The first matter of business is the reviewer challenge. As it turns out,
the four survivors of the age of Apocalypse were (I'm not sure if they're
still around,) Nate Grey, The Sugar Man, Dark Beast and Holocaust. Now I
promised you Death Valley, and you will get Death Valley.
Death Valley
Althea kicked in the door, and spayed bullets into the air. The guards caught unaware surrendered quickly. Too quickly. Althea shook her head to shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
The troops were working on the forcefield controls. Finally one of the forcefields went down. Then, in an instant, Althea knew why the guards had surrendered so quickly. But before she could do anything, try and reactivate the forcefield, shout out a warning, or even lift a finger, a telepath shoved her thoughts deep back into her consciousness.
Ah, you didn't really think I would let you warn the others did you? Came a voice from within her head.
Who are you? Answered Althea weakly.
I am a vassal of Cobra. I am the sword that will slay the enemies of our glorious empire.
Oh god, thought Althea, he's a fanatic.
Uh-uh-uh. No thoughts like that. You can't hide them from me. Not while I'm in your brain. Time to take your punishment. A bolt of intense pain seared her mind. If she was still in control of her vocal cords, she would have screamed. But she wasn't, so she endured the pain in silence.
You want to scream don't you? Came the voice, taunting her. But you can't. I wonder, how much pain can your brain take, with no outlet for it, before it shuts down? Another intense bolt of pain seared her mind.
Althea fought back, using every bit of her ninja training. The telepath wasn't well trained, and Althea found that she could take control back form him, if only in parts of the body. Soon she took control of the senses, and forced the telepath out of her memory. But she couldn't as easily wrest control of the motor functions. What she saw, when she took control of her sight again, wasn't encouraging. The troops were in a desperate fight against the same mutants who moments before they had been trying to release.
Althea finally pushed the telepath completely out of her mind. Grabbing her gun, she shot one of the mutants who was wielding electricity.
She set her sights on another one, who was manipulating fire. However, before she could shoot, one her own troops shoved the gun up into the air.
The bullets hit the ceiling and sent shrapnel flying down. Althea immediately realized that she hadn't been the only one telepathically attacked.
She flung the man away, into a group of Cobra mutants who had surrounded one of the troops under her command. They scattered. One of them hurled a cluster of tiny sharp needles at her.
Althea rolled out of the way. "You'll have to do better then that," she snarled, before kicking the girl into a wall.
Someone grabbed her shoulders and twisted them behind her back. She kicked them in their stomach, and felt her foot connect with solid rock. She twisted her arms away, and did a back flip to square off against the stone skinned mutant.
Physical attacks proved useless, and the mutant knocked her into a wall. She staggered back to her feet, only to be slammed back into the wall. This time she hit head first, and slid into blissful unconsciousness. ***********************************************************************
Cyclops's men set up a perimeter around the armory. Cyclops hit the button on his visor, and the door crumpled. He shot part of the wall, and it blew in. The men rushed in.
Cyclops strode confidentially into the room. His troops had quickly subdued the guards. There was a huge safe in the middle of the room. Cyclops put his visor to it's highest power, and narrowest beam. He knelt down in front of the safe, and fired a long blast at the lock. He put one gloved hand on the handle, and swung it open. He knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the small camera. He immediately blasted it, but it was too late. The camera had detected motion and sent a tiny electromagnetic pulse that activated the only other object in the safe. A small mechanical spider. It sent a stream of energy out. Cyclops rolled out of the way, and it struck one of the guards. The guard rapidly turned to a pile of dust. Cyclops blasted at the thing, but it was already moving. It stuck Cyclops's leg with a tiny needle. Cyclops blasted at it again, this time hitting it. It flew across the room, rolled over, and then charged again. Cyclops's optic blast threw it back across the room, but it immediately regained its feet and charged again. One of the men shot it. The bullet bounced off.
