🚀 go-pugleaf

(continued from part three...)

                                   ***********

     Ginsu World Class was laying down a thick line of mortar fire when
Daydream Believer first approached.  The armor's tactical systems warned her
of the possibility of a psi-attack and posted numerous messages outlining
exactly how vulnerable she would be if she didn't act quickly.  She spun
around and leveled a particle beam emitter, slightly reminiscent of Silly
Wizzard's often-maligned Particle Beam Flashlight, at her face.  The young
girl merely sat and watched her.
     The armor's warnings multiplied to the point where they were practically
unintelligible; they were being posted and cleared much too fast for any human
to follow, and the log buffers were starting to drop messages because of
overflows.  A single cybernetic instruction commanded them to simply stop, and
the wall of messages disappeared, taking the world with it.
     The prison and the countryside vanished and were replaced by a bombed out
wasteland.  Gaunt and battered slaves paraded through a desert in a death
march, prodded on by the whips of metal-clad taskmasters.  There were hundreds
of processions all streaming endlessly towards an edifice in the distance from
which ran a river of blood.
     Liz recognized the building as the Bob City Correctional Facility.  She
saw that the marchers were all branded with a symbol that she somehow knew
marked them as mages.  And as she looked closer, she found that they were all
being driven to their deaths by hundreds of Ginsu World Classes.
     "No, it's not like that!" she insisted, "They're not weak! It's a trick!
Don't be fooled! They'll kill you if they get the chance!"
     One of the armored taskmasters responded to her screams by disintegrating
every last one of its charges with an energy blast from its palm.  Free of its
burden, it approached Ginsu World Class and removed its helmet.
     Liz's own face stared her down and cackled evilly.  The other Ginsu World
Classes soon joined in and surrounded her.  The landscape burst into flames and
began to consume the ragged masses of mages. Their screams, a thousand times
more intense than the laughter, were only barely audible.
     "Shut up, dammit! All of you shut up!"
     Liz's fist slammed into the face of one of her evil twins, shattering it
in a crunch of metal on metal.  The double's voice became shrill and metallic,
and the broken face fell away to reveal a skeleton of circuitry, steel and
hydraulics.  More punches flew, driven by fear and disgust.  She seized the
mechanical horror by the neck and pummeled it mercilessly, screaming for it
to be silent.  When it the machine was finally too damaged to continue its
taunting, the other twisted duplicates also went quiet and slowly began
backing away, cringing in terror.
     Ginsu World Class actually smiled for moment, pleased that she'd been
able to once again find some peace, only to have it ripped away again when the
battlefield abruptly burst back into existence.  In the place of the smashed
robot duplicate, Liz found Daydream Believer dangling from her grasp, her face
battered and bloody.  She released her, letting her drop limply to the Earth.
Nightmare glared at her hatefully from a safe distance.
     "Children!" she smoldered.  "You bastards! Look what you've done!"
     With renewed conviction, she called up the heaviest machine gun in her
arsenal and deluged the countryside with explosive shells until her ammunition
ran out.  It was nothing short of a miracle, combined with a flurry of hastily
cast bullet deflection spells, that nobody was killed.  Even so, the shrapnel
and concussions took several dozen combatants out of the struggle.

                                   ***********

     "These firing procedures are useless!"  Benedict screamed in annoyance
at his terminal.  The displayed set procedure for combating a small number of
heavily-armored enemy spacecraft (The Dalek battle computer, for obvious
reasons, was not preloaded with instructions on how to fight airships) was to
close to point-blank range, if possible, and destroy them with a series of
massive broadside volleys.  Unfortunately, the ship's designers had apparently
never anticipated such a battle occurring inside an atmosphere (a task that
was supposed to be done by smaller, specialized craft), and had thus failed to
mention the blinding clouds of smoke, fire, and residual energy that would
develop.   The computers, in hindsight, recommended the insertion of a two-
minute delay between volleys to let the air clear.  Which, to Benedict, was a
completely idiotic suggestion.  These were *humans* he was fighting, humans
trained by, and possibly led by, Andy Awesome. The absolute *worst* thing to
do would be to give them time to plan and think.
     "All guns reset for sequential fire!"
     "Target lock re-acquired!"  screamed a sensor-operator droid.
     "Commence firing!"

