It's Sciency-Wiency stuff!

A hard time catching up

Matt scrambled about quickly, running faster than any human being. When they finally caught up to him, he was heading past the large window panes of closed shops, shirking each time he caught a glimpse of his spiny self in the glass. They lost sight of him as they approached the busy marketplace. He was lost in the hustle and bustle of the crowd. They heard a familiar voice scream from somewhere in the crowd. "Make way, folks! Comin through...It's urgent! " Martin pushed his way through the crowd, sprinting in the direction of the voice, while the equally determined women followed behind him. They found a terrified Madeleine huddled in a corner next to a fast food stall, the contents of her shopping bags strewn on the road and quills sticking out of her pink cropped jumper. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt. "Deirdre....? Matt...he's a......a monster! Wh...what's goin on?! " a shaken Madeleine asked, as Deirdre helped her up. "No time to explain, Maddy. Which way did he go? " she enquired, while pulling the sharp things outta her friend's jumper. "I...uh...he, uh, bumped into me....An' then he ran away...that way, towards the Hungerford and Jubilee bridges." she recollected, pointing in the direction with a shaky finger.  "Whatever this is....I'd like to help." she offered , to their surprise! 

They raced against time, making their way to the bridges which wore a deserted look. "Split up. Ya two take the footbridges, while Deirdre an' I'll take the railbridge. Be careful." Martin ordered Madeleine and Alice (who held onto the antidote). "Aye, aye, Cap'n! " Madeleine exclaimed, rather excited about their nighttime adventure. "Don't call me that! An' I want ya to take this seriously, kay? " a distrustful Martin reprimanded, before hurrying away. 

"So...serum gone wrong, huh? " Madeleine asked, as the duo walked along the empty footbridge, keeping an eye out for Matt. "Don't rub it in my face. Where's the rest of your Goonie gang, anyway? " Alice enquired. "I wasn't rubbin it in your face. I just feel sorry for poor Matt. An' if you must know...Anita an' Raleigh are on a late night flight to Brazil. We'd got a job at a research lab there but they left me in the lurch after Raleigh an' I had a tiff at the airport. An' the worst part is....he said I looked fat in this jumper! I was just doin some binge shoppin to get over that arseholse's hurtful comments. Ya dunno how much I'm hurtin right now." she revealed, with a sniffle. "Get a grip!"  Alice muttered, rolling her eyes and wishing she hadn't asked. "Shush! What was that?! " she interrupted a narcissistic Madeleine who'd begun to ramble on about how the cropped jumper suited her, accentuated her curves an' how wrong stupid Raleigh was an' how she hated him an' Anita an' how she wished their plane would crash! A loud clang from the nearby steel truss railbridge finally shut her up. "Oh, my god! " a wide- eyed Madeleine cried out, as they saw Matt clinging to the side of the railbridge. He was bathed in the light from Alice's flashlight as he slowly crept across the bridge, unbeknownst to Martin and Deirdre who stood on the railway tracks."Guys, look out! " Alice cried out a warning, as he climbed higher and higher, before dropping down on his feet in front of the couple.