Disclaimers: This is the last one you'll see. BWAHAHAHAHA!
Chapter Thirty-two: Puppets, Part 2
A shuttle and a dropship landed in the Phoenix's hanger.
In the center, the disembarking passengers met and formed a circle.
"Okay, here's what we'll do," Nefarious said. He was still carrying Courtney. "Since I'm so busy playing, Qwark will take Courtney to Al so he can fix her." He tossed the robot to Qwark.
Qwark caught her. He shook his head. "Nuh uh, Nefarious. She's your girlfriend, so you take her." He hurled Courtney at the scientist.
Nefarious caught her. "She's not my girlfriend, Qwark! Since you were fantasizing about her in your fifth vid-comic, you take her. It'll be probably the only action you'll get for the rest of your stupid life!" he threw Courtney.
Qwark caught her. "At least I CAN get action." He threw her.
She landed in Nefarious' arms. "The only way you can get action is by wa--"
"Hey, cool it, you guys!" Slim interrupted.
"Okay then, Jack! You take her!" Nefarious threw her at Slim.
The tyhrranoid caught Courtney and held her in white arms. "Oh no, she ain't my responsibility! Qwark, since you rescued her, you take her!"
The argument turned into a game of Hot Potato.
Ratchet sweatdropped.
"I'm gonna slice your head off!"
"Do that and I'll kick you in the crotch! Oh wait, you can't feel pain there!"
"Man you two are like kids!"
"EVERYONE, SHUT UP!"
Everyone stopped. They looked at Ratchet. The lombax was panting.
"Why don't I go and find Al, bring him here and see if he can fix Courtney," Ratchet suggested. "That sound okay?"
"Yeah."
"Mmhmm."
"Whatever."
"Good--hey. Anyone wonder why there are no rangers?"
"Who cares?" Nefarious began running. "I'm off to play."
"I'm off to the gym," Qwark jabbed a thumb at himself. "Come on, Skrunch."
Qwark and Skrunch started running.
"How can Nefarious care about something once and not care about it a second later?" Slim asked.
"It doesn't matter," Ratchet said. "Right now, I have to find Al. Are you coming?"
"Nah, I'm going to the cafeteria," Slim walked away.
Ratchet shook his head. He pointed at the ranger. "Guard her for me, will you?"
The ranger saluted. "Yes, sir!"
"Al could be at the Bridge," Clank said. "It is his work time."
"Sure," Ratchet made his way to one of the staircases.
"So you and Klunck fought Ms. Gears?" Clank asked.
"I told you, Clank, you have nothing to be jealous about," Ratchet smiled helplessly. "Your clone's long gone."
"I am not jealous, Ratchet. I just wanted to know what him and you have been through."
They boarded the pod.
"Let's see," Ratchet thought hard. "He made us leave Nefarious' star cruiser without Qwark when it was about to blow up. Then we went to Metropolis and that's where I rescued you."
"Anything else?"
The pod stopped. Ratchet and Clank disembarked.
"Nope."
"Okay then."
"Okay."
The double-doors opened.
Ratchet stepped in.
Clank stepped in.
"……….."
"……….--"
WHAP!
Ratchet was kicked in the side by someone. The lombax fell from the unexpected blow.
"Ratchet!" Clank exclaimed. He noticed the one who kicked Ratchet. "Captain Sasha?"
There, Sasha stood, her face deadpan……and an antenna stuck to the top of her head and her eyes a solid, pale blue. She cracked her neck and readied her fists.
"My scanners say that she's under some kind of hypnotic control," Clank said.
"Then let's get help," Ratchet grabbed Clank's arm and ran to the door.
WHUMP!
Ratchet bumped his head on the doors which didn't open. "What the?.!"
"Um……Ratchet," Clank pointed.
Ratchet looked to his right. He eyes widened.
Angela hand her hand in the wall. She pulled out a handful of sparking wires. Like Sasha, she had a blue antenna on her head and solid, blue eyes.
Ratchet gulped.
"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" Nefarious lifted up the right sofa and looked under it. "I know I left the VG on the table!"
He let the sofa fall.
"Where could it be?" he paced back and forth, rubbing his chin. "Someone must have taken it! GRRRR! I was so close to beating Empire Hearts!"
He went down on his knees and yelled with his arms outstretched. "WHERE COULD I BE?.!.?.!.?.!"
Thwap.
The game console landed in his arms.
"?" Nefarious blinked. "He looked up."
Nothing.
"Hmmmm," he walked over and bent down to put the VG9000 on the coffee table. "Oh well. I'll check later--"
THWAP!
