Biker Mice from Mars
Hard Luck Adventure
BoomTown.
Chp 1.
"Nuclear Nightmares"
The Sky is on Fire! The Wind Howled like a Rabid Beast tearing at the bars of its cage! All around were Buildings of all shapes, and sizes, large and small! They were barely more than black shadows against the dark red sky! Everything was blanketed in a shimmering wave of scalding steam, and insufferable heat! It was a landscape of some nightmarish netherworld!
The Worst Part was the High-Pitched Insane Laughing! It had all the humor of breaking glass! The Laugh bounced off everything, its insanity threatening to drive Hard Luck down the same path! He slammed his paws against his big ears, and squeezed his eyes shut, anything to blot out the horrible sights and sounds pummeling him like steel fists!
"Oh, please let this be a nightmare, please be a nightmare!" Hard Luck moaned as he stumbled down the black streets with ash piled upon them like filthy snow! The fact that he wasn't flying like an egg on a skillet right now had him leaning towards this being a dream, but it didn't make him feel any better.
The Insane Laughing and Roaring Wind started to fade away, as the red light got darker and deeper. The feeling that something was about to happen felt like a physical presence. Hard Luck dropped to his mismatched knees, and desperately tried to block out the even more unnerving silence!
Hard Luck opened his eyes and took his paws away from his ears since neither wasn't doing any good. The Red Sky had gone from red to an evil-looking crimson. The Shadows around the buildings got deeper, while a just as deep red glow emitted from the doors and windows.
The Landscape took on the appearance even more of an Underworld you really didn't want to find yourself in! The now almost deafening silence didn't help at all! Hard Luck's yellow pupils on his green eyes tried to dart in every direction at once. "Oh, not good, this aint good!" He whined.
The Ominous Sensation of dread was giving him that feeling of being a little bug that some monstrous thing was about to unknowingly, and even more uncaringly step on. He really hated that feeling. Mostly because it was an all too familiar one.
The Stomping Foot came in the form of a Flash of Blindingly Burning Bright Light! The world around him vanished in the glaring whiteness! It was so powerful his eyes should have literally popped, but he could still somehow see!
The Gargantuan Mushroom Cloud created by the Nuclear Explosion blossomed up into the already burning sky! The Cloud grew, and grew, appearing to threaten and engulf everything! It seemed like it would never stop growing, climbing higher and across the crimson sky! That's when the blast wave hit!
Like an invisible tidal wave, the blast slammed into the buildings! The Dark Buildings toppled like badly spaced dominoes! The mounds of ash were picked up and turned into a gray hurricane! Hard Luck should've been sent flying over the horizon, but he wasn't, which actually worried him more!
"On Cheese!" He gasped as he jumped to avoid the falling pieces of the buildings, and vehicles being tossed around him by the blast wave! He just managed to dodge a corner chunk of a building crashing into the street behind him! He just then avoided a car tumbling past him like a tumbleweed in the wind!
He managed to evade half a dozen similar near misses until he found himself standing, wheezing, and gasping for breath in the middle of the ash-covered street. "Oh, thank Phobos that's over!" He sighed with relief.
WHAM! The Burnt Wreck of a Bus came falling out of the sky and slammed into the street just behind him! "AAAAAAHH!" Hard Luck screamed at the near miss and was sent flying up off his feet to come crashing to the burnt street onto his back!
"Oh, that hurt." He groaned as he painfully tried to get back to his feet. Things shouldn't hurt in dreams, should they? He heard the sound of the Bus twisting and creaking above him. He looked up just as the bus slowly started to tilt over, casting its dark shadow over him.
"Oh, Double Cheese!" He cursed and tried to get out of the way of the cascading vehicle! He kicked his cyborg leg with his real foot, trying to activate his inbuilt jet! It just sputtered! It was clogged with ash and wouldn't ignite! The Bus slowly tilted more and more, threatening to squash him like the previously mentioned bug!
He quickly glanced to either side of the street, but it was lined with large chunks of rubble, and crumpled up vehicles, blocking his escape to either direction with only the route of running straight ahead of the bus, He tried to dash that way, his feet slipping and tripping on the thick ash and broken concrete of the street!
"Cheese, Cheese, Cheese!" Hard Luck cussed while all but panicking, his feet scrabbling to get any purchase to get him out from under the falling conveyance! The Bus Slammed into the street! Hard Luck just managing to roll out from under it just before impact!
