ELDT - Hunter becomes the hunted

Electrive Detective 1 - Chapter 7 - Hunter becomes the hunted

 

The next day, both robots were clean and ready to do their job. They entered the room where Oilman was held captive. A technician was with them along with the results of his sanity test.

"And?" Elec asked.

"He appears to be confused and lost. He's got a few questions wrong and refuses to tell us who he belongs to." Said the technician.

The detective approached him; Glaring at the downed machine who was now robbed of his substance, all tied up in metal chains.

"Why did you attack me?" he asked, very serious about the situation.

"I'm sick of all you people and robots!" He replied.

"I doubt that."

"Oh yeah!? Once I get out of here, I'll paint this entire barn full of idiots with blood!"

"That is against the rules. And you wouldn't want to be disabled, now would you?"

"I'll disable you first."

"Who sent you?"

"The mailman! Ya happy!?"

A few moments passed when Elec decided to turn back and leave the room.

"Hey, are you giving up already?" Said Crashman.

"Never. But this is no use. Leave him here and find his owner." He commanded.

"yes sir."

The two robots were on their way to the office. Elecman only focused on moving forward and getting this done.

"I know that questioning a robot won't help much but where are we going now?"

"Making sure mister Quick on the draw will trip and fall flat on his face when I stop his sting opperation."

"But you can't do that! What if you waltz right into the part where one of the human detectives tries to gain the trust of the suspect and blow his cover because you had second thoughts?"

"For the last time, this case will be closed."

"And what if it's a trap? I can't survive another oil slick on my eyes! And your electricity still isn't working!"

"Let's go."

 

Minutes later, they arrived at the scene. A few police cars had already surrounded the area, which was a garage. They stepped out of the car and aimed for the front door.

"Here goes everything." Elec said and entered.

"Alright, everybody st-"But he sentence was stopped when he spotted Quickman, along with Paul, Peter, a few cops and another man he held against the wall.

"Hello gentlemen." He said, as if nothing serious was going on.

"I don't remember calling you to watch the show."

"What's going on here?" Elec asked.

"I solved your case. Not saying you couldn't, but let me explain: The four vehicles of mister Armando were bought a few weeks back. Paul explained to me that his cars kept getting damaged due to his bad driving behaviour. This led to him buying new ones almost all the time since he wasn't very pleased by how they got fixed by this man over  here."

"The name's Eric." Siad the culprit.

"Soon Eric was fed up by his ungreatfull attitude and wanted to get even by manipulating Paul. He did that by threatening him, making other people believe he was deliberatley wrecking the cars Armando owned in order to get more money. He told him to get a robot so he could be able to take away his power and get revenge; Even if it means taking a life."

During his explination, Elecman only started to look more andmore aggitated.

"What about the sniper joes?" He asked.

"Simple. He convinced those robots into believing that all those humans, inclueding you and the others were the enemy. Leading to that fatal accident. Right now we're going to search his place and deliver the news to Gerald. Any objections?" He asked with a smug face.

Elec said nothing before raising his finger upwards.

"One moment." He replied and shut the door. He then walked down the street, muttering in anger while Crashman slowly followed. He then kicked the rear bumper of a car nearby and took off his hat; Muttering louder as he covered his face with it, as if screaming on a pillow. He then exhaled deeply; His breathing had an angry tone as he lowered his hat down to his chin.

"Oooohh how I'd love to shoot 500.000 volts towards the top of his head...to hear his delightfull shreaks of pain...hmmm...delicious..." He said in a deep and angry voice. Crashman was standing behind him, scared to even speak up; But he had to calm down his friend.

"...Ok. Even though I'm kinda confused by all this...I totally agree with you."

"...Do I really have to explain it?" He replied, still irritated.

"Um...could you maybe...perhaps inlighten me about what else you're angry about?"

"This isn't right Crash!" He said, turning his head towards his friend.

"What isn't?"

"His so called proof! The fact he's closing my case with such an unbelievable stupid explination!? All this evidence leads up towards a fed up mechanic!?"

"Well...his story seemed legit but-"

"Oh. So you believe all that nonsnse?"

"I didn't say that! It's just...I'm not sure if I should believe it."

"others shouldn't either. There is no possible way this guy could've caused all this."

"And how is that possible?"

"Because there are a few questions still unanwsered."

 

-

 

After Eric was sent to the police station while Quickman delivered the news to Gerald. He had all the anwsers written on a paper with photos ready to be published. Gerald heard him knocking on his door.

"Come in." he said and the red robot entered with pride.

"Here you go sir." He said, showing the evidence on his desk. Gerald took a closer look and read the contents.

"What is-"

"Case closed sir. Looks like the delinquent won't be fixing any cars soon. We're not sure if Paul will be punished, but it looks like he's going to do some chores during the next few days."

