Chapter Ten: Yes! We've Got Super Powers!
A/N: Yes, I've titled this chapter after a mediocre, One Piece opening song from two years back. There's also some One Piece references in this chapter.
I based the lab rats off of Professor Frink and the Animaniacs version of Jerry Lewis.
The climax starts at the end of this chapter!
Earlier in the lab….
Bandit was looking at the windows and looking for her brother. "Let's see… Breaker...Miss Mirror…. Soaper. Soaper?"
"He has the power of soap," The lab rat explained. "He can make a floor real slick or make you very clean with the bubbles and the washing."
"What a dumb power." She then saw him. "SMOKEY!"
The possum toddler saw Bandit through the window. "Bandit?... BANDIT! UNCA DOOKIE!"
"It's uncle Duke!" the weasel said. "But you can call me dad now. Hey, rat! Get him outta 'dere!"
To their surprise. Smokey flew to the window in a cloud of smoke. He turned transparent. "Bandit! Unca Duke!"
"Woah!" Bandit shouted.
"That's why his name was appropriate," the lab rat explained as he was pressing buttons to open his door. "I think they gave him this power to fit the name. Make sure he keeps his containment suit on."
He opened the door and Smokey came flying out and immediately grabbed onto Bandit where he turned solid again. He started crying. "Bandit! Duuuke!"
Duke wrapped his arms around the two of them and they were all crying. "I'm so sorry!" Duke cried. "I tried to come back for you, I really did! It was impossible!"
"You my daddy now?"
Duke wiped a tear. "Yeah. Yeah, I am. Unofficially, but I got a cop lady who's gonna work on 'dat."
"You came back!. You good daddy!"
Duke broke down and cried as he hugged his possum son. He looked over to see Finnick weeping a little too.
"Would you guys knock it off, man?!" Finnick sobbed, but then, his big ears picked up some yelling. "Nick and Judy are in trouble! We gotta head back!"
Meanwhile, Nick, Sniffer, and Judy were losing a fight with two invisible mongooses. One sweep=kicked Nick off his feet. Nick rolled out of the way as another attack came. Judy was barely holding her own.
"Sniffer...OW! Using our senses was a good idea, but...OOF! It's not working!"
"I can smell where they are but… AAAH! They quickly change direction.!"
"Mongooses are tough enough without...AH! Without invisibility!"
Fixer was banging on the window to get the attention of Kelvin. "Let me out, sir! I can help!"
"What?! Are ya gonna drop fruit on them?!"
"No! I'm a bat! We have radar! I can tell them where they are!"
"Oh! Good idea!"
The guinea pig freed the young bat and he flew up near the ceiling, out of reach of the guards. He hung upside down on a fixture and then used his radar. "KIKIKIKIKIK! Hey, fox! He's behind you!"
Nick quickly turned around and threw a punch that landed. "Good going, kid!" Only to be kicked in the stomach. "OOF! A for effort!"
"KIKIKIK! Bunny lady! She's on the wolf's back!"
Judy jumped on Sniffer's back just as the mongoose jumped out of the way. She started attacking Sniffer's neck. "HEY! I'm on your side!"
"Sorry!" Judy replied. "She jumped off! This still isn't working!"
It was then that Smokey flew in and started leaving smoke everywhere. Everyone started coughing, but Nick could see the shape of the mongoose through the smoke. He grabbed one of them and pinned him to the ground. "I got on-OOF!"
The other mongoose kicked him off his sibling just as Duke, Bandit, and Finnick came back. "What the.. COUGH! COUGH! What the hell's goin' on?!" Finnick asked.
"Invisible mongoose guards!" Judy explained.
Bandit looked up. "Smokey! Fly up to that smoke alarm!"
Smokey did just that and his smoke set off the sprinklers. But what they didn't know was that water was Smokey's weakness. He turned back into a possum and started falling. "OH NO!" Bandit cried.
Fixer the bat flew in and grabbed Smokey before he hit the ground. "I got him!"
"Thanks, bat-boy!" Bandit exclaimed. "I'm sorry Smokey! I didn't know that would happen."
With the water falling, it was much easier to make out the images of the mongooses. Judy quickly got out her dart gun and fired two darts at the guards, robbing them of their powers and making them fully invisible. They tried to fight back, but the numbers were now against the mongooses. Nick tied their paws. "Great work everyone! Thanks, Smokey. You too, Fixer!"
