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FOURTEEN!
let's destroy some ooze
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Today was the day had the gruelling task of searching the plethora of school grounds in order to find a very specific ooze pocket. This ooze pocket was so significant because Harper needed this ooze pocket in order to carry out his master plan. The Mech X4 team needed to get to it first in order to stop the billionaire from destroying the world. Mark was the only one not participating in the search as he had football practice. The freshman three boys had decided to search the outside, while the two girls took to the indoors.
The girls were not pleased as they had accidentally ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time, every time they entered a new room. The two girls were covered in sawdust from the wood shop class, engine oil from the auto shop and paint from a very experimental art class. The two girls were ready to give up out of sheer annoyance.
"I'm scanning for ooze and operation tiger shark was is in progress. I'm done with the north campus but I still haven't reached the perimeter of the school's ooze pocket." Ryan explained in annoyance, over the Mech-Link.
"Keep measuring and move to the science building, I'll do the same. Why tiger shark and why are you lying on the ground?" Harris asked Spyder over the Mech Link, as he could see the boy laying on the grass from a distance.
"Because tigers are cool and sharks are cool and I got bored scanning and took a nap. Why do we have to measure the ooze? Can't we just zap it or something?" Spyder asked.
"But that would cave in the school." Ryan said.
"Wait, so you're saying it's a win win?" Spyder asked.
"We need accurate measurements. So far, it looks like the worst case scenario. There's so much ooze even if we pour all our weapons into it, it wouldn't be enough." Harris explained.
"So, it's like when I take a whiz in the school pool. I'm not doing any real damage?" Spyder questioned and the teens all cringed in disgust.
"Gross but accurate." Harris agreed.
"You know, I'm the reason they use twice the chlorine now." Spyder added.
"Again, gross. We can neutralize it with the antidote that cured me when I was ooze infected. I just need to know how much to produce." Harris said.
The two girls had spotted the boy laying on the field and immediately ran over to him to make sure that he would get up and help the team. "Hey, Spyder!" Natalie called. Spyder turned around and instantly flinched at their appearances.
"Woah! What happened to you two?" Spyder asked.
"We went searching through the art and construction departments. We happened to walk in at the wrong time, every time!" Natalie exclaimed.
"I look like a Picasso painting gone wrong." Hana said in annoyance.
"I think you mean Jackson Pollock." Natalie corrected.
"No, I mean Picasso." Hana said before spitting out another chunk of paint out.
"There is just no point in correcting you." Natalie said as she wiped off the substance from her face.
"Dude, this ooze pocket is gigantic. Hold on..." Spyder said into the Mech-Link before turning on his bounce belt.
Suddenly, a football player ran towards Spyder and his belt instantly reflected the player. The shield popped up and caused the player to take a harsh fall. Natalie cringed at the sight as Hana died of laughter. "Eat it, jocko!" Spyder shouted at the player.
"I want to try!" Hana exclaimed.
Natalie tried to warn any oncoming players but it was too late. The girl ended up body checking some poor guy, who didn't see her coming. The player fell and hit the ground harshly. Spyder and Natalie both cringed but Hana continued to die of laughter. Mark immediately recognized the two teens as they would be the only two to cause chaos.
"Spyder, Hana, we're, in the middle of practice." Mark pointed out, when he ran over to the teens.
"You do you. I do me." Spyder said, patting the senior's shoulder.
Mark took one look at the two girls and cringed instantly. "What happened to you two, you look terrible." He pointed out and both girls glared at him.
"No, really?" Hana said sarcastically.
Two more guys fell to the ground because of Spyder's stupid bounce belt. "I've never seen a kid take a hit like that. You gotta join the team." The coach said happily to Spyder.
"What kind of grades do I need?" Spyder asked.
"Passing." Mark said and Spyder frowned.
"I'm out." Spyder denied before walking away. The two girls followed after him.
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The five teens excluding Harris exited the elevator of Mech X4. The remaining team member was already sitting at his desk. His entire computer was set up to display all of the information the team had collected on their desperate search around the school. "Ooze pocket is over a mile deep and almost three miles wide." Harris zoomed in on the ooze.
"This is clawboon." Harris said and a silhouette image of the known monster popped up on the screen, next to the diagram of the ooze pocket.
"Right and we kicked his butt." Mark pointed out.
"Yeah but based on the amount of ooze it decomposed into when we beat it, this is how big clawboon would be if it was made of all of the ooze under the school." Harris said. The image of clawboon increased dramatically.
"Woah! That thing is huge! It could destroy the city!" Ryan exclaimed nervously.
"It's almost the size of Bay City itself. Something that size can destroy the world." Harris pointed out.
"That's not gonna happen. We gotta get to it before Harper does. Tonight, when the school's completely empty, we're gonna destroy every last drop of that ooze." Ryan explained with a smirk.
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After hours of preparing for the next mission, the sun had set and it was finally dead into the night. The team was definitely ready to take on the large ooze pocket that lurked beneath the school. The robot was now sitting a block away from the building on watch as they wanted to make sure that no one would accidentally get harmed in the process.