"Well, I must say that as the boss of the detective agentcy, I didn't see this coming."

"To be honest, I didn't either. But hey, atleast it's over now and I'd say that Michels' family and friends will finally know the truth."

Then, the door behind them opened. Quickman looked back and saw Elecman with a serious expression.

"And I say, not so fast mister Quick." He said, walking towards him.

"What are you doing here Elec?"

"I'm here to make an objection."

"For what? The investigation?"

"No. The fact that Heatman is based on a box instead of a lighter."

"What is the problem?"

"The news can not be published yet. The evidence isn't convincing."

"What makes you say that?" Quickman asked.

"We still don't know how Crashman got drunk after drinking that E-tank. We also don't understand how these sniper joes were able to wreak havoc."

"Hey, I already explained how that happened."

"Yeah, I can buy the fact that a mechanist can sneak around a place where a ton of cars are located but I highly doubt he could convince a few sniper joes to drive like an expert in a Jaguar XK120."

"Ok, we still need to investigate that,but-"

"Don't even start on making me believe he was able to convince those robots that we were the enemy, stick-head. That's like trying to make Gerald believe  that his belly is filled with plastic."

"Look, we're going to find out all the details. I suspect that he just has a way with words. There are those people who can be very convincing; With a believable attitude to match."

"Oh. Like you do everyday, trying to make yourself look good, lying infront of people's faces about how incredibly amazing you are?" He stated.

Normally, Quickman wouldn't really response to this, or just let it slide. But the two robots were staring at each other; Trying to win the argument.

"Do you really think I was going to deliver a story if it didn't had truth written all over it?" He replied with an irritated expression.

"You just did. Have fun getting the respect and praise you don't deserve!"

"Maybe you need to get your sanity checked, walking plug box!"

"And maybe you should-"

"Quiet! Both of you!" Gerald interupted, snapping both robots out of their heated argument.

"Elecman, it's alright to look deeper into this if you see fit. But for now, Quickmans' report will be published."

"Thank you sir." He replied. Elecman looked away; trying to hide his anger with a cranky attitude.

"I know you two can't really get along, but that's why we have other people to help you out. There will be no fighting in my company."

"Don't worry about it. I'll soon be working on the next case after we finish with this."

"I'll soon be working on the next case~ And after that I'm going to take off my armor, run like an idiot while screaming like an idiot to get attention~ Hungng~" Elec said with a high pitched voice; Walking away with a cocky walk. The two looked at him with confusion while he opened the door and took one more glance towards them.

"Airheaded fopdoodle." He said and closed the door.

"What is his problem?" Quickman asked; Gerald shrugged and began to read the document.

The next day, Elecman was home with his new TV, watching "I love Lucy." But it didn't make him laugh that much since he had too much trouble on his mind.

"Hey Elec!" Said Crashman and entered the living room.

"the news paper is here." He gave it to his friend with the title saying: "Culprit found in Garage!" With pictures of Quickman showing Eric who got arrested. He spotted a sentence saying: "Elecman still has doubts over the investigation. Many others consider this case closed." He frowned at this and looked back at Crashman.

"So what do you think?" He asked.

"I think there's no way he could've invented an E-tank which makes you more clumsy and stupid than you are now."

"You know very well that  I'm a little clueless once in a while. That isn't stupid."

"Sometimes it seems as if I'm the only smart one among all of you." He replied, placing his electric finger on Quickmans' face of the photo. Making it burn a little.

"Oh, so Alisa is one of them?" He asked.

"No. She is atleast mature enough to notice his behaviour and lies."

"I'm aware too, but it's no use to dwell on it. If you don't believe this is over yet, then what are we going to do now?" He asked.

Elec stood up, still holding the paper and turning off the TV.

"How about we think?"

"I know. But let's think about this: Could Oilman be linked to my strange behaviour? After all, he is called 'Oilman' and we recently discovered that he's working for the oil industry. He's a robot, which means that his creator must know how this substance works. After all, he is created to be specialized in this element."

Elecman thought for a moment. Thinking that this was very legit.

"What if...Armando sent him?"

"How could he have known about him?"

"At first you might think he would want this robot in order to get more money since oil gives you a lot of dollars, but then I'm reminded about his outrage. What if he wanted to get revenge on me?"

"Yeah, but you're missing a crucial detail. His hatred towards you began after I got drunk. So how could he have payed someone to make me more idiotic?"

Elecman sighed and held his hand underneeth his chin, walking in circles.

"That's true...But all that comes back to my theories before Eric got arrested."

"You mean some evil genius who's manipulating Paul in order to get more robots?"

"Yes. What's left to find out is the genius behind it."

"...Maybe it's your technician who checks your body to see if everything is still ok?"

"No, not even he is able to reprogram a little mettool."

"...Maybe the scientists who found you?"

