ice chest.
He was happy to note that the audience had stopped laughing and there was a general air of uneasiness about them.
"Time to leave, folks," he said.
"I think not," Neugogg hissed.
People began pushing for the exits.
Neugogg lunged for Hunter. The tongue from his lower mouth snaked out to fasten itself onto the annoying pilot's face so Neugogg could suck his intellect out. The tongue reached and snagged… another apple.
Jeffy Cook WAS half Hunter, after all. And he had a wicked fast ball for somebody who had yet to graduate out of t-ball. "Leave my uncle alone!" he shouted.
"Your uncle?" purred Neugogg. "How sweet. Maybe I should eat your brain, instead!"
"Leave them alone!" Rusty soared back into the room, blasting his nucleo-proton beams apparently at random. While flying, the recoil didn't affect him as much as it did when he was on the ground, so this time he didn't disappear into the other room.
"You missed," laughed Neugogg. Then he noticed the sound of retreating feet getting softer. He looked around. Rusty's blasts had turned the walls of the party hall into something strongly resembling Swiss cheese.
The party-goers were fleeing through every available exit.
Hunter grabbed the ice box and flung the dry ice into the spilled water. Instant fog ensued, blocking Neugogg's view of the escaping crowd.
"That's our exit cue, sweetie," Dr. Lester told Jeffy. She grabbed his arm and booked.
"But I need to help my fwiends!" Jeffy's protests faded as they joined the general exodus.
Rusty flew overhead into the hall and more flashes of green light showed that he had made a few more exits. "Don't try to get on the elevators!" he bellowed. "Use the stairs. Careful! Don't trample anybody!"
Neugogg moved toward the exit with the intention of causing as much mayhem as possible. Then something bounced off his skull.
Neugogg wheeled around to face Hunter again and rubbed the back of his head with one tentacle. "Would you QUIT with the apples!" he complained.
"Love to," Hunter said. "But I seem to have left my anti-tank weapons in my other suit."
Neugogg snorted. "Think you're quite a big shot, eh?" Then he laughed. "Or should I say, quite the Big GUY, eh?"
"And you complained about my sense of humor!" Hunter griped.
"You really have an annoying one," Neugogg agreed. Maybe I should just kill you without eating your so-called intellect." He began stalking Hunter.
"Ooo, so called intellect," Hunter mocked, backing away and looking around for something that might possibly be used as a weapon.
Rusty was busy making sure the party-goers didn't kill each other and Slate had, presumably evacuated with the rest. Which meant he was all alone with a mutant that Big Guy had problems dealing with.
"Who ya gonna call?" he muttered. Wait… reminded of his own costume, Hunter pulled out his 'gremlin zapper' and fired it just as Neugogg's tongue snatched at him again.
The gremlin zapper shot out purple sparks and Neugogg's tongue recoiled.
"That almost hurt," he complained.
"This might hurt more," Slate's cool voice came from behind Neugogg.
Hunter sighed. He should have known that Slate wouldn't have enough sense of self-preservation to run away.
Neugogg turned around just in time to catch a sparkling green ray in the face. Obviously Slate had supercharged the gremlin zapper somehow, possibly with some of Rusty's nucleo-protons. Not that Hunter had a clue in Hades as to how she could have managed that in such a short time.
Neugogg staggered back, wide open for a second attack.
Unfortunately, Slate's supercharged gremlin zapper had an even nastier recoil than Rusty's finger blaster and she was knocked clean off her feet.
"Nice girls don't play with guns!" said Neugogg.
Slate had made it to her hands and knees when Neugogg ripped the gremlin zapper off of her back with a couple of his tentacles.
Hunter, who also had a problem with the concept of self-preservation, leaped onto Neugogg's back and stuck his gremlin zapper against the exposed braincase and let 'er rip.
Neugogg shrieked and convulsed, sending both Slate's gremlin zapper and Lt. Dwayne Hunter flying.
Hunter hit the wall, and Slate's gremlin zapper hit him in the stomach. Given a few minutes to recover his breath, Hunter would have turned the gremlin zapper on Neugogg.
He wasn't given those few minutes.
"I think I'll just bite your head off, you know, like a gingerbread man or something," Neugogg mused.
He opened the fang lined, upper mouth and snapped at Hunter. His gleaming white teeth smashed down… on nothing.
Hunter yelped as Rusty charged in and yanked him out of Neugogg's grip. Rusty dumped Hunter unceremoniously next to Slate. "You two get out of here, I'll take care of Neugogg," Rusty ordered.
Lacking a better plan, Hunter and Slate scrambled to their feet and prepared to retreat until reinforcements arrived.
"No you don't!" Neugogg spat. He reached for Hunter's mind. "You will come to me, now!"
Hunter's mind said 'no!' even as his feet began to move towards Neugogg.
Slate grabbed some apples and rolled them toward Neugogg.
Hunter stepped on one and fell, which broke Neugogg's hold on him.
"You!" Neugogg screamed at Slate. "Do you really think you can defeat me with a bunch of apples?"
"Not really," Slate said calmly. "But all these apples do remind me of a force that might be used against you. You do know the story of Isaac Newton and the apples, don't you?"
"Of course," said Neugogg.
Slate continued as if he hadn't spoken. "But do you know that you're standing next to the window?" she gestured to the black drapery behind him.
Taking their cue, Rusty and Hunter opened fire.
The blasts flung them both backwards. The combined blasts hurled Dr. Neugogg through the drapes and out of the window.
"How high are we, anyway?" Hunter asked. Normally, he had a good sense of direction, but the maze had him slightly disoriented.
"We're only on the twentieth floor," Rusty said.
They leaned out the window and watched as Neugogg bounced off the pavement and down the street.
Rusty shot out after him. "I'll handle this!"
"You think he's dead?" Slate asked, a little shakily. Neugogg was a monster now, but he'd once been a colleague of hers.
"Doubt it," Hunter said. "Big Guy's weaponry packs a lot of punch, but never even dented him. We'll be lucky if he's even stunned."
***
Shortly after that, Big Guy and the Pit Crew arrived. Big Guy went to assist Rusty's capture, but Neugogg had the fight knocked out of him.
"Where have you been?" Hunter asked as the robots hauled the semi-conscious monster in through the shattered window.
"Mall hopping," Garth boomed through Big Guy's voice.