THE REDEMPTION SQUAD
Snodin
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Level 1.5:
GAME CHANGER (Part 2)
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ONE YEAR AND FIVE MONTHS LATER
The setting: a distant planet in a far off solar system. It was habitable, and yet very alien; the evening sky was orange with a tint of purple on the horizon. There was oxygen here, sentient life, even plants and drinking water; yet the inhabitants came in all shapes and sizes. They had humanoid faces and bodies, and all seemed to speak the same universal language. But their skin colors varied between tans, blues, yellows and greens. Their body structures were much more geometric than say, the people of Earth; some had more squared faces, others were circular with hardly any sharp edges. And most of them were peaceful.
But for those who were not so friendly, an inescapable prison was waiting. They called it Casa Triste, the Dire House. In the middle of a barren desert, surrounded by a lush green oasis, the forbidding prison fortress stood. The ten-story high and heavily barbed front gates were locked, and from every spire was an armed guard mounted on a rotating laser cannon as big as a tank- perhaps it was a bit much, but one could never be too careful here. This was no ordinary prison; it housed some of the most powerful and dangerous minds in the galaxy.
It was nightfall; one large blue moon crept over the starry sky while a small yellow one followed from a distance. This was the hour in which three cloaked misfits dared to do the impossible: break in, and escape, Casa Triste.
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While the night watch was making its rounds, one thin and brilliantly timed beam of blue light flashed, cutting through the atmosphere. From the flash came three figures, two tall and one very short, each dressed in long, hooded black robes.
They landed just behind the main gate, and now had to use the cover of darkness to their advantage. Swiftly they moved like shadows past apish armed guards; only once did they make a noise, the littlest of the three making a "woop" sound as he jumped into a ball to evade one guard's suspicion. The guard would shrug it off, thinking it was just the wind blowing.
They hugged a wall of the building where they found a window; unfortunately it was just beyond their reach at nearly thirteen feet. But the tallest of the bunch had a secret weapon: his own body. He grabbed his neck and pulled out his wormy form, then whipped it at the window's bars as though it were a grappling hook.
The smallest of the trio climbed up the "rope," and with god-like strength he pulled the window's bars from their hinges with little to no effort.
Once he went through, the tallest one pulled himself through the opening, leaving behind his snake-like body for the middle-sized intruder to climb upward. The tall one's headless body pulled her in. All of this was done within mere seconds without one armed guard seeing them; it was as if they had planned it for some time.
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The interior of the facility was your typical prison setting; barred doorways, guards in every hall, pitfall traps full of spiky floors in case any inmates escaped… okay, so it wasn't your typical prison setting. Then again, the inmates weren't your typical criminals; some of them were supernatural with telekinetic abilities. Extra precautions were a must, so adding to the pitfalls and sliding trap doors were halls of red lasers, staircases that went in circles, and even chained monsters ready to tackle and devour anyone that dared crossed their paths.
Fortunately for the intruders on this night, they had a map of the building in their main computer, which their Commander was using to guide the team around the traps.
Halfway through the first hall, the trio of robed intruders ducked down and slinked across the halls until they found a safe little corner to relax in.
The middle-sized one pulled back her black hood, revealing a youthful Asian woman with bright green eyes and matching lipstick. Across her forehead, a bright green bandana, and her hair was cut so short that one could confuse her for a boy. But she was clearly human in an alien world; her soft pale skin made her stick out like a sore thumb, nevermind her green lips. She raised her wristband to her face and spoke into it. "Commander? Do you read me?" she whispered. "We're in."
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Hiding inside a white-bird-shaped vessel hovering just above the stratosphere, surrounded by computer monitors and keyboards that were "borrowed" from various sources, a small male voice spoke back to her: "I read you loud and clear, Jade. I take it everybody made it there okay?"
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"Well," sighed the woman from her corner in the building, "Jim looks a bit sickly. But then again, he is a worm."
She motioned over to the tallest party member, who unveiled his own face from his black cloak. Indeed, he was a worm- a large, anthromorphic earthworm with a wiry mouth and one eye bigger than the other. What made his body seem humanlike was the fact that he was mentally piloting a robotic suit far more fit for a bodybuilder than an invertebrate.
"Hey," Jim snapped at her while keeping his voice low. "Why are you always poking fun at me? Do I ever make fun of you for being human?"
"Because you're too easy," smirked the green-eyed lady.
