The Business of War

Orchestrated By C.M. Rich (Magnetman)

Stage 8

By Gauntlet

The Beginning

His first memories were of complete darkness. He could see his frail body there … it wasn’t much to behold then. Sort of a homemade thing. It seemed to be made up of destroyed robots.

It may not be much to look at now … but it’s yours.

Instantly he was looking through the robot’s eyes. He was in a dark room (he could see it more clearly now). There was a small glass container beside him and four empty chambers beside him.

You...siblings would be too strong of a word...but they were created by me as you were.

The robot looked at his master then. He was a big robot. Blue and red tinted with purple. Somehow he knew the robot’s name was Duo. And then, he looked beyond him. To his true creator.

Can you guess my name?

The white robot wasn’t sure how to respond. Instead he asked a question every robot asks.

“What is my purpose?”

His creator smiled. He spoke proudly.

Look inside yourself. You’ll see it.

The robot then turned inward. He saw it. His creator was there too. In fact …

That’s right. Think of this as talking to yourself. Or having an imaginary friend.

“I am...Mesmerman.”

The last, and greatest of my creations!

“And my … comrades …”

They were built earlier on. Each one more successful than the last, but you and he... Mesmerman’s creator gestured to the small glass container, are my finest efforts. You will carry on my work after I am gone.

Mesmerman immediately felt how right this statement was. The world wasn’t ready for him … yet …

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They found him lying there after they destroyed the spiders. Shadowman, Needlegal, Snakeman, and Geminiman … the only Mechanical Maniacs left standing finally found their prey. General Cutman. And he was lying in a twisted heap at their feet.

“I guess his injures were too much,” said Needlegal looking at the disfigured robot. Shadowman grunted and radioed for Hardman to bring Topman and their injured friends. There was no reason to worry now. The General was dead.

“I can’t believe this guy put us through so much,” said Snakeman as he bent low to get a really good look at the General. He could now see just how much the battle had cost him. His arms was broken and useless. It was held together by internal wires only, its casing totally destroyed. His legs were cut off at this calves. A self-influcted injury. Aside from that the General’s skeletal structure was cracked and broken. It looked very weak now … not at all as strong as it was in the beginning of the battle.

A battle which still wages heavily outside. “We need to reign the Scissor Army back,” said Snakeman. “If they find us here, we’re dead meat!”

They could hear Hardman coming up now. His booming footsteps echoed down the halls. Getting there before the large robot was the tiny spider Shoryu. “Follow me,” she said, “I’ll lead you to Cutman’s room. If there’s a way to call off the dogs it’s there.

The robots followed Shoryu, each one sparing a moment to look at the fallen General. Hardman hesitated a moment before bending down and grabbing the intact arm of General Cutman. They might be forced to leave the deactivated bodies of the Sinister Six where they lay, but General Cutman’s was far too dangerous. Even if it was beyond repair.

The corridor was devoid of soldiers and traps. The ‘Maniacs had made their way into the General’s lab without incident. It seemed as if the General hadn’t expected anyone to follow him into his inner sanctum because he had an entire fortress above it. Nevertheless the team was prepared for anything.

Shadowman had to employ his skills to break into Cutman’s laboratory. Here, there was a lock on the door, but the ninja had little trouble opening it. It was complex, but he had dealt with the General’s locks before.

The General’s inner sanctum was a mess. Plans littered the grounds. Hardman put the bodies of the fallen down. General Cutman’s noticeably further than the others. The team could not help themselves; they looked through what the General was working on.

“Here’s Chimeraman’s schematics,” said Needlegal. “And … Multiman? It looks like he was having trouble getting the replication technology to accept new data while the original Multiman still existed…”

“I found a stack of papers on the Sinister Six,” said Topman, fascinated. “This guy really did his homework. These look like designs for the original six that Doctor Light made public. There’s a lot of scribbles on them. I wonder why…”

“Probably because he wanted to make them more like the Sinister Six he remembered. From his reality,” said Shadowman helpfully. Topman nodded and reviewed the scribbles more closely. Large X-es were present on certain areas of the designs … especially Iceman’s.

I guess he looked pretty different where he comes from…

“I got communications,” said Snakeman at a console. The team crowded in on him as he used his one remaining arm at access the Scissor Army’s systems. He had jacked into the system. Snakeman grit his teeth. A lot of information was coming to him very quickly. Was this the speed the General worked on? It took him some time, but he got the system to slow down. To show him the status of the battle outside.

“I’m in!” Snakeman stated with some enthusiasm. “But … there’s no command to stop!”

Snakeman strained his mind to access the system. Why couldn’t he order the army off? And … even as he gained more access the system was beginning to reject him.

“Crap! I’m being blocked out!”

The team tensed.

“What do you mean?” asked Hardman with despair. Victory was so close …

“I mean, the system’s smart! I’ve been trying to get it to order the Scissor Army to stand down and it knows I’m not the General!”

Alarms began to sound in their inner chamber. The red light cast menacing shadows onto the face of the General

I got you. Even in death, you’re mine!

The door sealed itself shut. Hardman tensed. “Boss..!”

“Snake!”

“I’m trying to get it under control! I’m using a virus to give us backdoor commands … it can’t lock me out, but it’s initiated a lock down of the base!”

On a mad impulse Topman grabbed the General’s stiff body from the wall. He cried out in pain, which caught the attention of the other’s.

“Help me drag him to the console!” Hardman immediately grabbed the General’s bad arm and, in his haste, tore it off as he pulled the general away too quickly. The blue behemoth swore and grabbed the body a bit more gently and brought it to the console.

“What are you up to?” asked Shadowman, but Topman did not reply. Instead he grabbed a spare USB cable laying around and plugged the General’s dead body into the system.

Needlegal gasped and Hardman restrained the General’s body. General Cutman’s jawbone lay broken and on it’s side, as if it was laughing at their efforts. Nothing happened.

The security, however, cleared up. Snakeman relaxed. “It’s accepting me now that the General’s wired in. There must be some hardware in the General’s systems that it’s looking for.

Topman laughed nervously. “It's a good thing it wasn’t software, or we’d have been screwed.”

Snakeman breathed out a long sigh. “It’s done. I’ve managed to call off the forces at Desert Gulch, but … the system won’t allow me to call off the whole War.”

Shadowman blinked in surprise. “What? Why not?”

“I dunno. It was probably almost getting caught before.”

For the first time Needlegal spoke out. “Hey, guys! Take a look at this!”

The Mechanical Maniacs gathered around and saw what Needlegal was excited about. There, connected to wires and various machines, was the head of Mesmerman.

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