"Rip, Spike!"
"Yes ma'am?"
"Do you guys have your sidearm on you?"
"Yes, we both do." Rip replied.
"Well I'm going to need to borrow one."
"You can use mine." Spike said handing Draco his Beretta semi-automatic pistol.
"Thank you. Is the magazine full?"
"Yes, haven't fired a shot." Spike replied.
"Great." Draco said walking over to where the hostages were gathered. "I need five off you."
Draco pointed to five of the hostages and ordered them to get up.
"Put your hands behind your heads and walk towards and then into The Mayor's office."
All of the hostages did as they were ordered. When they arrived inside the office, Draco made them sit against the wall.
"Xion!"
"Yes commander?"
"Put The Chief on the line, we need to talk."
"You got it Drac."
Command Tent 5:45 PM
When the telephone in the command tent rang The Chief picked it up immediately, knowing already who it would be.
"Hello Black Dragon." He said into the receiver.
"Enough with the theatrics. You may call me by my real name now."
"And what might that be?"
"Draco."
"Okay Draco, why do I have the pleasure of your call?"
"Tell one of the NNN choppers to point their camera toward the windows in Tom Colonic's office. I would advise you to turn on your television." Draco said, cutting off the communication.
The Chief immediately turned on the TV set and then called the nearest NNN chopper and relayed Draco's directions to it. The Chief, as well as the others who were in the tent, pulled up a chair and watched the news.
Mayor's Office 5:49 PM
"Let's go." Draco said waving her gun at the hostages.
The terrified hostages got up and followed Draco to the window. She opened the blinds, saw the helicopter and then opened the window.
"Demo, Xion, keep a gun on them." Draco ordered.
From the TV in the command tent, The Chief could see a virus, which was the same species as Thrax but had long black hair and green eyes. He guessed that this must be Draco.
Draco grabbed the first hostage and put him in front of her. The she spoke. "You cops have made a large error. By destroying the elevators, you have injured one of my men. I can easily say that I am not happy. For this, you must pay the price."
Draco put the pistol to the cell's head.
"This cell a husband and a father to two children." Draco said pulling the trigger of the pistol. The cell died instantly and then fell off the window ledge. Draco then grabbed a second cell from behind her and held the pistol to her head.
"This one is a loving single mother to three children." Draco then pulled the trigger off the pistol. The cell died and fell off the window ledge.
The process was the same for the other three hostages. Each time Draco announced who these cells were to their families, shot them and watched the bodies fall. The third cell was engaged to lovely young woman. The fourth cell was a single father of one. The fifth and final cell was a father of three, grandfather of two. He was also married. Through out this whole process, Draco's expression did not change.
"The current hostage total is now 17. Pray that it does not drop any further. I send my condolences to the families, these five just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Draco said turning around and walking back inside.
Inside the NNN Chopper 5:55 PM
"See if you can get in closer. I want to try and get a shot of the inside of the room." The NNN reporter said to the pilot.
"Sure thing." The pilot said, flying in closer.
"Hey, look at that short guy in there!"
"You mean the one with the red braid?"
"Yeah, he looks like a shrimpy little guy. Too shrimpy to have helped pull off this takeover." The reporter observed.
Mayor's Office 5:56 PM
"SHRIMPY!" Demo screamed.
Xion had been monitoring the conversations between helicopters and inside them as well. As Demo walked by, he heard this conversation going in inside the NNN helicopter.
"HOW DARE THEY CALL ME A SHRIMP! I AM NOT LITTLE!" He shouted. Demo looked absolutely furious as he stamped about the room. "I'll fix their little red wagons."
Demo walked over to where he set his duffel bag and pulled out several boxes. He opened them and started assembling a very large weapon, even for tall people. The weapon was a modified version of a Fusion Rocket Launcher. Demo loaded the rocket launcher and walked over to the open window.
"I'LL SHOW THOSE ASSHOLES WHO'S LITTLE!" Demo's eyes were wide with anger as he lined up his shot. In the background, Draco was watching Demo with a smile on her face.
It took a few seconds for the launcher to lock on the chopper but when it had, Demo wasted no time pulling the trigger. "EAT THIS!" he yelled at the chopper.
After Demo pulled the trigger, a very large rocket began to hurdle towards the NNN helicopter. There were screams from the two cells inside as the rocket impacted, caused the chopper to explode into a ball of fire, which rained from the sky.
