Dante had made his way to a safe spot where he could use his Viacom communicator without being seen. That fight really took the wind out of him. Where did that dog come from? He had a hunch though. By the dog's looks and the black shirt he was wearing, it was Dudley Puppy. And he figured it was Donnagon who was behind this new look of his. Being familiar with Donnagon and as an ex-villain, Dante knew how the criminal mind operated. He'll get to details shortly. For now, he made a transmission. It took a couple rings, but he got someone on the line.
"This is Team Alpha leader to Dark Wolf. Come in Dark Wolf, over?"
"This is Dark Wolf, reading you. Status report."
"I just ran into a very familiar enemy of ours."
"Do they know our whereabouts?"
"Not that I know of, but TUFF agent Dudley Puppy has been ensnared by them. I should know, we just had a tussle."
"Disappointing, I hoped he would be able to resist. No matter, gather your team and report to safety extraction point. Keep a low profile, understood?"
"Perfectly. The enemy won't be ahead for long."
"Other than this piece of news, you've done well, our required materials are being assembled into the equipment we need to reinforce our...project. Keep up the good work, Dark Wolf out."
Dark Wolf hung up, and Dante reassembled his motorcycle and was speeding down the street. He also made a phone call to his fellow agents.
"I'll be right there", Alicia answered.
"Ditto", Otto's reply rang.
The news of the enemy taking root was disturbing to Dante. He was sure this was not the last time he and Dudley would tussle like this. He saw it. Behind that blood lust and anger, Dudley was a captive. A victim of Donnagon's temptation. And he needed help. Dante didn't know how, but he was determined to do just that.
At TUFF HQ, Kitty was more than brought low. Not only did her search parties find Dudley and his minions, Dudley almost desecrated the entire area. Most agents got out okay, the rest were severely injured and were recovering in the hospital ward. While most of the doctors were good, the ward was getting pretty crowded. This was really starting to stretch her day. First Dudley goes rouge by allying with super villains, then he causes major disruptions and now more property damage than he normally would. Just then, as it looked as though things couldn't get any worse, the mayor called TUFF.
"This is Mayor Teddy, I just got a visitor who looks pretty messed up. I'm sending him to TUFF for evaluation."
The screen went blank, and Kitty saw an armored car pull into the driveway. The doors opened to reveal two guard dogs carrying in a pedestrian( a beagle) who was looking pretty scared. Once inside, the guard dogs got their transported pedestrian into the medical ward( and believe me it was not easy), they left and Kitty examined the new edition to the ward. Keswick came to help out. This beagle looked as though he had just seen death itself. It's face was pale, his hair white, shivering, barely breathing and jumping at every small sound.
"What happened?", Kitty asked.
The pedestrian didn't answer.
"Where did you come from?"
Still no answer.
"What's your name?"
And still no answer. Just as Kitty was about to give up, Keswick remembered something. He reached into his lab coat and pulled a lighter out which he then handed to Kitty.
"What's this for?", she asked him.
"Kitty, the light will help calm him. Maybe he could relive the experience."
Now Kitty understood what he ment. Facing her suspect, she sparked the lighter and fanned the flame in front of the beagle's face. After confirming that she had the dog's attention( due to his eyes following the flame), she started to question again.
"Who are you?"
"David. David Grapple."
"Well David, where did you come from?"
"Petsburg."
"What happened?"
"They came."
"Who came?"
David sunk deep into his bed.
"Monsters. It was a massacre. There was death everywhere, and we were all screaming. This army came out of the earth destroying everything. I barely escaped with my life and then came to warn you."
"Of what?", Kitty asked( she was now getting scared herself).
"They're coming. They're coming here."
Kitty knew now that this had to be told. She ran to the TUFF phone station and phoned the mayor.
Now things were really getting bad. Since the news of Petsburg getting destroyed reached civilian ears, everyone was in a panic. Mayor Teddy even had a perimeter set up at every entry into and out of Petropolis so nobody ever got in or out without being noticed. The city was now under lockdown so that whatever destroyed Petsburg would not be taking Petropolis without a fight. Back at TUFF, Kitty was getting the entire arsenal prepared. She had no idea what was going to assault, but she wasn't about to find out without a way to fight back. She then saw she had a call coming thru, so she headed to her office and picked up.
"Hello?"
"Kitty? It's Jack."
Upon hearing this, Kitty pulled the blinds of her office window down, shut the door, and brought her voice down to a whisper.
"What's up?"
"I've been investigating this matter and found out that a massive army's heading your way."
"I know. A pedestrian from Petsburg informed us. The city's going to soon be on lockdown to prevent the threat from getting in.
"Kitty, I'm not sure that we can hold out, but we'll give our all."
"Always Jack. Always."
"I've gathered all the information that I could from these past few days. I'll stop by TUFF to drop it off later."
