Chronicles of a Caped Crusader: Morphica Begins - Part Seven

     "Okay, Morphica, I'm in the basement."

     There was a crackle of static cutting off her words.

     "Morphica, come in, Morphica!" Judge Hog called into the communicator.

     A door slammed down behind him blocking his exit.

     "What the..." he started.

     Then a portal in the floor opened and a lift carrying Veronica and several Sloth Clones, robots they had stolen from Virtupets and repurposed, rose up from it.

     "You!" Judge Hog shouted.

     The robots jumped off and surrounded him.

     "Judge Hog, how good of you to save us the trouble of finding you ourselves. You should have listened to Morphica. Really, I was hoping that you would be a little smarter than this. Coming in here with your back-up miles away, and unable to contact you, and she'll come running to try to help like last time and we'll have you both. It's almost no fun. Oh, well," Veronica taunted.

     The robots jumped at Judge Hog, trying to subdue him. He wasn't going down without taking a few out with him.

     ***

     Chloe watched the struggle from the shadows, her potion of invisibility keeping her unseen by Veronica and her robots. The Morphica that Judge Hog had been communicating with was Loraine using Chloe's voice. She knew that she had to wait until Judge Hog was subdued and then slip in and free the other Defenders before Veronica or her partner could do anything to them.

     Veronica fired a blaster at Judge Hog and he went limp and dropped the ground.

     "Pick him up and let's go," Veronica ordered.

     The lift was big enough that Chloe could crouch in the corner without anyone being close enough to bump her. Down they went and Veronica pulled out a radio and said into it. "Colonel, we have Judge Hog."

     "Good," a deep voice boomed over the radio. "Bring him down and strap him in to the chair. After I'm done gloating, we'll bring out the others and drop them all in the ocean."

     "Will do, sir," Veronica replied.

     She put the radio away and the lift stopped. She got off and walked down a hall, the robots dragging Judge Hog followed her. Chloe went down another hall looking for the control room. She found it. The surveillance feed from the basement was still up. Chloe prayed that she could work this computer since she was now on her own. She had to turn off her communicator so as not to give herself away. She hoped it worked like the main computer at the Defenders HQ.

     She did exactly what she would to bring up internal surveillance on that computer and breathed a sigh of relief when it worked. She quickly scanned the halls memorizing them so she could find her way to the other agents. Then she brought up the feed from where they had taken Judge Hog.

     There was a Fire Gnorbu in the room with Veronica. Judge Hog was still unconscious and strapped into a chair in the middle of some sort of pod.

     "What setting did you use?" the Gnorbu was asking.

     "The fourth, sir," Veronica answered. "He should be awake in about five minutes."

     "Make sure when you use it on the others you have it on ten. It wouldn't do to have any of them wake during their plunge," the Gnorbu instructed.

     "Drop them in the ocean? Oh no, that's how Captain Nefarious went! Oh, sweet Fyora, this is bad," Chloe said to herself.

     The Gnorbu's arrogance was obvious as she raced down the halls, there were no guards posted anywhere. Chloe found the detention hall and she hurried to the first cell; the one Super Lupe was in. She could hear thuds on the other side. He was still trying to break through. She pulled out the device Judge Hog had given her for breaking through the locks on the door. She slid the card into slot and started working. Suddenly she realized she could see her hands again. It had been half an hour since she had used the potion. She reflected that it was probably better that the other agents could see her.

     The door opened and a Super Lupe looked cautiously out. He looked surprised when he saw her standing there.

     "Super Lupe, my name is Morphica, I'm a Defender. We don't have much time and we need to get the others out as fast possible. We've got fifteen minutes at the most," Chloe said, handing him one of lock-breakers.

     He nodded and moved to the one across the hall. The next one she opened was Dr. Flexo. She saw Super Lupe opening the door of Danger Buzz's cell. Moving as quickly as they could, they continued down the line of doors and soon all of the Defenders were freed. Lightning Lenny was in the last cell Chloe opened.

     "Lightning, I'm so relieved to see you!" Chloe cried in relief.

     "Morphica, I'm so glad you're okay! What are you doing here? Where's the boss?" Lightning asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

     "So, you know her?" Captain K confirmed. "She's not a sneak trying to lead us willingly into a trap?"

     "Yes, I do. She's our newest agent, her name is Morphica. Now, where is the boss?"

