The Unnamed: A Mechanical Maniacs Mini-Novel

By Gauntlet (Shadowman)

Chapter 16

It was a strange day indeed. Never before did he think he would be here.

And not want to strangle everyone in sight.

Torchman surveyed his golden surroundings. The Ark. The ‘Maniacs’ new base.

It didn’t look so hot. He bet most of it was for show. His own base was humbler. Torchman didn’t need to stroke his own ego with flashing baubles like this.

Doc Robot was also there, along with Expressman and Multiman. Barrageman, apparently, had not been fixed.

And, of course the cursed Mechs were there. The little twerp Topman. The vile Snakeman. Two pompous windbags Geminimen. And that pretentious upstart Shadowman. Oh, how he loathed him! He loathed them all! And yet …. They all had a common foe.

“Glad you could make it,” said the serpentine robot rather smugly for Torchman’s liking, “now don’t try anything. Our guns are back online.” As were the repair systems. Thankfully it had only taken a day or two to fully repair Shadowman and Geminiman.

“Let’s get this meeting to – “Torchman interrupted the incompetent Mech leader.

“How did you find my base, Mech? How dare you call to me for aid when you have caused me so much harm?”

“Yeah, I’d love to know how you found us too, man!” said the high tech racer, Expressman. Doc Robot apparently just noticed the oddity as his childlike interest was perked.

“Why in the world would we tell you? So you can fix the problem? Just deal with the fact that we can and we did,” said Snakeman. No need for their enemies to find anything out. They knew Torch’s base for quite a while and Snake was able to use his Search Snakes to follow the trail the Multimen left when they invaded the prison. Doc Robot, Express, and Multi were in too much of a hurry to properly cover their tracks.

“Look,” said the childlike Topman, “our ‘old friends’ not only have the rest of our team, but also the rest of your ‘Sinister Six’ and Wily (At least, that’s what we figure). We all know that they’ve reprogrammed them all and we can’t fight them alone. We all have a stake in this so …. Can’t we all just get along?”

Torchman made a vexed sound and grumbled under his breath, but ceded his argument. They were right – curse them! And besides ….. those old Mechs must pay for all the humiliation they had caused him! Apparently they were behind the whole ordeal! They were pure evil and he, the hero that he always was would be key to their defeat!

“What about that twerp Megaman? Why not let him handle this?” asked the giant gruff robot – Multiman. The robots shuddered. All robot Masters feared the blue bomber, whether they admitted it or not. He hunted every one of them like dogs at one point or another.

“No, I don’t think getting …. him involved is a good idea. Not only would he trash our pals as soon as look at ‘em, but he’d also put Wily in jail (which is what you don’t want, remember?) and, from what I understand, he’s involved in something with Bass in Asia. We’re on our own for this one.”

The Wily robots nodded in agreement. In truth even Multiman didn’t want Megaman involved.

“So, what’s the plan to rescue Master?” asked the new Doc Robot. Shadowman didn’t know quite what to make of him. The old Doc Robot was much more intelligent …. Then again, perhaps Wily wanted someone to shower him in praise and be blindly loyal to him. The ninja was quite surprised to learn about these new minions of Wily on the news of the prison break-in (along with the footage of Needlegal being with them!), but ….. right now he needed every boot he could get. Still, he didn’t know these new ones, so they’d bear watching.

“Plan’s simple,” said Snakeman, “We all go there and kick some ass.”

The villains were less than impressed.

“I could have come up with that,” mumbled Expressman. The others mumbled in agreement.

"Well, what do you suggest?"

At this everyone turned to Shadowman. “What, why me?”

“You’re supposed to be the big leader here,” spat the pyromaniac, Torchman.

“Well ….. with the Ark functioning we can probably find the other ‘Maniacs easily enough. From there …. I dunno, we kick their ass. I guess.”

“So, you’re suggesting we find the Technodrome…”

“Uh-hunh”

“Fight past all their security.”

“Uh-hunh.”

“And my brainwashed comrades.”

“Uh-hunh.”

“And then we face your old team and ….. kick their ass.”

“Essentially.”

Torchman threw up his arms in frustration.

“Way I see it; we’re outgunned, outmanned, and outwitted. We should join up with them …. Get a slice of pie,” said the smooth-talking Expressman.

“No!” yelled Doc Robot,” We must find Master! We must rescue Master!”

The heroes and villains argued more after that. Expressman was right, however much the ‘Maniacs hated to admit it. Joining up with the villains should help some, but …. It wasn’t enough. They lacked focus. Leadership. Any sort of plan at all.

