I'm trying to make my chapters longer. Bear with me that I'm not following any traditional lines for Inspector Gadget fanfic. My plan is for things to come in slowly, not dragging it out, just a bit slower and less use of Fridge Logic/Brilliance. (I've been on way too much this weekend, sometimes I use it as a fanfic research tool-I can see almost all of the cliches a show uses and exactly how).
DUN-DUN-DUN And now the exciting conclusion of last week's episode!
Alex fell a bullet lodging deep in her left thigh. McDowell and his son weren't so lucky they both had been peppered with bullets. Rick held his ground. McDowell's designs had provided for everything, including bulletproofing his skin.
Though Rick wasn't supposed to access it yet, he activated the weapons system for the first time. The targeting array locked onto the three terrorists and the dialogue box analyzed exactly the model and location of origin of their guns. The arsenal literally at his fingertips was impressive, his HUD provided a list of all weaponry, offensive and defensive. He settled for a submachine gun. A panel in his right arm opened up and a slender gun barrel came out it was mounted by a pair of supports with joints. His tuxedo, designed to be worn in any situation had secret openings in the sleeves, preventing the weapon from damaging the suit. The entire barrel expanded with a series of clicks to a full on gun muzzle. The back ended like a square box where the magazine clip was put in.
The gun was already loaded. He turned it on the leading gunman a targeting system built into his right eye locking onto the man. The attacker looked at Rick stunned. Before his shock wore off he felt two bullets burrow into his leg and arm. He fell to the ground, but before he dropped his gun he fired off a sporadic handful of shots.
An alarm went off as the bullets charged into the Womb Chamber. Several of the control panels shattered and sparked, a single bullet went through the glass missing Penny by inches. Synthetic amniotic fluid spilled out of the hole in the glass. Rick and Alex rushed to the chamber. Alex limped to the chamber and tried to access the controls from an undamaged key pad.
"I can't get in, it's locked down." She growled. She put her hands into the flow of spilling fluid and then lifted her skirt and rubbed her hands into the bleeding wound in her leg. "You'll have to find a way to break into it. But without harming Penny."
By this time police had rushed in and were calling for medical support.
Rick deactivated the gun and it disappeared back into his arm. He put his hands on the glass trying to think of a way to get Penny out. The HUD was giving him a reading on Penny's life signs but no solutions to the problem. Fluid splashed onto his feet, officers and paramedics created a cacophony of sound, and Alex typed commands furiously. "Hurry Rick! She doesn't have much time."
Rick snapped up at her and then glanced at his hand he ran through his list of weapons again. He remembered Alex telling him about a laser. He activated it and a beam shot from his finger, it struck the floor burning a hole just a centimeter from his foot. He pointed his index finger at the glass and slowly circled around it. Alex watched almost surprised by how well Rick was using his new body to do the job he was given.
She turned to McDowell, who the paramedics were covering with a sheet, and her heart dropped.
Her greatest mentor was gone, dead before he met his greatest work. It was his passion and his vision that had led her to work so hard. There was now a fear that their original plans for Penny and Rick would be altered.
She watched Rick lift the cut glass dome from the chamber and set it gently on the floor. There was only a third of the amniotic fluid left. Rick climbed up onto the machinery around it and then stepped into the pod. He bent down and carefully picked Penny up from where she was floating.
He stared at her form in wonder and straightened up. She looked perfectly normal, unlike her protector who was a fusion of man and machine. She was so tiny, helpless, and without a proper family. He knew what it was like to have no family, to be a ward of the state. But someone as special as her needed to have someone to take care of her. He finally understood why they'd chosen him, and why she would have to live with him. She needed one person, a constant in her life to give her love and guidance. Although a proper mother and father were still better in his eyes he couldn't argue that he wanted to be that figure in her life.
The bio-cord was still attached. It wouldn't release. "Dr. Lawrence," Rick spoke after a moment of stunned silence. "The bio-cord won't release."
"We've got to shut the system down." She replied limping towards them. "If we don't we'll lose her." She was sounding desperate. One of the officers who had been watching stepped toward her.
"Is there any way we can help?" He asked.
"Yes," Alex replied an idea dawning on her. "The circuit breaker. If you could access the indoor circuit panel and flip the EFA switch the bio-cord would release and Penny would be free."
"Where is it?" The officer asked eagerly.
"Down the hall out that door," Lawrence pointed. "Just enter the third door on your left. It's an entire room of power controls. Flip the EFA." She repeated the proper circuit as he nodded and ran for the door she'd shown him. "Just a minute Rick. When they flip the switch you'll have to release the cord manually. Just squeeze the two wings at the base and then pull, but gently." She explained.
