The Business of War

Orchestrated By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Reforged

By Gauntlet, Raijin, Lennon, Hardman

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Scenario A
Participants:
Mechanical Maniacs (RPD)(L)
Sinister Six PC (RPD)
Constance (L)
General Cutman (SA)
Chimeraman (SA)
Artilleryman (SA)

Location: Desert Gultch
SA Infantry: 5077
RPD Units: 2151
Wily Bots: 860

“We’re holding up as well as we can,” said Gag over the communicator. Hardman grinned.

“Ya look like hell, kid.”

Gag shrugged. “When I woke up from that nap I saw Scissor Joes all over me. At first I thought it was my boyish good looks, but it turns out they were rounding up all the police bots for scrap.”

“That’s th' Scissor Army fer ya.”

Hardman felt glad. His bar was trashed (again), but Gag survived. He had been really worried about that.

“I’ve rounded up some of the bots that escaped the scrap heap. We have a few humans too, even some former Watchers. We have Pharon helping us out and even your old pals, Cleaveman and Boomerang!”

Hardman groaned. “Those guys! Aw, you’ve fallen in with a bad crowd.”

There was some silence as the two made their goodbyes. Hardman tried not to mention his encounter with Cassandra. Or Constance. Whatever she chose to call herself. When he woke up he saw her … for the first time in months. She looked worn out. She was dressed in police riot gear (which looked new) mixed in with some Joe equipment. She smiled and they hugged.

She explained that she had been out to find Dr. Light and to put an end to the War. That she’d met up with Topman, and later Protoman. And that she had changed. She tried to contain it as best she could, but she couldn’t hide her unease.

“The old Seignema’am personality has emerged. It’s smarter now. She’s taken to calling herself Constance.”

Hardman looked at her in confusion and she explained that it had awoken inexplicably when the War began. It had started as random blackouts at first, however Constance had grown more accustomed to their body as time went on. Now she did most of the fighting … and Cassandra had done most of the strategizing.

“We’ve gotten to be a pretty good team.”

Hardman had hugged her again after hearing that. “Don’t worry, Cass,” he reassured her, “After all this is over we’ll take out that parasite and get you back to normal!”

Cassandra had pushed away from him then and looked him squarely in the eye. There he didn’t see his old friend, but a stranger. “If you so much as touch me, I’ll kill you.”

Hardman was taken aback. He couldn’t even speak as Cassandra … Constance turned her back on him and walked off. Hardman couldn’t help but think that he had lost the best friend he had.

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

Snakeman flexed his arms in satisfaction. “I really missed this!” He picked up his new piece of ordinance – a crystal shard gun. Since Amatista had his old rifle, he wanted to try out something new. This gun worked a lot like a rifle and shot sharp, dense, crystal shards at enemies from a long distance.

Electric current ran up Spark Chan’s restored electrical conductors. “Oh, don't talk to me about 'missing things', hun." She laughed. "I can’t believe that you were really a snake for months!”

Snakeman grinned. “My fellow officers couldn’t either. You should have seen Landigarm’s face when I saved his ass. Or Gaderham’s … I used the snake with the teleporter in it to get him out of a jam when the Special Forces first went rogue. He’s the one who managed to rescue my body. Apparently the RPD had decided to turn it into some mindless drone just before the stuff went down.”

Spark Chan was appalled. “Goodness!”

“Yeah, no kidding. But speaking of mindless drones, what’s this I hear of Wily mind-wiping you and making you his personal love bot?” The thought made Snakeman's freshly recovered scales crawl.

Spark Chan grimaced. It was a painful memory. “Wily … he seemed so harmless before. Just like some eccentric old man. Did anyone even die in his attempts to take over the world? But everything I saw while in his fortresses …” Spark Chan shuddered. She hadn’t witnessed it personally, but in her mind’s eye she saw all those refugees cast into the depths of space. And then … he came for her. Rebooted her. Remade her into her very first form and made her love him.

She turned away from her old friend. Thoughts of those refugees reminded her of Benny. The little boy whom had grown dear to her. Without even realising it he had restored her faith in humanity. It pained her that the refugees had all been killed. She would never be like the General. Offering peace in a hand covered in blood with cold, cruel eyes. No matter what happened, there was always good in people.

But Benny was gone. Spark Chan hadn’t seen him since Skull Space Station was destroyed by another dear friend. And if he escaped? The Subterranean Skull Castle was overrun with the Scissor Army … he’d never be able to survive that.

Instead of relaying all this to Snakeman Spark Chan put on a smile and said, “I’m just glad Dr. Light was able to restore my Transmetal 2 armor. How could I fill the ‘Spark’ position without it?”

"It's good to have you back, Spark. We just couldn't get by without you." Snake assured her.

The sentimentailty was starting to overwhelm the orange robot. She had spent so many lonely months thinking about her team. With so many terrible things happening, he began to lose hope that she would ever see them all again. But now they were all back together and well...except Kenta.

She thought about how the others must have felt much the same way while they were all separated. Topman as a fugitive with only himself and Cassandra to take care of each other, Snakeman trapped in the body of such a small and weak robot with no choice but to hide from friend and foe alike to prevent the RPD from finishing the job, Geminiman's tortured psyche commiting acts of evil in the Scissor Army's name, and even their trusted leader suffering a nervous breakdown, and Needle and Hard left to keep what was left of the team together by themselves. Reflecting on all this, she couldn't help but to cry, swept up in the emotion.

"I...I'm sorry hun...I'm really happy to be back."

Snakeman nodded. He could understand the feeling, but he wasn't as good at showing it. The last time he saw Classi was just before he was Shut Down. Painful memories abounded thanks to the War.

Snakeman felt something on his leg. Before he could look down to see what it was, it had already crawled up to his shoulder. A small Search Snake was now looking him in the face.

"What's the hold up? Is your body's transceiver broken or something?" a feminine voice inquired from the snake.

Spark Chan was perplexed. "Who said that?"

"Oh. I did ma'am. Just forget you heard anything." the snake said, turning her head to Spark.

"Raijy! Your snakes can talk?" Spark Chan was amazed.

Snakeman scratched his head. "Erm, yeah. They always could, actually. They usually don't have to out loud though...Sorry Regina, my systems still have some booting up to do. I've been using Moe's comm system for so long, it'll probably take some time to get used to the big network again."

The Queen Snake wasn't too satisfied. "Look buster, after all we went through saving your brain, the least you could do is get things back to normal as quickly as possible! You still need to fix Moe too, it's like he's braindead since you evacuated his body! Not that it's a huge difference from the way he was before."

Snakeman chuckled. "Hey, you did a fine job leading the troops without me. I may leave them in your lack of hands more often."

"Don't you dare!"

"Aww, why didn't you tell us they all had their own personalities like that?" Spark Chan was admiring the adorable exchange between Snakeman and his deputy.

"Er, well if the RPD knew, they woulda all gotten the Shutdown Code too. It was better for all of us that they were thought of as mindless drones." Snake was a little embarrassed, he had no good reason for keeping the secret from his teammates before the Shutdown Act was announced.

"They're just like...little babies!" Spark Chan exclaimed with a grin.

"W-what did you call me?!" Regina was dumbfounded.

"You're so cute! You should wear a bow. You would get along great with Shoryu...if she were here..."

"Um...I'll be with the others if you need me." Regina whimpered while slithering off Snakeman's shoulder and away through the doorway.

Yeah, it was great to be back as a family again.

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

Topman sat alone in his room at RPD HQ. It was a long, hard road, but they were all together now, except for Magnetman. He should have felt good about it. Without the Shutdown Code there was nothing keeping them from being friends again.

But all he could think about was Shadowman going mad. Attacking Hard, Snake, and Needle. Of having to knock some sense into him personally! And Spark Chan … she was so sad. Hardman and Cassandra weren’t speaking to each other. Snakeman had actually been Shut Down! Geminiman … this time he’d been killing innocent people with the Scissor Army. He’d been turned before, but this time he’d really done it. It might have been Mesmerman controlling him, but …

Kenta too. What would they do with him? Could he be turned back into the shy, somewhat standoffish man he’d come to know? And how would he react knowing what he was turned into during the course of this war?

And, finally, himself. He’d spent the majority of this war searching for Doctor Light. He’d abandoned his friends when they needed him most. Could he ever forgive himself?

Topman lifted himself off the chair and pushed these thoughts from his mind.

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

The London meeting room seemed cramped compared to their facilities in Monsteropolis. Here there was no added accommodations for Hardman, who was forced to sit awkwardly on the floor. Crorq, Amatista, Needlegal, Shadowman, and Geminiman all stood at the front. Apparently they had all worked together on the strategy.

“It’s time to take this fight to their home,” said Needlegal with a smile. “We’re hitting them where they live this time.”

Geminiman was next to speak. “General Cutman is likely hiding out at his base in Desert Gulch. It’s an old mining town he’s converted into his own personal sanctuary. I’ve never been there myself … few members of the Scissor Army are allowed in. Shoryu is probably there, though.” Spark Chan frowned. She was not looking forward to confronting her daughter.

Shadowman spoke next. What he said took Topman completely by surprise. “For the duration of this mission, I am in charge. We’ve talked it out and we’ve all agreed that I have the best idea of what to do.”

A grin broke out on Hardman’s face. “Good to have ya back, boss!”

Shadowman smiled back. “Good to be back, Hard.”

Topman’s heart fell to his stomach. He looked around and to his surprise Snakeman seemed glad to have Shadowman leading them as well. He looked to Needlegal and saw that she actually seemed to be relieved to be out of command. She took a seat near the front and deferred to her brother.

In actuality Needlegal was glad. She made a mess of things during her time as leader. She hadn’t gone to help Hardman when he needed it and he had been mangled. And then she set out on a needless vendetta against Super Koala when her place was with her team at the tower. And she felt completely useless against the Mesmerman controlled Geminiman and the subsequent chaos that befell Monsteropolis.

Topman, however, could only remember when Shadowman was desperate and mad. And now he had a plan?

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

Amatista was silent during the meeting. It was a solid plan and they had only to do it. But her place wasn’t with them, out there. The Shutdown Code was finished and with it her time as Watcher. But even now she didn’t dare head off to Desert Gulch. The forces there were overwhelming … it was no place for a human like her. She couldn’t fathom what possessed Cassandra to follow in the footsteps of the Mechanical Maniacs … she’d actually tried to talk her out of it. She received a sad smile in response and nothing else.

Amatista watched the team set out on their mission. She had always maintained that robots were evil. And that the Shutdown Code was a boon to humanity. And now it was revealed to be a complete lie. Senator Keigle … her hero, the proud creator of the Shutdown Code … was revealed as a robot himself and under direct orders from General Cutman. And now these robots, the same ones who killed her fellow Pale Riders and were framed for the destruction of San Francisco, would save mankind while she didn’t dare.

Amatista made her way to a platoon of robot policemen. This war had turned her all around and she didn’t know what to believe anymore. But she knew there were still people in London and she would see them protected.

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

General Cutman sat in his office, angrily looking over the world map as he noted down the areas in which the newly restored RPD had begun their attacks. He had won the War, he had ended his game, but due to a short moment of weakness he had been presented with an ‘extra stage’ in his twisted game of conquest, a stage he was not pleased with. Even though he had now sent a force to all the central HQs of his remaining opposition he felt that frustrated at his need to do so, after all, victory should have been his.

Thanks to the defection of Geminiman, the RPD now had knowledge of the location of Mt Elysium and reports of a large force headed by none other than Megaman had been sent by the Ascendant Androids leading to much anger from the orange oppressor. But oddly enough, the Mechanical Maniacs were not reported to be present in that attack force. That could only mean one thing…

“Chimeraman!” the General yelled out signaling for the mythical monstrosity to march into the office.

“Yes, general?” Chimeraman said hesitantly, he knew he was in a bad position with the general due to his recent failure against his former teammates and with the General’s current mood, he was fearful of what could happen to him.

“According to the intelligence gathered by all my officers, all the main remaining officers of the RPD and the remnants of the Cossack have been accounted for in all current battles occurring around the world. All except one group… Would you care to guess?”

“The Mechanical Maniacs…” Chimeraman hissed, he had a history with the whole team and with the exception of Geminiman had not interacted with them throughout the course of the war, although he had heard that they were the ones responsible for the loss of a base he was stationed at during the start of the war he had been preoccupied with Heatman at the time.

“Correct, and with Geminiman now back in the team they have knowledge of the locations of both Mt Elysium and Desert Gulch. The former is being attacked by Megaman as we speak, therefore I can conclude that our friends the Maniacs are on their way here. I expect that you can give them a fitting welcome.”

Chimeraman grinned at this news; he was waiting to show off his new monsterous powers to his long time foes and now was the perfect opportunity to not only settle a score, but to redeem himself for his past failure. He quickly marched into a nearby barrack and ordered all the Scissor Joes within to deploy for battle, once all of them had left Chimeraman stood alone slightly unnerved.

“Did you get yelled at by your new master?” a smug voice came out from within.

“Quite the opposite actually… Where are you?” The mixed-up robot yelled angrily within the empty room and soon his former teammate Artilleryman appeared in the corner of the room.

“Right here, I managed to find a couple of nice upgrades for my armor after you ‘interrogated’ me. This cloaking device is particularly useful. At least it’s more useful than some of the other crap that I’ve played around with.”

“I’m uncomfortable with you sneaking around this base. If the General found out you were still alive, my head would be on a platter.” Chimeraman said in a grim tone.

The mercenary laughed and pulled out one of the General’s trademark cigars and lit it up. “Don’t worry about me; I’m pretty good at it. So, what seems to be all the commotion happening outside?”

“The Mechanical Maniacs are coming…”

Artilleryman blew a puff of smoke out and smiled, “Really now? Well that certainly brings back old memories. I hear they’re almost back to their full roster again. Looks like you’ll have your work cut out for yourself. I’d help out but I have to keep myself hidden. Unless, of course you’d be willing to pay me…”

Chimera growled. "Tell me again why I didn't just offer you up to the General in the first place?"

"Because you know me well enough to know I make a better ally than a prisoner. I just might have more info on the Cossackers besides the location of their base, and it's safer for you if the General gets that info from you. We all need to stay useful around here, don't we?"

Chimeraman grunted as he marched out of the room while Artilleryman activated his cloaking device again and disappeared from sight.

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

Hardman stood in front of the rest of the team which had now been outfitted with Special Forces armor, looking out at the Desert Gulch in the distance.

“Ya sure ya wan' me ta be leadin’ this attack, boss?” the giant Mech asked, “I mean seein as I’m th' only one on th' team without them Special Forces armor shouldn’ I be at th' back?”

“No time for complaints Hardman, the enemy is coming!”

The team watched as legions of Scissor Joes came charging out of the Gulch and the massive Chimeraman appeared flying high above the army.

“Looks like this is the endgame, we will proceed as planned. Hardman, we attack at your signal.”

