Wanted

By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Episode 21 - Angelic

May 31st, 20XX, 5:51 PM , PST

“Daddy…D-Dad…Say something…”, Alicia pleaded to her father, who was still handcuffed and bleeding from half a dozen cuts on his face from rifle clubbing.

Victory turned around from his watching place at the chopper’s door, guarding the pair. “Don’t bother. Your dad’s so doped up and beat down that he won’t be going anywhere under his own power any time soon.”, he assured. “Unless you want the same thing to happen to you, you’ll shut the hell up and sit tight. We’ll be leaving soon, anyway.”

As he turned back around, he took a quick gander at the Horsemen’s contingency plan. Maybe…He should use it now and save them some trouble?

Nah. Not for these runts.

Out of the corner of his eye, Victory caught a glimpse of Topman, an orange blur at his speed, hooking a leg around Death’s head, his foot crackling with tangerine-tinted energy. That, however, did little good with Death’s ion fields still in full effect.

The silver mercenary whipped around, trying to slash SD’s throat with his very capable knives. With ease, even in his exhausted state, the Spinning Demon was still more than able to avoid the broad slash, and even give his foe a decidedly non-threatening look involving his tongue.

“Nyeh! Way too slow, jerk!”

“Does it matter? Unlike you, I don’t have to worry about eventually screwing up.”, Death assured ominously.

“God, if I had a dollar for every time one of you generic bad guys said 'I’m invincible! Blah, blah, blah…', I could just buy you guys a new country to screw up.”

“Oh, burn!”

Lennon decided now was the best time to step back in, taking into account a full dramatic entrance in true Geminiman fashion with a Gemini Laser right to Death's eye visor, blinding him.

“Ergh…Shit!”

“It’s about time you decided to get up. There IS a final boss fight to go through, you know.”, Topman chided the still-wounded Twin Terror who gingerly walked about on his injured leg.

“Where’s the Contra Code when you need it?”, Lennon groused.

“I’m more fond of the second controller trick, myself…”, Topman countered. “But that was for a different game, to be fair.”

“Overrated.”, Geminiman claimed.

“The game or the trick?”, the Spinning Demon inquired.

“Both.”

“…No comment.”

By this time, Death’s vision had returned, at least well enough to grant him the ability to shoot at basic objects with his twin plasma pistols, forcing the two Mechs to scatter.

“Eyyagh…”, Lennon groaned, landing on his injured leg a bit too harshly for his tastes. “Top…I need to go check on Classi. Can you handle this guy?”

“Oh, sure. Leave me alone with the invincible nut case, why don’t you?”, Topman complained, skating past a few dozen small blasts of super heated air.

“You’ll be fine!”, Geminiman attempted to assure his friend as he dashed off towards his fallen angel.

“’I’ll be fine, he says…’. Sheesh.”

As the Spinning Demon busied himself with simply staying in one piece, he caught a glimpse of one of his other comrades across the battlefield as he took shots at his large, red-colored foe.

War has doing a damn good job guarding that exposed shoulder with his wide hand, but it kept him at a distinct disadvantage, basically forcing him on the defensive against the wily Snakeman.

The crimson-plated warrior managed to force his free arm up in a feeble attempt to fire off a few shots with his rifle, but the serpent sniper wasn’t about to let something like a stray plasma shot take him down. Not after the day he had been through already.

But still, he was getting nowhere fast. Even if he managed to shoot out his shoulder, Raijin knew War’s armor plating and ion field would protect him. Snake also knew that the big lummox would be on the lookout for more of his slithering acquaintances.

It was…a draw.

Except for the fact that this was war, not chess. Combatants didn’t declare a fight a no contest when lives were at stake. Sooner or later, something had to give. Someone was going to get hurt. Someone was going to die.

Snake had to promise himself, it wouldn’t be him.

War would have to disagree as his shoulder miraculously became mobile again, rotating and rolling as a healthy shoulder could.

