CHAPTER
5
It was a cold morning down near the outskirts of Downtown
Megalopolis. The sky now was a pale yellow, and the
quietness of area seemed pretty creepy. What was even
worse was a strange power source problem that occurred
in the area. A lot of the city's energy seemed to have
been drained due to an enormous power surge coming from
a remote area.
Inside a large bricked building, which from the outside
looked like an abandoned warehouse. What the looks are
on the outside deceive the eye from what lies on the
inner part. On the inside, remained a large mechanical
base. Loads of machines, beeping to various tasks, and
steam hissing from Energon Cubes. On the inside of one
of the Energon cubes remained a dark figure. At first
glance it had the body of Magma Dragoon. Large horns,
and claws. A Dragon appearance with a Reploid look.
Neo Dragoon, from The X-Force Time Line has been put
inside the Energon Cube. The reason remained unknown.
Neo Dragoon was Ben's son. Stolen from Ben himself.
Whoever was the kidnapper had plans for Neo Dragoon.
Big Plans, and any person can tell you, it's not good.
Having a Reploid from the future is no good at all.
Downtown Megalopolis remained quiet and sturdy until
a group of figures had approached from the horizon.
Anxious chatting and mumbling could be heard from the
eight shadows that appeared onto the landscape.
"Lazy...he
calls us lazy?" Nightmare spoke in angry tones. "Who
orders all the pizza!? Who gets the drinks from the
fridge!" He raised his fist in anger.
"Bah,
don't worry about it Topman. We got a crisis on our
hands..." Gauntlet spoke with finger pointing.
Lennon looked around the quiet city. It indeed was very
quiet. Almost like something had put it under its spell.
Something came by and scared it to death. The Yellow
Sky shown over the near rotting landscape. The Lights
dimmed an ugly white. Streets looked dull and cracked.
A lot of the cars seemed to have died. Owners obviously
leaving them to their fates.
"Whelp,
how long 'till we hit the buffet?" Hexlaser spoke licking
his mouth. "I'm starved!" The other Mechanical Maniacs
quickly looked at the hungry reptile.
"Mission
first, eat later." Needle Gal scolded. She then looks
at her watch. She then peeked her large spiked head
over to the other members of the team. They all nodded
in agreement, almost like they had planned this in advance.
"Mission
over, eat now." Gauntlet said as if he was giving a
command. Hexlaser quickly perked up from the statement.
"Now that's one order worth taking."
The Megalopolis Buffet. Deserted, broken down, dead.
Upon entry, the place looked like it had suffered from
a fire or tornado. It looked like it had been out of
business for years. However the place was upon only
a week ago to the public. Hexlaser couldn't miss their
noon prices.
"What
the heck happened here!" John the living Magnet spoke
in disbelief.
The Mechs continued looking around their surroundings,
looking for any sign of life. The entire place was rundown,
abandoned, left for dead. Gauntlet vanished into the
air and appeared down from the rafters.
"Whelp,
nothing to see here guys, best we make haste, and head
on out." Gauntlet said as he landed down. Needle Gal
quickly noted this and crossed her eyes in an annoyed
look.
"But
I'm hungry!" Hadrian yelled out stock piling his mouth
full of what little food was found in the place. John
examined what he could make out. And Lennon was with
him.
"Looks
like something scared these people off, and fast." Lennon
spoke off in a serious tone. John nodded in agreement.
"Look at all this stuff left behind. Wallets, Wigs,
and other belongings." Lennon continued. Again, John
nodded.
Lennon looked at Magnet who seemed not to be paying
attention. "And your baby was abducted by aliens about
5 minutes ago." Lennon concluded hoping to catch the
reddish clod off guard. Again he nodded.
Lennon sighed and walked off. "Moron." He concluded.
"Hey
Hexlaser! Catch!" A Mongoose statue was thrown at the
reptile armored Maniac.
"GAH!
GET IT AWAY!" He ran from the place in shrieking horror.
All faces turned to Topman in annoyance.
