What Marvin didn't realize was that the cell had been located on the third story of the facility. It was a good thing he was semi-indestructible and healed quickly or the tumble to the ground could have really messed him up. As it was, he didn't know how Dr. Magnus had managed the descent, but he didn't see any splattered old man bodies anywhere, so he assumed the guy must have survived.

It turned out there was, in fact, a barbed-wire fence a few feet from the building that he hadn't seen from the window, but there was a large hole cut in it that allowed for an easy exit. He didn't know if it had been pre-existing or if Dr. Magnus had sliced his way through somehow but using his skills in logic and probability, he assumed this was the way the villain had fled.

There weren't any alarms or sirens blaring, so it seemed that so far their escape had gone unnoticed. The security at this place was really terrible. Once again Marvin was thankful for his superpowers. If he was an unpowered civilian and lived near here he wouldn't sleep well at night, that was for sure. Who knew what sort of heinous monsters could just walk right out of there at any given moment. He made a mental note that he'd have to speak to the President at his medal-awarding ceremony about possibly throwing some more funding towards a security upgrade here. After all, it was the right thing to do.

He wriggled through the hole in the fence and found himself in a vast empty field. Other than the lights from the prison behind him, it was almost pitch black and got even darker the farther away he got from the building. There was no moon to light up the sky, although the stars twinkled brilliantly overhead.

After about an hour of walking he looked over his shoulder and couldn't see any sign of the prison. He couldn't see anything ahead of him either or off to either side. The more he thought about it, he wasn't entirely sure he'd been walking in a straight line this whole time. There was a small, non-zero chance that he might have possibly been walking in circles. In fact, it occurred to him that there was a miniscule prospect that he might be lost.

And then he was suddenly enveloped in a blinding bright light originating from somewhere overhead. He felt his feet lose contact with the ground and he began to float upward into the air towards a silver, saucer-shaped craft covered in blinking lights.

"Whoa, gnarly," Marvin said as a hatch opened in the side of the ship and he suddenly found himself face to face with a lanky green being with large black eyes and a bowling ball shaped cranium.

"Greetings, I am Kleznor of the planet Frz. I am on a diplomatic mission to the planet Qiron. I was wondering if you might assist me. My navigation systems have gone on the fritz. I have a homing beacon that will return me to Frz, but I do not wish to return in shame having failed in my mission. Perhaps you can tell me my location? What planet is this?"

"No way," Marvin said. "This is nuts. Am I still high? U.F.O.'s aren't real. I just had an argument about this with those two underage chicks at the bar. Is this some kind of joke? Is somebody messing with me right now? Did Steve put you up to this? Okay, Steve. You got me good this time. You can come out now."

"I do not know who Steve is. As I said before I am Kleznor of the planet Frz."

"Sure you are," Marvin said with a wink. "All right, 'Kleznor.' I'll play along."

"I do not know what you mean by play along," Kleznor said. "This is no game and I am being entirely serious right now. The leaders of Frz have entrusted me with the important mission of establishing diplomatic relations with Qiron so that our two worlds may achieve an everlasting peace. If you could just be so kind as to tell me the name of this planet, it will help to orient me and I shall be on my way."

"Whatever you say, 'Kleznor.' This is really wild, man. How much money did you spend on this fake spaceship? It looks like it cost a lot, what with all the video screens and blinking lights and whatnot. I don't know how you afforded this, Steve. You haven't had a job in, like, five years."

"Once again, I do not know who this Steve person is. I am Kleznor of the planet Frz and I am beginning to lose my patience with you."

"Wow, you're really committed to this, I'll give you that. All right, for reals now, I'll play along. What was your question again?"

"I am in search of the planet Qiron and I need to know what planet this is."

"Fool! This is Qiron!" Marvin said. He was pretty pleased with himself for thinking of that one. Steve thought he could mess with Marvin, well Marvin could mess with him right back.

"This is Qiron?" Kleznor blinked in surprise.

"It sure is. And I'm the head diplomat here and I've got a diplomatic message for you. You're ugly and you smell like farts!"

