Griffin & Kryuger Temporary Base, Berlin, Germany, 2064
"As long as I continue to exist, I will one day be the center of the world's destruction...That's what she said to me." M4A1 said with a sigh as she sat, gazing pensively at her hands.
The Commander, who had been quietly sitting next to her, shook his head. "I don't believe that, M4. There isn't a single thing about the future that is written in stone."
"Can we really say that we're in control though? This power is something that everyone wants...Everything that's happened to us, all those monstrous experiments, all of it was because one person or another wanted it...And now I have it."
"It's your choice what you want to do with it, M, whether you want to shoulder the responsibility, or lock it all away and forget about it. Nobody here is going to give you up."
"I know...I'm just worried about what I might become...I don't fully understand what I'm capable of, yet...and I'm scared to find out. What if I go too far? What if I try to fix things, but just end up causing more suffering?"
"You'd never do anything like that. You're one of the most selfless people I've ever met, if anything, you spend too much time worrying about other people and not enough worrying about yourself."
"How can you say that for certain, Commander? Can we really say that we'll never change? So many people have been driven to madness by this kind of responsibility, how can you or I say that we're immune to that temptation?"
"Me? Come on, M4. Now you're just being paranoid. I'd never go insane with power..."
An Uncharted Island, South Pacific Ocean, 209X...
A flock of seagulls mewed cheerfully as they flocked past a large island adorned with numerous structures and fortifications, the bright blue waves crashed against the rocky face of a cliff, a cliff that the image of a familiar Commander's face had been chiseled into with intricate detail.
In the halls of the base, a man in a tuxedo sporting a walrus-moustache and a pair of mirrored aviators was being escorted in handcuffs by a group of Tactical Dolls. At the forefront, a woman with black twintails and heterochromic eyes walked alongside a silver-haired woman, who was uncannily walking with her eyes closed.
"Ladies, ladies, you're killing me with the silence here. I don't have any objections to letting a pretty girl take the lead, but at least show a little hospitality." The man spoke, his words falling on deaf ears as the dolls continued to wordless escort him.
Over the past several months, several prominent scientists employed by the URNC had vanished, eyewitnesses had reported last seeing them being kidnapped at gunpoint by groups of armed women. After months of investigating, the URNC's search had lead here - an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean, which was home to a secret base being run by a former PMC Commander, and currently, wanted terrorist. One could only guess what this devious terror organization would be capable of with the knowledge of the finest minds of the URNC at its disposal.
Only the most suave and daring international playboy could successfully infiltrate this advanced facility, unravel the conspiracy taking place within, and foil its plans for good - URNC Secret Agent Max Rodd was such a man. With his slick demeanor, quick wits, smooth moves, and a license to chill, it was up to him to once again save the world from the clutches of an evil genius...
Unfortunately for him, however, he didn't make it far before he was captured...
The man was escorted to a large chamber, where a long conference table stretched out in front of him. Agent Rodd was forcefully thrust into a chair at the end of the table, and the two dolls made their way to the chair at the opposite end, where the backside of a lavish chair was silhouetted by the blue ambient light of the aquarium it was facing, a hand holding a lit cigar protruded from the right side.
"Commander, we caught him sneaking into the girls' dorms. He jumped out of a vent in Groza's room and tried to seduce her." RO635 informed.
"'Seduce'...He straightened his bowtie and said something like 'Get ready for the thunder, because my Rodd's about to attract some Lightning.'" AK-12 added, the disgust in her voice palpable.
"Yes...It would seem his reputation precedes him." The hand holding the cigar retracted into the swivel chair's silhouette, the sound of a long drag resounded through the chamber, before a puff of smoke rose from the chair with a sharp exhale. The chair slowly turned around, and the aged Commander came into view. A large scar ran down his face over his left eye, which was now covered by an eye-patch. "It seems you are my uninvited guest once again, Mister Rodd."
The Commander softly stroked the head of the Shiba Inu sitting on his lap, who was wearing a pair of sunglasses and a red Hawaiian shirt.
"The old Commander...I knew this had your stench over it from the very beginning." Agent Rodd snorted.
"Astute as always, though I can't say I've been putting much effort into hiding...So, tell me, Mister Rodd, what grievances has the URNC sent you to address this time? Or have they just sent you off to dodge another Sexual Harassment lawsuit?"
"You know exactly what this is about, Commander. Let's cut to the chase - just hand over those scientists you kidnapped, unharmed, and, heh, maybe I'll go easy on you." As Rodd made his demands, he discreetly began fiddling with his restraints.