"Yeah ofcourse. After all the things they did for me they sure want to kill me by sending a robot like that to my house." He stated.

"Yeah."

Then after a few seconds, Elecman thought of something he didn't think of before.

"What about Dr.Whily?"

Crashmans' eyebrow raised, not sure if he would believe it.

"Whily?"

"Who else could it be?"

"But you know what happened to him. After he heard about how you killed all those people in the powerplant, he escaped without a trace. No footprints or anything could be found after his disapearance. And he was pronounced dead because of the wheater. It took place in late november when the city was covered in snow."

"But he is a highly inteligent human being, who has won many awards for his skills in mechanism and is smart enough to survive outdoors." He explained.

"And he's and old fart!" Crashman replied. Elec looked irritated at him; Knowing that even if he's old, he knew how to prevent being found as a corpse.

"And he killed Dr.light."

"Don't remind me."

"Sorry. But what makes you so sure he's out there? If he's the one behind it all then why didn't Eric, Paul or Armando say anything?"

"I don't know. But he's the only one who knows robots just as well as Dr.Light did. All those months of living a normal, yet stressful life has thought me that it takes a long time to change."

"What do you mean with that?"

"Our systems are so complicated that it takes a psychological treatment to make a change. So it's very unlikely Eric was able to convince those robots in a heartbeat."

"...Yes. And Sniper Joes don't have complicated circuitry like we do. They only exist to protect and defend for simple tasks."

"Exactly. And that means this news paper is going right in the trash can." He said, throwing the paper in the trashcan. He put on his detective jacket.

"But before we tell this to the rest of the world, we need to be checked."

"Checked?" He asked.

-

A few minutes later, they were at the technician room where Crashman wasn't really happy.

"I hate this." he said before a man put a screw driver in his back.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW." He said out loud, trying not to scream.

"Why do we have to stay online again?"

"Because then we are able to feel if any wires or parts in our body are in the wrong place." Elec replied. He had Alisa behind his back; The female robot knew alot about technology and was able to check the inside of his generator in order to spot any oil which was still sticking to his wires. Preventing him from using his power.

"Does this spot hurt?" She asked, pushing against a specific spot on his back.

"ow! Aah...yes." He replied.

"Alright. let's clean it up."

"So how are you doing Alisa?" Crash asked.

"Doing well. Not many problems at home or at my other job. Helping people for free is what I want if no one needs me at the TV company."

"Wait, for free?"

"Yes. I don't need more than what I already have. And it's good to keep yourself ocupied."

"But you have Elecman to keep you ocupied~" He teased.

"Crashma- ow! Aah...Yeah. With guessing games on my guitar."

"Sounds fun." She replied.

"Not as fun as-"

"Crash."

"What?"

"I'm not gonna yell a second time."

"Ok, then don't."

The technician fixing his friend noticed the cranky attitude and was a bit worried a bit.

"Are you alright boy?" he asked.

"Yes. I'm doing great. I had to pay one third of the damage I've caused at Armandos' garden, my car got stolen and wrecked, we've lost a coleague, my guitar is broken, my house got soaked in oil and Quickman is being the greatest jerk of all again, solving my case with incomplete evidence. How do you think I'm doing?" He asked, irritated at the last part of his sentence.

"I'd say take a deep breath and think clearly." He replied.

"It's hard to do when mister quick poisons the air with selfishness."

"I'd hate to argue with you, but being a detective means you have to drop that flaw in order to save lives."

"There's one huge flaw he needs to get rid of."

"Elec, let it go."Alisa said. "He does want to help people as fast as possible."

"Yeah, we all have our flaws." Said Crashman. "For example, one of the wires in my backbone is connected to my voice controll. When he gets unplugged to clean out the input, my voice gets stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-"

They stared in confusion since the technician was doing what he just explained. A few seconds passed before he was able to speak again.

"See?"

"Yeah. But I still don't understand why he only targets me. All these jokes and sneaky attempts for undersevered attention makes me want to zap his face with the highest voltige I can fire. He's egotistic, he's sneaky-"

the, his sentence was cut short when the red robot entered the room.

"May I come in?"

"...He's here." Elec finished.

"Didn't know I was famous enough for you to talk about  me."

"No you're not."

"But I'm not here to talk though. Crashman, you need to come with me."

"What for?"

"I've got a new case to close and it appears we need some explosions in order to destroy the hideout of our suspects."

"But I'm not-"

"There we go. You're all set." Said the technician.

"Am I done?"

"Yep. All your systems are cleaned and your wires aren't tangled up anymore."

"Alright. Thank you!"

"That's great!" Said Quickman, walking towards the orange robot. Elecmans began to frown, watching his every move.

"So that means you are ready to join my party?"

"Gee, I don't know. I have to find my tuxedo suit before we go." he teased. The two giggled.

