CHAPTER 12

"Ahhh...come on you pathetic scrap! I barely laid a finger on you!" Red smiled evilly being pleased with himself and how easily he defeated his twin. Being the evil sunofabitch that he was he kicked Iceman's motionless body across the field several feet. Red cackled as he lifted his boot and punted the Blue Eskimo about 20 some feet and into another tree. Red was almost having too much fun with this as he laughed the most hideous, vile, and insane laugh that could put Dr. Wily's to shame.

Iceman now lay face down as if nothing had happened. But Red still wasn't done with his play toy. "Oh boy...now let's see what happens when I do....THIS!!" Red's eyes started to glow as a weird aura appeared around Iceman's body. Using his telekinetic powers, the Evil being raised Iceman high into the air between two sets of trees. After floating in the air for several seconds Iceman's body started spinning rapidly and then suddenly was forced head first into one of the trees. Then back at the tree on the other side. Iceman then became a pinball as he ricocheted off trees and then was slammed into the ground.

"AGAIN!!" Red mocked openly as he repeated the process. As much fun as the reddish duplicate was having, Iceman's unconscious state forced him not to feel any sort of damage that was being caused. However, if this kept up, there'd be hardly anything left of the robot to call 'Iceman'

Iceman lay in a vast white world full of dreams and lost souls. Lost from reality Iceman starts to breathe slowly until his chest starts moving to normal paces. Whispering voices soon are heard as the whiteness around the Eskimo starts to take form. The voices at first, could barley be made out. Upon further listening the voices started to become clearer and they soon were able to tell them apart from one another.

"Is he going to be okay?" A voice asked. Several others could be heard in the background.

"He's taken a lot of damage, I donno if we can save him." Another voice sprouted out.

Several figures suddenly appeared. Shadows at first. Four of them. They floated around the white field and soon circled the slowly breathing Iceman, who apparently was barley holding on to life itself. The shadows surrounded the Eskimo and held out their hands and joined into one.

"He's a fighter, I should know. I worked with him after all." Rob, the original Slash Beast appeared from the shadows. Then the other figures suddenly became recognizable. It was the remnants of the X-Force. Spirits of the once proud team. The whole team's timeline was destroyed by Red, and know they only live as visions in Iceman's dream. However, this was a special dream.

"Poor, poor little guy. So much at stake. It's all up to him." Cyber Peacock put a firm, soft hand on Iceman's forehead.

"So, can we do it? Give him our powers?" Slash Beast asked with worry.

"Yeah, and the powers of our old Comrades, Ben, Shadow Blade, Forte-Chan and Gary's Split Mushroom identity. Even though they still 'live' in other forms in the year 20XX, their power still lies in here with us." Frost Walrus spoke.

"It won't be enough Rob." Storm Owl spoke again looking down upon Iceman's body. "Red is to powerful. We are going to have to give him the power of our Perfect forms as well."

"But with that much power...it could..." Frost Walrus tried to finish his sentence but was cut off by Rob.

"Overwhelm him. I know, but it's our only choice. Plus I have full confidence in the little guy." Rob smiled.

"He's got qualities of a true warrior. We owe him greatly." Tobias, the resident Storm Owl sputtered.

That was all that was said as the four figures merged their power into one. The Combined might of the once powerful X-Force, and their super Perfect forums. The X-Force Spirits suddenly went back to the shadows as a weird light suddenly appeared over Iceman. The light was warm. It was calm. Peaceful. Healing. Iceman's eyes blinked suddenly, but he still did not awaken.

"Go Iceman! You now have our strength. Go! Wake up now!" One of the X-Force stated. However Iceman did not budge. Was the damage to great?

"Get up Gary! The world is counting on you! Get on your feet!" Another voice spoke.

Gary however didn't move a muscle.

Rob this time was the one who spoke. "GET UP NOW, OR I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF GARY! GET UPPPPPPPP!

The voice echoed slowly away as Gary regained conscience and sat upright suddenly as Red was about to deliver another strong kick to his front side. Gary out of some strange instinct caught Red's foot and ripped it straight out of evil one's socket. A surprised Red had little time to see Iceman's fist implanted straight into his face. And unlike the last time Red was punched, this time...it hurt.

