--Chapter Nine:
The Makings of a Showdown
Sonic the
Hedgehog. Leo, as Sonic, confronts RoKrugnik.
Leo: I’ve got
you now! All your minions could not stop me from getting to you eventually!
RoKrugnik:
RoKrugnik SMASH! (He
shoots a laser beam. It misses.)
Leo: Ha! Now
I’ll just jump in a little spiked ball and…
(Leo attacks. RoKrugnik catches him and
starts bouncing him like a basketball.)
Leo: Now I
remember why I hate sports games so much…
RoKrugnik:
You think this bad, someday RoKrugnik show you hedgehog rugby!
--
Pants Man found
a cheap hotel to stay in, and when he woke up, he gave the Commissioner another
call. While the superhero had not found any more clues in the aftermath, he had
come to a few conclusions while thinking:
First, he kicked
himself for not leaving a warning at the crime scene last night. If all the
emergency exits were rigged, any innocent person may have tripped them. It was
not natural for a superhero to neglect such a detail.
Second, the
victim he found had to be there for a reason, and Pants Man would have to find
that out.
The man had
to set off the bomb via the door. It’s the only way… and that means he had to
be inside the building while I was breaking the welding. He thought about this for a while. When
I ran through the building, I set off a loud alarm. He didn’t set that alarm
off when he was inside, though. He even pressed the clash bar and the alarm
stayed silent. Therefore, he must have been there on devious purpose. But what
would a cat burglar be up to in a convention center? It’s not a museum, after
all. There’s nothing of value there… at least, not until the convention, that
is.
Then he
remembered the other person he had seen at the center that night: the one
looking at the convention ad. He could have set the bombs… then would he
weld the doors afterword? It was possible, but he would have to do it before
the blast victim entered the building… easy enough to do if he knew when the
victim would arrive. Perhaps they were enemies… but that doesn’t pan out; the
bomber had anticipated his victim’s actions too well.
When the
bomber exited the building, if he left via doorway, then there should have been
at least one door that was not rigged. That was probably the front, since it
was also the only door not welded. How did the bomber know that the victim
would try to exit through a side route? The victim had to be testing the welds.
Yes… they were on the same side, and one had knocked out the other. What’s
more, that could not have been in either’s superior’s plans, since all evidence
pointed to the event happening at the convention that weekend.
Scott, out of
costume in the new daylight, called the Commissioner’s Office from a street
payphone. The Commissioner was not in yet, but the secretary said she had a
message for Pants Man to come to a hospital… The victim of last night’s bombing
said he wanted to talk with Pants Man…
--
“It kitties’
lucky day!” proclaimed Krug with a smile as he threw open the curtains in his
hotel room, letting in some fairly bright morning sunlight.
Aeris and Leo
took a moment to wake up. They were in a bundle at the foot of the bed, Leo
curled in a ball and Aeris resting her head and forepaws on his back. Krug
could not help but widen his smile and say, “Awww, kitties so cute.”
Aeris got up and
yawned.
Leo, with his
eyes still closed, asked, “You said it’s our lucky day?”
Krug grabbed his
coat and hat. “Today Krug take kitties to work day.”
Leo opened his
eyes and exchanged a look of curiosity with Aeris.
“Krug going to
teach Evil Fleshy Ones not to lie to Krug. But Krug not know when Fleshy Ones
lie, so kitties come along and help Krug.”
“Okay,” said
Aeris.
Then all three
of them left.
--
Number Three was
in high spirits as he walked through the hallways of Firm headquarters. He
entered the boardroom spotlight and did not so much as flinch at Number One’s
immediate question.
Number One: Did
you succeed in wiping out Number Two?
Number Three: He
is in critical condition at St. Something’s. The report is that he doesn’t have
enough blood in him to see noon. He’s requested to see “Pants Man,” but we all
know how absurd that is. Two will be cremated by nightfall.
Number One: That
means you’re up for a certain promotion, then.
Number Three: (sly
grin) Thank you.
Number One: I
must warn you not to make the same mistake your predecessor did, stealing
company funds for personal use. I’d let him do it for years, but in the end, I
had to… make an example of him.
Number Three: Of
course.
Number One: The
issue of the merchandise still remains. The convention will likely be cancelled
or moved to a new location.