Down on all fours, with wobbly elbows and knees, He looked back at the bus, just a mere foot behind him. He nearly passed out (can you pass out in a dream?), both with relief and exhaustion. "At least it's over." He sighed. A barrage of loud cracking and snapping noises shot out!
He looked back at the bus. He noticed the cracks around the base of the upside-down vehicle when with a thunder-like Crack, the bus fell thru the street! A few seconds later a thick splash was heard! Up thru the hole rose a thick column of black smoke, and red-hot embers, and an evil red glow!
Hard Luck looked at the big hole and decided he really didn't want to know what was down there. He tried to stand up and just run away. Just as he got to his feet, another round of loud snapping and cracking noises rang out! Under his feet, the street suddenly crisscrossed with a spiderweb-like array of cracks as if he were standing on far too thin ice!
"EEP!" He squeaked as he jumped up just as the street shattered! He grabbed a bent and twisted Streetlight, wrapping his arms, legs, and tail around it! The street below him become a river of red-hot rushing lava!
Hard Luck's teeth chattered away despite the heat coming up off the moving molten magma beneath him. "Calm down, calm down, you're fine, it's fine, I'm OK!" He stammered to himself, hoping to get his breathing under control and keep his heart from exploding!
A loud sound of metal screeching came from the base of the damaged Streetlight. It started to break free! Hard Luck's fur turned as white as a certain white-furred Martian he knew! He fell towards the Lava! "AAAAAAAAAAHHH!"" He screamed!
"AAHH, AAAH, Aah, Ah, Ah, eh?" Hard Luck carried on for a few long seconds until he realized that He wasn't' falling anymore. He cautiously opened his eyes and looked around. He and the Streetlight, which had completely broken free, we're hanging in mid-air, mere inches above the also motionless lava!
Everything was Frozen in Place! The Smoke and flames rising from the blasted ruins. The swirling ashes in the air, and the dark clouds in the sky! Even the Mushroom Cloud was frozen in place! No, something was moving, something in the massive mushroom cloud!
The Cloud parted like a Stage Curtain! A Figure literally came dancing out from the opening! The Figure, that was a Literal Giant, spun, whirled, swayed, and pirouetted effortlessly thru the Red Sky! It was just as Beautiful as it was Horrifying!
At the last instant, before the giant stepped on the entire city, the figure shrunk down to normal Martian Mice Size, faster then Hard Luck could blink! The Former Giant stared back at him, now relaxing in thin air as if laying on an invisible couch. "Did you enjoy the show, my Beloved Morsel?" She smiled at him with a giggle.
"DEVOURYA, I HATE IT WHEN YOU DO THIS!" Hard Luck yelled at her, almost losing his grip on the floating lamppost! Devourya just laughed again. "Oh, I know, I know." No trace of remorse in her voice at all.
Devourya, now the size of a Martian Mouse, and in some slight ways having the appearance of one was anything but! Her Fur was a cascading purple, shifting from dark shades to lighter. She wore a long dress of the deepest black that clung to her Very Obviously Female form like a mix of smoke and oil.
Her dress clung to her in ways that made Hard Luck kind of uncomfortable in certain ways. Ways that She very much enjoyed watching making him uncomfortable. Very Much So! Everything about her just burned with the impression of a predator, with a sense of humor!
At the end of her long, and curvy legs, were not the foot paws of a Martian, but cloven hooves of a sparkling obsidian color. Her long waving tail was the same shifting purple but resembled that of a feline than a mouse. The Way she Looked at him just seemed to confirm that. That and the way she likes to refer to him as Her Morsel!
She also had large wings that spread out from her shoulder blades. They looked very much like the wings of a bird of prey! The Wings were massive and were as dark as Space, even with what looked like Stars shining in their depths!
She had long nails on her hand-paws that glimmered like steel-hard ice, as her head rested on her interlaced fingers. The Long Hair Like Fur from her head stretched away from her like a river of dark water. From around her large mouse ears curled dark horns that were like that of a Ram. Instead of Red Martian Antenna were two bolts of lightning that arced up into the sky and out of sight.
Her face, albeit beautiful was just as equally frightening. Her smile was wrapped around teeth that looked as hard and sharp as diamonds. Most disturbing were her eyes because they were literally just pools of fire! Fires that were as deep a crimson as the sky above them!
