The Business of War

Tyrannical Face Off


Scenario D
Participants:
Tech Tyrants (C)
Drastic Measures (RPD) (C)
Mysteryman (SA)

Location: Cossacker Camp
SA Infantry: 1801
RPD Units: 1032
Wily Bots: 858
Cossacker Camp, Amazon Jungle.

An SF unit rested atop a watchtower, keeping an eye on the camp’s perimeter with his enhanced visor, in every possible spectrum. Inside one of the several shacks, some Cossackers were gathered.

Almost everyone had been dispatched to their missions. Allying themselves with the remains of the RPD was their only option if they wanted to succeed. With most of the world under the control of the SA, their only alternative was to play Russian roulette with them, with an all out offensive at the SA’s most important bases. It was all or nothing.

However, someone had to stay and watch over the camp. Their leader, Dr. Cossack, who was believed to be dead by their enemy, was still settled there, along with his daughter and colleagues. His citadel was gone, and the RPD didn’t provide a better alternative. Staying with them would surely prove to be a mistake in the future. It was better to settle at the Amazon, where they could remain hidden until the SA was defeated. Assuming it could be defeated…

After his meeting at London, with the RPD and Dr. Light’s robots, Dr. Cossack had returned with a plan they had all agreed upon. Astroman helped by quickly assigning missions to his fellow Cossackers, there was no time to loose. In the end, only his team had stayed behind. But he wasn’t about to pass on the opportunity to bring down the SA and their General. His motivation was the same as it was at the beginning of the war, but the cumulated anger and constant frustration, were constantly building up.

His team had endured the war. Sometimes achieving their objective, and sometimes failing. In spite of that, he was grateful that his three team-mates were still alive. But things were bound to change if they kept on fighting for too long. So having this in mind, Astro was decided to make this mission count, to make it the final mission. He had already contacted people who would help him defend the camp, while his team went on to help whichever team needed them the most. He would have loved to be there at the fight against Cutman, but he was willing to settle for anything that would help bring down his army.

Inside the shack, along the scientists and the TT, a group of rough looking guerrilla fighters was present. Astro was having a conversation with their leader.

“I appreciate you help, guys. We really ought to be somewhere else right now.” Astro told their leader.

“It’s the least we can do. After all, your comrade ShadeMan gave his life to save our group.” Spoke their leader, who was a young tomboyish woman. “We are on the same side, and the SA has made us take refugee inside the jungle as well. We understand your predicament.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” Astro made a pause, just a few seconds long, not really sure how to word what he was about to say. “But look… while I admit that you probably know your way through the jungle much better than we do, please don’t hesitate to call us if you get the slightest suspicion that our enemy might be nearby. We’ll leave the big guy as a lookout.” He was referring to their SF unit.

“Understood. We are humans after all.” The girl admitted. “If anything comes up, we will delay them as much as we can.”

“Ok, but please call us immediately.” Astro was getting pushy. “I’ve already lost the doc once… no, twice, but that’s not the point. I don’t want those bastards to find out he’s still alive. If anything goes wrong with our current mission, we can’t afford…”

“Naop, please!” Dr. Cossack interrupted, pounding his fist on the table. He felt that Astro was starting to lose his composure. “There’s no need to trouble these gentlemen any further. I will be safe, and this mission will not fail.” He reassured them, with confidence in his words. He might not have been one hundred percent sure, but he had to talk as if. After all, he had to be tough, or everyone following him would only lose confidence as well.

“No, good doctor, it’s perfectly fine.” The lady spoke, with a gentle tone. “We understand what you’ve been through. All those news reports… they can’t brainwash us. We haven’t believed in television for decades! They don’t know what it is to be on the front line! We have lost people, like you have. We’ve lost leaders to this war.”

Astro sighed. He was relieved to see that not every human was against them. There was still hope out there. “Thanks guys, it means a lot.”

With that, the Tyrants stepped outside the shack, leaving the scientists and the guerrilla behind. The camouflaged guerrilla people saluted them. But then, as soon as they set foot on the moist jungle soil, something wasn’t right…

A loud blast was heard, and the watchtower was ignited in flames… the SF unit didn’t even have a chance to warn them either. To Astro, this probably meant that the lookout never saw the enemy coming. As to why, he had his suspicions. For now, he just wished to be wrong, and that somehow, the big guy could have survived to help them in the battle that would ensue…

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

RPD Headquarters, London.

As one of the RPD members chosen to stay back while the others were heading towards Elysium and Desert Gulch, Junkman sat on a windowsill with a depressed look on his face. Even after giving Crorq the key info he found in the factory under Berlin, he was shutdown during the General's attack on the RPD's old headquarters in Monsteropolis.

Thanks to Dr. Light though, Junkman was revived and without the Shutdown Code to deal with, there's going to be hell to pay.

But, he still had to deal with the loss of his fellow allies. Even though some of the wounds were not fatal, the RPD decided to not repair them at all. That made Junkman angry beyond words. Then, he had to arrest Slashman after the events of Berlin. Slashman was then asked to team with Junkman despite being a Cossacker. With the current situation as is, Junkman had no qualms about being with an old friend.

As Junkman sat there and wonder what he could do next, Slashman came in and tried to talk to him. “You OK?” he asked. “Yeah... I guess so. I just wish I could have helped out in the final assault, you know.”

”Eh. If we were sent there, the whole place would have been destroyed thanks to us because, you know, we wreck things in a spectacular fashion.”

That was when one of the remaining officers came running into the room. “Officer Junkman, Slashman: I have received a distress signal from the Cossacker Camp located in the Amazon. Crorq has asked me to send you two down there ASAP.”

This is the chance Junkman has been waiting for. A chance to save his new found allies and a chance to get back at the Scissor Army for doing what they did to not just him, but the entire RPD. Junk and Slash quickly teleported to the Amazon jungle, where they have to find the camp before it's too late.

