"Reunion in the Laboratory"
It wasn't long until Agent R, Katz, Le Quack, Doc Gerbil, and Foot Fungus entered a room at the end of the hall.
The peculiarly large room was constructed of stone. The ceiling, walls, and floor were composed of large granite blocks. On the other side of the room was a large wooden door with an elaborate brass handle. Blue light was filtering through the top, bottom, and sides of the door, leaving the room bathed in an eerie aqua-colored glow. The only other objects in the room were three round holes in the left wall. They looked like the ends of three giant pipes.
As you recall, the group had just escaped from freezing cold water and were heading towards the room. Now, they were still cold and wet. Agent R and Doc Gerbil's damp clothes clung to their bodies. Katz and Foot still had water dripping from their bodies. Only Le Quack wasn't wet, but he did feel slightly chilly anyway.
Everybody looked at the light on the other side of the door. The light was flickering through the cracks like it was alive. It was mysterious, yet inviting. A faint, low humming sound could be heard on the other side.
"Maybe we c-could warm up on th-the other side," shivered Agent R who pointed at the door. He began walking towards the door. The other villains silently followed.
Halfway across the room, a sound froze the five in their tracks. It was a strange gurgling sound, like the inside of a toilet flushing. It was coming from the three big holes in the wall. The group slowly walked up to the holes and looked inside.
"Yah think this is a good idea?" muttered Foot.
"Oh, lighten up," retorted Doc Gerbil. "What could come out of here anyway?"
Needless to say, Doc Gerbil got his answer two seconds later.
With a gigantic WHOOSH sound, a rushing stream of water erupted out of all three holes with the force of a fire hose and slammed into the stunned onlookers. It knocked Agent R and the four villains right off their feet. As the water continued to flood into the room, several forms collided with Agent R and the villains through the water.
After a few seconds, the water abruptly stopped. Lots of coughing and gagging sounds were heard. Agent R looked around and saw D.M., Gammon, and Barsby with their groups! They must've come out of the pipes too.
Everyone was soaking wet now. Eustace's Ma was trying to wring her wig dry before anyone noticed. Likewise, a lot of shaking and drying off was going on.
"Wh-what happened?" choked Agent Darkest Moon.
Everyone looked around at everybody else. They then looked back to the three holes in the wall. Gammon, Barsby, and D.M.'s groups must've separately traveled down a pipe, or slide, and ended up here in the same place.
Agent R saw the water go down small drains in the room. He heard Kevin ask, "Where are we?"
Agent R responded, "I don't know, but I think I know where we should go from here."
So, as soon as everyone got to their feet, they all walked over to the door. Agent R, Gammon, and Barsby stood side by side in front of the door. With them, D.M. and Kevin stood together with Courage and Sandy. The Duck Brothers, Shirley, Zalost, and all the villains stood just behind everyone and looked on. The villains hoped the treasure was just on the other side.
Agent R fearlessly reached out and grabbed the door handle. It didn't budge. The other agents helped, but the door still didn't open. It wasn't until everybody made a line and pulled on the person in front of them that the door finally moved.
Inch by inch, the wooden door opened. A beam of light leaped out of the stone room and grew bigger as the door continued to swing open.
By the time the door was perpendicular to the wall, Agent R let go of the door, throwing everyone off balance. They all quickly got back up on their feet and adjusted to the bright light.
The agents entered the new room first, and then everybody else followed. No one was prepared for what they saw.
The room was actually a natural cave as big as a school gymnasium. A huge, dusty Oriental rug lay right in the center of the hardwood floor. Ancient tables decorated with cobwebs were set up all over the place like a convention. On every table was some type of lab equipment: empty beakers, siphons, and other glass containers and tubes. A chemist's dream come true. There were also bookcases and workstations all over the place. Surprisingly, aside from the cobwebs, everything looked brand new. There was barely any dust, because it was a closed environment and no one had been down here for years.
Any evil scientist on Earth would be jealous at this room, but there was one thing in the room that stood out from everything else. Along the far wall, was a giant device that was the source of the blue light. It was a square stone border that looked like a giant picture frame. Connected to the frame were bizarre instruments and machinery that would've impressed Dr. Frankenstein himself. Within the frame was a bright, mystical, blue and white light that illuminated the entire room.