Someone kicked him in the butt.
"!.!.!.!.!" Nefarious fell forward and stiffened his arms so he wouldn't break the table……or more importantly, the VG9000. He pushed and stood upright.
He spun around.
Nothing.
"Alright, who there?" Nefarious ran to the middle of the room and spun in circles.
Nothing stirred.
Nefarious was beginning to feel uneasy.
TWOOOOSH-TRIP!
He was tripped from behind.
"AAAAK!"
WHUMP!
He fell on his butt.
"That's it!" he got to his feet and made a break for the door. "I'm outta here!"
WHAP!
"Ouch! DAMMIT!" he rubbed his head after crashing into the unopened doors. "I could have sworn I ducked."
Nefarious looked to his right for some reason. His eyes widened as he saw wires ripped out of the wall.
He was trapped.
The robot tried acting brave. "Um….hello? W-What do you want? I-I-I……didn't do anything wrong…did I?"
He stepped forward. And as he did--
TWAP!
A punch to the back.
He growled angrily. "Alright! Enough screwing around and show yourself!"
FLASH!
Two figures appeared in the centre of the room.
Nefarious did a double-take.
Lawrence and Helga glared at him. Because their eyes were naturally blue, the only thing that said they were being controlled was an antenna in their heads.
Lawrence fingered the teleport button on his arm. Helga readied her metal fists.
Nefarious noticed the antennas. His eyes narrowed.
"Stop! You're being controlled by Dr. Heinous," Qwark pleaded as he backed up more. Skrunch held onto Qwark's shoulder.
Skidd and Al--both blue-eyed and wearing one antenna each--didn't stop.
Al reached into his pocked and pulled out a blue single-bladed laser sword. Skidd pulled out a blaster.
They where in the Phoenix gym. At the moment, Qwark backed up against a wall.
Al and Skidd came closer.
Skrunch tapped Qwark on the shoulder. "Ooh ah ah ah!"
"Okay," Qwark's face hardened. "I'll throw you and we'll get those antennas off." He grabbed Skrunch and threw him.
CLUTCH!
Al caught the airborne monkey and threw him back at Qwark.
WHAP!
Skrunch collided with Qwark's chest.
Qwark picked the monkey up and placed him on his left shoulder.
"I guess we'll have to fight," Qwark said.
Skrunch nodded weakly.
TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH!
Several hypnotized rangers shot random blasts at Slim.
The tyhrranoid ran up and wall, 'turned right' and landed in a crouch behind the cafeteria's counter.
He panted. "Heinous must have been here. I'll need help if I wanna beat these rangers."
He took out his communicator. "Qwark. This is J--"
TWASH!
CRACK! The communicator broke in Slim's hand. The tyhrranoid blinked. With all his eyes, he looked to the right.
A ranger stood, his gun barrel smoking.
From the left--
TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH!
Slim jumped, kicked off the counter, kicked off the wall and landed on the other side of the room.
The rangers readied fire.
Slim looked at the way out again. It was rendered broken.
"Normally, I'd break through that door with one of my weapons," Slim said out loud for the sake of saying it, "but in the rangers' case, I'll make an exception. After all, you guys did kill some of my race."
TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH!
Slim blurred forward, avoiding any shots. He made a fist and--
POW!
--crumbled a ranger to pieces.
TWASH!
The one next to him fired his last shot.
Slim gripped the broken ranger by the leg and used it as a bludgeon.
WHAP!
The ranger was struck and probably crashed into another two rangers. Slim wasn't looking, because he was too busy with another ranger.
WHACK!
FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.! W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-WACKKK!.!.!.!.!.!.!
With unnatural speed, Slim blurred through half the room, hitting any ranger within a ten-inch radius.
Slim stopped and threw leg--which was the only thing left after the hitting--behind him.
TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH!
The surviving rangers opened fire.
Slim equipped a Walloper and blurred forward.
WHOOOOOSH!
"Ratchet, it is pointless talking to them!" Clank exclaimed from Ratchet's back as the lombax dodged laser fire. "If we want to get them back to normal, we must take action!"
Whreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-ZAP!
Ratchet back-flipped and dodged a gliding Angela's ray gun.
"If we disable the antennas on their heads, Sasha and Angela won't be under Dr. Heinous' control."
"I hope it works then," Ratchet said as he jumped from the high part of the room to the low.
WHAP!
He stumbled forward from Sasha's kick to his back.
Ratchet took out his wrench and held it up as a shield to dodge Sasha's fist.
CLANG!
