Chapter 20
X X X
"Dr. Weithman gave you that devithe, didn't he?" Dr. Tongue blistered, "Well, you two may have thabotaged my planth for now, but I thall build new creationth that will take over the world, onthe I've dethtroyed you!"
(Dr. Weisman gave you that device, didn't he? Well, you two may have sabotaged my plans for now, but I shall build new creations that will take over the world, once I've destroyed you!)
Zeke and Julie closed their eyes, as Dr. Tongue squeezed the trigger. But when nothing happened after a brief moment, they slowly began to open them again. To their relief, Dr. Tongue was now shaking his gun in anger and pulling the trigger like crazy, but no laser blasts came from the barrel. In a fit of rage, he threw the gun down on the floor; where it broke apart. Zeke smirked at him.
"Face it, Dr. Tongue," he said, "you've lost. Your monsters are all dead... again..., your weapons are gone, and I'm pretty sure the Military's out for your blood now. So you might as well just surrender."
Dr. Tongue took a moment to think about that. Then he suddenly raised his hands in the air.
"Yeth, you're right. I thurrender."
Zeke and Julie looked at each other in surprise.
"Huh... well, that was surprisingly easy." Julie said.
"Yeah, that never works in the movies. Hmm... so... now that Lil' Sparky's out of commission, how should we bring him in?"
"Wait, didn't you bring that radio?"
"Well, I did... but the Count smashed it."
"...So, we're stuck without Lil' Sparky or that radio now."
"Well, on the bright side, we don't have to worry about that Count anymore. See, I tricked him into-..."
"Err... thorry to interrupt your little converthathion," Dr. Tongue interrupted, reaching into his coat, "but I jutht remembered that I really am thtill armed after all!"
(Err... sorry to interrupt your little conversation, but I just remembered that I really am still armed after all!)
He took out a flask and started drinking from it. Soon afterwards, he began to transform. Zeke and Julie stared in shock.
"I'm not the only one seeing this, am I?" Zeke asked Julie.
"'fraid not." she replied.
Standing before them now, was the biggest and most vicious-looking spider they'd ever seen.
"Not cool." Zeke muttered, just before he and Julie jumped away from the spider, narrowly avoiding his jaws.
"Any bright ideas?" Julie asked.
"Uhh... working on it!"
Lacking any better ideas, Zeke began frantically searching his pockets for anything that might help.
"Wallet, no. Phone, no. Keys, no. Wait..."
Zeke suddenly remembered one of the keys that Mr. Y had given him. After pulling it out and quickly scanning around the room, he spotted the locker and raced towards it. However, Zeke didn't get very far, before he found himself stuck in a sticky web on the floor.
"Crap! Can't move! ...Julie, here!"
As Dr. Tongue advanced on him, Zeke tossed the key to Julie and pointed at the locker. Julie deftly caught the key, nodded in response, and made her way to it. Zeke braced himself for the spider's attack, when Dr. Tongue suddenly shot some more web fluid; which stopped Julie in her tracks, just a few short feet away from the locker.
"Not so fast, little girl!" Dr. Tongue remarked, "You know better than to mess with Daddy's things! I... hey! What do you know, my speech impediment is finally gone! How about that!"
Zeke paused, then he suddenly had an idea.
"Heh... yeah." he replied, "That must've been a major hassle for quite a while, huh?"
"Oh, you would not believe what that blasted tongue put me through. Ever since that little accident in the lab, everyone was always..."
As Dr. Tongue babbled on, Zeke briefly lifted his glasses and looked towards Julie. Then he motioned with his hand and mouthed the words, "Go! Hurry!" Julie looked down at her webbed-up shoes and did her best to keep moving through the web. Then she finally stopped and sighed.
"Alright, this is the LAST time I'm doing this!" she whispered to herself.
Julie reluctantly untied her shoes, slipped her feet out of them, and stood on top of them. Then she jumped away from the webbed area of the floor and approached the locker, doing her best to ignore how unbelievably cold the floor was. After quickly unlocking the locker door and opening it, she discovered two corked flasks; each containing a red liquid. Julie gingerly picked one up and looked at it.
"I must be nuts." she told herself, as she pulled out the cork.
"...but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get them to take me seriously anymore. I tell you, they were all just... wait a minute..."
Out of the corner of one of his many eyes, Dr. tongue suddenly noticed Julie's empty shoes on the floor. With difficulty, he turned around to see her drinking from the flask.
"No!" he cried, "Not the red potion!"
Julie finally swallowed the last of the potion and took a brief moment to savor the taste.
"That actually tasted... AGGH!"
She suddenly fell to the ground and started to transform. Zeke removed his 3D glasses and stared back in shock and awe, as Julie soon became a big burly purple creature that was still wearing her red hat.
"Well..." Zeke mused, "I sure wasn't expecting that."