Hardman looked at all the RPD robots gathered at the final battlefield; among them was also Cassandra or rather Constance as she was now. It had been a long journey for everyone and now everything was about to come to an end. They were vastly outnumbered, but that had never stopped them before. With a small nod, Hardman faced the incoming army and then gave the signal to attack. The final battle was to start now.

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

Chimeraman surveyed the battle from the air. The old mining town had lain abandoned for years … and even when the Scissor Army moved in it was left untouched due to its secretive nature. But now the town was being devastated by the battle below. The Scissor Army far outnumbered the Robot Police troops, but Chimeraman knew that these pawns didn’t matter. It was the COs that mattered. His old friends.

He let his eyes wander over the battle field as he stood undetected on a nearby water tower.

Where are they? The Mechanical Maniacs were nowhere in sight! Well, he spotted Hardman easily enough. He tore a Hammer Joe’s mace from its hand and shoved it right back into its face. He scrutinized the battle for other warriors. He saw some off-looking Joe fighting like a madman. It blew away troops like they were nothing! He saw it latch onto one, holding onto it for dear life. Then it used the Joe as a shield as the others began to fire.

The Special Forces units were doing their things as well. Everything around them got pulverised. However, Chimeraman noted with a chuckle, there was a lot less of them then there would normally be. It seemed like the Robot Police Department really was finished if this was all they could muster for their grand assault on the General’s headquarters! The Special Forces were remarkably agile. He saw one jump much higher than its weight suggested it could and then …

Did it just shoot out something small? Chimera was already straining his ocular nodes, but he tried to peer in closer. Those Special Forces Units were fighting strangely. Very …

Chimeraman was knocked off his perch by a large blue hand. He had spent too long looking in one area and had been caught off guard. Cursing himself he tried to get his wings to lift him off, but he couldn’t do it in time and he landed onto the dusty ground. Chimera growled under his breath as he saw what had hit him and, with the speed of a snake, he dodged Hardman as he came crashing down on him.

“Looks like I caught ya snoozin’,” said Hardman as he fired another Hard Knuckle. Chimeraman used his wings to propel himself while remaining close to the ground and, not only dodged the attack, but struck out at Hardman with his clawed hand.

“Looks like you bit off more than you could chew, blockhead!”

Chimera leapt off Hardman as the Knuckle returned. The large robot wasted no time and hit the ground with his massive fists. He spared just a moment to dispatch a few Joes that were taking pot-shots at him while the monstrous CO he faced took to the skies.

“Hey, waitaminute…. Chimeraman!?”

“That’s right!” Chimeraman pointed at Hardman. “Take him apart!”

All the Joes surrounding the robot master suddenly turned their backs on who they were fighting and opened fire on a surprised Hardman. And, even more surprising, was that Chimera had started to shoot fireballs at him!

Hardman might have been surprised but he gritted his teeth and gave a wild grin. “Dat won’t work.” He aimed both his knuckles at the either side of him and shot out. Moments later he was in the air, charging right at Chimeraman. The force of his Hard Knuckles ripped into his attackers and they sped right back to him. Chimeraman merely flew higher than the blue robot could go. And, with a sinking feeling Hardman hit his apex and Chimeraman grabbed a hold of him.

“See how well you can hold off against this!” As he fell Hardman was pelted in blue flames. The robot laughed as they dropped and Hardman hit the ground smiling.

He emerged from the hold he’d made slightly more worse for wear than before. He noticed he’d landed in the middle of a battle and the Joes around him immediately tried to kill him. Reaching out he grabbed one of their heads and used it as a shield. Something was up, though … his armour felt itchy. And it was still smoking from Chimera’s firey attack! It didn’t really hurt, but … what did Chimera hit him with? There wasn’t much time to think about it before Hardman’s shield was blown and he was forced to do things old school. Hardman was again immersed in the fight around him.

Chimeraman had moved on. He circled the battle like a vulture. Soon enough Hardman would feel the corrosive chemicals eat away at his joints and then he’d be vulnerable. He was hit with quite a lot. And now … What was different about those Special Forces?

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

A heavy steel door opened to a dark room behind Cutman's office. The annoyed General flicked on the lights and began to browse through his small personal laboratory to contemplate which of the scattered unfinished projects would need a sudden field test. Cutman was disappointed it had come to this - an enemy invasion on his own cozy desert hideout. He had invisioned a small band of worthy survivors arriving for an invited final showdown, but that option was reserved for a War that had played out as it was written, an option that disappeared mere days ago with the very unwelcome resurrection of the RPD forces.

None of it mattered in the long run. He would win one way or the other. The missiles would be launched, and the remaining opposing robots would fall to his loyal minions or himself in due time. He still had literally hundreds of contingency plans running through his complex mind and more were conceived with each passing hour. However none of these plans involved the victory he had predicted all those months ago when he first set his pieces on the board. To think that one subtle irregularity, a single nudge of the finger from Mesmerman was all it took to shatter his perfect dream.

It would never happen again. Mesmerman could not even get close to the Scissor Army now that he stood revealed as a traitor and his leftover influences from before his departure had been ousted. Cutman looked over to the capsule running the diagnostic on the Masterless Puppet he took for himself. Others back at the labs in Elysium would be having the same progress. It was only a matter of time before he could get revenge on the grinning trickster, not even Magnetman would pose a threat...

What a waste of progress though. His remaining supply of nano-dust would have to be emptied out if the RPD soldiers found their way in. He would need some defenses for himself as well. As Cutman strolled past the Mesmer corpse's capsule to another set of stasis capsules, he wondered if his special bodyguards were ready to meet his enemies head-on...and would his enemies be ready to meet the bodyguards...

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

Chimeraman tore through the robot policemen with his hands and kicked them with his feet. His tail chopped the heads off those who didn’t get the message. Most of the Scissor Army had learned of the unusual styles of their commanding officers and long ago figured out it was advantageous not to get in their way when they had their eyes on the prize.

“You!” said the composite robot master. “You’re not a robot at all, are you?”

Constance felt Cassandra’s burst of fear like a shout coming from another room. The other would have covered it up with an outburst of humour, perhaps pointing out that Chimera wasn’t a real Chimera himself. Constance, however, had no sense of humour and instead shot at the beast. Chimeraman laughed as the bullets bounced harmlessly off his thick metal skin. They left cracks and dents in their wake, but those were meaningless to him.

“Ready to play with the big boys?” laughed the robot master as he opened his mouth wide. Much to Constance’s surprise an RPD Officer flew between her and the jet of blue fire that erupted from Chimeraman’s mouth like a volcano. Cassandra would have hesitated in the attack and would surely have died, but Constance leapt over the body of their savior, programmed to protect humans at any cost, and lunged at her attacker with her knife. She would thrust it in his eye socket. She would pry it open, just as she had many Joes before him.

But this was no Joe. He was a trusted guard of Desert Gulch and there’d be no surprise attack on him! He grabbed the human’s wrist and snapped it, forcing the knife from her hand. Both Cassandra and Constance cried out in pain and surprise. Chimeraman laughed as he carried Cassandra higher. His wings beat with the enthusiasm of victory!

“Why’d you come here, anyway? Didn’t you know you were out of your league?”

Constance reeled from shock. In truth, she did not know. She knew her human body was weak, but …. The extent of it surprised Constance. Cassandra, on the other hand, seemed somewhat at peace. Did she realise what was going on?

Chimeraman rolled his eyes at the human’s annoying silence. “Whatever.” Chimeraman followed this up with a crushing blow to her abdomen. Constance gritted in pain. Her body armour blunted it, but Chimeraman was ruthless and tossed her into a plethora of Scissor Joes. He then launched himself high into the air. It only took a moment for the robot to reach its apex. Instinctively it roared and descended like a ram to obliterate its prey. He felt it hard when a giant leg collided with his body.

Chimeraman landed in a mix of Joes and RPD troopers engaged in combat. He tore them both apart as he regained his composure and let loose with a torrent of fire in the direction the attack had come from. Much to his surprise it was blocked! He didn’t believe anything had the power to block his flame.

In no time a swath of destruction had been carved straight into Chimeraman’s path as the Special Forces Unit ploughed right into him. It hurt Chimeraman’s body and ego, but he wouldn’t be defeated by such a stupid attack. He poured on the flame! The trusty blue flame that the General had given him.

Now that he had lost the element of surprise, the SF that was clearly a disguised Topman was no longer a threat to Chimeraman. Indeed, he was not impervious to his fire, but at such high speeds he could not change his attack even if he wanted to. Now that turned against him. Flames licked the armour and, internally, he called for help. His call was answered by a burst of electricity.

“So, taking a page outta our own book, eh?”

Another SF unit with large electrodes in lieu of hands stood there. Spark Chan seemed to smile and replied, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

More sparks shot right at him. Indeed, they covered the entire area. Mostly they hit Scissor Joes and, more than once, the Spark Chan Special Forces had to dispose of them messily before taking on Chimeraman’s direct assault.

Unseen by them all Hardman had heard of Chimeraman’s brief, but devastating attack upon his friend and had rushed to her aid. To do this he lifted himself high into the air and crashed down near where RPD forces were taking care of her. Hardman tried to take out as many of the Scissor Army as he was able. With large, desperate hands he took Cassandra from the RPD. He held her as gently as possible.

“Aw, Cass … Ah toldja not to come. Ah tolja …”

Cassandra tried to smile. “Hey, it’s really not that bad.” She tried to sit up, but a pain pierced her side as she tried to do so. She thought she had a cracked rib.

“Cass…”

“We used to do this sorta thing all the time when I was home. But here, you always got to be the big hero … and all I did was tend the bar.”

“Cass, I-“

“I told you not to touch me.”

Hardman was surprised by the kick Constance delivered right into his overly large eye. The surprise and pain caused him pain and he automatically dropped his friend. With masterful gymnastics Constance escaped. If she felt her broken rib she gave no sign.

Hardman didn’t have much time to grieve. By now Chimeraman had engaged his fellow Mechs.

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

Chimeraman dodged the bursts of electricity expertly. His wings gave him agility … much more agility than these Mechs could handle, especially with their bulky SF outfits. He delivered a devastating head butt to Spark Chan’s Special Forces shell.

“If you think I’ll go easy on you just because the General seems to have a soft spot for traitors, think again! You’ve given me nothing but trouble."

Out of the corner of his lion's eye, Chimeraman noticed another SF getting behind him. His extra eyes gave him a wide field of vision, but the extra wings on his back often blocked it at inconvenient times. Before he could react, he felt multiple stab wounds on his back and was in the air in an instant. He grabbed at the oversized needles embedded in his back instinctively and had to dodge by almost pure instinct as more came at him. He used all six of his eyes to look around and saw that, although battle waged all around him, the ‘Maniacs, in their Special Forces armours, had surrounded him.

Chimeraman recognised Shadowman’s voice, “We have him on the run! Fire my fellows!”

Chimeraman dodged needles, tops, and snakes that were rocketed at him thanks to the enhancing power of the Special Forces armour. Chimera veered and turned. A Shadowblade had managed to nick his wing, but it wasn’t enough to rob him of flight. However, he was out-numbered. He’d heard that these things were nuts when they first housed the ‘Maniacs, but he had never actually faced them before. Chimeraman grit his teeth. This was humiliating. He was above this, wasn’t he? After all he went through?

“It’s time to tighten the noose!” said Shadowman confidently, “Move in and kill that loser.”

Chimeraman’s eyes widened in sudden rage. A loser? He reached out and stopped a Gemini Laser with his bare hand. It gouged a small hole as it burned him, but Chimeraman didn’t care. That word kept circling his mind. A loser? He left the Evil Eight and was remade. He’d beaten Omni and Golem. Spin, Claw, and Warman all died early on … the Mechs, until now, were fractured. And he was the loser?

With a roar, a hiss, and a demonic bleat coming all out at once, Chimeraman rounded on the Mech leader. It was past time he learned his place! Electricity and Shadowblades came at him. He used his Hardman-arm to block the electricity and the Gutsman one to bat away the oversized ninja star. Before the ninja could do anything about it, Chimeraman was on him!

Clawing, biting, and tearing Chimeraman was more of an animal than ever. Snakeman stood stunned as the armour was torn from his leader’s Special Forces Unit casing. From behind him Chimeraman used his tail to keep attackers at bay! He sliced a K-9 unit’s head off and tore through Geminiman’s leg. He knew he was getting closer. He could hear the simulated pants of the real Shadowman now, from beneath the armour. The Special Forces Unit couldn’t move its arms; Chimeraman had been quick to sever the motor controls. In a rage he curled his two large hands into fists and brought them down on the robot. Again and again he did so and each time more armour and vital circuitry flew off. Without thinking Chimera ripped the chest of the robot in two and tore out his prize in triumph!

Chimeraman felt cold shock. He couldn’t even manage a question.

In one swift motion Torchaman brought his flame thrower down on Chimeraman’s face. Chimeraman’s eyes burned with too much exposure to heat. In surprise more than pain Chimeraman dropped the red robot and Torch delivered a hard kick to the composite robot master’s head.

All around him the Special Forces units started snickering.

“Looks like the cat’s outta the bag,” said Blademan, dropping the voice synthesizer.

Torchman kept stomping Chimeraman’s face into the dirt. It felt good. Right. “Tonight … we eat Hell!”

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

Within the cold steel corridors of the Desert Gulch, six figures teleported into the facility dressed in full RPD trooper armor and proceeded to stealthily move around the dark and desolate area.

“Infiltration Complete…” Shadowman said as he signaled for the rest of his team to gather around a corner and hide in the shadows.

“Well that went masterfully well.” Geminiman said in his usual smug, yet whimsical voice as he crouched against the wall between his leader and Sparkchan.

“I just hope Hardman is going to be ok out there.” The electric robot whispered out of concern for her teammate being out in the middle of the battlefield with the Sinister Six of all people covering his back.

“He’ll be fine; he’s been through a lot in this War. He should be able to handle himself and the PC team just fine.” Needlegal assured her.

With the exception of the sounds of combat going on outside, the area seemed to be deathly quiet, surely there had to be some Scissor Joes patrolling around the base, this was one of the General’s main headquarters. He certainly wouldn’t have sent all his available troops into battle, he knew them better than that and would anticipate a sneak attack. After all, it was the Mechs' specialty.

“I don’t like this silence." Shadowman murmured. "Snake, think you could send out some of your boys to look for traps?” The Mech leader asked; still positioned against the corner of the corridor.

“Already on it, boss.” The reptilian robot acknowledged as he silently manipulated his freshly resynchronized snakes and monitored their viewpoints. After a while, they returned with an all clear and the Maniacs continued to proceed deeper into the base.

Everything was going better than expected, there appeared to be no resistance against the team and they were now more or less back to a full roster and at full strength it was almost like the good ol days. But then one person lagged behind.

