Chapter 2:
The Battle Begins…
ZZ and his hero group consisting of his sister Blitzy and his fighting robots, Genosix and Ninjzz fly towards Atlanta GA in a large hulking transport ship. The ship was rectangular but it was capable of flight speeds 3 times the speed of sound. Blitzy was at the radio station that was right of ZZ's pilot position. The robots stood in the back holding on to rods that extended out from the roof. "I hate flying so much, However flying is much more safer than flying towards the Cartoon Network with a bunch of crazed cartoon characters bent on making a statement." Genosix Remarked. Genosix was not the physical fighting type, he like to talk his way out of a fight, but he could be courageous as much as the fighting robots.
Back in the Cartoon Network building inside the main offices where the situation began and is now in progress, the 'toons doing the hostage taking was now reveling in their victory. Gary Oak and Loudmouth Kidddington begin to drink from a bottle of vodka. Sakura looked on shaking her head. "Come on babe, you know you wanna." Gary Oak was now reeling from the taste of it. Loudmouth Kiddington dranked and swayed a little. Zee saw them and asked
"What in god's name are you drinking."
"Whatzz it' to 'ya robot boy. You want some of this shit." Gary Oak now drunk
"You are underage, your body cannot take that much alcohol, you…. Before Zee was interrupted by a drunk but angry Gary Oak.
"What'zz to you, you metallic robotic piece of shit." Gary now inebriated
"Your drunkenness has clouded your thinking, that vodka is real strong stuff"… Zee trying to be reasonable.
"Now look here you robotic no-fun having reject from a farm where they create shit eating soldier wannabe like yourself. Maybe if you loosen up and stop actin' like you got a 10 foot metal pole shoved so far up your metal cybernetic ass. You realize this stuff is good. " Gary gave his speech while drunken.
The office workers who are hostage of Max Steel and his group are still huddled against the wall. They were ordinary people and toons working in the daytime until this situation rose up, some people are victims, not knowing what to do, they have never encountered a situation like this before. They try to take no action against them in an act of self preservation. Others are not content to allow their fate to be sealed by toons with a mission to commit acts of terrorism. Some of the hostages begin to take action, they are in the midst of planning either an escape or an uprising against the takers. Among them is Chicken who was grabbed by Zee. His sister named Cow ( That's HER real name) who is a 7 foot tall anthropomorphic cow joins in.
"Can I join this rebellion, I can become SUPER-COW!" she says excitely
"SSSSHHH keep it down" chicken commands "You want to get Max and his people's attention"
"We have to try to get a message to someone in the outside, someone will have to try to escape" A male office worker plans.
"I have an idea, one of the small 'toons could climb inside the vent and climb outside and get a message to the police." A female officer worker chimes in.
"I'll do it, I am small and can squash into any small space, I am a cartoon character ya know" Chicken steps up.
"Ok, let's do it." A male office worker excitedly but quietly chimed in.
Max was monitoring the control panel ignoring the drunken kids Gary Oak and Loudmouth Kiddington. The police had not committed any action against them since they destroyed a SWAT team and their armored transport. Suddenly some commotion began to take place. A middle age male officer worker began feigning a heart attack.
"MAX get over here, he's dying" A female office worker yelled.
"What's wrong with him" Max coldly replied
"Heart condition…Please we can't let him die, if he does, it will ruin your cause." she faced max with fake eyes of need.
"Ok, you can take him out, but if I see anything funny I don't like, he's not going to have a chance to have a broken heart…"
"Gary, Loudmouth…Watch them get to the police.
Meanwhile, with the hostage taking toon distracted, A female office worker opens the vent and chicken climbs in. She quickly closes it.
The other female office worker takes the man and walk with him along towards down the hall towards the lobby door. They walk as if they have succeeded but what they didn't see was that Gary and Loudmouth had aimed their weapons at them. The two toons fire multiple plasma bolt shots at them. The female office workers abdomen explode and splatter her internal organs all over the floor. The male worker feigning a heart attack gets holes in his body. They both drop onto the ground.
Max turns towards the hostages, he is now furious, he and his group point weapons at the people and charge them. The people now having done their act of heroism now wonder what they do wrong and whether it was worth it. Some fault them for what is surely now going to be their fate.
"I know that one of you people allowed someone to escape, which one…" Max inquires
"Which FUCKING ONE…" Max gets increasingly furious.