"Got it." Rick replied placing his empty hand on the base of the bio-cord. "I'm ready and waiting." He looked at the infant and whispered, "I promise Penny, you are going to be ok. I'm going to get you out of this."
A moment later the Womb Chamber went silent and the lights went dark. "Now!" Alex ordered and Rick complied. He carefully pulled the substitute for an umbilical cord away from the infant. He dropped the cord with a thud. Lawrence tossed him a tool and he recognized it as the thing that nurses used to suck the fluid from a newborn's nose and mouth.
Rick carefully removed the remaining fluid from her nose and mouth. He held her in his left arm working quickly with his right, which felt stiff and throbbed with pain.
As he finished cleaning out her mouth, Penny took a gasping breath. Lawrence sigh with relief and Rick smiled. The infant then proceeded to cry. At this time Rick's right arm dropped limply and he immediately moved down from the chamber and handed the baby to Alex. Rick took a few wobbling steps to a chair not turned over by the excitement and fell into it like a heap. He groaned before passing out where he sat.
Alex had no time to revel in Penny's beauty. She had a mess to clean up. So the infant was passed to a member of McDowell's team to be removed from the scene. The police took down everything they could disappointed that Rick was not responding to any attempt to wake him. Grant, who was unharmed, had him moved to his room in dormitory to make sure he was ok. He'd only had his new body for a short two months. He probably over did it activating two of the built in weapons.
Paramedics did what they could for the injured and the deceased were taken away after photos and evidence were taken.
The leader of the murderers was very much alive. The paramedics were struggling with him on the floor where he lay when Alex limped over. The scientist looked down at him with disdain. "You deserve this." She whispered before kicking him in the crotch with her good leg. He quit fighting them then, and she walked away none of the officers said anything.
Alex was the last to get medical attention, they removed the bullet, surprised at how quickly her leg was already healing. "I rubbed the synthetic amniotic fluid into the wound. It acted as a stimulant to the natural healing process." Alex explained as they sewed the hole closed. Her muscle was damaged but she was more than likely to heal nicely.
A week later McDowell's funeral was held. After that Grant and Alex worked to do what they could. McDowell had promised the government a certain amount of his research. Now that he was dead they wanted it.
The feds showed up one day without warning. Rick saw them around the main building as he headed in for his regular therapy session. The men in black suits standing guard stopped him.
"Who are you?" One of them asked.
"Rick Barnes, I'm involved with Project Guardian." They looked at him a moment then at a handheld tablet. They let him pass without another word.
When he got inside he found Grant ready to rip out his dark brown hair. "What's happening?" Rick asked. Grant looked at him.
"They're taking what they want!" The scientist yelled. He face was red as he tried to stop a man from unplugging a laptop. "You can't do this!" Grant yelled in the younger man's face.
"Sir, I will use force on you." The blond man in the suit said strictly. Rick put a hand on Grant's shoulder.
"Hey, it's not worth getting arrested over." Rick warned. He had seen it before, even back in his small Kansas town. The government had a final say in these matters.
"But it's not theirs to take." Grant growled.
"You may be able to get it back, but you'll need a dang good attorney." Rick replied.
"Screw the justice system!" Grant snapped. The government men looked at him wandering if he would try something desperate and stupid.
Rick grabbed his arm before he could try anything crazy and pulled him aside. "Calm down. Jumpin' into a fight with those guys ain't gonna do nobody here any good." Grant nodded but his blue eyes were full of anger and distrust.
At this point Alex came into the room as fast as she could go carrying something under her lab coat. It was the size of a paperback book, but it was metal. Her slight limp drew attention to her immediately.
Grant and Rick met her half way across the room. "Is that?" Grant asked in a whisper trying to keep from attracting too much attention. She nodded motioning for Grant to cause some sort of distraction. He moved away quickly and went back to pleading with the blond. "This isn't fair!"
Alex waited until a few pairs of eyes were on Grant and then slipped the item into the pocket of Rick's baggy jeans. "That's the Master Drive. Keep it safe until the feds are gone." Rick nodded and walked back towards Grant.
"Dr. Jackson, why don't you come help me with Penny?" He asked. Grant pretended to think about protesting the thievery before sighing and walking away. They headed for the nursery room.
The Nursery was a large room designed specifically for Penny. Half of it had been set up like a child's nursery with a crib and a rocking chair. The other half was a downsized lab that monitored Penny.
