Location: San Diego,
CA
SA Troops: 1621
RPD Troops: 614
Wily Troops: 1102
Omniman and Golemman were attacking the Power Plant today. It was
actually a ways off from Monsteropolic, this attack was happening
in Denver. Nevertheless, the RPD was ever-expanding and was actually
becoming more in tune with the army than the police force.
“Do it! For the gory of Wily!” screamed Omniman as he
used his Drill Lance to gouge a Robot Commando member in two.
The Robot Commandos were falling back. They might be army calibur,
but they weren’t quite up to the task of stopping Omniman and
Golemman.
“They’re too much for us, sir,” said the senior
officer over the internal radio, “We need reinforcements now!”
“Don’t worry,” said Shadowman over the comm. Line, “Everything’s
going according to plan. Just keep your distance. Draw them in using
your rifles.”
The Robot Commando member doubted Shadowman’s plan, but he
was put in charge of strategy. The few remaining Robot Commandos
used their rifles.
“You people can’t beat me with those pea shooters!” roared
Golemman as he charged towards the group of robots.
“Fall back!” Called Shadowman. The Robot Commandos didn’t
need the encouragement. They may not have individual designs, but
they didn’t like the thought of being deactivated any more
than a unique robot did.
“Look at them run,” said Omniman with glee. “They
can’t beat us.”
“We’re the best!” boomed Golemman as he withstood
a grenade blast from one of the Robot Commandos. They had managed
to escape inside of the Power Plant, barring the door behind them.
Omniman could have stopped them, but neither he nor Golem was in
a hurry.
“That we are. And, after this, Wily will see it too. Nothing
can stop us, Golem! We’re too powerful.”
The Robot Commandos had sealed the doors shut. Due to Wily’s
other attacks places like the Power Plant were secrured tightly against
intruders. Of course, this was Omniman they were dealing with. Wily’s
most powerful creation. The other Evil Eight members may have deserted
their post, but Omniman and Golemman were loyal. Neither would they
lose. Not now. They had too much to prove to lose now.
“I’ll peel these doors open like an orange.” Golemman
rammed his fingers into the metal doors with amazing force to create
a grip. Then, slowly, the doors began to buckle. Golem grunted as
the strain of wrenching the doors stressed his robotic muscles to
their limits. Omniman seemed to be smiling. It was exerting Golemman’s
endurance, but here it was. They could do this by themselves. They
didn’t need any of their former team-mates to win. They were
easily more powerful than Doc Robot and his crew. Or the Wily’s
Warriors. And especially those Mechanical Maniacs!
One of the hinges burst free under Golemman’s assault. Golemman
poured more of his strength into ripping the door free from it’s
frame. It must have been thicker than it looked – Golemman
was having a considerable amount of trouble ripping it free. But,
like Omni, Golem was determined to prove his strength to Wily. It
was a matter of pride.
The door buckled some more. Omniman could actually hear the joints
in Golemman working to their limits to rip the door free. His companion
would need some repairs after this victory.
Finally the doors were ripped off the wall. Golem roared in triumph
and thre them into the building. As expected both Omniman and Golemman
were pelted with gunfire as they strode victoriously into the power
plant.
“This facility is now under control of Doctor Wily!”
“Fat chance, buster!” Needles rained down from above,
damaging the surprised robot masters. Needlegal had waited for them
on a ledge above the door! And she wasn’t alone.
Three members of the Special Forces landed on top of Golemman and
Omniman. Golemman was quick to throw his opponents off, but Omniman
was caught in the grip of the powerful robotic officer.
“You’re under arrest, Omniman. Come quietly and you won’t
be damaged any further.”
“NEVER!” Omniman used his Crushing Grip to sever the
foolish officer’s hand. He readied his Drill Lance and prepared
to pounce on the bigger robot.
Omni never got the chance. Needlegal flung her mace into his back,
ripping new holes into his perfect body. Omniman whirled around,
but was gunned down by the Officer’s augmented Arm Cannon.
Needlegal followed suit, firing her Needle Cannon at the Wily robot.
“I can’t let it end this way,” breathed Omniman,
leaping out of the fray. Not to be outdone, Needlegal leapt into
the air herself and brought Omniman back to Earth with a barrage
of needles.
“It was over before it even started! Big Bro had you guys pegged.
Take a look at your buddy, Omni. He’s not doing so good either."
Omniman hazarded a glance at Golem. Indeed, after ripping the door
open, Omniman damaged himself. His normally devastating punches were
weak. They might have still been effective against the Robot Commandos,
but not the Special Forces. The Special Forces officers were actually
beating his comrade to a pulp!
“Keep on him!” called Shadowman, “Sever his head
from his body. We’ll hack it and get tactical on Wily.”
Needlegal shivered. She disliked the thought of severing the robot’s
head. However, these were old enemies of hers and if they could be
brought down that’s two less problems in their way.
Omniman surprised her with a flash grenade! A burst of light temporarily
blinded the female police officer. She heard a Special Forces officer
scream while being torn apart. Omniman seemed to have gotten the
best of the Special Forces member he was battling. Needlegal shot
in the general direction of his voice, but there was nothing to be
heard except for her weapon hitting the wall beyond.
It took only moments for her vision to adjust, but by then both Omniman
and Golemman had gotten away.
“Good work, guys. The power plant is safe,” said Shadowman
over the comm. line.
Needlegal smirked. “And we owe it all to you, General Shadowman!
--------------------
Shadowman sat back in his chair. “General” indeed. His
friends had started calling him that since he was placed in a command
position inside of the RPD. He supposed it was a sign of faith from
his comrades in arms. Although it was mostly behind his back. This
was because the chief made sure to keep him too busy to spend much
time with his friends. He was busy playing the boss over skirmishes
like the one against Omni and Golem. Or spending time with reaserch
and development, trying to cobble together some new weapon.
Or, more importantly, to think up some new idea to give him an edge
over the real "General".
That was what worried Shadowman the most. He poured over the data from
the Sinister Six’s fight against this threat and came to one
conclusion: General Cutman lost the first time because he didn’t
know what he was up against. All reports indicated he was from another
reality. Certainly, the Dr. Light he knew never created such a monster … that
he knew of anyway. But what were the odds of two monstrous, genocidal,
robot doppelgangers coming from Dr. Light?
Now the shoe was on the other foot, it seemed. Aside from the encounter
with his friends and the encounter at Los Angeles, there was no data
on General Cutman. And that bothered Shadowman.
Crorq interrupted his thoughts.
“Congratulations, Mech. That was good work out there.”
“Thanks, Chief. I don’t suppose my reward is to have the
Shutdown Code taken out as a sign of your faith in me?”
Crorq laughed somewhat bitterly. They may not like each other, but
both were subject to the infamous code. “No, no. You’re
falling upwards, old chum!”
“Oh? So ‘General Shadowman’s’ gonna be a reality?”
“More along the lines of lieutenant commander. Keep up the good
work.” Crorq logged off. He didn’t like giving good news
as much as he did ranting and raving about how things were going wrong.
Shadowman slung back in his chair. Lieutenant Commander Shadowman.
He’s a Lieutenant Commander now. What, exactly, was the difference
between that and his position as just a regular-old commander? Shadowman
looked it up.
For the first time in a while a smile broke out on Shadowman’s
face. It seemed lieutenant commanders were allowed to assign people
on field missions.
--------------------
Heatman had spent the last few days in hiding. He had to admit … he
was in over his head.
It seemed like a great idea to strike out from Wily during the course
of this war. Put his powers to better use than that madman could against
General Cutman. Show everyone how it’s done. But now that he
had a chance to think things over, he didn’t have much to go
on. He had no idea where General Cutman’s base was. And he had
no team to help back him up in finding out. What was worse was that
he couldn’t get one of the small fries to spill the beans!
Heatman sighed. He couldn’t go back to the Warriors like this.
His pride wouldn’t allow it. Cossack was a lost cause (and a
simpering bleeding heart), so there’s no help there. There was
only one place to turn. Heatman opened his communicator and hoped old
friends didn’t arrest each other on sight.
--------------------
It wasn’t long before Heatman was escorted to the Robot Police
Headquarters in Monsteropolis. It looked like someone else was being
brought in too.
“No! This is a misunderstanding!” yelled Cleaveman as he
was hauled away by police bots, “I’ve come to join you!
Seriously …. This is a huge mistake! I was in the wrong place
at the wrong time!” Heatman sneered. Some robots has no self
respect. Heatman intended never to be such a simpering weakling, no
matter what happens.
He was greeted by Needlegal first. “Hey, Ben!” said the
feminine Robot Master cheerfully, “I’m glad you’re
on our side in all this.”
“Yeah.”
“Things are so weird. Everyone’s being split up. Did you
hear about the Evil Eight? They broke up just recently and they all
went their separate ways. Heck, even the ‘Maniacs aren’t
in one piece.”
“Yeah.”
“Shadow’s waiting for you in the meeting room along with
everyone else.”
The two walked mostly in silence. Ben didn’t really want to talk.
Things were hectic at police HQ, but it was so much … brighter
here than in Wily’s Skull Castle. Or in X-Force headquarters,
come to think on it.
