Author's Note:
It's been a long time coming, but I finally got chapter 5 done. Last chapter they guys finally finished their mission of getting supplies to help stop an outbreak that threatened the settlement. Now a new adventure awaits, or something like that I don't know. Regular Show and it's characters are not owned by me, not even slightly.

All efforts to decontaminate are failing, and the mutagenic compounds are spreading.
We're forced to resort to our back up plan, which is trying to find a way to reverse the effects.
I don't entirely agree with this approach because I don't think the damaged DNA can be restored to their original state, and dividing our resources will only weaken our chances of either option succeeding.
The only thing that puts my mind at ease is that they appointed Dr. Bane to the cure project, and seeing as he's the best in his field I have a small trace of hope that we can pull through.
I will continue the clean-up effort while Cornelius will be given access to several outposts around the country.
Hopefully the old idiom 'divided we fall' doesn't apply this time.

User ID 4261986- 1 month after incident

Chapter V
All Your Base are Belong to Us

Nearly two weeks have passed since the medicine was delivered to the colony and things were finally returning to normal. As a reward for their deeds Benson allowed Mordecai and Rigby some time off from their duties while the people recovered. However now that everyone was over their ailment they were going to return to work, much to the dismay of Rigby.

"Wake up!" Mordecai shouted as he shook Rigby violently from his sleep.

Rigby let out a dissatisfied whine as he climbed out of the old trampoline he was sleeping on, "Fine". The two climbed down the ladder to the bottom of their shack before making their way to the door. "I can't believe Benson's making us work today" Rigby groaned loudly, "I mean, we saved the whole damn settlement".

"You're right, we shouldn't have to work again ever" Mordecai replied sarcastically, "We should just sit back and let everyone else to all the work and not pull our own weight".

"My point exactly" Rigby said while holding his hands out.

While on their way they walked past Skips who was carrying an old square device in his hands, "Hey Skips" Mordecai said happily, "What you got there?"

"Oh this" Skips answered, holding up the contraption, "It's an old CB radio I found at the landfill, I'm gonna try and fix it up. If I can get it working it could be useful".

"Cool" Mordecai replied, "Well we should probably be getting going, we got a lot to do today".

"I have time to chat" Rigby said before being punched in his shoulder by Mordecai.

"Alright then, I'll talk to you two later" Skips said as he turned and continued skipping down the path.

After their brief conversation with Skips Mordecai and Rigby went to complete their first of many tasks, cleaning the filter for the water supply. While the settlement originally used a basic charcoal system before, Techmo and Skips recently build and electronic pump filter for the drinking water. It would pump water from a reservoir that would collect rain water, then run it through a filter and pump it into a large tank. The task of cleaning the filter left their arms coated in muck, "Uhg" Rigby blurted out, "I hate doing this".

"Just shut up, we're almost done" Mordecai said as he put on the cover to the filter. He reached and flipped the switch to turn it on, but nothing happened, "Ahh, it's not pumping" Mordecai moaned, "that means we'll have to get it started again".

Rigby began shaking his head, "No way, I'm not doing that again. I'm not getting a mouthful of the nasty water like last time".

"Well someone has to do it" Mordecai scolded, "It's not like we can go without clean water".

"Fine" Rigby said as he raised up a clenched fist, "Rock, paper, scissors".

Mordecai let out a loud groan, "Fine". He raised his hand up and the two slammed them onto their other hands three times. Mordecai threw rock while Rigby chose paper.

"Whooooaaa" Rigby cheered, "Suck it Mordecai!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever" Mordecai said as he picked up the hose and placed it in his mouth. He took a few deep breathes before sucking water through it. The water that came out wasn't able to run through the filter properly and resulted in Mordecai getting a mouthful of dirty water. He quickly spat the water out and began gagging.

Rigby nearly keeled over in laughter, "Oh man the look on your face was priceless".

Mordecai glared down at him, "Knock it off dude" he said as he continued to spit the remaining water from his mouth, "I need to wash the taste out of my mouth, lets head to the canteen".

"Ahh, what" Rigby whined, "Why do we have to go there?"

"What" Mordecai shouted, "I thought you of all people would want to take a break".

"I do, I just don't want to go to the canteen" Rigby explained, "Eileen's been getting on my nerves a lot more than usual lately. She thinks that since we spent so much time together while getting those supplies that we're 'close' now or something".

Mordecai started to shake his head, "Well you can't avoid her forever, you'll have to go to the canteen sometime you know".

Rigby threw his arms into the air, "I know, but I just don't want it to be today. We got all this work and I don't think I can't handle it".

"Oh get over it" Mordecai said as he turned and started walking towards the canteen.

Rigby soon started to follow, "Oh sure, we'll do whatever you want to do".

After walking for a while they arrived at the canteen and took their usual spot. Rigby had a rather annoyed look on his face, "Oh get over it man" Mordecai scoffed.

Rigby just shook his head and stared off into space. Eventually Margaret walked up to their table, "Hey guys, how's it going?"

Mordecai looked up and smiled, "Hey Margaret, not too bad. Just doing some work around the settlement. How about you?"

"Oh you know, just severing drinks and food to everyone" Margaret said cheerfully, "But it's a little harder today since Eileen's not here".

Rigby looked at Margaret with a confused look on his face, "What, why?"

Margaret turned to him, "I don't know" she said as her smile faded slightly, "She just said she had some personal stuff she had to do".

Mordecai rubbed his chin, "Hmm, wonder what that is?"

"I don't know" Margaret said, "All I know is I saw her walking out the front gate into the grove with a bag hanging over her shoulders".

"Weird" Mordecai said.

"Yeah I know" Margaret replied, then she smiled again, "But it's none of my business, so what can I get for you guys?"

"I'll take some lemonade" Mordecai answered, "I gotta get the taste of dirty pit water out of my mouth".

Rigby grinned deviously, "Come on Mordecai… we all know you've had worse things in your mouth".

Mordecai shot him an angry glare, but Margaret just smiled back, "Ok then, one lemonade it is. I'll be right back" she said as she turned and walked away.

"Wait" Rigby shouted, "What about me?" but she continued to walk away until she was in the back room. Rigby just sat back and stared off into to space again.

"That's what you get for being a dick" Mordecai chuckled, but Rigby didn't respond. He just looked off into the distance, "Rigby?"

