III

It was a slow day on the monitors for the agents.

"Log code, 18372-46." The slow, silent voice of a young man, no older than his late twenties, began to speak into the monitors. "We are watching the outside of the building, and we see no movements insi-"
"Blow something, Joe." A girl, who was the same age as the male, was putting on dark lipstick. "Like there's anything interesting going on."

The male gave his female companion a look. They were inside a black Range Rover, one conveniently parked across the street from the main headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency. They were a scant several blocks from the White House, and from their own building, one whose name they wished to keep secret from those inside the CIA.

"What I would give," The girl finished applying her makeup, "for a good screw. With a dark haired Spanish man, away from this crummy assignment."
"What?" This time, the man gave a sneer. "Haven't had ass in a while?"
"Shut the hell up."
"Must suck to be you." The man gave a stretch. "And then you turn around and want me to blow something. I have a girlfriend, thank you very…..eh?"

The male suddenly broke his stretch and stared at the screen in front of him. There was a light over the monitor, and it was flashing abruptly.

"Holy…!" He quickly took out a small communicator and clicked it on. "Sorry, Sarge, we were looking at some suspect movement-."
"The hell you were." The annoyed voice came on. "It's a wonder you're still on the damn field and not dead. Be happy this is a low-security surveillance."
"Um….yeah…." The male ignored his companion's giggling in the background. "Is something wrong, sir?"
"Back-door surveillance. Thirty minutes ago." On the screen suddenly popped up an image of a man getting into a car. "Drove off to the west. Went onto I95, then down into the industrial district. You know what that means, genius?"
"….Hang on a minute!" The agent's eyes widened. "You're telling me that he left out the back?!"
"Yes." The voice was even more annoyed. "And our mole has just come out of the HQ of our suspect. He's headed for Australia now."
"It's a sign." The girl's voice became excited as it began to speak. "It means that
he's been found."
"It also means you guys don't pay attention." The two moaned at this. "Get back to the station and get your supplies. Periwinkle wants us out in twenty minutes; any more and it may be too late to even track him. Let's move!"
"….Well," The girl jumped into the front seat of the Rover as the voice flickered away. "Looks like we get to do something now!"

With that, the girl put the car in drive and slammed her foot onto the accelerator. The car gave a loud screech before it sped off onto the main drag, its tires leaving behind four distinct black marks from the rushed acceleration.

Now there was work to do.


-----------------------

"Wow!"

Closed, the laptop was silver and sleek; its design was flawless. Though it was a thin design, no more than a quarter of an inch thick, as well as on that was not completely square like other laptops, most people who might have seen it would have never assumed that it was not just a computer with several design changes. At least if it was closed, it was considered normal.

"Where're the keys?"

Upon opening the laptop, however, one would see something so incredible that it would make those who saw it think they were in a science fiction movie. It was a computer with no keyboard. Created completely from scratch with nanites, the computer was a commanded module computer - a CMC - designed to run on voice activation. Everything was done by the embedded nanites on command, as each and every individual particle was given enough memory to perform as many commands as normal PC, making the CMC countless times more effective than even the world's smartest current generation computer. The nanites could do everything, from automatically recording every action performed on the interface for future reference to running twenty different operating systems simultaneously to even changing the laptop's overall physical configuration, color and shape. It was many years ahead of its time, a computer of tomorrow, and an extremely effective machine.

"In an attempt to communicate to the Lysatorians," Suddenly, two nostrils pressed onto the nanite screen. "Spaceman Spiff, galactic hero, attempts to communicate to the hostile newcomers virtually through the use of Lysator's secondary language, Computerese."

After the confusing statements made by Arthur Callous - as the man had eventually introduced himself as to Calvin and Hobbes - the two had been quickly ushered into a small, round-walled room filled with toys and gadgets of many different types. Most of what was in the room was what one would expect to find in a normal playroom - a bed, some action figures and stuffed toys, and posters on the walls. But for Calvin, the best thing in the room was the computer.

"Help!" Calvin lifted his voice up to a squeal. "Spiff, what do we do?!?"
"Don't worry!" The voice went down as low as it could go. "I know the language. Just let me handle it, Galactic Council…."

Porcelain Tiger…..What name is that…..?

Meanwhile, Hobbes was staring confusedly at what should have been a wall of reinforced steel. His senses had earlier picked up a human scent, and the sound of human voices, on the left side of the room that they had been ushered into, yet (though his subconscious suspected otherwise) Calvin was the only human in the room.

