The Business of War

Orchestrated By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Despair of the Lost

By Hunter, Draconis, Blazeman, Raijin

---

Scenario A
[(\./)]
Participants:
Marsupial Bros (C )
Deep Impact (C)
Evil Eight (W)

Location: Baoding, China
Max. Cossack Scrap Value: 9836
SA Infantry: 1855
RPD Units: 997
Wily Bots: 795

Another day of war. And nothing we do will help to stop it !

The Cossackers present in the factory all shared similar thoughts, to various degrees.

The members of Deep Impact, after an unfortunate meeting with Wraithman, had seen some of them infected with Evil Energy, with catastrophic results: during their mission in Osaka, Searchman got overwhelmed, and began shooting at his comrades until stopped.

Things looked gloomy for the Team: Frostman was already prone to such displays before, and Grenademan also succumbed to violence in Osaka. Which left Swordman, Aquaman and AstroChan wondering when their turn would come.

Their allies had been severely traumatized by the war as well: Super Koala and the Marsupial Bros had been present in Mexico City, where their actions didn't prevent the town from meeting its fate. They also experienced the Impacters' "breakdown".

It takes strong minds not to be affected by the war. Cold minds like the General's and his followers'.

Searchman was drowning in these thoughts as he watched for possible assaults: the city was experiencing the SA's assault, and they could come their way.

A signal indicated him that his comrades were done with collecting scrap from the factory. No words: after his display of violence, they were still scared to communicate with him.

And I can't blame them, he thought.

The eight of them stealthily left the factory, various bags filled with valuable items. Their plan was to leave the town quietly, and pray they wouldn't meet any opponents...

--------------------

Well, at least I'm not alone in my insanity this time. Maybe somebody'll snap before I do, and I'll be one of their victims, spice up my screwed up life!

Frostman smirked, and then recoiled as images of him violently killing his team played through his mind. He shook his head, and went back to tinkering with the pile of scrap in front of himself.

"Ooh, such a delicious tormented soul! You're quite the catch, Frostman. so many violent impulses, so little time. You are lacking a bit in the creativity department, but you make up for it in pure bloodlust."

Oh, how freaking original! Taunt me from my mind!

"Who needs originality when you can get the job done faster? Tell me, have you ever thought about joining the Scissor Army? We have benefits!"

"So, anyone else got a little voice in their head telling them to go nuts and kill everything?"

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"Not yet..." Swordman said, "...but at this rate, the world may be better off when one of us DOES do so. Certainly better than letting the Mad Lumberjack run things."

--------------------

Standing a bit away from the factory, his forces hidden, Omniman was waiting. Soon, the Cossackers would walk out of it, and he could complete his mission.

He was remembering Wily's tantrum after he discovered the weaon he brought back from Lima was useless...

--------------------

DAYS AGO

"You morons ! What can I do with this ?" For emphasis, the mad doctor slammed his fist on the cannon.

Omniman and Golemman were looking down in shame, when the smartest of the two hazarded an answer : "Sir, by analizing the size, and the interior design of the cannon, you could create the adequate shells."

"The more I think about you, Omniman, the more I wonder how tired I was when I designed your brain ! Even a simpleton could understand a gun can fire several types of bullets - armor-piercing, incendiary, hollow-point... It's the same here ! These Napalm Super-Bombs, or whatever they're called, pack in much more power than regular mortar shells.
"And thanks to you, I can't replicate such firepower. That's pathetic ! Sometimes, I think I should completely destroy you and keep the Rescue Force..."

There. he had struck precisely where they hurt the most - in their ego. They would accept any mission.

"But I can pardon you. Your next mission will be in Baoding. The fight is still going on, but one of the factories was recently used by the RPD, and provided with blueprints for the latest models of the RPD Officers."

"I see your point, sir. You want us to take them back for you ?" suggested Omniman.

"Precisely. However, I think Cossack will send some of his minions to raid the factory. That's your mission : bring back the blueprints, and stop Cossack from getting them."

"Golem smash Cossack-Bots !"

"I will not fail you, sir."

--------------------

PRESENT DAY

"I will not fail you, sir."

