By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)
May 31st, 20XX, 5:51 PM , PST
“Daddy…D-Dad…Say
something…”, Alicia pleaded to her father, who was still
handcuffed and bleeding from half a dozen cuts on his face from rifle
clubbing.
Victory turned around from his watching place at the chopper’s
door, guarding the pair. “Don’t bother. Your dad’s
so doped up and beat down that he won’t be going anywhere under
his own power any time soon.”, he assured. “Unless you want
the same thing to happen to you, you’ll shut the hell up and sit
tight. We’ll be leaving soon, anyway.”
As he turned back around, he took a quick gander at the Horsemen’s
contingency plan. Maybe…He should use it now and save them some
trouble?
Nah. Not for these runts.
Out of the corner of his eye, Victory caught a glimpse of Topman,
an orange blur at his speed, hooking a leg around Death’s head,
his foot crackling with tangerine-tinted energy. That, however, did
little good with Death’s ion fields still in full effect.
The silver mercenary whipped around, trying to slash SD’s throat
with his very capable knives. With ease, even in his exhausted state,
the Spinning Demon was still more than able to avoid the broad slash,
and even give his foe a decidedly non-threatening look involving his
tongue.
“Nyeh! Way too slow, jerk!”
“Does it matter? Unlike you, I don’t have to worry about
eventually screwing up.”, Death assured ominously.
“God, if I had a dollar for every time one of you generic bad
guys said 'I’m invincible! Blah, blah, blah…', I could
just buy you guys a new country to screw up.”
“Oh, burn!”
Lennon decided now was the best time to step back in, taking
into account a full dramatic entrance in true Geminiman fashion with
a Gemini Laser right to Death's eye visor, blinding him.
“Ergh…Shit!”
“It’s about time you decided to get up. There IS a final
boss fight to go through, you know.”, Topman chided the still-wounded
Twin Terror who gingerly walked about on his injured leg.
“Where’s the Contra Code when you need it?”, Lennon
groused.
“I’m more fond of the second controller trick, myself…”,
Topman countered. “But that was for a different game, to be fair.”
“Overrated.”, Geminiman claimed.
“The game or the trick?”, the Spinning Demon inquired.
“Both.”
“…No comment.”
By this time, Death’s vision had returned, at least well enough
to grant him the ability to shoot at basic objects with his twin plasma
pistols, forcing the two Mechs to scatter.
“Eyyagh…”, Lennon groaned, landing on his injured
leg a bit too harshly for his tastes. “Top…I need to go
check on Classi. Can you handle this guy?”
“Oh, sure. Leave me alone with the invincible nut case, why don’t
you?”, Topman complained, skating past a few dozen small blasts
of super heated air.
“You’ll be fine!”, Geminiman attempted to assure his
friend as he dashed off towards his fallen angel.
“’I’ll be fine, he says…’. Sheesh.”
As the Spinning Demon busied himself with simply staying in
one piece, he caught a glimpse of one of his other comrades across the
battlefield as he took shots at his large, red-colored foe.
War has doing a damn good job guarding that exposed shoulder
with his wide hand, but it kept him at a distinct disadvantage, basically
forcing him on the defensive against the wily Snakeman.
The crimson-plated warrior managed to force his free arm up
in a feeble attempt to fire off a few shots with his rifle, but the
serpent sniper wasn’t about to let something like a stray plasma
shot take him down. Not after the day he had been through already.
But still, he was getting nowhere fast. Even if he managed
to shoot out his shoulder, Raijin knew War’s armor plating and
ion field would protect him. Snake also knew that the big lummox would
be on the lookout for more of his slithering acquaintances.
It was…a draw.
Except for the fact that this was war, not chess. Combatants
didn’t declare a fight a no contest when lives were at stake.
Sooner or later, something had to give. Someone was going to get hurt.
Someone was going to die.
Snake had to promise himself, it wouldn’t be him.
War would have to disagree as his shoulder miraculously became
mobile again, rotating and rolling as a healthy shoulder could.
Raijin’s jaw was slightly aghast when a more precise volley of
slow burning plasma was launched at him. Though in disbelief, Snakeman
still managed to scoot away behind a rock as he exchanged clips of ammunition
with his rifle.
