Imbue, Chapter 7: The Unexpected

Imbue, Chapter 7: The Unexpected Imbue, Chapter 7: The Unexpected

Foreword from Cyan683
I honestly don't have all that much to say. I like these IFs because they actually have some structure to them instead of the random insanity you see in most IFs. They also lend themselves fairly easily to the way my character works, and the way they are similar but not directly connected is interesting as well. It's not every day you're dubbed "The Walking Allusion".

Miss Fake, the Starwoman stood there, baffled. Then she gathered her sense and said, "Well, no matter. In five seconds, he will lose his memory and become a menace to the group."
Then she began to laugh... a laugh that made the Starman DXs very unsettled.

Rockwell sighed and then all of sudden, the booster went off. He gasped and began to fall, as he fell; he shut down immediately.
Shutting down.
Shut down completed.
Rebooting...
System 4.01
Activate Program: Super Starman Deluxe
Installing...
Writing...
Verifying...
Password: topolla
Download Completed
Opening File
Load File...
Loading...
Loading...
Mission: Search And Destroy
Target:
Narcy
Anthadd
Cyan
Skulryk
Luna
Rusty
Paula
Jeff
Dr. Andonuts
Captain Poo
*beep*
Rockwell awoke and floated in the air once again.
"My name is X-015. I will search and destroy. Activate Power Booster. Destination, Fourside..." Rockwell growled as he boosted towards Fourside.

"Could we get on with the Imbuing?" Cyan muttered. "This is getting a little tedious, waiting and all."
"I have to concur," Anthadd observed. "I would prefer we complete Imbuing before milktime."
"Milktime?" Narcy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I like milk!" he protested.
"I gotta agree with Anth on this one," Luna announced. "I do feel kinda thirsty, and I am a bit of a milk freak..." She grinned.
"Why am I the only normal person!?" spat Narcy.
"Being a thief is normal?" asked Mike, raising an eyebrow.
"As normal as normal gets! Leave me alone."
"Kay."
"Mr. T is a big fan of milk, you know?" Mike piped up.
Narcy glared at Mike evilly and said, "I'm this close to taking this gun..."
Mike backed away, chuckling. But as he does so, the ceiling exploded in a blast of fury. As the smoke settled, Narcy shouted out, "Is everyone okay?"
The group replied yes.
"Surrender now." a voice boomed.
"Who is that?" Poo asked nervously, as he hid behind Narcy.
The group looked up, hoping that it wasn't Miss Fake. But luckily, it was just a Starman... or was it?
"My name is X-015, and I will destroy you..." the Starman growled.
"Oh, give me a break. We've taken down worse things than you before..." Venus sighed.
X-015 said nothing and pointed his tentacles at Narcy.
"Target sighted, Narcy Topolla. Prepare laser." X-015 beeped.
"Um, you better not point that at me. Someone might get hurt..." Narcy laughs confidently.
A ray of light shot out and Narcy jumped out the way. The laser exploded, creating a large hole.
"Yikes... that's not a normal Starman laser..." Anthadd gulped.
"Would it be a bad time to get milk?" Luna asked quietly.
"That's it, let's take it down!" Narcy shouted as she pulled out her revolver and shot three rounds at X-015. Sadly, her effort were futile. The bullets richoted off Rockwell as if they were flies.
"That's all you have to give?" X-015 laughs.
"No... this is what I can give you!" Anthadd screamed as he jumped in front of X-015 and swung a club at its head. But as Anthadd did so, the club was bent as it hit X-015.
"Pitiful..." X-015 growled as he swung his tentacle, knocking Anthadd to the ground, "After I get rid of the girl, you're next..."
X-015 pointed his tentacle at Narcy once again and said, "Laser Level: Maximum."
A bright ball of energy formed at his tentacle and soon, it was released. The group yelled and ran out of the lab.
"No! We can't do the experiment if we abandon the lab!" Narcy shouted.
"Forget about it! We have to get out of this alive!" Cyan screamed.
Narcy relucantly ran out of the lab with Cyan as the laser hit the ground. The ball of energy exploded in a flash, destroying the laboratory competly...
"Oh man..." Mike sighed.
"So much for a normal Starman..." Anthadd gulped once again.