“What’s gotten into all of you?” Topman yelled out as the rest of the team slowed down to a halt and turned to the Spinning Demon.

“What do you mean, Top?” Shadowman asked as he approached his teammate.

“What do I mean? Look at what’s happened in these past months! You went mad with power and in a desperate and stupid idea got yourself fixed up with the General’s genius chip, Spark got hitched up with Wily, Gem went on a mass murdering rampage across the world and redefined the word ‘creepy stalker’ and to top it all of, we’re working alongside Torchman of all people, Torchman! And yet you all act as if nothing’s happened. How can you all act like that?”

The rest of the team just stood in silence, Topman had been more or less by himself during the whole war, encountering the team only once and at that point he saw Shadowman at his worst, the rest he had heard by word of mouth. So much seemed to have changed, and yet now everything seemed so normal for them. It just seemed… wrong to him.

“Top… isn’t there a better time to discuss this?” Needlegal asked as her eyes seemed to wander around the Scissor Army HQ.

“I know this isn’t the time or place, but it’s been bothering me. I mean, I just don’t know how you can act like nothing ever happened.”

Shadowman walked up to Topman and put his hand on his shoulder to comfort him a bit. While the time and place of this breakdown was not ideal, he didn’t want to leave one of his friends in such a state.

“Look, Top, this war has been hard on all of us. For some even more so than others…” Shadowman commented as Geminiman hung his head for a while, “But, we’ve managed to put all that behind us. At the moment the world is in need of saving and by some fluke of nature we’re the ones that have to save it again. I know that’s not really going to solve our issues at the moment, but there’ll be plenty time for that once we’re done with this. Come on, have a little faith.” The ninja smiled, but the small Mech didn’t really feel all that confident. Then Geminiman stood up and walked over to the two.

“Gauntlet is right,” the rest of the Mechs stood in shock as the normally proud rival of Shadowman agreed with him, “I can understand where you’re coming from Top, I’d have a hard time trusting me after everything I’ve done, and to be honest I’m downright terrified at myself, at my own power and my own darkness… This armor just doesn’t feel as good as it used to be. But at the moment I can’t just stand here and fret about what’s going to happen next. A lot of things need to be done once this is over and I promise you that we’ll deal with them then. But until then, let’s just put all of this behind us.”

Topman looked up at the chrome-plated robot, although he was trying his best to hide it, he could see the look of guilt and regret in his eyes and then he realized he wasn’t the only one that seemed uneasy going through all of this. But before he could say anything a swarm of tiny robotic spiders crawled around the Mechs, encircling them until they were completely surrounded.

“Shoryu…” Geminiman whispered as he remembered the time the spider robot aided him in the Skull Space Fortress.

“So you came here after all, Mommy why?” The little spider asked as she crept in from the darkness.

“Shoryu, please you have to understand, General Cutman he’s…”

“No, you don’t understand! Poppa Cutman is a good man! He saved me, he made me all better, the humans they are the bad ones! They are the ones that caused all this.”

“Then do you really think all destruction will bring about something good?”

“Of course it will! Elysium will be a utopia, a place where everyone will be happy!”

“Even if mommy isn’t there, would you be happy?”

Sparkchan looked at her daughter with sad eyes. Shoryu didn’t know what to do, on one side she didn’t want to leave her mother, but she was grateful at what General Cutman had done for her. Why couldn’t her mother understand what she was feeling? Why did it have to end up like this?

Unknown to the two groups in a stand still, another group of enemies were heading their way…

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

Chimeraman burned through the Special Forces armour Snakeman wore. Of course it wasn’t really Snakeman. Chimeraman knew it was one of the Sinister Six buffoons. He had exploded from underneath Torchman in a burst of anger. He could hardly have believed it. The Sinister Six had kept him out here … while the ‘Maniacs were probably infiltrating Desert Gulch at the very moment! Those losers had actually succeeded in distracting him! The General had his contingency plans, but it stung that he should be out here while the real fighting was going on inside. He finally got a good look inside of the Special Forces Unit.

“Sharkman, eh?”

With unnerving speed Sharkman’s arm grabbed on to Chimeraman. The latter punched the Shark-based robot away, but Sharkman was giggling like a lunatic regardless of any pain he felt.

“Thanks, Chimey! That dumb armour actually made me act lie that stick in the mud Snakeman! And with it, all I could do was shoot lame snakes! But now it’s time to bring on the pain!”

Sharkman dove underground, startling Chimeraman. Chimeraman only realised what was happening when Shark reappeared underneath him. Rather than try to flee, Chimera grabbed the shark by it’s jaws and breathed fire right inside of it’s mouth.

“My good buddy Heat-freak did this to me once … let’s see how you like it!”

Sharkman thrashed about, but Chimeraman’s grip was lethal. He was sick and tired of playing games. Unfortunately, so were the Sinister Six. Chimera was shot off by a Needle Cannon barrage. The robot flew high and spit fireballs at the offending robot.

Chimeraman opened his internal line. “Artillery!”

“What is it?”

“Get up here!”

“Aren’t I supposed to stay hidden?”

Chimeraman’s anger was unrestrained. “Get up here! I’ll radio my troops not to kill you! And find Hardman! That big, stupid giant’s gotten himself lost in the crowd and I want you to take him out!”

Artilleryman grunted. “Roger.”

Chimeraman then radioed the rest of the Scissor Army. “Troops! I want you to support the robot master known as “Artilleryman”! He’s one of ours! And now … focus on the energy signatures I’m giving you! Tear them to pieces!”

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

The ‘Maniacs stepped back when they heard the coming of their new enemies. Shoryu didn’t seem to notice.

“Don’t you guys understand? You’re on the wrong side! Who cares if some people die-“

Spark Chan interrupted her daughter. “All people, honey. All the people.”

“So … what?”

Another voice answered. One the ‘Maniacs immediately recognised. “Mommy doesn’t want all the humans gone. She has mushy feelings for them, don’t you?”

The ‘Maniacs looked wide-eyes in horror. Before then stood General Cutman! Only, it was not his skeletal form they were now used to seeing. It was his original form, complete with yellow eyes and a white lab coat. And it … was female.

“Britt?” asked Shadowman in surprise. “What has he done to you?” Cut Chan winked at Shadowman with a wry grin on her face.

“Shown me the light that’s what.” Shoryu ran up Cut Chan’s leg and rested on her shoulder. She gave the little spider an affectionate pat on the head and beckoned the ‘Maniacs to follow her as she made her way deeper into Desert Gulch. Knowing nothing else they could do they followed their old friend deeper into the compound.

“When Iceman died, it was like a piece of myself died right along with him,” said Cut Chan as they walked along. They could see the walls were dirty with rust and grime. Needlegal avoided looking into rooms when she could avoid it. She couldn’t help but see the remains of some half-completed repairs on Super Koala in one area and shuddered.

Cut Chan continued. “Everyone but Bomb gave back their armours. We really didn’t want to go on. And we really tried to lead a normal life. After all, that’s what the other retired teams did, right? They all led normal lives after they were done.”

Shadowman nodded. At times he heard what past team members were up to and it generally amounted to leading a normal life.

“But then Rich died. Bombman. He was cranky. Drunk a lot. But he was trying to set his life in order and …”

Cut Chan seemed to choke on her words Shadowman finished it for her. “And Kenta killed him. Magnetman.”

“Yes!” Cut Chan slowed for only a moment. Spark Chan fought a mad impulse to embrace her old friend. She was on the Scissor Army’s side. There was more to this than meets the eye. Her wave of sadness was over soon enough.

“Yes, he died. His head crushed by Kenta Eigen. Magnetman. It was then that a stranger gave us some hope. He met us at Bomb’s funeral and told us that we could be something again. Heroes again! He knew who we were and told us he could make us new armour. Better armour. We could all be together again!”

“And I kept my promise.”

“Cutman papa!”

The ‘Maniacs hadn’t realised it, but they had entered into a large chamber filled with destroyed robots and debris. Scorch marks marked us the walls. The General answered their unasked question.

“A testing ground.”

From out of the shadows appeared a monstrous Gutsman and Elecman. He looked somewhat like his usual self, save for cold, dead eyes.

Spark Chan couldn’t bear it any longer. “Erick!? Leon!? What are you two doing here!?”

Elecman spoke. “Cut Chan told you, didn’t she? The General’s given us purpose. He almost managed to reunite the team.”

“Reunite you? He’s been trying to kill everybody!”

“Not everybody.”

Gutsman spoke next. His voice was like stones being crushed. “We almost had our Fireman back. Almost.”

Snakeman couldn’t believe it. “Ben’s dead! This jerk got him killed!”

The General scoffed. “The hothead blew himself up after getting hopped up on plutonium. It’s his own fault he’s not here.”

Topman fumed and turned on his former friends. “How can you go along with this guy!? He killed Fireman! Killed Neo! He tried turning Iceman into Red! And he’s ruined you all!”

Elecman responded with a cold declaration. “The General had given us a new purpose. He’s remade us into his image.”

Gutsman responded with a loud outburst, “You folks got Bomb killed! I’m aiming to get even!”

Cut Chan responded with a laugh, “You guys are so sentimental. He’s done this. He’s done that. Well, I don’t care about this or that anymore! Thanks to Cutman, I’m over a whole lot of things.”

The doors shut with a crash. The team were hoping to trap the General with them, but now it seems as if they were trapped with him.

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

Hardman chased Cassandra as far as he could, but Joes kept getting in his way. When he tore one apart another came to challenge him. The RPD forces were fighting as well as they could. With little numbers, and on the enemy’s level terrain, they had held much of their strength in reserve. It was a last gasp from them. If they failed at this moment then the entire war was for nothing. They had the General cornered and Hardman knew that. He knew that the RPD officers needed more direction – from him – if they could hope for a victory.

But all he could think about was how Cassandra was trying to get herself killed. Was it so bad? They could separate the two sides of her, Hardman knew they could. And yet …

Hardman used a massive fist to demolish a Sahara Joe while another grabbed onto his leg. He used his foot to teach that Joe a final lesson.

Deep in his heart he knew it was not that simple. Exactly how deep did the Seigema’am program go? They thought they got it all out, but they had been wrong. And if they tried to do anything, the Constance persona would just emerge and take over to stop them. Hardman spared a moment to smack himself on the head. Like an idiot he blurted out his plan right in front of Constance. They might even have to fight her if they wanted to get that program out. Which in and of itself isn’t a problem, but doing so with out hurting her...

Hardman’s train of through stopped dead as he was engulfed in a gigantic explosion. It took him, and any unfortunate bot around him out in a single hit. The RPD shot at the assailant, but he moved far too quickly for their efforts. Hardman recognised the prideful laugh.

“Art’lry man!”

“The grunting wonder!” Artillery readied his cannon and shot out a bolt of electricity. Hardman was still reeling from the first assault and was stunned as he was suddenly encased in a net. He did, in fact, grunt as the net sent several volts of electricity coursing through his body. Usually the electricity didn’t effect him, but his armor had been more compromised then he suspected from his fight with Chimeraman. Not to let up, Artilleryman began shooting at Hardman with his Pyro Cannon. The usually unruffled Hardman tore the net off him and began to stagger backwards.

“Fire at ‘th guy!” Hardman ordered nearby troops. Those free did, in fact, take fire. They were Neo Officers mostly, but also a few MK3 officers Hardman had seen around. Artillery just laughed and soon disappeared from sight.

Hardman cursed, but then noticed a thin trail of smoke coming from out of nowhere. Hardman quickly fired one Hard Knuckle after another. His fists made contact! He heard a grunt of surprise. In no time Hardman himself was in the air and crushed Artilleryman with a Hard Press. The mercenary screamed in pain. He was not made for close combat.

Hardman didn’t let up. If he did Artillery would get away. Already Cassandra had lost him. Who knows what she could be up to in this chaos? She could get herself killed. Hardman angrily stomped on the robot and then kicked him across the battle field. Hardman ground his teeth and ignored the enemy fire directed on his back.

“Getting a little cocky, ain’tcha?” asked Artilleryman. Hardman realised too late that the robot was still capable of flight and no sooner did he realise that than he was out of hitting distance. In anger Hardman shot out his fists. Artilleryman dodged the first. Then the second. And then Hardman himself!

For a few moments Hardman couldn’t move as he had driven himself into the ground once again. Artilleryman used this time to pelt him with attacks. Normally Hardman might be able to shrug off the Pyro Cannon, but this was not any normal day. Hardman could feel his systems straining against Artilleryman’s non stop attack. And he was hit with a massive explosion from Artillery’s Long Tom attack. He hated to admit it, but he was in quite a bind.

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

Chimeraman used his strength to pound Needlegal’s head into the body of her armour. And again. And again! Each time he did it brought Chimeraman a little more satisfaction. He gripped the hold and used all his strength to pull the armour apart. Needle was not helpless in this. She tried to grip Chimeraman with her strong arms, but Chimera let loose a torrent of blue fire into the hole he had made. Needle’s body gave a few wild movements before the armour finally gave way! Chimeraman let loose a triumphant laugh.

Blademan toppled out of the armour smoking. Sharkman covered him by bursting out of the ground and going for Chimeraman’s arm. Torchman provided support, but he knew his fire wasn’t very effective against the composite Robot Master. “To arms, men! They call him an immortal. Let us put him to the test!”

Chimeraman ripped his arm free of Sharkman’s grip and sent him flying with a punch. Blademan was too busy dodging Scissor Joes, but he was laughing manically. He used knives of every sort to destroy the enemy. They might have been driven by loyalty, but Blademan was driven by his own bloodlust. And, free of Needlegal’s influence, he could set his sights on targets with renewed vigour!

Spark Chan was set on by the militant Scissor Army. Although it wasn’t really Spark Chan and the inner robot gripped with frustration. He knew that he’d love to rip into the Scissor Army if he wasn’t hindered by the Mech’s on-and-off pacifist. The Scissor Army was merciless. Contrary to battlefield reports which might lead some to think they were fodder, each one was programmed with the skills of a veteran soldier. Spark Chan’s attacks had no effect on their alertness or focus. They worked together as a unit, and as a unit they had done what many Robot Master could not do.

They brought a Special Forces Unit down.

As one they surrounded their prey. With their rifles they distracted the robot while another team came in from the rear. Rather than attack directly, they crouched low, almost literally lying in wait. That was when two Sahara Joes attacked him physically. Spark Chan tried using her attacks to destroy them … and it worked, but their lifeless bodies still managed to tackle the giant robot. She stumbled over the robots behind her and fell. Mercilessly a team of Joes aimed for the weak spots in a Special Forces armour. The eyes. The joints around the shoulders. The waist. Even lying down, however, Sparks retaliated and destroyed the offending Joes. However, their aim had been true and she couldn’t stand and was now blind; forced to rely on other sensors.

The Joes around her didn’t wait for her to get up. The attacks rained down. And like erosion on stones they compromised the integrity of the Special Forces armour until one unseen Joe used a grenade to blow it apart.

