The Business of War
Orchestrated By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)
If you can't stand the heat ...
By Gauntlet, Starnik, Cyros, Ben
Scenario D
Participants:
Wily’s Warriors (W)
Chimeraman (SA)
Mech Maniacs (RPD)
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?”
“That’s right,” grinned Starnik. “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!”
Shadowstrike smirked. “With pleasure! Boss, move it!”
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 at hand.”
Maybe the mission wouldn’t be a total waste after all.
--------------------
I… DAMMIT! cursed Starnik. He had done it again,
lost control. There was just something about that know-it-all, Gauntlet,
which really irritated him!
Sparks spewed out of the reactor, and Sniper Joes were entering the
area. It was not looking good. Time to think fast.
“Shadowstrike, knock those guests off the catwalk and down
the shaft. Don’t stop pouring on the air. Cyros, Time Stop
the reactor.” Starnik said, barking out orders once again.
“What?!” asked Cyros in disbelief. “You want me
to clean up after your mess?!”
The low thrum of Shadowstrike's gigantic fan began to drown out all
the noise in the room. Starnik forced himself past the other Warriors
on the crowded catwalk to try and yell over the noise. “Look,
I KNOW I screwed up! We need to buy ourselves some time, though!
I want you to erect a field freeze and pour as much energy as you
can spare into it. With the reactor frozen, all power to the base
should shut off, except for emergency lights—“ he paused,
turning to Darksage. “I want you to blow a path straight through
to the outside. Do not stop until you’ve gotten to the pre-arranged
teleportation site! If you see the main power return, do not, I repeat
do NOT hesitate for any reason to get out of here. You got it?”
“But what about the General?” shouted Iga over the roaring
winds that had filled the room.
Quick Man twisted his neck around and shouted back. “It sounded
like from Gauntlet that he wasn’t here. But-“
“-But he said Ben was! What about him?” Interrupted Naoshi.
“…That’s what I aim to find out.” Added
Quickman, tersely.
--------------------
“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.” Crackled the voice of Lieutenant
Commander Gauntlet of the RPD forces over the radio. If Crorq had
lips, they would have twisted themselves into a horrible little smile.
He knew bugging the Maniacs' personal radio frequency would yield
results, but did not know they would come so soon!
Moments later, the request for the extraction team was given by Raijin. Ah,
so predictable.
“Extraction team deploying, sir.” Responded one of the
Watchers, who had been designated with the task of keeping a closer
eye on the Robot Masters. “What do you want to do about the
transmission?”
“I shall… hold on to it, for now. Transfer it to the
secure section of my private personnel files.” Said the bipedal
computer. Gauntlet was far too careful to give Crorq any ammunition
when the two were in person. Finally, he had some leverage on that
annoying ninja, and the snake as well. He was going to savor this.
--------------------
“Tsk!” grumbled Gauntlet, attempting to dodge another
one of the Joes' assaults in the cramped hallway. It all would
have gone smoothly if it hadn’t been for those idiotic Wilybots!
How was it that their incompetence always seems to ruin things at
the worst possible time?
The Joes were making it impossible to get to Ben. They had completely
flooded the hallways. Given that the reactor was going to blow any
second, Gauntlet really didn’t like their options. He took
a glance back at Needlegal, who wasn’t keeping as calm under
the pressure. She was hitting targets, but that was only due to the
fact that it was hard to fire off a shot and NOT hit a Scissor Army
Joe.
And then, as if to make matters worse, the lights went out. The Joes
seemed undeterred by the sudden change in landscape, and managed
to land a few successive hits on the two Mechs. Dammit…! cursed
Shadow Man. He needed time to think!
As the emergency lights sprouted on, suddenly he saw Starnik dash
by at an incredible speed, creating a slipstream behind him. The
suction effect it was producing was so intense that hundreds of Joes,
along with random debris, office furniture, and anything else not
nailed down was being lifted up and smashed around behind him. Gauntlet’s
eyes widened as he felt himself beginning to lift off the ground. “ANCHOR
YOURSELF!” yelled Gauntlet back to Needle as he dug his sword
into the floor.
The wind eventually passed, and Gauntlet could see the hallway was
completely demolished. He rose to his feet, albeit shakily, then
helped up Needle. He could hear the sound of Quick Man approaching
as broken glass crunched underneath his feet. “Are you actively
trying to kill us or something, you moron?”
Starnik, for once, did not bother playing off the jab with a smile
or a sarcastic remark. His body was battered, and his normally well-kept
armor was scratched everywhere. He was leaning against a wall due
to the fact that his legs were trembling so badly. The building was
huge—it had taken him a while to locate Gauntlet and Needle,
and he had been pushing the very limits of his much-vaunted speed.
“Now let’s… try this… again.” He
wheezed. “What did you say… about that dumb zippo being
here?”
--------------------
The Scissor Army was in a bit of disarry. Conflicting troop deployment
orders were coming in from all fronts. Suddenly, in addition to Wily’s
attack force, there were intruders inside the base as well! Matters
got further complicated as an RPD force showed up in the middle of
the chaos, capitalizing on the already softened Scissor Army forces.
