Location: Kalingrad,
Russia
Max. Cossack Scrap Value: 5016
SA Infantry: 1083
RPD Units: 877
Wily Bots: 625
Wily was feeling... giddy today.
He looked at the world map. He stared at the various colored dots,
each color representing different factions. He grinned as he saw
the two purple dots marking Cario, Egypt and Hong Kong. Purple
was his color. He OWNED those cities.
Sure, the cities under control of the RPD and Scissor Army outnumbered
his own... but only for the moment. There were plenty of other
places to conquer, and with the rising success of his troops, he
figured, his eventually victory would be assured.
His was giddy... oh, oh so giddy.
At least, until Ringman expressed his concerns to him.
"You botched the last two missions I sent you on, and you
expect ME to send you out again?" He glared at Cossack's turncoat
with malice.
"And if you haven't heard, I don't give a damn about what
happens to Cossack. Maybe you shouldn't either."
Ringman's gaze fell down. While he did leave Cossack and his comrades
on both sudden and upsetting terms, he couldn't help but feel a
connection to his old home. And now it was being threatened by
the Scissor Army, shown by the sudden appearance of bright green
dots on the world map in Europe and Eastern Russia. Hot spots for
the RPD and SA forces.
Yet still he persisted. His arguments so far haven't been successful,
but he decided to try and stroke Wily's ego. "But wouldn't
it be nice to have a string of captured cities between two major
continents? Show your enemies that you mean business?"
Wily chuckled darkly. "You honestly think separating Europe
and Asia is a tactical advantage? Perhaps during the 19XX era it
would be, but now... you better come up with a convincing argument
soon, robot."
Ringman shifted uncomfortably. He had to do something, but Wily
wouldn't even let him on the field again! He growled to himself;
he knew he was a capable leader! He may not have had a successful
mission thus far, but he knew what he was doing, damn it! If it
wasn’t for blink luck, he would have brought Protoman back
from Madrid. Just why wouldn’t Wily give him a chance?
"On the other hand..." The Cossack robot blinked and
looked toward the old doctor, who smiled evilly. "Maybe you're
right... after all, wouldn't it be lovely if I, Doctor Wily, was
the first man to successfully conquer all of Russia?"
Shrugging, Ringman humored him. "Uh... yes?"
Wily cackled. "And yes, the RPD and SA will be so focused
on each other... Maybe there is some value in these battlegrounds...
hehehe, it's perfect, perfect!" The doctor's sudden change
of view crept out Ringman, but within his mind (or what still remained)
breathed a sigh of relief.
"However, I'm not going to put you in charge this time." Wily's
sour attitude had returned and he looked at his soldier. "You
obviously don't have the proper... leadership to lead my
troops." This took Ringman aback, yet the doctor continued. "I'll
be arranging a mission for you AND my Warriors soon. Go inform
them, this instant."
“What!? Wily, you know I can pull this off, just give me-”
“SILENCE! Are you forgetting that the minute you stepped
into my fortress, you pledged your allegiance to ME? I should reprogram
you for you’re insubordination!” Wily growled angrily. “But
I have more urgent things to attend to. Now, either you work with
my Warriors, or you’ll stay in this fortress for the remainder
of your miserable life.
Ringman, though frustrated, was unsure of what to say, so he meekly
nodded and made his way out of the lab. Once more alone, Wily gazed
at the world map and grinned. Gingerly he reached out and began
stroking the screen.
"Yes... my precious world... soon you will all belong to me...
my precious..."
"FREAK..."
"BASS!!! GET GOING ON YOUR MISSION ALREADY OR I'LL SHOVE A
BLOWTORCH WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE!!!"
--------------------
“Sparkchan…” ever since Cape Canaveral, the White
Knight had thought of nothing else. She had escaped his grasp then
but it was only a matter of time until they would meet again and
then next time…
His soulless voids for eyes looked over his Holy Order all standing
absolutely motionless as usual. While they were filled with elegance
and grace in the midst of battle, they were exceedingly dull in the
times between. It was almost as if the White Knight had no one at
all to talk to before heading out. If only his beloved were with
him, if only she fully understood the magnitude of his wanting of
her then perhaps he would enjoy the quiet times in-between the beautiful
bloodshed a bit more. But until that time came he would have to make
due with his large scale symphony of slaughter upon the masses and
now there was a man he wanted to bathe in the blood of more than
ever…
Dr Albert Wily… he had stolen what was rightfully his and
now he was going to suffer for doing so. Unfortunately, Dr Wily was
not the main objective of the Scissor Army’s attack, for now
Geminiman would have to settle for killing Dr Cossack.
“To find and defeat a Cossack…” the White Knight
pondered as he paced in front of his Holy Order of Elysium located
in his deployment area. “This would require a conquest of Russia,
which in turn requires us to perform one of the most strategic blunders
known to mankind. One does not simply march into Moscow unless they
want to freeze to death.”
“Of course, that’s only in human terms, robots are far
more resilient to the forces of nature. However Moscow can wait for
another time. In order to bring the right amount of fear to Dr Cossack
we must conquer the smaller areas on the outer edge of Russia, slowly
turning its vast land into a small cage. Then he will panic, and
when humans panic they make mistakes, mistakes we can all benefit
from.” A familiar voice echoed from within Geminiman’s
head.
“Mesmerman… what brings you here?” asked the Twin
Terror.
“Just seeing what my puppet has been up to recently. I also
bring some potentially valuable news for you concerning a matter
that might interest you.”
The disembodied voice spoke with glee.
“What kind of news?”
“News of Dr Wily’s recent attempts on advancing into
Russia. I believe you have some issues to sort with him and I thought
you might like to know that he’s sent his Warriors team into
Kalingrad, which from what I have heard is a lovely area with a port
that doesn’t get frozen over during the winter. Perhaps you
might like to make good on that curse you were talking about earlier
and deliver suffering to the old man while also gaining a tactical
foothold on the motherland.”
“Killing two birds with one stone so to speak.” Geminiman
grinned as he turned to face his Holy Order once again.
“My Holy Order, we shall head to Kalingrad! Our mission; conquer
the city, secure the port and kill anything without the Scissor Army
banner that even remotely moves. And if you run into anyone that
is of the Wily affiliation, contact me immediately. I wish to deliver
a message to someone…”
--------------------
Cossack had news for the Cosmic Gladiators. “I'm afraid you
won't be getting scrap this time.” he sighed. “I would
send someone else, but you're the last ones avaliable.”
The CG looked at each other, especially Pluto who was at an extreme
disadvantage. He now had ordinary steel armor, with only his primary
weapon made of Solite.
“The SA is attempting to conquer Russia, starting with smaller
centers.” Mikhail continued. “I have to send you off
to Kalingrad, one of Russia's only ports without ice year-round.
You must stop the SA at all costs. Wily's troops are in the area,
I suggest you find them and team up with them. There are no RPD commanders,
but quite a few RPD troops so watch out. You have two hours to be
ready, that is all.” He then walked back into his lab and closed
the door, without another word.
All three of the “pseudo-leaders” were unhappy. They
had been planning to go scrap-picking and get some rest for weeks,
and now their lives were in danger again.
But Pluto saw some reason in the mission. “You do realise that
once the SA starts attacking smaller centers, there is no safe place
for humans anymore. Soon they'll be attacking African villages, Australian
farming communities, Antarctic reaserch stations and Canadian border
towns.” he said. “And I know two people personally that
live in Canadian border towns myself, they're completely defenceless
against something like this.”
The other CG, having been humans themselves, knew how dire the situation
would be.
“Okay, then lets take out these SA jerks. For humanity!” Jupiter
pipped.
“For humanity!” the others cheered.
They rushed off to prepare, Pluto returning to his room to download
as much information on Kalingrad as he could...
--------------------
Starnik looked over the vast field of yellow round helmets that surrounded
him. “I thought the documents I had gotten were a misprint.
Why in the world are our forces compromised completely out of metools?” sighed
the scarlet speedster.
“I suppose this might be a little retribution from Bass after
what you pulled at last week’s victory party.” Stated
Cyros in a matter-of-fact tone. The question bothered him as well,
though. How exactly does one take over a city using an army of the
robotic equivalent of rats?
This is just great. thought Starnik dismally. First Classi-cal
tells me about her experiences with Gemini Man, and how there’s
apparently some good left in him… and now I get to go to war
with a tactically inferior force of metools. It was at that point
he noticed something strange about them.
“Cyros… have the metools all…“
“Been repainted? Er… yes. It was Naoshi’s doing,
really. After he heard about how Gemini had customized his own troops,
he thought, uh, why not do the same…?” the blue and
gold robot trailed off. In all honesty, he wasn’t exactly sure
how Naoshi had accomplished it. Each of the 625 Metools had been
customized with painstaking precision. It would have either taken
either the blinding speed of Quick Man or the single-minded stupidity
of Naoshi to manage the task in such little time.
It was at that point Ring stormed in. He was absolutely livid about
being stuck with “babysitters” like the Warriors. He
was sick of people treating him as though there was no possible way
for him to be successful on his own! I’ll show that Doctor
Wily, and everyone else! They’ll have no choice but to accept
my abilities after this next- Ring’s thoughts skid to a
halt as he saw the customized metools in front of him. He could feel
the lower lid of his eye twitch. “Why… do all these
metools have “TA” written on them?”
Cyros issued a polite cough, trying to cover up his embarrassment.
Where the hell was Naoshi to explain his own insanity? “Er,
from what I understand, it’s supposed to stand for our army’s
name…” there was a brief pause as he felt both Ring
and Quick’s judgmental eyes staring at him. “Team… Awesome.” He
finished, dejected.
“And the reason why they’re all painted red?” continued
Ring.
If it was possible, the time-mastering robot seemed to shrink under
the glare of his fellow comrades. “It… is supposed to
make them go faster.”
He looked up to see Starnik’s face resting in the palm of both
his hands. How long has it been since I last slept again? thought
the speedster, rubbing his eyes. “Ah, ah ha. I get it now.” Said
Quick brightly, pounding his fist into the palm of his hand. “I
am having one of those psychotic episodes that I am always hearing
about humans having. Yes. Clearly, that is what is happening right
now.”
