Chapter 18
Unmasked
Dr. Nefarious yawned as he tinkered with the equipment in front of him. Trapped behind the glass wall, the never-ending green toxic glow of the powerful machines kept him up all night. Honestly, the radiation levels these devices gave off could give five whole planets cancer, he summarized to himself. The instructions laid upon the corner of his desk were not too complicated to follow. It only consisted of putting certain devices together and getting a certain level of energy up. He grunted in irritation while hooking three more wires together and turning up a dial. The machines flickered to life until the glowing sparked out and went offline.
"Why you…!" He kicked the giant equipment till he yelped in pain. Hopping around on one foot while holding his right foot, Nefarious snarled and smacked a nearby. "Hey, you blasted warden, I've been up all night tinkering with these devices! When can I have a freaking break!"
After waiting a few seconds, the glass door suddenly whooshed open. There standing on the other side was his captor, helmet still covering her face. She gestured him out, which he slowly did while keeping a low posture. Nefarious was too exhausted to put up a verbal struggle, but after seeing his decapitated counterpart, fear was a good glue for his mouth. The doctor slowly inched up to his captor, his butlers' son sleeping soundly in her left arm.
"I want my minion's offspring back," he whispered, trying his best to not agitate his warden.
She looked down to the child and slowly handed him to Nefarious, which he quickly snacked from her. "You… are welcome to wander freely. Though you are brought here against free will… does not mean you must be treated as such." Her dull gold eyes watched Nefarious cling to the child. "A break you will be given… for your cooperation, you may keep the child. Do note, any attempt of escape will be pointless. Don't attempt anything, you may stay here in comfort."
Nefarious rocked the child in his skinny arms as he chuckled nervously. "T—that is awfully… civilized… for someone who… tore the head off an emperor…"
She stared down at him, not giving away any sign of emotion to his comment. "Actions are dictated by circumstantial events with external sources…" her massive clawed paw gestured to the empty shell of the former tyrannical Nefarious. "He maintained a feasible threat. Only a nuisance if spared. You display no such reason for concern. Therefore, no need to inflict such hostility on you. I'm not a savage…" going to the door, she paused for a second. "Only when I need to be. Enjoy your break, and please don't break anything."
When the door swished shut, Nefarious sighed as he looked down to Lance. No sign of any injuries, the baby bot seemed quite content in his sleep mode. He even noticed some new clothes adorning his tiny body, confusing the doctor with a casual head tilt. "Well… at least someone is enjoying their time."
Sighing, Nefarious looked around his prison. The whole thing was locked up tight, the only exit being the entrance they came through. He slowly went towards a set of stairs nearby, with no sign of any guards or weapons. His captor did say he could wander, so this shouldn't hurt. Nefarious kept Lance close as he tip-toed up the stairs, keeping his guard up as he checked the corner when reaching the top entryway. An opening with no door led into a vast hallway of several doorless rooms sitting exposed on both sides.
He walked as quietly as possible, looking into each darkroom. Seeing not a soul in sight except darkness and a few random types of machinery. Nefarious counted the doors till he got to the last room on the right, there he spotted something different. A smaller monitor with several tablets hooked into it sat neatly tucked away in a corner. It was clean, freshly polished metal, and next to the tablets was something small and round. Getting closer, Nefarious picked up the object and recognized it as a wedding ring. An eyebrow raised, he glanced back to the computer screen and flipped on the switch.
The screen came to life, and Dr. Nefarious was greeted by a static-filled recording. On it was a skinny built handsome male Lombax with chocolate brown fur and yellow zig-zagged stripes around his ears and jawline. Glasses that magnified his eyes to bulbous size sat lopsided on his dark red nose. A long thick braid hung past his shoulder blades. His eyes were mismatched, left being green and right gold. The lombax wore a big ear to eat grin and adorned a white lab coat with some coffee stains all over it. He, obviously a scientist of some kind, was rapidly blinking as he began to speak.
"Hello! This is recording #304…" He turned behind him to grab a coffee mug and chugged it with one gulp, whole body shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. "I don't have much time, but I'm here to finally report my progress…"
Dr. Nefarious was stunned to see a Lombax. He watched as the brown narrator rapidly ran to a back desk to grab a glass vial before tripping over himself to return to the camera.
