Chapter Forty-one: Only a day away Part 1

"Nefarious, you've been playing for two days straight," Ratchet said from the right sofa. "Give the VG a break."

"What if I don't want to?" Nefarious shot back without looking.

"Then….I'll unplug it!" Ratchet exclaimed as he stood up.

Nefarious paused. He set the controller down, walked, and stood threateningly over Ratchet. "You wouldn't dare," he said in a loud whisper.

"Wouldn't I?" Ratchet was fingering his storage watch.

They were standing in a similar position to the one Nefarious and Courtney were in.

"Boys, calm down," Courtney said as she stepped between them, creating a distance between the lombax and robot. Her back was on Ratchet, meaning…

"Nefarious," she said calmly, keeping eye contact, "wouldn't be better if you played against Ratchet?" she kept one hand on him as she made circles around the blue scientist. "If Ratchet wins, you stop," she purred, "but if you win….," she stopped in front of him, "……you can play all you want."

"Okay," Nefarious said. If he was still organic, he'd have been sweating.

Lawrence and Clank--who were watching the whole thing--exchanged impressed 'expressions'.

Ratchet smirked, but kept his opinions to himself.

"The game is Mallet and Clonk 3," Nefarious announced.

"Bring it on," Ratchet palmed his fist.

"I'm worried, Albert," Heinous said. "What if it gets worse?"

Sandy hacked and coughed as she sat on Heinous' bed.

"She won't even tell me what's wrong."

"Maybe…," Raxamis rubbed his chin, "…..there was this top secret experiment going on; an experiment that causes robots to get sick once they go on an enlargen machine and grow big. So, this virus slash experiment goes inside a robot and screw it over 'till it's taken over and used to turn entire galaxies into CHEESE!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!

Heinous stared.

Albert stared.

Sandy stared.

Raxamis rubbed the back of his head. "It could be true."

Slim walked down a hall on the lower deck of the Phoenix. He wasn't the only one present; a few clerks and scientists walked to and fro, some of them trying to come up with a solution for the lack of power.

Slim was about to turn a corner, when--

"Hey, Jack!"

Slim halted. He was used to being called 'Jack'. He turned around and found himself looking at Bob.

The janitor removed his headphones and rested them around his neck. "Remember me?" he asked the tyhrranoid as he held a red hand out to shake.

Slim blinked.

"We had a rumble in the temperature control room, I think. I remember some of what happened when I was mind-controlled."

"Ah, yes, I remember now," Slim said as his white hand shook Bob's red one.

"Quite a fighter, you are," Bob pointed an old hand at the blue-eyed one.

"Same to you," Slim allowed himself to smile.

"Oh, no," Bob seemed modest, "these old bones ain't what they used to be."

"I beg to differ," Slim said. "You almost impaled me with a toilet brush."

"Heh heh," the old man chuckled. "I guess I still got some of the old magic. Learned all that stuff in the war, but where'd you learn to fight like that?"

Slim thought for a second. "I was born with them."

"That explains it," Bob said. "No offence, but you are a tyhrranoid, after all."

"None taken."

"…and that's the plan," Sasha felt thirsty after telling a plan. "And questions?"

She had been talking with several Phoenix staff; technicians, scientists, engineers, and rangers. As anyone would expect, this was in the Bridge. Sasha stood at Qwark's chair, the costumed man himself behind her. Al and Skidd were also part of the listening crowd, one listening, and the other trying not to fall asleep.

No one answered.

"Good," Sasha said. "Now….get back to work."

There was a small childish groan that came from Skidd, who was elbowed by Al. Soon, a few rangers where left.

Then…

Sasha felt a tap on her shoulder. Sash turned around and had to look up in order to give Qwark eye-contact.

The superhero seemed nervous. "Uhhhhh….what is my job, exactly?"

Sasha sweatdropped.

Sandy coughed and hacked as usual. This time, she was ignored. The other three robots stood at Heinous' desk, discussing.

"I say we attack Florana first," Raxamis said as he leaned against the right side. "It's got the most amount of organic life in Solana."

"I say we attack Kerwan," Heinous said as he sat in his chair. "Metropolis, to be more precise. I'd like Vince to know that I beat him in taking over the one place in the galaxy he couldn't take over. After that, we'll attack Blackwater City on Planet Rilgar."

"I say Florana!"

"Well, I say Kerwan!"

"Umm, fellas…….," Albert looked back at Sandy.

"What?" Raxamis asked; Heinous just looked.

"Sandy seems to be worse than usual."

"I hate to say it, but we should just ignore her for now," Heinous said coolly. "We're so close to galactic domination."

Sandy hacked and coughed and--

SPLORCH!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.!

--threw up.

The others looked.

Sandy was much better. She stood on the bed, eyeing the item she threw up curiously.

Raxamis stopped leaning against the desk.

Heinous stood from his chair.

Albert was already waiting for them.

They made a circle around it.

It was a purple material of some sort, wrapped in a creased ball.

"Funny, I didn't know Sandy could vomit," Heinous said.

"I don't think it's vomit, sir," Albert thought aloud. "But it was definitely the cause of all her hacking and coughing."

"What is it then?"

"……"

"…."

"….."

"…."

Everyone was silent.

Raxamis gasped happily. "My cape!.!.!.!.!"

Everyone else looked at him in confusion as he picked the purple fabric up and unfolded it.

"I must have left it in Sandy when where on Lunar City and the protopet was gonna shrink her," he covered his back with it.

"Oh, Hell on," Heinous said. "You mean to tell me that all her suffering was because of your stupid CAPE?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!.?.!"

"Exactly," Raxamis said.

Albert slapped his own face with his palm and muttered the word 'stupid' silently.

Heinous was ready to rip his antennas off.

Raxamis--now caped--walked over to Heinous' bed. Sandy was still standing there, staring at him.

"No hard feelings?"

"……"

"……"

"….."

"….?"

WOMP!

Sandy had jumped and enveloped Raxamis' head in her mouth.

"AAAAAAAGH!.!.!.!.!.!.! NOT AGAIN!.!.!.!.!"

In her bedroom, Sasha sat on her bed, cross-legged as she typed on a personal laptop. Her fingers were used to such tasks and blured as she pressed different keys. If she misspelled something, she'd correct her mistake without even looking or using the mouse. When she was done, she used a small mouse against the made bed sheets and clicked an icon.

"……"

One second passed.

She sighed and switched the lap off.

Mmhmm. This one was short too. The next chapter might be short as well. Hang in there! This story's gonna get better.