"But what exactly are we going to blow up?"

"You're not going anywhere without my permission." Elec interupted.

"Hey don't worry mister socket. Crashman is mature enough to make his own desicions."

"I know, but you're-"

"What we're dealing with here is a really bad gang who likes to do all sorts of bad things. Stealing and destroying someone's property and then hide in their not-so-secret-anymore location."

"Do you really thinkg that-" Elec interupted again, but Quickman continued his monolauge as if he can't hear him.

"It is an old and abandoned building after all; It needed to be gone a long time ago by the dismantlers. But due to a pay check problem and lots of technical things going on, they couldn't do it; And so our guys decided to keep it until you show up to blow it all the way to South carolina."

"Awesome! Can't wait to see their faces when I-"

"Crashman." Elec said outloud.

 "We're going to be gone for a while though. The place isn't exactly around the corner. And we need to track them down. Bye~" He said.

"But what about-" But before he could even finish, the door closed and the robot left with his best friend. For a second, he was quiet with a surprised yet angry looking expression.

"Not a minute here and he's already-" He then heard a short gasp from Alisa after hearing a loud crack. His anger faded and looked behind him with worry. She was rubbing her right hand as if she was in pain.

"Alisa? Alisa, what happened?"

"It's ok, you just accidentally gave me a static shock." She assured with a smile.

"I did? I'm so sorry are you hurt?"

"No, it's fine I-"

"Let me see."

"Elec, it's alright. It was just a small spark."

"I don't care let me see." He said and gently grabbed her right hand; Trying to see a black spot or numbness in one of her fingers.

"This is only good news. Your generator is slowly rebooting."

"Rebooting?"

"You're all cleaned up. But it seems your system wants to make sure before creating a lot of electricity. You'll soon be able to generate 500.000 volts again."

"I can be patient. But I wouldn't use that hand of yours for a few hours."

"You don't have to be so worried." She assured, still smiling at him.

"I'm not. Well, not anymore but it leaves a lot of stining pain in your nervous system. Use it too much and the stress could build up."

"Well, thank you. But I'm glad you're recovering quickly. Things could've turned out worse if you were hit with a sharp object."

"I know. Still hard to realize they havn't found the material of what I'm made of. Even after such a long time."

"That's why I don't want someone like you to to get hurt."

"Don't all of us want to prevent that?"

"Yes. But you're the best detective and only you can solve this case." Both of them shared a warm smile; Unaware that they were still holding hands.

"And I promise to do just that."

The technician noticed the moments on silence between the two and broke the silence.

"Well, could you two lovebirds speed it up? I've got more things to do around here."

"We're not lovebirds." He claimed.

"Oh no. That's why you're still holding hands." He teased, cleaning his equiptment. The two noticed and quickly let go.

"Um, do you need any help?" She asked, while Elec put on his jacket.

"I'll be fine. Just want to make sure you don't put much pressure on your hand."

"I won't."

"Alright. See you later." He closed the door and walked his way to the office where he spotted Top, Heat and Ringman figuring something out on their desk. Ringman was talking on the phone while the others wrote it down.

"Ok so you saw the car go through the street, make a left turn, then another, but you were too afraid for a confrontation?" He asked.

Heatman wrote it on his notebook while Topman market the places on a map with the clues Ringman mentioned.

"He constantly went to another location and then returned to his house?...Hm hmmm...Yes. So he's been visiting the outskirts of the city, seven kilometers away from the city center, visited the same park for about...six times? Was it? Alright. And do you have any idea where he might be now? ...Alright. We'll figure it out. Thank your madam." He hung up the phone and looked at the map where Topman has drawn circles on the locations he mention with a red pencil.

"And? What do you think?" He asked.

"If you'd ask me, the suspect isn't going around selling icecream." He replied.

"No,he's going around selling Old Mac cigarettes so he could pay his dues." Heatman teased.

"Then I think we should send you as a sting operation. Seeing how you're such a fan of burning all those packs." Said Topman.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"But we are positive about the fact that he may be collecting things and putting it in his cellar?" Ring asked.

"That's what we're going to find out." Elec interupted, walking towards them.

"What do you mean we?"

"How about all four of us drive towards his home and investigate what's going on?"

"Why all four?"

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe we're dealing here with something far more sinister. The guy could be recieving deadly weapons, guns, chemical substances or even toxic gas." He said with sarcasm.

"The only toxic gas he might be taking is a giant collection of Old Mac." Said Topman.

"Perhaps. Or he might be a secret soldier from the world war."

"Hm. Though it sounds far fatched at first, it does seem possible."

"Well then, let's find out." He said, walking towards the door entrence.

