-Well, it´s been a while since the last chapter, huh? I'm really sorry I couldn't be quicker. Hope you enjoy the chapter. Stay tuned for more, I´m still alive ;)-
Dudley had a rough night after that what happened in the shuttle. Not only that the events there punished him with a few really weird dreams which he luckily just remembered in fragments, but also the Gin he drank made it hard for him to enjoy the rest.
And that even though he actually hated Gin. Dudley wasn´t sure why he drank it at all. He was unsure about the other 3 glasses but the first glass was because of his encounter with Nick and he just needed any ethanol-containing fluid to drink. Gin was just the first thing that popped into his mind in that second.
Seeing the boy had an impact on him every time and it hurt Dudley to see the hate and the anger in the young boy´s eyes. Well, at least he knew the reason why he drank one glass after the other and why he was rewarded with a terrible hangover.
Powers was not very amused seeing Dudley, wearing a big pair of sunglasses, walking into Keswick´s lab, where today´s briefing should be. Of course he received a lecture from Powers what felt for him like torture. He didn´t know if Powers did it on purpose but it felt like he talked extra loud as he scolded him for his misbehavior.
"I hope you understand me." Meant the captain of the Leviathan and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"I do…" Dudley suppressed a burp.
"Sly, can we start now?" the tick said and looked annoyed at a little device in her hand.
"Yes." Powers pointed at a spot next to the others, commanding Dudley silently to take this position.
"Okay, Captain, what´s on the agenda?" Meternagel seemed oddly motivated.
Usually he never was so motivated when there was work to do. Especially not when it was hard work like in this case. Also the captain noticed his mood.
"What´s wrong with you?" He asked a little confused.
"Nothing… uhm, really. Nothing." He meant quickly.
"Well then." Powers shook his head lightly and then looked at the others. "I have a few tasks for everyone and I want you to accept the given tasks without a murmur." He glared over to Isaac who made it apparent on his face that he was more than sorry about what happened yesterday during Dudley´s speech.
"Okay everyone. Much to do and so less time." The captain rubbed his hands. "Meternagel. I want you to give me status report about the shuttle. I want to know how full our energy cells are. And if it´s possible repair some of the damage it took."
"Shouldn´t that be my part?" Asked René.
"No. I´ll come to you later." Said the captain while Meternagel saluted and walked away whistling a tune.
"This is somehow disturbing." Mumbled Powers before he turned to the Tick. "We discussed about your mission."
"I´ll see what I can do. I mean I have the tools." She grinned and then walked away with swaying hips. Dudley didn´t know if he was maybe mistaken but for him it looked like Powers was looking at her butt while she walked out.
Again the captain shook his head, this time like he wanted to get rid of a distraction in his mind, and then meant with a firm voice. "René!"
"Yes!" the engineer stood stiff and saluted like a soldier.
"I need you to build us some infrastructure here. So the whole thing. But I think you should start with some molecular readjusters. When I look at some of the folks down here I getting the urge to feed them."
"Yes sir!" He meant and wanted to go as a question popped into his mind. "From where do I get the construction components for that?"
"Dudley and I will take care of that. Take what you can find in the meantime."
"On it." This time René turned around and left without any further objections.
"Isaac, Dudley has his task already, you are the last one." Powers stepped close to him and looked sternly into his face. "You will work together with this local scientist. Keswok or what his name was. You will work with him and you will behave. Did you understand what I said?"
Dudley realized in this moment that the worst hangover couldn´t be as bad as getting this 'you screwed up and you know it' look from Powers.
"I understood." Sighed Isaac looking to the ground.
"Good." Powers nodded and gave him one of his violent pattings on the shoulder. "And remember, if you don´t have anything nice to say, say nothing."
Powers now stepped back and looked to Dudley. "Follow me." He ordered monosyllabically and left the lab. Luckily he didn´t hear Isaac who didn´t take his advice and cursed wildly into his nonexistent beard.
"Okay, Sly." Meant Dudley and took of the sunglasses. It was a brave step, not only 30 minutes ago he had the feeling that the light was trying to burn out his eyes. Dudley regretted his decision as he opened his eyes without the glasses almost immediately. "Dammit…" He cursed and put the glassed back on. It was much better like that.
"That´s your own damn fault." Powers meant still with a bit audible anger in his voice.
"I know, I know." Moaned the dog annoyed. "I just needed the drink after seeing… my son."