"What's she doing" Rigby whispered to himself, "She wouldn't leave would she?"

"What?" Mordecai said, breaking Rigby's trance.

He turned to Mordecai, "Huh, oh nothing" then he stood up and walked to the door, "I gotta check something out real quick, I'll meet you back here in a bit".

"Rigby!" Mordecai shouted, "Make it quick, if we don't finish all our chores Benson's gonna be pissed!"

Rigby walked out of the canteen and to the front gate, "Hey Fives" he yelled up to the watch tower, "open the door!"

Fives peeked over the edge and looked down at Rigby, "What, why?"

"Just do it poltergeist" He replied, "don't you have some old house to haunt anyway?"

Fives took a deep breath as he shook his head. Then he opened the front gate and let Rigby out. Once Rigby was out of his sight he closed it and sat back down. Rigby wondered through the tree as he searched the area. "She should be around here somewhere" Rigby said aloud to himself, "She wouldn't leave us, but then again Margaret said she had a bag with her". He continued to move through the trees and bushes until something caught his eye. "What's that?" he walked over and saw what appeared to be an empty tin can hanging from a tree branch on a thread. Confused he slowly approached it as he reached his hand to touch it. Then suddenly something shot by him, knocking out the can in front of his face, "What the fuck!"

Suddenly he heard a voice in the distance, "Oh my gosh Rigby!" he looked over and saw Eileen run out from the trees holding a bow, "Rigby are you ok?"

Rigby took several shallow breathes until his heart rate dropped back to normal, "what the hell just happened?"

"I'm so sorry Rigby" Eileen pleaded to him with guilt in her voice, "I was out here practicing with my bow, I didn't think anyone would be out here".

Rigby took a second to let everything sink in, then he put the pieces together, "You almost shot me in the face with a arrow?"

Eileen dropped her bow and wrapped her arms around him, "I'm so sorry" she said, nearly on the verge of tears, "I came out here because I thought no one would be here".

Rigby broke the hug and gently pushed her away, "It's…it's fine, I'll chew you out later" he said, still trying to shake off the shock of what happened, "but what are you doing out here?"

Eileen sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye, "Well… after our trip to get supplies, I've been feeling guilty for not helping out as much. I mean you guys were doing all you could fighting for our survival and I just felt so useless".

"What, that's not true" Rigby replied, "I mean you total saved my ass when you smashed that deer things face open with a rock".

A small smile crept onto her face, "Yeah I guess that's true, but I still felt like I could do more. So I decided to practice with my bow so I could help if we ever got into that situation again".

Rigby looked down at the ground where her bow was laying, he then picked it up and looked it over, "I didn't know you could shoot a bow".

Eileen blushed as she took the bow from his hands, "Yeah well, my dad taught me how to shoot while we were living in the woods"

Eileen's answered caused him to raise an eyebrow, "I didn't know you lived in the woods".

"Yeah, it was before I came to the settlement" Eileen explained, "I used to live in another colony with my parents, my mom helped at the clinic and my dad was a hunter". Suddenly a look of sadness overtook her, "Then we got raided by bandits when I was ten. My dad and I made it out but my mom…" she cleared her throat as she tried to keep herself from bursting into tears again, "Anyway we survived on our own for about a year before we came here".

"Whoa" was all Rigby could say, "That sucks".

"It's ok" Eileen replied as her smile returned, "I remember the day we came here. Skips found us and led us here. We were walking around as he introduced us to everyone but I was to distracted with looking around. I ran off and started to explore…" She looked up at Rigby as her smile widened, "Then I ran into you. We both got knocked down and my glasses fell off, and while I was crawling on the ground looking for them you handed them to me and said, 'hear ya go'. I put them on and looked up at you, you had your hand out. So I took it and you helped me to my feet. You dusted me off and asked me if I was alright, but I was so nerves I didn't say anything".

Eileen shook her head in embarrassment as her face became a deeper shade of red, "Then you noticed my knee was scraped up, so you took my hand and said, 'I'll take you to medic to get that fixed up'". Eileen rubbed her arm awkwardly as she continued her story, "So you walked me to the clinic and you were asking me all these questions, like who I was or where I was from, but I was too scared to answer any of them. So you walked me all the way from the canteen to the medic without me saying a single word and I was afraid you thought I was some weirdo. Then we got to the clinic and you let go of my hand. 'Well this is it' you said as you turned and walked away, and as I was about to walk in when you turned around and yelled, 'nice talking to ya' jokingly. I smiled and started to laugh as I went in to get my knee cleaned up".

Rigby was stunned, he had completely forgotten about that. "There was a time when Eileen didn't drive me crazy?" he thought to himself, "What happened?"

While he was thinking Rigby started to fidget with the bandages wrapped around his right hand. He didn't even notice because it's become second nature for him, but Eileen did, "I always wondered. What happened to your hand?" Rigby's eyes widened. "You've had it bandaged up since I got here".

Rigby looked down at his hands and sighed, "I burnt it real bad when I was a kid, a long time ago before I came here".

Eileen's eyes burst open in shock, "I thought you lived here your whole life, I never knew you…"

"I don't like to talk about it…" Rigby interrupted, "Don't like to think about it".

Eileen's smile slowly faded away, then she let out a deep sigh, "Guess we've both experienced tragedy".

"Yeah" Rigby replied, "I should head back before Mordecai loses it". He turned around and started to head back to the gates, "Talk to you later".

Eileen smiled and waved good bye as she walked back to her original spot to continue her practice.

Mordecai sat in the canteen tapping his fingers against the table impatiently, "Where the hell is he?" he muttered to himself.

"I'm sure he'll be back soon" Margaret said cheerfully, "Don't worry so much".

"I know but this is our first day back and we have a lot to do" Mordecai replied, "If we don't finish at least most of this stuff Benson's gonna lose it".

Margaret just shook her head, she didn't know what else to say to make him feel less on edge. Luckily a new face walked into the canteen to break the awkward silence, "Hey Fives!"

"Hey" Fives said in a monotone voice before taking a seat next to Mordecai, "I don't have too much time so could I just get a sandwich?"

"Sorry, but we don't have all the supplies" Margaret said, "We're still recovering from the outbreak". She could tell by the look on his face that something was bothering him so she put on a smile, "But I'll go see if I can find anything else for ya".