Omniman spotted the Cossackers walking out of the building. Eight of them, and they had bags filled with blueprints, chips and other valuable items.

He opened a comm. line to his forces.

"Golemman, they're walking out. Keep Frostman busy.
"Wily-bots, hit and run. We need to divide them as much as possible. Don't hesitate to throw them in the bigger fight."

The Wily force responded with approval.

This time, thought Omniman as he crushed a small rock with his claw, I will take my revenge on you Cossackers.

--------------------

"Let's just hope we're back at Cossack's when one of us does lose it. Whoever does will be stopped by the multitude-"

A glowing green fist crashed into Frostman, knocking him back as the bag he was holding spilled onto the ground. Wincing, he tried to push himself to his feet, only for the airborne fist to crash into him again, sending him sliding away from his team. He was finally able to make it to his feet, noticing the dents on his torso.

"Golemman crush Cossack-Bot!"

A veritable behemoth stomped onto the scene, slamming his knuckles together in a threatening fashion.

"First things first. Cossack didn't create me, so technically, I'm not a Cossack-Bot. Second, Golemman needs speech lessons. Last but not least, I hope you have an extended warranty, because I'm going to pound you into the pavement after I shatter your frozen body!"

A glob of liquid nitrogen coated Frostman's fist, followed by a blast of frozen air, resulting in jagged spikes completely covering his fist. He attempted to punch Golemman, but the ice shattered upon impact, and Golemman was unharmed.

"Uh...okay, that was not a smart move on my part."

"Golemman smash weak bot!"

Golemman's fist crashed down on Frostman's head, and the ground was introduced to his face. He struggled to get to his feet, but another fist to the head canceled out his efforts.

What do they feed this giant?! I can't even leave a scratch, but he's able to take me down in seconds? I guess his lack of intelligence had to be compensated for, or is the other way way around? ...I am a damned fool. Obviously he's a nigh unstoppable behemoth with very little intelligence, and I go in fists first. I'll just lay here and play dead, if I assumed right, he'll let his guard down.

--------------------

"A few corrections, 'Bruce'. One: I wasn't built by Cossack, I'm just a mercenary for him." Swordman said, then tried to get behind GolemMan and at least try to leave a mark with his Termination Slash technique.

--------------------

Swordman's attack hit Golemman hard, although the hulking robot would never show it. If anything, the burning scars left in Golem's backside drew his attention away from Frostman and towards the smaller bot. Oddly enough, this turned out to be the more fair match-up. When Golem threw a punch straight at Sword's chest, the segmented robot master adopted the unorthodox dodging pattern of sending his upper-half up over the fist, which jabbed the empty air above Swordman's legs. The red warrior was sure to follow through on the maneuver by executing a spinning slash in the surprised Golem's face.

As Golem continued to flail madly at his new, more nimble opponent, his original opponent was regaining his footing. Frostman knew this was the perfect opportunity to think of a brilliant plan to outwit the juggernaut while he was busy, but was finding that difficult. After all, it wasn't easy to focus on strategy and logic when every fiber of his being cried out for unrestrained carnage. He could feel one way or another, he would end up blindly rushing the stronger, more heavily armoured adversary, and likely get himself killed in the process.

In fact, he had more or less resigned himself to that fate already. What was the point of fighting it?

--------------------

"So things aren't looking good for the RPD, are they?" Grenademan asked Astro Chan, who was observing the battle ensuing in the distance from her higher vantage point.

"The SA have sent in a strong invasion force from the south...but I see movement far in the north." she answered back.

Astro, Grenade, Koala, and Pharon were preparing for battle. They were under orders to make strategic engagements of with the enemy forces in the area to ensure a more smooth salvage operation. They were trying to follow the example that the Comrades and Assassins had set so far in the War. Guerilla strikes were proving very powerful in the Cossackers' hands, but Deep Impact and the Marsupial Brothers were not quite as good at it as their allies. They had put up a valiant effort, but lack of team unity and personal emotional distress were conquering them from the inside out.

"Man, I got nothing guys..." Koala exclaimed hopelessly. "How do the CC do it? It's just a huge, massive, bloody battle out there. If we step into it, we're finished!"

