Chapter Text
Anne slammed the door and instantly pushed a side table across it as a barricade, she heard the noise of the robots fist slamming against the door.
She turned to Sprig, “Get anything you can that can block this door, They'll be through in seconds.”
Sprig nodded and rushed down the hall, Ann then turned to the young amphibians, “Listen I need you three to go down the hall and hide, We’re-”
“Why’s Sprig here?” asked a voice from down the hall, “I thought he was-”
Max stood there frozen in the hall, before Anne could do anything Marcy Yunnan jumped towards him and punched him in the arm, Max rubbed it defensively, “What’s that for?”
“Running, you jerk, you were going to leave us without saying goodbye.”
Rubbing his arm Max looked at her and nodded “Okay that’s fair.”
The frog briefly surprised at just how easily he admired to his fault frowned again, “I’ll yell at you more when we’re safe.”
Lucian was with Anne holding back onto the door, “Why don’t we arm ourselves?” asked the toad.
“We can’t risk you, We-”
“You used to destroy robots all the time, Heck we did it, Why not let us-”
The door splinter and the robot face could be spotted, “Destroy all in habitants.” it said in a monotonous tone.
Sprig then rushed in holding a lamp and placed it against the door, “This was all I could find.”
“It won’t Last,” said Anne, A fight would be risky, especially two again three, she turned to Max, “Max, Listen, Is there another way out of here?”
“Yes… But they’d follow us… Unless….”
Everyone turned to the boy.
“Unless what?”
“Remember what I asked you at the restaurant? You won’t blame me for the next prank, Well…”
…
“COME ROBOT NUMBER 2, RIP THAT DOOR OFF,” Shouted Doctor Frakes, who was holding a glass of champagne, on her head was a party hat, celebrating Anne's capture.
Scumdrop had a manic grin on his face, “Soon she’ll be here, and Then-”
“Then you’ll wait,” said the Core, “I want Anne to see what I’ll do with Amphibia.”
A frown appeared on Scumdrops face, but he kept his mouth shut.
On the screen the door burst open, the back of Anne could be seen fleeing down the hall.
“QUICK OUT THE BACK DOOR,” She yelled to someone off-screen, the robots stomped forwards, they cut through the living room and into the kitchen, the back door was closed, the robot punched it down in a single move.
There was nothing, no Amphibians trying to escape, no humans climbing over a wall.
Nothing.
“Try infra-red.” shouted Dr.Frakes.
Following Frakes order the screen was a washed with a red glow. There was still nothing in front of them, so the robots turned, behind them were they two figure crouching behind in the living room hiding behind a sofa.
“THERE THEY ARE GET THEM,” shouted Scumdrop.
The robots stomped towards the living room, and stopped, the chair was in the middle of the room, The box on the screen then burst into in a while glowing light. A tall figure jumped from behind the sofa gripping on to the box tightly.
“HEY CORE, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!”
The figure threw the blinding white glowing box at them, they could see sparks flying from the box, the infrared was changed to normal camera and could just see the contents of the box fly towards it,
Dozens of fire works flying towards it.
For a brief moment the screen lit up with the light of a hundred suns.
The camera turned to static.
“I can’t believe it,” said Scumdrop.
“I know…” said Frakes confused, “Fourth of July’s three weeks away.”
…
Anne peered round the top of the sofa, where the robots had stood was not a pile of parts, circuit boards and one robotic limb still on fire next to a leather chair.
Max peered around and smiled, “Ha, It worked.”
“Why did you have those?” asked Anne.
“I was going to something big for The fourth of July, A tribute to America, Loud and dangerously explosive.”
Anne groaned, She was going to hold onto that promise she made, but that didn’t mean she had to like any of it, “Okay listen, we just need to get out of here before-”
Suddenly a small spark from the limb landed on the leather chair, a small flame sprouted, in seconds the coach was engulfed in flames, poisonous smoke was reaching the ceiling.
“RUN” shouted Anne as black smoke filled the room, the group burst through the doors as smoke followed them.
