"Good morning monsters," General Monger bellowed in his gruff almost gravelly voice.
"Today is something rather special; today you shall be going on different assignments for performance review. If you fail this assignment then any and all privileges you have can and will be taken away with as much prejudice as possible. This includes the use of the toy box and social interaction with others. That means solitary confinement people. Let's not make it come to that."
Monger said already aware that Doctor Cock had his toy box privileges revoked as he had managed to make a small bomb out of Lego bricks, an old clock and fermented juice from his meal of garbage. It would have become even more powerful if he had managed to get his sly little hands on some uranium. Though he still wasn't allowed anywhere near a lab as last time he had created a giant radioactive Cockroach and proceeded to ride it around the city causing as much mayhem and madness as he could.
"The government wants to see that their tax dollars are at work here and that they aren't being wasted babysitting a bunch of overweight, out-of-shape monsters," he said shooting Link a rather accusing look before he carried on.
"Now you monsters shall be split up into teams to better test your abilities and how you deal with conflict in a working relationship. Now Doctor Cockroach you shall be paired with Ginormica and Ginormica..." he faded out as he suddenly realized that the huge woman was missing from the room.
"Has anyone seen Ginormica?" he asked only to hear a little bit of awkward shuffling from the other monsters before he heard a rather small voice coming from below him "I'm down here", the voice said and it sounded a little like the voice of Susan.
Floating down to the ground with his jet pack General Monger could see that it was in fact Susan and she was human-sized again."What in the blazes..." he trailed off and scratched his head as he tried to process this new information.
"Ginormica why aren't you... well, Ginormic?" he asked shocked by her new physical size as he was used to talking with a giant who could squish him with her little finger is she so wished.
"It was Doctor Cockroach," Susan said with a beaming smile as she gave the odd-looking man bug beside her a warm hug.
"He made me small again but don't worry I can still do everything I could before I can just blend in better. You and I both know I am less likely to squish cars or accidentally maim innocent bystanders at this height" she said obviously happy with this new development.
Monger turned on Doctor Cockroach his eyes alight with anger.
"Doctor Cockroach would you care to explain why I find myself one monster down on an important mission that may very well ensure the future of this facility? The facility that you have been calling home for the last 50 years or so and while you are there would you care to explain why you were doing illegal experiments on one of your fellow inmates in the first place?" he asked practically spitting the words at the charming bug in a lab coat. The emphasis on Illegal made the good Doctor's antenna twitch with annoyance since when had petty legalities stopped him before, never that's when. He rolled his eyes before fixing Monger a withering look. "Here we go again, another stint in isolation and just when I started to get things going with Susan as well" he lamented internally. He already thought that the whole punishment system of the facility was unfair and honestly quite petty. But, now he was almost certain it was put in place to stop him from making the place even the slightest bit interesting. The infractions made him feel as if he was back in school again, though sometimes he forgot he was in fact in prison. He had been in here for so long that he had started to forget the outside world a little. The corners of his memories had been slowly rubbed away like chalk on a blackboard. He feared that one day he would forget everything about his life before he had become a monster. He feared he would forget his lab and cosy house in the country. Though he knew they were probably gone. having been erased from time.
"Well, GeneralMonger you aren't as you so eloquently put it 'a monster down' Susan's condition is not only controllable but also temporary. All she needs to do is ingest some of the antidotes I made for her and she will be back to towering above the city in no time" he said cheerfully, fixing Susan with a longing look that screamed of the fact that he liked her the size she was currently.
"As for why I performed a so-called 'illegal' experiment I did it simply to make Susan's life more bearable while she is living in your beloved facility. Making the best out of a bad situation if you will" he said with a cocky grin before he added;
"Oh and there was nothing illegal about it General. O
ur agreement said that I couldn't do any experiment that involved making any new monsters. However, it lacked any relevant information regarding experiments on things already consumed in an otherwise monstrous condition. I was simply trying to improve the well-being and life quality of a fellow monster" he said coolly proving just how smooth a character he could be at times.
"We should be working to improve the mental health of my fellow inmates as much as possible. After all, we did save the world from being over run by aliens and robots alike" He added smugly, as he knew certain members of Monger's team had been pressing him about the mental health implication that decades of incarceration could have on the misfit band of monsters.
"Yeah and it has nothing to do with the fact you have the hots for Ginormica" Link muttered under his breath just loud enough for people to hear. If looks could kill then the one Doctor Cockroach gave Link would have been the equivalent of an Excimer laser beam to the face. While Susan turned red with embarrassment and wished that the ground would open and swallow her up
"Well be that as it may, but performing experiments on other monsters is frowned upon, consider yourself warned Doctor Cockroach. Even if it was to improve the happiness of another monster" he said coldly before he went back to the task in hand by assigning them their missions.
"Now as i was saying Doctor Cockroach and Gigant...Susan," he faltered
"Will go to England to try and bring down a new monster we are calling 'Jellgantor'. Now Jellantor is your usual mutant overgrown Jellyfish, it's mean and it can pack on a hell of a punch with its stingers. However, it seems to have adapted to life on the land and is currently terrorizing London and stinging everything that comes anywhere near it," He straightened his jet pack for a moment before continuing.
"Now as this is Doctor Cockroaches native turf he has somewhat of an advantage knowing the area." He barked fixing Doctor Cockroach a look which said that he wasn't exactly happy with him.
"Now as for Link, Insectosaurus and B.O.B, you shall be going to the Amazon rainforest. A class of high school students were on a geography trip about the drainage system and plant life in the Amazon basin. Children started disappearing after seeming to be in a trance for several hours and we need you to figure out what has happened to them and get them back. There have been reports of cannibalistic tribes in the same area so this may just be some bloodthirsty natives out for a midnight snack. However, it is believed that there is an old ritual ground dedicated to aliens nearby their camp as an unidentified flying object crashed somewhere in that vicinity over a hundred years ago. Now normally we wouldn't send people of your expertise out on this sort of mission." By that, he meant that they wouldn't usually send monsters to save school kids.
"However, there have been massive energy spikes in that region over the last few weeks and it is most likely to do with that ship. Something or someone has woken it up and we need you to shut it down before we get any more unwanted visitors.
"Isn't that something Doctor Cockroach would be a little more suited to, cannibalistic tribes and alien ships? He managed to shut the last ship down pretty much on his own, don't you think it would be better if..." Link started before he trailed off under the withering gaze of General Monger
"Everyone has their partners. Do I make myself clear?" he asked fixing each of the monsters with a steely gaze as he walked along the line, giving Link an especially long stare that made him want to run back to the safety of his room.
"Yes sir" was the reply from everyone except insectosaurus who just bellowed as normal in response.
"Well, in that case, monsters move out" the General ordered firing up his jetpack "Oh and boys try to remember the Amazon is endangered the last thing we need is insectosaurus flattening the whole thing" he shouted above the roar of rockets before muttering "Damn environmental's" as he sailed out the room.