Author's Notes: I would just like to give a shout out to guest reviewer Sandy Claws, who somehow figured out one of the plot points for this chapter :)

Chapter 12

Doomsday

The Previous Night…

Marny walked up to the porch with trepidation, knowing she stayed out too long getting her backpack back from the gang. The maid stood out on the sidewalk to make sure Marny made it inside the house safely. Marny didn't want to go in, but there was no place else to go, so with a heavy heart she unlocked the door and stepped inside. She wished the maid would come in with her, but she didn't tell her that. She didn't want to look scared in front of a cool teenager. So, Marny braced herself for whatever awaited her inside.

When she walked in the lamp light was dim, and her grandma was sitting on the couch working on the newspaper's crossword puzzle. Marny didn't see her grandpa, and somehow that terrified her more than if he was there. She stepped quietly, afraid any second he would appear to evoke retribution on her for daring to return to the gang, even for a moment. She tried to go upstairs, hoping that the safety of her room would insulate her from he family's wrath, but as soon as she squeaked the first step…

"Ah!" Moreen yelped, startled, "Oh, Marny. It's just you. I thought you were a dog."

Marny cocked an eyebrow in puzzlement, but to be fair it was nice to get confirmation that she wasn't, in fact, a dog.

"You were out playing late," Moreen stated matter-of-factly, "You shouldn't do that. Playing out late is how you got kidnapped last time, remember?"

Marny cringed, and then nodded, not willing to argue.

"This city isn't safe for children these days," Moreen continued haggardly, "When I was your age it was very different. Our parents would let us go out whenever we wanted, and we never worried about street gangs or evil cosmic horrors. Townsville is such a strange place nowadays. I mean the forest always had Lumpkins, but now even the city itself isn't safe. You should be more careful."

Marny just stood there and listened as her grandma spoke. Moreen wasn't the type to become furious the way George was, but she did have a way of going on tangents that led in circles. It was annoying, but Marny would take this over her grandpa any day.

"If you're hungry, you'll have to settle for a cheese sandwich or something," Moreen said sourly, "Wilma never showed up for work. I wanted a frozen burrito, but George left without making me one. He knows I can't use the microwave with my pacemaker. Sometimes that man can be so selfish."

Marny walked over to the nightstand and got the phone book out of the drawer. She flipped to the yellow pages and found a picture of a Chinese takeout box. When she showed it to Moreen, the old woman adjusted her glasses to look at it.

"Oh no," Moreen shook her head, "We can't order out. George wouldn't like that. He doesn't like us spending money without him here. No, you'll just have to find something in the fridge, dear. I did. Lousy microwave…"

Marny could tell this conversation was going nowhere, so she went upstairs to her room. She had never been happier to hear that her grandpa went to work. Maybe, just maybe, she actually got away with this.

Feeling the rush from her latest adventure, Marny took out her journal and began to write. This was a day she didn't want to forget.

The Present…

Marny sat in class trying to concentrate on the teacher talking about subtractions. Addition was easier, obviously, but she knew subtractions were important. Marny didn't like math, but she knew she needed it, so she didn't blame the teacher for being so boring.

Her stomach hurt worse today than it had in quite a while. Now it wasn't just the burn wound on the outside that hurt, but inside her stomach too. She could feel everything churning, and it seemed to reach all the way to her neck and spine. She tried to focus, but everything felt too awful.

Before she even realized what was happening, class was over and it was time for recess. Marny was the last one still sitting in her chair, and slowly she stood up to go outside and play.

The sun seemed too bright when she stepped outside, and the sprawling playground looked intimidating for some reason. Marny needed to find a piece of playground equipment to claim, just so she didn't look like a freak standing on the blacktop alone.

The swings were all occupied, of course, and there was a line for the slide. Finally, after scouting for almost a minute, she saw no one was at the monkey bars, so she slowly made her way there. The monkey bars were near the back of the playground, so it felt like it was taking forever to get there. She clutched her stomach, trying to will it to not hurt anymore. That normally worked, but for some reason it wasn't working today.

"Hey!" A boy called out to her, "You're Marny Milford, right?"

Marny just stared lazily at him, feeling more miserable than she ever had. This was a boy in her class, a typical brown haired brown-eyed kid. What was his name again…?

"Hi Marny, I'm Brian," Oh, right. Brian, "My sister B.W. says you got kidnapped by a street gang. Are you okay?"