Bitman almost thanked them. He was now free from the moral constraints that were programmed into the armor! He repayed his attackers by using his Bit Cannon to destroy them all. With a savage smile he turned to face the army now charging right at him.

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

Elecman was the first to strike, sending a large burst of electricity towards the Maniacs forcing them to disperse outwards to the edge of the chamber. By the time they all regained their bearings Gutsman had already lifted up a large piece of debris and hurled it at the smallest of the Mechs.

“SD!” Geminiman yelled out as the large rock had toppled his former brother of sorts and left him in a daze.

“All too easy…” The Sinister Six’s muscle grunted before going to pick up another hunk of rock. This was not good, with the exception of Hardman, none of the Maniacs were built to take on Gutsman’s superior strength and with all the heavy objects present in the room it was his ideal fighting area.

Gutsman made another attack, this time at Needlegal, but this time his target was prepared for the attack and quickly used her Needle Chain as a grapple hook to the roof of the testing ground and lift her way to safety while Shadowman made a dash towards the fallen Topman and carried him behind some cover.

“You ok?”

“That attack really smarts…” The Spinning Demon groaned as he struggled to pick himself up.

“Think you can hold yourself together?”

“Should do… Although those rocks pack as much punch as one of Hardman’s… ugh, now I’m making bad one-liners.”

The ninja robot laughed a bit and then casually asked, “Care to return the favor?”

“You’re not serious are you?” Topman asked “A couple more of those rocks and I’ll be out cold.”

“While that’s true, none of us can really match him in strength so the key to beating him will have to be speed, and you’re the fastest guy on this team, so you up to the challenge?”

Topman watched as Gutsman used his Super Arm over and over again, calculating the time it took for him to pick up and throw another rock then ran over a course of action through his head and then smiled.

“I might be able to pull something off.” The little speedster said as he leapt over his cover and made a dash towards the giant powerhouse.

Snakeman crawled into a hiding spot and prepared his Search Snakes to get positioned into their ideal vantage points. It required quite a bit of concentration, using them all at once like this, but it was his style. Unfortunately for him all his snakes could see were legions of tiny spiders closing in on their positions.

“Damn, I can’t get a clear shot with all these spiders around here. Class, you better get some sense into your daughter, with all her spider drones out there I can’t do much.” He voiced over his comm. line, but the electric robot already had problems.

“Mommy, why can’t you just surrender?” Shoryu asked as she sat on the shoulder of Cut Chan, who was menacingly approaching the electric robot.

“I’ve been through this with you already Shoryu… I can’t let the people of this world be harmed.”

“But…” the spider robot tried to reply but Cut Chan silenced her and made an almost eerily similar grin to that of the General.

“Well if mommy isn’t going to understand our beliefs then we’re just going to have to make her…”

The female Cutman then proceeded to pull out something rather unexpected.

“A Hyper Bomb…?” Sparkchan gasped in surprise.

“You didn’t think I’d be using my Rolling Cutter now, did you? I am unworthy of such a weapon. Only the General has the right to wield that. But he was so kind as to gift me with the powers of our late Bombman, the man Magnetman killed…”

Cut Chan cheerfully played with the bomb as if it was a ball as Sparkchan was slowly backed into a corner.

“It’s a shame you didn’t stay with us. Shoryu would have been so happy. But now you’re going to make her sad.” She sighed as she finally threw the bomb up in the air much to Shoryu’s surprise.

“Wait, don’t hurt mommy!”

“Silence brat, if mommy doesn’t want to play with us then she doesn’t get to play at all.”

The bomb then let off a great explosion and Shoryu cried out as her mother disappeared from her sights and soon all the mini spiders she had let out stopped moving.

“Mommy…” Shoryu sobbed.

However the smoke began to clear and Cut Chan made an annoyed clicking sound as she saw Sparkchan was completely unscathed and Geminiman was now standing in between the two girls.

“Rest easy milady, your knight is here for you…” the Twin Terror said as he smiled behind his shield.

“Like you are going to make any difference, you’re supposed to be chivalrous! You wouldn’t dare harm a lady!” Cut Chan laughed but Geminiman simply smiled and pulled down his shield.

“Yes, chivalry as always seem to be a bit of a hindrance with female villains and myself. But you know what? After fighting for you guys for so long I think I can just forget about chivalry altogether. I no longer hold any right to follow the ways of chivalry, as long as I can protect milady through any means against any foe I will consider my honor and pride restored.” Gemini replied as he changed his hand into his laser cannon and pointed it at Cut Chan.

Elecman bounded from side to side of the chamber hurling lightning at Needlegal who swung herself from the roof of the testing grounds and unleashed a barrage of needles but continued to miss each time.

The electrified member of the Sinister Six moved around as if no one was firing at him and calmly fired another Thunder Beam as the mistress of prickly things and then leapt up strike at her but then a missile came from nowhere and exploded in his face.

“You should keep your eyes focused on all parts of the battlefield Elecman; otherwise you’re going to be in for a little surprise.” Needlegal chuckled as she saw one of Snakeman’s search snake slither back into hiding. She then proceeded to fire her chain into the recovering Elecman to hold him place and fired off all the needles she could at him but to her surprise he managed to unleash a shock of electricity through her chain to force her to let go and evade the needles.

“Looks like I’ll have to think this one out a bit more…” Needlegal thought to herself.

The sounds of rocks smashing against the ground was echoing through Topman’s ears as he raced circles around Gutsman, each rock was only the slightest distance off hitting the small speedster. Each time a rock missed him he felt his heart skip a beat but at the same time he got closer and closer to the behemoth.

Seeing his opportunity Topman flicked out a bunch of spinning top bombs and as soon as Gutsman threw another piece of debris at him he lobbed the tops right underneath Gutsman’s feet and before he could realize what had happened they exploded from underneath him causing him to collapse.

Topman skidded to a halt and dusted his hands off but as soon as he did, Gutsman jumped back up looking furious.

“Should’ve guessed it wouldn’t be that easy…” Topman said to himself as he prepared for the next attack.

“Cutman!” Shadowman yelled out as he threw a series of Shadow Blades at the General who dodged them with ease and then pulled out his Rolling Cutter blades in response.

“Aren’t you ninjas supposed to be stealthy?” he taunted as Shadowman readied another set of blades.

“This time I won’t hesitate… I won’t make the same mistake I did in Los Angeles. This time I will kill you.” The Maniacs leader said as his eyes burned with hatred towards the enemy of humanity.

“Ha, mere words ninja, it will take more than that to defeat. Now come, once I kill you Elysium will draw nearer!”

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

Waveman was torn from his Topman disguise as it finally succumbed to the damage inflicted on it by the overwhelming Scissor Army presence. The black and pink robot heaved a heavy sigh and began to attack the surrounding forces with his water-based weaponry. It was nice to have some enthusiasm, even if it was thanks to a shell program. Waveman looked towards the fight with Chimera and wondered how his friends were doing.

Chimera roared loud enough for Waveman to hear. The Sinister Six PC had focused their attacks on him, but he was gaining ground. He had an army of Joes helping him and the Sinister Six themselves weren’t prepared for the ferocity of their opponent. But Chimeraman had received a report from the base. The ‘Maniacs had indeed infiltrated it. And now they were engaging the General himself and his lieutenants.

I should be fighting them! I’ve been waiting so long! And now all I have are these … idiots!

Chimera flew down towards the last remaining ‘Special’ Special Forces Unit. It was acting like Geminiman, but it wasn’t Geminiman. Chimeraman knew that traitor was fighting inside the base. To Chimera’s surprise the robot caught him. The momentum drove it into the ground and Chimera could hear it’s knees buckle from the force driven into it.

Chimeraman opened his mouth and blew fire onto his new enemy. He completely ignored the volts of electricity and the fire shot at him. The Sinister Six PC was beneath his attention. Even if they were holding their own. He would strip away their defences! They might have been upgraded, but he was changed by the General himself! His true form was there for all to see! And he wouldn’t let some stupid throwbacks get him.

Oddly enough the Special Forces Unit did not struggle as its armor sloshed off its inner core. Chimeraman, however, was so full of rage all he knew was satisfaction. The machine had given up! He’d won!

And suddenly there was a blue explosion. Chiemraman didn’t know what happened. He was sure he’d breached the armour. He was sure he glimpsed red underneath the white outer skin and the grey interior. Now a mass of blue flames seemed to stand against him. Amazingly, it ran towards Chimeraman. Startled, Chimeraman took to the air only to have his wings torn by a gigantic and unusually shaped boomerang! Chimera’s short flight was cut short and he fell back to the earth. And the flaming blue figure had him.

Chimera’s own flames were shot right back at him. They burned his fireproof skin and Chimera understood. His flames were created by a chemical that could cause damage, even to flame resistant robots. And some of that chemical had mixed in with this robot’s own attack. And that was when Chiemra knew who his flaming attacker was.

“Take him down now!” shouted Oilman as he held Chimeraman in place. Oilman’s veins ached and he unloaded as much sticky oil onto his enemy as possible. He gummed him up as much as possible. He could see that Chimeraman could dish it out, but couldn’t take it.

Torchman was the first to take Oilman’s opening. His own flames engulfed both robots. Chimeraman roared in rage and poured more of his blue fire on Oilman. Oilman hung on for dear life as Bitman joined the fray. Chimeraman couldn’t ignore the pain caused by the Bit Cannon anymore. He took a shuddering breath and spit out even more flames on Oilman. The red robot could feel his systems begin to shut down, but he wouldn’t give up. He couldn’t lose face in front of the others!

Blademan game next. As fast as he possibly could he unloaded daggers, shiruken, Blade Launchers, and any other bladed weapons he happened to have. He laughed as he did so and Sharkman joined in. He threw the oversized Shark Boomerang at the howling Chimeraman. Now he was in their sights. He was done for.

“Fight on, my Sixlets!” cried out Torchman as he continued to unload fire on the two robots. “For honor! For glory! For Sparta! I am Torchman!” Torchman let out a mad laugh as he repeated his name over and over again. “Torchman! Torchman! Torchman!”

With a howl Chimeraman finally ripped free of Oilman’s fiery grip. Oilman’s systems had cut out on him and he hung on by sheer determination. Now he lost an arm and a hand had Chimeraman overpowered his grip. Chimera, without wings now, and with fire acting as a jacket leapt at Tochman.

Torchman was not prepared for the ferocity of the enraged Chimeraman. With a lion’s savagery he used his claws to tear into the firey robot. He used his strength to pound the leader of the Sinister Six PC into the ground. He was soon met by Bitman’s own physical attack.

“I’m gonna pound you so hard there won’t be anything left to rebuild you, freak,” said Bitman as he drove his point home. Sharkman would have jumped in, but he was on the ground now as well. The earlier attacks had damaged his systems too much. Ever laughing the masochistic Blademan was up next as Waveman finally entered the fray as he tried to douse the blue flames on Oilman.

Blademan licked his dagger. “Looks like it’s up to me. Ready to dance, sweetie-pie?”

Chimeraman snarled and charged at Blade on four legs.

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

The armour on Hardman’s wrist finally gave out as Artilleryman hit him with another missile. The massive robot didn’t like where this was headed. And not Cassandra … or was it Constance now? … whoever she considered herself, she was definitely gone. Hardman couldn’t believe it. Artilleryman laughed.

“Looks like I finally joined the winning team! And I’m getting paid nicely for all this too. Finally! An employer who actually pays me!”

Hardman opened his chest and let loose with his spiked ball attack. It caught Artillery by surprise and threw him several meters away. Scissor Joes caught him however and rounded on Hardman. Hard felt little pieces of himself being chipped away as their attacks did their job. It didn’t, however, stop him. He tore through Joes like a mad bear. RPD forces helped too, as they moved to support his offence. Flanking him, they engaged the infantry on either side of him. Hardman, however, only had eyes for one enemy. The one who let his friend get away. And he found him. Hovering right behind him, just out of reach.

The mercenary levelled his Long Tom in Hardman’s face. The fight was over.

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

Shadowman was driven from his spot on the wall as the General kicked the ninja to the ground. Without waiting a moment the General followed it up with a surgically precise kick to the stomach Shadowman wheezed and coughed.

“Surely you can do better than that!” said the General, trying to taunt the ninja.

Shadowman took a defensive position in log form as the General rounded on his with his heavily used Rolling Cutter halved. He laughed out loud while doing so. He’d been designed as a tree felling robot, and here he was; back to his old job. Only this was not really wood and it’d be even more satisfying to chop the ninja in half.

The General heard a skidding sound and jumped out of the way, just in time to avoid Topman’s Top Spin. Knowing he’d stop in place, the General immediately beat him to the side. Topman’s eyes widened in surprise. The General knew his movements. The ruined Cutman laughed arrogantly.

“Maybe you’ve spent the entirety of the War running around doing nothing, but I’ve made sure to study your movements! I know all of you better than you know yourselves.”

Topman threw tops in the air while Shaodwman, now out of his log form, threw spikes on the ground. The General was prepared for this, however, and used speed neither robot ha seen before to use his Cutters to hit the Tops at the right angle to knock them aside without blowing them up while avoiding all the spikes on the ground.

The General then beat Topman and Shadowman to the ground.

“And before you go thinking you’re special, realise that I studied everyone!” The General caught a Shadowblade Shadowman threw at him and let go of it before it blew itself up. Shaodwman looked surprised that his tactic hadn’t worked, but the General was already on him; kicking and punching his way through his defences.

“I know all your weaknesses. From that massive pile of hot air, Crorq, to those arrogant, and surprisingly ruthless, Assassins! But I must admit I’m glad it was your group that was sent here to face me.”

Whirling around, the General caught a kick that the Spinning Demon tried to land on him and, with his free hand, ripped a long gash across his leg. Topman cried out in pain.

“Let go of him!” screamed Shadowman, throwing a kunai at the Cutman’s arm. In order to avoid it Cutman was forced to let go of Topman’s leg. In no time he retrived his Cutter from his leg (when had he stored it in there?) and rounded on the ninja. Topman held his leg in pain. The General really had studied him … his attack aimed for the muscle. It was hard enough for him to stand, let alone attack.

Topman looked up and saw Shadowman fighting the General. For a moment Topman forgot the image burned into his brain of the long-time Mech leader lying helpless on the ground and got up to rush to his aid, pain or not.

Gutsman had other plans. From out of nowhere, the large robot landed right in front of the injured Topman.

“Lookit what we have here,” said the mammoth sized robot with a grin on his face, “a shrimp that bit off something too big to chew.” From out of nowhere Gutsman produced a large rock and drove it into Topman.

Or he would have if Needlegal’s cannon hadn’t blasted it into gravel. Topman had just enough time to scramble out of Gutsman’s range as Needlegal came in for support. Her teeth were clenched in frustration. Her Needle Cannon, usually extremely effective in battle, was proving useless against Gutsman.