"Oh…" Powers anger was gone within a split second. "Well, in this case I can at least understand that. But that doesn´t mean I tolerate it."
"Noted." Sighed Dudley. "By the way, where are we going?"
"Well, you heard it, René needs scrap to knock things together."
"He actually said construction components." Intervened Dudley.
"Whatever." Powers meant shrugging. "Anyway, we´ll get it."
"And from where?"
"Oh, as far as I know the blizards…"
"It´s lizards." He corrected Powers attempt to say lizard in Dudley´s language.
"Thanks, anyway, these lizards seem to use a primitive railroad system to transport bigger amounts of goods." The captain grinned widely and also Dudley had to smile about the thought that they would probably do a train robbery.
"But wait, it won´t just be the two of us, or will it?" Dudley asked worriedly. Of course the pictures that his mind created for the words train robbery were pretty great but when he thought about planning a train hijack with two people there was an appalling emptiness.
"Of course not. We will ask some of the rebels to help us." Grinned Powers. "I bet your mom would love to join us."
"You still want to punish me for the alcohol, right?" Moaned Dudley.
"Not as much as she would want that." Meant Powers baldly and stopped walking in front of a heavy looking metal door.
The captain cleared his throat and then knocked at the door. The door just opened enough for Keswick to stick his head out. "Y..Y..Yes?" The rings under Keswick´s eyes revealed that the scientist hasn´t slept much in this night.
"Good morning." Meant Powers friendly. "I need to speak to the chief, if that´s okay."
Keswick just looked at him with big eyes and tilted his head.
"Oh, right, Dudley, could you?" Powers stepped back and Dudley took his place.
"We´d like to talk to the chief if he´s awake already."
"Oh, s..s..sure." Meant Keswick and opened the door. Inside the little room Peg Puppy, Kitty and the chief sat on a table. To be precisely, the chief sat on a little chair on the table.
"Good morning everyone." Powers meant and build himself up in front of the table with his arms crossed behind his back.
"He says good morning." Said Dudley and stepped beside him. "And he wants to ask you for help."
"Help?" The chief hopped from his chair on the table.
"Indeed." Dudley said sternly and looked at Powers. "Do you mind if I hold this conversation?"
"Not at all" the captain nodded and Dudley turned back to the chief.
"We need three or four men for a mission."
"What kind of mission?"
In this moment Dudley and Powers started grinning and the dog said. "A train robbery."
The faces of all others in the room stared in total disbelieve at them.
"You kidding me, right?" Asked the chief who was the first who gained his composure back first.
"Not at all." The dog laughed. "We need resources for our plan and this is the fastest way to get a lot of them."
"But how? How should we…"
"Let this be our problem." Meant Dudley confidently. "So, who´s in?"
"Well, I think we can spare a few men…" Mumbled the chief.
"I´m i..i..in." Keswick exclaimed loudly.
"No, you´re needed here." The dog meant quickly. "You´re needed in the lab."
"In the l..l..lab, why?"
"You´ll see." Dudley felt a little guilty for sending Keswick in the arms of Isaac but it was necessary.
"Okay…" shrugged Keswick and sat down at the table.
"Dudley, tell them that we wait for two hours in this decontamination lock before we go… oh, and tell them to get us the biggest vehicle they can spare. You know why."
Dudley nodded and translated what Powers said. At the end of his translation he turned to Powers "Do you have anything to do for me? Otherwise I´d like to stay here."
"Nothing to do, just be at the meeting spot in two hours." Powers said, saluted and left the room.
"Well, also from me, good morning guys." Smiled Dudley and received also received friendly smiles from all of them except from Kitty. She just looked at the calm surface of a glass of water that stood in front of her on the table. Dudley wanted to ask what´s wrong with her but his mother stepped between her and him.
"Dudley, you won´t go with this man on this train job." She meant so serious that Dudley couldn´t possibly think that this was a joke of her. He nevertheless laughed.
"Mom." He chuckled. "Seriously, mom, of course I´ll go with him."
"No, it´s too dangerous."
"Well, of course it is." He meant grinning widely.
"See?" Stated Peg. "You won´t go!"
"Mom, I will go. Or who else should go?"
"I don´t know, one of your friends maybe!"