The group tried to escape, but X-015 was extremely fast, and their attempts to escape it were becoming futile.
"Take THIS!" Narcy said in a rage, as she knocked over a tray into X-015's path. X-015 blasted the tray away, then demolished a large piece of it with his metal leg.
"It's hopeless!" Luna yelled. "There's no way we can escape it or slow it down!"
"You think you have it bad? I'm a crocodile... it's rather hard for me to run for long periods of time." Charles said.
Laser bursts exploded above the group, and X-015 was closing in.
Something's wrong... Skulryk thought. I... I know what I have to do.
As the group ran ahead, Skulryk stopped for a moment, and once the rest of the group had made its way through, he hit the controls that shut blast doors. The group had made it through, leaving only Skulryk and the Starman.
The group caught on quickly, and he heard several bangs at the door. The starman fired, and Skulryk dodged. The shot was absorbed by the blast doors.
He heard voices from beyond the door. "Skul, what are you DOING?!? We need to get out of here!, and that means ALL OF US!"
Dodging another beam, he shouted "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Those doors can only be opened from this side, so don't bother trying to change my mind." He grabbed his knife, put it in his hand, and rolled out of the way of another beam from X-015. "Just get out of here, I'll be fine on my own!"
Ignoring further protests, he landed on the ground after dodging a beam. He grabbed his knife out of the air, and looked at the starman.
Skulryk let out a smirk as he stared at his enemy.
"All right, let's go."

The group continued to run. Mike suddenly stopped and looked back. "Oh man, this isn't good. Why did Skul do that? That was a stupid, stupid thing!"
"Nevermind that! We gotta get out of here!" Narcy shouted. "Now move!" She shoved Mike.
Mike reacted as if he had been attacked by many people. He looked her over and turned back. "I'm going to go help Skulryk somehow!" He ran back to the blast doors and saw that they were shut.
"Geez!" He examined the door and noted that there was no access to the controls on the other side. He looked around frantically and saw that there was a vent. Without hesitation, he lifted the grate over the vent off and climbed in. He climbed up and over the doors until he could see Skulryk and X-015 fighting. X-015 charged his weapon and fired, narrowly missing Skul. Instead, it hit his knife, totally obliterating it. The X-015 prepared for another shot.
Before shooting, Mike jumped out of the ventilation shaft. He landed on X-015, causing it to beep and reassess the situation. Another weapon came out of the back of it, and the weapon pointed right at Mike. It charged and prepared to fire, when all of a sudden Skul rushed X-015 using an immense amount of power, causing it to become disoriented temporarily.
"Skul, let's go! We don't have much time!" Mike yelled as he fumbled with the door controls. They opened, and Mike and Skul ran out of the room. Mike had planted a small brick of C-4 that he had found in his pocket on the controls themselves. The explosives exploded just as they left the room, causing all of the doors to close. "Let's go meet with the others! We've gotta move!"
Mike ran off, leaving Skulryk to follow. He had a sudden craving for milk before he met with the others...

X-015 gathered his senses and growled.
"They're quite skilled... new target is now acquired, Mike. This is going to require some trickery... Activate Starman Level 2!" X-015 shouted.
X-015 began to glow and soon, a blast of light enveloped the area. After the light settled, X-015 had now changed from Silver to Light Blue and formed spikes at his back.
"Activate cloaking device. It's time to destroy..." X-015 laughs as he faded away into the scenery.
X-015 could be seen, but not very easily by the movement of the background.
"Inferior technology, after my mission is done, I will ask Miss Fake to upgrade my tools..."
A laser came out of nowhere and destroyed the walls. Soon, the sewer blasted open.
"Radar... confirm location of Narcy Topolla," said X-015 silently.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" asked Narcy rhetorically.
X-015 shot at Narcy, but only hit an inch of her hair.
"MY HAIR!!!!"

