Kin and Tonic

By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

     Wily looks more than a little shocked, and turns a shade of purple, either from pent up rage, or from lack a' oxygen to his brain.

     "Leave", is all the midnight blue ninja orders from Wily. The old man scrambles inside of his little pod and jets off, leavin' Bass for a moment, who glares at us before teleporting the hell outta Dodge.

     ".That it?", I direct towards G. "You're just gonna let 'em go like that?"

     Gaunts shakes his head before a small smile cracks across his face. "No.Not so easy. Before I came here, I tracked down his new base and.Well, let's just say his water bill is going to run a bit high this month."

     "What are you? A wet bandit?", Hardy asks of his boss with a strange, mixed expression a' laughter and frustration. "I don't get how floodin' his place will make up fer.this."

     "Well, if it's any consolation, I also took whatever money he had laying around, which was made easier by the Warriors helping me out from the inside out. I also have the other Maniacs waiting for him at his base. It's going to be a long night for Wily."

     "That's a little better.", I say. I actually wanted to pound th' old bastard myself for a bit, but if he's gonna get beat regardless, I 'spose it'll have ta do. 'Sides, I gotta get fixed up, same as Hard.

     Same as Mags.

     "I'll be right back.", I mutter to the two Maniacs as I disappear into the building I tossed my only kin into earlier.

     Kenta's standin' up, but he's not waitin' for me. He musta just woke up again, as he's not too keen on his feet at the moment. Then he notices me and tenses right back up.

     I can't think of any good words for the moment. I just kinda look into his eyes and wait to see what he does.

     Kenta's face doesn't show much emotion- a far cry from the frightened child in a foreign land I turned away over half a decade ago. All he does is wrap his body back into his cloak and begin to walk towards me. Then past me.

     He's a few steps behind me when he finally speaks up.

     "Soon."

     It's a firm warning that we'll finish our little sibling squabble some other time. But, the kid must also realize that he's in no shape to fight anymore, and continues to walk towards Gauntlet and Hard.

     "Hardman, this is our new Magnetman, Kenta Kass-"

     "Eigen.", the new Magnetman corrects Gaunts in mid-sentence. "Kenta Eigen."

     "Charmed. So, wanna explain what the hell all of that as back there?", Hardman demands of Kenta, obviously still a little sore from that magnetic ride he was sent on earlier.

     ".Nothing personal.", is all he says, then continues on walkin'.

     "'Ey! HEY! Get back here! Sonova.Stubborn lil' shit.", Hardy grouses.

     "Runs in th' family.", I offer as I regroup with the pair.

     "Family?", he asks aloud. "Anyone wanna explain that?"

     "Over a drink.", I offer.

     "I'll join you.", Shadowman says, wantin' to hear the full story of what went down this evenin'.

     As we're walkin' back to Hard's Bar, somethin' starts botherin' me at the back of my mind. Then it comes to the surface.

     "G.Weren't you supposed to be escortin' the new Mags?"

     "Yeah."

     ".Well? What the hell happened?", I ask, point blank.

     "Honestly, I can't remember. We teleported out of Dr Light's lab to head back to base, and the next thing I knew, I was laying out in the middle of the country. Magnet was no where to be found. It didn't take me long to reason that something bad went down, so I checked in on our constant-prime suspect, Wily."

     "Obviously, he wasn't home, right?", Hardy asks for confirmation.

     "No, but the Warriors were. Oddly enough, Starnik said their boss was off collecting Evil Energy from around the world."

     "What's so odd about that? They're coverin' for their boss.", I say.

     "That's what's odd. They're not exactly happy to be working with Wily, remember? So, why cover for him?", Gaunts says with a firm brow.

     ".Yeah." It was true. Wily's Warriors were only doin' the old man's grunt work because of some messed up legal contract- another weird occurrence you'd be askin' the wrong guy here to explain. "Well, maybe Wily lied to 'em. Probably didn't want 'em to sabotage a plot against their buddies, right?"

     "Makes sense.", Hardy says. Gauntlet deftly nods in agreement.

     "But wait.How'd you know it was Wily at that point?", Hardy follows up a few seconds later.

     ".I didn't."

     "Ya mean ya just.", I say.

     "For old times' sake, let's just say.", Gauntlet says with his typical, sly smirk. Devious sumbitch.

     We all share a pretty good laugh at that one. I mean, G just owned Wily without knowin' he did anythin' wrong at th' time. Pretty good stuff.

     We leave the decimated neighborhood with a few answers to a whole bunch of questions, though they don't seem too important after you've been beat down. I guess all that matters is that the bad guy is gettin' or has gotten their ass kicked, and that everyone gets home safe. Bit of a pussy thing to say, yeah, but its all I care about at this time of night. Or mornin'. Whichever.

     Hardy and Gaunts are talkin' team stuff over, probably about where their new Mags is gonna sleep, which ain't in my interest. I'm a bit lost in thought myself when I glance at somethin' a bit out of place, layin' on the ground near the flattened buildings.

     Its nothin'. You just don't see a whole lot of dolls layin' around in debris, especially weird ones like that one. Had all kindsa tubes runnin' out of it, though it coulda been just some wiring from the building.

     It did give me a weird feelin', though.

     "Hey! You buyin' that drink, or what?", Hard shouts at me from a few feet up. Guess I ended up starin' at the doll a bit longer than I thought I was. I put it outta my mind almost immediately on the basis that there was a drink waitin' for me ahead.

     Still.Thought I heard something from behind me.

     Ah well. Just my imagination.

 

~FIN~