Red was sent spinning backwards as a cloud of dust ran up in the tracks that were made in the ground as Red slid back. The powerful droid however caught his footing and stood upright, even with one foot missing. "That hurt....you pathetic weasel. Where did you get that strength?" Red coughed up a small amount of glowing white coolant which was oddly different than ordinary robots. When the coolant hit the ground, it burned a whole right through it like acid.

Gary on the other hand was shocked himself as he got to his feet with very little difficulty. His wounds fully healed, dents disappeared. He also felt a power that he never felt before. It was rushing through his veins. Gary looked at his new trophy that sat comfortably in his hand. He even tossed it a few feet into the air and caught it. "Well, what do we have here....need a hand....errr foot Red?" Gary smirked happily. He wasn't sure where he got this sudden power boost, but he was very happy to receive it.

"Don't get to cocky their Blue. It doesn't matter how much energy you absorb. I'll just try nastier tricks." Red's eyes glowed again as Red's foot reformed back into place. At the same time the same aura surrounded Gary's body. Gary had little time to figure out what it was when he was already lifted straight into the air. Again Gary was smashed into the first object Red could find. This time a ragged boulder. Gary cried out in agony as Red crashed him into a nearby tree. Red again was having a fun time using Iceman as a battling ram.

Victory was shot out though when Gary used Cyber Peacock's teleporting power to escape Red's hold on him. This surprised both Gary and Red as Gary appeared some distance away from Red.

"Got some new tricks yourself eh?" Red smirked to an already disappearing Iceman. "What the!?" Red mumbled as he was suddenly kicked in the back by Iceman using Magma Dragoon's Fire Kick. The kick caught Red by surprise, but only for a moment as he sprung backwards and gave Iceman a left hook to the stomach.

The both of them reared back in pain. Red couldn't believe that Iceman was so strong. How was it possible? Well now it was time to take the kiddy gloves off. Red roared out as a strange vapor surrounded him.

"Now the real battle starts..." Red coughed up strange balls of black clouds and a strange creepy feeling crept over Iceman. A sweat drop dripped down from the side of his face. "The real battle....shit. I don't like the sound of this." Gary stood ready for whatever Red was bringing out.

Only this time, he really was bringing something out. Four black clouds started floating around Red. After a few seconds they escaped Red's shield of eerie vapor and started to take form. It looked as though Red was really putting a lot of energy into this so called 'move'. Iceman took note that Red might be weakened after this attack. But what was this attack? What was he calling upon?

"Souls of the dead! I call upon thee!" Red's voice suddenly spoke as Gary jumped in surprise to hear his voice echo across the field. "I offer you my power so you shall live again! Live again!" Red finally concluded.

The black clouds, now bigger than before started to mutate and take shape. Gary was almost afraid to see what evil beings Red had brought to life. What did he do? The forms in front of him didn't look to friendly. And finally after moments of mutating and changing, he caught eye of his biggest fear yet.

The four clouds formed into hideous mutations of Pulzar Beetle, Thunderman, Torchman, and Double. Of which died at one point or another. Torchman died in the big temporal explosion in the Antarctic when the Mechanical Maniacs were in the other Dimension. Double died when the X-Force’s time line collapsed. Pulzar and Thunderman were just recent deaths.

Red was the eater of souls. It made sense now that he could conquer up the dead and revive them in some hideous transformation. But how powerful could they be? The same as the originals? If so, Gary has his work cut out for him.

"Destroy him!" Red commanded immediately as the four zombies surrounded Iceman quickly. Their bodies covered in black, body limbs larger than others, glowing red eyes. It was a scary sight indeed. The Zombie of Pulzar was the first to attack as he nabbed his claw into Gary and sent him rolling into Torchman Zombie's clutches. Torchman grasped Gary from behind and held him still for the upcoming Thunderman Zombie who in turn sent a surge of electricity through his body.

In Pain Gary teleported from Zombie Torchman's grasp and appeared above Red. Red looked up just in time to see a big blue boot to the face. Gary laughed. "You may have some new 'friends', but my fight is with you!!" Gary roared.

