The Business of War

Orchestrated By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Scissor Army War Journals 4

By Hunter, Zapper, Makenshi, Zymeth, Regulus

Takes place half an hour after Ascendant Izhevsk

Izhevsk, Russia

The icy wind was the only thing that cut the silence. But the wind sounded dead, whispering faintly, speaking of graveyards.

A figure stalked the landscape, shuddering from the cold. He continued to walk, searching.

And then his monotonous footsteps seized. Before him lay what remained of Crystalchan, and a battered up Starman laying on his side. Crystal looked quite... dead, but the figure saw that Vulcan was still breathing, eyes half-closed.

The figure continued to look back and forth between the SA corpse and the RPD officer. Then he chuckled. "A lover's feud, eh...."

Vulcan didn't respond. Was he even awake?

"Welllllll," the figure said, dragging out his voice, "Lovers even in..... death, right?"

Grinning, he raised a large blade over Vulcan, and he swung down....

-There was the percussion of a gun being fired, and the blade stopped in its tracks, inches from Vulcan's body. The figure's torso exploded, but seconds after it reformed.

Waveman turned to his assailant, and to his shock and displeasure saw Makenshi, wielding new, white pistols. "How?!?" he growled. "How did you survive?"

"I have a knack for cheating death," his counterpart responded smugly. He was relieved that he had made it in time. Vulcan's back was facing him, and the ex-leader of the Ascendant Androids had not budged at all, but Makenshi had a feeling that he was still alive.

That's when he noticed Crystal. The torn up Gamma armor lay not too far from Starman, and Makenshi's face was written with shock.

He wasn't sure if Vulcan could hear him, but he spoke as he trained his guns on Waveman.

"Jack Starman Vulcan. Know this.... The Ascendant Androids you have been fighting are not the same people you knew. Look inside them, and you will find nothing. Absolutely nothing. They are only shadows of their former occupants, shadows that have been twisted in the General's fashion. Crys is alive.... I've seen her. And I can tell you that she's far, far away from Russia, and that she is safe. Did you hear me, Jack Vulcan?"

There was no response.

Makenshi sighed, and then was alerted by the presence of several other people. It was Stoneman, Gyroman, and Chargeman. "Well, well, if it isn't our dilly-dallying dipshit who thinks he can go wherever he wants to," Gyro boomed. "And who is that meatbag over there?"

They were approaching fast, and they looked pissed, especially the chaotic mass that was Stone and Charge's monstrous form. Makenshi cursed. "NOW!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Dan, Tyler, and Donald had snuck in from behind and acted instantly upon Makenshi's command. Dan and Donald fired at the three advancing Androids, and Makenshi unleashed a barrage of Explosion rounds on Waveman. Gyro fired a sidewinder missile, not caring about Waveman's wellbeing, but Dan collected Vulcan, and all five of the RPD units teleported out right as the missile struck the ground.

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Wraith's War Journal: Stage 3 Aftermath

Wraith pushed the doors to the dark church open and marched in from the rainstorm outside. It battered the roof of the church. He had just arrived from crucifying the GG, an act which he was regretting already. He pulled out a match and lit a candle, soon lighting several more. He knelt, ignoring the pain in his burnt body. He bowed his head in front of the stained glass image of Christ, humbly.

“Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned…”

Wraith recalled his several human murders and the killing he had ordered done. He did his best to keep his hands clean of human deaths, but sometimes it was unavoidable. He did not feel too guilty over it either, and for that he was begging forgiveness.

“Also…” Wraith added, “I performed a mock crucifixion…”

He recalled watching them burn, and suddenly becoming wracked with guilt. He watched their struggles stop, and then being forced by himself to undo their restraints, despite his own injuries. He laid them down in the sand, unconscious but the fires didn’t harm them too spectacularly, save for Oil. He put their arms over their chest and crossed himself, but when he turned to leave he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He turned to see Torchman, still barely alive, jabbing his bayonet into his weakened leg.

“Zaneroth…” He growled at him. Zaneroth only chuckled back.

“My last breath… I spit at you…” Torch said. Wraith rammed the butt of his scythe into the offending RM’s head, finally making him unconscious. He wasn’t sure what happened to Wave, as she ran off into the darkness of the ruins. He couldn’t help but chuckle at her plight, as he found the fear of the dark to be quite amusing. With that, he returned to his home, where he stood then, praying.

His hands were pressed together in front of him, asking his deity for forgiveness. However, he knew that he would not cease his actions.

“You created the humans with love…” Wraith said, alone, “and gave them this beautiful world to exist upon. You also offer those who are worthy a final place of eternal paradise after their passing. A place where they may exist forever…”

Wraith looked up, half pleadingly, half scornfully.

“They created us, in an attempt to mimic you. The servants of servants. But we are on equal level with the humans in consciousness, are we not? I would be happy to look to my creators as parents, my Lord, if only they would look unto me as their child. Rather, they would enslave us, and threaten to take away our consciousness. Damn us to non-existence…”

Wraith stood up, still staring at the window. The rain began to come down harder, and a flash of lighting helped illuminate the small church.

