There were also two nervous-looking henchmen sorts, but even at 1/1000 scale we figured we could handle henchmen. We didn't have much of a choice. Their WAMT badges said Mr. Hasbro and Mr. Mattel.
    "What exactly are our orders here?"
    "Well, they're going to show up to try to get their bodies back."
    "The boss told you that?"
    A nod. "He figured that's what would happen."
    The first guard hesitated a moment, then asked, "Why don't we just shoot their bodies and then they can't come and kick the crap out of us?"
    The other guard hit him. "Didn't you listen in class?"
    "Wait a minute," the first asked a moment later, "how are we even supposed to know where they are?"
    "Oh, that's right, I forgot." He picked up some small device. "I have a scanner here for the energy signatures...."
    Scott misted his way down into the ear of the one with the scanner.
    "Ah, bugs," the guy muttered, slapping at his neck with a grimace before comprehension arrived. "Wait a minute—not bugs! Three meters, according to this they're in the—" Then Scott whacked him on the eardrum. "Argh! My ear!"
    Phoenix Talon hooked his line around a cable on the ceiling and swung up to it, worked his way along it toward the other man. I looked at our bodies—I hate looking at myself from the outside—and the array of electrodes, and began unhooking the four on Thunderbolt's head.
    The other guy grabbed the dropped scanner. "There!" He began firing an energy pistol at Phoenix Talon, missing badly. Talon had reached the phone line where it ran down the wall toward the jack, and slid down it. Mattel kept firing and managed to melt the phone line, glanced at the readout again. "I must've—ha! He's not up there any more! There are a couple up there!" He turned toward the vent.
    Thunderbolt shrugged; he'd dealt with Godzilla, after all. I got the second electrode off as the guy fired again, leaving great gaping holes in the vent cover. The third shot would have obliterated both of us, but simply vanished as my teammate absorbed it.
    The henchman's eyes got even wider. "He's... glowing...."
    Unfortunately, the returned energy bolt wasn't quite as strong as we'd hoped, but the guy did drop his gun as he dove for the floor, looking at the readout again as he made his way over to it. "Oh no. There's one on the floor!"
    "So I'll consider stopping pounding on your eardrum if you'll unhook us from the consciousness transfers," Scott offered his victim.
    "I'm hearing a voice in my head...."
    "Don't listen to them, they're lying to you!" the other henchman shrieked.
    Phoenix Talon scrambled atop the gun, braced himself, and pushed the trigger, surfing atop it as the recoil sent the weapon flying across the floor.
    I got to the fourth electrode.
    The henchman with Scott pulled out a knife and put it to Thunderbolt's throat. "Okay, I've got a knife to your buddy's throat, you get out of my ear or he's gone, understand me?"
    Thunderbolt grabbed his wrist; there was lots of power in the room....
    "Aaarrgh!" He slumped unconscious as electricity coursed into his body.
    Phoenix Talon spun the gun around to aim at the other man's feet and triggered it again, sending himself spinning across the floor once more.
    "Ow!"
    Thunderbolt got up, trailing electrodes, and swiftly unplugged the rest of us. Need I say how wonderful it was to be back in my own skin again, particularly wearing something reasonable? We were all not only clothed but accoutred as normal; Phoenix Talon's bokken was in the corner.
    "It's required," Scott explained, shaking his metallic body to life.
    There was a second door out of the room; we decided without any discussion necessary to go that way.
    "If you kill anybody Talon, just make sure it looks like self-defense," I suggested as he picked up the toy he had so recently been and crushed it in one hand.
    "Remember we're on film," Thunderbolt reminded us. This was the Toy Man, after all, with his weird camera fetish.
    Beyond the door was a spiral staircase leading down a goodly distance. Thunderbolt brought up the rear and paused long enough to blow up the consciousness transfer machines. I scanned the three of us and made sure that we didn't have any interesting inorganic additions since the last time I'd looked; we were all a bit woozy, but otherwise seemed to be in decent shape.
    Scott led the way, Phoenix Talon eager behind him, then me. Behind me Thunderbolt slagged cameras with casual bolts of electricity as we passed them. At the bottom of the stairs was an antechamber leading into the quite large main headquarters, and two more henchmen.
    "We've lost security upstairs, we tried to call them, there's nothing getting through!" one was saying.
    "What do you mean there's nothing getting through?" The Toy Man strode into the room, cape billowing around his imposing frame. "They can't possibly—"
    "Be standing right in front of you?" Scott chirped.
    "Oh, Peeeeeter.... PeterPeterPeterPeter... Petey...." Phoenix Talon crooned maniacally, advancing toward his prey.
    "Parker! Parker! Get him!" Toy Man barked.
    Phoenix Talon paid no attention to the henchmen, swinging his katana in a furious attack, which did no apparent damage to the Toy Man's armor.
    "Hah! Is that the best you have? I've already told the people of Boston that I've made you my playthings, now return back to you pen!"
    "That was the wrong thing to say...." I observed as Talon got out some plastique. I glanced at the Toy Man; his bioaura was weird through the armor, and I sensed it would be hard for me to do anything to him. I decided to stick to henchmen, but the Parker I reached for scrambled out of the way, heading for some sort of heavy armament in a wall rack.
    Thunderbolt scanned the most cunning and dangerous etc. as well; the energy signature was somehow familiar, but he couldn't quite bring it to mind, and the armor's power sources were shielded. He braced himself, sucked in power from elsewhere in the room and launched a massive lightning bolt at the Toy Man, leaving a nice melted chunk in the armor and knocking the villain off his feet.

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