Tuff Puppy Chapter 3: Forgotten Life
Thanks to everyone that replied to the first two chapters whether it is good or bad. The changes that people said should be done shall be done to all the stories I am working on.
It has been precisely two months since Charlie has joined tuff. The agents decided to throw him a surprise party, so Chief decided to tell the other agents where Charlie lives. Later that day, Charlie was heading to the gym as he does every other Friday. While he was there, the agents took a helicopter to his apartment. The agents dropped down on the roof. "Chief, we are in position." Dudley says on his wrist-com searching the area for traps. "This is the second time we did something like this and the second time that you said that while I was on your head Agent Puppy." Chief says annoyed and searching the area. The agents took different entrances to get to the apartment. They got the party equipment set up, and were getting to hiding spots. Charlie's footsteps were heard walking up the stairs. Charlie opens the door. "SURPRISE!" The other agents yell coming out of their hiding spots. "AAAAHHHHH!" Charlie screams as he jumps up and hangs on the ceiling. Charlie later realizes that it is a party and comes down from the ceiling. "You guys shouldn't scare me like that, I could have had a laser and blasted you all with it. " Charlie says as he heads over to get some punch. "Yeah, that's what happened when they did the same thing for me." Kitty says as she hands Charlie some punch. The party was a rage, Keswick tried to sing Karaoke and was booed off stage, Dudley tried to eat the cake and was caught by Chief, Kitty and Charlie danced in a competiton, but were beaten by Chief and a paper cut out of a person.
When the party ended, all the agents headed home except for Kitty. Charlie showed her around the apartment. "I can set up a training area, a gaming arcade, a prototype cloning machine, a construction area for new inventions, a prototype teleportation device from here to tuff and back, a complete kitchen and a big tv in new areas the landlord gave me permission to build. It will take a while but this room shall be able to resist everything." Charlie says showing Kitty his current kitchen. "Yeah, everything but Dudley." Kitty says looking around. "Yeah, don't worry though, the teleportation device will be set up in Chief's office, the only way for anyone to access it is after they give Chief a good reason to come to my apartment, then Chief puts hand in a fingerprint analyzer. You, though shall be an exception since we are going out after all." Charlie says while he leads her to the living room. "Awwww, you're sweet." Kitty says as she looks at the mess from the party. "Yeah, if everything works out well with the teleportation device then I will be able to set one up for all the tuff agents. This will be effective as multiple defensive and eco-friendly purposes. Well you should probably head home." Charlie says holding the door for Kitty. Kitty and Charlie kiss for a while then Kitty leaves.
The next day, Charlie enters a bit tired from all the sugar from the party, but he quickly got over it. "Charlie come to my office immediately." Chief says. "What is it Chief?" Charlie says enter his office. "Charlie two things. First of all, how is the teleportation device coming along? Second, the Melancholy Mugger has been burning the midnight oil. I need you, and your partners to take him into custody. " Chief says looking at Charlie. "First, the teleportation device is nearing complete construction but has yet to be tested. Second, I shall deal with him myself." Charlie says looking at Chief's office. "Good, and you are under my orders to work with your partners." Chief says looking a bit agitated with Charlie's response. "Fine Chief." Charlie says as he heads. Charlie tells the two of his partners the mission and they head off to the city. They hear a scream and Charlie runs off ahead. "You shall not get away with this, Dad. "Charlie says as he avoids the katanas the Melancholy Mugger swings at him. The Mugger cuts Charlie six times on his right arm, nine times on his stomach, and five times on the left leg. Charlie is still standing and knocks the Mugger back with a powerful kick. Kitty and Dudley see the two of them fighting and they both fire their lasers. The Mugger gets his arms and legs burned pretty bad. Charlie runs toward the Mugger trying to disarm him. The Mugger jumps back and runs toward Charlie swinging his katanas. Charlie gets a pair of cuts on his forehead and another pair on his left arm which he uses to guard two cuts for the neck. Charlie then knocks the katanas out of the Mugger's hands, and then arrests him. "You are pretty badly hurt." Kitty says looking at all the cut marks. "Don't worry, cuts like this are nothing for me." Charlie says closing the doors to the police car.
The next day, Charlie doesn't report in on time. After another hour passes, Chief sends Kitty and Dudley to check up on him. When they enter his apartment they see that he is on his bed, and is really ill. Kitty puts her hand on his head. It is extremely hot. Kitty and Dudley take Charlie to the hospital wing. "We can't tell what is wrong, we will need the source that caused the marks on Charlie to determine what is exactly wrong." Keswick says looking at the ill Charlie. His heartbeat is becoming faint and he struggles to opens his eyes.
