🚀 go-pugleaf

(continued from part two...)

     Turning his attention to other matters, Benedict barely watched the viewer
out the corner of his eyestalk as Bulletproof looked down at the transmat
circle.  The Dalek was not planning on going back by that route, and the
battlesuited human would soon satisfy his curiosity and return to the defense
of the Revolutionaries' fortress.
     "I shoulda known he wouldn't be in here."  Bulletproof's grumble to himself
barely registered on the audio pickup.  The video feed certainly couldn't see
the grin that spread beneath his quartz visor when he recognized the transmat
spheres.  Busy with other tasks, Benedict paid no attention when Bulletproof
spun up his armor's CD-ROM drive and loaded a disk of digitized TV quotes,
advancing forward to the "Dr. Who" tracks and selecting a specific phrase to
play.
     "Activate Transmat!"  Benedict's eyestalk spun when he recognized the
phrase, recreated with perfect digital precision by Bulletproof's CD.  His
plunger arm stabbed downward at the cutoff switch, but Bulletproof had already
vanished.  And alarms were already sounding, an automated voice shrieking
commands into the air.
     "ALERT!  INTRUDER IN TRANSMAT FIVE!!!  SECURITY UNITS, SEEK AND
EXTERMINATE!!  SEEK AND EXTERMINATE!!"
     "NEGATIVE!  Extermination order countermanded!"  Benedict shouted aloud,
disconnecting himself from his datajacks and wheeling quickly back out the way
he had come.
     Benedict arrived back at Transmat Five within moments, only to find the
sparking remains of a half-dozen crushed RoboDaleks and one SWD scattered
around Bulletproof's immense form.  The armored hero grunted in recognition.
     "Benedict.  About time you showed up."
     "Bulletproof!  Why have you followed?!?"
     "Wanted to know what the Hell(tm) you were up to."  He gestured around
the room.  "Mind telling me where I am?"
     The Dalek paused, as if gathering breath to argue.  In reality, he was
calling up his psychological profile of Bulletproof.  After a few moment's
study, he concluded that the fastest way to convince the overly stubborn
Earther was to give him what he had come for:  an explanation.
     "There is insufficient time for debate.  I shall explain.  You are aboard
the Imperial Dalek Heavy Battlecruiser 2402, in Earth orbit!"
     "In orbit again, huh?  At least this time I'm in a ship."
     "Do not interrupt!  Time is of the essence!  This vessel was constructed
by the Dalek Navy to serve Davros, the evil creator of my race and the
destroyer of my home world of Scaro."
     "Let me guess.  You stole it from him."
     "Affirmative.  The crew was disabled by a contaminant I introduced which
terminated the organic components of every Dalek aboard.  With the assistance
of Space Moose, this ship was launched against the Dalek Home Fleet.  Heavy
damage was taken.  Space Moose attempted repair of the hyperdrive engines."
     Bulletproof's servos hissed when he leaned back, startled.  "You let
*SPACE MOOSE* fix your engines?!?!"
   "It was an error.  Space Moose mistakenly connected the hyperdrive to the
cloaking device, utilizing Spam in the procedure.  The resulting Multiversal
explosion destroyed a significant portion of the Dalek Fleet, and transported
this vessel into Altverse 001SUPERGUY.  The damage was severe. The ship
crashed into your moon and was buried.  Space Moose and I made our way to
Earth.  Space Moose believes this ship was destroyed upon impact with the
lunar surface."
     "Looks to me like it's still in one piece."
     "I returned to the crash site several months ago in the MooseWing.  I
found my initial estimates of damage to be in error.  The hull was intact.  I
utilized components from MooseLodge to convert the armor shells of the
terminated Daleks aboard into autonomous robots and programmed them to begin
repairs."
     "So that's who you've been talking to on that dish of yours back at the
prison."
     "Affirmative.  Once I had computed the probability of a final battle
between the Revolution and the Mages, I readied this ship for combat.  It
launched from the Moon three days ago and has proceeded to it's current orbit
under my remote control.  It has only recently entered Transmat range.  Repairs
are not fully complete, but will be sufficient.  After the defeat of the
Counter-Revolution, the majority of the surviving mages will gather into
isolated communities for defense.  This ship will be used to seek, locate, and
exterminate survivors."
     "Then what?"
     "Remain in orbit.  Watch for the return of Mages.  Defend Earth from
invasion."
     Gears whirled in Bulletproof's head.  "So, the two of you *didn't* come
to Earth in the Moose-Thing of yours?  Then where did you get....."
     "That is to be revealed in another plotline!"
     Bulletproof shrugged.  "So, what's her name, and what's she got?"
     "The original designation was 2402.  This vessel was constructed for
heavy planetary bombardment.  Hull integrity is fully restored.  Offensive
weapons capability at 70%.  Defensive weaponry at 90%.   Sublight engines
fully operational.  Hyperdrive engines not repairable."
     "Can she take on the Awesome Force?"
     "The exact capabilities of Awesome Force One are unknown.  Andy Awesome
is the most dangerous combatant in Dalek history.  However, the maximum
projected capabilities of the airship do not pose a significant threat to
this vessel!"
     Bulletproof grunted approval.
     "How soon til we reach Bob City?"
     "Atmospheric entry will occur within eight minutes.  This vessel will
close to point-blank range of Awesome Force One and initiate combat.  I am the
only sentient lifeform aboard.  Remote control will not be possible in combat.
The automatic systems are insufficient to defeat Andy Awesome.  I must remain
to command the ship.  You must return to the Correctional Facility via the
Transmat at once to lead our ground forces!"
     "Right.  The guys are probably wondering if some mage 'ported me outa
there by now.  So how do I get back?"
     "This Transmat station is locked to a single coordinate."
     "Gotcha."
     With a whine of servos, Bulletproof turned and clomped back into the
center of the room, readying his CD-Rom drive.   Behind him, Benedict's
psychological profile made one final suggestion.
     "Good luck, Bulletproof!"
     "And good luck to you, tin can," replied Bulletproof slowly, "we may need
it."
     He cued up the vocal track.
     "ACTIVATE TRANSMAT!"
     He was gone.  Benedict stared after him for a moment, then spun and
rolled back out the door.


