Parts 16-20

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Gambit leaned on his hand, not impressed. The diminutive fictive had been making sure he got his dollar's worth out of Gambit, and the pair were currently sitting in the Diner with a large assortment of empty plates and glasses scattered around Sean.

"You quite finished?" he drawled.

"Mm-hmm. Man, haven't gotten a good meal like that since I was a Concept," he replied.

Gambit stared at the large pile of dishes. "'Meal' o' 'feast?' Yo' make Logan an' Victor look like dey have de appetite of birds!"

Sean shrugged. "You don't get a lot of good food in Shantytown. Mind you, I would've preferred someplace more upscale, but beggers can't be choosers."

Gambit resisted the urge to throw him out the window. "De info?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, hearsay says that shortly before the girls were kidnapped, an odd theme song kept playing over and over. Sort of like a broken record, y'know? Or a MIDI drive stuck on loop." Sean took a large swallow from a nearby glass of Coke.

"How dey know dat?"

Sean looked serious. "Occasionally, guys will be with the girls. That's usually been the last thing they heard before getting knocked out cold. Next thing they knew, they were lying in an alley with no sign of their girlfriends. Sad, sad thing really," he explained.

Gambit frowned. "Strange."

"Tell me about it." Sean leaned back. "All I can say is that I feel sorry for your missing fictive, wherever he is."

"I beginning to as well. I wonder. . . huh?"

The duo stopped. A haunting melody could be heard wafting through the air.

"Now what's dat?" wondered Gambit aloud.

Sean shrugged. "Dunno. Sounds like a theme. . . song. . ."

The two stared at each other. Then they dashed out the door.

The waitress called after them as they left: "WHO'S PAYING FOR ALL THAT?!"

***

Alexis kicked a nearby stone and looked at her watch. Almost noon.

'Hope he gets here soon -- that song is beginning to get on my nerves,' she thought. What was more annoying, the song seemed to be getting LOUDER by the minute.

A little TOO loud, actually -- it sounded like it was coming. . .

Right behind her.

She whirled around just in time to see a blunt object smash into her temple.

***

"DAMN!"

Gambit reached the central square just in time to see an oddly shaped figure scoop up the limp body of Alexis and begin to lope off. It looked up, startled at Gambit's exclamation.

"Let go o' her, yo' freak!" he shouted, charging up a playing card and preparing to throw it. He found his arm movement hindered, however, by a hand which gripped his wrist. He looked over to find who looked like Alexis's double's twin brother staring at him.

"ThE MaSTer SaYS YOu WilL NoT IntErFeRE," he stated simply, before punching him in the face.

Gambit staggered backwards, dropping the card and grabbing his nose. The figure whirled backwards as the card exploded on the ground. It looked up as Sean dove downwards, prepared to strike with one of his sword techinques.

This was soon diverted, however, as a THIRD goat-legged man threw a large barrel at the tiny fictive, who was struck point blank and rolled to the ground unconscious.

Gambit picked up another card and prepared to throw it at the two new creatures. He found this to be a useless effort, however, as the two figures were no longer there. Neither, for that matter, was Alexis and the first little man.

Only one word seemed appropriate for summing up the situation. "Crap."

***
Meta: I REALLY hope I'm getting Gambit right here. . . He should be heading back to the Club now, so if somebody feels the need to take him over from me. . .

Bodger

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True his nature, Commander Rick got lost traveling back to the TTPCTS Club. While he may have been gifted in Physics (a Bachelor of Science in the subject was nothing to cough at), his Geography skills were not quite up to par. Not finding the TTPCTS after twenty minutes of driving, Rick had a sickening feeling that he was going around in circles.

In the back seat, Clarice had a sick feeling of a different sort. "Rick, can we stop for a second," she asked as they passed a gas station. It may have been the same station they'd driven by a few minutes earlier, but no one bothered to check.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked. He was trying to figure out where in Subreality they currently were.

"Hmm… I have an emergency. THAT kind of emergency."

"It's a female thing," Nan-Cy whispered to Rick before he had a chance to pose the question. The only other male in the car, Larry, had a disgusted look on his face and took cover in a back seat foot well.