"Huh…..….How weird…." Hobbes gave a sniff and turned around, tapping his finger into his head. "I know Calvin doesn't wear Old Spice…."
"Old Spice?" A whisper drifted into Hobbes' ear. "Where the hell did he get Old Spice from? This is Obsession!"
"Yeah, well, you do wear too damn much of it."

Hobbes gave a sniff, then gave the wall a suspicious look. The supposed wall of steel was, in fact, not there at all. What Hobbes was really looking at was a group of lined-up men who were staring back at his activities and recording everything he said and did. What was keeping them out of sight from the tiger were high-tech camouflage shields, designed to create a wall-like shield around any soldier trapped in an alleyway. Along with the reinforced steel camouflage shields that the men in the room were using, Callous' men had perfected brick camouflage shields, spray paint camouflage shields, and cement camouflage shields. Callous was also working on an adaptable wallpaper/acrylic/watercolor paint camouflage shield, designed to reduce the costs of making a shield for every different color and pattern that could appear in a house during a covert house raid.

"Hey!" This time, Hobbes stared back at the fake wall and extended a finger out. With indignancy he poked the wall. "I can hear you. I don't know how you're there and I can't see you, but I know you're there."
"A success could mean the saving of billions of lives!" Meanwhile, Calvin was waving his hands around the nanite CMC. "But failure to communicate could mean the destruction of countless systems! What will Spiff do?!"
"Ow!" There was a squeak from the wall. "He got me! He got me, sarge! I'm bleeding!"
"O….ok…." Hobbes watched as one of the slabs of wall suddenly started moving. "J-just calm down….I'll handle it…"



"What do you mean, 'you'll handle it'?"
"The transfer to my department will be complete in three days."
"But…." The figure above looked worried. "What….what about
him?"

'He' looked up. For whatever reason, he did not recall being so small, or having anyone be so big to tower above him. And - for whatever reason - 'he' was scared.

"He will be taken care of." Suddenly, Callous' face appeared on one of the towering men. "We will finish everything."




"HA HA!"

The boorish laughing jerked Hobbes out of his confused, if not hypnotized, state. His face jerked over to the slabs of fake wall, where there were groans of anger. Apparently, the sergeant had attempted to aid the reportedly injured soldiers; in doing so, he ended up stepping on some toes, as the shields has made his own men invisible to him, and so he could not see where they were. However, the bleeding man had actually been playing a trick on everyone.

"Hee hee! Made you look!" The groans became even angrier. "What? What'd I do?"
"You asshole." One answer came from clenched teeth. "The tiger's looking at us. Now he knows we're here, dumbass."
"Oh yeah?" was the response. "Well, he can't see us or nothing like that…..He doesn't know where I am…."

As the soldier droned on, a mischievous grin came on Hobbes' face. Using his ears to guide him, he walked over to the panel of the fake wall that had the best chance of the annoying solder being behind. He held up his pointer finger, letting his claw come out, before gouging the soldier with a definitive poke.

"Its not li-OWWWWWW!!!!"" There was a high-pitched scream before the panel started running around in circles. "AWWWWW, CRAP!!! THIS HURTS!!!!"
"Woah no!" The other panels backed off. "Nuh uh! You're not tricking us again!!!"
"Mommyyyyyyy….."

As Hobbes chortled at the just revenge, Callous entered the room. His face was once again ashen, and his jaw was tight at his lips. He had only been gone for five minutes at the time, as he had been busy with some important business concerning a drug bust in Indianapolis. Looking around, he saw Hobbes enjoying himself.

Porcelain Tiger…. he frowned. The government's got their eyes on this prized, lost possession, and in time it ended up in the hands of a kid. A filthy, ugly, stupid child. And now, Porcelain Tiger seems so easily amused, just like a child himself.

Callous watched, unamused, as Hobbes proceeded to pounce on a teddy bear. As he chewed it up to hundreds of pieces, the man's thought deepened.

Something has happened. Something in his system has happened. I know this is who we are looking for. Callous stared. The physique, the color, the body length, the voice, everything. Yet somehow, Porcelain Tiger is too influenced by the boy to make a decent fighter now. The government would never want him in such a condition. There must be some way to remedy it. The test must be conducted….if it doesn't work, we have to find a way to modify him so this mangy boy is not a problem. But…. Callous suddenly gave a smirk. Even if my plan is successful, I can't take chances with him either way. Porcelain Tiger may be my saving grace…..or it may be my greatest threat. The test will see.