This might go a long way to explain why the Warriors met such little
resistance breaking through the building. Darksage’s crash
bombs made short work of the walls of the building, while the rest
of the Warriors dispatched whatever remaining Joes they ran into.
Cyros was the only one unable to concentrate on escaping, as he was
too busy focusing on maintaining the field integrity of his Time
Stopper, which continued to degrade as the Warriors moved further
and further away from the reactor. “Guys, I don’t know
how much longer the freezing field will remain stable! It’s
degrading so fast-“
“Look, just do the best ya can, alright?” said Iga, sending
a flurry of razor-leaves to slice up a nearby Joe. “Try to
keep it going until we’re outside.”
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m having a
great time!” said Naoshi cheerfully, bounding forward and using
his buzz saws to dismantle the last remaining Joes blocking the exit.
“Finally! I was wondering if we were ever going to make—“ started
Darksage, kicking open the double-doors. He stopped dead in his tracks
as he saw the RPD extraction team, lead by Raijin. “Aww HELL.”
“Wily's Warriors identified: targets Class Two threats to national
security.” Said the head RPD Special Forces unit. There were
four of them scattered among the various Police Bots. SA Joes lay
all across the ground, and the few Wily bots that remained were already
retreating out of sight.
“Remove those eyesores, then continue your mission.” Crorq
cackled gleefully over the intercom. That order came a little
quick. Was he expecting this? thought Raijin as he raised an
eyebrow.
“Oh Jesus-tap-dancing-Christ. We are so gonna die.” Said
Shadowstrike, filled with dread.
--------------------
Shadowman brushed off
the annoying speedster. “We don’t have time for this.
Thanks to you the reactor is gonna blow any minute now. We
have to get out of here.”
Quickman bristled. “And leave Ben behind!? And why is he even
here!?”
“I’ve called for an extraction team. Unlike your ground
assault mine’s coming in from the air. They must be – “ Shadowman
suddenly put his hands to his hooded helmet. Quickman noticed Needlegal
put hers to her ears. They were receiving a communiqué.
“What? What is it?”
Shadowman grimaced. “The extraction team’s here. With
Snake. What the hell is that guy doing here? We were only supposed
to risk the easily replacable Policebots. Well, fine. I’ll
just join up with them and - ”
Quickman wasn’t about to let Shadowman go, however. He grabbed
the ninja by his jacket. “Hey, you have some explaining to
do! What’s happened to Ben? Why is here here? He didn’t …”
Shadowman slipped out of Quickman’s grip. “Ben’s
joined us. Obviously. He’s getting out of here, don’t
you worry. As for you, though, you better scram. I’ve been
informed that we’ve been ordered to take you guys down or bring
you in.”
Quickman was startled. Take them in? For what? “If those are
your orders, then be ready for a fight!”
Shadowman clicked his tongue. “I’m trying to give you
a break here. Just because I’m on the Robot Police Force doesn’t
mean I love the upper management, so I’m not eager to be their
little lackey. However, this is a limited time offer. If you bother
me while I’m in the presence of other officers, I will be forced
to take you all out.”
Quickman barked out a laugh. “Take us out? You think you can
do it just like that, like it’ll be so simple?”
Shadowman had grabbed Needlegal and was retreating into the shadows. “If
I were you, I’d leave Ben to us and get myself and my team
out of here. There’s quite a few more officers than just me
and Needle.”
Quickman was grim. Just leave? That was definitely not his style.
--------------------
Shadowman had Shadow Warped to a few floors above. He immediately slumped to the ground. Needlegal looked at him with concern. “Are you alright?”“Not really. That trick isn’t supposed to be used so much, especially with someone else in tow. I’m really getting tired. Still, the extraction team should be close by.”
As the two robots made their way closer to their companions they heard the sounds of battle. Shadowman definitely heard a Special Forces officer call out in all the commotion. He pulled out a Shadow Blade and signalled to Needlegal. It had to be a short fight. Their team had a missing member to extract!
--------------------
Every system in Heatman’s body screamed out a lengthy list of error messages. His power reserves were down to a dangerous 21%, backup power and transmatter units non-functional, and his armor compromised. But with ferocity matching his old Magma Dragoon identity, he still kept on fighting the waves of Joes back with wall after wall of atomic flame.“Y’know it must take a really brave ‘bot to have his lackeys go wail on his enemies while he hovers over the battlefield,” He called out to the composite robot master, “You sure you’re also not part chicken?”
Despite the fact that he didn’t have nearly as much power as his previous form, Heatman still retained his intelligence and cunning. Knowing that Chimeraman had the wits of a bag of bolts, it’d be all too easy to goad him into a position Heatman wanted with a few placed taunts.
As anticipated Chimeraman took the bait, he swooped down, dug his claws into Heatman’s side and snarled as he scooped the Zippo high above the army of Joes “You have such big mouth for an ancient piece of junk,” He dug deeper, “Especially for one I’m personally sending to the scrap heap!”
