🚀 go-pugleaf

CoNtInUeD fRoM pArT oNe>.>

     "We need reinforcements in Gridsec HK5!!" a FEMSquad soldier
shouted desperately. "This is Sgt. Tamos of FEMSquad Gamma, we're pinned
down!!"
     All over, the TONNGuard units were falling back, routed -- their
training and weapons proving no match for the Invids' suicidal ferocity
and total coordination. Sgt. Lori Tamos had been assigned, with the
other survivors from FEMSquad Gamma, to assist a unit of the TONNArmy in
a counterattack that had lasted all of three minutes. Now, their mecha
destroyed and their conventional vehicles burning hulks, they were
holding a position barely a hundred meters from the outer defense wall
of the TONN HQ building.
     An Invid Shock Trooper stomped forward, straight into their line of
fire. Small-arms fire bounced off it, doing no damage, and it vaped the
one guy in Lori's group with an RPG launcher with a blast from its
plasma cannons. Lori had heard the command staff talking about the Invid
like they were bugs or something, but this one was no 'bug'. She could
tell it was holding back for a reason -- letting them get good and
scared before it wiped them off the map.
     There was a flash of light, and the Invid staggered. Another flash,
and its' head blew open.
     "Bwuh?!" Lori observed astutely, as a spandex-clad girl zoomed up.
     "Have no fear, Prizm's here!" she exclaimed, before tearing off.
     Lori blinked. So Force Ten was here... Joy.

<----->

     Roger's eyes blazed as he blew apart an Armored Scout at
practically point-blank range. In between waves of attacking Invid,
Burnout had explained to him what had happened, and the awesome
consequences of failure. He could not afford to fail -- no matter the
cost. He smashed apart another Scout with a power-assisted punch,
advancing out of the woods, at last.
     Burnout and Ha'Veluri came up behind him. The rest of Force Ten and
their allies had scattered into small groups, hoping to confuse the
Invid and cause more trouble that way. Maybe some of them would get
through to the Hive.
     It lay in front of them, about a mile away. Directly in front
of them was a huge, open field... completely full of burning vehicles
and bodies.
     "Damn..." Roger exclaimed.
     Here and there moved Invid Armored Scouts, scouring for survivors.
Roger could hear the occasional blast, followed by a brief scream.
Burnout's eyes were narrowed, her nimbus of flames burning white-hot in
her anger. Ha'Veluri grimaced slightly, slotting another energy clip
into his gun-like thing.
     "The sooner we blow Ultima away, the sooner this ends." Burnout
growled, pointing to the Hive. "Let's go."

<----->

     "Bloody 'ell!" Melbaman shouted. All around him scurried Invid
Scouts -- unarmed except for razor-sharp claws. He gestured, and iron-
hard slices of Melba Toast shot out of his hands, blowing holes in
several of them. Nearby, Tealeaf was using his Tealeaf-pathic powers to
confuse the primitive brains of the Scouts. Sanka, beside him, was
sending blasts of ten thousand degree Cappucino left and right, causing
the small Invid mecha to overheat and explode. The three Brits fought
like demons, hoping to cause enough of a distraction for Roger's group
to get to the Hive.
     "Just like that fight when we took on Morgan's henchies, remember?"
TeaLeaf said, convincing two Scouts that they were reincarnations of
Kurt Cobain. Surprisingly, they both started singing Smells Like Teen
Spirit and then exploded. Two dozen more appeared, and he promptly
tealeaf-ported them away.
     "Aye, but those buggers were even stupider'n these guys!" Melbaman
replied, grinning.
     "I 'ope they break for tea soon, 'cos I need to recharge, 'ere.."
Sanka commented, checking his water pressure gauge. "Bloody 'ell!"
     "Right!" TeaLeaf said. From somewhere in the background came the
sound of Big Ben bonging. A table, complete with tea items, appeared out
of nowhere, and the three heroes promptly took their seats.
     "Sugar?" asked Melbaman, blowing away a Scout that was sneaking up
on Sanka.
     "Yes, please. Scone?" Sanka replied, a high-pressure blast of
Expresso shattering the sensor eye of another Scout as it leaped at
Melbaman. Tealeaf 'ported it away before it hit the table.
     "With butter, please."
     The three heroes munched for about a minute, alternating sips of
tea with blowing away Invid.
     "Right, then." TeaLeaf said, standing. The table vanished. Combat
continued.

