A Twinsane Wedding

Chapter 4 Cortex Takes A Stand

Cortex ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He was almost out of breath multiple times while he tried to catch up with his neice and Uka Uka. He couldn't even remember how he managed to not collapse from exhaustion, with all the running he had to do when him and Crash faced off against those enemies. Everything they had to do to reach the 10th dimension; all the struggles, all the obstacles, and all the drama between the pair in general, "Hey don't...leave me...behind." He panted. Then it struck him right as he said that, he didn't want them both to die.

Looking over her shoulder, Nina backtracked and slung an arm around him, she couldn't have him collapsing on her, "Here, I've got you."

"Thank you." Cortex thought long and hard about what he was going to say to her next before speaking, and also so he had time to catch his breath, "Um Nina, I've been thinking about something, and I wanna run it by you."

"Ok, shoot."

"Well, it's just that I said I failed Uka Uka only twice, but that's not entirely true, I've failed him at least five times: once with creating Crash and failing to make him my general of the Cortex Commandos, then the Super Cortex Vortex, which was destroyed by Crash also as he teamed up with my old colleague N Brio to collect gems, time travel to defeat Crash with the help of N Tropy, and then with the Elementals and Crunch my super weapon. That plan ended with Crash and Coco snapping Crunch out from under my control and then they made him a part of their family. So there you have it, I have failed him so many times before, way more than twice. So who knows where that's gonna lead in the future."

Nina's eyes widened, "Really? Wow I never knew all that, so Coco was right about multiple failures. So then why did you say you've only failed him two times when we were in the lab? Why did you lie?" This was the first time she had ever heard about all of his past failed attempts. Both how they were all concocted and how they all panned out in the end, which was a horrible defeat each time, but now Nina had been given the general idea.

Cortex sighed and rubbed his head, his mind was currently elsewhere, but he tried to answer his neices question as best he could, "I don't know, maybe because of my injury. Fuzzy memory due to blood loss..." He replied. "Luckily Uka Uka didn't seem to notice that I lied." A nervous chuckle escaped him.

"That's actually, understandable, when you lose blood, you aren't getting enough oxygen to the brain. And that can cause memory loss." The man looked at her quizzically, where did she learn all that? "Oh, the medical knowledge, I looked through some old books when I was at the academy. I found them in a storage closet, Madem Amberly must have confiscated them."

Her uncle smiled, "Well it definitely paid off, you would make a good nurse. And to be honest, I think I like you better not being evil." The girl reciprocated and smiled back. Another thought entered his head soon after he said that. "And one other thing, I'm thinking I might not want to work for him anymore."

"You mean Uka Uka?"

"You know of any other evil witch doctor masks who scare me out of my wits and give me nightmares?"

"No. So you're saying you've had enough of him?" Cortex nodded. "Well if you don't want to work under him anymore, why don't you say anything? I mean when you, me, and Crash teamed up against the Evil Twins, you took a stand against them. So maybe try something similar in this scenario?" Nina suggested.

Cortex had almost forgotten about that, "You're absolutly right, I did take a stand against them because I saw what you had done. I wasn't going to be a scardey cat anymore, I knew that I had to do something. For was not about to let my childhood pets rule over the islands and take their revenge on me, and again it was also my fault for turning them evil in the first place." He straightened his posture and stood tall, "You're right Nina, I've just got to tell Uka Uka that I'm not going to be his little puppet anymore! He can't pull the strings and control my life! And maybe, he's the reason I keep failing!" Cortex watched as Uka Uka floated up tword a large cliff where their shelter resided. Anger bubbled up inside him.

The devil reappeared on his shoulder, "Go get him Cortex, show him who's boss!"

Soon after, the angel appeared again, but instead of a smile, he narrowed his eyes and smirked, "Now, normally I would never be on the same page with this evil kenivel, about anything, ever, but I have to agree with him just this once. He snapped his fingers and summoned a mini trumpet and blew the charge fanfare "Charge!" He pointed tword the cliff, giving an evil grin.

Their words caused something inside Cortex's mind to snap. His confident smile soon turned into a devilish grin as well, his hands curling into fists and his teeth clenched. As he pulled out his ray gun, the scientist let out a battle cry and kicked it into overdrive, charging at a full sprint to catch up with the witch doctor mask.

'Wow, he's finally standing up to him, looks like my advice worked.' Nina was impressed, her uncle was done being driven to the point of insanity by his boss. She kept walking, but didn't take her eyes off of him as he scaled the cliff, completely ignoring his spear injury while he did.

He was so focused on getting back at him for that comment about him being dumber than Tropy and Brio, that Cortex didn't even think about being out of breath by the time he got to him. Cortex was craving revenge!