Grenademan scoffed. "It's just a bunch of grunts. Don't be such a coward!"

"Hey, lay off! He's just being practical." Pharon objected, defending his brother. "Maybe we'll be lucky and the battle will stay over there. We won't have to fight anyone."

"Man, I hope not." Koala sighed. "If the SA move in, I dunno, maybe I'll just surrender."

"What!?" Pharon, Astro, and Grenade exclaimed all at once.

Koala was just silent for a moment, hanging his head low. He finally looked up to explain himself. "Well what's the point of putting off the inevitable? My life is over. I thought I could make a difference in this War, but it's just failure after failure. I can't believe we actually survived this long."

"Bro, get a hold of yourself!" Pharon protested. "We're going to be fine, we just gotta pull together."

"Bah, listen to your pathetic cliché hopeful ideals." Grenademan mocked callously. "You know full well it'll take more than friendship and believing in yourself to surive this War."

Pharon eyed Grenade coldly, he was really beginning to distrust the explosive robot since Osaka. Koala just sat, staring at the ground, seeming to take the insensitive comments to heart. Astro seemed to be put off by the whole exchange and silently returned to her scouting.

"Well, we gotta fight at least, right? That's what we're built for, it's what we came here to do. The others can handle the trash pickup. WE defend them, and we do it as well as we can, right?" Pharon demanded, taking a somewhat unexpected leadership role in the wake of all the negativity surrounding him. Truth was, he was feeling somewhat uncertain himself, and was beginning to hate his place in the Cossack alliance when every mission seemed to revolve around salvage while the other factions determined the fate of the world. However as anxious as he felt, his brother was looking worse, and he couldn't stand to see his older brother and the other half of his dynamic duo in such a sorry state of despair.

"I'll fight. I'm aching to..." Grenademan assured cryptically. "Though I'm not counting on any of you here. You might as well just run when you can."

Before Pharon could come up with a retort, his thoughts were interrupted by a signal from Aquaman. "Defense team! The salvage team is under attack at the factory complex. Wilybots!"

The other three all got the signal too. "Damnit, Wilybots! Should have known there would be more hostiles than the SA and RPD over there." Grenade cursed.

"Guys, the battle is still moving its way in our direction. If we leave our posts, it could spill over into our territory at any time." Astro Chan predicted.

"Well, our job is to defend the salvage team. Someone has to go back them up." Pharon stated.

Grenademan looked back and forth at the other three bots in his squad, and came up with a plan. "Astro and I will head back to defend the others. We're the faster ones anyway. You two stop any enemies that move in from the east."

Koala acknowledged the plan with little enthusiasm. Pharon was more worried. "But there are a lot of SA Joes out there, isn't the Astro Crush more needed here?"

"You have your own arsenals, use them! Come on, Astro!" Grenade then dashed off to the west without waiting for more objections. Astro hovered after him wordlessly.

Pharon looked back at his brother, who was still sitting on the ground looking despondent. He suddenly felt very alone. He looked over the rocks that hid their position to see the SA and RPD clashing not too far away. It seemed the SA was winning, like Grenade said. He then looked to the north. There were indeed more robots heading in, and they seemed to be angling towards the city. It was a strong force of RPD reinforcements from Beijing, and it looked like he would have to engage them directly in a few minutes. Pharon was beginning to feel a lot more like Koala already was.

--------------------

Aquaman leapt over the spike pit that had appeared in front of him as he was running and landed a few metres from Omniman himself. The Evil Eight leader was flanked by a pair of Walker Joes that sprayed plasma fire in multiple directions to intercept the Homing Sniper barrage originating in the distance. Omni pointed his lance at Aquaman and moved forward to attack, but Aqua stopped him in his tracks with a water geyser bursting from the sewers below.

"So what's your deal anyway? What did we do to get you mad at us? Don't you realize there's a bunch of SA and RPD goons out east you can release your frustration on?" Aquaman mocked the drenched dark Robot Master, who was looking unabated by the attack.

"We're not here for them, we're here for the contents of the factory you just raided! It's you intolerable Cossackers every time! Why must you always impede my missions?"