Heatman groaned; the razor-sharp claw severed a power coupling to his left arm, causing it to hang to his side, twitching periodically. Even in pain, he managed to crack a wry grin, “And you have the brains of a malfunctioning metool,” Heatman sneered back, reaching into a compartment with his right hand. He pulled out a grenade and shoved it into Chimeraman’s mouth, “Bon appetit motherfucker!”
Instead of an explosion, the grenade released a violet mist that poured down Chimeraman’s esophagus. Suddenly, a surging sensation burst through his nervous system, causing several of his servomotors to explode in a shower of sparks. Chimeraman shrieked in pain as he dropped Heatman from about fifty feet.
Shaken like a dry martini and rattled like an old jalopy on a gravel road, several of Heatman’s systems rebooted again. “How do you like that you ugly son of a bitch?” He asked the howling Chimeraman, “I may not have been able to replicate the Sigma Virus, but I came up with something else just as nasty-“
Smoke and even more sparks bellowed out Chimeraman’s mouth, his ‘corrosive fire’ weapon now useless. “You… you… sadist,” He shuddered, as the virus now attacked his vocal unit, “What have you done to me?!”
“It’s a little something I was working on before the war. It’s a virus that not only attacks your nervous system,” Heatman gloated, Chimeraman swung his tail into the Zippo, driving him into the dented column again. He shakily got up to his feet and chortled, “I also programmed it to invade your aural sensors.”
Just in time for a song to begin playing in his head.
“Whatcha doing tonight
I wish I could be
A fly on your wall
Are you really alone
Who's stealing your dreams
Why can't I breathe
You into my life,”
Chimeraman screamed again, clamping his ears to no avail. Heatman’s grin grew even wider; there is no better way to torment your enemies than by forcing them to listen to Clay Aiken.
With the monster confused, Heatman charged at him with both fists blazing ignoring his internal diagnostics and the pain of bypassing the damaged coupling. “Override damn it!” He snarled, feeling his Asimov protocols attempting to assert themselves. Running at 150% output at now 18% power was extremely dangerous and the protocol kept screaming, ‘A robot must protect its own existence!’
“Meh,” Heatman sighed smashing a superheated fist into Chimeraman’s jaw, “I was never one for rules anyway.”
The heat warped Chimeraman’s frame enough to bend his snout the other way, the beast roared and slashed Heatman in retaliation, also disfiguring the raving-mad Zippo and reducing him to an animalistic fury. For the next sixty seconds the pair clawed, and even chewed, at each other like two injured wolves; Chimeraman hacked off more pieces Heatman’s armor, revealing the bare circuitry, while Heatman melted off his exposed arm and knocked him into another column with another “Atomic Punch.”
Neither opponent could gain an advantage over the other. The virus destroyed most of Chimeraman’s systems and drove him to the brink of madness through Clay’s incessant crooning. Heatman had it much worse; most of his systems were crashing, the intense heat softened his carpals, and he was now down to 1% power. The two leaned against their respective supports, but Chimeraman was the only one to find the resolve to stagger towards an exhausted Heatman.
“Y-Y-You’re finished,” he stammered. Every joint, particularly the servomotors in his neck, spasmed as he slowly lurched towards his opponent; he gripped his claws around the Zippo’s head, preparing to crumple it like an aluminum can. “Any last words, antique?”
“Yeah,” snarled Heatman, “Punitus ad eos infirmos!”
With one last burst of strength and willpower, he grabbed Chimeraman’s hand and twisted his fingers back, and shattered the stainless steel carpals. Heatman roared as be bounced off the cold concrete floor and thrust his barely-operational hand into Chimeraman’s mouth.
“DIE!” He screamed, firing a full-powered blast of atomic fire down his throat. Chimeraman’s body shuddered, the circuitry inside melted away while the sturdier parts only rattled. Heatman fired again, and again, and again shouting “DIE!” every time until Chimeraman’s body lifelessly slumped to the floor.
Heatman looked to the Joes. Without an officer to give them orders, they just stood there, their singular gaze fixed on the mortally injured Zippo. His life flashed before his eyes; the day he founded the X-Force, their first team-up with the Sinister Six and their last battle, fighting against the hordes of Neo Dragoons alongside the greatest heroes of the 21st century-
‘Massive system failure. Stasis lock imminent.’
Even as he stared death in the face, Heatman felt like there was one thing his was missing; then a vision of a certain green-haired flimsy prototype appeared in front of him.
“-Classi.”
Then, there was only darkness.
--------------------
“Stupid,
stupid. STUPID!” cursed Shadowman as he and Needlegal raced
through halls to extract the last member of the team. They had helped
their fellow officers destroy the resistance they found and had found
another way into the Joe construction area, where Heatman was fighting
Chimera. Although there weren't too many ways to get into that part
of the structure, the officers had done their part and carved a way
through the floor to make a path to the same catwalk that Shadowman
had to flee before. Where there were Joes streaming out before, there
was now rubble and many destroyed Joes and police bots. More Joes
than police, though, thanks to the element of surprise on the side
of the officers. It seemed a few had gone kamikaze in order to punch
a large hole straight into the other room. SOmething had stopped
more Joes from coming out, though. A change in priorities?