Commander Rick quickly pulled the car over to the shoulder, not wanting to tick off the passengers of the opposite sex. Blink left to use the gas station's washroom. Shadowcat decided to accompany her, leaving the Prisoners of Gravity fictives and the Fruvous mainstream to entertain themselves. The three left the vehicle at get some fresh air while they had time.

Nan-Cy sat on the car hood and gazed up at the sky. It had become darker as night started to set in, but knowing Subreality, it was anyone's guess how long the evening would last. Bored out of his tiny mind, Larry jumped up to join her and the duo discussed how different the constellations were in their fictional worlds. A stiff wind brought a noticeable chill in the air. Commander Rick zipped up his leather jacket, something he rarely did. He glanced momentarily at his watch, noting how long Clarice and Kitty had been gone. An emergency of 'THAT' kind didn't take that long, did it?

Still on the front of the car, Larry and Nan-Cy were oblivious to the sudden change in weather. "You think the Big Dipper looks cool from here? You should see it from a low Earth orbit," Nan-Cy boasted to the budgie dog. "And stop whistling. It's getting annoying."

"I'm not whistling. I thought you were," Larry said, becoming uneasy. The two looked over at Rick. He was having an MST3K-like daydream that involved forcing Harlan Ellison to watch the film version of 'A Boy and His Dog', but was otherwise silent.

"It kinda sounds like that MIDI…" Nan-Cy trailed off.

Larry picked up on the likeness, recalling the warning on the radio. "You don't think…?"

"Hey, Commander in chief! Rick, we've got a problem!" Nan-Cy shouted, breaking through Rick's reverie.

It took a few seconds for the commander to shake off the remnants of the dream. "What the heck is going on?!" he yelled back in frustration.

Nan-Cy couldn't answer; she was racing to the restroom in hopes she would find the two fictives unharmed. She entered the lavatory only to have her fears confirmed: both Kitty and Clarice were missing and that haunting music still hung in the air. Nance thought it best to get out of there.

By this time Larry had explained to Commander Rick what happened. Nan-Cy made her way back to the vehicle. "Both of them are gone," she reported sadly. "Victor going to kill you for losing Clarice."

"Don't you think I realize that?" Rick groaned. The situation was bad, and an approaching siren he heard probably meant things were about to get worse. Larry, also hearing the noise, scrambled onto the car's roof to gain a better view. He didn't like what he saw.

"It's the heat!" the budgie dog announced.

A female SRPD officer sped down the road on a motorcycle. She skidded to a stop in front of the group. "Commander Richard Smith and Nan-Cy, I presume?" the officer asked. The two fictives nodded. The SRPD officer checked her notebook. "Teddog's versions?"

"Who else writes 'Prisoners of Gravity' fan fiction with Rick's last name as Smith?" Nan-Cy replied sarcastically, unaware of the menacing glare Rick gave her.

The officer didn't bother to answer that question. "I've got a message from a Mike Nelson. He says you're needed at the TTPCTS Club at once. More information will follow when you arrive."

"Yeah, but how do we get to the Club from here," Commander Rick asked.

"Go up the road and turn left," the cop said, starting up her bike. She drove back down the street, probably to find the other fictives from the original search.

"Well, it seems you're going to be dying earlier then we thought," Nan-Cy commented as the remaining characters climbed back into the car.

At this point Commander Rick had had enough. "One more word and I'll leave you for Torgo," he shouted, grabbing Nan-Cy by the collar of her sweatshirt. "Or I'll get Teddog to change you back into a computer. How would you like that?"

Nan-Cy silently sunk down in her seat. Rick hit the gas and got out of the area as fast as he could.

----
Meta:
I know I'm out of turn.
Rick, Nan-Cy, and Larry should show up at the Club anytime now. Not even Commander Rick can get lost with such simple directions.
On a scary note, I found someone giving Manos 5 out of 5 stars on a movie review board somewhere on Yahoo…
And it was the unMSTed version…
I can't remember his name…
Heaven help us all…

Teddog

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"LET ME GO!!!!"

There were seven fictives holding Sabretooth down to keep him from pulling Commander Rick's arms from their sockets, tearing off his head, and spitting down his neck. All seven of them were sweating from the effort, and those who were anywhere within a few feet had ringing ears from his roaring.