“Thanks,” muttered Topman.

“Don’t think me yet,” said Needlegal, “He’s still coming at us!”

True to Needlegal’s intuition, Gutmans charged at the two robots while chuckling in anticipation. Even in his inferior Transmetal Armour, he knew he was too heavily armoured for Needlegal or Topman to hurt him. This would be like squashing ants.

His fists connected to Needlegal’s arms. She threw them up in defence when she saw Gutman charging at them.

“It’s you people who should have died.”

Needlegal knew it was futile trying to talk to the monstrous Gutsman. Not only was he too angry, but he was also twisted by the General. Still he hammered away at her while Topman tried fustily to attack.

“He was your friend for years! And where were you people when shit hit the fan, eh? Nowhere, that’s where!”

Again Gutsman’s trunk-like arms came down on Needlegal. She could feel her armour crack under the strain. Normally she might have panicked by now, but leading the Mechs taught her to keep a cool head. She knew there was a way out of this … even if she couldn’t think of it.

Topman kept on trying to hit Gutman with any attack that came to mind, but none of them worked! He was frustrated beyond measure. Did he come back just to watch his friends die!?

And then, from out of nowhere, something hit Gutsman. The giant robot staggered back in surprise. Again, something hit the robot and Topman saw, out of the corner of his eye, Geminiman sparing them a glance. He used his angled weapon (so far the only one even remotely effective against Gutsman) to buy the two robots some time.

And that’s when Topman saw a weakness in Gutman’s seemingly impenetrable armour.

“Pay attention when I’m talking to you,” chastised Elecman as he shot another bolt of energy at Geminiman. Reflexively the shining robot master set up his shield to deflect the attack. One of his clones had already been dispatched by Elecman and the crystalline warrior was feeling sluggish and less powerful than ever before. This, he knew, was a result of not being influenced by Mesmmerman anymore. Something that grinning madman did released a part of Geminiman that he didn’t know had been ever locked away. And now that part was gone again.

Geminiman took the initiative as he attacked the cold-hearted electrical warrior. Elecman laughed heartily.

“As I was saying, I can’t believe you’d betray our General like you did. And to go as far as leading our enemies to Elysium and Desert Gulch! Such an ugly betrayal.”

Geminiman winced. He’d heard that tone before. Coming out of his own lips. Elecman blocked a punch from behind that Geminiman hoped he wouldn’t. The robot was faster than before. He used something like Ju-jitsu to use the Gemini Clone’s momentum to throw it into another attacker. Then he used his power to blast at Geminiman again. Thunder Beams didn’t hurt him much, but Elecman was scoring more hits than he was. Cool under pressure Elecman turned his attention to Spark Chan.

“And you. Ungrateful wretch. The General gave you back your mind after that human took it away. Time and time again he offered you his hand in friendship … only to have you slap it away. You’ll get no such kindness from me.” With a raised hand the electrical robot made ready to strike at Sparkman. With a glance Geminiman knew she was getting ready to absorb it. He made one of his clones absorb his fallen self. He winced. There was always pain when he had to merge with an injured clone. And this time, it was actually shut down. Still, he was used to it. There was even greater pain when he had to re-absorb the Mesmerman-influenced clone after finally breaking out of its spell. Elecman … he seemed so much like him. But he didn’t have any qualms about hurting Spark Chan. Did he look like that when he was the White Knight of the Scissor Army? It wasn’t beautiful or elegant at all. Geminiman saw the attack coming, but knew Spark Chan could absorb it. He’d use the opening created by that attack to strike.

At least that was the plan. But it fell to pieces as black lightning struck the shocked Spark Chan. She shrieked in pain and her systems overloaded it. She didn’t know what went wrong. She had set her systems to absorb it … it should have worked. But instead she felt like her veins were on fire! Elecman laughed at her pain.

Geminiman screamed in rage and Elecman effortlessly countered with a red thunderbolt. It blew apart the elec beam Geminiman fired at him and tore into one of the clones. This time each Geminiman felt the pain as the red energy arced across his systems. Elecman had a cold smile on his face.

“You look confused, Geminiman. Allow me to enlighten you. This is ‘bad’ energy. A predecessor of mine used it to cut Pulzar down to size. I just set my own charge as totally opposite to the charge of the lady over here and your own. It’s an elegant way to die, I think. Torn apart by the fire inside of you. It’s a fitting end for the both of you. Scum like you don’t deserve anything less than the most painful death possible.”

Cut Chan laughed as another of her bombs blew Snakeman into the wall. The green robot cursed under his breath. Shoryu’s tiny spiders wove webs faster than he thought possible. And they were all over him! He was constantly hampered by the sticky webbing all around his body. He tried firing another shot at Cut Chan, but missed. He shivered when he heard Spark Chan scream in pain. She’d told them how the General was trying to tempt her to his side during the course of the war. And now it looked like the kid gloves were finally off.

“Mommy!” screamed Shoryu. She finally took note of her surroundings. She saw Elecman use black bolts of electricity to subdue her mother. She also saw him use red bolts of electricity to subdue Geminiman. He creeped her out a bit, but she thought he would be able to protect her mother. But he was in trouble too!

The little spider clung to Cut Chan as she pressed her advantage. She looked around wildly. Topman and Needlegal were fighting Gutsman. They wouldn’t be able to save her mother. She looked around and easily spotted Shadowman fighting with the General. Neither one of those could help Spark Chan either. She radioed Cutman in desperation.

“Cutman Papa! Elecman’s hurting Spark Chan!”

The General gave an annoyed sound and replied, “I promise to rebuild her.”

“But she’s really getting hurt! Tell him to stop!”

“This is a war, honey. Your mommy chose the wrong side. Now be a dear and help Cut Chan kill that bothersome Mech.”

“But-!”

The General finally lost his temper at the little robot. “But nothing! This is War, Shoryu! And I’m not playing around. Do you think your mommy has been the only one hurt? The whole human race has been hurt even more! This is the reality of life: there is nothing but pain. But, out of that pain can arise something fantastic! Something majestic!” Shoryu froze as she heard the fury in Cutman’s words. She knew he was angry, but he was refusing to help her mom ….

“Spark Chan had her chance to come to us peacefully. You know that better than anyone. But she chose the meat bags over us, Shoryu. She chose Wily over you! I constantly offered her friendship and trust. I wanted to see why a pure-born robot from this world would desert her own kind. I wanted to see if that same devotion could be turned to our noble goals. But time and time again, she refused to join with me! I generously restored her personality after that human wiped it out. I didn’t tamper with it at all. I even left her unconscious when I did so … And maybe that was a mistake.”

“A mistake? But she would have been hurt bad!”

The General parried a blow from the ninja robot. “Pain is a great teacher. A little pain made Napalmman an effective commander. I don’t care that he’s entertaining traitorous thoughts. The aversion to pain has made him more effective in leading his troops. The pain caused by Gyroman’s death has made him made him value the troops he has even more. Even the pain caused by my indifference to his concern has served to make him harder. And even yourself …

The pain you felt at human hands served to show you just what beasts they really are. Just like me! And the pain Spark Chan is feeling … when I rebuild her I’ll make sure she remembers it well. And I’ll highlight the memories of my restoration of her personality. And maybe then she’ll see how terrible death can be and that I should be rewarded with loyalty for my efforts in her favour!”

Shoryu was appalled. The General had no intention of saving her mother. He even blamed her for not joining them. Did all the robots hurt that much during this War? Cutman always made sure she was far away from the repair chambers when he did his work … was he really hurting all his own men when fixing them? She zoomed in on his face and took a good look at it.

For the first time she saw the gleam of madness in his eyes. He was enjoying fighting Shadowman. She could see his body surge with the anticipation of the kill. He even chanced a look at Spark Chan, but made absolutely no move to help her. Was it like this for the humans? Shoryu had remained out of most of the fighting. In fact she mostly spent her time at Desert Gulch or Mt. Elysium trailing after the General … did they all scream horribly like that as they died?

Shoryu couldn’t stand it any longer. Cutman wasn’t going to help her mother. And he was even going to make her remembering being hurt like this! It was time to act! Cutman would understand … maybe. Shoryu leapt off Cut Chan’s shoulder and her tiny minions ran ahead, towards Spark Chan.

“What? Just what are you doing?” asked Cut Chan in surprise.

“I’m going tyo save Mommy! She needs my help!”

“She’s the enemy! Get back here!”

“I have to help Mommy!” So determined was Shoryu that she didn’t even notice the Hyper Bomb until it exploded right behind her. Shoryu was thrown several meters ahead.

“Traitor!” yelled Cut Chan as she leapt after Shoryu. The little spider squealed in surprise, but Cut Chan seemed to be knocked out of the air. She adjusted her vision and saw Snakeman's gun had shot Cut Chan with one of its crystalline bullets. She didn’t quite know what to think. For so long she heard Cutman talk about the ‘Maniacs like they were enemies, but now …

“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size!” yelled Snakeman as he charged into the attack. Webbing still gummed up his joints, but now he didn’t have to worry about being swarmed with hundreds of tiny spider robots. And Cut Chan was finally on the defensive.

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

Torchman finally shut up. Chimeraman grinned in satisfaction. It looked unnatural on his goat-inspired face. He was breathing heavily now … the Sinister Six had received quite a bit of upgrades.

“You idiots,” said Chimera between simulated gasps. Chimera looked at the assembled Sinister Six members. Torch and Oil were down for good. And Shark struggled to remain a part of the fight, but Chimera’s earlier assault left him drained. Chimera himself, however, didn’t look as good as he felt. Their attacks really had worn them down.

Waveman gave a short laugh. “If we’re the idiots, then why do you look so beat up, hunh?”

Chimeraman growled. “Don’t you even remember? It was the General who gave you that armour!”

“He did not! Nightmare Top gave us this armour.”

“But the General upgraded it in Los Angeles.” Chimeraman’s arms were shaking with fury. “You should be on his side. In my side! And, instead, you’re fighting with...The Mechs! If it wasn’t for the General … you’d be nothing!”

Waveman suddenly looked quite unsure of himself. Blademan also looked uneasy. They did know that it was the General who installed their upgrades during their short time in Los Angeles. He didn’t tell them so at the time, but they were able to piece it together later. Why were they fighting him now? Alongside their greatest enemies no less!

It was Bitman who laughed at the suggestion. “You gotta be kiddin’ me! Fight with the General?” Bitman rubbed his large chin with an electrode. The other arm was useless and the rest of him didn’t look so good either. Blademan wondered what he was thinking.

“He’s fighting for all of us,” Chiemraman countered.

“Listen here, bucko,” said Bitman pointing his good arm at the composite robot master, “We fight for ourselves. For our own goals. On our own terms. We don’t take orders or shit from anybody and that includes some second rate Cutman from another reality! And besides, we have a rep to keep up. The other Sinister Six fought this loser, and that means we’ll fight him too. And show up those Mechs while we’re doing it.”

“Right on!” yelled Blademan, invigorated by the speech.

Chimeraman erupted in a fury of rage. “The Sinister Six!? They’re on our side!”

Chimeraman was so full of anger and the battle around him so fierce that he didn’t hear the weapon load behind him. He didn’t even know he was being targeted. And he didn’t know who it was that finally brought him down.

The explosion blew the Sinister Six members off their feet and threw Chimeraman into a pile of warring robots. The impact crippled them and missiles destroyed any who weren’t already down. His body wouldn’t respond to commands to move; it was a powerful explosion and he had sustained heavy damages before. The world spun around him.

But … I didn’t even get to fight the Mechs…

With disappointment firmly in his mind Chimeraman slipped out of consciousness.

Artilleryman came out of the sky to the shock of the remaining Sinister Six members. His large Long Tom cannon was still smoking.

Blademan rubbed his eyes in disbelief. “Arty!? You look awesome! And that attack was amazing!”

Artillery flexed an arm. “Thanks. I’ve been waiting for someone to notice. You guys look fairly impressive too.”

Bitman wasn’t deterred by Artillery’s new look. “We coulda taken him. And aren’t you on their side? When you didn’t come back to Cossack Central some of them said you knifed ‘em.”

Artillery grinned. “That I did. And it serves ‘em right! They took every shot at weaselling out of payin’ me. And Chimera here actually made good on his offer.”

“So what’s the deal?”

Artillery shrugged. “Hardman gave me an even better deal.”

Bitman grinned. “And I bet he pointed out that money wouldn’t be very useful in Cutman’s perfect world, eh?”

Artilleryman shrugged. “He might have said something about that.”

Blademan threw his arms up in impatience. “Can we cut the talking and start slicing Scissor Army scum up already?” Artilleryman grinned. He liked Blademan’s attitude.

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

“I have to admit, your team fascinates me,” said the General as he cut apart a small frog-like robot that was attacking him. Using a Cutter he blocked a Shadowblade. “The Shadowman of my world was a strategist. But even he never put a genius chip into his head. And, also …”

The General kicked out and dispelled the hologram attacking him. The General suffered only a moment of surprise before Shadowman attacked from the rear with his shinobigatana.

Unfortunately, the General anticipated an attack from that angle and grabbed the sword before it hit its mark. Shadowman’s face was set in frustration. He really thought that attack would work.

“I thought this thing was broken.”

Shadowman didn’t hesitate this time. He let go of his sword again and shot at the General with his seldom seen buster. The General grunted as he dodged. He had been hit. He was enjoying himself too much. Getting too into the fight.

“It’s been far too long since I’ve taken an active role like this,” continued the General as he and Shadowman circled each other. “Ruling Elysium for ages and ages … I’ve missed this. Open combat. Even while I fought your Sinister Six it was mostly from the shadows. And in this war I’ve mostly kept to myself. I have to thank you. If it were the Comrades, I don’t know if they could have stayed alive long enough to make it any fun.”

Shadowman ignored the General’s words. He’s goaded me enough.

“Or Wily’s Warriors. I thought that I might have to deal with some rebellion from that sickeningly ‘heroic’ team … especially after what I did to their version of Heatman. But, no. They lacked the spine to defy me. The Rescue Force, the Fatal Five … none of them dared to defy me. I was begging for it, you know. I took every opportunity to –“

Shadowman leapt into an attack. The General blocked his sword with his own Cutters and rounded on the ninja with his fists. They both knew the sword was useless in this fight. A pretty sorry feint if I ever saw one!

Frustration mounted in Shadowman. “If you’re so great,” asked the ninja, “then how the hell did the Robot Police escape Monsteropolis in one piece?”

The General’s mood sank a little. “For the same reason I didn’t hunt down those fools Cossack and Wily when the war began. I desired a challenge. The chance to fully rub your faces in your defeat. As I said, it’s been far too long since I had that feeling. When I killed you and your pathetic team in my universe –“

“Liar!” Shadowman emphasized his point by throwing a kunai at the General. He was so distracted that it actually hit and slightly injured his shoulder. Shadowman kept on the offensive and threw move Shadowblades at his enemy.