They reached Sasha's car and watched as the house smoke wafted through the doors, in seconds the whole house was on fire.
For a moment they stood in silence partly wondering just how flammable this house was, before Max broke the science, “Everything I had is gone.”
Anne looked at him, she felt guilty, now he was really homeless, his whole life was ruined.
Nicole walked towards him and gave him a small hug “Max I'm sorry.”
For a second he stood there and turned to Anne, “I'm staying.”
Anne looked at him, she sighed “Max.”
In response, he gestured to the flaming building, “I have nowhere to go, It's either you or just nowhere.”
A second passed before Anne nodded, she opened the car door, let's go.”
Sprig jumped next to her, “Where can we go?” He asked.
“We could try a hotel,” suggested Max before he cringed, “But those cost money…and I just realized I could have grabbed the briefcase full of it upstairs, Maybe I could rush in and-”
The house collapsed in on itself leaving a smoldering pile
“You know what never mind.”
Anne adjusted the mirrors, “Don't worry, I have the perfect place.”
…
The aquarium was closed, the few cleaners left only minutes ago, the only security guards were outside and were easy to sneak past. As the group walked through the aquarium the Amphibians took in the sights amazed, for most of them it was the first time seeing these creatures from an ocean not in a book, Sprig kept quiet he had seen similar in his own Odd journey on the Amphibian seas. Max kept watching them, wondering if they were going to explode.
“No one comes her this late,” said Anne confidently, “Trust me, I’ve spent nights looking after sick Amphibians.”
“So you keep animals here,” Said Lucian unimpressed. “Probably nothing as big as-HOLY CRUD WHAT IS THAT HANGING FROM THE CEILING”
Max looked up, and smiled, “That's a blue whale they live in the oceans.”
“My god, those things must kill thousands,” said Lucian.
“Nope,” replied Anne, “They eat plankton, tiny creatures, though they eat a lot of them.”
“So, is won’t come to life and stop protect us from the robots?” asked Nicole.
“Ummm no, but there’s a good reason for why we’re here.”
“Oh,” said Lucian his eyes growing wider, Does this place have weapons?”
“No” replied Anne
“Any sort of allies?
“Nope.”
So what then?”
“It's a place for us to relax and get some sleep, There’s the toddler area it's got soft floors so you could sleep there, and there’s a locker room with a shower, and after today I need one.”
“It’s not that great,” said Marcy, “there's like a dozen entrances to this place, and those doors won't hold under siege.”
Everyone turned to the frog girl.
She shrugged, “I’m the daughter of general Yunnan, I don't even get desert without pointing out military weaknesses of a structure.”
Anne turned away, “Okay, but I’ve got some food for you guys, just stay here a minute.”
“I'm coming with,” Max shot out.
The two walked off, towards the Amphibia section, Anne was glad Max was here she needed to talk to him after his house was burnt down.
“Max we need to-”
“You’re going to need help with the others.”
Anne turned to him, “What?”
“You heard me, you’re going to need help looking after the others.”
“Really you think you help with that?”
“I mean I can't do a worse job than Sprig, he dragged the robots to us, besides I looked after them alone on earth and that ended fine…okay this time I’ll keep them away from the Berry Blast.”
“I mean maybe,” said Anne, she was going to have to talk to the frog about his decision to bring three alien children and leading a group of robots to her, “But Max this isn't safe, It’s…”
“I've never been safe.”
Anne was pulled back slightly, “Max… I…”
“My first memory was having a rat in my crib in the orphanage, I was literally sold to the Doe’s, they left me to take the blame for stealing from a dangerous thug… and that's ignoring everything that happened in Amphibia. I'm used to this by now.”
Anne looked at him, for a few seconds, she couldn't deny he had gone through a lot, a part of her thought back to her own time in Amphibia, she had only really survived by sticking to the others.
She let out a sigh, “Okay You can stay, But you have to promise you listen to me and don’t go off on your own again.”