And unfortunately for them that’s when the other ‘Maniacs made their move. From the Technodrome they had been monitoring the gathering and found it to be the perfect time to strike. With all opposition in one place it was the perfect opportunity.

Flashes of red light signal the teleportation of several large robot forms. They were all similar. All large and foreboding. All large, painted black, with silver linings on all their edges. They had domed, glass-like heads with no facial features. They had only three fingers on each melon-like hand. And on their chest bore a recognizable Greek symbol. The one for gamma.

Geminiman grimaced. So. This was them. The other Mechanical Maniacs. For years they had wanted to reconstruct Gamma, Wily’s old Supper robot ….. this was their answer. 10 large, black and silver robots. All gunning for the unlikely team of allies.

Expressman was the first to react.

Using his swift speed, he was able to land several punches on one of the Gammas. Unfortunately, the Gamma didn’t seem fazed and swatted the grey-and-yellow robot away like a fly.

The other Gammas spread out and attacked the team individually. Doc Robot fared the best, surprisingly. While he didn’t have much in the way of brains, his powers were varied and amazing. He was able to stop time and shoot the Gammas with solar bullets. He was able to shoot others with metal blades or melt them with Atomic Fire …. However, this didn’t seem to be enough as the Gammas responded quite differently to his attacks.

Shadowman leaped into action, attacking the Gamma closest to him. However this one seemed to sense his approach as it spun around, grabbed his leg, and flung him right into the wall of the ark.

Topman has similar difficulty, finding that his Top Spin didn’t affect many of the Gammas. Eventually one stomped the ground hard enough o create an earthquake. Snakeman launched his attack, but was physically attacked by too many directions to manage.

Remembering his earlier defeats, Multiman was hesitant to join the battle. It didn’t seem like any of these robots were too interested in him ….. and he was concerned with rescuing Wily, not fighting some supped-up super robots. Using his powerful jets, Multiman made his escape.

He miscalculated.

Launching powerful magnets, one Gamma brought the robot to the ground. The impact finished the job. Multi Man was down.

But the Gamma’s cover was blown.

“Did you see that?” asked Topman.

“They wouldn’t….” Snake said quietly.

Shadowman’s heart sank.

Geminiman cursed under his breath.

There was only one way that Gamma could have used that attack.

Their former friends have modified the Sinister Six and the other ‘Maniacs into these ….. things.

Torchman could almost laugh. But if he did then the giant robots would see him from his hiding place, so he merely smirked. If they didn’t mock him and weren’t complete jerks, he could like the other team of ‘Maniacs.

With the cover blown, another flash of red light appeared. This time the form was easy to make out. Crorq, the supercomputer. Obviously the other ‘Maniacs couldn’t hide his form and with the cover blown had decided to use him. But, with six Sinister Six members and four ‘Maniacs members that left one Gamma unaccounted for.

Luckily for the ‘Maniacs, it wasn’t one of the best strategists in the world.

“Idiots!” yelled a Gamma, “you weren’t supposed to use your powers!”

Geminiman recognized the voice immediately. “Artilleryman! So, so you’re in league with the other Mechanical Maniacs?”

“Absolutely!” Artilleryman followed with a series of missiles hidden within his large form. Geminiman put up a crystalline shield, but it wasn’t enough to block all of Artilleryman’s attack.

“Our friends must still be in here!” yelled Topman, dodging a Hark Knuckle from the Hardman-Gamma. It was quickly followed by blasts of oil and water from Wave and Oilman-Gamma.

Geminiman fired a laser at Needlegal-Gamma, taking the brainwashed friend’s attention off Shadowman. Gemini Laser was her weakness and Geminiman didn’t want to use it, but he felt choice less in this battle. Needle responded with no such hesitation. Gemini was forced to dodge her rapid fire weapon, only to be hit by a Shark Boomerang fired by Sharkman-Gamma.

“This is useless! We’re losing!” shouted the twin terror as he split into two forms. Of course he was right. Artilleryman laughed at their futile efforts. Expressman had fallen to Spark Chan and Bitman-Gamma’s attacks. The combination of their electric attacks proved too much for the fleet-footed robot under Wily’s command.

The next to fall was Topman who managed to avoid Hardman-Gamma’s Hard Knuckles, but not Crorq-Gamma’s powerful laser beams. The spinning demon was knocked off his feet and onto the ground.

Artilleryman ginned as Torchman was brought down by his comrade Waveman-Gamma. He was trying to hide and he may not have even been a real threat, but C.J. wanted no chances taken.

