Chapter 28
After making it past several bikers around the perimeter of the fortress, Axel quickly climbs over the high metal gates. In the distance opposite the bridge, he can see Mr and Ms Y firing rockets, grenades and anything else they can get their hands on in order to break down the fortress walls. So he patiently waits in the darkness for almost half an hour behind the rocks until the twins finally gain access to the fortress.
Once Mr and Ms Y are through the initial entrance, a bridge across the water is lowered for them to enter the castle. There the twins are greeted by several agents armed with handguns who were initially Steffan's men. Unexpectedly, instead of firing their guns, the men lower their weapons and bow their heads down to allow them to pass.
Their eyes appear to be in a trance-like state, heavily under their influence.
"Shoot down anyone who disobeys our rules, including Steffan and the boy".
"Yes Sir," the leading agent in a cream coloured suit and shades nods.
"Sunrise is fast approaching, we need to move quickly to get to those satellite dishes!" Ms Y looks out into the horizon.
The pair hastily walk inside the old structure with their jackets blowing in the wind on their way across the bridge.
Axel waits a couple more minutes before quietly following their path onto the bridge.
"Hey!" One of the gunmen shouts out as soon as he spots him. He fires a bullet forward but Axel rolls on the ground to avoid the gunshot. He then sweeps the gunman then he elbow strikes him in the neck before snatching his weapon. From the floor, Axel fires two remaining bullets at the other agents. As he gets up to his feet, he is caught off guard when he is kicked around the face by a fighter called Sparrow. The pair immediately exchange punch after punch with block after block. The kickboxer's legs are strong and fast but eventually, Sparrow is outdone as soon as Axel locks his arm around the fighter's knee. He wastes no time in breaking his leg before landing a punishing uppercut into the Sparrow's chest.
In the distance, Axel can see more fighters on the ground floor charging forward through the damaged building. He then takes a sword from one of the metallic statues and swings it, cutting a rope attached to a large chandelier. This immediately breaks the 200kg object which falls and crashes on top of the small group of fighters. They shout in agony, either dead or trapped under the broken metal structure.
Axel quickly moves away from the scene at the entrance before more fighters have the chance to arrive. He finds a staircase leading to the basement level of the fortress where Dr Dahm's laboratories are situated. Silently pacing down the dimly lit corridor, he finds the scientist in the last lab, rushing around a large control panel.
"Satellite 7, connected" the panoramic computer display informs. It's screen takes up a whole wall and is lit with 40 squares, each displaying surveillance from different angles of the fortress.
"Yes!" The Doctor celebrates as he continues to type away at his keypad, completely unaware that Axel is now behind him.
"Where the hell are they?!"
The doctor slowly turns around with his palms out in front of his chest, recognising the voice.
"I don't know who you're talking about…" Dahm defensively answers, shaking his head. A firebolt is suddenly projected towards his leg. The scientist painfully collapses to the ground as buttons on the keypad continue to flash red. As Axel approaches him, Dr Dahm lies on his side in agony, tapping onto his watch whilst repeatedly saying the word "BREAK!"
"I'll break you in half if you don't tell me where Blaze and Leon are!" Axel then drags him up off the floor by the collar.
"Here, take this…" the doctor whispers, handing him a key from his lab jacket.
"Now where are they?" Axel insists, holding the scientist around his neck.
To his surprise, Dr Dahm's face instantly changes from one of fear to amusement as he begins to laugh.
"Don't fuck around…"
Axel slowly turns his head to the side, alarmed by the smell of burning behind him. He releases the doctor then turns around only to find a double of himself staring back at him with two large flames illuminating from his arms.
"What the fuck…?!" Axel is caught off guard, shocked at seeing another version of himself.
Dr Dahm quickly crawls away before Break has the opportunity to run forward. The robot's upper cut rips into Axel's chest, causing him to fly backwards. His back ends up crashing into the glass monitor which ends up shattering behind him. As Axel wipes away the blood from the back of his head, Break wastes no time in dashing forward, grabbing him by the shirt to deliver further kicks and punches. Reading his body language, Axel uses his dragon wing defence to stop any further attacks, however, Break unexpectedly counterattacks using an identical dragon wing.
The two of them stumble backwards then they simultaneously ready their fighting stances once again opposite each other with their fists raised up in front of their chins. It is almost like looking in the mirror when they circle around one another. Break is the first to attack, scissor kicking forward leaving Axel to block his efforts using his elbows. Axel then counterattacks using a backward kick before executing his Tiger knee combination that aggressively catches Break in the chest.
"Bet they didn't upgrade that move on you…" Axel smirks, seeing the robot turn red.
Break's fists instantly light up on fire as he blitzes forward once again. This time, Axel manages to block his upper cut, now understanding how to win against this opponent. He recognises all of the combinations and preps that go into each of the moves, plus the robot is lacking in all of the new combinations that Axel has trained in over the past 10 years. Another jump kick flies into Break's face which reddens deeper.
The last straw is when Break dashes forward, attempting another powerful uppercut. Axel judges his timing well, extending his fist on fire forward then upwards in the air with his own dragon punch. It rips deep into Break's skeleton all the way to the core of his inbuilt computer. This causes the robot to collapse on the ground and to spark with electricity.
Axel moves fast, leaping out of the way behind any cover that he can find before the robot self-destructs.
He catches his breath on the ground, holding onto his chest whilst he finds any strength left in him to get up. By now, Dr Dahm is nowhere to be seen around the lab.
"Son of a bitch!" Axel complains, knowing that the scientist has once again made his escape.
He glances up at the broken monitor and keypad, shocked when he sees targets of various parts of Wood Oak City in the distance, but unsure of how to stop it.
"Shit…!" Axel presses cancel on the keypad but it makes no difference.
