Dinomorphs Vol. 3: The New Henchmen

Chapter 5: Plan B

Claire had done almost everything she went out for. She just had one more thing to take care of at the bank. She headed over to the Totem National Bank to deposit some money into her account when something caught her eye. Two Dyno-Morphs that she didn't recognise came down on rather fancy-looking jetbikes that made almost no noise whatsoever and parked them just outside the bank. A raptor and a triceratops dismounted and entered the building. The female triceratops was wielding what looked like a large laser rifle and the raptor was wielding two electrified whips.
"Oh jeez. they sound like two of the goons the guys were telling me about from the bridge." She looked down at the communicator on her wrist. It was just like the ones the Dyno-Morphs used and Jimbo had given it to her and requested that she use it to contact them and report any crime they can thwart or if she found herself in any kind of danger. "I'd better call the guys and tell them."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, toots." A voice said, coming from behind her.
Claire turned and gasped as she saw a dilophosaurus towering over her, the frills on his head extended for maximum intimidation. Claire froze in fear as she looked up at the monster who clearly had wicked intentions as he grabbed her by the arms and lifted her up to his level.
"Sorry there, sweetcheeks, but we can't have anyone squealin' on us." He said as the human began to struggle against him.
"Put me down, you overgrown lizard!" She hissed and before Scorch could deny her command, she closed her jaws around his left arm and sank her teeth into it until she drew blood. Scorch grit his teeth but was able to bear the pain and keep hold of her.
"Hey, cut that outs, ya little rat!" He commanded and, realising it wasn't getting her anywhere, Claire wound a leg back and kicked forward, striking the dilophosaurus between the legs with her steel toe capped boot. The poor Dyno-Morph dropped her and fell to his knees, cradling his aching groin and crying in pain. Capitalizing on his vulnerability, Claire quickly hopped up a couple of feet in the air and headbutted Scorch, smashing her head against his jaw and knocking him to the floor.

Claire ran into a nearby alley just opposite the bank and climbed into a dumpster, closing the lid behind her. She hurriedly contacted Lucy on her communicator. "Claire? Is everything okay?" Lucy answered.
"Lucy, bring the guys! The bank! I think it's the guys who tried to hijack the tankers yesterday. One of them are after me. Lucy please, I'm so scared!"
"Just stay right there, Claire. We're on our way!" She heard Gill's voice yell, before Lucy could even reply and the Dyno-Morphs wasted no time in boarding their jetbikes and arriving on the scene.

It was only a few minutes before Lucy and the others landed in the alley where Claire had said she was hiding. She sat, huddled quietly in the corner of the dumpster when it suddenly opened. Looking up, expecting to see Lucy or perhaps Jimbo, her heart sank when she saw Scorch snarling down at her. "That wasn't too smart, sweetcheeks! I was gonna let yas go in exchange for a date but now I gotta roast yas!" Claire was awash with panic as the Dyno-Morph pointed one of his flamethrower's nozzles at her, but suddenly she had an idea.
"Oh wait, you wanted a date?" She asked, looking at him admiringly and he cautiously lowered his weapon.
"Well...sure, sweetcheeks. I means, yous is kinda cute, you knows? It'd be waste to torch yas." Claire stood up and began stroking his strong, scaly arm.
"Well, a small, defenceless gal like me would sure appreciate the company of such a strong, manly lizard." Scorch's ego got the better of him and he gently lifted Claire out of the dumpster and pulled her in for a one armed cuddle.
"Well that's not a problem, Sweetcheeks. Old Scorch'll take care o' yas."
"Oh, Scorch?" Claire replied. "That's a cute name. So tell me something, Scorch. Have you ever been suplexed by a triceratops?"
"Huh?" Scorch replied with a look of bafflement on his face. Suddenly, he felt something strong and heavy grip him from behind and found himself being torn away from Claire and lifted into the air as Jimbo brought him up in a suplex and slammed his head into the ground. Before Scorch could even regain his feet, he was dragged up onto them by Gill who snarled in his face.
"If I catch you with your hands on her again, I'll snap 'em off!" Without hesitation, Gill followed up his threat by throwing Scorch into the dumpster and slamming the lid shut on him. Jimbo came over with Scorch's jetbike, which was parked nearby and placed it on top of the dumpster lid.
"That should hold him for a while." The triceratops said while Gill checked Claire's arms for injuries.
"Did he hurt you?" He asked and she gave a chuckle, gently pushing him away.
"Oh Gill, I'm fine, you big softie. Stop fussing." She replied.
"He was just worried about you, Claire." Came Lucy's voice as she gave her human friend a hug. "We all were."
"I know, hun." Claire said, hugging her back. "I don't know what would have happened if it weren't for you guys."
"Yeah, I'm sorry to break this up but isn't the bank being robbed?" Crash asked and with no further delay, they quickly entered the bank while Claire hurried back to her jeep.

Livewire was in the vault, stuffing all the cash he could into some duffle bags while Neera had everyone in the bank lined up in the front and on their knees with her large laser gun aimed at them.
"Good humans. Keep this up and no one will need to get hurt." She said, watching them all carefully. She had her back to the door, knowing that Scorch was on lookout duty and would give her a heads up if the police or those goodie two-shoes Dyno-Morphs showed up. The bank staff all stared worriedly as they saw more mutant dinosaurs walk in through the door. Noticing they were looking at something behind her, Neera quickly turned around just as Lucy was about to use her stun gun on her back and fired her laser weapon, blasting out a series of green energy beams, causing everyone in the bank to dive for cover. Crash suffered a burn on his right wing from one of the lasers which he tried to shrug off but couldn't help but growl out a few aggressive words at his foe while holding his injury with one hand. Gill managed to grab a hold of Neera's gun and attempted to wrestle it out of her grasp but was quickly flung into the air as she threw her arms upwards, sending him crashing painfully into the ceiling. 