Wasting little time, Julie leaped on the giant spider and began furiously punching him. Zeke, meanwhile, resumed his struggle against the sticky web, gradually managing to repeatedly put one foot in front of the other until he was finally out of the web. He then made his way to Julie, stopping briefly to pull her shoes out of the web, and reaching her just as Dr. Tongue's spider body finally gave in and fell in a heap on the floor. Julie jumped backwards onto the floor, as he turned back into his old long-tongued human self again.
"Think he's still alive?" Zeke asked.
Julie nudged the scientist and waited a moment. When he didn't show any signs of life, she shook her head and replied with a "Nope." Zeke looked at Julie, wondering what to say, until she suddenly started to change back into her old self as well. Julie looked herself over, relieved that she still had her clothes on, save for her shoes; which were in Zeke's hand.
"Well," he said, handing them to her, "I guess you'll be wanting these back after all."
Julie smiled, as she gratefully took her shoes back, dusted off the soles of her feet, and put her shoes back on.
"As handy as that monster form was," she replied, "I think I like my current shoe size better."
Zeke nodded. Then, as he was starting to put his 3D glasses on again, he stopped and stared at Julie.
"Are... you okay?" he asked, "You look a little... dizzy."
Indeed, Julie suddenly found herself feeling light-headed. But just as she opened her mouth to speak, she suddenly pointed at Dr. Tongue; who was holding yet another vial and starting to weakly pour its contents into his mouth. Zeke turned to look, and quickly ran to stop him. But he was too late. The liquid made its way down his throat, causing his body to violently shake and then transform once again. The next thing they knew, Zeke and Julie were staring at a giant floating head.
"Let's see you meddling kids defeat me NOW!" Dr. Tongue's voice boomed.
They quickly jumped out of the way, as the giant head's tongue shot right out of his mouth towards them. Zeke picked himself up off the floor and quickly helped Julie up.
"Come on!" he urged her, as he put his 3D glasses on.
The two of them ran towards the open locker, Dr. Tongue in hot pursuit. Julie was lagging behind, however, as the dizziness that she'd felt earlier was getting stronger. She barely managed to avoid another tongue coming her way, before suddenly finding herself unable to stay balanced. As Zeke grabbed the second potion and turned around, he was horrified to see Julie fall backwards in a faint.
"Julie!"
"Well, well," Dr. Tongue mused, "it looks as though your poor girlfriend here has had a hard day, and is all tuckered out. Perhaps I can help her to rest... in peace!"
Zeke quickly yanked the cork out of the flask and guzzled its contents, as Dr. Tongue flew upwards- clearly intending to crush Julie on the way back down. Sure enough, Zeke transformed into the same kind of purple creature that Julie had transformed into earlier. He then leaped towards Julie, landing in front of her just as Dr. Tongue started to come down on her. But the giant head was unable to reach its target, as Zeke uppercutted him with all his might. As Dr. Tongue involuntarily flew up to the ceiling, Zeke quickly picked up Julie and carried her to the DJ station; where he set her down. Dr. Tongue struck the ceiling so hard, that it began to collapse. Fortunately, the corner of the ceiling that was above Zeke and Julie just happened to stay intact. Sighing with relief, Zeke jumped out as Dr. Tongue furiously came back down and launched his tongue at him. But Zeke simply backhanded the projectile away, before leaping up to Dr. Tongue and punching him right into the wall. Zeke was then surprised to see wires and metal exposed from the damage that the head had sustained.
'A robot head?' he thought, 'He turned himself into a giant robot head?!'
Zeke nevertheless shook off that thought and said, in a deep monstrous voice, "That was for Julie!"
He then jumped onto Dr. Tongue, grabbing ahold of his ear with one hand.
"This is for Mr. Brown!" he added, before striking him again.
"This is for Dr. Weisman!"
Again, Zeke punched him hard.
"And this is for everybody I missed!"
Zeke continued punching the metallic head, until he suddenly hurt his hand in the process.
"Oww! Hey, what the...? Oh..."
When Zeke looked at his hand, he suddenly realized that the transformation had worn off. Dr. Tongue narrowed his eyes at Zeke and suddenly accellerated forward. Noticing the opposite wall rapidly approaching, Zeke leapt to the side and rubbed his hand as he wondered what to do now. It didn't help, however, that he was starting to get the same dizzy feeling that Julie had felt.
"Think, Zeke, think!" he muttered, as Dr. Tongue turned to face him.
He didn't have to think long, however, as the sound of helicopter rotors came. Zeke and Dr. Tongue both looked up through the giant hole, where a ceiling used to be. Sure enough, they were greeted with the sight of a Chinook chopper full of soldiers- including Julie's uncle.
"What the hell is that thing?!" one soldier shouted.
"Who cares? Just kill it!" the Sergeant retorted.
Obediently, the soldiers opened fire on Dr. Tongue. However, the bullets failed to penetrate.
"No good, cease fire! Jenkins, the bazooka!"
One of the soldiers obediently retrieved a bazooka, when Dr. Tongue suddenly opened his massive mouth and stuck out another tongue that launched towards the chopper.