"Good
one Toppy." Gauntlet winked with one eye closed.
It was then the entire summit started to shake violently.
All seven remaining Mechanical Maniacs felt the nasty
trimmer under their feet and scattered outside to join
Snakeman, who stood perfectly still before them.
The trembling had stopped and they quickly approached
The Reptile, who still hasn't moved from his perch.
"Come on Snake, I didn't mean to scare you that bad
man!" Topman poked his hand on Snakeman's right shoulder.
It was then an image fizzled into Topman's mechanical
brain.
A darkened beast rose from the bushes, looming its black
shadow down upon the retreating Snakeman from the restaurant.
Snakeman froze in fear as he stared up upon the huge
insect-like beast. Glowing white eyes, large fangs and
crab-like armor shrouded the beast. From what it was
seen, it was dark like the sun had been completely blocked
off by the enormous relic that stood before Snakeman.
Topman blinked trying to wave away the horrid images
that had appeared in his mind, he quickly let go of
Snakeman and it all vanished. Topman fell to his knees
and several tears fell from his eyes. He had never seen
anything so horrid. So horrible than what he just witnessed.
The others were surrounding him in worried expressions.
Snakeman still stood as a statue. Not moving an inch.
Eyes still frozen in fear.
And unknown to the Mechs, that a God approaches.
******************************************************
A wrecked world, full of despair and death came into
focus. Iceman stood alone on an abandoned hill, looking
down over the landscape which consisted of fires that
didn't burn out and a ruined world. Nothing but red
and black filled the decaying world before him.
The sky was covered with nothing but blackened clouds,
shunning out any sunlight at all. Gassy fumes made their
way from burned down factories and castles to the already
darkened sky. This was indeed the end of the world.
But from what force? What evil condemned the planet
to this place?
Iceman's parka fluttered against the wind as his shadowy
figure formed upon the cliff from which he stood. Iceman
then noticed a figure from a distance away. A sole survivor?
Soon a reddish glow appeared. And Iceman felt a hold
upon him that he couldn't explain.
"You
can't stop me, my power is too great!" Said a voice.
A familiar voice. Before Icy could make it out, he was
flown back to a wall. The shape then appeared. Iceman's
eyes grew big with terror.
Bloodshot eyes, white fangs, and a dirty, battle scared
parka appeared. With a spiked-link belt, and a face
that only the devil would put on. Iceman Red.
"Welcome
to my world Blue..." His voice was partially fizzy.
Probably due to communication. "Cause after you all
lose to me...this is what it will look like." Red grinned
happily and aggressively at Iceman. And cackled the
ugliest laugh.
Iceman Red raised his hand and a red glow appeared around
it. Iceman could feel himself being choked for breath.
Gasping and flirting for air Iceman fell to the ground
in pain.
"Fear
me Iceman...FEAR ME!!" Said the voice as he echoed out
and started to twitch a bit. "Iceman!"
Iceman....
Iceman...
Gary opened his eyes, and at first he could see a pale
green in the background with several fizzled out faces
staring down at him. "Iceman...Hun?" A familiar voice
echoed and soon became recognizable.
"Forte...Chan?"
He awoke suddenly and sparked up from his perch.
"Careful
bud, Scott did that and he had to hurl up some stuff...if
a robot could do such a thing." Tim's worried voice
filled Gary's head. Gary sat back down with a pain at
the back of his head.
"Ohhh...what
happened?" Gary said with Forte-Chan by his side helping
with the wounds.
The other Sinister Six where close by him. Some still
sitting down and looking partially dizzy and drained
of energy. Gary also noticed that they were at Forte-Chan's
Mango tree. Which is why he noticed the dying leaves
when he first woke. And what about the dream. Did it
mean that the world was doomed. Did they really not
stand a chance against Red?
"It
seems that creature we approached last night has some
nasty ability to drain the life and essence out of anything."