In his rage, Demo locked on to one target after another. He didn't stop until nearly every helicopter was out of the sky. When he was done, he stood up and gazed at the many balls of fire falling from the sky. Demo was breathing heavily, his eyes wide and his hair was all messed up.
"THAT'LL TEACH YOU TO CALL ME SHORT YOU DAMN ASSLICKS! HOW'S THAT FOR OVERKILL YOU BASTARDS!!!!" He shouted at the sky.
"Demo, chill man." Xion said looking up from his computer screen. "You can close the window too."
Demo took a moment to regain himself and then he closed the window and packed up his rocket launcher.
"Nice job Demo." Draco complimented. "I thought that this operation could use a fireworks show."
"Thank you very much commander." Demo replied.
Thrax got up off the couch and walked over to Draco.
"Draco, there's something that I have to tell you baby." Thrax said, scratching the back of his head.
"I'm listening."
"I'm… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" Draco stopped Thrax in mid-sentence by bringing her finger to his lips.
"I know. I know. We all make mistakes, especially in the commanding business. It's okay; I've made even bigger ones as a rookie. Compared to mine, yours looks like nothing." Draco said, giving Thrax a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks baby."
Draco smiled and turned to face Xion.
"Xion, put The Chief on the line."
"Sure thing."
Command Tent 6:05 PM
"Hello Draco."
"Hello Chief. Did you enjoy the show?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're a psychopath?"
"I try."
"I'm glad that you called. I wanted to negotiate for the release of the other 17 hostages."
"You would only get 15. We're hanging on to Clonic and Leah for a while."
"But would you be willing to release them?"
"Yes, I would actually considering we don't have any use for them at the moment unless you want another performance?"
"No I don't."
"You disappoint me. If we release the other 15 hostages, you have to promise me that you won't try anything else."
"Fine, but we only acted because Thrax pushed us too."
"I know. My men will lead the hostages to the elevators."
"I will have a team waiting to pick them up at the top of the elevator shafts."
"Very well. There will be no shooting of your or my men during that process, understood?"
"Yes, but how do I know that you'll keep your promise?"
"You don't Chief. However, I have the same doubt about you. I don't know if you will keep yours or not so, the feeling is mutual. The hostages will be escorted to the elevators in ten minutes. Have your men waiting."
The Chief hung up the receiver and called Ozzie on his walkie.
Elevators 6:06 PM
"Yeah Chief?"
"Ozzie, I want you to send in the four Special Forces teams now."
"Why?"
"Draco is going to release the 15 office workers being held hostage. I'm sorry Jones but she wouldn't release Leah or Tom Clonic."
There was silence from Osmosis.
"Jones?"
"Yeah, I'm listenin."
"Did the Bomb Squad ever figure out what caused the explosion and killed those other Special Forces teams?"
"Yeah they did. The Bomb Squad guy said that it was caused by a hand grenade, military grade."
"Oh. Okay. The hostages are going to be escorted by some of Draco's men. There will be no shooting at them at all during this time."
"Sure. No shooting."
"No shooting until all of the hostages are downstairs and out of harms way."
"Okay, when will they be delivering them?"
"At 6:15."
"I'll get the teams in position."
"Good. Radio back to me when we have all of the hostages."
"Gotcha Chief." Osmosis said, turning off his walkie. "You had better watch out you viral sons of bitches because we'll be coming for you very shortly."
Mayor's Office 6:09 PM
"You're not serious about releasing the hostages are you commander?" Demo asked.
"I am Demo. I am."
"Any reason why?"
"Bait." She answered. "We need bait to lure in the cops and the hostages will do the job perfectly. We'll eliminate the rest of the Special Forces teams and then-"
"We'll move in for the kill." Thrax said from the couch.
"Exactly. Demo, do you have the detonator for the RADIA bomb and the C4 for the door between Sectors 1 and 2?"
"Yes, I do commander." Demo replied, opening one of his vest pockets and pulling out the detonator.
"What's the RADIA bomb set for?"
"It'll take out anything between the door and the elevators." Demo replied, handing Draco the remote.
"Perfect." Draco replied, walking over to Xion. "Xion, could you put the feed from the camera in Sector One on to that TV screen over there?"
"Sure." Xion replied and began typing on his computer.
Draco sat down next to Thrax on the couch after the large TV monitor in the front of the room came on. Draco handed Thrax the remote.
"When the hostages and their teams are in position and when the rest of our team is in the safety zone, hit that button." Draco said pointing to the green button on the right side of the controller.
"No problem baby."
"Xion." Draco said.
