Wanted

By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Episode 3 - The Board is Set

May 31st, 20XX, 5:59 AM , PST

“How? How can that be the same Judge? He’s in a maximum security prison…”, Topman whispers.

“…I think that definitely answers th’ question o’ whether or not they’re here for us…”, Hardman wryly observes.

“Someone made a deal with the Devil, but I’m not sure who’s the Devil here.”, Raijin mutters. “I won’t be able to sneak up on him so easily this time.”

Shadowman got his team's attention. “Okay…Listen up…We’re not going to fight them. We’re not here to fight- we’re here to find something- anything- that will help us clear our name. I figured someone would figure out that we were here, but it did happen a bit sooner than I expected...We’ll deal with it. We’re going to split up into four groups and remain hidden at all times. Maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary. Avoid contact with the enemy at all costs.”

“I still think the whole splitting up idea is stupid…”, Geminiman uttered.

“So says the guy who’s entire power relies on splitting up…”, NeedleGal smugly rebuts.

“Watch your mouth, woman.”

“Knock it off.”, Gauntlet snapped. “Gemini and Top, you head south of here. Needle and Snake, you’re off to the West, while Hard and I go east. Spark and Magnet, you’ve got north. Travel three hours in your direction, then turn around if you don’t find anything. We’ll meet back here at about noon.”

“Hey…Why does he get to go with Classi, hmm?”, Geminiman examined.

“Because this isn’t date night. Now shut up and move out.”, Snakeman ordered.

”Hey…” Topman said, just before heading off. “Weren’t there, you know, a group of beat up bad guys laying around here just a minute ago?”

“Th’ PC thugs musta scooted when we were gawkin’ at th’ copter.”

“Great.” Needle grimaced. “Well, I doubt they’re in much shape to do much else but run.”

“True enough.” Gauntlet agreed. “Anyways…Let’s head out.”

May 31st, 20XX, 6:27 AM , PST

“So…What do you think is really going on?”, Needle prodded Snakeman, whom up until now was silent as he concentrated on his search efforts.

“I don’t think it was terrorists that did this.”, he says plainly, brushing against a crumbled bit of building, which broke down even further at his slightest touch. “Whatever did this…Is something new. Nothing’s burnt, so I doubt its even a bomb.”

“And why us? Why use us as scapegoats?”

“Convenience, maybe. Or it's someone we ticked off...someone with the ability to orchestrate such a massive cover up. Who ever set us up must be really good at doctoring up photos. You know how good Santino is at spotting them.”

Needle nodded her head, remembering Santino as the resident computer geek on the Megapolis PD, and a really good judge of fake photos. It was pretty funny to watch his reactions to those cheesy tabloids pictures, too.

“This is all too weird...and how did the Sinister Six know we’d be here?”, Needle pondered, her mind coming back to reality.

“Well...they didn’t. You heard Wave- they were scavenging and got...’lucky’.”

The two headed upwards, climbing a partially standing building that managed to remain somewhat stable, hoping to catch a better view. Most of the buildings they had encountered were so dry and brittle that they’d collapse as soon as they touched them.

“And what about those-“

Snakeman silenced her immediately with a hand held close to her lips. He motioned with his head downwards as explanation.

Ten feet below were three of the gray-garbed soldiers they had observed exiting the copter earlier, cautiously checking the environment. The two Maniacs observed in silence from their hiding place, using the dusty wind as cover.

“…What are we doing here, again?”

“I ain’t going over it again.”, one soldier answered the other curtly, both clearly annoyed at the conditions they found themselves in.

“I don’t know about you, but our commander for this mission seems like a real dick.”, the third chimed in, equally peeved. “Makes me wonder where they find these guys.”

“Well, they yanked that serial killer from prison and gave him a gun…I probably don’t wanna know who’s behind that mask.”

“What gets me are the names; The Judge…Viscous…I mean, what the hell? Who makes shit up like that?”

“Crazies. Crazies with more authority than us, so it ain’t in our interest to question it.”

“Well, look…All we gotta do is find that girl and get her on that copter. If we’re lucky, we won’t even have to fight those terrorists, if they’re even here.”

“How insane. We don’t even know if she’s alive. I mean, who could survive something like this? We haven’t even found a single corpse out here. It's freakin’ me out.”

“Yeah…It is pretty f’d up.”

“Whatever…If we don’t find the girl, I ain’t gonna lose any sleep over it. Nobody’s told me jack about this mission, anyways.”

Snakeman observed the soldiers meander off through the eyes of his hidden Search Snakes, quietly listening in on their observations.

“…Little girl?”, he says aloud.

“What’s that all about?”, Needle follows up.

“…I don’t like this. I can understand if the government sent those guys to find us, but a single little girl? Those guys didn’t sound like they were all that concerned with us…”

“Think we should follow them?”, the heavily-armored needled android asked.

“No. Those guys aren’t serious about their job. I am. I’ll trust my own instincts over theirs any day. Besides, I’m curious about what we might find at the center of all of this.”