Sasha felt no pain as her gloved knuckles touched black metal.
Ratchet swung his foot low.
Sasha jumped over the lombax and kicked off his back.
TH-THAWP!
Ratchet fell on his front.
"Look out!" Clank yelled.
POP! FWOOOOOOOOMB!
Ratchet got to his feet, jumped and landed on a computer console. He glared at Angela.
She charged her ray gun.
Whreeeeeeeeeeee-ZAP!
Ratchet rolled right and ran forward. He jumped and prepared to plow into Angela, when--
WHAM!
--Sasha plowed into him from out of nowhere.
Ratchet hit the big screen, forming spider web cracks.
Whreeeeeeeeeeee---
"!" Ratchet pushed himself off just in time to avoid--
ZAP!
--Angela's ray gun.
The lombax landed in a crouch, panting.
"Let's just get outta here, Clank. One of my weapons will break the door down." He got to his feet, jumped up--avoiding a sliding kick from Sasha--landed near Qwark's chair and ran for the door,
"No, we must not leave Sasha and Angela like this," Clank said.
"I'll regroup with the others and we'll come up with a plan!"
"The sooner we help Sasha and Angela, the sooner this will be over."
"I guess you're right."
Sasha came from the right with a fist.
CLUNK!
Ratchet blocked with his wrench.
Sasha back-flipped as few feet and charged forward. She jumped and trusted her booted feet at Ratchet's head.
Ratchet formed an 'X' with his arms and absorbed every blow.
WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHAP!
Ratchet wondered how she could say in the air for so long.
"Rat--!"
WHUMP!
Angela kicked him in the back.
Ratchet stumbled forward.
Sasha caught him and performed a suplex.
WHAP-POW!.!.!.!.!.!.!
FLASH!
THWAM!
Helga punched Nefarious upside the head.
Before the scientist could turn around and grab the antenna on her head--
FLASH!
--she disappeared.
Nefarious concentrated and--
FLASH!
'There!'
POW!
Nefarious punched Helga--who had just appeared--in the chest.
The fat robot fell on her broadside.
Nefarious dove at her--
FLASH!
WHAM!
--and crashed into a wall after being teleported.
FLASH!
Lawrence appeared behind him.
Nefarious glared behind him and back-kicked.
Lawrence ducked.
Nefarious spun around with a left hook, but Lawrence was gone.
Nefarious looked around. Helga was also gone.
FLASH!
Nefarious looked up. His eyes widened. He dove forward.
CRASH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
Helga landed in a belly-flop right where Nefarious was a second ago.
The Nefarious turned around and panted.
FLASH!
He gasped.
THWAP!
Lawrence punched a small fist into the back of Nefarious' head.
Nefarious stumbled forward--Helga had disappeared--and would have hit the wall, hadn't--
HUG!
--Helga wrapped her arms around Nefarious' waist--unromantically--trapping his arms, and squeeeeeeeeeeezed.
Nefarious grunted, raised his legs and made them 'walk' up the wall in front of him. When they where high enough, Nefarious pushed his legs hard. As expected, Helga lost her grip. Nefarious back-flipped, landed behind her and--
GRIP!
--grabbed the antenna on her head.
He pulled.
TWOP! The antenna came off.
Helga collapsed instantly.
Nefarious blinked and looked down. "The Hell?"
FLASH! She disappeared.
FLASH!
Lawrence appeared instead of her--
SLAP!
--slapped Nefarious and--
FLASH!
--disappeared.
"GRRRRH!" Nefarious rubbed his cheek. "Okay, Lawrence, it's just you and me now."
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Qwark--with Skrunch clinging to his shoulder--hid behind a rack of dumbbells.
P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-PING!
The yellow bullets bounced off the dumbbells.
"Good thing I still have Jack's Storage Watch," Qwark muttered.
He equipped the Bomb Glove and blindly threw one over his shoulder.
The shooting stopped and--
BOOM!
Qwark looked over.
Al came charging with his laser sword.
Qwark rolled to the side.
VVVIIIIIIIIIIIUM-CRACK!
Al sliced the rack on half.
RAT-A-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Skidd fired at Qwark.
The costumed man ran behind random objects, resulting in them exploding.
Skidd stopped firing, the barrel of his Blaster smoking.
Qwark picked up a barbell and removed the weights. Now, it looked like a bow-staff.
Skidd pulled the trigger.
CLICK-CLICK-CLICK!
Qwark smirked. "HA! You're outta ammo!"
Al approached Skidd's side and pulled a Spitting Hydra from his belt.