The mask reached the top of the cliff, but turned around and looked down below when he heard faint cries growing louder and louder. Dr. Cortex leapt up over the edge and stood there in the grass, his boss raised an eyebrow, curiously. Cortex gave him a cold stare, which was more like a scowl. The angel and devil nodded.

"What are you doing Cortex?! Uka demanded.

Cortex felt his knees start to buckle, but he straightened himself and spoke, "I'm done being your servant."

"What did you just say?!" Uka Uka seethed, as he flew over and loomed above him, eyes blazing with fury and rage. The scientist didn't even flinch, he held his ground.

"You heard me. I said I'm done with being your little servant!" Cortex spat back at him, with the same harsh tone as Uka Uka. "Have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, you might be the reason I keep failing!?"

"Oh, so it's my fault you're a failure?"

"Yes, you expect so much from me, and you stress me out most of the time that I can't even hear my own thoughts because of it! Now you can forget about giving me another chance for an Earth shattering plan for you to take over the world! I don't benafit from trying to help you!"

"What are you implying?!"

Cortex turned the dial on his gun to the burn setting, "What I'm implying is I quit working for you! I'm putting my foot down! Hire N. Tropy to take my place, I know that's what you've always wanted to do! So do it, see what I care! It won't effect me, cause I'm out!" He turned and started to walk away. But then, he whipped around briefly, and just to show that he was serious, the scientist squeezed the trigger, turning his ray gun into a handheld flamethrower.

The mask tried to fly out of range, but the top part of him got singed in the process. Nina, who had stopped walking and plopped down on a rock was watching the fight from below. She was amazed by her uncles aggression. He was finally standing up for himself. Uka Uka looked back at the man who held his scowl, he growled as he felt the burn settings effects. "I can see you're serious. Fine, you're free, I'll find another member of the N Team to team up with, but I won't forget this!"

Uka Uka stormed off back tword their shelter. After he was out of sight, Cortex looked down and saw Nina gazing up at him. She extended her metal hands out and grabbed the lower branch of a tree that resided at the top of the cliff and hoisted herself up to him. "I take it you're not working under him anymore?"

"Nope, I'm free finally. Now I can breathe again, all the stress is gone. Come on, back to our shelter." Cortex put his ray gun back in his pocket and him and Nina, headed on back. He was feeling accomplished as he looked at the angel and devil, both of them smiled.

"Nice going doctor, see I was right." The devil responded.

"Alright, I'll admit, you did good listening to him, but for me, this was a one time thing agreeing with him." The angel gave the devil the old 'I'm watching you look.' "See you next time Cortex and heed what I told you about listening to your heart." Both of them vanished once more.

Cortex knew he would be getting a good night sleep tonight after putting Uka Uka in his place.

This was the beginning of a new turning point in his life.

But a plan to beat Crash was next...

A/N

We know what you're all thinking, judging by the end of this chapter, but that's not it at all.

Thanks Nina. *walks around with magnifying glass in hands, looking for clues, looks over and sees the reviewers and followers* Oh hey, things took a turn in this chapter, and I've been trying to finish this chapter for the last four days! Ahhhhh! But it's done now. XD And I'm pumped for Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled, preordered my copy weeks ago. Now comes the hard part, waiting. While we're waiting, onto the reviews.

FlautaRara: yeah, I think Coco is holding a grudge against Cortex. And I agree, she was petty pissed, she did need to chill out. It is nice to see that Cortex isn't completely alone. And I've actually done the angel and devil on the shoulders in two other stories. Plus, I've seen it on cartoons many times before. XD Yeah, well have to wait and see what happens in the upcoming chapters. And you're right, Cortex shouldn't worry about getting fired, he can choose his own path, and judging by the end of this chapter... Oh boy, he did just that. XD Thanks for your suggestion.

Anon: Yeah, it's hard being in Cortex's position. I would hate to be him. And yes, he was thinking about his position in life. Again, I appreciate you're support in this tale. Crash and Nina are really nice to Cortex, somebody's got to be.

Alright we're still on the trail of finding Cortex. Not seeing anything...

Hold up! *picks up cores of Wumpa Fruit* These were eaten recently. Follow that trail of fruit! *sprints off with Nina following behind, sees Cortex with Crash*

Cortex!

yeah? *looks over shoulder and sees us* Oh hey, just getting something to eat.

Really I never would have pegged you as a Wumpa Fruit lover. It's Crash isn't it?

No! What makes you think that?!

Really, well you are having a snack with him.

True... *looks away*

*snaps fingers, making the hat and magnifying glass vanish* We'll find out more in later chapters. Until next time, keep smiling!