"To bad." Red grabbed Gary's foot and tossed him back into the zombie ring. Gary landed roughly by Pulzar who lifted its foot and stomped Gary into the ground. Zombie Pulzar put all his weight into the crushing foot and attempted to squeeze the Eskimo into Yorkshire pudding. For a second it looked like the battle was won, until the large beetle was suddenly lifted into the air by Iceman.

"Wow...All this strength!" Gary murmured with happiness as he tossed the black beetle into Zombie Thunderman. With the combined might of the X-Force's strength, it seemed Gary's power was limitless. Without letting his enemy catch a breather Gary stomped his own foot into the ground while facing Zombie Torchman.

Ice Pillars sprouted up quickly and made their way with amazing strength towards the approaching fired up zombie. The Ice Pillars skewered right through Zombie Torchman, and he split in half. Soon his body evaporated into clouds. Gary started to enjoy this. One down, three to go.

Zombie Double blasted Gary from behind which sent him sprouting forwards a ways. A disgruntled Gary turned back and shot out a beam of icy blue lasers which connected quickly to Zombie Double and froze him in a case of ice.

Red stood back from the fight a ways to replenish whatever energy he used to conquer up his new minions. It took some power to use the attack, and Red was getting quite frustrated on how easily the new powered up Iceman was bringing down his nasty weapons. The Zombiefied versions of Pulzar, Thunderman, Torchman, and Double were supposed to be as strong if not stronger than the originals themselves. And Red was incredibly surprised on how Iceman could take on all four of them at the same time. That must have been some power lift.

Zombie Pulzar was hurled again into Zombie Thunderman as he was powering up an electric attack. Interrupted by the weight of Pulzar, Zombie Thunderman ended up electrocuting himself and Zombie Pulzar. And unlike the real Pulzar, Zombie Pulzar was damaged by the attack. Satisfied with the outcome of that move Gary turned his attentions back to Zombie Double which unfortunately had already broke free from his Icy Prison. The zombiefied version of Double got into a firing frenzy as he simply sat back and unloaded a heavy burn of plasma blasts at the retreating Eskimo.

Gary found himself running, ducking, and jumping through shots of super heated plasma blasts. This was getting ridiculous. Gary barley had time to fire his own shots by doing all this dodging. Gary groaned then snapped into an idea. Gary noticed that he was using X-Force attacks before. Is this where he got the sudden power? From the old X-Force? But aren't they dead? The little guy didn't have time to think about how the X-Force could physically give him their strength. He had other worries at the moment.

If Gary's theory proved correct then he could create a copy of himself using Split Mushroom's Soul Body. And his theory was correct. An exact duplicate of Iceman appeared before him. Gary grinned at the awesomeness of this. The Soul Body Iceman stuck out its tongue at the Zombie Double and gave him the middle finger. Steam came pouring out from the Double Clone as he fired up a huge cannon shot and pulverized the Iceman Clone. However this distraction was enough for Iceman to come up from behind and rip Zombie Double into pieces with Slash Beast's Twin Slasher. Zombie Double vanished into a whip of clouds shortly after the attack.

It was then something bad happened to Gary. A zip of unstable power zipped through Gary's body and the Blue Eskimo dropped to his knees in pain. What was going on? This was totally unexpected. Neither did Gary know that the power given to him was way too much for his little body to withstand. He was very unstable, and if he wasn't careful of what power he was releasing, his body would be overwhelmed and self-destruct. The agonizing pain passed as fast as it came, but just as Gary was to recover, Zombie Pulzar clutched the Eskimo into its claws. Gary groaned at the crushing power of the monsters pincers. Even worse were the electric jolts being sent to the claws by Zombie Thunderman, who was still half crushed by Pulzar's weight.

The pain was dreadful, but Gary quickly spawned a Blueish white Saber which was a combination of Frost Walrus and Cyber Peacock and slashed right through Zombie Pulzar's Claws. Before Gary hit the ground he did a back stab and full circle slash that left Pulzar in pieces of his own. As Gary landed smoothly to the ground, Zombie Pulzar faded into the black shadows as clouds.