Raijin’s jaw was slightly aghast when a more precise volley of slow burning plasma was launched at him. Though in disbelief, Snakeman still managed to scoot away behind a rock as he exchanged clips of ammunition with his rifle.

“Great. Some sort of advanced healing system. That, and the ion fields…Damn it…”

Across the small plain, Shadowman’s communicator sparked to life as he avoided yet another cloud of cancer, his body showing signs of near misses and splash damage from the cursed things.

“Snake.”, he answered curtly. His mental chatter assured him that Famine wouldn’t hear anything he was saying over the radio, as he wasn’t physically talking. Robots, after all, had digital voice boxes.

“G, these guys are really hooked up. First the ion fields, and now they’ve got an advanced regeneration ability to boot.”

“More great news.”, Gauntlet grimaced. “We can get around the fields, but if we’re going to take these guys down, it’ll have to be in a quick blow.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”, the serpent sniper agreed.

“Snake, hold tight. I’m coming over there, and I’ll be bringing a guest.”

“Roger.”

Shadowman tapped one of his teeth with his tongue, changing his outgoing signal.

“Top.”

After a few seconds, a static haze fizzled into Gauntlet’s ear, followed by SD’s voice, with a somewhat annoyed tone.

“Kinda busy here, chief.”

“Top, I need you to meet me by Snake’s location. If we’re going to take these guys down, we’ve got to work together.”

“Only if I can bring a ‘friend’.”

“We’ll set an extra place at the table.”

The connection ended, leaving Shadowman alone with Famine once again, who never seemed to get bored with keeping Gauntlet at bay.

“I’m going to go visit with a few friends.”, Shadowman proclaimed to the venomous mercenary. “You’re welcome to come.”

Famine watched the lithe ninja warp away and make sure to reappear within his field of vision halfway between Snakeman and himself, who was still pinned behind a rock that was being pummeled by ever-burning napalm.

Famine fidgeted for a few moments, contemplating leaving them both to War. It wouldn’t be the first time War had taken out numerous men all at once. Besides, his foot still ached. Maybe the armor wasn’t working as well as it could. He glanced over his shoulder towards the chopper, still being watched over by Victory.

His glare alone persuaded Famine to join War.

May 31st, 20XX, 6:02 PM

“Hope you’ve got a better plan than me. ”, Snakeman greeted the burnt, charred, and otherwise hurt Shadowman with.

“Nope.”, he retorted. “But that never stopped us before.”

“Good point.”

By then, Famine had caught up with the elusive ninja, forcing the mechanical duo out of their hiding spot from the fires of War. Just as they escaped, a familiar, dreaded cloud crashed into the rock, which was already in a pathetic state of being from the abuse of War’s assault.

Then, it exploded in spectacular fashion, sending bits of super heated stone everywhere, forcing Mechs and Horsemen alike to look away and hide their faces from the blast.

“What the hell was that?!”, War demanded to know.

“A…A chemical reaction! War, your fire ignites my caustic fume. Be careful, for God’s sake!”, shouted back the onyx mercenary.

“Good call on that one, G.”, Snakeman commended without a hint of sarcasm. “At least they won’t be able to go crazy with their guns if they’re so close.”

“That won’t do us much good if we can’t stop them altogether. We’re running out of time.”

It was obvious to the reptilian robot that Shadowman was more concerned with Victory and the chopper, which contained two key people. He was certainly worried that Victory may cut his losses and run at any given time, even without his “brothers”.

“Hey, what about your Shadow Blades?”, the thought suddenly came from Snakeman. “Can’t they just phase through the ion fields?”

“No such luck.”, Shadowman grumbled. “The field seems to negate them. Seems to be the trend here today.”

“Figures.”

“Raj…How many of your snakes do you have left?”

“Only five. That’s all I had time to recover.”

“Do you have Skip with you?”, inquired Shadowman, recalling one of Snakeman’s pet names for his “tools”.

“Yeah, actually. He’s at eleven o'clock , seven meters out.”

“Do me a favor. Have him target me.”

“…Seems like you’ve got something in mind.”, Snakeman hinted at.