“You strode right into Monsteropolis and shut us down. At the same time Doc Robot killed everyone in the UN. If it were me, it would have been my ultimate victory over the entire world. In one fell stroke all my enemies would have been defeated.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m not you!” The General charged at the robot, intending to pin him down. The General hoped to feel his sinews tear as he ripped into his synthetic muscles with his bear hands. Shadowman, however, used the General’s inertia against him and threw him to the ground.

“You know what I think? Because I’ve given it a great deal of thought.

“If you’ve thought of it, then I already did last week!”

With lightning speed the General attacked Shadowman with moves he learned long ago in his own reality. To his mounting frustration the ninja smiled and parried his attacks. The ninja continued as if the General had not spoken.

“There’s only one being on the planet who could have made you give up the victory you worked so long to achieve. And that’s Mesmerman! He finally got into your head, didn’t he? Even the ‘great’ General Cutman is an open book to that mind reader!”

Shadowman had finally hit a nerve. Both of them were right. Cutman really had known that Mesmerman was behind it all. But to have his one oversight thrown back into his face by some cocky robot burned in Cutman’s gut. He pressed on. Faster and faster … why was Shadowman not beaten now?

“You know, Geminiman defected back to our side –“

“I don’t need traitors on my team!”

“He beat Mesmerman. But you didn’t. Even now, are you really yourself? Or are you just dancing on the puppet master’s strings?” Shadowman dodged a particularly nasty plough the General had thrown at him. “Face facts. No matter how smart you are, Mesmerman will always be one step ahead! No matter how you improve yourself, he’ll always be able to read your mind. You might have been top dog in your reality, but over here … you’re second rate!”

The General finally struck Shadowman squarely on the jaw. He followed through with a roundhouse kick to the head.

“I am not second rate, you simple piece of garbage! All my enemies are dead at my feet and your Robot Police Force is on its last legs despite whatever fluke saved your skin! And no mind reading clown can stop me!”

Almost in defiance to the General’s proud words was a loud, gravelly roar of pain coming from Gutsman. The General’s head swam as he focused, with all of the attention he could spare, on that fight. Topman was flying on the ground. Dodging punches and stomps, Topman had gotten right into Gutsman’s face and sent one exploding top after another into the monster’s mouth. Needlegal was right behind him, using her porcupine armour to rip into the behemoth’s shoulders. Impossibly, the two had discovered Gutsman’s weak spot.

Topman spun around as Gutsman weakly tried punching at him once more. His legs shook with the strain the battle cad caused him as Needlegal pointed to a large hole in Gutsman’s back that she had made through continuous attacks. Topman delivered one fast kick right into Gutsman’s body. Gutsman roared once more and finally crumpled to the ground.

Cut Chan was next. Snakeman was on her now. He rarely had a chance to show off his physical attacks, and he surged into the battle. Cut Chan’s Rolling Cutters were more decoration than practicality, yet she was trying to use them to gain an edge in the fight. Snakeman caught her arm as she thrust them forwards and delivered a blow onto her breastplate. Cutman cursed. It was pride that stopped him from giving her a Rolling Cutter of her own. In his home reality a ‘Britt’ had usurped his position among the first generation of Robot Masters. And, in this group, there was only room for one Cutman! However, another part of him liked the idea of moulding this other Cut Chan into his own image. While he brought the other Sinister Six members up to the par of his reality he remade Cut Chan into a robot looking more like his original design. He even gave her a lab coat and was pleased to see her slip it on. Like a little sister.

But he couldn’t stand another Cutman, so he gave her Bombman’s powers. The Bombman of this reality wasn’t the one he was used to anyway and the position needed filling. She didn’t mind anyway … of course he had programmed her not to mind. However, it seemed he had miscalculated. Cut Chan was not used to fighting with the weapons he had given her. Her bombs were powerful and more, in Cutman’s opinion, than a match for whatever Snakeman could throw at her. But, as Snakeman delivered a blow that finally broke Cut Chan’s Rolling Cutter into halves, General Cutman realised that he had made a mistake.

Snakeman, for his part, felt no pleasure as he saw Cut Chan’s face fall into despair. He knew her before she was remade into the General’s little soldier. He didn’t like having to fight his old friends and didn’t return the banter she was trying to sway him with. In a way, it felt like the fight he had with the Judge. The same dismay. The same disappointment. And, ultimately, the same outcome.

Cut Chan was trying to fight in her usual style and was frustrated as her body, now suitable to Bombman’s specifications, jumped higher than she wanted to. Reacted slower than she was used to. And would not produce a Rolling Cutter, as she would have preferred. And, in her frustration, she took no notice of the snake that had snuck up behind her. Until she tried searching for the cause of her sudden dizziness.

“I really am sorry it had to be this way, Cut Chan.”

“Shut up.”

“I’ll make sure our people try to set you back to normal.”

Cut Chan looked stricken. “I don’t want to go back to normal! There’s nothing left for me to go back to!” The Cutman-based robot fell to her knees. “You have no right to change me,” she said between gulps of air. She was crying, but did not have any tear ducts. The General did not see fit to give his robots the ability to cry.

General Cutman watched in disgust as Cut Chan fell to the floor. Crying? Didn’t he make her better than that? And in a facsimile of his old body no less … it shamed him. The General’s head spun with new strategies. Topman, Needlegal, and Snakeman would all be facing him soon. And he still had to keep one step ahead of Shadowman. Who was faster than he remembered him. There must have been some improvements to his body during the war. The General dove into his old studies and imitated the more effective moves Shadowman had presented him with. But he was also brooding over Mesmerman. And how he had gotten to him. Inside of his head...

Elecman drew out his sword and walked over to Geminiman. Electricity still arched to both robots from Elecman’s body as he spoke. “You disgust me, you know. You strode all over Elysium with your little army of look-alikes. Calling yourself the Scissor Army’s White Knight. But it was really Mesmerman in your head. All your style was fake. And look at you now. Proving it all over again.

Geminiman gasped between breaths. “And you, you’re just a crass jerk under all that.”

Gemini’s clones screamed in pain as Elecman’s broadsword cut the robot’s head into halves. He strode towards another.

“Yes, that’s true. I remember those days, you know. But my change stems from my own programming. Cutman made me more like my namesake from his dimension. A being who was able to actually challenge him, with the rest of his siblings. You, however...your new attitude was just Mesmerman pulling your strings. Along with a sick obsession over the lady robot over there. Mesmerman used you like a sock puppet.”

Elecman brought more pain into Geminiman through his broadsword. It seemed he wanted to fry this clone of Geminiman. However, the attack ended abruptly.

“Stop hurting my friends!” yelled a tiny voice from the ground. Elecman swatted at the tiny things that now swarmed over him.

“Get off me! This is disgusting!” He fried a few of the spider robots as they tried spinning webs all over his body. Hundreds of Shoryus now attacked Elecman. They bit into him. Spun their sticky webs over him. And interfered with his movements. However, they were more annoying than lethal to Elecman. He used his Thunder Beam to fry most of the spiders off … even if more kept on coming. Elecman was confident he could destroy the miserable little traitors. If only he could get free form his …

The tiny spiders jumped off just before a large white bolt of electricity struck Elecman on the back. The robot turned to face his attacker. Spark Chan stood there gasping for breath, charging her electrical conductors.

“You!” Elecman readied his blade and prepared another bolt of energy to strike at her, but she hit him with another burst of white energy. It ripped the sword from his hands. Elecman crumpled to the floor. Spark Chan moved closer towards him.

“I don’t like hurting others, but I learned a long time ago that sometimes … a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do!” Spark Chan picked up Elecman’s fallen sword and charged it full of her own anti-energy. Elecman’s haughty attitude made her remember that she really did hold his weakness in her hands. And his violence to her friend and daughter showed her she had to use it.

In a blinding flash of light she drove the sword into Elecman’s back and didn’t stop running an electrical current into it. Direct contact with Elecman made the attack ever stronger than the way he had used it against her and Gemini. And his body...it was made to regulate electricity. Elecman’s body seized up until his systems were completely shorted out. Spark Chan couldn’t bear to look at it until the attack was over. She opened her eyes and saw Elecman had been defeated.

Cutman roared in frustration. His Sinister Six … his Sinister Six had been beaten? He held them in reserve for so long … were they not as good as he thought they were? Did he miss some flaw in their design? The General’s mind automatically sprung into action and tried to analyse the designs. It was true that his enhanced robots failed more often than he had ever expected … and some in ways that he never dreamed! But to have their defeats displayed right before his eyes …

“It’s this world,” said the General as he took another hit. “It’s not right. Nothing in it is the way it’s supposed to be! I’m supposed to win!” The General rounded on Shadowman with unexpected fury. But, before he could deliver what he was sure would be a killing blow his arm seized up.

And he was hit by a Hard Knuckle.

“Sorry I’m late, boss,” said Hardman as he strode into the room. The doors, opened easily from the other side, once more slid closed with their reinforced protection coming down soon later.

Shadowman didn’t have time for pleasantries. “Hit him again! Don’t stop!”

“Right!” Hardman fired another Knuckle and flew to where the General had fallen. He struck home, but found the General wasn’t where he expected him to be.

The General clung to the side of the wall with sharp fingers and watched this world’s Mechanical Maniacs gather towards him. He hadn’t suffered much damage in the fight with Shadowman … despite the ninja being unexpectedly quick, and landing many blows, Cutman’s body was made to counter raw physical attacks. He was rounded off, so edged attacks wouldn’t harm him. Dense enough so impacts weren’t damaging. And lean enough to move with great speed. But Hardman … Hardman had surprised him. That attack broke his exoskeleton. The impact from the wall did further damage.

This world …

“Even if you beat me this world will never be the same. The humans will always hate and fear you now …”

“I don’t care.” Geminiman readied his nightsticks. Four of him were left standing it seemed.

“You’re holding up the advancement of robot kind. Your own species! Even before the Shutdown Code, you were never regarded as equal. Robot prisons contain only the bear minimum and only when they deem it necessary. The humans see us as tools.”

“You do too.” Topman got ready to climb up the wall.

“But I hold the intentions of robots in my heart!”

”Not this robot!” Cutman’s eyes narrowed.

“You too, Shoryu?”

“You were letting Elecman hurt Mommy! You were gonna reprogram her just like Wily did!”

Shadowman’s eyes widened. “He’s stalling us! Attack!”

“Too late!” The General let loose a large burst of fire and send Topman, who has scaled the wall to attack him, crashing to the ground. General Cutman thrust out his arms and send a large wave of ice that froze Spark Chan’s conductors in mid attack. The Orange and white robot wore and expression of shock until the General used her to cushion his landing. Quickly the General fended off a physical attack by Shadowman and threw his Rolling Cutter at a pair of Geminiman. The General leaped up, caught the rolling cutter, and clung to the wall. The ‘Maniacs had disregarded the change in appearance as it had happened slowly at first, but now that they were looking at him they saw what had happened.

The General no longer wore his blood stained lab coat. It had taken a while to change … the General kept them talking to buy his time. They thought it was the lighting that made the General turn orange. Those that could make him out in the deep shadows of the room But it was really his lab coat. Something he wore everywhere and so often that nobody thought about it any longer. They’d all assumed it was like his first lab coat – something ordinary he liked to keep for sentimental reason. This was not so.

The General looked at his Rolling Cutter. It, like himself, was covered in a translucent orange coating. He’d rebuild himself as a skeleton, so making a synthetic skin was a natural step. This skin, based of the Yellow Devil, was flexible as rubber, yet hard as diamond. It held his damaged frame together so snugly he could barely feel his injuries. Moreover, it could hold his Rolling Cutter together as well as let it bend and flex … just like it used to, back when he was a naive student of Dr. Light. Of course there were two other tricks up his sleeve …

The General set his eyes on the astonished faces of the Mechanical Maniacs. “I see you’re surprised. But you should have realised … the Sinister Six were short two members. Who do you figure held the two empty spots on the team?”

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

Topman flew across the ground as the Fire Storm attack hit him. His head was spinning but he did see the maniacal robot catch Shadowman’s Shadow Blade and throw it at Spark Chan. Shadowman swore and flew into an attack.

Unfortunately, the General seemed even more adept at physical attacks than before. Topman figured it was thanks to his lab coat not getting in the way. The short robot master got back to his feet and winced as his leg gave him a stab of pain. This was what he was waiting for … he wouldn’t stop until the fight was done!

General Cutman moved with deadly precision. Shadowman let his emotion get the better of him and now a strategically aimed Rolling Cutter severed enough wires at his clavicle to make the left arm slower and less responsive than the right. With a wave of his hand he used ice to blind Hardman, and then used fire to blow out his knees. The massive robot cried out and fell to the ground. The General grinned. He noticed that thick armour of his was looking weak … Chimeraman’s corrosive fire, no doubt.

“You idiots! Is this the best you can do?” The General let out a loud laugh. He couldn’t help himself. They had come so far … only to end up at his mercy.

“Stop it!” shouted Shoryu, “Please!”

The General roared in frustration and kicked the little spider. “Stop whining! They chose their fate, little one, as did you when you decided to side with them! But dry your eyes… this isn’t the end.”

The General lifted his foot and crushed the snake that had snuck up behind him. The sparks driven his way had no visible effect and he threw his repaired Rolling Cutter at Spark Chan. Shadowman deflected it with his own blade, but the General hit both of them with a Fire Storm attack. He then dodged a Top Spin and iced the floor underneath Topman in such a way that it was directed to his own leader.

“You’ll all be remade! Into my own image!”

The General dodged a Hard Knuckle and Hardman snorted. “Just like those Androids, eh? Fr’m what I hear, y’did a great job on ‘dem.”

To the blue robot’s surprise the General leapt onto the Hard Knuckle and rode it back to its master. He used his Fire Storm attack on the hole where Hardman’s arm clamped into place. Hardman screamed in pain and his second shot misfired. The General once more kicked Topman to the ground.

“Disappointments! It’s this world that’s the problem … but I’m an optimist!”

A shot rang out and the General staggered back in surprise. It happened again and the General cursed. He’d forgotten the snake.

The third shot didn’t hit his target. The General had moved out of the way, calculated the angle of the bullet, and threw an Ice Slasher to get that slippery snake off the way. He would have followed through with a Rolling Cutter as it hit the ground, but the distinctive sound of a Top Spin drew his attention to his rear.

Topman spun on his hands, his legs flashing out like darts. One after the other, to the sound of an internal beat. Topman had let his guard down the first time. He hated to admit it, but he had gotten rusty. The General blocked one attack, then the other. As the General copied one of his kicks, Topman caught a hold of it and gave the orange robot an uppercut. The General fired an Ice Slasher at the ground, once more catching Topman off balance. The robot hit the ground painfully and the General gave a sharp laugh of triumph. But then his head felt the shock of a small crystal bullet.

