Everyone minus the Parka Wearing Freak was staring with mouths wide open. Almost looked like a river of water was to start flowing from them. Andon quickly rushed Tim aside and spoke in the most pleasant tone he could minister.

"I understand your decision and all Tim, but this is 'Gary'! You know. The irritating Eskimo from hell." Andon finished hoping to claim some sence into the big lug. After all...Gary was a lunatic.

~ Log from Sinister Six: Gutsman's Big Break.

CHAPTER 2

Megalopolis was looking like a Ghost Town Now. It was dark. The Clouds seemed to have frozen in place, causing a stir from animals, to people, to even robots alike. Even the homeless were hesitant on staying outside. People stayed at home, and hardly anyone hung around in the streets. Most Police teams remained on night watch, while even the criminals kept their distances. The sudden news of the disappearance of Dr. Wily and Bass struck the entire city. Two of the most well known villains just all of sudden vanished without a trace.

If nothing seemed calm for The Sinister Six, their ever so popular sanctuary where they take refuge, The HQ was just as creepy. Though the entire Palace-sized Manor never really seemed bothersome to the Six, but out in the middle of no-where, behind a dense blackened forest rose a humongous castle. One might say for safekeeping to avoid at all costs. The Sinister Six wanted it this way, for they didn't like visitors much. You'd think such a colorful, high spirited team would live in something so full of sunshine. So full of heavenly glee, happiness around every corner. Their humble berg will tell you otherwise. Inside the 24-hour darkened Mansion was the lobby. The obvious first thing you'd see upon entry behind the locked steel gates. Inside the Lobby laired staircases after staircases. Each Staircase leading you endlessly for hours on end, some maybe for days. The place was huge. Much, much more room for six occupants. Probably a whole army could live here.

Cobwebs collected on the old staircases as lack of house cleaning showed on the rails and nooks and crannies of giant spaces in the lobby. The tile covered floor seemed shiny and the marble staircases proved their worth as you make you way up them. The quiet lobby would flicker with noise as your footsteps rattled up the marble stairs. Indeed, it was very quiet. Windows barred shut, as if sunlight would cause the place to melt into a puddle. Small candle lit light fixtures lead the way in long hallways once you've made it up a staircase. Most hallways intertwined with another, leading into even more darkened halls, and sometimes back to where you started. Almost like walking through a maze. The doors that came with the halls didn't show much sign of usage themselves as they sat staring down visitors. Inside if not locked showed many different kinds of rooms. A Work-out room with weights and punching pads. To an indoor unused Movie Projector room.

Though not all of Sinister Six HQ was this dark and creepy however. Just the parts where strangers or press would dare explore. Upon further hours and hours of investigation, without being frightened off by strange noises and strange surroundings one would find the "inner heart" of the fortress. For this is where our hero's lived. So far the tally of people able to explore this far? None. It seemed super-natural.

Near the heart of the HQ, warm light and comfortable settings accommodated the inner core. Fine ever-lasting carpet adorned the floor with beautiful paintings and fancy light chandeliers fixed to the ceiling and walls. Now this was what people were expecting the Sinister Six to live. Since they lived near the core of the house, no lights from the outside could be seen turned on. This insured the Sinister Six no visitors and no uninvited guests. For every known person in the area knew where they had lived.

Inside The Common room, Voices could be heard discussing the new uprising that had just recently occurred in Megalopolis.

"It can't be Buster Rod G, I don't think even his magic is that strong." Andon spoke sipping a tall glass of pink lemonade. The Sinister Six Common room was bright and inevitable, unlike other portions of the castle. The Six would usually come here to relax together or talk about their next plan of attack.

"I don't think even Scorpion has that kind of power. I think Red is back. Gary, you are interconnected with the bastard, can't you feel anything?" Tim spoke with his head burrowed into his hands. Looks could tell that he extremely nervous about the whole thing.

"Yeah...but I've been feeling these things ever since our first encounter with him. It could be the meteorite like Andon had suggested." Gary followed. Speaking like he was choking on something Tim spoke. "That meteorite seems to be on everyone's mind. I don't know why. How could something like that cause so much world-wide panic." Tim said as he arose from his seat and approached a large holivid which was near the south wall in the room.

"What are you doing Tim?" Jason got to his feet. The rest followed Tim to the holivid. "With this Thunderman running around, and this meteorite that everyone is so worried about, and of course Super Chaos's current jail break, we may need some help." Tim opened up a channel to another part of the HQ.

"You're not going to call them are you? Not after all they've been through just recently." IRA approached drinking a big bottle of Bud Light.

Tim dialed a connection to another part of the HQ. Somewhere deeper within its large carved walls. Down to a secret lair that even The Six just recently discovered now has its own occupants.

The screen on the holivid faded into snowy fields of light until a groggy Ninja answered the other line. "Just getting ready to dose off, and you guys had to call. Yeeeessh..." The Blue Ninja with a star on his head spoke. Although he wore fancy robes of darkish blue and gray. He obviously showed lack of sleep inside his eyes. His scarlet colored scarf which drooped down his shoulder had shown plainly of wear and tear.

