Orchestrated By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)
By AM, Jade, Dive, Jet, and Sean
Pharaoh and Bright hurry down the winding hallways of the Citadel,
looking to meet up with Drill and the others. “He must still be
in the basement digging the tunnel.” BB says as they make another
turn. Out of the dark corner of the hallway, Jade notices a glint
of something about to lash out at them.
“Look out!” He pushes Jet out of the way, and next thing he knows,
he finds himself in an empty room without windows or doors, its
walls appearing as a swirling vortex of colors. Jade isn't too
taken aback by this though. This feeling... He's felt it before...
in Rothenburg. Sure enough, before Jade even calls him out, the
twisted form of Mesmerman appears before him.
"You..." Pharaoh's eyes narrow as he lifts his buster.
He hasn't easily forgotten what he did to him and his friends back
in Rothenburg; the horrible things he showed them. He hoped for
a chance to pay him back, and it appears that now he has precisely
that. But… “Dammit… this isn’t good. I barely have any power left
after using it all on Gravityman… How can I take on Mesmerman by
myself like this…?”
Mesmer seems to have other plans though. He holds his hands up
casually, indicating he has no wish to cause problems... yet. "Now,
now. I assure you I have no intention of starting a fight, my friend.
I simply want to talk to you."
--------------------
"Oh? About what?" Drillman asks the form of Mesmer in front of him. Unbeknownst to Jade, Mes has tracked down the other Comrades as well. As they now know, he’s perfectly capable of being in more than one place at once, and is currently speaking to everyone simultaneously.--------------------
"Why are you telling me this?" Dust asks.--------------------
"You want me to join the Scissor Army, right? Well forget it!!" Jade hisses as he glares at Mesmer. "You may be right; we may be outclassed; we may be outgunned. But if I'm gonna die, then so be it! The Comrades are my friends, and I'll be damned before I betray them! You go tell Cutman to eat shit and choke."--------------------
"Just cut the bull, Pinocchio. What th’ hell you want?" Dive inquires through his gritted teeth.--------------------
"What kind of "favors"?" Jet asks, hesitantly. She hates to admit it, but she's a little intrigued by all of this. What is this guy's angle?--------------------
Skullman’s eyes go wide, as his slowly lowers his buster, that he’s also had pointed at Mesmer. "What are you saying? Why are you deceiving Cutman? What’s in this for you?!"--------------------
Drill listens intently now. Is he serious?! Or is this just one of his little head games?--------------------
“What about Regulus…? Can he come too?” Toad quietly asks, silent up until now.--------------------
Sean is silent for a moment, as he takes this all in. "I hate to say it, but you're making a lot of sense. But what about Cossack and Kalinka? Do you intend to use them for your sustenance as well?"--------------------
"I see. But how do I know I can trust you?" Jade asks.--------------------
"Jus' where you plan on takin' us to?" Dive asks.--------------------
"Hm. How soon does this grand scheme of yours play out?" Drill asks.--------------------
Jade ponders this for a moment. This obviously is not a decision to be made lightly. But on the other hand, what alternative is there? Watch his friends die? Get turned into an SA death machine and kill them all himself?--------------------
“Your offer is… intriguing.” Skull murmurs as he crosses his arms. “Let me think about it.”--------------------
BB closes her eyes. “I suppose we don’t have much of a choice, do we? Can I talk to the others about it?”--------------------
“I… I just don’t know…” Zapper whispers.--------------------
Jade finds himself back in the Citadel. He looks around, but Mes is nowhere in sight. Jet is looking around, equally confused.--------------------
The Cossacks Comrades moved forward into the tunnel. Drill looked back at the little trickle of blood left on the ground behind them. He knew it had to happen soon.--------------------
Mesmer’s place was as good as it gets. He wasn’t lying when he talked about TV and food. But the best thing was a lab where the Doctor kept busy. His goal was to upgrade his team to optimum efficiency. He decided to start on Drillman.--------------------
“Well Drillman, I think we are done here. Three long days and success at last. How do you feel?” Cossack asked the waking robot.--------------------
After some time Cossack upgraded not only Drillman, but Diveman too. Now he had his eyes set on Dustman--------------------
Sean opened his eyes slowly and waited a few seconds before starting to get up. He always felt tired before he got up even though as a robot he didn’t need any sleep. It was one of the many behaviors Dustman attributed to his former human life. He immediately looked down at his body and grinned.--------------------
“There, I think that ought to do it, Pharaohman. How do you feel?”--------------------
The Comrades had been staying in Mesmer's place for a while now. BB was still rather shook up. She was upset about the war, what happened to the citadel, and the fact that the Comrades were the only ones taken to Mesmer's home. The rest of their allies were on their own now.--------------------
Dr. Cossack was cleaning up some tools on the workbench when Jet softly knocked at the door. Just barely audible.--------------------