Mike cringed, watching for a moment before turning back to a somewhat nervous Rick and a not-very-nervous Nan-Cy. He was just as worried about Kitty, but in a much less homicidal way. "And that only happened a short time ago?"

Rick nodded, watching Victor throw a few people across the room.

"Damn," Mike murmured, turning to Joel. "Well, I think we have enough people here to form a rescue party. Let's get everyone back before there's any bloodshed."

"Enough people not counting the troop we need to keep Rick alive?" Joel chuckled, grimly.

Mike frowned momentarily, looking again at the very earnest battle going on across the room. Creed didn't seem to get tired, and he had been raging for at least a half an hour with everything he had. There was no telling when or if he would actually wear himself down in time for a rescue mission. "Um... well, we can try." Standing on the bar, he called over the group, "HEY! Listen up!"

"Easy fer you to say!" Logan replied, trying to keep the chokehold he barely had on his pal from slipping. 'Dammit, Vic, calm down!"

"I'm gonna shove a cactus right up his MMPH!" Creed tried to explain, though Adrie had stuffed a handy bar rag into his mouth.

"Go ahead, Mike," she said, tossing Victor a glare.

"Well, we've been tracking Tom and we have enough people here now to form a real rescue party. What I'm going to need is three teams... an extraction team, an assault team, and a back-up team." Mike looked around the crowd. "Who wants what and where?"

"I'll take assault," Joel said, knowing that Mike wouldn't be able to resist that himself. They were a team, and a team that liked getting into the mix.

Adrie chimed in, stuffing the rag further into her signifigant other's mouth, "I'm on extraction."

"I got assault," Logan added, now that he could hear half-way well.

"An' I gotta get Alexis back," Gambit said, "So I'll take de extraction team."

Mike nodded, jotting it down on a notepad used to take orders. "Okay, three on the assault team, two on the extraction team."

"MmmMMMMPH!"

"Four on the assault team, two on the extraction team," Mike corrected. "Anyone else?"

SLWatson

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Mike was feeling pretty good. Everyone had chosen a role, but he still had one problem. Thus far, no one had wanted to be on the back-up team. Married Man and his faithful sidekick, College Buddy, opted for the extraction team. Scully, being trained medical personnel, also felt obligated to go with extraction. Doggit, who really wanted to shoot something, was going with the assault team. Mulder couldn't decide whether to help Scully with extraction or secure his masculinity by joining Doggit.

"Mike, come here. You'll love this," Crow said tugging his sleeve, "I found a way to help."

"Crow, not that your help wouldn't be appreciated, but we kind of want to leave this to able-bodied fictives," Joel said gently. It wasn't that Joel thought Crow couldn't help. He was just being protective. Joel had already lost one bot, albeit not his own, and he was hesitant to risk another.

"If Servo gets to help, then so do I," Crow said determinedly as he tried to drag Mike to a backroom, "I organized an army."

Mike and Joel followed him to the back room apprehensively. The army remarked piqued their curiosity. Inside they found several rows of golden bots, all sitting down hugging their knees. When the shadow knights entered, the bots simultaneously unfolded themselves, reached over their backs, and pulled forth their weapons.

"Okay, who let you guys watch 'Phantom Menace' and where did you get the laser guns?" Mike asked as he surveyed the small army of Crows.

"Who hasn't seen 'Phantom Menace'?" the leading Crow countered, "We built the laser guns ourselves. A Joel and a Servo are missing. You don't really think you can tell us to stay here, do you?"

"Uhhh....No. I suppose not. We still need a back-up team," Mike said, "You guys are it."

"Cool," the army said in unison as they filed out past Mike and into the bar.

Mike and Joel followed them out of the backroom and looked at each other. "Who's going to be in charge of the bots and keep them out of trouble?" Mike whispered.

"I think we should let Mulder do it. He can't make-up his mind what he wants to do. Besides, we need somebody who's somewhat responsible to keep an eye on them." Joel whispered back.

Mulder protested the job fiercely at the beginning, claiming he wasn't a baby-sitter. His protests didn't last for two reasons. First of all, Mulder still couldn't decide whether to go with Scully or Doggit. Plus, all the bots pointed their weapons at him for the baby-sitting remark.
Once all the people were organized, they set off. Mulder led the way guided by his cell phone. Mulder kept the sound on hoping to hear some useful recon from Servo. Mulder jumped with delight once Servo started talking over Torgo's theme music.