Narcy charged towards X-015 and chopped him on the neck. There was no effect. Rockwell through Narcy up in the air.
"I got ya! I got ya!" exclaimed Captain Poo as he nudged Rusty, the biggest guy in the room.
Rusty alerted himself and caught Narcy. He set her down on the floor and rolled up his sleeves.
"I've been quiet a bit too long, eh? Lemme give this bugger somethin' to think about!"
Rusty glanced at Paula and then slowly walked up to X-015.
"What do ya think yer doin'?" Rusty slapped Rockwell in the back of the head only to hurt his hand.
"Out of my way, fool," said X-015 in a monotone voice.
He whipped a tentacle at Rusty, but Rusty caught it and clenched it tightly.
"No."
"PSI FIRE!!!" shouted Paula as she aimed her rays to hit X-015.
"NOW, NARCY!" yelled Rusty.
Narcy rushed up to Narcy and kicked him in the stomach.
"Don't mess with my hair, buck-o!"
Dan rushed up and kicked X-015 in the stomach.
"Don't mess with her hair, dude!"
"I don't NEED you to tell him what to do to me!!! Back off!"
"But I was just..." explained Dan.
"How about you keep to yourself?" said Narcy crankily.

X-015 growled and started sparking up. The spark came into contact with Rusty, temporiarly shocking him. Taking advantage of this oppturinty, X-015 raised his tentacle and smacked Rusty into the wall of the department store.
"Retreat again?" Venus asked Narcy quietly.
"No... let's find out how to stop him..."
Then X-015 somehow faded away.
"Where did he go?" Narcy asked.
Skulryk gasped and held his stomach as if something hit him hard. He fell to his knee gasping. Mike went over to see what's wrong with Skulryk, but as he did so, Mike was lifted five inches above the ground and flew toward a wall and fell to the ground.
"What's going on?" Anthadd gulped.
Then Narcy choked and grabbed her neck, and was raised up from the ground by an unknown force; then a voice boomed.
"Drop your weapon, or she'll die..." X-015 growled.
Cyan charged up to the nearly invisible X-015, but recevied a laser for his futile attempt.
"Step down, Cyan. You'll get your turn..." X-015 laughed mercilessly.
Narcy gasped once more again and her left arm fell to her side.
"Narcy..." Dan gulped, "Let her go now!"
Another blast of laser appeared and hit Dan after X-015 computed Dan's comment.
"Silence, all of you." X-015 shouted at the remaining members that was still concious, "And I wouldn't try to do that, if I were you, Luna..."
"Yeah, well. You're not me!" Luna shouted as she jumped onto X-015's head and jerked him around.
By doing so, Narcy fell to the ground gasping for air as Luna jerked around in mid-air.
"Gwragh! I'll teach you!" X-015 screamed as he wrapped his tentacle around Luna's body.
While X-015 wasn't looking, Anthadd went up and cast Scorpius Blade on X-015, hoping to damage him. But the Scorpius Blade disappeared in mid-air. Soon, Anthadd was slapped across the face and a raw tentacle mark formed on his face.
"Foolish human..." X-015 chuckled as he turned his sight onto Luna, "And as for you, you die for your heroic stunt..."
X-015 growled as he threw Luna up into the air. Then X-015 reappeared and flew up in the air and threw her back to the ground with such force, causing her to go through a layer of the street. Then X-015 growled and pointed his tentacle at Narcy once again.
"As for you... you die." X-015 chuckled as he charged up his laser...
"You think you have the power to throw my friends around? Am I a simple bank robber that you can push around? You have no idea what you are up against!"
Narcy reached into her holster, and grabbed her latest weapon.
"You may have the power over matter, but you have nothing over THE HUMAN MIND!" Narcy squinted as she fired her gun. With a blast of energy, the diamond on the side of the handle started to glow. Multiple shining balls of light fired from the gun, barraging everything in their path.
"What are you doing?" The X-015 said, shielding his eye screen with his barely visible tentacle.
"Avenging the name of Topolla! CHARGE!" All the little balls stopped in midair, and rushed together. In the air, they created a large vortex of energy, which began sucking in things at a rapid rate. Bolts and nuts flew off the starman, but everyone else was feeling the effects as well.
"My gold!" Captain Poo said as his change purse flew into the whole.
"It's going to kill us all!" Venus shouted above the fray. Narcy shouted back. "I don't care if it does!"
Suddenly, a panel ripped off X-015's back. The starman clutched his face and howled. "You fool!"
The starman began to fall apart at the seams, leaving only a small chest, which was in the back panel.
"What is it?" Anthadd said. Narcy and him went to examine it, and they knocked heads as they leaned down to look at it. Narcy glared at him, and took the chest into her hands. She opened it slowly, and raised a single eyebrow. "What is this?"
A small voice gasped out from inside. "I...am...Rockwell...I am in an elementary form. Please...give me a body." The small voice grew faint, as Narcy shut the lid.
"Looks like we found our first Imbuing target. Rockwell needs a body, and stat. Otherwise, he may fade away. Who knows what became of his original form?"
"But what do we use?" Venus said, walking into the area. She had Luna over her shoulder, unconscious.
"Any Person, any Animal, ANYTHING!"