<----->

     The Red Bandit had lost contact with the rest of Force Ten, and the
Invid were too thick at lower altitudes to go down, even with the Shadow
Cloak on. So she floated, indecisive, near the top of the airspace
enclosed by the force field.
     She blinked, staring at something on the other side. A fighter
zoomed by, strafing the shield with gunfire. It looked similar to the
Shadow Alpha, only without the paint job... Hm...
     The Alpha shifted forms, thrusters flaring as it hung in the air,
seperated from her by the force field.
     The Bandit shifted her 'mech, shrugging its' shoulders. "Damn, I
wish I could radio through this force field..."
     The Alpha paused, then pointed at her, then 'drew' an 'X' on the
field, and floated out of the way.
     "Shoot it? O-kaaay..." the Bandit muttered, triggering the
Destabilizer Cannon and, to her amazement, blowing a large hole in the
force field. The Alpha dived through without hesitation.
     "Hey!" came a voice over the radio -- probably the Alpha pilot, the
Bandit thought, "Where'd you get that fighter?!"
     "It's a long story -- who're you?" the Bandit replied, noting the
force field repairing itself rapidly.
     "Ray Sterling... What's going on?"
     "We've got to get into that Invid Hive and blow it up or the world
goes 'pif'." the Bandit explained.
     "Harsh realm. Ok, who's the head baddie? Garth? Marie?"
     "Ultima."
     "Who?!" Ray asked.
     "I'll explain..."

<----->

     It defied every bit of strategy Shana Shannon had ever been taught.
They were being overrun... She had been ordered by Gerbre to buy a few
more minutes for Intel to come up with a plan -- so she, and the rest of
the command center staff were armed and fighting to hold the perimeter.
     "Don't fall back!" she shouted. "Hold your positions!"
     A suicide order -- the Invid force they were facing was taking
everything they tossed at it and _still_ coming. Missiles shot from a
launcher on the roof of one of the HQ buildings, each one homing in on
the head of an Invid mech, smashing it to pieces. A Heat-Ray blast swept
over her position -- she barely had enough warning to dive for cover
behind a damaged tank. The tank she hid behind slagged on one side, but
held. The others weren't so lucky -- the concrete barriers literally
shattered and melted under the insane heat. Shana felt her hair and skin
singe as the blast-wave washed over her. Annihilation discs blew open
the walls of Headquarters, and the Invid moved in for the kill...

<----->

     Admiral Morgan snuck along, followed by her trusty henchies,
Grounder, Metalhead, and Zapper, whom the TONN medical staff had
awakened less than a week ago.
     A van pulled up nearby. "Delivery for a 'Kassandra Morgan' from the
Really, Really Hard To Get Out Of Place!" called the driver. Morgan
grinned evilly, taking the clipboard the driver offered and signing it.
"Right, here y'are -- and thanks for using our new Henchman Delivery
Service!"
     "Heh. Free!! Heh." the Wind cackled Murrayishly, getting out of the
van, followed by Quaker Oatmeal Guy, who tried to act cool and crack his
knuckles, but ended up whining about his authritis.
     Morgan decided not to waste brain cells wondering how the Henchman
Delivery Service truck had gotten through the Invids' force field, and
continued on, signalling the two aging henchmen to fall in. The weapons
in the Invid Hive _would_ be hers!!

<----->

     The hulking man dressed in a torn TONN R&D lab coat walked slowly,
carefully, picking his way through a field of dead bodies. Incredible,
the energy he was absorbing from their cessation...
     He gestured, and his eyes glowed with energy. One by one, the dead
TONNGuards rose and shambled after him.
     "Hahaha! Incredible! Now, my followers, we will destroy the enemies
of my creators... We will destroy the Invid!! They will feel the power
of... DAS KREIGTOT!!!"

<----->

     Ultima pondered all the sources of input, feeling the power in the
Protoculture Matrix behind her growing to new heights. It wouldn't be
long before she had enough power to initiate the Nullspace transfer...
Then, then it would be time to secure her race's destiny as rulers of
the Universe!!
     She was surprised at the casualty levels, though.. Amazing that the
enemy was doing so much damage... But irrelevant when her matter/energy
converters could create more troops to replace those who were destroyed.
Unfortunately, to conserve power, she had stopped replacing and healing
her minions, as well as her teleporting of them to the optimum tactical
postions. In fact, she was practically ignoring them. Each Invid death
was a pain in the back of her head, but all her mind was focussed on
stabilizing the Matrix with each new infusion of Slurpees...er...
Protoculture.
     Ultima grinned evilly. Soon, victory would be hers.

