The fool!

The Ortrix was gone, slipped further out of his grasp. That idiot Mondex had botched the operation from the outset.

Jones sneered. He should have known not to trust someone who had failed so many times before. But desperate times take desperate means. It had taken six months, and half his fortune to track down the device he’d given Mondex and the imbecile had lost it, killed some time in the past.

When Rex had returned from the casino planet without the Ortrix it took every ounce of composure Jones could muster not to scream at him, or push him out a window. Then to insult him further the oaf couldn’t remember what he’d done with it!

He would have suspected treachery except he knew Havoc was an idiot without a treacherous bone in his body.

So he’d sent Mondex back to collect his prize before Rex could lose it and the moron had failed him. Likely gotten himself killed by a hover-bus. Now he was down a time travel belt, and one all-powerful superweapon.

To make matters worse, he had known of another time-travel belt - secreted away in The bumbling Professor’s lab. To assure his success, he’d blown up the lab and duplicate belt with it, just to ensure no one could stop him. He’d also spent another small fortune on that blasted memory device he’d used on The Professor. Six months wasted. He’d gladly give his fortune over again for the Ortrix, but to come full circle and be no closer to his goal irked him to no small measure.

Some days it just wasn’t worth plotting doom.