Unfortunately this didn't help improve his mood, "Thanks but I don't have time, I'll have to be heading back to the watch tower soon" he let out a deep sigh, "I guess I'll just relax here for a bit till then". Right after the words left his mouth the last person he wanted to see walked in, "Great, Rigby's here. So much for relaxing".

Mordecai stood up from the table and threw his arms in the air, "What the heck dude? Where'd you go?"

Rigby glared up at him, "None of your business".

Mordecai crossed his arms, "Whatever, let's just get back to work".

Suddenly they heard a voice come from the front of the canteen, "Actually, that'll have to wait".

Everyone looked to the front entrance to find Skips making his way towards them, "Skips?" Rigby said in a confused tone, "What's up?"

"Mordecai…Rigby, I need to ask you for a favor" Skips said in a serious voice.

"Sure" Mordecai answered, "What do you need?"

"Not here" Skips said, again with a tone of severity in his voice, "All I can tell you now is that we need to pick something up at the scrapyard, so meet me there in about ten minutes and I'll explain everything there".

"Ahh, the scrapyard" Rigby moaned, "But we'll have to deal with him".

"Yeah, that guy's the worst" Mordecai agreed.

"Oh, come on guys" Fives interjected, "He's not all that bad".

Rigby turned to him with a sinister grin on his face, "Well of course you like him. Next to him you don't seem like such of a freak clear boy".

Fives' eyes shot down to the table as he hung his head low, Mordecai leaned over to Rigby, "Not cool dude" he whispered.

"Anyway" Skips added, "Like I said, meet me there in ten" he then turned and skipped away.

"Well you heard him" Mordecai said to Rigby, "We should stop at the shack real quick then meet up with him, it sounds important". The two started walking to the exit, "See ya later Margaret".

Margaret waved to them as they walked out the door, she then sat down across the table from Fives, who still had his head down, "You ok?"

He slowly shook his head, "Yeah, I'm just so sick of Rigby giving me shit about my… disorder" he lifted his head up and looked at Margaret, "I mean… it sucks enough without him constantly making smart ass remarks all the time".

Margaret reached over and patted him on the shoulder, "Hey, it could be worse" she snickered, "You could have a hand sticking out the top of your head".

Fives couldn't help but crack a smile from the thought, "Yeah" he chuckled, "That'd be fucked up!"

Mordecai and Rigby walked to the entrance of the old scrapyard just outside the colony walls, they found Skips waiting for them there, "Hey guys, thanks for coming".

"No problem Skips" Rigby said, already slightly winding from the walk, "So what's going on?"

Skips took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, "You know that old CB radio I was fixing?" they both nodded their heads, "Well once I finished it I was testing it out and I picked up a distress message, the coordinates given in the messages is from an old CDC outpost not too far from here".

The two were both quiet for a moment until Rigby finally spoke, "And you want to check it out" Skips nodded, "look Skips, it's cool you want to help out and all, and not trying to sound like a dick, but why are we risking our lives helping somebody we don't even know".

"Because" Skips said before taking another deep breath, "I recognized the voice in the message, it's an old friend of mine".

Rigby rubbed the back of his head in shame, "Whoa, I'm sorry I didn't know".

"It's ok" Skips reassured him, "But we need to get there and help him as soon as possible, so we need to pick up a vehicle from the scrapyard".

Rigby let out an annoyed groan, "Ok, let's get this over with". They entered the scrapyard and continued walking until they arrived at an old, beaten up air stream trailer. Skips knocked on the door and after a few seconds a short, fat green man opened the door, "Skips, what up?"

"Not much" Skips answered, "I was just wondering if you have any working vehicles I could use?"

"Hmmm" He hummed while rubbing is chin, "Maybe, what's in it for me bro?"

"Oh come on Mitch" Mordecai groaned, not able to put up with him even for the period of time they were there.

"Yeah" Rigby chimed in, "Just because you choose to live in this shithole doesn't mean you own all the shit in this hole".

"Don't call me that!" he squealed, "How many times do I have to tell you? It's Muscle Man!"

"Why the hell would we call you that?" Rigby screamed back.

"Enough already" Skips yelled, and immediately they all stopped, "Look, Muscle Man. I really need this vehicle you have. I need it to help out an old friend ok".

"Whoa" Muscle Man said, "Sorry bro, of course. Just let me get it for ya".

Muscle Man ran off behind his trailer while the three of them waited for him to return.

"Hey Skips" Rigby said, "Shouldn't we get Techmo to come with us too?"

"Yeah, he'd be pretty helpful" Mordecai added.

Skips glared down at them before speaking in a very serious tone, "He can't know about this".

Mordecai and Rigby shared a surprise look at each other before turning back to Skips, "Why?" Rigby asked.

"Because if this is who I think it is" Skips paused for a second, "Then it's the person responsible for him losing his arm".

Before either of them could react Muscle Man drove up to them in an old beat up vehicle. He slide to a stop and jumped out, "Here you go".

"What is that thing" Rigby said as he stared at the strange vehicle.

"It's a golf cart" Skips said as he approached it.

Mordecai followed behind him, "A what cart?"

"Golf cart" he repeated, "It's a cart they used in an old game called golf".

Rigby walked up to the cart and looked inside, "Was it fun?"

Skips shrugged his shoulders, "Fun to play but boring to watch".

"Don't you have anything better Muscle Man" Rigby moaned.

Muscle Man raised his hand and pointed angrily at him, "Hey! That's all I got. You wanted a ride so I gave you one, take it or leave it!"

Skips forced himself between the two, "It'll do fine, thanks Muscle Man".

Muscle Man lowered his hand, "No problem, good luck on whatever it is you guys are doing. I'm gonna go back inside and watch these old monster truck tapes I found earlier today". And with that he turned around and ran back into his trailer.

"Man that guys annoying" Rigby complained as he climbed into the cart. Shortly afterwards Mordecai punched him in the arm, causing him to let out a small whine.

"Not cool man" Mordecai scolded, "He just hooked us up with this ride".

"Oh, you mean this p.o.s." Rigby moaned as he rubbed his arm.

Mordecai threw his arms in the air, "It's better than nothing, my point is he's not all that bad so stop your bitching!"

Rigby didn't respond, he just turned around and gazed into the distance. Skips sat in the driver's seat and started the cart, "Alright, let's go" he said before driving off towards their destination.

