CHAPTER 6

Sinister Six H.Q. lay in despair and loss of hope. Even more so that it usually does. The fine tuned colorful interior of the base seemed dead on its own as several figures stood watchfully inside the corridor.

The Mechs, filled with defeat filed into the room and sat without much alertness and sorrowful expressions. It's been nearly 9 hours, and Needle Gal still hasn't woken from her slumber. Gauntlet showed the most emotion has he vanished without a trace for several hours.

Lennon still felt bad for what had happened. Flash backs still play over and over again. How Red vanished and Needle Gal was transferred in his place. How his blast connected and sent her rocketing to the earth. It had replayed many times through his head. Lennon sat alone in the back of the room. Staring at the floor underneath him. He didn't seem to forgive himself.

Whenever someone tried to approach him, he would shun them away with a wave of his hand and he'd go back to silence. The other robots wouldn't bother him further.

"Quite frankly I donno what to do..." Topman spoke suddenly. "Needle Gal is gone, Gauntlet has vanished for good, and Lennon won't speak to me." Topman said with a bothersome expression. "Could this be the end of the Mechs...?" He pondered to the others.

The Sinister Six knew what it was like to lose a valued member. And The Mechanical Maniacs have suffered many more losses. All Tim could do was place a comforting hand upon Topman's backside as the yellowish clad rocketed himself back and forth in his sitting position.

Gary sat in the Lab watching Needle Gal's body. The Six had placed her on a soft bed-like table and hoped that she would recover. Andon had tried every trick in the book to regain her back. He even rebuilt her armor, which hung from the wall by her bed. Needle Gal was in her Civilian outfit and she lay motionless on the table bed.

Gary had no idea how Red could be so cruel. So Evil. It wasn't the same Red he knew from the last adventure. Silence continued as Gary continued sitting in the room. Not leaving Needle Gal's side. He owed it to Gauntlet to stay by his sister.

A puff of smoke came into focus and a blue clad Ninja appeared next to Iceman, making the little Eskimo shift in his seat. "Jeeeeeezzzz G! Next time ring before you come a puffing!" Gary sat upright in a jolt.

"Sorry...." Was all that Gauntlet said as he walked up to his sister and placed a blue hand upon her head. "How is she...?" He said softly as he massaged her forehead.

"Andon said that she's in a coma. There's still a chance she could pull through. He did repair her armor." He said pointing to the Transmetal Armor hanging on the wall. "However the blast knocked her clean off...she may wake up not knowing who she is..." Gary said not looking Gauntlet in the face as he finished his last sentence.

"Bastard...." Gauntlet said and stared at his sister for a few minutes.

Gary waited a while before he finally spoke again. "Where did you go? The others are very worried." He said hoping not to upset G by the sudden subject change.

"I did some research on Red....turns out that when you went to the Star Wars Timeline to fetch Red, you only made it worse." Gauntlet said quickly not feeling any emotion towards Ice's feelings.

"Whaaaaaa...?" Was all that Iceman could say. Before he could even say more, Gauntlet continued.

Gauntlet started talking with his back turned to Iceman. "So, this is what happened." Gauntlet trailed off. "After the accident from Dr. Light's Lab. The accident that gave Red his basic powers." Gauntlet stopped for a bit and checked to see if Iceman was paying attention.

After Gary nodded he continued. "So he floats around for a while. His memory is damaged. He has no clue who he is. Or what he's supposed to do. So he sleeps." Gauntlet continued. Only Gary spoke next.

"In the Star Wars Universe?" He asked. Red back then was the original Iceman who came before Gary. Only after a freak accident back at the lab did Red transfer to the dawn of time. Though it was proven false during the last adventure when the crew traced Red down in the Star Wars Timeline. Fearing for all the power he could gain there by eating souls, they had attempted to stop him. Though they had realized that Red was at peace and was dormant. Though this is where Iceman made his mistake.

Gauntlet nodded and continued. "Then he hears Iceman calling (via Yoda) and drops by. The Clone Wars happen. But differently. Amadala never sleeps with Anakin and actually leaves him because she becomes disturbed at the story you guys tell her." Gauntlet breathed a heavy sigh as he continued talking.