"Oh come on, it's not like we knew you were going to be here. You want to share? Whatever! Just stop attacking us! We don't need this now!"

Omniman growled, growing even more enraged as he charged in, thrusting his lance at Aquaman, who could barely dodge and took some painful hits. "It's always the same innocent story with your kind! First the Cossack's Comrades make me think they are our allies which only leads me to derail my own mission! Then while Shademan tries to offer another alliance, our targeted weapons shipment goes up in smoke! Now you bottom feeders raid this factory before I can get a chance!"

Aquaman couldn't believe the nonsense this brute was spouting. "...And you're blaming all that on Cossack!? Dude, it's not our fault you suck so much at completing your missions!"

He knew it wasn't the best idea to goad the raging dark knight on like that, but found it hard to keep his mouth shut. Maybe he was starting to be affected by the Evil Energy too. That reminded him; Cossack never did figure out how to remove Wraithman's influence during their last repairs. He was worried about Searchman and Frostman, and the others as well. At the moment, he decided it was time to check on Search. Throwing down a spread of Water Balloons for cover, he slipped into an alleyway. jumped to the rooftops, and made his way towards Searchman's position.

When Aqua found him, he could see the two-headed robot was faring well, from what he could see. He was surrounded by Wily's Roaders and assorted Mets, who were rushing him from all angles, but with quick reflexes and coordinating heads, he matched them all, shooting them to pieces or knocking them back with kicks or swipes with the barrel of his cannon. Aqua figured it couldn't hurt to help his friend anyway and cleared out the rest of the small robots behind Search with a wide blast from his Water Cannon. Search was quick to wipe out the rest of the bots ahead of him with a spray of missiles from his chest.

Aqua was about to congratulate his ally on their teamwork, but Search hadn't even finished firing at the Wilybots before spinning around to redirect his launchers at him. Aqua caught a glimpse of the dark, distressed look in Searchman's eyes while he managed to dodge the incoming round of missiles. He cursed his luck, Search was once again losing himself to the influence of the Evil Energy. He may have been better off leaving him to take out his berserk tendencies on the Wilybots instead of wandering into his sights.

In fact, that might be just what he needed to do. He knew the only thing he could do to stop Search in this state would be to knock him out, but he didn't want to have to do it himself. If he could let his friend and Omniman tear into each other and pick off the winner once he was worn out, he could at least gain something from this troublesome infection. It seemed like the best possible chance. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to get out with most of his salvage if he was rescuing Search. Why couldn't things ever be easy for him?

As if in answer to that thought, he felt a heavy impact in his back and looked down to see Omniman's lance protruding from his tank, water spilling out from the glass container. "Thought you could escape me, Cossacker?" Omniman growled and grabbed the tank on Aquaman's head with his Crushing Grip. The secondary tank shattered with little effort from the vice-like claw, spilling more of Aquaman's precious fluid over his eyes.

When his vision was clear again, he was free from Omniman's grasp and kneeling in a puddle of his own water. He could hear multiple explosions behind him and turned to see Searchman fighting his attacker ferociously. Omniman fought back with the same bitter determination he had shown Aqua, apparently not even realizing the condition Searchman was in. It looked like Aquaman was going to have to rely on pitting the two hazards against each other after all. He just hoped he still had enough water pressure in his remaining tanks to finish off the victor, or he was really in trouble.

--------------------

"GOLEM CRUSH COSSACK BOT!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not-"

"GOLEM DOESN'T CARE!"

"...hmph!"

Swordman continued to do his best holding off the unstoppable beast of a Robot Master. He was doing a good enough job of dodging, and had gotten some good hits in, but nothing he threw at Golemman seemed to slow him down. Meanwhile, Frostman lurked in the background, shivering. Sword knew he wanted to attack, so why didn't he? He just wanted someone to relieve him at this point.

Finally, Frostman charged forward with a bloodcurdling yell. Golemman turned too slow to meet the rampaging igloo, and was actually knocked over when Frostman leapt right into his face. Once the two large bots were on the ground, Frostman didn't let up, he began furiously hammering Golem with icy fists, roaring madly the whole time. Golemman still showed little reaction in terms of pain, but his armour was growing considerably more dented from the continued onslaught. If anything, he was only showing signs of difficulty lifting his heavy frame back up.