"Be careful Jack."
"Will do."
And Jack hung up. Kitty looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping. Nobody was. Kitty then decided to help out with the wall that Mayor Teddy was having established and constructing. Keswick even decided to put a force field generator into the design( hey, you never know when something like that might come in handy). And after what her search parties have informed her about, she wanted to be prepared.
Down in Hades, 00 was having a meeting with his fellow criminals. The room they were occupying was too dark to make out any specific descriptions, but 00 knew he had their attention. They were part of an elite team of villains( forged by 00 himself) known as the Overlords Managing Evil Genetic Armies also known as OMEGA. From the round table, from his left, 00 had MONSTER 05 thru 09.
"I must say that simulation was a success."
"Sir", 05 informed sounding like a real tough guy, "enough of this interrogation already. When do we get real fighting in?"
"I'm with 05 on thissss one", 08 hissed(obviously reptilian).
"In due time my friends", 00 informed, "What's say we take Petropolis next?"
The members of OMEGA nodded.
"00, I applaud your deception", 06 purred( as in cat-like), "but my children will not wait for long until they turn on each other."
"You're soon going to be feeding to your content 06", 05 growled, "as soon as I turn every infernal city into rubble."
"At least I have my own army in case the one we're now using goes down", 06 countered.
"Is that a challenge I hear coming from you?", 05 asked.
"SILENCE!",00 roared and 05 and 06 settled down fast, "Each of you will have your fair way of play."
"According to my calculations master", 07 beeped, "Our forces will be at the city of Petropolis in only a couple of days. Of course, we do need to consider the times they must rest. We can't fight well with weary men."
"Indeed.", 06 put in, "We each can be effective in our own unique way."
"I prefer to just head in there and beat the weak into submission", 05 grumbled.
"Always the violent one", 07 countered, "when careful calculations can be effective to the cause also."
05 wanted to start another argument, but remembering his last one, settled quietly. Finally, 09( who had been quiet most of this time) spoke up.
"We are in a very dire position", he said ominously, "If we do not consider the issue of other matters, I predict a dreadful vision."
"Our time for predicting is CLOSED 09!", 00 barked, "It was my genius alone which got us where we are today. With the special deliveries I've planted in all the major cities of the world, every TUFF agent in the world will be dead or enslaved."
OMEGA stood straight in their chairs as 00 continued his speech.
"To ensure that our victory is at hand, I will dispatch each of you to a designated city. Once there, wait for my signal."
"And when your signal goes off, then what?", 05 asked.
"Then..you terrorize anyone you can."
00 pulled several files from behind his chair and slid each one to each member. After OMEGA read their file's contents, they each lifted themselves from the table and started to head towards the door.
"Remember, Earth's new age is soon upon us. Don't disappoint me. You all know the penalty should you fail."
OMEGA turned after stopping, then bowed nobly.
"By your command master.", they answered in unification.
With that, one by one, they left the room. 00 knew all to well how to handle teammates who did not get along. Then again, there was one issue he didn't bring up. Ever since he found out that his little renegade( MONSTER 02) was in his midst, he had kept 03 and 04 on lookout round the clock. He didn't show up, but 00 knew that if OMEGA knew 02 was around, they would focus on him rather than the real mission he had for them. He'd leave 02 to 01. It was only fair considering that 01 was so effective and able to hold his own like that.
Jack had never been so stressed out. By the time he was done persuading the perimeter that he was a friend of TUFF, as well as keeping the information he gathered secret, he just wanted to get it to Kitty so that he could just go back to his work and be done with it. Judging by the way the mayor had the defenses lined up, it was gonna be one heck of a fight. Unfortunately, when he got a little ways past the perimeter, who should intercept his route? 03 and 04 of course. Jack had worked with them before, even though he was undercover, he put his game face on.
"Well, well look who's here."
"03, 04",Jack said trying to gain early acceptance, "What brings you two here?"
"00's getting pretty upset.", 03 informed, "He thinks-"
"You're not as loyal as you say you are.", 04 finished.
"I'm as loyal as you two are. I was gonna deliver this false evidence to Kitty and lead TUFF into your hands."
03 and 04 simply stood there with their arms crossed. Obviously Jack needed a better story to convince these two.
"Kitty believes I work for her like she did those other times."
"Which you failed.", 03 and 04 put in.
"Not failed, just manipulated. As long as they don't consider me a threat, you have full leverage."
03 and 04 didn't trust him as much as they could take him, but they had other things to do.
"Fortunately for you we're busy.", 04 informed, "But know that-"
"Our boss is not as easily convinced", 03 finished.
03 and 04 then got on their motorcycles and were out of sight. Jack sighed heavily. If they were off duty, the would have brought him straight to 00 and that would most certainly be bad. He just started on his way to TUFF again, hopefully 03 and 04 won't intercept him again when he left.