"Y'know, Palpatine (the Jedi can't oust him immediately because of delicate politics) uses this to corrupt Anakin. And he becomes Darth Vader anyway. The separatists are given command of the clone army because they were programmed to obey the Sith Lords and it's the separatists who wage war on the empire."

Gary couldn't believe what he was hearing. Could all this be true? How did Gauntlet find out about this. Course he was a sneaky Ninja...but he really out did himself this time. He sat back to his despair and remained in focus to Gauntlet's speech.

" During this Red fights with the Jedi, but Anakin begins planting the seeds of darkness. Once Anakin betrays the Jedi, Red kills him ...... and discovers how to eat souls. And how good it makes him feel. He faces Palpatine in battle and almost wins, but Palpatine unlocks his memories using the Force. So Red remembers Dr. Light's betrayal. And understands now that he was replaced. Cast out. He hates you now; and that's when he decides to get revenge. He knows how to track you now, because he's done it before in the last adventure, and the rest is history. So, basically YOU are the cause of Red's power." Gauntlet concluded.

Iceman pointed to himself in disbelief. "M...M..Me..." He said.

Gauntlet nodded without showing much respect towards him. "The doom of mankind because if you had never gone into the Star Wars Universe Red would never have woken up and none of it woulda happened." He finished gloomily if not rudely.

"How do you know this...I know you're sneaky and...." He asked the Ninja which immediately answered before he could finish his sentence.

"I used the time travel machine to go back after you left and set it to "fast forward" where I observe as a phantom the events of Red's uprising." Gauntlet said. "The machine was too weak to actually let me go into the past fully in order to stop any of this." He concluded. sounding totally unimpressed by his actions. Which was rare.

"Simple, strange, But there you have it. And it's odd how it's all your fault..." Gauntlet finished coldly as he turned to Iceman and nodded a slight bow and exited the room. He sure had a unique way of rubbing it in. Was it really Gary's fault on how Red has grown to so much power. It made sense. Though where did this giant white eyed beetle come from. And the meteor?

They all were interconnected somehow. Red. The Creature. The Meteorite. But what was the connection? Iceman knew he had to find out. He had to do it alone. For the damage he had already caused.

Gary rose out of his seat. Clutched his fist and teleported from the room. He would find out. If it cost him his own life....

**********************************************

Thunderman leaped from his perch. He had jumped nearly 45 feet from building to building as he scaled the sky scrapers. Searching for anything interesting. Something though stirred in the golden armored lad. Revenge. But who was he really? He barley knew himself.

All he really remembered was a massive explosion and friends abandoning him. But for what purpose. What goal? Why did they leave him? A spark let off in his brain and he focused back on a jump. He had barley missed a building thinking about his troubled past.

Thunderman noticed a blue line of energy not to far off in the distance. It looked vaguely familiar. Something from the past as well.

"Iceman..." He gritted his teeth. "What's he doing strolling out by himself..." He had spoken in mild terms. At this comment a vile smile had entered onto his face. "Sinister Six Headquarters." He cackled devilishly. Unlike other S6 villains, he knew exactly how to breach their base. It was the perfect opportunity to seek his revenge.

"Off I go! To extract my hatred for the very team who abandoned me!" He yelped confidently as he jumped off the closest building towards the mansion.

As his golden shadow vanished in the mists, another figure stood. Super Chaos had watched the little robot from the alley ways. He stood motionless for a few minutes before finally moving his enormous bulk from behind the brick wall.

"Team that abandoned him? The Sinister Six?" Super Chaos pondered in his blob like head on trying to make sense out of the ordeal. He paced back and forth shaking the area slightly wondering. Thinking. Hoping it didn't hurt him too badly.

"Could it be..." Super Chaos motioned at his hands. They morphed into various weapons. Super Chaos walked off in the pale moon light, leaving behind nothing but darkness.

**********************************************************

"Great...Gary's gone too! This is getting mad!" Tim yelled out in frustration. The other Mechs noticed his dorm was empty and that he wasn't in the room with Needle Gal.