"I am going to give you people an incentive to answer my question, I will set this weapon on a setting that kills not to fast but it could make a slow and torturous death possible, if you do not want that fate, you will speak and you may live." Max calms and tries to reason.
"Since no one will answer…" Max fires his weapon at a male office worker. The man screams as his internal organs are slowly disintegrated and arcs of electrical energy leap all over his body. He falls and his body smokes.
"No matter, who ever escaped will not get far, he will be found and destroyed, Gary, Loudmouth, find whoever is escaped and bring him back. Do not kill him, just hurt him real bad." Max commands.
"Oh we will…" Gary and Loudmouth runs outside the offices with their plasma pistols.
ZZ and his group continued to fly towards Atlanta, Blitzy continued to monitor the radio and media channels. Genosix continues to hold on for dear life. Ninjzz is now meditating. ZZ asks Blitzy whats on the channels now. Blitzy replies, "Just the same, no new developments".
The transport ship reached Atlanta, ZZ changed course so he could head toward towards the Cartoon Network. He didn't have to dodge buildings, it was clear. They approached the Cartoon Network and behold a sight of a big incident. There were numbers upon numbers of police cars, some from the city, other from the state of Georgia. The Georgia State Police SWAT team was there as was the Atlanta City SWAT. They had been told to hang back after Max destroyed one of their units. They also sighted the ambulances, the red cross trucks, buses and media vehicles from all news organizations, they were broadcasting this incident live on Network TV. "Wow, this is big" ZZ replied as he sighted the ruin of the destroyed SWAT Transport.
ZZ begin to prepare for landing as he circled outside the area. "People prepare to land" ZZ commanded. ZZ circled the hulking transport in a large circle until he found an empty parking lot to land in. It was in an non-descript industrial area that was 5 blocks from the Cartoon Network Facilities. ZZ gingerly descended until the craft landed on the parking lot. "Arm yourselves and lets go to battle!" ZZ excitedly command. Blitzy armed herself with laser weapons. Ninjzz didn't like guns so he prepared his swords by checking them by cutting a pole that was hanging from the ceiling and Genosix check his hacking programming and his hardware installed into him by ZZ.
They all got off the transport and like an army troop going to battle which exactly what they were. They ran down five blocks, dodging traffic that was escaping, bypassing it or coming to see it as a morbid curiosity. As they approached the plaza area, they begin to approach a sea of police cars, police officers and media people who were too busy running towards the incident to notice them. They ran upon the plaza and the sea of police officers grew, some were armed, others were not. The group approached the Cartoon Network building and sighted the command center. They approached it.
The hostage negotiator saw ZZ's group approach, he turned towards them and didn't let on the other officers that he was being approached by supposed "terrorists". He spoke in a dry but sarcastic tone.
"You coming here to witness the incident, trying to get idea's on what to do on your next attack."
"You have it all wrong, it's Mega Corps." ZZ replied "It's a ruse by them because I discovered a big secret of there's"
"They all say that, "It's some BBBIIIIGGG conspiracy to frraaame me". Commander in a sarcastic mocking tone.
"You can think of us any way you want, but as I know, you are having a hard time taking down these people, they have more advanced weapons than you do. ZZ continued with the commander.
"We are not outgunned, they took us by surprise that all" Commander mustered some pride.
"ok…whatever, we are here to help, you can let us take care of this or we could let the people inside who have taken the cartoon network hostage win." ZZ reasoned.
"Commander, we still haven't gotten word from inside, all there is inside is just silence. A female officer reported.
"You can enter, but I still will not think of you as a hero but a terrorist trying to hog the glory to himself." Commander relented.
"Let go…ITTT'S LAAASSSEERR TIMMMME!" ZZ commanded his troop into battle.
ZZ and his group ran towards the parking garage, they had to run once again through throngs of police officers and media people, they even bypassed a couple of news organization reporters reporting the incident live. They continued until they reached the parking garage. It was beside the Cartoon Network main building. It was a single level garage that was adorned with columns, there was a large metal door at the north end. It allowed cars and trucks to come in.
"Genosix, can you open this" ZZ whispered.
"Yes" Genosix whispered.
Genosix transmitted a code to the system that operated the door, the metal door opened with a large motor sound. ZZ and his group slowly went in and took up positions along the columns. They had their weapons aimed at the door that was at the south end of the garage. They were ready for trouble.
What the troop didn't know is that something was stalking them in the garage, it was unseen and unheard but it was watching them, sighting them and following them It was moving at the same pace at them. It had moved in the darkness of the garage, the parts of the garage that was not lit.