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

Amazon Jungle, 45 miles northwest of the Cossacker Camp.

Junkman and Slashman arrived in the heart of the jungle not knowing which way to go. Junkman thought it was be better to go east while Slashman thought that west was the right way. They argued for a bit over this until Slashman realized that all of this arguing wouldn't do a thing if they couldn't help those in need.

”Fine, fine. We'll go west. Just remember what will happen if you goof this up, bub.” said Junkman. Slashman just shook his head and lead the way through the jungle.

It took about an hour for them to get through the dense jungle floor before they spotted something that was out of the ordinary: an SA Joe, standing alone there probably standing watch while they attack the Cossack Camp. Slashman wanted to sneak up and plant his claws in his neck, but Junkman held him back.

”What? Why did you that, Junk? I was gonna sneak up and kill him silently.” exclaimed Slash. “Because I don't like sneaking around and junk...” as he said that, he was forming his Junk Staff and this time, it also formed an axe head. “This is for our friends!”

The axe came around so quickly that the lone SA Joe didn't see it coming. It came so fast that before he knew it, he was split in half like a tin can. Slash stood there amazed at what kind of power Junk wielded. “Dude... Since when did your Staff become an axe?”

”It was when the RPD upgraded me and the others. They gave my staff two different forms, a Power type and a Speed type. This gives me more flexibility with my weapons. Now, come on. We gotta reach those Cossackers before the camp falls into Scissor Army hands.”

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

Back at the camp…

The anti-teleportation field had already been put into effect. The Cossackers didn’t even bother trying to teleport, from the minute they saw the SA coming at them from all sides.

The guerrilla was the first to act, they were always on guard. Even though they were only human, they managed to put up a fight. The first wave of Forest Joes was taken by surprise by the men firing at them from the treetops.

Astro had not wasted any time either. The TT had immediately gone back into their hut, taking the humans with them. Hoping that their old strategy would work, Astro signalled Ground to dig up a tunnel for the doctor and his crew. Then, when everyone had gotten into the tunnel, the remaining Tyrants - Tengu and Astro - went back outside. They were going to do battle until the doctor had been safely taken out of the anti-teleportation field. This would hopefully deceive the SA.

Joining forces with the guerrilla, Astro and Tenguman were protecting the camp from all sides. Their success was limited, but at least the SA had only managed to destroy a few of their cabins. They focused on forming a circle around the remaining buildings, actually managing to keep the Joes at bay. This didn’t last long, however…

To their surprise, the frozen bodies of some guerrilla fighters were sent flying in their direction. It seemed the production of Frost Joes had not stopped with Kalingrad. As the guerrilla was starting to dramatically decrease in numbers, Tenguman could only wonder where Pirate had gone at a time like this.

As if on cue, the gigantic fists of the SF unit came crashing upon the first squad of Frost Joes, completely crushing them. Astro “winked” at his airborne team-mate, as if answering his question. Tengu deducted that Aku was the one piloting the SF unit.

The three reunited Tyrants succeeded in protecting the guerrilla from the lethal frost beams, and for a minute, calm retuned to the camp. This, however, was not the end. And Astro was certain.

After regrouping, Astro had a brief talk with the guerrilla’s leader, who was codenamed Rosa. “Look, I appreciate your help, but you will only get slaughtered if you stay any longer.” Astro began. “They’re taking their time to prepare a second wave, so I suggest you use this advantage to escape.”

“Not a chance.” Rosa replied bluntly. “We will stay and fight alongside you.”

“Right…” Astro would have bitten his lip, if he had one. He didn’t like the idea of sacrificing any more lives for their cause. But the girl was too stubborn, and they didn’t have time to argue.

After deciding on their formation, the guerrilla and the Tyrants advanced outwards from the camp. Tengu took flight, serving as a scout, and warned his leader of the only apparent threat: from how the trees moved, and the birds flew, Tengu could tell someone was progressing through the jungle, and was headed in their direction.

Astro and Rosa ordered everyone to go into hiding. They were only a few dozen of meters away from the camp, and once they hid among the foliage and remained silent, ready to ambush the upcoming threat, the peaceful sounds of nature were heard, as if no battle had taken place. The sound of a waterfall on the distance was normally soothing, but Astro was on his toes. He kept waiting to hear from Groundman, the doctor’s safety was his first concern.

They all waited for their enemy to appear, ready to engage them. But Astro was relieved to see Slashman and Junkman as they cut through a wall of vines. Immediately, he jumped out of his hiding spot in order to stop the guerrilla from harming them. This would have cost him his life, since the startled duo, under the impression of an enemy ambush, attacked him without mercy before even figuring out who he was. Junk’s axe-staff had broken him in half.

Fortunately for everyone, the “damaged” Astro Man vanished, proving to be nothing but a holographic copy. Relieved, both sides dropped their guard. “Hey Slash, I’m sorry I startled you… these guys were ready to blast you.”

“Heh, no problem Naop…” Slash responded, still a little nervous. “This is Junkman, by the way.” Astro shook hands and greeted their new ally.

Just then, the ground started rumbling, and everyone got back into position. But again, it was an ally who appeared. A visibly tattered Groundman emerged from below. The soft and humid soil of the jungle posed no resistance to his drills, but it still meant an effort to him for some reason. Something had damaged him.

“What happened!?” Astro asked desperately, as only five the humans emerged from Ground’s tunnel. Only the doctor, Kalinka, Drew and the dynamic duo had made it out alive, and this worried him to no end. It could have been Cossack! Astro could only guess that luck was on their side.

And before Ground could pull himself together, the Ground started rumbling again. “They’re coming!” was all he was able to say, before a group of ten or so drilling mechaniloids came out of similar tunnels. And behind them, hordes of Wily-bots followed.

The guerrilla formed a circle around the Cossackers, just as Tengu made a quick trip to the skies, only to get shot at by hundreds of Joes stationed at the distance. They all had appeared out of nowhere. “Hey Naop, things are about to get hotter…” the aerial Tyrant warned.