Of course some things were pretty similar. Like Skull Castle, Police
HQ had it’s own overbearing, egotistical nut job. Crorq stomped
into Ben’s path.
“You! I heard you were coming, Heatman. If you’re working
with us, I think you have to have something installed.”
“Bite me, you reject from an old horror movie!”
At an inaudible signal from their chief, all the police bots in the
room trained their guns on the zippo-inspired robot master. “Oh,
but I insist, INFIDEL!” Crorq produced a disk and a chip from
a compartment inside his massive body. Heatman hesitated for only a
few moments.
“Whatever.” Heatman looked disgusted with himself as he
installed the code within himself (although Crorq handled the insertion
of the chip). It was almost like he could feel his freedom being ripped
from his soul. No more mauling McDonald Land. No more destroying the
Statue of Liberty in some overpowered fight. Now he was just a dog
on a leash.
Upon completion of the installation, Heatman melted the disk in his
hand and let it fall to the floor. Crorq chuckled. “Don’t
worry, we have plenty more where that came form.” Crorq took
a box of doughnuts just sitting on a desk and took a bite out of it,
chewing thoughtfully. He then threw it at a nearby officer. “INFIDEL!
These are STALE! Don’t you know there’s a war going on?
I need doughnuts or I’ll be too depressed to come up with a winning
strategy!”
Needlegal led Heatman away from their grotesque boss. “Sorry
about that. It was the same for us. Crorq just showed up with some
goons and …. Well, here we are.”
Heatman grunted. Shadowman did get himself into a bad situation with
the code, but it actually looked like the best side to choose. At least
the RPD had a better purpose than Wily. Crorq was a raving lunatic,
but Wily never won one of his stupid rebellions.
They arrived at the meeting room and Heatman was stunned to see so
few of the
‘Maniacs had shown up! “What’s going on here? Where’s
Gemini, Top, Sparks, and the newbie?”
Heardman grunted. “They defected. Dunno where ‘ey are. ‘Cept
Kenta. The runt’s gone over ta th’ dark side.”
“What?”
“Kenta’s gone to General Cutman’s side.”
Heatman was shocked. Lennon had been with the team longer than even
the original Geminiman! The same goes for Tops. Needle wasn’t
kidding when she said the ‘Maniacs weren’t in one piece,
they’d been split in two!
“Haven’t you tried talking to them?”
Snakeman spoke this time. “Kenta’s a lost cause for now.
But the others won’t even pick up when we call. It’s really
strange.”
“But it’s not gone completely to hell,” smiled Shadowman.
Oviously he wanted to keep things upbeat. “We’ve been able
to hack a few of the General’s Joe’s minds. We know where
General Cutman’s base is.”
Heatman smiled. This is why he joined the RPD. He was gonna show all
these chumps exactly how it’s done.
--------------------
KABOOM!
The explosion rocked the Wily compound. As smoke rose from a newly
placed crater in the castle’s courtyard, a familiar voice rang
out:
“I’M OKAY!” yelled Naoshi, Metal Man of the Wily’s
Warriors. Or, more accurately, what was LEFT of him. The buzz saw automaton’s
head was the only thing that remained from the explosion.
Quick Man let out a low whistle “Hoo-eee, that was pretty slick.
I don’t think even I would have been able to escape that move.”
Cyros and Darksage grinned. “Well boss, we’re the best
at what we do.” Said Flash Man, brandishing his Arm Cannon. “It’s
a good maneuver.” Added Crash. “It takes a bit to set up,
but it’s a perfect way to trap someone.”
Starnik nodded. “How about you, Naoshi? You’re the resident
expert at getting blown up.”
The disembodied robotic head seemed to shrug its shoulders, despite
the impossibility that presented. “Oh, I don’t know. I’d
say the blast area on the west side could have been better. There might
be a hole we’re not seeing in the layout.” He said with
startling clarity.
“Hmm, you think?” mused Starnik. “Crash, Flash, I
want you to look at some other patterns to run. I’d like about
six other layouts for different terrains. After all, chances are we’ll
be forced to use this something other than flat conditions. Air, let’s
get Naoshi back together so we can go over the idea for the ‘Shrapnel
Tornado’…”
Shadowstrike yawned as he picked up Naoshi’s head. “Aw,
boss, what’s the deal with this? We never used to practice our
abilities before.” Said the lethargic Air Man.
“I have to agree. While I appreciate this newfound enthusiastic,
get-it-done personality of yours, what gives?” said Iga, who
had been watching the proceedings. “You’ve always been
more of a… ‘spontaneous’ kind of fighter.”
“To be honest, it was originally Wily’s idea. But…” Starnik
trailed off, as he stared at the Wily Banner flying from one of the
stone walls “…I can’t say I disagree. I saw some
intel on the Scissors Army. They’ve got some real monsters working
for them.” He turned to face the Warriors. It still felt odd,
addressing them like this. He could still remember as clear as day
the old group of Warriors, which never had a real “leader”. “Until
Ben comes back, we’re out of our usual deus ex machina. I want
us to be prepared.”
There was an unsteady silence between the Warriors after that statement.
Surely Heat Man would come back to the Warriors’ side, right? He
just got a little sick of Wily, that’s all. He’ll be back.
Probably with about 800 new felonies to his name… Starnik
thought.
--------------------
Starnik strolled along the castle corridors. He felt good about how
practice had gone. Even Mr. Whiz, the doppelganger Quick Man, seemed
to be getting faster and better at putting Naoshi back together after
they signaled him. The other residents of the castle had dropped by
to deliver pointers as well; it was surreal. Enemies of the Sinister
Six, the Mechanical Maniacs, and other teams had gotten to be rather
likable. They weren’t necessarily evil people…
they were just people who tended to do evil things. You could probably
fit the pre- and post-Wily Warriors into that category as well… mused
Quick, chuckling.
It was at that point he walked by the repair room, where he found Omni
and Golemman being worked on by none other than Dr. Wily. “Yikes.
What happened to you guys?” asked Starnik, looking at the two
remaining members of the Evil Eight. Omniman had several holes punched
through his frame, while Golem Man’s arms slumped on either side
of him, covered in stress fractures.
“The Mechanical Maniacs.” Spat Wily. Omni and Golem seemed
to hang their heads in shame.
Quick Man felt his grip tighten a little, then a wave of confusion
crossed over his face. Why should he be angry? The Maniacs were their
friends. Sorta. But then again, Omni and Golem were just two robots
trying to make their creator happy. Heck, Omni had been a nervous wreck
since his teammates abandoned him, and Golem was more like a big dumb
puppy than anything else. A puppy that robbed banks, to be sure, but
still…
“By the way, Quick. There was something I wanted to talk to you
about.” Said Wily, snapping Quick out of his thought process. “I
finally have a mission for you and the other Warriors.”
“Computer. Show Grid A-3.” Barked out Wily, as a holographic
projection of the San Francisco Area appeared. “Given how widespread
the General’s forces are, it has been difficult to find his base
of operations. There have been no new energy shielded structures that
have appeared over the past few weeks, or anything else that would
obviously lead us to his location. However...” The scientist
motioned to Omni and Golem, who were still sitting on the repair bed.
“I had those two go out and start up a fuss as a distraction
while another team was sent to infiltrate the world’s satellite
network.”
“The world satellite network? Why? What did you hope to find?” Asked
Quick Man, amazed. It wasn’t every day you saw Wily plan out
a mission like this. He had assumed the doctor just always went with
the “smash and grab” method.
“Computer, show on second projector World view, and overlay it
with communication network Alpha Alpha Three.” Ordered Wily once
again, causing another map to appear next to the first one. It was
the planet Earth, with a string of yellow lines connecting all the
major cities in a delicate web. And those lines all seemed to gravitate
towards one point. On the first map, the lines appeared as well, leading
towards one building.
“When one is taking over the world, communications between your
troops are a must. But, ah, how do you build such a network without
anyone noticing what you’re up to?” Queried the aging German. “The
answer is, you use an existing network. General Cutman has been piggybacking
his orders off of regular transmissions, and covering his trail by
making them appear as ordinary background static. However, we can see
that the transmissions are all coming from here.” Punctuated
Wily, pointing at a seemingly ordinary building in the city, lit up
bright yellow on the map. “This is the nerve center. This is
where we will hit him, and destroy the head of his organization. What’s
best is that it doesn’t seem to be heavily guarded. Cutman has
left only a bare bones janitorial staff in the city, to pick off any
surviving humans. He has either spread his forces too thin, or he does
not wish for an excess of troops to give away his location.”
“Amazing…” exclaimed Starnik. “It’s
brilliant. To think he’s using our own communications network
against us…”
“Of course it’s brilliant.” Wily snorted. “It’s
what I do for MY rebellions! Gather together the Warriors tomorrow
morning for a briefing. We will discuss how to attack the base there…”
--------------------
For a human, even Heatman had to admit Landigram was a man of many
talents but unfortunately, public speaking was not in his repetriore.
The captain kept droning on and on about the mission: where to go,
how to do it, and so on and so on. Heatman yawned and began to wonder
if he chose the right side. And Landigram, noticing his impudence,
tapped his laser pointer against the viewscreen to grab the zippo's
attention.
"Reconnaissance shows only a skeleton crew manning this base and
only a token presence in the area. It seems that the so-called 'General'
Cutman doesn't want to attract our attention-" He droned.
