The 99th Platoon – The FlatFeet Saga
Act Three: Into the Lair
(A/N Not much to say here, except that I'm ploughing on with the story. A couple of Platooners might be wondering where that additional scene between Blaze and the Omega came from, and I have to admit to creating it. I needed a link to explain a certain disappearance, crucial to the story later on. I hope you can forgive and understand me.)
Chapter 14: Mind Trap
Stealth tapped Sarge on the shoulder. Sarge's arm moved in reflex, almost mechanically, to his weapon. Stealth jerked back. Sarge's lower lip was quivering.
"S-sorry...I didn't..."
Stealth nodded. He understood. Sarge looked at the others that had assembled around him, Stealth, RedStorm, CoolGuy, Dark…
"Wait…" Sarge checked again. "Where's the Professor?"
"He was here a minute ago Sarge!" RedStorm drew his staff, activating the three-pronged blade at either end. "This place is giving me the creeps."
"Understand this, all of you." Sarge stared at them. "I don't want anybody going anywhere alone! If you don't go with a partner don't go at all. Always make sure someone knows where you're going! Most of us have already tasted what this…Omega can cook up..."
"Hey," CoolGuy looked around him to make sure, "Where are Oreos, Pyst and Blaze?"
Sarge narrowed his eyes, staring past Dark's shoulder. He moved his mouth ever so slightly, keeping his voice to a whisper.
"We're being watched...nobody move a muscle or say anything."
He pointed with his eyes. They followed the gaze.
It was like the sky above them was a backdrop and someone had just torn a rip through it. Spying on them from high above was a single eye. Rust coloured irises surrounded a flaming red pupil. Just as Sarge was getting a good look at it, the tear seemed to 'stich' itself back up, and vanished.
"Move!" he yelled. "M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-move!" No body asked any questions. They knew exactly why they were moving. They had just been spotted.
Targeted.
Pyst took a step backwards cautiously. He held his left arm outstretched and over it hung his ammunition feed. In his right arm he nervously pointed the minigun at anything that moved. His tail twitched nervously. He felt it brush against something behind him.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Pyst screamed.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Oreos yelled back.
"OREOS! You ! You scared the beejeezus outta me!"
"I'm glad to see you too..."
"Move! M-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-move!" It was Sarge's voice.
The cry wasn't coming from too far away. They were close by. They ran...
Stealth trailed behind the others, sweat dripping off of his brow, his mind being torn apart... A high-pitched cry shot through his head, as he fell limply to the floor.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" he bellowed aloud...
The others heads whipped heads towards Stealth, his expression one of pain. Again he had entered the mind of FlatFeet. Voices spoke to him, eerily whispering ravings of madness into his ear. He felt the earth below him swallow him up in a black hole. Sarge and Dark doubled back, hauling the unconscious soldier to his feet.
Sarge was panting hard. He was out of shape. He looked at the CoolGuy and RedStorm up ahead.
"Don't..." he panted, "look...back!" His breathing was fast, sharp, cut.
"Go...go...GO!" he yelled. He and Dark dragged the unconscious Stealth along the road...
"Let's...just...dump him!" Dark growled.
Sarge looked harshly at Dark. Dark's fangs glittered.
"Just...kidding."
"Sarge!" It was Mon. The Medic ran along side the burly Team Leader and asked the 'forbidden' question.
"Where are we going?"
"Any where," Sarge huffed, "But here!"
The crunching of boots on gravel could not disguise another sound that sprang up. From far away, yet seemingly close, sinister laughter could be heard approaching them from within the shadows.
They had to go to somewhere. Somewhere where they would be safe. Those building that surrounded them did not appear to friendly and no one was willing to try them out.
"Join us…"
The voices were getting closer. No one dared to take a look backwards.
It was then that the figures started to appear. Disfigured and dismembered, they only appeared in the corner of people's minds and eyes, like the windowsill under a lamppost, but if you looked twice, they would be gone.
"Sings we a song of wolves...who smell fear and slay the cowards..."
RedStorm felt their breath as they whispered in his ear.
Adrenalin was pumping. The figures started appearing more often and more clearly.
An eerie silence followed. The voices stopped. Mon could only make out their soft footsteps and heavy breathing.
STEP INTO MY LAIR, SAID THE SPIDER TO THE FLY!
The terrible voice shook the earth, buildings collapsing around the Platoon. With their increasing fatigue and Stealth's unconscious body, dodging the falling rubble became a near-impossibility.