“I might. Just have him ready right about…now.”

With that, Shadowman bolted towards Famine, who was still reeling and recovering from the explosion, possibly concerned about his hearing. He didn’t have any more time to worry now, with the cyber shinobi right in front of him in short order.

“Gyeh, don’t you damn things ever give up?!”, the cancerous fighter hissed, steadying his rifle.

“Only three shots, G.”, Snakeman’s voice buzzed in his ear.

From a few feet away, Gauntlet could hear the launching of a small projectile- a miniature missile, produced by Snakeman’s sidewinder, Skip.

Famine dropped his rifle and attempted to slash the shinobi with his arm blade as Gauntlet slid into a shadow, avoiding the slash and that missile, which crashed into Famine’s ion fields with little effect.

“C’mon…”, Gauntlet muttered to himself softly, his plan taking strike one.

War was curious.

He watched the missile launch from some location, and realized it wasn’t any of the Horsemen’s equipment or men. Ignoring Snakeman, who was pelting him with armor piercing shots that were harmlessly ricocheting off of his fields, War began the hunt for the source of the missile.

“The big guy’s on to us already.”, Snakeman warned in between shots. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it quick.”

Shadowman reappeared in front of Famine, sword in hand, trying to slash him to no effect. Then, he backed up a few steps, launching a few kunai towards him.

Famine raised his rifle, but let the kunai hit his ion shield as a second missile rang out, alerting War to Skip’s location. The Mars red monster lumbered closer to the semi-hidden snake as Shadowman again disappeared into his own shadow, the missile missing Famine entirely.

“C’mon, damn it!”, Shadowman cursed to himself as he emerged from Famine’s own shadow.

“There you are!”, cried out Famine as he aimed his gun at Shadowman, point blank.

Inwardly, Gauntlet smiled as he heard the final rocket take off, just as War smashed the offending snake robot with a cruel stomp.

Famine pulled the trigger, and only one tenth of a second later, Shadowman was nearly back in the shadow completely, the small, two-inch long missile only inches from his head.

Famine’s eyes grew wide from behind his visor as he realized what was playing out before him.

“You BASTAAAARD!”

The missile was swallowed by the cancerous cloud, detonating from within and exploding the entire mass mere inches from Famine’s barrel.

Gauntlet had taken a gamble in more ways than one. But, they seemed to be paying off, as he observed from his safety point near Snakeman, yards away from Famine.

The explosion sent the caustic cloud everywhere as it burned away, but not before slashing onto Famine’s own armor, the cloud able to pass the ion field due to its gas-like nature.

“Holy shit…”, Snakeman gasped.

The black mercenary’s armor was being eaten away; not severely, due to the small amount of the cloud making it past his fields before being burned up, but enough to cause a little bit of damage. Famine struggled for a few moments, trying to brush away the hungry particles that ate away at his suit and armor, then pulled off his helmet when he noticed some of it burning away his visor.

“Gauntlet, he’s-“

Shadowman stopped Snakeman from moving forward to take a shot. There was no need.

There was no need because Topman’s leg had found the former soldier’s face at nearly one hundred miles an hour, obliterating teeth, bone structure, and any hope of survival. The kick was so brutal, Famine’s head was nearly separated from his body from the mandible on up.

“Eww…I stop over for a chat, and I get even more gunk on me? You guys are incorrigible!” the Spinning Demon mused. Normally, he wouldn’t joke about killing a human being, but his conscience had a special place in Hell for the Horsemen after today’s events.

Famine’s body slumped uselessly to the ground, his head hanging onto its former resting place with little tenacity as War boiled over with anger.

“Goddamn…God damn ROBOTS…”

“Easy, War.”, Victory ordered as he approached the battlefield. “You and I both knew Famine’s time was at an end either way. He got careless, and look at what that earned him. Learn from that.”

“Stepping in?”, the red mercenary asked. “Heh…Hehehe…”

Victory adjusted a dial on his own rifle and locked eyes with Gauntlet.

And then, all went white.