Cyclops began to feel tired, no doubt as a result of the needle injection. He blasted the thing one last time, and hit the joint. One of the legs fell off. The thing shot another stream of energy
Cyclops was too tired to dodge, but luckily the energy wasn't of the same kind that had killed the guard. He slammed into the wall, and lay there stunned a long moment. Long enough so that the spider robot had enough time to slam into him at full speed. His spinal column hit the wall, and he was paralyzed, forced to watch, unable to move, as the spider made mincemeat of his men. ***********************************************************************
Jean used her telekinesis to pick the lock on the door. She telepathically signaled her troops. She opened the door, and one of her troops planted a bomb. Jean sent another telepathic signal, and they moved out. As soon as they were a respectable distance away, Jean pressed a detonator. The lab exploded. An alarm sounded on the other side of the compound.
Let's move said Jean telepathically, pointing to the next lab. One of the men shot out the window. Another tossed in a grenade. They ran as it exploded behind them.
There was one lab left. Men were pouring out of it. Jean manipulated chemicals around inside, causing a devastating chain reaction that destroyed the lab, and all of the equipment in it. ***********************************************************************
Cyclops watched as the spider suddenly shut down. He slowly managed to use his arms to push himself to his feet. Only one of his men was still standing, and he was badly wounded along his left arm. Cyclops found a first aid kit and bandaged the man's arm.
"Come on Sci-Fi let's go."
"Wait, I think Stalker's still breathing." Cyclops nodded and put his fingers to the man's throat.
"I've got a pulse."
"It just kept coming." Muttered Stalker. "Bullets didn't stop it. Grenades didn't stop it. Nothing could stop it. It just kept coming. Cyclops. I don't think I'm going to make it. My left leg's shattered. One of my ribs must have gone into my heart. Do me a favor Cyclops, put me out of my misery."
Cyclops nodded. "Look into my eyes Stalker." He removed his visor. "Look into my eyes." There was a blinding red flash, and then Cyclops closed his eyes and put his visor back on. ***********************************************************************
Althea woke up to the scent of smelling salts. "OK, OK, I'm up already. Did we win?"
"Just barely." Said Barbecue. "It was touch and go for a while, but we managed to find the telepaths. After that it got easier."
"Didn't you manage to capture any?"
"No. Mindbender showed up and pressed a button. They all just keeled over dead."
"Did you get the bastard?"
"He's dead. I shot him myself."
"Good. Then there's nothing left here."
"I wouldn't quite say that. Zartan and a few of the Dreadknocks are holed up in one of the bunkers. They're trying to negotiate a surrender."
"Accept only unconditional surrenders. Our leaders will try them for their crimes."
"And if they don't agree to those terms?"
"Then break open one of the pipes and I'll flood them out. We're not letting them escape, not after what we witnessed here."
"Affirmative."
A rebel came up, "Sir, Cyclops and one of his men are outside."
"Tell them to come see me. Wait, did you say that there was only one man with him?"
"That's right."
Althea mused to herself, "I wonder what happened to him?" ***********************************************************************
Zartan sat in the bunker. Buzzer, Monkeywrench, and Ripper were at the small slit, aiming weapons out into the night.
"You know, I think I figured out how to get out of here." Said Zartan.
"How, boss?" Asked Buzzer.
"I'll give them something to occupy themselves with while I make my escape."
"Good plan boss." Said Ripper, "But what are you gonna distract them with?"
"You three." Answered Zartan, and then, before they could react, shot them. He hit Ripper in the back of the head, Buzzer in the arm, and Monkeywrench on his spinal cord. Then he ran. ***********************************************************************
Cyclops finished his account just as a group of rebels strode in. They were supporting something in between them. Or to be more accurate, three somethings. They dumped them on the ground.
It was the three Dreadknocks that had been with Zartan down in the bunker. Ripper was obviously dead, Buzzer's left arm was bleeding heavily, and Monkeywrench was spasmodically twitching.
"We heard gunshots," explained the leader, "we stormed the bunker, and found these three." She gestured to the Dreadknocks.
"Alright. Get Buzzer's arm bandaged up. It's too late for the other two."