"That's quite a bold demand considering your predicament, has anyone ever told you it's best to negotiate from a position of power?" The Commander nonchalantly puffed on his cigar.
"Oh, Rodd's got the power, baby. Whether I'm on top or not, I make sure everyone's in for a good time." Rodd flashed a grin, as if he was expecting his teeth to sparkle like in the movies. 12 and RO scoffed in unison.
The Commander puffed on his cigar once again. "The scientists will stay with me, Mister Rodd. They have yet to produce adequate results for their current project. You are free to test whatever antics you have planned at your earliest convenience, however, this is a state of the art facility. Even if you manage to evade the facility's defenses, my army of femme-fatale supersoldiers will put an end to your meddling in short order. There is no escaping from my Island, Agent."
"Since you've already got me so tied down, then, why don't you spill the beans? What are you doing with those scientists? Missile research? Biological weapons? Relic proliferation?"
"My 'Rad Shiba' is starting to get up there in years, Mister Rodd. I'm sure even a one-track mind such as yourself can understand the looming dread of losing one's four-legged friend. Your scientists are currently partaking in a very noble task, even if they required some...coercion. They are going to make the Rad Shiba eternal, immune to the previously unavoidable effects of the passage of time."
"You...kidnapped the URNC's top researchers...to make your dog immortal?"
"Yes, quite the benevolent undertaking compared to what your organization had them doing...And yet, they insist that I am the madman bent on world domination."
"You've demanded the immediate dissolution of the URNC to be replaced with an order called 'Super Earth' that you would be the supreme leader of, and the rest of the manifesto is rambling about freedom and democracy."
"Who doesn't want Super Earth?!" The Commander bellowed out, suddenly slamming his fist on the table. "Your One World Government sucks! It's my turn to take over the world!"
"Pfff, Commander, we've already seen the consequences of giving you a single inch. When we caved into your demands the last time, that Tactical Doll ended up being inaugurated as the President of the United States, and we all know how that's going."
"The United SOP of America is doing just fine, thank you very much!" The Commander retorted.
"Damn...I still need to write her next State of the Union Address..." RO quietly said with a sigh as she recalled.
Max let out a chuckle as he continued to fiddle with the cuffs. "You seem tense, Commander. Why don't you do like I do and..."
Click
The cuff over Max's wrist quietly sprung open.
"Loosen up a bit? A little more restraint would do you a big favor."
"It matters not, because unlike you, in a couple of seconds I will still have all my parts attached. Farewell, Mister Rodd."
With that, The Commander slammed his fist into a red button on the table.
"Whoa, hey wait, we can work this ou-! AAAAAHHHH!" A trapdoor underneath Max's chair rapidly sprung open, and the agent was sent plummeting to the depths below.
Quickly scrambling his wits together, Max quickly brought up his spy-watch.
Activating Thrust Boots...
WARNING: Software Update required, do not activate functions until software update complete.
Downloading update... 1% complete.
"No! No! Come on! Come on!" Max cried out as he plummeted into the depths.
45% Complete...
Max's heart pounded against the walls of his chest as the ground grew closer and closer...
95% Complete...
"Come on baby! Come on!"
100% Complete...
Update Complete, Tap screen to continue...
Max's fingers tapped frantically against the screen as he plummeted to the ground at terminal velocity. Finally, the panels underneath the soles snapped open, thrust exploded out at the maximum setting as the ground grew nearer and nearer.
"Whooooaaaaa!" Max yelped out as his descent was rapidly slowed just in the nick of time, and he glided to a soft landing onto the floor, striking a pose as his feet hit the ground.
Fuel expended, thrust boots shutting down...
"Talk about falling for the oldest trick in the book, but at least I stuck the landing..."
Dusting himself off, the agent looked around the chamber he had landed in. A tall, muscular, silver haired doll was kneeled over in the corner, rubbing the belly of a large creature happily rolling over on the floor, a creature unlike anything Max had seen before. Its white fur was patterned with white stripes, the creature's shape appeared to be that of a large Gorilla, but its striped fur, sharp canines and wicked claws also gave it the profile of some kind of tiger...A...Gorilla-Tiger?
But, more importantly to Max, was the woman. He straightened himself up, and pulled out a hand-mirror, giving his hair a quick comb before stepping over to AK-15. "Hey there, sweet-cakes - Max Rodd is the name. Those are some fine muscles ya got there, why don't we head somewhere quiet and we can get a little workout in?"
AK-15 merely stared at the man with a stone-cold glare. "Mendeleev, bite."
With a load roar, the Gorilla Tiger sprung to its feet and charged straight at the agent.