Shadowman had little time to ponder this. Even with Flashman’s
chrono-field warding off a containment breach in the reactor core,
they had mere minutes to retrieve their friend and flee the area
before the explosion destroyed half of San Diego, or what was left
of it now.
“This was supposed to be a simple stealth mission.” He
said, panting heavy as that door to the catwalk appeared at the end
of the corridor, “Was Ben trying to get us all killed?”
“By the way he acted, it looked like he was trying to get himself
killed,”
remarked Needlegal.
Shadowman frowned, he did not need to hear that. “Didn’t
help that the Warriors had to show up, and knowing Quickman he’s
going to be hot on our heels any second now.”
“Let’s worry about that later,” Needlegal blasted
the door away with her Needle Cannon and the two ran onto the catwalk
and peeked down at the army of Joes. Her eyes widened, “Oh
my god,” She pointed a circle of slag below and just ahead
of them, “Look!”
Shadowman’s face flushed with horror, both Chimeraman and Ben
lay still with their parts scattered around and a ring of Joes standing
there, awaiting orders. “Is he-?”
Needlegal grimly nodded.
“No,” Shadowman whispered to himself. After all the battles,
all the jokes and adventures: Ben was dead. But even with his friend’s
body laying there, the ninja couldn’t bring himself to believe
it for a moment. “This can’t be happening-“
Then from the blue, the alarms sounded. “Warning! Containment
failure! Three minutes to reactor breach!”
With that, the Joes began to evacuate, taking the bodies of both
Chimeraman and Ben along with them. As Shadowman helplessly watched
from the catwalk, his fist shook with both fury, and sorrow.
--------------------
Snakeman heard the alarms as he dodged another Metal Blade. All at once the fighting stopped dead.“It’s gonna blow!” screamed Cyros.
Darksage looked at Snakeman nervously. Snake had managed to damage the explosive robot more than any of the other robots and he was feeling nervous. “So what do we do?”
Snakeman smiled. “This was never about you guys. I think we’re done. Nobody wants to get blown up. Personally, I’m glad you guys can escape.”
Darksage shifted uneasily. He had many critical injuries thanks to Snakeman. This is how he treats someone he doesn’t really want to fight? Not wishing to press the reptilian robot on his choice, the Warriors began to pull out.
Snakeman activated his communicator. “The reactor’s giving in, boss. I’m giving the order to pull our troops out. The Warriors managed to get away too. Speaking of which, have you got Ben?”
There was a long pause over the line. Snakeman was growing uneasy. Surely they had managed to get Ben out. They’d done many amazing and unbelievable things since he’d joined the team, getting Ben out had to be a sinch!
“No, Snake. Ben’s not coming with us. I’ll debrief you all later. Right now we have to get all our people out of here as soon as possible.”
-------------------
They didn’t have
long. Lights were flickering on and off. Computer panels burst open.
The previously-deactivated Joes were making their way even deeper
inside of the facility. Probably to a teleporter. Shadowman, his
sister, and his officers, however, were too deep underground to use
their own link. Like a cell phone, they were simply out of range
from the network of satellites that governed teleporting. They had
to fight their way out of the building!
But, for all the imminent danger, Shadowman’s heart was not
in it. Ben, one of his oldest friends among the teams, was gone.
If he had time, he might have been able to recover his body … to
salvage his mind. But swarms of Joes and the reactor exploding had
cut all chances of that. It was so pointless. The plan was to avoid
all conflict in the mission. But, Ben …. Headstrong, stubborn,
short-sighted Ben had gotten ahead of himself and dove right into
a needless fight with an enemy much stronger than he was.
Was it Shadowman’s fault? If he had jumped in beside Ben, despite
his protests, then he might have been able to do something. Or perhaps
he could have been more firm in ordering Ben to keep to the guidelines
of the mission. Perhaps if he had not intentionally taunted Quickman,
the red robot might not have destroyed the reactor so hastily. Perhaps
if he had convinced Quick to help get Ben out they might have had
enough time to do everything.
“This isn’t good,” commented Needlegal.
“What isn’t?”
“Shad, look around you! The reactor’s going nova and
there still isn’t enough time to get out of here! We’re
doomed!” Shadowman looked around. When was the corridor flooded
with darkness? Now that his mind was on his situation he saw the
problem. The ground was beginning to shudder. This place didn’t
have long to last. Most of the resistance had died away as all three
factions made their speedy exit. But he, his sister, and his squad
of officers were still there.
Shadowman was becoming flustered. Did he have enough power for another
Shadow Warp? He checked and he didn’t think so. Looking wildly
he noticed that some lights were flickering on and off. Power was
still reaching the facility.