Jimbo managed to grab Neera from behind while Lucy hammered her belly with a flurry of kicks. Neera grunted from the blows but was able to bear them long enough to lean forward and throw Jimbo off of her back, almost crushing Lucy who was just barely able to dive out of the way as the triceratops smashed into the floor. 
"Hands off, male!" Neera growled at her attacker as she raised a foot, ready to stomp on Jimbo while he was prone on the floor. He was able to catch the female's foot with both hands before it crushed him and he struggled against it for a moment before shoving her away from him and throwing her off balance. 
"Hey Neera, I got the cash. What's going on out here anyway?" Livewire said as he walked out of the vault with the bags of money, just in time to be hit by a blast from Neera's laser gun as it accidentally went off when she fell over. Crying in surprise, he flew out of the building through the plate glass window, dropping the bags of money on the floor. 
"I've just about had enough of this thing!" Jimbo roared as Neera rose to her feet and decided to be rid of her laser gun. With a swift but powerful swing with his wrist-mounted claws, he sliced clean through her weapon, leaving it in two broken pieces on the floor. 

Realising the jig was up, Neera leapt out of the broken window to check on Livewire while Lucy and Jimbo joined Gill who was with Crash, making sure he was okay. 
"I don't think you'll be flying for a while there, mate." Gill said.
"We can discuss this back home." Lucy said urgently and the boys agreed. 
"Wait a minute, just who are you guys?" A female bank employee asked. "Are you the same guys who stopped a robbery here a little while ago?" 
"I'm afraid we don't have time to explain." Lucy said. "We're just glad everyone's okay." She turned to her comrades. "Come on boys, before the police show up." She said finally and they all left as the people who were being held hostage waved and yelled their thanks. 

"Where'd that moron get to? He was supposed to be keeping an eye out!" Livewire demanded as he and Neera mounted their jetbikes. 
"I don't know but if the doctor doesn't make sure her suffers for this, I certainly will!" Neera replied and the two sped off back to Dr. X-Ray's mansion. 

Later that afternoon, the Dyno-Morphs had made it back to their hideout and were in the back room where Lucy was tending to Crash's wing, rubbing antiseptic on his injury while Claire fussed over him, giving him hugs and patting him on the head like a dog. 
"You silly thing, Crash." She gently chided. "I really wish you guys would be more careful. Two of you have been hurt since these new Dyno-Morphs came on the scene."
"Well technically, Gill got hurt before they surfaced." Jimbo corrected, smirking over at Gill. "Got his tail handed to him by a normal human if I recall." Gill growled and bared his fangs, squaring up to Jimbo, barely even coming up to his chest. 
"You watch your mouth! That ain't fair and you know it!" He hissed.
"It's perfectly fair, Gill. You know the rules and you deliberately broke them." He reminded, his voice still perfectly calm.
"I had good intentions, Jimbo. One of us has to be proactive. We're not all smart enough to build gadgets and doodads, you know!"  
Lucy growled in annoyance as she tried to concentrate on what she was doing. 
"Claire, would you do something about your male pets please?"
Claire got up out of the chair she was sitting in and strode over to the two arguing dinosaurs. 
"You two, knock it off right now!" She barked, making them both flinch. "Gill, stop losing your temper every time somebody says something you don't like. And Jimbo, stop picking on your big brother for goodness sake! Or do I have to go and get the newspaper again?" Gill folded his arms and turned away from Jimbo. 
"I'm finished if he is." Gill said. 
"I'm finished." Jimbo replied. "I wasn't meaning to tick you off Gill. You really need to learn to take a joke." 
"Jimbo's right, Gill." Claire said, rubbing the tylosaurus' arm gently. "It's fine to be angry at things to a degree but it was a joke. You need to learn to just laugh it off. Now go and take a shower, you stink." Without any argument, Gill walked away and headed upstairs.
"Wait, how can Gill stink?" Crash asked. "He's almost always in water."
"Water doesn't kill bacteria, genius." Gill called down the stairs as he walked, invoking a rather shocked and confused look from Crash and Jimbo as they wondered how someone as intellectually challenged as Gill knew such a scientific fact. 
 
Meanwhile, the henchmen stood once again in Dr. X-Ray's study, explaining their failure to him. 
"So it was entirely your fault, was it? AGAIN?" The doctor asked as he scowled at Scorch. 
"You let a female take advantage of you and play you like a fiddle! You were bested by a human half your own size!" 
"I would like to apologize on Scorch's behalf, Doctor." Neera said. "I was asked to keep an eye on him and I failed. I asked him to take up lookout duty while Livewire and I were inside. I thought he could manage it." 
"Well that serious lack of judgement has cost me dearly. Don't let it happen again." He replied, his voice becoming a bit calmer. "Of course, I can't blame you three entirely. It's those blasted unique ones. They've made this personal now and have stuffed up my plans for the last time. I hope you three are thirsty for revenge, because I want those Dyno-Morphs destroyed!" His words brought a smile to all three of their faces.
"Oh that we can do." Neera answered and was met with the agreement of Scorch and Livewire.
"Good," Dr. X-Ray replied. "That'll be all until I think of a plan." The three henchmen left the study and the scientist cradled his aching head in his hands. "Revolting, repulsive reptiles. I'll not have you stand in my way. You mark my words."