ZZ and his group went towards the door when suddenly gunfire was heard, the group jumped behind cars. Something was shooting at them. Cars begin to explode with high-caliber bullet hits, glass and metal shattered everywhere. Car tires begin to explode from the bullet hits.
"What the fuck is shooting at us" ZZ blasted
"I don't know" Genosix
Blitzy and ZZ begin to shoot in the general area, the laser hits flew in the general area and some hit cars shattering their windows and putting holes in the metal. They are not sure whether they hit something or not. The thing in the shadows of the garage begin to shoot again. The bullets hit the walls and cause them to shatter and explode. ZZ decide to have his troop run inside the door. "Let's make a B-line towards the door" ZZ commanded while hiding behind a car. The shooting stopped for a minute, ZZ then ordered everyone to run. The troop ran towards the door, the unseen force shot at them again, the bullets shattered the walls behind them. ZZ and his troop finally get into the door. "Whew!" as Blitzy breath a sigh of relief. "Let's go" ZZ commanded and his troop went up a flight of stairs and into the main hallway. The unseen force in the garage revealed itself only as a pair of red eyes in the darkness of the garage.
ZZ and his group ran into the hallways but then was stopped by an armada of heavily armed security guards. Blitzy pulled her weapon but ZZ stopped her just in time before they got themselves killed. "Come with us or die…" One of the guards commanded. They walked into the security station with the guards pointing their guns at their backs.
The toon group led by ZZ went into an office. The office was bare except for a desk with a few mementos, some paperwork, pens and a computer. They were met by Daniel Haines, a gruff and experienced officer. The officer was about middle age and had started to have a little gray. The officer had been here at the Cartoon Network for years.
"So you guys are responsible for this? The officer quizzed.
"We are NOT responsible, this is another group I swear to you…" ZZ tried to assure
"You are, you people try to take over an important asset, you knew this place would get you attention. You did.." Haines said not believing them.
"Why would we want to take over something like the Cartoon Network. If I am this supposed "Big" terrorist you claim I am, wouldn't I take over something bigger, like let's say a UN conference somewhere. " ZZ posed the question.
"A UN conference would be highly secure, you wouldn't get past the security with your ass intact even if you had the firepower that the people in this building have. You have to take something that was less secure but more important. " Haines answered back.
"Look whatever you think of us is irrelevant, we are here to stop whoever is doing this, he can help you" ZZ tried to convince.
"You may not know this but I will show you something." The officer leads them out of the office and into the control room in the security office. The control room had one wall with screens on it and in front of these screens are buttons for switching to cameras, activating security systems and issuing alerts. He shows them a number of screens with the areas of the Cartoon Network with the cameras in them. "We are monitoring them without their knowledge." The officer comments. He shows them a screen with the picture of the situation. It showed the hostages huddled on the wall and it showed Max and his group, one watching the hostages. It also showed Zee at the control center monitoring the situation. "Wow, it looks like he's got the entire staff and the toonage of Cartoon Network hostage." ZZ remarked. We switch to another screen where it shows Max and Gary running through the corridor. They are searching for Chicken who escaped.
"We have a plan to rescue the hostages, we will allow you to help but it still will not win you any merit badges for goodness." Haines relented.
"Good enough for us, we have weapons that could stop them, you will have your men positioned outside the main office. We will go in and rescue, you can back us up. " ZZ told the officer of his plan. The officers and ZZ's group ran out of the office, they ran down the hallway quietly running past other offices that did various functions for the Cartoon Network.
Max Steel was inside the office he was still on the line with the hostage negotiator, he had regained trust with the officer in light of the "demonstration" of power that max displayed in the lobby. Max was giving his speeches to the negotiator who listened patiently.
"Is the media still outside, broadcasting my speeches for the world to see." Max asked.
"Yes, you are live" The negotiator replied.
"As I have spoken before, we toons will no longer be slaves, we will no longer be the laughing objects of the world. We will no longer be something that will be made into a farce. The toons will be taken seriously….We will rise!!" Max gave his little speech.
The hostage negotiator stood outside the make shift command center that was besides a police car. He had paperwork and radio communications equipment. He looked at his assistant officer and wondered
"Just what the hell is he thinking he is doing, doesn't he know he will be branded just another terrorist." he asked
"They all think they have something to prove of something different. They don't know is that they are from the same class, they are all thugs. They have big guns and big bombs and even high-tech weaponry. But all in the same they are little thugs. The assistant chimed in.
