Chapter Text
Night has come to Coverton. The masks of Coverton are free from their flesh suits, though they’ll need physical and mental therapy. The remaining human citizens are traumatized by the events of today. The Men in Black have offered to alter their memories, but they refuse, instead opting to keep the whole fiasco a secret. The last thing left is to deal with Dr. Moreau Manson and the blobs.
Luna buzzes with excitement over today’s events. “Oh my gosh! This place is so fascinating! Coverton has such a diverse set of species, including the masks!”
She then gets encountered by a Woman in Black. “Miss UFO?” The Woman in Black says. “You’re going to have to come with us to Area 51 to preserve the integrity of the Earth.”
“But what about the rest of me?” Luna asks. “I can’t survive without the renewable energy that helps me live. Surely, you’re going to have to dig up Coverton to bring the rest of me along.”
The Woman in Black sighs, and then replies with, “Alright, you can stay in Coverton for now. Just try to keep a low profile and don’t draw too much attention.”
Luna hugs the Woman in Black happily. “Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!”
Meanwhile, Cluedle-Doo heads to Dr. Manson, who is in handcuffs. While he resents Dr. Manson and his actions, he respects him as a scientist because of his involvement with the DNA Splitter and the Flesh Suits. It would be a shame to let those things go to waste. So, Cluedle-Doo thinks up of a plan involving putting both of those things to good use.
He leans towards Dr. Manson and offers, “Here’s the deal: You and I are going to return the blobs to their original forms. We'll take one of the DNA Splitters and modify it to restore the DNA within the blob, turning it back into a living being.”
“Well, what if I refuse to do it?” Dr. Manson asks.
“If you accept Cluedle-Doo’s offer, your lifetime sentence will be reduced to a month sentence in a maximum-security prison.” One of the Men in Black responds.
Dr. Manson sighs in defeat. “Fine. I’ll help – but I'm not thrilled about it. Let’s just go to Coverton Labs.”
Cluedle-Doo, Dr. Manson, Sherlock, Chameleon, and Luna head up to Coverton Labs to restore the blobs back to their normal selves. They take the containers carrying the blobs of Jane Doe and Richard Roe. The men in black carry the remaining orbs and take them to the labs as well.
When they reach Coverton Labs, they head inside the lab where all the blobs are stored. They see a DNA Splitter like the one that Dr. Manson confiscated from Cluedle-Doo. “So, this must be the third DNA Splitter.” Chameleon says in awe.
“Yep, this is it.” Dr. Manson mutters. He walks up to the case and opens it to take out the DNA Splitter.
“Can I use the DNA Splitter?” Luna asks eagerly.
Dr. Manson sighs. “Fine.” He reluctantly gives the DNA Splitter to Luna.
“Maybe if we use the fuse option on the blobs, they’ll go back to normal.” Luna theorizes. “Blob, please.”
Cluedle-Doo grabs a random bucket at the top and pours out a blob into the table. Luna sets the DNA Splitter to “fuse” and shoots at the blob. The blob grows into a bloated and barely humanoid form. A pair of yellow orbs form as eyes, and a mouth forms just below the eyes.
The blob looks down at his trembling hands. “Oh, God!” A distorted, masculine voice comes out of the deformed mouth. The blob feels his body – the texture being foreign yet familiar to him. “What happened to me?” He groans.
Dr. Manson recognizes the voice despite the distortion. “George Goodway!”
“Dr. Manson?” The goo groans. “I was minding my own business when this green goo appeared out of nowhere. I touched the goo thinking it would be harmless. But then I melted into the goo and my consciousness faded into black.”
“And then we restored you...sort of.” Dr. Manson responds. “You should get home and get some rest. Watch out for any holes in the ground.”
“Okay, Dr. Manson.” Goo accepts. With that, he leaves the premises.
“Alright, we probably shouldn’t use the ‘fuse’ option to restore the blobs unless we want a population of goo people walking around.” Cluedle-Doo suggests.
“What about the split option?” Luna asks.
“There’s a high chance that this person will cease to exist if you use the ‘split’ option.” Dr. Manson notes.
“So, what would you suggest that’ll restore the blobs back to its original form?” Cluedle-Doo asks Dr. Manson.
“What we need to do is stabilize the blobs.” Dr. Manson answers. “Right now, the DNA is swirling around the blob without a purpose. If we stabilize the DNA, it’ll reform the body into a solid form.”