                                   ***********

     Marie finished the uplink and sent commands for the RCB to come down and
give supporting firepower to the Revolutionaries -- there were slightly more
heroes facing them than they had anticipated. She was almost done with the
link when a laser blast blew her out of the sky.
     Down in the Killer RV, Shannon pasted a power-armor kill-sticker on the
inside of her cupola.  "Sanka, Burnout, the blast should have stunned that
one. Go check, wouldja?" She hoped the pilot of the armor wasn't dead -- she
had enough to worry about as it was.
     Marie groaned quietly, from the bottom of a small, Tornado-armor-shaped
dent in the ground. The first thing she noticed was the small column of smoke
rising from the hole in her armor's chest-plate. As she watched, the edges of
the 'wound' seemed to crawl, as if they were alive, and the armor repaired
itself. Marie gaped -- it had been able to do that before, but nowhere near as
fast.
     "...landed somewhere over here...", she heard from nearby.
     "...ach, dinnae ye think..." "...no, it shoulda been tougher than
that..."
     "Rrrg!" Marie growled, sitting up to confront two in-costume heroes, who
had, up until now, not noticed her.
     "Surrender!" said one of them, a woman in a red-and-black bodysuit.
     "Ach, wot she said, y'ken?" said her companion, a man wearing what
appeared to be a gas-powered water pump and a coffee-colored costume.
     "Die!" Marie replied, bouncing up, "Super Tornado Micromissile Strike!!"
     "Eeyah!" Burnout shrieked, leaping up into the air to avoid the two
armor-piercers that launched from the Tornado's right wrist. Sanka stood
stolidly, as the missiles zipped by him, and fired twin blasts of
superheated coffee at Marie, knocking her down. Burnout followed this up with
blasts of flame, the combination of the two attacks making the Tornado's
chestplate glow red-hot.
     Marie sweated profusely as her armor locked up from the intense heat.  The
two heroes, believing her down for good, relented their assault. Marie shook
her head in disbelief as the auto-repair systems bypassed the fused circuits
and brought her armor back on-line in less than 3 seconds.  "Plasma Cannon!!"
she growled, and her wrist-mounted HellFire cannon sent a searing blast into
Burnout, knocking the heroine down. Before Sanka could react, Marie leaped on
him, activating her chainsaws and slashing through the power leads of his
backpack. She punched him in the face for good measure, knocking him out.
     "Guys?! Come in!!" Shannon shouted into her comm-link. "Dammit!
What could have happened to them?!"
     Marie's blood was like fire in her veins -- this was what she lived
for! Out on the battlefield, the concerns and politicking were meaningless.
You knew who your friends were, and everyone else better watch out!  She noted
that the black-haired heroine, Burnout, was struggling to her feet. Marie
blinked, amazed that she had survived the plasma blast. Before she had time to
finish off her opponent, the Killer RV came roaring out from behind some trees
and ran over her.

                                   ***********

     Aboard Awesome Force One, the view was filled with bright staccato light
as their sudden nemesis opened up on them again, pounding the airship with
blast after blast.  The ship wrenched and buckles like a collapsing bridge
in a high wind as the cruiser raked it with laser and plasma-fire.
     "Shields!  Shields, Author Damnit!" Anne shouted.
     "They're up!  They're up!" Chris souted.
     "Fire the driver!" shouted Damien, battling the pain and trying to stand.
     "I can't!" Chris shouted as another blast nearly threw him out of his
chair.  "They crumpled the muzzle!"
     "Fire it anyway!" Anne yelled, holding Damien down.
     "What?" Chris said astonished as he pulled he ship hard to starboard to
avoid another blast.  It caught the stern and spun the airship 360 degrees.
As its bow swung across the breadth of the hostile ship, Chris fired.