"Guys," replied the boyish voice from the girl's communicator wristband, "focus! Is Mighty there?"
The smallest party member, a three-foot tall big-eyed and red-shelled armadillo, un-hooded himself. "I'm here, Commander."
"Good," said the mysterious Commander's voice. "I'm hacking into the prison's security system as we speak. It may take a while; in the meantime, start looking for the target. He should be on the top floor in Sector G."
"Which sector are we at?" wondered Earthworm Jim.
Jade glanced left and right at the walls until a letter stood out. "We're on C. First floor."
"Great," moaned Mighty Armadillo grimly. "How long before someone notices we're here?"
"Relax Mighty," whispered the human girl. Taking charge, she pointed down the leftward hallway. "Jim, you take out the guards down there, I'll take the right ones. Mighty, you're small enough to move through the vents. Use them to find the target and take out whoever's guarding him. We'll meet you there."
"You sure this is safe?" asked the armadillo worriedly. "We work better when we're all together."
"And," she informed him, "we'll cover more ground and silence more guards when we're apart."
"Ah, good point."
"I'm with you guys, let's do this." Jim pulled out a small white gun with blue lining.
Jade was quick to palm his gun. "No, Jim. No guns; just use stealth and subdue them."
"But guns are my specialty," he argued. "I'm not used to all this stealthy stuff. How'm I supposed to knock them out exactly?"
"You can just walk up to them; your smell alone is noxious."
"Stop with the insults."
"Stop eating dirt."
"Guys?"
"Sorry, Commander. We're on the move." Jade turned off her communicator and extended her right hand to signal the team. They went their separate ways as planned.
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Jade was an expert in stealth; she hugged the wall as she slinked across the hall while hardly making a sound. With cat-like agility, she leaped over the head of a guard while his back was turned. As he whipped himself around, she had already moved on like a ghost. She would do this again a few more times before running into a guard that was facing her way. Quickly her boot met his face and knocked him out cold.
As she advanced through the hall and toward a staircase leading to the second floor, she picked up the pace. More guards were filling the halls and it was becoming more and more difficult for her to hide in the shadows. So she went into combat mode, using her hands and feet as her weapons as she flung herself at her enemies with mixed martial arts.
At one point, she even jumped onto a guard's shoulders, while two more were charging her. This caused them to hesitate before shooting at her, giving her time to make another jump with her legs kicking out. Each boot slammed into a guard's face, and just as they hit the floor, she turned to face the one she boosted herself on, grabbed his blaster, and punched his lights pout with its handle. It was becoming clear now that she was moving much too fast for your average human.
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Jim wasn't kidding when he said that stealth wasn't his style. He was literally tip-toeing around the hall like an overly muscular ballerina. He only stopped at a corner where a military dressed guard was standing like a statue.
Unsure of what to do without a weapon, the worm slid behind the guard, hoping his presence would go un-noticed. This seemed to work, as the guard remained still. With newfound confidence, Jim slinked with the agility of a cat to the next guard and hid behind that one as well. But when he tried the same trick on a third guard, he failed to notice that this one was much shorter than his battle suit, and the top of his head stuck out like a sore thumb.
With Jim's head top looking like a quaff, the small guard's new 'do caught the attention of an armed guard walking by. "Fix your hair," he told the small guard.
Curiously, the small guard brushed back his head with his glove, only then realizing that he had a helmet on so there was no way that his hair could be sticking out. He turned around and was met with a peach-colored creature with bulging eyeballs.
"AAAAHHHH!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
POW! The guard tried to turn and flee, running face first into a stone wall. The impact gave him such a concussion that he fell to the floor instantly.
Jim blinked twice in stunned silence. Was he really that ugly? …Oh well, one less grunt to worry about.
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Just as he was told to, Mighty the Armadillo used the ventilation system within the prison walls to snake his way upward to the third floor, and didn't stop until he had reached Sector G. He found the one vent box connected to the room of his target and waited until he was sure that the coast was clear. He then pushed the vent wide open as though it had no hinges.
He dropped down to the floor, as his doorway was near the ceiling. Landing gracefully on his feet, he looked around and saw that the room was empty, except for the one giant orb full of light green liquid. As the red-shelled armadillo approached the orb, he realized that this was the holding cell of his target.
