JMJ
Chapter Seven: Innocent Until Proven Guilty
"Hmm," said Mr. Haltmann musing at the screen from over his desk.
Dr. Kyle felt his eyes upon him before he looked back at him.
They were watching the humiliating retraction of their own machines placing Wispy back into his spot in the forest, where he was properly replanted. The only fortunate thing was that Wispy was too worn out or too disoriented to tell anyone clearly about a further problem in the woods—the mechanizing of everything living there, but it would not be much longer.
Kyle dared not return Mr. Haltmann with any kind of look unless Mr. Haltmann directly addressed him, but he had already known he was in trouble when he had been ordered to Haltmann's office like a naughty schoolboy. He dared not indicate anything, really, but stood, his black shiny shoes planted firmly beneath him and his floating gloved hands wrapped neatly behind his straight back. He appeared unperturbed except for the pucker in his brow that Mr. Haltmann could not see at the moment.
Once the process of putting the tree-creature back had been complete, Mr. Haltmann turned to Kyle a second time and said lightly, "Mechanizing life-forms is your department, Dr. Kyle."
Slowly Kyle turned his head and gave a slow uneasy smile in his eyes. "Yes, Mr. Haltmann."
"We aren't blaming the Mother Computer on this, I hope," sniffed Mr. Haltmann impatiently as he moved his floating chair away from the desk and drew closer to Kyle.
Kyle did all he could to keep from taking a step back from him.
"Oh, not at all, Sir! The fault is, admittedly, all mine. I…must've miscalculated the strength of the mechanized botanic against itself; for, as we've seen that is how the little pink plop defeats its enemies."
Mr. Haltmann snorted. "Oh, indeed, Dr. Kyle!"
"But on my behalf, Sir," Kyle went on holding up a finger innocently, "it was a little rushed. The mechanizing process was not complete, especially since the botanic has such a thick hide around the middle and its delicate photosynthetic cotyledon-coated head possesses the exact opposite difficulty. Its bodily systems are not as easy to adhere to the process as other biological life without risk of damaging its energy feed and since it was not a full mechanizing process, Kirby was able to dislodge it. I couldn't make it too encased. I can't be expected to perform miracles, after all, even with the benevolent and all-knowing Mother Computer on our side, Sir. Heh, heh."
Haltmann flashed a dangerous expression, and Kyle bowed apologetically and to hide his face burning red in the cheeks now.
"Well, see that it doesn't happen again!" snapped Mr. Haltmann quickly. "Schedules are important. It won't be long before the Mother Computer is able to control everything on its own without the need of you and your incompetence. If you prove yourself unworthy, Dr. Kyle, efficiency in our company will not be sacrificed, and you will no longer be an asset, do I make myself clear?"
"Unmistakably, Sir!"
"Then you had better go back to your work station, Dr. Kyle, and prove to me your work ethics."
"Right away, Sir," said Kyle with a dramatic bow, and he quickly withdrew, for he certainly did not want to lose his ergonomic seating or anything far worse than that.
#
Supper in the castle dining hall came a little later than usual that evening because of all the construction the Waddle Dees had had to do that day. Susie did not seem to have much of an appetite regardless. It could have been guilt or it could have just been the sour, suspicious glare Escargoon kept gracing her with as he waited on the king. It might have even been the way that King Dedede kept complaining about his robots too with a little less than refined table manners as he was in a disagreeable mood, but Escargoon certainly pegged her lack of appetite on guilt. She did not pick away slowly and glumly. She was as secretive about her true feelings as ever, but she was in hurry, he could tell that much.
"Not hungry?" asked Escargoon with an unpleasant sort of smirk when Susie asked to be excused early.
"Oh, it's just been a long day, Mr. Escargoon," Susie said. "I still feel terrible about what has happened, and I just would rather get some rest. You understand."
"Yeah, well, tomorrow I better get a discount or something free to make up for what happened today!" growled Dedede, but he shooed her away nonetheless.
"I'll see what I can do, Your Majesty," said Susie with a bow.