                                   ***********

     "*fsssshhhhhhhhhhhhclickclick* ...don't do that again, you ... hey! We're
back on again! *fssshhhhhh*"

                                   ***********

     Nora stood silently, staring across the fields that separated the woods
on the outskirts of Bob City from the grey walls of the abandoned Bob City
Correctional Institute.  It was ironic, in a way.  All the preparation of the
Revolutionaries, and the spying and stealth of the Magi, and it had come down
to traditional battle lines facing off across an open field.
     Madness, given the automatic weapons and battle-spells wielded by the
combatants.
     She had gravitated toward Figuremaster, and Thane and his friends had
shifted with her.  The Awesome Force veteran looked exhausted and battered,
several fresh cuts on his face betraying his ordeal of the night before.
Something else was different about him as well; a coldness in his eyes that
hadn't been there before, a strange set to his jaw.
     He'd said Ramrod had been inside that place, rescuing a girl and her
father from the Revolutionaries.  Radian had been asked about it, but had
simply shrugged silently.  The rumors had caused no small amount of
discussion among the magi.
     Nora herself found herself with a strange hope.  With Ramrod nearby,
perhaps ready to join the Counter-Revolution at any moment, her confidence
had soared even more than it had with the sudden and dramatic appearance of
the Awesome Force One and its awesome captain.
     Off to her left, a tall mage with a thick Polish accent quietly voiced
a hope that she knew her compatriots shared.  She looked across the
dawn-lit field again, picking out the hulking form of Bulletproof, battered
by the freight cars he had derailed when the pursuit of Ramrod had ended.
The rising sun cast no light on the Revolutionaries; the Awesome Force One
threw a vast shadow across their ranks, leaving them in a darkness Nora
found appropriate.
     All the silent and voiced hopes of peaceful retreat by the
Revolutionaries were suddenly dashed to pieces by a roar that split the
sky, and a collossal explosion from the direction of the compound that sent
heads jerking upward and cries leaping from the throats of the Awesome Force
and others.  Mighty Dog had blown a gaping hole in the gate.  So far, so
good.
     The sounds were almost instantly drowned out by the shouts from across
the field and the rumble of pounding feet, the chatter of machine guns and the
cries of the sudden wounded.  A shriek set Nora's ears ringing as Figuremaster,
unflinching and lips tight, sent a formation of fighters streaking toward
the Revolutionaries from his small, hastily-gathered supply.  Anna and John
dropped to the ground, arms over their heads, and began to chant into the
grass, making it weave strangely.
     Nora felt a momentary squeeze on her arm from Thane.  Then she
evaporated under his grasp and boiled forward through the air into the
thick of the enemy.

