The Great Space Adventures of Sherrinford Hope! (And Watsy)

Part 4: In Which We Have a Meeting With Destiny

"Ah, thank you, good sir, for allowing me to answer your riddle." Sherrinford bowed sarcastically as he skipped past him.

"C'mon, Watsy! We'll be late for our meeting with DESTINY!"

Once the duo had been walking for what felt like a millennium, Sherrinford kept mentioning how he could 'smell' Moriatus, and how they must be getting close.

"Sherrinford, there's no way you could 'smell' him. He could be another maria away from us still-" Wattington stopped in his tracks when he saw the towering green 'M' settled atop Mars' tallest peak; Mons Huygens.

Sherrinford stomped ahead.

"Do I just knock-" Watsy was interrupted by Sherrinford kicking the door down.

Inside the laboratory, many grunts were hunched over lab tables, furiously mixing colored potions that glowed in glass beakers. None of them seemed to hear the loud metallic clang when the door had hit the ground, so Sherrinford and Wattington shared a glance and began to slowly move through the room towards the back, where a huge desk appeared empty.

"What are you two cowboys doing here?!" a small man, no more than 3 feet tall, rose from behind the desk in a chair that raised him up from his original position on the floor. His soprano voice caused three of the grunts to plug their ears, and one to faint. The one who caught him turned to the intruders; "You are not authorized to be in this area!" Moriatus raised his small hand to quiet him, and smirked back at Sherrinford and Wattington. "No no, I want them to see this." He jumped down from his seat and waddled over the giant red lever on the wall. "You're just in time to see the release of my patented 'Evil Gas' into the planet's atmosphere! Nothing can stop me now!" He giggled a not-so-menacing giggle, and Sherrinford tried his best not to laugh, but a small chuckle escaped his closed mouth. "Are you laughing at me?" Moriatus turned on his heel to face the duo, and put his hands on his hips. "I'm about to destroy Mars and you're LAUGHING at me?"

"I'll show you. I'll show you all!" Moriatus used all of the might in his small body to push the lever down. As soon as it was in the ON position, lights all around the room flashed red and a robotic voice boomed "GAS RELEASING, GAS RELEASING." This prompted most of the grunts to panic and run around, beakers crashing everywhere. In the confusion, a grunt sweeped up Moriatus and dashed for the black Space Rover waiting outside. It flew off into space and vanished into overdrive.

Once the building was empty (most of the grunts had fled the scene), Sherrinford broke down. "We're done for!" He blubbered, collapsing onto the floor dramatically. "99 successful missions and now we're going to suffocate on Mars!"

"Calm down and pull yourself together." Watsy demanded, picking up some of the only unbroken beakers in the room and getting to work. "What're you doing?" Sherrinford sniffled. "I'm saving our asses, Sherrinford."