| View | [+] ... Riff: When Aylee burst out of the cocoon, the Doc fled, Bun-Bun was trapped beneath the wreckage of Kesandru House, and the digbots kept building, repairing, and replicating. This place is constantly getting bigger. Bun-bun has since claimed this as his own. ...[-] Comic Title: Sluggy Freelance | Now with 50% more recappy wordiness!
===
Riff: Before we begin exploring, it's time for a history lesson. While Dr. Schlock was monitoring the pre-giant Aylee's cocoon, he had a series of inflatable construction-bots building himself a secret lair beneath Kesandru House.
--
Riff: When Aylee burst out of the cocoon, the Doc fled, Bun-Bun was trapped beneath the wreckage of Kesandru House, and the digbots kept building, repairing, and replicating. This place is constantly getting bigger. Bun-bun has since claimed this as his own.
--
Riff: I'm currently renting this from Bun-Bun fair and square. Since Doctor Schlock visited here a couple of months ago, he obviously doesn't mind the current arrangement. But Bun-Bun has tried to rent this place simultaneously to at least two others. There may be more. So we're going to sweep the place and make sure there are no other surprises from Bun-Bun.
--
Torg: Hey! That wasn't a history lesson! That was a *recap!*
Riff: What is history if not the /ultimate/ recap?
Torg: Point.
--
Riff: Armed villains, cave-ins, irradiated mutant bugs... Who knows what we're going to find down here! So I thought we'd split up and go in three different directions.
Torg: Sounds great!
Zoë: Hey! I just remembered Gwynn mentioned a shoe sale! Anyone want to do that?
--
Riff: There are three locations that need checking out. To the west are the completely unexplored chambers. I just haven't had time to investigate them.
Riff: To the south are the narrower chambers. I see the digbots going in and out of them a lot but I can barely fit, so I've avoided them. To the east are a series of storage closets. I've explored and cataloged all of them, but I heard something weird coming from them last night.
--
Torg: What did you hear?
Riff: I'm not sure but I'm deaf in this ear now.
Torg: Ooooh, I'm doing /*that*/ one! *Dibs on east!*
Riff: What? | Flag |
| View | [+] ... (More digbots get hit; they appear to be losing) ...[-] (A marshal-bot is hit and goes down in the laser battle with Hereti-Corp)
--
(A Hereti-Corp Agent gets hit)
--
(More digbots get hit; they appear to be losing)
--
(Hereti-Corp agents trample deflated digbots)
--
(Frog enters, in his frech, which looks very much like Darth Vader from Star Wars)
<*hoh-HAH hoh-HAH*>
--
(A closer look at the frech: the chest-plate is labeled "FR-ECH," a box on the chest plate is labeled "FLY BOX [LUNCH]," and the belt buckle is labeled "FROG")
<*hoh-HAHA hoh-HAH*>
Frog: HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW? | Flag |
| View | [+] ... Chen: I've been in touch with Torg. I feed him information like when and where you held that spy, Teresa. Info passed through notes via digbots in the walls. You've got /*so*/ many digbots in your walls. Torg doesn't tell me anything but I know he's conspiring against you and making a play for Oasis. ...[-] Dr. Marcus Chen: I don't even warrant a full-sized inflatable decoy of you, Irving? May I call you Irving?
Dr. Irving Schlock (through his decoy balloon, held by Kusari): No Marcus. You can call me Dr. Schlock. And you'd /better/ be interesting.
--
Chen: I've been in touch with Torg. I feed him information like when and where you held that spy, Teresa. Info passed through notes via digbots in the walls. You've got /*so*/ many digbots in your walls. Torg doesn't tell me anything but I know he's conspiring against you and making a play for Oasis.
--
<****FSSSSS****>
(The Schlock decoy balloon begins to distort...)