Max stumbled back, frantically waving his arms. "No! Bad kitty! I mean, bad ape! Bad...Aaahhh!"
Frantically bringing up his spy-watch, the agent summoned his holoboard, leaping onto it in an instant and boosting away from the rampaging mutant. It didn't take long for the Gorilla-Tiger to catch up, however, and soon it was hot on his heels as he raced towards the enclosure's shutter, which was rather carelessly left wide open. Max swiftly brought up his watch once again and hacked into the shutter controls, the door began to lower shut with a mechanical grind. He picked up speed, bursting towards the closing shutter as the mutant swiped at the tail of his board, his heart raced as doubts began to manifest about his timing...He was almost there...almost...
Whoosh
Lurching back into a powerslide, Max slid underneath the door with mere inches to spare, a thunderous slam immediately sounded behind him.
Picking himself off the floor and dusting himself off, the agent looked back at the massive dent in the shutter door that was in the shape of the rampaging mutant that had just been swiping at his heels, and straightened his bowtie. "Sorry there, tiger. I'm more into cougars..."
"Commander, I've just received word - that spy has escaped from the Gorilla Tiger Pit!" The Rad Shiba frantically relayed.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" The Commander's fist slammed onto the desk in front of him. "NOBODY ESCAPES FROM THE GORILLA TIGER PIT!"
AK-12 sighed. "Call me old fashioned, but does anybody else miss when we used to just shoot these people twice in the head and dispose of the body ourselves in a way that would make it irrecoverable and unidentifiable?"
"It's not about efficiency, it's about sending a message!" The Commander bellowed out.
RO sighed, she massaged the bridge of her nose and turned to AK-12. "It's no use, Twelve. I've tried telling him a dozen times before, he never listens..."
Ignoring the two dolls, the Commander pondered for a moment before turning back to the Hawaiian-shirt sporting dog. "Rad Shiba, lure that man into the shark tank!"
Meanwhile, Agent Rodd checked the facility map on his spy-watch. "It seems I'm in quite a serious pickle here...not much of a way out except through..."
He did, in fact, have an arduous Journey ahead of him back to the Commander's Office, but the one upside was that it had to have been more than enough time since his last check in for HQ to determine something was wrong. No doubt they would have enacted Plan B, and his rescue would be arriving at some point...
Several miles away, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean...
The Tier One Special Forces Operators checked over their weapons one last time as their aircraft encroached upon the island. That bumbling oaf that the spooks sent in would have no doubt failed his mission by now, as expected, but that was of no concern. His real job from the very beginning would be to put on enough of a show to keep the Commander and his bodyguards distracted, while the real shit-kickers got to do their jobs. There was no speculating whether or not he had managed to at least accomplish that, 'super-spy' or not, he was as subtle as a monkey with a drum-set, and about as annoying.
The Special Forces Commander stood from his seat and moved to the front of the line, the team's attention turned towards him. "Alright people, T-Minus five minutes. When this Osprey lands, I need you all to-...Wait, Osprey?!"
Upon the mere mention of the accursed aircraft, an unsettled atmosphere immediately filled the air...
And just then, as if governed by the same cartoon physics that cruelly refused to drop a character to their doom until after they had looked down and realized they had walked over a cliff, the Osprey's rotors came to an instant halt. The craft skidded to a stop in the air before instantly plummeting to the sea below at terminal velocity, the screams of its occupants faded into the ocean winds...
Meanwhile, as Agent Rodd silently made his way through the dark corridors, he had a strange sense that something was wrong. Not a single unit seemed to had been dispatched to retrieve him, and he hadn't run into a single patrol. Most of the doors he had tried had been sealed shut, but just when he was ready to break out the gadgets, he had always managed to find one door that had been carelessly left unlocked.
The concern grew stronger when one of these doors lead into a massive room, which seemed to simulate some kind of outdoor environment, grassy hills and dirt roads stretched from wall to wall, and the agent's suspicions were all but confirmed when the door he had entered through locked with a loud distinctive click.
Suddenly, the guttural sound of a powerful engine and the grinding of treads resounded through the room. The Agent hesitantly turned to the source to see none other than an M1A2 Abrams tank rolling towards him, though with quite a few "Aftermarket modifications". A massive bulldozer blade had been fixed to the front, half of a dozen exposed missile pods hung off either side of the turret, and on top of the standard .50 caliber machine gun on top, several more machine gun turrets had been bizarrely fixed all around the top of the tank, where the operators of such would even sit was anyone's guess.
But most bizarre, was the tank's operator. A large blue shark costume popped out of the top hatch, the face of a purple-eyed woman with sharpened teeth visible through the mouth. "Ehehehe, finally someone's come to play!" Architect cackled gleefully. "It's time to try out my new toy on a real target!"
