Chapter 3! :D
Lee was entirely focused on the mission ever since he yelled "It's mission time!" back at the jet. Well, he was until he and Tony reached the ground and realized there were beautiful college girls in every direction he looked. He was wondering why they didn't just sneak into a window on their way.
Nah, this works too. We're already on the ground, what can we do? This he thought while drooling over the blonde college girl who walked past him.
Lee stared at every girl as he and Tony entered a building. Tony glanced at his reflection on the glass door and couldn't believe how mature he looked. He walked with his long legs, trying to get used to it although he already experienced this once, when he got turned into an adult during an encounter with a ten-year old villain.
"So this is how it feels like to be in college," Lee said as he glanced at the lockers, classrooms and people in the hallway. He was the eldest so he would be the first one to get to college among him and his siblings.
"Hey, if we still have time, can we explore around the school?" Tony asked excitedly, his voice sounding high. The gadget altered their appearance but not their voices. "Please? Pretty pretty please?" His eyes were wide and his hands were clasped together.
"Sure thing, bro. But you have to stop acting like that. You might look 18 but you sure still sound like our 11-year old Tony."
Another glass door was in front of them. Lee reached for the handle but Tony stepped ahead and pushed it open. He stepped aside, pushing Lee behind. Before the big brother could ask, he noticed a group of girls who probably had walked behind them. They smiled as Tony gestured for them to walk ahead while he held the door open. One of the girls shot Tony one last smile before he and Lee walked in.
"Smooth move, Tone," Lee remarked, noticing the satisfied look on his brother's face. "I guess you and I have the same reason for wanting to explore this school."
"What? No, dude. I really do wanna see what universities are like. I was just trying out Megan's advice to see if it would work."
"Looks like it did. And you tried it out first on girls who are older than the ones you'll really ask. Pretty smart, bro."
"Well, if I have to act like an 18-year old then I guess I have to think like one. Hey, look!" He spotted a door on their left, which had names of professors printed on a wooden board. One of the names was Mr. Tadwell's.
"There's our guy." Lee opened the door and greeted them was a loud sneeze.
The room was an office indeed, an office for four people. It had four desks, each piled up with paperwork and books. But the desk on the very back left was filled with more than paperwork and books, which was the very same thing covering them because it occupied the whole desk. Tissues; used, crumpled and icky tissues. The man sitting behind the desk was alone. He sneezed again, followed by a heavy cough.
Lee and Tony gave each other a look. "Uhh, Mr. Tadwell?" They were still by the door, far away from the sneezing man in a lab coat.
"Yes?" He coughed again. "What can I do for you?"
The two hesitated at first but still went on to approaching the man behind his tissue-scattered desk. The man had long black hair tied to a ponytail. He looked like he was in his early twenties but his saggy face, red nose, teary eyes and dark eyebags made him look even older.
"Umm, we're just here to congratulate you for the success of the conference." Mr. Tadwell sneezed again. "Even though I heard that an incident happened during the award-presentation," Lee finished as he and Tony backed away when Mr. Tadwell let out another heavy cough.
"That's very thoughtful." That was all he could say before he buried his face into another strip of tissues for another round of sneezing and coughing.
Lee and Tony felt bad for him. "Whoah, Sir, you're really sick. You should take the day off," Tony suggested. Even if he wasn't an official student of this university, someone should really tell that to this professor.
Mr. Tadwell managed to form a smile under his runny nose. "Thank you for your concern, students, but I can't do that. I have three more classes to teach this afternoon. Besides, cold is fairly common in this season. But if I had known that this cold could get significantly worse in just one night then I wouldn't have come to school today," Mr. Tadwell said before sneezing again.
"You've been sick since last night?" Tony pointed out.
"The same night as the conference?" Lee asked.
"Yes. After the conference, specifically. When I got home, the cold started to come in."
"After that incident during the awards presentation, specifically." Lee noted.
"I've hosted several conferences before and believe me, technical glitches like that happen everytime." Mr. Tadwell wiped his nose.
"Were you up for an award too?"
"No. I'm just an instructor who happens to enjoy hosting events. And studying for my Master's degree makes it a lot harder to focus on a research study, if I had one."
Mr. Tadwell burst into sneezing and coughing again. Lee snatched one of the used tissues into his jacket's inner pocket.
"Okay, we have to go now, Mr. Tadwell," Lee said quickly, nudging Tony on the elbow.
"Yeah, because of class and stuff." The two boys walked towards the door while hearing the sneezing and coughing of Mr. Tadwell. "Get well soon!" Tony said and he and Lee closed the door in front of them.
They were back at the fresh and uninfected environment of the hallway.
"Phew! I'm glad to be out of there," Tony told Lee.
"Yeah, at least we got a clue." Lee pointed to the inner pocket in his jacket. "I just hope Marc and Megan get a less disgusting one," his face puckered.