"Don't tell me he left too." Snakeman said with an ice pack on his head. He was still recovering from being petrified earlier. The Six told him to relax and get some rest. They too had to deal with its effects shortly before Snakeman got a hold of Pulzar Beetle.

Pulzar Beetle was now the name of the white-eyed insect beetle that stalked the streets at night. Causing various light and mechanical surges and draining the life out of everything. It was a plaque. The term Pulzar or Pulsar came to being from the beast coming from a Neutron star in space. Since the beast could control Gravity and Electricity, the Z replaced the S.

Gauntlet had vanished again, only this time he's been gone for quite a while. "Probably to seek revenge for his Sis." Quoted Magnetman who sat on the floor eating popcorn. "Gary's probably off doing the same..." He concluded.

"Yeah, he's done this before." Tim said sounding worried. "I hate it when he goes off to fight danger like this." He sat down and looked at the fire which burnt crisply in the fire place.

Topman got to his feet abruptly and trudged off from view. He didn't want to seem to listen to the conversation any longer. He seemed very upset about the whole ordeal. Ever since Gauntlet has vanished he seemed to be very aggressive and irritable to hang around. Lennon still lagged by himself in his room, while the other Mechs felt that the team was splitting apart. All The Sinister Six could do was sit back in sorrow and watch.

"Crap...this is bad." IRA spoke suddenly. "I mean I've never seen this kind of crap happen before. Could this really be the end of the world?" IRA spoke in soft worry.

"We have to do something." Andon said. "The Mechs are falling apart!"

"Then it's decided then." Tim had spoken in a rough tone. Almost like a command.

"What?" Jason and Scott said at the same time. "What's decided?" They both concluded.

"We confront Pulzar Beetle. He's the source of the planet's problems. We defeat him, then the world will be saved." Tim said in sure answer. "I hope." He concluded.

Andon and the others agreed. "We'll go tomorrow. I'm afraid any longer and the world won't be able to survive much longer with Pulzar draining its life."

Tim nodded. "After that is solved we'll worry about Iceman Red. For now Pulzar is our main concern." Tim said getting from his seat and walking around the room.

The Sinister Six still remained in their armor. Thanks to all that is going on they wanted to be battle armor ready incase an emergency came up quickly and their assistance was needed immediately.

Question is could they stand up to Pulzar again. Their first encounter with the relic wasn't to pretty. Though they figured that it was best to attack it during the day, where it remained hidden. Andon had discovered a pattern to its attacks, and hopes to find its next location. They prey during the day that the creature wouldn't be so strong.

The rest of the Mechs slowly left the room one by one until there were only the Sinister Six in the room. All the lights turned out in their dorms and they turned in quickly.

"Poor guys..." Tim stated in worry. "Don't worry. We'll revenge Needle Gal." He said to himself as he pondered off for Night duty.

****************************************************

Jason shook in his bed violently. He finally was able to get the night off while Gutsman and Fireman stood night watch tonight. Cutman still had doubts about staying with The Sinister Six. He felt he was dragging them back and he wasn't at his full potential.

Cutman was very depressed. All his life. He never really showed it to his peers. He didn't understand what was going on with his life. Just figured that he was worthless and wasn't pulling his weight on the team. He wanted to quit. But he couldn't just go up to Tim and quote.

"Yeah it's the worst day of you're life. By the way, I QUIT!" He repeated over to himself. He sighed in frustration. He couldn't bail and see all the destruction and feeling guilty about leaving. He couldn't do that to his team.

He was a hero. Whether he liked it or not. Jason turned to his side and looked at the picture of the S6 sitting on his desk. He smiled warmly as he stared at it. Gutsman in the back putting a comforting hand on Fireman's shoulder. Iceman stood in the front since he was the shortest. Sticking out his tongue at the camera. Bombman holding a bomb in his hand on the left side. Elecman standing with pink lemonade in hand and a fancy smile. Then he looked at himself. Cutman smiled warmly with a peace sign showing. Jason smiled. Now that was a real circle of friends.