"Or Wily's or Cossack's," Shadowman added, "We get the
picture. How do we get in?"
"Since security from the Sniper Joes is practically non-existent,
Cutman is probably relying on an automated system which will require
Heatman's technical expertise."
Had he more time, Heatman would've loved nothing more that to program
a virus similar to the Sigma Virus that ravaged his hometime. Unfortunately,
20XX technology was frankly, not up to snuff and even with the scraps
he stole from Wily's base, there were still differences between robot
master and repliroid physiology that would caused some issues-
"I have a few viruses capable of knocking out their systems," He
proudly proclaimed, somewhat. Crossing his arms as he swiveled back
in his chair, "Say the word and I'll have his base make 1980 look
like the world of tomorrow."
"Snakeman, you'll patrol the perimeter from a distance. If any
Joes even come within two miles of the strike team, do not hesitate
to take them out."
The reptilian robot master, with his feet kicked up on the desk, tilted
his head slightly showing little emotion or any indication he was paying
any attention.
"Shadowman, Needlegal, you two will accompany Heatman inside the
complex and see to it that he's in place for the next phase of our
plan."
"Heh," Heatman chuckled, "Go Hiroshima on the General's
base and call it a night?"
Landigram bit his lip. "That's one way of putting it. Any questions?"
Hardman slowly raised his hand. "Yeah, my "girlish figure"
doesn't really allow fer stealth; why am I even on this mission?"
Landigram looked like he were about to say 'Damned if I know and
damned if I care.' but Shadowman fielded the question instead. "Knowing
the General, he always has a nasty surprise up his sleeve. We'll probably
need your strength if he decides to spring it on us."
"Any other questions?" Landigram asked again.
Heatman raised his hand. "Yeah, I'm just wondering, when are the
doctor's going to remove that stick up your ass?"
That got a few muffled fits of laughter across the room but Landigram
was far from impressed. He bit harder into his lip, tempted to flick
the kill switch on Heatman but know they had no other walking nuclear
arsenals handy, he resisted temptation and snarled.
"You all have your mission. Dismissed."
--------------------
"Did you really have to do that Ben?" Asked Shadowman as
he and Heatman marched towards the transporter.
"I don't take shit from assholes G," Heatman answered as
deadpan as possible, "Whether they be human, robot, or otherwise.
I just want this mission over and done with."
He owed the General a lot; after Fireman died fighting Neo Dragoon,
a piece of him died along with with the fiery-haired warrior. First
his team died, then Fireman, then Iceman. Hell, the General had the
audacity to put his own son on the chopping block in some mad scheme
against the Six. Ever since the War started, there wasn't a night where
he didn't go to the CR chamber crying. He may have not been the best
father but he loved Chibi, even after he was transformed into that,
that, monster!
Oh General Cutman would pay for what he did to his family and friends,
with interest.
Heatman's fist shook with unholy rage. "Bastard," He growled,
low enough for Shadowman's aural sensors not to hear it, "What
else are you going to take away from me? Fireman and Chibi are already
dead-"
Saldy, it seemed everyone around him died these days while he survived.
Heat never told anyone this but he was getting tired. Tired of the
constant turmoil in his life, the constant battle. They say true warriors
want peace but Heatman never seemed to get it.
'Am I condemned to live forever, to fight battle after battle, watching
my friends die around me?'
Maybe that's why he agreed to go on this mission. The General was a
devious son of a bitch, there was no way he'd leave the nerve center
of his operative so carelessly unguarded. Death hung over this mission
like the guillotine blade over the condemned-
Shadowman, ever so perceptive, noticed Heatman's mind wandering off
course.
"You all right Ben?"
Heatman nodded. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about the mission. That's
all."
"Good to hear," Shadowman said, managing to crack a bit of
a reassuring smile, "I know this mission is extremely dangerous
but I feel a bit better knowing you're on your side."
"Yeah," Heatman sighed, "Let's hope it all goes without
a hitch."
--------------------
The Mechanical Maniacs teleported a few kilometres away from General
Cutman’s secret base. It allowed them to enter with greater stealth
and gave them some time to prepare. It was dark out, but the General
had several lights in place to make sure this wasn’t too great
an advantage for his adversaries. Sadly, the many lights drowned out
what could have been a beautiful night. There wasn’t a cloud
in the sky and the moon hung large and low.
Shadowman had one surprise ready for his team. He wasn’t too
keen on disclosing the technology to his superiors, so he waited until
this moment to reveal it to his people.
“Alright, guys. I have just one little change in our tactical.”
“Great,” moaned Needlegal, “Couldn’t we have
taken this up at the meeting.”
“No, this is something I’d rather not share with our ‘magnificent’ colleague.
Observe.” The others stared intently while Shadowman did absolutely
nothing. However, soon they weren’t staring at Shadowman at all.
In just a breath he changed from the ninja they were familiar with
into one of General Cutman’s modified Sniper Joes!”
“It’s an ambush!” yelled Hardman, firing a knuckle.
The Joe deftly avoided the assault and gripped a nearby tree.
“Stop shouting, you idiot! It’s me!”
“Boss?”
“Yes, ‘boss’! This was the surprise.” The Joe
leapt down from the branches.
“Now if you'll stop fooling around, I can continue. R&D managed
to reconstruct a few of Cutman’s Joes. I ‘borrowed’ them
for our mission.”
“How do we know it’s really you?” asked Heatman with
a sidelong glance at the Joe.
“Ben …. Get real.” Shadowman sighed in exasperation.
While he liked surprises, his team wasn’t getting over the shock
quickly enough. “It’s just like how one person can be two
robot masters at once. Or how humans can turn themselves into robots
at all. I just downloaded the Joe’s technical specs and used
my own reconfiguration matrix to ‘turn into’ one of the
General’s army. Or at least, a modified version of one of his
soldiers. This is how I expected to enter the good General’s
compound.”
“Sunavagun!” exclaimed Hardman, “That’s some
sneaky stuff, boss!”
Shadowman smiled (or would have if he had a mouth in this form), “Just
don’t get too used to it. If you run into trouble, you’ll
have to change back immediately. The General might have had the foresight
to install his own version of the shutdown code into his soldiers.
And it’s bound to be messier than the RPD’s.” Shadowman
handed out machines that were pretty familiar to the members of the
team. Since Shadowman was the only original robot master left, they
were all reconfigured using such a device at one point. In no time
they had the specs for the modified Sniper Joe into their systems and
they all changed to look like the enemy.
“Woah!” exclaimed Snakeman. “An I thought we’d
have to sneak through some tight air vent or something. This is actually
a pretty neat trick.”
“I haven’t felt this light ‘n years!” said
Hardman happily.
“Yeah, it’s super. But how will we know not to blast each
other?” asked an obviously exasperated Ben. Shadowman knew Ben
wasn’t about subtlety or stealth. He must have been bored to
tears.
“I took the liberty of installing a small identity transmitter
and receiver program within each of the Joes. You’ll know who
everyone is just by looking. Which brings me to some cautions. There’s
a pretty good chance that the General could hack that program if he
got a hold of it, so we steer clear of any fighting while wearing these
forms. Furthermore, these forms were derived from our enemies. R&D
cleared them before I installed them, but who knows? There might have
been something missed. Moreover, they are not as armed as they appear
to be. Each of the bodies you now wear were pieced together by our
tireless technicians. However, some things just couldn’t be replaced.
They aren’t as durable as our enemies’. They have a better
armour and buster than regular Joes’, but I wouldn’t want
to use them in a real fight. Consider this a field test for these things.
Moreover, I emphasize that this is a stealth mission. I don’t
want any fighting,”
Shadowman pointedly looked at his old friend when he said this. He
didn’t need needless battles endangering the mission. “Needle,
Heat, and I will sneak in. I’ll attempt to hack the systems to
get any information I can. Needle will serve as immediate backup. Ben
has some viruses we can use after I’m done with my recon, he’s
given them to me and to Needle just in case things go south. He blows
up, and we’re out. I want the rest of you patrolling the perimeter.
Keep radio silence unless cover’s blown. Everybody got it?”
The team nodded. Soon later, they broke into their units. Shadowman
smiled. This is what he was built for, not playing the commander to
Cutman’s general.
--------------------
“Very good. You’re free to proceed.”
The Joe let them into the compound. Reconnaissance was right, this
place was nothing! So, why were so many Joes being teleported from
this location? Something didn’t add up. Shadowman made gestures
to follow his lead.
They were following one of the real Joes in silence. The Joe was going
into a nondescript building. All the buildings were fairly nondescript,
so going into this one didn’t much matter. They didn’t
actually have access codes, so Shadowman hoped nobody saw that he held
the door open for his comrades. Ben seemed disappointed, although it
was hard to tell in that new body. What was he thinking? This wasn’t
his style at all. In fact, joining the Robot Police Force wasn’t
his style! While he was glad for an old friend on his side, Shadowman
wondered why he was here at all. Something didn’t seem right
with him. He was being very …. Subdued.
“I think we’re lost,” whispered Needlegal.
“I agree. I’ll consult one of the computers to find out
where we are.”
Shadowman looked around and found a small terminal nearby. He interfaced
with it to see what he could see.
