by The Time Trust and Nowhereman
MBL Headquarters, Thunder City:
Hardy New-Born, Caped Cadet, Natsuko, and Beer-Drinking Lad were attempting to contact the other members of the MBL.
Natsuko: "No response from anybody so far, Cadet."
Caped Cadet looked up. "Really?"
Natsuko: "No, Cadet. It appears as if the other members are gone."
Caped Cadet: "So... why are you telling me all this? This isn't Star Trek, and I'm not the leader!"
Beer-Drinking Lad: "Hey, guys! Guys! We're being hailed!"
Caped Cadet: "I said, this isn't Star Trek!"
Beer-Drinking Lad: "No, I'm serious... listen..."
A face came onto the viewscreen, with six similar-looking people in the background. The figure spoke.
"I am number One..."
Natsuko snickered in the background as Caped Cadet frowned.
"...of the Council of Seven in the Time Trust, an organization dedicated to protecting the time stream. How are you?"
The MBL members just looked at each other, until Hardy New-Born spoke up. "Uh, we're fine."
Councillor One: "That is good. Although this is a prerecorded message, we are outside of time and therefore know what you will say before you say it. But please, listen...
"The talos, or advanced android, you know as Time Trustee Tempus, a.k.a. Timothy Trystan, is no longer under our control, and we fear that he may be under the evil influence of a Meta Board League enemy, what you would refer to as a metavillain. He is very powerful, and we fear that his presence in your year of 2000 A.D. may interrupt the proper course of time for your dimension. We ask that you track him down and disable him with this..."
A small, cylindrical object materialized out of nowhere in the midst of the MBL.
Councillor One: "It is a highly-sensitive electromagnetic nullifier, and will disable the talos long enough for our equipment to retrieve it."
Hardy New-Born: "Why don't you just track him down yourself?"
Councillor One: "We are bound to the time stream. To leave it would mean death to us. To continue... As you can see, we have shaped the nullifier into a familiar twentieth and twenty-first century object."
Beer-Drinking Lad: "It's a BEER CAN!"
Councillor One: "Yes, it appears to look like -- No! Stop!"
Beer-Drinking Lad hungrily gulped the smooth liquid down his throat.
Councillor One: "You idiot! That wasn't beer! It was a lubricant necessary for the nullifier to properly work!"
Beer-Drinking Lad burped loudly.
Councillor One: "Shit!"
Hardy New-Born: "Uh... Can we use it anyway?"
Councillor One: "Well, yes, but we have no way of knowing what effect the nullifier will have on the android now! It's never been used without the lubricant before! Now get that android! Signing off..."
The images on the screen dissolved back to normal.
Hardy New-Born: "I dunno about you guys, but I think our first priority is to find out what happened to Velo and Nowhereman, not to mention the rest of the MBL."
The MBL leader peered off into the distance, thinking about all his absent teammates. "Where are you guys?" He turned back to the others.
Natsuko: "Maybe it's time to bite the bullet and call..."
Caped Cadet: "No, not him..."
Natsuko: "Yes: Money-Grubber."
Elsewhere, Nowhereman looked at Mowhereman and shrugged. "So basically, you're a reverse clone of me and not truly alive!"
Mowhereman: "That am correct!"
Nowhereman: "If you're the reverse of me, you have no powers,right?"
Mowhereman: "Oh, shit!"
With that, Nowhereman destroyed his sorry ass.
Moments later, he arrived at MBL Headquarters. "Did I miss the meeting?"
Hardy New-Born: "What meeting?"
Nowhereman: "Umm..."
Hardy New-Born was speechless.
Beer-Drinking Lad belched loudly again.
Happy Noodle Boy said to Nowhereman, "Natsuko said you were missing, but she was cut off before she could finish her explanation of how she knew about it."
Nowhereman: "Oh, well, that's simple. You see..."