Jason sighed and turned out his light. He needed some rest. The last few nights were hell on watch duty. He was busy all night and you could tell he lacked sleep due to the old wrinkles under his eyes. Jason looked at his armor which was sprawled on the floor before tucking in his last yawn and drifted off to sleep.

**************************************************

The old scarred battle field lay in upset dust and dirt. The Mechs had battled Red here not to long before as the area remained in quiet and stillness. The old buildings which strewed out near by made Downtown Megalopolis a ghost town. Nothing seemed to have stirred.

Until a blue flash came roaring down upon the fields of acres. Sand and dust caught air abruptly as Iceman came teleporting down from the sky. The short Blue Eskimo surveyed his surroundings. He looked for signs of anything interesting. Nothing caught his eye at first.

Using his Motorgraph sensor he eyeballed the interiors of all the buildings which lay out before him.

"Nothing but an old, worn out town." Gary said to himself. Having large receptors in his eyes, made it easy to scan stuff. As where Fireman could scan living and metallic objects to determine its origin, Gary could scan inside buildings for heavy activity.

"Well. might as well try somewhere..." Gary did a double take. He noticed something strange in an old abandoned warehouse not to far off from the perch from where he stood. "Holy heavy activity Batman!" Gary spoke off seeing massive machinery operating within the warehouse. And not normal Warehouse works either.

Gary stood motionless scanning for anything else around the area. He didn't want to get a nasty surprise after investigating the warehouse. When he was convinced it was clear he moved onto the old Warehouse.

"Clever hideaway. You'd think the place was dead." He motioned silently as he approached the side of the place. Finding the place was easy. However getting in unnoticed would be difficult without drawing attention to himself.

Gary crawled up the old stack of trashcans and peered through the window. He didn't see anything abnormal at first. But when he put on his motor sensors he saw more than he wanted to see.

"What's with all those capsules..." He said with curiosity. Gary's feet slipped and the trashcans quickly fell from their formation to the ground. Causing a massive loud noise. Gary quickly leapt and stuck himself to the wall using his Ice Powers. He had half expected something to notice the noise. But nobody came to check it out. Perhaps the person involved wasn't home.

Gary sighed in relief and quietly froze the window in place. With careful pacing, he was able to cut a hole big enough for him to squeeze through without making a sound. He landed with a metallic thud in the first room. He knew behind the wall was something more.

Using his Motor senses to keep track of the source he quickly found a door leading to the source. The place was a maze of sorts. So finding this secret place would be hell if not impossible. Especially if you didn't know what you were looking for.

Icy opened the door and half expected Dr. Frankenstein to burst out saying "It's Alive" When he finally saw with his own two eyes what was behind the door.

"Oh my god..." He covered his mouth in horror. Machines flickered on and off. Functioning by themselves. Data was being transferred from machine to machine, and self robotic probes worked without the assistance of a scientist. This lab was incredible. Almost like being aboard an alien spaceship.

The technology was something that Gary had never seen before. Worst of all was the Capsules. Standing about 7 feet tall and looking very threatening. Inside each of thousands and thousands of capsules was a very similar body. Dragon-like appearance. Horns, claws, fangs. Red glowing eyes. It was the body of Magma Dragoon. Only each was covered in black and white scales unlike MD's reddish and grayish version. It was Neo Dragoon. Ben's son. Only there were thousands of them.

In each capsule the body of Neo Dragoon stood. Dormant. Sleeping. Awaiting to be awakened for destruction.

Soon a voice rang off. Sounding digital and robotic. "Duplication of Neo Dragoon is processing successfully Iceman Red. Another thousand are soon on their way." The computer beeped off at Gary. "The Army of Darkness will soon arise!"

"The computer thought he was Red." Gary gulped hearing what the computer had stated. Even worse he now new who was behind this caper.

Iceman Red was making his own Army. An Army of Neo Dragoons! Even one was bad news. But an entire army! This legion of darkness was not a good thing. Iceman couldn't believe his eyes.

He backed off slowly in fear. "Red is back...and with his own Army. Army of Darkness."