Kevin crouched down and grabbed Sandy's damp paw. He felt like he was living in one of his favorite sci-fi movies. The adrenaline raced through him as he half-expected some giant creature from another world to come walking through the portal at any second.
Sandy gripped Kevin's hand in her right paw. She was shaking and not only because of the cold water that covered her from head to toe. Her sixth sense told her that there was something bad on the other side of all that light. Something…unnatural. Sandy gulped as she held Courage's paw with her left paw.
Courage's sixth sense picked up that feeling too. He gulped, shivered, and whined almost at the same time. This didn't feel right. That portal was obviously here for a reason. But what? Could it be the reason why Dr. Stromwell vanished off the face of the earth for five years? At the moment, Courage was too scared to think of it.
Nearby, Agent R couldn't believe what he was seeing. He dimly recalled reading about this from somewhere. The federal tax money, the disappearance and reappearance of Dr. Stromwell, his lost wife, Abigail…he had read it all somewhere before. Probably in one of the numerous books of paranormal events he had been required to read when he first entered this job. Until this point, despite everything he had seen, he still had doubts. Now that he was seeing it with his own eyes, he dismissed those doubts at once. "If only Dad could see this," he thought.
A myriad of thoughts were running through Agent Gammon's brain. "It's like 'Stargate' meets 'Poltergeist'," was one of them. Another was how it was possible to control something like this. It must've taken a lot of time and effort to make something like this possible. It was…almost beautiful to look at. So much power and mystery. Gammon couldn't help but smile in awe and wonder at the light.
A sudden thought flashed in Agent Darkest Moon's head. She still had another camera! Her other one had been broken in the fight with Mad Dog, remember, but, like any good photographer, she always had a spare. She searched madly through her pockets trying to find where it was.
The wheels in Agent Barsby's brain were turning. There was no doubt in his mind that this must've been the reason that Dr. Stromwell and his wife disappeared…although he didn't know exactly how it was accomplished. Stromwell's bio had said he was interested in parapsychology, but it didn't mention any of this! This entire setup looked more like an obsession than an interest. And the odd thing was…this lab was just like Barsby had imagined it would look like, except for the portal, of course.
This room was also how Shirley had expected it would look like too. She had a knack for anything supernatural-related and this was merely another confirmed reaction. Stromwell was a sort of alchemist/scientist/mild-mannered doctor that just happened to open a passageway to a different realm. Shirley, however, would be lying if she said that she wasn't a little surprised. In fact, at the moment, she was slightly worried about what would happen if this portal was opened for too long.
Dr. Zalost wondered how a ghost had opened the portal in the first place. Psychic energy? Ectoplasm? A spell? He didn't know, but he wanted to find out. He was also wondering how it could be closed and if Rat was okay back at his home.
The Duck Brothers stared up at the portal on the other side of the room. They silently oohed and ahhed at it. It reminded them of their space ship's reactor core.
Finally, all the evil villains knew that this portal wasn't the source of Stromwell's treasure. They were a bit miffed, since they didn't see any treasure anywhere. Other thoughts ran through their minds, ranging from, "Ooooh, pretty light," to "I wonder where the bathroom is?"
One thought, however, was on everybody's mind: What's on the other side of that portal?
Like flies to a bug zapper, the party slowly walked toward the portal.
And there, sitting on the short steps that led to the portal, was the only thing that could answer that question. The transparent ghost of Dr. Stromwell.
(What do you think? Should I stop here? I didn't think so.)
A wave of questions, compliments, and demands washed over Stromwell until he held up his ghostly hand to silence them.
"I understand you all have a lot to say, but I first want to congratulate you all on finding my top secret laboratory."
"You built this?" said Kevin.
"Well, no. This cave was here when I built my house. Well, not by myself of course. Most of the town helped out to construct my home, but I'm getting off subject. I felt that this grand chamber would be the perfect place to conduct my experiments."
"What kind of experiments?" asked Zalost.
Before Stromwell could answer, Katz blurted out. "Never mind that. Where's the treasure you've been hiding?"