Zombie Thunderman powered up his fists and sent an electric spray at the Blue Warrior. Only to have them entirely blocked by Gary's new Ice Saber which he used moments before to defeat Pulzar's dreaded Zombie. Zombie Thunderman had limited time to compute what attack to use next to subdue Icy as he too felt the Ice Saber crackle right through is body. Zombie Thunderman instantly froze as he fell into pieces and soon evaporated into dust. But before he was gone, Gary swore on his death list that he heard Thunderman say in Edward's calm voice.

"Go get 'im, Gary"

The Zombies were gone. And unfortunately so was Red. Gary smacked himself over the head. He didn't pay any attention to the main baddie of the battle. Red used the distractions of the clones to hide himself. Red now was on the attack advantage. There was no telling what other horrors he can unleash now.

Then it happened again. A pain in his right arm where he held his new found Saber started to cramp dramatically. Again Gary couldn't describe where it was coming from, but it really hurt. It felt as though the power inside of him was trying to break out. As if it was trapped inside a small enclosed area. It wanted to break free. And Gary's little body was holding it in. Gary cried out in pain again only this time was from Red. Red appeared from a black portal and slashed into Ice's backside with a Fire Saber of his own.

Gary fell forward onto the ground. Saber flying from his hands. He could hear Red cackling that ugly, disgusting laugh from behind. Gary tried to rise to his feet, but Red's foot was holding him down.

"You know Blue, you put up one hell of a fight. I can't say that I didn't enjoy your little spur of resistance. It was quite....." Red pause for a minute as if thinking of the right word. "Entertaining." He concluded. Again Red started laughing uncontrollably and Iceman started to get annoyed by it. Why was it that evil villains always felt the need to laugh so loudly and stupidly.

"What the heck is so damn funny now!" Iceman growled.

Gary again tried to get up but felt Red's foot pushing him down again. "But unfortunately all that work, was in vein Blue. Good bye." Red lifted his Red glowing fire saber into the air and was ready to slash right through Gary's armored body. But he soon found out that Gary still had his teleportation powers and vanished just before Red sliced into his body. Red's saber cut into the field and small flames burst from the saber’s effects, But Gary was gone.

"Damn it!! No more of this crap!" Red swore with feet stamping angrily into the ground. Seconds later Gary appeared standing over his own Blue Saber and quickly brought it to his hands. Gary slashed the Saber in a small pose with little ice crystals glittering in its wake.

"How good are you at Sword Fighting Reddo?" Gary asked his reddish double.

"Better than you..." He groaned in frustration at Iceman as he charged full throttle towards Iceman's waiting Saber. The two Sabers clashed and small bursts of fire and ice came whistling off them every time they collided. Red was good at sword fighting by surprise to Iceman. It seemed the both of them were about equal in strength and skill. Gary was fairly impressed, but Red was annoyed. He didn't think that Iceman would be such a formidable opponent. Red had plans, and he didn't expect anyone to get in his way.

Red slashed upwards towards Iceman's noggin, in hopes to slash off his very head, but Gary blocked the move with blue light reflecting off his face. Red's irritated face rivaled that of Iceman's peaceful one. The two exchanged blows for quite sometime until Iceman's worst fear happened. The pain returned. The power inside him was too much for him to bear. Again Ice fell to his knees in pain. Lowering his defenses.

Red slashed down towards Gary, but Gary used what's left of his strength at the moment to block Red's oncoming tactic. Gary slashed into Red's body, but only to find that the Iced blade shattered upon Red's armor. All of Iceman's strength has apparently left him open for a few seconds.

Red slashed again into Iceman's left hand, Gary could feel his hand being severed clean from the rest of his body. Gritting his teeth slowly to numb the pain, Gary watched as his limb hit the floor, clattering next to his feet.

Energy suddenly welled in Gary's body and in a great show of concentration to break through the pain, Gary forced his body to change. Where his hand was once now was plasma cannon, but it wasn't merely an ordinary cannon, this cannon was linked to the great power of the X-Forces combined and culminated powers. Gary's systems were overloading from the surge of power this united force was granting him, and the little Eskimo knew that this was the best way to alleviate the pain, and stop Red.