About a half hour has passed since they left, most of it was spent in silence. There was a question burning in the back of Mordecai's head the whole time, and he finally worked up the nerve to ask, "Hey Skips, how did this guy cause Techmo to lose his arm?"

"Yeah" Rigby said intrigued, "I thought he lost it because of an infection he got after fighting marauders".

Skips let out a deep sigh, it was obvious he didn't want to answer the question, but he felt that they deserved to know the truth, "Over a hundred years ago he helped me and Techmo track down a dangerous man. We followed his trail to an old medical research facility. We snuck in and Techmo was hacking a computer terminal to disable his security while I pushed ahead. Unfortunately he wasn't as good as he is now back then and triggered an alarm. Techmo asked him to cover him while he fixed it. Armed guards flooded the room and he fought them all off. He gloated about it like he always did, but one of the guards on the ground wasn't dead. He managed to pull out his gun and shoot Techmo in the arm before he noticed his mistake".

Skips took another deep breath before finishing the story, "We abandoned the plan and got him to safety, but the bullet was coated in a toxin that suppressed his immune system. His arm became infected… and we had to amputate it. He's despised him ever since".

A silence fell over the group for a moment while they took in Skips' story. "Whoa, that sucks" Mordecai finally said.

"Yeah" Skips added, "Now you know why I didn't want him to come". Soon after they pulled up to a building that looked like an old hospital, "This is the place" Skips said as he got out of the cart.

Mordecai and Rigby followed him, "Uh, are you sure this is right?" Rigby asked, "I thought you said this was some secret base or something".

"The CDC commandeered several buildings across the country after that chemical weapon got out" He said as he glanced back at them, "Most of them were medical research facilities and hospitals like this".

"Makes sense" Mordecai replied, "I mean they already have medical equipment there".

"Exactly". Skips approached the entrance and examined the hinges, after noticing how worn and rusted they were he stepped back and kicked the door down. They entered and looked around the deserted room, it was coved in dust and webs. Skips turned towards Mordecai and Rigby, "Here I took these from Benson's desk" he dug through his bag and pulled out two walkie talkies.

"Cool" Rigby exclaimed as he grabbed one from Skips hand.

"We'll split up and search the place, I'll take the first floor, Mordecai you take the second, and Rigby you search the third, got it?"

"Sounds like a plan" answered Mordecai.

Skips nodded, "Good, now if you find anything use the walkie talkie I gave you to let us know and we'll met up".

Everyone nodded in agreement and separated to search their assigned area. Rigby and Mordecai walked up the stairs while Rigby played with his walkie talkie. "Blue Bird this is Bandit, Bandit to Blue Bird, over".

"Bandit this is Blue Bird what's your position, over" Mordecai snickered into his walkie talkie.

"Copy that, I'm right beside you Blue Bird, over" Rigby replied before they erupted in laughter.

"Stop messing around guys" Skips yelled at the two.

"Hey Skips, what should your code name be" Rigby asked.

"They're called handles and I don't need one, we don't have time for this" Skips scolded.

"Come on Skips, we're just trying to make this fun" Mordecai remarked.

"Yeah stop being such a downer" Rigby added, "You know what I got your handle… Joker".

Skips let out an annoyed groan, "Just keep your eyes open, ok"

"Copy that Joker" Rigby answered.

"And stop calling me Joker!" Skips shout with such volume that Rigby almost dropped his radio.

"Ok fine, over" Rigby groaned.

After a few more steps Mordecai reached the second floor, "Alright, I'll meet up with you later. Radio me if you need anything ok".

"Will do" Rigby said as he continued up the staircase to the third floor. Once there he walked down the empty hallway scanning from left to right. Rigby quickly became bored with this and started humming to himself, "Just a small town girl, hum a nana laa nee naa, hu ma nunana, going anywhere".

His tune was then suddenly interrupted by a loud noise, Rigby snapped his head towards it and saw an air vent near the floor. He leaned in closer to get a better look, but something in the vent scattered away. The shock caused Rigby to stumble back and fall, "Ahh". Rigby quickly got up and dusted off before approaching the vent. Then against all better judgment he opened the vent and crawled in. Once inside he started to crawl in the direction the thing he saw darted off in. The air ducts were cramped, but luckily his small size made it easy for him to move quickly. Unfortunately the lack of light made it impossible to see where he was going and he soon reached a vertical drop, "Shit!" Rigby shouted as he fell. After what felt like hours Rigby crashed through the bottom of the duct and slammed on the hard ground. He was slow to get up, he writhed on the floor in pain as he grabbed his sides, "Oohhhh, that sucked!"

He lifted himself to his feet and cleaned himself off, that's when he noticed little pieces of gray plastic all over his coat. Upon further inspection he realized what it was from, "Oh crap, the walkie talkie" He moaned, "Skips is gonna be pissed".

After cleaning the rest of the broken radio off he looked around at his new surroundings. The room he was in appeared to be gutted out as if they were renovating it. It was dirty and some of the walls were falling apart and rotting. Then he noticed something strange, a small table set up with a white cloth draped over it with lit candles on top. It looked like a shrine, when Rigby walked to it to check it out he found an old VHS tape with the label ripped off, "Hello, what's this?" Rigby exclaimed as he reached for it, but his attempt at grabbing it was interrupted.

"No!" screamed a growly voice and suddenly Rigby felt something cling to his head. Whatever it was it began to claw at his face. Rigby screamed out in pain and he staggered back and fell. The thing the unlatched itself from Rigby and ran to the shrine before escaping into the dark hallway.

"What the hell was that?" Rigby groaned as he slow got up to his feet, "I need to find the others".

Mordecai wondered the halls looking for Gary. After nearly a half hour with no prevail he decided to check if anyone made any progress, "Hey Skips, find anything yet?"

"No not yet" Skips answered, "I'll let you know if I do".

Mordecai pressed down on the button again, "How about you Rigby?" he paused for a minute to wait for a response, but there wasn't one, "Rigby, you there?" Still nothing, now he was getting worried, "Rigby!"

"WHAT" Rigby yelled from down the hall.

Mordecai was so taken aback by this that he dropped his radio. He quickly spun around and faced him, "Rigby what are you doing here, why didn't you answer your radio?"

