Wanted

Episode 4 - Ebb and Flow


May 31st, 20XX, 7:12 AM , PST

“Feh…Rookies…”

Geminiman kicked the shoulder of a downed, gray-garbed soldier with his foot, a mixed look of smugness and disgust adorning his face.

“Jesus, Gem…We’re not supposed to fight anyone! Weren’t you listening?!”, SD admonished, angered over Geminiman’s quick work of the three passing soldiers.

“Pssh, relax. They’re not dead. I set phasers to ‘stun’ on that one.”, Lennon said, brushing off Topman’s concerns. “Besides, they had something I was interested in.”

Topman tilted his head in confusion. “What could they possibly have that would-“

“This.”

From one of the unconscious soldiers’ belts, Geminiman produced a PDA, and immediately started searching its contents.

“Well, well…Just what we needed! Hah! No contact my ass, Gauntlet!”, Lennon gloated as he showed Topman an aerial map of the ruined LA produced by the small device. “None of this guessing crap for us!”

“Well…You still shouldn’t have fought them…”

“Whatever. This is our meal ticket, now.”, Geminiman claimed. “And even better…a mission briefing! Score!”

Topman’s eyebrows perked up. “Let me see!”

Topman skated over to Geminiman’s side as he searched the PDA some more, peeking over his shoulder as he stood on his toes.

“Let’s see…Objective One: Secure target one. Objective Two: Eliminate any and all threats. Objective Three: TBA.”

“Wow…Really informative.”, Topman claimed with an exorbitant amount of sarcasm.

“Shaddup…Hey, here we go…”, Lennon said, opening up another file. “’You’ll be working with a special unit assembled specifically for this mission, codenamed the ‘Pale Riders’. The Pale Riders are intended to counter the presence of the Mechanical Maniacs, should they appear, allowing the regular unit to focus on Objective One- our main priority.’”

“Pale Riders…Must be Clint Eastwood fans…”, Topman quipped.

“…Weird. We’re the second objective…Why?”, Geminiman asked aloud. “Look at this…Profiles for the Riders…”

“Oh! Let’s see…Alan Munich…Yeah, that’s Snake’s old buddy, alright…”

“Great. More old friends of ours. Look at this…”

Geminiman moved the screen closer to Topman’s face.

“Boomerang? Of the Quarter Knights?”

“Yeah…Dammit. It looks like they’ve put together a team of some of our old rogues. Looks like they intend to keep us busy, more than anything else…”, Lennon reasoned. “Looks like there’s at least eight of these ‘Riders’, from what’s listed here.”

“Some of those names don’t seem that familiar. ‘Rabid Flare’? Who is that? Or this guy…”

 

May 31st, 20XX, 7:16 AM , PST

“…V-Viscous…Please…Please stop…”

“…Make me. ”, the monstrous man stubbornly asserted.

Classi couldn’t take her eyes from Kenta’s barely moving body within the liquid cocoon. He wouldn’t last much longer at this rate.

Turning her head back towards Viscous, ClassiCal wiped the tears from her face, and reluctantly produced a second conductor from her knuckle, sparking more energy into the tunnel. Mournfully, she looked at her opponent.

“I knew it. A hypocrite at your very core.”

“No…I’m not…But one of my friends is in trouble. I can’t…I won’t allow you to keep hurting him…”, she asserted.

“We’ll see.”

 

May 31st, 20XX, 7:16 AM , PST

Why?

Why can’t I…escape?

I know I have the power…But I can’t…use it…

Ugh…Pain. Crushing pain, squeezing the life out of me.

I’m trapped! No escape! Why can’t I break free?!

“Because you lack the hatred you once had.”

Who…? Who are…?

“The hate…That hate you used against your brother…The power you wielded was great, and was made possible thanks to your anger and rage.”

I…Don’t want to…I can’t be fueled by anger alone…I need…more than that.

“Hate is all you need. Hate is always there for you.”

Are you…Augh…P-pain…

“You’re dying. You have the tools, why not use them?”

I can’t…Not like that.

“Foolish child. The man who is crushing your body is going to do the same to your friend out there…”

C-Classi-yan? I can see…her light…She’s fighting…She shouldn’t have to fight…

“And yet you sit here, wallowing in your weakness, allowing her to be harmed. The man out there is taking joy in forcing her to fight. He’s going to kill you…Kill Classi…Kill Needle…”

…No…

“He’s going to kill your surrogate family, and you’re going to allow it to happen.”

No…He’s not…I cannot allow it…

“And what are you going to do to stop him, hmm?”

I’m…I’ll kill him…

“Simply words, boy. Watch! Her light grows dimmer as you make false promises to yourself!”

I’ll kill him!

“I can see her face now as she breathes her last breath…”

I’LL KILL HIM!

“And then he’ll kill your brother. He’ll take that from you, too…”

Rraagh….AAUUGHHHHHH!

“While you sit here…”

NO! I’LL KILL HIM! I’LL KILL HIS FAMILY BEFORE I ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN!