"Are you sure nobody's at the school?" Ryan asked.
"At four in the morning? The only person that still be there is Harris and he's here." Mark mocked. Harris just laughed because he agreed with the senior.
"Alright, activating drill." Ryan ordered. The drill instantly appeared when the robot activated it. Ryan crunched down and gently pushed the drill into the earth. Loud drilling sounds filled the air.
"It's sound like we're at the dentist." Ryan pointed out and everyone nodded in agreement.
"I would not know, all still baby teeth." Spyder said and flashed his teeth. His teeth were indeed all still his baby teeth as he had a fear of the dentist.
Suddenly, something hit the robot. This caused Ryan to stumble and accidentally drop the antidote. "The antidote!" Spyder exclaimed. The antidote hit the ground harshly and broke. The alarm went off to signify that something had attacked them.
"We lost the antidote! It's gone!" Mark exclaimed.
"Something just hit us!" Harris pointed out.
"I don't see anything!" Ryan said in annoyance before a loud buzzing sound filled the air. The sound got closer and it came from a giant wasp that was a hundred times bigger than they usually were.
"Wasp, wasp!" Spyder pointed out in disbelief and suddenly the wasp turned invisible.
"That's not good." Natalie pointed out in disbelief.
"Invisible wasp, worse, worse!" Spyder exclaimed.
"Not helping. Not helping!" Hana shouted back.
The wasp's invisibility allowed the big to hit the robot without the team knowing of its location. Ryan stumbled back at the impact. "How do we fight something that's invisible?" Ryan asked in disbelief.
"I can recalibrate the sensors to work like sonar. We won't be able to see the monster but we'll know where it is." Natalie explained before setting up a scan of the area but nothing had shown up on the screen. The invisible wasp hit the robot again and Ryan fell to the ground in pain.
"We just took a major hit, Ryan!" Mark called.
"Oh, man, that hurt. Anytime now, Nat." Ryan ordered in pain. The girl's computer made a loud sound, which that the area scan was done.
"Got it!" Natalie smiled. She checked the location and the wasp's heat signature popped up on the screen. It's coming right at us! Punch now!" Natalie exclaimed when she saw the wasp was traveling towards them. Ryan did exactly as he was told him to do. The wasp turned back to it's original form. Orange ooze flowed out of its body as it screeched out in pain.
"How do you like getting stung?" Ryan asked.
"Yes!" Mark exclaimed happily.
"Hooo! Yeah!" Harris cheered. The wasp changed its direction to school and flew towards it. The robot followed after the large bug. The wasp hovered above the school and waited for the team to arrive.
"It's invisible but it looks like it's wounded. It's just hovering in one place." Natalie explained as she checked her monitors again.
"That means we can finish it off, Spyder!" Ryan said.
"Ten boss level missiles coming right up. Missiles away!" Spyder exclaimed and hit a button. This caused a bunch of missiles to be launched towards the school. Suddenly, the wasp began to fly away.
"Guys, the wasp is starting to move!" Natalie shouted.
"It was a trap this whole time." Hana pointed out.
"Oh, no." Harris breathed out before the missiles hit the school.
The entire school exploded and became engulfed with flames. The team were in shock as they had accidentally just blew up their own school. They never intended to do that but the wasp moved away so quickly that it was inevitable.
"The monster tricked us into hitting our school." Ryan pointed out.
"Accident! Guys, that was an accident, I swear." Spyder said, trying to reassure everyone. He didn't want to team to think it was his fault because he pushed the button to launch the missiles. Ryan then turned on the news to see the city's reaction.
Cassie Park's livestream popped up on all of the screens in the robot. "This is Cassie Park, streaming live from Bay City. Our school's been de..destroyed." Cassie said in disbelief. She sounded on the verge of tears.
The group sat in their stations in disbelief. They couldn't believe what had just happened. It felt so surreal that they couldn't even believe that they were the ones behind their school's destruction. It was hard for them to wrap their heads around it as they now looked like the villains of the city instead of being the heroes. They had lost all of their support the moment the missile hit the school.
"No, Cassie, that was an invisible monster!" Spyder shouted at the screen but totally forgot that the girl couldn't hear him through the screen.
"She can't hear you, nimwit." Mark shot back.
"What an idiot." Hana pointed out and Natalie punched the girl in the shoulder in annoyance.
"You're not helping." Natalie pointed out.
"We were set up. He made us look like we're the villains." Ryan said in annoyance.
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It was the next day and all of the team sat in the control centre with their heads hung low. They were still in disbelief and ashamed of their recent actions. Ryan had called Leo to explain the situation to the scientist and ask questions that could help them. Ryan also pitched the idea of going after Harper earlier than expected as the billionaire was able to lure Grace Walker in to be able to blackmail the boy to go after him and attack Harper Futuristics. It worked as Ryan was planning on attacking Harper.
"You wanna do what?" Leo asked in disbelief.
"Attack Harper Futuristics! I wanna go to his office, punch a hole in his building and get my mom back." Ryan explained and Leo just chuckled.
"No, no, no, no." Leo shook his head and Harris joined the man by doing the same action.
