Cubie's therapy

<What's left of McKenzie's . . .>
-----Snip-----
Tara stood in the mess of McKenzies after Cubie had finished
Talking Tara said "she never told me her name, Tria eh thats a nice
name and I don't think it's can you help me because look around there
isn't anything left to sell, it's can I help you Katrina won't be
able to handle all this on her own" Zack cheered up at the thought of
having help to clean up the bomb site that was McKenzies and handed
Tara a broom
"Hey I can't stay for long but do you want to go to Parrots
later for a 'staying alive' drink" said Tara
-----End Snip-----
Zack looked over at Cubie. She shrugged.
-----Snip-----
"Sure why not" said Zack "8 ish then?"
"Yea and bring Cubie too" ....
-----End Snip-----
Zack smiled. "Of course."
-----Snip-----
"Oh no you don't!!"
Stewie stepped towards Zack, Cubie, Tara & Katrina.
"No way am I paying you, who practically created the damages to
this entire store, to go out and piss yourselves silly in the local
bloody pub!"
Stewie turned his attention to Tara and Katrina.
"Sorry ladies for this, but Zack is in serious trouble and he
will not be able to go to the pub before 5.00 PM!"
Tara and Katrina left the building, Stewie not hearing their
remarks, turned his attention back to Zack ...
"I told you before Richards to see the Capt... oh never mind. Or
actually, you better see the Captain later. I'm going to meet with
Ms. Padbury and maybe Captain Niples, depending on the time factor.
My conversation with the two, well maybe just the latter, may result
in a large consequence. Do you understand?"
-----End Snip-----
"Yes, Mr. McKenzie." Zack examined his shoes. "I apologize for
this grief. I really didn't think they'd follow us here."
Zack took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, they seem to be rather
unforgiving about our past misunderstandings. If this means the
sack, then so be it."
Zack closed his eyes and held his breath. He felt Cubie's hand
rest on his shoulder reassuringly.
After several minutes of awkward silence, he cracked an eye.
Stewie was gone.
"He headed back to his office, holding his temples." Cubie
massaged his shoulders. "I think he's going to fire us."
Zack waved at the carnage despondently. "Why wouldn't he? I
haven't seen a mess like this since Blotz interrupted our picnic in
the papermill in Oregon."
Both were silent. Until Cubie snorted, stifling laughter. Zack
heard that and broke into a belly laugh. "That WAS funny, wasn't it?"
Cubie dabbed a tear from her eye. "Darn straight! Bet he's
still got papercuts from that."
Zack sobered. "What are we gonna do? Can you ST-jump? Maybe
we can get away from here. That will keep Blotz from wrecking the
Blue Dwarf."
Cubie shook her head. "I'm locked out again. They're getting
good at spotting my hacked codes. I'll keep trying, but it looks
grim right now."
"And they can detect the time ripples wherever we go." Zack sat
down on the back of a headless mannequin that had toppled during the
battle. "Cubie, why don't you just go home? They'll do a reboot,
erase your memories of me, and put you right back to work as a field
accountant. You can be haunting Blotz by the end of the week!"
Cubie playfully popped him in the back of the head. "Yeah, with
no memory of why I'd want to haunt him. And no memory of you."
Zack snorted. "That's a plus. What a loser I've turned out to
be. I stank as a hovercraft rental agent, and now I'm ruining
everything around me here."
Cubie frowned. "Hey! You're talking about my husband, you
dope!"
Zack sighed. "You could have done much better. I remember that
security program that apprehended me when I first popped up in STCP
headquarters. He had it bad for you."
"He was an oaf with no class." Cubie leaned over and kissed
Zack on the cheek. "You . . . you have class." She leaned
back. "Granted, you ARE a little short, and the chrome suits are an
eyesore . . ."
Zack started. "You don't like the suit?"
"But . . ." she rolled her eyes, "you have more class than
anyone else I know."
Zack looked up at her, all pretense of a smile gone. "And just
how many people do you know who AREN'T STCP?"
"Well, there's . . ." she paused. "No, but there's . . . no,
he's an idiot. But what about . . . oh smeg, she's former STCP."
Finally she glared at him. "Well I like you, you smeghead. Quit
trying to change that, or I'll beat the stuffing out of you."
"But I'm a danger to everyone around me! Sooner or later Blotz
will catch me . . . and you, too!" Zack stood up. "No, it's time to
talk to the captain and set things straight. He needs to know what's
going on. If he throws me out an airlock, so be it."
Cubie's eyes narrowed. "If he does, he'll go right out with
you!"
Zack grabbed the broom and started sweeping debris into a
pile. "Well, let's clean this mess up, first."