<----->

     "Tornado... please..."
     Shana had never thought it would end this way. Behind her was the
locked door to the 'inner sanctum', the entrance to the underground
R&D/Intel complex that serviced the rest of TONN. Before her were the
bodies of her command -- they had fought desperately (and futilely)
against the Invid Enforcers who now swarmed the corridors of the TONN
command center.
     Marie, the commander of the Enforcer group, snapped her visor up as
she regarded Shana. She _knew_ this human -- and she was no threat --
she was armed only with a pistol. Something she could not control made
her pull her energy pistol out -- she took careful aim at Shana's head.
     Shana closed her eyes, hoping Tornado killed her quickly and didn't
decide to make her suffer. She _knew_ Marie -- had met her during the
Bob City Mega-Party. Not that it mattered, now that they were on
different sides.
     There was an explosion.
     Shana blinked. The Enforcers who had followed Marie in were torn to
shreds, and Marie was getting up, her armor dented from the blast that
had killed her followers.
     "Well, Tornado, it looks like this time I've managed to stop you
_before_ you killed someone." growled Shannon Druida as she stepped
through a massive hole in the side of the HQ building, magical energies
flashing around her clenched fist. "Good thing I had that 'Urban
Renewal' spell memorized."
     "That was cool!" Fractalman said, following her in. "I just wonder
where the rest of the guys are.."
     "You..." Marie growled, hauling herself to her feet. "Again..."
     "You seem to get your kicks out of picking on helpless people,
don't you.." Shannon said, summoning up another spell. "Give up, and
maybe I won't hurt you too badly -- we have a score to settle."
     Marie blinked. This brought back memories -- things she didn't
_want_ to remember. The fact of that mage, before her plasma blast had
turned him into ash. A face forever burned into her mind. An action that
had ended her illusions of heroism in one brutal blast. She reached out
through the Invid MindNet, searching for Ultima's stabilizing influence.
     Ultima ignored her, focusing on the Matrix.
     "No!" Marie screamed, the impact of the memories Ultima had
surpressed in her coming back, just as powerful as before. "NO!" Unable
to think of what else to do, Marie turned and fled, instinctively
dodging a thrown Mandelbrot Star from Fractalman.
     "You ok, random TONN person?" Shannon asked, looking at Shana.
"Y'know, you look a lot like me..."
     "The time is near!!" exclaimed a commanding voice from behind them.
The doors to the R&D complex opened, to reveal Gerbre, now clad in a
suit of gleaming, medieval-looking armor. "The final showdown is
coming!"
     "Gargle!" Shannon exclaimed, stepping back.
     "Oooh, Neo-Gothic, man!" Fractalman gaped.
     "Sir?!" Shana asked.
     "Come, we must go." Gerbre said. "And the name is _GERBRE_! Grr...
Anyway, I've examined the data, and our only hope of victory is to take
out Ultima -- which means a direct attack."
     "That's what we were going to do!" Shannon said, "Force Ten is
trying to get into the Hive and stop her, too!"
     Gerbre blinked. "Why are you going this way, then? The Hive is the
other way..."
     "DOWH!" Shannon shouted, "John, you idiot!!"
     "Oops.." Fractalman gulped, "Sorr-ee..."
     Gerbre blinked, noticing three people running, and one person
floating towards them.
     "YOU FOUR! What are you doing?!" Shana shouted.
     "Colnel!" Bomber Babe and the Johnson Brothers exclaimed.
     Ms. Coffee blinked. "Hreh. They let ladies be officers, now? Huh."
     "You're coming with us -- we're attacking the Invid Hive!" Gerbre
explained, "Come on!"
     "That's the most depressing thing I think I've ever heard..."
Bomber Babe grumbled.

IS IT???
WILL FORCE TEN STOP ULTIMA???
WHAT HAPPENED WITH MARIE???
WHO ARE BOMBER BABE AND KRIEGTOT???
WHAT WILL THE BANDIT AND RAY DO???

TUNE IN NEXT EPISODE FOR THE FINAL SHOWDOWN... ONLY ON... SUPERGUY!