Swordman noticed that this was their chance to escape and regroup with the others, and attempted to stop his ally from wasting his time. "Frost! Leave him! We have to get back to Aqua and Search!" he then moved to grab the frosty giant's shoulder.

Frostman snapped and smacked Swordman's hovering torso away with a massive fist. "Get back! I'll kill you too! Graaaahhh!!"

Swordman's upper half collided with a wall, leaving a fine, smoking hole in the structure. His legs ran up to meet him as he dug himself out. "Ergh. Damnit, not this again. Frost! Snap out of it!"

Frostman stopped wailing on Golemman to twist around and glare menacingly at Swordman. "Who do you think you are!? Leave me alone! I'll kill you!! GRAAAAHHHH!!" With that, Frost abandoned the original threat and charged Swordman with pure murderous intent.

As Swordman leapt out of the way just in time for Frostman to crash through the building, he couldn't help but feel similar bloodlust. It was maddening. He knew these emotions weren't his own, but everyone on his team was almost completely resolved to being Wraithman's puppets of insanity. His will to fight it was wearing thin.

No, there was too much at stake. They had to escape. If he fought Frostman here, even if he knocked the sadistic behemoth out, he would then have to carry him out to the teleportation point, and Golemman was already getting up. He would have to run towards the barrier, making Frostman chase him. That was their only chance this time. The salvage would just have to be left behind.

"Alright you big moron! You want a piece of me? Come get it!" Swordman taunted Frostman emerging from the rubble, then dashed off to the west. Blind with rage, Frostman rushed after the little red insult like a bull to a matador.

Golemman, having just regained his footing, tried to run after them both, but noticed he was nowhere near fast enough to keep up. "Omni told Golem to keep Frost busy...Omni won't be happy with Golem..." the giant warrior sighed in shame.

--------------------

Plasma bullets sprayed in all directions, putting small, burning holes in the armour of several RPD troopers. A moment ago, these soldiers were headed into town, but an assault of bright plasma bullets emanating from the mysterious misty cloud on the outskirts had them moving in to counter an enemy ambush.

From the multiple angles the bullets were emerging from the cloud cover, the RPD believed they were facing a force of at least a dozen hostiles, but in fact it was only Pharon and a few of his Solar Turrets. He was pushing his abilities to the limit, but it wasn't enough. His solar-powered weapons were running low on fuel. There wasn't enough light to support his strongest techniques. He eventually switched to his old Air Shooter to keep the advancing hordes at bay.

Koala, for all his depression, was at least making himself useful by supporting a Leaf Shield around himself and Pharon. The former Airman's makeshift smokescreen was reducing the accuracy of the RPD's shots, but with the sheer volume of incoming fire, they needed a strong defense to intercept the bullets that were unfortunately on target. It wasn't going to last for long though, and as the Solar Turrets dissipated, the RPD gained ground and began to surround them.

"We need to get out of here. We can't take them all." Koala remarked.

"What about the mission?" Pharon questioned.

"We've done all we could. Come on." Koala ran out of the cloud cover only to find a crowd of RPD troops gathered between them and the rest of the team's position. With no other way to clear the path, the former Woodman launched his Leaf Shield forward. The large spherical maelstrom of sharp, durable leaves plowed through the RPD officers that sought to bar their way, sending others sprawling to the side. Koala and Pharon immediately started running through the gap, but with their defense gone, they started taking a lot more damage from the other RPD officers, who could now see them quite clearly.

Pharon stopped and started pushing the police back with a spread of Air Shooters. "I'll hold them off! You go on ahead!" Koala thanked his brother for the cover and charged through the crowd. As more RPD officers moved in to fill the gap, separating him from Pharon, he became worried. There wasn't much more he could do now though. If he could get AstroChan maybe there was still a chance to rescue him. Not looking back, Koala rushed forward to find his allies in the city.

As Pharon's energy reserves ran low and the RPD continued to surround him, he couldn't help but feel his brother's despair. It was over, there was nothing he could do...