“Great. Some sort of advanced healing system. That, and the ion
fields…Damn it…”
Across the small plain, Shadowman’s communicator sparked to life
as he avoided yet another cloud of cancer, his body showing signs of
near misses and splash damage from the cursed things.
“Snake.”, he answered curtly. His mental chatter assured
him that Famine wouldn’t hear anything he was saying over the
radio, as he wasn’t physically talking. Robots, after all, had
digital voice boxes.
“G, these guys are really hooked up. First the ion fields, and
now they’ve got an advanced regeneration ability to boot.”
“More great news.”, Gauntlet grimaced. “We can get
around the fields, but if we’re going to take these guys down,
it’ll have to be in a quick blow.”
“That’s what I was thinking.”, the serpent sniper
agreed.
“Snake, hold tight. I’m coming over there, and I’ll
be bringing a guest.”
“Roger.”
Shadowman tapped one of his teeth with his tongue, changing
his outgoing signal.
“Top.”
After a few seconds, a static haze fizzled into Gauntlet’s ear,
followed by SD’s voice, with a somewhat annoyed tone.
“Kinda busy here, chief.”
“Top, I need you to meet me by Snake’s location. If we’re
going to take these guys down, we’ve got to work together.”
“Only if I can bring a ‘friend’.”
“We’ll set an extra place at the table.”
The connection ended, leaving Shadowman alone with Famine once
again, who never seemed to get bored with keeping Gauntlet at bay.
“I’m going to go visit with a few friends.”, Shadowman
proclaimed to the venomous mercenary. “You’re welcome to
come.”
Famine watched the lithe ninja warp away and make sure to reappear
within his field of vision halfway between Snakeman and himself, who
was still pinned behind a rock that was being pummeled by ever-burning
napalm.
Famine fidgeted for a few moments, contemplating leaving them
both to War. It wouldn’t be the first time War had taken out numerous
men all at once. Besides, his foot still ached. Maybe the armor wasn’t
working as well as it could. He glanced over his shoulder towards the
chopper, still being watched over by Victory.
His glare alone persuaded Famine to join War.
May 31st, 20XX, 6:02 PM
“Hope you’ve got a
better plan than me. ”,
Snakeman greeted the burnt, charred, and otherwise hurt Shadowman
with.
“Nope.”, he retorted. “But that never stopped us
before.”
“Good point.”
By then, Famine had caught up with the elusive ninja, forcing
the mechanical duo out of their hiding spot from the fires of War.
Just as they escaped, a familiar, dreaded cloud crashed into the rock,
which was already in a pathetic state of being from the abuse of War’s
assault.
Then, it exploded in spectacular fashion, sending bits of
super heated stone everywhere, forcing Mechs and Horsemen alike to
look away and hide their faces from the blast.
“What the hell was that?!”, War demanded to know.
“A…A chemical reaction! War, your fire ignites my caustic
fume. Be careful, for God’s sake!”, shouted back the onyx
mercenary.
“Good call on that one, G.”, Snakeman commended without
a hint of sarcasm. “At least they won’t be able to go
crazy with their guns if they’re so close.”
“That won’t do us much good if we can’t stop them
altogether. We’re running out of time.”
It was obvious to the reptilian robot that Shadowman was
more concerned with Victory and the chopper, which contained two key
people. He was certainly worried that Victory may cut his losses and
run at any given time, even without his “brothers”.
“Hey, what about your Shadow Blades?”, the thought suddenly
came from Snakeman.
“Can’t they just phase through the ion fields?”
“No such luck.”, Shadowman grumbled. “The field
seems to negate them. Seems to be the trend here today.”
“Figures.”
“Raj…How many of your snakes do you have left?”
“Only five. That’s all I had time to recover.”
“Do you have Skip with you?”, inquired Shadowman, recalling
one of Snakeman’s pet names for his “tools”.
“Yeah, actually. He’s at eleven o'clock ,
seven meters out.”
“Do me a favor. Have him target me.”
“…Seems like you’ve got something in mind.”,
Snakeman hinted at.