“Alright, Einstein. Why don’t you take the DNA Splitter and turn it into a DNA Stabilizer?” Chameleon suggests.
“Unfortunately, my mind isn’t as sharp as it used to be when it comes to technology.” Dr. Manson responds. “Maybe you could fix up the machine.”
“I’ll give it a go.” Chameleon accepts. He takes the DNA Splitter and disassembles it. He opens the inside of the DNA Splitter to find two containers, one glowing yellow and one glowing green. He takes out the containers and examines them.
After examining the containers, Chameleon opens the top caps of the containers. He puts the open ends together and shakes the containers like a cocktail shaker. The yellow and green liquids mix into a chartreuse color. He carefully separates the containers, puts the caps back on, and puts them back in the DNA Splitter.
“What the hell are you doing?” Dr. Manson yells. “Why would you mix the DNA altering liquids like that? Who knows what’ll happen if you use the DNA Splitter that you messed up?”
Chameleon calmly explains, “It’s a little experiment I’m trying. If the green liquid fuses and the yellow liquid splits, then mixing the two liquids together would create some sort of stabilizing effect. The DNA would split for a moment before it reforms itself and builds the body. Give me a blob.”
Sherlock grabs another bucket from the top and pours out that blob onto the table. Chameleon activates the DNA Splitter. It glows a chartreuse color as he fires at the blob. The blob starts growing and bubbling, nearly taking up the table. The blob flattens, making the group worry that they’ve killed the blob that was once a person.
Suddenly, the blob starts taking shape. A pair of arms and legs form, followed by a torso. Finally, the head forms, albeit in the shape of a Jackson’s Chameleon’s head. The body is unconscious, naked, and covered in leftover goo.
The body wakes up and coughs up the goo that was in its lungs. After the last of the goo is out of the lungs, the body pants, “Wh-where am I?”
“You’re in Coverton Labs, boy.” Dr. Manson responds. “What’s your name?”
“Conrad Leon.” The body answers.
“Alright, Conrad. You go home and rest, and I’ll explain everything in the morning.” Dr. Manson dismisses Conrad.
“Wait!” Luna shouts. “Can I vacuum the goo off Conrad? It's for my research.”
“Uh, sure…” Dr. Manson awkwardly replies. Luna eagerly vaccums the goo off Conrad’s body with a vacuum she summons, cleaning him effectively. The goo takes up a fourth of the container in her back.
“Okay, Conrad. You’re free to go!” Luna smizes.
“Wait!” Cluedle-Doo shouts. “You’re just going to send him home without any clothes?” Cluedle-Doo hands Conrad his drool-stained coat. “Wear this until I get you something else to wear.”
“Okay…” Conrad gets up from the table and covers himself with Cluedle-Doo’s jacket.
“Dr. Manson, can you call the hospital and tell them to bring as many hospital gowns and blankets as they can?” Cluedle-Doo asks.
“It’s probably for the best. The last thing we want is to send a nudist colony back to their homes.”
“It looks like the experiment was a success!” Chameleon smiles. “Gentlemen, and lady, say hello to the DNA Stabilizer!”
“We’ll see how long that success lasts.” Dr. Manson says skeptically.
With that, the group begins to transform the blobs back to normal. They go through the process of taking the blob out of the bucket, stabilizing it, putting it in a hospital gown/blanket, and escorting it home. Only a few of the blob turn back into normal humans/animals. The rest are either animal masks or humans that mixed with animal DNA, becoming human-animal hybrids. This continues until there’s only two blobs left.
“These two blobs are Jane Doe and Richard Roe.” Cluedle-Doo notes as he holds up the two containers. We don’t know which one is which, but we’re going to restore them to their normal selves.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get an answer to what happened the night he turned into a blob.” Dr. Manson says. Luna opens the container with one of the blobs and places the blob on the table.
As soon as the blob is zapped, it begins to take on a mostly human shape. The legs form, but they take on the form of goat’s legs. The head grows a pair of ram’s horns. Otherwise, everything else indicates a human being. Dr. Manson and Cluedle-Doo take one look at the body and recognize it as…
“Richard Roe!”