Floating in a state of suspended animation, one not certain if he were sleeping or dead, was a very small child with tan skin, whose figure seemed to be made out of smooth squares, from his head to his torso to his limbs. The only things on his body that wasn't so cubed were his small perfectly circular eyes, closed tightly. Most of his clothing was dark and leathery, from the pilot helmet to the jacket to his pants and gloves. Underneath the jacket, however, was a soft green one-piece suit complete with a turtleneck. On his head, a set of purplish hair bangs were protruding from his helmet, and layered just over the helmet were a pair of red visor goggles.
Mighty was awed by the sight of this prisoner. "Jade, come in. Do you read me?" he whispered into the communicator on his blue wristwatch.
"I'm here Mighty, I'm just below your floor."
"I think I found the kid… He's so small, smaller than me even."
"He's tougher than he looks- at least that's what I've heard. Stay there, I'm coming right up."
And she wasn't kidding; right after she said this, the floor erupted with a small blast of green energy. It came from a small prison guard gun, which Jade had just stolen and used to break through the ceiling/floor. She climbed up from the crater to meet with Mighty.
"What're you doing?" gasped the fearful armadillo. "I thought this was a covert mission."
"It was," replied the young woman. "Plans change." Without giving her friend a chance to retort, Jade approached the glass orb that encased the small child. With her new weapon, she fired at the glass and broke it, sending the green ooze pouring out onto the floor.
Exiting the orb with the coma-inducing liquid caked all over him was the boy, landing softly on his back. Almost instantly, his eyes fluttered open as though all it took was a breath of fresh air to wake him from his deep sleep. He coughed and shuddered before sitting up and rubbing his head in a daze.
Jade stood over him with a warm smile. "Razputin Aquato?" she asked.
The tan-skinned boy rubbed his eyes as he looked up at her in awe. "Y-yes?" his voice peeped weakly.
Her jade-green lips curled into a sly smile. "Congratulations, you've just been granted an early parole."
Hearing the thunderous sound of oncoming footsteps, Mighty gasped, "Jade? We've got company!"
"Already on it," she replied confidently. She then picked up the boy and carried him over her left shoulder. "Get the door, would you Mighty?"
Not one to argue, the armadillo ran to the bolted tight door and clawed into its hinges, ripping it from the wall in one piece. Seeing that the guards were just on the other side, he flung the door at them, knocking them back and giving the team a space to run.
As they fled down the hallway, Jade could see that they were about to run straight into a set of bar doors. "Commander?" she called her wristwatch. "How's that hacking system coming along?"
"Got it," replied her commander's voice, as the bar doors almost magically flew open, allowing the intruders to continue their escape.
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Meanwhile, in the spaceship hiding in plain sight well in the stratosphere, the team's Commander was still uploading some kind of virus into the prison's security system. The process was slow, despite him having the absolute best technology in the universe at his disposal.
But while his focus was on the upload screen, a booming alert noise shattered his concentration. Lights began to flash red all around him, as all his computer monitors switched to one image: a sonar screen picking up red dots approaching the image of Casa Triste.
Knowing what this image meant, his crystal blue eyes lit up in horror. "No… Not here… Not now!"
Frantically, he pressed a button on his wristwatch. "Jade! Jade, come in! Do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Commander. Something wrong?"
"It's The Erasers! Somehow they knew we were going to be here. They're swarming all over the perimeter of the building! Get out of there!"
"Copy that!"
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"Let's double-time it, team!" shouted Jade as she picked up the pace.
With her inhuman agility, Jade took a flying leap from the top of a staircase, drop-kicking into the first of four guards that were heading up the stairs and caused them to fall like dominoes.
Mighty, meanwhile, showed his own set of acrobats by using the staircase's rail as a grind rail, sliding downwards with Raz in tow.
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Still trying not to reply on his firepower, Jim tried to pry a locked door open from its hatch by blunting it with the gun's handle. "WHY. WON'T. THIS. DARN. THING. OP-EN?" he screamed to the beat of his hapless blows.
Passing him by was Jade and company. "Jim?" she called out while running in the other direction.
"Oh!" he blinked, realizing that he was about to go the wrong way anyway. He then sealed his gun back in its holster, then glared back at the sealed door with contempt. "We'll meet again." Then he took off after his team.
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The team made their way to the stairs leading to the ground floor, when suddenly they came to a new kind of road block: a trio of tall figures, each completely covered in red cloaks and hoods. From inside their hoods, their faces remained shadowed; only bright blue lights for eyes shown through.
