CHAPTER 21 - "STAGE TWO"

"That coward!" Psycho growled. He slammed a fist on a control panels in a surveillance room he and John Dread were within, viewing "the game" Psycho had devised to keep Max Steel busy so Dread could complete his plans. "Never send a snake to do a man's job!"

"Calm yourself, my friend," Dread said calmly. Psycho had been sitting in a chair and it was quickly sent flying to the other end of the room into some TV monitors causing them to explode.

Dread smiled to himself, for some reason he found it amusing when Psycho lost his temper. It meant his short-fuse of a temper caused him to become more susceptible to fault and suggestion. And much like his mechanical parts, they could not block his humanity.

"Dr. Clemo is not a fighter," he further said. "As you said to me earlier when this game of tier villains was designed, it is all mindless fun."

Psycho grumbled. "I hope your plan is near to completion..." he said. "I am getting impatient in Max Steel still living. Tempest destroyed N-Tek headquarters with a missile strike - "

"Correction," Dread said. "The missile strike did considerable damage to N-Tek headquarters, however my spies report Jefferson Smith survived and the island's defensive systems prevented a total cataclysm."

Psycho slammed another fist, this time his steel one on the control panels, and the impact scrambled the CCTV transmission for a moment the two were viewing. Psycho had sent Steel with the boy to another tier through a hidden floor shaft and at present he was not visible, but within moments, Max's next opponent will continue the game. Psycho did not want to miss it.

"The DNA I took from Mr. Steel," Dread continued, "will go a long way to adding fruition to my master plan. And essentially, Mr. Steel was correct. His excellent DNA, along with the extracted nanoprobes, will be utilized towards cloning super-soldiers for debasement. And then the world will be my oyster."

Psycho snickered darkly. "Chaos and destruction. I like it!"

"No, my friend. Slightly more civil that sending a bunch of super-soldier clones out upon the world to usurp the world's governmental bodies. They will be properly educated to infiltrate different levels of the political, social and economic streams in society. And once their hold is strong, and without even throwing a punch, per sa, the world will fall under my jurisdiction and rule!"

Psycho sighed disappointed. "Where's the fun in that? That could take years."

"The fun, my colleague, is in the wait. Well, for me that is. To see the world fall while I watch it crumble from within, will be like a god watching his subjects run around blind. But for you, the fun will be in crushing N-Tek and Mr. Steel before this happens. We can't have him interfering now, can we?"

Psycho snickered.

The air in the room suddenly felt a thick with the introduction of a mild jolt of static electricity and Psycho could feel the small hairs on the back of his neck stand on end even before she entered the room, his metal appendages aching with electricity.

He sharply turned to the door, then Dread did, and the visitor entered the CCTV room. It was Electrix. Her thin frame, tight, black body suit, and black and white streaked hair, gave just cause to never underestimating her. She was as strong as her counterpart Tempest. And since the beginning of Dread's operation, had become romantically involved, like polar magnets.

Dread had said nothing, but Psycho took offense. He had no room for romance in his life. He was a cold-blooded killer, and so was she. But the only difference was, Electrix was a considerably beautiful woman, while he was a cybernetic freak. And while he had augmented himself purposely, Electrix's accident only added to her beauty, which was probably why Tempest - that muscle-bound, elemental brainaic - fell for her.

But she did take after her mentally unstable brother that N-Tek had locked away in a maximum security prison. He attempted to wield the power of nature by harnessing its raw elements to use in a narfarious way. Psycho didn't know all the details about her brother, and frankly he didn't care. Steel stopped him. Period.

And Steel had stopped Electrix on occasion as well.

"Everything is in readiness, Mr. Dread," she said. "And the aircraft carrier is fueling up as we speak. We will have the capsules containing Dr. Martinez and Kat Ryan loaded within the hour."

"Excellent. Efficient and beautiful."

"Thank you." Electrix's remained straight-faced. She turned and left.

Dread returned to Psycho. Psycho eyed him curiously. "Sad that she had to die." He chuckled. "She is a strikingly, beautiful woman, and if was any other man..."