"Well these little thugs, have weapons and hostages and now another group is going after them." The commander answered.
Meanwhile somewhere on an Atlanta freeway, the traffic is not as clogged, not as slow but there are still cars on the freeway. They have by now heard of the incident at the Cartoon Network, they are wisely staying out of the area. A luxury car is speeding down the freeway swerving past cars. The person inside is furiously driving, he seems to be speeding towards somewhere. The man driving is a 30 something male who is well dressed. He speeds down the freeway. He swerves past a car and speeds down the freeway. " He turns on the radio…
"…The incident at the Cartoon Network continues to unfold, apparently the group taking hostages inside have made a speech involving toon rights. They still have the office people hostage…" The man turns off the radio and continues to speed down the freeway somewhere.
Meanwhile outside the facility, another person seems to run through the throngs of officers and media. They are unseen as they make their way through the crowds of officials. They run past the plaza all the way into the garage. They slide under the partially opened garage and inside the door. They run towards the south door. The red eyes of the unseen force inside the garage see them but takes no action. '
ZZ and his group and the guards ran through the hallway and stopped at the east end of the lobby. At each ends of the lobby leading towards the hallway was a pillar. At the south end of the lobby was the door that led to the main office where the incident was taking place. ZZ and his group took up positions behind the pillars. The guards took up positions behind the small walls in the hallways. They watched the door waiting for Max Steel's group to make a move.
Just as they were waiting, Gary and Loudmouth walked upon the group waiting in the hallway. "FUCK ME…" Gary Oak said out loud. Gary and Loudmouth pulled their weapons and fired plasma bolts at the group. The guards returned fire with automatic gunfire. Gary and Loudmouth jumped behind small walls further in the hallway. They fired at the people, plasma bolts and bullets bounced off the walls. Meanwhile back inside the main office, Zee saw this and says "What the fuck…Hey Maz Look!" Max ran over and saw the image on the screen. It was of the gunfight. The hostages put their heads down in an attempt to shield themselves from the gunfight.
"Gary Oak and Loudmouth Kiddington is in a firefight…Who the fuck is the other group? Max was inquisitive. "
"There TOONS!..FUCK THEM. Those traitorous assholes can fuckin' kiss my ass. Sakura, use your explosive might." Max aimed at Sakura
"My Pleasure…" Sakura went into a metal box and pulled out a small explosive device and then pressed a button and armed it. She looked out at the gunfight careful not to stick her head outside the door and get shot. She lobbed the explosive out the door. The explosive bounced off the wall. It exploded with a small but powerful explosion, the explosion destroyed a wall and damaged a pillar. Two of the guards were thrown up in the air about 10 feet and they hit the ground with a big impact. ZZ and his group and the other guards were shaken up by this explosion. Gary and Loudmouth stopped shooting for a moment, as did ZZ, his group and the guards. Loudmouth took his chainsaw and revved it up. He then ran towards the guard standing behind the pillar. He aims his chainsaw at his head and cuts through it. It cuts his head in half symmetrically and splatters his brains all over the wall. He continues to dig into his torso cutting it symmetrically. His internal organs are spattered all over the wall as the chainsaw digs in and the guards body falls over in two halves like a fruit cut in half. ZZ and group can only watch in horror as Loudmouth does this. Gary Oak laughs out loud as he does this. In the office, Zee looks at the monitor and says "Fuck me… Loudmouth's one sick fucker." Back in the hall, ZZ and group sees Loudmouth Standing their laughing. ZZ and his group shoot at Gary and Loudmouth but they dodge it. Gary Oak sees a guard who is still standing behind a pillar. Gary grabs him and puts his plasma pistol to his back.
"I got this fucker hostage, either back the fuck up or he dies. " Gary aims at ZZ
"You will not get out of here, you will be dead before you get out of here." Blitzy says loudly.
"Shut up you little bitch." Gary replies angrily.