About 3-4 days went by and Dr. Cossack was finished except to awaken her now. With pen in hand, he pushed in the same button as before and a few mechanical sounding noises were heard before BB opened her eyes and sat up on the workspace a bit groggily.--------------------
--------------------
Toad stayed in her room ever since she arrived in Mesmer’s place. She felt horrible for leaving Regulus alone, but she had to stick with her team.--------------------
“Just what were you thinking?!” Pops bitched in the crowded livin’ room. Everyone on the CC who counted was watchin’ or directin’ the little drama Crorq brought inta their home-away-from-home. Jade, Sean, n’ a ragged Cossack were standin’ in front o’ Dive, scowlin’ at him. Zap was in a corner, bawlin’ her eyes out as BB knelt down, whisperin’ warm n’ fuzzy shit in her ear. Bossman was standin’ behind the three stooges, with a calm, thoughtful look on his mug.--------------------
“Oh no…this can’t be true!” she cried to herself. When she was called to the meeting, she spotted the most horrible news on the television. Dive was a murderer…and so was Regulus. How can this be? How could Reg have killed all those people?--------------------
Later, back in his room, Jade picks up a book on the Red arts that he had found in Mesmer’s library. It’s incredible how well-traveled the guy is. He reads for a few minutes before his mind begins to wander.--------------------
Dive wasn’ sorry one bit. His “murder” stopped the Scissor Army from ownin’ St. Petersburg. Did RPD realize that? Or how ‘bout St. Petersburg’s indignant residents? Or his own fuckin’ teammates?! Did any of these sanctimonious pricks realize that?! When yer fightin’ a war ‘gainst someone who fights dirty, ya gotta get dirty with ‘em, n’ Dive knew it.--------------------
Toad moved around in her new armor. She was slicker then ever before. In addition to her new grenade launchers, she had gained an increased Jumping ability. She really liked it. She went outside and jumped around like a child on a trampoline.--------------------
After pep-talkin' Zap, Diveman watched the “Tivoed” news report dozens o’ times now. He didn’ speak German or Belgian or whatever, so he couldn’ understand a word it was sayin’. But he could see what was goin’ on clear as day. Off in Brussels, Wily n’ his A-Team wannabes had apparently fended off a whole legion o’ SA Joes n’ saved the day. Bully for ‘em. Things were goin’ hunkey dorey…’til the do-right RPD rolled on in. The Mechs, ‘n some masked broad wieldin’ some jeweled IUD rode on in on their high horses n’ started bustin’ up the city’s saviors. The locals were understandably pissed ta see these fuckers send a perfectly nice utopia down the fuckin’ tubes, ‘n some o’ ‘em even rioted. N’ to top it off, Magnetman floated on in ‘n wiped the city off the fuckin’ map without even blinkin’. Literally. Outta sight.--------------------
As Dive heads back to his quarters, the rest of the team remains in the living room, sitting in quiet contemplation. After a few minutes, Jade breaks the silence.--------------------
It has been a month since the Comrades were brought to Mesmer's land. There had been bickering. There had been struggles. However, in the end they came together like the family they were.--------------------
"So this is it...." Jet thought as she gathered the last of her things.--------------------
Jade took one last look out into space. The time spent here in Eden felt like years. He's not sure just what to expect once they make their return. All he does know is that they have a powerful new enemy in the RPD. He wonders about the others in the Cossack faction. Mesmerman said that the majority of them made it out okay, but he wonders what they would think if they found out about what happened. Would they understand? Or would they see the Comrades as traitors who left them for dead?--------------------
Dive cursed himself fer not bringin’ extra luggage as he tore the kitchen ta shreds, fer every drop of booze in the house. Even after he “borrowed” some space in the team’s luggage n’ hid a flask or two in BB’s rabbit, there was still a helluva lot o’ sauce fer Dive to pack. Dive hated ta admit it, but Dr. Seuss had kickass taste in booze, whether it was real or not. He’d already nabbed all the Russian Maalox, Pirate Sauce, n’ Irish Alka-Seltzer. The wine, brandy n’ bourbon he pitched, mostly at BB’s furball.--------------------
In her room, Zapper looked at her mirror. She had gathered what little possessions she had and was about to leave when she noticed it. She needed to face herself one last time.--------------------
Sean quickly started sorting through everything he had created or gathered while in Mesmer's domain. Mostly it was just designs and research notes that had been taken as he kept his mind busy, but there was also huge amounts of sketches he doodled when he got distracted or bored. Everything was either being shoved in a duffel bag or a trashcan as he hurried through his work, scanning a page after to page to see if there was anything useful on it. Unfortunately most of his work had only found dead ends, but every now and then there was a gem amongst the junk that brought a smile to Dustman's face.--------------------
Drill walked outside before returning to his room to pick up his valuables. After his upgrade, he had roamed the land, training to reach his maximum potential. His skills with his saber improved rapidly, but his real surprise was his transforming technology.--------------------