     "In the clutches of the villains, he let them capture him so that I could sneak in here and let you guys out. We've got to hurry and get there before they realize what has happened and dump him in the ocean. Follow me!" Chloe explained.

     They hurried along to the room where Chloe had seen them take Judge Hog. The door was wide open and they could hear voices. Chloe signaled for them to stop.

     "I think he is preparing to give the boss a monologue," Chloe whispered.

     "Poor Judge Hog, we have to stop him," Mammoth whispered back.

     "No, I want him have it out so hopefully he reveals as much as he can about himself. We might need that information later."

     "It was then that I took on the mantle of Colonel Iniquitous," the magma Gnorbu ranted.

     "What kind of a word is Iniquitous?" Danger Buzz asked.

     "It means wicked in a way the results in great injustice. It is a synonym for Nefarious," Chloe whispered back.

     Super Lupe grasped the implication of her statement and nodded. Colonel Iniquitous rambled on and on, but Chloe wasn't sure if anything he was saying would be helpful to them at any point in the future.

     "Veronica, bring the Defenders, it's time to end this." Colonel Iniquitous cried suddenly.

     That was their signal. They sprang into the room and Super Lupe announced, "No need, Colonel Iniquitous, we bring ourselves."

     Veronica's eyes locked on Chloe as she hissed, "You again. How in the world did you get in here?"

     "Always underestimating me, eh, Veronica? Maybe you should rethink your career choice." Chloe gave her a big grin.

     "Clones attack!" Colonel Iniquitous cried.

     Suddenly Sloth Clones dropped from the ceiling. The Defenders started to fight the things while Veronica glowered down from the elevated platform where she stood with Colonel Iniquitous. Chloe realized that she had to get up there. When the battle turned in their favor they would drop Judge Hog into the ocean and flee. She slid through the battle until she reached the base of the platform they were on.

     She leapt up into the air and landed in front of them on the platform. Veronica put up her fists.

     "I'm going to make you wish you never became a Defender," she threatened.

     "I've got message from your mother," Chloe said as she raised her fists.

     "Yeah, right," Veronica snapped.

     "She says she loves you."

     Veronica looked taken aback and Chloe threw the first punch right into her jaw and followed it up with a kick from the opposite direction. Veronica fell to the ground and Chloe said, "Those were from her too."

     Colonel Iniquitous raised a blaster at her. He fired and she dodged to the right then knocked the blaster out of his hand with her tail. He turned and reached for a button on the control panel behind him. Chloe pulled one of the ornaments out of her hair and threw it as hard as she could at his hand. It hit and he pulled his hand back with a hiss of pain. She dived at him, but he pulled back and punched her right under the chin. Chloe staggered back and he dived forward and grabbed Veronica. The ceiling opened above them and he took off with jetpacks.

     Chloe was about to fly after them when Judge Hog called out, "Let them go, Morphica; you can't go after them alone."

     Chloe turned her attention back to the control panel and located the button that would release him. The other Defenders had just finished off the robots. There was no time for celebration as a computer voice announced, "Self Destruction in 59 Seconds."

     The portal in ceiling was still open and they all quickly flew through it. Moments later there was an explosion below them and the laboratory caved in on itself.

     "Great, now how are we going to find them?" Chloe asked.

     "They'll find us, I'm sure," Judge Hog replied. "For now, let's get back to HQ."

     ***

     Loraine was quite relieved when all the Defenders returned safe. It was clear that there was a lot of work to do to prevent this from ever happening again. Judge Hog filled the other Defenders in on who Veronica was and what little they knew about Colonel Iniquitous. Unfortunately, his soliloquy had not provided them with any more clues about him except his villain name.

      After the meeting, the other Defenders went off to do various things and Judge Hog called Chloe to the control room. Super Lupe, Lightning Lenny, and Loraine were there too.

     "Yes, sir?" Chloe asked as she came in.

     "Chloe, I wanted to thank you for all your help. You handled yourself like a true Defender of Neopia and you've proven to be a very capable agent, as well. We would like to make it permanent. Would you like to continue being Morphica and working here?" Judge Hog said.

     "For real? That is all I've ever wanted! Thank you," Chloe cried.

     "Good, but you still can't tell anyone that you are Morphica. So, Chloe is also getting a job here as my secretary. You are a secretary, that's all you have to say when asked," Loraine said.

     "That's awesome." Chloe grinned.

     "Welcome to the team, Morphica," Judge Hog said.

The End