                                   ***********

     Hu was a Shintoist, who followed the path of the Universe.  His skill in
combat was, at best, minor.  He was a healer, who called upon the strength of
the rhythms of the body to heal itself.  He knew something of the art of
disrupting those rhythms, too.
     But not much.  Not really.  His skills were such that he had been pressed
into duty as a rifleman.  He had 12 gauge modified choke pump action, which
meant absolutely nothing to him beyond that after eight shots, he had to
reload.
     War was not against his ethos, but neither was it his strength.  He and
six others formed a pocket of resistance, firing at anything that moved from
the grey building.
     There was an explosion nearby.  Too near.  Cutter, a Hermetic Mage with
bright green hair and a tank top with German symbols on it, threw himself over
the others.  "Mortar!" he cried.  "Keep your damn nip head down, Hu!"
     Hu was Cantonese, not Japanese, but he made no issue of it.  Miranda fired
three shots from her hunting rifle.  She was European -- Spanish, to be exact.
She wore a leather crop top and jeans, and claimed to be a Druid.  "Three of
them," she said.  "They've got a Mortar and grenades."
     Cutter swore.  "They have our number -- we're pinned down.  I need a
distraction.  Who has a Phantasmagoria?"
     "A what?"
     "I do," Smithers said.  Smithers was an accountant for a Wall Street
firm.  He was also a Cabalist who had been taught the family traditions.  He
mouthed a few words and made passes in the air, and a streak of light arced
over the field into an explosion of light and fireworks.  The thunderous booms
threatened to split open the field.
     "Yeah!" Cutter shouted, using the chance to make a run for the position.
A trail of blue-green light escaped his hands, and an explosion of blue fire
shot with green lightning consumed the background.
     Miranda swore.  "Bruce!" she shouted.  "Yah missed the pooftahs!"
     By then, however, it was too late.  Automatic weapons fire cut Cutter in
half.  Hu saw a trail of fire arcing towards them, and heard a defensive chant
begin....
     The pattern closes.  The wheel turns.  Hu never heard the explosion that
killed him.

                                   ***********

    "Enemy missile launched!" warned a RoboDalek, "Activating point defense
and countermeasures!"
    All along the side of the immense cruiser, thousands of tiny lasers sprang
to life, targeting and firing at the incoming projectile as dozens of powerful
phased-array antennae beamed electromagnetic pulses at it.  Had it been any
form of missile previously encountered by the Dalek race, it would have been
instantly reduced to a thinly sliced hulk of deep-fried circuitry.  Of course,
none of these defenses had any effect whatsoever on a solid hunk of
awesometonium.  It flew through the hail of fireworks and plunged into the
port side of the cruiser, burying itself deep inside a particle-beam turret,
which promptly exploded.
     "Point defense ineffective!  Enemy missile of unknown composition!  Hull
is breached!!  Hull is breached!!!" cried one of the RoboDaleks.
     "Damage control, report!"  Again, Benedict swore.  The cursed airship was
armed with a weapon ideally suited for close-range knife-fights with other
opponents- a mass driver that launched solid projectiles too fast to avoid,
and impossible to destroy.   If this engagement had been at longer range, then
he could possibly deflect those spikes with main weaponry.  But not at point-
blank.  And he couldn't back off now- his screens clearly showed that the
ground war was being fought in earnest.  His psychological analysis routines
told him that the 2402's proximity to the Correctional Facility was an
invaluable morale boost to his human troops, and to see it back away for any
reason would shatter their will to fight.
     He should have foreseen this.  Andy had specifically built the Awesome
Force One to provide fire support for superhero combats, which mostly occurred
at low altitudes and at close ranges, where the 2402 was intended to fight in
space against targets millions of kilometers away.  Not that it would make a
serious difference- the overwhelming size and firepower advantage of the beavy
battlecruiser more than made up for the deficiencies in weapons selection.
All statistical analysis modules and rapid-simulations still predicted a
definite victory, although the damage estimates to the 2402 had risen
alarmingly.  Damage that might interfere with his plans to use the ship to
hunt down the few mages that survived this day....
     "Fire has spread to sector eight-five-zero!"  the cry from a RoboDalek
brought Benedict's attention back to the battle at hand.  "Damage control is
insufficient!  Damage control is insufficient!"
     "Understood!"  Benedict flipped more switches to increase the flow of
Halon to the damaged area.  "Isolate and seal the area!  Engage enemy craft
with starboard guns!"