"Yes?"
"Contact Diego and tell him to fall back to Sector 4."
"Roger that commander."
"Afterwards call Rip and Spike and have them escort the hostages to Sector 1. I'll call Raven and Shade and tell them to bring us some popcorn because this'll be one hell of a show."
Sector 1, Elevators 6:15 PM
Draco had kept her promise as she said she would. All 15 of the office workers had been brought to the elevators in Sector 1. There was great tension between the group of Special Forces officers and the two members of the Stryker team.
From the Special Forces officer's point of view what they saw was two very large and muscular viruses holding Heavy Machine Guns standing behind the hostages as they walked towards them.
From Rip and Spike's point of view, all they saw was a very large group of small, weak looking cells holding handguns and a few automatic weapons.
When the hostages were all behind the Special Forces teams, Rip and Spike made a hasty retreat into Sector 2 and a sprint toward Sector 3. The Special Forces teams had no idea what was about to happen to them.
Mayor's Office 6:17 PM
"And as the innocent hostages ran from their captors the order was given to put them all to death. May they all burn in hell." Thrax said, pressing the green button on the detonator and putting some popcorn from the bowl in between him and Draco into his mouth.
From the TV screen, they could hear the screams from the hostages and the Special Forces teams as the RADIA bomb and C4 went off and they were engulfed in a wave of flames. All of the bodies were incinerated on contact.
"Yeah! Burn baby, burn!" Raven shouted from his position on the floor.
"Take that you stupid bastards! Haha!" Shade yelled, raising his hand into the air. "That'll teach them to mess with Stryker!"
On the couch above Raven and Shade, Draco and Thrax were laughing together and trying not to choke on their popcorn.
Demo and Xion were also laughing.
Leah and Tom Clonic were in shock. Neither of them understood how anyone could have fun doing something like this.
"How can you possibly have so much fun killing people?" The Mayor asked, leaping out of his chair.
The laughter stopped and the eyes of Stryker were fixed on Tom Clonic.
"It's easy." Thrax replied. "And trust me, it's not as much fun unless you do it yourself."
"You're all crazy!" The Mayor yelled. "Crazy! Insane! Psychotic! Wacko! Nuts!"
"And you're point is?" Thrax asked.
"I can't believe you viruses!" The Mayor rambled, beginning to go a little crazy himself. "You all should be put away in a mental institution! You're a burden to the microscopic world! You're all crazy and I'm stuck in a room with you!"
The Mayor kept on going on and on and wouldn't shut up. Thrax rolled his eyes, got up off the couch and walked over to The Mayor who was now pacing behind his desk, still rambling.
"Mr. Mayor, it would be in your best interests to be quiet." he snarled.
The Mayor didn't be quiet; he just kept on rambling and was now pacing faster. Thrax's anger was building.
"I said SHUT UP!!!!!" Thrax yelled, swinging a wild punch at Tom Clonic. The punch connected with Clonic's face and he was knocked out. Clonic's unconscious body fell to the floor with a thud.
"Tom!" Leah shouted as she came running towards him.
"I told him to shut up." Thrax said walking to the TV screen and standing in front of it. "I think that it's time for us to finish the job. The police aren't going to remain idle for long after our last move."
"Right, I'll signal for the helicopters." Draco said getting on her headset.
"Xion, tell Diego, Rip and Spike to come up to the office with Zen. I'm heading for the hypothalamus. I've got some unfinished work to do." Thrax said with a sneer.
"You got it Thrax." Xion replied.
"Thrax." Draco said.
"Yes baby?"
"The choppers are on their way. They'll be here in 30 minutes. Finish what you started by then." There was a pause. "We won't wait that long if you're late."
"I understand." Thrax said, walking over to Draco and giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I won't be late."
"Do you promise?"
"Yeah baby, I promise." Thrax said as he left the room.
"Xion, Demo, pack up and be ready to go in 30 minutes."
"Yes commander!" They said in unison, giving Draco a salute.
"As for you Miss Leah, I'm going to need you to step away from The Mayor. I need him to help get the ball rolling." Draco said with a sneer, pointing Spike's pistol at her head. She reluctantly moved away.
Draco then picked up The Mayer and slung him over her shoulder like sack.
"I'll meet you boys back here in about 20 minutes." Draco said as she began to walk out the door. "Brief the others on the situation when they arrive."
Xion gave Draco a thumbs up.
"And now for my greatest performance." Draco said to herself as she made her way to Sector 1.