"Evasive action, now!" Harry shouted to the pilot; who quickly swerved the chopper to avoid the giant tongue.
In doing so however, he inadvertedly caused Jenkins to lose his grip on the bazooka; which fell right onto Dr. Tongue and momentarily incapacitated him. As Zeke did his best to fight off the dizzyness, he suddenly heard Harry's voice again.
"Zeke! Use that bazooka! Kill that thing, whatever it is!"
Zeke lifted his glasses to get a good look and was happy to see another bazooka waiting for him to use. He ran up to it and picked it up, but found himself struggling to reach a safe distance to use it.
"No!" he told himself, "Can't give in! Gotta... fight it... for Julie!"
With that, he got into position and held the weapon at the ready, just as Dr. Tongue began to recover and prepared to attack the chopper once again.
"Hey!" Zeke shouted to Dr. Tongue, "Don't you know it's rude to turn your back on people?!"
Dr. Tongue looked back down, just as Zeke fired. He barely had time to utter, "Mother!" before the rocket made contact with his face and the resulting explosion blew him into a million pieces. Zeke set the bazooka down and smiled.
"It's over." he muttered, "It's finally..."
Before he could finish that thought, Zeke suddenly found himself unable to resist the light-headedness any longer and finally fainted onto the floor. He could barely make out the sounds of the helicopter descending outside and Harry shouting orders to the soldiers, before he finally blacked out.
X X X
"Look! Look, he's waking up!" a female voice said.
"Welcome back, Zeke." a male voice added.
Zeke gradually awoke, slowly recognizing the voices of the figures standing by his bedside.
"Mom? Dad?"
Zeke took a look around and quickly realized he was back at the base, in an infirmary bed. Now though, his parents were with him, having returned from their vacation.
"The soldiers told us everything." his mother said, "We're very proud of you, Zeke."
"Yeah." his father added, "I've never seen the kitchen so spotless!"
"Frank..."
"What? Oh yeah... and saving the city from those monsters! Great job there too, Son."
Zeke couldn't help blushing a little.
"Thanks. Umm... where's Julie?"
"She's right here." a nearby voice said.
Immediately afterwards, a curtain by the bed pulled open. There, in the neighboring bed, lay Julie with her mother and uncle by her side.
"Hey, Zeke." Julie said, waving.
Zeke smiled at her.
"Thank goodness you're okay." he replied, "What... happened to us back there?"
"You mean why did you two pass out?" Harry responded, "Well, that potion you used was an effective weapon, but I think you may have overlooked one little detail."
He picked up a nearby empty vial that previously contained a red potion, and turned it so that Zeke could see its warning label.
'May cause dizzyness, drowsiness, and loss of conciousness', it read.
"Not to mention," Mary added, "you did stay up all night. But I assume that's the reason I'm told we no longer have any vampires to worry about?"
Zeke nodded.
"I managed to avoid him until just before the sun came up. Not my method of choice at the time, but it was the only option I could see."
"Well, at any rate," Harry responded, "you've definitely earned some rest."
Zeke's mother cleared her throat and said, "Uh, pardon me, but aren't we forgetting something?"
"Oh yeah... before we go, you two should know that the boys managed to recover a little something in the rubble that I believe is yours."
He then nodded to Mary; who reached into her purse, took out Julie's water gun, and handed it to her. Zeke's mother then did the same, giving his water gun to him as well.
"Now then, you two get some rest." Harry continued with a salute, "That's an order."
Zeke and Julie saluted back with a "Yes, Sir!"
Just before departing, Zeke's parents each gave him a hug, while Harry and Mary did the same with Julie.
"You take care of that boy." Mary whispered to Julie, "He's a real keeper."
"I will, Mom."
After their families left the room, Zeke turned to face Julie.
"Well," he said, "looks like we did it."
Julie smiled and nodded.
"You know," he continued, stroking his water gun, "it seems like only yesterday, we were playing with those action figures in school and just pretending to save the day. But now, we've actually done it for reals."
"Mm-hmm."
"It's given me this... funny feeling, you know? Like I'm not the same person I used to be. Like I've become..."
Zeke was startled to find himself cut off, as Julie's lips made contact with his.
"You talk too much." she said, winking at him.
Zeke smirked at her and replied, "Touche."
X X X
"You're sure about this, Sergeant?" Harry asked.
"We scoured the whole castle, Sir." Sergeant Weber replied, "But while we did find the gruesome remains of Dr. Tongue, there wasn't any body matching the description of that other scientist."
Meanwhile...
"And so, that's why I plan to leave this town and start a new life. One where I can forget about the crimes I helped to commit against humanity."
"Well, I wish you the best, my son." Father Vittorio responded on the other line, "May the Lord be with you, always."
"Thank you, Father. For everything. Goodbye."
With that, the scientist hung up the phone and began to pack his suitcase.
X X X
To be Concluded