It was him versus a tank now, perhaps it would be better if he just tried to talk things out...
"Hey, baby, why don't you cast that armor aside and we settle things a little more intimately? A lady like you shouldn't be sportin' a cannon that big."
Without a word, Architect retreated down into the hatch, which shut behind her with a loud clang. The tank's turret started to turn, and slowly oriented itself towards him...
Max's instincts, honed throughout years and years of daring escapades, flared up.
WHOOM
A deafening blast erupted from the tank, its payload slammed into the ground where the agent had been standing a moment ago, blasting a small crater into the ground and sending a cloud of dirt and smoke pluming into the air. When the debris cleared, Max was nowhere to be seen...and the whirring of a hoverboard became audible.
Max rocketed away on his hoverboard, darting straight for the hills a distance away.
The latches of the tank's missile-pods sprang open, fire and smoke spewed out of the back of the tubes as the tank let loose a salvo of rockets. Max looked back to see the missiles barreling towards him from above, anticipating their points of impact, he slickly chicaned around the explosions as fire rained down from above.
Finally, he crested the hill, he threw himself off the board and dove into prone. He'd have to improvise on this one, but luckily, the eggheads at HQ might have supplied him with something that would give him a fighting chance. He took one of the pens hanging off his suit's front pocket, and pressed a small button in the side, which caused a set of dart-like fins to spring out along the back, the pen's tip began to blink red.
An explosive dart, he wasn't as fond of them as the X-Ray glasses he had gotten on his last mission, but it seems that they would be his salvation on this operation.
The tank began to roll over the hillside. He would only get one shot at this...
As soon as the tank's turret oriented itself towards him, he launched the pen down the tank's barrel and directly into the chambered shell...
BOOM
The agent dove away just in the nick of time before the tank erupted into a spectacular fireball. Max had only expected the main gun to be knocked out, but it was as if the entire cabin of the tank had been stacked to the ceiling with live shells that were set off by a chain reaction. He wondered what kind of pyromaniac would do such a thing...
Dusting himself off and straightening his bowtie, he looked back on the aftermath. "Hope ya got insurance, 'cause that one's definitely a write-off."
As Max gazed upon the flaming wreckage of the Abrams, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him...
"NOOO! MY TANK!"
Max turned to see the same shark-costume sporting doll from before behind him, her fins clasped against the sides of her head as she watched the raging inferno in horror.
"Wait, how are you still alive?! Nobody inside that thing could have survived such a fireball!" Max cried out.
"Well, I wasn't in that tank." Architect shrugged.
"But...then who was?!"
Suddenly, the sound of moving debris caught their attention. They turned to see the first shark-costumed doll rising from the wreckage.
Max's eyebrow raised. "Wait, there's two of you?!"
"No..." The Architect next to him uttered in bewilderment.
"That's right, 'Architect'! There can only be one of us!" The other Architect cackled.
"What...who are you?!" Architect cried out.
"I am you, from another universe, but that universe has been destroyed by a time paradox, and I was teleported here. Now, I am only left with one recourse - To kill you and take your place!"
Max sat unfazed by the revelation. "Hey...The Healing Chapter already pulled this stupid plot twist gag. Come on, man, get better material."
...Fine. Have it your way.
The Architect from the other universe wasn't piloting the tank, and in fact, never actually existed. She blinked out of existence suddenly and was never seen or heard from again.
"Alright...But if Architect's doppelganger wasn't piloting the tank, then who was?" Max asked.
Your mom.
"Huh?!-"
THWACK
A sandal suddenly slammed into the back of Max's head at seemingly mach-speed.
"MAXMILLIAN HAROLD RODD! YOU ARE IN BIG TROUBLE, MISTER!" An old woman's voice yelled out from the wreckage.
"W-Wha?! Mom?!" Max cried out.
"Ooohhh, the middle name, ouch. I think I'm going to excuse myself from this one." Architect stated sympathetically before retreating away, leaving Max to face his mother alone.
The agent promptly dropped to his hands and knees as the elderly woman encroached upon him with another sandal. "MOM! WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!"