Qwark sweatdropped. "I guess Ratchet's not the only one with weapons."
ZAA-AA-AAP-CRA-ACK!
Qwark's 'bow-staff' was broken in two. The superhero looked at the smoking ends which once met.
Al charged up his weapon again, but before he could release, Qwark threw a bomb at his and Skidd's feet.
BOOM!
The blast sent them back a few feet.
Clank.
Skidd discarded the Blaster.
Al threw him a Pyrociter.
Skidd ran forward.
FWOOOOOOOMB!
Qwark ran backwards, his sight never leaving the flamethrower.
Skrunch pressed something on the Storage Watch on Qwark's wrist. The N90 Hurricane materialized in Qwark's hand electronically. Qwark didn't bother thanking Skrunch; he just fired.
RAT-A-TAT!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
CHINK!
The Pyrociter fell out of Skidd's hands.
Weaponless, he charged forward. Bad idea.
CLUTCH! While Skrunch held the N90 Hurricane, Qwark gripped Skidd's fist. Skidd tried with the other--CLUTCH! Qwark caught that one with his other hand--which was still equipped with the Bomb Glove. Skidd tried kicking Qwark in the crotch. Qwark was way ahead of him; he had one leg up.
Skrunch traveled down Qwark's arm and landed on Skidd's head. He pulled and--
TWOP!
--the antenna came off.
Skidd's eyes changed back to normal as he fell limp. Qwark let go of him and got ready for Al. Skrunch stood on his shoulder.
But Al was gone.
Instead of searching, Qwark ran to the broken door and prepared a decent bomb.
Suddenly--
ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz-zzzzzzttt!.!.!.!.!.!
Al came out of nowhere with a sparking taser.
Qwark and Skrunch's eye/s bulged.
ZZZZZZZTTTTT!
PHOOOOOOOOOM-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
Slim smirked, holding a Megarocket Cannon.
TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH!
Rangers shot at him from behind.
Slim flipped over every shot and equipped a Plasma Storm. He fired.
FWOOOM! Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-ZAP!
More rangers from the right.
TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH!
Slim hid behind an overturned table.
"They just keep coming," he said. "But……from where?"
He popped one tentacled eye around the table. He caught a glimpse of something.
TWASH!
His eye 'ducked'.
He smirked. "Behind the cafeteria."
Slim equipped a Glove of Doom.
He ran from a random side of the table.
TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH! TWASH!
Slim ducked all the shots and threw five metal spheres.
ZZZA-AAAA-A!
"Heh heh heh heh heh," the agents laughed, sniffed, jumped and ran towards the rangers.
The cafeteria was suddenly riddled with small explosions.
BOOM! BO--OOOM! B-B-B-B-B-B-BOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.! BOOOOOOOOOM! BOOO-OOO-OOO-OOO-OOO-OO-OM!.!.!.! BOOM! BBBBBBBBBBBBOOMMMMMMMM! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
Slim equipped a Walloper.
POW!
He broke through the door which led to the fridge.
"?"
What made him curious was a large hole in the wall to his left. It was the perfect size for a ranger to pass through.
And pass through he did.
TWASH!
An unexpected blast struck him in the ankle.
"AAAAAAAAGH!" Slim cried in pain as unnatural, grey blood seeped out. He slumped to his knees and looked forward.
Rangers stood in the middle of the hall, aiming their arm guns.
Slim quickly equipped an Ultrasheild Launcher and tossed a glowing object.
The object formed a 'shield', protecting Slim from the mind-controlled rangers' fire. It didn't inflict damage on them, because they where too far away.
Slim took out some Nanotech and dropped some on his bloody ankle. He relaxed. Then he frowned.
"Alright, I'm gonna find the source of this," he said.
He equipped a R.I.N.O. II just as the 'shield' wore off.
Angela fired her laser.
Whreeeeeeeeeeee-ZAP!
CLANG!
Ratchet deflected with his wrench.
Angela threw a ball.
POP! FWOOOOOOOMB!
Ratchet jumped.
Angela threw more balls.
Ratchet jumped over all of them.
"Now, Clank!"
Ratchet jumped and was given some more lift thanks to Clank and his Heli-pack mode.
He grabbed the glider. Angela looked down and pivoted left and right to shake the lombax off. Then, she stood still. Ratchet found out why.
Sasha--who had just recovered from a blow done to her earlier--had picked up a chair and flung it at Ratchet and Clank.
Ratchet swung forward and managed to avoid the seat.
Angela aimed her ray gun at Ratchet's hand. Ratchet felt heat near his digits and let go with that one.
STOMP!