<Later that afternoon . . .>
-----Snip-----
After being treated by Dr. Keto, he managed persuade Elizabeth
Padbury to allow him to open a temporary shop in one of the vacant
blocks in the Promenade whilst McKenzie's was under repairs. Zack,
Harry, Carol & Michelle all followed him.
"Now I don't want any funny business going on HERE. The new
stock is coming in and I want 200% effort in. Understand?"
"Yes," they all said in unision. So all Stewie had to worry
about now was the court case.
-----End Snip-----
Zack started unpacking crates of merchandise from Stewie's
warehouse. Men's suits. He began hanging them on the display racks,
admiring the cut of the lapels. Wide lapels were coming back in
style again.
Self-consciously, he looked at the scratched, crumpled suit he
wore. He looked like a homeless mechanoid, and he felt shabbier than
he ever had before.
~A new suit would be nice.~
He sighed, remembering his finances. He'd be paying for Blotz's
rampage through Stewie's for the rest of his temporal life.
Just then Cubie walked in. "Zack, I think I've got just the
thing for you."
Zack was glum. "What? A revolver with six shots?"
Cubie chuckled. "No, silly. A Robot Wars competition! Build a
robot and pit it against somebody else's! We could make a pretty
penny off this!"
Zack was flabbergasted. "Or lose our shirts! We're already up
to our necks in debt to Mr. McKenzie!"
Cubie shrugged. "So we've nothing to lose! Besides, remember
that robot design we saw on the mainframe the last time we were at
STCP HQ?"
Zack scrunched his face at the memory. "I was busy dodging BFG-
9000 rounds at the time, sweetie."
Cubie grinned. "Well I downloaded the blueprints. It's easy to
make!"
Zack started warming up to the idea. "You think so?"
Cubie nodded. "Hey! Who says we have to bet anything? We can
just enter our robot. Maybe there's a prize. Regardless, it would
be fun." ~And it would take your mind off your troubles, oh husband
of mine.~
Zack thought about it for a moment, then smiled. "Okay, Cubie.
Let's get started tonight."
<That evening . . .>
Zack looked over Cubie's shoulder. "Awful small, don't you
think?"
She looked back at him. "That's why we're making a hundred of
them."
Zack frowned. "Is that legal? Multiple entries?"
Cubie shook her head. "No, just one. This is an independent-
modular design. One robot in several self-contained pieces."
Zack eyed the tiny construct doubtfully. "Not much to the
little fellah."
Cubie pointed to the tiny blades on the front. "This is all it
needs."
Zack was confused, but he decided that Cubie probably had a
better understanding of the robot's operating parameters.
Cubie sat back. "There. This one's done. Were you watching
carefully?"
Zack smiled, hoping he sounded convincing. "Of course."
Cubie looked at him with a skeptical glance. "We'll see. Get
started on the next one. We've got ninety-nine of them left to do."
The couple worked away into the night. Cubie checked on Zack
frequently, and soon he had it right.
<2 AM>
Zack stood and stretched. His back was screaming at him for
being hunched over so long. Not that he was planning on getting much
rest. The air duct they were staying in had a two hour cycle, and in
fifteen minutes the air would start blowing again with an annoying
howl. After Zack Jarvis had reclaimed his bunk, Zack and Cubie had
once again ended up homeless. But it was actually a familiar
feeling. "So that's the last of them?"
Cubie counted. "Yup. That's the lot of them."
Zack looked at the neat rows of tiny mechanoids. "And this will
win the Robot Wars?"
"It should." Cubie finished replacing the back of the remote
control panel. "Care to give it a test-run?"
"On what?" Zack looked around the ventilation duct. "Not many
robot opponents in here to practice on."
Cubie rose to her feet, then suddenly changed shape. Soon a
fierce enforcer robot stood before him. "Let them practice on me.
They can't actually HURT me, but it'll be good practice for you."
"All right . . ." He took the remote from the robot and flipped
the on switch.
Several minutes later, Cubie was rolling on the floor,
giggling. "Turn it off! That tickles!!"
Zack shut the remote off, and the tiny robots reassembled into a
rough sphere on the deck. "So do you think it'll work?"
Cubie laughed as she returned to her normal shape. "Oh yes!
They won't know what hit them!"
Zack nudged the sphere with the toe of his boot. "So what do we
call it?"
Cubie thought for a moment. "How about 'The Swarm'."
Zack's eyes lit up. "Oooooh! Sounds ominous!"
OOC: Log this as Zack and Cubie's entry into the Robot Wars - "The
Swarm"
<Ominous music plays on an accordion in the background>
~Zack & Cubie~