A series of levitating mechanilods were seen above them, flying in all directions. Soon, they dropped napalm-filled bombs into the jungle, igniting a barrier of flames around the camp. The Cossackers and their allies had just run out of easy exits. Their only alternative was to fight their way out.

When Junkman noticed they were surrounded by the flames, he then came up with an idea that he's been dying to use.

Junk pulls out his walkie-talkie and radioed RPD Headquarters. "Guys. It's time." That was all he said before a group of RPD police bots rushed to their current position. They had teleported along them, but had been stayed behind, in order to take the enemy by surprise. After a while, as soon as they got there, they started firing on the incoming Wily bots that were rushing in, almost like if it was a full forced attack on the group.

Junkman then decided that the time for action came now. "Look, we're sitting ducks here, Naop. We have to go through the flames if we want to get out of here." Astroman thought there was some other way to get through, but that was before he saw Tenguman try to fly through the fire and get badly burnt from the flames. This convinced Astroman to go with what Junkman suggested.

"Hey, Junk. I suggest we head to the edge of the anti-teleportation field" said Astroman.

"Good. Let's go and take out as many Wily bots as you can. Just make sure you don't stay too long in the flames." With that said, the group of robots headed towards the flames ready for battle.

Junkman formed his Junk Staff and before hand, turned it into his Power Type style to make quick work of the incoming Wily bots that stood in his way. The others took care of business as well as they fought through the flames and they too reached the edge of the anti-teleportation field.

Junk was the last one to reach the edge of the field. "I hope you have a good idea, Naop. Because this could be one battle we may lose."

Astroman thought about what to do and then said "You know, I wish I had a plan right now..." At this point, it was all they could do.

It had been harder for the human part of the group to get through the flames. But they were now by a river-bed, with a waterfall nearby, so they had the opportunity to freshen up, while the RPD backup tried handling both the Wily-bots and the SA.

Astroman was panting, also next to the river, when and equally exhausted Dr. Cossack approached him. “What do you suggest we do now, Naop?” he asked full of worry.

Astro took a moment to catch his breath and decide, but Tenguman approached him as well. “There’s no way around it Naop… you’ve been avoiding it since the beginning of the war, but there’s nowhere left to go now!”

“Damn!” Astro knew his partner had a point. But after what had happened to Mexico City, he had made sure to keep his second hometown safe, isolated from the war. This was very selfish, but even Dr. Cossack understood what he did. This was his only way to fight the war with a little peace of mind. The lives of the Mexican people would never be recovered, but at least he knew the genocide would not repeat itself in Tech City. After swallowing, Astro came up with an answer. “We will take you to Tech City… there’s no time to loose.”

“Are you sure Naop?!” the doctor was worried of the consequences it might bring. All of Astro’s plans could crumble if the war got into their city. And the doctor was one of the few people who actually knew about the importance of this “plan”.

“No time to loose…” Astro repeated, and then spoke several voice commands through his com-line. He had always kept this ace up his sleeve. In a matter of seconds and before he could argue any further, Dr. Cossack, and all other humans including the remains of the guerrilla, were teleported out.

Only the robot masters were left standing by the river, and the RPD forces fighting in the distance. This puzzled the Drastic Measures duo, but Astro had no time to explain. A loud sound of clapping hands was heard, as if a whole crowd had been watching them. The Tyrants realized that their biggest problem had just showed up.

“Who the hell is that?” Junkman questioned, pointing up.

“Good day, Tyrants!” A gigantic Mysteryman appeared on top of the waterfall. “I must congratulate you for getting this far! And kudos for getting the old man to safety! But excuse my curiosity, why did you stay behind?”

“I knew you’d show up, fish-bowl head. It’s almost as if I could feel you now!” Astro shouted. “To answer your question… we had to stay to finish you off once and for all. I’ve had enough of your pathetic attempts.”

“Tsk, tsk… after what happened last time we met, I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you.” The illusionist warned. “But let me spice things up a little. I have a confession to make, and perhaps it’ll serve as a motivation for you, so I don’t end up moping the floor with you like I did last time…”

Everyone was on their toes. Astro, Ground, Tengu and Pirate – who was still piloting the SF unit – knew that Mystery had changed, but they didn’t know what to expect. Junk and Slash didn’t know their enemy, but this made them be just as alert.

“Spit it out already!” Astro demanded.

“Well, for starters… we already know where the good doctor is headed.” Mystery admitted.

“Son of a bitch...” Astro muttered. “Knock him off that cliff!” the TT leader ordered his team, aware that every second counted, now that he had confirmed another one of his suspicions.

“The bastards… they’ve got Artillery.” Tengu deduced, while launching a tornado hold at the cliff, causing the giant Mystery to disappear in a cloud of smoke and reappear as soon as the dust cleared.

“Hey! Don’t be impatient, Naop.” Mystery chuckled. “You didn’t even let me finish my explanation. I’m trying to be polite, so you could at least demonstrate some manners!” he fired a couple of shots from his ‘Mystery Buster’, which was rarely good for anything. Only this time it did manage to do real damage to the terrain, causing the Tyrants and co. to jump away from the blast.

“No need to explain, freak show!” Astro retorted. “I don’t need to be a psychic to know that you’ve already hacked our com systems, and are probably monitoring our teleportation satellite.”

“Ha, as witty as ever, aren’t you?” Mystery conceded. “Our troops are probably flooding the streets of your beloved city by now…”

“I don’t think so!” Astro talked back.

“Care for a bet?” Mystery offered.

“Screw you!” Astro vanished, revealing the copy that had been taking his place, and allowing everybody to notice that the real he was hovering above the waterfall, already launching an Astro Crush upon their enemy.

The water from the waterfall spouted wildly, along with the shattered pieces of the cliff. As expected, Mystery was nowhere to be seen. Only his maniacal laughter was heard.

