The job, the last one according to the lich, was easy as all the others. What the penniless scumbag was doing with the plethora of fancy machinery I was supplying him could be anyone's guess. As to mine? Somewhere along the line I got the distinct sense that the dirt bag was just having me steal shiny things for him. Whatever the case was, regardless of what he had in mind, this was my last job either way. I was physically exhausted and honestly didn't know how much more of this I'd be able to take. It wasn't that the thefts were hard, it was that they were painfully lengthy. The leech wanted to meet at the most ridiculous hours of the day, usually giving me only an hour or so of sleep.
"You're late Brick...taking your sweet time?" I whistled when I landed in the closed off, abandoned site of an old laboratory. Dear old Aqualung had been hard at work, devising an interesting looking contraption. Perhaps he wasn't the imbecile I had pegged him to be. Afterall, I couldn't see myself having the technical skill or mechanical know-how to put the parts together, let alone build a completely new machine from them. My strengths lay in history and math, not so much engineering and science.
"Sorry, I'm just a little tired. Here, take it," I threw the part at the old sod, who surprised me with his sudden agility, snatching it out of the air and going straight to work in assembling it to the rest of the machine. He cackled in a low, droning tone as he worked. The freezing early morning air was grating terribly on my heat-starved physique. I rubbed my hands together and breathed in and out, in slow, measured breaths. My breaths were visible, never a good sign.
I jumped, snapping out of a trance when the machine began to whir and spark. Electrical currents leapt between two metal pikes, and the entire site came alive with a low, ominous rumbling.
"There...oh there it is...it's working, just like I planned...don't you see James? Can't you see? I knew what I was doing...oh I knew what I was doing, I never needed you," I rolled my eyes and looked away from the psychotic badger. Clearly he was referring to Professor James Utonium, the creator of over eighty percent of the pieces used to make the machine. I turned back to old Aqualung, who was looking in my direction.
"So you've built your toy, how is this going to help me destroy the Powerpuff Girls?" The bum chuckled, a very low, scratching sound. My stomach churned and my breath caught in my throat. He stood up straight and began to disrobe. Immediately I gagged and looked away. The powerful scent that beggar gave off suddenly turned from uncomfortable and sickening to damn near lethal. Finally as more and more layers of rags hit the ground, I just couldn't take it. I began to vomit, uncontrollably.
"My toy...is finished all thanks to you, Brick," Though I was preoccupied with emptying the contents of my stomach, I was very much aware of how sharp and how sarcastic his tone became when he called me by name. I could hear something sliding on the ground as the old vagabond began to walk closer to me. The scent was unbearable, but I managed to look up and stare in horror at my cohort's figure.
The crazy bastard had twisted, rotting green skin, holes all over his arms, legs and face. He had several burnt, limp, and lacerated tentacles hanging from his bare chest. His hands were dangling, sharp claws. And from his back there hung four deflated spider-legs. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of seemingly pristine sunglasses, the only part of him that wasn't ancient and decaying. I stumbled back a step, quickly covering my mouth to prevent another forceful exertion.
"Wh...What the fuck are you?" The beggar grinned, his teeth sharp and sparkling, the only piece of him that seemed to ignore the demise of the rest. He laughed, a crazy, guttural sound, and slouched forward, sighing as he seemed to relax. Standing up obviously wasn't very comfortable given that his body was literally falling apart. He looked ragged and emaciated, like he hadn't eaten in years.
"Name's Dick, ruff...Dick Hardley, old friend of the Professor. Those little brats got in my way, ruined my plans, ruined my business...made me into this...thing, but ah, ah ah...they thought I was gone," His voice, no longer muffled, shifted from a normal, forced suave tone to a bitter growl. The creature was more insane than I'd previously given him credit, he kept twitching spontaneously.
"What do you w-want with me? Ugh...what happened to you?" Dick just laughed again, and stopped, resting a sloppy, heavy hand on my shoulder. I really couldn't bring myself to just pull away and flee. At the same time, I couldn't just blast him into oblivion. I wanted to know this monster's story before I put him out of his misery.
"Fake girls wanted to kill me...I don't die so easy, but you, you, you are gonna help me out. You're gonna bring me back to life," Dick grinned and forced his face close to mine. His breath was absolutely atrocious. He then limped, stumbled and fell back to his machine. I glared at him, wondering just how this thing thought I would help it any more.
"Help you? I did your jobs, what else do you want?" Dick grinned and pulled himself up on the machine, gripping a lever. He spoke very softly, very carefully, enunciating each syllable of one name with an almost reverent sentimentality.
"Chemical...X..." He let his arm fall on the lever, and the machine spun into action. I gasped and looked up. A flash of brilliant green-black light flooded my vision and I screamed in pain as the very substance that gave me life began to pour out of my skin and into the twisted machine.