Orchestrated By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)
By Crystalgirl, Makenshi, Mandrill, Zapper
A
few days after Good Ideas
The General didn’t want to hear my excuses. I’m sure that,
had the previous fight ended a bit better for me, he would’ve
done so, but he used a single, yet effective argument for his own speech
: Pain. Lots of it.
But he didn’t end here. Once he considered I learnt enough, he
sent me to the general repair bays, instead of sending special Medics
to our private areas at the Marauder. Undergoing full repairs under
the mocking eyes of every single Officer in the SA was a really strong
humiliation, and it paved the way for a lesson I taught to myself :
Never let this happen again. Be ready even to the unexpected.
After I was fully repaired, I headed to my quarters in the Marauder,
in order to compile every information about the defeat in Madrid.
Protoman was still on the loose, apparently, but with the damages he
suffered, he musn’t be that far. Shadowman’s terrifying
enhancements were a keystone in the debacle, but it’s safe to
assume they’ll be removed. He didn’t even think of turning
my systems off when he attacked Snakeman. So, I wasn't guilty of eavesdropping,
isn't it ?
Topman, apparently, was in Berlin, but wasting Scissor Joes to go after
an errand Robot Master wouldn’t help me to go higher in the General’s
esteem.
And finally ... Yeah, he who caused all of this...
I plugged my left hand into a specially-design cavity on the side of
my keyboard. I felt some tickles in my whole arm as the scanners were
checking it was Captain Quint, and not someone who had cut off the
hand and used it. The screen flickered, and I finally got access to
what was my greatest secret : a whole database on every Robot Master
currently roaming the surface of Earth.
It was a hard work to collect every bit of information, month after
month, and collecting every report from the other Officers without
getting suspicious. Only a handful of people knew of it : my fellow
Mercs, the General and Mesmerman. I consider letting some other reliable
Officers to know of it...
I typed in every part about Protoman, Shadowman and Topman, before
heading to a page I thought I’d never have to edit.
Magnus.
I already had considered strategies in order to bring down every Merc
if needed, and it was time to put some of them in use.
Of course, with him captured by the RPD, he would be stripped down
from his upgrades out of security, but his wind powers were still a
force to reckon with.
“Set ALLIEGANCE to : RPD.”
“Set DANGER LEVEL to : A.”
“Set PRIORITY to : Maximal.”
I actually admit I felt some remorse before carrying on. Magnus was
a Merc and a comrade, but he betrayed his teammates and the SA. Besides,
he still had to recieve discipline from the General for letting Protoman
escape.
No one is above the law.
Then, I typed and sent a high priority message it to every Officer
and Scissor Joe :
“To the Scissor Army,
A day of shame has happened upon us, as one of our most loyal Officers,
designated as Hyper Storm Hog, has been captured and reformatted by
the RPD.
Your orders, if you were to meet him on the battlefield, are to neutralize
him and bring him back to Elysium, preferably alive and in a single
piece. Note that this is merely a preference : do anything to accomplish
your mission.
Elysium awaits,
Captain Quint.”
With all of this completed, I shut my computer down, and stood beside
the large windows of my quarters, staring at the stars.
“Even if I have to destroy the Earth, I will bring you back here,
Magnus. I don’t care how long it will take, how much I have to
destroy, or how far I will have to travel. You’re a Merc.
Pray it is not us who find you first, Magnus, or you will wish you
were never born to begin with.
Je te trouverai, Magnus, et te ramènerai pieds et poings liés
devant le Général.
Ton heure viendra… "
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