Angela stepped on Ratchet's other hand.
Ratchet hissed in pain and let go.
WHUP!
He landed on his back. Some of the blow was absorbed by Clank.
Sasha stood over him, her foot raised.
"!.!.!" Ratchet rolled to his right.
STOMP!
Sasha's foot hit where Ratchet's heart was a second ago. Ratchet got to his feet and--
WHUP!
--absorbed a punch with his left arm.
WHAP!
Ratchet kicked her in the chest.
Sasha jumped and landed on the higher level of the Bridge.
Ratchet knew what that meant.
POP! FWOOOOOOOOOOMB!
Ratchet jumped and avoided Angela's wave of fire.
THWAB!
Angela ran her glider straight into Clank's back.
Ratchet fell on his front.
"I can't believe I'm getting my ass kicked by the only two women who I was ever really good friends with."
"Look out, Ratchet!"
Ratchet moved forward on all fours just to avoid Sasha's boot.
STRIKE!
Ratchet stood up.
Whreeeeeeeeeeee-ZAP!
Ratchet ducked the laser fire.
And that was when he got an idea.
He equipped his Swingshot.
Sasha ran forward with a fist.
POW-CLANK!
It missed Angela and hit the ceiling.
FWOOOOOSH!
Ratchet rose, missing Sasha's fist.
He came straight at Angela.
WHAP!
He kicked her in the chest, causing her to lose her balance.
Ratchet caught her with his free arm and gripped the glider with his feet. He landed near a computer console.
Sasha came running.
Ratchet threw Angela's glider at her.
WHUMP!
Sasha was hit hard.
Angela struggled in Ratchet's grip.
The lombax grabbed the antenna on her head and--
TWOP!
--pulled it off.
Angela lost consciousness.
Ratchet gasped.
"It is okay, Ratchet," Clank said as he detached himself from the lombax's back. "My scanners say that she is exhausted."
"Why?" Ratchet asked.
"It is an aftereffect from the mind-control device. Anyone who is under the control of these antennas will be deprived of several amounts of energy after being freed from them. This happens to both organic life-forms and robots."
"Okay," Ratchet said. Clank reattached himself to the lombax's back. "Let's go and help Sasha."
SLAP!
Qwark slapped the Spitting Hydra out of Al's hand.
The techno genius jumped back and pulled out his laser sword from his belt.
VIIIIIIIUUUUUUM!
He charged forward.
CLANG!
The laser sword collided with the N90 Hurricane which Qwark was holding at a horizontal angle.
Al removed one hand and reached into his belt with it. He pulled out a bomb.
WHAP!
He kicked Qwark in the shin and hurled the bomb at him.
Clutching his wounded leg, Qwark hopped out of the way.
BOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!.!.!
THWACK!
Slim just sliced off the last ranger in the hall's head off with his Multi-Star, when he heard something.
"An explosion?"
He headed towards the sound of the blast.
"Ah ak oooh ooh aak!"
"What do you mean 'don't go through the hole'?"
"Akk ah oooohh!"
"Oh alright."
Qwark ran to avoid Al's laser sword.
VIII-III-IIIIIIII-IIIIIIII-UUUUM!
Al spun his weapon amateur-like, but still deadly enough to--
VIIIIIIIUM-CRACK!
--render a treadmill useless.
Qwark tried doing what he did before--
CLUTCH!
--and it worked.
He grabbed the laser sword by its hilt.
"Okay, Skrunch," Qwark said to his monkey friend, "get that antenna off him."
Al seemed to have heard that, because he was fishing in his pocket with his free hand. He pulled out his taser.
"!" Qwark let go of the laser sword's hilt and kicked Al in the chest.
WHAP!
The former roboshack-owner dropped his laser sword, flew out of the hole in the wall and--
WHUMP!.!.!.!.!.!
--crashed into Slim.
"AAAAAH!" Slim fired his Heavy Lancer by accident.
PING!
The bullet hit the ceiling and--
BONK!
--caused a small piece of it to fall on Qwark's head.
"Ow," the superhero rubbed his head. He noticed the current situation and yelled, "Jack, the antenna!"
Slim wrapped his arm around Al's neck. The yellow man struggled, but remained stationed thanks to the tyhrranoid's unnatural strength.
TWOP!
Slim pulled the antenna off and Al fell unconscious.
The unconscious man was kicked off.
Qwark came running from the hole, Skrunch on his shoulder.
"Jack, we gotta do something!" Qwark exclaimed. "The mind-control devices are--!"