"Why are we bothering to save this filth?" Asked the leader.
"Because," said Althea patiently, with the tone of voice that she would use to describe things to a small child, "He might have valuable information that one of our telepaths could find. This hypothetical information that would be lost to us if he were dead."
The leader nodded, obviously satisfied.
"Alright. John, Henry, get this scum's arm bandaged. If he tries anything put a bullet between his eyes." She looked at Althea as if daring her to countermand the order. Althea kept her mouth shut. ***********************************************************************
Jean and her troops were heading towards the research facility, when a hidden trapdoor in the ground opened right in front of them. Zartan climbed out then, seeing the Resistance members, hurled a smoke bomb. Jean created a telepathic shield but it was to late for the rest of her troops. They keeled over. Jean used her telepathy to make sure that they were still alive, and then went after Zartan, who had dived back into the trapdoor. She floated down after him, and saw him rounding a corner.
She reached out with her telekinesis, and stopped him. However she couldn't keep him completely mobile. He flicked his wrist, and a tiny dart flew at Jean. She stopped it, but her concentration was broken. Zartan had rounded the corner and was gone.
She used her telepathy, and found him, waiting around the corner with a gun. She put forth fronds of telepathic energy into his mind. She snaked through the memories, and then found what she was looking for. She switched off his conscious mind.
She turned around the corner, and found a tiny telepathic transmitter. It had projected an exact duplicate of Zartan's consciousness.
She reached out again, and found two more duplicates of Zartan's mind. One of them was moving. She took over his sensory perception.
Another duplicate. She checked the other one. Same story. Zartan had to be using some kind of telepathic blocking device.
Jean sighed, and went back to the surface. ***********************************************************************
"So he's using a telepathic blocking device." Mused Althea. "Then there's not much we can do. Let's head home. Our main mission was a success. There'll be no mutant experimentations here any time soon."
Jean nodded. Soon they were in the jeeps heading back to the base.
Well there you have it. One loose end tied up. And a new reviewer challenge. What was Cyclops's code name in The Age of Apocalypse? The prize remains the same. A shiny new evo pic! Yay!
Death Valley
Althea kicked in the door, and spayed bullets into the air. The guards caught unaware surrendered quickly. Too quickly. Althea shook her head to shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
The troops were working on the forcefield controls. Finally one of the forcefields went down. Then, in an instant, Althea knew why the guards had surrendered so quickly. But before she could do anything, try and reactivate the forcefield, shout out a warning, or even lift a finger, a telepath shoved her thoughts deep back into her consciousness.
Ah, you didn't really think I would let you warn the others did you? Came a voice from within her head.
Who are you? Answered Althea weakly.
I am a vassal of Cobra. I am the sword that will slay the enemies of our glorious empire.
Oh god, thought Althea, he's a fanatic.
Uh-uh-uh. No thoughts like that. You can't hide them from me. Not while I'm in your brain. Time to take your punishment. A bolt of intense pain seared her mind. If she was still in control of her vocal cords, she would have screamed. But she wasn't, so she endured the pain in silence.
You want to scream don't you? Came the voice, taunting her. But you can't. I wonder, how much pain can your brain take, with no outlet for it, before it shuts down? Another intense bolt of pain seared her mind.
Althea fought back, using every bit of her ninja training. The telepath wasn't well trained, and Althea found that she could take control back form him, if only in parts of the body. Soon she took control of the senses, and forced the telepath out of her memory. But she couldn't as easily wrest control of the motor functions. What she saw, when she took control of her sight again, wasn't encouraging. The troops were in a desperate fight against the same mutants who moments before they had been trying to release.
Althea finally pushed the telepath completely out of her mind. Grabbing her gun, she shot one of the mutants who was wielding electricity.
She set her sights on another one, who was manipulating fire. However, before she could shoot, one her own troops shoved the gun up into the air.
The bullets hit the ceiling and sent shrapnel flying down. Althea immediately realized that she hadn't been the only one telepathically attacked.
