Sorry about the long wait period, but it was my birthday (YAY!...Not really?) Anyway, thanks for all the reviews I've gotten recently and I hope you thought the last chapter was sad, as those characters, especially EJ who has become such a regular in this series were killed off and they should have the same impact Simba's death had on the reader. This chapter we go back in time a little...
Cheers: JJZ-109
CHAPTER 34. DER STURZ
A few moments earlier
Kopa felt his heart sink as he watched the events unfold live. Tears burned in the corners of his eyes, not because of what happened, but because of what he knew was about to happen. Kovu tried again and again to raise Haradion and EJ on the radio, but it refused to work. Kopa was frozen on the spot, watching Agent Harrison Dion; who had been like a little brother to him for so many years, limped over to Gonzo and started speaking with him. The fallen camera they were watching from was too far away for them to hear the conversation, but they got the gist of what was being said when EJ executed Banzai. Gonzo was tying up loose ends, unknown to EJ or Dion.
What they did next shocked Kopa even more, EJ casually tossed the nuclear bomb to one of the turned Air Force troops and they packed it into Gonzo's (Formerly Lorenzo's) V-22 Osprey.
"No, no, no...what are you doing? Don't give it to him!"Kopa told them hopelessly and shook the monitor violently. That was it, that was all Gonzo needed.
BANG! The shots were still audible on the camera, and Kopa felt the tears stream down his face as his fears were confirmed. His best friend, field partner, and spiritual little brother, as well as the most decorated, courageous and skilled warrior were killed while he watched on hopelessly.
"No...Dion buddy...EJ..." Kopa's voice trailed off through sobs. This man Gonzo, had taken his father, his 'little brother', and everything that was important to him.
It may have been happening miles away, but Kopa felt the burning flames around EJ and Haradion as if they were on him. It was torture enough to have to watch, and realize there is nothing you could do about it. Kovu lost his temper and smashed his radio down onto the desk, making it break into several pieces. He had failed them.
Back at the site of EJ, Haradion, and Banzai's death
Gonzo watched eagerly as Dion's outstretched hand finally slipped out of EJ's grip as they died in the flames. Gonzo nodded, his work was done here. It was time to go back...go back to where it all started, the place that still haunted his thoughts and drove him to insanity. He knew the marine camera was there watching them, and thought of it as more of a bonus. It was time to reveal himself anyway, and get into the hearts and heads of all those that were 'close' to him. It wasn't like they were going to live for much longer anyway.
"And so it ends...back to where it began...where I once lost everything..." Gonzo muttered to himself, then started back towards the helicopter.
"Awaiting orders sir." One of the turned Air Force men said. Gonzo turned to face him, and saw the scar on his neck where he injected the E115. The chemical made the soldier see his fears, and see Gonzo as the light in the darkness rather than a monster. His group of turned Pridelander troops was called 'Delta-Shadow', a deliberate reference to the old D4 boys that he despised so much.
"Initiate Der Sturz. And take me back home." Gonzo ordered him and the soldier nodded.
Gonzo boarded his aircraft, while the soldier punched in a special frequency on his radio. The frequency raised several undercover D-S troops all over the country, and he gave them all the same message.
"Execute Der Sturz...Destroy the remnants." The soldier said sinisterly.
In the forest opposite the safe-house
Lieutenant 'Jester' Arratoon helped tend to the many wounded he had received in the battle with the Prideland Marines. There were very few HYENA troops left alive, and only god knew where Shenzi, Banzai, Ed or Cain were. He looked around at the faces of his troops. Their morale was destroyed, and they had been forced to retreat for the first time in their campaign.
"Come on fellas, we'll get 'em back. This isn't the end." Arratoon said, trying to raise their spirits. Suddenly, another soldier next to him spoke up, one that had just received a radio message...
"Yeah it is." The soldier said and Arratoon turned to raise an eyebrow at him, but when he turned, he found himself looking down the barrel of a rifle.
BANG!
The soldier then turned around and machine-gunned the whole HYENA group in cold blood. He was destroying the remnants...on Gonzo's orders. HYENA was now completely out of the equation.
In the skies above the safe-house.
A Delta-Shadow pilot casually guided his F/A-22 Raptor through the air in a formation, with Colette Lorenzo flying in front of him. His trigger finger itched, but he knew he had to wait for the signal. A radio transmission then came through.
"Execute Der Sturz...Destroy the remnants."
The other planes then peeled away, leaving Lorenzo vulnerable.
"Hey guys, what are you doing? Get back in formation!" Lorenzo ordered them, to no avail.
The Delta-Shadow pilot activated his missile system and locked onto Lorenzo. Beep...beep...beep...BEEEEEEP. The pilot squeezed his finger down onto the red button on his joystick. VWOOSH!
"WHAT THE HELL? WHO'S FIRING? DEPLOYING FLARES!" Lorenzo cried out into her radio and deployed flares, guiding the missile away from her aircraft. It wasn't over yet though. VWOOSH!
Another sidewinder missile soared towards her, and warning lights flashed all around her cockpit. She had used her flares, so now what? She banked the aircraft right, but the missile followed her, and gained on her rapidly. Lorenzo swerved the Raptor left and right, trying to evade the heat-seeker missile but it was no use.