Dread smirked.

"She as well her 'boyfriend' will have to be dealt with. They are a liability."

"Leave them to me," Psycho said. "And Clemo? And..."

"Eventually." Dread nodded. "No loose ends. But let them play with Steel for the time being while the aircraft is being prepped. There is a saying, 'heroes often fail'. As for Mr. Steel, it appears his time will come sooner than he thinks."

Max dropped down the dark, empty shaft to who-knows-where and could hear Tommy's cries and attempts to stop, but the shaft didn't have anything to clutch onto, so they plummeted together.

Max had defeated Clemo, but was this then a "secret" passageway to the next bad guy in Psycho's twisted little game?

He preferred RPG games, and he wasn't going to play Slimey's multi-tier villain game. And he knew better, - the villains always got stronger!

He pressed a button his bio-link communicator and turbo-charged his nanoprobes, the shaft illuminated in a bluish-green bio-illuminance, then skidded himself to a stop with his boots pressing them to the sides of the shaft. There was a slight burning smell like burnt rubber after he stopped.

Tommy came crashing down upon his shoulders, but Max steadied himself and prevented a further decent. Tommy crouched down, his feet set on Max's shoulders, his back against the shaft. Max's nanoprobe's gave off some light to see.

"Mr. Steel, thank you!"

"Call me Max."

"Okay. So what do we do now, Max? Wherever we were going and don't get there, they'll come looking for us."

Tommy was right. But Max had no intention of waiting for one of Dread's rescue parties and quickly devised a plan of action.

Vitriol had been watching Max Steel and Dr. Clemo's battle via a small monitor in the wall. The fighting had been exciting, but in the end, the doctor was a coward, and slithered away into a hole in the wall when things got too rough.

Vitriol's specially designed environment was produced to make it appear like a secret laboratory with catwalks, metal tiers, and other equipment meant to explode. Just the way he liked it, especially with his arms filled with highly charged plasma.

But it was strange. As soon as Steel and the brat dropped into the shaft, the CCTV lost sight of them and it shouldn't have taken this long for them to pass from one environment tier to another. Unless Steel had prevented it?

Vitriol didn't put it past the N-Tek agent. Max Steel was very resourceful. And in a way, Vitriol admired him for his ability to weasel out of danger. But he hated that the young adventurer kept defeating him repeatedly; Steel always got in his way, spoiling every plan he concocted to make money.

He pressed a button under the monitor and Psycho's eternal, metal grin was plastered on it. "Where are they, tin man?"

"I told you never to call me that!"

"I grow impatient! They fell. Where are they?"

"Still in the shaft somewhere. Deal with it!"

Vitriol averted his gaze to the ceiling, to where the trap door was to open for Steel and the boy was to fall through. He lifted one arms aloft towards it setting the plasma in it to boil.

"Steel!" He shouted. His harsh voice reverberating through his hollow environment. "Come down here, you coward, and face me like a man!"

Max knew Vitriol's voice, and now he knew whom he'd be facing in stage two of Slimey's little villain-tier game. Vitriol with his plasma arms was much dangerous that Bio-Constrictor and was much more violent. If he could, he'd want to avoid that insane, crazed maniac at any cost.

Max waited, hoping Vitriol might think that he was mistaken that they were harboring themselves in the shaft, but it was not to last, and a blast of green plasma energy rocked the latter end of the shaft, opening it up to Vitriol's environment. Max had to use all his strength to stablize himself and Tommy from falling down.

"Steel! I know you're in there! Come out!" Vitriol demanded.

Tommy was scared, but he touched Max's shoulder with a strange calmness. He was being brave despite the danger. "Max, don't! He'll kill you."

"I'm not," Max said. "He'll have to drag us out by the hairs of our chiny chin chins." Tommy eyed him strange. "Well, mine anyway." He had about two days worth of stubble on his face. Weird that Berto would program such a thing while in Max mode?

Another blast rocked the shaft, this time much closer. "Vitriol, hold your fire! I have a kid with me in here!"