"Mordecai, what's going on?" Skips inquired, "Is everything ok?"

Mordecai picked up his radio, "Yeah everything fine, just ran into Rigby".

"Rigby!" Skips replied in a shocked tone, "Rigby why weren't you answering your radio?"

"Uhhh" Rigby rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I… kinda broke it"

"What!" Skips shouted.

Rigby grabbed Mordecai's radio from his hands, "It wasn't my fault, I saw something in the vents so I went in to check it out. But then I fell and broke the walkie talkie, then I was attacked by some monster and…"

"That's enough Rigby" Skips interrupted, "Rigby you stay with Mordecai since you have no way to communicate, just keep looking around and contact me if you find anything got it?"

Mordecai snatched the radio back from Rigby and jabbed him in the shoulder, "Got it Skips". Mordecai lowered the radio and glared down at Rigby, "Way to go Rigby, Skips is already on edge and you had to go at make it worse".

"I already told you guys, I went into the vents and fell" Rigby explained.

Mordecai paid no mind to what he was saying, he just turned around and continued walking, "Whatever dude, just don't screw anything else up ok".

Rigby tucked his hands into his pockets and followed. He tried his best to contain his frustration, but eventually his emotions got the better of him and he kicked a piece of debris off the floor and into a door. Mordecai immediately spun around and glared at him, "Knock it off Rig…"

"Hello" said a voice from behind the door the debris hit, "is anyone there?"

"Holy crap" Mordecai said in astonishment, "I guess your temper tantrum helped out after all".

Mordecai ran past Rigby towards the door, "Yeah…hey wait".

Mordecai grabbed the doorknob and tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge, "Ah man it's locked" he looked back at Rigby, "We need to call Skips".

"Already done dude" Rigby taunted as he waved the radio in the air.

Mordecai looked at him with a puzzled look, "What, but how did you get…"

"It fell out of your pocket with you ran to the door" Rigby chuckled, "You should really be more careful with these things Mordecai".

Mordecai walked over and grabbed the radio, "Shut up man!"

A few minutes later Skips met up with them by the door, "Where is he?"

Rigby pointed at the door, "he's in there"

"But it's locked" Mordecai added, "So we need to find a way to…"

Before he could finish Skips charged at the door and rammed his shoulder into it, breaking it down. Mordecai and Rigby just stared with their jaws hanging down in astonishment. Skips lifted himself up and dusted himself up. Out of the dark room a tall pale man exited, he had long blonde hair and was wearing a white jacket. Over both eyes were glass lenses with a silver tint to them, each lens had its own frame that wrapped around the side of his head and was bolted to his temple. There also appeared to be a light illuminating the metallic lenses. When he walked into the hall his jaw dropped, "Skips?"

Skips skipped over to him and patted him on the back, "Gary, good to see you again".

"I can't believe it" Gary exclaimed, "When I sent out that distress call, I was never expecting you".

"Uhh, hey dude" Rigby interrupted, "Not to be a dick or anything, but what's with the glowing eyes?"

Skips and Mordecai glared down at him, but Gary just laughed, "Ha ha, yeah that's usually the first thing people notice" Gary chuckled, "When I was exposed to that weird mutating chemical one of the side effects was bioluminescence in my eyes"

Rigby raised an eyebrow, "bio-what?"

Mordecai let out a loud groan, "It means his eyes light up dude".

"Ohh"

Skips turned to face Gary, "What happened here?"

Gary began shaking his head, "I came here to see if I could find any useful documents on Prometheus, then…"

"Prometheus" Mordecai interrupted, "What's that?"

Gary turned to him, "Prometheus what a group that secretly formed within the CDC to study the effects of that chemical weapon in order to alter human genes, with the goal of enhancing their abilities."

"Whoa" Rigby said in awe, "that's crazy".

"Yeah, crazy" Gary replied, "Well anyway like I was saying, I was looking around in that room when suddenly something slammed the door shut and locked it. Luckily I found that old CB and messaged for help".

"Ah ha" Rigby shouted triumphantly, "I told you something was in here with us".

Gary looked down at Rigby, "You mean you saw it too?"

Rigby shook his head, "I didn't see the little shit, but he latched onto my face and scratched the crap outta it just because I was gonna grab some video tape or something".

Gary rubbed his chin, "Hmmm, interesting".

"Where do you want to go from here Gary" Skips asked.

Gary lowered his hand and turned towards him, "I haven't found anything useful here, I say we just…" before Gary could finish his statement all the lights suddenly turned on. Everyone covered their eyes as the sudden bright light blinded them, except for Gary that is.

"What the hell" Skips sneered as he got use to the light, "How'd the power get turned on?"

"I can't be sure" Gary answered, "But my guess is someone turned it on".

"What!" Rigby shouted, "We could have turned the power on the whole time? What's that bullshit?"

Mordecai squinted at Rigby, "Oh get over it".

Suddenly everybody heard a synthetic female voice speak over the intercom, "Intruders detected, now activating security protocol".

Everyone paused for a moment, "Is that bad?" Rigby asked. Literally seconds after asking automatic turrets descended from the ceiling and opened fire on them. They all ran back into the room where they found Gary to hide from the gunfire, "Yep, it's bad!"

After they were out of the sight of the guns they stopped firing, so Gary poked his head out to see if they retreated back into the ceiling. As soon as he looked out they opened fire again, luckily he pulled back in in time, "Someone had to activate the security system, it can't just turn on by itself" he turned and looked at the others.

"Well how do we get outta here?" Mordecai asked.

Everyone paused and pondered on a solution to their predicament. That's when Rigby noticed a wooden table, he ran over and flipped it on its side, "I got it, we hide behind this and use it to shield ourselves from the bullets!"

They all just stared at him in bewilderment, "Rigby" Mordecai said, "There's no way that thing is gonna stop gunfire".

"Are you sure" Rigby retorted, "It's solid oak".

He threw his arms into the air, "Yeah, pretty sure dude".

But then Gary had a thought, "hold on a second" he said as he approached the table, "The guns are programmed to shoot human targets, not furniture. If we hide behind this and move very slowly… it probably won't fire".

"Probably" Mordecai replied, "we need better than probably, Skips?"

Skips rubbed his chin as he tried to think of a better alternative, but nothing came to mind, "I'm afraid this is our best option".

