Off the Rails

***- Dr. Heinzen***

*This page contains spoilers on the contents of certain Ludicrous Laboratory episodes.*

## Information

"Taking Calls" is the 7th of the Ludicrous Laboratory, featuring and introducing Jacob, Heinzen, the Supplier, and Andrei Kabakumov. It has has 57 panels total including the ending screen. In the episode, a russian hitman attempts to kill Heinzen, because he was framed to steal a product.

## Synopsis

The episode begins with Jacob and Heinzen working on a machine. The power goes out, and Jacob wonders what just happened. Heinzen says that he made the entire building run on a "liquid power source", and that he needs to go out and get more. Jacob fets angry at him for replacing it, but Heinzen walks out immediately to get out of the situation.

Heinzen gets on the train, and a muscular man is sitting next to him, reading a magazine in Cyrillic. Heinzen notices this, and questions him about it, asking if he actually speaks Russian, or if he just "looks at the pictures" like him. He stands up, and introduces himself. He says his name is Andrei Kabakumov, and that he is a russian hitman looking for Heinzen because he stole an item. He says that Heinzen matches the exact description that Wang gave him. Heinzen says this isn't true, and he attempts to *prove* it by doing a terrible backflip, landing on his head in the process. Andrei says he supposes it's not him, and sits back down.

Andrei then mumbles, saying that he rememberes him. He then stands up and then yells that he remembers Heinzen from the newscast where it was shown that he damaged the Orphanage Hospital Retirement Home. He points a gun at him, but Heinzen shortly stops him, saying they should move the situation to the next cargo. Andrei agrees, and they move it to the storage cargo. Andrei, whilst monologuing, doesn't notice Heinzen sneaking a drink of a chemical in a test tube. Andrei notices this, and Heinzen apologizes, saying he was thirsty, completely oblivious of what the chemical is. Heinzen starts turning to ice, panicking. After completely freezing, Andrei shoots Heinzen. The bullet reflects back at Andrei and kills him.

The supplier hears the gunshots, coming in the room. He congratulates Andrei, saying that he knew they "hired them for something". Heinzen gets unfrozen from the heat out the window, and greets the supplier. A box from the pile of boxes in the room falls on Heinzen, and knocks them out. Heinzen wakes up in a truck, taking them to the courthouse. Heinzen asks where he is, and Jacob, panicked, says he doesn't know where they're taking them. The episode ends with a shot of the truck heading to the courthouse.

## Trivia

- This is considered by artists' David McCarthy and Blake Bistowski to be the best episode in the series overall.

- Andrei's outfit and physique was based off of this Team Fortress 2 item.

- The 11th panel of the episode took around 2-3 hours to draw, a record for Ludicrous Laboratory.

- In the original idea of the episode, this was meant to do nothing with the last episode, and was filler to lead up to the court episode.

- Andrei Kabakumov's initials spell "AK". Although this might seem like a reference to the gun, it was entirely unintentional.

1. ↑ It is later revealed in S2 E6 that this is complete fabrication from Wang Taxman, and that he did not steal anything.
2. ↑ It was revealed in Portal Combat that a lawyer was attempting to persuade Wang Taxman into starting a court case and lying to the jury to get Jacob and Heinzen to go to prison.