Pain. It felt like it was all she remembered how to do, was be in pain. Luna didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to. It hurt far too much. But she still heard the words.
"Use me." she said weakly.
"You're awake!" Narcy yelled, running over to where Venus was putting Luna on the ground. "Don't worry, you'll get better! Just relax and-"
"No. Use my body to Imbue Rockwell. I'll be fine." She attempted to smile, but it came out as more of a half-smile. It hurt too much to try again.
Venus bit her lip. "Are... are you sure about this?"
"Yes. Please save Rockwell..." Luna gasped.
Narcy looked at Luna, and also bit her lip. With a tear leaking out of her eye, she said, "Okay. We'll do it."
Dan poked the once-evil robot, which lay in broken pieces on the floor.
"This's some messed up stuff!" he said, staring at the innards of the robot's head. "Guys, come here!" He motioned for everyone to the spot where he sat staring, amazed at whatever was inside.
"But we're about to Imbue Rockwell!" Narcy yelled back.
"Uh...I think this could be important..." Dan said.
Reluctantly, the group walked over.
"Make it quick, kid." Poo said.
"Okay, I was looking at the insides of this bot, and I found something baaaaad for us. If you look carefully, this is not how robots are traditionally built..."
Narcy understood. "You mean..."
"Yup. I don't know whether this is Orange Kid or Fake's handiwork, but one thing is obvious. This isn't a robot-like being. It's a humanoid. One of them must have reverse engineered a human, making this more advanced than anything ever created...We are in trouble..."

Everyone stepped away when they heard a small beep. X-015's visor opened and numbers ran through the visor...
Accessing Auxiliary Power.
Power Restored.
Restarting...
File Name: Super Starman DX;
Deleted.
Open File: Rockwell
Loading...
Completed...
Begin Program...
*beep*
X-015 groaned as everyone jumped back, arming themselves with weapons.
"Why can't he just die?" Mike asked.
"Hey there, Mike..." X-015 groaned once again.
The group let down their weapons.
"Can you tell us what happened to you?" Narcy asked quietly.
"Well, I was... investigating on my own... then a Starman DX ambushed me. Next thing I knew, I was escaping Miss Fake. After that, something shut me down and a list of names came before me. Search and Destroy..." Rockwell groaned, "By the way, is Luna okay?"
"She's in a bad shape. But she's hanging in there. We were about to... Imbue you into her body." Venus cleared her throat.
"No, don't Imbue me. She needs to, no... correct that, she has to live!" Rockwell said as he clenched his tentacle.
"What about you?" Luna asked from behind the group.
"Eh, I'm on Auxiliary power right now. It'll last me for 12 hours. Narcy, there's a plug in my back panel. Take that and plug it into any outlet." said Rockwell, "Where was I? Ah, yes... you guys... Orange Kid is still alive..."
The group murmured and Anthadd piped up, "How is that possible?"
"Miss Fake. You don't need a live subject in order to Imbue people..." said Rockwell as he pulled out a tube filled with blue glowing liquid, "Mike, give this to Luna. This will help her recover faster. Guys, I'm counting on you to stop Miss Fake... I'll try to join you once I repair myself."
The group nodded, but Narcy protested.
"What about the Imbuing experimentation?" she asked.
"What about it?" Rockwell asked.
"We need to Imbue Anthadd and Cyan..." Narcy answered.
"Are you insane?! You can't play God, not only you're risking their life, but you're risking others as well! I recently saw a note from Orange Kid lying around when I was investaging. He reported that once the Imbue expermentation was completed, the subject lost control of their true indenity! Just like I did..." Rockwell sighed, "And they probably had to watch themselves doing things they had no choice to do. But, whatever you do, NEVER do what Orange Kid or Miss Fake did. You'll set yourself one step back..."
"Um, you're leaking battery acid," Mike pointed out as Luna stumbled along with him.
"Thanks, Rockwell." Luna sighed as she rubbed her arm which had now recovered.
"Well guys, you better go see Brickroad. He might tell you something about how the Imbue Project work out. Remember, he was Dungeon Man once..." Rockwell buzzed.
"Will you be okay on yo-" Narcy was interrupted by Rockwell.
"Yes, just go!" Rockwell said out loud.