Raz gulped, "I don't remember these guards before."
Jade replied darkly, "They're not guards. They're called The Erasers. They mean to delete us."
"…Delete?" blinked the small boy.
The red cloaked ones pulled laser guns from their concealed arms and opened fire, causing the team to retreat into the opposite direction.
"J-de, I'm l-sing your -gnal- D- y- -ead me?"
"Commander?" she replied. The rest of his message was blurred. "…Crap, they must be jamming our signal."
"Now?" begged Jim as he caught up with Jade in haste. "Can I use my gun now?"
"Yes! Yes! You may fire at will!"
"Finally," smiled the wild-eyed worm. He turned backward in his suit and pulled out his own laser gun. "Eat DIRT!" he cheered as he countered the Erasers' firepower with his own.
It wasn't long before the team ran into more Erasers, each looking like an exact clone of the next and brandishing laser rifles. With nothing more than Jim's gun to back them up, the team was running out of room for escape.
But then, coming toward a dead-end, Jade looked upward and said, "Jim! Hit the ceiling!" Obeying his orders, Jim blasted a rather large hole in the ceiling, allowing Jade to grab Mighty (who was holding Raz) and fling them upward. Jim then gave her a quick boost before launching himself into the third floor.
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With the Erasers now one floor away, the team paused to catch their breath.
"Is this…. How it is… with you guys?" panted Raz as he clutched onto his right arm.
"Only on our worst days," replied a winded Jade before she noticed his pained stance. "…You're hurt."
"It's just a scratch," said the boy; as the woman touched his arm, he winced. "D-don't touch it."
"It's okay," she assured him gently. "I'm a healer."
As he watched in awe, the woman laid out her right hand to his wound. A warm blue-green light began to glow from her palm as she softly chanted something in another tongue. In seconds, the wound sealed up and was replaced with a new layer of flesh. "There," she said. "Feel better?"
"Yeah… That was amazing," he said gratefully. "How did you…?"
"No time to explain, we've gotta move."
No sooner than she said this, more Erasers mysteriously faded into the scene. The team barreled through them before they could raise their guns, and the chase resumed.
As Jade and company dashed down the halls, armed guards tried to block their path. Unfortunately for them, they were also in the path of the red robed Erasers, who weren't above firing their guns at them. So powerful were their shots that the blue lasers seemed to go right through their thick armor. And instead of falling to their deaths, the armed guards disappeared into thin air.
While the team was once again running out of room to run, one laser blast went through her walkie-talkie strapped on her belt.
The last message from her mysterious Commander was, "J-come i- -de…" Static took over the intercom after that.
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"Jade? …Jim! Anyone? Come in…!"
No response, except for loud static. The youthful looking Commander gritted his teeth in worry. This was the last thing he and his team needed: their worst enemies bearing down on them in an already dangerous mission. He could no longer hide in the shadows, or the ship for that matter.
"No you don't. You're not taking my crew," he said darkly to the bleeping red dots on his computer screen. "Time to suit up!"
With that, he pulled at his suit tie to loosen it, so that he could gain access to the buttons hidden underneath the flesh of his collarbone. The four-button sequence activated a beam of blue light from the main core hidden deep within his chest. The transformation had begun.
It wasn't just any old kind of transformation, however; no physical change to his body, but just his attire. As a warm blue aura surrounded him, a pattern of glowing blue digits beamed through him, starting from his feet and rising to his neck. As the digits ran their course, his blue suit was replaced by solid cyan armor that looked skin tight, while his waist, lower arm and leg appendages were covered in a darker blue.
Digitizing over top of the dark blue spots were thicker layers of armor, especially on his legs and wrists. They were much bulkier; it looked like they could house twice the amount of muscle. His gloves and boots were also bulky; the boots in particular had an added feature of red circles on their soles, as if hiding a secret power source.
When the digital aura reached his head, his hair began to whip around in the wind before being completely covered in dark blue. This was his helmet, a perfectly round dome with cyan blocks lining the top of his brow to the back. Sticking out like headphones were circular ear coverings with red interiors. Oddly enough, this helmet didn't cover his face; one would think that after giving himself extra padding on his extremities that his face would be the next most important thing to protect. But then, he really didn't need that much armory… He was a robot, after all.
When the sequence was complete, the Blue Bomber activated another digitization sequence- this one on his left arm, changing it from a glove to his most prized weapon: the Mega Buster.