Max nodded and kept walking, “So what food are we getting?”
“Well, there’s a snack machine for me and you. For Sprig and the others they can eat the same as my exhibits.”
“Huh I wonder if they taste the same?”
“Eh, about the same.”
“...”
“Listen, I was just curious.”
…
“And this is where you'll be staying.”
Max stood at the door showing off the play area, the bright-colored floor, the soft walls, the plastic small chairs, the filled in coloring books, the broken toys, despite appearing to be clean the floors were covered in more germs than the darkest swamp.
“Is this hell?” said Marcy depressed.
“Kinda” said Max walking up to her, “Welcome to the little guppies play area, it's like a baby prison.”
“Oh so like the baby prison in town,” said Nicole.
Max blinked “Why would there be a baby pris-”
“Polly,” the three amphibians said in deadpan unison
“Ah.” replied Max, “Well pick a place to sleep, Anne said we’ve got a lot of plan tomorrow.”
Marcy, Nicole and Lucian dropped the blankets Anne had borrowed from the store and started to lie down, Max walked up to Marcy, she stepped away from him.
“Is everything alright?”
The frog girl glowered at him, “You lied to us.”
“What? About the portal? I told you the truth? I mean it’s unpleasant but-”
“No you said you were going to see Anne, but then you left again.”
Max sighed “Okay listen I get it but-”
“No,” said Marcy sternly, “You decided again to run away again.”
“I wanted to keep you guys safe.”
“SAFE!” shouted Marcy, “We’re stuck in an alien world with robots chasing after us and you wanted to go back to a guy who threatened to hurt you? Thank frog he wasn’t there.”
“Actually…” said Max sounding like he was already in trouble but “He was there… But Anne beat him up and-”
“So you put yourself in more danger just for us?”
“No it’s just… If it wasn’t for me, You guys wouldn’t be stuck here.”
“So the best way to make that up to us is to put yourself in more danger?” said Marcy flatly.
Max froze he didn’t really have an answer for that.
“Of course,” replied the frog girl, “Because you have to make the dumbest-”
“Let it go Marcy.” said Lucian sternly.
The two Amphibians and one human looked at him.
“What are you taking his side again?” demanded Marcy
“No… I’m saying you being a real jerk to someone who I’m sure already know how much he messed up, I don’t think your usual holier than thou stuff is gonna is making you look as good as you think it is.”
Marcy stood there, her mouth open, if one were to listen closely they would hear the whirling sounds of what to say next, and the disbelief that Lucian has in a way right, she then decided to play her trump card.
She grabbed her sheets walked to the corder of the room, she dropped then and lay on the blanket, facing away from them, silently fuming, it usually forced Lucian to follow her and apologize.
“Um, thanks Lucian.”
“She’s not wrong you know,” replied the toad boy, “You left us.”
Briefly looking at the toad boy, Max sighed, “I know but… I just thought-”
“-That running off with Bog was a good idea?”
Max winced, “That bad?”
“Yeah you’re both idiots, that’s why your good friends.”
Max and Lucian glared at Nicole, who winced “Yeah, I’m just going to sleep,” without another word she walked to her own corner.
“Listen,” said Max with a sigh, “I’m sorry it was a stupid thing, I just figured you guys and Anne…you’d be better off without me.”
“Well the core robots found us, and we also had to burn down your house so it played out the same.”
“Fair,” replied Max, walking to his own corner before adding with a whisper, “So Marcy, how angry is she really?”
The toad boy shrugged, “She only acts that way what people she likes gets hurt, I fell off the roof of her mansion and broke my arm, she didn’t talk to me for a week.”
“Huh said Max worried.
Lucian chose his own section and quickly started to snore, Max turned to look at Nicole, he was going to win her trust back somehow.
Marcy sat there wondering if any of her friends would try to talk to her.
…
Sprig just on the second floor railing looking at the whale, a smile on his face, it as true he had seen even bigger creatures, but something like this was on earth, amazed him, its size was probably something to worry about, but it didn’t look dangerous, it looked gentle.