"I guess we're done here. Come on, let's walk around," Tony said and he and Lee exited the halls like a couple of 10 year olds on Chocolate Cake Day.
Marc and Megan stood in front of Dr. Skinner's office. Megan knocked on the door then a woman with eyeglasses opened it.
"Yes?" the woman peeked at them.
"We're here to see Dr. Skinner," said Megan.
"I'm sorry but Dr. Skinner isn't available right now," the woman spoke in a nasal voice.
"But his schedule says he's available for consultation," Marc said.
A man's voice was heard from inside the office. "Who's that, Natasha?"
The woman turned to the direction of the voice, "Just a couple of students, Doctor."
"Let them in, let them in," he said.
The woman opened the door wide and let Marc and Megan in.
The office looked empty but the voices and laughter from behind a wall told them otherwise. The teenage-looking spies passed by a couple of empty desks, with the woman walking behind them. They took a turn and stopped in surprise.
Here was Dr. Skinner sitting behind his desk, his arms bent above his shoulders to hold his head. His legs were stretched comfortably on the desk, where in front sat two female professors massaging either one of his feet. And the worst part was, when they all turned to face Marc and Megan, the women were smiling.
"Uhh," the twins uttered as they stared at the unprofessional-looking doctor in a room for professionals. They had trouble processing the doctor and his bare feet that they didn't notice the woman called Natasha walk past beside them.
"Here's your coffee, Doctor," she said in a pleasant tone as she handed him the cup.
"Oooh, thank you, Natasha. Your coffee is the best beverage I've ever tasted."
Marc and Megan swore they saw Natasha blush. "Oh, you know that's not true, Doctor." She giggled. They had a few more flirty exchanges before Natasha finally walked out of their sight.
Marc and Megan were just standing there the whole time but now they looked like they were about to vomit their breakfast. The thing was, the doctor was old, like Jerry-old! Natasha looked probably around his age which was totally okay but the two women massaging his feet looked ten years younger! They looked like they were in mid-twenties, but most importantly, WHY are they massaging his feet?! The doctor wasn't even good-looking even for an old guy, according to Megan. This was just too much for the twins. Even if they were international spies in disguises, they were still 12 year olds!
"Anything I can help you with, kids?" the doctor asked before taking a sip of his coffee.
The spies stepped closer but not too close because they were still freaked out by his bare feet and the two women they couldn't find a logical explanation with.
"We just want to congratulate you for winning that award during the conference last night," Marc answered.
"Yeah, we heard it was a very great award," Megan added, trying not to look at the two women.
The professor's eyes widened. "Oh thank you, thank you. I'm glad that the students still have interest for the science community. Well, I have to say, I do deserve the Special Award for my leadership during the surgical operation of one of our colleagues. I don't want to brag but it wasn't really a tough operation and I did save his life."
"I heard about that. You were amazing, doctor," spoke the one in charge of the left foot.
"Totally. The explosion of chemicals made his face look hopeless but you made him look even better than the face he was born with," the other one said.
Marc and Megan looked at each other in disgusted faces.
"Did you get other awards? Like for your research studies?" Marc asked.
The doctor raised an eyebrow. "No. I haven't been involved in research projects for a while. Younger scientists are devoted to that, pushing new ideas of theirs. I've stuck to teaching and a little curing here and there. But who needs research when I've already got a Special Award? Finally, the community took notice of me, and that's not the only thing that trophy's got me noticed." He brushed the invisible hair on his balding head as he winked at the two women by his feet.
Marc and Megan shared another terrified face.
"Is it okay if we take a look at the trophy?" Marc asked.
"Yes yes. Anything for my admiring students." The doctor looked even more proud as he gestured to the cabinet to his right. "You two should definitely come to my laboratory every once in a while. I can show you the exact procedure of the operation that led me to my award."
"That's not really necessary," Megan started. Marc had walked to the cabinet, staring at the beaker-shaped trophy through the glass. The trophy had the words SPECIAL AWARD engraved in it.
"Say, I don't think I've seen you two before. Which one of my classes are you in?"
Megan lied, "We're not your students, Professor. One of our friends is. She always told us about how great of a teacher you are."
"Really now? What is the name of your-"
"And she also told us that something happened when you received your Special Award. She's really worried." Come on, bite it.
"Tell your friend that her teacher is completely fine. There's nothing to fuss about. It's probably just smoke from a stage prop or machine. Everyone's really getting worried about me, even the ladies. I don't want-" he cut off, letting out a deep sigh. "Wowww. That's the spot. You have gifted hands, Miss Nora." he told one of the women.
This is crazy, Megan thought. Fortunately, Marc was beside her again. He nodded at her and told the doctor, "Hey, doctor, thanks for letting me see the trophy. It was an honor." He and Megan tried not to laugh.
"No problem, kids. Remember, you can come by anytime."