"Don't forget who's payin' the bills here Gauntlet, we need your help." Tim spoke into the transmissions device with a worried expression. Gauntlet must have caught hold of it, because his tone changed to a soothing, caring voice. "Right, we'll be there as soon as possible."

Andon then spoke right before connection broke loose. "Bring your own dinner guys, Scott can't cook tonight."

******************************************************

A large red eye stared up at the sky with curiosity. Blinking and scanning what little was up there, the little red eye continued looking for something. Emerging from behind a building, a large, 10 foot or so Robot had emerged. Trying to keep out of site, though its massive size proved him his major disadvantage. Your normal Sinister Six Fan could tell you upfront that this was The Great Super Chaos. Filled without fear, or emotion. One of the most powerful foes to ever walk the planet. At first glance at the beast, you would almost wouldn't believe your eyes.

Shaking uncontrollably, Super Chaos looked very frightened. Almost as though he sensed something even more horrid and horrible than him, patrolling the night sky. Originally Super Chaos was part of a plan to release all the Sinister Six Villains from The Island Prison where to this day, all of Megalopolis’s villains were kept. It was high security and break outs were very rare. Super Chaos was next on the chain list however and City Garage left him a transmitter so he could teleport out of the grounds.

Hearing that City Garage had once again been caught by the Six, The entire Jail house filled with rage. This however did not upset Super Chaos. Hearing of one of his closest allies had vanished without a trace made him tremble with fear. Dr. Wily and Bass were close Co-Workers of the big blob creature. Dr. Wily was the one who built him! And hearing of some strange and unusual force just kidnap your fellow crime starter would make anyone frightened.

One of Super Chaos' biggest disadvantages besides his size was his brain. Though he didn't show signs of major stupidity, he clearly can't let more than one task appear once in his metallic thoughts. What was he supposed to do? The fear had made him think unclearly and he pondered the lonely streets wondering what his duty was.

What the big yellow Cyclops forgot he had to do, was continue the chain and transport the transmitter to Scorpion who was next on the list. It looked as though, the way things continued. Scorpion would have to be getting to know his cell for a while longer. The yellow beast continued swaying in and out of the dark streets, hoping not to meet anything unfriendly at every turn.

*********************************

The Dining Hall was like just about every room in Sinister Six HQ. Large. Usually it sits up to 8 people. Including the Six themselves. And usually a guest or two. Including such as Clownman who spent the night once in a while from his lonely circus. Tim understood what it was like living by ones self. Can get lonely without someone to talk to. He was glad that Jonathan and Gary were such close pals.

Last week Forte-Chan had stayed for dinner. Showing off some of her famous recipes. Like Mango Melt Pie. Or Mango Flavored Steak. Scott was a big fan of her cooking. The two could spend hours talking about just anything. Forte-Chan had lived in her Mango Tree. Far south of Megalopolis. Near Wily's Warrior's Forested area. It was a vacation resort. So it was bright and sunny there all the time.

Other times, other guests would visit and eat the monster palace. But today and for the last week 8 more spots were being filled around the table. As The Mechanical Maniacs had just recently added their numbers to The Six. Having some terrible adventures in a completely different dimension and losing a lot of old members, The Mechs didn't seem as jolly as they used to be. Even though they basically barged their way into HQ, Tim let them in with open arms. The Mechs had been close allies With the Six in the past. They shared many adventures through thick and thin.

The leader was Gauntlet. The Ninja. Better known as Shadowman. He allied himself with The Six a long ways back...though never to admit it. Says if it wasn't for The Six forming, the Mechs may have never seen the light of day.

Lennon was Geminiman. His armor obviously looked cleaned and polished daily as it reflected everyone perfectly. Friendly to his allies, mean to his enemies. He's not a person to have on your bad side.

Topman enjoyed keeping his name a secret. Along with his other secrets. Topman was the smallest of the Mechs, and looked the least amount of threatening. Still he could hold his own in any battle. Topman, liked Gary enjoyed jokes and fun. But like the rest of the Mechs...it looked like he had gone through a lot.

Needlegal at first glance looked like a guy. With puncturing needles apprising from her head. Massive blue armor suit. And large eyes that can stare down just about anyone. She favored Samus Aran for this reason. Beneath the armor was Gauntlet's sister. They tend to argue about a lot of things, noted by Tim. But you can tell they cared deeply about each other.

Besides that, the rest of the crew was unrecognized. The other four members The Six had just recently met and got to know. Some couldn't believe they were inside Sinister Six HQ. Dining with the famous hero's themselves.

Musashiden Razz was the new Sparkman. This clad wore the simplest armor. With strong electrodes for hands, and bright orangey and white armor. Hadrian was the New Hardman. With even more massive armor than Needle Gal, and even that of Tim. He showed where the brute strength lie. Another Jonathan was the new Magnetman. Magnet wore red shades to hide his eyes and attracted people in more ways than one thanks to his upbeat personality. He seemed to have the most energy of the downed Mechs.

