Wanted

By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Episode 22 - Bleed for your Freedom

May 31st, 20XX, 6:09 PM

“This…Isn’t right. To mar such a thing of beauty…”

Lennon was sitting on his knees, with the disabled SparkChan pulled close to him as he lamented her wounds; massive burns to her right shoulder, torso, and her lower face on the right side. Thankfully, she was unconscious, far removed from the pain she’d be in if she weren’t.

“In this…world…”, he whispered to himself, “Must we face such horrors? Must we watch our friends…Our loved ones…suffer? Is that our…fate?”

The Twin Terror leaned over his beloved ClassiCal, pondering a kiss.

“…No. Not this way…”

Respectfully, he laid the mango-loving pacifist before him, placing her hands on her stomach in a peaceful pose.

“Rest easy, darling. When you awaken, these monsters will have suffered a thousand-fold for your pain- it's best you stay asleep for now.”

Shakily, Lennon climbed to his feet, fighting a sharp, very persistent pain in his knee and back.

His teeth were gnashed down hard amongst each other behind his lips, his jaw tight. His eyes were narrowed, sharp, and intent on the large red figure in the distance.

And so, he marched forth.

May 31st, 20XX, 5:56 PM

“What the hell WAS THAT?!”, Topman screamed, the Earth shaking and sinking beneath his feet, finally settling a full foot lower than it was only a moment ago.

“He’s charging it again!”, Snakeman warned, hearing the high pitched whine, like an old camera just prior to the flash.

Then, the white bath again.

The Mechs did what they could do, and that was to simply run. Run as fast and as far away as possible from that horrible destructive force.

“Hahahaha!”, War chuckled. “Look at them scatter like cockroaches in a cheap apartment when the light’s turned on! Run, little bugs, run!”

The blinding light lasted only three seconds, but an un-godly amount of damage had been done to the already tortured landscape.

Along with the previous beam’s damage, Victory’s angelic cannon carved a great swath in the land, burning away the crumbled Earth, leaving nothing but empty space in its wake as it burrowed into the Earth for God knows how far deep.

Again, the ground shifted, almost in pain and fear of this awesome might, and it sank, collapsing in on the two-foot wide, bottomless ravine the white laser had carved into it. The effects were felt even a football field’s length away, indicating that the beam had continued downward and straight ahead for at least one hundred yards without losing strength, possibly more.

“This is…not good.”, observed Shadowman, unable to say much else in light of the new death weapon’s effects.

“Ya think?!”, Topman shouted back.

“We’re not doing any good at this distance!” Snakeman noted. “If we don’t close the gap between us, he’ll always have the advantage!”

“Oh right, I’m just itching to get close to THAT.”, Topman argued.

“Find cover!”, Gauntlet interjected again, noticing the gathering energy in the distance.

“Split up!” Raijin further added.

Again, like refugees, the three Mechs scattered away from the horrible beam, which chased the fastest Mech, Topman, as it continued onward for at least a mile, perhaps even more. After another three seconds of blaring noise and blinding light, it stopped, thankfully.

“The range…” Snakeman commented, astonished. “I can’t believe the power and range of that thing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a high-class plasma weapon.”

“We’ll get you one later.” Gauntlet said in a mock promise. “For now, figure out how we can get passed it!”

“Right…ten second charge…three second, constant dispersal…That thing is going to get hot at this rate…”

“Do you think it’ll overheat?”, the Spinning Demon asked, sensing Snake’s thought process.

“Negative.” He speculated. “This guy’s not that stupid. He’s checking some sort of gauge each time he fires it. He- He’s gonna fire again, look out!”

The Mechs again scattered, Victory’s deadly god-like power chasing down Shadowman, eventually losing the beam with a shadow dive. Their distance between each other growing, the Mechs switched to radio communication.

“He’s probably got another shot to go before he needs to let it cool down.”, the serpent sniper continued, slightly winded from running for his life. “But assuming he’s got some equally high-tech heat sinks in that thing, that gives us…thirty seconds, maybe.”

“Top!” Shadowman interjected. “After the next shot, get up to him as fast as possible and try to get his attention. Snake and I will have to use that distraction to get back close and keep him from using that thing again.”

“Easy for you to say!...Uhh, looks like it’s show time, regardless!”

Again, the beam roared to life, again cutting a path across the barren landscape towards the orange android Topman, who still managed to outrun the beam.

Until he tripped.

“OH GOD!”, he screamed, unable to get back up in time, the beam baring down on him.

But then, it stopped. Well, not so much as stopped, but shot skyward, over Topman’s body.

“What the hell happened?” Snakeman shouted.