A Special Forces Unit brought a thunderous foot down in front of the small robot. Pharon finally stopped attacking and only stared up timidly at the immaculate blue powerhouse. Wincing from the unrelenting plasma fire coming in from all around him, he raised his hands in the air to signal his surrender.

The SF unit acknowledged this and held up a hand to signal its troops to cease fire. He then read the Cossacker his rights. "You are found to be in violation of the Shutdown Act. You will be taken into custody and subject yourself to human authority. You have the right to remain silent..."

Pharon kept his hands in the air and remained silent, hanging his head low as a short RPD trooper came up behind him and applied power-jamming handcuffs. He voluntarily closed the solar collectors on his back and reverted to non-combat mode. It was like his brother said, there was no use putting off the inevitable.

--------------------

"Hmph, that was easy. He didn't even try to avoid it." Omniman remarked, gazing down at the skewered form of Searchman in the spike pit he had created moments ago. With one Impacter out of the picture, Omniman once again turned his attention to Aquaman.

Aquaman was shakily directing his Water Cannon at the dark figure. The loss of water from his main tank seemed to make him weak. Omniman tapped his foot, wondering if it was worth attempting another spike trap against an opponent in such a condition.

Before he could act on an attack plan, Omniman was once more interrupted as a hail of meteors slammed down around him. He attempted to guard himself, but while this was happening, a Flash Grenade hit him square from behind. Astro Chan and Grenademan had arrive on the scene.

Not about to give up, Omni fell back to a more secure position and prepared himself. His preparations needed revising however, when he spied Swordman dashing in from the east, with Frostman stampeding closely behind him. "Curses! Golem couldn't hold him off!"

Omniman was almost ready to take on all five of them at once, but was surprised when Sword and Frost barreled right past them. When he looked back to see where they were going, he noticed Aquaman was following them, carrying Searchman's corpse. "They're retreating? What trickery is this?"

Grenademan grumbled. "That's a good question. Don't tell me we're going home empty handed again..."

"Well, I suppose it's just you two then! Prepare yourselves!" Omniman announced to the relatively undamaged pair of Robot Masters. They had apparently had to fight their way through lesser Wilybots to get there, but were still looking strong.

"Are you kidding? We're not stupid, we came here to save on costs, but they're just piling up. We're cutting our losses. Astro!" With that, Astro Chan wasted no time in lifting Grenademan up over Omniman's head. With no long-range weapon, Omniman could only shake his claw menacingly at the pair as they flew off after the rest of their team.

Omniman considered pursuing them, but then remembered the only reason he was really there was to retrieve the blueprints on the RPD Neo officers from the factory. The initial attack had caused Deep Impact to abandon their goods. Now, the prize was theirs for the taking. Omni could scarcely believe it, his mission was actually on the brink of success. Not wanting to risk it, he immediately abandoned thoughts of the Cossackers and headed back towards the factory.

--------------------

The rest of the escape was as straightforward as it was disappointing. Grenademan stopped Frostman's rampage with some well-placed Flash Bombs to the sensitive eyes of the giant. With the remaining Impacters worried for their own sanity and safety, they went directly to the teleportation site and returned immediately to Cossack's Citadel to deliver the bad news to their allies once again.

It would be a few more minutes before Koala teleported in after them. When Pharon's signal disappeared from his tracker, he was more despondent than ever, but he was back, and he was in one piece...

Meanwhile, the Evil Eight had gained their small victory. They brought enough data on the RPD Neo Officers back to Wily to stave off their deactivation for another mission. Omniman was perplexed by the circumstances of his success, but was nonetheless empowered by the newfound confidence it spawned.

While back in Baoding, the battle raged on, the SA overwhelming the RPD, even with their reinforcements. In the end, the Robot Police were forced to retreat back to Beijing, leaving the area and what was left of its factories in Scissor Army control.

Yet even the RPD gained itself a small victory. For they had finally arrested one of the elusive Cossackers. With one of its rebels in their clutches, the rest of the Russian faction's secrets were nearly at their fingertips, and the rest of its sympathizers could soon follow.

For the remaining Cossackers, despair would soon become very prominent.

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