Marny wasn't okay, but she didn't want to be rude, so she nodded yes.

"Wow! You must be really brave," Brian said in admiration, "I've seen The Gangreen Gang around the park. They're really mean. They wedgie kids just for doing nothing. One time, one of them even broke the rocking horses! Those things are made of freaking metal! If you could stand up to them and be okay, then you must be hardcore. Do you wanna play basketball with me?"

Marny smiled for a moment. Other kids typically avoided her because she was mute and, in their words, 'weird'. To actually have a boy her own age want to hang out with her was amazing. Unfortunately, the fun could not last.

Brian grabbed a basketball from the bin near the entrance, and threw it to Marny. Marny tried to grab it, but it hit her in the abdomen instead. The pain was instant, as was her gag reflex. She threw up all over the blacktop, and then fell over; doubled over in pain.

"Marny!" Brian screamed.

He ran over to see if she was okay, but it was clear she was close to passing out. Marny threw up again, and soon more kids were gathered around her.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna tell Ms. Chang," Brian assured her, "Just stay awake. It could be like when you hit your head in sports. If you go to sleep, you won't wake up again. I'll be right back!"

Marny heard the words, but they weren't completely registering. Laying on the concrete, surrounded by shadows of people gawking, reminded her of the car accident. She remembered laying in a pool of blood and glass, mangled bits of car all around her, and the people that gathered to see the wreckage. She remembered trying to call for help, but the sound that came out was not her voice, but a frightening gurgling sound.

Soon the teacher and the school nurse were by her side, and she could hear Brian yelling something in the background. She tried to raise her hand up to let them know she knew they were there, but that just made everything hurt worse.

Finally, the pain was too sharp, and she passed out.

Ace and the gang found themselves at the park, which was a fairly typical place for them to hang out. Today however, bullying kids and stealing lunch money was not their end goal. They walked with purpose, ready to enact a plan to save Billy's pet-turned-best-friend. Their destination was what lied at the center of the park…the volcano observatory.

"Pfft pfft pfft?" Grubber asked nervously.

"Hey, you know where else we're gonna get a doomsday device?" Ace snorted, "I didn't think so."

"That's a lot of stairs," Billy observed with trepidation.

"Oh, brother…" Ace rubbed a hand down his face in frustration, "Look, do you losers actually want the kid back or not? 'Cause if not, we can turn around and go home right now."

Nobody argued the point, so Ace started walking up the stairs; his gang following close behind. It didn't take long before Ace could hear Billy's loud breathing. He just hoped that didn't give away their position to the resident villain of this observatory. After all, Mojo Jojo was a lot more dangerous than any of them could ever hope to be. Super intellect, owning incredible death machines, and the natural strength of an angry chimpanzee. Ace was close to mentally talking himself out of this already.

When they made it to the door Ace tried to open it like he owned the place, but of course it was locked.

"Okay Arturo, yer up," Ace ordered.

Arturo nodded with determination and pulled out his fake credit card. He just hoped there weren't any laser security cameras on the other side of the door when he finished picking the lock.

The tumbler gave way after a moment, and the gang cautiously looked around to see if anyone was there. Fortunately, it seemed the place was empty.

"Perfect," Ace said quietly, "Alright guys, let's look for just the right doomsday device. We need somethin' small enough to carry, but big enough to look like a real threat."

"How will we know what each one does?" Arturo asked.

"It don't matter," Ace assured him, "All we care about is how menacing it looks. It just needs to take a pretty picture. Now, spread out and search."

The five teenagers went in different directions and cased Mojo's lair. Snake found his vase collection, but nothing there seemed particularly dangerous. Still, he couldn't help himself and stuck his arm into one of the receptacles. It got stuck, and Snake smashed the vase against the wall so he wouldn't have to carry the girly looking thing home with him.

"Quiet!" Ace yelled loudly.

"Sssorry," Snake said softly.

Grubber and Billy found themselves in front of a giant laser. It was coated in black iron and steel, had more buttons than a universal remote, and there was even a leather chair to sit in while firing the deadly weapon.

"Pfft brrpt?" Grubber asked.

"Uh…I can try," Billy replied uncertainly.