“Look!” as the ninja robot thrust attention towards the Riders on the horizon.

May 31st, 20XX, 6:14 PM

War’s legs went slack, his body crumbling to the ground slowly.

He peered down. It was hard to see, but its glowing presence gave it away, the energy weapon that pierced his chest from behind, then roughly, cruelly pulled itself free, exiting from the hole it had made in his back. The ion field generators on his back were visible for only a second as the beam weapons slid through them, unable to stop the plasma blades.

“Y-you…!”

“Nobody does that to milady.”, Lennon said, coldly staring into War’s helmet as he lay on his chest, the cauterized wound producing little blood, but the hole through his torso and lung sealing his fate in this vast nowhere. “Nobody.”

“You little, insignificant shit!”, Death yelled, pulling his own energy daggers out again, ready to kill the wounded Geminiman.

But Victory stopped him with single arm.

“Well done.” He commended. “You used my own actions as a distraction. Good work.”

“Gemini!” Topman bellowed, gaining ground on the Riders.

“Good work.”, Victory repeated. “But it’ll grant you no rewards.”

The white-clad warrior pointed his gun straight into Lennon’s face, point blank. Lennon had no time to remark on the irony of his fate, and knew he had no place to run from the terrible weapon. It was…over.

A shot rang out in the distance, and the angelic cannon left Victory’s hand suddenly, spinning away from the group as Lennon, Victory, and everyone else spotted Raijin in the distance, his rifle being reloaded by now.

Suddenly, Death decided to make use of the distraction, grabbing Geminiman from the side, and putting the Twin Terror in a nasty neck choke, one of his plasma knives waving right before his eye.

“Tell your friends to back off.”, Death demanded quietly. “Real slow.”

“Spineless- Aughhrrrgh!!”

This time, Death dug in deep, and wanted to injure Lennon in a more constructive way. He jammed his blade into the mirrored menace’s eye socket, melting the delicate cybernetic eyeball within, and brought the blade out through his forehead, slashing his helmet slightly as it exited.

Death pushed Geminiman down on the ground roughly, though he was too preoccupied with this horrendous new wound that belched oily blood in a constant stream, his face burning around the wound.

The silver soldier planted a foot firmly on Lennon’s back, pointing one of his beam knives at the back of his head.

“Stand down, Mechs! This fight is ours, unless you want his blood on your hands.”

“Sn-Snake!”, Geminiman called out, seeing the sniper glaring at Death through his rifle. “Kill him!”

“Stupid little robot. He can’t touch me with that popgun. For that, you’re gon-“

Death’s body slumped the ground in a half second, not even before the ringing from the rifle shot stopped. Red, salty blood squeezed its way out of the neat hole imbedded in his helmet just above where his right eye would be beneath it. Next to that, the egg-shaped ion device had been cut much earlier during he and Lennon’s initial skirmish.

Raijin lowered his gun slowly, his eyes stern, his mouth turned in a distinct frown.

Geminiman struggled to his feet, his hand still clamped over his displaced eye. Topman and Shadowman joined him at his side, focused on Victory, still unarmed.

He chuckled softly.

“You robots…You’re certainly bigger pains in the ass than I thought…”

“It’s finished, Victor.”, Gauntlet growled. “Let’s just end this now. Anything else would be stupid.”

“You’re asking me…To give up my dream? Just because of…this?”, the white warrior motioned to his dead comrades. “This is nothing.”

“What kind of a man are you, Ryder?”, Topman challenged. “These men gave their lives for your cause, your revolution. How can you stand there and call their deaths ‘nothing’ after everything you’ve been through?”

“Soldier’s code.”, Victory mused. “They knew what they were getting into. It's just the same as it was in the 1980s. We risked death on a daily basis back then. We risked it today. The cards just weren’t in their favor today.”

“Not in your favor, either.”, Gauntlet hissed. “Your revolution is over. We’re taking you back so you can pay for what you’ve done.”

Victor Ryder “tsked” from behind his helmet. “ Requiem Mass. ”

“What was that?”, Geminiman demanded, turning his ear towards the Horseman.

“ Requiem Mass. ”

“The hell are you-“

It could be heard from within the copter. Systematic, loud, frightening footsteps. With each stomp, the massive copter shook.

Until its leg poked out of the chopper’s cargo bay.

The chopper may have been a mansion of the sky with a ten foot tall cargo door, but it wasn’t enough.

With a silent, angry swiping motion, the giant, silvery beast tore away at the back end of the helicopter that barred his exit as if it were paper.

And when it finally exited, stashing away the crumpled steel in its hand like a used napkin, Gauntlet himself couldn’t hide…his fear.

“Oh God, help us…”