Her whole body lurched forward as the missile slammed into the wing of the fighter, creating a deafening noise and a fireball. Lorenzo felt her eyeballs get forced back in her head by the g-force of the plane spinning out of control. It took all her strength to reach under her seat and pull the lever.
The canopy flew off the plane, and Lorenzo's seat was ejected just as the whole plane exploded into a huge ball of fire in the sky. The Delta-Shadow pilot watched on satisfied.
"Bogey handled." He reported calmly.
What he didn't see was the parachute gracefully floating towards the ground below him...
Back at base
"Lorenzo this is Kovu, do you read me? Over." Kovu tried again and again to contact Lorenzo, so he could get her to blast Gonzo right out of the sky. But for some strange reason he couldn't contact her.
"I can't raise her." Kovu said to Kopa, frustrated. Kopa looked up at him sadly.
"She's gone too." He said darkly and wiped the tear marks away from his face.
"What do you mean she's gone?"
"They got her too. They must have. Gonzo is destroying what is left." Kopa told him and then realized...
Kovu and Kopa then exchanged glances, and their expressions turned into ones of realization. Kovu slid a hand into his jacket and slowly drew Simba's Desert Eagle pistol.
Meanwhile, behind them
Two Air Force guards, secretly Delta-Shadow operatives, felt their radios buzz in their pockets. The first man flicked on his radio and received the message.
"Execute Der Sturz...Destroy the remnants."
The two guards nodded at each other and silently closed the door to the command room, so that nobody would hear the shots. They raised their rifles and slowly advanced on Kovu and Kopa, who had their backs turned and were facing the screen. They aimed their guns at Kovu and Kopa's head and prepared to fire...
Suddenly...BANG! BANG!
The two Delta-shadow assailants slumped onto the ground; dead. Kovu had spun around quicker than the blink of an eye, and shot them both with one bullet in in the head each. Kovu blew the smoke off his pistol and quickly ran over to inspect the bodies. He noted how they had scars on their necks, and bloodshot eyes. They had been injected with E115. Kovu felt lucky that he realized what was happening when he did, otherwise their would be nobody left to defend the Pridelands, and they would be destroyed.
Several years earlier, 2015. Scar's regime.
Ivan Dimitrov slowly moved several rats into a clear plastic container that was sealed tight. He looked over to his best student and most trusted friend; Friedrich Heckler. Heckler was his best student, and probably his most trusted lab assistant and friend. As a matter of fact, Heckler was the closest thing he had to a son. He felt sorry for the lad, as he had his parents taken from him at a young age and he had to grow up without them, and hating the Prideland government, calling them 'evil'. But Dimitrov had taught him against that, and that he should hate no one, and strive to be the best man he could be. He pointed out to Heckler that he didn't hate Dimitrov, even though it was his race of people (Russian) that were responsible for the persecution of his people and half the reason why they fled to the Pridelands in the first place.
Heckler had learnt a lot from him, and had grown into a brilliant young mind and a respectable young man, who aimed to make people's lives better as much as he could, and was developing the most advanced painkiller yet. But that all changed rapidly. King Mufasa died, and his brother took charge and established a communist regime; something that both Heckler and Dimitrov had tried so hard in the past to escape. And this 'Scar' did things that any man would call evil, including Dimitrov. He set up concentration camps, and had people killed in the thousands. He managed to start war with his own people, as the PRF rose and opposed him. Heckler and Dimitrov had still managed just fine even under the new harsh circumstances, and their research continued. But three weeks ago that changed too. Scar himself had shown up at their lab door, and it was only common sense and fear for their lives that stopped Heckler and Dimitrov from opposing him right then and there.
He ordered them to develop a chemical that could be deployed against the PRF, that would not only do physical harm, but psychological as well. Dimitrov and Heckler were hesitant at first, as they thought that what the PRF did was justified. In the end, Scar had to point guns at their heads to get them to work.
They complied, and developed a toxin out of the same element they had used to create their painkillers; Ununpentium, better known as 'Element 115'. They managed to somehow reverse the psychological effect, but were unsure of how strong it was or what exactly it would do to a person.
That was what they were testing now, and Dimitrov wanted to be done with it so he could have no more to do with this war. He fixed a tube of E115 onto the hatch of the plastic container, looked at his assistant Heckler and nodded. Heckler nodded back and prepared his notebook to record results. Heckler pressed the syringe and the yellow gas was pumped into the container.
Heckler and Dimitrov looked on anxiously and waited for the chemical to take effect. The rats moved about normally for a moment, then started to move around quicker and more frantically. Heckler scribbled down notes as this happened. Soon, the rats were racing around the contained clawing the plastic, trying to get free. Dimitrov watched in horror and looked into one rat's eyes. It was practically squealing please...kill me!
Within minutes the rats were dead. Heckler and Dimitrov exchanged glances. This toxin was a lot more powerful than they had predicted, and Heckler needed to know what it would do to a man before he just let Scar walk away with some.
"Sheizer...That was...shocking, to say the least." Heckler said and looked at the dead rats.