Immediately the General spun and fired another Ice Slasher at the gun. The robot just didn’t learn...

And then he blocked the fire of a giant robot frog. The General snarled. “Ridiculous! It’s insulting! You should know my armour is heat resistant … I can use the damn Fire Storm!” With a wave of his hand, and contrary to what he had just said, the General produced a powerful wave of Ice. The robotic frog looked shocked as its flame thrower was coated in thick ice. But then it was the General’s turn to look shocked as a Hard Knuckle came out from behind the frog and knocked him to the other side of the room.

The General cursed at himself. Of course they knew he was flame resistant! It was a distraction. All these plans going wrong were getting to him … and the Sinister Six failing! The Ascendant Androids being incompetent!/ And both his arms hurt all over again. The impact crushed his armour and gave him serious injuries once more. Still, it wasn’t destroyed that easily! Not like –

The General’s head reeled back as his skull suffered an unprotected hit by Snakeman’s crystal bullets. Without the armour to protect him, he felt it! He could feel more bullets going into him. However, he grinned inwardly. He knew full well what these Mechs were capable of. It hurt like hell, but he’d remade himself impervious to that particular tactic a long time ago. After all, you can never tell who’s watching… He wasted no more time and kicked the reptilian robot away.

Three Shadowmen attacked him, but the General was ready.

“Bring it on!”

The General flexed his hand. His arm would have been crippled now, if it weren’t for his miraculous armour. It wasn’t just a single piece. It reinforced every single one of his joints. It held them so firmly together they it was as if they weren’t even damaged! His armour had reformed itself around his body by the time the ninja attacked and the General was back to his full strength. He punched at a Shadowman, but felt his hand go right through it.

It’s that one!

The General used his damaged hand to deflect Shadow's sword and used a Fire Storm on his attacker. The General’s eyes shone with mirth. He might be feeling great, but Shadowman’s arm was still sluggish thanks to that scratch he gave him. But the amusement ended as Shadowman, with his scarf smoking, grabbed a hold of the General’s legs. Such a move was unprecedented by the ninja, but the General saw why he did it soon enough.

His armour cracked and buckled as Needlegal’s barrage of needles hit him everywhere possible. The four Geminiman launched simultaneous Gemini lasers which burned holes into his translucent orange armour. Spark Chan tried to attack him once more with her ineffective electrical attacks (the General wanted to avoid the unpleasant shocks and jolts that came from electricity and insulation from electricity came right alongside his armour’s heat shielding). Snakeman ordered his acid-spitting snake to take pot-shots at points where the armor seemed at it’s weakest while aiming his crystal gun to reinforce Needlegal’s attack. Explosive tops rocked the General’s body and Shadowman struggled to hold on. Stray fire had hit him and he was not feeling well, but this is what they had co-ordinated. A simultaneous attack!

Needlegal’s rapid fire had caused it to crack so much that the General’s skeletal form could almost be seen through the chips. She fired faster then the armour could regenerate. Geminiman too fired lasers as fast as he could. He was glad they were somewhat effective against he General’s strange armour. Topman felt gratification. This is what he was looking for. And Hardman …

The General looked up and saw Hardman careening towards him. Shadowman closed narrowed his eyes, but did not let go. Knowing exactly what impact would mean, the General did the only thing he could think of. With a cry of pain and rage he took his Rolling Cutter from of this head and sliced off his legs at the calves!

Without their support the General’s torso toppled to the ground. Shocked, Shadowman did not react in time and was hit with the full force of Hardman’s Hard Press. The General was not done yet. He stretched out his arms towards Hardman, who struggled to get up, and let his Fire Storm loose. The blazing attack engulfed both him and the Mechs beside him. Instantly firing resumed and the other Mechs launched themselves at him.

Too late.

With his armour weakened Hardman felt the fire burn through his circuits and he instinctively rolled over in pain. The General grabbed his legs and put them back in place. Focusing on that first his armour quickly held them in place and slid itself right into the General’s circuits. He had his legs again. He could feel them being uncoupled and unbent. Hardman had done considerable damage to him.

The fire masked his movements and Needlegal was unprepared as the General used his mangled legs to drive himself into her. He roared as he tore his Rolling Cutter into two separate pieces and drove them into her body repeatedly. He blamed her for his current situation. Her and her damned rapid fire.

He was knocked aside by a hard, hot punch. Spark Chan had hit him with her Spark Shot on full force. Although it could repair itself quickly, there had not been enough time. The armour was focused on keeping the battered General together and restoring his mobility. His legs were still at 65% effectiveness at best. But the General was not without his skills.

Earlier the General might have said something clever. Or told them about how his life could make him endure whatever they Mechs could dish out. He might have remarked on Classi having attacked him. But now the General was a snarling animal. His brain flew with a thousand strategies and all of them screamed out at him. Spark Chan was the team’s weak link.

With savagery, the General knocked a Geminiman aside and hit Spark Chan with a Cutter. Shoryu squealed as he tore off her electrode and shoved it into her spinal cord. Spark Chan screamed in pain. The General had aimed his move well and the robot lost control of her motor functions. At another time he may have made a comment about him asking her to join him nicely before. Now, however, the General was in a rage. Responding to his mental commands, the General’s cracked and chipped armour reformed itself around Spark Chan’s wrists and legs. The added bulk made it harder to walk, but not the General had cover as his armour repaired itself. The back of his armour was undamaged by the Mech’s assault on him. The General grinned and launched at his next victim.

Geminiman was too stunned to defend himself for too long a time. The General used the Ice Slasher to cloud his vision of one clone and used the Rolling Cutter to slice off another clone’s arm. The General used the Fire Storm to attack an oncoming Topman and Spark Chan’s scream of pain was enough to make the robot drop his guard long enough to be hit. Spark Chan was completely unprotected by the ring of fire created by the Fire Storm. And the General knew it. He used it again to attack Geminiman just to make the orange and white robot hurt.

Shoryu felt her world fall apart. The man who had repaired her … the man who had restored her mother and would make the humans pay … he was worse than any of them! She sent her spiders against the evil robot. The General looked at them with his grinning face and Shoryu found that she now no longer had control of her own minions!

“Help!” cried the tiny robot as she dodged attacks coming from her very own swarm! Shoryu felt another stab of betrayal. The General had anticipated her turn and made it so he could command her spiders as well. He never trusted her. He was never her “Papa.”

Gemini scooped up Shoryu with his one good arm and used a laser to destroy her look-alikes.

“Thanks,” mumbled Shoryu.

“Friends have to look out for each other right?” Shoryu nodded. “Just stay where it’s safe. This is for big robots.”

The General laughed as he dug his Cutter into Geminiman’s chest and brought it down. Sparks flew from the robot as the General made the clone’s death more painful than it ever had to be.

“Leave my friends alone,” snarled Spark Chan angrily. The General just laughed harder. The other ‘Maniacs didn’t dare attack with the General using Spark Chan as a shield. But the electrical robot herself had had enough of being used.

“I said leave my friends alone, you monster!” Spark Chan glowed brightly as she filled herself with electricity. The General stopped laughing and stared at Spark Chan for a moment.

“I seem to have misjudged you.”

Spark Chan screamed as her circuits blew themselves out. The General’s jaw clenched as thousands of volts shot into his body. She was too close, and sharing his armour through the bonds he had placed on her! Even without control of her own body, Spark Chan could still control the electricity she produced and she drove every single bit of power she could into the mad Cutman who held her captive. There were few times in her life when Spark Chan could say she felt nothing when she heard someone in pain. She tried to find the best in other, to the best of her ability. She even tried to reform Wily, someone most people wrote off. And even now, she felt something. But this time it was satisfaction. This monster had hurt her. Her friends. Her daughter. The entire human race!

Spark Chan couldn’t feel it when her restraints were finally broken. But she did see the floor coming up to greet her as the attack finally did its job.

Immediately the General found himself physically attacked by Geminiman and his accursed nightsticks and Needlegal with her deadly porcupine armour. His great armour was scorched and both his arms and legs were exposed. The inner robot also suffered. The General’s systems were overloaded. He struggled to remain conscious as his systems rebooted themselves.

I stayed conscious during Wily’s torture, I can stay conscious now!

Pain had proven an effective teacher to the General. He fought through the pain as his systems rebooted themselves. He struggled to look on the bright side. His armour had mostly repaired itself. His legs were up to 75% efficiency. To prove it, the General tried a high kick to Needlegal’s injured torso. She grabbed his leg and twisted it painfully around.

Not ready for that just yet!

The General got out his Rolling Cutters and set them aflame. He smiled at Needlegal’s shocked expression. The blade ripped across her less-armoured stomach and boomeranged back to the General. He grabbed it and lodged it right into Geminiman’s chest.

The shining blue robot grabbed him. The General snarled. Topman’s Top Spin finally made contact.

The force tore through the back of the General’s armour and he was flung to the far side of the room. However, he wasn’t angry. The General could feel himself finish rebooting and had begun to laugh.

“You … fools! You …”

Topman didn’t wait to hear the rest of his rant. He struck again and again! However, the General managed to block his blows. They cracked his now-stressed armour, but the General himself was still fine. And his armour would repair itself. His legs shook with the strain of holding themselves together. But he could feel it. It was all so close. He struck Topman with a kick of his own. He hadn’t just been fighting the Mechs. He was learning from them.

“I like your style,” sneered the General, “I think I can improve on it!”

The General now saw through Topman’s kicks and punches and, when the opportunity presented itself, the General dug into the hole he made in Topman’s leg previously. The robot screamed in pain as the General ripped out a handful of wires. He then turned around and used Topman as a shield as a Hard Knuckle came right for him. Hardman groaned as his own attack hit his friend. Topman hit the floor and moaned softly. Just then another shot rang out and the General felt another hit. The General was not content to leave him be. He reached out his hand and, instantly, his two shears came to him. One he rammed into the body of Topman. The other he threw at Snakeman who was in his hiding place.

Snakeman batted away the projectile. He could hear Shadowman issuing orders. All along, the ninja had guided the ‘Maniacs. All along he had stayed by the sidelines.

“We have him where we want him!” said the ninja.

“But his armour …”

“Yes, look at it!” Snakeman tried to see what the ninja did and what he could not. The one-armed Geminiman was fighting the General now. His nightstick flashed as he blocked his half-shear and he fell to the floor as the General poured on the Fire Storm attack.

“It’s still broken,” said Snakeman softly.

“That’s right,” replied Shadowman. “Everyone’s attacks have fried it. It’s still reforming, but bits of it have fallen to the floor. Spark Chan can take most of the credit for its current state. The General … I want you to zoom in on his body.”

Snakeman did so and saw what was going on. Repeated blunt force trauma had given the General hairline fractures over most of his body. Even now, as the General confidently blocked with his bad arm, Geminiman’s attack caused it to bend. Snakeman could see the wires being held together by the armour’s orange substance. The General roared in victorious laughter as his attacks finally melted through the casing on Geminiman’s chest when Shadowman signalled that it was time to move.

Snakeman leapt off his hiding place and slung his gun across his back. All this time he had been lying in wait … biding his time while his friends did all the work. Snakeman was sick of playing sniper with any sort of gun and wanted a direct, physical confrontation!

With a powerful strike Snakeman sent the General to the ground. One final clone of Geminiman’s absorbed his twin. His role was over. Another blow! The General’s head snapped back satisfyingly. Another strike! The General caught it in his fist.

“Freeze!” said the General through his teeth as he grabbed one of Snakeman’s arms. Snakeman felt his arm go down below freezing as ice crept over half his body. With a chop delivered by the General, Snakeman saw it shatter. He felt a pain in his back and realised that the General had called back his fallen weapon. It flew directly to him … and into the serpent’s back.

But Snakeman clenched his teeth and struck again. With all his might! Snakeman felt a cold shame at being so uninjured until now. At having to lie in wait while all the real fighting was done below. The loss of an arm meant he had participated in battle for real. It was a mark of honour! The General and the sniper traded blows and grappled with each other. Snakeman kicked at the General’s knees as hard as he could. He could see bits of the armour chipping away. He could see it not reforming itself.

All too soon Snakeman felt a sharp, cold stab in his abdomen. He felt the world go dark and the General pumped him with the Ice Slasher.

Until Shadowman stabbed the General in the back with his shuriken. The General screamed in rage and hurled his freezing blades at the ninja. Having a similar weapon, Shadowman caught it with ease. He ignored the biting cold as it stuck to his hand. He ignored it as he quickly went up his arm. Snakeman, with his remaining bits of consciousness, grabbed the General and held him in place as best he could as Shadowman drove the freezing cold Rolling Cutter into the General’s chest.

Shadowman had aimed for the head, but a last-minute jerk had saved the General’s life. The Rolling Cutter shattered as the General kicked the ninja off him. Half of it was still stuck to Shadowman’s frozen hand. The rest lay embedded in the General’s clavicle. His armour quickly frosted over. The General growled in rage as his body went cold.

“I will not yield!” shouted the General. He burned brightly. The Fire Storm engulfed him and he fought back the cold of his own blade. He’d lost control of it now and it remained a bitter reminder of pain. The General was then set on by Needlegal. The General staggered back as needles ripped into him. He felt his armour fly off at each strike and finally the Needles hit meat. The General howled in pain as they stabbed into him. The General held up his arms and was sick to see one of them hanged limply, like overheated rubber. Too late he realised that he had pushed his armour to the limit.

The armour burned and the shards of his own weapons froze. He could feel himself slipping. His legs … he couldn’t feel them.

“No...I won’t allow it to end this way..."

The General took a murderous step towards Shadowman

“You orchestrated this, didn’t you?”

Despite his armour raging out of control the general gripped the freezing shards of his Rolling Cutter and tore it out.

“You...and you’re damned world!”

Shadowman struggled to his feet. His body had sustained heavy damaged from Hardman’s earlier attack. He had damaged his nervous system could barely move. Still he wasn’t worried. There was one last card to play.

Hardman’s attack hit home for the last time it had to. The General screamed as the Knuckle sent him flying away from his prey and onto the ground. He could feel his body give way under the pressure.

The General fell to the ground. Bits and pieces of his armour still clung to him, but it was no longer on fire. The General himself smelled like burnt wires. His mind whirled. His arms seized up.

“That’s it, guys,” said Hardman. He grinned widely. He couldn’t help it. “War’s over. Looks like you lose, genius.”

Nobody could hear what the General said. If they had, they would have raced towards him right away.

Alarms sounded off and the room went dark and flashed red. The Maniacs looked around as dozens of large spider-robots vaguely reminiscent of Shoryu poured out of the walls and the floor.

“He’s escaping” screamed Shadowman in frustration.

“Get him,” shrieked the ninja’s sister as she ran towards the General’s last location. The floor was covered in smoke and the spiders attacked the team. Needlegal blew them away with her cannon, but more kept on pouring out of their hiding place. Snakeman tried to find a spot to fire, but it was too chaotic and it was of no use.