“Understood...and before I forget...” NeedleGal formed a spiked mace on her arm and jabbed her unsuspecting partner in the stomach. It was a relatively light touch, but it was enough to make the pierce-weak robot recoil in pain and hold back a compromising scream.

"What the hell-?" Snakeman demanded in a strained whisper.

"Stop clamping my mouth like that, it's annoying and your hand smells."

"When have I ever..." Snake started before recalling the time shortly after he joined the team when his hand-clamping action prevented NeedleGal from warning some children about the spiked lemonade he and the other guys were about to sell them. Apparently she was still holding a grudge about that.

Snakeman didn't like arguing with the "Psycho Magnet" on a good day, and despite what he just claimed about taking things seriously, he knew the right thing to say. "Sorry."

NeedleGal smiled and nodded, retracting her spikes. "Let's move, then."

The pair of Maniacs quietly slid down from their vantage point, disappearing further into the dusty maelstrom.

May 31st, 20XX, 6:49 AM , PST

“That ninja bastard…Thinks he knows everything there is to know…My mind is so underappreciated on this team…”

“Are you just going to bitch this entire trip?”, Topman snapped at Lennon. “Because it's getting really boring.”

“Hey, I’ve got every right to be pissed…You’ve seen it! You know I’d make a better leader than him. At least I’m around more often!”

“Look, what are you going to do? Fight him for the leadership of the team? Doesn’t that seem a little, you know…childish?”

Geminiman narrowed his eyes and sneered. “Yeah…Matter of fact, that’s exactly what’s gonna happen.”

“Going to.”

“Huh?”

“That’s exactly what’s going to happen. Not ‘gonna’. A leader needs to have proper communication skills.”, SD corrected, much in the same way a college professor would.

“Whatever. A leader just needs to know how to beat any situation in front of him.”

“And…Isn’t that exactly what Gauntlet has done in 99% of our cases?”, Topman asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Feh! You’ve missed the point entirely. He may have led us out of the fire many times, but I could have gotten us out of those same fires quicker, safer, and easier every time.”, Lennon claimed.

“…I think you need a vacation, Gem. You’re a little delusional these days. I don’t remember you ever being so obsessed with knocking down Gauntlet all the time. For the past few weeks, that’s all you’ve been able to do, it seems.”, Topman observed.

“I…don’t know why…But I need to beat him. I just…feel that way…And I’m gonna do it! You’ll see!”

“Going to.”

“Shut up.”

May 31st, 20XX, 6:55 AM , PST

“That’s close enough, Shadowman!”, Bass screamed at Shadowman as the shinobi robot inched forward with his sword halfway drawn.

Shadowman gnashed his teeth together. He must really be losing it if he allowed Bass, of all people, to get the drop on him, he thought.

“Boss…Ya want me ta smash this guy?”, Hardman murmured to his chosen commander.

“Not yet.”, Shadowman whispered back. “What are you guys doing here?”

Gauntlet was referring not only to Bass and Treble, but the entire ensemble of the Wily Warriors, positioned behind the black and gray android.

“Sorry Gauntlet…But boss’s orders.”, Starnik offered.

“No hard feelings.”, the ninja robot proclaimed as he launched a few hidden Shadow Blades towards Bass, which he dodged, sending them straight towards Quickman himself. “Hardman, go.”

“Right.”, he boomed as he rammed both Hard Knuckles into the glass-like pavement, shooting massive amounts of dust and debris into the air between the two Maniacs and the Warriors.

By the time the dust had cleared, the pair of dark blue fugitives were missing.

“Rrrgh…I want them found…NOW.”, Bass commanded. “We’re not returning home without their heads!”

“That’s not exactly a bad thing…”, Crashman muttered.

“Goddamnit, shut up and fan out! Find them! Now!”, Bass screamed, slapping Crashman in the face as an exclamation point.

“…You heard the man.”, Quickman said, somberly as he dropped the pair of Shadow Blades he casually caught. He knew what Wily would do if they weren’t successful this time, even if it meant hunting down their friends in the process. “No hard feelings.”

As the Warriors fanned out, leaving Bass to walk slowly around the area, a pair of androids beneath the surface kept hidden in the darkness.

“Boss, I didn’t know you could make others shadow warp like that…”

“I didn’t know if it’d work on a big guy like you. You learn something new everyday.”

“What do we do now? Should we fight that idiot up there?”, Hardman quizzed.

“I’d like to avoid that. We could take him down, but you know Starnik and the others have no control over what Wily tells them to do. I’m not sure what Wily’d do to them if they allowed Bass to get beat up once again. He might just delete their minds once and for all.”

“Maybe we should just warp around, then.”

“No can do. That burned up a lot of my energy as it is. I can’t keep moving you around so easily, big man.”

“Damn…Guess we should stay down here an’ see if we can find somethin’ around th’ sewers.”

“That’s our best option. I just hope that moron up there doesn’t figure out where we went…”

May 31st, 20XX, 7:04 AM , PST

“Oh! Watch your step, sweetie! The ground is really-“

“I know. Must you remind me constantly?”, Magnetman groused to his over-protective comrade.

“I’m sorry! I…just don’t want to see you get hurt again…That’s all.”, she defended quickly.