The Commander looked at the map onscreen and decided on a landing spot before teleporting himself out of hiding.
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His timing couldn't be better, really; somewhere in the center of the third floor of the dungeon-like citadel, Jade and her team found themselves surrounded by red cloaks armed with long silver laser guns. While Jim and Jade were ready for battle, Mighty shielded Raz with his armored body. Though really, they knew there was no chance against these enemies; one good shot from their guns, and their lives were erased from existence.
One of the red cloaked figures spoke in a deep robotic voice: "You are in violation of the laws of physics; none of you belong in this dimension. Prepare for deletion."
"Uh," gulped Raz as he ducked for cover. "Did you guys come up with a backup plan for this?"
"Honestly?" replied Mighty with a frown. "I thought this place was way off their grid."
"Relax, you guys," said a steady Jade. "Backup should be here any minute now."
"It's already here," came a young boy's voice from behind a wall of Erasers.
The red figures turned to face this new presence: a small blue robot clothed from head to toe in thick blue armor. "You are in violation of the first law of physics," repeated the robotic voice. "You must be deleted."
"I don't want to fight you," said the small robot as he raised his hands in surrender while at the same time his eyes narrowed coldly. "But if you don't let me and my friends go, you'll leave me no choice." Despite the youthful innocence in his voice, it was clear that this was a warning.
"We are here to preserve the sanctity of this dimension," said the monotonous Eraser. "Your presence here is unacceptable." With that, it raised its gun at the blue robot.
"…I guess that's a no then? …Fine. Have it your way." Then, in a flash, he teleported out of sight, using the same digitizing element he used on himself to get inside the building.
He reappeared right behind the lead Eraser, landing a swift kick in its back with his steel blue foot. He then disappeared and reappeared again and again, each time catching his enemies off guard and welcoming them with blows to the head or back with his heavily covered limbs. Shots were fired, but each missed as the Blue Bomber teleported himself out of the line of fire. Some shots even hit fellow Erasers, causing their own deletion in the process.
Raz was beside himself with shock. "Who's this guy?" he muttered.
Jade glanced at him with a smile. "He's our boss."
With the last Eraser knocked to the ground, Mega Man landed beside his friends and pointed the way out. "This way, follow me!" he commanded, and off they fled.
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Having downloaded data of the fortress' interiors into his mainframe, Mega Man led the group in a mad dash down the hallways that didn't lead into dead-ends. But now that he was no longer in control of the security system, it was only a matter of time before doors would slam shut before he and his team would have a chance to run through them. It was time to bring out the big guns.
"Deploy: Metal Blades!" shouted the robot to his arm. On activation, his armor's color scheme switched from blues to moss greens. Then suddenly, the pellets spouting from his arm cannon were replaced by large saw blades, which only managed to sink themselves halfway into the steely walls. It wasn't enough.
"Deploy: Hard Knuckle!" His armor once again shifted colors, this time to an even deeper shade of blue on his extra casings while his skin armor turned white. His arm cannon shifted into a fist nearly three times its normal size, which he launched like a missile at the sealed door that was up until now merely dented by his saw blades.
POW! With one mighty blow, the Hard Knuckle missile did its job and crumbled the door to pieces. He and his team continued their escape without hesitation.
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As they approached a staircase, they could see a rush of red cloaks scaling up the stairs. Mega Man skid to a halt and threw back his arms to stop his team in mid-run, then quickly decided to turn a sharp left as the Erasers came closer.
This new path led the escapees to a solid brick wall, one that Mega Man had anticipated and was ready with his next trip up his sleeve. He once again shielded the team with his body and said, "Stay back!"
"They're right behind us!" panicked Raz.
"I know; this won't take long. Deploy: Crash Bomb!" The robot's armor turned white and salmon, and his arm cannon unleashed a small pinkish orb with grappling claws from its barrel, launching it into the wall. It clung there harmlessly, it seemed.
"…That's it?" blinked Raz. "Is that all it does?"
Mega Man smirked. "Wait for it…"
The pink orb on the device began to blink rapidly, until… BOOM!
Raz and the others shielded their eyes, and when they opened them up they saw a gaping hole in the wall big enough for a car to drive through. They could also see the night sky on the other side.
"Go," commanded Mega Man to the others. "I'll cover you."
Not in the mood to argue with their Commander, the team- now led by Jade- made a great leap of faith through the wall that would send them falling freely to the ground… or so they thought.