In his mind’s eye he saw the computer ask him for a password.
It was old technology. Shadowman was built to be a robot spy and was
equipped with just the program to hack his way through. Shadowman browsed
though the available systems. He frowned. The General wasn’t
being sloppy. All this computer was linked to was systems directly
related to the building like temperature, electrical regulation, and,
of course, a map of the area. The map wasn’t entirely what Shadowman
was hoping for, it didn’t give any indication as to what the
rooms were used for, only what each room was named (which were along
the lines of
“Sub-basement D”), but it did provide a clear picture of
the facility.
“Woah,” breathed the ninja.
“What’s up?”
“You have to take a look at this.” Shadowman transmitted
the map to his two companions.
“Jesus!” breathed his sister.
“Reconnaissance was dead wrong,” said Ben (did he seem
happy?) “This place is huge! Only it goes underground! When did
the General build this place?”
Shadowman considered. “This is probably an older military facility
that the general appropriated for his uses. I doubt – “
Shadowman stopped as a Joe walked into earshot. They had to remember,
there were eyes and ears everywhere. They might look like Joes, but
if they were suspected of unusual activity …
“We have to move on. There’s a large chamber underneath
one of the other buildings. We need to double back and check that out.
Something that big has to be important. And hopefully … it has
something that’ll blow this place sky high.”
The disguised Heatman seemed to grin.
--------------------
The General’s forces had been standing on guard, alert for whoever
could be foolish enough to initiate a frontal attack on their base.
Sure enough, they were not disappointed once Wily’s robots appeared.
While not even close to the level of the standard SA Joe, their variety
and their numbers still put up a good fight.
There was no chance of victory, of course. After all, they were just
the distraction.
“Looks like the diversion is working,” quipped Iga. Starnik
could only grin in agreement. With a good portion of the outside guard
dealing with the fodder bots, that left a straight path straight to
the main base. If they happened upon some stragglers, well... they
were confident in their current fighting abilities.
“Alright guys, let’s get to work,” he said with a
grin. “Even though we brought along a good army, they won’t
last very long against these guys.” The other Warriors nodded
in return.
Looking down the ruined road, Darksage said, “This road should
take us to the base. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to
be well guarded.”
“That’s good then,” chuckled Shadowstrike. “We
can finally try out that
‘Shrapnel Tornado’ in a real battle.”
Naoshi hesitated upon hearing that. “I dunno... we only did that
once so far, and yet every piece got stuck in me.” Hearing the
resident Airman laugh, he blinked. “Wait a minute...”
“We can laugh about Naoshi’s bodily injuries later,” Starnik
stated. A smug look crept onto his face and he started his way down
the road. “Come on people, time’s a wasting!”
Following their boss, the other Warriors held small talk amongst themselves.
“It’s kinda nice to see Starnik take charge like this,” Cyros
said with a smile. Iga nodded in agreement, as did Akutare, the new
Bubbleman. “Yeah!”
shouted the diminutive Robot Master.
For a few minutes afterward, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Unusual for an area of such importance, but the Warriors were already
anticipating this. Any minute now, they reasoned, somebody could dart
out of the alley trying to ambush them. When and if that happened,
though, that unlucky sucker would see just how difficult the Warriors
were to handle, even without their team’s signature powerhouse.
What they did not expect was the enormous roar that ripped across the
night sky. They halted in confusion and tensed; whatever that noise
was, it sounded big.
“Could somebody please tell me what the heck that was?” said
Shadowstrike. All he got in return was a collection of shrugs. Starnik,
on the other hand, walked toward a nearby alleyway and motioned for
his teammates to follow.
“Whoever- or whatever- it is, it’s coming this way. Let’s
take cover and see if we can ambush him.” They agreed, although
surprised.
“Wow,” Darksage mumbled. “I knew he had a new attitude,
but damn! He seems to be thinking now too!”
Blinking, Starnik scowled. “Now just a minute...”
Another roar ripped across the sky, prompting the Warriors to finish
taking cover. Hiding from the dim light of the broken street lamps,
yet maintaining their view of the street, they waited. Each of them
armed their respective weapons in anticipation; Shadowstrike whirled
his Air Shooter, Cyros gripped his Gatling Buster, Darksage armed the
detonators on his Crash Bombs and so on.
They held position, waiting still. At first, they thought some large
being was going to come lumbering down the street; the lack of thunderous
footsteps, however, dismissed that thought. They waited longer, thinking
some smaller figure was going to walk into view. Still nothing. Battle
ready, the Warriors began to become restless.
And thus a large shadow swept across the road, another thunderous roar
piercing the night sky.
Starnik took a good look at the shadow and his eyes widened in surprise.
“Whoa,” he said in a loud whisper, “I didn’t
expect that!”
The Warriors kept their eyes on the retreating shadow for the next
few seconds. Releasing the grip on his buster, Cyros examined the shadow’s
outline. “It looks like... huh? What the heck is Ridley doing
here!?”
Everyone else turned their heads toward the aforementioned robot and
gave a collective “huh?”. He shrugged and replied, “you
know, Ridley? The giant Space Pirate dragon guy? From Metroid? Guys?”
Shadowstrike smacked Cyros upside the head. “You need to stop
saying stupid things all the time.” The smaller robot rubbed
his head, scowling at the perpetrator.
“Okay, let’s be serious here,” Starnik explained,
looking at the retreating shadow. “Yeah, it has wings and a long
tail, but that doesn’t mean-”
The shadow on the road stopped and changed shape. Upon taking notice,
the Warriors cautiously looked upward at the source of the image. Illuminated
by the powerful search lights of the Scissor Army hovered one of the
nastiest robots the Warriors had ever seen. They paused their bickering,
gawking at the machine as it flapped its double pair of wicked wings.
Out of awe and wariness, one of the Warriors spoke the team’s
collective thoughts. “...Holy SHEETS that’s a big robot.”
Indeed, the ‘beast’ was unlike any they had ever seen,
and yet seemed somehow familiar at the same time. From what they could
see at their distance, the robot master sported a combination of red,
yellow and black on every part of its body. What more, its arms were
completely different; the nearest and largest arm, the left one, seemed
to be a modified version of Gutsman’s, which seemed to grow right
out of a snake’s mouth. The other was more familiar; the Warriors
could spot the arm of the newest Hardman anywhere, even with a different
paint job, smaller scale, and claws growing from the fingertips. That
one grew out of the shoulder from what seemed to be some sort of feline...
a lion, judging from its mane.
At the moment, the beast had its back turned on where the Warriors
hid, so they could not get a good look at the head. Still, it simply
flapping its wings and remained in place.
“...what the heck is it doing?” Iga whispered. “Why’d
it stop?”
Growling, Shadowstrike turned to Cyros. “It better not have heard
you shouting before, or I’m throwing you right in front.” The
blue armored robot gapped at the accusation, speechless. “Nothing
to say? That’s a new one.”
“’Strike” Starnik scolded, “could you lay off
Cyros, just this once?”
The walking fan’s eyes turned toward the team leader. “What?
Why are you taking his side?”
“I’m not taking any sides,” said the scarlet speedster. “We’re
in the middle of enemy territory, so I don’t have time to break
you two apart, okay?”
Starnik’s attitude was unusual at that moment, prompting Darksage
to speak up.
“Eh, you feeling okay?” Starnik sighed in response.
“I’m fine; is it so wrong for me to try and get you guys
to get along long enough for-”
At the moment, the beast snapped his head around and glared at the
alleyway. Starnik took notice and paused.
“...uh...”
Turned toward the Warriors, the robot’s face was now clearly
visible. It was white and clearly not modeled after a human’s.
Rather, it was elongated and sported a pair of horns as well as twin
spikes coming from the chin. The closest animal Starnik could think
of to describe the face was that of a goat.
Still frozen in place, his face of wariness slowly morphed into that
of confusion... and from that, to questioning.
Something about this robot master was very familiar...
“Psst! Hey!” Naoshi whispered to Starnik in a worried tone. “Maybe
now would be a good time to, you know... get out of here?”
Darksage blinked. “Naoshi, that’s got to be the smartest
thing you’ve ever said.”
Inching up behind Starnik, Akutare stared at the beast’s form. “...why
is it just hovering there? Can’t he see us?”
From their perspective, the Warriors believed that the beast had indeed
seen them. Its gaze went right to the alleyway that served as their
cover. But when they expected an attack, there was nothing. The robot
master merely hovered, the fours wings flapping in unison to keep it
airborne.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the creature turned and went
on his way, down the street to where the enemy base was to be located.
Moments later, the Warriors exited their cover and looked after the
retreating figure.
“Am I the only one who thought that was anti-climatic?” complained
Shadowstrike. His statement was agreed upon by everyone except Starnik.
He was, in fact, deep in thought. “Hey boss man, what’s
up?”
“It’s weird. That guy should have been able to see us,
even at that distance, but he ignored us.” Starnik rubbed his
head in confusion. “Plus I can’t help but think we should
know him from somewhere.”
The Warriors looked down the road to the cluster of buildings in the
distance, behind which the search lights scanned the night sky. “Well
whatever that was, it went right toward the SA headquarters,” Cyros
stated. “I think it’s safe to assume that’s one of
the General’s guys.”