"Beginning sequence…"

Callous' head shot over towards Calvin's direction the moment he heard the words. The man's eyes widened as he saw the flashing laptop screen. Then Calvin opened his mouth.

"Wait!" Callous' hand shot out. "Don't-"
"Blahfjh jhfudfd hjkhfjd hkedhfjk hieuyrewcyteiuri!!!!!"

As soon as the words left Calvin's mouth, the laptop gave a shudder. Though the technology was highly advanced, not even it could withstand the constant barrage of unrecognizable banter from the boy that was, on top of everything, banging his hand onto the keyboardless interface as if he were typing something. With a final whimper, the CMC simply collapsed onto itself, its nanites unable to sustain the appearance of a laptop. Within seconds, all that was left was a glowing pile of sparkles.

"COOL!" Calvin's hand went to touch the pile. "Neato-"
"NO!!!!!"

There was a violent jerk, then a yelp as Calvin was forced away from his position over the heap of lights. With a deft hand, Callous threw him to the floor.

"OW!" Calvin rubbed his back indignantly. "That hurt!"
"That is nothing compared to what you almost did! Bad boy!" Callous' scolding was as pleasant as nails on a chalkboard. "Those nanites are extremely charged! Do you want to be electrocuted to death?!"
"….Yes?"

Callous could not help but slap his head at the boy that stood in front of him. His eyes were so blank, so stupid, so full of uselessness. Yet he was the master of one of the world's deadliest warriors. It blew his mind.

"Well, I...." Quickly, he grabbed Calvin. "I think its best if we explained it out here, before we begin the tests."
"Tests?" Calvin suddenly tensed up as he was dragged out. "N-NO! I don't WANT to do tests!!!!! I HATE TESTS!!!!!!!"
"Well, I...." Callous' voice was quite irritated. "These aren't normal tests. We...scan your brain."
"....Scan my brain?!?!?" The boy relaxed. "How cool! They're going to scan my brain!!!"
"Idiot." There was some whimpering as the panels yelled at one another. "How can you be such a jackass?"
"But he really hurt me...."

It took several minutes for Hobbes to realize that Calvin and Callous were out of the room. He scampered out as fast as he could.

Must......keep.....running......

Hobbes stopped for a moment. He kept thinking that he was going the wrong way, that to follow Calvin would be a grave mistake. He could feel it deep within him, that this place was wrong, that the situatio was wrong.

......I'm hungry. Hobbes scampered out. Maybe they have some tuna sandwiches...?

--------------------------

Several hours passed by, and for Hobbes, he could feel his tummy growling.

This guy just isn't right. Hobbes stared into one of the many rooms that dotted the hall that both him and Calvin were being led down. I should be having a sandwich, not taking all these weird tests.

Several tests had inexplicably been performed on the two as soon as they had been taken out of the playroom, and they had not been back there since. First, they were sent into a large gym, and were both told to run around the outside track for one lap. Hobbes beat Calvin too easily, going around it in less than ten seconds.

"Come on!" Two minutes later, Calvin huffed to the finish line. "Give me a head start the next time, huh?"

Then, they were brought to a test of dread - they were made to sit down and take a fill-in test. Most of it was filler stuff - the capital of the second ward of the Muslim capital district Tartarmenitstist in Delhi, India came quick to Hobbes because he knew it. On the other hand, he was unfamiliar with 7+5+6+12; he had not been accomplished in long addition.

But at least Hobbes was answering them as best as he could, of course; all of Calvin's test answers were completely made up.

…And then Tracer Bullet conferred… Calvin's mind was faster then his pencil. …That the answer the broad had was an intentionally incorrect clue, and so the capital of Ohio was really the capital of Pennsylvania, where she hid the diamond, which was Miami…

There were many other tests - a weight lifting test (Hobbes won), a session looking at ink blobs they had to identify (Hobbes saw lots of characters from adult movies and TV shows he and Calvin had watched), and an archery contest (Hobbes hit every mark he was told to hit for some reason). But they had been mostly unmemorable; Calvin, especially, was waiting for the brain scan that Callous had been promising.

"When are we going to do the brain scan?" Calvin looked around impatiently. "I want to get my brain scanned!"
"We'll…..be doing it in a moment." Callous looked completely exasperated. "Come this way."