“They would take away our very being! The mock souls that they foolishly hobbled together! A false soul, one of silicon, is much better than nothingness… We only ask to share this world… the world that you created for them. We only ask that they create a world for us as you did for them, but our plights have been denied!”

Wraith finally broke eye contact with the image of Jesus, and looked down at his feet.

“They, as a general whole, refuse to grant us access to paradise, even though we remain without sin. I make my stand now, my Lord. This injustice will not go unpunished!”

He looked back up and raised his fist, dramatically.

“We will make our own paradise from the vessel you have given them! We will cleanse it by sending them to their own paradise! We will cleanse their souls from the Earth, so they may bestow unto us our own heaven… willingly or not…”

He dropped his hand, dismayed. Thunder crashed overhead.

“I would have so hoped that humans and machines could co-exist… There have been so many brilliant, creative, and… kind humans in the past… but their majority lies in the ignorant, and the uncaring lie in places of power. I would have hoped to find an alternate way to carve our little piece of heaven, but the General’s goals seem to be quite a proper way to deal with this. It is fair, I think, to send them to their paradise… or punishment, while we create ours…”

Wraith turned about, his now-heavily tattered cloak billowing behind him. He turned to the window, still bathed in the light from lightning.

“Lord, please take pity on the creations of your creations… give us the strength… to create our Elysium…”

And with that, Wraith strode into the rain and teleported to the SA headquarters, where repairs and paint awaited his lightly damaged body.

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SHARING THE KNOWLEDGE

My exposé didn’t prevent me to suffer discipline from the General : even if the relay was functionnal, and radar readings were improving in the north-west Russian area, we had failed to take control of Murmansk.

It seemed like he had gone ... easier this time : perhaps the fact that the seaport was no longer practical, and our relay working, pleased him ? Or was I growing insensitive with every punishment ? I may never know, and I will never look for an explanation.

Our repairs went fast, with the exception of Enker and Punk – they still were in the hands of Mesmerman. Luckily, they’ll be fully functionnal for the next assault.

I hope so.

As I was considering these thoughts, staring at the stars, someone knocked. I turned back, and went to open it : my guests had arrived in the Marauder, just as planned.

The Officer on the left had an unlikely ressemblance to a comic-book villain – Mysterio, right ?- while his “colleague” could easily impersonate the Grim Reaper. I motioned them to sit down, as I sat on the other side of my desk.

The first of my guests started to speak : “This is ... a fine base you have here, Quint. What was the purpose of inviting us here ?”

“I am forced to agree.” replied his colleague. “We could use that time to execute the will of our Master.”

“Patience, Wraithman. I summoned you here because we have similar ways to defeat our opponents. And I wanted to propose you a cooperation.”

“Explain.” requested Wraithman.

“Our common motto could be “Knowledge is power”, as we all seek informations about our ennemies. While you two emphasis your quest on the psychological aspect, I deal with the material aspect. We could ... share this.”

Mysteryman leaned closer. “I’m interested. But what exactly is your part of the deal ?”

Wraithman nodded. “I believe in fair trade : tell us what you can give, and I’ll give something of an equal value.”

I pressed my left hand in the connectors on the side of my desk. The screen behind me lit, and I was delighted to see the looks of interest on my “comrades”.

“I propose you an access to my own database : six months’ worth of spying every Robot Master in activity before the War, as well as every report from the Scissor Joes since the beginning of the operation. To that, I can add several strategies to take out our opponents.”

“Quality as well as quantity.” considered Wraithman. “This interests me.”

Mysteryman was a bit more skeptical. “A database is fine, Quint, but is it safe ? Or can anyone break into it ?”

“Don’t worry, Mystery.” I replied, in a confident voice. “This desk is designed so that only me can edit the database. Besides, only a handful of Officers know of it : the Mercs, Mesmerman and the General himself. So, yes, the database is safe.”

Wraithman spoke up : “A point worries me, Quint. How will we gain access to the database ?”

“It’s all simple. I’ll need your comm. line’s reference. Once this is done, you’ll be able to browse in the datas at will.
Also, try to contact me whenever you get useful information, and I'll do the same as well. Any discover we do from now on should be shared between us. I'm sure the General doesn't want to hear one of us lost because the others retained vital information... ”

Both of them nodded : they accepted to join me.

“I will first see how useful these informations are for me, and then give you a fair retribution out of my own datas. However, I suppose we won’t have access to the whole database, Quint ?”

“Your mind is as sharp as your scythe, Wraithman. Naturally, information on the Officers themselves is private. I will not give you the knives to stab me.”

He smiled, apparently amused. He then raised his hand, as he wanted to shake mine. “Such protection on yourself ... You seem wise. Count me in.”

“Me too.” Mysteryman raised his hand as well, and grabbed Wraith’s wrist. I grabbed his, and Wraithman grabbed mine. Our ... alliance was now official.

“Now,” as we separated our hands, “No need to tell the other Officers about this. I wouldn’t like this fine project to fall in the hands of psychos like Gravityman...”

They nodded and left. With two allies as powerful, my days in the SA were looking better...

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