The fruit bat flew into Nick's arms. "Did you mean what you said?! That you'd take me home with you?!"
Nick looked over at Judy. "Carrots? C'mon! Look! We have the same red face! The same red chest!"
"Your chest is cream-colored," Judy replied. "And…. I'll think about it. Right now, we need to focus on freeing these children. Kelvin, umm… lab rat?"
"It's Hinkle, nice lady with the badge and tight-fitting uniform!"
"Okay, Hinkle. Can you get the other lab r-assistants to help us free these kids?"
"Sure, wah-hey! But for now, I can go to the control room and unlock all these rooms a lot faster-glaiven!"
"Great! Kelvin, we don't want to be overwhelmed again. I think it's time for my crew to power up!"
"Follow me!" the guinea pig said as he ran on all fours, the others followed.
As they were running, Sniffer looked up at one of the monitors facing outside. "Oh, dear. Look!"
Everyone looked at the screen showing the parking lot outside. The ZPD were being overwhelmed as some had to fire on their own and the mafia was coming down on them. Several with super-powers. One had missiles shoot from his paws that made the cars explode.
"They don't have a prayer!" said Judy.
"Not without us," Nick replied. "We got to power-up and get out there!"
"But what about the children?!"
"The lab rats and I can get the children out," Sniffer replied. "We'll all meet in the parking lot two blocks down."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Judy asked.
Before Sniffer could reply, Nick interrupted. He looked Sniffer dead in the eye. "I trust you."
The wolf's ears drooped and he started to tear up with emotion. "Y-You do?"
"You've risked your life to help us and I can sense when someone is being fake. You really do want to redeem yourself. You got us this far, so… I forgive you."
The wolf hugged on to Nick and sobbed his heart out. "Oh, thank you! This means so much to me!"
Finnick looked up at Sniffer. "For the record, I don't!"
"One is all I need. Thank you! I'll protect these children with my life!"
They made it to the room. "Here we are! The serum room. These particular potions have all been tested and guaranteed to work. Now, we're not in a containment room, so please put on the containment suits over there. We don't know the effect your powers may have. A containment suit can help you control or even augment your powers! We have suits in red. blue, white, green, and yellow."
Judy was confused. "They're all small."
"They stretch to fit any size! And they absorb your sweat and other bodily fluids."
"You can pee in them?" Finnick asked as he put one of the suits on.
"Yes. The plotconvenium absorbs your natural waste and turns it into energy. Keeps you clean and dry as a bone"
"Sweet!"
They all got their costumes on and went over to the potions. Judy had to stop Susan from grabbing her eyesight potion. "Give me that! Please!" the sugar glider begged.
"No! You need to face the consequences of your actions!"
"Sugar! Sugar my sweet daughter! Help me!"
Sugar flew at her face. "No! You bah! Bah!"
Sniffer found this scenario fascinating. "The golden child finds her birth mother not worthy of her love. Tragic."
Everyone started picking out their potions. "I'm choosing strength," Nick said. "How strong will I get?"
The guinea pig answered. "You should be able to juggle diesel trucks with ease."
"Sweet!" He gulped the potion down.
Judy examined another. "What's this one? 'Living lightning'?"
"It's an elemental!" Kelvin explained. "You will be able to turn your body into electricity, zapping your foes with ease. You can turn into electricity, or still retain your bunny shape and shoot bolts from your paws. Just be careful. Elemental powers can be tricky. Don't take off that suit until you drink some diet Pupsi. "
"I understand. Bottom's up!"
Nick suddenly hunched over like he was in pain. "What's happening….to…. Me?!"
"The muscle mass is building," Kelvin explained again. "You should feel yourself get bigger and bigger."
"How big?!"
"About double your normal height."
"Awesome! Painful, but awesome!"
Finnick nabbed a vial off the shelf. "Size potion! Hell yeah! Time to get big!"
The guinea pig tried to stop him. "No, wait! That's actually…" The fennec fox shank until he was invisible. "SIGH!... The living flea potion."
Despite the fact that Finnick could not be seen, he could still be heard. "What the hell, man?! I'm the size of a crumb!"