--
<****POP!****>
<**FSSSS**>
(The original decoy balloon pops and a red balloon begins to inflate)
--
<***FUMP!***>
(An angry red 'Schlock' is now fully inflated)
Schlock (through the angry red balloon): *You helped let that spy escape?!? That spy who made it possible for Riff to destroy the first functioning flux satellite?!? You admit your complicity in this yet have no information to give me outside of what I already know, that Torg is after Oasis?!?*
--
Marcus: I didn't help Teresa escape in any way. Calm down, Dr. Schlock. You need me still.
Schlock (through the angry red balloon): But I am realizing how many body parts you /*don't*/ need to put the tracer and transponder on Oasis. | Flag |
| View | [+] ... Torg (into his cell-phone, behind a tree, dodging bullets): No need to risk your digbots, King Under the Mountain. My Shoddie-Suit digbots have already dug into position below the supports. Below the E.M.P.s, and below detection. And *they are packing rockets!* ...[-] Dr. Irving Schlock (over communication channels): Chen, Kusari, did you get the coordinates?
Chen (on a motorcycle, with Kusari riding behind him): We are "on it," boss!
<***VROOOM***><**PUM-PUM-PUM**>
--
Torg (into his cell-phone, behind a tree, dodging bullets): No need to risk your digbots, King Under the Mountain. My Shoddie-Suit digbots have already dug into position below the supports. Below the E.M.P.s, and below detection. And *they are packing rockets!*
--
Shoddie Suits: ****PLAN F! FIRE!****
<***fooosh!***> <***fooosh!***> <***fooosh!***> <***fooosh!***> | Flag |
| View | [+] (Using her Kusari-gama, stomping, and punching, Kusari quickly dispatches the digbots) ...[-] (Using her Kusari-gama, stomping, and punching, Kusari quickly dispatches the digbots)
<***SLASHITTY***> <***SLASH***> <***STOMP***> <**PUNCH**>
<***POP***><***POP***><POP><***POPPITTY***><POP><***POP***><***POP***><***POP***><***POPPITTY***><***POP***><POP>
--
Chaz: "Run?" /Seriously?/
Torg: She was trying to look helpless to bait us in! They're just a small pack of random inflatable digbots and Kusari's a stab-machine almost as stabby as...
--
Torg: /...Oasis!?!/
Oasis: ***TORGY!***
--
(Oasis leaps onto him and gives him a great big kiss)
<heart>
--
Oasis (leaping onto Torg's chest and using him as a springboard...): **OVERRIDE B1**
Torg: Whoah-/*Whoah!*/
--
(Oasis releases one of her throwing knives towards Kusari, while simultaneously blocking her Kusari-gama blade)
<***CLANG***>
--
(Kusari blocks the throwing knife with her other Kusari-gama blade; Oasis cartwheels over towards her while releasing another throwing knife; Torg is down)
<**CLING**>
--
Kusari (blocking the second throwing knife): Hello sister.
<**CLONG**> | Flag |
| View | [+] ... Announce-bot: *Attention all digbots. Our leader has a run-on command for you. "All digbots shall run in circles while proceeding to round up all organics, without flamethrowers, for slaughter, except for extinguisher-bots who should run in straighter lines and put out the fires at their discretion."* ...[-] Sasha (adding an olive to a sandwich): It's an inflatable ground-to-orbit functioning spaceship?
Torg: Hells /*yeah!*/
--
Torg: When Riff blasted me and Aylee to another dimension it was an alternate future where mankind had to flee to the stars to avoid extinction. Thanks to Dr. Schlock, humanity was saved.
--
Sasha (holding bread): That was an /actual/ sneeze. I dated Riff. Alternate dimensions don't cause me to do sandwich spit-takes.
Torg (covered in sandwich): Gesundheit.
--
Torg: Anywho I knew Schlock had it in him to be a hero. I always wondered if I should have told /*our*/ Dr. Schlock about it, but I haven't seen him since Aylee and I got back.
--
Torg: /*We*/ helped humanity just a little bit too, so the government rewarded me with the XT-34 spaceship and a bunch of inflatable hoverbike capsules.