"I did it, after five years, six days, twelve hours, and thirty-two seconds… I've managed to convert my formula to a drinkable serum." He put the glass down and grabbed some books, rummaging through the pages that fell all over the place till he found the passage he wanted. Holding up the book, he showed a genetic diaphragm of a Lombax brain. "I will soon be able to show the counsel my Genetic Recombination Therapy can save our kind suffering this illness!"
Nefarious tilted his head and looked at the sleeping child in his arm. "Illness? What illness?"
As if aware of the doctor's presence, the Lombax whipped out a large graph displaying two individual Lombaxes. The left one looking like the white elder Nefarious recognized as the failure of his race, Alister. Then the right one a… strange hunched-over feline creature much larger and far more primal in appearance. Nefarious paused the screen and looked a little closer at the feral-looking counterpart of the normal Lombax model. Its whole body slumped over showed it was a quadruped of some kind, walking on all fours rather than two. The teeth and claws were massive with inclined shoulder blades that hunched out like a powerful dorsal fin. A thick neck and equally powerful jaws and forearms connected to a massive trunk gave the right-model creature a terrifying predatorial animalistic appearance.
Dr. Nefarious shuddered at the sight of the strange creature before the narrator Lombax continued to speak.
"There's been forty cases of normal Lombax couples having children consisting of this unusual genetic mutation. Subjects of inflicted birth defect display low intelligence with heightened aggression and muscularity. In short, we had one overly large female bite right through a ten-inch steel cable." He pointed to the right model, "Our doctors are trying to figure out where this genetic defect came from. They fear this gene could…." He sighed and put the graph down to massage his forehead. "Could become dominant, spread out, and somehow overpower our normal biology. Turn us all into animals. All genetically 'ill' subjects are forcefully taken away and confined to invasive medical evaluation until further notice."
The doctor slammed the book down and quickly pointed to the camera. A big smile is still present on his optimistic face.
"But the council is wrong, these individuals are still Lombaxes. They are not monsters! I know I'm the only one amongst the medical team who believes in genetic therapy and that it can reawaken their dormant genome. Which would unlock their ability to pre-think and comprehend emotions other than instincts." He quickly rubbed his hands together, retrieving his serum again to show the camera. "And I have proof this works, one of the subjects, female, who has already displayed signs of natural intelligence, has willingly taken my serum and spoken her first words. She displays signs of understanding and empathy." The Lombax's smile then faded to a slight frown.
"But… the counsel is still afraid. Ones like General Alister think these creatures are genetic abominations and should not be allowed to walk amongst us. That instead of revitalizing them, they want to locate the source of the primal gene. Even my brother Kaden is cautious of my work involving this Genetic Recombination Study. They all think I'm crazy, which is fine… I probably should stop talking to myself when I'm working." He snickered awkwardly while rubbing the back of his head. "That doesn't change anything! Subject #777 is responding to my formula." He put the serum down and reached toward the camera. A tear of hope sliding down his cheek.
"I can save them; I know I can."
Dr. Nefarious stared at the screen that faded to black, mind unable to comprehend what he just saw. "Lombaxes… defective genes… genetics therapy… what in this galaxy?" As he moved to play the next tablet, a black paw suddenly grabbed his wrist and yanked him back. Golden eyes pulsing down at him as his captor slowly pulled him away from the monitors.
"I said… you could wander. Not touch anything." She guided him out the door and down the stairs he climbed earlier.
Nefarious was at a loss for words as he tried to pull away from her grip. "Hang on, what was that? Who was that Lombax?" He started to struggle when the creature refused him. "Answer me this instant, what are you doing? I demand answers NOW!" With a swipe of his elbow, the doctor struck her helmet and knocked it clean off. There he saw a sight he was not prepared to see.
A solid black feline face built like a sabretooth with a broken fang stared at him. Aged white hair hung down from her underside while overlapping the pink nose and beneath her eyes. Jaw slightly slacked with all sorts of nasty scars and messy unhealed stitch-lining cut across her entire face and neck. Like someone had taken her and threw her into a tornado of knives. The left eye was robotic, along with some missing teeth replaced with copper ones. Her one ear, the left one missing, was elongated and marked with fine angled dark grey stripes. Steam burst through her nose, even her right nostril was a little caved in. She slowly reached back and picked up her helmet.
Nefarious gasped, he fell on his backside, keeping Lance Jr clamped in his arms. "Y… you're… a…"
"A Lombax? By biology, yes, but not by title." She answered while walking up to him, putting her helmet down on a passing shelf. "I do not identify with the race that refused me." The biggest scar cutting down the entire right side of her face was precise and neat, almost like a dissection scar never allowed to properly heal.