"Just will yourself back to your normal size!"
Finnick suddenly grew back to his old self. "What kind of shitty power is this?!"
"You now have the ability to shrink down to the size of a flea but keep your normal-size strength."
"Whoopie."
"But when you're at your normal size, you have the proportional strength of a flea! You're almost as strong as the fox is now!"
"Seriously?" Finnick lifted a large, high-end computer off the ground with one paw. "Sweet!"
"With the power of a flea also comes the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound!"
"Okay, this isn't what I wanted, but… not too bad."
"Uhh...guys?" Everyone looked down to see a puddle of Duke Weaselton on the ground. "I think I took a bad potion."
Bandit was worried. "Dad! What did you do?!"
Kelvin explained. "That's the rubber potion. You are at full rest, Mr. Weasel."
"Weaselton!" Duke shouted.
"Just will yourself to normal shape. It's as simple as standing up."
Duke got himself off the ground and back to normal. "Oh. Yeah, 'dat was easy."
"You have the ability to stretch your body In any direction."
"You mean like Mr. Fabulous of 'da Fantastic Fur or 'dat pirate in 'dat anime Bandit likes 'ta watch?"
"It's called 'One Fleece', Dad!" Bandit said.
"Yeah, right. I like 'dat guy!" He stretched his arm outside and around the corner to grab a mop thirty feet away and brought it back. "'Dis is amazing!"
Nick was checking himself out. "I know, right! Look at my muscles!"
"I can stretch to any height!"
"I can lift a building!"
"I can turn myself into a balloon!"
"I'm finally stronger than Judy!"
"I can suck my own dick!"
Everyone stood, stunned. Judy was furious. "Duke! That's inappropriate! There are children present!"
"She's right Duke, that was nasty!" Finnick agreed. "Still… he's living the dream."
"I've practically broken my neck trying once," Nick admitted. "Duke may have gotten the best power out of all of us."
Finnick teared up. "So close, and yet...SNIFF!... so far!"
Judy was still upset. "You… You men!"
Greg was reaching for the potions. "I want a power! I want one!"
"No way!" Judy argued. "It's too dangerous!"
"All the other kids have one!"
"They never had a choice! If all the other kids jumped off a cliff, would y-look who I'm talking to. Of course, you would!"
Nick stepped in. "Carrots, depending on the power, it could protect him. Make him invulnerable and maybe I won't have to panic when he jumps off the roof again."
Kelvin interrupted. "I may have just the thing! It's a variant on the rubber power." He showed a vial. "We call it 'the bounce ability'. Turns the body into a hard, rubber-like state like Mr. Weaselton has but instead of stretching, it reflects back kinetic energy."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning he can ricochet off any impact. Even from the tallest building. The kinetic energy he absorbs is then forced back. Basically, he can bounce around at ridiculous speeds and heights like a rubber ball."
"This doesn't sound great. How does he stop?"
"As with the other powers, sheer will. To keep bouncing, just tuck your arms and legs into your body. To stop, spread out your arms and legs and he'll stop at the next thing he hits. He won't feel any pain when doing so and he'll be nigh-invulnerable."
"How 'nigh'?"
"He'll be bulletproof."
"Sounds like we have a winner. Carrots?"
Judy thought about it. "I don't know."
This upset Greg. "Aww! C"mon, mom!"
As they were arguing, Duke was outside the room and down the hall, testing his new powers. "Now, gum-gum…. jet pistol!" He shot his fist twenty feet down the hall and accidentally smashed some equipment. "Whoops! Hope no one saw 'dat."
Bandit and Smokey were close behind. "Look, dad! I got my own costume!"
"Why? You don't need a containment suit."
"The guinea pig said that with this on, I can make as many of me as I want and they'll stick around forever. Not just one hour. Also, check this out!"
Bandit duplicated a whole bunch of herself and they ran all over. "You. Stay here. Now watch." The duplicate poofed out of existence with a slight, puff of smoke as did the others. "I can now absorb them remotely and still retain their memories!... Hunh. One of me saw something called a 'clone room' two halls over."
"What?!"
They walked over and sure enough, the top of the sign said, "Clone Room" There was a brightly-lit, giant wall of small rooms that looked like animal cages at a pet store. An evil pet store. All the children inside were no older than two. They each only had about three square feet of space. "This is sick!" Duke said. "'Dese kids barely got room 'ta move!"
