"Finally!"
Marvel threw aside her wrench, cringing at the sudden crash when it had smacked into the wall, leaving a small dent.
"Shoot. Ah well—Cortex won't care once he finds out what I just made!"
Marvel excitedly snatched her invention—a metal collar of some sort—and dashed out of the lab in search of a certain mutant. Finding Nina's room, she opened the door and stuck her head in.
"Hey Nina—you haven't seen Ripper Roo anywhere, have you?"
Nina and Tiny Tiger were in the middle of a game of checkers. "Last I saw, he was still in 'time-out'," Nina replied as she moved her piece.
"Time-out?" Marvel stifled a laugh. "What did he do this time?"
"Let's see…" Nina sighed, trying to think in her head. "Smashed a couple of beakers, ripped up several blueprints...raided the fridge again...the list goes on."
"Tiny try to stop him, but Tiny get hit in head..." Tiny rubbed his sore head.
Marvel shook her head with a snicker. "Okay, well, if you see your uncle anywhere, tell him I got a solution to this whole Ripper Roo problem." She shut the door, leaving the two in curiosity.
Marvel sauntered over to a large, reinforced, steel door and carefully unlocked every single lock that was on it. Opening the door rather hastily to find herself in a padded room, she found Ripper Roo, who was lying on his stomach. His eyes turned to look at the unexpected guest as his tongue hung out of his mouth, curling slightly.
"Hey there! You remember me, right?" Marvel smiled, and Ripper Roo just blinked at her. "Anyway, I got something for ya!" She held out the collar for him to see.
Ripper Roo hopped up, eying the collar suspiciously. He giggled in caution, gradually inching his way over to take a closer look.
"See? How about you try it on—" Marvel went to put it around his neck, but he jumped back in a panic, cackling madly. "Hey—it won't hurt! I promise!"
Ripper Roo began bouncing around the room, intentionally avoiding her as she chased him left and right, trying to grab him. He blew raspberries and laughed at her.
"Get back here!" Marvel shouted, but he refused to obey. He whirled around, only to hop on her head and continue his giggling fit. Marvel scowled and whipped out her trident from behind her back. "HEY!"
Ripper Roo stopped bouncing and blinked at her again.
"Yeah, ya see this? Now be a nice kangaroo, and I won't have to use this!" Marvel growled.
Ripper Roo's eyes widened a bit, and his ears lowered. He remained in place.
"Good kangaroo..." Marvel lowered her trident and calmly approached him. As soon as she was just inches away, Ripper Roo's giant tongue lurched forward and licked her entire face. Marvel stood there blankly before shaking away his slobber. "You're quite the oddball, y'know that?" She carefully took the collar. "Now, please hold still."
For once, Ripper Roo actually obeyed, and she noticed how he was staring at her trident. Once the collar fitted on, Marvel took a step back to admire her work.
"Perfect! That wasn't so bad, was it?" She beamed.
"What in the world is going on in here—?" The door swung open, and Cortex stuck his head in. "Wha—Marvel! What are you doing in here with that buffoon!?"
"Introducing my latest invention!" Marvel gestured to the collar around Ripper Roo's neck.
"Eh...a collar?" Cortex frowned and stepped forward. "What for?"
"You'll see!" Marvel looked at Ripper Roo expectantly. Ripper Roo only cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"See what?"
"Who said that?" Cortex looked around.
"TADA! Ripper Roo can now speak!" Marvel exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. "So now we can understand why he's causing us so much trouble!"
"What? Wait...that was me?" Ripper Roo perked up. "I can...speak. I CAN SPEAK! HAHAHAHAHA!" His voice sounded high-pitched and maniacal.
Cortex was stunned. "That's just...creepy...but incredible!" He looked super impressed.
Ripper Roo squealed with glee as he hopped around. "Hallelujah! FINALLY! I've had so many things that I've been wanting to say for years! Like...STOP FEEDING ME PLANTS YOU FAT-HEADED BARBARIAN!"
Cortex's smile vanished within an instant, and Marvel cracked up.
"PLANTS PLANTS PLANTS...I'm SICK of PLANTS! Why do you think I keep raiding the fridge, ya old coot!? I'm always STARVING!" Ripper Roo screamed.
Cortex frowned. "Huh. That must explain why you ate my desk chair last week..." he mumbled.
"Now can ya PLEASE lemme outta here? I'm BOOORED!" Ripper Roo shook his head around wildly.
"Fine—fine. We'll get you something better to eat. But I'll only let you out of here more if you promise NOT to cause any more mischief, got it?" Cortex growled.
"No promises, doc. But I'll lay off ya a LOT more if you just promise me one thing!" Ripper Roo cackled.
"And that is...?"
"Don't let that crazy lady stab me, please!" Ripper Roo hopped behind Cortex, gaping at Marvel's trident.
Cortex smirked and shook his head. "Goodness. At least now we can satisfy him to some extent. Thank you so much, Marvel."
"No problem." Marvel chuckled, winking at Ripper Roo.