Billy then started pulling on the bolted part of the laser gun, trying to yank it out of the floor. The metal groaned, as did Billy, with the strain of his efforts. Finally, after a minute of trying, he broke the laser from its stem and threw the whole thing up to the ceiling! The laser kept going, making a hole in the roof, and flying away until it landed outside next to some kids in a sandbox.

"Oops…" Billy said dully, "Guess we need another one."

Ace meanwhile couldn't make heads nor tails of the lab he found himself in. It was just beakers and test tubes as far as the eye could see. There were a few stray chemicals, all of which could be incriminating to George Milford, but Ace didn't know how to drag this entire setup back to the old geezer's house.

After a few minutes of looking around, Ace found a fridge next to the shower. It seemed like a weird setup, but hey, free food.

He opened the fridge and found liquids of every color in the rainbow. The red one looked like fruit punch, so Ace grabbed that one and started to drink. After a few minutes however…

"AAAHHH! Fire! Fire!" Ace screamed, flames bursting from his mouth, "My guts are on fire!"

Snake, being the closest, ran to him with a vase full of water and dumped it down Ace's throat. Ace coughed up water and ash, and then sat down on the floor to recover.

"Hey, a fridge!" Snake exclaimed.

"No, Snake don't-!" Ace tried to warn him, but it was too late.

Snake drank a blue liquid, and he froze in place like an ice sculpture.

"Crud…" Ace groused, "Well, there's only one way to fix this."

Ace then grabbed the rest of the red liquid and threw it on Snake, melting the ice and setting his clothes on fire.

"AAAH!" Snake shrieked, "What did you do that for!?"

Ace then walked over to the vases, grabbed another one, and dumped the water on Snake. Snake looked livid at how long Ace took to get there, and slapped him in the face. Ace, not taking kindly to that, slapped him back. Before long the pair of alleged friends were punching each other and rolling on the ground in a fist fight.

"Oye, muchachos!" Arturo called out from the back of the lair, "I found something!"

This stopped the fight, and the two teenagers stood up like nothing was wrong. The gang ran to Arturo to find him in front of a black device about two feet tall, with flashing buttons and steam wafting from the top.

"What about this device, huh?" Arturo asked, "I got a good feeling about this one."

"Hm…it could work," Ace nodded approvingly, "Yeah, this'll look real threatenin' in a photo. Billy, grab it."

Billy picked up the device carefully, trying not to drop it like the giant laser.

"Pfft pfft?" Grubber pointed out.

"Nah, if it was a bomb there would be a timer or somethin'," Ace reasoned, "Nah, this has gotta be some sort of universe warpin' machine or somethin' like that."

"Maybe it'sss a transssforming robot," Snake speculated.

"Si, or a rotating laser," Arturo added.

"We don't care what it is," Ace reminded them, "We just gotta get this to Milford's house. Now, let's got outta here before-"

Unfortunately for them, before had already passed them by. The gang stopped talking when they heard the door at the front open wider, and they hid behind one of Mojo's giant robots so he wouldn't see them.

"You have got to be kidding me!" Mojo exclaimed furiously, "I've been robbed, burgled, vandalized, and broken into! Alright, whoever has invaded my domicile, prepare yourself to be beaten and ground into a pulp at the capable hands of Mojo Jojo!"

The boys all gulped in unison, huddled behind a robot like scared rats. Mojo went to his closet and took out a baseball bat. That seemed kind of primitive for a genius like him, but it still got the point across, and the gang knew they had to get out of there quickly.

Mojo went to the room with the vases, and since his back was turned to them the gang used this moment to run behind the couch.

"My vahses!" Mojo shouted incredulously, "Alright you punks, whoever you are, I will find you and teach you a lesson. You will learn to respect other people's property on this day."

"Fat chance," Ace muttered to the other.

The boys snickered, and Mojo turned to listen. They stopped, realizing they could still be caught, and Mojo slowly walked toward the couch.

He slowly approached, his bat held over his head, and then he quickly jumped to catch the hooligans behind the couch! There was no one there however, and Mojo scratched his head. Meanwhile, in front of the couch, the boys were still scrunched together fearfully.

Mojo walked in front of the couch, and at the same time the gang skittered behind the couch. Mojo tried looking behind again, and the gang inched back in front of the couch.

Mojo stopped for a moment, and the gang took this time to hide in the closet next to the front door.

The angry chimp looked around the living room one more time, and the gang held their collective breath. Finally, Mojo retreated to the back room with the robots and various devices, including the one the gang just stole.