“Should we be going now?!” Tengu approached his leader, who was panting from the anger and frustration he felt. “You know they could have gotten into the city. It’s not impossible.”

“Yes, I know! They were probably monitoring the barrier, in case we ever deactivated it to teleport in.” answered an angry Astroman. “But there is no way they could get more than one platoon in there before the barrier came back on!”

“Well… let’s just trust that the local police force can deal with that one platoon before they get to the doctor.” Tengu said sarcastically. He obviously didn’t like to trust the lives of his people to someone else. But Astro was convinced to stay and fight Mystery.

“Look man, the minute we teleport into the city, a larger chunk of the SA will be tagging along. They are probably attempting repetitively to teleport in, now that we let the barrier down for a second. We’re gonna have to let the RPD in as well, and that means deactivating it for a little longer. So I’d rather take care of a beheaded army, by taking care of Mystery right here, right now!” Astro explained as fast as he could.

Tengu grunted, and backed away in order to look for Mystery. The calm wasn’t going to last…

“I dunno about you guys, but I'd rather fight this moron myself.” said Junkman. He formed some junk in his hands and fired it off at Mysteryman and he quickly dodged the attack. Then, Mysteryman fired off a shot from his 'Mystery Buster' which forced Junkman to dodge those attacks.

”My, my. Aren't we the impatient one.” chuckled Mysteryman. “I don't know who you are, but since you're around I'll give you a taste of what I can do!” With that, Mysteryman created something that was Junkman's worst fear: A massive thunderstorm. Junkman, being weak to electricity, was forced into a defensive position and then memories came flooding back...

The memories of what Cloudman did to him back in Toronto still haunt Junkman to this day and with each lightning bolt that crashed across the sky above, Junkman was forced to defend himself. “Ha. Not so confident now that I know what you fear the most. As long as I can control this little weather pattern, you'll be at my mercy.”

Slashman, having watched the whole ordeal with the Tyrants, leaped at Mysteryman at full speed and managed to hit him in the shoulder with his right claw. Somehow, it was the right thing to do because once Mysteryman got hit, the storm ended and Junkman got back into his fighting stance and now, he was angrier than ever.

”You dare get into my head again and I'll make sure you'll never see the light of day again, you hear me?” With that said, Junkman charged at Mysteryman at full speed.

“You got lucky!” Mystery exclaimed. “But it won’t happen again!” he said before vanishing again, just before Junk managed to connect a hit.

“Damn!” Junkman tried desperately to find his enemy. Mystery had surely hit a nerve with his mind games.

“Don’t loose your cool!” Groundman warned the DM duo. “Remember this guy is an illusionist, we’ll have to take him by surprise like Slash did.”

“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy!” Mystery’s voice was heard from behind, only it was multiplied at least dozen times. The robot masters turned around to see that there were about 50 copies of Mysteryman coming out of the jungle and into the river-bed.

“Careful!” Astro warned everyone as he descended. “They might not be illusions!”

“So you did learn something after our last encounter…” all of the copies spoke in unison. “The question is… what is real and what is an illusion?” At a blinding speed, the Mystery copies launched themselves in all directions while levitating, eventually circling them.

And suddenly, the copies changed directions and headed for each of the TT and the DM duo. Trying to counterattack, the good guys realized the first wave had consisted of copies, since all their melee attacks had been ineffective, and the Mystery copies had passed right through them. But not everyone was quick to react, and an almost immediate second wave of copies nailed a few hits on Slashman and the SF unit piloted by Pirateman. The copies moved so fast that they couldn’t tell what was damaging them. To them, it seemed as if they were merely ramming them head on.

Being the one with the lightest armor, Slash was actually knocked of his feet, only to receive a follow up attack from the copies while he was on the ground. The others were guarding themselves, with their weapons. Astro kept orbiting his steel orbs as fast as he could to use them as a barrier. At times like this, he really missed his psychic abilities.

But soon, small cuts started appearing on them. By the time Slashman got back on his feet, the copies were now launching at them from all directions at random intervals. Some were illusions and some weren’t, there was no way to know for sure. And the cuts kept on increasing.

“Enough!” Tenguman was fed up from trying to slash at them with his Tengu Blade, and launched a Tornado Hold, managing to disperse a large portion of the real Mystery copies. This was an opportunity that the others seized. Pirate managed to smash half a dozen, revealing the true identity of their attackers: SA Joes, with their combat knives at hand.

Astro, Ground and Slash used the opportunity to finish off some more disguised Joes with their respective weapons. And soon, less than half of the copies were left (including the illusions). “Let me guess… you think you’ve won?” the remaining copies asked, only to be finished off by Junk and Tengu. Only the illusions remained unharmed, of course.

But they all knew it was far from over. The deafening sound of marching steps was heard from all around them. “It seems the RPD didn’t stand a chance, huh?” Tengu said, partly to himself.

“You know what this means, right Naop?” Ground asked his leader. Even he could tell they were in a pinch. And as soon as the SA troops showed up, his suspicions were confirmed. They all looked like Mysteryman! Hundreds of disguised Joes, ready to repeat them same deceitful tactic.

Astro sighed, he was sure he would regret what he was about to do. He issued ciphered commands into his com link, which he hoped would mean nothing but random numbers to the SA people monitoring their systems. Soon, the Tyrants, plus Junk and Slash, were engulfed in a bright flash, as they teleported away from the Amazon jungle…

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Tech City, CA, USA.

A small SA outpost, consisting of roughly three separate military tents, was located among the dunes of Imperial County. The sound of the wind blowing was all that one could here out there. And up until a few years ago, that calm had reigned over the place in a 10 mile radius.

But the city that could be seen a few miles beyond the SA settlement had brought more activity to the region. Tech City, an experimental city with a fitting name. Much like Monsteropolis, this was one of the cities that were supposed to usher the population into a new era of technology, comfort, and ecology.