Callous was also looking forward to the brain scan he had promised Calvin, but for very different reasons than the boy. His reasons were more desperate; he knew full well that everything depended on the success of the 'brain scan' (as that was the best way to describe it without him revealing the full intention of what he was trying to do). If it didn't work, or even f it did work, Callous knew that there would be more unpleasant options that he would have to consider.

….I mustn't seem too inconsiderate or rushed. Callous looked down. Perhaps…..perhaps I should make the boy understand what Porcelain Tiger means to us. But not too many details….

"You are extremely lucky, young man." Callous led Calvin and down the dark hallway. "There are many people who wish to destroy you for the secret you possess. But thank goodness we found you in time."
"Secret?" Calvin looked at Callous confusedly. "What secret?"
"Why," Callous looked behind him. "Porcelain Tiger, of course!"

Calvin turned around and frowned. Hobbes was staring at a door, his mouth open.

"Hobbes? He's nothing special."
"Oh, but he is." Callous beamed. "He harbors many things. Many talents are hidden under that furry exterior, some fearful, some awe-inspiring. All...." At this, Callous' face darkened. "....deadly."
"Oh! Well," Calvin shrugged. "I never saw him as being deadly. Annoying and grabby, sure, but I don't think he'd ever have wanted to kill me even when we get into fights over stuff."
"My boy," Callous turned back to Calvin. "I don't think you have an idea of who you're dealing with. Do you not realize that your stuffed animal is, in fact, one of us?"

It took a moment for Calvin to realize what Callous was saying. When he did, his eyes bulged out of his head.

"WHAT?!?!?" Before Callous could grab him, Calvin was on Hobbes, smacking him. "YOU'RE A SPY?!?!?? YOU'RE A SPY AND YOU NEVER TOLD ME!?!? TRAITOR!!!!"
"HEEEEEEEEY!!!!!!!" With a snarl, Hobbes fought back. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!!!"
"DO TOO!"
"DO NOT!"
"DO TOO!"
"DO NOT!"
"DO!"
"NO!"
"DO!"
"NOOOOO!!"

Callous looked at the fight with considerable annoyance. They were already an hour late on the procedure that was supposed to be done, yet the little boy kept insisting on gawking, arguing, whining and fighting. It was severely testing his patience and his tolerance, and he gave a sigh of relief when several agents managed to pull and pry the two apart.

"Liar!!" Calvin spat. "Mangy furball! So how long were you going to wait to tell me you were a secret agent before letting me on for your missions, huh!?"
"I'm NOT a secret agent!" Hobbes growled. "I think I would have mentioned it on my resume, don't you think?"
"You came from a pawn shop!" Calvin waved his hands as the agents pinned him down. "What, now being with me is your job?! A career opportunity?! Well, I can fire you then because we're no longer friends if you can't tell me the truth!"
"This is unacceptable!" Visibly hurt by the words, Hobbes swiped at Calvin and missed. "You can't fire me without sufficient grounds and evidence! I'll SUE you!"
"QUIET, BOTH OF YOU!!!!!!!!"

Both turned their heads towards the scream. Though his face was still red, Callous had already regained his composure, and was taking several deep breaths as he turned away from them.

"C….come now." His shoes made a metallic sound as they hit the floor. "We mustn't be late for the test."
"….Ok!!"

Calvin stuck his tongue out at Hobbes as he jumped out of the agents' arms and toddled down the hall. Hobbes, on the other hand, slinked away reluctantly on all fours, giving the agents dirty looks as he did.

The more I think…. Hobbes glared at the floor. The more I think, the more I hate this…..
….Humph. Calvin looked back towards the sulking tiger and turned his nose up. Serves him right. Totally serves the traitor right for not telling me about……hmmm?

One of the doors turned Calvin's interest away from his (ex)friend and towards a large yellow and black sign plastered onto the bottom. The only word Calvin could understand on the poster was the largest word of them all: DANGER.

Danger? DANGER?!? Easily impressed, Calvin jumped onto the handle of the door. Let's see what in he…hugh…….huuuuugh……..Drat, it's locked!

Nevertheless, Calvin managed to sneak a peek at what was inside the room beyond. It was a large, metal-plated hangar, filled from top to bottom with large metal shelves. There were various large cranes and machines carrying the shelves around, moving them slowly, almost carefully. One each shelf, in turn, were ten to twelve good sized, dull gray circular metal barrels. Each of them had a label with a black skull on them; all of them either had the word "TOXIC", "FLAMMABLE", "IRRITANT", "INSOLUABLE" or even "RADIOACTIVE" underneath, among other things.