Raising his new plasma cannon, Gary focused the energy into a single gigantic blast. A blast so immense and powerful that there was little before to that it could be compared to. And this blast hit Red full on, it had happened so fast that Red had no time to create a counter-measure and the only thing he could do was roar in what Gary hoped was pain and anguish. This was a relief for normally Red's voice was so soft and passive you couldn't tell if he WAS feeling pain.

Gary's strength and determination returned to him shortly after he saw the blast connect, however he put much into the shot and was feeling drained, but it was worth it. Quickly getting to his feet Gary again noticed his missing hand. It would put him at a distinct disadvantage, he knew. Daring a glance in Red's direction, Gary noticed plumes of smoke, and destruction. Not even the forest surrounding their battle survived, nothing but shattered bits and charred bark remained along with a few rocks and stones. It looked a lot like the hole where Pulzar's comet had hit. Gary couldn't believe that one blast, however much power he put into it, could do such damage.

It was then Gary saw a flash of light coming from the smoke. He didn't know what to make of it at first, but then found out shortly that Red was up to something else. Without much hesitation Gary ran towards the source of the problem. He couldn't see much with all the smoke near by but soon enough he was able to make out Red working on some other tactic.

"You're...just in time Blue!" Red muttered weakly as he drew energy from his body. "I'm afraid that you've wasted your time here....trying to stop me." Red started blabbing. He tried to muster a wicked laugh, but ended up choking on his own acidic blood.

"What are you mouthing off about Red! Spill it!" Gary yelled loudly.

"Remember how the X-Force was destroyed?" Red sputtered then continued. "Hah! That's true power there..." Red again started to cough. Red's body was badly dented. The blast must have badly weakened the god-like robot. Ice cracked a small smile at it, but noticed that Red still had one final tactic planned. Could Gary stop it...?

Red's glowing essence got stronger as the light shining above him got deeply brighter. The entire area around them started to flash about wildly. Gary had a bad feeling. What was he gonna do. Surly he wasn't going to. Red's next words confirmed it alright.

"Neo Dragoon really didn't destroy their timeline....it was me the whole time. I fueled him with enough strength!" Red laughed hoarsely again as if he didn't care what he sounded like. "Now...it seems that you've screwed my plans for this world...so if I can't have it! Nobody can!" Red roared loudly as the light became so bright that Gary had to nearly shield his eyes.

Red was going to destroy this timeline as well. Gary could not believe it. How could he stop him from doing this?

"Don't even try to stop this move Blue! not even the combined effort of the X-Force stopped this move from wreaking their timeline!" Red mocked. Red was weak from the blast, but he still had enough strength to destroy reality? Man...Red really was powerful. Red started to chant some sort of scroll spell and Gary knew then that he had to act quickly.

The Eskimo attempted to teleport behind Red in order to catch him off guard, but Red was on him. Red's body surrounded in a fire Aura and as Iceman attempted to punch his backside, he only got burned. Gary mouthed in anger and tried another approach. Red's chanting continued and the light surrounding the battered forest got thicker. Gary could feel the entire area shaking.

Iceman came charging Red from the front side with mallet by his side. Red however shot off a blast to destroy it. Only to find out that it was only a clone. Gary using his Soul Body again came from the left side and fired off Frost Walrus's Ice Towers to skewer Red's Aura. The Ice Towers shattered harmlessly off the Aura. Red's chanting continued.

Gary shot off his trademark Ice Slashers. They quickly faded into nothing off the Aura. Gary then tried Jet Stingray’s Ground Hunter. Again, nothing. Iceman was getting very worried. Something had to get passed that annoying Aura. Red prepared himself for just the right moment. But Gary had to keep trying. The very existence of this time-line counted on it!

The Blue Eskimo ignited his feet on fire and tried a Magma Dragoon kick onto the Aura. Unfortunately the fire fueled the Aura even more and knocked Gary back a few ways. "Okay...fire doesn't work. Ice melts right off. Let's try Water then!" Gary thought through the elements one at a time as he tried a Jet Stingray water-based attack. The Water fizzled and evaporated over the Aura. Gary couldn't believe his eyes.