Suddenly, it stopped. One by one they stopped. They found themselves in a green pasture growing in the middle of the chaotic cityscape. The whispering voices were growing more distant.
A giant billboard was on the grass. It was a picture of FlatFeet and Cherry, on their wedding night.
Help me…
It was FlatFeet's voice.
You'll be safe here…for a bit… Rest
Blaze stood on a hill, rising above the ground. The ground was pinkish-red and sprung up after he had stepped away from it. On closer inspection it seemed to pulse with a regular beat. With disgust Blaze realized he was standing on a hill of flesh, tiny blue veins and red arteries coursed through the pink mass. He looked up at the giant glass cylinder at the top of the hill, a glowing green orb floating above it.
"Shadows. Darkness. Fear. Hate. These are the things this place is made of."
Blaze the Hedgehog stood up, noticing a cool breeze sweeping outside of the Core. He stepped inside a single opening. The scene flickered before his eyes, like someone changing T.V. channels rapidly. He saw a hall of mirrors, his reflection in each of them horribly distorted.
He shook his head.
"I will not be taken that easily…"
He stepped forward, and the scene returned to the original glass tower. He looked skyward. There was nothing but shadows and darkness.
"You can't beat all of us, you know," he said aloud, seemingly to no one. "One of us, at a minimum, will reach the centre." He started to grin, and began to walk around. "You think you've got us right where you want us. I'm sorry, do you honestly think we're THAT stupid?"
SLAM
A huge black cylinder had fallen from the sky-like ceiling, and almost landed on Blaze, had he not dived out of the way.
"You make too much noise…" he said, and stopped. He had reached the centre of the tower.
"Why don't you just give up now? We can beat whatever guardian you've got behind this door."
The door slammed open, knocking Blaze backwards onto his ass.
"Ouch." He stood up to brush himself off. "That's just gonna make the ass whuppin' you get at the end of this worse, you know."
He drew his Phazon-coated Uzi and walked forward into the room.
Pyst and Oreos walked down the lonely street together.
"Alright, if we don't make it out of here alive, I just wanna say I'm sorry."
"For what?" Pyst asked.
"All the jokes about your ex-girlfriend and stuff."
"Ah, don't worry about it."
In their search for the other 99ners, the two squirrels found nothing at all. After walking down an endless street for a couple of hours, they decided to take a break.
"Hold on Oreos, I gotta take a leak." Pyst walked behind a wall, or what was left of it. Not even 5 minutes later, Oreos heard gunshots being fired. He ran to where Pyst was, to see him fending off a dark figure, no…not just dark, but completely black. It was the shape of a wolf, and it twitched every time Pyst fired at it.
"Let me take care of this!"
Oreos took a clip out of his back pocket while unloading his current one into the beast. The black wolf gave a look at Oreos, and then jumped on Pyst. Oreos took his K7 and whacked the beast with the butt of the rifle. Pyst let out a cry as Oreos grabbed the thing by the neck and threw it against the wall. Oreos took a knife and turned to Pyst.
"Hey Pyst, check this out, I've been working on this move for we-- AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The thing had bitten Oreos in the leg.
Taking his knife, he stabbed it till it let go. Pyst took out his shotgun, strapped onto his back, and knocked the thing unconscious.
"Should I kill it?"
"WHAT! OF COURSE!"
"But it looks so cool. I want to keep it as a pet."
Oreos fainted. Pyst scoffed and shot the 'shadow wolf' in the head. Green ooze exploded out of the thing's head. The headless wolf dived straight back at Pyst.
"SHIIIIIIII-"
The wolf suddenly stopped, staring at a figure highlighted in a golden glow.
"Back," the figure demanded in a stern voice. The wolf turned away, running off into the shadows. Pyst armed his shotgun as he head a familiar chuckle.
"Chael!"
"Yeah."
"You crazy mother! How'd you do that!"
"It's all in the mind Pyst…all in the mind…"
The minute Dark threw Stealth to rest on the ground; the Panther saw a flash of white. He was suddenly teleported to an isolated place. There were no roads, trees, or buildings. Nothing. Then, one dark figure approached from over the horizon. It came closer and closer. Dark just stared at what stood in front of him. He had mixed emotions of sorrow, hate... Flatfeet's mind had brought up something from Dark's past that he wished he would never have to face again...
What stood before him now was his mother. The beautiful Panther, which gave, birth to him oh so long ago. Her eyes were somewhat gentle; looking over the hard, black-hearted panther her son had grown to be. When she touched his face, he tilted his head to get away from her. He still faintly remembered where he was. She looked at him, puzzled at his attitude.
