Ekobean: Though I originally wasn't planning on it, I have decided (with a little help from my fellow authors, Shady, I'm thinkin' of you) to make a sequel to my highly-reviewed story "The Dark Menace," so here you are, without further ado, I present to you, Dark Menace 2! (haha, that rhymed. I am so clever).

Misty Island

Metal Head Nest, 12:31 p.m.

Doctor Shiv surveyed his surroundings. A spherical, rock cave, illuminated only by the flickering torches set in the walls. A wiry smile spread across his thin face. It would work this time, he knew it would. The cave walls were littered with black, winding wires that hung across the ceiling and to the ground, connecting to the rows of humming machines that he had moved into the cave.

A plain operating table stood in the center of the cave. A plain white sheet was spread over an elfin figure, the doctor's latest project. Ever since the incident several years prior, the doctor had been working tirelessly to bring the elf, a victim of the terrorist known as Jak, back to life.

The doctor snorted at the thought of Jak's name. The people of the city worshipped that creature as a savior, a gift from above to protect the city from outside threats. Why, they were practically worshipping him as a king! Only the doctor saw through his cheap disguise, and the monster he truly was.

The man's head was the only thing that had remained truly undamaged during the accident. Shiv had collected it while the spectators were distracted with Jak's escape. It had taken him years, but he had finally found a space large enough (and secluded enough) to perform the experiments. It had only been the prior year that he had discovered this place. Jak had run all the Metal Heads out of the nest, and now he had made it his private laboratory.

When Shiv had first come to the cave, he had found a grisly sight. The corpses of Metal Heads, torn limb from limb, their black blood long since coagulated in the deep ruts of the floor. This find had leaned to Shiv's advantage however. By disassembling the Metal Heads and salvaging useful components, he had made, over the course of a year, a new body for the man. And now was the time to bring him to life again.

There was no way to recharge the man's brain, that would be an act that science could not accomplish, but there was another way. By transferring the man's memories into a microchip, and implanting it into his new body, he should come back to life. In theory, at least.

Shiv immediately set to work. He ran frantically about the room, turning a knob here, pulling a lever there, adjusting a hose...

A surge of electrical energy flowed through the wires attached to the lifeless metal body. "Now for the final act," Shiv muttered excitedly. He drew from within his soiled labcoat a small crystal vial filled with a thick, purple substance. Dark Eco.

This precious substance was so hard to come by. While working as a scientist for Governess Ashelin, he had run thorough tests, contrasting Light and Dark Eco. Though Light Eco was indeed the purer of the two, Dark Eco was by far more potent. And this task would need a substance of great potency. The doctor gently pulled the cork stopper from the top of the vial and walked to the center of the room, where a collection machine was waiting. The machine consisted of a large funnel with several thick hoses feeding through it. The hoses pushed into the body, ready to feed the dark substance into it.

With a trembling hand, the doctor tipped the vial into the collection unit. The substance poured out and into the collector, sloshing about before being forcefully fed into the tubes. The substance ever so slowly crept through the tubes, like a predator stalking a Yakow. It flowed into the electrified body, and flowed until there was nothing left to feed.

For the longest time nothing happened. The doctor chewed at his nails, sweat beading his balding head. Had all of his years of research been for nothing? It couldn't be! Suddenly the form under the sheet jerked. Its back arched, it's arms curling forward, clawed fists clenched into balls.

"Yes!!"

The table rocked and fell over, his creation toppling onto the stone floor. One single word issued forth from its mouth, and it echoed across the cavern as it screamed from his mouth:

"JAK!!!"

"Relax, relax friend! Calm down!" Shiv ran forward, trying to comfort the twitching mass of metal. Resurrection could be in no way pleasant. Bolts of dark Econetic energy issued from the polished metal of the cyborg. It slowly stood, its red eyes gleaming with their own light. His reflective new skin flickered in the dim lighting of the cave.

"Where am I?" it said.

"You are in the Metal Head Nest. My name is Dr. Shiv, I created this new body you find yourself in."

"What are you talking about, old man?"

"My dear boy, I resurrected you after that terrible accident. That was years ago."

The cyborg slowly looked down at his hands, dreading at what he may see. The metal claws, sparkling in the light...it made him want to vomit. "No...no! What have you done to me!?" the cyborg fell backward, scrambling away from the doctor like a rodent.

"No, no, please calm yourself. I can make you appear normal again! I simply brought you back right now, but you can still appear to be a normal person! Just imagine it."

"You have resurrected me as a mechanical freak, you idiot!" the cyborg screamed, scrambling to his feet. "The only thing I imagine is your death!"

"Wha" – Shiv managed to say before a stabbing pain raked across his stomach. He fell to his knees, gasping for breath. The cyborg was behind him now. In a split second he had moved from twenty feet in front of him to thirty feet behind him. The dying scientist looked fearfully down at his blood stained shirt. He could feel his bowels coming undone, blood rushing out of him. "No..."

He fell forward, blood leaking from his cracked mouth, eyes wide open.

The cyborg glanced down at his new, clawed fingers, dripping with fresh blood. He could not feel anything. Not the wind nor the hot liquid dripping down his fingertips. He may not have been normal, but this new form could be of use. Jak would pay for what he did to him. Humiliated him, and then killed him in front of hundreds of people. He flinched at the last memory before the explosion.

Now it would be Jak's turn. He would torture Jak, torture him to death...he swore it...

To be continued...

Ekobean: There you have it, the first chapter of my FIRST sequel! I hope for this one to be just as popular as Dark Menace, so gimme them good reviews, please!