“I might. Just have him ready right about…now.”
With that, Shadowman bolted towards Famine, who was still
reeling and recovering from the explosion, possibly concerned about
his hearing. He didn’t have any more time to worry now, with
the cyber shinobi right in front of him in short order.
“Gyeh, don’t you damn things ever give up?!”,
the cancerous fighter hissed, steadying his rifle.
“Only three shots, G.”, Snakeman’s voice buzzed
in his ear.
From a few feet away, Gauntlet could hear the launching
of a small projectile- a miniature missile, produced by Snakeman’s
sidewinder, Skip.
Famine dropped his rifle and attempted to slash the shinobi
with his arm blade as Gauntlet slid into a shadow, avoiding the
slash and that missile, which crashed into Famine’s ion fields
with little effect.
“C’mon…”, Gauntlet muttered to himself
softly, his plan taking strike one.
War was curious.
He watched the missile launch from some location, and realized
it wasn’t any of the Horsemen’s equipment or men. Ignoring
Snakeman, who was pelting him with armor piercing shots that were
harmlessly ricocheting off of his fields, War began the hunt for
the source of the missile.
“The big guy’s on to us already.”, Snakeman warned
in between shots. “Whatever you’re going to do, do it
quick.”
Shadowman reappeared in front of Famine, sword in hand,
trying to slash him to no effect. Then, he backed up a few steps,
launching a few kunai towards him.
Famine raised his rifle, but let the kunai hit his ion
shield as a second missile rang out, alerting War to Skip’s
location. The Mars red monster lumbered closer to the semi-hidden
snake as Shadowman again disappeared into his own shadow, the missile
missing Famine entirely.
“C’mon, damn it!”, Shadowman cursed to himself
as he emerged from Famine’s own shadow.
“There you are!”, cried out Famine as he aimed his gun
at Shadowman, point blank.
Inwardly, Gauntlet smiled as he heard the final rocket
take off, just as War smashed the offending snake robot with a cruel
stomp.
Famine pulled the trigger, and only one tenth of a second
later, Shadowman was nearly back in the shadow completely, the small,
two-inch long missile only inches from his head.
Famine’s eyes grew wide from behind his visor as he realized
what was playing out before him.
“You BASTAAAARD!”
The missile was swallowed by the cancerous cloud, detonating
from within and exploding the entire mass mere inches from Famine’s
barrel.
Gauntlet had taken a gamble in more ways than one. But,
they seemed to be paying off, as he observed from his safety point
near Snakeman, yards away from Famine.
The explosion sent the caustic cloud everywhere as it burned
away, but not before slashing onto Famine’s own armor, the
cloud able to pass the ion field due to its gas-like nature.
“Holy shit…”, Snakeman gasped.
The black mercenary’s armor was being eaten away; not severely,
due to the small amount of the cloud making it past his fields before
being burned up, but enough to cause a little bit of damage. Famine
struggled for a few moments, trying to brush away the hungry particles
that ate away at his suit and armor, then pulled off his helmet
when he noticed some of it burning away his visor.
“Gauntlet, he’s-“
Shadowman stopped Snakeman from moving forward to take
a shot. There was no need.
There was no need because Topman’s leg had found the former
soldier’s face at nearly one hundred miles an hour, obliterating
teeth, bone structure, and any hope of survival. The kick was so
brutal, Famine’s head was nearly separated from his body from
the mandible on up.
“Eww…I stop over for a chat, and I get even more gunk
on me? You guys are incorrigible!” the Spinning Demon mused.
Normally, he wouldn’t joke about killing a human being, but
his conscience had a special place in Hell for the Horsemen after
today’s events.
Famine’s body slumped uselessly to the ground, his head hanging
onto its former resting place with little tenacity as War boiled
over with anger.
“Goddamn…God damn ROBOTS…”
“Easy, War.”, Victory ordered as he approached the battlefield. “You
and I both knew Famine’s time was at an end either way. He
got careless, and look at what that earned him. Learn from that.”
“Stepping in?”, the red mercenary asked. “Heh…Hehehe…”
Victory adjusted a dial on his own rifle and locked eyes
with Gauntlet.
And then, all went white.