-

Minutes later, they arrived in the neightbourhood where the misterious sightings took place. The detectives arrived in an alleyway full of old planks, boxes and trashcans. But there was a problem; There was a  huge fence stopping them from getting any further. It could only be opened from the other side. Destorying it would attract too much attention, and climbing the fence would make a lot of noise. Elec gave a signal towards Topman to use his elegent parkour skills to get on the roof and get them on the other side. He nodded yes and searched for something to get him up.

He spotted some boxes which were able to get him higher up. Using the edge of the open windows and pipes to reach the top. Once he was on the roof, the robot quickly but carefully tip-toed towards the edge. Lowing himself to his knees in order to see what's going on. He saw three men and a woman delivering a few boxes with holes into a truck. The boxes were empty since they didn't have much trouble carying them. After they were done, he noticed that the woman had a few keys in her hand whole walking towards the fence.

Topman reacted quickly and silently tip-toed towards the other edge in order to warn his friends. He tapped on the roof, getting their attention and showed them a hand gesture; Knowing that the fence was about to be opened, they hide themselves behind all the boxes and trashcans surrounding the alleyway. When the fence opened, the car was driving slowly to make sure he wouldn't hit anything. But the woman stayed behind in order to close the fence again. Topman jumped off the roof to make a distraction; And it worked. She turned around to see where the sound was coming from. In the meantime, the three detectives were able to sneak in. The woman was still looking for the source of the sound while Ringman was trying to open the door of the house using a paperclip and a Torsion wrench. Topman decided to knock her unconcious since he knew she would go back to the front door.

"Sorry madam." He whispered and took her to the other three detectives.

"Is everything going well?" he asked.

"Almost there." Ring replied, and the door opened. They looked around first before they entered the building and silently checked the house. No one was home.

"All clear." Said Elecman. "Let us first investigate the house for anything suspicious." They nodded yes and began to look around. Looking behind the drawers, paintings, under the carpet and even knocking on the wall to see if there was a hidden room. Topman placed the onconcious woman on the coutch, not very happy about his action.

"Why didn't you just grab her and force her to us about what's going on?" Heatman asked.

"It didn't cross my mind. Besides, maybe we're dealing with something far dangerous."

"Nothing to see here boys." Elec interupted. "Let's check out the cellar."

The three robots followed and found the door which leads towards the cellar, but it was locked.

"let's do this again." Ringman said and used his tools to open the locked door. They saw a stairway disolving into darkness and knew that the light switch must be in the cellar. They went downstairs and closed the door. Heatman created a flame in the palm of his hand, but Elec quickly put it out.

"What? I don't want to walk in the dark!"

"Don't take any risks." he replied.

"What risks?"

"We don't know if they have explosive gas leaking from the cellar!"

"The only explosive gas I avoid is the one coming from Geralds' butt." He replied. Topman giggled.

"How about a flashlight?" The detective illuminated the hall with a flashlight he brought with him and spotted another door which was the entrance to the heart of the cellar. Ringman sighed and grabbed his tools again.

"Alright, for the last-"

"No." Elec interupted and kicked the door with half of his strength. It fell down in the darkness and the detective found the lightswitch. Then they finally saw what was hidden underground. The cellar was huge and it contained small cages filled with all kinds of different animals. Dogs, cats, bunies, chicks, birds a fox, even a small tank with walking Catfish and blue Catfish.

The robots walked around in the big chaimber filled with these loud and perhaps abused animals. Some of the didn't look very healthy; The birds were picking their feathers off, the fox was panting and walking in circles and most of the dogs had scars.

"Ok. I guess we should've called the animal shelter." Said Heatman

"Only if we knew about this." Elec replied, still confused about this discovery.

"Do you think they're going to sell these animals?" Top asked.

"Could be. I guess that this is what they're collecting in order to earn money for another day."

"Money, it's always about money!" Said Topman. "Why arn't these people never satisfied with their current lives? We're not rich but not practicly poor and you don't see me spreading crimes!"

"It's no use to dwell on this. You guys write down every animal in this chaimber and call the police. Tell them to bring people from the animal shelter."

"We will."

"I'll be investigating the next room."

"Next room?" Heatman asked and walked towards the detective; Spotting another door which could lead to another room, or an even deeper chaimber.

"What kind of a cellar is this?" he asked. Elec didn't hesitate for another moment and kicked the door in; it fell down another road of stairs andgrabbed his flashlight.

"One that soon will be rid of these animals." It took a while before he reached the entrance to this mysterious cellar and saw another light switch; This one didn't work, but it didn't matter.His flashlight was good enough in order to see what the chaimber contained. This one was a lot bigger. It contained reptilian creatures, along with amphibians stored in glass cages. Snakes, lizards, turtles frogs were stored in cages. Which surprisingly had a warm temprature despite the cold chaimber. He looked around, spotting a machine which had wires conected to the cages who gave them warmth. This was odd since it was a very professional looking; There were even tiny ponds in which the turtles were swimming in. The detective scanned the area...unaware that two red glowing eyes from behind locked onto him; Slowly moving forward until the face of the creature came forward. It attacked him from behind, smashing him to the ground. Elecman struggled for a bit before delivering a powerfull punch somewhere on the body of the attacker. The suspect jumped away into the darkness while Elec grabbed his flashlight that fell during the attack. His guard was up and franticly looked around to find the one who was hiding.