"Wow, I'd love to be Dungeon Man. What power..." Poo trailed off. When he got back on track, he found the others had gone on without him. Poo ran after them intently, but was confronted by two Starmen. *BEEP* *WHIRR* "You cannot comprehend the true extent of Master Fake's power. Target designated. Target confirmed to be: Captain Poo. Height: 5'9". Age: Unconfirmed."
At this, the Starmen began shooting lasers at Poo with amazing accuracy. One laser hit Poo's left leg and knocked him down. He rolled into a bush, unsure of what was going to happen next...

"Wait!" Anthadd cried. "You don't lose your personality if you get Imbued. Charles here... he remembers, don't you?"
The Strong Watcher nodded.
"I remember my entire life. I think the personality loss is random. You could lose it. You might not lose it. It's all up to chance," Charles theorised.
"Right. He recognised me!" Sebastian grinned.
"But still," Charles protested, "we can't predict what will happen. It wouldn't be right to Imbue anyone else until we determine a process that eliminates any probability of personality loss."
"Charles is right," Venus said softly. "We should investigate the Imbuing process completely until we can eliminate any malevolent side effects."
"Malevolent?" Narcy asked, dumbfounded. "You know what that means?"
Venus shrugged.
This is so going to be a long process, Anthadd muttered in his thoughts.
"What's going to be a long process?" Cyan whispered.
Telepathy? Cyan thought. That's new.

Una had been silently sneaking away from the group for the last few hours. Seeing as Captain Poo and/or Narcy weren't going to apologize for what they'd done, unacat decided that he'd get more done working alone. And he knew just how to progress...
Another pair of Starmen were searching out the team, when they came across a fox-humaniod. Identifying... Target identified as experiment number H-04, Status missing. Objective... recconnoiter.
"Halt. Status requested."
"Minor orientation error. Requesting transport to base."
"Request granted."
Unacat and the 2 Starmen shimmered as the warp took place.

Poo ducked and weaved throughout the bushes, lasers being fired at his heels. Suddenly, a hand reached up and grabbed him.
"Gah! It's you, Narcy!"
"Hide with us in this alley, quick!" She dragged poo into the alley, and the starmen ran past, angily.
"Now listen fast. We need some quick info on the Imbuing process, and it needs to be good!"
"But where can we research the Imbuing process?" Captain Poo said.
"There's only one library in Eagleland, blockhead. I think we need to go to Onett to do a little research," Narcy sneered. "Unfortunately, there's no good way to get there quickly. Any ideas?"
Anthadd looked down at his Dditel. "100%. This should work this time...Care for a try?"
Venus and the others nodded, and he held the ditel in his hands, outstretched. "Off we go!"

In a blinding flash, the group appeared near the Onett library. "What joy." Narcy said. "The only library in the world."
"Are you being facetious?" Venus asked.
"Why, isn't it obvious?"

Anthadd pulled open the doors to the large library, and wandered inside. "Excuse me," He said to the librarian. "Can you tell us about where we might find a book on the Imbuing process?" "All the info is there, except for the info that isn't!" Anthadd sweat dropped. "I can.. find it on my own...I guess."
He wandered to the back room of the library, and began to peruse the shelves. He pulled an encyclopedia out from the shelf, to see Narcy staring out from the other side.
"What've ya got there?" she said inquisitively.
"Nothing, just looking through," he answered. After looking around the room for a good half hour, Anthadd stared at Narcy with a look of defeat. "I don't think there's anything good in here after all. This really was a shot in the dark."
"Nonsense!" she said, loudly. "There's bound to be a book on it somewhere! Orange Kid can't be the FIRST to do it!"
She pulled out her revolver, and squeezed the trigger. A bullet whizzed over Anthadd's head, knocking several books off of a shelf above his head.
"You didn't look through those yet."
"Uhm...thanks."
Narcy looked down at the pile of books, and grinned. "See? Here's one right here." She picked it up, and read the cover slowly. The thin binding crumpled under her touch, but she held fast.
"The Imbuing Process: Harm and Success.... by John H. Topolla?" Narcy tapered off.
"Well, here you go...I didn't know my grandfather made a book. Go nuts." She said, handing it to Anthadd. He flipped open to a random page.