Gary moves with the guard and keeps the gun to his back, he slowly makes his way to the office while the group watches with their weapons armed and pointed at him. Gary then goes towards the door when suddenly a blast shoots his weapons out of his hand. The blast came from a robot. This robot resembled a mecha, it was 4 feet tall with a hand that in the middle of it's palm, it can shoot lasers out of hit. Also along with the robot was a boy and a girl. The boy was dressed in knee high shorts wore a blue shirt and had a red jacket. On his arm was a high-tech watch that commanded the robot. The boy's name was Ikki Tenryou. The girl wore a pink jumpsuit with blue shoes, she had a camera around her neck, She was another tomboyish girl like Blitzy. Her name was Erika, she was a professed reporter who wanted to get a scoop on the action. ZZ and his group and the guards along with Gary and Loudmouth looked in amazement as they stood heroically in the hallway.
"Who the hell are you " Blitzy wanted to know.
"Ikki Tenryou and his is Erika, this is my robot Medabee, we have come to help you, Erika has come to get the story." Ikki told them.
"I've come here to get the story about the incident. " Erika told them.
"I've come to kick Max Steel toon butt. Medabee said excitedly and heroically.
"Look at this shit, some Japanese freak ass punks" Gary taunted them. "Well it doesn't matter if you're a dog-eating jap freak, you're still gonna die."
"Well, if it isn't another dog-eating freak from the end of japan, the one were the poor become mutated fuckin bastards like yourself. " Ikki insulted back.
"YOU'RE THE BIG FREAK YOU AND YOUR ROBOT" loudmouth shouted loudly.
Just then Gary shoots a plasma bolt at Ikki and his robot and they jump behind some low walls. Medabee returns fire, the guards returns fire. ZZ watches this exchange and begins to plan his attack. Suddenly another device comes out the door and it explodes. The explosion separates the guards from ZZ's group.
"Let's retreat, there are offices upstairs, he could hide there." ZZ suggested.
The entire group ran as they were getting shot at by Gary Oak and Loudmouth Kiddington, The guards ran back to their security office, the group ran up a flight of stairs and down a hallway into an office that was evacuated. Blitzy guarded the door, Ninjzz and Genosix stood besides ZZ, who was standing in the middle of the office. He was talking to Ikki, Erika and Medabee.
"How did you guys get into this incident, I though everyone was evacuated and told to escape." ZZ inquired.
"Well we were at an anime convention, we heard about this incident and we came here to see if we could help and Erika wanted to get the story. So we came here. Medabee is my robot, we call them Medabots. They have weapons and upgrades that could make them more powerful."
"Medabots huh, I have heard of them. I have robots too, they are here, this is Genosix, my genius bot, he invents technology and does research. Genosix looks at him with a friendly face. "And this is Ninjzz, my ninja bot. "Honorable Ikki, you have saved the guards life"
"Someone's coming." Blitzy Interrupts. Everyone have their weapons armed and aimed at the door. "Come on in, Blitzy stands at the wall near the door with her weapon armed at the person coming in. The person comes in and he is revealed to be Chicken, the 4 foot tall anthropomorphic 11 year old chicken with the attitude.
"What's with the guns man, I ain' coming to shoot no one" Chicken looked with an attitude.
"How the fuck do we know, you could be Max Steel's person." Blitzy inquired
"Cause I hate that wannabe terrorist with a bad attitude." Chicken replied. "I escaped so I could contact the police, but I found you."
"Ok you can join us." ZZ smiled
"Can you tell us about the group." ZZ wanted to know
"Yeah…Someone named Max Steel and his group came in the offices and took all of us hostage and my 7 foot cow sister is in there too. They shot the people who was helping me escape. " Chicken told the story.
"What does Max want with the Cartoon Network." ZZ continued
"Somethin' about toon rights or something, he was giving these big speeches. He was talking to the commander outside tryin' to get the hostages out." Chicken continued the story. "He's just some toon with a big ego who's mad because he got kicked out big time from his company. His buddies, they just tag along, Gary said he was bored, same with Loudmouth and Sakura. He's got a robot too, his name was Zee, he's some escapee from some lab, he can hack stuff and build weapons. As you saw he killed an entire SWAT team trying to save the hostages."
"Yes, this max sounds like sone terrorist fuck with delusions of grandeur." ZZ replied to the story.
Meanwhile back in the office, the hostages were reeling from the battle inside the hall, some had stuck their heads out to see the results, others were content to stay where they were, not wanting to tempt Max Steel. Zee told max to come to the control center and they both looked at the screen.
"Max Look, those fuckin' toon assholes ran upstairs, I saw them run through the hall, upstairs and into the hallway, I didn't see them run into the offices, there are no cameras in there."
"No matter, we will have what we want and they are in our hands. " Max spoke as if he had scored a victory.