“Hey”
Sprig turned to see Anne walking towards him, in her hand were two mugs, when she reached Sprig she handed it to him, “Here Coffee.
He sipped at it, the bitter taste entered his mouth, “Bleh.”
“Yeah, the aquarium doesn't make enough to pay for the good stuff.”
“This isn’t even good, this is lower than pond scum and I’ve drunk pond scum”
Anne laughed “Ha.”
Standing there for a few moments they let the silence of the aquarium surround them.
“So,” said Anne, “Ivy.”
Sprig looked down at his coffee, “Yep, Ivy.”
Again the silence returned, before Sprig spoke again “When did you figure it out?”
“Two nights ago, though I had my suspicions, I’m mean I’m a hepatologist, and she wasn’t being subtle from the first day I saw her, with the whole how we’re better off single.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“Hey it’s her secret, though considering she was willing to lie to…” Anne sighed “Listen she did a stupid, but I’m not going to blame her, I think she’s just scared”
“Or she just thinks I’m an idiot who shouldn’t have kids.”
“I wouldn’t say that, I mean just because you messed up today-”
“Well I suggested we should stay at the house, But they told me about Max’s family and then the robots came… I just decided to follow you.”
“I mean, What else could you do?”
Sprig sighed, “Not lead them into danger.”
“Hey at least you didn’t fail to see how much trouble Max was in.”
Sprig looked at her, “Well now you know… Maybe it’s time to do something.”
Anne rubbed her eyes, She was tired, so much had happened in just one day, she just wanted to sleep.
“Yeah,” Anne sighed “Sprig, I think we’re in over our heads here.”
Sprig laughed, “When haven’t we?”
“I know but last time I was worried about you guys being dissected, This time I think I can talk to someone, We can tell people about the portal and the attacks on us, heck next time a robot comes after us, we can just use that as evidence, we can film it or capture it or… We just don’t have to be powerless this time, we can…”
“Do something?”
“I wouldn’t say that, but we don’t need to do what we did last time and just wait for things to fall into our lap.”
“I man we had some fun, Remember Frog-Man?”
“Yes, I remember Frog-Man, I’m sure the new guy does as well.”
“... What new guy?”
Anne looked at him, “Oh I forgot, There’s a new Frog man.”
The original Frog man looked at her and chuckled “Really, there’s an imposter doing what I did?”
“Well kind of, He’s only just a weirdo who fights criminals, I’ve only heard something's, not much.”
Sprig stood up, “Okay, that;’s enough I need to sleep, and ponder what I’m going to say to this new Frog man when see him.”
“You can take the sofa in the staff room, I’m going sleep in my office, I’ve got a nice chair.”
The frogs eyes widened,” Oh yeah, we’ve got to see that tomorrow.”
Anne nodded, “First thing…after I’ve called the authorities.”
Sprig nodded, “So where’s the staff room?”
“Just down that hall, there’s a door that says staff only, it looks like it needs a card to enter but the door’s been broken for weeks now.”
“Alright then, You're going to sleep as well?”
“In a minute.”
As Sprig left Anne looked at the aquarium, she pulled out her phone, and noticed for the first time, it was dead, it made sense it had been over a day since she had recharged it. She remembered the device Polly showed her, a glass jar of zapapade’s with wires attached to it, it was based on a design Marcy had made, it didn’t charge up as high as first attempt, which was fine with her, far less painful.
Anne sighed, just another little problem she needed to deal with, she turned to her office, hoping tomorrow would be a better day.
…
Eddie, was annoyed, no annoyed was to gentle of a word, he was pissed.
He had been waiting for days to get a hold of Max, either to get the money or to force the kid to do jobs for him.
Instead, that woman showed up, beat him up and sent him running.
In his humiliation he had retreated to his car and driven to the outskirts of the city.
“Bitch,” he muttered under his breath, she had to have tricked him or done something to him, There was no way she could beat him. She had the advantage, if it happened again he’d have her on the floor beginning for mercy.