Ring just looked stunned. THESE were the people Wily had so
much trust in? “Is this how it’s going to be for the
whole mission?” asked the former Cossack member miserably.
“Oh, things will start to line up when we’re out in the
field.” Assured Cyros. They turned their attention to Starnik,
who was still giggling madly as he held aloft one of the modified
mets. “I just don’t have the heart to tell him how Naoshi
has taken up training those mets as well. He’s been sparing
with them…
and losing…”
--------------------
Lieutenant Alicia Foxglove slammed the phone down on its receiver. “Damn
them!”
she cursed, breaking out into a nervous sweat. Headquarters still
gave her no answer about any sort of backup. Instead, she had spent
the last two hours tangled in a intricate web of phone reroutes and
bureaucratic red tape. There was a map of Kalingrad behind her, with
three arrows pointing towards it. Besides each were vague troop estimates;
intelligence had only been able to give rough guesses as to what
comprised of enemy forces.
She had been in the RPD for two years now. She had risen through
the ranks faster than any of her colleagues, all the way to her current
position. People had commented on how she seemed the type to be “going
places” and many hadn’t put it past her to eventually
rise up to a command position in the central RPD forces. How was
she to know that the old pervert who had groped her in the elevator,
who she had then proceeded to tell off in front of several RPD force
members, was a high-ranking major? Suddenly the twenty-five year
old officer found herself stuck all the way out in the port town
of Kalingrad: far away from central RPD in Monsteropolis, and completely
cut off from news, supplies, or funds.
And now… now I have three threats to deal with, and less
than 900 troops to deal with them. thought Alicia, as she ran
a gloved hand through her short, light brown hair. Gemini Man was
bad enough to deal with, but reports were coming in that Wily had
also set his sights on the port city. She was almost relieved to
find out that Cossack had dispatched his own group of robots to deal
with the intruders. However, she realized that the RPD’s orders
regarding the soviet scientist were not flexible in the least, and
there was probably very little chance any rebel robot master would
risk their necks to save the RPD forces with the threat of the Shutdown
Code looming overhead.
Lieutenant Foxglove peered out of her office window at the harbor
stretched before her. She was silent as she saw the police forces
hurriedly rushing civilians to shelters inside the city. It looks
like once again I’ll have no one to rely on but myself…
--------------------
The CG teleported into Kalingrad, ready to face anything thrown at
them. But strangely, not so much as a speck of dust was blown their
way...
“No teleport barriers, no enemy commanders...” Pluto
observed, “I don't believe it. We're here alone, except for
some RPD bots. The RPD basically runs this city, but they must have
thought it was so out of the way that they didn't even bother to
defend it well...”
Mars quickly responded with “w00t! So we can leave at any time!”
“Don't be so sure...” Uranus pointed out, “we're
here for the sake of the inhabitants and the country that own this
joint. If we just left when we wanted to, we'd be cowards.”
“Well in any case, we must be the first ones here. Let's try
to set something up that we can use to our advantage...” Pluto
said.
The CG quickly spotted a construction site, where several pieces
of heavy machinery and steel girders were laying around. The work
had been put on hold thanks to the war.
Within a half hour, but with some interruptions to hide from RPD
bots, they had each gotten themselves a bulldozer and several pieces
of strong construction materials to use as ammo.
“Don't forget, we're robots. We can chuck these things at someone
if we have to. Just don't lose the vehicles to the enemy.” Pluto
said as the Cosmic Gladiators finished their preparations.
As if on cue, an explosion occured on the other side of the city.
“Gemini...” Pluto responded, “...why does that
sound like something I would say back home?”
The CG had prepared themselves for Geminiman's arrival. Now it was
time to fight.
--------------------
The frigid waters of the Baltic Sea were the perfect cover for Wily's
entrance to Kalingrad's sea port. Several hundred feet below the
surface, a customized submarine vehicle (adorned with the traditional
Wily symbol) trudged through the murky depths. Inside, several hundred
Metools laid in wait, while at the bridge of the vessel, the real
warriors of Wily's forces guided their little "army" to
their destination.
"Are we there yet?"
Airman resisted the urge to throttle Metalman... again. Woodman was
nearby to break things up should they occur, allowing everyone else
to concentrate on getting to clunky vessel to it's destination.
Crashman grumbled as he slouched against the metal interior. "I
still don't see why we couldn't teleport there. We did the last two
times we were sent out."
"Wily's been overtaxing his limited teleport grid lately," explained
Flashman. "And he doesn't want to risk it overloading while
he sets up some new satellites." Pacing around, the robot continued. "Let's
just hope the SA doesn't notice them launching."
"OR, we could just teleport those too."
Flashman sighed. "You really think Wily's competent enough to
think that?" Crashman thought for a moment and then nodded in
agreement. Quickman looked over, having overheard the two conversing,
and chuckled.
"Yeah, that's Wily for you." He then turned to the other
side of the bridge, where Ringman sat. "You doing okay, Ring?" The
Cossack bot merely shrugged agressively and returned to his thoughts. "Okay,
no need to get snippy."
Bubbleman, how had been on periscope duty, finally spoke out in joy.
"We're here, we're here!"
"Finally!" exclaimed Airman. "Now I can finally see
an end to Naoshi's-"
"Are we there- GACK!"
Airman looked at the little robot in his grasp. "Hey, ever wonder
what it's like to be a human torpedo?
"Ooo... that sounds like fun!"
"Hehehe, it is. Let's just go to the-" An angry cough from
Flashman, combined with an amused but stern look from Quickman prompted
the fan bot to drop his hostage. Disappointed in his ruined opportunity,
he moved toward the cargo bay to prepare the troops.
Quickman looked on after him and nodded with satisfaction. "Alright,
enough fooling around. Men! Prepare to surface!"
--------------------
Before long, the eight robot masters and their so called army had
made their way onto dry land. Fortunately for them, the part of the
port city they had docked at seemed to have been deserted from some
time. "You know, it would have made a lot more sense if-"
"Cyke, pointing out the flaws of others is my job," proclaimed
Airman. "You just make them sound so... mundane."
Woodman looked over from his resting spot. "Mundane? Pretty
big word, coming from you." Before Airman could give out a retort,
Ringman groaned out loud, gaining everyone's attention.
"Could we get going already!? We're not here to chat amongst
ourselves; there are enemy troops to find, AND to fight!" Quickman
looked at the red bot and gave off a somer laugh.
"There's need to get so up tight, Rebel," said the scarlet
speeder, using the Cossack bot's alias. "And there's no need
to worry either. After all, you're in the presence of Wily's most
awesome troopers!"
"That's right kid; you're hanging out with Team Awesome!" In
the background, Flashman groaned and smacked his face in embarrassment.
"Okay okay, enough of that." Quick silenced his chuckling
and soon turned serious. "Seeing the forces we have aren't,
how we say... up-to-date, we gotta rethink our strategy this time
around."
"So what you're saying is-" Quickman nodded quickly to
Bubbleman's question. "That's right. guerrilla tactics. Most
of our adversaries will be on the lookout for a head on attack by
large opponents. So we'll use the size of our Mets to keep them hidden
from sight, and they'll ambush anybody who gets close, then move
to another spot, etc."
Flashman was surprised upon hearing the plan. "Wow. That's a
surprisingly good idea, Starnik." Quick grinned in delight;
in the background, Ringman sighed once again.
"Okay guys, let's get everything ready. They may not be here
now, but the RPD or the SA may arrive soon. And once they do, we'll
teach them a thing our two!"
An array of cheers and affirmatives rang from the Warriors. Ringman,
on the other hand, shrugged, but soon found himself following the
orders given to him nonetheless. Today was just not a good day for
him.
--------------------
The explosion ripped through the streets of Kalingrad. The fighting
between the RPD and the Holy Order had punctured a gas pipeline underneath,
destroying the nearby buildings and the combatants. It was no matter,
though. Holy Order numbers continued to press onward. Gemini looked
down in disgust at the SA Joes and RPD Policebots that littered the
ground. “Pathetic.” He spat. “I don’t even
require one tenth of my army to mop away this pitiful resistance.
Where are the Wily’s forces hiding?” he turned and shouted
at the various empty buildings.
“Maybe they are too cowardly to face the Scissor Army’s
most prestigious general! Perhaps they are clinging to their blankets,
hoping the RPD will do their dirty work for them!” he shouted,
trying to goad a response. Nothing came back to him. The town was
almost irritatingly empty compared to the others. Whoever was running
the RPD at this station must have had the sense to evacuate the citizens
into shelters before he made it into the city. It would just be a
matter of time, though…
--------------------
“Well, he’s got us pegged pretty good, huh?” whispered
Flash to the other Warriors, who were all hiding a good distance
away from the actual battle. The metools had already taken up positions
everywhere in the city, and the Warriors decided to check out how
the RPD forces were faring against the Geminiman. Neither side appeared
to have shown up in great numbers, though.
“Hey, it’s not cowardice, it’s… strategic
reconnaissance.” Said Starnik peering out at the combat scene.
Those “Holy Order” Joes were moving unlike anything he
had seen before, and it made him nervous.
“Still, we need to do something.” Said Iga, folding his
arms in disapproval.
“It doesn’t feel right, just standing here and watching
them get pulverized.
“What we need,” commented Ring finally “is a plan.”
“Hell, I’d just settle for an opening,” grumbled
Shadowstrike.
--------------------
“Are the charges set?”
The policebot saluted sharply. “Yes, lieutenant Foxglove! And
the enemy has now breached the perimeter! What are your orders?”