                                   ***********

     Marie ran the final checks on her armor. Amazingly, it still seemed to be
working perfectly. Wayne, nearby, pasted a small smiley-face sticker on his
helmet before locking in place. He gave Marie a thumbs-up. Today the two of
them would prove themselves to the other Revolutionaries.
     Or die trying.

                                   ***********

     "Yaaa!" Shadebeam exclaimed, as the explosive sound jarred her out of
a fitful sleep.  It took her a few seconds to remember where she was.  She
thought she heard someone speaking in a polish accent, nearby.
     After Summer had released her from her cell, she had left Shadebeam at
the edge of the woods, at Shadebeam's insistance.  After all, this was
going to be where the action was, and Shadebeam didn't want to miss it.
     No one had told her it would rain so goddamn much, though.
     "Hey, furball," she said, looking into the backpack.  "Where'dja go?"
     -Over here,- Andro said, emerging from behind a tree.  -Did you know...-
     "Not now," Shadebeam said.  "Lemme figure out where Akane is, so that
we can join her."
     -But...-
     "Shhh!" Shadebeam ordered.  "Lessee...she's...that way."  Shadebeam
looked at the Metropolitan Bob Correctional Institute ("Best Bastille in
Bob"), and noticed that much of it's gate and surrounding wall was missing.
She saw Radian, and three people in tacky robes facing a group of people who
were looking up.
     Shadebeam looked up, and whistled.
     "Now that's what I call a fucking AIRSHIP!"
     -Listen!- Andro insisted.
     *I really think you should listen to him this time,* Symon told her.
     "Okay, what?" Shadebeam asked Andro.
     Just then, suddenly and without warning, a huge cry rang out as
mages, heroes, and other partisans of the counter-revolution charged in a
huge line from the trees, erupting from the wooded green that had only
moments before seemed completely silent.  It felt like magic to Shadebeam,
probably some spell she had in her head but could never figure out how to
cast right.
     "Hey!" she exclaimed.
     "Hey!" Andro exclaimed, as Shadebeam grabbed him by the belly and
slung him into her backpack.
     "Don't start the revolution without me!" Shadebeam yelled, as she cast
a flight spell and took to the air, in pursuit of the war line, as a vehicle
that looked rather a lot like an extremely violent RV rolled into view.

                                   ***********

     Roger had laid out a tactical plan to his team, and had made sure they
all memorized it. He would join with the air attack force, while the rest of
Force Ten assisted with the ground assault. He had pushed himself all night
to retrofit the Killer RV with treads and a brushcutter to allow it to
traverse the uneven ground near the Metropolitan Bob City Correctional
Institute. From his position in the air, he could see a small mist trail below
him. The friction from Prizm's passing was turning the early morning dew to
vapor in her wake.  It made it obvious as Hell(tm) where she was, but Roger
doubted that any of the Revolutionaries had the kind of tracking system it
would take to lock onto her, even at her current low speed.
     A blast of energy spat from the walls, kicking up dirt only a few feet
behind Prizm.
     Then again, he could be wrong.
     Roger glanced back at the Killer RV, rolling slowly along the ground
towards the Institute. Burnout was jogging alongside, while Sanka drove and
Shannon ran the roof-mounted laser turret. Roger noted, with approval, that
several minor mages were hanging back in the vehicle's shadow, staying out of
line-of-sight of the Institute's walls as they prepared their magics.  At least
some people had brains, unlike many of the rest of them, advancing in the open.
And unlike me, he thought, sitting up here like a dang skeet waiting to be
pasted.
     He switched his targetting computer on as he dove for the wall that Mighty
Dog had recently hit, searching for someone to shoot at.