Mordecai just groaned, "Let's do this then".

They lifted the table up and sat it vertically next to the door and slid it out, just like Gary predicted the turrets didn't fire on it. Then they all slowly stepped out and hid behind it. "Now remember" Gary stated, "we have to slide it, because if our feet show they'll recognize living targets. So we need to slowly push it across the floor until we reach that right turn. Then we'll make a break for the stairs". Everyone nodded in agreement, "Already, let's go".

They all began to gently push the table, it make an unsettling screeching noise as it scrapped across the tile floor but luckily the guns didn't fire. The process was nerve racking, they knew that if anything went wrong it could cost them their lives, so they slowly slide their feet as they continued to push the only thing between them and the turrets. Sweat began to run down their faces and drip to the floor. Some sweat was dripping into Rigby's eyes so he wiped his face with his tail, but when he lowered his tail back behind him he accidentally placed it in front of Mordecai's foot. Mordecai tripped and fell forward knocking the table down exposing all of them. They all watched as the turrets moved towards their direction.

"Mordecdai!" Rigby yelled as he jumped in front of his fallen friend, he closed his eyes and prepared himself for the barrage of bullets to riddle him. He heard the guns fire and expected it to be the last thing he ever heard, but then he felt something grab him and throw him into the air. He opened his eyes to find himself flying towards the ground, he collided with the floor and slide a few feet before coming to a stop. He lifted himself up and looked back to see the others running towards him.

"Get to the stairs!" Skips yelled. Rigby wasted to time and darted to the stairs just as more turrets lowered from the ceiling and fired at them. They all reached the stairs and made their way to safety while bullets narrowly missed them. Once everyone was in the clear they took a moment to catch their breath.

Rigby walked over to Mordecai and put his hand on his shoulder, "Mordecai I'm so fuckin' sorry dude, I'm so sorry it was an accident I…"

"Don't worry bout it man" Mordecai interrupted as he looked up at him, "I never thought you'd take a bullet for me".

A small smiled crept onto Rigby's face, "Yeah well, I wasn't gonna let you die because of me. That'd haunt me for the rest of my life".

While they were resting they heard a screech emit from the intercom, "I know why you're all here" a high pitch scratchy voice said, "you want the tape, well you're not gonna get it!"

Gary looked at Skips, "What's he talking about" but Skips just shrugged his shoulders as the voice continued.

"The tape is all I have now. The tape is my only friend. Everyone left me, deserted poor Willow. I was so lonely, no one to talk to, no one to talk to me. Then I found the tape, and everything changed. The tape cut through the silence, the tape would talk to old Willow. And now you want to take it, but I won't let you. The build will kill you before you can" then the intercom cut out.

"Um, ok" Mordecai said with a confused look on his face, "What was that about".

"It's that little freak" Rigby sneered, "He thinks we're after his stupid VHS tape!"

"Why would we want his damn VHS for?" Mordecai asked in frustration.

"Well wait a second" Gary said, "let's think about this for a second, he said the tape was talking to him remember?"

Mordecai shrugged his shoulders, "Yeah, so what. People talk on VHS tapes, movies would be pretty boring with no dialog".

"But he said it was talking to him" Gary elaborated, "like the person on the tape was directing it to the viewer".

"Yeah, that's right" Skips added.

"I think that tape must be a video log" Gary explained, "a video log from Prometheus".

Rigby's eyes widened, "No" he begged, "You can't be saying what I think you're saying".

Gary nodded, "I think we should get that tape". Rigby let out a loud annoyed groan.

"Well how are we gonna find it?" Mordecai asked.

"Well Rigby said he found it in the basement when he fell" Gary pointed out, "It's safe to assume that's where he stays, so we just need to get to the basement and we'll find it".

"But how are we gonna get there with all these guns and shit shooting at us?" Rigby added.

A smirk appeared on Gary's face, "Think about it, how did you get there last time".

Rigby took a second to think back, and that's when he remembered, "Ah man!"

Skips ripped the cover to the air vent from the wall and threw in on the ground.

"Rigby said he fell to the basement when he was in the vents" Gary elaborated, "So stands to reason that we should get there the same way, and we won't have to deal with the security turrets".

Mordecai looked over at Rigby who was pouting with his arms crossed, "Hey come on man" he said trying to cheer him up, "It won't be as bad this time, you got nothing to worry about".

Rigby lowered his arms and shook his head, "Whatever, all I know is I'm not going in first".

Gary crawled into the vent first. He pushed a button on the side of one of his frames and it caused the tint to fade from his lenses, allowing the light from his eyes to illuminate the dark vents. Mordecai was the next to enter, followed by Rigby. Skips got down and tried to get into the vent, but realized his shoulders were too broad to fit, "There's no way I'm gonna fit in here, I'm going to find another way".

"Ok" Gary replied, "We'll meet up there then" and with that they continued through the vent as Skips left to find another way. As they made their way through the cramped vent Gary came to a drop, "Ok guys here's the drop, you ready?"

"Yeah" Mordecai yelled from the back.

"Ok, now just do as I do alright" Gary instructed, then he slowly lowered himself into to shaft. He pressed his hands and feet against the sides and propped himself up, then he slowly slid down. Mordecai looked back at Rigby who had a very displeased look on his face. Then Mordecai followed Gary using the same technique. Rigby shook his head before making his way down the shaft. After what seemed like forever he reached the end and dropped down, since he was so short he fell further and crashed onto the ground with such force that he fell on his back. Mordecai helped him to his feet, "You good?"

Rigby started to dust himself off, "Yeah yeah".

Gary looked back at the steps, "Ok, now we just need to wait for…" suddenly they heard the sound of gunfire, explosions, and occasional battle crys. Then Skips slowly descended from the upper floor covered in dust and scratches, "Skips?"

Mordecai couldn't believe it, "Skips that was fast, how'd you get past all the turrets?"

Skips spat what looked like a chunk of metal from his mouth onto the floor, "don't worry bout it".

"O…k, moving on the" Gary said, brushing off Skips badassery.

They made their way through the dark and damp hallways of the dingy basement, it was like a labyrinth. They were afraid that they were lost until they can to a large room that had lights scattered about. There was also a makeshift bed that further proved that someone was living there, "This must be it" Skips said.