"Yeah," agreed Eustace's Ma, Le Quack, and all the other villains.
Stromwell sighed. He knew there was no way to talk them out of it. "Very well," he grumbled. "It's over there." He pointed to one of the room's walls.
"Where?"
"Over there, by that hole."
The villains looked harder and saw a cave in the wall. Without a word, all the villains ran into the cave and disappeared from view.
The ghostly Dr. Stromwell saw the expressions on everyone else's faces. "Don't worry," he said. "It's not really down there. The money is safely nearby, though. Now then, now that those ruffians are gone, would any of you care to ask what this magnificent structure behind me is?" Stromwell motioned to the giant square-shaped portal.
"This must be," gasped Kevin, "the portal."
"Correct," said Stromwell.
"Where does it go?" asked Agent R.
"Who's on the other side?" asked Zalost.
"What was this 'evil presence' you mentioned back at the house?" questioned Gammon.
"And where is your wife, Abigail?" asked Shirley.
Stromwell sighed sadly. "I suppose the only way I can answer these questions is if I explain to you all how all this came about. I already told you about what happened to me after my death. Now it is time I told you all about my life before my death…and my visit to the other side."
The four agents stood next to Kevin, Sandy, Courage, Shirley, Zalost and the Duck Brothers as Stromwell told his story.
(The following is explained from Stromwell's point of view.)
I know by now that you've all read my bio (chap.17), but you've only read the speculation of others. To understand what really happened, I should begin back when I left college, because that's when it all actually began.
Shortly after receiving my PhD, I was a professor at the university in St. Louis for ten years. After that, in 1881, I left the university and traveled to Canada, where my parents lived. You see, I had recently learned that they had both been…killed when their house collapsed. I never knew how it collapsed and…well, anyway, after their funeral, I obviously became curious as to where my parents went. I wondered why living people couldn't go to where the deceased go and come back.
That was when I became interested in the field of parapsychology. Of course, before I could do that, I needed a place to stay. This was 1881, remember; there weren't a whole lot of places to go. I had always wanted to live out west, but, at the time, it was still fairly new and undiscovered. I decided that I wanted to live in a quiet town where no one could disturb me and my creative goal to find a way to the realm of the nonliving. After taking a wagon train to Kansas, I came across a promising town called Nowhere. It was a decent-sized town back then, so I met the townspeople and convinced them to help build a house for myself. After it was built, I developed a hearty friendship with the town's citizens and became a town doctor. I even learned about the deaths of the town founders, Joseph Williams and Reginald Baggs, which happened quite recently in 1852. (At this point, Stromwell saw the faces of Kevin, Courage, and Sandy.) No, I haven't met them, but I heard they were very fine gentlemen. It's no surprise I was very pleased to hear I was returning to Nowhere with you, Kevin, and an even bigger surprise to discover I was living in the house of Reginald's relative! But I'm getting off subject again.
Anyway, my fascination with the afterlife grew when I discovered this massive cave below my house and the complex system of underwater streams. I set up my lab here, gathered information, and tried conjuring up ghosts and portals using any means necessary, from spells to alchemy. None of them worked.
Then, in 1888, a young woman came into my office. I had never seen her before, and she complained about a pain in her stomach that she'd been having for a long time. Her name was Abigail Jones, and she had just moved into town. She was stunning. She had short brown hair, brown eyes, and her skin was a light beige-brown. After her diagnosis, the two of us became good friends. I was worried when I showed her my laboratory, but she loved it! She was interested in ghosts and odd phenomenon too. After two years of meeting each other, I asked her to marry me. When she accepted, I knew the town would be startled, because I was 45 and she was 28. They got over it, though, and soon Abigail had a son. As we watched him grow, my quest…I'm sorry, OUR quest to open a gateway to the other side continued undaunted.
Finally, one day, I came across an old Egyptian document explaining how souls were sent to the afterlife. A structure was constructed to move the souls into heaven or the underworld. So, I built a giant replica of the structure and attached as many power sources as I could to it. This took quite a few years to accomplish, what with my job and family to look after too.