He needed to find her and Max again, no one did that to him and got away with it.
KA-THUD.
Something landed on the top of his car, looking up he could see something was covering the sunroof.
The car suddenly switched on, the radio turned in.
“Good evening Eddie,” said a nightmarish voice from the car,”
Jumping back from the voice Eddie looked at the car, “What is this?”
“This is an introduction,” replied the voice from the radio, “But I think we need to meet face to face.”
“How are you talking through the radio and how can you hear me?”
“My little drone on the top of your car, as for the second, You have your Bluetooth turned on.”
“Oh,” said Eddie slightly embarrassed, “What the hell’s going on?”
“I want to talk to you, my little drone took some footage of you earlier, running from the house, I’m guessing you met Anne Boonchuy?”
“What about her?” snarled Eddie.
“I was going to offer you a chance at revenge and a lot of money.”
Looking at the radio the small time crook leaned back, “How much money?”
As he finished saying the question his phone let off a ding. Pulling it out of his pocket he saw a notification, Five Million dollars had entered his account.
“HOLY SHI-”
Quickly another notification appeared saying the money had been transferred out.
“WHAT THE-”
“It was just an example of the fraction of money I can give you if you help us.”
“Us?” replied Eddie.”
“Me and a like-minded group of individuals who want Anne Boonchuy gone.”
“And you would be?”
“I think it’s best we talk in person.”
Sudden a hole appeared in front of the car, now instead of the street leading to the alley there was a dark room, before Eddie could do anything the car drove forward.
Eddie reached for the door and opened it, stepping out he could see that in front of the car was a large monolith with dozens of red eye-like lights glaring at him, just in front of it on a small pedestal was an unconscious cat locked in a cage.
“What the hell is this, he turned around and saw the portal behind his car was gone, standing at the edge of the room was two figures, a short woman in a lab coat and the other was… a giant lizard wearing a cloak with a metal eye and claw.
“Eddie,” said a voice from the radio now behind him, he turned to the monolith, “We can get you more money, in fact we can get you anything you want, all you, All we need is your help.”
Standing there the criminal looked at the speaking tower, this wasn’t possible, this was some sci-fi crap, there had to be some sort of catch.
“What’s catch?”
“None, but we need more help, But I researched you as you ran, and I was impressed by the amount of criminal connections you have.”
Eddie nodded, most of those connections he had mostly wanted him dead, but he wasn’t going to mention that, “Really why?”
“Well I already have an army.”
The door where the old women and the lizard were standing by opened and in stepped a dozen large figures, each stomping towards him, Eddie swallowed,
“Can you point out the obvious problem with them?”
Eddie winced this was one of those questions that was supposed to be obvious and yet complex at the same time, he swallowed and thought of the first thing that came to mind.
“They’re not very stealthy.”
“And that’s why we need you, You have connections, I need people who would be less noticeable than an army of robots, you can put us in contact with them.”
Eddie decided not to tell them that most of his contacts would just as likely ignore him, however if they used the portal as leverage, teleporting into a bank vault, sneaking a guy out of prison, even those wanted certain body parts of his in jars would be willing to talk.
But still, could he trust this machine?
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“Eddie,” the machine responded in a tired tone, “Do you really think you in a position to turn me down?”
“I mean I have no reason to trust you and-”
Before he could finish one of the robots step forward and picked him up, a portal opened, on the other side was darkness, the robot tossed him in, Eddie turned to see the portal closing.
Eddie looked around the dark palace, he could feel metal bars on the ground, no two metal bars separated by 5 feet, That’s when he heard the whistle.
Eyes widening the criminal stood up and started to run, turning he could see a small light growing closer, like some sort of predator after him, screaming he ran, the noise of the train was getting closer.
Suddenly he was pulled to the left, in the light again he saw he was back in lab, the portal in front of him now has the perfect view of a train rushing past them.
“Any other questions?” asked the giant pillar.
Eddie swallowed, “No, I’m good.”