They looked around they huge room, on the walls were crude drawings of a small bearded man holding hands with a VHS tape(with hands). "Dude this guy really digs this tape" Rigby stated.

Mordecai came up to a desk and had a stake of papers sitting atop it. He picked them up and began to reach the chicken scratch writing,

The Best VHS in the World
By Button Willow

I entered the bassmint frm a long dae ov huntin munstors and bad guyz to find the Best VHS in the World waiting four me on my bed, 'how was yer dae deer' sea said in a sexie tone (note that the VHS is a human in dis story n a gurl so its totalley not weird so no fl…

"What the hell, this guys a freaking weirdo" Mordecai shouted as he threw the papers down on the desk and walked away.

"You're telling me" Rigby added, "I can't tell if that's Hawaii or a giant yellow tit with a palm tree growing outta it".

"Guys, let's focus" Gary said, "you can critique his art skills later".

They all continued to search the place, however they couldn't find the tape. "I can't find it anywhere" Mordecai finally groaned in frustration.

"Maybe he hid it somewhere else" Rigby added.

Gary took a deep breath and sighed, "You might be right, let's…"

"Hello"

They all looked up to see a strange short man crawl out of a small hole in the wall, he had a long grey beard and sharp claw like nails. He then held up a VHS tape. "Looking for this?"

"Uh, yeah" Rigby answered.

"Well too bad" Willow exclaimed, "You don't deserve it".

"You don't understand" Gary said, "There could be important information on that tape, you have to hand it over".

"Why!" Willow shouted, "So I can go bad to being alone, with no one to talk to me. Everyone I ever loved abandoned me, except for this tape" he said as he caressed the tape.

"Blah" Rigby exclaimed in disgust.

"Look" Gary said as he pulled out a pistol from his jacket, "We're taking that tape".

"What is that?" Mordecai asked Gary in shock.

Gary looked at him, "Uh, a gun".

"More like a deus ex, you had that thing this whole time" Mordecai shouted angrily.

"This wouldn't have taken out the turrets anyway and I need to save the ammo" Gary explained.

"Guys" Rigby interrupted, "We're forgetting about the big picture". Rigby looked at Willow, "Look gnome guy…" Rigby paused and took a deep breath before pointing at the painting, "Is that an island or a big tit because I honestly can't tell".

"Enough" Willow shouted angrily, "if I can't have it then no one can". He then ran to a large control terminal in the corner of the room and hit a large red button.

"Containment breach, self-destruct protocol activated"

They all ran to the terminal, Willow hissed at them and lunged at Skips, but he just swung his arm and knocked Willow across the room into a wall. They reached the control panel and franticly looked around for a way to disable the self-destruct.

"Is there anything you guys can do?" Mordecai asked.

Both Skips and Gary shook their heads, "Sorry, but there's nothing we can do".

Rigby groaned, "I knew we should have brought Techmo with us".

Gary's eyes widened in shock, "Techmo?" he looked at Skips.

"Two minutes till self-destruct"

"I'll explain later, now move" Skips shouted as he made a break for the door, grabbing the tape on off the ground on his way.

They all followed his lead, but as the others reached the door Rigby was tackled to the ground. He rolled onto his back and saw Willow standing over him, "You think you can take my tape and get away with it" he said as Rigby shuffled back, "well think again".

Willow grabbed a large rock and raised it over his head, Rigby watched in horror as the gnome prepared to bash his skull in. But then Mordecai ran over and pulled his sword out. He swung it across Willows thighs, cutting clean through. Willow fell on his back as Rigby got up and ran to the exit. Mordecai followed, but was stopped by the cries he heard behind him. Willow was sobbing in agony, "why…why" Willow lifted his head up and looked at his severed legs before laying back down, "Ahhhh, why. It hurts so bad" he then began to hyperventilate, "I did nothing to you… You horrible people".

Mordecai stared at the sad old man lying on the floor, it was all sinking in. They broke into his home, tried to steal his tape, and now he was lying on the floor after he maimed him.

"Mordecai, we need to go!" Rigby yelled at him.

Mordecai turned to leave but stopped, he looked back again at Willow. He walked back to him and looked down "No, get away…" he pleaded as he tried to back away, "get away from me!" Mordecai pulled out his sword again, he closed his eyes and swung to blade. Then… all the crying stopped. He opened his eyes and looked at the headless body of the lonely man that he killed, he put away his sword as a tear trickled down his face. He then ran to catch up with the others.

Rigby was waiting for him by the door, "What were you doing man!"

Mordecai could barely speak, but he finally managed to choke out a few words, "I could let him die like that".

"Whatever man" Rigby said as they finally reached the stairs, "Little dickweed deserved it". Despite Rigby's greater speed he stayed at Mordecai's side till they neared the exit, "almost there dude, just a little…"

Before he could finish his sentence explosions could be heard as the building started to collapse. They all hurried to the exit, but as they reached it Rigby tripped and fell in the doorway. Mordecai made it to the golf car before he noticed what had happened, and as Rigby tried to get up a pile of debris fell on top of him.

"Rigby!" Mordecai ran to the rubble and started throwing chunks off, "Rigby I'm coming hold on". He continued to clear the pile off Rigby as Skips and Gary came to help. They eventually moved the last piece that was cover Rigby and pulled him out of the pile, "Get him to the cart!"

They all carefully cared him to the cart and placed him on the back, he was barely conscious. He let out a painful groan.

"Rigby" Mordecai said, "are you ok?"

Rigby opened his eyes, "did we win?"

Mordecai wrapped his arms around him and gave him a hug, "Dude!"

Rigby slowly pushed him away, "Wow, wow dude you know I don't do hugs. I don't swing that way" Rigby chuckled, "Plus, I'm pretty sure my ribs are cracked and that hurt like hell".

Mordecai broke out in laughter as he turned to Skips, "Let's get him back to the settlement to get fixed up".

Back at the settlement Mordecai and Rigby sat at their shack, taking a well-deserved break. Rigby fidgeted with the bandages wrapped around his ribs, "Stop messing with them man" Mordecai said.

"I can't help it" Rigby said in frustration, "it's uncomfortable".

"Then I guess you'll just have to deal with it" Mordecai added. Then they heard a knock on their door, but neither of them wanted to answer it. "It's opened" Mordecai yelled.

The door opened and Skips and Muscle Man entered, "Got your VCR right here bros".