“Set the timers for five minutes. Have the others fall back.” Ordered
the young commander. She motioned towards the three officer bots
that were escorting her, and dashed out of the building. As much
as she hated destroying private property, the numbers were giving
her little option. They were just going to be slaughtered in a direct
confrontation, so some intelligent use of the terrain was needed. We’re
going to have to time this just right…
--------------------
Gemini boldly strolled at the front of his army. What little was
left the RPD was rapidly fleeing the area. The ease of his victory
was disturbing him; surely the RPD wouldn’t abandon the city
so straightforwardly? There were no reports of any new commanders
coming into the area… he mused it was possible that whatever
local RPD forces that maintained the place had decided to flee when
they saw there was no hope. Perhaps they used the pier to evacuate
the citizens out of the city. But how did they accomplish it so fast…?
And where were the Warriors?! It was irritating him that he had not
seen a hide nor hair of a Wilybot since he first showed up. In fact,
this whole city was beginning to feel a lot like one big trap-
“Hold it right there, Geminiman!” shouted a female voice
down the road. She was flanked by hundreds of RPD officer bots, far
more than the partly resistance he had seen up to now. He then noticed
RPD officers surrounding his Holy Order’s backside as well,
and some were even stationed in the tall buildings adjacent to his
army. And each and everyone one of them had their guns trained on
Gemini.
“I am Lieutenant Foxglove of the Robotic Police Department,
and under the authority of the RPD, you are hereby under arrest for
your crimes. Disarm your weapons and come quietly, if you value your
life!” said the Lieutenant sternly.
This statement arose a chuckle from the twin terror of the scissor
army.
“You’re putting me under arrest? Really? And how long
did it take you to piece together this pathetic excuse for a plan?” He
motioned towards his Holy Order, who were silently taking aim at
the RPD officers. “Maybe your strategy would have worked against
human opponents, but I could crush your little band of walking has-beens
with just ten of my soldiers! And I have even greater numbers just
waiting in the wings. So, ha ha, no, I don’t think I’ll
be ‘surrendering’
myself anytime soon.” Said Gemini with a wicked grin. “You
RPD scum aren’t even worth my-“
It was at that point Gemini noticed that Foxglove wasn’t paying
attention to him. She was looking at her watch. “Time.” She
stated, as suddenly explosions ripped up not only the ground underneath
the holy order, but to the building directly on either side of him
as well! So THAT’S why she didn’t completely surround
me using those buildings!! thought Gemini, realizing his foe
had been slightly cleverer than he had given her credit for being.
The detonations continued moving down the street, as his forces scrambled
to get out of the way. He then noticed the blasts were headed straight
towards him!
I have to move! thought the scissor army commander, making
a dash to the right side. It’s no good! It’s about
to…!
And then there was silence. The explosions had stopped right by Gemini
and his last platoon of Holy Order soldiers. Foxglove cursed. “Oh
of all the devil’s luck! Open fire!”
“Heh. Amusing.” Said Gemini, regaining his composure.
The weapons bounced harmlessly off his Gemini Shield. “But
ultimately… futile. Unit Epsilon. Begin your counter attack.” He
ordered. Suddenly, Holy Order Joes, hundreds of them, uncloaked outside
of the RPD perimeter.
“We’ve been outmaneuvered! Open fire! Escape and regroup!” ordered
Foxglove as the battlefield erupted into a firefight. However, when
she turned around, she suddenly found Gemini right in front of her.
“Oh, no. We can’t have that, I’m afraid.” Said
the commander with a bit of dark humor. “There will be no escape
for you-“
BLAM!
The sound of the pistol being fired at close range was deafening.
Foxglove had pulled up her firearm and shot a round right into Gemini’s
eye, the only part of his armor her bullets could probably crack,
without hesitation. The clone commander stumbled back, shrieking.
“I can’t stand men who waste words.” She said,
coldly. Despite her big talk, she was panting and had broken out
in a sweat. The sudden sight of the SA commander had filled her with
so much fright that her mind had gone blank. Her academy training,
however, paid off as she reacted through pure reflexes, and her inherent
aptitude for marksmanship.
“You little bug! You VERMIN!” shouted Gemini, drawing
one of his swords. “For your transgressions, you will DIE!” he
screamed as he swung. It’s coming too fast! I can’t
dodge it…! was all Foxglove could think.
Gemini awoke from his fury to find his sword blocked by a large boomerang.
Quick Man, Flash Man, Metal, Crash, Air, and the other Warriors suddenly
stood before him. “Now now now, Gemini, that’s no way
to treat a lady.” mockingly scolded Quick.
“What… what in the world…?” stammered Foxglove.
“Don’t worry ma’am. We got you covered. After all,
it’s bad for either of us if this psycho has his way.” assured
Flash Man.
Gemini chuckled darkly. “So you finally decided to show up?” He
pulled out his second sword. “Good. Now I can make due payment
on my curse… Your bodies will be the messengers that my beloved
belongs to me, and only me!”
“Beloved? Man, if you’re talking about Doctor Wily, I
gotta tell ya, he doesn’t really swing that way…” joked
Quick as he circled Gemini. He saw a twitch of Gemini’s muscles,
and then a rush of wind; Starnik’s blind faith in his reflexes
saved him, as he felt the slash travel across his cheek. His eyes
widened. He had never even taken his eyes off Gemini. S… so
fast! I didn’t even see him move!
“Prattling fool.” Spat the scissor commander venomously. “Next
time, it will be your tongue that will go.”
--------------------
The Cosmic Gladiators put their makeshift tanks into full gear and
sped off in the direction of the explosion, their minds racing just
as fast.
<So how're we gonna take down Geminiman?> Venus asked over
the QPS, her long ponytail flying behind her as she ran. <Any
ideas?>
<Isn't he really weak to Search Snakes?> Uranus said, shaking
the ground with every step. <I think it was Search Snake...>
<Well we don't have anything like that, but i think it's the snakes'
acid that beats him,> Jupiter replied, flying just a few feet
above Uranus's head. <Man, if only Mercury was here!>
<What about Neptune?> Mars suggested, carefully skating down
the street alongside his teammates. <I mean, isn't all his 'water'
really acid?>
Jupiter's eyes lit up. <Maybe we COULD do that!> he said. <Neptune,
you think you could spray Gemini down with Aqua-Marine?>
<I guess we got no choice b'sides, right?> the giant blue Stardroid
replied. <You think it'll work?>
Jupiter nodded slightly, and the team continued onward toward where
the explosion was without much else discussion. But, in reality,
plenty of things were being left unsaid…
(Actually...) the falcon-like Stardroid thought to himself, (I don't
know if that's gonna be enough...)
Mars then made an unexpected comment. <Hey, where's Pluto?>
<I'm a couple blocks behind you.> Pluto replied. <I thought
of that myself when I found this tanker truck filled with Hydroflouric
Acid. This payload will eat right through glass and metal, so hopefully
we'll have Geminiman on the ropes.> he explained.
The Cosmic Gladiators reached to scene of the battle, the 'dozers
plowing through the SA's troops like snow. The plasma shots ate into
the steel plating protecting the machines, but they could not stop
the 10 metal beasts that came at them.
The truck followed the clearings they made, before stopping at the
scene of conflict just as Gemini had split to attack Quickman.
"Ah, so Cossack's biggest failures have joined in too." Geminiman
mocked.
"You take that back, you-" Pluto said, spouting profanity
in anger.
Jupiter and Neptune weren't listening. They had snuck behind the
truck and stuck a fire hose in the side, before leaping out from
behind it and launching two deadly sprays of acid at each of the
two Gemini clones.
"Nobody calls my team that!" Jupiter yelled. "Eat
search snake, bizwitches!"
--------------------
The sprays of acid were closing in rapidly but the White Knight quickly
waved his hand and suddenly two more Geminiman clones appeared in
front of the acid and took the entire attack full force.
“What was the point of all that?” Jupiter asked with
surprise until he then noticed the pieces of armour that were slowly
being eaten by the acid were not Geminiman’s, rather they were
fragments of Scissor Joe armour.
“I applaud your efforts Cosmic Gladiators. That attack would
have been most troubling for me. However, your lousy resistance is
of little concern to me. I think you’ll enjoy the company of
a few friends of mine though.”
Several members of the Holy Order then appeared before the Stardroids
in their usual Scissor Joe appearance and proceeded to open fire
on them.
“That was such a bother. I do apologise for the rude interruption,
Warriors. Now, shall I begin where I left off?” the White Knight
spoke in his usual arrogant manner.
The Warriors quickly leapt into action and attacked the Twin Terror
whim just smiled as more clones appeared to block the attacks and
in the midst of the confusion two of the clones vanished without
anyone noticing.
“The perfect distraction” he thought to himself, “Now
the Warriors will hopefully think they are fighting the actual me
when they are actually fighting the Holy Order in disguise. Meanwhile
I’ll proceed to pick them off when they least expect it. I
think I will start with the so-called Scarlet Adonis…”
Quickman dashed after the Holy Order member he thought was Geminiman
and attacked it with his boomerang but was amazed to see it vanish
before his attack could connect.
“Looking for me?” the actual Twin Terror spoke from behind
the Warriors leader before firing a laser at him which ultimately
missed due to his opponent’s reflexes.
“But you were just in front of me a moment ago!” he yelled
before regaining his footing only to look up and find that the White
Knight was not there anymore.
“You seem to be filled with openings, Scarlet Adonis…” Geminiman’s
voice came from a completely different angle which prompted Quickman
to throw a Quick Boomerang over in the direction of the voice which
was quickly bounced off by the former Maniac’s shield.
“What kind of trick are you playing?” he asked gritting
his teeth.
“Trick? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The
White Knight laughed as slowly drew out one of his burning swords
and quickly faded from Quickman’s vision and soon A sharp pain
was felt across the scarlet robot’s back as he fell over and
turned to see Geminiman behind him with sword in hand. “Perhaps
it is your ego that is making you disbelieve what is happening to
you.”
Stunned at this turn of events, Quickman shot off away from the White
Knight in order to regain his bearings and think things through.
But to his horror, he stopped to see Geminiman waiting for him, still
brandishing his sword with a large grin on his face.
“What’s the matter Quickman? Am I getting too fast for
you?” he said mockingly as he leapt at the Scarlet Adonis and
slashed at him only to be met with Quickman’s boomerang.