Starnik snapped his fingers and nodded. “Then I guess we’ll
have a chance to meet him again. Only this time, we’ll properly
introduce ourselves!”
Lifting his twin bomb launchers up, Darksage asked, “With explosives?”
Hardman was on the other side of the base when he saw the Joes teleport
in.
Reinforcements? Naw … those look jus’ like ornary Joes
ta me.
Hardman wondered whether this warranted breaking radio silence when
a voice pounded inside his head.
“Intruders! Do your duty! Tear them apart!”
What?
“Kill! Rend! Tear our enemies limb from limb! Follow me for Elysium
awaits!”
Hardman was holding his head. It felt like it was about to burst open.
He felt an unbearable urge to home in on those … damned ...
impostors … and show them what one of the General’s feared
Joe army can really do! To show those pieces of trash what a Joe was
capable of when it was given the weaponry and the single minded purpose
that only came when following General Cutman!
Kill! Tear ‘dose bastards a new one! Follow ‘th General,
fer Elysium awaits!
--------------------
Shadowman fought the irresistible urge to follow the General’s
words.
“Elysium awaits,” mumbled the ninja as he took a few steps
from out of the building. Fortunately he was stopped cold by his sister.
“Snap out of it!” she whispered while slapping her brainwashed
brother. Sensing the danger, Needle had switched back to her standard
form right before the irresistible voice of General Cutman’s
boomed into their heads.
“Come on,” urged Heatman, “If you can’t fight
this we’re sunk. You’re the ninja robot, remember? We’re
counting on you to get us out of here!” Ben stared intently into
Shadowman’s eyes. Were they having any effect on their friend?
Or were they going to have to start a rampage with disabling their
lieutenant commander?
The Joe relaxed. Soon after its features seemed to liquefy, but only
for a moment. It wasn’t long before they were looking at the
familiar face of Shadowman. Needlegal hugged her brother.
“I’m so glad you’re safe!” she said in relief.
“Yeah, me too. I guess we have to tell tech support that they
missed something. That could have been a disaster!”
“We have to call Raijin and Hadrian!”
“No!” Shadowman lowered his voice and spoke to his friends
intently, “No, we have to trust that they’ll be fine. It
might have been for a short time, but our disguises worked. And now
Wily’s forces have given us the perfect cover. We need to finish
the mission. We’re already in the huge building on the map and
radioing our friends might give us away. We have to focus on the goal
or we might as well have not even bothered with any of this.”
Heatman scoffed. “Something tells me that you’re gonna
insist we do this the sneaky way. Even though we’ve lost our
disguises.”
Shadowman smiled. That was, of course, always plan B.
--------------------
Snakeman had felt the General’s call to duty and for a few moments,
was swept away in the fanatical desire to run and defend the General’s
stronghold. But it wasn’t long before he forced himself to change
back into his standard form.
Well, that was good while it lasted.
Snakeman needed to check on Hard. Had he managed to change back, or
was he a walking zombie? Snakeman slid into the shadows. He might not
be named
“Shadowman”, but being stealthy wasn’t exclusive
to his boss. Using the zoom on his rifle, Snakeman decided to look
for his friend. If he had changed back to his regular form he would
be pretty easy to find. If not ….
General Cutman’s Joes were out in full force now. Was this
really scouted as being manned by a skeleton crew before? There must
be hundreds of Joes pouring out of the compound! And still no sign
of Hardman. He must have been seduced by the General’s mesmerising
voice. Snakeman didn’t have much time … he had to find
his friend quickly and immobilize him. For his own good. Before the
Joes made it to their position!
Snakeman fired Mambo, his black mamba inspired snake as well as Moe,
his rattlesnake to back him up. Both were speedy and he had to rely
on them because those Joes were coming up fast! He programmed the specs
on Hardman’s Joe-unit as best he could. Shadowman seemed to have
the forethought to make the recognition program transferable to their
regular modes, which was good for Hardman. Snakeman copied the program
into his snakes. It wasn’t often he wanted his snakes to merely
subdue their opponent, but it had to happen now. And, once his friend
was subdued, Mambo would use his teleporter to beam Snakeman over to
Hardman’s position.
Should he try to talk to Hardman? Would that even work if he was succumbing
to the General’s commands? It might, but it also might alert
the General to their position and their mission would be ruined! No,
Snakeman had to rely on his signature weapon and pray for success.
The two snakes slid away silently and Snakeman resumed searching for
Hadrian using his rifle. After all, it wouldn’t do any good just
sitting around doing nothing.
--------------------
Heatman waited in the dark, empty room filled with impatience. Was
this a break room in the base’s long-forgotten days when it was
still used by humans? Ben sighed. He was not cut out for this. His
rectangular body simply didn’t fit in air vents. It was sheer
luck that they had found an empty room before the corridors began to
swarm with the General’s modified Joes.
Heatman fought his impatience. Shadowman’s plans were usually
good. This was why he teamed up with him. Because Shadowman would bring
him to where he could do the most damage. After that ….
Heatman became aware of hands on his shoulders. Soon afterwards he
was pulled into the shadows.
And popped out into a spacious broom closet. Needlegal was there and
with Shadowman and Heatman in the one space they were all very uncomfortable.
They had went on ahead of Heatman and Shadowman used his Shadow Warp
to bring Heatman to their location.
“You could have told yer sister to get out before you brought
me in.” grumbled the grumpy robot master. Needlegal didn’t
bother to argue the point and simply stepped out. The way was clear.
She couldn’t hear anything even while in the room. Shadow and
Heat were quick to follow.
“It’s up ahead,” said Shadowman.
“What’s up ahead?” grumbled Heatman, following the
ninja as he made his way forward. Shadowman had made sure to take out
the cameras before fetching Heat and prayed that the security guard
was concentrating on the battle outside. What they were after was just
beyond a small, locked door. Having been here already Shadowman had
used his sword to pick the lock. It was an old, non-electrical system.
General Cutman either didn’t know about it or had disregarded
it as insignificant.
Or it’s a trap.
Shadowman ignored this thought. Trap or no trap, he had a mission and
he had Heat and Needle to back him up. There was no turning back now.
He opened the door to reveal what only he had seen earlier and led
his friends beyond.
Heat and Needle gasped in shock. They were above an army of the General’s
heavily armed Sniper Joes. And all of them were mobilized for attack.
--------------------
"Shit." Heatman spat, his optics shifted to the columns of
Joes below. By his estimations there had to be between three to five
thousand of them, "Looks like the General's going to be making
a drive to the east."
"Why would he?" Needlegal asked, "His army's already
running roughshod over the entire continent."
Shadowman grimly nodded, "Yes, but the refugees are retreating
into the interior and if the Scissor Army has a garrison here, odds
are he'll have similar installations in the east and the north."
"Which would push the humans south into a bottleneck in Central
America," Heatman added, "Which would make them sitting ducks
that would make for the largest genocide in human history."
Again, Shadowman nodded, "So it looks the scenario's changed but
the mission hasn't."
"According to the maps you've uploaded into our systems, there's
this large room at the bottom of this complex." Heatman whispered, "I'm
willing to bet that's where the fusion reactor is, if you set it to
overload, this garrison and all its troops will be reduced to molten
slag."
Both Shadowman and Needlegal prepared to leave but Heatman just stood
there.
"Aren't you leaving with us?"
Heatman lifted his head and shook it, "No, this base will be flooded
with thousands of angry Joes if they detect you. I'll stay here and
create a distraction."
Shadowman was quick to disagree, "Ben, no. This is a stealth mission,
not a combat one. I intend to bring everyone home. We can sneak past
this little army quietly and -"
"No, way! I've had enough sneaking around to last me ten lifetimes.
These guys need to be stopped here and now. This may not have been
your plan, but it's been mine from the get-go! No, go to the reactor
and give it Hell!"
There was a long pause before Shadow spoke, "Understood, and Ben-" He
paused, like he knew that he wouldn't see Heatman again, "Good
luck."
"Just go." Heatman growled, "Time's a wasting."
The pair quickly left the way they came, leaving Heatman standing on
the catwalk. He took a deep breath and sighed. His thoughts were on
the X-Force, Gary, Fireman and Chibi. "Keep that seat warm for
me guys, I'm coming home."
With that Heatman leapt off the catwalk, during the fall he gathered
every ounce of power he could and exploded scantly a meter over a brigade
of unsuspecting Joes. Most of the brigade was vaporized, but those
at the edges, as well as those nearby were melted into pools of boiling
metal. His cover blown, every Joe in the room had their singular eye
pointing at the psychotic Zippo.
The commander's voice boomed and echoed across the vast expanse. "Intruder!
Do your duty! For Elysium awaits!"
"Gullible morons," Heatman snarled, throwing an orb of Atomic
Fire at the first wave, "Elysium is a myth, a fantasy perpetrated
by your idiot of a leader. The only paradise for any of us is DEATH!"
"Blasphemy!" Shouted a nearby Joe who fired back at Heatman
from behind.
Heatman howled in pain, the shot penetrated his outer casing, but thankfully
didn't puncture his reactor. Death would be a relief to him, but not
now while his friends depended on him the most.