Actually, their Commander had already set up a Plan B of escape: his faithful dog Rush, in jet mode, was waiting outside just for the right moment to sweep in and catch Jade and Jim before they hit the ground hard.
As for Mighty, who was still holding Raz, he was caught by Mega Man's other faithful servant: a robotic bluebird by the name of Beat. Together, Rush and Beat took off in shots of red and blue with their cargo in tow toward a beam of soft pink light, which would teleport the escapees back onto their white swan-shaped spaceship high in the sky.
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Still standing by the escape hole, Mega Man boldly stared down the red-cloaked Erasers that were now blocking his only other path of escape. His X-Ray vision confirmed him that they were ninety-nine percent robotic, and only one-percent organic. More machine than men, he would have no qualms in obliterating them right then and there.
Yet for his own personal reasons, he hesitated. While they muttered words like, "You will be terminated, your sins will be cleansed," he just stared blankly at them, neither angry nor afraid. Perhaps he was more on the… sympathetic spectrum of his limited mindset.
…Still, he knew he could not allow them to use such devastating weapons.
"The convicted is allowed to speak his final words," said the front-most Eraser as all eraser guns pointed to the little robot.
"I have three."
His color palette faded from blues to a pale yellow and soft grey, his Elec Man mode. "Deploy: Thunder Beam."
FLASH!
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Poor Raz; his head was swimming when he reached the interior of the spaceship. He had no idea where he was or how he got there; all he knew was that he was dizzy and surrounded by strangers- two of which were animals. They, while as surprised to have escaped with their lives as he was, were more adamant in cheering and congratulating each other for a job well done.
Rush the robo-dog gave Raz a lick on his face, causing him to jump out of his stupor. "Ack!" he yelped.
"Relax," smiled Jade. "Rush is a good boy, aren't you Rush? Yes you are!" As she scratched his steely red ear, the dog simulated a scratch with his hind leg, indicating that he was feeling ticklish.
While all of this was sinking through to Raz, he noticed another soft blue light, this one coming from the armored robot boy, who had digitized himself into the ship by using his own personal means of teleportation.
Before the young boy's eyes, the robot's armor digitized and vanished, revealing a blue suit, white blouse, black necktie and black dress shoes in its place. Where the robot's helmet once was, was now soft brown windswept hair. He looked human now, almost childlike, with big blue doll-like eyes. "Well done team," he congratulated.
Jim, Jade and Mighty all saluted him, with Jade adding, "You too, Commander Rock."
"Thanks for that last-minute save, sir," sighed a relieved Mighty. "Though you did cut it a little close."
"You know me, Mighty; I always like to keep things interesting. Now… about you," said the robot to Raz. The smaller boy gulped, yet the blue suited team leader smiled warmly.
"My name is Commander Rock- or Mega Man, whichever you prefer. My team and I are known as The Redemption Squad; we're both interplanetary and inter-dimensional heroes for hire. We all come from our own unique worlds, joined by a common cause to promote peace and justice throughout the known universe. Or, in some cases, the multiverse."
Spellbound, Raz dropped his jaw. "…You guys… came all the way from different worlds and dimensions… just to save me?"
The Commander explained, "We know you were wrongfully accused of violating people's minds, though we haven't yet caught the real culprit. We figured that since we're not under normal jurisdiction, we should bail you out of jail and grant you your own chance at redemption. Think of this as a clean slate; no one knows or cares about your past, and you get to set your own future. And while you do that, we'll keep tracking down the criminal that framed you and bring him to justice."
The square-headed boy, deeply touched, grasped his chest. "I'm… I don't know what to say… I mean, I don't even know you people. But you went out of your way for…"
"Commander?" peeped Jade at the helm. "We're about to open the warp portal."
Rock nodded to Raz, "We'll have time to talk; right now, we better strap in our seats. These warp portals can get pretty bumpy."
Still reeling with awe and wonder, Raz was escorted by Jade to the nearest seat, where he strapped himself in as though he were going on a roller coaster ride. And in a way, he was.
"Set the coordinates for the space colony, just outside the docks," said the team's leader.
"Yes Commander," complied Jade as she pressed a series of buttons on a keyboard hanging above her steering wheel.
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Outside the spaceship, as it was zooming farther and farther away from the mysterious planet, two red beams shot from its wingtips. As the beams collided with each other, they swelled and formed a circular red void. The ship flew straight into it, and it closed up as it swallowed the space swan whole.