"Ryan… I'm your mother...don't you love your mother?" she said, her words cutting into Dark like a hot blade.
Dark leaned into her, embracing her. His voice became raspy, low, and full of hatred and sorrow. His 'mother's' eyes widened at the sound of the combat knife leaving its sheathe. She felt it pierce her spinal column, severing all contact with any part of her body below the shoulders. Dark looked at her as she fell to the ground, a deafening scream emitting from her inhuman vocal cords.
"You…are not my mother...and my name…is Dark…" He said aloud, turning his attention to the sky. "My mind is much darker than you could imagine… I will not be fooled by such weak trickery…"
Just as the words left his mouth, he was shot back to somewhat consciousness. Someone was saying his name. His vision was blurry for a few moments. He shook his head, realizing that he had just been standing here, staring off into nowhere for the last...ten or so minutes. He looked behind him, to his fellow Platoon.
"I just…killed my mother…" he announced. RedStorm backed up a little, seeing that Dark's eyes looked like they were filled with even more hatred than usual. He was angry. Not only did his violet eyes change to a cardinal colour...but also his muscles seemed to bulge a little more…and veins were forced to surface because of his biceps. He growled, wanting to kill or seriously injure someone…
CoolGuy looked at Dark sideways.
"Don't look at me like that…" the Panther growled, his voice growing deeper.
"Hey Dark...is everything ok?"
Dark just stared at him. Suddenly he unsheathed his sword and stabbed CoolGuy in the stomach. Blood started pouring out and dripping onto the grass. Dark was turning the blade in his gut. He couldn't break the illusion, FlatFeet's mind was taking over his own, he got weaker and fell to his knees.
See, I told you that it was only the beginning. I control everything. You're friend 'Dark' thought he had lost me. What he didn't realize was that I had found him…
"C-can't…stand…" CoolGuy whispered.
He blacked out.
Blaze, you're friends are lost…
The inner chamber pulsed steadily, as if Blaze had stepped into the actual heart of the beast itself. Thin 'windows' appeared in front of Blaze. It showed Ajax drowning underwater, the Professor burning at the stake, WWW clutching his arm as his Squirrel armband tightened severing it at the bicep, Ricy being tormented by a short yellow talking sponge in brown square shorts.
They've all submitted to me. Just like you will
"And what makes you so sure of that?"
Believe me I can. I can make all of you break
"Who are you? Really? You're not FlatFeet, so don't even try to pass yourself off as him."
True. There's no harm in that. I am Omega
"The virus?"
A spike made of bone shot toward Blaze's gut. The Hedgehog speedily sidestepped.
Silence fool!
"You border between sophistication and brutality Omega. You're so ed up there's no way you could win this."
Oh but I will…
"How exactly?"
I have a bargaining chip over your 'Sarge'
"And what exactly is that?"
There was a soft slurping sound as something began growing out of the flesh ceiling. It appeared to be a sac…a cocoon…of flesh. A single face was pressed against it, the outline clearly recognisable. Blaze gasped.
"You son of a bitch…" he whispered.
Exactly. Rodriguez is mine
Blaze drew his weapon ready to fire.
Now, now. None of that
Without warning Blaze found himself falling from a great height to land, with a loud crunch, on the pavement outside. He got up, swearing, and shot off to find Sarge and warn him.
"Does anyone know what's up with CoolGuy?" Dark asked. They all turned round to see CoolGuy bent over and unconscious. He made pitiful choking noises.
"He's hallucinating…" Mon said, kneeling down to inspect. "It's the Omega."
As if on cue, FlatFeet spoke.
Oh no…he's here! Guys! You have to leave! NOW! I'll try and hold him off!
The grass they were on started wilting and blossoming at random.
Go! Now!
The eye was again visible in the sky. It watched the skittering figures with great interest.
"But, CoolGuy's out cold! And Stealth! We'd have to drag..."
Sarge stared at him coolly. RedStorm's mouth went wide. He finally understood.
"Good Lord... They're crippling us...they're dead weight and he's going to kill us…"
HURRY...C-Can't hold him off...for long...
The grass beneath their feet finally wilted and died, the picture on the billboard of FlatFeet and Cherry bursting into a flame in the shape of an upside down horseshoe-like letter…
The Ωmega.
Reluctantly they dragged the unconscious Platoon member's to their feet and ran towards the darker, more brutal, side of town, where they would ultimately find the Omega. Behind them, swarming now over the dead field, were the Shadows. They began their peculiar chants…
"Come play with us…now. Now that your doom becons…"