“…I can handle myself quite well, thanks.”, Kenta explained, stopping himself from cursing in his native tongue.

“You don’t have to be so defensive all of the time, Ken-san…”, SparkChan stated with a little dejection in her voice.

“…I’m sorry. I’m just…not used to…friendliness.”

Classi looked at her still-helmeted comrade, unable to see the small amount of sadness in his eyes. Taking that as a cue, she opted to let him be for a few minutes, and perhaps back off of the inherent protectiveness she was known for.

Until Kenta fell, tripping on some unseen broken concrete in the dusty storm they were engulfed in at all times, it seemed.

“Oh! Ken-san, are you alright?!”, Classi asked, immediately forgetting her small, inward vow as she ran to her downed comrade’s side.

“I’m fine. I just…Wha-?”

Unable to finish that thought, Magnetman fell down a gaping maw that opened beneath him as soon as he landed, taking an equally startled SparkChan with him.

Luckily for the diminutive electric “big sister”, something softer than the steel pipe below broke her fall. Unluckily for Kenta, he was that something.

“Oof…Ken-san…”

“I’m…fine…”, he said in the darkness. She landed right atop his still-raw Shark Boomerang wounds from earlier, setting off painful reminders of the attack. “Where are we?”

SparkChan extended a needle-like conductor from her knuckle, which enveloped her index finger, allowing her to “direct” electric fields more easily than the former large conductors of previous Sparkman armors. Setting off a small, sparkler-like effect, her power filled the old sewer with yellow-hued light.

“A sewer…Yet…No water?”, Magnetman observed.

“Hmm…Yes, it really is pretty dry down here. Really dry, actually…”

“Everything’s so dry in this city…It’s almost as though…”

Eigen’s thought was cut short when he silenced himself to better hear a gradually increasing noise from down the pipeline.

An ominous, rhythmic clanking noise of metal on metal. Footsteps.

“Who’s there?”, SparkChan demanded softly, still unable to see the approaching figure just yet.

“Hmm…Not who we’re looking for…But I’ve got business with you…terrorists…”, a husky, slightly Hispanic accent answered.

“We’re not terrorists! We don’t even know what’s going on!”, Classi pleaded with the voice.

“Don’t bother with this one, Spark-yan…He won’t listen.”, Magnetman silenced her, stepping forward. “It’s in his voice.”

“Smart kid.”, the voice agreed, the hulking figure it belonged to gradually becoming clearer in the amber lit pipe. “Boss said he’d accept a few dead Mechs, and I’ve got a score to settle with you monsters. I had family here.”

“Who are you with?”, Kenta asked, cutting off another one of Classi’s pleas of innocence.

“The government, of course.”, the giant man answered, finally visible in the darkness. He was a hulking beast of a human being, with even bigger objects of unknown use strapped to his back. He nearly filled the ten-foot-diameter tunnel with his mass, blocking out the area behind him. “I am Special Agent Viscous of the Pale Riders.”, he asserted.

“’Pale Riders’?”, SparkChan echoed.

“An impromptu team of our own, assembled to counter you, The Mechanical Maniacs, in addition to…other directives.”

“Mercenaries.”, Magnetman summarized.

“I guess you could call us that. I’d say we’re more like sheriffs to you outlaws though, sent to bring you to justice for the destruction of an entire city.”, Viscous countered.

“Sadly, we don’t have the time to spare on you. I cannot hold back against- Glugh?!”

Magnetman, despite being helmeted still, was being choked and gagged by an unseen assailant. Or rather, a barely visible one.

Some sort of cloudy liquid had now engulfed his head, and was quickly absorbing his entire body.

“Magnetman, I’ve been informed, is a dangerous robot. I was told not to take any chances with this one…”, Viscous said coldly.

“What are you doing?! What is that stuff? Stop!”, Classi rattled off quickly, concerned over her teammate’s wellbeing, yet afraid to touch the liquid sarcophagus that now entombed him, out of fear of being absorbed herself.

“My namesake.”, the giant man claimed cryptically. “A special salt-based fluid in tune with my mind. I carry it with me, and it does whatever I want it to. In this case, I think I want it to crush your friend, like an egg in my fist.”

The liquid pulsed slightly, and Magnetman’s choked screams could be heard from within.

“Please stop! He hasn’t done anything to you!”

“But he was planning to. You heard him. Besides, I have a mission to complete. If I kill him and bring you in alive, things will go much smoother with our boss. Unless…You’re willing to fight for his life…’pacifist’.”

SparkChan looked at Viscous with woeful eyes, uncertain on what she should do.

“Hesitation…Perhaps a little more persuasion is in order to bring out your true nature.” The salty fluid pulsed again, and Kenta’s voice, a little weaker than before, cried out in response. “So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to just let your friend die to uphold your false beliefs? I know you’re not a true pacifist, you terrorist. My mother and father would agree with me, monster, had you not killed them, along with everyone else in this city.”

“…I…I…No…Ken…san…I’m…”, SparkChan’s eyes grew watery as she watched Kenta’s form within the translucent tomb slowly lose strength.