Hexlaser was the new Snakeman. This bothered Gary the most as Jacob (The Former Mech's Snakeman) seemed to have disappeared without a trace. Like the older counterpart, his Transmetal armor showed detailed scales and snake eyes upon the helmet. Along with eye candy design and craftsmen ship done to the exterior. With the new Transmetal Armor, The Mechanical Maniacs had much better and stronger armor than the Sinister Six. The Six weren't jealous or anything, but still to this day wished they had a pair of their own.

"So, you've got quite a crisis on your hands." Lennon finally spoke up. "That Meteorite seems to be the cause of all the grief." The Mechs nodded in agreement. Although all this time Tim didn't want to believe such a thing could be the cause of trouble, he finally agreed.

"Just like The Dinosaurs, the meteorite seemed to of affected the climate. What's goin' to happen could be anyone's guess." Andon spoke.

Gauntlet for the first time at the table spoke. "I don't think it'll wipe out the planet. Yet. I read in the paper that people saw something living inside that meteor."

"Something living?" Jason continued. "But...isn't that impossible?"

Needle Gal though hungry didn't show any signs of eating her meal. "It's all Sci-Fi Jason. Just think that an Alien could have traveled on that meteor and landed here. Since its powers don’t seem too familiar on our planet, it probably causes some weird things to happen."

IRA was about to touch his beer when Shadowman knocked it away from him. "You'd better not IRA, this is serious." The bottle of whisky flew off the table and crashed down upon the carpet below. What surprised Gauntlet the most was that Gary was already down on his hands and knees cleaning up the mess.

"Oops, sorry about that Ice. Didn't mean to make a mess." He apologized. Gary quickly got to his feet and had already cleaned up the spill. "Not to worry, just don't let it happen again." He said as he sat down. A long silence stirred until Lennon once again broke the silence.

"So what can we do to help, just remember we're a tad exhausted." he spoke yawning.

"Just keep an eye alert, with Super Chaos loose, and rumored that Red has returned...and this new Thunderman, it seems we may not get a chance to rest." Tim spoke.

"Yeah...we'll keep our eyes open for you guys. You can count on it!" Topman said quickly as he stretched he knocked yet another glass onto the floor. Within seconds of the shatter Iceman was already down cleaning it up.

Gauntlet once again noticed this. "Kinda edgy on keeping the place tidy isn't he?" He said watching Ice clean up.

"Yeah, ever since Torchman had tricked us and kidnapped Fireman. He's been rather a neat freak. I'll never forget that battle.

*Sinister Six: Sinister Seven (Switcheroo)

Just then a grin appeared on Shadowman's face. And since he had worn a mask to cover his mouth, no one really saw it. "I see..." Gauntlet spoke. "Whelp, I suppose we'll be off to bed now. Nothing more we can really do but we'll keep our eyes open." Gauntlet rose from his seat carefully glancing at Iceman, awaiting him to sit in his seat.

Tim rose from his seat as well. "Agreed, maybe we best get some rest. Whatever seems to be going on has settled down for the night." Tim yawned loudly as Gary sat comfortably in his seat. Gauntlet's grin never wavered.

"Right, see you all in the morning..." Gauntlet said as he brushed his arm by a candle set, knocking it straight to the floor. Needle Gal immediately knew what Gauntlet was up too. "Shadowman! That wasn't very nice! You pick that up..." Before she could finish her sentence Gary has already cleaned it up. "Be careful G! These things don't come cheap ya know!"

Just as Gauntlet predicted. Iceman hadn't caught on yet. So his sneer got wider. However Needle Gal saw this, and just before she put out her hand to grab him, off he went in a puff of smoke.

"Where's he off to in such a hurry?" Tim looked a tad alarmed. Gary on other hand was on edge. He looked around for any sign of the Ninja. Needle Gal and the rest of the Mechs rolled their eyes. They too waited to see what was to happen next.

Just then the silence was broken as something sounded like it fell of something somewhere inside the HQ. Gary immediately set off for the sound. Some of the Mechs started to laugh a little, but Needle Gal quickly quieted them.

Another crash piled off somewhere in the opposite direction and Iceman came running through the room, only to vanish out the other way. Needle Gal watched him with a sorrowful face. She wanted Gauntlet to stop. The other Sinister Six found it rather humorous as well.

Again another crash, and Iceman came running through...then another and another. Until finally Iceman broke down. "where is he!? Why won't he stop! Arrrrggggg!!"

Gauntlet appeared soon after laughing the whole way. "Don't worry Ice...Heheheh. I used your tape recorder you fooled me with before!" he shot him a look before finishing. "And used it to record smashing objects. I didn't really break anything else." Gauntlet mocked with the disapproval of Needle Gal. But Gary did have it coming for all the times he had pranked Gauntlet in the past.

Gary sighed a sigh of relief. He noticed everyone had a small smirk on their face, but didn't want him to feel bad so they tried to hide it. Unfortunately, they did a horrible job. "Alright, out with it. I can dish it out and take it." Iceman broke into his comforting insane laughter, as with the rest of the crew. It was a dark night outside, and things weren't very easy going. A few laughs brought the Mechs out of their slumps and it felt good to relive the old times again.