Fighting off a surge of panic, Julie stomped down on his foot. The momentary distraction made him loosen his grip enough for her to slam her elbow into his stomach. She broke free as air exploded from his lungs and he doubled over, gasping for breath.
Julie looked around desperately for a weapon of some kind. Her gaze fell upon a length of metal that had clearly been part of one of the robot's legs. She picked it up just as Sardu straightened up and drew a vicious-looking dagger. Julie stood ready, gripping her makeshift weapon as it were a tennis racket.
He angrily slashed at her but she dodged the blow. He struck again, and again she dodged it. Snarling, he jabbed the blade at her. This time not only did Julie sidestep the attack, she swung the piece of wreckage down hard at his wrist. The blow numbed his fingers and the dagger clattered as it hit the ground. She followed this with a blow to his stomach. Sardu hadn't completely recovered his breath from the first time she'd hit him there and the impact staggered him. Finally Julie swung the metal bar and hit the side of his head. He went down hard.
As he lay groaning softly in pain she snatched up the smoothy cup and ran back to her scooter. She sprang onto it, buckled on her helmet and sped away.
Hold on Ben she thought as she increased her speed still further.
"Uggh" Ben groaned again as he lay back and tried to rest.
"Be quiet" Azmuth snapped. "This is delicate work even for one of my brilliance."
The tiny scientist was currently fiddling with an elaborate set of chemistry apparatus he had assembled. Ben tried to glare at him and was only partially successful.
"Okay Azmuth, I know you're a genius but I think you're bedside manner is lacking something. Like, I don't know, maybe a bedside manner!"
Azmuth turned to look at him "Perhaps you need another dose of medication" he said with a sinister glint in his eyes.
"No, no, that's fine really" Ben said at once as he remembered the foul-tasting liquids the old Galvan had forced him to swallow. They had helped ease his symptoms slightly but he shuddered at the thought of having to drink any of those again.
Just then the door opened and Julie rushed in. "Ben, Mr. Azmuth, I found it" she exclaimed as she handed the cup over to Azmuth.
Ben grinned. "All right Julie!"
Azmuth nodded. "Good work" he said before drawing a device and pointing it at the cup. A beam of red light played over the remaining traces of smoothy. "Ah yes. This beverage contains a pure viral sample. Now I can prepare an antidote."
Julie smiled in relief. "Ben, you're going to be okay!"
He smiled at her thankfully.
Just a few minutes later Azmuth turned to them. "The antidote is ready" he said, no small measure of pride in his voice.
"Great" said Ben as he sat up. "I just hope it doesn't taste as bad as those medicines."
"You won't need to worry about that Ben" he replied. "The antidote needs to be injected directly into the bloodstream."
"Wha, what?" Ben's eyes widened as the tiny scientist held up a syringe almost as big as he was.
Julie sighed. "Don't tell me you're afraid of needles?"
"But, but look at that thing!"
"Ben, you have to try and relax…"
"Relax! How can I possibly relax?"
"Because it will hurt far worse if you don't" Azmuth replied.
"Its okay" said Julie calmly. "Here, hold my hand" she said as she took Ben's hand in a firm but gentle grip. "Look at me Ben" she said as she lightly ran her fingertips over his hand
He did so and was able to calm himself as he looked into her eyes. Azmuth quickly delivered the injection. "There, done."
Ben and Julie let go of each other's hands. Julie studied her hand and shook it lightly. "Okay I think I can still play tennis" she said.
Ben's face fell as he thought about how hard he'd gripped it. "Sorry Julie."
She laughed. "I'm kidding Ben, its fine."
Ben chuckled. "Okay." He turned to Azmuth. "So how long until I'm up and about?" he asked.
"The antidote should take effect within just a few minutes" he replied.
Just then all of them heard a car pull up outside. Julie looked out of the window and froze. "Uh oh."
"What's up?" Ben asked.
"When I went to get your smoothy cup this alien attacked me. He's…"
"You were attacked!" Ben exclaimed. "Julie, are you okay?"
"I'm fine" she replied. "But that alien just parked outside."
"Quickly Ben, transform" said Azmuth. "You must enter the antidote into the Codon Stream at once."
Ben slapped his hand down and transformed. "Spidermonkey" he said in a faint voice.
Azmuth and Julie both winced as they saw him. His blue fur was almost entirely missing and his skin was a dull grey with numerous black spots covering it. Like Fourarms had been he was scrawny, with limbs as thin as twigs.
"Now change back."
Ben did so and Julie smiled at him. "I think the colour's coming back to your face."
"Yeah, I do feel a little better" Ben agreed.
Before anyone could say anything further they heard the sound of an explosion from downstairs.
Sardu got out of the car, briefly congratulating himself for learning how to drive the human vehicle long ago in order to better blend in. That did little to ease the burning fury he felt at himself.
One human girl without powers beat me he seethed. If the others hear of this I'll never live it down!
That wasn't what really made him angry however. The real reason for his anger was that he knew the only reason why the girl would want the cup; to get a sample of the virus from the remaining dregs so that a cure could be prepared for Tennyson.
Why didn't I destroy that cup when I had the chance? Better still why didn't I just kill Tennyson in his weakened state? Sardu berated himself. If an antidote is given to him he can transmit it to Primus just as the virus was transmitted.
He drew a blaster pistol, aimed it at the door and fired. A red energy bolt blasted the door into fragments and he stepped in.