“No one is faster than me!” Quick retorted as he dodged
another slash from the White Knight and then retaliated with an attack
of his own, only to see that his target was no longer in front of
him and then felt the force of a powerful kick to his side as Geminiman
pulled off a Shooting Star kick into him.
“It’s not possible… you can’t be…” Quickman
said in disbelief. It was like a nightmare. It couldn’t be
real, no one was faster than him, and yet the White Knight seemed
to have moved so fast that he had already scratched his face and
now registered two hits on to him faster than it took him to blink.
“A man’s ego is such a wonderful thing. When it begins
to break down the man’s behaviour begins to go erratic and
soon forms a tragically beautiful dance of despair” The White
Knight withdrew his sword and grinned before disappearing again and
reappearing behind Quickman with his laser pointed at his head.
“I think I will crush your ego before I dispose of you.” Geminiman
mockingly said before he fired his laser once again.
--------------------
“I nearly died back then…” Lt Foxglove was still
trying to regain her composure as the battle continued around her.
Hundreds of Police Bots, Holy Order Joes and Geminimen were shooting
back and forth at one another while both the Wily robots and Cossack
supporters were aiding in the attack against the Holy Order.
“If it weren’t for that Wily bot… then I wouldn’t
be here anymore…”
She quickly snapped back into reality and got up with her gun in
hand and shot a nearby Holy Order Joe in the eye with surprisingly
good effect before turning to her fellow RPD Police Bots and troopers.
“We will lend our aid to both the Wily and Cossack forces to
help defend this city.” She said with determination in her
eyes.
“But madam, our orders are to arrest any Wily or Cossack forces.
To help them would contradict our all that we have been told.” A
trooper yelled out to his commanding officer only to be met with
a cold stare.
“If we do that, then we have absolutely no chance in protecting
this city. Politics can be damned, at the moment this is war and
we need all the help we can get here. Need I remind you that we have
no Special Forces here to back us up?” she angrily retorted,
silencing the complaining trooper. She then turned to march towards
the Wily Warriors to aid in their fight and smiled.
“Besides, I’ve already messed up any chances of me going
up the ranks. Why should I bother what the guys upstairs think?”
One way or another she was going to survive this battle and make
sure this city remained safe.
--------------------
The SA Joes swarmed the vehicles, but the CG were too quick for them.
With the vehicles still running, they simply plowed forward, obliterating
everything in their paths.
Except Pluto. The SA troops shot holes in the HF Acid filled-tanker,
causing a gaseous doom-cloud to condense around the vehicle. A few
unlucky Joes were eaten alive by it, followed by the truck itself,
which sputtered out from the diesel in the tank mixed with the acid
forming longer hydrocarbon chains unsuitable for the engine.
Pluto's Combat Pattern Assesment System, a.k.a CPAS, had seen the
attack coming from a mile away. Like a nimble cat, he leaped off
the heads of the SA Joes onto a nearby building.
<I'm safe, guys...> he said over the QPS. <And I know his
little trick, thanks to the parts I got from the Sagitarrius. See
those fragments left on the ground? Those clones aren't really his
clones, they're SA Joes with cloaking abilities! It's just simple
holograms, I can spot a fake a mile away.>
<Good, 'cause Gemini just started to multiply more than possible!
He's battling the Warriors, and no matter how many clones they kill
he keeps coming back!> Mars replied.
Pluto used his new quantum scanner, taken from the Sagittarius to
replace the one that was lost, to find the real Geminiman. <There,
he's on that roof. I need a distraction!> Pluto said as he snuck
down the stairs and through the streets to the side of the building
Gemini's back was turned to.
<I'm on it!> Jupiter boldly ablidged. He smashed the bulldozer
into the front of a closed furniture store, grabbing a mirror and
hooping back in to head for Geminiman's perch. “Hey, Ugly-eye-man!
Look over here!” he yelled holding up the mirror.
“YOU LITTLE- oh, my. I look simply stunning-” was all
he could vainly say before Jupiter punched the back of the mirror,
shattering the glass. “AAARGH! YOU LITTLE PUNK! I SHALL FEAST
ON YOUR ENTRAILS AT DAWN!”
Before he could attack, Pluto had his pure Solite claws pointed like
a knife threateningly at Geminiman's throat. “Call off the
goon squad now and your perfect face doesn't get hurt.” he
said menacingly...
--------------------
Laughter began to fill the air as Geminiman just looked at Pluto,
still threatening his face with his claws.
"You're threatening me?" he said with another round of
his usual maniacal laughter, "Better robots than you have tried
that. Tried and failed, a little threat like this won't phase me
in the slightest!"
Geminiman simply faded into invisible mode and ducked out at furry
Stardroid's swift slash before another clone became visible behind
him and kicked him off the ledge of the building.
"Since you insist on persistently interrupting my glorious show,
I think I had better silence you right now." he smirked before
leaping down with sword in hand to finish off the falling Pluto
--------------------
Pluto quickly dodged the sword, acknowledging the cue from the CPAS
device. "Better ROBOTS?"
he said. "I think you'll find I think of myself as a NetNavi,
not a machine that feels no emotion."
"Emotion? Hah, I see in you better than you think. You lack
emotion in that pitiful mind of yours more than anyone else in this
CITY." Geminiman retorted, laughing.
Pluto froze. Somehow, Gemini had struck a nerve. He snapped out of
it, though.
"You can think what you want-" Pluto stopped and raised
his claw quickly to counter Gemini's sudden and swift kick. "...but
harm any of my teammates, an innocent person in this city, or anything
else dear to me and you will feel my pain ten-fold. Wriathman will
learn that the hard way..." he said vengefully.
Pluto leaped up, the two robots entering in a head-to-head combat.
Pluto blocked most of Gemini's moves, but was equally unable to hit
Gemini who used his clones to jump out of the way instantly...
--------------------
The remaining Warriors had problems of their own. One minute they
were coming to help their friend, the next they were head to toe
with a whole bunch of Gemini clones. More accurately, they were Gem's
personal soldiers, the Holy Order.
Crashman was getting annoyed on how they would take the hits, disappear,
then reappear behind him. He just didn't have the speed to catch
up. "Why won't these things stay in sight!"
"Quit complaining and just blow shit up!" To prove his
point, Airman conjured up several miniature tornadoes which ripped
down the ruined streets and through dozens of the Holy Guard. Even
those that were invisible were not immune to the high speed winds
and fell just as quickly. A few got a bit too close to Crash and
he had to duck out of the way or face quite a bit of damage.
Not to far off, Woodman was knocking down Joes to and fro, while
the remaining Warriors formed a circular ring and blasted out at
their attackers. Bubble was the first to ask, "why do they keep
disappearing?"
"It's one of- LOOK OUT!" Flashman punched away a Holy Order
trooper that had appeared too close to the scuba robot. "These
assholes can cloak! And they keep using it to hit us and run!"
"Cloak? How can they be cloaking?"
A spray of plasma ripped apart a nearby Joe. "I dunno, light
bending, holograms? Whatever works!"
The word "hologram" caught Bubble's ears, prompting him
to send more Lead Bubbles in between the Joes ranks. Sure enough,
several of them hit invisible Joes, dropping their cloak, if only
for a moment. "The invisible ones are in the gaps of the visible
ones!"
"I can see that!" Flashman changed his tactics from single
target to suppression fire in an attempt to take out more Joes. They
were more resilient than he realized.
Woodman charged through the ranks of Joes, his boots churning up
much dust. He was surprised when he saw some of the dust shifting
when nothing was there.
"Hey, the dust! We can use it to-"
"Way ahead of you!" Airman began sending tornado attacks
toward the ground, while Crash began launching his bombs toward every
piece of rubble he could find. The attacks began to pick up larger
and larger clouds of dust. Dust which was able to bypass the Holy
Order's invisibility.
At the point, Ringman got back into the action. "These guys
are mine!" With a flick of his wrists, twin Ring Boomerangs
launched into the dust clouds. Their paths were filled with many
SA soldiers, all of which either fell or disabled by the razor sharp
weapons. They came back to Ring's hands as he smirked. "Amateurs."
"Ring! Go help out Starnik!" The Cossack bot looked at
Flashman with distaste. Surely their quick companion could take care
of him Gemini clones, right?
Glancing at the battle, however, told him otherwise. Quickman was
having a bit of a tough time verses the White Knight. With a grunt,
Ringman made his way toward the battle, only for a Gemini clone;
a REAL Gemini clone, to pop up in his face.
"It is very rude to interrupt one's fight," sneered the
clone. Ringman growled and sent one of his rings at him, only for
it to be blocked by a shield. The clone snickered, then raised his
Gemini Laser after his shield fell.
"Heads up!"
Both fighters turned to see a swirling whirlwind of dust, Joes and
debris heading right toward them. The clone grimaced and fade from
sight, while Ringman leaped backwards as the maelstrom continued
right into a building. It promptly collapsed, surely crushing the
Joes.
Airman hovered over and admired his handy work. "See that, kid?
That's the power of Awesome."
"You say that like it's a pronoun," Ring said flatly.
"It is."
Flashman appeared in a blink of an eye. "We can discuss grammar
rules later. Let's go after the real threat and help Starnik!" Another
Gemini clone appeared, expressionless, and aimed it's arm cannon
at Flash's head. A punch from Woodman ended that threat easily. "Watch
your back next time, okay Cyros?"
--------------------
"So, I see you are able to predict my every move?" Geminiman
said, prodding Pluto for weaknesses as they blocked and dodged each
other's attacks.
"I also know you're trying to find a weakness." Pluto said.
"Well, maybe I'm just stalling for time." Gemini replied.
"Nope, you're lying. I can tell when you get nervous." Pluto
vaguely revealed.
"Well, then predict this." Geminiman said, firing his laser
at his opponent.
Pluto dodged the attack, but fell prey to two Gemini clones that
grabbed him and held him down.
"Oh? I thought you were all-knowing. I guess you can't see everything
coming." Gemini mocked, laughing evily.