It was also one of the very few cities in the world that had remained untouched by the ongoing war. But that fact was about to change very soon…

Inside one of the tents there was a small group of robots, scientists and engineers, guarded by a few armed Joes. Close to the scientists, Mysteryman was keeping an eye on their work. They all seemed to be working non-stop on several computers, with strange devices that kept monitoring something. Results in the form of printed wave patterns, somewhat similar to the Richter magnitude scale, kept coming out of a printer, and into the hands of a worried scientist.

“What do you have there, doctor?” Mysteryman asked patiently. “Any progress with the barrier?”

“Not at all sir.” The scientist confessed. “Just as General Cutman deducted, this technology is far from our current understanding.”

Mystery pounded his fist on a desk. “What about the teleportation systems? Any luck?”

“Well, sir…” another lab coat spoke. “After the first leak, there has been no success.”

“Keep trying!” Mystery insisted. “Those fools actually think it’s still me fighting them in the Amazon. But they will be forced to come here eventually, just keep trying to get through. We should have a decent opening in any minute…”

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Dr. Cossack, his family, and the remaining guerrilla fighters, watched horrified at the city before them. They were up on a slight cliff, out of harms way, with the TT building behind them, but they couldn’t help to stare in awe at the chaos and disaster that was going on. Parts of the city were in flames, and the sounds of sirens could be heard all around. Had the SA really penetrated the Tyrants’ barrier? The doctor couldn’t believe it.

After they settled into the lobby of the building, finally deciding to take refugee before the SA got there, Drew turned on the news on a screen above the waiting room. A very nervous man was reading a newsflash, or rather, it seemed like a preacher’s lecture.

“It’s the Armageddon, dear people of Tech City!” the man spoke while trembling uncontrollably. “It’s time to repent! There has to be atonement for the sinful!” Suddenly, the man was forced off camera by some security guards and another news person came about. After apologizing for his colleague, and reminding the audience that his opinion was not shared by the network, he finally resumed with the news.

“We urge the citizens of Tech City to calm down!” the news person spoke. “Official reports indicate that all the sightings are, without an exception, illusions of some kind. The authorities suspect it to be the work of the robot criminal known as Mysteryman, who was thought to have disappeared after the Technological Tyrants ended…” and he continued on with his explanation.

It was all too clear now. The city was undergoing a massive, yet detailed illusion. This had caused the riots, and people were even turning against themselves from the paranoia. “How, in heaven’s name, did he get inside the barrier?” Dr. Cossack asked himself while rubbing his temples. From the look of things, the illusions had been plaguing the city for a while now, a lot before the deactivation of the barrier. Mysteryman was his creation, and he knew he didn’t have that kind of reach, or that kind of power. Well, at least he didn’t use to have. Only General Cutman knew what upgrades he could have gotten. The sole thought was enough to make him shiver.

“No time to wonder, doctor!” Rosa, the guerrilla leader, warned him while pointing out the front doors. “They’re coming!” a platoon of SA Joes marched towards the TT building.

“Let’s find the security systems! We have to activate the defences!” Kalinka went running towards the command center at the back of the lobby.

But before she could find the correct panel, the Joes opened fire at an unknown enemy, and soon, attacks from all sides made short work of the platoon. Relieved, the doctor came back outside to greet the Tyrants and a large number of RPD bots. More than a couple of hundred were already marching down the street, ready to go into the city.

“Naop!” Dr. Cossack greeted the TT leader. “How did it go? What took you so long?”

“We didn’t…” Astro paused, ashamed of himself. “We couldn’t defeat Mysteryman. And now, he’s probably here, along with the whole Scissor Army.”

“What are you talking about?” Kalinka came rushing to the scene. “Mystery was already here! Or al least that’s what it looks like.”

Astro took a moment to contemplate Tech City, and he deducted what was going on. “Look, I don’t know how that was possible, for him to be in two places at the same time. But I know he was at the Amazon, just as I know that he is here now. I can feel him.”

“Do you mean…” Dr. C seemed intrigued.

“Yes, apparently.” Astro admitted, referring to the fact that he was able to use telepathy to an extent, even as a robot master. “But I’m not nearly as capable of using my telepathy as I would be in my original form.”

“So what do we do?” Tengu man approached the Cossacks.

“I have to go get Pharaoh…” Astro was referring to his team’s Magicman, who also went by that name.

“No way!” Tengu’s jaw dropped.

“Junkman, Slashman!” Astro called out, while he approached the duo, who was now leading the RPD forces. “Can you do me a favor?”

“What is it Naop?” Junk responded.

“Please try to bring some order into this mess.” Astro explained. “I have to go somewhere, but when I get back, I’ll take Mystery off your hands. For now, just focus on crowd control, and try to find those SA bastards. I hope they didn’t get the chance to teleport more than a few hundred men inside the city.”

“We’ll do our best.” Junkman assured him.

With that, Astro went inside the TT building as fast a he could…

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

Later…

Inside Tech City, the duo of Junkman and Slashman were focused on taking control of the now riled crowd of people who managed to stay within the city. With the Scissor Army now invading the once peaceful city, the duo now had to take care of business.

”People, people. Please stay calm.” said Junkman as the duo reached the center of the city. “My partner and I will take care of the Scissor Army threat in here. So please don't loot or do anything illegal. OK?”

After saying that, Slashman found a group of SA Joes that were nearby. This group somehow got in with the attack on the city, but just as quickly as they got in, they were taken out by Slashman's claws and Junkman's Junk Staff. “That takes care of them. But, how many got in again?” asked Slashman.

”I believe that Naop told me that a platoon entered the city first, but then, when we got in, hundreds could have infiltrated as well. I have to think this was a splinter group of Joes. Still, we have to keep an eye out for anything strange. Even so, let's try to locate the Tyrants and see if anything is going on there.”

Junk and Slash ran back as fast as they could to find Tyrants in order to help them out with whatever they had been doing.

