Chapter 4

Gutsman sat aboard his ship, The Accolade was pitch black save for the glowing holodisplay of Quickman. "How far out are you, General?" The image questioned.

Guts rolled his eyes at the question. The audacity of an inferior officer giving him orders, it was sickening. "I'm twenty minutes from arrival, Quick. Five minutes closer than when you asked five minutes ago." He replied.

"Dust has confronted Bonne, Sir. He's giving a monologue at the moment, but I'm beginning to fear your window may be closing." Quickman responded.

"Dust is more than competent to defend himself. Calm down, I'll bring you the Bonnes." Guts replied, staring into the open sky.

Union County Courthouse

The fast right hook came through the dark, blinding cloud like a swinging hammer. Protoman put his shield up only deflecting the blow slightly. When his foe's feet hit the ground, he made a low sweep with his staff, knocking Dustman to his back. Before the other end could jam through the eye socket of the androids mask, he was gone. Dust had rolled himself back into the storm, like a snake in the grass. Only being able to see inches in front of his visor, Protoman pulled cones of magnetic waves toward himself randomly, assaulting only scrap.

Dustman stalked his opponent, savoring every moment. He looked at the mystery android through his electronic pulse goggles, watching him fight blindly in the dust. The order to his core chip came through instantly:

Issuer: .XRX701

Do not destroy target.

Keep alive until my arrival.

"Alive" meant a lot of things to Dust: Alive with no leg feeling, alive with no arm movement, alive with no eyes. Alive was no issue to the android. He whisked through the air, his cape-like cloak flapping sharply, as he wrapped his opponent's neck from behind and flinging him into the gathering of wooden benches. Something wasn't right, Dust was fully positive he had let go of the android, yet his feet failed to plant firmly on the floor. He felt himself pulling faster along with the mystery attacker, until they both crashed hard into the furniture.

Protoman gave his foe no chance to slip away once he showed himself. In the black cloud of dust, he reached out, extending his baton in his right hand, while keeping a tight magnetic hold on his slippery friend with the other. All he could make out were the glowing orange eyes, making the perfect target for his swings. He landed three stiff blows against what felt like forearms before the feet caught his knees, sweeping him onto his back. Out of pure instinct, Scott ejected his shield, covering himself.

The loud clangs were deafening, as Dustman pounded away with two thick chair legs against the androids "shell" as he crawled back like a wounded turtle. The shell moved suddenly and Dust's arms froze in place, held by an invisible force. Through his orange-colored vision he saw the pulsing waves emitting from the android's left hand, polarity. His eyes grew wide with rage, putting two and two together. "You!" He screamed through his mask as he began to power through the magnetic hold.

"Oh shit." Scott managed to mutter before his grip gave way, and the officer was planting his knees into his chest. Proto managed to bring his shield around after the first three blows from the chair legs cracked his visor. He knocked the enraged android off and quickly rolled to a safe distance. But no matter where he went, his foe was like a poltergeist, always there to attack viciously. He understood his disadvantage, this wasn't a fight in the dark, not for the enemy at least. If there were one thing Scott would not allow to happen, it was being beaten at his own game by way of cheating.

The orange eyes emerged from the dust as Protoman felt his scarf being wrapped around his neck followed by the sudden sensation of weightlessness. As he was flipped to the floor, he looked up at his assailant, placing a finger to the polarity node installed in his helmet and let out a full strength EMP burst. The orange eyes went away, and Scott went on the offensive.

Dustman, now as blinded as all of his foes had once been, turned to retreat. But much like he had just done, Proto had grabbed his cloak, wrapping it around his neck and snatching him to the ground. The impact knocked his bearings loose, not that he could really gather them anyhow, he had never felt so helpless. Dust tried to fend the android off, blindly trying to predict where the next hit would come from. He rose to his knees looking around, seeing nothing, then feeling the steel staff hammer at his midsection doubling him over. He violently swung into the blackness, but connected with nothing before clumsily pulling himself to his feet.

After a second of standing still, listening for any movement, the goggles flickered, returning his vision as the EMP waves wore off. His relief was cut short when the first sight to illuminate was his aggressor, left arm in the form of a high powered rotating fusion rifle from the forearm down. "Boo." Protoman said subtly from under if full-faced visor, before the barrels spun with a whirring sound, projecting dozens upon dozens of fusion bolts through the android's body, perforating the wall behind him.

Dust lay in a heap on the marble floor, barely able to control basic functions. Puncture wounds of this severity would be enough to shut down any given android, but the addition of highly compressed dust in the atmosphere degenerated him at an unprecedented rate. By the time Scott had walked upon him, he was already gone from the world. No final curses, no act of defiance, just empty, dead eyes staring through orange goggles. "You didn't damage the core chip, did you?" Tracy said over comms, interrupting his moment of skulking.

"No, Tron. There is still a skull for you to dig through." He replied, shaking his head.

"I don't think so, dick. I got the tools out for you already." She informed.

Scott deployed his shield, driving it down on Dustman's neck, severing his head. "Hey hold on! We agreed to take turns! I did Shroud..."

"Right." She interrupted, "Then we agreed to take turns. You go first."

Proto made his way in the general direction of the exit, "This is total bulls..." He began, but was stopped short, exiting into the night air.

The sight before him sent a shock through his system. General Gutsman stood in front of his aircraft clad in a long, brown dress coat with his hands in his pockets. "Mr. Bonne," He said in his low, subtle, menacing voice, "I see you've been busy." Guts nodded to the lifeless, masked head of Dustman.

Eying the General, Protoman slowly circled to his left, making sure to not let his guard down. "Where's your army of machines? I wonder." Scott said, sarcastically.

Guts said nothing, only following Scott with his hateful stare. "Eternal entombment." He repeated in his head. "As much as it would please me to crush your fucking skull right now," The android said through clenched teeth, "we are unfortunately stuck with each other until a mutual issue is dealt with."

Protoman stopped, cocking his head as if to mimic Rush. "Wow. Just like that, huh?" He asked. "Sure, let me just grab my good pair of jeans and we can get going."

The General took his bare hands from his pockets, showing he was unarmed, "I don't have time for your goddamn jokes." He said, "Right now the only other being that knows you two are alive is waiting for me report back with news of your capture."

Scott smiled slyly, "You're being blackmailed." He said, "And whoever this android is wants us alive."

Gutsman raised his chin in disgust, "He won't." He said cryptically.

Protoman activated his comms, "Tron, bring The Phantom down." He smiled like a jester, "And prepare the guest room."