Hey..... Calvin slid down the side of the door, his mouth open. There's tons and tons and TONS of tubes with that skeleton thingy on it and FLAMMABLE and RADIOACTIVE and TOXIC other scary sounding words.....Maybe there's Malthusian Truth Serum in them!

At this, Calvin, for the first time, froze as he landed on the floor. For the first time the entire trip, he suddenly felt a sting of fear at the bottom of his spine. It was not simply because he understood what most of the words meant. Calvin's comprehension of the words was, to a great extent, limited to the idea that such things only happened in a comic book, and to him, the whole idea of being an agent was comic book material. Of course, some of it he simply made up, and some of it Hobbes made up, even though the tiger would never admit it.

Until now. Rather, it was the first time that Calvin's mind registered that something was not quite right with the set up he was in at the moment. Whenever he was Spaceman Spiff, or Tracer Bullet, or Stupendous Man, or turning into other various things through unusual circumstances - or, the most famous of all, talking about Hobbes - his parents, his (few) friends and every other parental authority in the universe simply dismissed it. It was always chalked up to being the product of an overactive imagination.

But this was suddenly different. These guys not only knew Hobbes could speak, they kept calling him another name. They had been shown cars, buildings, and gadgets that not even Calvin had thought of. And now, there were the dangerously fun chemicals - endless amounts! - that they were being shown by, and no one even made a peep. For the first time, Calvin wasn't in charge of the game; someone else was, and the boy, for one moment, could not help but think that he hadn't been given all the rules. This wasn't Calvinball; something was wrong.

…..Stupid tiger. Calvin gave the tiger another look. Look what you got us into! Traitor.

He trotted faster until he was right behind Callous, a sullen expression on his face. His hands were shoved into his pockets, and he said nothing for quite some time as they began to near the end of the hall.

"….Well." Callous' voice was the only thing that broke the silence. It was low, but Calvin could hear him. "You've stopped talking. A breakthrough, I must say."

Finally, they stopped. Calvin, Hobbes, Callous and two remaining agents stood in front of a large steel door. An authorized personnel sign hung ominously on the door.

"Let not waste any time." A card was swiped down the side of the door. "We haven't any left to waste, right?"

The door was opened with a grunt, and the anger and animosity of the two friends melted instantly at the sight that beheld them.

……….WOAH…….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The room they entered was large and perfectly circular. The walls were lined with a strange, dark-colored alloy; it was not quite black, as there was a tint of green in the glare of the metal, but it was nevertheless not anything that Calvin had ever seen before. Also in front of the wall were large, rectangular black boxes, each almost five feet tall. They looked like gigantic computer towers, and Hobbes, upon looking closer, suddenly had an epiphany that that was exactly what they were.

...Huh.. Hobbes scratched his head. BAD185625s........Pretty a-hmmmmmm?

As Hobbes looked at himself confusedly, completely oblivious to how he had known what the boxes had been, Calvin was giving the whole room a once-over, impressed by what he was looking at. There was a table, or some type of stretcher, surrounded by a dome with several holes. Surrounding the dome were small lasers and tasers on extendable appendages; they were moving around and ducking in and out of the holes, courtesy of a man standing behind a set of large monitors and consoles on the left side of the room. On the ceiling was a large black hatch, with searchlights surrounding it, which lit the inside of the dome.

"WOW!" Calvin scrambled towards the computer. "This is SO COOL!"
"Son?!?" Callous, spotting him, was right behind. "NO! GET AWAY FROM THERE!!"
"Can I play with the computer?!" Calvin was too far in front. "Whee! This will beGAH!!!!"

The minute he stepped within three feet of the monitor, he suddenly felt a strange, burning sensation in his leg. Then, the next thing he knew, he was flying right into Callous' arms, and there was a large reddened burn mark on his leg.

"You!!!" Callous' voice was filled with exasperation, if not some anger that lingered from the hall fight. "You are mad!!!"
"H-huh...?" Calvin stared at the man, than stared at the monitors and consoles. There was an upset tone of total disbelief, of total shock, in his voice. "Why.....why'd you do that? I just wanted to see the computers....."
"I did not 'do' anything." Callous dropped Calvin onto the floor. "You simply rushed in foolishly. It was your fault you were hurt."

With that, Callous took out another card from his breast pocket and pressed a button hidden in between the computer towers. A small card-swiper popped out, and Callous swiped the card down.