A nurse was always in the room with Penny, at this point there were two federal agents trying to get a look at the computer. The nurse, a young biology intern, held Penny in her arms as she begged for the men to leave the computers alone. They weren't designed to hold anything but the information they took every day about Penny.
"Hey," Grant hissed. "This isn't on the list of searchable rooms. The Nursery isn't anything more than a fancy postnatal station." The agents turned to look at Grant and Rick.
"You aren't hiding anything in here?" The older of the two asked. His graying hair gave him a sagacious look.
"Of course not. This is Penny's room. Only her medical records starting after birth are kept in the data banks. I'll show you." He offered.
Rick walked up to the flustered girl. "Here Kim, why don't you take a break?" He suggested motioning for her to hand over the baby.
"Thanks." She handed him the sleeping infant, "She just went down for a nap after her bottle." Kim added as she hurried out of the room.
Grant unlocked the computer and showed the agents every file on it. After a few minutes one of them grew bored and came up behind Rick. He was holding Penny in his arms rocking her side to side very slowly.
The agent looked at the girl curiously, he found it hard to believe she would grow up to be a super genius who was immune to practically any disease known to man. "So that's the experiment?" He asked. It was the younger of the two.
"Her name's Penny," Rick corrected. "And yes, this is Project Penultimate." The agent reached a hand to touch her, but his partner cleared his throat sharply, and he dropped it.
"It's all clear." The senior agent decided after a moment. "We'll continue our search and seizure in another room."
The two agents walked out of the nursery, the younger glancing back at Penny one last time before the door closed.
Grant sat down in a chair. "Man they just won't leave anything alone."
"They'll search your underwear drawer if they have to." Rick replied. "Back in Kansas they took away a case we were workin'. The whole darn office was torn apart in a day and they left the mess for us to clean up."
Grant shook his head. "Hopefully they don't take everything. It'll be the end of FutureTech if they do." He looked at the nursery. "For Penny's sake I hope that doesn't happen. And for the sake of the employees. We go down and we put almost fifty people out of work." Grant unloaded his worries.
"I'm sure we'll land on our feet." Rick replied.
Grant just grunted in response. The two men sat in silence for a while. They remained unmoving until Penny woke up. She stirred and then began to cry. Her voice jolted them both into action. Rick stood in thought for a moment. He had no clue what to do. "Diaper change." Grant provided.
Rick nodded and then headed for the changing table. He'd never changed a diaper in his life. But he was going to try his darnedest. With some help from Grant he managed to get it done. By this time Rick had slipped the Master Drive into a drawer in the nursery. He hoped it would be safe until the feds were gone.
When Kim returned to her post the two men went ahead and left. They wanted to make sure Alex was ok, and that the feds weren't giving her any trouble. Rick had confidence they wouldn't over step themselves. Grant didn't believe they could control themselves. He was sure they were causing all kinds of trouble.
When they arrived at the main room federal agents were busy packing up the last few computers and anything else that looked important. Alex was sitting on a chair in a corner watching the event with a rather sour look on her face.
"Are you ok?" Grant asked. She shook her head.
"No. FutureTech will have nothing. They've taken all the robotic designs and our entire computer program. Not to mention all the blueprints for any of McDowell's ideas. And they seized my computer designs." Her voice was cold.
"You're calling a lawyer as soon as they leave." Grant guessed. Alex nodded. In the seven months since she'd returned to FutureTech, from a trip to a few science conventions, she and Grant had become friends.
"I hope that the courtroom decides to give you everything back." Rick whispered. "I doubt they'll give anything back if they think it's worth keeping. Even if a judge orders them to." Rick wasn't fond of the way these agents were tearing through the facility. It was like a band of thieves looting a mansion and taking every last thing of value.
He watched as entire computer banks were dismantled and carried out on wheeled carts. Each one was labeled with a blank sticker that an agent wrote on as he catalogued the items. Rick glared at them sourly. It wasn't everyday that the government decided to leave people alone and give back whatever they stole.
The federal agents were either serious with no emotion or very into their work. A few even whistled. This had been a bad idea around Alex. She'd snapped at a young agent who was whistling some show tune as he went through the contents of her desk. The young man had received a bottle of cold water on his head for his enthusiasm.
Rick watched them take everything apart. When they were done he went back to the nursery and despite the intern's protests picked up the sleeping infant and held her. He sat in the chair for a while with her in his arms. She was supposed to be his new purpose, but what happened if the government took her away too? He didn't want to think about it, so he decided to hold her in his arms for as long as he could. "I ain't lettin' you go," he promised. She moved her head but remained sleeping.
He just sat there looking at her until he fell asleep.