"Hey, we heard an explosion down here, are you ok?" To his relief, Estel and Floyd run into the lab.
"I don't know how to stop this!" Axel replies.
"It's ok, I do." Floyd nods.
"Where are the others?"
"They're headed for the roof to destroy any dishes, we suspect the twins are up there" Estel explains.
"Have either of you seen…"
"Look, we're gonna have to destroy this place if we're to stop those mind controlling signals reaching the city. Go and find Blaze and Leon, we'll handle this" she reassures him.
"Thanks for following me here!"
"Oh, and one more thing…" Estel throws over to Axel a knife.
"What's this for, I got one?"
"When you find Steffan, use it. He'l recognise this blade".
Axel gives her a determined nod back.
"Jesus, what the fuck is that thing on the ground?!" Floyd is surprised when he notices the dead cyborg.
"It's a robot that looked just like me…" Axel shrugs before exiting the lab.
Meanwhile on the level above, Cherry, Max, Shiva and Adam take on more remaining fighters.
"I got this! Get back!" Max orders as four large Bongos charge forward breathing fire. The wrestler violently spins with his fists out, hitting each fighter until they stumble backwards. Cherry dashes forward kicking, punching and hitting her guitar over their heads whilst Max attacks each fighter lower down the body by sliding on the ground.
"Look out!" Shiva pulls Adam to one side as a framed ninja star weapon narrowly misses the side of his head.
"Thanks man," Adam nods.
The two men then run forward, side by side to deal with several ninjas who have now appeared on the scene. More weapons are thrown their way, where one even slices Max's skin on the side of his shoulder. But does little to deter the fighter.
With pace, Adam jump kicks, delivering his signature Howl Fang move which coldly knocks out one of the ninjas. Shiva extends his arm as a second fighter rushes forward, catching him in the chest. "You forget that you used to work for me, Mirfune! I know all your moves!" Shiva snarls whilst executing a flaming circular kick around his face.
The bleeding ninja and last enemy stares up at him from the ground with disgust in his eyes. "Syndicate Traitor!" He spits. Shiva ends his life, slamming his foot down into the ninja's skull.
"Everybody ok?" Adam asks, holding onto his chest.
"I'm good!" Cherry replies whilst Max and Shiva nod.
"We have to find a way up onto that roof! We need the others once Estel and Floyd have finished in the control room."
"What about Steffan?" Max asks.
"Axel will deal with him. He and his pops have a lot of unfinished business. Before we detonate this place we need to make sure Blaze and Leon are out. They could be anywhere, the fortress is half a mile wide." Adam pauses, glancing around the room for a moment with his hands on his hips.
"Let's move!" He orders, taking the lead.
The upper levels and West Wing of the fortress are difficult to manoeuvre past after it took most of the heavy bombardments. Broken walls, fire and debris block many of the paths going up the spiralled stairways.
"Blaze?! Leon?!" Axel's voice echoes through the old walls.
On the next level he reaches a dark corridor obstructed in the middle by a collapsed ceiling. He does everything he can to remove debris after debris until Axel is able to cautiously pass onto the other side of it. He carefully steps, knowing that any minute now the floor underneath his feet could cave in. After a tense couple of moments, he finally makes it past the area and onto the West Wing of the fortress. There, he finds another dark spiral stairway leading to the top of the tower. Axel then uses the key that Dr Dahm passed him to unlock the last remaining door.
"Blaze?"
"Stay away from me!"
As soon as he opens the iron gate, he is shocked to see her backed up into the corner holding out her palms, ready to attack.
"I said stay back!" She shouts, full alert in her fighting stance.
"It's ok, it's me…" Axel places his hands in the air, slowly walking towards her. "Look.." he loosens the bandage around his arm to show her the blood stains whilst noticing several purple bruises and cuts around her neck.
Blaze then slowly drops her guard, trembling as they put their arms around each other. "I thought you were dead!"
"Everything is gonna be ok…" He gently holds her with one hand at the back of her neck.
"They had a robot that looked like you in a casket and he…." she starts to cry, tightly hugging him back.
"It's ok, Break is dead now. Are you and the baby….?" He worriedly asks.
"I think we're ok. But Steffan, he's got Leon! He's trying to turn him against you, we have to find them!" Blaze anxiously explains. The air from their breathing clouds up due to the freezing temperature of the room.
"How long have you been in here?"
"I don't know…"
He then glances up at the ceiling.
"What are you doing?" Blaze looks on, puzzled whilst Axel kicks and dismantles the wooden bed. He then reaches up and uses one of the frames to break a bigger gap in the already leaking roof.
"The others are headed towards the roof, you'll see them coming. Go with them! In the meantime I can set fire to these planks of wood up there so that you can stay warm". He throws several broken blocks from the bedframe up onto the roof.
"Wait, I'm coming with you!"
"You've been through enough. Besides, there's several fires contained below blocking the stairways. I can't get you past them and I'm not risking you or the baby getting hurt. I promise Leon will come back alive, I won't let anything happen to him, I swear…"
"What about you?" Blaze worriedly asks.
"Just wait up there for the others, please" he leans forward to kiss her.
He then holds out his hand for Blaze to step on so that she can climb onto the roof.
"I'll set those frames alight then I'll find Leon, ok?" Axel then jumps up to climb onto the roof.
"Wait,... look!" Blaze whispers as she forces him to duck down next to her behind one of the ledges.
In the distance at the centre of the fortress they spot a large mechanical device extending from the side of the castle all the way up onto the roof. It is shaped with several mechanical tentacles at least 15 feet in height.
"One of us has to warn the others!" Blaze says.
"Hunter? Adam, can you hear me?" Axel radios through a small device, but there is no response.
"Here, keep trying and wait for me here" he hands over to her the device.
"Be careful," Blaze replies, gently kissing him on the lips one last time.