Tim said with a nudge on his chin. Andon stood slightly
behind him and continued the conversation. "Indeed my
big friend. That would explain why our very earth is
dying. The creature seems to be draining it of its energy."
He said with eyes bigger than ever.
Forte-Chan continued helping Gary get his energy back.
"You guys were frozen like a statue all night. I was
really worried when I came out in the morning." She
said looking up at the nodding Six.
Andon pulled up a map and showed several reported locations
of the creature. "It seems it has a set pattern set
up." He pointed to the locations. Gary looked with concern
when he saw the next connecting point.
"Downtown
Megalopolis. " They all sported.
"Isn't
that where the Mechs are currently located?" Jason said
with slight concern? The other nodded with worry. A
slight silence issued until Gary with wide open eyes
spoke quickly.
"The
Mechs are in grave danger!" Gary quickly rose from his
seat. The other members concerned tried to sit the little
guy down but he kept trying to get back up.
"Iceman
Red...." He spoke suddenly. "He's...he's..." Gary started
getting very dizzy. Tim sat him down with all his strength,
even outside his armor, he proved how he got his name,
Gutsman.
"What
does he have to do with all this?" Tim said with Forte-Chan
massaging his backside.
"He's
somehow connected to this....thing." He spoke up surprising
the others. "When I was at the crash site of the meteorite...it
somehow told me that It was being manipulated by a much
stronger force..." Iceman concluded.
"Could
it be....is it possible?" Andon spoke with fear in his
voice. "Could he already be at full power?"
*****************************************************
Gauntlet popped in a jaw breaker as he checked out Snake's
frozen stature. "Hmmm...he looks petrified." He said
chewing down on the circular morsel and examining the
snake statue.
"Shadow...he's
scared stiff. Look at him." Topman said looking up at
the reptile that still had his mouth flayed open like
he saw a ghost. The rest of the Mechs circled Snakeman
and were quite alarmed on his appearance.
"Very
odd...I've never seen anything like this." Sparkman
added as he studied the statue. Then used one of his
ignites arms as a toothpick. "Damn squash...shit sticks
to your teeth." He said poking one out.
"Snakeman
guys! Focus on Snakeman!" Topman shout out alarmingly.
The other Mechs snapped back into focus.
"Hmmm...."
Lennon walked up to Snakeman and flicked his fingers
before the frightened face. "He's not responding. Perhaps
a special kind of treatment is in..."
It was then a faint cracking sound interrupted Lennon's
speech. The Mechs turned around slowly and with some
sort of resentment as they saw the sky darken dramatically.
A blackened figure had descended down from the sky.
With glaring reddish-devil eyes. Seeping through the
architecture and scaring away whatever life was left
before.
The Mechs could feel tremendous power seeping through
their electric bodies. Gauntlet twitched as he felt
the powerful urge grip through him. "Who is that..."
He said glaring with one eye to make out the darkened
figure.
When the darkened figure landed what felt like the entire
planet shook in its wake. Gauntlet gulped the impossible.
"Iceman Red...He's back." He said glaring with both
eyes now. The Mechs stood back slightly in vivid horror.
"But...didn't
Gary take care of him during that ego trip before?"
Lennon spoke with gapping breaths. "That adventure not
to long ago..." He concluded.
Iceman
vs. Red Promo (Star Wars Epilogue)
Gauntlet shuddered. "Something must have happened. Because
he actually looks 'stronger' than last time." He finished.
It was then a voice had echoed through the valley. Something
so evil, so dire that the whole place veered back. Even
the lifeless trees.
"You......"
Came the darkened voice. The whole valley again shook,
but this time by the vibration of Red's voice. The Mechs
had to stand their ground to avoid being ripped to shreds
by the sonic blare.
Gauntlet however tried to show no remorse and no emotion
of fear. He stood his ground. Lennon right behind him.
Soon followed by Needle Gal, then Topman, and the others
minus Snakeman.
"You
are not supposed to be here." Red's voice quieted down
as if he didn't want to damage anything else by simply
talking. "Where are the Sinister Six?" He spoke in a
demanding voice. Gauntlet wasn't amused.