…
…
When the space shuttle peeled through the vortex and came out its other end, it was welcomed by another vast group of distant stars. To newcomer Raz, the ship may have just jumped a few miles ahead, when in fact it jumped light years and then some. The only object that was close enough to be in full view appeared to be a small moon, made of a metallic exterior that shimmered in the light of a far off sun.
But this was no moon, this was a massive spherical satellite made completely from the scraps of various space shuttles, obelisks, and fortresses all piled together to form a complex of hospices and institutions. In fact, the small ship carrying Raz and company was viewing this complex from one of its sides; the colony had two half-circles sticking out from opposite ends while a third, smaller sphere was attached to its center, like the core of a planet that was cracked clean in half. Yet it was all metallic, and dull to look at except for some pale pink lights emulating from the core's "veins."
Gazing up at the space colony were Commander Rock and his co-pilot Jade in the front, Raz sitting just behind them, and Jim and Mighty just a few seats back.
Raz stared awestruck at the would-be moon as the ship turned to view the moon's inner circle, which was barely visible thanks to the half-circles slowly circulating around it in planetary orbit.
"Uh boss?" frowned a concerned Earthworm Jim. "I thought the idea was to go inside the colony?"
"We'll get there Jim, don't worry," assured Commander Rock. He then glanced over to Raz who sat right behind him and smiled, "I just wanted you to see Pandora from the outside first. Beautiful, isn't it?"
Raz paused, still fixated on the wonder of the false moon. But then he hit Rock with a question: "You named it Pandora? Like, as in the box that had all that evil stuff in it?"
Rock giggled softly. "It's actually a reference to the box after it was opened; see, according to the myth, one last thing remains in the box: hope."
"Ooh, I get it now," nodded Raz.
"Just one more jump, and we'll be inside," explained the Commander as he once again pulled back on the red lever by his left.
The ship bolted forward, toward the space colony's core. Closer inspection revealed bright, blinking lights coming from the outer spheres, like windows reflecting bedroom lights at night. The outer spheres were each connected to the core by a long, thick bridge of sorts; a transportation tunnel, perhaps. And near the very center of the core itself, where a large pink glowing window indicated an entrance, one could just barely make out the remains of a long-forgotten space ship entitled, "BOREALIS II."
And indeed, the large pink-hued window was actually the entrance to a docking hangar for space ships like the one piloted by Commander Rock and his crew. As they made their way through the "window," it liquefied on contact and rippled, indicating that there was no glass there at all, but rather an element similar to water but clear enough to fool intruders that it was impenetrable.
.
Inside the hangar, the ship parked itself beside larger ships, also shaped like birds in flight. All of them were an ivory white, with Aperture Industries' logo on their sides, and their front windows were shaped and colored like eyeball irises of various colors.
As the crew stepped out of the ship and down its steps, they were met by two tall humans. One was Counselor Alyx Vance, donning the same lab coat she wore when she first introduced herself to Rock. The bespectacled gentleman next to her, with grey in his short-cut hair and beard, had a dark grey coat on with orange lining on his sleeves, and a matching orange logo on his coat's heart.
"Counselor Vance! Counselor Freeman," greeted the boy commander with child-like enthusiasm.
"Welcome back, everyone," smiled Alyx pleasantly, as her silent partner shook the hands of each returning team member. She then glanced down at the new face and smiled, "I see we have a newcomer. I take it the mission went well?"
"As well as it could go, I guess," nodded Commander Rock. But then he dropped his smile. "We were attacked by Erasers."
"Hmm," frowned Alyx. "…They didn't try to erase the whole planet, did they?"
"No, I think they were focused on us."
"I see…"
Raz, meanwhile, looked up at the man in glasses and dark grey coat with a smile. "Hi there, I'm Raz… I'm a Psychonaut… And, you are…?"
The man remained silent, much to Raz's disappointment.
Alyx replied, "He's Counselor Gordan Freeman. Don't worry, it takes him a while to warm up to people. Let's all head to our home stations; I'm sure we have a lot to talk about."
"Yes Ma'am," saluted Rock, before escorting Raz to the nearest elevator.
..
..
Beyond the elevators lied a grand, white-walled plaza, where creatures of all shapes and sizes gathered to either head for a spaceship dock, or stop for a meal, or perhaps just converse with each other. It was very similar to an airport's intertwining hallways; there was little room for places to rest other than the occasional small diner in between gates.