"That Sykes brat?" Vitriol's voice rang familiar with the boy mentioned. "So, does this mean you two have teamed up?" The villain laughed.

"Shut-up, you ass-face!" Tommy shouted angrily.

Max was taken aback by Tommy's forwardness. He knew the boy was very scared and Max could see it, but obviously the boy wanted to hold up a strong front.

"I do not have an ass-face!" Vitriol shouted back.

Vitriol did have a strong jaw and a deep dimple in his chin that looked like...well, yes, Tommy was indeed right. He'd have to add that name to Vitriol's villain profile when he got back to N-Tek HQ, as a footnote.

"Cool it, Tommy," Max said. "You don't want to tick him off. He's a dangerous killer. Just hang back." He tilted towards the nearest blast hole that was big enough for his body to fit through. "I'm coming out! Hold your fire!"

"Be quick about it!"

Max jumped down out of the shaft onto a metal catwalk, brining Tommy down. "Stay here," he said, then climbed down a ladder to the ground. He took a quick glance around. "Nice place you've good here. Bit too tech for you though. I'd venture something more like a psychoward is better suited for you to play in."

"Real smart, Steel. Considering I can blast the kid from here." He raised an arm at the kid on the catwalk.

Max got serious. "Stop! It's me you want. Leave the boy outta this."

Vitriol focused on Max. "You're right. You are my main focus. Psycho wants to kill you himself, tells me this little game is just for a distraction until Dread finalizes his plans…"

"I seem to be the only one in the dark about Dread's plans," Max said.

"And that's the way he wants it."

Suddenly, a stream of water trickled down from the catwalk onto Vitriol. Max looked up and saw Tommy urinating over the edge. Urine completely saturated Vitriol and when the villain looked up, it splashed his face.

Bemusement plastered Max's face.

"I really did need to go, Max," the boy said.

Vitriol was enraged and went to blast the kid, but Max turbo'ed up using the distraction, and ran at Vitriol, threw himself at the man, and delivered a football linesman tackle, forcing his shot to vere away as they went crashing down to the ground. And with his super strength, tore one of Vitriol's arms out of its mechanical socket.

His teeth gritted, Vitriol rolled away, and with still one arm at the ready, sent a blast towards Max, nearly destroying a section of the catwalk stablization framework.

The catwalk Tommy stood on jolted and the boy swung over the side, hung onto the railing. "Max!"

"Tommy! Hang tough! Be there in a sec!" Max assured.

"I may be a one-arm man, Steel, but I can still kill you with it!" Vitriol vowed, and sent another blast of plasma towards Max, again weakening the catwalk framework, causing the catwalk Tommy hung too to jolt and jerk violently once more.

"Tommy!"

"Max! I don't know...how long..."

"That's it! No more of this game!" Max threatened. He took Vitriol's arm, held from the wrist, and whacked the super-villain in the side of the head with the metal shoulder joint.

When Vitriol attempted to recover after stumbling, Max hit him again, and twice more, until the villain had had enough, and lain on the ground in a battered heap. Vitriol moaned painfully.

Max tore out the other arm and threw both into a secluded corner.

Tommy suddenly dropped. But Max was there to catch him in both arms.

The boy caught his breath. "Thanks." He looked at the villain, when Max settled the boy on his feet. "You beat him!"

Max looked back at Vitriol. "I guess you can say I disarmed him."

Tommy laughed, at the irony of the villain having no arms left.

"You think you're so smart, eh Steel?" A new voiced entered the fray, and from an adjacent catwalk came Tempest, his muscles ripping with exciting at the prospect of once again facing Max. "Well, time to face a real super-villain!"

Max however didn't want to face Tempest again, remembering the last time he did he was almost killed. But he was never one to back down from a fight and if he didn't wage war against these conglomerate of villains, then the world will fall to their tyranny.

He held Tommy behind him. But from where he looked, the entire place was one large electricity conductor from the metal catwalks to the tiers to the walls, and Tempest was the giant lightning rod.

To be continued…