"Gone..."
He said. Gauntlet then finally understood. The robots
going out of control and lights acting strange was a
decoy. So that Red could lure out the Sinister Six and
seek out Iceman. Gauntlet knew that Iceman somewhere
in him had the power to stop him.
It was then Gauntlet's front clothing was grabbed by
an invisible hand and he was lifted 60 feet into the
air. The other Mechs couldn't believe their eyes. They
stood up in shock and horror. An invisible barrier was
forcing them back. They were unable to help their leader.
"Where
are they?" Red said calmly as he took hold of Gauntlet's
robes. Gauntlet attempted to vanish away, but his powers
seemed to be tapped by Red and he couldn't move.
"They
are investigating another problem Reddo, sorry. You
had missed them." The Ninja said looking into Red's
blood-shot eyes. Red stared at Gauntlet for what seemed
like hours when he finally tossed the blue ninja aside
using his invisible hand and smirked a devilish smile.
"I
see, so they sent you losers instead." He grimaced evilly
at the rag team of misfits. The Mechs didn't take being
called losers to firmly and held their ground even more.
"We
aren't losers, just a bunch of lazy tuffs. There's a
difference." Hadrian responded lamely which caused the
other members sweat drop. Even Snakeman who was still
frozen up had suffered a sweat drop.
Gauntlet rose to his feet He couldn't figure out how
Red became so much stronger. Though the sneaky Ninja
didn't show any signs of giving up. "I suppose we'll
just have to stop you from the damage you're causing."
He said confidently.
Red started to laugh uncontrollably as though he were
talking to mere insects. The laughing caused the entire
valley to shake in his uproar. The Mechs stumbled to
stay on their feet but continued to stay upright, battle
ready.
Gauntlet's tricks still remained, and he had an ace
up his sleeve. "Ah-HAH!! I have a plan just in case
this sort of thing happened!! If you kill us, those
pictures of you hitting on Gemini Red make their way
to the press! And the internet. So, you see even if
you ARE more powerful than us you'll HAVE to let us
go! You really have no choice in the matter." Gauntlet
said triumphantly. He had Red where he wanted him. During
several of the Mechs adventures, Iceman Red and Geminiman
Red became really good pals. Back in the days before
Red became powerful. Gauntlet seized this opportunity
to really show Red his dark side.
Red stood motionless for a few seconds and another grin
slid upon his already nasty face. "You must be joking..."
He said flatly. The Mechs confident by Gauntlet's words
at first soon vanished away by those words. "Is that
what you think..." Red continued his assault on the
Ninja who had his arms crossed in a victory stance.
"Well
yeah...up until you cackled like that...and um...said
that." Gauntlet said nervously.
Red's smile got wider as he spoke again. "Do you realize
that I can control the planet's fate? So controlling
the Press and the News will be an easy task!" Red said
totally annihilating Gauntlet's plan.
"Well,
I can see it now!" Red said pondering with a finger
to his chin. "Leader of the Mechanical Maniacs, arrested!
For using Counterfeit Money!" Red read off the headline
with his fingers. The Newspaper then appeared before
the surprised Mechs. "Gauntlet taken off to jail by
using his Counterfeit Money Device!"
Red smiled so far that Gauntlet wondered if his face
would break off. "Boy, I wonder how the press would
handle that case." Red said playfully.
Gauntlet's anger got worse, but Lennon was already first
into the fray. "Bastard! I'll teach you to one up on
us!" Lennon said as he fired off a rather large blast
of energy from his arm cannon straight at Red. The blast
hit home as it exploded upon impact leaving Red with
little time to dodge the attack. Though when the dust
cleared, Red still stood without any evidence of being
struck. "Wow...I'd actually be impressed if that did
any damage at all." Red countered off with an insult.
Lennon backed away in disbelief. That was his most powerful
blast yet. He had charged up that attack When Red first
descended down from the sky. Nobody could have withstood
a blast like that. And it showed too as there was a
massive crater where the blast hit. Leaving Red floating
in mid air. The Mechs then all jumped into the fray.