She hurried perhaps just a little too quickly out of the room, but then who would want to eat their meal with an ill-tempered Dedede and Escargoon anyway. Swiftly she made for her room, but she had not gone far when she felt a presence in the hall with her. Despite herself she made a slight jump as she turned. It was the knight, Meta Knight, and she tried not to look suspicious. He did not seem to notice anything unusual about her, anyway.
He glanced mildly at her as they crossed paths and he said politely, "Miss Susie."
"Sir Knight," said Susie quietly and placidly, and she bowed.
Then Meta Knight continued on his way. Susie watched him for a moment and could not help but remember that feeling of being watched in the hall before when she had been spying on Dedede and Escargoon. She felt a little shiver, but Meta Knight now did not once look back. He even seemed to stifle a yawn as he turned a corner so that Susie shook her head.
He just carries a presence, she thought to herself. A wonderfully mysterious and intriguing presence, but he's just as sleepy as everyone else in this sleepy backwater place, isn't he?
She tried to convince herself of this anyway. After all, he may have been good in a fight, but that did not mean he had any true sense. He was only a savage native. Turning again she floated to her room. Closing the door behind her, she paused, and then locked it. She also drew the curtain closed; the window itself was already shut and latched. After a moment of silence and of thought, she then promptly took out her transport pad and transported back in a flash of light to the Mother Ship to see how things were going.
Though, it was not long after her exit from the scene when the latch on the window suddenly moved. Behind the curtain a thin strip of metal between the two doors moved the latch upwards. Once the latch slipped down the other way, the window slowly and carefully opened and Meta Knight stepped into the room. He had not been idle since suspicions of Haltmann Works Company had arose.
He was no stranger to that transport pad either and aimed right for it. He gazed down at it darkly before using it himself. A gleaming, hygienic flash of white, pink and blue and he was no longer in the castle but in the Mother Ship. He emerged in a fighting stance, prepared just in the case of an attack, but when he looked around the wide pad, he saw that he stood very isolated.
A personal transport of Susie's, he guessed.
But it did not take him long to find out where there were people. The busily working grunts of Haltmann were mostly below the precarious platform or balcony that Meta Knight walked along. Translucent and nearly ethereal-looking elevator shafts took the workers up to various levels, and as Meta Knight made his way along, he could hear the faint eerie echoes of the Haltmann jingle. He also heard Susie humming it to herself down a particular corridor, and singing a little bit too:
Noble Haltmann, we adore him
Noble Haltmann, we adore him
Kingly lord of time and space…!
Meta Knight's eyes narrowed, but he did not follow her. He remained out of sight and out of the way for a little while until he saw that many of the workers were going on a break or perhaps to bed. Then he found his way to the labs below. One of the main ones was nearly empty, he saw. Only dim light filled the room, and only a few workers were apparent. Two of them were the smaller grunt-sized assistants, but one was a full scientist—at least that was what could be surmised as he was not dressed in a matching uniform and seemed to be in charge.
Very swift and agile in movement, Meta Knight quietly knocked out the two drones before they knew what had hit them. The scientist turned with a raised brow curiously, but before he could see the unconscious workers his eyes suddenly bulged as he felt the sword at his throat.
"What are the real plans of Mr. Haltmann?" asked Meta Knight coolly.
The scientist blinked and then frowned as he said, "A little cowardly to interrogate someone from behind."
"Answer the question."
The scientist cleared his throat and then said nervously, "I'm sure Susie and Mr. Haltmann made their plans quite clear. We're selling you a load of crap that no one else in the universe will pay much for. What else would we be doing?"
"Yes, and more than just old appliances you want to get off your shelves," Meta Knight pressed.
"Look I'm going to be in a lot of hot water if I spill private company information, so whether I get into trouble with you or into trouble with the company it really doesn't make that much of a difference now does it?"
The sword got a little closer at the neck.
"It would only take a second to remove your head," Meta Knight pointed out.
"You do have a point, I'll grant you," said the scientist even more nervously than before. "A very, very excellent point. What do you want to know exactly?"
"Your scientists caused purposely what happened to Wispy Woods."