"I do not think that is true as I bathed in the essence of pure starflower this morning for that squeaky clean feeling. I shall let that slide for the moment, however, as I am still flabbergasted by this news. You are telling me that this planet is Qiron?"

"Yep. This is Qiron, you dumb schmuck. And I've been authorized by the Qironian government to inform you I slept with your mom!"

"My mother is deceased," Kleznor said.

"Yes, I know. And that did not stop me from sleeping with her," Marvin said.

"That is gross," Kleznor said. "I am sorry. I am very confused right now . I was under the impression that Qiron was orange and purple in color. This planet seems to be largely blue."

"Yes, well we got sick of orange and purple so we changed colors a couple years back. Speaking of which, I'm getting sick of your face. Could you change it to something else?"

"I am not sure that I like the tone you are taking with me," Kleznor said.

"Yeah?" Marvin said. "Well, I'm not sure I like the tone you're taking with me. Plus has anyone ever told you you've got a really annoying voice?"

"No they have not," Kleznor said.

"Well, I've got a newsflash for you. Your voice makes me want to stick sharp needles in my ears just so I don't have to hear it. Speaking of not hearing your stupid voice, are we done here or what?"

"It does not appear as if we shall be having a productive conversation," Kleznor conceded.

"No, it doesn't. So why don't you take this little piece of crap flying saucer back to your little backwater dump of a planet and tell your leaders that Qiron says 'bite me.' Capisce?"

"I came to your planet on a mission of peace, but it seems the Qironians wish to insult me and spit in my face. I shall be returning to Frz immediately and reporting on your actions to my superiors."

"Good, you do that, pal. Now could you do me a favor and set me back down on the ground before you take off? Preferably somewhere civilized?"

"I shall show you the courtesy that you did not extend to me and deposit you in the nearest habitation. Let me just say I am deeply disappointed. I was under the impression that the Qironians were a wise and forward thinking people and I looked forward to a fruitful cooperation and coexistence between our two worlds. It saddens me that I shall have to inform my superiors this is not the case."

"Sure whatever, dude," Marvin said. "Make sure you also inform your superiors that they look like big hairy nutsacks. And that they're a bunch of buttmunchers, too. You tell them that last one from me personally, okay?"

Kleznor shook his head in dismay as he pressed a button. There was a flash of blinding light and then Marvin found himself standing on a dirty sidewalk near an empty intersection. The flying saucer took off into space and vanished within seconds.

"Man, that was hilarious. They thought they could pull one over on old Marvin, but I'm nobody's fool. I sure showed them. I still don't get how Steve pulled off that fake flying saucer. It almost looked like the real thing."

He paused and looked around. There was an alleyway behind him that reeked of rancid garbage. Otherwise he was surrounded by a bunch of rundown decrepit looking buildings. A street light flickered on and off overhead.

"Man, where did that fool drop me off? It looks like I'm in the hood."

"Psst," someone called out from the alleyway behind him.

"You talking to me?" Marvin asked as a rail thin girl covered in dirt emerged from the alleyway. She had stringy blonde hair, a bad complexion, and was wearing a beat up old t-shirt that said "I'm With Stupid."

"You got any money, mister?" she wheezed. Marvin could see she was missing several teeth."

"Nope. I forgot my wallet at home. But maybe you've heard of me. I'm Megafantastic Man's better looking brother, Marvin."

"Nah, never heard of you." She erupted in a coughing fit.

"This might sound kind of crazy but I was just the victim of an elaborate prank where I was fake abducted by fake aliens. Don't worry, I messed with those punks, real good. They'll think twice before they try to put one over on old Marvin again. But anyway, they dropped me off here and I have no idea where I am."

"You're in Stockton," the girl said.

"I am? Where's that?" Marvin asked.

"It's right here," the girl said.

"Well, what do you know? I suppose that's true," Marvin laughed.

"Hey man, you wanna smoke some meth?"

"What kind of question is that?" Marvin said. "Of course I do!"

"Welcome to Stockton," the girl said as she led Marvin into the alleyway and they lit up.