She flung the man away, into a group of Cobra mutants who had surrounded one of the troops under her command. They scattered. One of them hurled a cluster of tiny sharp needles at her.
Althea rolled out of the way. "You'll have to do better then that," she snarled, before kicking the girl into a wall.
Someone grabbed her shoulders and twisted them behind her back. She kicked them in their stomach, and felt her foot connect with solid rock. She twisted her arms away, and did a back flip to square off against the stone skinned mutant.
Physical attacks proved useless, and the mutant knocked her into a wall. She staggered back to her feet, only to be slammed back into the wall. This time she hit head first, and slid into blissful unconsciousness. ***********************************************************************
Cyclops's men set up a perimeter around the armory. Cyclops hit the button on his visor, and the door crumpled. He shot part of the wall, and it blew in. The men rushed in.
Cyclops strode confidentially into the room. His troops had quickly subdued the guards. There was a huge safe in the middle of the room. Cyclops put his visor to it's highest power, and narrowest beam. He knelt down in front of the safe, and fired a long blast at the lock. He put one gloved hand on the handle, and swung it open. He knew something was wrong as soon as he saw the small camera. He immediately blasted it, but it was too late. The camera had detected motion and sent a tiny electromagnetic pulse that activated the only other object in the safe. A small mechanical spider. It sent a stream of energy out. Cyclops rolled out of the way, and it struck one of the guards. The guard rapidly turned to a pile of dust. Cyclops blasted at the thing, but it was already moving. It stuck Cyclops's leg with a tiny needle. Cyclops blasted at it again, this time hitting it. It flew across the room, rolled over, and then charged again. Cyclops's optic blast threw it back across the room, but it immediately regained its feet and charged again. One of the men shot it. The bullet bounced off.
Cyclops began to feel tired, no doubt as a result of the needle injection. He blasted the thing one last time, and hit the joint. One of the legs fell off. The thing shot another stream of energy
Cyclops was too tired to dodge, but luckily the energy wasn't of the same kind that had killed the guard. He slammed into the wall, and lay there stunned a long moment. Long enough so that the spider robot had enough time to slam into him at full speed. His spinal column hit the wall, and he was paralyzed, forced to watch, unable to move, as the spider made mincemeat of his men. ***********************************************************************
Jean used her telekinesis to pick the lock on the door. She telepathically signaled her troops. She opened the door, and one of her troops planted a bomb. Jean sent another telepathic signal, and they moved out. As soon as they were a respectable distance away, Jean pressed a detonator. The lab exploded. An alarm sounded on the other side of the compound.
Let's move said Jean telepathically, pointing to the next lab. One of the men shot out the window. Another tossed in a grenade. They ran as it exploded behind them.
There was one lab left. Men were pouring out of it. Jean manipulated chemicals around inside, causing a devastating chain reaction that destroyed the lab, and all of the equipment in it. ***********************************************************************
Cyclops watched as the spider suddenly shut down. He slowly managed to use his arms to push himself to his feet. Only one of his men was still standing, and he was badly wounded along his left arm. Cyclops found a first aid kit and bandaged the man's arm.
"Come on Sci-Fi let's go."
"Wait, I think Stalker's still breathing." Cyclops nodded and put his fingers to the man's throat.
"I've got a pulse."
"It just kept coming." Muttered Stalker. "Bullets didn't stop it. Grenades didn't stop it. Nothing could stop it. It just kept coming. Cyclops. I don't think I'm going to make it. My left leg's shattered. One of my ribs must have gone into my heart. Do me a favor Cyclops, put me out of my misery."
Cyclops nodded. "Look into my eyes Stalker." He removed his visor. "Look into my eyes." There was a blinding red flash, and then Cyclops closed his eyes and put his visor back on. ***********************************************************************
Althea woke up to the scent of smelling salts. "OK, OK, I'm up already. Did we win?"
"Just barely." Said Barbecue. "It was touch and go for a while, but we managed to find the telepaths. After that it got easier."