Nefarious watched in complete terror as the creature reached down and took the kid from him. "I rather you have not seen this. But the past… cannot be changed." She kept the child in her left paw as he awoke and looked up to her. Cooing in delight as he reached up and grabbed her whiskers, yanking a few out, to which she didn't even respond. Merely wiggling her lip at the discomfort and gently pulled the child away from her lip.
"Enough gawking… I recommend lying down to recharge. I expect you to resume working in thirty minutes."
Nefarious slid further back, still in complete disbelief at all he was finding out. "I—I don't understand… you mentioned earlier the only one you resented was the white elder who failed his race. The exiled general. If that's the case, why am I here? What have I done to you?"
The giant lombax shook her head and turned away, heading out the door. Nefarious tightened his fist and leaped to his feet, jabbing a finger in her direction. His sudden loud voice halting her.
"Who was that idiotic doctor on that video? What does this have to do with me!"
Suddenly a paw was wrapped around his neck and his whole body lifted into the air. Nefarious gasped as massive white fangs sat centimeters from his face. Jaws rattling, saliva foamed at her mouth as she released a low growl tainted in venomous rage.
"Refute from… calling him… an idiot."
Nefarious squeaked as he covered his mouth, pedes rattling loudly. The creature huffed, veins protruding from her neck. Arm beginning to shake, she dropped the doctor and put a palm to her forehead. Struggling to calm down as she straightened her posture and forced back her neutral/unreadable expression.
"I think that is enough for today." Getting back on her way, she turned and walked out the door. It slammed shut behind her, knowing full well she scared the doctor even more than she intended to.
Sighing, she looked to the child sitting in her giant paw. Lance sucked on his pacifier as he reached up and fearlessly tapped her nose. She snorted again, which tickled the child and went on walking down the hallway until she found the exit that led into the desert.
"Why… do self-proclaimed doctors, emperors, and tyrants… display such low intelligence?" She asked the child.
Lance tilted his head and then clapped his little hands loudly. Laughing insane as if her jacked-up mug was the equivalent of clown makeup. This making the disformed Lombax hoist one brow line.
"Even you are less of a nuisance than the 'Doctor'…" she grunted and went to walking to the junkie city mere yards away. "Have many things to do… but for now…" she bounced the kid in her paw, eyes emotionlessly staring at the sandy path before her leading into the city. "Need to find you some… entertainment. So, I may work in peace…" Her helmet was slid back into place as the city came closer into view.
Entering the city, a small lizard-like creature with three tusks and a massive backpack greeted her. With an eager wave that shook all his junky-looking equipment saddled to him like a mule, the Vullard stood aside for the larger creature.
"Welcome back, it's so nice to see you again!" He welcomed her like he was some kind of over-zealous travel guide welcoming a new guest despite seeing her a million times. "Did you have a nice travel?"
Nodding without any eye contact, she reached into her pocket and handed the smaller alien a medium-sized tablet.
"All languages of this quadrant converted to Junkish translation… per your request."
"Wow thanks, you're indeed a real-life saver my friend!" he anxiously took the device in both hands before giving her a sly wink. "Also, in case you're still interested… my friend is very much still single. Eh?"
She still refuted eye contact before robotically answering. "Will consider the potential opportunity of courtship. But as of this moment, have something in need of…" Holding up the child to the Vullard, she gave out a loud chuffing noise to signal her exhaustion. "Need extra eyes… for this."
"A child, my my, what a sight!" The Vullard eagerly waved his hands at the child, who delightfully mirrored his hand movements. Lance gave a loud thrilling cry as he clapped his hands again in joy. "I think I got the perfect solution for your single parent problem!"
"Have no maternal connection to this bot." She stared at the Vullard sarcastically, as if an organic female could be a robotic toddler's dame. "What is the solution?"
"There's a small group of pirates that just came through here, we… don't exactly want to involve our friend at this moment since he's already been crushing them some more. But just a small group, was hoping you could… well… take care of them?"
"What… does this… have to do with the need for a toddler-watcher?"
"Well…" he rubbed his hands, laughing a bit awkwardly. "Maybe one of them can help you if you can convince them to stop making a ruckus. One of them did loudly proclaim to be a lover rather than a fighter, so maybe he's the answer to your problem! Just make sure his friends… ya know, stop stealing our stuff."