Meanwhile, in the prison, the Mugger is in his cell thinking. "What have I done? I just hurt my own son. I must check up on him." he says to himself looking extremely worried. Later that day, the Mugger is released from prison. He immediately heads toward tuff hq. When Kitty and Dudley see him, they get out their lasers. "You will deny a father the right to see his son, even if he is the one who caused this." the Mugger says looking at their lasers. The two put their lasers back. The three head back to Charlie. "Are those what caused the marks to Charlie?" Keswick says looking at the katanas. The mugger nods yes and hands them over.
"I am Charlie's father. Torell Cheetah." Torell says still looking at his son. Keswick returns. "We have a big problem. The analysis of the katanas have come. They are coated with a toxin that attacks the person's nervous system, but it is lethal if too much is used on one person. The toxin is the second most potent, the only reason the most potent wasn't used is becaused it can be traced to a source, while this toxin technically disappears." Keswick says looking at Charlie who's condition continues to deteriorate.
"Is there a cure within the area?" Torell says looking even more worried as every minute passes. "There is a cure. It is a crystal that looks like a rock. There is a simple way to tell the difference. Normal rocks will make a shadow when hit by light, while the crystal will spread the light in multiple directions. It is found in only one location. That is a cave near petropolis. The problem is that cave is DOOM HQ." Keswick says handing the katanas back to Torell. Torell doesn't take them back. "I will get it." Torell says heading to the exit. "We will help you." Kitty says joining him. "He's just a co-worker to you, but he's my son." Torell says to Kitty. "He's my boyfriend so I'm coming to." Kitty says back. "Okay, but you are enemies of DOOM, and I'm still technically a villain. So I can get in, grab the crystal, and get out with them not even knowing better." Torell says surprised since he didn't know about his son's relationships. "But, but..." Kitty says trying to join Torell, but she can't seem to find a way to join him. Torell leaves the building alone. What he doesn't know is that Madame Catastrophe is watching him. Madame Catastrophe jumps into her car and tries to drive off, but the car won't start.
Torell arrives at DOOM HQ, and knocks on the door. "Tell me why you are here or perish." Snaptrap opens the door and says. "I am the Melancholy Mugger and I wish to join DOOM." Torell says while giving Snaptrap an intimidating glance. "Come in or perish. You are a legend in the villain community. No villain even wants to see you in their worst nightmare." Snaptrap says groveling to Torell. "I have come since you give villains a bad name. I have lost count of how many times you and your henchman had been thrown into the slammer." Torell enters Doom hq and instantly is disgusted by what he sees. "Where are you defense lasers and do you have any back up exits?" Torell says as he looks around for lasers. "About the lasers we can't keep them up long enough to get them functional and why do we need back up doors?" Snaptrap says as he is baffled by he question. Torell instantly turns around and looks at Snaptrap with a dark and bone chilling glare. Snaptrap runs behind a table. "Since you will need a back up exit in case the first one is surrounded by police or is blocked off. Fine, I will look around and see if there are any back up exits that were made by the previous owners of this cave." Torell says as he heads deeper into the cave. Torell stops after taking a couple of steps. "Just so you know, as a member of the Oblivion Squad. If anything happens to me inside the cave, the other members will do something so horrible to you, that you will have nightmares that will haunt you past your death." Torell says as he gives Snaptrap another dark glare.
Torell heads in and starts investigating the caves. When he aims his flashlight down a cavern he sees that the light is magnified. Torell smiles and heads down to the end of the cavern. When he reaches the end he aims his flashlight around and sees that a rock spreads the light around. Torell sets down the flashlight and tears the crystal apart from the earth it was bound to. He starts to head back, but stops when he hears a car coming up to the hideout. Outside Madame Catastrophe was approaching the hideout. She knocks the door down and starts to enter when Snaptrap runs up. "Get your own hideout or perish, you pathetic villain." Snaptrap says blocking her path. Madame Catastrophe points a laser a Snaptrap. "Shut your mouth before I blast it off. I just came here to tell you something. The once evil Melancholy Mugger has gone soft." Madame Catastrophe says still holding the laser to Snaptrap's nose. "Francisco, you, Ollie, and Larry find the goody two shoes and bring him so I can feed him to the sharks." Snaptrap says to Francisco extremely agitated at the fact that he feared a hero. Torell turns off the flashlight, picks up a stone and tosses it into another cavern. Snaptrap's henchman run toward where the sound came from. Torell then ran to the exit, but was blocked off by Snaptrap and Madame Catastrophe. The two of them started to fire their lasers. Torell avoided the lasers, jumped over Snaptrap and tripped Madame Catastrophe before continuing to run back to tuff headquarters. Madame Catastrophe gets up and pushes Snaptrap out of the way before she gets in her car and starts chasing after him.