As soon as Richard Roe wakes up, he starts coughing out some goo. After a short while, he pants tiredly before looking at his surroundings and then himself. “What happened?” Richard pants. “Why are my legs so fuzzy? Why am I naked and covered in goo? What’s going on here?” He then sees Cluedle-Doo and growls “YOU!”
Cluedle-Doo nods, “It’s me, Richard. You’ve been a blob for a while now. Looks like some ram DNA mixed in yours -- now you've got ram legs and horns.”
Richard lifts his legs and sees that instead of human legs and feet, he now has ram legs and feet. He feels around his head and feels two horns protruding from the sides of his head. “Oh my God.”
UFO sucks the goo off Richard, and Cluedle-Doo hands Richard the suit he wore and the keys to his house. Richard gets up from the table and struggles to stand up. While Richard gets dressed, Dr. Manson tells Richard “So, Cluedle-Doo accused you of breaking the DNA Splitter and cause the goo that almost ate life itself. Is that true?”
“Well, it wasn’t entirely my fault!” Richard insists. “I was about to use the DNA Splitter on Cluedle-Doo when Jane tackled me and made me drop it. The last thing I remember is the Splitter exploding and my body slowly turning into goo before blacking out.”
“So, it wasn’t Cluedle-Doo's fault,” Dr. Manson mutters. “Our citizens are no longer normal because of you! We’ve prided ourselves on normalcy, and it all got ruined by one event.”
“Don’t forget the flesh suit zombies.” Sherlock notes. “You have some responsibility for how those people are going to feel about the fact that they’re not normal.”
“If only The Masked DNA Act of 1955 didn’t forbid me from splitting masked DNA, then I would have gotten you back to normal.” Dr. Manson tells Richard.
“Your idea of normal sounds a lot different from any other idea of normal.” Chameleon calls out Dr. Manson. “You want ‘normal’ animals and ‘normal’ humans that aren’t masks.”
“Duly noted.” Dr. Manson responds.
“I’ll make sure that you’ll never have a ‘normal’ day ever again, Dr. Manson!” Richard vows in anger. “And as for you, Cluedle-Doo, I’ll find out if you’re a chicken mask or not!”
Cluedle-Doo takes off his mask, revealing his chicken face, and asks Richard “Is this what you want?”
Richards eyes widen in revelation before he grumbles in anger, “You magnificent &@$%@#&.” With that, he walks away, stumbling a little bit as he’s not used to walking with hooves.
Cluedle-Doo and Dr. Manson look at the final blob and place it on the table. “I believe this is Jane Doe.” Cluedle-Doo theorizes.
“It might as well be Jane Doe.” Dr. Manson mutters.
“Could she be the alien that you tested the first flesh suit on?” Cluedle-Doo wonders.
“Well, it’s time for you to find out.” Dr. Manson takes the DNA Stabilizer and shoots the blob with a stern look on his face. The blob begins to take on a humanoid shape, but it looks odd. The body is tall and slender, and the limbs are long. Both hands have only three fingers, and both feet have only three toes. The head is twice the size of a normal human head, and the eyes are as huge as bowling balls. After UFO sucks the goo off the body, Cluedle-Doo covers the strange figure with a blanket.
Jane Doe opens her eyes and looks around. She’s not inside the underground base anymore, but rather a sterile lab. She moves her arm and feels the blanket covering her. She then sits up and holds the blanket up to her chest. She then sees two familiar figures at the end of the table she is on. “Cluedle-Doo! And... Dr. Manson?”
“No, it’s God!” Dr. Manson responds sarcastically. “Who the hell do you think it is?”
Jane extends her arms out, relieved to see Cluedle-Doo again. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” She says, then she notices that her arms are unusual and alien. She looks at her hands and says, “What’s wrong with me?”
Dr. Manson sighs, “I have to tell you the truth. Jane, you’re an alien.”
“An alien?” Jane Doe squeaks.
“Yes, an alien.” Dr. Manson admits. “I took you from your mother when you landed upon the earth and used you as a test subject for the first flesh suit.”
“So, my entire life was a lie?” Jane Doe weeps.
“Yes.” Dr. Manson says. “The government has strict protocols on aliens. You can live freely in disguise or face imprisonment. The choice is yours, but each path comes with its own challenges.”
“I don’t know if it’s possible for Jane to wear the flesh suit again since all of them deactivated.” Cluedle-Doo says. “Here, I’ll show you.” He reaches inside his shoulder bag and pulls out the surprisingly intact flesh suit of Jane Doe. “How is this possible?”