"No, but I need competent goons to hold me down." Pluto
said as he kicked the Holy Order Joes in the knees so hard it broke
their legs.
The two bots fell to the ground, and Pluto shoved his claws straight
into their heads, destroying the computer brains completely.
"So, I can't fool you at all then. Force was working so much
better, I'll have to stick to it." Gemini thought aloud.
Soon, a platoon of Holy Order troops surrounded Pluto on all sides.
Their sheer numbers meant that even though Pluto saw it coming he
couldn't avoid it.
"Now, now. If you can predict things, then why didn't you see
that coming?" Gemini smirked, knowing full well Pluto couldn't
have gotten out.
Suddenly, a honking noise could be heard, as the other CG plowed
through the troops to rescue Pluto.
"Ah, friends. So the great psychic has nearly fallen to my army."
Geminiman taunted.
"Can it, fragile goods, or I'll pump you full of Aqua-marine!" Neptune
threatened.
Geminiman knew he was beat, so he merged with another clone to escape.
His cruel words before parting were "Better robots than you
have tried that and failed. I think you'll find your friend here
is one of them..."
<Forget him, guys.> Pluto said on the CG's special com-system. <He's
just a piece of glass who thinks he's made of diamond. Let's go help
the RPD and Wily's Warriors.>
Pluto hitched a ride with Jupiter, stopping back at the construction
site to get his bulldozer before heading to the main battle.
As they reached the fight scene, Pluto saw the Wily troops sitting
idle for some reason. <Hmm, the WW forgot to order them into battle.
They're just sitting idle... wait, guys. Everyone grab a handful
of mets. It's time to play bowling with Wilybots..."
The CG grabbed as many of the little but heavy machines in their
arms. They strangely didn't struggle or retaliate, somehow lost without
a command. Finally in sight of the battle, the CG threw the 200 pound
metools at the SA Joes fighting the Warriors.
"Eat mets, scrap metal!" Mars yelled, while simultaniously
launching several of his missiles.
"Wow, chucking mets is pretty fun!" Sunstar exclaimed,
firing his rifle as well.
The robotic projectiles squealed as they hit some of the troops square
on the head. With shots from Shift and Renard hitting them as well,
several cloaked Joes had to reappear to provide the spaces for the
other invisible Joes to hide in.
Pluto's aim was especially good, his scanner going in sweeps to find
the cloaked Joes and take them out one-by-one. "You can't hide
forever..." he said smuggly.
The Joes, unable to ignore the CG anymore, turned and started to
attack the CG, leaving the Wily's Warriors unimpeded as the stardroids
hopped into their vehicles and ran for their lives...
--------------------
“Glk!” sputtered Quick, as he felt Gem’s swords
scrape him once again. It was taking all of his concentration to
avoid the blows as they touched him. While Starnik was managing to
keep Lennon’s attacks from hitting his vital systems, the “death
by a thousand cuts”
was beginning to show its effects. I… can’t keep
this up… I need to come up with a way to stop him, fast!
Then it came to him. It was an incredibly stupid plan. It was risky,
impulsive, and dangerous. In short, it was perfect.
Starnik watched as Gemini disappeared once again, and immediately
felt a blade ripping into his side. Instead of dodging, however,
he used his incredible reflexes to bring his hand down to grab the
blade as it dug into his midsection. He grunted in pain at the burning
sensation that came from Lennon’s sword; however, he refused
to let go. He turned to look at Gemini’s surprised face. “Gotcha!” the
scarlet speedster said triumphantly.
His grin disappeared just as fast as he saw Gemini smiling horribly.
Two, then four, then eight blades sliced into Starnik’s body,
causing the Wilybot to drop to his knees. Electricity erratically
discharged from all of his wounds. H…
How?
Gemini just crossed his arms, victorious. His armor lacked even a
single scratch on it.
Wait… what happened to his face wound that Foxglove gave
him…? wondered Starnik. Quick Man’s eyes widened
when he finally figured it out. “Cloaked…
clones!” hacked the speedster.
“You know,” said Gemini degradingly. “You are remarkably
slow for someone who claims to be so fast.” He simply stood
backed and watched as Starnik pushed himself shakily to his feet.
He knew he had won; he was just going to toy with the self-proclaimed “Scarlet
Adonis” now. “That’s it. Get to your feet. At least
make a sport of this. Maybe you can try running away. I haven’t
had a good game of hide-and-seek in years.” The white knight
sneered.
“Heh,” Starnik chuckled. “You know, Classi said
there was some good left in you. That deep down, you were still fighting
Mesmer’s control. She even made me promise to try and talk
some sense into you. But honestly?” he asked, staring Gem right
in the eye. There was a dark look that normally never crossed the
jokester’s face. “Now I just don’t really care
anymore.” Quick finished, suddenly disappeared from sight.
Gemini felt a rush of wind come near him, and instinctively brought
his sword to block, catching Starnik’s large boomerang weapon
mid-swing.
“Oh? So you can keep up with this speed. Let’s try faster.” Said
the speedster darkly, disappearing from sight once again. Gemini
brought his second blade to bear, deflecting Starnik’s attack… however
the force behind it caused the Twin Terror to skid backwards. Wordless,
the Quick Man disappeared again, bringing another attack at incredible
speeds at the now beleaguered Gemini. He’s coming so fast,
the force he’s exerting is tremendous! But I can still predict
his movement- Gemini was cut mid-thought as a high speed kick
landed squarely across his spine, throwing the white knight across
the field. Starnik raced ahead of the robot, and brought his razor-sharp
boomerang down across Gemini Man’s chest. His advanced armor
couldn’t withstand the speed and force of the assault, and
a deep gash appeared across his torso.
“Urk!” croaked Gemini, falling backwards from the assault.
Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. He turned his
head and saw Quick Man was right beside him. There was no triumphant
grin, only a deadly serious calm.
“You’re so slow… even when you fall.” Stated
the speedster, ramming his fist down into the already damaged mid-section
of Gemini Man. The force of the impact against the street caused
a crater, and Gem’s body bounced off the hard ground only to
be slammed again by Quick Man’s fist. Starnik continued the
punishing attack until a burst of mechanical fluid erupted out of
Gemini’s mouth, splattering his red armor with black liquid.
Another Gemini, the one Foxglove had previously injured, appeared
and quickly re-integrated the dying clone. “Hmph.” Grumbled
the white knight. “Don’t get cocky because of a lucky
shot. After all what will you do… when I don’t give
you a target to hit?” cackled Gemini as he faded from view.
Quick Man immediately switched to the defensive. Without a visual
target, he had no way he could attack!
“Heads up!” yelled Ring Man, launching one of his Ring
Boomerangs at what seemed to be thin air. It connected with something
metallic, however, and returned to his hand. “Sorry we’re
a little late. You simply would not BELIEVE the traffic!”
“How did you know where he was?”
Ring pointed to a small ring that was fixed to his eye. “It’s
another Trick Ring I developed with Wily. The Vision Ring allows
you to see far beyond the visual spectrum. Here, catch!” said
the red robot as he tossed one of the small devices to Starnik. Quick
Man immediately attached it to his right eye, just in time to make
out Gem’s silhouette bearing down on him. Starnik’s super-fast
reflexes managed to save him again, bringing up his battered boomerang
to block.
“Heh, oh Gemini! I see you!” taunted Quick as his opponent
backed off.
“Man, you’re hopeless.” Said Ring Man disapprovingly. “All
the other warriors already figured out his trick with their Holy
Order enemies.”
“Hmph!” Starnik snorted at the sarcastic robot’s
comments. “At least we’re down one of his clones…”
--------------------
With all his clones and all his troops no longer able to conceal
themselves, the White Knight grinned in amusement as he watched over
the battlefield of a city. Showers of razor sharp leaves were going
all over the place cutting and revealing his once beautiful army
while clouds of dust and bubbles revealed even more.
“Ho, so you’ve managed to nullify my ability to go invisible,
thus rendering my initial tactic useless. I suppose it’s time
to make a more direct approach…” he smirked before pulling
back from his fight against Quickman whom wasn’t about to let
him escape but was quickly thwarted by the sudden appearance of more
of Geminiman’s Holy Order.
All of his remaining clones regrouped in the midst of the battlefield
and then shot off in separate directions, quickly weaving their way
around the Holy Order members before they found themselves surrounding
one of the Warriors responsible for the destruction of many of his
loyal soldiers.
“Woodman, I must say, your leaves displayed a most wonderful
dance on the battlefield cutting through many of my Holy Order.” The
White Knight said menacingly while his clones slowly circled around
the tree trunk robot, “I feel that I must return the favour.”
Woodman was unsure on what the Twin Terror was planning, however
with all the clones circling around him he was certain that they
would launch some sort attack from multiple sides, due to his large
stature he wouldn’t be able to duck so he did the next best
thing, prepare to pull up a Leaf Barrier. But just as he made the
slightest twitch, all the Gemini clones disappeared from his sights.
Almost instinctively he assumed they went back to being invisible
and he threw his leaves out in the directions they vanished but there
was nothing…
until he heard the sound of an arm cannon being pointed at him from
behind.
“Hook, line, and sinker…” the White Knight sneered
and he then fired an immensely powerful laser so close to Woodman
that there was no possible way for him to dodge. His eyes had rolled
over, and his body went limp as the wooden robot collapsed revealing
a searing hole in his back so deep that you could see some of his
internal workings slowly begin to die down.
“Why you…” Flashman screamed as pointed to fire
at his enemy, filled with rage and vengeance at the sight of his
fallen friend.
“If you must blame anyone, blame my beloved Sparkchan. It is
her confining in your side that brings this pain to you all. She
has been cursed… all that stands with will suffer the same
fate until she finally remains faithful to me and only me…” the
White Knight creepily said before blocking the rapid blasts of plasma
from the time-stopping robot before he realised Ringman rushing towards
him ready to hurl his rings, that was until he saw one of the knight’s
swords fly at him.