"AH, what?" Rigby whined, "why's he here".

"It's his VCR" Skips answered, "so if he wants to see what's on the tape then he can".

"Whatever just hook it up" Rigby scoffed as he went back to relaxing on the couch.

It took Muscle Man a few minutes to get it set up, but when he finished he put the take in and walked back to the couch, "Alright, I'm totally ready to have my mind blown" he said in excitement as he hit play on the remote.

The screen on the TV went blue for a second before cutting to a video of a women's locker room, there was cheesy saxophone music in the background, "What is this?" Rigby said in confusion.

Suddenly the words 'Desperate High School Dropouts' appeared on the screen as it panned to a group of women showering. Mordecai brought his hands to his face and groaned, "It's a porno" he slammed his fists against the coffee table, "we just risked our lives for a porno!" He got up and made his way to the VCR and ejected the tape, he lifted it up above his head and was about to smash he until Muscle Man ran to him.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa… whoa!" he said quickly, "if you're just gonna smash it, then just let me have it".

Mordecai glared at him, "You want this trash?"

A big grin appeared on Muscle Man's face, "Well just to keep me entertained until my girl decides to stop by if you know what I mean".

"Stop!" Mordecai pleaded, not wanting to hear about Muscle Man's sex life, "Just take it".

"Alright!" Muscle Man cheered as he snatched the tape from Mordecai, "Thanks bro". He then ran out the door cheering.

Mordecai walked back to the couch and flopped down next to Rigby. Skips let himself out as the two sat motionless on the couch. Rigby then glanced over at Mordecai, "He knows he left his VCR here right?"

Later that night Mordecai was still sitting on the couch, he was in deep thought. He heard a knock on the door, so he got up and made his way to answer it. When he opened it he saw Margaret standing there, "Hi, can I come in?"

Mordecai smiled, "Sure".

Margaret entered and they made their way to the couch and sat down, "How're you doing?"

Mordecai took a deep breath and sighed, "I don't know, I just keep picturing that guy from earlier".

"The guy that tried to blow up the building and beat Rigby to death" Margaret clarified, "Rigby told me about it when he was in the canteen earlier". Mordecai just replied with a nod, "Mordecai you can't beat yourself up over that, he tried to kill you guys. He did what you had to do".

"Did I?" Mordecai snapped, "I've killed bad people before, but this was different. Yeah he tried to kill us but he was just a disturbed old man. We broke in and tried to steal his stuff, he only tried to kill us because we forced his hand". Mordecai leaned forward and probed his head against his hand, "I still hear it… the way he cried. It was like… it was like a child's. He didn't know why he deserved it, and that's because he didn't". He lifted his head up and looked away from Margaret, "I'm just a horrible person".

Margaret placed her hand on his face and slowly turned his head until they were making eye contact, he had tears welling up in his eyes. "You're not a horrible person Mordecai" she implored, "we both know that". A tear slowly trickled down his face which Margaret wiped away with her thumb. They looked into each other's eyes as they slowly leaned in towards each other. Then just before their beaks met, they heard the sound of the door bursting open. They both jumped and looked towards the door to see Muscle Man with his VCR. "Mitch, what are you doing?"

"Sorry bro" he replied, "Did I interrupt something?"

"Just tell me what you want" Mordecai said in frustration.

Muscle Man walked to the TV and started setting up his VCR, "I just found something that you have to see!"

Mordecai was so angry that he could feel his blood boiling, "I swear Muscle Man if I see some dudes money shot I'm gonna…"

"Dude" Muscle Man said as he walked back to the couch, "Trust me, you're gonna want to see this".

He hit play on the remote, Mordecai and Margaret then immediately covered their eyes and a video of a man and two women have intercourse flashed on the screen.

"Sorry about that bro" Muscle Man said, "just give it a second".

After a moment to corny porn music stopped, signally that it was safe for Mordecai and Margaret to uncover their eyes. When they looked at the screen they saw a man with dark hair and glasses in a white lab coat. He looked like he was under a great deal of stress as his hair was a mess. He cleared his throat then spoke to the camera.

"I hope that someone finds this, there wasn't much of anything to record this with. All the computers are down, the only thing I could find was this… smut tape." The man ran his hand down his face , "Anyway, the reason I'm making this video is because I've been staying in this building for some time now, and I came across something… remarkable. Old files and documents from a group called 'Prometheus'. I couldn't believe what I was reading, it was…" the man paused and chuckled, "Simple put it's the next step in human evolution. We've been so content with where we were that we had no need to progress, but these studies could be our way of making up for lost time. Anyway, I don't think it's safe here anymore, it's to a point where I see bandits trying to break in on a daily basis. I'm going to continue Prometheus's research, but I'm going to need to move to a new location to do so. If anyone wants to help make history, then meet me at this colony. The coordinates are…"

Suddenly the video cuts back to a man 'finishing' on the two women from earlier. Mordecai and Margaret both groan in disgust, "Damn it Muscle Man" Mordecai scolded, "What did I say?"

"I didn't know it was gonna do that" Muscle Man said defending himself, "I didn't watch it all the way through".

After shaking off the shock Margaret looked over at Mordecai, "Now what?"

Mordecai thought for a moment, then he turned to Muscle Man, "We need to get Skips".

Let's take a moment and break the ice
So my intentions are known
See I have pity in watching you suffer
I know the feeling of being damned alone
I've got a storybook of my own

Don't you see I am your pride
Agent of wealth, bearer of needs?
I am your war
Arming the strong, aiding the weak
Know me by name
Shepherd of fire

Author's Note:

Another day, another chapter. Sorry if it wasn't as action packed as past chapters but this chapter will lead into a bigger story. Plus not every chapter can be epic fights, otherwise it'd be too predictable. A lot of elements from this chapter were taken from 'Best VHS in the World', but you probably figured that out so... whatever. The song in the footnote is 'Shepherd of Fire' by Avenged Sevenfold, look it up or not, I'm cool either way. Also I dropped a hint in the first chapter but the user id number isn't just a bunch of random numbers but are from a historical event. First to figure it out gets a proverbial high five, since it's the internet and I can give you a real one. One more thing, I'm sorry for any errors but it's stupid late right now and my eyes are actually burning from looking at text all night so I probably didn't proof read as much as I should have. Anyway, see you in chapter 6.