She scared the CHEESE out of Him, and she knew it, and relished his fear! Hard Luck tried to swallow and keep his shaking knees from knocking together too loudly and tightened his hug on the Lamp Post and looked across to her.
"Suh, So is, is this Suh, some kind of pre, premonition or are you just screwing with me?" Hard Luck stuttered as he indicated the hellscape around them. "Oh, my little tidbit, are you not enjoying the little dreamworld I conjured up for you?" She pouted at him mockingly.
Hard Luck looked below hm at the burning lava river, then across at her. "NO!" He shouted! She shrugged nonchalantly and flapped her wings. The world rippled like a pebble hitting a pool. "To each their own I suppose." She sighed.
"I repeat my question, is this something that is going to happen, or are you just teasing me or something?" He growled, once again almost losing his grip, and falling to the lava. He squeezed the post till it felt like his arms would snap!
She stretched out and repositioned herself on her floating invisible couch. "Oh, My Cherished Crumb, if I told you that, then I wouldn't have the fun of watching you go on the little adventure that awaits you where your actions will be the deciding factor to determine if this Dreamworld becomes a reality or not, and where would the Fun in that Be?" She giggled again.
Hard luck groaned. "I HATE it when You say things like that!" Another giggle. "I know, Oh, I know." Her smile grew a few notches. Hard Luck whimpered. "If that is how you are going to act, then I won't keep you here any longer, until the next time my Dream Dish" She winked and blew a kiss at him!
The Kiss caused the dreamworld to Burst into Flame! The Sky Roared into a Wave of Fire! Mushroom Clouds Exploded in every direction, as Volcanic Eruptions Broke out all across the Horizon! The River Of Lava Flowed Up at Him! EVERYTHING EXPLODED INTO NOISE AND FIRE!
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Hard Luck screamed as he bolted upright! He looked around the world! The World wasn't on fire, He wasn't on fire! In fact, the world was wet, very wet. So, was He?! He looked up into the sky. It wasn't on fire either, it was filled with dark grey and black clouds.
Rain Clouds. Nice normal rain clouds. He leaned back against the dirty brick wall in the trash-filled alley he was sitting in. He had been sleeping under a pile of old cardboard boxes, newspapers, and other trash. He pushed the soggy mess off of him as best he could. He had on his Battered Green Helmet and old Trench-coat, but he was still soaked to the bone.
That was better than the alternative he guessed. As his memories came back to his foggy mind, it had been raining like this ever since he left Chicago. After that dream, it felt like a lifetime ago, but it was really just a few days, a week at most.
He tried to stretch some of the stiff soreness out of his body but didn't succeed much. Sleeping on concrete kind of made it hard to get comfortable. He looked back up into the sky and at the rain cascading down the dirty walls and all over him. If he didn't know better, he would think this was one of those Water Worlds where it never stopped.
Thunder and Lightning cracked across the dark sky. He shivered and wished the heating elements in his coat still worked. He pulled his knees up put his arms across them and rested his helmeted head on them. He wished just once he could get one normal, quiet night's sleep, but there was little chance of that.
His own memories pretty much meant that was slim to nil possibility. That and having someone like Devourya lurking around in his head pretty much guaranteed it. She was a constant Nightmare, ever since he first met her during an unpleasant misadventure a few years ago now.
Devourya was a Chronovore! A being that existed in the Higher Dimensions of the Universe that was intertwined with the Space-Time Vortex that glued existence together. To call her a Cosmic Being was a bit of a Massive Understatement.
Her race was a group of beings that feasted on Time itself. Alternate Timelines and Zones that collapsed or experienced temporal paradoxes, it was her people that Cleaned up The Messed. Cleaned up like Predators that took down weak and sick prey. To Her, existence was just a buffet to pick the best items from!
Heck, even her name was a Joke she liked to tease him with. Her real name was unpronounceable, he couldn't even perceive the symbols to spell it. So, she went by Devourya, which was a Promise by her to him, that one day she would DEVOUR YA! In a Horrifyingly Glorious way to she promised. He couldn't wait.
It was in his dreams that she was only really able to interact with him. She had explained that if She were to enter his level of reality, Her presence there would Destroy it. So, their relationship was a complicated one.
He squirmed and pulled his bandaged-wrapped tail out from under him. He looked at the singed and smoking tip. He shuddered and dipped it in one of the puddles of dirty water he was sitting in. His memories drifted back to his time in Chicago over the last few weeks.