Sparkman attempted to shock the monster but Red simply
held back the electricity with his hands. Needle Gal
rushed in with lots of shrapnel flying at lightning
speed. Only to have them deflected off Red's body armor.
Hadrian shot off several of his Hard Knuckles but some
flew right through Red's body unharmed and unscathed.
Like they had passed through a spirit of the dead. Red
chuckled as he sat in one spot and watched all the attacks
from the Mechs seemingly go right through him, or deflect
off like bullets. Even Magnetman's Electromagnetic powers
couldn't get a hold on him. All seemed lost.
"Don't
give up guys! We've been in worse scrapes!" Shouted
Gauntlet with positive emotion. Red noticed how Gauntlet
was hiding his anger and fear from Red and wanted to
see what would happen if Gauntlet did get angry. Lennon
shot off another charged Gemini Laser shot at Red and
Red grasped with glee. In a large flash of light, Red
had vanished into thin air, only seconds later did Needle
Gal appear in his place.
"Oh
no!!" shouted out Lennon in despair.
"NOOOOOOO!!"
Gauntlet quickly dissipated into a puff of smoke, but
even with his Ninja reflexes, he was too late.
The blast had hit Needle Gal head on. Causing her armor
to crack badly and leaving her skin and flesh open to
head on attack. She yelled out in pain and agony as
she flew back and hit the ground hard.
"SIS!"
Shouted Gauntlet as he and the rest of the Mechs approached
her body. She wasn't moving, and not showing signs of
breathing. Gauntlet was pissed. Everyone knew, and Red
could feel it. Nobody would pick on his sister and get
away with it. Not even one like Red. Gauntlet quickly
rose to his feet and turned angrily at Red.
'YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" Gauntlet said tossing Shadow
Blade after Shadow Blade at Red.
Red simply pushed the Blades aside and even sending
some back at the flinging Ninja who didn't take heed
to dodge them. Gauntlet had vanished into a puff of
smoke shortly after Red deflected the Shadow Blades.
"Shit....Red's
gonna get it now." Topman said holding Needle Gal's
body on his lap. "Gauntlet is teed off." The others
nodded in agreement.
Lennon looked down upon Needle Gal's face. Her armor
had completely melted off, and her human face lay unconscious
down upon Topman's lap. "What have I done...." He said
to himself with tear shaking from his eye.
Red had opened up a portal and pulled out the sneaky
Ninja from its contents. Surprised Gauntlet attempted
to vanish again, only to be pulled from another portal.
Gauntlet's Ninja Tricks didn't seem to be working. Again
Gauntlet vanished. Red simply sighed with annoyance
and vanished as well. The Mechs watched the battle out
until both were gone. They looked all over the place
for any sign of either of the two.
"Shit...Red's
been besting G at his vanishing." Hadrian said with
worry. "I know...maybe he'll try his holograms..." It
was then that Magnetman was interrupted with a large
clang sound and soon Red appeared with Gauntlet gagged
and hog tied by the very rafters to which he vanished
before.
"No!
Not the rafters!" Topman shouted with hand covering
his mouth in shock.
Gauntlet soon pixilated from Red's hands and the torn
rafters fell from his hand. "What the heck!" He shouted
in surprise. "Tis was a hologram!" Gauntlet shouted
in slight anger and annoyance. Several clones of Gauntlet
appeared around Red and all started to fling Shadow
Blades.
The blades seemingly didn't do any harm to Red as he
waved his hand and all the clones pixilated out. Red
opened yet another portal and pulled out the real Gauntlet.
"Ack! How did you!? That's it! We are never inviting
YOU to a party AGAIN!" Gauntlet said as Red threw him
into a massive rock pile.
"Gauntlet!"
The Mechs aside from Snakeman who was still petrified
and Topman, who was still attending Needle Gal ran to
his aide.
