Welcome to the exciting conclusion of the adventures of Inventory Man! It’s been a while since I posted the last part of this story so you might want to go back and reread the earlier chapters. In part three, “INVENTORY MAN…agement Is in Trouble,” two of Inventory Man’s friends were sucked into one of the giant robots attacking Fishbowl headquarters. Now let’s see what happens next!
Inventory Man struggled to get around the two robots between him and the Fishbowl building. His mind was still filled with concern as he frantically thought of his friends’ fate. Were they alive? Could he still save them? These thoughts kept him from concentrating on the task at hand, and the robots took advantage of his distraction.
They had learned from the other robots’ fights with him in the city and so they switched their strategy from fighting him one on one to taking him on all at once. Inventory Man tried to gain an advantage, but the towering machines were moving too fast and he was starting to lose ground.
While one of the robots got his attention, the other snuck up behind him and sent him flying into a nearby building. Inventory Man pulled himself out of the huge dent he had made in the building in time to see two hulking figures approaching him through the dusty air.
Just as the robots were about to burst through the cloud of dust and renew their attack, they abruptly stopped mid-step. They stood perfectly still for a few seconds and then suddenly turned around and hurtled back toward the city where they had come from. Inventory Man was surprised by this sudden turn of events. He was about to follow them when he heard his name being called. It was Slowest Chain’s voice.
Inventory Man hurried to the top of the Fishbowl building where Slowest Chain and Getting Oldsoon were climbing out of the robot that had sucked them up just a few minutes ago.
“Are you both all right?” Inventory Man asked.
“We’re just fine, thanks to a little ingenuity,” Ms. Chain responded gingerly.
“Did you have a hand in stopping those robots?”
“Certainly!” Ms. Chain said. “I was able to look up the robots’ bill of materials, and I discovered a little flaw in their makeup. They have a transmitter that allows them to constantly communicate with each other, so I just had to reprogram one to spread my orders to all the others. They’re returning the stolen goods and repairing the damage they did as we speak.”
Inventory Man scanned the area in the distance and confirmed that Ms. Chain was right. The robots were all retreating.
“I must say I’m impressed,” he said, smiling. “That was very quick thinking, Ms. Chain. You put yourself in a lot of risk, though.”
“I had to get close to make it work. Everything turned out all right, though. We make a good team, don’t we?” she said, returning his smile.
“Yes, we do. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other business to attend to.” And with that, Inventory Man flew out sight.
“Gee, Ms. Chain, let’s go make sure everyone’s okay inside,” Oldsoon said as he ran to the stairs.
Downstairs, everyone was accounted for except Kevin Clark.
“I hope Clark’s okay,” Ms. Chain said with concern in her voice.
As if to answer her question, a robotic arm swooped into the room through an open window and promptly deposited Clark next to his desk. He was holding a large box.
“Hi, Slowest,” he said nonchalantly. “I got picked up by one of these metal fellows, and it just happened to have my undelivered computer inside it. So I grabbed it on my way out. Boy, what a day this has been. I think I’m going to like working at Fishbowl. I hope everything’s been nice and quiet around here while I was away.”
And thus ends the amazing adventure of Inventory Man…agement!
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