Then, it was 1901. The beginning of a new century…one I would not live long to see. As I was about to try out my life's work for the first time, my beloved Abigail ran into my lab and told me that several large packages were just delivered from the government. I knew it was our tax returns, but imagine our surprise when we found out five million dollars had been mistakenly returned! Well, we could've given it back to the government, but this was five million dollars! In 1901, it was unheard of for simple people to own that much money! Abigail and I decided to keep it stored away in a hidden cave until guilt forced us to do the right thing. I only wish our guilt would've grown a little quicker.
It wasn't long until the government agents arrived. You (now talking to the four agents) probably didn't know that the government had agents way back then, right? But then again, maybe you did. Anyway, Abigail, our son, and I ran down into the lab and I turned on the portal for the first time. I crossed my fingers, desperately praying that this contraption could function properly. Unbelievably, it worked! I had never been happier at that moment than in my entire life! I looked at Abigail and told her we needed to take the money with us, but she wanted to do the right thing and give it back to the government. That's when the agents burst into the lab and headed towards us.
"And then what?" asked Kevin.
Stromwell sighed. "What happened next will sound so unbelievable, it cannot be understood fully by the living." The living begins in the room wanted to know more, but Stromwell refused. "Yes, I did successfully make it through the portal with Abigail, but in our rush to escape, we left our son behind. We tried to come back through the portal, but we couldn't. I was heartbroken to hear he had taken to a foster home, but was glad to know that he was still alive. About the other side, I'll only say that those five years in there changed me inside and out. When I reappeared in San Fransisco in 1906, I was the world's only living witness to the indescribable realm I had just visited. My mind, therefore, was damaged and my body reflected it. Somehow, I managed to get a part-time job working in an animal shelter. My speech was still intact, but coworkers often heard me rambling on about the other side. They never knew what I was saying, so they just assumed I was mentally ill or something. I wept at night for Abigail and went on with my damaged life, until one day, I felt the earth shake beneath my feet in a way I had never felt before. My first thought was, 'My lord, he's found me,'"
"Who?" asked one of the Duck Brothers. Everyone shushed him.
"I thought I could remain unscathed as the city fell before me," continued Stromwell, "but a wall fell on me and I was hospitalized for months. It seems sadly ironic when that car hit me three days after I left the hospital, doesn't it?"
No one replied. Sandy squeezed Courage's paw after listening to that sad story.
"So," said Kevin, "that means Abigail must still be in there, right?" He pointed to the portal.
"Yes," said Stromwell sadly. "She is trapped…or more precisely, held prisoner by the evil thing that is in there."
Agent R was about to ask what 'evil thing' Stromwell was talking about, when Kevin said, "Well, why can't you go into the portal yourself?"
"Because," answered Stromwell, "I need a living resident of Nowhere to assist me in rescuing my wife. Ever since I ended up in San Francisco, I yearned to return to Nowhere, activate my portal, and bring back Abigail. Unfortunately, when I passed away, I learned that only living beings can enter the portal, not ghosts…unless a live person goes with the ghost. Plus, I already knew that it would be impossible to travel through the portal without someone keeping it open. That's where you all come in."
One of the Duck Brothers turned to his siblings and whispered, "How come stuff like this never happens on our planet?
It took a few moments for Stromwell to explain exactly where everyone was supposed to be and what to do. "Now then," said Stromwell, "all we need to do now is find a worthy citizen of Nowhere to come with me."
All eyes landed on Courage.
Obviously, he began shaking and whining, but before anyone could protest, Zalost said, "Shirley or I could go."
"That's true," said Stromwell. "However, I have been with this dog longer than either of you, and I sense strength in him. I believe his heart is pure enough to assist me in my quest."
Courage suddenly began yapping and hopping from foot to foot.
"What is it?" asked Stromwell.
Kevin knew what Courage said and nearly blurted out, "Courage said…" but stopped himself. He STILL didn't want anyone to know he could talk to dogs. Thinking quickly, Kevin turned to Stromwell and said, "I'm not gonna allow this dog to go until you tell me who this 'evil thing' on the other side of this portal is and how you and Courage going to deal with him."
At that moment, screams could be heard coming from the tunnel the villains had gone down earlier.
"Now is probably as good a time as any," confessed Stromwell, before a huge 'BOOM' rocked the entire cave.