He recklessly jumped through a literal hailstorm of plasma shots and
RPG's to land on the Joe's head. "Great," He grumbled, pouring
a massive amount of heat into the Joe's cranial plating, "I'm
dealing with religious zealots now. Just do me a favor and DIE!"
Black smoke bellowed from the cooling vents at the back of the metal
soldier's head as the Joe let out a pained squawk before dropping dead.
Another wave converged on the Zippo. "Don't worry," Heatman
shouted at them,
"I have enough for everyone!"
--------------------
Stupid, Ben. Stupid, stupid, stupid Ben! This wasn’t in the
plan. It wasn’t necessary at all. You have totally misread the
situation.
Shadowman ran along the walkway, his sister following closely behind. “Hey,
weren’t we supposed to get to the reactor?”
“No, that’s not the primary objective. The primary objective
is to gather intelligence on the General. And that intelligence is
best gathered here. Look: there’s a computer console up ahead,
in that small room. I have to hack into it and see what’s going
on here.” Shadowman was fuming. Ben was being short-sighted and
short-temped. Still, he didn’t blow their cover completely. Hopefully
the General would take him for one of Wily’s and not suspect
the RPD was involved at all.
Shadowman chanced a look at the situation on the ground. Heatman was
in his element. He might not be the overly powered Magama Dragoon anymore,
but there were definite upgrades to his Heatman body that made him
more than a match for the Joes he faced. At least so far. And this
was a suitable distraction, even though they didn’t really need
one at this point.
That was a stupid and short-sighed move, Ben. It’s like you’re
trying to get yourself killed.
Finally they made it to the control room. Shadowman was tempted to
just hack the door apart, but stealth was still the order of the day.
He peered inside the small window. Plenty of shadows. Good. He could
shadow warp inside and –
The door was pulverized by a barrage of needles!
“Needle!” Shadowman shouted. What was it with some people!?
“What are we waiting for? It’s a war zone out here! Besides,
who’s gonna notice that with Ben destroying all the Joes down
there? Let’s get going!”
Shadowman gritted his teeth together. Sloppy. Ben was being stupid
and Needle was being sloppy. Was it that people didn’t know what
the word stealth meant? But, he really didn’t have time to argue.
Shadowman plugged a cable from his head into a nearby computer. He
glared at Needle. “You keep a lookout while I find what we need.” Needle
looked ready to object. “One of us needs to keep a lookout, and
that’s your job. Just do it!”
--------------------
Heatman was having a ball. This was his scene. Fighting an army. Diverting
attention away from his friends while they destroy the General’s
hideout! This was his idea of a good time!
Heatman turned himself into a fireball and lept into the air. Then
he smashed into the ground again, pulverising Joes as he did. Finally,
he was feeling alive. Finally he was getting some close-and-personal
revenge on that damned General.
Ben was so wrapped up in fighting an army of Joes that he didn’t
notice a new opponent joining the fray. His first clue was a headbutt
sending him flying into and army of Joes. Heatman was caught off guard.
He was upside-down and in the clutches of an army.
“So, you’re the cause of this little disturbance. I saw
your friends outside so I knew you must not have been far behind.” The … whatever
it was made an animal-like laugh.
Ben was in a cocky mood. He fried the Joes holding him and got to his
feet. The thing standing before him held a massive hand up to stop
the Joes from attacking. “I’m gonna carve you a new asshole,
asshole.”
The thing laughed again. Ben noticed the laugh matched the thing’s
head. There it was, his laugh sounded like it was made by a goat. And
those extra heads ... A lion ... And a snake. Its arms matched Gutsman's
and Hardman’s and its body was reminiscent of Shadowman’s …
The thing noticed the look Ben gave it. “Oh, so you finally recognize
me? Great! You were always getting on my case back at Skull Castle,
so I hoped you’d be able to tell who I was. Say hello to the
new and improved True Chimeraman!”
--------------------
“For Elysium! For General Cutman! Death to the enemy!” shouted
the Joes as they poured out of the central building. The Warriors peered
at the disturbing image from their vantage point, behind some blown-out
buildings.
“Well, mark the front door as a no go.” Said Iga, finally.
“Thank goodness they’re all coming out of that entrance,
though. The single-door entrance in the back is too small for them
to use.” Commented Darksage as the warriors snuck in closer.
“It still has a few token guards. Chances are, if they go offline,
someone will realize we’ve infiltrated the base.” Observed
Cyros. “And they are too far away for my Time Stopper.”
“Figures. This whole sneaking around bit isn’t really our
style, anyways.” Quipped Shadowstrike.
“Nah, we don’t have to reveal ourselves just yet." said
Starnik warily.
"Come over here, Cyros, I have an idea about how to get you within
range.”
--------------------
The two Joes' heads moved back and forth, silently scanning the half-mile-wide
flat ground that surrounded the base. There were no trees, bushes,
or any other possible cover for a possible intruder to use. The Joes
also stood at full defensive posture with their shields, never tiring,
never relaxing. They didn’t need too. They were robots of Elysium,
and their General had given them their orders. That was all it took
to satisfy them.
It was therefore quite a surprise for them to see a blue and gold character
riding on the back of a red robot appear suddenly in their midst. “NOW,
CYROS!”
shouted the red one.
Everything in the area stopped. Moisture, wind, even the light coming
off the Joes’ singular eyes had frozen in time. It was an odd
effect, to say the least.
“I think I’m going to hurl.” Moaned Cyros, now on
the ground. “How the hell did I let you talk me into that?”
“Oh, ah, the motion sickness should pass soon. I promise.” Starnik
said with a nervous smile. His optimism was only greeted by more retching
from the time-altering robot.
“If you guys are done showing off, we do have a date with the
General to keep.”
Said Shadowstrike offhand, leisurely walking up to the door. If he
had a mouth, though, he would have been smirking at Flash’s latest
dilemma.
“Right.” Starnik nodded. “Flash, you and Wood take
point. I want Cyros to Freeze anything and everything that could alert
security. That includes cameras, personnel, ect. When they see us blip
out of sight, I want them to think they’re eyes have just been
playing tricks on them. Iga, you’ll be running defense for him
in case anyone just so happens to be quick enough to avoid the Time
Stopper, or there’s an automated trap we miss. Darksage and Akutare,
you’ll cover our left side. Darksage and Naoshi, you'll cover
our right side. All of us are going to have to stick together if we
want to have any chance of beating this guy, and whatever surprises
he has in store for us.”
“Where does that leave you, boss?” asked Naoshi.
“I’ll be using my speed to scout down the corridors. You’ll
keep going straight until I appear and tell you which way to go. With
my speed, they shouldn’t even notice me. I’ll navigate
us toward the path where we’ll encounter the fewest people.”
“And if our dear friend Cutman is not here? What do we do then?” asked
Darksage.
“Well, the base is still the communications center for the Scissor’s
Army. We’ll just destroy the system then.” Replied Iga.
“How are we going to do that?” objected Akutare. “We
didn’t bring anything explosive enough to take out a whole building!”
“Don’t be silly, Bubs.” Remarked Naoshi, offhand. “We’ll
just blow up the reactor. Villains ALWAYS have an easily tamper-able
reactor in their lairs. It’s Basic Villainy 101.”
--------------------
Raijin lowered his Sniper Rifle’s scope from his eye, as he watched
the Warriors merely stroll into the enemy stronghold like they owned
the place. “Oh, hell.”
Things were about to get interesting…
--------------------
Shadowman was using all his abilities to break through the password
protecting the base’s files. Fortunately he took all the hacking
tools he needed to get the job done. In his mind’s eye he could
see himself turn invisible and pass through the doors of the base’s
securety and into its inner core. He could have easily broken into
the base, but he still wanted to remain hidden. Hidden for as long
as possible.
Unbeknownst to him, the fight outside was turning ugly. Their refuge
was suffering under the strain of stray blasts from the Joes, Ben,
and whoever else he was fighting. Needlegal paced uneasily. This was
taking so long. They had to get out of there.
--------------------
Snakeman made contact with his serpents. Still no sign of Hardman.
He was now quite far from the battle. He assumed Hard would want to
attack him on sight if things went wrong. Thanks to the Warriors their
break-in had gone unnoticed by the General’s forces. Snakeman
wondered what the Warriors hoped to achieve by attacking the base so
directly. Surely they didn’t expect to actually finish things
here and now.
But Snakeman didn’t have time to worry about the Warriors. He
finally found Hardman. It looked like he had been gunned down by Wily’s
army. Snake cursed. He hoped his friend was going to be all right.
Using Mamba’s teleporter, Snakmean warped himself to his friend's
position and quickly maneuvered the two of them, along with the Search
Snakes, into another nearby ventilation tube. From there he dragged
his damaged friend to a more secure, and spacious location within the
building.
Snakeman looked over the damage. It looked bad. He had been shot several
times in the chest. His arm was blown off. But his head seemed okay
and that was the most important thing. After all, that’s where
his personality and memories were contained. Snakeman looked around.
Things were going south pretty fast. Although his area was safe at
the moment, both Wily’s and the General’s armies would
attack on sight. If it came to that Hardman would be a useful guy to
have on his side. Snakeman was no medic, but he figured all he really
had to do was patch into Hardman’s systems and activate his standard
form.