Shadowman was trying to reason with his sister in her own Gamma body. Artilleryman chuckled to himself. Whatever remained of Needlegal was buried under Sean’s programming. The only Gamma unit to function with a true mind was himself.

Artilleryman would have been amused to know that Shadowman already presumed that, although his heart didn’t want to accept the fact.

“Common, Needle …. Snap out of this! Remember when you first joined the team? You’d already helped us out and you – “Shadowman was cut off as his sister hit him with a needle-mace to the chest. Shadowman couldn’t accept that the memories of his sister were gone …. This robot fought just like her!

Indeed all the Gamma Units seemed to fight like their former selves. However, they didn’t seem too bothered with battling their friends. Shadowman wondered if there was anything in the ark he could use. He bet there was.

Using a smoke bomb for cover he planned on going into the ark and finding some sort of weapon to disable these drones. Splitting up into several holograms for cover he slipped his way into the base.

The smoke surprised Snakeman. He wondered what the ninja robot could be up to. He began to follow his leader, but was struck – hard – by several sharp weapons. Blademan-Gamma’s Blade Launcher. Apparently, he didn’t have time to find out what his leader was up to.

“Cover Shadow! He has a plan!” shouted Snake to what remained of his allies – the child like Doc Robot and Geminiman.

Geminiman had his hands full. Using five forms he fought Artilleryman face to face. Artilleryman was amazing in this new body. He managed to duck and dodge several of Geminiman’s attack. However, Geminiman pressed on and, as amazing as Artilleryman’s new form was, it couldn’t stack up to Geminiman’s multi-forms.

Coughing Artilleryman seemed to be signaling for help. But which one of the Gammas could…

Geminiman was struck by a familiar attack. The Spark Shot. Artilleryman had sent for someone he knew Geminiman would never willingly fight ….. Spark Chan.

Meanwhile Doc robot was doing an admiral job fending off the various other Gammas. Waveman and Sharkman were down. But he couldn’t last too long. With his energy supplies dwindling, Doc Robot was beginning to panic, shooting various attacks wildly, hoping that one of them would work.

He wouldn’t last too much longer.

Snakeman had problems of his own. Fending off Crorq-Gamma’s attacks wasn’t easy. The machine was pretty tough before, and now it was even more powerful! And to make matters worse it didn’t have its incompetence getting in its way …. It seemed to be on automatic responding only to Artilleryman’s commands. Taking several hits to the chest, Snakeman was on the ground, immobile. A gaping hole spewing smoke was in his stomach. He was filled with dismay as a Hard Knuckle finally finished the unlikely ally of Doc Robot. Crorq Gamma took a few more lumbering steps towards him. In desperation Snakeman shot out three more snakes, but the modified computer shot them all out in midair. Following that …. Darkness.

Meanwhile, inside the base, Shadowman, flanked by one of the Geminimen (who somehow got into the base undetected) was pursued by Needlegal-Gamma and Artilleryman. Artillery laughed at the hopeless situation.

“What’s the plan?” asked Gemini on their internal radio.

“They’re being controlled,” responded the ninja, “but, as former controlled robots ourselves, we’ve been preparing for something like this. We have to grab the nullifier. It should help to disrupt the control they have over our friends! Gemini ….. what’s wrong?”

“It looks like my other self just bought it. And last I checked everyone else was down. That means that everyone will soon come after us.”

“Great.”

Needlegal-Gamma fired her spray of needles. Due to her enhancements they were twice as many. Even with several illusions, Shadowman couldn’t dodge all of them. He fell helplessly as his leg was badly injured.

“Shadow!”

“Get the damn machine!” yelled the blue scarved robot. “I’ve still got some tricks left!”

Waving his hands in several quick motions Shadowman summoned his trustworthy pet …. A giant fire-breathing frog! Roaring flames leaped from its moth stopping the Gammas in their tracks. Shadowman may be immobile, but he could still summon the aid of several minor robots. Buy him time!

***********

Geminiman was now dodging missiles from Artilleryman. Shadowman’s frogs have bought him time, though. He was almost at the weapons storage area. If he could avoid everything just a little while longer he’d be safe.

Artilleryman pursued him ignorantly, not knowing what his goal was. He shouted insults and threats at the crystalline warrior. He knew he was low on energy and that room would put him in a corner.

Geminiman ran into the room and stopped dead.

There it was …… in the hands of something he was deathly afraid of.

The Gemini-Thing.

Even Geminiman didn’t know what went on inside that creature’s head, but it gave him a long, hard stare.

There was a sudden pain followed by a burning sensation at his back.

And then everything went black.