“Hang on to me, I have an idea.” Shadowman plugged into
the computer. It almost didn’t work, and the connection was
spotty at best, but he had it. That was when he heard his voice.
The true cause of this mess.
General Cutman.
“Trying to leave? You know it’s rude to barge into someone
else’s property, wreck the place, and then leave. Without even
a note. And here I thought you were cops.”
Shadowman was anxious now. He had not expected this. Still, they
had to go, he didn’t have time to talk with the General. However,
curiosity got the better of Shadowman and the General continued without
giving time for a response.
“And without your friend, too. “Ben”, isn’t
it? What an odd habit … adopting human names. Isn’t
that like taking a giant leap backwards? But maybe you won’t
miss little Ben. He was dumb enough to dive, face first, into my
army of Joes! Who’d want someone that stupid on their team,
eh?”
“Don’t you dare call him stupid!” The General laughed
at Shadowman’s anger.
“What do you care? You’re the one who left him to die,
weren’t you, Shadowman?”
Shadowman tensed. He hated that the General was calling Ben stupid,
but he also hated the fact the he did that himself minutes ago. He
was going to tear the General limb-from-limb when he saw him! “Shut
up! This whole mess is your fault. I blame no one but you, General.”
“My fault? I’m afraid I don’t really remember inviting
you to my little facility here, can you remind me whose idea that
was?”
“You know what I mean, you sicko!”
“Name calling? Now you’re just being immature, Shadowman.”
Shadowman was fuming! First the General had caused the break-up of
the Sinister Six, then he had beaten him in Los Angeles, then he
had launched an all-out war on everyone which caused his friend to
be killed, and now he’s beating him in a war of words! And
the worst part was that the General was right on his points! This
wasn’t completely his fault at all! Shadowman hated being told
he was wrong, especially be someone he despised as much as the General.
Shadowman was tense and quickly prepared a retort. He wasn’t
about to lose this battle. He was right, after all.
That was when Needlegal squeezed Shadowman’s arm. Her expression
pleaded with Shadowman to let it go. Shadow couldn’t understand.
Didn’t she see the importance of establishing that this was
the General’s fault? Suddenly he realised she was right. The
General had detected his presence on the network and had launched
a verbal assault for only one reason: to keep him here the few minutes
it would take for them all to be consumed in the explosion right
alongside the body of one of his best friends.
Shadowman smiled. With the General’s attack unravelled he just
wasn’t irked anymore. “It’s actually lieutenant
commander Shadowman now, General. You of all people must appreciate
the niceties of these things.” Shadowman silently called for
the virus he implanted earlier to work it’s magic. He had designed
it to disable firewalls and other forms of protection right alongside
destabilising all systems. Sure enough it was still here. It had
destroyed the protection around the base’s transmitters and
now Shadowman had access. However, it was also destroying the transmitter
programs themselves. No matter. Shadowman grabbed his sister and
radioed Snakeman. They were done here.
The General seemed to sense his change in tone. “Oh, I’m
sorry, I’m afraid I was too busy with the genocide of mankind
to care who was promoted at the RPD. Congratulations anyway. You
love it, don’t you? I’ll bet all your little friends
have nicknamed you ‘General Shadowman’ by now, sheep
that they are. Of course, we both know who won our last encounter,
don’t we? So … lieutenant commander … did
Ben die in vain? Or did you manage to accomplish your mission despite
all this?”
Shadowman licked his lips. “That’s for me to know …and
for you to find out.”
The ninja didn’t banter any longer with his enemy. He and his
squad teleported out of the area and back to police headquarters.
In mere minutes the computer systems were down thanks to the viruses
prepared by Ben and Shadowman.
--------------------
The Warriors didn’t know how long they had until the reactor went critical. But it was soon. Too soon. That meant that they had to pull out immediately.But something was amiss. “Guys, Starnik’s still in there!” shouted Akutare.
“I know!” shouted Darksage. “We’ll just have to get a teleport lock on him!” Fiddling with the com port of his helmet, the orange bomber called in. “Doc! Hey Doc, pick up!”
“ *chzzt* -are you morons doing!? Get out of there before the reactor goes critical!” The Warriors were, for once, glad to hear the old scientist’s voice.
“We’re on our way, but Starnik is still in the base! We need a teleporter lock on him!”
An uncomfortable silence came over the com. “Impossible. The satellite can’t penetrate that far down. And WHY THE HELL IS THAT IDIOT STILL INSIDE!?”
Darksage was unsure how to answer. Should he let Wily know about how Ben was supposedly around, along with the Maniacs? A hand on his shoulder interrupting his thoughts. He turned his head to see Cyros staring back at him.
“You guys get out of here. I’ll go after Starnik.”
“Whoa whoa, time out!” bellowed Shadowstrike. “You’re saying you want to go INSIDE the place that’s about to erupt in nuclear fire?” Cyros nodded. “And I thought you were crazy BEFORE.”