Meanwhile, back at tuff hq, Charlie's condition remains in critical but stable condition. Charlie moves his pointer finger in a motion that tells Kitty to come closer. "Get in the Linerunner and help him." Charlie says before passing out again. Kitty remains motionless for a while before heading to the Linerunner. Kitty gets in the Linerunner and puts on the neural interface. Back at Charlie's room, Charlie wakes up for a while, brings his wrist-com to his mouth and whispers into it the words Storming Rain. When the Linerunner gers outside of the garage it ejects Kitty out, transforms into the Gradine, and picks Kitty up before she hits the ground. The Gradine then flies off looking for Torell.
Torell keeps running but is eventually blocked off by Madame Catastrophe's car that begins shooting lasers and rockets at him. Torell sees a building close by and runs inside. Madame Catastrophe gets out of her car and runs up the stairs after him. Torell keeps running up the stairs with Madame Catastrophe hot on his tail. Torell runs onto the roof, but sees no where to jump. Madame Catastrophe gets onto the roof from the stairs. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I must thank you though, not only will you die, but since of the injuries that you inflicted on the tuff agent, he will die as well." Madame Catastrophe says while getting out three lasers. "I will not die here, and my son will not die as long as I still draw a breath." Torell says before he tosses the crystal high into the air. Torerll and Madame Catastrophe exchange blows, neither of them able to hit the other. Torell hears a noise coming from behind him and it is getting louder. Torell backs off and jumps in the air to catch the crystal.
"Well this has been a blast, we really must do this again." Torell says as he jumps off the roof. Madame Catastrophe runs over to the edge of the roof where Torell jumped off and is surprised by what she sees. "Well I have got to go. Later." Torell says as he enters the Gradine as Kitty deploys the smokescreen. The Gradine then flies off. Madame Catastrophe jumps off the roof, gets in her car and drives off after them. Snaptrap gets on the roof exhausted just as Madame Catastrophe is about to jump off the roof. Snaptrap just passes out right on the roof. Madame Catastrophe starts firing the lasers at the car and one hits the Gradine's right wing. "Initiating auto-repair sequence." The computer says as the right wing begins to be repaired. "What equipment does this thing have?" Torell says looking through the list of weapons.
"Ah, here we go. Deploy stalker drones equipped with magnet mines." Torell says to the computer. "The magnet mines are used for collection missions, not for attacking enemy vehicles." The computer says denying the request. "I didn't ask for feedback, I asked for Stalker Drones to be deployed with magnet mines." Torell says agitated at the first request for the weapon deployment. "Request being started." The computer says as the Gradine deploys three Stalker Drones with Magnet Mines. The Stalker Drones attach themselves to Madame Catastrophe's car. "Activate the mines." Torell says as soon as he sees all three are attached to the car. The mines activate. Soon the car is being covered with trash cans, aluminum foil and the occasional television. "You're pretty good." Kitty says as she sees the effects of the mines.
"My son gets his brains from me and his mother. We were the top agents for a small secret agency, but I made it disperse after my wife died." Torell says proudly of his accomplishments. "What happened?" Kitty asks curiously looking at both Torell and Madame Catastrophe's car. "I don't want to talk about it." Torell says briefly while looking down and forward, searching for tuff hq. Kitty and Torell eventually see tuff hq, but watch as Madame Catastrophe's car slowly disappears from view. The Gradine ejects Kitty and Torell, changes back into the Linerunner, and picks up Kitty and Torell before they hit the ground.
Torell runs up the stair and finds Charlie's hospital room. Torell hands the crystal to Keswick. Keswick heads over to his lab to smash the crystal into smaller pieces while Kitty runs up to Charlie's room. Keswick eventually returns with the crystal in water. "Two things. First off, don't worry the crystal is harmless when in water. Second, through analysis I discovered that the crystal isn't just an antidote for every poison in the world, if it is given an additional time it also serves as a way to give immunity to every poison in the world." Keswick says as he hands a glass to Charlie. Charlie drinks the water then goes back to sleep. Torell starts walking to the exit. "Where are you going? Don't you want to watch as your son recovers." Kitty says as she sees Torell about to leave the room. "I was the one who caused this besides I need to find a way to see if my wife is willing to forgive me." Torell says as he turns his head back. "Will you ever be back?" Dudley says as he heads to the bathroom. "I will be back, but I will be under a name that represents my mission as well as a memoir to my old agency, retribution. My name will be Repentance." Torell says as he leaves the room.