                                   ***********

     Spectrum stood atop the wall of the fortress, picking his targets.  He
hit mages with energy blasts hard enough to injure, but not kill.  At least
that was his intention.  Magic directed at him seemed to disappate, rather
than have any effect.  As he watched the ground forces, he scanned the scene
for a particular person.  Finally he spotted her.  Radian.
     Spectrum engaged his flight systems and flew directly to her, ignoring
others in the area.  As soon as he was certain she saw him, he gestured,
making a 'time-out' symbol with his hands, then he landed 10 feet from her.
     Hands at his side, he bowed toward her, as if preparing for a karate
match.  The lower half of his faceplate opened. "Hello Radian."
     She paused, thinking, *HAL?*
     <<Yes, Akane?>>
     *Quickly, what can you tell me about Spectrum?*
     <<Records of Dave do not exist prior to an appearance in Dave City, save
that he is a superdave wielding considerable energy powers.  His suit is
constructed of materials simular to BulletDave's armor.>>
     Kyoko and China appeared next to him.  Kyoko poked him, like a rancher
examining a animal. -Healthy. Low mileage. Not bad. Nice Legs.-  China giggled.
     <<You should consider Dave to be a very dangerous adversary.  I would
suggest extreme caution, although...>>
     *What*
     <<Some records I have intercepted suggest Dave is a ladies man.  This
could be a weakness.  His involvement may have something to do with police
records placing Dave, Dave, and the Dave Ninja at a recent mass murder of
children involving mages.>>
     China grumbled, *I need a T-shirt, saying 'I'M ALIVE'*
     Akane nodded.  "As long as they can't see you nobody'll believe me."
     Spectrum started.  "What?"
     Radian blinked.  "Nevermind.  What do you want?"
     Spectrum began, "I would like to arrest you for the murder of the young
girl named 'China' and for the attempted destruction of the Earth."
     "You'd like to? ..but?"
     Spectrum shrugged.  "Yes, but... I figure if you haven't surrendered by
ow, ma'am, you aren't just because another superguy tells you to."
     -The guy has a point.  I betcha he wants to fight.-
     *Quiet.  Maybe he wants something else.*
     Radian cleared her throat, and fluttered her eyes.  "So what do you
really want?"
     "I want to know why you did it.  I want to know what brought you back
from the brink.  I want to know what its going to take to bring you down.
I'm sick of mages going crazy and killing kids."
     "Simple as that.  You waltz in with your Industrial Revolution Goon Squad,
and you expect me to surrender peacefully along with every mage you can round
up?  What then?  Concentration Camps?  Gas Chambers?"
     "NO! ...I mean, if you were a superguy who was also a mage, and you went
bad, whats to stop the next mage from doing the same.  Maybe we can find a way
to drain off the magic.  But we can't let it go unchecked.  It always seems
to contaminate whatever it touches.  We have to bring y'all in, ma'am, and
we're prepared to use whatever force nessasary to get you to surrender."
     "And you think you have what it takes to stop me?"
     "Have you looked at the moon lately?"
     "What?" Akane shrugged.
     <<Dave may be refering to 'Magi Crater' a very large new crater that was
formed on the evening Bulletdave was on Radio Free Dave.>>
     *Joy.*
     -Ooooh I _like_ this one!- Kyoko purred.
     "Sorry Spectrum," Radian said, smiling prettily.  "You and your cronies
are wrong.  You can't win, and you're not getting me without a fight."
     Off in the distance, a faint, barely perceptible yet strangely clear
note could be heard...
     Spectrum closed his faceplate.  Energy glowed from his body.
     "Your funeral."

WILL IT BE HER FUNERAL?
IS SHE DRESSED FOR IT?
WILL BENEDICT SUCCEED IN DESTROYING THE AWESOME FORCE ONE?
DOES THE COUNTER-REVOLUTION STAND A CHANCE EVEN IF HE CAN'T?
WILL ANYTHING BE ABLE TO STOP GINSU WORLD CLASS?
WILL SHADEBEAM STOP GAWKING AT THE DALEK SHIP AND GO RESCUE HER SISTER?
WILL THE EXTREME TEAM MAKE IT TO THE BATTLE IN TIME?
HOW MORE BLOATED CAN THIS GET?
Superguy.  It's time to demand more from a listserv.