Bandit was looking at a different wall. "There's a whole wall of… 'donated blood samples' over here. Can they make clones from just blood?"
"At 'dis place?! I wouldn't be surprised." He then noticed something. "Some a 'dese babies… 'dey look familiar." He then saw two names and two species of animals that shocked him. "Oh…. my…. God! We gotta get 'da others!"
Meanwhile, Nick was bouncing Greg around like a basketball and whistling the Harlem Globetrotters theme. "Doing okay, Greg?"
"A little nauseous, but otherwise, great! I don't feel any pain!"
"Okay, now I'm gonna slam you down so you hit the ceiling and floor straight up and down and I want you to stop yourself."
Judy was worried. "Ooooh! I don't know about this!"
Nick slammed Greg down and the tiny bunny shot up to the ceiling and ricocheted back to the floor and back to the ceiling over and over again. "Okay, Greg...Stop!"
Greg out-stretched his body and hit the floor so hard it cracked.
Judy freaked out. "My poor baby!"
Greg just popped off the floor and even did a back-flip. "Ta-Dah!"
Judy was relieved. "You scared me! Wait… Where's Sugar! Please tell me Sugar wasn't in your pou-"
"I have her," said Sniffer from behind. "Nick had me hold her."
"Nick! You trust him that much?!"
Nick just shrugged his shoulders. "He worships her. He'd never put her in harm's way."
"SIGH! I guess."
It was then that Duke and Bandit ran back in. "Guys! 'Dere's a clone room wit' a bunch'a clone babies! 'Dere only about two years old if 'dat." Barely any room 'ta crawl, much less walk!"
"We got to get them out of there!" said Nick. "But we also have to go help the police right now!"
"Nick… they all got last names on the cages, and… And I saw one baby fox that says 'Wilde' and a baby bunny 'dat says 'Hopps'! I think 'da whole ZPD is 'dere! 'Dey's made from yer blood!"
Judy looked over at Susan who was trying to steal the sight potion again. She grabbed her away from it. "NO! I need that!"
"What did you do?!"
"We needed blood samples to try out our cloning techniques using DNA, so we made blood drives for charity. All of the ZPD donated."
"I remember," Nick said. "I was a little upset because back then I was broke and normally when I donate blood, I get 20 bucks and a cookie. But for the charity, I just got a cookie and juice. I gotta go see this!"
Judy handed Suzy over to Sniffer. "Watch her."
They ran over and looked at the windows. "There's a baby Bogo!" Nick noticed. "And a baby Clawhauser! A lot skinner too." He then saw it. A two-year-old of himself. "Oh... my!" The fox toddler was timid and scared. He went to the back of his cage. Nick spoke gently. "Don't worry. I'm never going to hurt you. You are a part of me. I'm you. And…. I'm going to take you out of here and I'm going to be your father."
Nick looked over at Judy. "Fluff. I don't think we're going to argue about adopting ourselves, right?"
Judy was looking at her baby self. "I'm still freaking out a bit to comprehend all of this, but yeah."
"Fixer would make it seven. That's the number you promised your mother."
Judy was so fixated on her baby self that she responded without thinking. "Yeah, okay."
Fixer immediately tackled Judy and started kissing her. "Oh, thank you, new mommy! Thank you!"
Judy freaked. "EEEE! Get him off! Get him off!"
Nick went over and pulled him off. "He's just excited to be with us, Carrots."
"I know. I'm sorry Fixer, I just… I gotta get used to this. This day has been…"
"If 2020 was a single day?"
"This story takes place in early 2020, but relative to readers, yes. That exactly! Oh, my God! It's me! That's me! I'm going to be raising myself!"
"Well Carrots, we did always want to have biological children. Albeit not THIS biologically close."