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

Unknown place.

Astroman teleported in, at what seemed to be a control room of sorts. The patterns on the wall almost resembled hieroglyphs, giving it an ancient look, but contrasted by the computers and technology. Astro walked up to the main panel, bellow a giant screen. With a few buttons pressed, the screen was turned on, and displayed a very weird ‘windows2 logo as a loading screen. The logo read “Windows Bleed”.

This was obviously routine for Astro, who waited until the operative system had loaded. It was nothing but a white screen displaying many separate windows. Some had content, and some were tagged as “unknown”. Several different icons, next to each window, indicated detailed information. Using a special keyboard, Astro chose a window that had a Magicman icon next to it. A menu appeared, and after a few selections, an additional window appeared, displaying the face of an annoyed Magicman.

“Naop? What the hell?” spoke the magician.

“Pharaoh! I need to transform! It’s an emergency.” Astro explained.

“I can’t transform you from here!” Magicman replied. “We have our own problems man. Can’t you find a way around it?”

“There’s no alternative, Tech City will be taken over if I don’t do it!” he insisted.

Magicman sighed with hopelessness. “Take care of things while I get back.” He told some people behind him (probably Odin and Sergal), while he typed a few commands into a strange device he was holding. In a matter of seconds, the communication ended, and Magic teleported in, the same way Astro had done. “This better be the fucking end of the world, Naop…” he muttered as he lifted his palms and pointed them at the TT leader.

“It will be, for Tech City, if I don’t stop it from happening. I need to go into the ethereal plane…” Astro explained to him.

“Frankly, I don’t care. You brought this on yourself when you insisted on getting involved.” Magicman kept a cold stare of disapproval.

Astro couldn’t help to feel angry at his stubborn team-mate, but right now he had other things to worry about. “Do it already!” a bright flash was seen, emanating from Astro’s body, and when it vanished, Astro was nowhere to be seen. There was only Naop, in his original form.

Immediately, he went over to the teleporters. “Are you coming or not?” he asked Magicman.

“Ha! That was a good one.” Magic chuckled. “You’re a big boy, so go clean your own mess.”

Naop kept looking at his ‘friend’ with murderous intent, while the teleportation beam engulfed him…

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

Tech City…

Just as Junkman and Slashman were about to head back, a crowd came running out of a nearby building, followed by a visibly disturbed individual with a chainsaw. A woman in the group stopped at the middle of the street and turned towards her pursuer. “Honey, it’s us! Don’t you recognize us?! The news said it was all an illusion, didn’t you hear them?!”

“Liar!” the man shouted while charging at the woman. “I won’t give in to your mind games, you are with the SA!” and before Junk or Slash could connect the dots and figure what the hell was going on, they watched the man slaughter his own wife, who screamed horribly, then he went after the rest of the people. Some kids started crying loudly, probably the couple’s children.

And also before they could intervene, a gust of wind sent the crazed man flying into a nearby building. Dropping to the floor, the man fell unconscious. The duo looked up to see Tenguman hovering above them. “That is happening all over town.” He told them. “You just took care of the first SA platoon.”

“So?” Slashman asked, still a bit shocked from the scene.

“You see, the barrier protecting this city is no ordinary barrier. For us to come in, we had to deactivate it for several seconds. And that was enough time for the SA to get in as well, in large quantities. The RPD bots we teleported along us are probably dealing with them already. But they won’t stand a chance if we don’t help them.”

“And what’s with the people? Why are they acting murderous?” Junkman asked this time.

“It’s Mysteryman! Somehow, he created a collective illusion, even before we got here.” Groundman explained this time. “But there’s no point in trying to convince the brainwashed population. Let’s just finish off the SA before they do further damage to the city, and let’s find Mystery in order to stop this madness.”

Junkman and Slashman agreed, and tagged along the trio of Tyrants. They were aiming for the city’s outskirts, where news reports indicated the presence of ‘real’ SA soldiers. The place wasn’t hard to locate, since the RPD was already battling them. The gunfire and explosions were underway, and a few building had already been demolished.

“Where do we even start?” Slashman questioned when he witnessed the ensuing chaos.

“Just fight!” Tengu said, and launched himself upwards in order to get a better look at the overall situation.

“Look, support your men.” Groundman suggested, don’t let them get killed so easily. Everybody jumped into the fray, battling whoever stood in their way, and aiding the RPD.

Tengu was busy above, as if he kept looking for something. And after a while, something caught his attention. A large number of Joes was marching down a nearby street, trying to get past the battle zone and into the city. Amidst the platoons, Mysteryman levitated ominously, guiding the army. Tengu spotted a partially damaged building, and saw the opportunity to crush Mystery and his men.

Directing his attacks at the damaged portion of the skyscraper, he managed to bring down its upper half, crushing everything and everyone below. Mystery included. Or so he thought…

Contemplating his work, Tengu paid no mind to the shouts from below, until he noticed something disturbing emerge from beneath the pile of rubble that was now the skyscraper. The dust hadn’t even cleared completely.

“What the hell are you doing?!” Tengu turned around to see Junkman yell at him from a couple of blocks back. Then he noticed…

The building had fallen on the SA. That much was certain. But it had also crushed some RPD bots, and even worse yet, Groundman and Pirateman. Pirate, inside the SF unit, was climbing the pile of rubble, trying to get out of that mess, but when he finally reached the top, he fell to the ground, unconscious.

This hit Tengu like a bucket of cold water. Mysteryman had tricked him into believing there was nothing but SA Joes and himself down there, when it fact, it was his own comrades. “Wragh!!! Damn you!!!” Tengu shouted with all his might. In response, the laughter of Mysteryman was heard. “Show yourself, you coward!” A strange aura surrounded Tengu. It looked like little gusts of wind, circling his body in a random fashion.

“No need to, my friend.” Mystery’s disembodied voice responded. “I have a bigger fish to fry.”