Staring at the Vullard for a few seconds, she turned on her heel and went on by. Heading into the main area, she smelt the air, brain calculating every scent that swept past her nostrils. All smells were the typical, rusted metals and endless sizzling sand, nothing peculiar. Till she caught a whiff of one foreign scent. It was cleaner, consisting of a few smells of different metals. She continued to walk till crossing the Vullards most common hangout, a small pub right in the heart of the city. Many tourists like coming here for water. Not that they had any choice given this planet's intense heat waves. Sure enough, right inside the pub were four pirates. Three were bulky and short while the fourth was tall and skinny. The skinny one, blue in color, had a long bottom jaw and a black pirate height. His friends, being green and sharp-fanged, had him corralled in a corner.
"Aye pirate maties," Pierre chuckled nervously with hands held up to appease them. "Can we not put le past behind us? I mean, surely bygones can be bygones?"
"I think not, yeh scurvy rat!" One with a beetle look scolded while pressing his sword to Pierre's throat.
"Yee not be getting' no ounce of second chances since botching up last raid!" Another added while cracking his knuckles to emphasize what was about to happen to their former captain.
"Aye, yeh not pay up for last mistake. This time, yee won't be walkin' way this time!" The third pulled a small gun and pointed it at the French bot's head. He clicked the trigger back and took aim. "Say yee adios for gud!"
The two laughed as Pierre covered his eyes, waiting for the bullet to end his life. After a few seconds, the two pirates quickly shot angered looks to their friend. Wondering why the trigger wasn't pulled yet.
"Hey! What's taken yee so… long?"
Their robotic friend laid torn in half on the ground, sparks flying from his shell. Above his destroyed frame was the Lombax, Lance still held in her arm with the dead pirate's gun in her free hand. She casually inspected the weapon as the two pirates dropped Pierre in shock at seeing their ally broken like a toothpick. As one pointed his hand to yell, she squeezed the gun and broke it in half. The pirates fell silent as the pieces of gun lay in the same condition as their former friend. Slamming together, the two green insect-like pirates ran away with arms flailing in fright. Pierre peeked between his fingers up to his unlikely savior.
"O—oh, uh…" he quickly stood up and dusted himself off. Tipping his hat, he bowed his head. "T—thank you madame for your… unnecessary assistance. But I believe I had the situation under control."
The primal lombax stared at Pierre, her gold eyes flickering behind her black visor. Pierre laughed a bit nervous at her silence before taking a step back.
"Again, much thanks to yee… Au revoir —ACK!" He was grabbed by the creature's free hand and hauled off the ground. Kicking his legs in fright while grabbing her wrist in a desperate attempt to pry those massive spiked claws off his thin neck.
"Excusez-moi! What be the reason for this man-handling!"
She looked him right in the eye, "You the one claiming to be… more lover… than fighter?"
"O—Oui, that be… correct." Pierre trembled when the creature slowly looked at the baby bot in her arms.
She paused, thinking for a bit as the child sucked on his copper pacifier. Sighing, she lowered the French pirate to the ground without releasing his neck. "Unfortunately, as of this moment, in need of parts… your little 'friends' must be hunted down and assimilated. But you can provide something useful… if indeed your… gentile is true as you claim."
"M—Mademoiselle, if please to be putting me down, m—maybe we can… come to an agreement, Oui?" he laughed nervously while removing his hat to show his sincerity. "After all, i—I couldn't say no to such a lovely… madame… such as yourself, wee?"
Releasing his neck, the baby bot was pushed into his arms. Pierre gawked in surprise and shot a befuddled look to the disguised beast. "Madame, what is the meaning of this child?"
"I… have things that need to be done…" towering over him, she huffed another cloud of steam. "For saving your life, logic dictates a debt to be repaid. Which will be paid in the now." She raised a metal claw and pointed to the child.
"Aye! I am not non babysitter, I am… Pierre Le Fare!" He held his free arm out in a dramatic introduction. "Pirate… Extraordinaire!"
Staring at him, completely unfazed by the intro, she chuffed again. Grabbing him by his neck, she hauled the bot off his feet and towards the exit of the city. His legs dragged as he almost dropped the kid, but her tightening grip warned the pirate to not dare make such an accident. Pierre swallowed loudly as he was hauled out of the city and towards the desert.
Eventually, both vanished into the darkness.