It hadn't been exactly a happy time, being a mind-controlled slave to that Repulsive Plutarkian Lawrence Limburger and his Pet Sadist Dr. Karbunkle, but seeing his Big Foster Brother Modo again, that made it all worth it. For the most part.
Heck. It was nice to see Throttle and Stanley again too, even if their relationship wasn't the smoothest. He had also made a new friend in the Earthling Mechanic Davidson. She had treated him well enough even for all the trouble he had caused her.
He shook his head to dislodge the more painful memories that She conjured up within him. Memories He didn't want to think about right now. Memories that were why he was here now. Memories that were why He left Chicago so fast.
And now there's Devourya's little Premonition tease about him messing up and destroying a city, if not the world. Why did his life have to be so hard? Thunder and Lightning flashed across the Dark Sky high above him. He hoped that wasn't the Universe trying to tell him something.
"VROOM, BRUM," Dently rattled as He came rolling around the entrance of the alley to stop right next to him. Dently The Motorcycle. Hard Lucks Best Rusty and Trusty Friend in the whole world. "Yeah, good morning to you too buddy." Hard Luck said and patted Dently on his front tire.
Hard Luck reached up and grabbed hold of one of Dently's bent handlebars, and painfully pulled himself up. His metal spine and cyborg's leg creaked, and he moaned. Dently let loose a clatter of noises. "I slept about as well as I ever do." He replied.
Dently made more noises but with a noticeable tone of sympathy. "I could really use some juice to get me going." Hard Luck sighed and reached for an energy port next to Dently's power plant on his engine.
Dently backed away from him, almost knocking him over! An Explosion of Angry Sounds burst out from his engine and exhaust! Hard Luck guiltily grimace. "Yeah, I know juicing is bad for me, but it helps!" He whined. Juicing was something Hard Luck could do with his cyborg spine. He could literally Plug in! The Energy would Supercharge him and fry him at the same time.
Another Frustrated Retort from Dently pretty much told him that he wasn't about to let Hard Luck do it. "Ok, OK Fine!" He groaned. "Gimme some of that cash Davidson gave me so I can go buy some Grape Soda and Chocolate Donuts at least." He said and reached for Dently's storage compartment.
Dently backed away even further and again rattled angrily at him! "Oh, come on, that isn't as bad for me as the juice!" Hard Luck sounded like he was begging a stern adult to be allowed to do something he shouldn't. Dently's next loud reply very much sounded like a parent pretty much giving the answer that was expected. Which was NO!
Hard Luck pulled his helmet off. "I aint ate for a couple of days now, I gotta have something!" Hard Luck almost begged. If only he had noticed that Dently had picked his pocket and taken all the cash Davidson had given him away! Pickpocketing was a trick He regretted teaching the Motorcycle, Especially seeing as how Dently was now better at it than Him!
Dently rolled a little closer to Hard Luck and opened His storage box, and a mechanical appendage folded out and handed the Blue Martian something. Hard Luck took int in his paw. "An Apple?" He gasped while looking at the red fruit. "An Apple!" He barked.
Dently's engine growled at Him, and The Camera Eye mounted in between His handlebars Glared at the Mouse. "Uh, I Luh, Love Ah, Apples!" Hard Luck Lied and with a fake smile on His blue face bit into the red fruit. A few loud crunches and a slow gulp. "Yuk, uh I mean, yuh, yum!"
Hard Luck forced himself to finish his breakfast and tossed the apple core over His shoulder into the other trash in the alley behind him. Now He really wished for a Grape Soda to wash the taste out of his mouth. Heck, He would settle even for a Root Beer! Well, maybe not.
"OK, back on mission. "Hard Luck grumbled and wiped his mouth. "Did you spot anything?" Dently rattled off a negative to him. "Nothing huh?" He climbed onto Dently's seat, put his helmet back on and they turned around and coasted back to the Alley Entrance.
"We've been squatting here for what, 2 or 3 days, and no one has moved over there, and no signals of any kind either?" He asked. Dently extended his own antenna and sensors whirled them around and confirmed this again.
"Well, I guess that's it." He sighed. "If we're gonna find what we need, we gotta go over there." They looked across the street into the darkness. Lightening Lite up the Sky and illuminate the Ugly and Threatening Edifice of the Rust Palace of Napoleon Brie!
To Be Continued!