“Funny to hear you mention fish, fish-bowl head.” Tengu turned around to see Naop, in his original form, talking at the air with a blank stare. “But I’m sorry to disappoint you. You won’t find what’s you’re looking for.”

“What?!” Mystery exclaimed.

“You see…” Naop started explaining. “The barrier’s generator isn’t here. You will never find it. You are trapped here, for all I care.”

This was also a shocker for Mystery, who didn’t speak a single word this time. And he didn’t need to. At blinding speed, Naop fired his trademark “Psychic Blast” at what seemed to be empty space between Tengu and himself.

“What the…?” Tengu couldn’t believe his eyes. Mystery had been floating behind him, concealing his presence with an illusion. But Naop knew where he was, even though he didn’t really see Mystery either.

“Argh…” Mystery was taken off guard. The blast had ripped his arm clean off. “You’ll pay for this!” and he vanished in a cloud of smoke.

“No point in doing that!” Naop threatened. “Listen, I have a proposal for you.”

There was silence for a few seconds, and then, Naop continued. “Meet me at the rooftop of our building. We will fight there, and the winner will take the city.”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Tengu was exasperated. “He just made me kill Kusa and Aku!!!” Tengu’s ‘air aura’ grew wilder.

“This is the only way!” Naop responded. “What do you say?” he directed his question at the air.

“No, this must be a trick!” Mystery’s disembodied voice was heard.

“I’m not like you and you know it. And you know you want this, so follow me!” Naop said, ready to take off.

“Wait!” Tengu grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Help me out, Kusa…” Naop could feel his friend trembling. He turned around to put his own hand on Tengu’s shoulder. “Take out your anger by wiping our city off the SA scum.”

Tengu’s face was shrouded in guilt. He lowered his head and let his friend go. Naop disappeared in the distance, towards the TT building.

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

At the TT building…

The people at the entrance, watched as Naop came flying back, but instead of joining them, he landed on the roof. Then, they saw Mysteryman do the same. Dr. Cossack headed into the building immediately, only to have Kalinka dragging him by his lab coat, trying to prevent him from going any further. “Don’t go!” The girl pleaded his father.

Dr. Cossack turned around to see his daughter in the eye, she was right. There was nothing he could do. But suddenly, Jay and Bob, who had been paying attention to the news as if it was a horror film, called out for them.

The Cossacks looked at the screen. The news person was stating that all the illusions had ceased, something had probably happened to Mysteryman. Without loosing another second, the doctor headed for the elevators once again. “No, father!” Kalinka shouted.

“I won’t go alone, Kalinka. Everybody, follow me!” the doctor instructed. Jay, Bob, Drew, and all the guerrilla people did as they were told.

Once they reached the top floor, they were forced to take the stairs to get to the roof. They opened the door, and ventured outside, only to find Naop sitting in mid air in a lotus pose, with Mystery directly in front of him, levitating. Everyone but the doctor was baffled by the scene.

“How come they aren’t at each other’s throats?” Asked Jay.

“They are.” The doctor stated. “They are fighting with their minds.”

Sceptical, the drug dealer approached Naop, and was about to poke him, when the doctor stopped him. “Don’t touch him.”

“Why?!” Jay was confused.

“You might disrupt him. He is into a deep state of meditation.”

“So what can we do to help?” Drew asked.

“There’s nothing we can do. Let’s just wait and hope that Naop awakens victorious.” The doctor knew the drill, they couldn’t interfere.

“We’ll be ready, in case it’s the other way around.” Rosa said, ordering her men to surround Mystery and point all of their remaining guns at him.

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

Inside Mysteryman’s mind space…

The terrain was bland. Arid ground as far as the eye could see, shadowed by a sinister and purple-colored sky. The clouds above the two figures raged on, like the majestic waves of a tempestuous sea.

“It ends here, Mystery.” Naop threatened.

“My thoughts exactly, dear Naop.” Mystery chuckled. “May the best psychic win!” and with that, Mystery changed color, and his legs merged with the ground. It was as if he was made of the same rocky material. He started motioning his arms, seemingly commanding some unseen force. Several rocks pillars emerged from the ground and started moving freely around Naop as if they were tendrils.

Naop braced himself, and the stone tendrils impacted him. They kept on lashing out at him, like whips. Producing clouds of dust and dirt as they did.

Once the wind started clearing the dust, Mystery, now back in his colourful attire, noticed that Naop was nowhere to be found. “There’s no point in hiding, I can feel you too!” Mystery warned him.

“I didn’t intend to hide!” Naop’s voice was heard from all around Mystery, but he couldn’t seem to find the source.

Several seconds passed, without a trace of Naop’s presence. But soon, Mystery felt his whole body ache, and he started convoluting. Then, he understood what had happened…

Naop had taken on the form of dust, and had gotten inside of him thought his joints and such. “Bastard!” Mystery regretted being so careless.

The convulsions got worse, and after a lot of struggling, Mystery was blown to pieces from the inside out…

But this was not the end. Naop condensed into his regular self again, knowing that the battle was far from over. Mysteryman’s pieces had started merging with the ground, until they were no longer visible.

“Glad you could join us, boy.” A hissing voice was heard from behind Naop, who immediately turned around, recognizing the voice that sent a shiver down his spine.

“I invited a few of your friends to our party, I hope you don’t mind!” the cheerful voice of Mysteryman was heard from the distance.

Naop kept trying to convince himself that it was all an illusion, but he also knew that in the ethereal plane, all illusions were as real as anything else. And as much as he hated the idea, he would have to fight the figure in front of him. But he was pulled back just as he was about to launch himself forward, to try and hit the guy (who by the way, looked like an uglier version of himself, hunched, and dressed with noting but a loincloth).

Two more people were now holding on to his wrists and were lifting him above ground level. “Good to see you again, comrade!” one of them spoke.

“Petrov?” Naop’s words escaped his lips, with an apparent tint of hatred.

