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.