                                   ***********

     "*fsssshhhhhhhhhh* I swear, I'm going to kick this bloody thing, and then
I'm going to hunt down the people who built it and kick _them_, and then I'm
going to kick _you_, and then I'll find someone _else_ to kick. What? What?
We're on?  For real?"
     "Good afternoon or morning or whatever the hell the time of day is. I can't
tell.  I've got five hundred thousand dollars of video equipment stuck in this
van and Max refuses to tell me where the hell it came from. Max! Yes! Max! Where
the hell did this stuff come from? Come on, give."
     "Oh, what the fuck. Max still isn't talking, I just got hit on the head by
a falling sync pulse generator, and I'm about to force-feed Max a waveform
monitor. I got other things on my mind than remembering what time the hell it
is."
     "Arrgh. Now. What? What? Oh, right. Hello, folks, this is Radio Free Hero
coming to you in serious pain from right outside Bob City. At any moment, once
Max and I figure out how the hell to wire this damn stuff up, we'll be going
live out on ... Max! What network did you say wanted this? Max? Max, I know
you can hear me, so you can take the damn headphones off and talk to me."
     "Max is not cooperating. Max is therefore in extreme danger. We'll be
bringing you more information on this fast-breaking Max story later on. For
right now, if anybody out there has _any_ idea why the hell we can't connect a
BVU-950 to a Laird 1500 without getting these nasty phase bars showing up,
please call.  Meanwhile, *yowtch*, I'll try to cover what's going on near ...
what _is_ that building? The Bob City what? Correctional Institute? What?"
     "*yooowwwtch*! Folks, Mister and Misses America and all the ships at sea,
not only are we trying to set up an ENG system in van that's already way
too crowded, the video gear we've _got_ seems to be possessed by the Devil,
or its warranty has run out. Or I'm a complete and utter idiot when it comes
to video, because I only took radio courses in college. Whichever."
     "*yowtch*" *zzzzzzzzzzvvvvvzzzzzvvvvvz*"
     "Folks, I think I just electrocuted Max."
     "Mmmm...yep. Max is definitely out cold. He's still breathing, which is
either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it, but I've
put a couple of Lowell kits on top of him, so he's not going anywhere. He may
sink into the mud, but if that happens, at least future generations will have a
perfectly preserved corpse of a boneheaded radio engineer to examine."
     "It looks like it's clouding up a bit out there, um...there seems to be a
bit of lightning, and there's not much happening otherwise... whoop! There
we go! Er...it looks like about, oh, a hundred, maybe two, maybe a thousand
people running from the treeline towards the jail!  Looks like someone blew
a hole in one of the walls of the jail while I was figuring out how the hell
this crap works.  And the Awesome Force One has emerged from the clouds.  The
wind's picked up a bit...I can't hear if they're saying anything..."
     "*ZOT*"
     "Oh, great. I've been struck by lightning. And I'm hallucinating. Why are
all those screens showing old Doctor Who reruns?"
     And with that, Radio Free Hero toppled over into the mud.

WILL RADIO FREE HERO RECOVER IN TIME TO CONTINUE HIS BROADCAST?
WILL MAX RECOVER IN TIME TO RECEIVE MORE ABUSE?
DOES THE FACT THAT IT TOOK 889 LINES JUST TO START THE BATTLE TELL YOU HOW
     LONG THIS BATTLE IS GOING TO BE?
WILL ANYONE BE LEFT BY THE TIME IT'S DONE?
Prepare to face the music, on an upcoming...SUPERGUY!