Chapter 3: The secret of Imbuing
The average human only uses 10% of their mind. However, when you Imbue one life from another, you use a completely different section to take the life force from. Once added to a new life form, this part of the mind is completely uninhibited; it can make short work of advanced Math functions, and logically reason even the greatest controversy. One of the most interesting side affects, however, is the inbuilt ability to convert energy. My findings show that when this new section of the mind is open, a person can take the power of, say, heat energy, and transfer it into light energy. This power in itself is incredible, but what makes it truly amazing is the combination techniques. The heat energy and Light energy can now be combined to become a super-beam of pure energy, with no name or type. The different combinations allow for years of research, even beyond my lifetime.

"Huh..." Anthadd said, glancing again at the final sentence. "I wonder who else has checked this book out?" He turned to the back page, and a small checkout card fell out. A single name was printed on it: Orange Kid.
"So, he knew all along..." Narcy said, causing Anthadd to jump. "I bet Fake doesn't even know what her own power is. I believe this is what Charles was trying to tell us. There is something in Imbuing that gives you incredible power, and I don't think my grandfather even hit the tip of the iceberg. We have to do this experiment soon, before Fake realizes her true power!"

Miss Fake paced back and fro in her secret lair, waiting for a report from X-015.
"What's taking him so long? You, check the radar and his status." Miss Fake pointed at a Green Starman DX.
The Starman DX beeped and teleported over to the radar.
"Miss Fake... X-015 is no longer operational. Rockwell regained his former status..." The Starman DX beeped.
"What? How is that possible?" Miss Fake asked.
"He was damaged greatly... *beep*, he must have restart himself up during the process..." The Starman beeped once more.
"Doesn't matter anymore, with one press of this button. I will be able to restore X-015. What's his location?" Miss Fake asked.
"Fourside... behind the Department Store, powering up..." the Starman beeped.
"Good, he's in range." Miss Fake chuckled to herself...

"Yes, if we're going to try it, let's just do it. I've played riskier mind games than this, before," said Cyan, growing slightly impatient.
"We should go to Winters. We could try my lab in Fourside, but Fake knows to look there and it's already partially destroyed," stated Narcy, matter-of-factly.
"The Ditel should be completely charged by now," said Anthadd. He checked the Ditel and sure enough it was fully charged. "We can go whenever we want to."
"Then let's start towards putting a stop to this..." muttered Cyan.
"I don't see any reason not to," added Anthadd.
"Then let's go," said Venus, rather determinedly.
Anthadd activated the Ditel, and the group disappeared in a bright flash.

The group re-appeared next to Andonuts Lab.
"Convient." grinned Narcy, pulling at the locked lab door.
"And locked." snapped Cyan. "So how do we get in?"
"Did I mention," she answered, "that I'm a thief?" Narcy grinned again, and pulled out a lock pick. "Watch the master at work!"
In no time, the door was open, and the group was standing inside the ice-cold lab, shivering.

Rockwell gasped, leaning againest the department store's back wall. He had finally charged up. He sighed, and smiled to himself. Now all he had to do was locate the group. Switching on the heat-seeking radar, he finally found their lifeform patterns in the lab in Winters.
Suddenly, something wasn't right. He was loosing power! He couldn't see anything, it was going black, like before...
"No!" he yelled. "NOO!"
**beep**
Shutting down.
Shut down completed.
Rebooting...
System 4.01
Activate Program: Super Starman Deluxe
Installing...
Writing...
Verifying...
Password: topolla
Download Completed
Opening File
Load File...
Loading...
Loading...
Mission: Search And Destroy.