05 - Freaks And Geeks

"So whatever happened to your plucky teen sidekick?" Teckstyle asks as he and Flatfoot walk through the streets of Talos Island.

"What him? Kid wouldn’t shut up. Kept babbling about this and that," Flat shrugs.
"You don’t say."

"Anyway, I wound up seeing him last in Faultline. There was, um, a bomb. Yeah. A bomb I had to diffuse. Right away. Fate of the city rested on it. Couldn’t wait for him to get out of the cracks. Very urgent." Flatfoot says quickly.

"Wait, wait." Teck raises a hand to shut him up. "You mean to tell me you ditched a rookie who can’t fly. In Faultline?"

"He knew the risks," Flat bristles. "It’s a dangerous business. And you, or anyone else, can’t prove otherwise."

Teck shuffles uncomfortably. "This disguise is really heavy, you know."

"What disguise? It’s a big pair of sheet metal shoulder pads and a collar! You’ve got a Mohawk taped to your helmet!"

"So?"

"So?! So what kind of idiot would fall for that disguise?" Flat demands.

"Well, we are talking about the Freakshow here." Teck says, pointing to a member of said group standing next to a door. "I mean, look at him. He’s replaced his arms with pneumatic hammers. You can’t hug with pneumatic hammers!""Or eat or take care of…you know." Flat adds.
"Exactly my point. Now shut up and get in character, we’re here."

"Who’s dere?" asks the Freak.

"My name’s SHAZB0T, this is W00t."

"W00t," Flatfoot says.

"Ok, in ya go," the Freak says, knocking on the door with one of his hammer arms. A latch opens it from inside. The two heroes stride in.

"W00t," Flat glares at a lowly thug.

"See? Cakewalk," Teck reassures.

"Sure are a lot of them in here."

"Hey, your collar looks a little loose…"

"What?" Flat reaches up and starts to adjust it. "Thanks, wouldn’t want it to-"

The twisted metal crashes loudly to the ground. The nearby Freakshow look up and glare. Some raise guns.

"This means we have to resort to violence, right?" Flat asks, turning to the Freaks.
"Yes."

"Good. I like resorting to violence."

Minutes later, all of the Freakshow lie on the ground in varying states of pain.

"Well, that went easily," Flat says, wiping his palms.

Teck doesn’t hear him. Instead, he’s looking inside a crate some of the Freaks were protecting.
"Hey Flat, check out this thing I found."

"What is it?"

"I dunno," Teck says, pulling out a large metal staff with a rotating disk on the end. It whirs and steam escapes from it menacingly.

Eyes on the staff, both heroes fail to notice a Freak Tank rising up from the ground.

"Look out!" Flat yells, dodging an explosive shell. Teck points the staff at the tank instinctively, and closes his eyes behind his helmet.

There's a loud whoosh of air, followed by the sound of metal making an unusual splatting sound.

"Oh," Flat says, first to look up. "Oh my. That-that tank just went through the wall."

"I’m keeping it."

"Is, uh, is there another of those in there?"

"No."

"Oh. Can I hold it for a second?"

"No! Get your own!"

"But you just said there wasn’t one." Flat pleads.

"I don’t care."

"Aww, come on," Flat says, taking a step forward.

"If you take one step closer, I swear I’ll use it." Teck warns.

"You’re serious aren’t you?"

"Step away from the weapon!"

"Ok. Fine. I didn’t wanna touch it anyway. Be that way."