Days had passed since the incident at Professor Bichitaru's wake, and Professor Professor just couldn't stop thinking about Doctor Doctor. He'd been having dreams at night that would haunt him, dreams where he and the cyan-hued woman would give in to their carnal desires like they'd done before time and time again. Almost every time, he would wake up, having stained the bed in his excitement. He knew he had to do something about these dreams, but what? Did he dare try to reach out to Doctor Doctor after what had happened? Who knew how it would work out? Still, it couldn't hurt to try, right?
He decided to take a risk by calling Doctor Doctor on her work phone. It probably would've been a better idea if he just called her personal phone, but he had no idea what model she owned these days. Plus, what did he really have to lose besides his life? He dialed in the number and then waited a few seconds. A few more seconds went by before someone picked up.
"Hello, who's this?" a masculine voice asked in a French accent.
"This is Professor Professor from U.Z.Z.," the vertically-challenged German man replied. "Is Doctor Doctor there with you? I need to speak to her alone."
"Sorry, she can't come to the phone right now. She's probably off working on a new evil plan or something."
"Ah, so that's how it is, eh?"
On the other end of the phone, Professor Professor could hear someone rapidly approaching.
"Maxime, who is that you're talking to?" Professor Professor could hear Doctor Doctor ask the Frenchman urgently.
"Uh, Professor Professor, ma'am," Maxime replied.
"Gimme that!" Doctor Doctor managed to wrestle control of the phone away from Maxime before speaking with Professor Professor. "Hello? Why did you call me?"
"I just thought I would talk to you, that's all," Professor Professor replied. "Who was the Frenchman, by the way?"
"Oh, that was Expendable Chartreuse Yellow Twenty-Four. He's the Expendable I told you about who took over for me when we attended Professor Bichitaru's funeral, remember?"
"Yes. You said he seemed too eager when he took over for you, right?"
"Of course, why?"
"I'd be careful if I were you. He might be planning to double-cross you at some point."
"Oh, don't worry about him. I don't consider him a threat. He doesn't even have the guts to betray me like you think he might. He is French, after all."
"Alright, suit yourself." Suddenly, Professor Professor remembered why he actually decided to call her. "Oh, actually, there is something else."
"Yes?"
"The real reason I called you is because... I think... what we had is still there."
A few seconds passed before Doctor Doctor could speak again. "Is that what this is about? I mean, that was years ago-"
Professor Professor was quick to cut her off. "You don't understand. Ever since Min-jun threw me into your chest, it's like... I've been starting to reevaluate our relationship and whether we could start over. I've even been having dreams about you every night." A minute of silence passed. "Hello? Are you still there?"
"Yes, yes, of course. I just need time to process this."
With that, Doctor Doctor just hung up. Professor Professor couldn't help but be somewhat vexed by how Doctor Doctor had ended the conversation, but he figured it was better to be safe than sorry and just give her some space and time.
When he arrived at work, Professor Professor sat down at his designated seat and waited along with Victor and Anita for Boaty McBoatface to give his new name of the day.
"Recently, Reptogators have been spotted making their way to the surface and attacking places like Belfast and Londonderry," Boaty McBoatface explained while leaning against his mantelpiece. "Regardless of why they're there, we must stop them before they can do some serious damage. Now as you all already know, for reasons of security, my name is Changed Daily. Today, you may call me..." His cellphone beeped and he gave with a disappointed sigh. "Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo."
Everyone else just laughed.
"How are we supposed to stop the Reptogators in Northern Ireland, Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo?" Anita asked.
"Well, um..." Joey Joe Joe Jr. Shabadoo turned to Professor Professor for an answer. "Professor Professor?"
"We stop them with ghost pepper grenades," Professor Professor replied.
"Ghost pepper grenades?" Victor asked, slightly intrigued. "What are those supposed to do?"
"As I'm sure you already know, ghost peppers are one of the spiciest peppers around at more than one million Scoville Heat Units. Well, what these grenades can do is they're basically ghost peppers weaponized for riot control. They emit a powerful skin and eye irritant as well as a pungent smell that causes enemies to leave their cover or become physically incapacitated by the grenade's load." Professor Professor then handed Victor and Anita some of the ghost pepper grenades he happened to be carrying in his pockets. "Don't worry about handling these with your bare hands. The capsaicin is contained within the grenades' hard shells. They're basically tear gas grenades."
Victor gulped, apprehensive over how potent these weapons could be.
Upon arriving in Belfast, Victor and Anita happened to spot the T.H.E.M. spidery base parked just behind the bar/nightclub called Cuckoo.
"That's odd..." Anita noted aloud. "What's T.H.E.M. doing parked behind Cuckoo?"
"I don't know, spiking everyone's drinks so they can rob them while they're high?" Victor guessed. "Whatever it is they're up to, we have to stop them."
"Victor, focus. We're trying to keep a lookout for Reptogators that might be on the loose. We'll have to deal with whatever T.H.E.M. is up to later."
"Alright, but I still think T.H.E.M. is planning to drug people and then rob them."
After parking their skybikes near Cuckoo's backdoor, Victor and Anita started heading off on foot for any Reptogators nearby, ghost pepper grenades on hand. Suddenly, just a few seconds later, a Reptogator could be heard bellowing in the distance.
"Okay, I'm pretty sure that's a Reptogator heading our way," Victor said.
"Right," Anita replied. "On the count of three, we send the ghost pepper grenades its way, got it?"
"Got it."
"One, two, three-"
Before Victor and Anita could throw the ghost pepper grenades, the Reptogators just zoomed past them into the Cuckoo building.
"Huh?" Victor uttered, confused by what he just witnessed. "What's it doing?"
"It looks like it's going to attack the people inside Cuckoo," Anita replied. "But why?"
As if on cue, more Reptogators rushed into the building. Afterwards, Victor picked up a smell coming from the Belfast nightclub.
"Ugh, what's that smell?!" Victor asked in disgust.
"It smells like... Reptogator stink." Anita took a few steps closer to the building to get a better idea of the smell. "And it seems to be coming from this building. But why?"
"And how did we not notice that before? I thought we were smarter than this?"
"Apparently not. Alright, we need to move on and deal with the Reptogators inside the building. Hopefully, we won't have to deal with any Expendables along the way."
So Victor and Anita decided to head inside to deal with the present danger.