Raz and company entered the plaza on the second level of the plaza, where they could look over the balcony and oversee the various characters as they casually passed by:
One was a little star with eyes, a mouth, and small gloved and sneakered limbs like a cartoon character of old. Another was a tall blue-suited gentleman with a pink helmet and visors that hid half of his face. Another was a whole team of anthromorphic animals, led by an orange fox in a grey suit and dark green pants and black leather boots. He had just been pickpocketed by a thin, blue-cloaked raccoon, who made chase as soon as the fox realized he had just been robbed.
Other strange beings included a group led by another blue-outfitted man, only this one had wild, bright red and spiky hair, and one of his party members was an anthromorphic frog. They stopped to say hello to the small white-furred puppy dog with black ears, and sporting a black wool cap and raggedy street clothes.
Rock was just stepping out of the elevator, when he accidentally bumped into a very small creature with a white helmet and long beady eyes. He recognized this little fellow as White Bomber, who was quick to give the Commander a salute.
"At ease, soldier," smiled Rock as White Bomber ran off with happy eyes.
Meanwhile, the other team members went their separate ways. Jim went to grab a bite at ToeJam and Earl's; Mighty went to his other job as a labor worker for Aperture; Jade snuck up behind her snoozing friend Pey'j, a humanoid pig who promised to wait for her when she returned. She woke him up with a firm nudge of her arm, and the two embraced like long-lost family.
"…Who…. are all these people?" asked a puzzled and awestruck Raz.
The blue-suited Commander joined him in looking over the balcony. "They're mostly volunteers," he explained. "They've come from all corners of the galaxy and different dimensions to help in our cause for universal peace… But some of them are stuck here; their homes have been destroyed- either by war, or natural disasters… or by the Erasers."
"Who are these Erasers, exactly?"
"No one really knows where they come from. All we know for sure is that they think we're to blame for so much turmoil in the universe. They blame our portal-jumping technology, claim it's a crime against nature. And they believe that the only way to deal with us is to erase our existence completely… Needless to say, they're our top enemies."
"…So all these people are heroes? Even those little ones?"
"Heh," chuckled Rock, "you of all people should know not to underestimate someone's size. Which reminds me, you and I will have to talk to the High Council soon. They'll need to know that we have a new member on our team."
Raz was still taken by the various characters on the lower level of the plaza, that he had nearly missed that last sentence. "…New member?" he peeped.
"Oh, Raz!" smiled the Commander. "I thought you understood; this wasn't just a rescue mission, this is recruitment offer."
The boy nearly fell back in shock. "Recru…wha?"
"That's right," smiled the taller, robotic boy. "As Commander of the squad's Search and Rescue team, I am formally inviting you to join us."
With eyes bulged and mouth gaped wide, Raz jumped beside himself. "WHA?"
"I should warn you," frowned the Commander solemnly, "this isn't an easy job… Some of us have all but given up our past lives, left our home worlds to fight someone else's wars. There'll come a time when you might question yourself, whether you're doing the right thing or making things worse. You'll visit places you've never dreamed of, people and creatures you never knew existed. There'll be sacrifices, hard decisions, and there'll be danger. Lots… and lots… of danger."
There was a small pause between them; Raz gazed back at the various human and humanoid characters of the plaza, some sporting guns and others oversized swords. Some were clearly supernatural- a vampire here, a sorcerer there- and others, like the cartoony star and fairy-winged sprites that fluttered by, were completely out of this world. And to think, he of all people was invited to join them. He, a convicted felon! He, a once misunderstood child, was asked to be a hero… for the whole universe!
"So," smiled the boyish blue-suited robot. "Are you interested?"
There was little to no hesitation on Raz's end; he smiled from ear to ear. "When do I start?"
…
…
SAVING GAME
.
NEXT LEVEL: "Crash Course"
…
CREDITS:
Mega Man belongs to CAPCOM
Alyx Vance, Gordon Freeman, and Aperture Science belong to VALVE
Jade, "Beyond Good And Evil," belongs to UBISOFT
Mighty the Armadillo belongs to SEGA
Earthworm Jim belongs to SHINY ENTERTAINMENT/ PLAYMATES INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Raz, "Psychonauts," belong to MAJESCO
Other characters belong to their respectable companies: NINTENDO, ATARI, NAMCO, SEGA, CAPCOM, etc.