"On the Phoenix," Slim interrupted, "I know. Dr. Heinous must have snuck aboard the Phoenix when we where on Tabora."
"But how? He was watching the fight the whole time!"
"Then someone else must have done it. You said he said he was using Thugs-4-Less."
"That's true."
Slim looked at Al. He then saw Skidd.
"So…you fought Skidd and Al?" he asked.
"Yeah. Who did you fight?"
"Rangers in the cafeteria. Since they're robots, I had an excuse to use my weapons and blow them to smithereens."
"Think Ratchet, Clank and Nefarious are in the same situations?"
"I don't see why not."
"We should go find them."
"No."
"Why not?.?.?.?.?.?"
"When I was fighting the rangers, more and more just kept coming. I was following the trail, when I heard the bomb that got me here. Heinous could have built a machine that makes those mind-control devices. Someone could be running the machine. We have to shut it down."
Qwark thought then nodded. "Alright, lead the way."
"Follow me."
FLASH! WHAP! FLASH! WHUMP! FLASH! THWAP!
Lawrence was continuously teleporting and hitting Nefarious from all angles.
Nefarious knelt down and panted.
"I can't believe……I'm……being beaten by my own……butler."
Nefarious resorted to drastic measures and coated himself in a shield.
He half-smiled. "Can't get me now, can you?"
Nothing happened.
Nefarious found it had to keep the shield up. And soon, the shield was gone.
FLASH!
Lawrence appeared in front of him and punched him in the chest.
POW!
FLASH!
He disappeared.
Nefarious fell on his back. He looked up and ceiling with weak eyes.
"Can't……go on," he wheezed. "Too……weak."
FLASH!
Lawrence appeared at Nefarious' head. He raised his foot.
Nefarious grinned. "Sike!"
SWOOOOOSK-GRIP!
He grabbed Lawrence's foot.
Before the butler could teleport, Nefarious flung him into a wall.
SWOOOOOOOOOSH-WHAM!
Nefarious got to his feet in a heartbeat.
Lawrence prepared to press the button on his arm which would allow him to teleport--
WHAP!
Nefarious plowed his hand into Lawrence's, trapping it against the wall.
WHAP!
He did the same with the other.
Lawrence struggled. It was futile.
CLAMP!
Nefarious had the antenna in his mouth.
TWOP!
He pulled the antenna off.
Lawrence fell limp. Nefarious released him.
"PTOOIE!" he spat the mind-control device out of his mouth.
He ran to the door and charged up and blue ball of energy. He threw it.
BLAAAM!
The door exploded.
Nefarious ran out.
BLAM!
Qwark fired the Blitz Gun at a ranger, destroying it instantly.
"Wow, Qwark, you're pretty good with the weapons I gave you," Slim remarked.
"Does that mean I can keep them?" Qwark beamed.
Slim narrowed his eyes. "No."
Qwark's antenna dropped.
"Ah ah!" Skrunch pointed.
Slim and Qwark nodded. They neared a closed door. The sound of machinery could be heard.
"What's in there?" Slim asked.
"It's the temperature room," Qwark said. "In there, there is a machine that controls the ship's temperature."
"Really?" Slim asked sarcastically.
"Mmhmm," Qwark obviously didn't get it.
"Well, it sounds like there's another machine in there," Slim said.
"Then let's go in."
"Hold it! I gotta equip first."
Slim took out a Mini-Nuke.
"Done."
"On the count of three……"
"One…"
"…two…"
BOOOOOOOM!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
A pair of double-doors exploded. Qwark--with a screeching Skrunch on his shoulder--and Slim ran through the smoke. When they opened their eyes they froze and stared.
The room was ridiculously spacious. The temperature control machine was at the very end of the room. It had knobs, dials, buttons, levers…the works.
What was striking was the enormous mechanism that was spitting out rangers with antennas while normal ones were being put in. All the rangers were turned off at the time. The machine was a big box-shaped thing with two conveyer belts; one leading in and the other leading out. It had a ladder which led to a small catwalk. And the catwalk was where the controls could be seen.
But that wasn't even the half of it.
There where people.
Several of them.
All Phoenix staff.
All here.
All mind-controlled.
"Okaaaaaaaaaaaay," Slim lowered his weapon. "First, we'll stop the rangers from being mind-controlled, then you'll free all these people while I shut the machine down. Okay?"
"Uh huh," Qwark kept staring.
"Good."
SWOOOOOOOOSH! Slim blurred forward, putting away his Mini-Nuke.
Qwark chased after him.
The blue-eyed workers all sprung into action. Seeing that they were weaponless, they had to rely on their own bodies.