The Cossack robot quickly repelled the sword but then right before
his eyes, another sword laid hidden behind the other and cleaning
cut off the ornament on Ringman’s head.
“My… ornament…” he gasped, with a shocked
look in his eyes. “How dare you knock my ornament off! You
will pay dearly for this!”
“Is that so?” Geminiman sneered as he split off a clone
from his body and parried Ringman’s following attack. “Perhaps,
you’ll be the next message I shall send to milady…”
--------------------
As they were talking, Gemini suddenly flet a strong burning sensation
on his back. The CG had lost the Holy Order troops following them
in a rail yard, then came back to the fight immediately.
"Screw your "beloved". You're not the only one who
can use underhanded tactics." Neptune said, spraying Aqua-marine
at Gemini while his back was turned.
Gemini screamed in pain, the acid eating into him. Pluto attacked
in this small opening, his claws digging into the soft mush that
was once Geminiman's back, causing him even more immense pain. Then
Jupiter attacked with Electric shock, kicking the White Knight while
he was down.
All this at once made Gemini snap. Despite his immense pain, he leaped
to his feet and yelled to his troops. "Kill those-" he
yelled so loud that the profanities were lost.
Every troop in the army, every last one of them, trained their cannons
on the CG. They were not going to leave alive. Or so he thought.
The CG used the opportunity to teleport out, with the final words "Kick
his butt, Ring." coming from their mouths.
Unfortunately, Geminiman was only in extreme pain. The damage was
minimal, as was apparent when he brushed the charred dust from his
back to reveal the armor was still mostly in place. Laughing evilly,
Gemini turned to Ringman ready to take him out.
The CG reappeared on the other side of Kalingrad, in the middle of
a scrap yard.
"I hope they'll be okay. If they have anymore problems we'd
better get over there..." Jupiter said as the CG looked for
scrap parts to sell.
--------------------
Sunstar was fuming with rage at the notion of fleeing from his first
bit of combat in ages just to pick up scrap. he then kicked a already
broken TV out of his fury.
"GRAAAAAAARGH! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! I REFUSE TO PICKUP
SCRAP WHILE THE SCISSOR ARMY IS STROLLING AROUND LIKE THEY OWN THE
PLACE! EVER SINCE WE CRASHED ON THIS ACCURSED PLANET WE'VE BEEN DOING
NOTHING BUT SLINKING AROUND THE BATTLEFIELD LIKE RATS! I THOUGHT
TODAY WE'D HAVE THE CHANCE TO FINALLY FIGHT BACK LIKE TIGERS WITH
ROCKET LAUNCHERS!" Sunstar shouted out angrily before teleporting
to the outskirts of the battle field
The CG then stared at the spot where sunstar was standing, speechless.
"Y'know, Shift is right! I'm sick of picking up scrap, i just
want to kill some SA joes! Who's with me!?" mars said.
"I am!" Terra and uranus said.
"*Sigh* Yeah, it doesn't feel right just searching for scraps
while others such as the CC, wily's forces and the RPD are giving
it their all. So i gues i'm in.." Jupiter said
"What about the rest of you?" Mars asked.
"We'll just continue searching for scraps. Call us on the QPS
if you get into a tight spot." Pluto said.
"Right! then we're off!" jupiter said right before he,
mars, terra, and uranus teleported out
The 4 CG members reapeared on the edge of the battlfield to see sunstar
using his rifle/flamethrower on the flamethrower setting as a makeshift
sword to slice through a group of SA joes.
Sunstar then took notice of the 4 CG members.
"Heh, so some of you decided to fight afteralll. I'm glad you
did, since the SA has been quite a handfull for me to deal with on
my own." Sunstar said while shooting high powered plasma blast's
at some aproaching SA joes.
The 4 CG members and sunstar then began to charge through the battle
field with jupiter firing his magna cannon, mars firing photon missiles,
terra firing a spark chaser at a group of joes followed by some earthly
arrows, sunstar firing a few high powered plasma shots before storing
the rifle on his back and switching to his arm cannon, and uranus
at the front of the group using his brute strength to smash through
the SA joes
--------------------
Ring Man hardly paid attention to what the Gladiators mere diversion
offered. That... BASTARD... knocked his ring off! Slowly but surely
during the scuffle with the Gladiators, he placed his hand atop his
helmet, feeling something that was definitely not there. Suddenly
he clutched his fists, feeling an uncontrollable, unidentifiable
urge take over his body... that of anger.
As the CG finally made their exit, Gemini Man turned to face his
opponent once more, laughing all the while.
"So... what is it that you are going to do now, hmm? Chuck another
feeble ring at me? If so then I suggest you do it now..." Gemini
Man swung his arms out in mock gesture. "Come, I'll even give
you a free shot... give it your best."
A moment passed as Gemini waited for the incoming blow so he could
dodge it, thus crushing the red robot's ego further. He had to admit,
crushing one's ego was becoming a hobby of his. Unfortunately he
soon realized that the communist was not doing anything except...
chuckling?
"Y-you dare laugh at me?" Gemini spat, suddenly angered
yet confused.
"I demand to know what is so funny! Well!? Answer me!"
Yet the laughing did not stop, much to Gemini's annoyance. In anger
he raised his arm cannon, deciding to be rid of the pest before him
once and for all. He fired out a blast of his Gemini Laser, watching
in satisfaction as it hit Ring Man directly in the chest, the target
jerking back in pain as the white-hot laser pierced through his armor.
"You do not even attempt to dodge... how pitiful!" Gemini
sneered.
"Truly you do not understand the proper etiquette when it comes
to--"
Before he could even finish his lecture, however, Gemini Man felt
a hard object slam into his face, knocking him back. Registering
the blow, he turned to see that Ring Man was the source, his fist
leaving a nice imprint on his face. Growling in frustration, he attempted
to pay him back with a punch of his own but was left in awe as the
rebel caught it with one hand. The red robot looked at the White
Knight, his eyes showing any lack of sanity, his rage over the loss
of his head ornament taking over his entire body, even nullifying
the pain in his chest.
"W...w... what is this!?" Gemini yelled, not knowing what
was going on.
"Heheheh... HAHAHAHAH!!" Ring Man laughed hysterically,
jerking Gemini forward and kneeing him in the gut, causing him to
cough up some internal fluid. Ring Man whispered something into his
ear. "So, ya think you're just some big, bad guy, huh? Think
ya can just go around and do whatever the Hell ya want, huh!? YOU
STUPID SUNNAVA BITCH!!"
At that Rebel shoved Gemini Man off of him, allowing him to stumble
back slightly. Not allowing him the chance to regain his composure,
however, Ring Man leaped at him, slamming his fist back into his
face, before delivering another blow the gut, followed by a swift
kick to the side, knocking him to the ground. Gemini could only gasp
as the pain overtook him, before feeling a large, heavy boot press
on top of his neck, threatening to squeeze it shut permanently.
Ring Man could only look at him with some form of twisted amusement.
His damn laughing that aggravated Gemini earlier continued. Not letting
up, Ring put the pressure in his boot slightly harder, watching Gemini
squirm some.
"Heheh... how typical!" Ring Man laughed hysterically.
His mind was completely gone. "At first you were just a piece
of shit... and now you're a pile of dog shit!"
He could only laugh harder as his boot suddenly came down harder,
smashing the poor Master of Clones neck, causing a sickening crunch
to resonate throughout the surrounding area, paralyzing the clone.
His laugh continued until he felt several blasts strike him from
all sides--the Holy Order had finally decided to intervene, striking
the Wily bot.
Facing the new opposition with sadistic rage, Ring Man lunged at
the nearest target with a Ring Boomerang extended, smashing the Joe's
face in by swinging it wildly as a melee weapon. He then opted to
throw another at a nearby target that nimbly dodged the incoming
projectile and swung his dagger, tearing it into Ring's arm, sparks
flying. Little did it suspect however as the ring came flying back,
slamming into it's spine and plowed right through his midsection,
effectively cleaving it into two.
"C'mon, C'MON!!" Rebel screamed, his eyes bloodshot. "I'LL
TAKE ALL OF YOU ON!!"
Complying to the order, more Holy Joes appeared, encircling the deranged
robot. Although he struggled, Ring Man was incapable of fending them
all off, as he was soon bombarded with various blasts and suffered
from numerous stab wounds. Despite this, he continued to laugh, his
body becoming that of a cockroach, refusing to fall down as he continued
delivering blows and accepting some more. Even as his body reached
it's limits, he refused to give up, a wild animal lingering in his
eyes. Nothing would stop him from this sweet revenge!
--------------------
With another clone defeated, Geminiman’s anger was raising
and he quickly merged another clone with the paralysed one and rose
back to his feet before the bloodshot Ringman who was still fighting
with all his might and all his anger against the Holy Order. Despite
all his injuries he continued to go on.
“Your determination and rage are certainly admirable, I will
give you that.”
The White Knight spoke while slowly advancing to the former Cossack
Comrade while picking up one of his fallen burning swords from the
ground, “Admittedly it was my fault for allowing you the first
shot. You do indeed have a great deal of power… however I
will not be completely defeated by the likes of you.”
Ringman still did not falter as he stood before the Master of Clones,
determined to stop whatever attack was going to head his way but
there were simply too many Holy Order Joes in his surroundings, so
he quickly shot out as many rings as he could and at that moment
he felt a burning sharp pain in his abdomen as the White Knight ran
him through with his sword.
“Now, drown this battlefield with the glorious sound of your
scream.” He sneered, but Ringman just smiled as his rings had
reversed direction and were now headed straight for Geminiman.
“Not before you do.” He replied but then was shocked
to see the rings bounce off the White Knight’s back as if they
were nothing and then find another Geminiman move from behind the
one with the sword slowly shake his head at Ringman in a mocking
fashion.
“An interesting attempt, but I am aware your weapons are called
boomerangs; I would be foolish to leave my back open if I went within
their range.” He sneered and then more Holy Order soldiers
rushed Ringman with their combat knives and embedded them into the
robot’s torso. With his eyes still burning with rage, Ringman
slumped over with countless knives littering his body unable to fight
anymore.