"Didn't you manage to capture any?"
"No. Mindbender showed up and pressed a button. They all just keeled over dead."
"Did you get the bastard?"
"He's dead. I shot him myself."
"Good. Then there's nothing left here."
"I wouldn't quite say that. Zartan and a few of the Dreadknocks are holed up in one of the bunkers. They're trying to negotiate a surrender."
"Accept only unconditional surrenders. Our leaders will try them for their crimes."
"And if they don't agree to those terms?"
"Then break open one of the pipes and I'll flood them out. We're not letting them escape, not after what we witnessed here."
"Affirmative."
A rebel came up, "Sir, Cyclops and one of his men are outside."
"Tell them to come see me. Wait, did you say that there was only one man with him?"
"That's right."
Althea mused to herself, "I wonder what happened to him?" ***********************************************************************
Zartan sat in the bunker. Buzzer, Monkeywrench, and Ripper were at the small slit, aiming weapons out into the night.
"You know, I think I figured out how to get out of here." Said Zartan.
"How, boss?" Asked Buzzer.
"I'll give them something to occupy themselves with while I make my escape."
"Good plan boss." Said Ripper, "But what are you gonna distract them with?"
"You three." Answered Zartan, and then, before they could react, shot them. He hit Ripper in the back of the head, Buzzer in the arm, and Monkeywrench on his spinal cord. Then he ran. ***********************************************************************
Cyclops finished his account just as a group of rebels strode in. They were supporting something in between them. Or to be more accurate, three somethings. They dumped them on the ground.
It was the three Dreadknocks that had been with Zartan down in the bunker. Ripper was obviously dead, Buzzer's left arm was bleeding heavily, and Monkeywrench was spasmodically twitching.
"We heard gunshots," explained the leader, "we stormed the bunker, and found these three." She gestured to the Dreadknocks.
"Alright. Get Buzzer's arm bandaged up. It's too late for the other two."
"Why are we bothering to save this filth?" Asked the leader.
"Because," said Althea patiently, with the tone of voice that she would use to describe things to a small child, "He might have valuable information that one of our telepaths could find. This hypothetical information that would be lost to us if he were dead."
The leader nodded, obviously satisfied.
"Alright. John, Henry, get this scum's arm bandaged. If he tries anything put a bullet between his eyes." She looked at Althea as if daring her to countermand the order. Althea kept her mouth shut. ***********************************************************************
Jean and her troops were heading towards the research facility, when a hidden trapdoor in the ground opened right in front of them. Zartan climbed out then, seeing the Resistance members, hurled a smoke bomb. Jean created a telepathic shield but it was to late for the rest of her troops. They keeled over. Jean used her telepathy to make sure that they were still alive, and then went after Zartan, who had dived back into the trapdoor. She floated down after him, and saw him rounding a corner.
She reached out with her telekinesis, and stopped him. However she couldn't keep him completely mobile. He flicked his wrist, and a tiny dart flew at Jean. She stopped it, but her concentration was broken. Zartan had rounded the corner and was gone.
She used her telepathy, and found him, waiting around the corner with a gun. She put forth fronds of telepathic energy into his mind. She snaked through the memories, and then found what she was looking for. She switched off his conscious mind.
She turned around the corner, and found a tiny telepathic transmitter. It had projected an exact duplicate of Zartan's consciousness.
She reached out again, and found two more duplicates of Zartan's mind. One of them was moving. She took over his sensory perception.
Another duplicate. She checked the other one. Same story. Zartan had to be using some kind of telepathic blocking device.
Jean sighed, and went back to the surface. ***********************************************************************
"So he's using a telepathic blocking device." Mused Althea. "Then there's not much we can do. Let's head home. Our main mission was a success. There'll be no mutant experimentations here any time soon."
Jean nodded. Soon they were in the jeeps heading back to the base.
Well there you have it. One loose end tied up. And a new reviewer challenge. What was Cyclops's code name in The Age of Apocalypse? The prize remains the same. A shiny new evo pic! Yay!