Hmph. Calvin sniffed as a red force field appeared, then fade away. I wish he'd have told me before. This really hurt. What a mean old man....I hope he's not my boss when I become an agent!

"Get in." Suddenly, Calvin was again pulled along, this time to the computer monitors. "I might as well explain this - this is the BSSM - the Brain-Scan-and-Search-Module, perfected by our corporation."
"Corporation?" Calvin crossed his arms. "I thought the CIA was an agency!"
"Hmm?" Callous frowned. "What do you mean?"
"You work for the CIA, right?" Callous could feel some sweat as Calvin spoke, his voice even more confused. "That's where Uncle Max worked."
"…Yes……but…..we work with companies with contracts." Callous' teeth grit as he answered. "We don't do it all by ourselves."
"Ok, ok!" Calvin gave the older man an irritated look. "I get the idea. The CIA is incompetent."
"WH-WHAT?!?!?!" Callous nearly fell over. "That is not what I-"
"Sir, we're ready." The lab monitor interrupted Callous. The glasses glittered in the light of the room. "At your command."
"Oh….yes…..Well!" Callous, in pretended surprise, slapped his head. "Oh, dear. Porcelain Tiger isn't in the safety area!"
"Huh?" Calvin looked and saw Hobbes sniffing one of the monitors. "HOBBES! GET AWAY FROM THERE!"
"Huh…?"

Hobbes looked at Calvin with an annoyed look. He had been sniffing each of the monitors, feeling a sense of familiarity with each intake of smell. He could feel nicknames for the consoles come to his tongue, but they did not come out, and he didn't understand how he knew to begin with.

"What?"
"You're not in the safety area!" Calvin glared. "You stupid tiger!"
"Oh….don't worry."
"Huh?" Calvin turned to Callous. "What do you mean?"
"Since Hobbes is outside of the safety area," Callous nodded towards the stuffed tiger. "He will go first to undertake the BSSM."
"….Wha?"

Suddenly, the two guards loomed over Hobbes, and the urge to kill them each by cutting their throats with a butter knife suddenly came to mind. However, he saw Calvin's annoyed face, and forgot again why he had felt that way.

"Awww!!!!" Calvin pouted as the tiger was hoisted into the dome. "I wanted to go first!"

Hobbes gave a growl as the two guards took to clamping him down to the stretcher with ropes and straps. He wasn't liking what was going at all; he knew full well something was wrong. What irritated him more than the fact that he was in an unlikable situation that he was powerless to prevent, however, was the fact that Calvin seemed completely oblivious to the fact that anything was wrong.

"I don't suppose," Hobbes let out a disgruntled wince as the final straps were hoisted around him, "if you could loosen these a little to allow my circulation to resume?"
"It won't be necessary." Callous nodded towards the lab monitor. "This will all be finished in a few minutes. Doctor, activate the device."
"Yes, sir."

With a wave of his hand, the lab monitor shooed the men out of the dome, which closed as soon as the guards left the vicinity. From inside the dome, Hobbes gave Calvin an annoyed look.

"I'm not liking this" was all he said as the stretcher suddenly started to lift off of the ground.
"Don't worry." Callous turned to Calvin, his frame covering Calvin's view of the computer screen. "You can relax now, You'll be returned to your parents after this test is over."
"Aww!" Calvin pouted. "I thought we were going to be agents!"
"You….will be." Callous' voice again came through gritted teeth. "But first we must finish this, all right, young man?"

Left with little else to do, Calvin simply stuck his tongue out at Hobbes as the stretcher slowly shifted so that Hobbes was upright as he was risen to the ceiling. Once Hobbes was straightened, the hatch on the ceiling opened, and out came a small black helmet, its entire exterior covered in connecting wires.

"BSSM program activated." Calvin looked over at the monitor as he spoke. "Program beginning sequence."
"Excellent."

Something in Callous' voice at this - be it the odd tone of hunger, or strange glint in his eyes - suddenly made Calvin curious. And the more curious he got, the more he was tempted to try and figure out what program Callous was using to scan them. He knew that Spaceman Spiff, galactic hero, had once encountered a brain scanner that was designed to target specific brain cells in order to turn them into his mother's specialty pea soup.

Hmm….. Calvin spotted a chair behind him. As quietly as he could, he moved it over and scrambled on top of it. I really do wonder what they're doing to Hobbes….