"All of them have tasks." Dudley though was still amused by her obvious and deep concern he didn´t want to give her the feeling that he was mocking about her fear. So he knelt down to her, after all she was one of the shortest persons he knew besides the chief, and hugged her. "Mom, I´ll come back. I´m not alone there."
"I don´t want to lose you again, Dudley." Her voice sounded like she was fighting her tears violently.
"You won´t." He whispered and kissed her on the cheek. Dudley stood back up smiling and the first thing he saw was that Kitty was gone. "Uhm, where is Kitty?"
"She just went out of the door without a word…" The chief pointed at a door on the other side of the room. "And if you excuse me now, I have to prepare something." With a mischievous grin the flea jumped off the table and walked out of the room.
"Mom, do you mind…"
"Go after her." Smiled Peg and wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye. Dudley took a brief moment to hug her again before he ran through the door the chief pointed at. The door led into a small tunnel that was, unlike the other smaller tunnels down here, at least lighted quite well.
Not good enough to perceive every detail but good enough to see faces. Kitty hasn´t come far in the meantime, she was leaning against the cold stone of the tunnel wall with her eyes closed. It looked like she thought about something. Dudley approached her slowly, not knowing what she was doing there. "Kitty?"
"Dudley." Sighed the cat and opened her eyes green eyes that seemed like spotlights in the darkness for him.
"Is everything alright?" He asked cautiously.
"Nothing is alright…" She moaned like she heard the question so often that it became a nuisance. "It never is and it never was…"
"Is there anything I can…"
"No, nothing…" she shook her head. "There´s nothing you can do… just leave me alone a bit. I really need some space to think."
Dudley stomach rebelled hearing this sentence. "Is this because yesterday?" he quickly asked because he wanted to know at least some reason.
"Yes and no… it´s all just too much. Me and Rob, me and you… Nick and you… Please, leave me alone a bit, okay? I promise that we will talk about this all later but… I just can´t do this right now."
Dudley felt like the lizard must have felt after had beaten him up right now. "Sure… I, see you around I guess…"
"Thank you." Kitty meant and closed her eyes again.
Dudley stood there for a moment not knowing if he wanted to go, cry or force her to talk with him about this.
In the end he decided to do the first and spun on his heel. After all Kitty had promised him to talk with him later. And she always kept her word. Even though he didn´t know if he wanted her to keep it this time. He felt that this conversation would be bad. Really bad.
And with bad he meant that she would decide for this Rob guy. Dudley´s initial shock turned into aggression the longer he thought about it. Rob. What kind of name was that anyway? That sounded just plainly stupid. And besides that, who was he to take his place in his family?
Okay he was taller, looked better and had a better relationship with his son but… Dudley stopped walking as his train of thoughts hit this point. For the first time he asked himself the question if he was really part of this family and not just the biological begetter of it.
Dudley suppressed this because this new thought led to things he didn´t want to think about. Nevertheless the sudden desire for Gin began to grow in him and he still didn´t know why Gin.
The dog sighed and shook his head. It wasn´t time to focus on something he has to wait for. The best thing was dedicating his attention to something else.
Again Dudley stopped in his tracks, but this time because he had reached the decontamination lock. An interesting view offered to him right in front of the container that was crammed into the tunnel. Captain Powers was standing with his arms crossed behind his back looking at a group of volunteers that had gathered for the mission.
It wasn´t a big group. Actually just three people. One of them was a rat he knew very well from the times when he still has been a secret agent. It was the notorious criminal Verminous Snaptrap. Dudley hadn´t recognized him immediately. The reason for that was the immense change his appearance had went through.
Sure he still was the tall rat with the crooked teeth and the lab coat. But the eye patch and the giant scar that went over his pointy black nose had changed his face a lot. Also it seemed like he lost weight but that was nothing special down here, what was actually nothing too special.
The food supply in the bunker was a mess and most of the rebels were thankful to get at least one meal a day. There weren´t any waves of starvation yet but the people lived in fear of it.
The next volunteer that stood besides Snaptrap was a female bunny Dudley also remembered.
She was T.U.F.F.´s secretary. Her name was Tammy or something like that, he couldn´t quite remember. But he immediately remembered her from her appearance. Seems like she had to flee from the attack while work, she still wore her purple, but now dusty and worn, pant suit which was the main reason why Dudley recognized her.
The last volunteer, and the only one who tried to communicate with Powers with hands and feet was a female dog with yellowish fur who wore a pink top combined with a purple pants. Also she seemed familiar and as Dudley came closer he froze and had the urge to leave again.