"What are you scared it's gonna ruin your rep? The whole city already hates us." Ryan pointed out.
"It's still cray, squared!" Harris exclaimed.
"You got a better idea?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, well, most of mine are terrible and that's exactly what I'd suggest." Spyder said.
"You can't go poking the bear with a stick." Hana added and Natalie nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I agree with Hana and Harris. Harper could be ready for us. He's Seth freaking Harper, he probably has every plan in the book figured out. He's probably ten steps ahead of us and has tricks up his sleeves. I wouldn't be surprised if he was actually waiting for us." Natalie explained.
"No, just listen to your friends, ok? Don't...Don't go. Harper's gonna be ready for you. You can't waltz in there like you own the place, willy nilly, and expect everything to be fine...." Leo started to say but Ryan quickly shut off the screen.
"What's the worst Harper can do? Throw a monster at us?" Ryan asked.
"Maybe the military." Hana muttered and Natalie hit the girl in shoulder.
"What? I'm just saying!" Hana shrugged.
"We can take it!" Ryan exclaimed.
"I'm saying, we take one step back and think this through." Harris pointed out.
"Guys, from what Leo told me, I think Harper drove my parents into hiding." Ryan said suddenly.
"Wait, what?" Spyder asked.
"My birth parents were afraid that somebody was after them, Harper. Which means he's been messing with my life since I was born. He's pretended to care about us. He's turned the city against us and now he has mom! I'm just trying to say enough is enough. I'm doing this!" Ryan explained.
"We are doing this." Mark encouraged.
"Not alone, you don't." Spyder added.
"One for all and all for one." Hana followed.
"As much as I disagree, family is important." Natalie sighed and patted Ryan's shoulder.
"We'll have to be careful. Our shields are down fifty percent." Harris pointed out.
"Well, we'll just have to make sure that we don't get hit. Thank you, guys." Ryan smiled at the team's support for him.
"Yeah, quick question. Uh, does your mom like bad boys?" Spyder asked and Hana punched the boy in the shoulder. He whined at her force.
"Inappropriate." Harris said in disgust.
"Come on, dude." Mark said in annoyance.
"Terrible timing, terrible timing." Spyder nodded.
The team all went back to their stations and prepared them for the next mission. Ryan then super jumped the robot to Harper Futuristics. "My scans of Harper Futuristics show your mom and Harper are alone in his penthouse office." Harris explained and the entire group went over to see the boy's screen to see the actual scan.
"Perfect, we're gonna smash through that window and grab mom." Ryan said.
"Gently grab, mom." Mark corrected.
"You realize she's gonna figure out you guys are in the robot." Spyder pointed out.
"She can ground us after she's safe." Ryan said.
"She's not gonna tell my mom, is she? This whole time I've told her I'm on the wrestling team." Harris admitted and the entire group laughed.
"She already knows you're lying." Mark chuckled.
"Yeah, bro, if you're gonna lie, at least tell her a good lie." Hana pointed out and Natalie nodded.
"Guys! Hey! You made it!" Harper exclaimed, when he suddenly popped up on the main screen.
"Give me my mom back or else, I'm gonna punch a hole in your penthouse." Ryan threatened.
"Which would be terrifying if my new friends weren't here to protect me." Harper said. All of the team looked down to the ground to see what he had meant and the road was covered in military trucks.
"I called it." Hana said and Natalie elbowed her.
"Not the time." Natalie hissed.
Two fighter jets then suddenly launched missiles at the robot. The shields instantly activated to deflect the missiles. "Fighter jets? We're fighting the military?" Ryan asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, you know what? They didn't even need to be convinced you were an enemy of the state after you know...destroyed the school. Bad move, guys. But, hey, don't worry, I.....will keep your mom safe." Harper explained before shutting his screen off.
"He's crazy. He wants the military to kill us but we're just children." Hana pointed out.
"They're gonna be back in firing range soon." Harris explained in disbelief.
"Targeting!" Spyder exclaimed.
"Wait, don't fire! We can't hurt them. They're just doing their jobs!" Ryan explained before another missile hit the robot. He stumbled forward as the control centre filled with smoke.
"Critical hit! We've got multiple system failures." Mark pointed out as he began to put the fires out with a fire extinguisher.
"Mech X4, surrender or be destroyed." A voice said.
"We need to leave now! We can't attack them. They're not gonna stop attacking us!" Harris exclaimed as he helped Ryan up.
"Mom's still in there." Mark pointed out.
"Guys, those fighter jets are circling back around." Spyder pointed out.
"Ryan? Mark? Your mom, your call." Harris said. Another missile hit the robot.
"Leo was right. We shouldn't of come here. We have to leave!" Ryan demanded.
"What? No way!" Mark exclaimed.
"If we get killed, who saves mom? If the robot gets destroyed, who stops Harper?" Ryan asked. Another missile hit and Ryan fall to the ground.
"You're right, I hate it when you're right." Mark said in annoyance.
"Finding a new route to get the heck out of here." Natalie frantically searched for one, wanting to leave the area as fast as possible.
★ 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐃 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 ! spyder johnson ★
(© 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝘆𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱)