Other Fan Fiction ❯ Atomic Galaxy ❯ Chapter 9
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: MikariStar 
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Sci-fi | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.3K | Visits: 417 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Other Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Sci-fi | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.23.2012 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.3K | Visits: 417 | Status: Completed
Atomic Galaxy: Solar System IX
Planet 71: Freedom
She had such a perfect life before and now it was all so hard. Balancing academics and being a Galactic Guardian while keeping it in secrecy wasn't easy and it kept on getting harder. She had given up so much to be a Galactic Guardian and it was all so close to being taken away from her. Her parents still didn't know. She had managed to keep the secret from them all those years and she knew she could continue to do so. The problem was that her contract as a Galactic Guardian would eventually end.
Her mission when she first joined was to stop Maximus. Any other task was an additional thing, but the specific intergalactic criminal she was assign to stop was Maximus IQ. She would be commemorated and rewarded when her primary mission was complete and then her service to the Galactic Guardians would be over, unable to pursue a full career due to her planet of origin not being recognized in the galaxy, because of it's lack of establish contact with any other planet. She didn't want to return to a normal life on Earth.
Betty had the chance to arrest Maximus, but she just let him go. Letting him go would mean her contract was still valid despite the new rules of the council, they couldn't break it. She wondered if she had made the right choice.
In order to start communicating with other planets, it was the rule that each planet had to take the first step, that symbolized that its people where ready to know they were not alone in the universe. Until then, only a few chosen ones would be allowed to leave Earth and only temporarily. This had to be done carefully, with the most trust worthy people, so they wouldn't spread the word and either be assumed crazy if they were not believed, or cause a panic if they were, even if being believed was very unlikely.
Admiral Degill had been calling Betty for missions more often, even providing special support agents, new technology and anything she could possibly need to complete her mission in the average time most Galactic Guardians took, but she always did something to let Maximus escape and make it look like an accident.
She hated herself for being so selfish. She was choosing herself over entire galaxies and jeopardizing Earthling's chances of being included in the Galactic Guardians in the future. She was making her home planet look bad after making it look good in the past, but she tried to console herself in the fact that she previously chose those galaxies over herself, so it was a balance right?
Betty gave up love and friendship to be a Galactic Guardian. Noah eventually got tired of her constant disappearances and they grew apart, yet as much as it hurt her, the thought of a regular boring life on Earth hurt her so much more. Dylan didn't really talk to her anymore either, but not Dylan or Noah could replace the freedom of being in space. Her only friends now were Sparky and X-5, and they were enough.
Space travel gave her a certain feeling of freedom that she realized she needed, she couldn't imagine her life without it. She imagined traveling in space for as long as she could remember and then when it came true; it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Until the day when she could find a way to keep her freedom without purposely failing her mission, this was the way things would stay.
Betty turned off the lights and tried to sleep. Suddenly she felt trapped in her room on Earth. She opened the window and looked into the starry night sky, wondering if someone would come to take her off Earth soon. Sparky, X-5, Degill, even Maximus, anyone who had a space ship. She needed to feel the freedom of space to let all the stress out, she wanted to go back into space where she felt she belonged.
What if another Galactic Guardian was chosen to capture Maximus? What if the new Galactic Guardian succeeded? Degill wouldn't allow X-5 or Sparky to come pick her and she would be trapped on Earth forever. She couldn't allow that and she was prepared to make sacrifices to defend her freedom. She made a choice and convinced herself that deep down it was the right thing to do.
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Planet 72: Changes
She felt like her entire world was being turned upside down. Everything was changing and it made her feel uneasy. Change was inevitable and that it was everywhere, in her job as a Galactic Guardian and in her civilian life on Earth.
Betty let out the yawn she had been suppressing since who knows when. She was a college student and keeping up with college and being a Galactic Guardian wasn't like keeping up with school. She had missed many nights of sleep due to missions and excessive homework. Not to mention tests, quizzes, presentations, finals and what not.
Thinking about it again, some things just never really changed, they appeared to be different, but deep down they where still the same. Her father was still the same workaholic salesman. Her mother was still obsessed with Purrsey. Sparky was more grown up and X-5 had received several updates over the years, but deep down everything was the same.
Betty hasn't seen Noah for a while since he was away at a different college, but they still kept in contact, they were still friends. Penelope was also away, but still made fun of Betty when ever she saw her, when she came to the city for the weekends. There was some distance between them, but it was basically all the same.
Betty was still a Galactic Guardian, much more skilled now. Really there weren't as many differences as she initially thought there would be. Sometimes the way you see things change and makes it look like the world has changed drastically, but it wasn't so drastic after all. It was only a point of view.
Betty's mind wondered off to her test on Monday, when she would receive an email from Noah or Dylan and if she let Maximus escape because she was too tired to stop him or because capturing him would bring too many changes. Those were enough changes for the time being and she didn't want to lose the ability to find the perspective that saw everything as the same.
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Planet 73: Grim Reaper
She wondered endlessly along the streets of a nearly empty planet, where she was the only living being. Sometimes she wondered why she didn't die. Maybe it's because he wouldn't allow it. Was it for revenge or for hope? She let herself fall to the ground in front of a destroyed house. The ceiling and a large portion of the walls were missing so she could see inside. The beam shot upon the house had destroyed everything inside, even Purrsey.
The bodies were in bad condition, nearly unrecognizable. The smell was horrible and there were probably bacteria all around. She would be ill if she stayed there, but she knew that wouldn't happen. Before she died from any illness that she might pick up, they would find her and bring her back to him. Then they would clean her up from the inside out with their advanced technology and it did eliminate the possibility of having any disease. Betty sat there in front of her destroyed house on Earth, until they came and took her back.
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It was all a big blur. She remembered being conscious for only a few seconds inside a tank full of a familiar liquid. It felt like she was burning, almost dying, but she was in fact being healed. When she woke up, she was in a room similar to a hospital room. How many times had she attempted to escape now? She lost count. Why did she try? There was nothing out there, no one.
"Betty?" She ignored the doctor and covered her head with the white blanket, trying to block out the brightness of the room. The lights were annoying and reflected off the white walls. "Now Betty, it's time for an examination, don't do that." He tried to pull the blanket off her head, but she held it in a tight grip.
Betty was angry and frustrated, it was understandable. The doctor held an odd looking devise that looked slightly like a thermometer with a straw attached on one end and a cable in the other, connected to a bag full of fluorescent green liquid. She snatched the devise from his hand and put it in her mouth, feeling the healing acid invade her system.
"This isn't good," the doctor frowned. "One can only undergo the process so many times before the internal organs begin to suffer. You might start internally bleeding. Betty, too many emergency healing session of this intensity could kill you."
"Not that it'll stop him from ordering it to be done. After all, he wants his little servant girl around, but she can't have any germs that might harm his new vessel." Betty hated what happened and that she wasn't able to stop it.
"He isn't..." The doctor sighed. He knew full well that the risk wouldn't stop her from searching for life. All was lost really, there was no one left to save. They were dead, all of them, the entire galaxy except for those who worked for him. She was the only one left who didn't work for him, who didn't follow him around as if this universe was rightfully his. She was the only one with the courage to oppose him.
"I know," Betty replied, the doctor had said it many times and she knew. He wasn't who he used to be, the real Maximus IQ was only the shadow of death itself.
"For now it's best to play it safe, he knows I disagree with everything he did, but he knows I won't dare to do anything against him," the doctor admitted.
"He also knows I can do nothing to stop him, he's letting me come and go and making me go through this medical torture when I come back. He probably wants me to get killed being healed because Maximus won't let him kill me otherwise. He thinks I can free him but I can't," Betty voiced.
"He's just afraid you got sick while you were out. With so many dead bodies you could. He can't harm you, it is hope that keeps the vessel alive and he can't exist in the same world as us without it. You are that hope," the doctor walked towards the door. He stopped and looked back at the red haired human for a moment, then continued without another word.
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She had fallen asleep and woke up to a servant gently shaking her shoulder. "Atomic Betty, please wake up."
She opened her eyes and glared. "Don't call me that. I'm just another slave here like you, like the doctor, like the solders and like everyone who still lives in this world."
"Goodness no!" The servant was frightened. "Please be the one to save us all. I've heard the emperor, the original emperor, believes you can stop the spirit that took over his body."
"I'm sorry Megan, that's not possible. Everyone is foolish to put their hopes on me, especially Maximus, he realized a power he couldn't control, that power controlled him and destroyed everything. The spirit wants me dead but what's left of Maximus is stopping him, the fool expects me to free him." Betty took the dress that Megan was holding and went to the bathroom to change.
"Betty, why am I alive?" Megan asked when Betty came out.
"Because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time. He saw you with me, we had been forced to be in the same place by that group project, we weren't allowed to choose partners, remember? That's all there is too it. He thought that one of my Earth friends would make a nice servant for. The spirit wanted to keep me around so that the original soul wouldn't lose hope and the vessel wouldn't die," Betty explained.
"But I was saved. If not I would have died with the others. How is the Earth anyway?" Megan inquired.
"A nightmare worse than any horror movie ever made," Betty left the room.
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He stared out the window into space, the endless emptiness now truly empty. They were all gone, all of them. She soon entered the room and stood emotionlessly beside him, waiting for him to say something. "That is the last time you will leave," He spoke with a certainty that almost made her believe it. "For your own good I'll keep you here. It's not good to be out there, the scientists and doctors all said so. That's why we stay here in space where its safe."
"Some ruler you are," Betty didn't take her eyes off the nearly indestructible glass window. "You killed everyone and now you're trapped here as your own prisoner. You don't belong in this world Death. Someday Maximus will stop hoping that things will improve, someday he will let himself die. That's when you will go back to where you belong. You can't exist here if you cannot reside within the body of a mortal. Then I'll make sure the gem is destroyed. You can't stop me because if you hurt me, then Maximus will believe no one can save him and he'll stop trying to live, you won't have a vessel, then someone else will destroy the gem. There's no escape Death."
"At least I accomplished most of my mission. I only want to enjoy it for a little while. It won't matter that I can no longer access your world directly, there will be nothing left." He laughed evilly but it didn't sound the same.
"Pitiful; so very pitiful. You don't even sound as evil as Maximus when he laughed, he put more energy into it." Betty glanced at him to see his angry expression, then looked out the window again. He hated it when she said that a mortal was better than Death at anything.
Enraged, he grabbed her shoulders and made her face him. She reached to touch his face, running a finger over that strange gem stuck in his forehead. The darkness of it felt like a burn, it rooted into his brain, she knew that. He was controlled by the spirit within it and it could not b removed. The spirit was too strong, she had tried several times.
Then she saw him for just a moment, the real Maximus, trapped in his own body with the spirit of Death that he foolishly released in search for power. He was frightened, but he held on to one last hope, that Atomic Betty somehow got rid of the spirit. It was that very hope that kept him alive and therefore kept the spirit in this world.
If only he would let go of life itself, if only he would have done so before it was too late, but Maximus wasn't one for self sacrifice. Then his look darkened and Maximus' consciousness was pushed back. "I hate you. He forbids me to kill you, as if you could set him free. Ridiculous, you can never defeat me. But if I did kill you, he would send me away from this universe. Unless he decided to continue being selfish and think that someone else might come along who can help him."
"This won't last forever, Maximus IQ no matter what he says, is no immortal," Betty assured.
"Not before my mission is over," he let her go and turned away to look at the emptiness once more.
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Planet 74: How to Recharge a Battery
"Take that and that! Oh look, I won again," Maximus yawned in boredom and thought about the possibility of taking a nap to pass the time. He didn't feel like doing anything evil right now. It was one of those lazy days when he didn't feel like doing anything except watch TV, sleep and play video games. Even with all the channels in the universe, he couldn't find anything good to watch right now. He had a new handheld game he wanted to play, but the fun part about a portable game is that it's portable. This one was meant to be portable, but wasn't.
Maximus wanted to be able to walk all round his lair while playing his game and annoying random guards. Childish as it may sound, it was fun and helped him during times of evil villain's block. Of course that wasn't possible if he couldn't walk holding the game further than the battery's charging cable allowed. He set the little handheld to charge, the light of the screen was off but the percent of energy contained in the battery was still shown on the screen. It read one percent.
Maximus restarted the online Atomic Betty game he had been playing, while waiting for the other game to charge and tried again. That battery had been charging for so long and it only had one percent. When he heard it was supposed to last extra long, he thought the battery would last a long time, but he didn't think it would be the same for charging time. He hated to admit it, but his boredom had made him surf the net in search of something to do and that is how he found this little game. He was actually playing an Atomic Betty game because he was so bored.
Minimus had come by, wondering why Maximus hasn't called him in such a long time. The sidekick stood at the door and watched in amazement as Maximus played the game, moving a little Atomic Betty around the screen, making her shoot lasers at the enemies that floated her way. Minimus quickly left, knowing that this was not a good time to interrupt.
Maximus didn't lose at the game, not even once, which is actually quite surprising because he never won video games on his first try. He was disappointed to see that the final battle was against Nuclea and not himself. But he came up with a theory to explain that. If he was the villain then there's no way the little pixel Atomic Betty could win and no one would want to play the game. Maximus convinced himself that was the reason.
He yawned as he guided the little Atomic Betty on the screen, safely around the many meteors. She shot a laser from her bracelet when ever he pressed the A key. Maximus had played the game so many times he could make it past the meteors without even looking at screen and hit all the enemies. He had even made her crash on purpose a few times for amusement.
"Victory number million billion gazillion for me. A little virtual me is the only one that can beat Atomic Betty. No matter how good the player is, if I was the final enemy, no one would win this game." Maximus continued playing for lack of anything better to do. Then he checked his handheld game, surely the battery must be fully charged by then, but the battery was only at two percent.
Maximus spun around on his chair out of boredom and as his view moved around his room he noticed two things. His pet was still sleeping and he saw something he thought was lost. He couldn't wake up his cute little pet. The adorable Earth kitten, which he didn't know came from Earth, needed his nap. Maximus would wait until he woke up on his own to play with him. Other than that there was that little bottle of evil potion that turned out to be anti evil potion after all.
He picked up the empty bottle from a pile of random things and threw it in the trash. That potion had caused enough trouble for him. When people ask for medicine they usually say something like 'I want some headache medicine' but what they mean is that they want medicine against headaches, not medicine that causes headaches. It appears his words were not interpreted how they were meant, if it was intentional or not he didn't know.
Maximus took another look at the battery and it had not changed from two percent. He couldn't play that online game anymore. If he played as Atomic Betty one more time, it would drive him insane. He wasn't sure how he was able to play for this long. It was the things that boredom made him do. Maybe he could chat for a while and entertain himself with that.
He logged in and found that only Nuclea was online. He wondered where everyone else was, probably less bored than him. How dare they be less bored than him? He was the leader of the super villains and the most evil of all. He would have to give them a speech about that later.
'Supreme Emperor' and '3n3rgy' aka Maximus IQ and Nuclea chatted for a while, or rather made faces by the use of emoticons. They had nothing to talk about so they just made faces at each other. 'Two Face' aka Minimus PU joined the villain's chat also, until Maximus told him to come clean his room before his precious pet got lost in all the random stuff. He glanced at the sleeping kitten again, just to make sure he was still there sleeping soundly on his pillow. Maximus couldn't get himself to tell him to get off the bed, he was just too cute.
Minimus cleaned up Maximus' room even if he knew it wouldn't last a day organized, which was something that he said and earned him a hit on the head. Leaving the battery to continue charging after seeing it had only three percent, Maximus took a nap. His pet kitten woke him up later with a high pitched meow in his ear. After feeding his cute little pet, he played with him for a while and finally went to check on that battery once more, only to find it had four percent.
"It's never going to finish!" Maximus was frustrated, but he had decided that the battery would be fully charged today and because he was so stubborn so it shall be! "I need to think like a villain." Anyone would change a battery by simply plugging it in, but how would a true super villain do it? He suddenly got an idea. "Minimus!"
"You called your evilness?" Minimus asked as he arrived.
"I want you to hold this and go answer the door," Maximus unplugged the game and handed it to Minimus.
"Can I play with it?" Minimus asked.
"No!" Maximus hit his sidekick on the head. "Just hold it and go answer the door when the door bell rings."
Minimus wasn't sure what was going on, but he did as Maximus said anyway.
Once Minimus was gone, Maximus returned to the chat to find '3n3rgy' (Nuclea) discussing the latest gossip with 'Frozen Beauty' (Iciclea) and 'Mermaid' (Pontifadora). He opened a window to talk to Nuclea alone. "You know what Minimus said?"
"What did he say and why are you telling me, unless he said something about me? What did he say about me? He had better not said Iciclea is better than me. Sure I put up with her, we even gossip and go shopping together, but I'm the better villainess. Don't you agree? Of course you do. C'mon I have lightning at my command. She only has ice. So what if she has a big ice castle and I don't. So what if she had more fans then me and even a sidekick, but that doesn't mean anything, right? Neither does the fact that she has more experience fighting Atomic Betty. So anyway, did you hear the latest gossip? It's about-" Nuclea had written too much and the chat program didn't allow anymore after she reached the limit.
"STOP!" Maximus typed adding a little dizzy emoticon to emphasize and using all caps to indicate he's yelling. Nuclea could sure type fast and she was getting off topic. "Minimus didn't say anything about Iciclea, he only said that he thinks your electric power is weak. I tried to tell him to stop saying such things, but he said that he's sure all your electricity is just a light show."
"How dare he say that? That's not true!" Nuclea went into a rant about her electric powers, which quickly flooded Maximus's screen. "I'll be right there to teach him a lesson," was the last thing she typed before logging off.
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Not too long after that, Minimus answered the door and received a massive shook of electricity. He coughed smoke and fell on the floor twitching and full of static. Nuclea left without saying a word.
Maximus walked over to Minimus and picked up the handheld game. The battery was charged to one hundred percent. That was fast. Maximus would have to do the same thing for his communicator, laser gun, light saber and everything else that needed its battery recharged.
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Planet 75: Resisting Change
Atomic Betty's Point of View
Most of the time everything goes well in our missions, everything goes as it should, as we planned. But every now and then my crew and I find ourselves in trouble. Of course, we've been in hard situations before and have gotten out of them, most of the time by our selves. But there is that rare occasion when we need help. It is in those rare cases that I called my grandmother to help us. But that was a long time ago.
Granny's still young on the inside, still full of energy and life, but I guess I need to understand that the body doesn't always move as fast as the mind thinks. She's still skilled, all her experience as a Galactic Guardian comes in handy, but still I can't help it but to wonder what if? What if she gets hurt? What if she gets captured? I'll never forgive myself if anything like that happens. Thankfully it hasn't. I know Granny still has what it takes to be a Galactic Guardian, but I'm afraid that there might come a point when she won't be able to assist us.
It's a little strange to be afraid of something that I've known all along. People age, I will too someday. I don't want to depend too much on Granny but sometimes I can't help it but to find myself in a situation where I need her help. I must admit it's a lot of fun to watch her in action. It's fun to work together, but I need to accept that's not the way it was meant to be. So I tried harder not to find myself in that situation. I've tried, I've trained, I've become a better Galactic Guardian. I haven't been in need to call Granny for a long time now. I still visit her, she understands me better than anyone else in my family and no one can replace her.
Maybe that's why I wasn't very happy when Admiral Degill added a new feature to my bracelet. If I am ever in trouble, if my crew and is ever captured, then I can press a new button on my bracelet and a silent signal will be sent. Someone will come to help us, the forth member of our team who's presence will only be requested when needed. A new position within the Galactic Guardians, there's one for every team, an extra Atomic. Of course I politely told the admiral we didn't need a forth member. But he explained that I couldn't keep pulling my grandmother out of retirement all the time and that's when it sunk in. I've been calling Granny into dangerous situations, dangerous enough for me and my crew to not be able to handle alone but the four of us together, that's what made the difference.
I guess maybe I'm just resisting change. Everything has changed in my life, on Earth since high school ended. Everyone's off to college somewhere, even me, even if the only thing I really want to do is be a full time Galactic Guardian. I've been taking few classes to allow plenty of time to work with the Galactic Guardians. If mom and dad knew they would wonder why I don't take more classes. They might be disappointed, thinking I waste all that time doing nothing or going from random wild party to random wild party. But if they knew the truth, if they knew that I'm a defender of this universe, they would be proud. That's what Granny told me, I believe her.
At least Noah and I are in the same college, but he takes more classes than me. I guess he has more time since he's not running off to save the universe every day like I am. There's always a mission big or small and I've told the admiral to call me any time. That's why I took this schedule, so I could be a Galactic Guardian everyday, most of the day. Noah is still my best Earth friend, it's those little details that stay the same that I hang on to. Maybe that's why I haven't become more than just friends with him. I don't want things to change. Since high school ended everything has been moving very fast.
That brings me back to the reason I didn't want that forth member on our team. Sure he would only come when he's needed and in that case I'll make sure he isn't. Admiral Degill didn't tell me much except how to contact him on a mission and how to contact him on his Galactic Guardian watch. I guess he assumed I would contact him so we could get to know each other, but I didn't. All my friends from the Galactic Guardians have their teams, so I know it can't be any of them. From what I heard it's a new guy. How is that helpful? I'm much more experienced; I bet I'll have to get him out of trouble. Then again, four instead of three might make a big difference. But I don't want my crew to change.
It's not that I fear being replaced, I know I won't be. I know Sparky and X-5 will always care for me and I will care for them, but I want us to stay the same. I want to hold on to this detail that didn't change. I know change is inevitable, but I can't help it but to wonder what if I can stop this change. I'll certainly try. Sparky and X-5 immediately agreed. If I didn't like this mystery guy, neither did they. They trusted my judgment so much, maybe too much. But improving our team, our real team of three, wouldn't hurt. We were never in need of assistance since we decided we didn't like Atomic Mystery, who ever he is.
Then the inevitable happened and I must admit I was happy it did. Admiral Degill said it was clear we didn't need help. My bracelet was reprogrammed to send a silent signal to the Galactic Guardians Headquarters in case of emergencies instead of having a Galactic Guardian assigned specifically to help our team. As for this mystery boy, he was given a job at HQ, nothing big, office work, processing records, training schedules, assisting the admiral in anything he may need. Sometimes helping refuel the ships and give them maintenance, a lot of little things. I feel like I've been unfair.
Maybe if I wasn't so stubbornly holding on to the details that haven't changed, I would have met a really nice guy. Maybe he would fit in our team and the four of us will become good friends. Maybe this is the kind of change that happens for the better. I know not all change is bad, but I guess I couldn't help it but to jump to conclusions and think this one was.
I regretted it the next day, when Noah confronted me about it. Noah of all people, he was the one assigned to help us every now and then. He would not only help us when needed, but we were also to help him become better accustomed with being a Galactic Guardian since we're much more experienced than him. He thought I knew it was him, he thought I just didn't want to be around him so I pushed my team to be perfect so we never needed any help. I should have noticed the signs. He was becoming more distant on Earth with every passing day. He was wondering if I didn't bring up the subject of the Galactic Guardians because I didn't think he was good enough and if I didn't want to talk about it, then he wouldn't bother me about it.
I told him I didn't know it was him. I told him that if I knew, that would have made things very different. He told me everyone makes mistakes. He was relieved to know that I didn't know it as him, that I wasn't excluding him on purpose. I talked to Admiral Degill about it and requested that Noah became a permanent member of our team. Of course, I consulted this with Sparky and X-5 first and they agreed. They had only briefly met Noah in person before he became a Galactic Guardian, but I had told them about him, so they knew a lot more about Noah than he knew about Sparky and X-5.
The fact still remained that we didn't really need a fourth member on our team, we had become exceptionally good. Maybe we had this potential all the time but I didn't guide the team to develop it because I enjoyed working with Granny, even if the risks never left my mind. Admiral Degill agreed to let Noah join anyway. He couldn't think of another better team to help train this new Galactic Guardian. Fortunately, everything worked out for us.
End POV
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Planet 76: Couch Potato
"Minimus where's my popcorn?" Maximus yelled not taking his eyes off the screen. They better answer the questions about him right in that celebrity game shop. Other than that, the other reason he was watching was in case they asked something about Atomic Betty and he could use that information against her later.
"It's right there your evilness," Minimus pointed at the oversized bucket of popcorn on a small table next to the couch where Maximus was sitting, watching the big screen TV.
For just a small moment Maximus glanced to his right where the bucket of popcorn was and tried to reach for it without getting up. "Idiot! Why did you put it so far away? Come here!" Even if Minimus knew what was coming, he walked over to Maximus and just as expected, his head was sent spinning. "Now bring me my popcorn and don't forget to take notes when they say something that can be used against the Galactic Guardians!"
"Yes, your laziness," Minimus replied with his angry face, while giving him the popcorn.
"What did you say?" Maximus wasn't paying much attention, but he thought he heard something that sounded like the word 'lazy' and he wasn't lazy, he was a hard working super villain.
Minimus changed back to normal, "nothing, your evilness."
"I thought so," Maximus started eating handful after handful of popcorn. "Minishmuf bling mesh af ding!"
"Pardon, your evilness?" Minimus was confused. Didn't anyone ever tell Maximus not to talk with his mouth full?
"I said, bring me a drink, the popcorn is too salty and tell chef Bernadette to make the next bucket of popcorn caramel covered." Maximus had sat in front of the TV for the last four days eating sweet and salty unhealthy treats. Minimus guessed the sugar kept him awake all that time. It proved that even super villains needed to spend an excessive amount of time in front of the TV potatoing the couch every now and then.
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Planet 77: Memory Lane (DegillxPontifadora)
"You know you'll be in a lot of trouble if they catch you here" Degill paced around his office.
"Relax Gilly, I can get in and out of HQ totally unnoticed. Besides, if I am discovered, all you have to do is pretend you didn't invite me." Pontifadora examined the desk's contents.
"I didn't invite you to come here and I didn't tell you that you could look at my personal belongings," Degill rushed over to close a drawer she had opened.
"I'm just curious and you have nothing to hide so it's okay. Besides aren't you happy I came to visit, Gilly?"
"Yes, I am happy to see you, but we should meet somewhere else." Degill insisted.
There was a knock on the door followed by Atomic Rodger's voice. "Admiral Degill!"
Degill looked from the door to Pontifadora. "Relax, you're too stressed all the time," she whispered. "I'll stay hidden," she ducked under the desk.
Admiral Degill tried to look normal and opened the door to find Atomic Rodger who saluted. "Admiral Degill, I'm done with all my missions and on stand by. Are there any other missions for me today?"
"No, take the rest of the day off," Degill quickly replied and Atomic Rodger saluted and happily left.
"Let's go roast marshmallows in a camp fire like we used to," Pontifadora came out from under the desk.
Degill remembered sitting in front of a camp fire under the stars with Pontifadora when he was younger. His career as a Galactic Guardian was doing great and he had her. Life was as close as it got to perfect back then and he wished it never changed, but everything changed on that day when he was supposed to get married. One day he would have to have a long talk with Pontifadora about why she was hunting down the guests. But for now he wanted to do what he used to do, enjoy the moment and pretend it's going to last forever.
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Planet 78: Elevator
"I think we've learned an important lesson today," X-5 pointed out. "When chasing a super villain around his lair, never chase him into an elevator."
The elevator once again became silent after the robot's statement, until Sparky complained. "I'm hungry!"
"Sorry, Sparky, there's not food here. We'll have to wait until the elevator moves." Atomic Betty had tried to cut a hole on the elevator, but it didn't work. She tried to press all the buttons and nothing happened, there was electricity, the elevator just wasn't moving.
"Another lesson we have learned today is that most prototypes fail," X-5 never trusted the design of the new high tech elevator made for the Galactic Guardians Headquarters, which Maximus stole and installed on his lair.
"I'm hungry," Sparky complained again. By now the five people in the elevator were starting to get hungry after being trapped for so long, but Sparky was the hungriest of all.
"I know Sparky, I know, but you have to try to be patient," Betty replied.
"I'm so hungry I can smell chocolate," Sparky took a deep breath. "I do smell chocolate!" He looked at Maximus who was standing in a corner facing the wall of the elevator. "Maximus, you have chocolate!"
"Too late I already ate it! Maybe if you only had one stomach you wouldn't be so hungry all the time," Maximus mocked, but Sparky kept looking at him hungrily. "I demand that you keep that little cannibal away from me!" Maximus pointed a laser gun at Sparky.
"Sparky's not a cannibal, he's just hungry." Atomic Betty watched Sparky chewed on the laser gun.
"He's always hungry, but I must admit I've never seen him this hungry. I believe it is not only his hunger, but also being trapped in here for so long that is making him act so insane. We have been trapped in here for over five hours," X-5 informed. "I believe the situation has made Sparky go back to his basic survival instincts when he smelled the chocolate. All we can do is try to keep him calm."
"I'll try to keep him under control. Come here Sparky, that's it good boy." Betty sat down on the floor and Sparky laid his head on her lap, chewing on the laser gun and occasionally growling in Maximus' direction.
Betty kept looking at her bracelet to see what time it was and how the signal was doing. Every time she looked, the bracelet's status indicated there was no signal available from her current location because of the elevator's systems blocking it.
Time passed slowly as they sat there and the elevator became very hot. "Can't you do anything about the temperature?" Betty asked.
"No, if I could do something I would have already done it, but the controls don't work." Maximus was annoyed, but he didn't yell, not wanting to get Sparky's attention.
Betty removed her helmet, feeling like her brain was being cooked in it, but it didn't help much. Shouldn't elevators have an escape door for emergencies? But of course this one didn't have it, it was just a prototype after all. The heat continued and it was becoming unbearable. Suddenly, in the quiet hot elevator there was a small explosion coming from X-5. "What happened?" Betty quickly asked. Sparky growled and she petted his head to keep him calm.
"I'm over heating," X-5 revealed. "My cooling system isn't enough for this temperature. I need to shut down."
Betty nodded, "I'll make sure you're alright," X-5 shut down and all was quiet once more in the uncomfortable hot elevator where Sparky had miraculously fallen asleep, exhausted from hunger.
"When I get out of here I'll install electric stairs instead of elevator. There will be no more elevators in my lair," Maximus decided.
"So if there's a problem you can walk the rest of the way?" Minimus asked even if the answer sounded obvious.
"No, so you can carry me the rest of the way," Maximus corrected.
Suddenly the air conditioner was randomly activated. Now that the temperature improved Maximus, curled up in a corner and took a nap, purring in his sleep. He told Minimus to make sure Atomic Betty didn't escape and to wake him up if the elevator did anything. With Sparky and Maximus sleeping and X-5 still deactivated that left Minimus and Betty as the only people awake in the elevator.
X-5 later rebooted when he detected the change in temperature. Then Sparky woke up and continued complaining about being hungry. At least this time there was no smell of food to make him go crazy. The change in temperature was good at first, but then it started getting so cold they were freezing, which woke up Maximus.
Just when they thought they would turn into icicles and not come out of this alive, the elevator doors suddenly opened and they all ran out. "I'm starving, can we go eat?" Sparky begged.
"We have to finish our mission," Atomic Betty put her helmet back on and composed herself, taking a deep breath, she really just wanted to go home, but she had to accomplish her duty.
"Do you think I still want to keep that elevator after all this? I don't want it anymore, you can take it back. Minimus go tell the guards to get rid of that elevator and install electric stairs instead," Maximus ordered.
"In that case we'll take the elevator back," X-5 said.
"Good, then we're set to go as soon as it's uninstalled and loaded in the Starcruiser. Where's Sparky?" Betty noticed he was gone.
Then the obvious answer came to Betty and X-5 at the same time. "The kitchen," they unanimously voiced.
After Chef Bernadette finally managed to chase Sparky out of the kitchen and the elevator was uninstalled and placed in the Starcruiser, Betty, Sparky and X-5 returned to the Galactic Guardians HQ where Sparky ate all the food in the cafeteria.
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Planet 79: Revenge
Everything was quiet save for the sound of typing. Betty was the first to finish her computer class work. She saved everything and sent it to the teacher. "How are you doing Noah?"
"I think I'm getting it. Thanks for explaining yesterday," Noah replied.
"No problem, sorry for being so late to meet you," Betty said.
"It's okay, you got there and that's what matters," Noah was starting to get used to Betty's constant lateness, but at least she got there.
Suddenly Betty's bracelet chimed; at least she had already finished her work so she used the classic restroom excuse and left the classroom. The halls were empty and once she was sure no one was coming, she answered the call. "Atomic Betty, reporting for duty!" She saluted automatically, not taking the time to look at the image in the hologram. "Maximus?" She finally noticed it wasn't Admiral Degill.
"I called to say that I will take my revenge on you today," Maximus sounded more evil than usual.
"What do you plan to do?" Betty asked seriously.
"I won't tell you, but I assure you everything is ready and no one will be able to stop me, it's already too late. I only called to say goodbye. Enjoy your last time alive Atomic Betty!" The hologram disappeared, indicating Maximus ended the communication.
Could he have used her bracelet to find out where she is? But they told her at headquarters that even if he could contact her, he couldn't use it to pinpoint her location. They told her there was nothing to worry about. Then what could be happening? Betty immediately called Admiral Degill and explained the situation.
"This is serious," Admiral Degill was concerned. "As a precaution don't stay on Earth. If Maximus really is tracking your bracelet, maybe won't attack if he knows you're off the planet." The Galactic Guardians were put on full alert.
After having spoken to Admiral Degill, Betty didn't know why but she felt like returning to the classroom for a moment. She didn't want to think of it as a final goodbye to Noah, but the way Maximus sounded this time was different and it worried her.
As Betty walked to the classroom, suddenly everything became dark. Oh no, it was happening. Maximus did know where she lived and he was going to blow up the entire planet, this was a sure sign of it. The electricity was one of the first things to go in cases of disasters. But Betty couldn't do anything from there, she was beamed up to the Starcruiser and they headed directly to Maximus lair. She had to save the earth somehow.
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"Everyone is jumping to conclusions too quickly," X-5, the only one who didn't panic possibly because he disabled that function, tried to be logical.
"But X-5, Maximus was so different this time. He looked truly evil and that worries me a lot," Atomic Betty was trying to stay calm, but her mind was haunted by images of her home planet blowing up.
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Betty, Sparky and X-5 arrived at Maximus and Betty rung the doorbell. Maximus came to the door and opened it, wondering who could be visiting. "Atomic Betty?"
"Tell me what is the revenge you planned to take?" Atomic Betty glared.
Maximus looked a little confused at first then got a look of pure evil in his face. "I shall take the most evil revenge ever!" Then he laughed in amusement. "I took acting lessons, not that I needed them. I wanted to know how evil I could look and you fell for it!"
"That's it, it was a joke?" Betty was in disbelief.
Maximus would have told her that even if this time it was just a test of his acting skills, he was still going to have his revenge, but he was laughing too much to speak. Betty remembered when the director said Maximus needed acting lessons, well they certainly worked.
"Sparky, X-5 let's go tell everyone it was nothing." Betty and her crew left. As for the black out on Earth, it had been due to an electric problem in the building.
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Planet 80: Brat
"Minimus, Where's my breakfast?" Maximus yelled from the table.
Minimus came running in with his food. "Here it is your evilness."
"What took you so long?" Maximus stabbed a fork into the food as if he wanted to kill it, even if it wasn't alive.
"I had to wait for Chef Bernadette to cook," Minimus replied as a matter of fact.
"I want more juice!" Maximus almost threw the empty glass at his sidekick who fortunately caught it or else he would most likely get blamed for breaking the glass.
"What kind of juice do you want your evilness?" Minimus tried to avoid a hit to the head if he brought the wrong kind. He could just get the same kind he was drinking before, but when Maximus was in a bad mood, he was totally unpredictable and could have changed his mind and decided he wanted different kind of juice.
"Idiot!" Maximus hit Minimus on the head. "What kind of a sidekick are you? You're supposed to know by now what kind of juice I like to drink with this particular kind of breakfast! Now go get my juice!"
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Minimus ran to the kitchen. "Do you know what kind of juice the boss likes with the breakfast you made today?" Minimus asked Bernadette.
Chef Bernadette was currently experiencing a bad headache. "A culinary artist like me cannot take all this noise and no, I don't know what kind of juice he likes with pancakes, he always drinks a different kind."
"What am I, a mind reader?" Minimus' angry face complained.
"Minimus, my juice!" Maximus' voice echoed all over the lair, making Bernadette's headache grow worse.
"I'm coming, your evilness!" Minimus called back.
Chef Bernadette filed the glass with some juice taking a guess about what Maximus would want to drink. Shortly after Minimus came back with the glass on his head and the juice all over himself. Needless to say that wasn't the kind Maximus wanted.
"I can't take this anymore!" Bernadette concluded. "Either he controls his temper or I quit!"
Minimus begged. "No, don't quit! Maximus is in a bad mood today but it'll pass!" If Chef Bernadette quit, then surely Minimus would get blamed, he always got blamed for everything. "In a few thousand years," his angry face added.
Chef Bernadette sighed and shook her head. At least she knew that no matter how bad things got, there would be someone worse off. Minimus was everyone's consolation in that sense.
End of Solar System IX
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty. About planet 76, "perhaps Robin would like to potato the couch with us," I'm not sure if that's the exact quote but Starfire said something like that in Teen Titans. Planet 78 was requested by Invader Iza, the concept was being stuck in an elevator.
Planet 71: Freedom
She had such a perfect life before and now it was all so hard. Balancing academics and being a Galactic Guardian while keeping it in secrecy wasn't easy and it kept on getting harder. She had given up so much to be a Galactic Guardian and it was all so close to being taken away from her. Her parents still didn't know. She had managed to keep the secret from them all those years and she knew she could continue to do so. The problem was that her contract as a Galactic Guardian would eventually end.
Her mission when she first joined was to stop Maximus. Any other task was an additional thing, but the specific intergalactic criminal she was assign to stop was Maximus IQ. She would be commemorated and rewarded when her primary mission was complete and then her service to the Galactic Guardians would be over, unable to pursue a full career due to her planet of origin not being recognized in the galaxy, because of it's lack of establish contact with any other planet. She didn't want to return to a normal life on Earth.
Betty had the chance to arrest Maximus, but she just let him go. Letting him go would mean her contract was still valid despite the new rules of the council, they couldn't break it. She wondered if she had made the right choice.
In order to start communicating with other planets, it was the rule that each planet had to take the first step, that symbolized that its people where ready to know they were not alone in the universe. Until then, only a few chosen ones would be allowed to leave Earth and only temporarily. This had to be done carefully, with the most trust worthy people, so they wouldn't spread the word and either be assumed crazy if they were not believed, or cause a panic if they were, even if being believed was very unlikely.
Admiral Degill had been calling Betty for missions more often, even providing special support agents, new technology and anything she could possibly need to complete her mission in the average time most Galactic Guardians took, but she always did something to let Maximus escape and make it look like an accident.
She hated herself for being so selfish. She was choosing herself over entire galaxies and jeopardizing Earthling's chances of being included in the Galactic Guardians in the future. She was making her home planet look bad after making it look good in the past, but she tried to console herself in the fact that she previously chose those galaxies over herself, so it was a balance right?
Betty gave up love and friendship to be a Galactic Guardian. Noah eventually got tired of her constant disappearances and they grew apart, yet as much as it hurt her, the thought of a regular boring life on Earth hurt her so much more. Dylan didn't really talk to her anymore either, but not Dylan or Noah could replace the freedom of being in space. Her only friends now were Sparky and X-5, and they were enough.
Space travel gave her a certain feeling of freedom that she realized she needed, she couldn't imagine her life without it. She imagined traveling in space for as long as she could remember and then when it came true; it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Until the day when she could find a way to keep her freedom without purposely failing her mission, this was the way things would stay.
Betty turned off the lights and tried to sleep. Suddenly she felt trapped in her room on Earth. She opened the window and looked into the starry night sky, wondering if someone would come to take her off Earth soon. Sparky, X-5, Degill, even Maximus, anyone who had a space ship. She needed to feel the freedom of space to let all the stress out, she wanted to go back into space where she felt she belonged.
What if another Galactic Guardian was chosen to capture Maximus? What if the new Galactic Guardian succeeded? Degill wouldn't allow X-5 or Sparky to come pick her and she would be trapped on Earth forever. She couldn't allow that and she was prepared to make sacrifices to defend her freedom. She made a choice and convinced herself that deep down it was the right thing to do.
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Planet 72: Changes
She felt like her entire world was being turned upside down. Everything was changing and it made her feel uneasy. Change was inevitable and that it was everywhere, in her job as a Galactic Guardian and in her civilian life on Earth.
Betty let out the yawn she had been suppressing since who knows when. She was a college student and keeping up with college and being a Galactic Guardian wasn't like keeping up with school. She had missed many nights of sleep due to missions and excessive homework. Not to mention tests, quizzes, presentations, finals and what not.
Thinking about it again, some things just never really changed, they appeared to be different, but deep down they where still the same. Her father was still the same workaholic salesman. Her mother was still obsessed with Purrsey. Sparky was more grown up and X-5 had received several updates over the years, but deep down everything was the same.
Betty hasn't seen Noah for a while since he was away at a different college, but they still kept in contact, they were still friends. Penelope was also away, but still made fun of Betty when ever she saw her, when she came to the city for the weekends. There was some distance between them, but it was basically all the same.
Betty was still a Galactic Guardian, much more skilled now. Really there weren't as many differences as she initially thought there would be. Sometimes the way you see things change and makes it look like the world has changed drastically, but it wasn't so drastic after all. It was only a point of view.
Betty's mind wondered off to her test on Monday, when she would receive an email from Noah or Dylan and if she let Maximus escape because she was too tired to stop him or because capturing him would bring too many changes. Those were enough changes for the time being and she didn't want to lose the ability to find the perspective that saw everything as the same.
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Planet 73: Grim Reaper
She wondered endlessly along the streets of a nearly empty planet, where she was the only living being. Sometimes she wondered why she didn't die. Maybe it's because he wouldn't allow it. Was it for revenge or for hope? She let herself fall to the ground in front of a destroyed house. The ceiling and a large portion of the walls were missing so she could see inside. The beam shot upon the house had destroyed everything inside, even Purrsey.
The bodies were in bad condition, nearly unrecognizable. The smell was horrible and there were probably bacteria all around. She would be ill if she stayed there, but she knew that wouldn't happen. Before she died from any illness that she might pick up, they would find her and bring her back to him. Then they would clean her up from the inside out with their advanced technology and it did eliminate the possibility of having any disease. Betty sat there in front of her destroyed house on Earth, until they came and took her back.
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It was all a big blur. She remembered being conscious for only a few seconds inside a tank full of a familiar liquid. It felt like she was burning, almost dying, but she was in fact being healed. When she woke up, she was in a room similar to a hospital room. How many times had she attempted to escape now? She lost count. Why did she try? There was nothing out there, no one.
"Betty?" She ignored the doctor and covered her head with the white blanket, trying to block out the brightness of the room. The lights were annoying and reflected off the white walls. "Now Betty, it's time for an examination, don't do that." He tried to pull the blanket off her head, but she held it in a tight grip.
Betty was angry and frustrated, it was understandable. The doctor held an odd looking devise that looked slightly like a thermometer with a straw attached on one end and a cable in the other, connected to a bag full of fluorescent green liquid. She snatched the devise from his hand and put it in her mouth, feeling the healing acid invade her system.
"This isn't good," the doctor frowned. "One can only undergo the process so many times before the internal organs begin to suffer. You might start internally bleeding. Betty, too many emergency healing session of this intensity could kill you."
"Not that it'll stop him from ordering it to be done. After all, he wants his little servant girl around, but she can't have any germs that might harm his new vessel." Betty hated what happened and that she wasn't able to stop it.
"He isn't..." The doctor sighed. He knew full well that the risk wouldn't stop her from searching for life. All was lost really, there was no one left to save. They were dead, all of them, the entire galaxy except for those who worked for him. She was the only one left who didn't work for him, who didn't follow him around as if this universe was rightfully his. She was the only one with the courage to oppose him.
"I know," Betty replied, the doctor had said it many times and she knew. He wasn't who he used to be, the real Maximus IQ was only the shadow of death itself.
"For now it's best to play it safe, he knows I disagree with everything he did, but he knows I won't dare to do anything against him," the doctor admitted.
"He also knows I can do nothing to stop him, he's letting me come and go and making me go through this medical torture when I come back. He probably wants me to get killed being healed because Maximus won't let him kill me otherwise. He thinks I can free him but I can't," Betty voiced.
"He's just afraid you got sick while you were out. With so many dead bodies you could. He can't harm you, it is hope that keeps the vessel alive and he can't exist in the same world as us without it. You are that hope," the doctor walked towards the door. He stopped and looked back at the red haired human for a moment, then continued without another word.
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She had fallen asleep and woke up to a servant gently shaking her shoulder. "Atomic Betty, please wake up."
She opened her eyes and glared. "Don't call me that. I'm just another slave here like you, like the doctor, like the solders and like everyone who still lives in this world."
"Goodness no!" The servant was frightened. "Please be the one to save us all. I've heard the emperor, the original emperor, believes you can stop the spirit that took over his body."
"I'm sorry Megan, that's not possible. Everyone is foolish to put their hopes on me, especially Maximus, he realized a power he couldn't control, that power controlled him and destroyed everything. The spirit wants me dead but what's left of Maximus is stopping him, the fool expects me to free him." Betty took the dress that Megan was holding and went to the bathroom to change.
"Betty, why am I alive?" Megan asked when Betty came out.
"Because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time. He saw you with me, we had been forced to be in the same place by that group project, we weren't allowed to choose partners, remember? That's all there is too it. He thought that one of my Earth friends would make a nice servant for. The spirit wanted to keep me around so that the original soul wouldn't lose hope and the vessel wouldn't die," Betty explained.
"But I was saved. If not I would have died with the others. How is the Earth anyway?" Megan inquired.
"A nightmare worse than any horror movie ever made," Betty left the room.
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He stared out the window into space, the endless emptiness now truly empty. They were all gone, all of them. She soon entered the room and stood emotionlessly beside him, waiting for him to say something. "That is the last time you will leave," He spoke with a certainty that almost made her believe it. "For your own good I'll keep you here. It's not good to be out there, the scientists and doctors all said so. That's why we stay here in space where its safe."
"Some ruler you are," Betty didn't take her eyes off the nearly indestructible glass window. "You killed everyone and now you're trapped here as your own prisoner. You don't belong in this world Death. Someday Maximus will stop hoping that things will improve, someday he will let himself die. That's when you will go back to where you belong. You can't exist here if you cannot reside within the body of a mortal. Then I'll make sure the gem is destroyed. You can't stop me because if you hurt me, then Maximus will believe no one can save him and he'll stop trying to live, you won't have a vessel, then someone else will destroy the gem. There's no escape Death."
"At least I accomplished most of my mission. I only want to enjoy it for a little while. It won't matter that I can no longer access your world directly, there will be nothing left." He laughed evilly but it didn't sound the same.
"Pitiful; so very pitiful. You don't even sound as evil as Maximus when he laughed, he put more energy into it." Betty glanced at him to see his angry expression, then looked out the window again. He hated it when she said that a mortal was better than Death at anything.
Enraged, he grabbed her shoulders and made her face him. She reached to touch his face, running a finger over that strange gem stuck in his forehead. The darkness of it felt like a burn, it rooted into his brain, she knew that. He was controlled by the spirit within it and it could not b removed. The spirit was too strong, she had tried several times.
Then she saw him for just a moment, the real Maximus, trapped in his own body with the spirit of Death that he foolishly released in search for power. He was frightened, but he held on to one last hope, that Atomic Betty somehow got rid of the spirit. It was that very hope that kept him alive and therefore kept the spirit in this world.
If only he would let go of life itself, if only he would have done so before it was too late, but Maximus wasn't one for self sacrifice. Then his look darkened and Maximus' consciousness was pushed back. "I hate you. He forbids me to kill you, as if you could set him free. Ridiculous, you can never defeat me. But if I did kill you, he would send me away from this universe. Unless he decided to continue being selfish and think that someone else might come along who can help him."
"This won't last forever, Maximus IQ no matter what he says, is no immortal," Betty assured.
"Not before my mission is over," he let her go and turned away to look at the emptiness once more.
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Planet 74: How to Recharge a Battery
"Take that and that! Oh look, I won again," Maximus yawned in boredom and thought about the possibility of taking a nap to pass the time. He didn't feel like doing anything evil right now. It was one of those lazy days when he didn't feel like doing anything except watch TV, sleep and play video games. Even with all the channels in the universe, he couldn't find anything good to watch right now. He had a new handheld game he wanted to play, but the fun part about a portable game is that it's portable. This one was meant to be portable, but wasn't.
Maximus wanted to be able to walk all round his lair while playing his game and annoying random guards. Childish as it may sound, it was fun and helped him during times of evil villain's block. Of course that wasn't possible if he couldn't walk holding the game further than the battery's charging cable allowed. He set the little handheld to charge, the light of the screen was off but the percent of energy contained in the battery was still shown on the screen. It read one percent.
Maximus restarted the online Atomic Betty game he had been playing, while waiting for the other game to charge and tried again. That battery had been charging for so long and it only had one percent. When he heard it was supposed to last extra long, he thought the battery would last a long time, but he didn't think it would be the same for charging time. He hated to admit it, but his boredom had made him surf the net in search of something to do and that is how he found this little game. He was actually playing an Atomic Betty game because he was so bored.
Minimus had come by, wondering why Maximus hasn't called him in such a long time. The sidekick stood at the door and watched in amazement as Maximus played the game, moving a little Atomic Betty around the screen, making her shoot lasers at the enemies that floated her way. Minimus quickly left, knowing that this was not a good time to interrupt.
Maximus didn't lose at the game, not even once, which is actually quite surprising because he never won video games on his first try. He was disappointed to see that the final battle was against Nuclea and not himself. But he came up with a theory to explain that. If he was the villain then there's no way the little pixel Atomic Betty could win and no one would want to play the game. Maximus convinced himself that was the reason.
He yawned as he guided the little Atomic Betty on the screen, safely around the many meteors. She shot a laser from her bracelet when ever he pressed the A key. Maximus had played the game so many times he could make it past the meteors without even looking at screen and hit all the enemies. He had even made her crash on purpose a few times for amusement.
"Victory number million billion gazillion for me. A little virtual me is the only one that can beat Atomic Betty. No matter how good the player is, if I was the final enemy, no one would win this game." Maximus continued playing for lack of anything better to do. Then he checked his handheld game, surely the battery must be fully charged by then, but the battery was only at two percent.
Maximus spun around on his chair out of boredom and as his view moved around his room he noticed two things. His pet was still sleeping and he saw something he thought was lost. He couldn't wake up his cute little pet. The adorable Earth kitten, which he didn't know came from Earth, needed his nap. Maximus would wait until he woke up on his own to play with him. Other than that there was that little bottle of evil potion that turned out to be anti evil potion after all.
He picked up the empty bottle from a pile of random things and threw it in the trash. That potion had caused enough trouble for him. When people ask for medicine they usually say something like 'I want some headache medicine' but what they mean is that they want medicine against headaches, not medicine that causes headaches. It appears his words were not interpreted how they were meant, if it was intentional or not he didn't know.
Maximus took another look at the battery and it had not changed from two percent. He couldn't play that online game anymore. If he played as Atomic Betty one more time, it would drive him insane. He wasn't sure how he was able to play for this long. It was the things that boredom made him do. Maybe he could chat for a while and entertain himself with that.
He logged in and found that only Nuclea was online. He wondered where everyone else was, probably less bored than him. How dare they be less bored than him? He was the leader of the super villains and the most evil of all. He would have to give them a speech about that later.
'Supreme Emperor' and '3n3rgy' aka Maximus IQ and Nuclea chatted for a while, or rather made faces by the use of emoticons. They had nothing to talk about so they just made faces at each other. 'Two Face' aka Minimus PU joined the villain's chat also, until Maximus told him to come clean his room before his precious pet got lost in all the random stuff. He glanced at the sleeping kitten again, just to make sure he was still there sleeping soundly on his pillow. Maximus couldn't get himself to tell him to get off the bed, he was just too cute.
Minimus cleaned up Maximus' room even if he knew it wouldn't last a day organized, which was something that he said and earned him a hit on the head. Leaving the battery to continue charging after seeing it had only three percent, Maximus took a nap. His pet kitten woke him up later with a high pitched meow in his ear. After feeding his cute little pet, he played with him for a while and finally went to check on that battery once more, only to find it had four percent.
"It's never going to finish!" Maximus was frustrated, but he had decided that the battery would be fully charged today and because he was so stubborn so it shall be! "I need to think like a villain." Anyone would change a battery by simply plugging it in, but how would a true super villain do it? He suddenly got an idea. "Minimus!"
"You called your evilness?" Minimus asked as he arrived.
"I want you to hold this and go answer the door," Maximus unplugged the game and handed it to Minimus.
"Can I play with it?" Minimus asked.
"No!" Maximus hit his sidekick on the head. "Just hold it and go answer the door when the door bell rings."
Minimus wasn't sure what was going on, but he did as Maximus said anyway.
Once Minimus was gone, Maximus returned to the chat to find '3n3rgy' (Nuclea) discussing the latest gossip with 'Frozen Beauty' (Iciclea) and 'Mermaid' (Pontifadora). He opened a window to talk to Nuclea alone. "You know what Minimus said?"
"What did he say and why are you telling me, unless he said something about me? What did he say about me? He had better not said Iciclea is better than me. Sure I put up with her, we even gossip and go shopping together, but I'm the better villainess. Don't you agree? Of course you do. C'mon I have lightning at my command. She only has ice. So what if she has a big ice castle and I don't. So what if she had more fans then me and even a sidekick, but that doesn't mean anything, right? Neither does the fact that she has more experience fighting Atomic Betty. So anyway, did you hear the latest gossip? It's about-" Nuclea had written too much and the chat program didn't allow anymore after she reached the limit.
"STOP!" Maximus typed adding a little dizzy emoticon to emphasize and using all caps to indicate he's yelling. Nuclea could sure type fast and she was getting off topic. "Minimus didn't say anything about Iciclea, he only said that he thinks your electric power is weak. I tried to tell him to stop saying such things, but he said that he's sure all your electricity is just a light show."
"How dare he say that? That's not true!" Nuclea went into a rant about her electric powers, which quickly flooded Maximus's screen. "I'll be right there to teach him a lesson," was the last thing she typed before logging off.
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Not too long after that, Minimus answered the door and received a massive shook of electricity. He coughed smoke and fell on the floor twitching and full of static. Nuclea left without saying a word.
Maximus walked over to Minimus and picked up the handheld game. The battery was charged to one hundred percent. That was fast. Maximus would have to do the same thing for his communicator, laser gun, light saber and everything else that needed its battery recharged.
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Planet 75: Resisting Change
Atomic Betty's Point of View
Most of the time everything goes well in our missions, everything goes as it should, as we planned. But every now and then my crew and I find ourselves in trouble. Of course, we've been in hard situations before and have gotten out of them, most of the time by our selves. But there is that rare occasion when we need help. It is in those rare cases that I called my grandmother to help us. But that was a long time ago.
Granny's still young on the inside, still full of energy and life, but I guess I need to understand that the body doesn't always move as fast as the mind thinks. She's still skilled, all her experience as a Galactic Guardian comes in handy, but still I can't help it but to wonder what if? What if she gets hurt? What if she gets captured? I'll never forgive myself if anything like that happens. Thankfully it hasn't. I know Granny still has what it takes to be a Galactic Guardian, but I'm afraid that there might come a point when she won't be able to assist us.
It's a little strange to be afraid of something that I've known all along. People age, I will too someday. I don't want to depend too much on Granny but sometimes I can't help it but to find myself in a situation where I need her help. I must admit it's a lot of fun to watch her in action. It's fun to work together, but I need to accept that's not the way it was meant to be. So I tried harder not to find myself in that situation. I've tried, I've trained, I've become a better Galactic Guardian. I haven't been in need to call Granny for a long time now. I still visit her, she understands me better than anyone else in my family and no one can replace her.
Maybe that's why I wasn't very happy when Admiral Degill added a new feature to my bracelet. If I am ever in trouble, if my crew and is ever captured, then I can press a new button on my bracelet and a silent signal will be sent. Someone will come to help us, the forth member of our team who's presence will only be requested when needed. A new position within the Galactic Guardians, there's one for every team, an extra Atomic. Of course I politely told the admiral we didn't need a forth member. But he explained that I couldn't keep pulling my grandmother out of retirement all the time and that's when it sunk in. I've been calling Granny into dangerous situations, dangerous enough for me and my crew to not be able to handle alone but the four of us together, that's what made the difference.
I guess maybe I'm just resisting change. Everything has changed in my life, on Earth since high school ended. Everyone's off to college somewhere, even me, even if the only thing I really want to do is be a full time Galactic Guardian. I've been taking few classes to allow plenty of time to work with the Galactic Guardians. If mom and dad knew they would wonder why I don't take more classes. They might be disappointed, thinking I waste all that time doing nothing or going from random wild party to random wild party. But if they knew the truth, if they knew that I'm a defender of this universe, they would be proud. That's what Granny told me, I believe her.
At least Noah and I are in the same college, but he takes more classes than me. I guess he has more time since he's not running off to save the universe every day like I am. There's always a mission big or small and I've told the admiral to call me any time. That's why I took this schedule, so I could be a Galactic Guardian everyday, most of the day. Noah is still my best Earth friend, it's those little details that stay the same that I hang on to. Maybe that's why I haven't become more than just friends with him. I don't want things to change. Since high school ended everything has been moving very fast.
That brings me back to the reason I didn't want that forth member on our team. Sure he would only come when he's needed and in that case I'll make sure he isn't. Admiral Degill didn't tell me much except how to contact him on a mission and how to contact him on his Galactic Guardian watch. I guess he assumed I would contact him so we could get to know each other, but I didn't. All my friends from the Galactic Guardians have their teams, so I know it can't be any of them. From what I heard it's a new guy. How is that helpful? I'm much more experienced; I bet I'll have to get him out of trouble. Then again, four instead of three might make a big difference. But I don't want my crew to change.
It's not that I fear being replaced, I know I won't be. I know Sparky and X-5 will always care for me and I will care for them, but I want us to stay the same. I want to hold on to this detail that didn't change. I know change is inevitable, but I can't help it but to wonder what if I can stop this change. I'll certainly try. Sparky and X-5 immediately agreed. If I didn't like this mystery guy, neither did they. They trusted my judgment so much, maybe too much. But improving our team, our real team of three, wouldn't hurt. We were never in need of assistance since we decided we didn't like Atomic Mystery, who ever he is.
Then the inevitable happened and I must admit I was happy it did. Admiral Degill said it was clear we didn't need help. My bracelet was reprogrammed to send a silent signal to the Galactic Guardians Headquarters in case of emergencies instead of having a Galactic Guardian assigned specifically to help our team. As for this mystery boy, he was given a job at HQ, nothing big, office work, processing records, training schedules, assisting the admiral in anything he may need. Sometimes helping refuel the ships and give them maintenance, a lot of little things. I feel like I've been unfair.
Maybe if I wasn't so stubbornly holding on to the details that haven't changed, I would have met a really nice guy. Maybe he would fit in our team and the four of us will become good friends. Maybe this is the kind of change that happens for the better. I know not all change is bad, but I guess I couldn't help it but to jump to conclusions and think this one was.
I regretted it the next day, when Noah confronted me about it. Noah of all people, he was the one assigned to help us every now and then. He would not only help us when needed, but we were also to help him become better accustomed with being a Galactic Guardian since we're much more experienced than him. He thought I knew it was him, he thought I just didn't want to be around him so I pushed my team to be perfect so we never needed any help. I should have noticed the signs. He was becoming more distant on Earth with every passing day. He was wondering if I didn't bring up the subject of the Galactic Guardians because I didn't think he was good enough and if I didn't want to talk about it, then he wouldn't bother me about it.
I told him I didn't know it was him. I told him that if I knew, that would have made things very different. He told me everyone makes mistakes. He was relieved to know that I didn't know it as him, that I wasn't excluding him on purpose. I talked to Admiral Degill about it and requested that Noah became a permanent member of our team. Of course, I consulted this with Sparky and X-5 first and they agreed. They had only briefly met Noah in person before he became a Galactic Guardian, but I had told them about him, so they knew a lot more about Noah than he knew about Sparky and X-5.
The fact still remained that we didn't really need a fourth member on our team, we had become exceptionally good. Maybe we had this potential all the time but I didn't guide the team to develop it because I enjoyed working with Granny, even if the risks never left my mind. Admiral Degill agreed to let Noah join anyway. He couldn't think of another better team to help train this new Galactic Guardian. Fortunately, everything worked out for us.
End POV
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Planet 76: Couch Potato
"Minimus where's my popcorn?" Maximus yelled not taking his eyes off the screen. They better answer the questions about him right in that celebrity game shop. Other than that, the other reason he was watching was in case they asked something about Atomic Betty and he could use that information against her later.
"It's right there your evilness," Minimus pointed at the oversized bucket of popcorn on a small table next to the couch where Maximus was sitting, watching the big screen TV.
For just a small moment Maximus glanced to his right where the bucket of popcorn was and tried to reach for it without getting up. "Idiot! Why did you put it so far away? Come here!" Even if Minimus knew what was coming, he walked over to Maximus and just as expected, his head was sent spinning. "Now bring me my popcorn and don't forget to take notes when they say something that can be used against the Galactic Guardians!"
"Yes, your laziness," Minimus replied with his angry face, while giving him the popcorn.
"What did you say?" Maximus wasn't paying much attention, but he thought he heard something that sounded like the word 'lazy' and he wasn't lazy, he was a hard working super villain.
Minimus changed back to normal, "nothing, your evilness."
"I thought so," Maximus started eating handful after handful of popcorn. "Minishmuf bling mesh af ding!"
"Pardon, your evilness?" Minimus was confused. Didn't anyone ever tell Maximus not to talk with his mouth full?
"I said, bring me a drink, the popcorn is too salty and tell chef Bernadette to make the next bucket of popcorn caramel covered." Maximus had sat in front of the TV for the last four days eating sweet and salty unhealthy treats. Minimus guessed the sugar kept him awake all that time. It proved that even super villains needed to spend an excessive amount of time in front of the TV potatoing the couch every now and then.
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Planet 77: Memory Lane (DegillxPontifadora)
"You know you'll be in a lot of trouble if they catch you here" Degill paced around his office.
"Relax Gilly, I can get in and out of HQ totally unnoticed. Besides, if I am discovered, all you have to do is pretend you didn't invite me." Pontifadora examined the desk's contents.
"I didn't invite you to come here and I didn't tell you that you could look at my personal belongings," Degill rushed over to close a drawer she had opened.
"I'm just curious and you have nothing to hide so it's okay. Besides aren't you happy I came to visit, Gilly?"
"Yes, I am happy to see you, but we should meet somewhere else." Degill insisted.
There was a knock on the door followed by Atomic Rodger's voice. "Admiral Degill!"
Degill looked from the door to Pontifadora. "Relax, you're too stressed all the time," she whispered. "I'll stay hidden," she ducked under the desk.
Admiral Degill tried to look normal and opened the door to find Atomic Rodger who saluted. "Admiral Degill, I'm done with all my missions and on stand by. Are there any other missions for me today?"
"No, take the rest of the day off," Degill quickly replied and Atomic Rodger saluted and happily left.
"Let's go roast marshmallows in a camp fire like we used to," Pontifadora came out from under the desk.
Degill remembered sitting in front of a camp fire under the stars with Pontifadora when he was younger. His career as a Galactic Guardian was doing great and he had her. Life was as close as it got to perfect back then and he wished it never changed, but everything changed on that day when he was supposed to get married. One day he would have to have a long talk with Pontifadora about why she was hunting down the guests. But for now he wanted to do what he used to do, enjoy the moment and pretend it's going to last forever.
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Planet 78: Elevator
"I think we've learned an important lesson today," X-5 pointed out. "When chasing a super villain around his lair, never chase him into an elevator."
The elevator once again became silent after the robot's statement, until Sparky complained. "I'm hungry!"
"Sorry, Sparky, there's not food here. We'll have to wait until the elevator moves." Atomic Betty had tried to cut a hole on the elevator, but it didn't work. She tried to press all the buttons and nothing happened, there was electricity, the elevator just wasn't moving.
"Another lesson we have learned today is that most prototypes fail," X-5 never trusted the design of the new high tech elevator made for the Galactic Guardians Headquarters, which Maximus stole and installed on his lair.
"I'm hungry," Sparky complained again. By now the five people in the elevator were starting to get hungry after being trapped for so long, but Sparky was the hungriest of all.
"I know Sparky, I know, but you have to try to be patient," Betty replied.
"I'm so hungry I can smell chocolate," Sparky took a deep breath. "I do smell chocolate!" He looked at Maximus who was standing in a corner facing the wall of the elevator. "Maximus, you have chocolate!"
"Too late I already ate it! Maybe if you only had one stomach you wouldn't be so hungry all the time," Maximus mocked, but Sparky kept looking at him hungrily. "I demand that you keep that little cannibal away from me!" Maximus pointed a laser gun at Sparky.
"Sparky's not a cannibal, he's just hungry." Atomic Betty watched Sparky chewed on the laser gun.
"He's always hungry, but I must admit I've never seen him this hungry. I believe it is not only his hunger, but also being trapped in here for so long that is making him act so insane. We have been trapped in here for over five hours," X-5 informed. "I believe the situation has made Sparky go back to his basic survival instincts when he smelled the chocolate. All we can do is try to keep him calm."
"I'll try to keep him under control. Come here Sparky, that's it good boy." Betty sat down on the floor and Sparky laid his head on her lap, chewing on the laser gun and occasionally growling in Maximus' direction.
Betty kept looking at her bracelet to see what time it was and how the signal was doing. Every time she looked, the bracelet's status indicated there was no signal available from her current location because of the elevator's systems blocking it.
Time passed slowly as they sat there and the elevator became very hot. "Can't you do anything about the temperature?" Betty asked.
"No, if I could do something I would have already done it, but the controls don't work." Maximus was annoyed, but he didn't yell, not wanting to get Sparky's attention.
Betty removed her helmet, feeling like her brain was being cooked in it, but it didn't help much. Shouldn't elevators have an escape door for emergencies? But of course this one didn't have it, it was just a prototype after all. The heat continued and it was becoming unbearable. Suddenly, in the quiet hot elevator there was a small explosion coming from X-5. "What happened?" Betty quickly asked. Sparky growled and she petted his head to keep him calm.
"I'm over heating," X-5 revealed. "My cooling system isn't enough for this temperature. I need to shut down."
Betty nodded, "I'll make sure you're alright," X-5 shut down and all was quiet once more in the uncomfortable hot elevator where Sparky had miraculously fallen asleep, exhausted from hunger.
"When I get out of here I'll install electric stairs instead of elevator. There will be no more elevators in my lair," Maximus decided.
"So if there's a problem you can walk the rest of the way?" Minimus asked even if the answer sounded obvious.
"No, so you can carry me the rest of the way," Maximus corrected.
Suddenly the air conditioner was randomly activated. Now that the temperature improved Maximus, curled up in a corner and took a nap, purring in his sleep. He told Minimus to make sure Atomic Betty didn't escape and to wake him up if the elevator did anything. With Sparky and Maximus sleeping and X-5 still deactivated that left Minimus and Betty as the only people awake in the elevator.
X-5 later rebooted when he detected the change in temperature. Then Sparky woke up and continued complaining about being hungry. At least this time there was no smell of food to make him go crazy. The change in temperature was good at first, but then it started getting so cold they were freezing, which woke up Maximus.
Just when they thought they would turn into icicles and not come out of this alive, the elevator doors suddenly opened and they all ran out. "I'm starving, can we go eat?" Sparky begged.
"We have to finish our mission," Atomic Betty put her helmet back on and composed herself, taking a deep breath, she really just wanted to go home, but she had to accomplish her duty.
"Do you think I still want to keep that elevator after all this? I don't want it anymore, you can take it back. Minimus go tell the guards to get rid of that elevator and install electric stairs instead," Maximus ordered.
"In that case we'll take the elevator back," X-5 said.
"Good, then we're set to go as soon as it's uninstalled and loaded in the Starcruiser. Where's Sparky?" Betty noticed he was gone.
Then the obvious answer came to Betty and X-5 at the same time. "The kitchen," they unanimously voiced.
After Chef Bernadette finally managed to chase Sparky out of the kitchen and the elevator was uninstalled and placed in the Starcruiser, Betty, Sparky and X-5 returned to the Galactic Guardians HQ where Sparky ate all the food in the cafeteria.
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Planet 79: Revenge
Everything was quiet save for the sound of typing. Betty was the first to finish her computer class work. She saved everything and sent it to the teacher. "How are you doing Noah?"
"I think I'm getting it. Thanks for explaining yesterday," Noah replied.
"No problem, sorry for being so late to meet you," Betty said.
"It's okay, you got there and that's what matters," Noah was starting to get used to Betty's constant lateness, but at least she got there.
Suddenly Betty's bracelet chimed; at least she had already finished her work so she used the classic restroom excuse and left the classroom. The halls were empty and once she was sure no one was coming, she answered the call. "Atomic Betty, reporting for duty!" She saluted automatically, not taking the time to look at the image in the hologram. "Maximus?" She finally noticed it wasn't Admiral Degill.
"I called to say that I will take my revenge on you today," Maximus sounded more evil than usual.
"What do you plan to do?" Betty asked seriously.
"I won't tell you, but I assure you everything is ready and no one will be able to stop me, it's already too late. I only called to say goodbye. Enjoy your last time alive Atomic Betty!" The hologram disappeared, indicating Maximus ended the communication.
Could he have used her bracelet to find out where she is? But they told her at headquarters that even if he could contact her, he couldn't use it to pinpoint her location. They told her there was nothing to worry about. Then what could be happening? Betty immediately called Admiral Degill and explained the situation.
"This is serious," Admiral Degill was concerned. "As a precaution don't stay on Earth. If Maximus really is tracking your bracelet, maybe won't attack if he knows you're off the planet." The Galactic Guardians were put on full alert.
After having spoken to Admiral Degill, Betty didn't know why but she felt like returning to the classroom for a moment. She didn't want to think of it as a final goodbye to Noah, but the way Maximus sounded this time was different and it worried her.
As Betty walked to the classroom, suddenly everything became dark. Oh no, it was happening. Maximus did know where she lived and he was going to blow up the entire planet, this was a sure sign of it. The electricity was one of the first things to go in cases of disasters. But Betty couldn't do anything from there, she was beamed up to the Starcruiser and they headed directly to Maximus lair. She had to save the earth somehow.
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"Everyone is jumping to conclusions too quickly," X-5, the only one who didn't panic possibly because he disabled that function, tried to be logical.
"But X-5, Maximus was so different this time. He looked truly evil and that worries me a lot," Atomic Betty was trying to stay calm, but her mind was haunted by images of her home planet blowing up.
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Betty, Sparky and X-5 arrived at Maximus and Betty rung the doorbell. Maximus came to the door and opened it, wondering who could be visiting. "Atomic Betty?"
"Tell me what is the revenge you planned to take?" Atomic Betty glared.
Maximus looked a little confused at first then got a look of pure evil in his face. "I shall take the most evil revenge ever!" Then he laughed in amusement. "I took acting lessons, not that I needed them. I wanted to know how evil I could look and you fell for it!"
"That's it, it was a joke?" Betty was in disbelief.
Maximus would have told her that even if this time it was just a test of his acting skills, he was still going to have his revenge, but he was laughing too much to speak. Betty remembered when the director said Maximus needed acting lessons, well they certainly worked.
"Sparky, X-5 let's go tell everyone it was nothing." Betty and her crew left. As for the black out on Earth, it had been due to an electric problem in the building.
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Planet 80: Brat
"Minimus, Where's my breakfast?" Maximus yelled from the table.
Minimus came running in with his food. "Here it is your evilness."
"What took you so long?" Maximus stabbed a fork into the food as if he wanted to kill it, even if it wasn't alive.
"I had to wait for Chef Bernadette to cook," Minimus replied as a matter of fact.
"I want more juice!" Maximus almost threw the empty glass at his sidekick who fortunately caught it or else he would most likely get blamed for breaking the glass.
"What kind of juice do you want your evilness?" Minimus tried to avoid a hit to the head if he brought the wrong kind. He could just get the same kind he was drinking before, but when Maximus was in a bad mood, he was totally unpredictable and could have changed his mind and decided he wanted different kind of juice.
"Idiot!" Maximus hit Minimus on the head. "What kind of a sidekick are you? You're supposed to know by now what kind of juice I like to drink with this particular kind of breakfast! Now go get my juice!"
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Minimus ran to the kitchen. "Do you know what kind of juice the boss likes with the breakfast you made today?" Minimus asked Bernadette.
Chef Bernadette was currently experiencing a bad headache. "A culinary artist like me cannot take all this noise and no, I don't know what kind of juice he likes with pancakes, he always drinks a different kind."
"What am I, a mind reader?" Minimus' angry face complained.
"Minimus, my juice!" Maximus' voice echoed all over the lair, making Bernadette's headache grow worse.
"I'm coming, your evilness!" Minimus called back.
Chef Bernadette filed the glass with some juice taking a guess about what Maximus would want to drink. Shortly after Minimus came back with the glass on his head and the juice all over himself. Needless to say that wasn't the kind Maximus wanted.
"I can't take this anymore!" Bernadette concluded. "Either he controls his temper or I quit!"
Minimus begged. "No, don't quit! Maximus is in a bad mood today but it'll pass!" If Chef Bernadette quit, then surely Minimus would get blamed, he always got blamed for everything. "In a few thousand years," his angry face added.
Chef Bernadette sighed and shook her head. At least she knew that no matter how bad things got, there would be someone worse off. Minimus was everyone's consolation in that sense.
End of Solar System IX
Disclaimer, I don't own Atomic Betty. About planet 76, "perhaps Robin would like to potato the couch with us," I'm not sure if that's the exact quote but Starfire said something like that in Teen Titans. Planet 78 was requested by Invader Iza, the concept was being stuck in an elevator.