"Who's there!?" The only response was a dark and smooth laughter.

"Oooh, you should've seen your face when I surprised you. Never seen someone so scared in my whole life."

"You're the one who should be afraid." He threatened, still looking in every corner of the chaimber.

"Trespassers should normally be the ones who feel frightened when they face me."

"Listen, either you're going to surrender and explain this whole situation, or I'm forced to take action and drag you upstairs."

"Really? From what I recall, you're gonna be the one who will never see the light of day again."

Then, he attacked him again. But everytime Elecman delivered a punch of a kick, it naerly hit him and dove away into the darkness in order to perform another assault from a different angle. Elecman was able to see the color of the suspect. It was white, with an office green color. Small red glowing lights were on its head and moved pretty fast.

He then finally managed to knock him on the ground with a counter attack; He was disabled for a minute so he pointed his two fingers towards him, even though he knew his electricity wasn't working very well.

"Don't move!" He said, looking at the suspect who was a robot..again. He tried to hide his confused expression while staring at him. It was a Snake based robot who had his head inside a snake-mouth. It was a helmet and also had a tail going down his back which acted as a third arm. His body was black and green, legs and chest armor was white; And his red glowing eyes stared back towards the detective, showing a sadistic smile.

"Sorry, I don't take orders from you." he replied and kicked his leg; He fell on the ground while the robot grabbed him and threw him into the small pond where the turtles got frightened and tried to get away. Elec let go of the flashlight during his fall and saw that his opponent came jumping towards him; The faint rays of his flashlight created a scary shining effect on his armor. The robot hissed during his assault.

-

His friends heard the loud noises coming from the hall and felt that he was in danger.

"Did you hear that?" Topman asked.

"Sounds like he's in trouble!" Said Ringman.

"Let's check it ou- Oooow!" The orange rollarskating robot was suddenly stopped by a stining pain in his leg.

"What the heck was- Ow!"

"Topman?" Heatman looked confused at his friend while he was backing away from the door entrance by something that was causing him pain.

"Ow! Wha- Ah! Ow! What is going...on!?  AAAoow!" He then saw the culprit. It was a robot snake; A foot long and had two very sharp teeth in his mouth.

"A snake?"

Then, Heat and Ringman fell victim to the painfull bites when more of those robotic snakes appeared; Bitting their metal skin while causing severe pain.

"Where did these little-AAh!- rodents come from!?"

"Ow! Don't ask! Just- AAh! Just crush them!" Said Heatman, burning the little pests one by one. Ringman smashed his Ringboomerangs into them, trying not to hit the ones that were slitthering on the cages of the animals. Topman performed his Topspin; Spinning around at a fast speed in order to throw them off. It worked, but then they landed on his friends.

"Sorry!" He said, getting bitten again shortly after.

"We have to help Elecman!"

"We gotta eliminate these first!"

"No! Just disable them! AAh! We need evidence to-Ow! To show that these robots are- are arahaaaah!" Topman fell down on the fish tank when a snake grabbed his rollarskates, making him loose his balance which has never happened before. The tank fell, but didn't break. The fish began to move violently, gasping for air as they were desperate for water which was soaked on the floor. The robot tried to do something about it, holding the fishwhile getting bitten at the same time.

"Guys! Guys-ow! The fish! We need to - AAh! Help the fish get in the- AAAAH my butt! He's in my butt!" He yelled.

Suddenly, the snakes started pushing the cages ontop of the robots while falling down.

"They're pushing the cages!" Said Ringman.

"They're in my private box!" Heatman stated. The snakes came into his lighter-based design; Since his hands were outside, he had no way of getting them out.

Meanwhile, Elecman was still trying to fight the snake like robot who seemed to be winning the fight. The only thing he had was the flashlight and his quick reflexes; But they were little help against his opponent. He even managed to smash him against the glass cages, putting the animals in distress. Snakes kissed towards him and fleed. Turtles were hiding in the pond, reptiles were running throughout the chaimber which caused Elecman to loose his focus a little.

Then he was hit by the tail of the robot, using it like a whip to smack his head; Eventually, he kicked him in the stomach. The detective fell on the ground, hearing the evil laughter echoing in the dark shadows. He aimed his flashlight towards the source of the sound.

"I thought snakes were smart enough to kill their food with one bite!" He said. The robot suddenly appeared upside down in the light; As if he was hanging from the ceiling.