However, that would leave him vulnerable. And who knows how long it
could take. He wouldn’t even see the Joe who nailed him if he
was attacked.
“Sorry, buddy, but you’re sitting this one out.” Snakeman
activated the Technodrome’s teleportation system and got Hardman
to the safety of their base.
--------------------
Safe was the last thing Needlegal felt as the last fireball hit her
cover. It was time to go. She grabbed the cable that connected her
brother to the computer and pulled it loose.
Shadowman’s head jerked upright and he screamed in pain. “What
was that about?”
he asked angrily. Needlegal pointed to the room. It was showing holes
in several places. Another console had shorted out. To emphasize her
point, it shook as it suffered another hit.
“Well, why didn’t you say so,” muttered the ninja
as he made his way out of the room. The two ran down the catwalk and
back into the corridor, safe from the battle inside. They needed to
get to the lower level now.
“Did you find anything?”
“I can’t say. I just grabbed whatever I could.” Shadowman
made his way to the elevators and forced open the doors. The alarms
were sounding now and he doubted anyone was bothering to monitor anything
but the battle with Ben and the battle outside. Their mistake.
It was time to bring this sucker down.
--------------------
This wasn’t a battle it was an all-out war! Heatman used his
teleportation unit to sneak behind Chimera and several dozen Joes and
ripped a path clear to his enemy! Parts flew all around him as he headed
for his prey.
Too slow! Although several Joes were destroyed, Chimeraman sensed where
Heatman was and avoided the attack. Heatman quickly turned up the heat
and threw several fireballs at the metallic monster. To Heatman’s
chagrin they didn’t have any effect.
“In the old days that mighta worked, but not anymore, zippo!” Chimera
opened his goat-mouth wide and let loose a blazing blue flame! Defiantly
Heatman stood his ground, taking the heat directly.
Only to find himself scorched! “What the hell is this!?”
Chimeraman used the enhanced strength of Gutsman to pound Heatman into
the ground. “That’s a chemically treated fireball, you
antique! You might be able to take the heat, but my fire doesn’t
just burn … it corrodes!”
Heatman certainly didn’t like that twist and dodged another burst
of flame. “If that’s the only trick you got, yer plumb
outta luck!” Chimeraman snickered.
“Open fire on the antique roadshow, boys!” The army of
Joes took aim and fired! Taken aback, Heatman couldn’t dodge
the flurry of firepower. Not with hundreds of Joes taking aim all at
once! He was being brutally punished. Heatman sank to his knees and
Chimera strode towards the fallen robot master.
Chimeraman snorted. "You’re pathetic, you know that? You
follow that human Wily around like a dog because of some stupid scrap
of paper. You and everyone like you is a waste of metal."
Heatman was using his internal systems to prepare for a burst of heat.
He wanted to keep Chimera talking for a little bit, to let his systems
build up power. Chimeraman thought he could withstand heat? He didn’t
know what heat was! "At least I didn't willingly throw away my
freedom for a shiny new body and a kill switch." Heatman countered,
he knew he was lying but he doubted Chimeraman, or the General, knew
about his defection. The Joes circled around him started to stir but
one roar from Chimeraman kept them from jumping him. "Unlike you
I have my free will and my dignity intact. You're just another puppet
on the General's finger and the only thing I have to say to the officers
of the Scissor Army is: punitus ad eos infirmos." ("Punishment
to the Inferior.")
Chimeraman elongated his claws and threateningly approached the angry
zippo.
"What's that mean?"
It was almost time. He could barely contain it now. "Oh, the General
didn't give you any language protocols other than 'idiot'?" An
arrogant smirk crept up Heatman's lips, "If the other officers
are as stupid and shallow as you are, I have little to fear from the
Scissor Army."
"That tears it," Chimeraman let out another roar, this time
even more bloodcurdling than before. His loyal Joes began to cheer
as he lunged at Heatman.
"For Elysium!"
Heatman closed his lid and propelled himself upwards via a small
nuclear explosion. The radioactive ash provided a decent cover
to momentarily blind Chimeraman and evaporate a few more Joes while
Heatman fired a pair of Atomic Fire orbs in retaliation. Then suddenly,
Chimeraman's tail lashed out of the ashes and wrapped itself around
Heat's leg. The mix-matched robot master then swung Heatman into a
nearby support column. Heatman coughed up fluids.
And then the floor! Heatman’s nice, rectangular body was sporting
a fine dent on its rear end as well as a nice, deep gouge on the floor.
"You'll learn to fear us," He snarled at a stunned Heatman, "The
General offered me more power and I took it. The Scissor Army is invincible,
it's our right to rule this planet and exterminate the vermin you call
the human race!"
Back to the column! Heatman lost his lid there. Now many of his fiery
attacks would damage him as well as his enemy. Chimeraman really was
more powerful than before. This was really painful and Heatman was
losing it.
Chimera held him upside down and gave him an appraising look. Heatman
grit his teeth. The impact damaged a few systems, requiring him to
reroute a few and reboot a couple. "Are you finished monologuing?" He
lifted his head towards opponent, "That little tirade nearly put
me to sleep." He spat more fluid in his opponent’s general
direction.
"Why you-" Chimeraman roared but before he could retaliate,
Heatman's transmatter unit rebooted, allowing him to change his massing
into an infernal ball of flame. Chimeraman’s tail was melted
where it had held onto Heatman’s leg while Heatman was heading
straight for Chimeraman's chest.
Chimeraman dodged, but Heatman's plasma form tore through his left
elbow joint, melting the robotic “skin” around the elbow
and surrounding arm; exposing the systems underneath and compromising
its integrity. Sparks and coolant bled from the wound and the composite
robot let out a pained howl. In revenge, he twisted around and fired
another blue fireball at Heatman.
At this point Heatman had landed amongst the Joes, melting several
of them and giving him a nice, cushy landing. His head was swimming
though. Without his helmet, he had taken damage from his own high-powered
attack. This was why Heatman didn’t see Chimera’s attack
coming until it was too late.
"Argh!" Heatman screamed as the blast hit him directly in
the chest. It burst his crystal and melted almost completely through
his armour. To be so damaged by a fire attack was humiliating. Chimeraman
wasn’t finished, however, and he used his wings to propel him
towards his enemy.
Heatman dodged just in time and Chimera ended up tearing some Joes
to pieces with his claws. Heatman let out a breath of relief. He wouldn’t
want to get in the way of those things. “You missed me by a mile,
Clownman!”
Chimeraman snarled. Clownman, was he? Chimera soared into the air and
called out to the troops. “Tear that piece of shit limb-from-limb,
Joes!”
Heatman tore off in a fiery fury through the Joe army. Chimera was
fighting mad and the Joes were all after him at once. It was just starting
to get fun.
--------------------
Moving cautiously down the corridors wasn’t easy for the Warriors.
Several times a SA Joe would spot them, nearly raising the alarm; a
time stop from Cyros plus a head crushing from Iga solved those problems.
What more, they could hear the sounds of a battle elsewhere inside
the structure.
Puzzled, Akutare spoke to his teammates. “Do you think Wily’s
bots got into the base?” There was a pause, then a soft collection
of laughter.
“Are you kidding me?” chuckled Shadowstrike. “They’re
basically scrap metal compared to the General’s guys.” A
few more chuckles escaped the Warrior’s mouths.
“Yeah, the only people that have even a remote chance of getting
inside this base are...” Darksage paused his comment as realization
came over his face. “Oh hell.”
Iga turned to the smaller robot. “Something tells me you don’t
have good news.”
To back up the statement, Cyros added, “Do we ever get good news?”
Darksage sighed with frustration “I don’t want to be a
buzz kill guys, but we forgot to anticipate the RPD showing up.” The
six Warriors tensed upon hearing that. Tangling with the RPD was not
something they wanted to do. Especially if it was against one of the
other teams; unless the situation didn’t call for it, either
side refusing to fight would result in dire consequences.
Their worries were pushed aside for the moment and they continued forward.
And as an added bonus, Starnik was waiting for them several meters
away. The remains of a few Joes were scattered amongst his feet.
Smirking at his team, he said, “What took you guys so long?” It
was a rhetorical question, of course. Instead, Darksage spoke up and
asked, “So did you find the way to the reactor?”
“Sure did,” the robotic speedster said. He motioned his
head toward the corridor behind him, which emerged into a stairwell
to a lower level. “With all the commotion outside, most of the
force was drawn out. Apparently there’s something up elsewhere
in this base?”
Cyros nodded. “Yeah, we heard it too. And I’m sure we all
figured that’s where most of the Joes would be, so avoiding it
would be vital.”
“I was just following the rest of you guys,” Naoshi said
sheepishly. Starnik chuckled. The buzz saw flinging robot may not be
the smartest knife in the drawer, but when he was truly needed he knew
when to listen.
“Alright guys, enough standing around. We make a run for the
reactor, set it to blow, and then get the hell out of the blast zone.” Starnik
tensed his legs and prepared for the initial charge. “Let’s
show the General just what the Warriors can do!”
The Warriors shared the same enthusiasm. As one, they began their charge
straight toward the reactor chamber. Starnik lead, naturally, followed
by Shadowstrike and the lumbering Iga. Naoshi and Akutare took the
middle flank, with Darksage and Cyros making sure their backs were
covered.