--
</Resume flashback>
Torg (narrating): Riff was always supposed to have built a hanger for it but never did. And I had to figure out how I was going to get the XT-34, and us, out of Digbot-City /gone wild./
Announce-bot: *Attention all digbots. Our leader has a run-on command for you. "All digbots shall run in circles while proceeding to round up all organics, without flamethrowers, for slaughter, except for extinguisher-bots who should run in straighter lines and put out the fires at their discretion."*
</Pause flashback>
===
NOTE: Again, everything Torg recaps in panel two happened in _Chapter 52_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20070205>! | Flag |
| View | [+] Torg (over video chat): All hail the King Under the Mountain! We need more digbots. ...[-] Torg (over video chat): All hail the King Under the Mountain! We need more digbots.
Brain-digbot: You shall have them!
--
Black Ops elves (tossing darts up in the air): ****HURRAY!****
<***POP***> <***POP***> <***Poppity***> <***POP***>
--
Torg (with a dart in his shoulder): *OW!* I said *'no more celebratory dart juggling!!!"* And /how was that even juggling?/
Black Ops elf (giving two thumbs up): Exactly!
--
Torg (over video chat): um... /Hail again!/ ...we need more digbots.
===
NOTE: Ref: Dart Juggling (_1_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20150807>) (_2_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20150825>). | Flag |
| View | [+] ... Brain-digbot: I, the Brain-digbot, had you rescued! ...[-] (Zoë is sitting at "Bar None")
Torg: Hey! Can I buy you a drink?
--
Zoë: Torg?
--
Zoë (hugging Torg): *Thank god!* I thought I was going to be stuck down here *forever!*
--
Zoë: The tunnel down here is too narrow. The fact that I couldn't move my arms and legs much... I had a panic attack. I'm not even sure how I made it here.
Brain-digbot: I, the Brain-digbot, had you rescued!
--
Torg: Well I'm here to take you back!
Zoë: I don't think I can go back through that tunnel, Torg!
--
Brain-digbot (zipping into her field of view): You can stay /*here!*/
<ert!>
Torg: Maybe you need some liquid courage! What are you drinking?
Zoë: Water.
--
Torg: Water?
Zoë: The booze here is too strong for my taste.
Torg: What's the proof?
Brain-digbot: I'm *talking* here!
Zoë: 200.
Torg: Now /*that'll*/ give you a hangover. | Flag |
| View | [+] ... Torg: Yes? Fantastic! Thirty Digbots? That /*(*)should(*)*/ be enough! But you were supposed to bring them in /*during*/ the pruneral! Get them to the casino foundation but be /careful!/ ...[-] </Resume flashback>
Zoë (wide eyed): You want me to reach out to *Noah Zark?*
Torg: It worked twice before.
Zoë: And he almost killed me! *Both* times!
Torg: We need him. And you won't be meeting in person so you'll be safe this time.
<**RING!**>
--
Torg: Yes? Fantastic! Thirty Digbots? That /*(*)should(*)*/ be enough! But you were supposed to bring them in /*during*/ the pruneral! Get them to the casino foundation but be /careful!/
Zoë: /"Digbots?"/ I remember them.
--
Torg: What?
Torg: Wait /*no!*/
--
(over the phone): ***POP!*** *pop!* ***POPPITY POP!***
--
Torg (angrily): *Stop juggling and /count!/*
--
Torg: Twenty digbots left? Of /*course*/ they're inflatable! A *madman /that's/* who! No more darts for you elves!
--
Torg: Who does *"celebratory throwing dart juggling,"* /really?/
--
Zoë: If I remember the first time I met Noah Zark, you and Riff had darts and...
Torg: That was *gravitational dart ninjas* and that was /*totally*/ different!