Geminiman removed his sword from Ringman’s body and turned
to see the remains of the Cosmic Gladiators fighting off the rest
of his Order, they had been a nuisance since the start of this fight,
but his thirst for Wily blood was still not satisfied and he brushed
them off their actions for the time being and looked to see his other
clone fighting Flashman whom was still firing volley upon volley
of plasma shots at a Geminiman clone, he wanted to make him suffer
for the pain he had brought to Woodman.
With all his concentration on trying to kill the clone before him,
Geminiman saw this as the perfect opportunity to shoot another laser
which would eradicate yet another member of the Warriors team. He
began to take aim for the time-stopper’s head until a razor
sharp disc sped by and lodged itself into the White Knight’s
arm causing him to fire the laser off course.
He then saw Metalman looking rather proud of his throw ready another
Metal Blade to throw at the White Knight, but this time he was ready
and once again another clone jumped out in front of the path of the
projectiles and repelled the attack while the White Knight removed
the blade lodged in his right arm and smiled.
“I believe I have something that belongs to you.” He
laughed before throwing the Metal Blade back at Metalman which tore
through his body in an eerily bloody mess.
Flashman, whom had looked over to see where the missed laser had
come from then saw the fallen body of Ringman and the collapsing
Metalman and screamed out in anger once again.
“You’ll pay for what you’ve done! You hear me Geminiman?
You are going to pay!”
“We’ll just see about that.” The White Knight grinned
as he prepared a pincer attack against his next victim with his other
clone but was quickly interrupted by a hail of plasma bullets from
the RPD that had come to aid.
“You have no chance to win Geminiman! We have you completely
outgunned now.” Lt Foxglove yelled out, pointing her gun at
the White Knight once again.
“Outgunned?” the former Maniac laughed once again and
grinned back at the RPD officer. “I suppose you do, but do
you really think that worries me?”
Leaving his other clone to take care of Flashman, the White Knight
separated from the main battlefield with a handful of Holy Order
Joes and attacked Foxglove’s squadron of Police Bots while
he personally grabbed hold of the lieutenant.
“While I maybe outgunned, I am certainly not outwitted just
yet.”
As he finished his sentence, a series of explosions rocked the battleground
and levelled several buildings to reveal small groups of Holy Order
Joes who had successfully used the debris to divide the disorientated
enemy forces into smaller groups.
“I suppose you’re going to curse at me or something.
I seem to get that a lot lately. However, I think I’ll much
prefer to hear you moan in agony as I slowly rip you apart.”
A gust of wind came by followed by a red blur as the Wily Warriors
leader had arrived in time to rescue the RPD officer once again.
“As I expected… We meet again, Scarlet Adonis. I believe
I have some unfinished business to deal with you.”
--------------------
"I think we've gotten everything we can out of this junk pile..." Pluto
said. "We've been grabbing stuff and teleporting between here
and the Citadel for 30 minutes already."
As if on cue, the explosion from the Holy Joes was heard by the remaining
CG.
"That's not good..." said Neptune.
"We'd better get back over there."
The five left-over CG teleported back to the battleground. Looking
around, the Warriors and RPD were losing badly.
"Okay, let's take on the Holy Joes attacking the RPD." Pluto
ordered.
The two groups of CG members joined up, and with the combined forces
of them and the RPD troops, the Holy Joes began to dwindle. Soon
there was only about 60 left, out of the original total of 1083.
The bulldozers had proven very useful.
Of course, the CG took some damage themsleves, and their armor was
pocketed with craters as they picked off the stragglers one by one.
"Do not fight the inevitable!" a Holy Joe said annoyingly
for the thirtieth time. "Elysium awaits!"
"I am getting sick of that stupid line!" Pluto complained,
shoving his left claw through that peticular Joe's head.
Once the last Joe fell, the CG collapsed from exaustion, sitting
on the charred sidewalk. Commander Foxglove walked up to them.
"Are you the Cosmic Crusaders?" she asked.
"Well we were going to be, but we've decided to stick with Gadiators." Jupiter
re-plied. "It's more fittin- Hey, aren't you the RPD leutenant?"
"Yes, I am." she said. "Don't worry, I'm not arresting
you. After being stuck here I don't care much for what my superiors
think. Just... thanks for the help. We would have been slaughtered
if it hadn't been for you and the Wily's Warriors."
"Don't mention it..." Sunstar sighed.
"Is there anything I can do to repay you?" she asked.
"Not much. We're from space, so Earth tech won't do much for
us."
Pluto explained. "But a few thousand to Cossack under the table
would do..." he said, winking.
"Okay, I'll wire 10,000 over to him. Thanks again." she
smiled.
The CG got up, unable to do much more. "I think we'd better
get going.' Jupiter said. And with that, the CG teleported back to
Siberia...
--------------------
“Aw, it looks like the Gladiators went and broke all your toy
soldiers.” taunted Starnik. “Guess that means it’s
just down to you and us.”
In reality, the speedster was very worried. Gemini was still fresh
from absorbing his clones, while the battle with the Holy Order and
Gemini had taken their toll on the Wilybots. Wood, Ring, and Metal
Man were down, and Quick Man wasn’t sure how long they’d
last without getting treatment, or even if they were salvageable
at all! He had to figure out a way to burn through four remaining
clones without taking any more heavy losses.
“I don’t need them to mop up the likes of you.” sneered
Gemini. “Your broken bodies will be the messenger to Spark-chan
and Wily. My curse on her will come to bear. It is inevitable.”
“That’s mighty big talk for a guy who’s all out
of tricks.” Starnik said as he took a sprinters stance. “Everyone,
hang back. I think it’s time I settled this whole business
with Gemini.”
“Hm hm hm, you fool.” laughed Lennon as Starnik leapt
into action once again.
“I don’t require tricks to disable the likes of you!” Another
clone uncloaked as Gemini merged with it, evading the attack. Starnik
skid to a halt, then took off again.
Direct attacks won’t work on him… time to try something
different! Thought the speedster as he began racing around the
Twin Terror. Alternating his speed as he ran, after images of Quick
began to appear all around Gemini.
“Let’s see how you like my own ‘clone’ technique!”
“Heh, are you going to prance around me all day like a coward,
or are you actually going to attack?”
“Oh, you’ll like this, then!” quipped the scarlet
speedster as the after images all fired off a load of quick boomerangs.
Gemini did not appear to be worried about the quick boomerang barrage,
however, as several clones uncloaked and drew their swords, swatting
down the boomerangs with incredible reflexes. They made it look effortless,
but Starnik didn’t let up. Come on… I just need a
few of them to break through… He thought as he dumped
more energy into the assault.
“I grow weary of this charade.” Stated one of the Gemini’s,
batting one of the Quick Boomerangs away. Whether by luck or design,
the boomerang sliced into the right leg Quick Man, who came to a
sudden stop.
“Augh! Of all the lucky ricochets!” yelped Starnik. Suddenly
Gemini was on him, blade drawn. The speedster tried to spin out of
the way, but the damaged leg slowed him enough for Gemini’s
already quick sword work. The injured leg was lopped off, providing
no more resistance to the Gemini Sword than a piece of paper. Starnik
fell to the ground, a look of shock and disbelief across his face.
“That face! Ha ha! Perfect!” Laughed Gemini as his other
clones disappeared.
“Tell me, Quick Man, how fast can you run now?”
Starnik grimaced as he struggled to push himself into a sitting position.
He raised his right arm and aimed his Quick Boomerang launcher at
the taunting robot. “I still… can fight…” he
grunted out of pain and effort.
Gemini’s grin lessoned slightly. “Indeed.” He said,
a bit more somber.
“However… for showing me such an excellent dance back
there, I feel it necessary to return the favor with one of my own...”
--------------------
The last of his clones surrounded the one-legged speedster and then
began to circle around him in a sinister manner.
“I must congratulate you for displaying a most wonderful fight.
However, with only one leg left to stand on, there isn’t much
else you can do…”
The clones were circling closer and closer to Quickman, he had recognised
what his adversary was doing, this was the same move that took down
Woodman, sooner or later the clones were going to disappear and then
one will shoot him from behind. But the clones just continued slowly
walking around him, staring at him with their soulless eyes as if
they were waiting for something.
Thinking he knew the way out of the attack, the Scarlet Adonis turned
and threw a boomerang behind him where he suspected the White Knight
would attack from, only to find nothing.
Smiling, the White Knight merged all his clones next to Quickman’s
self-created blind spot and pointed his laser at his head.
“So it is only fitting that you suffer a most wonderful death…”
--------------------
There was no warning. No time to react. A split second was all Geminiman
could register as something appeared in his peripheral vision.
And then there was blinding pain.
He screamed, clutching what use to be his eyes and staggered backwards.
Next to where he once stood, Flashman held his buster firmly. Smoke
and ozone still waved away from the buster barrel.
The White Knight cursed at his attacker with all the rage within
him. "YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU'VE BLINDED ME! YOU'VE RUINED ME!" Flash
merely looked at the stumbling ex-Mech, his face twisted into a scowl. "No...
it was your twisted pride that blinded you... and ruined you."
He approached the fallen warrior, who still clutched his face. Suddenly,
without warning, Gemini unleashed a furious attack with his twin
swords, nearly delivering a fatal blow. Instead, they cut violently
through Flashman's left shoulder, completely severing that arm. The
screams of pain made Gemini forget his own.
"Yes! YES! Feel the agony!" Even without his eyesight,
the knight proved to be quite dangerous. He turned toward the source
of the screams and slashed horizontally, scratching the surface of
Cyros' chest armor and sending him to the ground.
The Wily bot coughed violently, a bit of fluid dribbling out of his
mouth. Hearing dark laughter, he looked up to see the blinded Geminiman
approaching him, his swords crossed over his chest.
"You... I've been toying with you for too long... and look what
you did... heh. It was foolish of me not see you as a threat." Flashman
attempted to raise his buster arm, but a sharp pain distracted him.