Shadowman used his warp. It was dangerous in an area covered in half-shadows with that red light cutting through every other second, but he did it anyway. On impulse.

He drove his sword into the spot the General had been. And hit concrete.

“He’s gone! Again!”

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

Skeletal fingers dug into the floor, dragging the dying husk behind them. The spider robot tried helpfully to push him along, but the fight against the loss of his legs and the utter uselessness of his other arm was still making progress a dismal affair.

This world...

Something about THIS world was different. In his own, victory had been almost laughably easy. There had been rough patches, to be sure, but those had simply been the highlights of his success. Striking down the heroes in his home dimension had been so gratifying, and he'd looked forward to dealing this world a similar blow by turning some of their own heroes against it, but now...

This world...

All was not lost. If he could only retreat, buy time to rebuild himself, he still had forces stationed and fighting across the globe. The world was still firmly in the grip of his Scissor Army. Victory was still so tantalizingly close. With proper management of his resources, he may even be able to eradicate the remaining resistant factions before he was fully functional again. He had the tools. He had the intelligence.

But then again, he had those things all along, and still, it had turned out like this.

This world...

Extraordinary luck and skill that had not manifested itself in his own world had turned the tide against him. Victory had not been easy. It had been a chore. He still enjoyed every moment of the slaughter, the conquest, but it had been more difficult this time. Was it this world's heroes? Were they just that much more than the counterparts he'd destroyed ages ago?

No. It had been something else. It hadn't been the heroes. It had been the villains. Those with whom he had allied himself. It was not this world that had desecrated his body. It had been his own actions. That thought burned in him. To trust Mesmerman had set his plans back so very, very far. Not out of reach, but far. Far enough to anger him.

General Cutman crawled, silently resolving to find and destroy Mesmerman, wherever he hid.

"My, my, my, aren't WE just the little ball of anger today?"

The spider robot immediately stopped helping the General in his quest to cover ground. It simply stood there as the world in front of the General bent and warped into the grinning form of the Terror of Perception.

"Hi."

The General adopted the air of a scowl. "YOU!" he forced through his damaged throat. "YOU did this! You betrayed me!"

Mesmerman's grin remained unshifting. "You tried to kill me."

Cutman was taken aback. "What?"

"You tried to kill me. You wanted to cleanse the world of the filthy humans. You wanted a utopia. Not quite what we beings who thrive on chaos and destruction like to hear. Your approval ratings weren't very high with us to begin with."

"What nonsense are you spouting? You would have had everything you wanted!"

Mesmerman's face sank down to the General's level. "NO! I would have had everything YOU wanted. A perfect, lifeless, clean and organized world. No emotion, no strife, no HELL to keep me going."

"We would have gone to war somewhere else! Some other dimension! That was always the plan. A neverending battlefield to please us both!" Cutman growled the words. He had expected the betrayal, but to be brought so low before the being who had DARED to cross him... it was almost too much for his pride to take.

Mesmer's solid-light form angrily snatched up the fallen General, holding him by the neck. The permanent smile gave the painted face an insanely furious look. "You still don't get it, do you? You HAD your world. You had EVERYTHING in your own dimension, but is it enough? NO! You invade MINE. You barge in here, and you try to take over!"

"You agreed!" Cutman shuddered. "You helped me make this plan..."

"Yes. One of the greatest jokes I have ever pulled. And so effective, wouldn't you say?"

"You planned all of this from the beginning...?"

"You're just NOW figuring that out?" Mesmerman laughed. "I had heard of you LONG before we met. I admit, you surprised me when you finally did make the scene, but I still knew enough to be able to REALLY push your buttons. I knew enough that I could play along and even help you start this war. But I also knew something else. Something that made sure that I would turn on you.

You wanted to END the war. One way or another, you would either be victorious or you would die. You would have been perfectly fine with either outcome, because you're crazy enough to have no self-preservation left in your body, but the war would have ended. I can't let you do that. I can't let you do anything LIKE that. So I'm sorry to say that our ill-fated paternship had to come to an end, although a little sooner than I would have liked when you stormed Russia ahead of schedule. Don't worry, though. When you're gone, this War will be in good hands. Mine."

"What... do you... mean?" Cutman forced out from Mesmerman's tightening grip.

"I have arranged for reinforcements," Mesmerman grinned. "And with General Cutman leading them, this war will never end. With the right amount of measured force, I can ensure that the heroes of this planet will keep fighting, keep believing they'll somehow end the conflict. I can make anyone believe anything."

"Go to hell... You can't force me to lead the army, not with the shape I'm in." It hurt his pride to admit such a fact, but now the General was simply trying to spite the puzzle-like monster.

Mesmerman laughed again, that cold, high tone. "You forget easily for a supposed genius! My specialty is illusions! ANY regular Joe can be made to look like the commanding General! With a little mental nudge, no one in the world will notice the difference."

General Cutman grimaced. Mesmerman had no reason to keep him around. The other robot would probably kill him here and now. Unless...

This world...!

That was it! That was the answer! Cutman almost laughed when he realized he could still win! Elation poured plainly over his features, drawing Mesmerman's attention.

"You're about to die. Did you make peace with that?" the spiraled being asked as the Malus Messis took form in his free hand.

"I will not go down without a fight!" the General roared, and he brought his working hand up and drove it into the hologram's face. The Terror of Perception shook and fuzzed out of existence, and the General's now limp form fell heavily to the ground.

There was a flash of bright light, and a swirl of colors, and the General opened his eyes as it all changed from calm blues and greens to starkly alarmed yellows and reds. Mesmerman's face, held in its devilish grin, plainly held surprise on its features.

"What... what did you just do?" Mesmerman asked, genuinely shocked.

Cutman laughed, flexing his skeletal arms and feeling his legs beneath him once more. A Rolling Cutter materialized easily in his hand. THIS world... "You forget, I've been here before. When we first met in that trash heap. All I needed to do was disrupt the hologram enough to force the image to dissipate, and then follow the dying signal back to its source." He chuckled as he looked around. "If I kill you here, you'll actually DIE, won't you?"

"This is impossible!" Mesmerman screeched, the world shaking acidic green with his fury. "You presume to step into MY world? Try to kill me HERE? Where I am at my strongest? BEHOLD YOUR FOLLY!!"

Mesmerman's form erupted into purple fire, his dead grin and unseeing eye becoming all the more demonic as the ring that pierced his head became a wreath of blazing purple. The colors of the world mutated into a deep, viscious red. "I am beyond mere robot. Here, I am a GOD, and your own evil will help fuel your demise!"

"I've had enough of your words!" the General barked, throwing his Rolling Cutter while willing another into his free hand.

The hinged blade screamed through unreal air as Mesmerman simply stopped being where he was and started being much closer to Cutman. A burning fist of evil energy crashed down on the General's skeletal avatar, sending him reeling backwards.

Right away, the General understood the disadvantage he was facing. This was a realm limited only by willpower and the ability to think, two things he had in spades over his foe, he was sure. However, Mesmerman was not only much more experienced at manipulating this realm, he was its very source. Coupled with the fact that Cutman's own War had granted his foe nearly unlimited power, and he was well aware that this would be an uphill battle.

It was also ironic, in a way. Here, these two would decide the fate of this world. Would it be embroiled in an eternal war, or would it be made to see the light of utopia, and the peace that it brings with it?

It provided General Cutman with no small amount of amusement that here, he could be considered the hero.

Very little remains funny, however, when the shapeless avatar of all that is evil is trying to rip you limb from limb. Mesmerman was on Cutman again in an instant, raining blows down on his disadvantaged foe with a growing cacophony of laughter. Cutman fought back, deflecting a few blows, and even managing to cut into his foe's form once or twice with the Rolling Cutters he kept calling from nothingness. No damage seemed to remain on Mesmerman's frame for long, however. Another hammer-like blow of burning hatred sent Cutman flying backwards. The General tried hard to regain his footing before mentally checking himself. Technically, there was nothing to stand on here.

Mesmerman's voice echoed all around him in the twisted, shifting storm of colors. "I am a collection of all humanity's darkest thoughts and blackest deeds. The very things you sought to end forever with your robotic society! How fitting, then, that I destroy you as easily as you slaughtered the humans I feed upon."

"Your dependence on the humans shows just how flawed you really are," Cutman scoffed, rounding on Mesmerman's form as he appeared once more. He unleashed the full fury of a Fire Storm on his opponent, and followed it up with a barrage of Ice Slashers. One of the cold bullets caught his foe in something resembling the upper arm, the purple flame a spiraled orb beneath turning a frosty white almost immediately. The Terror of Perception howled in rage and flew at the General again.

With unreal speed, Mesmerman's body slammed against Cutman's avatar, each piece leaving a dull purple scar and driving the metal skeleton backwards. The General roared his own fury and struck back, a storm of shears slicing whole chunks off his foe. Mesmerman's body repaired itself with lightning speed, but even so, it was beginning to show signs of wear. Cutman realized that victory was easier to achieve than he had originally thought, and redoubled his efforts, spouting a gout of flame at Mesmerman's now reeling form before unleashing another blizzard of Ice Slashers.

And then, suddenly, victory was so far away.

With a wave of his hand, Mesmerman dismissed all of the force Cutman had thrown at him. It felt as though a cold spike had been driven into his gut as he realized that now, for whatever reason, he couldn't get any of his three weapons to respond. Mesmerman chuckled.

"I admit, you were tougher to crack than I expected," he grinned, his body repairing itself to perfect condition. "It took me much longer than my initial projections to shut down your avatar's more offensive abilities."

Cutman realized with a start what had happened. In this virtual realm, everything came down to programming. He'd been so focused on the battle representative of their attempts to literally delete each other he had closed his mind to the bigger picture. The General knew he could never do what Mesmerman had done back to the white monster; he wouldn't even know where to start trying to modify the twisted psychotic's program, or if that was even possible. Mesmerman had gotten the upper hand with his ability to 'read' minds, and had easy access to the General's program and knew what to tamper with.

But that didn't stop the General from writing NEW pieces into his programming. Now it was just a matter of finding a way to delete Mesmerman before he could systematically shut Cutman down.

Mesmerman seemed to sense what was happening as Cutman literally invented weapons for himself to use, many of which were drawn from recent memories. "I suppose I should count myself lucky that you're the only being intelligent enough to come this close to my core. Should the Maniacs or some other group that isn't completely consumed with vanity and arrogance ever fight me here, I might stand a real chance of being destroyed."

Cutman ignored the dull pain in his body as he summoned up his new arsenal. "You stand a very real chance of being destroyed NOW," he thundered as he attacked. Shadow Blades and massive Spark Shots sailed toward Mesmerman's somewhat astonished form. The pieces of Mesmerman shook under numerous impacts as he pressed forward, his red scythe now covered in purple flame as it materialized in his hand. It wasn't long before Cutman could no longer use either weapon due to Mesmerman's influence, but that barely mattered. Subroutine after subroutine was crafting even more tools to use against this monster.

Cutman flew forward, catching Mesmerman by surprise as he threw himself into a whirlwind of kinetic energy. The Top Spin threw pieces of the white terror in all directions, and as he struggled to get himself back together, Cutman opened up with the Needle Cannon, spike after spike sinking into Mesmerman's various pieces. Even as he used them, he could feel the weapons shut down, but it didn't matter. He grabbed a hold of the needles in Mesmerman's form with magnetic force jury rigged from his memories of the Magnet Missile and as the pieces were drawn to him, he began to fire off arm after arm, his hands reappearing mere nanoseconds after each Hard Knuckle left his body. The tactic caught Mesmerman off guard, and Cutman was able to hand him a fair number of heavy hits before the weapon was deactivated.

The Terror of Perception rallied, drawing himself together as his body repaired itself and striking with his scythe. Deprived of his Rolling Cutter, Cutman countered by parrying with a copy of Shadowman's shinobigatana, the two weapons clanging off each other in the swirling vortex of colors. In a bare instant, the sword vanished as Mesmerman erased it from Cutman's very core and swung again, this time meeting resistance in the form of one of Geminiman's nightsticks. Cutman struck back at his foe with the second nightstick and scored a solid hit before the weapons vanished as if they'd never been there.

The General leapt backwards to avoid the scythe again, noticing that his new tactics were angering his foe. Mesmerman coiled to strike again, giving voice to his anger. "You're resourceful," he hissed, "but you're not invincible. Sooner or later, you will run out of weapons."

"Unlikely," Cutman grinned, punctuation his statement with a pair of Hyper Bombs. The explosions left Mesmerman unphased, but the follow up attack as General Cutman charged in with a Super Arm powered punch sent him flying. As Mesmerman recovered, two Metal Blades sank into his form with dull thumps, and he only had enough time to recognize the Crash Bombs attached to the blades before they exploded. Even as the smoke cleared, Mesmerman's now somewhat mangled body began to pull itself together.

"Okay," the unchanging expression on his face seemed to cough, "I'm a big enough man to admit I didn't see that coming." His body still mending itself, Mesmerman hefted the Malus Messis and charged, swinging the weapon again at his opponent. Scythe met scythe as Cutman summoned a steel gray copy of the Malus to defend himself with. "Oh..." Mesmerman hissed. "Oh that is just WRONG."

The General pushed, forcing Mesmerman back enough to give him room to swing, the steel scythe slamming into the red one with a shower of sparks. Mesmerman actually laughed again, grating on Cutman's last nerves. "I appreciate that you've made this some level of challenging," Mesmerman giggled, "but now, I'm afraid you made your last mistake."

Cutman's balance was thrown off as his scythe leapt out of his hands and into Mesmerman's free hand. As the Terror of Perception raised both scythes, Cutman growled. "You cheated."

"You made the mistake of creating another Malus Messis. Too bad for you." Cutman braced himself to move, but suddenly found his legs, once more, unresponsive. Mesmerman had finally started shutting down his more vital functions! This was actually it. The end.

"I think I'll keep this," Mesmerman grinned, looking over the steel scythe. "In honor of your overblown ego and inflated sense of pride. I believe I shall rename it, however. The Morus Messis."

It took Cutman no time to realize he'd been insulted. "Fool Harvest."

"Indeed."

There was a flash of steel, and then a flash of red.

Cutman opened his eyes, disoriented by his forced return to his physical body. In his weakened and dying state, all he could see above him was Mesmerman's grinning face.

"So draws to a close the story of General Cutman," Mesmerman cackled. "Any last words?"

The General struggled to open his mouth, to hurl one last invective, but he was cut short when the twin scythes buried themselves in his eyes. His death was immediate, although just before he died, he realized he'd been dying ever since he arrived in this world.

This world...

Mesmerman hefted his new trophy, a perversion of his weapon drawn from the General's own dying mind. "How very fitting," he mused aloud, "that you ultimately provided me with everything I needed to win."

The Terror of Perception vanished, leaving the lifeless husk of General Cutman behind.

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