2.29

Hunter, Jimena, Gauzelle and Welt were back in Doctor Flink’s laboratory. They were huddled around his central computer. Many of the screens were broken, but one still managed to work.

“What was he doing with all these people? And the animals?” Gauzelle asked. She walked around the vats that lined the lab.

“He was using human life to augment the animals. Somehow making the animals grow stronger and killing off the humans.” Welt explained. He flicked through the files with rapid speed.

“Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” Gauzelle commented.

“That’s just the way it goes sometimes with mad scientists.”

“It appeared Flink and Puddles knew each other. Can you shed some light on that?” Jimena asked, a sharp edge to her voice.

“I suppose you deserve some sort of explanation,” Welt sighed.

“Well, yeah. We’re helping you with this whole thing,” said Gauzelle. She floated back over to the group.

“A long time ago, there was an elderly lady who recently lost her husband to a sickness. Her name was Eugenie. She was terribly lonely. She cried almost every night.” Welt stared wistfully past the group.

“That’s…” Gauzelle was lost for words.

“Eugenie’s daughter bought her a hamster. And that hamster was Flink. Flink and Eugenie were inseparable. She took him for walks and watched movies together. Flink even slept next to her pillow each night in bed.”

“However, one day when the two were going for a walk, a dog scared Flink so much that Eugenie lost her grip on his lead. Flink ran away from the dog but failed to return. Understandably, Eugenie was heartbroken yet again. Her daughter bought her Puddles and the two got along immediately.”

“What happened?” Gauzelle asked.

“After just over a year, Flink finally made his way back to Eugenie’s home. He was a changed hamster. He’d seen some scary things and no longer liked humans, except for Eugenie.”

“Puddles accepted Flink immediately, but Flink always felt he had to compete for Eugenie’s affection. She passed away not long afterward.”

“That’s horrible,” said Gauzelle.

“The daughter took both pets in but her own children preferred Puddles and essentially ignored Flink. And ever since he’s made it his mission to hurt people.”

“Why can they talk?” Hunter asked.

“Some animals develop powers as well,” replied Welt.

“Both of them?” Jimena asked.

“No. Only Flink. Puddles can talk because of one of Flink’s inventions. He put a chip in her that enabled her to talk. She didn’t agree with his ways and they’ve been at it ever since.”

“Can you blame him?” Hunter asked.

“I understand where he’s coming from, but there are better ways to go about it then bringing harm to people.” Welt returned to flicking through files on the computer.

“So what do we do?” Gauzelle asked.

“We bring him in,” Hunter replied.

“Do we even know where he is?” Gauzelle asked.

“He no doubt has gone to one of his other labs,” said Welt.

“He’s got other labs?” Hunter asked.

“Of course he does.” There was a flat, matter of fact tone in Welt’s voice.

“Just how many does he have?” Hunter asked.

“Including this one, Puddles and I have come across five.”

“All within Athena City?” Jimena asked.

“Yeah.”

“Do evil lairs ever collide with each other? Like, do they hold meetings about where lairs are being built. You know, if one was building a lair, knocked down a wall, and it opened up to another lair?” Gauzelle asked.

“I…I don’t know,” Welt admitted.

“I reckon it’s a thing.”

“So where’s the next lair?” Hunter asked.

“Looks like he has one down at the docks in an abandoned ship.” Welt looked at the computer screen one last time and then turned it off.

“The docks are on the other side of town, and Michael won’t let us teleport anymore,” said Gauzelle.

“We don’t need to hurry,” said Welt.

“Why’s that?”

“According to his computer, its his last lair. He won’t go far from it. We’ve got him cornered.” A wry smile crept along Welt’s face.

“How do we get there though?” Gauzelle asked.

“We walk there,” replied Hunter.

“Anyone got money for that taxi?” Gauzelle asked.

“No,” replied the rest.

As the group were preparing to leave the lab and sewers behind them, the clean-up team had arrived. They had found the survivor that ran off into the dark.

“We don’t really remember our way back out of here,” said Hunter. One of the crewmembers walked over and tapped on Hunter’s communicator.

The crewmember tapped their own communicator to Hunter’s and a map appeared on Hunter’s device.

“Sweet, thanks.” The group made their way out of the sewers without a hitch.

Back on the surface the group bathed in the natural sunlight for a few moments. An impending sense of danger swept through them all.

“Is Flink really that dangerous?” Hunter asked.

“Yes. He can be extremely dangerous.” Welt stared wistfully in the direction of the docks. He could feel Razor Queen stirring within.

“Are you going to be alright?” Hunter asked.

“Yeah.”

“Is she?” Jimena asked.

“Yeah.”