The blue and yellow robot didn’t say a word. Instead, he activated his Time Stopper and blinked out of sight. Darksage looked back toward the base and sighed.
“You heard Flashman, Wily. Get us out of here.”
--------------------
Even with the base on the brink of destruction, Starnik’s stubborn streak remained.He zipped down corridor after corridor, search for signs of Ben’s presence. He wasn’t having much luck, and there was only...
“Warning! Containment failure! Three minutes to reactor breach!”
He winced at the announcement. Not much time... Increasing his speed, he rocketed down the hallways until he came into what looked like a robot graveyard. The presence of melted alloys indicated that this was definitely Ben’s work.
A smile crept on his face. But then it became a frown as he saw several pieces of armor among the piles of scrapped Joes. Red and yellow. Like Ben.
Movement caught his eye. He spied a few remaining Joes that had survived the slaughter, and they were dragging something... No, two somethings.
“BEN!” His shouting alerted several Joes and they opened fire, distracting the speedster long enough for the rest to drag the bodies away. Starnik retaliated swiftly, cutting their numbers in half in a few seconds.
“Warning! Containment failure! Two minutes to reactor breach!”
I don’t have time for this! he thought. Finishing the last Joe, he prepared to sprint after the others, to recover his friend...
...but a pair of arms clamped around him in a bear hug, catching him by surprise.
“What the!?”
“We have to get out here now!”
Starnik craned his head toward Cyros and shouted, “Let me go! I have to go after Ben!”
“Don’t be stupid! There were too many of them; you’d never finish them before the place blows!”
“I said, LET ME GO! THAT’S AN ORDER!”
“Warning! Containment failure! One minute to reactor breach!”
Instead, Cyros held him tighter. “I'm sorry... but I can’t.”
A shrill of pain came over Starnik as the world seemed to blink. He found that they were now outside the base once more, robots of all factions doing emergency teleport evacuations. Cyros... he had used Time Stopper! A burning smell was prominent from his buster due to excessive use of the weapon.
Suddenly, a familiar sensation came over the two robots as they began to melt into beams of light. Starnik could only shout out a single word before they departed from the city:
“NO!”
--------------------
From the outskirts far from San Diego, one would have been able to see a bright flash, brighter than the sun, shining from the center of the city. A ball of light grew from the epicenter, spreading outward in a perfect circle. Seconds later, a thundering boom broke the silence of the landscape, and a shockwave swept away anything small enough to be carried.One moment, San Diego was a deserted metropolis. Now it was nothing.
--------------------
Wily awaited the arrival of his last two robot masters. Not disappointingly, Flashman and Quickman materialized on the teleporter disk. The other Warriors were also there, and went up to greet their last two members.“You made it!”
“Well what do you know, he got him out in time.”
“You’re alive!”
Though there was cheering for the two, they did not return it. Why shouldn’t they? After all, their mission was to disrupt the General’s operations. Whatever he had been planning in San Diego, he sure wasn’t going to be able to do it now.
Cyros stepped off the teleporter pad and walked to the other Warriors. “I hate playing rescue,” he mumbled. “It’s just not me.”
“Well, if someone hadn’t been foolish enough to lag behind,” Wily muttered. The old scientist turned to his other creation. “And what, may I ask, were you up to in there?”
Starnik didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at Wily, or his friends. With a blank look on his face, he made his way out of the room.
Wily looked after him, a little miffed, but then turned to the other Warriors. “That aside, well done my Warriors! Hopefully that will send a message to this General Cutman, letting him know who the TRUE future ruler of the world is!”
The Warriors groaned at his crazy little boast. Once they were dismissed, they headed towards the repair bay to fix their injuries. Cyros cradled his overheated buster and sighed. “What happened back there?” asked Iga.
--------------------
Rain splattered over the ‘Maniacs’ mobile fortress. Although it was raining hard outside none of that could be heard inside of the quiet base.Needlegal, Shadowman, and their escort had arrived shortly before. The officers made hasty departures to their own headquarters. Although the fighting was only with Joes on this mission, they had still suffered severe damage. Shadowman quickly logged into the police database to learn the figures.
“Four hundred have returned safely or with minimal repairs needed. Another ninety have returned needing severe repairs. That makes 124 in total lost, including two of the Special Forces.” Shadowman wondered if that also included Ben, or were the robot masters on some other list?
“What was that?” asked Snakeman, overhearing Shadowman.
“Nothing. I was just muttering to myself.” The robots had made their way to the medical bay and climbed into repair chambers. The chambers were mostly horizontal, though they were at an angle. Hardman was already there. Apparently his systems had received quite a shock; he had been returned to normal, but his diagnostics had revealed his systems had crashed. Scans were being made and file repairs were underway.
“This was a disaster,” muttered Needlegal. Shadowman could only grimace in agreement. Overall, the mission had gone well. They may have been forced to call on an extraction team, but most of them had been recovered safely, so there was no loss there. But, Ben … could his friend really be gone?