As they descended, several Joes took notice from farther down the staircase.
As they aimed their weapons, Shadowstrike reached backward and snatched
Naoshi from his stride.
“Hey! What are you- please don’t throw me!”
“Then shut up and make some debris!”
“Debris?” Now perched on Shadowstrike’s shoulders
(which was totally unusual), Naoshi took realization and began making
Metal Blades. Or rather, incomplete pieces of Metal Blades. Soon his
hands were filled with various metal shards of different size. “Turn
it up!”
As Starnik ducked out of the way, the fan in Shadowstrike’s stomach
came to life, creating a torrent air that blasted at the Joes. By itself,
it did nothing. Which was why Naoshi began flinging the sharp debris
into the miniature cyclone.
With the group's rushing advance, the power of the tornado-like funnel
and the limited size of the stairwell, the Shrapnel Tornado was frighteningly
effective. Even with their state of the art armor, the General’s
soldiers were unable to protect themselves as several dozen sharp objects
embedded themselves in their vital areas. Several plasma shots rang
out in retaliation; but the amount of debris was sufficient enough
the deflect them, protecting the Warriors from harm.
Upon reaching the bottom of the staircase, the Warriors in the rear
took a good luck upward. Behind them was a massacre; only instead of
innocent humans, it was dozen of Joes. Karma had gotten its payback...
for the moment.
Shadowstrike eyed the robot on his shoulders in annoyance. “Yeah,
you can get off now.” Naoshi didn’t complain and slipped
away from the larger robot. Starnik gave the two a thumbs up, then
moved toward the door with lead directly into the reactor core.
It wasn’t very impressive, to say the least. The reactor was
of standard build; it ran on fusion energy and it was protected by
the same old safeties to prevent a meltdown. Wily’s base ran
on similar reactors, so the Warriors would know the general layout
of the device.
Darksage walked up and looked ahead. “No guards... just some
technicians. What gives?”
“I’m pretty sure ‘Strike and Naoshi took care of
the guards,” explained Starnik, shaking his head back the way
they came. “Now we just have to take care of these guys. Cyros?”
The blue robot didn’t need to respond. In an instant, he vanished.
And in another, he reappeared. Right next to the main control console...
and with every technician falling to its doom down the reactor shaft.
“...that’s it?” mumbled Iga. “That was kinda...
lame.”
Cyros sighed. “Yes, but it works.” Starnik was next to
him in a matter of seconds, examining the control panel.
“Man, this really looks a lot like Wily’s... geesh, it's
just like every reactor we’ve even been to! Can people be more
original these days?” He turned and took in each of his teammate’s
expressions. “What?”
“...this is my first time in a reactor room,” quipped Akutare.
“And how many reactors, truthfully, have you seen before now?” added
Darksage. Starnik paused, shrugged his shoulders and went back to work.
His eyes darted from each panel and button, hoping to find a way to
make the reactor blow while leaving them with a window of escape.
A sound caught Iga’s attention and he whirled around, ready for
action. His eyes went wide and he called out. “Hey boss?”
“What is it, Iga? I’m trying to figure out this crazy thing!”
“We got some... company.”
Starnik paused and turned around, looking to one of the other entrances
to the reactor room. A look of surprise came onto his face, then just
a quickly turned into his usual smug look.
“So,” he said, “here to ask the General to come out
and play too, Gaunts?”
--------------------
Snakeman watched the battle with an air of boredom. Exactly what was
Shadowman and Needlegal doing in there? He had no idea, but he’d
never been so bored in his life with a war raging all around him. He
was too good at hiding; his current position was pretty safe. Especially
considering the enemies’ horns were locked together so firmly
that nobody passed him a glance, even when he was out in the open.
The mission was almost over and things were still hairy. Shadowman
had a contingency plan just in case something went wrong in the area.
However it wasn’t all that “elegant”. Still, it was
up to Snakeman to judge the situation and commit to the plan.
If he ever heard from Shadowman, that is.
--------------------
Shadowman heaved a heavy sigh. A stealth mission. A simple in-and-out.
This is not what I need right now.
“No. My mission is complete. And, if you’re here,
I can only guess yours is as well.”
Starnik’s smirk was wiped off his face. “What are you talking
about?”
Shadowman shrugged. Needlegal seemed somewhat giddy and apologetic
at the same time. It was Shadowman who clarified the situation. “We
already uploaded a virus into the reactor chamber. It’ll blow
within a few minutes. We were actually on our way out when we thought
we'd be nice and tell you guys.”
Needlegal smiled, “Sorry, guys.”
The Warriors were stunned. All this trouble … sending an army
to combat the General …. Facing him in person … and now …
“Hey!” yelled Naoshi, “We put a lot of work into
this and all you got to say for yourself is ‘sorry’!? We
were gonna beat that two-bit General into the ground!”
Shadowman pursed his lips. “You wouldn’t have been able
to beat him. He’s stronger than all of you.”
The Warriors were bristling. They had come all this way ... Only to
be showed up by the Mechanical Maniacs. But Quickman smiled. He saw
something Shadowman didn’t.”
“A virus, hunh? Cute. But I bet I can wreck this thing faster!” Shadowman
looked shocked as Quickman sped towards the reactor and used his weapons
to destroy everything he could! The consoles were a smoldering wreck,
the chamber was severely breached and within moments more alarms were
heard throughout the base.
Shadowman was frozen solid. He did not count on this. Quickman delighted
in stealing the thunder from out of the pompous robot’s nose. “There.
Now, our mission’s accomplished. This building will go
boom and take General Cutman with it! What do you think of that?
Shadowman’s eyes narrowed. He bared his teeth. “You idiot! Don’t
you realize what you’ve done!?”
Quickman was angry now. “Hey, you did it first! I just did it
faster!”
“That’s a fusion reactor! It’s going to devastate
the area at any moment! And now that you’ve shot it to hell,
The General’s troops know exactly where we are! We’ll have
to waste precious minutes getting past them thanks to your clumsy,
stupid, hack job! My virus was set to go off when I signaled to it.
Now this thing’ll blow with us inside of it.”
Starnik was taken aback somewhat. He chanced a look back at the reactor.
It was sparking and sizzling with out-of-control power. What was worse
was that he could hear the boots of more Joes approaching the area.
Starnik, however, was none too daunted. “Alright, then ... so
what? We Warriors like a little challenge! Right, guys?”
“You bet!” called out Shadowstrike.
“We’re ready to beat our way out of here!” called
out IGA, pounding one fist into a hand to emphasize the point. Shadowman
rolled his eyes to the back of his head. You poor deluded fools
don’t even realize it do you?
“You guys do that, then. Meanwhile, I’ll make sure Ben
doesn’t get scrapped thanks to the chain reaction you started.”
“Wait, what was that!?” asked a surprised and startled
Cyros. Did that robot just mention Ben? But Shadowman had grabbed
his sister and warped out. And now the Joes were entering the room.
--------------------
Shadowman and Needlegal reappeared in the closet that they had taken
Ben to earlier.
“We have to get Ben out of there right now,” said Shadowman’s
sister. Truer words were never said. Shadowman took hold of the doorknob
and swiftly opened it.
They were greeted by a small contingent of Joes! Immediately, the Joes
fired at the two robots, managing a few solid hits. In no time, however,
the Joes were ripped to shreds thanks to Needlegal’s Needle Cannon.
“We have to move! They’re on to us!”
Shadowman dove into the corridor, catching the eyes of Joes on either
side. He swiftly dispatched them, but even more Joes appeared further
down. Shadowman saw what was going on.
“They’re coming through the walkway entrance! Shit! There’s
no way we can get in to nab Ben!”
“We’ll fight our way in!”
“We don’t have that kind of endurance, damn it! And this
place is set to blow any minute ... Or even any second now thanks to
that moron!”
Needlegal was hysterical. She shot erratically at the Joes while they
continued to argue.
“We can’t just leave Ben behind!”
Shadowman sighed. He dispatched five more Joes, but he was getting
badly hurt thanks to multiple hits. He couldn’t help it. In such
narrow quarters, with just Needle as his support, he had to expect
heavy damage. At this rate, they could never escape.
“So much for stealth,” muttered the Lieutenant Commander
to himself. He opened the comm. Channel and gave Snake the order.
--------------------
Snakeman was sitting over a destroyed Joe and tried to access it’s
memory. It gave him something to do other than the nothing he had become
overly accustomed with. He let out a sigh. He was sneaky. Couldn’t
he have gone on the exciting part of the mission?
Snake almost shouted in surprise when Shadowman’s voice came
over the radio.
“Things have gone straight to Hell, Raj,” he said with
loud explosions and guns ringing out in the background, “It’s
time to call in the big guns. Have them arrive right on top of us.
This place will blow any minute now. We have to extract Ben. The Warriors
are here too, but we don’t have to tell the higher-ups about
them. Just make sure to emphasize that Ben is the priority. We’ll
be meeting you at the rendezvous point as soon as possible.”
Snakeman was surprised. So much for stealth. It was time to call for
backup. Six hundred and fourteen troops with a few members of the Special
Forces lumped in there for good measure. Their extraction team.
“Hold tight, boss,” said Snakeman, hefting his rifle, “help’s
a