"What a dump! What is this? A cave or castle? You could've at least gotten a less cramped abode. You have to step over all the babes," Servo chattered, "Okay, I see a bunch of girls. What's up? Are they all sleeping? Where's Joel?"

Mike and Joel (the one coming to the rescue) smiled. Servo was okay, for now.

Amanda

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Outside a huge, creepy mansion on the outskirts of Subreality, a raven suddenly molted as a huge string of profanities burst forth from within.

"WHEN I FIND THE LITTLE MOTHERF***ER WHO PUT ME IN THIS GODF***ING PIECE OF **** I'M GONNA GRAB 'EM BY THE ***S AND RIP THEM INTO TINY PIECES OF DOG****!!!!!"

Clearly, Alexis Davenport was not a happy camper.

She sat in a locked room, pacing furiously. Her normal garb of long blue overcoat, black sweater and dress trousers had been replaced by a flimsy gown of white cloth which in general left nothing to the imagination. Although Alexis was not nearly as prudish as she appeared in the MiSTings, she was every bit as feminist, and her situation did not make her happy, to say the least.

A Torgo fictive suddenly appeared outside her door. "ThE mAStER dOEs noT aPPrEciAtE yOur CrudEneSS," he said in his usually, oddly halting manner. "HE wiShEs me To TEll YoU thAt YoU wIll StAY hErE UNtil YoU BehAvE lIKE thE OthEr GirLs."

Alexis smiled grimly. "Yeah, well here's what your master can do for ME. . ."

A few minutes later, a very red-faced Torgo dashed down the hallway muttering incoherently.

Furious, Alexis resumed her pacing. There HAD to be a way out of here.

In annoyance, she berated herself for not watching the Manos: The Hands of Fate episode of MST3K. If she had, she might've had a better idea of what was in store for her. Alexis hated being clueless.

What frustrated her even MORE, however, was that there was a large chance that somewhere within this compound the other missing fictives were to be found -- and Joel would be among them.

The door suddenly opened, and a small red object was flung into the room before it closed again.

Alexis blinked, and looked closely at it. She gaped.

Tom Servo looked back at her and laughed nervously. "Uh, hi."

***

Shauna arrived at the TTPCTS Club and was astounded to see that the groups had mostly prepared to mobilize already. She had just received the instructions to return and aid in the search parties, yet here everybody else was. There were times where even she wondered about the system.

"So is this a closed party, or is everybody welcome to join?"

Shauna blinked and looked to her right. A small, poorly-drawn fictive stood there, leaning on his sword.

"Are you here to assist in the search-and-rescue?" asked Shauna.

The miniature fictive shrugged. "What the hell. Not like I've got anything better to do anyway. Besides, for a pretty chick like you I can't imagine why I'd do anything else." He cackled.

Shauna blushed internally, but the blush never reached the surface. "That would help. Your name, please?"

Before the man could answer, Gambit suddenly exited the Club. "Shauna! De others be waiting fo' you to get in and -- SEAN!"

Sean winked. "Hey Cajun Boy, figured y'all could use a little help."

Shauna looked at the two of them. "You two are acquainted, then?" she asked.

Gambit scrunched up his mouth in annoyance. "You could say dat."

Sean grinned. "Aww, don't ya miss me?"

Gambit shook his head. "Dis be Sean Mahogany. He be a Shantytown fictive I talked to 'bout de disappearances," he explained.

Shauna's eyes narrowed. "Shantytown fictives are forbidden from major round robin events until they are reestablished," she stated.

Sean looked at her. "What if I claimed I was working under Bodger's authority now?" he asked.

"Then I'd need proof that this was the case," Shauna replied stubbornly.

"How 'bout this, then: Kirin says 'hi.'" He handed her a small note, which she unfolded and read. It stated as such:

Hey, Robocop, Bodger tells me to let you know Sean's in on the game now. Don't worry, I got him cleared by the SRPD.

-Kirin

Shauna gritted her teeth. "Bloody marvelous."

Sean rubbed his hands together. "Right! Where's the gang then? I feel like a pre-job brewsky."

Bodger

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