"Sure thing, Doctor. We're going now." The two began walking out just as Natasha walked in.
"Great timing, Natasha. My back is a little sore, can you massage it for me, darling?"
"Anything for you, Doctor."
Marc and Megan closed the door.
"That was crazy." Megan finally spoke up as she and Marc started walking down the hall. "I don't know what's worse, an egotistic doctor who orders around his co-workers or the two professors who are completely fine with massaging his feet!" she exclaimed.
"I agree. I didn't know winning Special Awards could gain that much attention." said Marc.
"At least we don't have to watch another show of Dr. Skinner and his Admirers anymore. Just too bad we didn't get anything much from it."
"Who says we didn't?" Marc smiled at her. He pulled the confused Megan into a janitor's closet nearby.
Inside, Marc pulled out the Super Absorbent Hanky. "I wiped the trophy with this and hopefully it absorbed something that could tell us about the smoke during the incident." He took out the Evaporation Thermos.
"Great thinking, Marc. But what's the thermos for?"
"Squeezing the hanky's gonna take us a lot of time so I'll just put it here." He placed the hanky inside the thermos and fiddled with the gadget's structure. "Instead of evaporation, I changed the function of the thermos to push out the liquid from the handkerchief."
The thermos made a soft humming sound then it stopped. Marc propped it open and took out the hanky. The hanky was light and dry, and inside the thermos was a small amount of liquid. He poured the liquid into a small transparent container that came along with the thermos.
"And we got ourselves a clue." He showed the container to Megan.
"You're amazing, Marc," Megan told him. She paused for a while and silently watched her brother place their clue inside his pocket. "I'm sure that's the kind of amazing thing Celine would like to see."
Marc paused. He turned to her, surprised that she brought it up at such a time. It was unexpected but appropriate, now that they got their clue and were alone inside a janitor's closet. He didn't think it was worth the talk but as long as it's Megan who listened, then it's fine.
"You – you really think so? Or are you just saying that to-"
"Trust me, Marc. I know how girls think. And we're talking about a girl who hasn't used a Bunsen burner." She giggled.
Marc looked down as he pocketed the other gadgets. "I don't know. I don't want to get my hopes up."
"Trust me, Marc," Megan repeated softly, looking at him. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
Marc met his sister's eyes, his sister who always cheered him up while his brothers laughed at him without any idea that it's hurting him.
"Well, you're my sister." He sounded confident now.
"That's right." Megan's voice went back to its usual loudness. She placed her hands on her waist. "I am your awesome sister."
Marc smiled. "Speaking of which, what time is it? I don't want to get late for Science class."
"Of course you don't. I'll go check Team Two." She pressed a button on her Eye-Tech. "Come in, Lee and Tony."
Lee's voice came in. "Hey guys, how's the mission going?"
"Pretty fine. Dr. Skinner was friendly, a little too friendly actually. We did get a clue from his trophy. How did yours go?"
"Mr. Tadwell wasn't feeling a tad well at all. I think he got sick during the conference but he got it after the smoke stuff hit them."
"You're saying the smoke made him sick?"
"Probably. Was your guy sneezing all over you guys?"
"No, all he did was brag about himself."
"That's weird. It must be just common cold then."
"Let's make sure. So where are you guys?"
"Umm. At the gym."
Marc and Megan looked at each other. "What are you doing at the gym?"
"We're not here to watch the cheerleaders practice that's for sure!" Tony said loudly.
Megan sighed in frustration. "Whatever. Let's just send the samples to Jerry for analysis."
"Oops. Sorry, sis, the samples will have to wait. We're late for school!" Lee said, looking at his watch.
"Great, and you didn't notice that until I called you," Megan pointed out. "Okay, we'll send it later. Let's meet at the jet."
"Okay, Megan."
"And guys," Megan called.
"Yeah?"
"Stop watching the cheerleaders!"
She turned the communicator off and she and Marc made their way out of the building while Lee and Tony had to check the condition of their ears first before leaving the university gym.
GUYS!
I just want to thank you for the 6 flippin' reviews I got for the first chapter! Thank you also to the two guest reviewers, however I can't reply to you guys. I wasn't really expecting positive reviews since this is just like an ordinary TAS episode but Ian C enlightened me on that so thank you!
I easily get feels, guys. I'm sorry! XD
I have to admit I felt pressured too because the 1st chapter had almost nothing going on so I was afraid you won't like this one. XD
And that June thing was hilarious because I realized I couldn't finish it that fast. I wanted to update this yesterday but iCarly's last episode iGoodbye premiered in our country and I cried because I easily get feels and I was too emotional to write. So yeah. Hey, at least I have two new chapters for you guys! :D
Feel free to review, guys! I want more feels! :D
The MarcxMegan fluff seems so forced though. -_- Did I get the comma-period thing right, tIA? :D
Teehee. Okay, I said a lot. Thank you again guys! :D