Feeling he was close enough, Gemini raised his swords. "Now...
now I'm going to SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!"
"Not today!" Amazingly, Quickman came slamming into the
White Knight's side, launching him several meters away. Somehow,
despite lacking a leg, he was able to propel himself into his target. "Cyros...
thanks."
"Same here," Flash mumbled, wincing in pain as he stood
up.
"...do we look like shit or what?"
Geminiman wasn't so pleased. Screaming in rage, he felt around for
his fallen weapons, determined to make good on his curse. His movement
stopped once Cyros summoned enough energy to fire a Flash Freeze
at the stubborn fool.
"Okay, we got him where we want him," Quickman muttered.
He held onto his friend's back for support, careful as not to upset
his injury. "Now what?"
"Pay... back..."
Quick and Flash turned and went wide eyed. Standing there, despite
all odds, was Woodman, sparks flying from the wound in his back.
"Woodman! But- but how!?"
The lumbering giant gave a weak smirk. "I'm tougher... than
I look... now let me... take care...of this guy..."
Woodman turned toward Geminiman and began concentrating on something.
Slowly, he began to glow with a strange light. The two other Warriors
were unsure of what to make of this, until they looked upward at
the sky. The sun was shining brilliantly.
"Is he... going to do what I think he is?"
The sparks from his wound grew in number, but yet he continued to
charge his solar borne power. Thrusting his palms out in the same
manner as when using his Leaf Shield, Woodman began to gather an
orb of light that rivaled Flashman's blinding visual display. He
was on the verge of shutdown, but not before he gave a little present
to Geminiman.
He fired.
A ways off, the effects of the Flash Freeze final wore off, brining
Geminiman back to attention. Somehow, he knew something was wrong...
Turning his head toward the incoming laser, he knew nothing but the
increasing heat that seemed to come toward him. Instinctively, he
did the only thing he could think of; shield himself.
The Solar Laser plowed right into him and kept going, right into
several buildings and out over the Baltic Sea. While brief, the destructive
power it unleashed was unlike anything the Warriors had ever seen
before. Quick and Flash stared on in disbelief.
"...holy SHIT that was cool."
Drained of energy, Woodman could not stand up anymore and stumbled
toward the ground. The other Warriors, arriving due to the commotion,
made their way to their fallen comrades.
As for Geminiman... it was a miracle that he survived.
--------------------
Geminiman felt as if he just woke up from a dream, but something
was wrong. He couldn’t see anymore, and he felt burnt all over
his body. What had happened to him?
“Why can’t I see? What’s happening?” he cried
out in confusion, as he struggled to touch his face to find that
everything seemed charred and his eyes were now missing.
“My… my face? What have you done to my beautiful face?” he
screamed out in a mixture of anger and horror. The Wily Warriors
were slightly confused at the White Knight’s behaviour, was
it another one of his ploys?
“Don’t try act all innocent, Geminiman” Flashman
said while clutching his missing arm. “Not after everything
you’ve done to us.”
“Everything I’ve…” the Twin Terror began
to ask until it all came rushing back to him, the invasion, the threats,
his almost successful killing of Woodman, Ringman and Metalman. The
city covered in debris and blood… he had done this…
he had done it all…
Geminiman screamed in horror as he tried to close his mind’s
eye but it was all for naught. Everything he had done today was now
eating away at his mind, he could not handle it. He didn’t
want to handle it.
“What have I done? How could I…” he cried out
in despair, before shortly pausing and remained eerily still before
uttering, “How could I… lose to the likes of you?”
The tone of the White Knight’s voice suddenly changed back
to the way it had been throughout the midst of battle and soon started
to laugh once again. His vision was gone, his body was charred and
due to the fact he took all this damage when he was fully merged,
he could no longer clone himself. Yet, in the face of defeat, all
he could do was laugh and applaud.
“Well done, Wily Warriors, well done… It seems that
in the end I was both outgunned and outwitted today. I am at a complete
loss. So you should all feel very proud of yourselves, because your
victory today will be very short-lived…”
The remains of the Holy Order teleported out of the scene while a
badly charred and scorched Geminiman remained behind and laughed
at his surrounding enemies…
“I will see to it that the blood of Wily and all those around
him will be covered over the walls of the battlefield and my beloved
will soon be mine!”
And with that, the White Knight teleported away…
--------------------
Even with the Scissor Army gone, the battle was still not over.
Lt. Foxglove and her troops, just a tad over two dozen, began advancing
on the Warriors. With the worst of the two evils repelled, it was
time to deal with the lesser. Warily, she approached the damaged
robots, thinking of her next actions.
The Warriors had other things on their mind. Unexpectedly, their
bout with the White Knight had crippled over half of their squad,
Ringman included. Quickman lacked a leg, Flash an arm, Wood and Ring
unconscious and Metalman... surprisingly, despite his condition,
was still able to speak. “My body... is trying to die...”
“Oh suck it up, you’ve had worse.” Airman and Bubbleman
began grabbing Metal’s parts and got them into a pile near
the others. Supported by Flashman, Quick began to hobble over to
the approaching Foxglove. He gave off a weak smile and said, “It
looks like we managed to drive them off.”
The young woman returned the smile. “It seems so.” Her
facial expression was soon replaced by a serious look. “But
now, as an officer of the RPD, I must ask for your surrender.”
A collective groan escaped from the Wily robots. They had seen this
coming from miles away! Sure, they man not have to deal with an army
of RPD officers or any special forces, but a majority of the team
were in no condition to fight back.
It was time to show them they meant business.
“‘Surrender?’ ‘Us?’” Quickman
gave a small chuckle, which peeved off the young officer. “Hate
to break it to you ma’am, but if it’s anyone who’s
surrendering...”
From ever possible nook and cranny came scores of Mets. As if they
had always been there, the small diminutive robots founds themselves
surrounding the RPD, their plasma cannons armed and ready. Foxglove’s
eyes went wide with surprise.
“...it’s you.”
She gave off a muffled swear and considered her options. Which were
VERY limited. Her small number of soldiers, no matter how good, were
no match for nearly a thousand metools. Granted, they may be able
to wipe out a fourth of them before they succumbed to the collective
plasma attacks, but she wasn’t about to do something so...
suicidal.
Starnik sighed and spoke. “Look, we’ve both been through
Hell today, and only one of us is gone walk home victorious. And
truthfully, I’ve had my fill of fighting today.” He briefly
paused before looking back at the young women with a smile. “As
much as Wily hates you guys, we don’t necessarily feel the
same. So we’re giving you this last chance. Run, so you can
fight another day. We’ll keep things in check here.”
A regular RPD robot soldier stepped up, cautiously, and raised his
weapon.
“Negative! Protocol states that all robots who defy the Shutdown
Code, and those affiliated with either the Scissor Army, Wily and
Cossack must be-“
“Stand down.” The robot jerked toward Foxglove’s
direction with confusion.
“Speedy here is right. We don’t have a chance, not with
our numbers. We’re... going to withdraw.”
“But ma’am-“
“Don’t ‘ma’am’ me, you two-bit tin
can! I’m in charge of this operation, so whatever I say, you
do! Is that clear!?” The outspoken robot gave a simple acknowledgement
and lower its weapon. Turning back to Quickman, the RPD officer said, “Alright,
you win. We’ll leave quietly. Just... take care of the city,
alright?”
The scarlet speedster gave off a traditional smirk. “Hey, is
this the face of a liar?” Flash rolled his eyes; even when
he was critically injured, Starnik was still... Starnik.
A path emerged from the sea of Mets, giving the RPD troops a clear
path toward there method of escape. Slowly, they marched on, leaving
only Foxglove behind, to ensure there was no double-cross. Once her
troops were out of sight, she turned back toward Quickman. “...I
guess a thank you is in order.”
“And you get a very warm welcome!” replied Quickman.
Foxglove gave a smart smirk, much like Quick’s and crossed
her arms.
“You know, if the situation was any different... it would have
been a great honor to have you on the RPD payroll.”
“Well if there was no Shutdown Code and I had no Wily breathing
down my neck, I might have considered.” Flash’s eyes
blinked with surprise, but no one noticed.
“Likewise, I bet Wily could use people like you on his side.
Not that would be happening anytime soon, but...”
“Damn right. I don’t work well with dirty old men.” Obviously
the suggestion had sparked something foul in Foxglove’s mind.
However, there was no retaliation; she simple turning around and
began walking away, turning back momentarily to say a few last words. “Take
care of yourselves, okay?”
“Will do, ma’am. Will do.”
Soon, Foxglove was out of sight and the Wily’s forces alone.
After a few moments, Crashman asked, “So are we gonna call
Wily now?” Flashman nodded and, after gingerly placing Quickman
down, activated his communicator.
He wished he hadn’t a moment later. The news of victory made
Wily shout with joy, leaving a ring in Flash’s synthetic ears.
Almost immediately, new Wily troops (this time NOT made up of only
Metools) teleported into sight, and began setting up defenses. The
Warriors looked over the construction and, once more, a victory high
came over them.
Airman stepped forward and raised his arm cannon into the air “Once
again, Team Awesome has come out victorious.” He paused, looking
at the injured Warriors, and then returned to his pose. “And
I’ve come out barely scratched! Indeed, I am the awesome of
awesome.”
“Stop. Saying. Awesome.” Airman ignored Flashman and
continued his stance of victory. Soon, a familiar glow of energy
overcame the Warriors and their guest. And into the heavens, they
rose in beams of light.
Kalingrad and it’s citizens had been sparred of a vicious bloodbath,
but was occupation by Wily any better. Perhaps the Snipe Joes giving
out free sandwiches was some indication, but the War was far from
over. There were many cities and territories to be claimed, and everyone
aside from Cossack was aiming to get it all.
As for the Warriors, they could care less about who owned what. They
were just lucky to have survived their bout with the White Knight.
Even as they were being repaired, two of them, Quick and Flash, though
back to Gemini’s brief episode. It was proof that the real
Geminiman still existed. That meant there was a chance to bring him
back.