"I just love to play around with my prey before eating it." He said, dissapearing before Elec could get his hand on him. Seconds passed before the tail whiped the flashlight out of his hand, throwing it far away on the ground. Before he could run towards it, the tail wrapped around his mouth and the snake like robot grabbed a hold of him behind his back. He could barely move his arms while the tail wrapped tightly around his throat; It was a death grip like most snakes do in order to kill their food and it crushed all the strength out of Elecs' body. But he wasn't going to give up like that; His left hand reached for his pocket, using all of his strength while the robot was trying to hold it back. He managed to grab his pocket knife and stab it into a part of the tail.

He screamed and Elecman stabbed again; The wires and metal within the tail were now damaged, so he lost his grip and gave his opponent the advantige. Giving him a hard punch to his chest, the snake robot fell down.

They had a short but quick fight before the detective managed to grab a hold of his tail and throw him towards the wall. The impact was hard, leaving a few cracks on his metal skin. It was obvious that the robot was defeated since he was struggling to stand up. Elecman grabbed his flashlight, walking like a boss towards the downed robot; Still holding his pocket knife, he seemed to be intimidated by his approach.

"Hey, uhm...don't be-" He then held him up by grabbing his throat, looking in his red eyes which didn't seem to be that scary anymore. He showed a nervous smile, hoping the detective would show mercy.

"Ehh, heh...no hard feelings?"

But Elec wasn't going to back off from this serpent. The point of his knife touched the cheeck of the robot; Making sure he won't resist.

"Let's start with the predictable questions when things like this happen." He said with a serious tone in his voice.

"...The name's Snakeman." he replied.

-

Later when they went upstairs, Elecman witnessed the chaos that was still going on. He saw his friends fighting off little snake robots, cages fallen on the gorund, the animals in distress and Topman still trying to save the fish. They were yelling and screaming, trying to get the situation under controll.

"Hmpf. What are these? Your colleagues, or your idiots?" Snakeman teased. Elec pinched his tail which he was holding him with.

"HEY!" He said out loud, causing all three of them to stop and stare.

"I found the culprit."

"Culprit?" Top asked, before the fish in his arms slapped his face. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, are you sure? It could be my master you know."

"Maybe it is. And that's why you're going to tell us."

"That's great and all but-Ow! Since he looks like the father of all these slithering anaconda's...make these butt biters stop their assault!" Said Ringman, still having to deal with these little robots. Elecman held his knife close to Snakemans' throat, forcing him to do what his friend asked.

"Searchsnakes: converging!"

Not a second later did all of them stop and slither towards him; Staring at their boss infront of his feet.

"Uuugh...what a relief." Heatman sighed.

"I think there are about sixty seven battle scars on my arm alone."

"I hope they're not poisones because I don't feel very good." Said Topman.

"Don't be such a bunch of whimps. You've just never felt the stinging pain of justice."

"Justice hm? May I have a second opinion about that?" Elec asked.

"Let's just help these animals. Get the cages outside and call the police." Ringman said.

"You're coming with us." Said Elec to Snakeman, pinching his tail once more and pushing him upstairs.

"Ow! Would you stop that!? My tail may be damaged but not numb!" He claimed while all the searchsnake followed him.

A few minutes later, the cops along with the animal shelter arrived. Almost all of the cages were put outside and the woman who was knocked unconcious was waking up.

"Well, in all my twenty two years of being a cop, I'd never thought to see this." One of the policemen said.

"And I've never seen a group of people who needed a snake-based robot to attack me while I was investigating their dark secret." Elec replied, still holding the culprit by his tail.

"I had a very good reason you idiot."

"Why don't you tell me?"

"Officer please!" They heard from behind. It was the woman who got knocked out by Topman. She ran towards the scene.

"What's wrong miss?"

"Please, it's all a big misunderstanding!"

"Then tell me what's really going on."

"Believe me, we're not trying to kill or sell these animals. We're trying to save them!"

"By keeping them in such a terrible condition?"

"That is to prevent them from being found! We rescued them from terrible pet owners and we didn't want them to be found!"

"Why didn't you call the police about this? The problem would've been easily solved with our help!" Heatman stated.

"We couldn't! We did a sting operation. Pretending we wanted to buy these animals from these horrible people. And besides, I bet most of you don't even care."

"Alright, I understand now." Said Elec.

"But what I don't understand is why this anaconda over here tried to kill me!"

"What!?" She said, looking at Snakeman who played the innocent and sad victim.

"Attacked you!? He looks like a victim! What did you do to him!?"

"Anwser my question first!"

"He is build to protect the cellar while we're gone!"

"Protect? He strangled me! Whiped my face using his tail and threw me all across the room! You call that protecting!?"

"Hey, you're a robot! God knows what you could've done to those poor animals!" Snakeman claimed.