"That's why I did it," said a sad voice from behind. It was Suzy being held by Sniffer. "That's why I did all of this. You see, during my research, I fell in love with a flying squirrel. Richard. He was a brilliant genetic scientist. We were very much in love. We got engaged and wanted children, but…. We were biologically incompatible. Close, but no cigar as they say. It was then I poured all of my research into making crossbreeds a reality. It didn't pan out well, but the super-powers came as a result of my experiments. Along with Sugar. You see, I didn't want to risk my own life, in trying to crossbreed with Richard, so my sister volunteered. They put my egg in her uterus. However, the best way to inseminate was… the natural way. By then, I had taken the sight observe over all of the facility, but it caused me to watch as my fiance made love to my sister to have my child. Even with my emotions down by 90 percent, it enraged me."
Judy looked at her watch. "Are we gonna keep listening to this, because the ZPD is at a losing war outside."
Nick corrected her. "The villain always gets their exposition across or the audience doesn't know of their intentions. Besides, we're the heroes! We'll save the day at the last possible second."
Suzy continued. "So, I secretly had him killed. I had imprisoned Sally until the baby was born. I was going to kill her too, but when the baby cocooned herself, I realized she could still be of some use. We took samples of the baby's blood while it was in the cocoon and realized it's regenerative powers. It was a miracle child! We drained her blood over and over again."
Judy snarled. "You're sick! No wonder she stole her and hid away!"
"She survived, didn't she?! The elemental powers, the containment suits, plotconvenium, the miracles we've made here all came from her blood! That's why I was so desperate to get her back. She's my daughter. She belongs to me to use as I please!"
Nick had a question. "Wait. So your sister had sex with your fiance with your egg?"
"Yes."
"Was Sally barren?"
"... No?"
"Did you take a DNA test?"
"...No?"
"Then how do we know she's your daughter? Many mammals ovulate during sex."
"... Shut up!"
"Oooh! Nice response from a super-genius. Alright. We gotta go. Sniffer, I'm counting on you to help get these children out of here. Lab rat?"
"It's Hinkel!"
"I'm sure you guys have a million blood samples of Sugar. Get a blood sample from Susan and match it with hers. See if she actually is her mother."
"Oooh! I get to stab someone with a needle! My favorite pastime!"
"Alright. Fixer and Bandit. Help the kids escape to the parking lot. The rest can come with me."
Bandit was upset. "Hey! What about me?! I can help fight out there!"
"You were almost killed out there today and the rest of us are nigh-invulnerable. Having dozens of you get the children out will make this evacuation go a lot smoother."
Nick kneeled down to talk to the possum. "This is a very important mission and you're best suited for the job. Okay, Multiplex?"
She smiled. "Who told you my superhero name?"
"Greg did. He said he came up with it and you liked it."
"Yeah."
"...I also need you to protect the clone babies. You are the VIP on this. Understand?"
Bandit smiled. "I understand."
"Good. We're off!"
Sniffer started to head to the main room. "I shall announce your arrival over the outdoor speakers."
Nick was confused. "Wha?"
Sniffer just winked. "You'll see."
Meanwhile, outside of the lab…
Bogo was hunkered down by his car door. Bullets flying in every direction. "Aim your Pupsi darts at the mafia! We can't let these super-powered monsters win!"
"I'm all out!" Wolford shouted. "We're using the big guns and we're still losin' chief!"
The buffalo had seen enough. "Screw this!" Using his immense strength, he ripped off the door on the squad car and used it like a shield. He charged right at Frost. His tranq gun aimed right at the bear. With perfect aim, he shot.
Only for Frost to put up an ice wall and stop the dart. He froze Bogo in place. "This is why you lose Bogo. This is a war for the city and you use darts?! Boys, it's time for an execution!"
Frost made an ice cross that he froze Bogo to. "Chief William Bogo. You are hereby accused of impeding the progress of this city, and you and your men are guilty of assault and unlawful imprisonment of my men and my woman!"
"Your woman?! The woman I had sex with that you were fully aware of and encouraged? What does that make you Frost?!"
"Shut up."
A smirk came across Bogo's face. If these were his final words, he wanted it to count. "It makes you a cuck!"
This enraged Frost. He punched a helpless Bogo in the face. "Shut up! Men, line up and get ready to fire."
Wolford saw what was happening. "Boss! No!" Before he could do anything Johnson knocked the wolf out with the back of his rifle. "It's only because of my respect for you that I don't kill you right now."
He was attacked from behind by Fangmeyer. The tiger clawed into his back. "GAAH!" Johnson swatted her to the ground and aimed his rifle at her. "I asked you out so many time and you turned me down! You had to go for that loser instead of me! For that, you die!"