"Alright...Electricity then." Gary used Web Spiders Lightning Web to snare the burning Aura. It snapped around it, but seemed to have no effect. Soon the Web died out and Red still continued his chanting.

Gary fell to the ground in tears. "I can't stop him....I've....I’ve failed..." Gary lowered his head in shame. He didn't know what else to do. Nothing in his power could stop Red now. Nothing.

Red snickered as he watched Iceman cry. He had won. Nothing Gary had could stop him now. Red was almost done with his chanting. Just a bit more to go and he could start over again in the past.

Gary was too weak to fire out another Mega-Blast like he did before. The only way to let that power out again was to....

Wait...

Gary thought for a minute, then thought of other possible solutions. Not being able to think of any Gary finally concluded with himself.

"There's no other way..." He said quietly. If he was to attempt such a feet, he needed to act now. It would take a few to access all the power he had left. He knew he just barley had enough. But unfortunately using all this power with his instable body would take great risk. And more than likely something terrible would happen.

It would cost him terribly. But there was no other way. Red had to be stopped. The world wouldn't survive if he was ruler. Gary knew what he had to do. The little Eskimo clenched his hands together and gritted his teeth. His body started to vibrate. Slowly at first, then faster and faster. All the power in his body started to cause pain again. Gary clenched in agony. The power wants out now. And Gary was going to let it out. Somehow.

He knew if he could focus all this raw power and trap it into some sort of shield or vortex, everything inside would be destroyed. So he had to make sure that Red was inside this....shield. He had to get closer. A light bulb flashed in his head suddenly. Using the Soul Body, he made multiple versions of himself which attacked Red with various attacks. Red grinned nastily. It seemed his copy was getting desperate. Not so.

Gary needed the cover.

Using the teleportation technique, he was able to get behind his nemesis. Clouds gathered overhead as Red's spell grew closer to completion. Red spotted him and did nothing, thinking no matter what Ice could do was futile. Smiling he continued his ritual. Gary could see whiteness sprouting from slightly above his predecessor’s head. The whiteness. The same whiteness that had destroyed 21XX, the X-Force's timeline.

Red thought he saw desperation in Gary's eyes.

He was mistaken it was resignation.

Gary's Soul Bodies were no longer needed now as they winked out of existence one by one.

Ice didn't know how to channel his power into a vortex of his own, but he didn't have to. He had a vortex right here. Red's own reality-destroying whiteness. He channeled his own power into the whiteness and battled Red for control. Red's eyes widened and his chant stopped in mid sentence. He hadn't expected this.

With his concentration lost Ice was in control of this massive vortex of power. He added his own power into it controlling it beyond his own experience. Was it the X-Force who guided him? Was it Edward's lost soul giving him a final helping hand? Or perhaps he was reading some part of Red's own experience through their mental link? It didn't really matter.

Red, still in his fiery shield whirled about. "What do you think you're doing!?" shouted the madman. He fought back by pouring his own energy into the vortex. The whiteness grew, but it was not of Red's doing. Ice was in total control for now the X-Force's power was added to the last of Red's. It was too powerful for the demon to take back.

In desperation Red launched himself at Blue! He had poured the last of his great power into that, but he still had some left. He was planning to return to a previous timeline least the whiteness consume him as well, but now he focused all his hate into destroying his damned successor.

"I'll kill you!" shouted the evil-eyed Eskimo.

Ice gave no response.

"You bastard! How can you control that!? It took me decades - centuries! - to perfect that technique! How can you do it!?" Red clawed at Gary's eyes, but Gary was too focused to lose control this easily. Maintaining the vortex was too important to lose control now. In the end it required very little knowledge to control the vortex Red had started. All he had to really do was narrow it a bit.

Red continued to scratch away at Ice's skin when Ice reacted. Diverting a bit of concentration he sent the vortex into both of them bringing mountains of pain upon both Light robots. Red reared back from Iceman as the pain was deathly overwhelming. What had the blue Eskimo done? How did he do this? These questions and more filled his head as the pain increased.