</Pause flashback>
===
Ref: _This Strip_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20150611> (timewise, plus Pruneral) | _Zoë and Noah_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/120725> (_it_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/120727> _continues_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/120801> _on_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/120803> _for_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/120806> a _few_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/120808> strips_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/120810>!) | _Zoë Remebers [sic: should be "Remembers"] Digbots_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20081117> (+ _*cooler Gene HA! version*_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20090823>!) | _Gravitational Dart Ninjas_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/030118>. | Flag |
| View | [+] ... Torg (into the phone): Yes? Fantastic! Thirty digbots? That /*(*)should(*)*/ be enough! But you were supposed to bring them in /*during*/ the pruneral! Get them to the casino foundation but be /careful!/ ...[-] </Resume other flashback>
Torg: The secret I'm keeping from Teresa is because I may need to play that card later.
Torg: The secret I'm keeping from Riff is to keep him from getting himself killed.
Torg: The secret I'm keeping from Bun-Bun is to keep /*me*/ from getting killed.
Teresa (spying on Torg; thinking): OK. So Torg has a secret over me, huh? Let's see how he feels about that once I snag </strikethrough> his <strikethrough> /my/ precious device.
--
Zoë: Why didn't you tell me about this /sooner?/
Torg: No sense in burdening you since it didn't involve you. Now it does. Zoë, the casino has just begun to be built but the gamblers are /already here./
--
Torg: The guys Riff calls "Oompa Loompas" are called Black Ops Elves. They want to take down Hereti-Corp. And now they work for me. And we need you.
--
Zoë: For what?
Torg: Noah Zark.
--
Teresa (thinking): Zark?!? That grease-ball?
--
Zoë (alarmed): You want me to reach out to *Noah Zark?*
--
Torg: It worked twice before.
Zoë: And he almost killed me! *Both* times!
Torg: We need him. And you won't be meeting in person so you'll be safe this time.
<**RING!**>
--
Torg (into the phone): Yes? Fantastic! Thirty digbots? That /*(*)should(*)*/ be enough! But you were supposed to bring them in /*during*/ the pruneral! Get them to the casino foundation but be /careful!/
Zoë: /"Digbots?"/ I remember them.
--
Teresa (thinking): Bingo. Let's see these digbots.
--
Elf #1: Let's back up and let them do their things!
Elf #2: /Whoah!/ Popped another. Back up carefully!
Teresa (now spying on the elves; thinking): Digbots are cute, but they're not "The Device."
Sign: Future Home of Club Bun-Bun
--
Teresa (collapsed on her back in the grass): /*Ugh!/ Cat burglary is /so/ much funner when you know what the eff you're stealing!
</Pause other flashback>
===
NOTE: Refs: (_1_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20150611>) (_2_ <http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20150807>) and I know, 'funner' isn't a word, you'll have to take that up with Teresa's brain. | Flag |
| View | [+] ... Brain-digbot: *For I am *THE BRAIN-DIGBOT!!!** ...[-] Riff (into the walkie-talkie): The digbots built a /nightclub?/
Torg (off panel; over the walkie-talkie): It looks like it. It's /*filled*/ with them, and since this is the only thing down here I figure Zoë /must/ be here.
Riff (into the walkie-talkie): Who knows what Dr. Schlock made these guys capable of? But man, my own secret lab /with my own nightclub.../ Dude, you cannot tell Bun-Bun about this.
--
Torg (into the walkie-talkie): Never fear. Hey, there's no cover charge after all since the digbots don't seem to know how to tell if a human is female.
(A drill-bot and a dig-bot are dancing; another dig-bot is offering Torg a drink: <heart>)
--
Torg: Hey! /*There's*/ Zoë!
Brain-digbot: *Maybe I have DEEMED you female, and my word is law!!*
--
Torg (turning around and banging his head on the low ceiling): *Wha?*
Sound effect: *BONK!*
Brain-digbot: *For I am *THE BRAIN-DIGBOT!!!**
Torg: Ow!
(The Brain-digbot is on a podium; there is a poster on the podium that says "Monday night | Inflataoke" | Flag |