With nothing left to say to each other, the team had crawled into the repair chambers. Shadowman had heavy system damage from multiple Joe hits as well as a blown-out induction coil from overuse of the Shadow Warp. Needlegal had lost it a little on the mission and suffered multiple Joe hits all over. Her armor was pretty resilient, but the sheer number of Joes had taken their toll. Snakeman had suffered the least amount of damage, as his role was observation and leading the extraction team. However, even the handful of wounds he sported meant a leakage of valuable coolant, so he still needed a full night’s repair. Joes often went underrated, and it’s true they had even less personality than the RPD robots, but they were quite formidable when in their element.
The chamber slid shut. Small wires attached themselves to Shadowman’s body and began to pull him into sleep mode. Before that happened he received a call from a most unwelcome guest.
“Congratulations on the successful completion of your mission!” bellowed Crorq, “I’ve been monitoring your progress. I have to say I am impressed! Have you had a chance to go over the data you’ve collected?” Bits of chicken dripped from Crorq’s mouth as he spoke.
“It can’t have been much of a success. Ben’s gone.”
“Collateral damage. Has to be expected in this line of work!” Collateral Damage?? Ben’s death was collateral damage? Shadowman was fuming at his boss, but before he could make an angry retort Crorq spoke, “Compile the data you have. I’ll expect a full report in the morning. Again: good work!”
Crorq signed off. Good work. What was so good about it? Sure, they got most of their mindless troops back. And they tested the Joes they has ‘borrowed’ in the field (a complete failure in Shadowman’s opinion, although they did manage to get them through the General’s security). Shadowman had gotten some data. But Ben was gone for good. There weren’t any copies left, there was no future version of him coming from out of nowhere, and no Nth to warp reality in Ben’s favor this time.
How had Crorq even known about all this? He was pretty up on current events in this mission. Shadowman preformed a quick self-diagnostic and found a bug on him. He couldn’t help but give a small laugh. So, Crorq actually was competent, despite it all.
Shadowman let his essential computer run while still in sleep mode. He reviewed his stolen notes. Quite a bit of it related to Joe construction and files on the factory itself. Well, the factory was destroyed and they had plenty of Joes to study, so no help there. Not worth the cost of Ben’s life, certainly.
One was pretty interesting, though. A schematic of General Cutman’s original body. There were also ... bits of biographical information? Shadowman skimmed them over … was this PR? Shadowman was dumbfounded. Sure, the Joes spouted some fanatical stuff, but he never expected to find something like this. He thought they were just like old-school tape recorders. Playing back information with no true understanding behind it. But this information …. It wasn’t detailed, sadly. But … was it possible that the General had taken over his home reality? Shadowman shook his head (or he would have if he weren’t in sleep mode), no it must be lies in order to fuel propaganda among his troops. His reality would have another Shadowman and … another Iceman … and another Heatman … surely they must have stopped the General.
Shadowman turned his attention back to the schematics of the General. For a few minutes he pondered the reasons the General would bother to upload them. But Shadowman remembered that the General once used one of Iceman Red’s cloning rays to make innumerable copies of himself for his first “Scissor Army” so it stood to reason that he may have intended to do that when he first took over this Joe construction facility. These schematics weren’t very useful, however. The General had completely changed his design, if the Sinister Six’s visuals were any indication. He looked nothing like this schematic anymore.
Shadowman still found himself studying it. There were a few minor differences between this and the Cutman of his own reality’s design. A few elements here, a circuit board there, some parts were different, but it seemed like the Doctor Lights of various worlds did indeed think alike. So why was this Cutman such a …. Shadowman searched for the right words and found them …a rat bastard?
Shadowman poured over other documents. Innumerable notes on Joe construction. Well … it was a Joe construction facility. Maybe these notes could help R&D gut them out more thoroughly. But there was something else. There were several schematics that Shadowman couldn’t make heads or tails of at all. Some seemed to go together while others served no purpose Shadowman could discern at all.
Shadowman pulled the schematics of the General up again. what are you planning? Shadowman looked intently at the rendering of Cutman’s face. What was going on in that head of yours? That sick, twisted, evil …. Shadowman spotted it, then. It was a small thing. Barely noticeable. Among the tiny differences between their various Cuts and this one, it hardly counted as anything. But it was lodged firmly in the center of the General’s brain. Shadowman enlarged it in his mind, twisted its perspective, and brought up an internal note attached to the file.
DLN0-003: Cutman - Internal specification: Part 1979456: Essential Unit: GCN000: Genious Chip - Prototype.
Shadowman’s stomach lurched. A “genius chip”? Made by that reality’s Doctor Light? Would he really be stupid enough to make that sort of thing? Didn’t he see the potential risk? It couldn’t be so. It had to be another lie.
But Shadowman remembered the alternate reality Light he once met. He had set a defenceless Megaman against the forces of Doctor Cossack. And, from what he learned of the future, this reality’s Doctor Light was destined to invent something that would create the Sigma Virus (although what that was, he couldn’t quite say … something about a new type of robot. The X-Force had always tried their best to keep him from their machines). As it stood he had also invented Iceman Red; a robot whose bitterness led him to consume one reality and destroy a version of this reality’s future.