"If you know that why are you asking?"
"I know that Wispy was not the only tree in the woods to suffer the same fate although they cannot move as Wispy had. Soon it will be the entire forest, won't it? What is your business in Dream Land?"
"A, uh…science experiment," squeaked the scientist. "Albeit a very unorthodox one. You know, it would be easier to talk with my throat not bobbing into a sharp-toothed sword. You're not a native either, I'll take it."
"What sort of experiment? Why Dream Land?"
"The resources were prime," said the scientist very near a sob. "Listen, I'm going to get in serious trouble, here."
"You made Wispy, a creature of nature, part machine and twice—perhaps, thrice when counting King Dedede's second robot purchase, your aim was to fight Kirby. Was it always to fight Kirby?"
"We got nothing against the little bugger personally!" begged Kyle, for indeed it was Kyle. "Mr. Haltmann has a tight schedule and a tight budget. It's just good—"
"—business?" asked Meta Knight lightly.
Kyle lifted a hand idly and returned to his normal lazy expression for a moment, "Well, when you put it that way…"
"Then you are planning to take resources from Popstar for your experiments. Then what?"
"I—well, it's part of the Mother Computer's—"
Meta Knight stiffened as he felt someone approach from behind.
"As Kyle told you," said a voice just as Meta Knight was turning to see who it was; he was not surprised to see Susie. "Private company business."
Meta Knight shoved Kyle into the floor where he collapsed face-first with a moan.
Susie stood upon a balcony looking down upon them. She looked very calm.
"Susie, you must see at least the unethical nature of what you are doing," said Meta Knight calmly. "Put a stop to it. Tell your noble master to put a stop to it."
Susie laughed her little tinkling laugh. "So you heard."
"Heard what?" demanded Meta Knight.
With another little laugh she began to sing:
Noble Haltmann, we adore him
Noble Haltmann, we adore him
Kingly lord of time and space!
Every day we wish him glory,
Every day we wish him glory,
Gazing on his noble face!
Master, crush the competition!
In your presence let us stay!
Yours is every star and planet
Now and ever, night and day!
We implore you, dear Haltmann
We implore you, dear Haltmann
Bless our work and be at ease!
Pay and ergonomic seating,
Pay and ergonomic seating,
Give us favors such as these!
All we wish for you our lord is
That you never lead us wrong!
Rule us all, beloved Haltmann!
That we may all sing our song!
When she had first began Meta Knight had only lowered his eyelids with disgust, but as she continued to sing he kept all senses on alert. He had a feeling it was a diversion or a form of stalling as Susie did not quite seem mad enough to sing like this for no reason at all. Kyle, he noticed, was slowly taking the opportunity to try to whack him over the head with a wrench from behind, but with the butt of his sword and as quick as a flash he struck Kyle down and knocked him out without looking behind him. Susie only watched as she sang and did not stop until she reached the end, and still nothing happened.
"You knew that I was here the entire time," said Meta Knight.
"I was beginning to suspect someone wiser than a little juvenile female and a sensitively brainless servant was on to me," Susie admitted, "watching from the shadows, a brave protector of these silly indigenous creatures. It is admirable. Oh, it's really sweet, actually." And she laughed again.
Meta Knight's eyes kept a watchful gaze out on her hands which were obviously fiddling with something.
"You must stop this, Susie," he said again then rather darker than before.
"Oh, you won't do anything to me," said Susie brightly. "I'm just an unarmed secretary. You're much too honest and brave and true."
"And the resources?" pressed Meta Knight moving the conversation away from himself.
"Popstar, especially in Dream Land is a place lush with natural resources. Clean air…fresh water…but you must know that the natives take it for granted. Mr. Haltmann is only going to put it to good use. Our Mechanizing Occupation Program is underway, and although I must say that though, you are my favorite, you are still an obstacle to us just as much as Kirby is. Therefore I have no choice."
Meta Knight waited for it.
"You must be destroyed," said Susie now herself with a tone of voice rather dark.