“What? I don’t get a proper greeting?” spoke the other person, grabbing on to his left arm.

“Screw you!” Naop told the demon-looking guy. His face was full of piercings with rings and all sorts of metallic objects. Also, a couple of small horns protruded from his forehead.

Soon, another pair of hands was latching on to him, this time, from his legs. Naop looked down to see who it was, and the faces were familiar as well. A dragon-looking beast and what seemed to be an ordinary kid were tugging at him. They too greeted him with a sinister smile.

Naop tried desperately to get out of their grip, but nothing seemed to work. Then, the first guy to appear, the one that resembled him, warped behind Naop and grabbed him by the head, pulling it back so he could see what was coming.

“Say your prayers, psychic!” Mysteryman was charging at him, with his fist full of god knows what type of energy, while all his enemies from the past and future were holding him down. Naop’s gut told him it wasn’t good news…

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

“What the hell is that?!” Slashman pointed at the gust of wind that was systematically obliterating the SA, tearing right through them as he passed by. The silhouette was hard to recognize, since it was moving like lightning from one place to the other, bringing hell to the SA troops.

“It must be Tenguman…” Junkman deducted.

“And when did he get so strong? Who upgraded him all of a sudden?” Slash couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Beats me…” Junk walked forward, into the now calm intersection, where a sea of dismembered SA troops laid. The cause for their destruction had moved on into an adjacent street, where more troops awaited.

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

Before his fist could connect, Mysteryman felt an immense presence preventing him, both mentally and physically from delivering his blow. Likewise, all of his summoned helpers were frozen in fear, allowing Naop to get out of harm’s way.

“It’s funny, Mystery, how you didn’t summon a copy of myself…” the presence spoke.

Mystery was too scared to turn around, but his anger and resentment finally got the best of him, so he did turn. Before him was Neop, the only man he hated more than Naop and his Tech Tyrants. The dark ‘recolor’ of Naop was there, in the flesh. There was no way Naop could be tricking him, the master of illusions. This was no copy, it was the real deal.

“Bah, I will defeat you both!” Mystery threatened.

“You’ve been a bad boy, Mystery. It’s time you get back on the right track…” rising a single hand, Neop used an outstanding telekinetic push to blast Mystery towards Naop, while dealing lots of unavoidable damage at the same time. “Finish this already, Naop! It has lasted long enough.”

“Thanks.” Was all that Naop was able to mutter, before Neop disappeared. He then proceeded to grab Mystery by the collar with his left hand and lift him off the ground. The broken Mysteryman was too exhausted, both mentally and emotionally, to do anything. Neop’s power overwhelmed him. Once again, he had been ridiculed.

After taking a while to focus, by closing his eyes, Naop raised his right hand as it started glowing. Out of Mystery, a stream of purple-colored energy started flowing into Naop’s hand, as if he was absorbing something out of him.

After several seconds, the lifeless body of Mysteryman fell to the ground. The battle was over.

As Mystery hit the ground, the crystal bowl covering his head was shattered completely. And although he was on his back, Naop was horrified by what he saw… or what he thought he had seen. With Mystery done for, Naop was forced out of his mind space, and out of the ethereal plane…

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

At the rooftop, the people gathered there watched as the bodies of Mystery and Naop fell. Dr. Cossack caught Naop, but Mystery hit the ground with a loud thud. “Thanks…” Naop managed to say, between all his panting. He kneeled on the ground and began crawling towards Mystery. There was something he NEEDED to check…

Puzzled, everybody observed Naop get over to Mystery’s body, turning him on his back, and shattering his bowl helmet with his own fist. The usual purple ooze started coming out of it, and Naop started peeling off the rest of the bowl, like a boiled egg. When the bowl was all gone, Naop’s pupils were dilated. He couldn’t believe his eyes…

Everybody came near, to witness the scene: beneath Mystery’s helmet, a familiar face awaited. He looked exactly like Naop. Dr. Cossack grabbed Naop by the shoulders, as tightly as he could, while he whispered some words into his ear. “I’m sorry, son.”

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

Half an hour later…


With Tenguman tearing apart the remaining SA forces, it almost seemed that Junk and Slash's work was done. But, before heading to the building, Junk wanted to do one thing.

Ever since the ambush in Nonsteropolis, Junk wasn't sure what to do about honoring his fallen friends. Then Slash told him that he could stand on the rooftop and do something.

”Yeah, I could do something like that Slash. It's just so hard to be happy when everyone you know is gone and it's not like they were fatal wounds.”

Slash nodded his head and pointed up there. “Just go, big guy. The least you can do is honor them for doing what they did. We all had to make sacrifices throughout this entire war and that was one of them.”

So, after thinking about what to do, Junk headed to the rooftop of the TT building and ran into Astro - back into his robot master self - who had dealt with Mysteryman and defeated the illusion master. “Thanks so much for your help, Naop.” said Junk. “You and your Tyrants were a massive help in this battle. I don't know how much it meant to me and for Slash to have your skills in battle. Now, if you excuse me...”

”How come, Junk?” said Astro.

”I need to... do something that should have been done long ago.”

So, Junkman stood on the rooftop of the Tyrants building as the sun set on the city. He started to look out into the horizon and asked for Slash, who followed Junk, to stand by him. “Slash: You and I are the last members standing of Drastic Measures. Our friends died in honor to defend this world from the Scissor Army and all it stood for. The least I can do is honor my... No, honor our fallen friends.” Then Junk formed his staff and placed it on the ground. He then went down to one knee as to pray. “This is for you, my friends. May god lead you in the afterlife. Amen.”

”That was beautiful, Junk.” said Slashman.

”Heh. I know... I never was good at coming up at anything good for a tearful goodbye.” So, the two stood on the rooftop as the last rays of sunlight fell from the sky. They were the last two standing in this war, but they have a bond that was thicker then anything man could ever make, and that was the bond of being friends... Being members of the Drastic Measures.

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

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