No, Shadowman could well imagine that an alternate reality Doctor Light would create a genius chip in some misguided attempt to better robotkind. With a shudder Shadowman forced himself to concede that fact that the General might have taken over his reality. And, perhaps, had killed a version of Shadowman himself, as he had earlier claimed, in the process.
Shadowman stared into the eyes of the 3-D schematic. And considered the blueprints he couldn’t place among the multitude of Joe-related files.
Just what are you planning, General?
--------------------
"AHH!" shouted Starnik, as he leapt up from a soft, pinkish couch. What had happened? Where was Wily's Castle? Where was he...?"Ah, quit yer whining." Grumbled Ben, who was standing at the end of the couch. "I barely touched ya. Now get off, we're playing Smash Brothers."
"...Huh?!" stumbled Starnik, pulling himself out of the couch. He was in a small suburban house. The Warrior's "base" of operations. Was he hallucinating?
"You were sleeping for an awfully long time! We thought you'd never wake up!" shouted Metalman. Not Naoshi, but Life Virus, or "Pointy" as he was also known. "You've been sleeping since the trial ended."
"The... trial...?" said Starnik slowly. It was all too jarring. Everything seemed... real. His brain felt sluggish, trying to adjust to the situation.
"Yeesh, if you keep boasting about how you want to lead the Warriors, you're going to have to pay better attention." Said Darksage-no, Rainer, offhandedly. "You remember, the bogus 'trial' where Doctor Wily sued us for using his name?"
"We're just lucky the real police arrived on time." Chirped Shadowblade from the kitchen. "I mean, can you believe Wily actually stepped into the courtroom? He must've been senile, with his record!"
Of... of course. thought Starnik shakily. It made sense. There's no way Wily could actually step into a court of law and win a case. He was a criminal. It had to have been just a bad dream. Not only that, he WANTED it to be a bad dream. Things were normal again. His face straightened out into a characteristic smile. "Hey, I can't be bogged down in the day-to-day details of the group, I'm more of a 'big picture' kind of guy." He said, responding back to Rainer's jab.
"Well, that's good to hear, actually." Said Rainer, putting down the book he was reading. "It sounds like you can take care of things, then, while we're gone."
"Gone?" asked Starnik, feeling dread creep back into his voice.
"Yeah. We got some new kids coming in, and we want you to take care of 'em. They'll need someone to help them while we're gone." Said Johnny, the Warrior's Flashman.
"I can't... wait, where are you guys going?! I'll come with you!" Starnik started, desperation coming back into his voice.
"What's the big deal, Quick?" said Pointy as he approached the scarlet robot. "You've always said you wanted to lead the Warriors. Now you'll get the chance."
"No, it's... I... That was a joke! A gimmick! You can't ditch me! You'd be leaving me with a bunch of people I don't even know!" stammered Starnik. He could feel everything slipping away again. "Just tell me where you're headed, I'll get my stuff together and follow yo-oooff!" said the quick Robot Master, cut-off mid sentence by a well-placed punch to the gut from Heatman.
Ben stood above Quickman, who was gripping the injury as he struggled to stand up. "Quit embarassing yourself, Speedy Gonzalez. You're not some weak-kneed, whiney emo figure, so stop acting like one. You're making me humiliated to call you a rival. Where we are going, you ain't following, even with those legs of yours. Get over it."
Quick winced in pain. He could feel his legs screaming, his body aching. What had happened? Ben's punch shouldn't have hurt so much... "No." Starnik spat. "No, I'm not giving up. That's not my style. You guys are my friends, damnit!"
Starnik brought himself to a standing position. "Who said you could leave?!"
--------------------
"Starnik?" said Darksage, unnerved. He had walked in on the Robot Master after the rest of the team broke off. The scarlet robot had fled the room right after he and Flashman had returned. The speedster was hardly recognizable; his body was completely torn up, scorched with plasma burns, and his legs were emitting electrical sparks. When Crash had walked in on his room, he found the robot master lying on his bed, yelling at no one."Hn?!" Said Starnik, jolting awake. It had been a dream. But, he never dreamed while he was in power down mode. It had felt so real. Was he going insane? "I... I'm sorry, Darksage. What is it that you wanted?"
Darksage hesitated. There was a certain tiredness in Starnik's voice. "Boss... we heard the news from Cyros. Is Heatman... is Ben really gone?"
Starnik winced. Images of Ben's body, broken and lifeless, washed over him. Ben had been in there, in that building. There was no way Heat could have survived that explosion that he himself had inadvertently set off when he smashed the reactor. Star felt a hot liquid running down his cheeks. He reflexively rubbed his eyes. It felt like he had lost the Warriors all over again.
"Yes." Starnik rasped in a hollow tone. The speedster sounded like an empty shell of his former self. "Ben... is dead." And it is all my fault!
--------------------
