Thingamabob looked up at the ceiling in his group’s common room. Why was the
alarm going off? He stood up from the table he used for a work bench. One of the
prisoners must have gotten loose from their cell.
He assembled his arsenal as his group gathered around. They had changed to civilian
clothes like he had. No one wanted to wear a mask at home.
“Puff, get up to the operations command and find out what’s going on,” said Bob. He
secured the last pieces of his gadgets together hastily. “Gaze, start looking for the
problem. Troop and Clown Girl, start searching the facility for whatever is going on.
Don’t forget to call in.”
“Do you think one of them got out?,” asked Clown Girl. She had traded her striped
shirt and baggy pants for a track suit with BRUINS on the back. Her make up was a
pale imitation of what it usually was when she was in action.
“I don’t know,” said Bob. “Go find out.”
“On it,” said Clown Girl. She headed for the stairs. “Come on, Monkey Boy. Last one
upstairs is a rotten pistachio.”
Troop threw his long arms up in the air with a grunt. He branched out as he headed
for the stairs and the elevator. His plaid shirt and jeans made it look like he had
mugged a lumberjack for his clothes.
“The cells are empty, Bob,” said Gaze. “The prisoners are spread out and moving
around the facility.”
Puff appeared, pulling on his purple coat over his shorts and T-shirt. He shook his
head.
“The brains started fighting in the factory,” reported Puff. “We might have a
meltdown. Gilbert not happy with his pets.”
“I told him this might happen.” Bob pulled on his arsenal over his short sleeved shirt
and chinos. “Gaze, vector our guys on the prisoners. Puff is going to take me up to
the factory, before helping Clown Girl and Troop.”
“Don’t let them blow the place up, Bob,” said Gaze. He pulled on the radio set he
used to keep in touch with the rest of the Squad. “I don’t think Clown Girl and Troop
grabbed their radios.”
“Get me up to the factory, Puff,” said Bob. “Then get radio sets to the others. Then
help them find the prisoners and put them back in their cells.”
“Will do, boss,” said Puff. “You don’t have to tell me twice. I can get the job done.
I have a can do spirit, and an already done brain. Yes, sir.”
“Let’s go,” said Bob. “The sooner we sort things out, the faster we can go on our
vacation.”
“We’re already at the beach,” said Puff. Transportation cut off his diatribe about how
much he wanted sand and ocean after living underground too long. He stepped back
as sirens warned him of imminent calamity.
“Get the radios and help the others,” said Bob. “I’ll handle this.”
Puff vanished between strobes from the alarm lights.
“What’s going on, Gilbert?,” asked Bob. Gilbert Handley was responsible for the
smooth running of the factory and extorting ideas from the two brains he held captive
near the ceiling of the floor. He looked like someone had kicked him somewhere
sensitive.
“I don’t know,” said Gilbert. “Everything was fine a few minutes ago. Then they
started fighting inside their chambers.”
“What do you mean fighting?,” said Bob. He walked over and examined the readings
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.for himself. “They’re just brains in jars.”
“They have limited control of the factory,” said Gilbert. “Both of these guys were
heavy duty minds before we locked them in. All they needed was to find an outlet to
take over everything while no one was looking.”
“The fact that we don’t have anything to offer them can’t help us,” said Bob. “I think
I can pull the plug on this. I need you here to try to shut them down from this console.
Do whatever you think you have to until I give you an all clear.”
“Do what you have to do,” said Gilbert. “If they start exerting control outside of this
room, there’s no telling how many they could kill while locking us out.”
Bob didn’t need the reminder. The last thing he wanted was to go up in a fireball
because the two brains decided to settle their problem by doing something to sabotage
the power source for the headquarters.
It was supposed to be impossible, but what they were doing at the moment was
supposed to be impossible too.
Bob pulled his power rod from its holster. He pointed it at the machinery, tracing the
readings as fast as he could. He ignored the lightning playing around the room now.
He knelt and took aim at a cable under some of the equipment. He pushed the trigger
and a beam of light cut the cable in half.
He looked around. He looked at his wand. The readings looked normal. He smiled.
He had saved millions of dollars with a two cent expenditure of energy.
“Kill the alarms, Gilbert,” he shouted at the chief technician. “I can’t hear myself
think in this racket.”
The lights still flashed, but the sirens were silent. Bob smiled. The noise was giving
him a headache.
“Okay,” said Gilbert. “Everything looks like things are going back to normal. You
might have saved everyone in the base. Good job.”
“Let’s double-check to make sure our masterminds can’t do anything like this again
before I go,” said Bob. “Then I have to help out the rest of the Squad. Our prisoners
got loose in the excitement.”
“All right,” said Gilbert. “Let’s power down everything in here, and see what we can
do to reengage the safety locks. Then we can examine everything without worrying
about a stray welding torch, or a shock.”
“Right,” said Bob. “You might want to detach their container while you’re checking
everything out.”
“Right,” said Gilbert. He pulled several switches and pushed a button. The globe at
the top of the room dropped lower on a boom handle. The ready light turned red to
signify they were trapped in the globe and couldn’t touch anything on the outside.
“Can you do the check on your own?,” asked Bob. He could run it faster, but he had
to get to work and help his team.
“Sure,” said Gilbert. “I need to get my assistants back in here to help out.”
“All right,” said Bob. He jogged to the door. “I’ll be back to help you as fast as I can.”
Gilbert grunted an acknowledgment. Once the check was done to make sure the
underground building was safe, he would have to figure out how the brains had gotten
enough access to try to kill them all. One of his assistants must have done something
to allow them more control.
Then he would have that man shot for being dumb as a box of rocks.
Bob headed for the stairs. He didn’t feel like taking an elevator until Gilbert had
finished his check. He didn’t want an accident that could have been avoided.
He idly wondered what had thrown the brains into conflict, but decided that was
something to worry about later. First he had to help his team and get the five prisoners
back in their cell. Luckily, his nullifier should help with that.
Now that they were unable to do anything to the factory, they would have to stew
about their confinement until something was done.
He checked his radio. He needed a report where he could be the most useful. Troop
and Clown Girl should be able to handle all of them but Corona. He would have to
take her out with his wand.
He noted that he would have to dart her as soon as he cut off her power. He didn’t
want the woman to strangle him like she had been trying to do to Troop.
“Gaze?,” Bob said into the radio. “Can you hear me?”
“I’m here, Bob,” said Gaze. “Finch is two floors up from where you are. Puff is trying
to hold her in place for Mercer’s men to try to recapture her.”
“I’m on the way,” said Bob. He headed up the stairs.
Puff should be a great distraction with his teleport ability. He was hard to hit, and
could strike from any direction. He should have things wrapped up by the time Bob
arrived to help him out.
Bob pushed out of the stairwell. He expected to find Finch a prisoner again. Then
they could concentrate on the more powerful escapees. He found a group of men
spread out over the floor with broken bones and some crying.
He paused at that.
Where was Finch? Where was Puff? He advanced cautiously down the corridor. One
of the men groaned from the pain of a broken face, and a broken leg.
Their victory had been easy in Seattle. He realized it wasn’t going to be that easy
now.