She pushed her button, and Meta Knight slipped away. The alarms went off and emergency lights began to blink, but nothing was directly chasing him. That made Meta Knight suspicious, but just as he looked over his shoulder at a sound that he thought might have been an adversary, he suddenly felt suction at his feet and he nearly tripped. He had to stop running.
His feet were sticking hard to a strange tar-like substance coming up out of the floor. His eyes narrowed again as he tested his footing to see if there was any way to tread this queer substance, but it kept expanding. He slashed his sword against it and freed himself temporarily, but the substance was becoming like quicksand in the sense that the more he moved the more stuck he became, and the thicker and stickier it was until he felt almost like he was being swallowed up in a giant melted marshmallow. He looked back once more only to see Susie arriving and Kyle clutching his forehead.
He tried again and again to use his sword to free himself before the stickiness swallowed him again, but soon even his sword hand and his Galaxia could not save him. It was as humiliating as it was dreadful, but he could not escape these madmen—for now at any rate.
"He's taken, Mr. Hatlmann," said Susie on a communicator.
Then he saw no more, nor could he move. He could barely breathe and consciousness was leaving him fast no matter how he fought. It was no use. He could not get back to Dream Land.
#
"We now have only one concern," said Susie to Mr. Haltmann in his office after Meta Knight was properly contained in the lab. "We must keep the inhabitants busy until the— ahem— Mecha Knight is finished so that he can take care of Kirby himself while we finish the mechanizing of Popstar."
"You seem to have a suggestion on your mind," remarked Mr. Haltmann wrapping his hands over the arms of his floating golden seat.
"Why, yes, President Haltmann," said Susie eyeing a photo on his desk that was usually not there of a very small child that looked strikingly related to Susie if not a younger version of herself. "I was thinking of going forward and just simply mechanizing Castle Dedede and the grounds surrounding it under the guise of giving the castle its own remodel for a very extreme discount. You'd like that wouldn't you, sir?"
Haltmann smiled with his mustache. "That's what I like about you, Susie. No one can multitask like you. Having someone pay us to mechanize them is your department."
"That's not the only reason you like me," muttered Susie despite herself.
"There is more than one reason, yes," retorted Mr. Haltmann so that Susie jumped to know that he had heard her. "But there's no reason to be too much of an upstart, now is there?"
"My apologies, Mr. Haltmann."
"No matter, no matter," said Mr. Haltmann shaking his hand and closing his eyes. "Balanced self-confidence is what makes a team player. Now go, commence with your plan."
"Thank you, Mr. Haltmann," said Susie with a humble bow. She was just about to withdraw however when Mr. Haltmann stopped her.
"You noticed my photograph," said Mr. Haltmann then.
Susie's cheeks burned suddenly, and she spun around to face him.
"Sir?" she asked almost eagerly despite herself.
"You've heard the saying that one cannot change their past mistakes. Only atone for them."
With a slow nod Susie frowned. "Yes, Sir."
"I am not about to make the same mistake twice with this plan and lose everything I worked for," said Mr. Haltmann, a strange faraway look in his eyes now as he stared at Susie— stared right through her rather, but Susie could not help but wonder if something about her eyes had given him that faraway look.
Part of her hoped so but part of her resented it.
"Are you… alright, Sir?" asked Susie with difficulty.
Mr. Haltmann shook his head and turned his chair around with a swivel of a device on his armrest.
"I have vowed in your very presence that the Haltmann Works Company will be the most powerful entity in the known universe, and I do not intend to break that vow for anything. If I cannot see my Susie again, I will, with all my strength if necessary, preserve this last Dream, and what better place than a country called Dream Land to have the Star Dream arise like a phoenix out of ashes."
Susie did all she could to keep from rolling her eyes. She hid it in another bow. Then Mr. Haltmann allowed her to leave.
After the door closed automatically behind her, Susie leered back at it with ruthless annoyance.
"Stupid old man," she muttered before continuing on her way with a whip of her hair.
NOTE: Yes, I got that tar bubble thing from the Incredibles, hah, hah. I thought that would be fun, actually even if I feel sorry for poor Meta Knight.