The smoke cleared and Gauntlet lay on his back, body
armor badly dented up. The Mechs quickly ran to his
side and helped him to his feet. "You alright G...damn...He's
just too strong!" Yelped Sparkman.
They all quickly looked towards Red. He was gone. They
sighed a small sigh of relief, but Gauntlet pushed aside
the Mechs and yelled. "GET BACK HERE YOU COWARD! FIGHT
ME!!" He yelled, still angry about Needle Gal.
"Gauntlet...I'm...I'm
sorry...." Lennon looked down to the floor. His face
in tears. Gauntlet didn't respond. He stood looking
for Red in frustration.
"FOOLS!
YOU'LL LEARN TO FEAR THE POWER OF A GOD!" Yelled a horrid
voice from the sky. The Mechs fearfully looked up to
see Red's face. Transformed into the clouds. Red had
transformed his entire body into the body of blackened
clouds. The Clouds moved quickly around. Causing massive
changes in the weather. Red's mouth had opened huge,
releasing baseball sized hail and lightning flashing
every which way.
The Mechs were scared. Even a small fear arose in Gauntlet.
Though the Ninja still stood his ground. "I'LL KILL
YOU! YOU'LL SEE!!" He shouted as he took a baseball
sized drop to his head.
Magnetman released a Magnetic shield to protect him
and his fellow comrades from the powerful wind, and
storms. Soon it all stopped and The clouds went back
to the pale ugliest color they once were. Red had vanished.
Cackling the whole way.
Needle Gal laid their motionless for what seemed like
an eternity. The other Mechanical Maniac members which
had cleaned off their drenched armor started fearing
for the worst.
"Wake
up Sis! We're here!" Gauntlet spoke with a worried expression.
"Your
friends are here Kitty Kat...to back you up. But you
have to get up..." Topman followed shortly after Gauntlet.
Hadrian then approached. For one would of never had
seen a small tear fall from his left eye. The first
time Hadrian had ever cried. Lennon stood off in the
back. Still hurt struck for what he did. He stared to
the ground. In shame.
"Please
get up Kitty...the Mechs aren't the same without you."
Magnetman said crouching down to his hands and knees.
The Mechs eventually recovered after Red's onslaught.
Even Snakeman came too after some time. But none had
suffered the fate that Kitty Kat had. Could Red have
killed her so easily?
Gauntlet rose to his feet. Slowly. He couldn't believe
it. His own Sister. Dead? Gauntlet's anger continued
to grow. All the times he and his sister enjoyed together.
All the plans they had made for the future. Now seemed
to have been stopped.
After several minutes pass and no movement Gauntlet
got even more worried. "Shit..." He thought to himself.
"It can't be..." Gauntlet then turned away from the
Mechs. A tear falling from his left eye.. "I...I can't
let them see me like this..." He said to himself. "She'll
get back up...she's strong...it's in the blood." He
said turning back to his sister.
But the truth was. She wasn't. Needle Gal lay there.
Cold. Breathless. Soulless. Gauntlet perked down to
his knees in tears. "Noo! Please no!! NOOO! Kitty Kat!"
He fell down to her motionless body and flared up tears
unlike any other. The other Mechs didn't recognize their
leader at this point.
"It'll
be alright Sis! You'll see! You'll wake up and this
whole mess will vanish!" Gauntlet said trying to comfort
himself. Topman, Hadrian, Magnetman, Sparkman, Lennon,
and Snakeman all fell down with him. Crying by her side.
"Needle
Gal! You've got to wake up man!" Hadrian scolded under
his breath. Lennon was still speechless.
"KITTY
KAT! WAKE UP! COME ON!!" Magnetman yelled as loud as
he could.
"WAKE
UP KITTYYYYY!"
"WAAAAAKE
UPPPP!"
"KITTTTTTY
KATTTTTTTTTT!!" The voices echoed thought the valley.
Needle Gal's body continued to lay there, totally unaffected
by the loud, thrashing, caring voices of her friends.
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