“This flesh suit, unlike all the others, is made to be controlled by the person who wears it.” Dr. Manson explains. “I only added the override to later flesh suits as a means of control. So, Jane Doe, what’s it going to be?”
Jane thinks about everything that has happened. From the promotion to mayor pro tempore, to the DNA Splitter exploding, to the revelation that she is an alien. Does she even trust Dr. Manson anymore now that the truth has come out? She makes her hopefully-not-final decision.
By sunrise, the news has spread like wildfire. Every Coverton citizen now knows about the consequences of Dr. Manson’s experiments and the corruption of their humanity. The entire town is gathered around the outdoor stage of the government building for a huge announcement. Dr. Manson stands at the podium with the Men in Black behind him. Jane Doe is standing to the left of Dr. Manson, having donned the flesh suit again, and Cluedle-Doo and Sherlock are standing to the right of him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make.” Dr. Manson announces. “Due to the Masked DNA Act of 1955, I’m not allowed to use the DNA Splitter to split the human and animal DNAs to get you back to normal.” The crowd roars with anger. “But I do have an alternative: The Flesh Suit. Many of you are familiar with the flesh suit because I... placed you in these flesh suits as soon as you were born.” Most of the crowd gasps at the revelation.
“But don’t worry.” Dr. Manson reassures. “Starting today, you’ll be asked for consent on whether you want to continue wearing the flesh suit or not. Our team of Coverton scientists are working on repairing the already existing flesh suits. We’ll also be making these flesh suits public for not only the masks, but to any human who wants to change their appearance.” The crowd murmurs among themselves.
Before Dr. Manson continues his speech, a familiar pair of women make their way through the crowd. As soon as they reach the outdoor stage, Dr. Manson recognizes them. “Mayor Rosemary! Ms. Thyme!”
“Dr. Manson!” The duo exclaims.
“Can you tell us what the hell is going on here?!” Sage asks. “Who are all these creatures?”
Dr. Manson sighs. “It’s a long story. We’re so glad you’re back.”
“Did we…interrupt something?” Parsley is confused.
“Well, I was in the middle of my resignation speech, and I was going to reinstate Jane Doe as mayor. But, since you two came back on time…Ladies and Gentlemen! Please welcome back Mayor Parsley Rosemary and her assistant Sage Thyme.” A few claps could be heard throughout the crowd.
“And with that, I resign as mayor and will be turning myself in to the authorities.” Dr. Manson says. “Thank Cluedle-Doo and Sherlock for cleaning up the blobs. Thank Chameleon for creating the DNA Stabilizer. Don’t thank me for all the trauma I’ve put you through.”
Dr. Manson walks up to the Men in Black and holds out his hands. One of the Men in Black places Dr. Manson in handcuffs and escorts him off the stage. He gets taken to a black van, where he sits down and the door closes on him. The crowd watches as the van takes Dr. Manson away from Coverton. Mayor Rosemary and Ms. Thyme head up the stage, where the mayor begins her improv speech.
“Hello, people of Coverton.” Mayor Rosemary smiles despite her tiredness. “We’re out of the loop about what happened in Coverton, but we’ll do our best to make sure everything runs smoothly.” The crowd murmurs to themselves. Sage Thyme looks around with concern, trying to gauge the crowd’s reaction while mentally preparing for the challenges ahead. They look at Cluedle-Doo and Sherlock, their mortal enemies, and quietly discuss their next actions.
“Leondra, Cluedle-Doo and Sherlock are here, but we can’t do anything to them with the crowd watching us.” Sage whispers to Parsley.
“Don’t worry, Capri.” Parsley whispers back to Sage. “We’ll strike when the time comes. Until then, we play it safe.” She turns to Jane Doe and says, “Jane, darling, can you help us catch up on everything that has happened during our absence from Coverton? Could you also help Coverton adapt to their new situation?”
Jane forces a smile upon her face and replies with, “S-sure I can!” Jane still has the memory of her alien revelation in her head, and she’s worried that she’ll blurt it out at the wrong moment. She feels a mix of fear and confusion, struggling to process her new identity while trying to maintain composure in front of the crowd. She’s going to keep helping the mayor and her assistant in any way she can while dealing with her own inner struggle.