The gang saw this as their opportunity to escape, so they quickly ran out the front door and down the stairs. Once they were as far away as the edge of the park, they laughed at getting away with their latest crime. Now they had the mystery device in their possession, and they could continue their plan to frame the commissioner and save Marny.

Mojo Jojo, meanwhile, continued to survey the damage. He saw that his giant laser was missing from its spot, his chemical fridge had been tampered with, and there were even more broken objects.

"Of all the inconsiderate…" Mojo gritted his teeth as he spoke, "…imbecilic, unconceivable, brain-dead, moronic…curses…"

Finally, he made it to the spot where the device the gang had stolen should be. Mojo gasped, clenched his fists, and raged as his face turned red from anger.

"Noooooo!" Mojo roared, "My coffee maker!"

Marny could feel herself waking up before she could open her eyes. She felt bad, but not as bad as earlier. She distinctly remembered what happened at the playground, but she didn't know where she was now. She got up, realized she felt a little better, and explored the room. Looking out the window, she could see she was near the playground at school. This was most likely the nurse's office.

That mystery solved, Marny decided she wasn't as sick anymore and she should leave. Most kids would probably stay until a grown up told them they could go, but Marny was starting to see the disadvantages of listening to grown ups. Besides, she needed to know what time it was to know which class she should be in.

She walked down the hallway, and was surprised to see it empty. No kids, no teachers, no one. She kept walking until she heard voices coming from the principal's office, and recognized one voice as her grandma. Sneakily, she peeked in through the door's semi-transparent window, and saw her grandparents speaking with the principal and a lady in a suit she had never seen before.

"You can understand why it looks suspicious though, Commissioner?" The suit lady asked her grandpa, "A neglected burn wound, and a case of sepsis, on a 7 year old girl? That doesn't just happen."

"I understand, Mrs. Howitzer," George replied professionally, "I'm a police officer myself, and I see the worst of humanity on a near-daily basis. Your suspicions are completely justified. Marny is a special case, however. She doesn't talk, and she's kind of a rascal, so she gets into things without us knowing what's going on. We try to keep an eye on her of course, but Moreen and I are getting older. Besides, it's good for a kid to learn independence from a young age. We don't want the girl growing up not knowing how to do things like change her own clothes or run her own bath water. I'm sure you can understand, being a parent yourself."

"Then how did she get the burn wound on her stomach, Commissioner?" Mrs. Howitzer asked.

Yeah, grandpa. How did that happen? Marny thought bitterly to herself as she spied on them.

"As best as I can figure," George seemed to ponder, "She probably tried to cook something by herself. We don't allow her to touch the oven or the stove, but she wants to learn how to cook just like Moreen. She probably burned herself and didn't know how to tell us. If Moreen was upstairs she probably wouldn't have heard her yelp, and I'm at work most nights. It would have to be a specific set of circumstances for this to happen, but I just can't figure out what else it could be. Marny's too young to be hurting herself, and besides, no fool in their right mind would do something like that on purpose."

Mrs. Howitzer sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She then gave the couple a sympathetic look as she spoke.

"I know it must be hard on you, Commissioner," Mrs. Howitzer commiserated, "I know losing Chelsea was difficult, and you and Mrs. Milford didn't ask for this. Marny needs supervision though. Understand that school staff are mandatory reporters, and we don't actually blame you for any of this. I would suggest hiring a sitter a few days a week, just so there's another set of eyes watching the poor girl."

"I'll personally run background checks on every candidate for the job," George assured her, "I'm glad you take your job as seriously as you do. You're a credit to Townsville CPS."

"Thank you, Commissioner," Mrs. Howitzer replied with equal professionalism.

Marny backed away from the door and ran down the hall until she turned a corner. While she didn't exactly understand who that lady was, she did know what her grandpa's tone indicated. He was lying. For one thing her grandma couldn't cook. More importantly however, he wasn't going to forget what happened and find a babysitter. He was going to make sure she could never embarrass him again. She knew all the threats, from locking her in the attic forever to killing her and burying her in the backyard.

No. She wasn't going down like that. If her family was going to hurt her, and school didn't care about her, then she was going to take care of herself. She ran away once, and she could do it again. She would find her own way to the hospital, and she would grow up to be a street kid just like Billy and his friends. She just had to toughen up and stop listening to grown ups.