"I was only investigating!"

"I didn't know that! I was just following my function!"

"You tried to kill me!"

The robots were sizing each other up before Ringman broke the argument.

"Gentlemen! Calm yourselves! This is not getting us anywhere. Miss, I understand your motive. But we like to know where you got this robot in the first place."

"I'll tell you everything. But let him go first!"

"So he could smack my face again!?" Elec replied.

"I'd love to. But my tail is broken."

The groupd thought for a moment, looking towards the little search snakes who were still surrounding their master.

"Alright. But he must follow your every command and tell these little monsters to turn offline."

"They're not mo-"

"Turn them off."

Snakeman sighed.

"Searchsnakes: Offline!"

The snakes turned off and the woman along with the other detectives grabbed them.

"What is the function of these little things actually?" The officer asked.

"Besides delivering pain?" Siad Top.

"They are meant to keep an extra eye and bite off any intruders. No one wants to get bitten by these little cuties."

"Cuties? Are you stupid or a creep?" Said Heatman.

"I prefer to be called: A robot closer to nature."

"I see. But that doesn't stop us from taking a few of these snakes." Said Elecman.

"What? Why?"

"Because we're going to make sure you won't need these anymore. The problem about the animals will be solved and your robot friend will be repaired."

The woman sighed, knowing it was a bit dissapointing but not a great loss.

"Fine then." Said Snakeman. "You can't reprogram them anyway. And it would be awfull if someone used them as weapons."

"That's true. We were trained for battle if circumstances demand. others were made to fight." Topman said.

But during their sentence while Elecman was putting a Searchsnake in  his pocket, his eyes widened and realized something.

"Wait a minute...we have papers of every robot in this state and only people who have connections with technicions and the goverment own robots like him."

"yeah. So?" Said Snakeman.

"If you were programmed to protect, then I want to see your papers for proof!"

"Don't you already have enough proof?"

"I have my suspicions about you being programmed by Dr.Whily!"
 This made some people gasp.

"But he has been declared dead!"

"And he is the only one who could've programed such fighting skills into this machine. he along with Dr.light were the only ones inteligent enough to create cuircitry which gave us robots a human mind. ONLY they could do that."

"But you know that other scientists came up with the designs and ask them to give us a function." Said Topman.

"How could it be Whily? He's long gone Elec."

"A genius like him isn't that stupid to wonder around in the cold weather without a plan to keep himself alive! I know that he along with all the other robots who attacked me are linked to the doctor."

"Elecman, I think it's time we moved on." One of the cops interupted.

"Why don't any of you believe me!?"

"Because you don't have enough evidence mister stupid hat~" Snakeman teased.

"I'll have your sorry face along with the Sniper joes, Oilman and the other garden keeper robots from Armando in jail along with that twisted man who poisoned your mind!"

"Elecman.." Said Top, placing his hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"What!?"

"I'll handle this. Just try to calm down for a second."

"Fine. I'll be at the fence." He said, angry and irritated about the situation.

"Very good, let's keep a calm mind."

"I'll give you a piece of mine!"

"That's very good." He replied, intimidated by his behaviour while walking towards the fence.

"Ok, you shouldn't talk with him right now-" Said Topman to the officer, but then they were interupted by the sound of the fence falling down, which was Elecmans' doing.

"Correction, you shouldn't talk with him at all." He replied with a nervous expression.

"But I think mister spinning-top should." Said Ringman.

"What!? Are you nuts!? He'll zap me more than once!" The robot didn't seem to care and shoved him towards the direction he went to.

"And I'm sure he'll never hurt one of his friends when he needs them most."

"Why don't you talk to him!?"

"Because Ringman is going to take care of this while you take care of him. Now go!"

 The robot was worried but had to comfort his friend; So he rollarskated towards the fence and saw Elec walking through the allyway.

"Elecman?"

"What?" He said, still irritated.

"...Uhm...just so you know...I really want to agree on your claims...and I'd love to help you by finding more evidence which points on that direc-"

"Evidence?" he said.

"This is enough evidence for all I care."

"But...don't you think we need one more thing to be absolutaly sure?"

"Listen...four robots incleuding the sniper joes wanted to kill me, a member of the company has died because of that and we're dealing with a case where only machenical beings are the suspect here." He explained.

"...That sounds convincing but-"

"But...all that's left to find is the mastermind behind this. ...Who isn't dead by the way!" He replied, walking away. Topman was silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"...So you're going to find out what's going on?" Said Topman with a nervous smile. The detective said nothing as he kicked one box beneath a pile of other boxes; making them fall like a tower crumbling, creating a mess. His friend watched in awe; His words didn't help very well and Elecs' anger was still raging silently. But he was praying that his sanity wasn't dropping too far.

 mpfHm