Out of nowhere, Johnson's rifle flew out of his paws. "What the?!"
The butt of his rifle hit him in the face over and over. It was like it had a life of its own. It swung back and hit Johnson so hard, it knocked him out.
Suddenly, Finnick grew out from the ground, holding the tip of the rifle. "Figures. He's a damn incel." He hopped on the trunk of a squad car and kissed the back Fangmeyer's paw. "Relax, tiger lady. The cavalry has arrived."
"Who are you?!" Fangmeyer asked.
"A superhero."
An arctic fox who was lined up at the execution looked back when he heard the commotion. "Did you hear that?" He asked Frost.
"Nevermind that, it's probably nothing!" the polar bear said. "Ready… aim…"
Before he could finish, they heard a voice from above."Geronimoooo!"
"What?!"
Duke Weaselton jumped from the top of the Chemiracles building and into the line of fire between Frost and Bogo. "You wan 'da chief, you gotta go through me!"
Frost was seriously confused. "You?! You're the weasel I iced earlier today!"
"Didn't take. Kevin should have known something was up since I'm part of the polar bear club."
Kevin smacked his head. "THAT'S where I saw him! I knew I'd seen him around before!"
Frost gnashed his fangs. "Dammit Kevin! It doesn't matter. You want to die with the chief so be it. Ready… Aim…"
"Watch 'dis, chief Bozo! I saw it in an anime. Gum-Gummm…"
"FIRE!"
"BALLOON!" Duke instantly inflated his body out and caught the rapid amount of bullets the mafia fired. They stretched in his belly and chest and almost poked out the other side of him. The bullets stretched so far, they got less than an inch from Bogo's face.
The experience was not pleasant for Duke. "Ooooh! 'Dis hurts more 'dan I expected! Here's yer bullets back, punks!"
Duke's body bounced forward and sent the bullets flying back at the mafia. They tried to duck, but some were hit with the very bullets they fired.
Frost was furious. He tackled Duke and froze him in place. "Oh, crap!" Duke yelled. The only part Frost didn't freeze was his face. Frost iced his fist and started punching Duke's face with all of his might. Even with his rubber ability absorbing the blows, it was taking its toll. "OW! OOF! EEK! ANY TIME GUYS!"
Frost pulled his iced fist back for another punch when suddenly, the spotlights on the top of the Chemirales building shined brightly and the trumpets of a familiar tune from a children's show started to play. "What… The… Hell?!" Frost said in bewilderment.
"Is that the theme from the 'Superfurs'?" Bogo asked.
Inside, Sniffer got on the mic and gave him his answer.
Gathered together… from the cosmic reaches of the universe!
One by one, the heroes jumped off the building as Sniffer introduced them. The only exception were Finnick and Duke who were already down on the field.
That massive mountain of might… Wilde Thing!
"It's called 'muscle; sweetheart!"
The lovely Leporidae of lightning… Bolt Bunny!
"Your defeat will be…. Shocking!"
Their bouncing, bunny boy… Ball Bunny!
"Time to….hop to it?! I got nothing."
The ex-robber of rubber… Stretch Weaselton!
" 'Ex robber of rubber'?! He makes it sound like I used to steal condoms!" PUNCH! "OW! Stop it! My poor face!"
The teensy-tiny terror…. Flea Fox!
"My power still sucks! I wanna be a giant!"
And last, but not least, those terrific tots of triumph… Smokey and Pixie!
The two of them flew out and spun around each other as they headed to help the officers.
Their mission… to fight injustice, to right that which is wrong, and to serve all mammalkind!
Nick looked over at Judy. "That dude's been watching WAY too many Saturday morning cartoons."
"Are you sure we should be letting two-year-olds fight in this?" Judy asked.
"Sure! Why not?! Smokey can't be touched and Sugar's immortal and has golden pollen that can negate the enemies super-powers."
"Or ours if we're not careful. Smokey's weakness is plain water!"
"Don't worry, honey. Plenty of other superheroes have sidekicks and nothing happens to them. Look at Robin!"
"Robin died."
"What?"
"Yeah. They've gone through like, four different Robins in the comics. At least one died."
"... Okay, maybe this wasn't the best idea."