It maybe seemed like a harsh reaction but it´s never nice meeting an ex, especially not in the post apocalypse. And so it was also unpleasant seeing Daisy standing in front of Powers waving her arms around. Also her reaction was not too excited as she saw him.
"Oh… hey." She meant almost frostily.
"Hey." Replied Dudley tonelessly and looked at Powers who just looked around perfectly ignoring Daisy.
"What´s wrong with that thing? Is he retarded or something?" She asked loud enough for everyone to hear it. Snaptrap giggled a bit while Tammy sighed.
Dudley was about to say that Powers could understand what they say but couldn´t answer but he decided not to. There was a part in him that enjoyed seeing Daisy getting deeper into troubles the longer she was talking.
"Are these…" Powers raised his voice what made Daisy wince in surprise. "…the only volunteers?"
"Seems so." Dudley looked around. It didn´t seem that anyone else was coming to them with the purpose of joining their party.
"Well, two thirds of them of them seem useful." He meant baldly and then started walking towards the containers doors.
With a gesture he commanded them all to follow him, what they of course did.
The aim of the march that followed was the shuttle in which just Powers went. The others simply couldn´t follow him because he had closed the door after him.
"What´s going on now?" Asked Tammy and the puzzled gazes of the three volunteers moved to Dudley who just shrugged. He also had no idea what Powers was up to now.
With the usual 'swoosh' sound the shuttle´s hull opened and Powers came out wearing a medical glove on his left hand.
Without even an indication of hesitation he walked up to Snaptrap and pressed his middle and his index finger into the skin on his throat. The other two were so taken aback by that that they didn´t even move what gave Powers the advantage to do the same with them. As the captain was done he stepped two steps away from them and just looked at them expectantly.
"What the hell was that?!" Screamed Tammy more scared then angry. She must have understood that Powers injected something into her blood, at least that would explain why her hands ran searching over her throat.
"I think he drugged us!" Yelled Snaptrap who was almost starting to hyperventilate but suddenly became weirdly calm. "Why am I so angry about this… a trip for free… oh my god it´s already working… wow… all these colors."
"What did you give us!" Daisy grabbed Powers by the collar and shook him what hardly moved the captain.
"What I gave you…" Said Powers calmly. "Was necessary for our mission."
Thunderstruck Daisy jumped back and cried out. "He can speak my language!"
Powers draw breath to explain but he just exhaled and turned around again ordering them with a gesture to follow again.
"What did he injected us?!" Hissed Tammy to Dudley who smiled mischieviously.
"Well, nothing special, just a load of Fentobots."
"What?" Snaptrap, who somehow seemed a bit stoned, asked.
"Little robot that probably build a little translation unit on your acustic nerve…"
The other three stopped as Dudley said that. The dog turned around grinning into their shocked faces. "Guys, they don´t harm you, believe me. I also have them."
"But isn´t that, I don´t know, dangerous?" Daisy wanted to know and sounded worried.
"As I said, I also have them and I am over 600 years old. They can´t be that dangerous then, can they?" He giggled and turned back around to catch up with Powers who didn´t think about waiting for them.
After a brief run the four of them were able to be right behind him again as he entered the garage. It wasn´t a real garage actually. Just another big former mining cave the rebels had used for their needs. Inside of it a few smaller vehicles, that looked anything but ridable, were rusting.
But in between them a few pickups and trucks stood that maybe also didn´t look so well but at least like they would work. Powers determinedly walked to one of the biggest trucks and turned around to the group as he was there. "Okay, is anyone among you who can drive this vehicle?"
Daisy raised her hand what made Powers sigh. "Okay then get into the cockpit."
The dog nodded and jumped behind the steering wheel.
"And to the rest of you." Powers also got into the truck and fastened his seatbelt. "You should probably also get in. I´ll explain the plan on the way to our objective."
Dudley sighed and get inside. He thought Powers would maybe tell him the objective separately from the others. After all he wasn´t a simple volunteer.
"I treat all my crew members the same, Dudley." Powers said like he could read Dudley´s mind.
"I know." Meant the dog and leaned back.
He tried to sleep a bit, it would certainly take them a while to arrive at the rails. And sleeping was better than pondering about the things that lingered in his mind about his relationship problems. Everything was better than that actually.