"Yes...But that is on rats, we can't predict what effect it will have on humans. I don't want Scar to walk away with some super-weapon." Dimitrov agreed and Heckler's face lit up, as if he had an idea.
"There's only one way to find out." Heckler said and unscrewed a syringe of E115 from the container. He removed the needle and held the syringe over his mouth.
"No my son...it is too dangerous." Dimitrov said but Heckler rolled his eyes and ignored the older, more experienced scientist.
"Relax Ivan, I'll only take a drop." Heckler told him and let a drop of E115 slide onto his tongue.
He licked it back and waited for a few moments, before it happened. He dropped to his knees and held his head, as the visions of his mother and father's death haunted his head. His worst nightmares resurfaced. He saw his mother dying in front of him, and his father being killed in the prison camp brawl that happened so long ago. He saw Adolf Hitler and King Mohatu, the two men responsible for his pains. Heckler screamed out in pain and quickly got to his feet.
He rushed over to the sink and took several gulps of water, before wetting his face; snapping him out of it. Dimitrov rushed to his aid and helped him regain his composure.
"If only you saw the things I saw...We must not let Scar get his hands on this. That was...evil, pure evil." Heckler panted and quickly tipped the E115 down the sink. That was too much for anyone. Scar couldn't use that.
"Right...then we must destroy what we have created. It is the only way to be sure." Dimitrov said and nodded at Heckler, who began tipping all of the E115 canisters into an acid bath, that would destroy the chemical.
"But what if Scar finds out that we destroyed it?" Heckler asked, worried.
"Then we tell him that what he asked for we cannot help him with, as it is beyond our abilities. If we have to pay the price, then so be it. We can't let that get out." Dimitrov told him and began destroying the E115. They destroyed canister after canister...but they were too late.
A pounding sound came from their lab door.
"OPEN UP IN THERE! GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL!" One of Scar's communist soldiers shouted. Heckler looked at Dimitrov in terror. Scar was here.
"He's here...what do we do?" Heckler asked in fright.
"Destroy the last canister. I'll deal with Scar."
Dimitrov rushed over to the door and opened it, as soon as it was open several soldiers rushed through, and eventually Scar himself. Scar had the same sinister and chilling look in his eyes that he always had, and his mere presence was enough to intimidate Heckler, who tried to hide the acid bath.
"Ah sir, glad you could join us again today..." Dimitrov started but one of Scar's private army soldiers shoved him to the ground mercilessly. Monster. Heckler thought.
"Where's my chemical?" Scar asked rudely. Dimitrov got his feet and straightened his glasses.
"Well you see sir...We haven't been able to create what you have requested. We are mere chemists, not manufacturers of chemical weapons. You would have to consult someone that has expertise in the area." Dimitrov lied, and Scar ignored him as he inspected all of their research, and eventually came across the container with the dead rats and gas inside it.
"Is that so? It certainly looks like you've given it a crack..." Scar said sinisterly and looked Heckler in the eyes, who was doing his best to refrain from shivering, while trying to hide the acid bath under a cloth.
He saw what Heckler's arm was resting on and ruthlessly shoved it aside. He pulled away the cloth, revealing the acid bath. Floating on top was a test tube that read E115 and was slowly burning away. Scar suddenly understood what had happened here, and hid his rage in the usual, cool fashion.
"Doctor Dimitrov...Come here please." Scar ordered and Heckler felt himself shiver uncontrollably. They had been found out.
"What is this?" He asked Dimitrov who shook his head dumbly.
"I don't know...I swear." Dimitrov said, and suddenly Scar lashed out and grabbed his throat angrily. Heckler then sprung into action.
"NO!" Heckler shouted and slashed at Scar with a hidden knife, but Scar ducked the blow skillfully and elbowed the young scientist in the stomach, making him drop the knife.
Scar then picked up the knife and forced the hand of the stunned Heckler down onto the lab bench-top, before plunging it down into his hand, cutting off his right ring finger. Heckler cried in pain and pulled his bloodied hand away.
"That move cost you Doctor. As for you...You know I don't like it when people lie to me." Scar said to Dimitrov and Heckler. He had killed every person that had lied to him so far, except for one; that twenty-one year old beauty Nala, who he was sure was a spy. He would punish her differently.
Scar drew a Desert Eagle pistol out of his jacket and leveled it at Dimitrov's head. BANG! Heckler cried out as the closest thing he had to a father, his mentor, his teacher and best friend was executed right in front of him. This was the Prideland's last thing it would do to him before he said enough.
"As for you Doctor Heckler...I'll let you live with your mistake, and a missing finger. Enjoy your stay at camp CCA-147." Scar said evilly and Heckler wriggled across the ground.
"You...you're a monster!. You're evil!" Heckler said, still clutching his wounded hand. Scar laughed manically for a moment before bending over Heckler and whispering.
"No Doctor Heckler, Evil...is only what you make of it. Remember that for the future."
Ooh, so that's or main villain's background for you. Can anyone tell me where the four fingers trait came from? HINT: It's not inspired by a film or fictitious work, but really, really real...Especially for me as an author. Anyway, don't forget to review!