Red had attempted to teleport himself from the field, but found even more pain as he tried to use any of his powers. Gary himself went through overwhelming agony. He didn't think about much while this was going on. But he was happy that he had finally stopped Red. There was no escape from this trap. None at all.

The Energy Vortex continued bringing pain within the two souls trapped within its hellish blaze. Red seemed to be experiencing more pain than that of Gary. Gary stared cringing, and biting his teeth in torture at his double....until something happened...something that seemed impossible. Something that almost made Gary forget he was in pain and agony. Red's inner glow was weakening. As if the Vortex was removing part of the demon. But nothing surprised Iceman more...than what happened next. Red looked into Iceman's eyes. What was Blood shot and devil looking had vanished. It was like looking into a mirror. Red looked just like Iceman. In every way possible. Only visible different colored garments could you tell them apart. Red smiled at Iceman...as if he was freed from a mind control chip. Iceman didn't know what to think. He screamed a silent bow of pain, though nothing came from his mouth.

A voice struck his head. "Touch my hand.." Iceman looked towards the source. Red was communicating with him. Harried voice gone. As if Red had suffered through an Exorcism, his face looked caring, and good. Again pain struck Iceman's inner thigh. He tried to scream...but once again, his voice shut out. "Touch my hand! " The calm, sincere voice echoed again. Only this time...much more demanding. Iceman without thought reached for Red's hand. The pain was too much to bear. Only when the two gauntlets touched did the pain seemed to slowly depart. "Touch my hand....and the pain will go away..." Red was now face to face with Iceman.

They interlocked each other for what seemed like an eternity. All pain and sounds brushed out from them. The two staring each other in mixed emotions. Iceman was first to speak...and his voice this time came out. "How did you do that..." Iceman though hearing his voice shot himself a disgruntled look. Was that what he said? In front of his arch nemesis. Red's eyes now full of innocence gave Gary a warm feeling. "You freed my spirit. My anger and power has left me." Red spoke as if this was a good thing. "What...?" Gary spoke again. Confused. Was this the same Red that he fought just moments ago.

Red stared into Iceman's blue eyes. Iceman stared back into Red's. It was then he understood. Understood the real story behind his clone. This Iceman was filled with too much emotion. Much more than any robot in existence. Iceman could feel the emotions...as if they parted through him.

Hate....

Lust....

Despair...

Sorrow....

It was the last one that struck Iceman the most. He could almost feel what Red once was. Cause he himself had once suffered such a feat. Only Iceman's limited emotions kept him at bay.

Rejection.

It was Iceman's eyes that turned angry and demon-like. But only for a short while. Red was rejected. Rejected by every possible source. Even by his own father. Dr. Light. A failed creation, mishap. Mistake. Iceman without noticing crutched his hand in anger. Small flashbacks of Red being mocked, and teased by everyone around him. Judging him by his inability to function like any other robot. Red becoming angrier. Filling with even more hate. The last few images blinked. The Red that Dr. Light once knew was no more. Iceman knew now what the cause was. Emotion. Massive amounts.

Iceman's expression turned back to normal. Red continuing to share comfort for him. They smiled. A tear leaked from one side of Gary's eye. "I'm sorry...." Was all that came out. Red nodded as if all the past was forgotten. "It's time to say goodbye...." Red's smile changed to a sad expression. Just as Iceman was getting close to his double, the vortex was seeping in. Crushing all matter within. They both will be destroyed.

"I'm sorry....too Iceman." Red followed. "My rein of terror is gone. Your world is safe." Another tear fell. Only this time, by Red. Iceman smiled. Intense heat was surrounding the duo. Iceman's armor was melting. As if he was dumped into a Lava pool. His armored features vanishing. Turning into liquid. But he felt no pain. Still holding onto Red, who was also melting away. The two smiled to each other, until then their faces were gone. One thought went through Iceman's head before he was completely wiped out. "All he wanted....was a friend." And that was it. The vortex could hold no longer. The vortex imploded, taking everything inside, with it. Leaving absolutely no trace of either character.