Slim passed them all, but he did bother to pull of some antennas.
T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T-TWOP!
Several bodies fell, tripping many others.
Qwark and Skrunch went to work. The monkey was thrown at a random person and starting freeing people.
TWOP!
Skrunch hopped from person to person, using the big number of people present to his advantage.
TWOP!
Qwark pulled an antenna off a cubical worker. He pulled of another and another.
TWOP! TWOP!
WHAP!
Slim punched a random person without looking. He was nearing the conveyer belt which took things in. At the moment, it wasn't taking anything in.
Slim equipped a Chopper and fired a single blade.
TWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!.!.!.!.!.!.!
The blade flew and--
TINK!
--wedged itself between two rollers, stopping them.
GROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAN-CRAAAAAAAAACK!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!
The conveyer belts were destroyed……but the machine was still operational. Slim had to get to the top if he wanted to shut it down.
He was about to run to the ladder, when--
GRIP!
--a random worked grabbed him from behind. Then another and another and another and another. It soon became a dog-pile, one which Slim couldn't free himself from.
POW! Qwark punched his way through the pile, pulling off some antennas in the process.
TWOP! TWOP! TWOP!
He 'rescued' Slim from the pile.
"It's alright, Jack!" Qwark said. "Skrunch and I have it covered!"
Slim gave a thumb's up. He ran and started climbing the short ladder. When he was at the top, Qwark threw a bomb.
BOOM!
The ladder blew up, preventing anyone from climbing.
The superhero returned to removing antennas.
TWOP! TWOP! TWOP! TWOP! TWOP! TWOP!
Slim approached the machine's console--
BUMP!
--and fell on his butt.
"What the Hell?.!.?.!" he reached a hand forward and touched something. He frowned, "Force-field."
A beat.
He sensed something. He turned around. He blinked confusingly.
Bob the janitor stood, armed with a utility belt of cleaning products. The blarg had an antenna and solid blue eyes.
Slim noticed something.
Bob was carrying a remote in his pocket.
"Hey there, Bob," Slim said. "Mind if I borrow that remote?"
Bob pulled out a metal mop and held it like a bow-staff.
Slim sweatdropped. "Guess not."
Bob ran forward, spinning his mop like a fan.
Slim jumped over him and kicked off his back.
WHAP!
The tyhrranoid landed gracefully, leaned against the railings and equipped a metal bow-staff from his Storage Watch.
"Since you're old, I won't use any weapons."
SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWISH!
A toilet brush flew at him, spinning horizontally.
Slim barely ducked.
"And since you've been in the war, it'll all even out, right?"
Bob ran forward.
CLANG!
Slim blocked the vertical attack.
Bob swung his foot low.
Slim jumped.
Bob swung again.
Slim jumped again.
Bob swung again.
Slim frowned, jumped over the janitor with a foot sailing at his back.
GRIP!
Bob caught it without looking and spun himself around, spinning Slim around.
Slim spun horizontally in midair.
CLANK!
He jabbed one end of his staff at the catwalk's floor, stopping himself. For a second, the white tyhrranoid was balancing on only a rod.
Bob swung his mop--
CLANGG!
--knocking off Slim's balance.
Tap.
Slim landed in a single-armed handstand.
WHOOOOSH!
He swung his staff with his free hand.
CLUNK!
Bob blocked with his mop. He held the cleaning tool over his head and 'mopped' at Slim's head.
WHAP!
His mop touched bare metal.
This was so, because Slim hand pushed off and landed in a nimble squat near the force-field.
He charged forward, pole-vaulted over Bob and kicked at his back.
Bob ducked and grabbed Slim's ankles. He swung the tyhrranoid over his head and threw him.
FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOOOOOSH!
GRIP!.!.!
Slim prevented himself from falling off the catwalk by grabbing the railings with his free hand.
Slim pulled himself up just in time to--
CLANK!
--block a horizontal swipe from Bob.
The blue-eyed blarg pulled his mop back and swung vertically.
Slim crawled forward.
WHAP!
The mop missed.
Bob tried the same move again.
Slim rolled.
WHAP!
Bob missed again.
Slim shot his foot out.
TWOOOOOOOSH-TRIP!
He managed to trip Bob.
The janitor grabbed a railing for support.
CLANG!
Slim knocked the mop out of his hands.
The tyhrranoid swung at the blarg's right chest.
GRIP!
Bob caught the bow-staff.
Slim's three eyes bulged.
Bob threw the staff at the force-field--Slim along with it.
"AAA--!"