It took several minutes of pushing and pulling the chair to the right spot. In all the time it took Calvin to get the chair in the correct position, the wires around the helmet had each been connecting into Hobbes' head and neck, one by one, until the helmet almost completely covered the tiger's face. One of the wires had a shock component on them, and this had immediately rendered the tiger unconscious.

"Submission of Porcelain Tiger data into computer complete. Aforementioned subject is tranquilized." The monitor pressed several buttons. "Sequence starting in two minutes, sir."
"Good…" Callous turned around. "Now all that's to be……What are YOU doing?!"

If there was a grave mistake to be made by the deputy director, it was in that single action, which Callous would only realize later to be a costly decision, even though it was a sensible thing to do at the time. Callous' turning around to again berate Calvin was, by far, the luckiest thing that could have been, not just for Calvin, but for Hobbes especially. For, as Callous had turned, his frame had also turned, and his body no longer blocked the console monitor as it had before. From the chair, Calvin could fully read the program that was being used.

BIOCHEMICAL AGENTS DIVISION, Sec. 40.6.473


"BRAIN BURN THRU" MEMORY WIPE
Vers. 66.6




TARGETING MNEMOSYDIC NODES
MEMORY WIPE CHIP PROG.
PASS. SJDEYFGDFEIF
MEMORY WIPE LOADING
37%…
41%…..
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……BRAIN BURN THRU!!!

Calvin's heart froze. He knew full well what it meant. It was in the same vein as the Brain French Fryer, which Spaceman Spiff had been threatened with by the Geufidians back after his fight against the Trigonometrons, their insidious allies. The computer lingo only served to further solidify the evidence; the program was a memory wipe.

And in two minutes, it would completely wipe Hobbes' memory forever.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
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56%……..



Suddenly, with the fury of a wounded hyena and the screech of a dying cat, Calvin leaped off of the chair and down off of the console. His eyes were wide with the blind fear of an elephant being chased by a mouse.

"HOBBES!!!!!" He threw himself at the shield. It gave way the second time he shoved. "HOOOOOOOOOOOBBBBBBBBBBBES!!!!!!"
"NO!!!!" Callous missed grabbing the boy's collar by millimeters. "GUARDS! STOP HIM!!!!"

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68%……


Instantly, the two guards jumped up, throwing themselves in to stop the boy. But Calvin, Boy of Destiny, desperate to save Hobbes from a terrible fate that should only have been left for aliens to sentence, called upon a strength he never thought existed within him, and dodged each and every attempt made to capture him.

"Sir! SIR!!!!" The two guards were tied up in a pretzel as Calvin leaped onto one of the lasers. "He's attempting an abort! He's tampering with the laser!"
"I KNOW THAT!!!!!" Callous was screaming. "STOP HIM!!!!!! STOOOOP HIIIIIM!!!!!!"

Quickly, the lab monitor frantically tapped several buttons on his console. At his virtual command, another laser shot up and aimed at Calvin, who was frantically clawing at the back of the barrel.

"Open……up!!!!!"

He looked up just in time to see the laser pointed at him.

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.82%…..
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"

Calvin dodged the beam by jumping off of the laser he was on. The beam missed him, instead shattering a large portion of the dome that stood behind the boy.

"DAMMIT!" The lab monitor swore. "No!!! Don't go in there…."
"HOBBES!!!!!!!"

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94%………
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The boy was a good climber, and he was already up near the top within the minute.

"I don't believe this…!!!!" Callous shoved the monitor out of the way. "I'll stop him!!!!!"
"HOBBES!!!!!!" Calvin violently shook the tiger. When that didn't work, he began to claw at the helmet. "Come ON, booger brain! I'm risking my life for you here!!!!!"

Callous gave a crazed chuckle as he watched Calvin struggle. He took several deep breaths to compose himself and quickly typed in several new commands into the program.

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98%………..
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"Bad move, you brat."
"HOBBES!!!!!!!!"

As soon as Calvin's hand shot out near one a handful of wires at Hobbes' neck, Callous' hand was on the enter button. As soon as Calvin touched the wire, he was suddenly jolted by a powerful electric shock that came from the shock component. The boy gave one final scream of the tiger's name as Callous again pressed the button.

Spaceman……….Spiff…….. Calvin's body became limp, hanging from one of the straps that kept his tiger hostage as he lost consciousness. ……Fried……..like…….donkey……….


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99%………….
100%.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
MEMORY WIPE……..ACTIVATED.