Number Three:
But this is why we ousted Two with time to spare, right? Instead of welding the
night before the convention—
Number One: Our
target is in a truck on its way to Toronto. Tell Krug to… take care of the
merchandise, as well as the truck driver. I’m sure you can make such
arrangements.
Number Three:
Certainly.
--
Three walked
down the hall again, this time through the door where Dr. Doe supposedly kept
Krug detained.
When he closed
the door behind him, it locked automatically. He checked: it would not unlock
from the inside without a key.
Outside the
door, Aeris pulled the key out of the lock and dropped to the floor. She picked
up the key ring in her mouth and walked innocently away from the scene.
Three surveyed
the room in which he was locked. The fluorescent lights were all on. Steel
prison bars, on the other side of which should have been Krug, partitioned the
room. Krug was not there, though; the barred-off side of the room was empty.
In front of
Three stood a sterile metal table, a high-backed swivel chair at the head,
across from the entryway. Currently it turned around to reveal Krug, sitting
and stroking a gray cat.
Krug: Greetings,
Fleshy One.
Number Three: (tense,
trying to hide nervousness) Greetings, Krug.
Krug: Now tell
Krug: Are you a good Fleshy One, or an evil Fleshy One?
Number Three:
I’m good, of course.
Krug: Ah. So
what you do that makes you good?
Number Three:
I—uh, I do stuff that’s… good, I guess.
Krug: It good to
breed monster and tell it to kill people?
Number Three: (thinking
quickly) Why, yes! That’s one great deed, as long as the people killed are
evil ones.
(Leo, sitting
on Krug’s lap, growls)
Krug: (petting
Leo) Mr. Leosworth does not like that answer. He think that people make
monster to kill people are evil.
Number Three:
“Mr. Leosworth?”
Krug: It best
not lie to Mr. Leosworth. Lies make Mr. Leosworth upset. And when Mr. Leosworth
get upset, Krug get upset. And when Krug get upset, people DIE!
Number Three:
Okay, okay, I’m not trying to make Mr. Leosworth angry. Now, what do you want?
Krug: Krug want
to know what Evil Fleshy Ones want and why they really make Krug for doing it.
Number Three:
But I told you, we made you so that we could kill Evil Ones—
Leo: GROWL.
Number Three:
Um, er, but uh, it is possible I left out a detail or two…
At length Number
Three told them all about the truck and the plot to kill Number Two, and
whatever Krug could not catch of the fast conversation, Leo was sharp enough to
pick up. The subject eventually got to Pants Man, and the gray cat turned
uneasy on mention of the name. Krug still thinks Pants Man is one of the bad
ones! he thought.
Then Krug said,
“Wait. If evil ones are against Pants Man, then Pants Man good… why was Mr.
Leosworth against Pants Man last night?” The monster looked down at Leo for the
moment.
Best to tell
the truth, Leo
considered, or something close to it, anyway. Then he said, “Aeris and I
are Pants Man’s pets. He forgot to feed us before he left to stop the evil
ones. That’s why we were out looking for him.”
Krug’s memory of
the previous night was as hazy as one would expect for a monster with an IQ of
seventy-one. For now, the big red thing accepted the cat’s answer.
Number Three was
stunned. The cat was… talking? What other things was Dr. Doe doing in his spare
time, anyway? Soon there would be mutant fish roaming the halls here…
“Krug say, Krug
not hurt Fleshy One this time.”
Number Three
sighed relief, but only briefly.
Krug pressed a
button on the table, and the prison cage door opened. “Now Fleshy One go in!”
Three grinned.
There were a million ways he could pick the lock after Krug left the room, so
he was not afraid to get behind the bars.
The door closed
and locked automatically behind him. Then Krug pressed another button. This
time, a trap door opened in the floor, and with an electric whirring of gears
in motion, a platform elevator came up and rested at floor level.
Standing on the
platform was the most hideous human being Three had ever seen. It was extremely
large and well built, but its clothes looked to be so tight as to cut off any chance
of blood flow.
“Fleshy One,
meet Major Payne. He Doctor Doe latest experiment. You two have fun together.”
Krug and Leo
left the room, the former unlocking the door with a spare room key. The last
sound Leo heard from that room was a low grumble from Major Payne.
“Have a nice
day,” said Leo under his breath. After hearing the evil agent’s full scheme in
such first-hand detail, he felt no pity for Number Three at all.
--End
Chapter Nine