WHUMP!
Slim rubbed his eye-stems. He got to his feet and glared at Bob.
Bob's zombie-like face stared back at him. He pulled out a two toilet brushed which were linked with a chain. He spun the around like nunchucks.
Slim sweatdropped. "You gotta be kidding me."
SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWOOOSH!
Bob kept spinning.
Slim shrugged, ran at him and aimed low.
SW-SW-SW-SW-SW-SWOOOSH-CLANK!
Bob's 'nunchucks' wrapped around Slim's metal bow-staff.
The janitor pulled and--
TWISH!
--pried the weapon out of Slim's hands ("Hey!") and into the brawl going on below.
Bob flung one toilet brush at Slim's head.
GRIP!
Slim caught it and pulled.
Crack!
The chain broke.
Bob prepared to equip another cleaning utensil.
"Oh no, you don't!" Slim jumped over the janitor, grabbed the antenna and--
TWOP!
--pulled it off.
Bob fell unconscious.
Slim smiled and threw the antenna over his head. He reached into Bob's pocket and pulled out the remote.
Click.
Slim approached the console and didn't bump into anything.
He thought for a moment. He then equipped his Hacker and tried getting through.
Meanwhile…
TWOP! TWOP! TWOP! TWOP!
Qwark pulled off antenna after antenna.
But no matter how much he pulled off, there seemed to be more mind-controlled workers.
"How many damn staff does this ship have?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!"
Suddenly--
BLAAAM!
A part of the wall broke down.
And…
"SURPRISE, SQUISHIES!.!.!.!.!.!" Nefarious yelled, hovering above the chaos.
"I never thought I'd be so happy to see him," Qwark silently said.
Sasha punched.
Ratchet blocked.
Sasha kicked
Ratchet blocked.
Sasha charged.
CLUTCH!
Ratchet grabbed her arm and threw her over him.
Sasha flipped in the air, landed in a handstand and spun herself around.
WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WH-WHUP!.!.!.!.!.!
Several booted kicks hit Clank.
Ratchet spun around and--
GRAB!
--garbed Sasha's left ankle.
He flung her half way.
Sasha gripped her chair and used the momentum to shot Ratchet forward instead.
The lombax lost his grip on the cazar and--
WHAP!
--hit a chair.
"So this is where being her ex-boyfriend gets me."
FWOOOOOSH!
Sasha came at Ratchet with a flying kick.
Ratchet ducked. As the captain hit the chair, she grabbed it and flung her booted feet at Ratchet. The lombax stood up and ran forward.
"Okay, I'm getting sick of this!"
Ratchet jumped up and landed near Qwark's chair. He made a run for the door--
Plant.
Sasha landed in his way.
Ratchet screeched to a stop. He backed up against Qwark's chair. At the moment the costumed man's chair was facing Ratchet.
Sasha charged.
Ratchet jumped and widened his legs so his feet could land on the armrests.
WHAM!
Sasha's fist hit the air.
GRIP!
Ratchet grabbed the antenna on her head and--
TWOP!
--pulled it off.
Sasha fell face-first into the seat.
Ratchet sighed, relieved.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
At Heinous' base……
Heinous, Albert, Raxamis, Sandy and the thug where in the scientist's room, watching a big screen.
They had seen what happened thanks to Sandy, who hacked the security cameras.
Right now, they witnessed Nefarious, Qwark, Slim and Skrunch beat the massive army.
The mind-control devices were no more.
Heinous growled. "DAMMIT! THAT PLAN SHOULD HAVE--!"
"I think it's a great idea if Dr. Heinous destroys organic life."
"You're just saying that, because you're a robot."
"Shut up, motherf--!"
SLAP!
Albert slapped the mad robot.
"--WORKED!" Heinous panted.
The large screen displayed static…..then it displayed the thug Leader's emotionless face.
His left eye twitched as he said, "I knew your little stunt would fail."
"That was a perfect plan!" Heinous pointed.
"Then why did it fail? Face it, Heinous, it wasn't a good plan."
"It wasn't a total loss! We can still see what their cameras can see!"
"Only until Sasha gets overprotective and decides to check."
"I don't see you thinking of anything!"
"Yeah, you tell him, Uncle!" Raxamis cheered and was ignored.
"I'm only hired to protect. But if you want an idea, I suggest you start thinking of ways to separate them."
"How?"
"Now 'how'; 'who'. Start with Vincent, Ratchet and Clank. I can give you a reasonable place to fight them. Along with a plan."
Heinous raised an eyebrow. "Where?"
Man, that took all day. R&R.