 

May 31st, 20XX, 7:24 AM , PST

“Woman, this is getting boring…”

Classi panted, her amber haze becoming intermittent. For the past few minutes, she had fought an entirely defensive battle, using small jolts to try and shock Viscous, rather than outright harm him. The toll on her was much higher than his, as she was forced to concentrate on dodging and avoidance, tiring her out.

“…Please…Stop…”, she pleaded once again.

“You haven’t learned anything…You’ll have to MAKE me stop.”

Viscous assembled his small platoon of fluid globules in front of him yet again, making them dance for him. SparkChan gulped, knowing what was coming once more; a barrage of liquid hail.

She again attempted to defend herself with her shield, but the small orbs were capable of passing through it, randomly crashing into her body, knocking a little more wind from her synthetic lungs.

She collapsed, exhausted. She hadn’t much more to give. She wouldn’t allow him to force her to violence, even at this cost.

But Kenta…

She began to tear up, feeling sorrow for letting not only herself down, but her “little brother”, as well. He didn’t deserve this.

“I expected more than this…”, Viscous said quietly, disappointment saturating his voice. “This is hardly vindicating…I’ll have to try my luck with the others if I want any gratification.”

“No…They didn’t do anything! Leave them alone!”, Classi shouted, shooting a more powerful Spark Shock at Viscous as she sat on the floor of the old pipe.

Viscous quickly whirled his fluid orbs between himself and the electric sphere, dissipating the attack into nothingness. “And that’s still all you can manage? Some ‘hero’. Some terrorist…You’re nothing but chicken shit.

My family is dead because of you monsters. I have nothing left. As I see it, maybe I should only kill half of you, so that the other half can be left to suffer…In prison.”

“We’re-“

Classi’s voice eluded her as a horrifying scream rang out from behind her. It started as though it were coming from the depths of an ocean, then gradually rose from the bottom, finally erupting to the surface in a deafening birth cry.

The salty fluid splashed in all directions as a tremendous power overcame its liquid tomb at last, gasping for breath as his helmet dropped to the floor beside him.

“K-Ken-san!”, Classi managed weakly, her expression of joy overcoming her exhaustion and pain.

The joy in her face quickly gave way to fear as she looked at the face of her normally reserved comrade. It was a look of malice and hate like that she had rarely encountered before, his eyes focused on the giant Viscous, and his intentions deadly clear.

“Ahh…I was wondering when you’d esc-“

“Kieuseru.”

“What was-“

Before Viscous could even finish asking the enraged Magnetman what he had said, his death was already nearly complete.

The steel pipe they had fought in became Viscous’ tomb in an instant- an ironic death given to him, considering his plans for Kenta. Without so much as a warning shot, Eigen used his full power to wrap Viscous in the rusted steel and crush his bones and organs within, causing a cascade of blood to shoot from the mess of oxidized metal and human tissue. The crimson fluid found a home mostly on the floor and walls, but also found a way onto ClassiCal’s face and body, much to her horror.

She slumped to the floor, in shock. Kenta stood behind her in the same position he was in after his escape, still gasping for air, visibly shaking from the robotic equivalent to adrenaline, and out of anger. And fear.

“K-Ken…San…What h-have you done?”

Kenta stood motionless, still breathing heavily.

“…Why? There was…We could have…”

Still he stood there, wordlessly.

“…He was a…Person…”

Classi slowly stood up, not sure if she wanted to turn and face the killer behind her. Something forced her to, anyways.

What she saw, was a cacophony of mixed emotions playing out on the young man’s face, from insane satisfaction, to accomplishment, then doubt, and finally sadness, as he looked her in the eyes for the first time.

“I didn’t…want to…”, he claimed as he wiped some of the blood spattered onto his cloak. Frighteningly enough, even as his voice showed genuine dismay and regret, that didn’t seem to stop his fingers from streaking Viscious’s blood onto his eyelids in a macabre victory mask.

He stared at his blood-soaked hands for a few minutes as unbearable silence permeated between he and Classi.

 

May 31st, 20XX, 8:14 AM , PST

“It’s almost time to turn back, Snake.”, NeedleGal reminded, which was met with silence. “…Snake?”

Snakeman stayed a few steps behind, standing still with his eyes pointed towards the ground. His hand placed over where his ear would be told Needle that he was receiving a transmission, but she immediately found it odd that she wasn’t able to hear it- they should all be tuned to the same frequency.

“Rai, what’s up?”, she inquired, checking to see if her radio was still functional, which concluded with a positive answer.

“…Needle…”, he said dryly. “Go back and meet with the others. I’ll join up later.”

“Raijin, what’s wrong? Who’re you talking to?”, she asked.

“There’s something I need to check out. I’ll be fine. Just go on without me. ”

“Rai, but-“

“GO.”

Needle was taken aback by Raijin’s order. He was usually very blunt with Geminiman and Topman, but rarely with her. She immediately deduced what was up, and knew something very wrong was afoot.

“Snake…Be careful…”

“I will. Now go. Quickly.”

Needle nodded quickly and ran off, checking in all directions discretely as she headed back to the rendezvous point. The telltale laser of a sniper rifle from a quarter mile away confirmed her suspicions, but she knew she’d only be in the way of a fight like this. She knew The Judge wanted Snakeman, and only Snakeman, and Raijin was going to give it to him. In spades.

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