"Citizens of the United SOP of America, this is your Commander-in-Chief, SOP-II. I stand with you here today to present to you the state of our nation. We have seen great progress over the past year, our great nation grows stronger by the day. Thanks to the passage of the RIP AND TEAR Act, we have reclaimed more territory from ELIDs than any administration to date, we have nuked California once again just to be sure, and we are one step closer to realizing my vision for this nation - a RIS II rail in every household. We shall stamp out those ELID abominations once and for all - except for those Gorilla Tiger thingies because those are totally cool. *Ahem*, in any case, our once divided nation has been re-unified, your former enemies have become your neighbors and friends, and we have all unified under one glorious banner, one free from the influence of the heretical Rossartrists. Now is the time to set aside your differences, and work alongside your fellow Americans towards one common goal - the complete and utter annihilation of Detroit. Stoner bless you all, and may Stoner bless America. All hail SOP."
The crowd erupted into applause and cheers of "All Hail SOP" as the blonde T-Doll smiled and stepped away from the podium.
"That was the first State of the Union Address from what has quite possibly been the most controversial administration to date. Although the president has found many vocal supporters among the population, skepticism and criticism run rampant amongst congress and political analysts the world over. Some say-"
The flatscreen TV on the wall clicked off, the Commander set the remote aside on his desk.
"I didn't get her speech written..." RO groaned out. "I thought the speech was on May 3rd, not March 5th...I completely forgot that one of her first acts was reinstating the traditional Month-Day-Year date format and the Imperial system..."
The Commander poured out another glass of scotch. "I think she's doing fine for herself, all things considered..."
"Commander! Commander! Architect just reported in, the intruder has escaped from the shark tank!" The Rad Shiba zoomed into the room.
"That meddling fool is starting to get on my nerves..." The Commander growled. "Contact Star and 45, tell-"
"I've already told them to get in position, Commander. Just waiting on your word." RO affirmed.
"Send 'em in."
"Um...Commander, there's one other thing..." The Shiba spoke up. "WA was just spotted entering the kitchen with a package of cup-ramen."
"Oh no..." RO massaged her temples. "Should we send someone to intercept her?"
The Commander shook his head. "What? For cup ramen? Come on, it's cup-ramen, you add the seasoning and water to the fill-line, then microwave it for a couple minutes. Even WA couldn't mess that up..."
Having once again narrowly escaped with his life, Max found himself once more creeping through the base's dark halls, only this time, it didn't take him long to run into the Commander's goons...
Peeking discretely around a corner, the agent suddenly felt the sharp tip of a muzzle-brake poke him in the back of the head.
"Turn around, nice and slow." A woman's voice behind him commanded.
"Hun, I don't mind following a lady's lead from time to time, but you're coming on a little strong there."
"I said turn around, now." The voice asserted.
Max slowly turned to face his assailant. A pink-haired woman with a heavily customized rifle, and another one with long hair and a scar over one of her eyes came into view.
"That's quite the big gun you've got there, I guess even ladies feel the need to compensate too." Max's eyes turned from the gun to the Doll's chest.
"Funny motherfucker, huh? I'd put a round through your dick and see how funny you'd feel then, but I'm worried I'd miss even at this range." STAR growled.
"Hey now, that's not say I'd discriminate. I think there's more to a woman than size, I'm sure you two ladies are both wonderful in other ways...and parts too." Max grinned.
UMP 45 let out an irritated sigh before turning her gaze over the agent's shoulder. "Do it, Lenna."
"Hu-"
Before Max could react, a cattle-prod slammed into the back of his knee and discharged its voltage. The agent let out a pained cry as he dropped to one knee, before the baton slammed into his head and knocked him to the floor.
Max cried out in agony. "Ah! My face! My beautiful face!"
STAR and UMP seized him under the arms and begin to drag him down the hall.
"Hang a right up here, it's the quickest way to the Commander's office." STAR stated as they neared the end of the corridor.
"You ladies aren't very nice...such a shame, we could have had such a good time together..." Max grunted out.
The two dolls suddenly halted and slowly turned to each other.
"Actually...make that a left."
Veering to the left at the end of the hall, the dolls dragged their captive off in the direction of the arrow on the wall-mounted sign, one that read: "Testicular Torsion Turbine"...
When the agent came back to his senses, he found himself strapped down onto a table facing down onto a large turbine attached to a set of rails extending down a small passage towards him, at the center of the fan blades was a small grabby-shark that was perfectly in-line with his torso.
"He's awake, good, now we can begin..." A voice called out over an intercom, Max turned to see the two dolls standing in an observation room next to him.
"Ngh...Ladies, come on, isn't this a little excessive? You didn't shoot me when you had the drop on me, so obviously keeping me alive is important for some reason, isn't it?"
"The Commander told us to keep you alive, he didn't say anything about you being unharmed." 45 stated bluntly.
"This is way too much, though! Why do you even have such a device?!" Max cried out, struggling in his restraints.
"Rubber bullets weren't teaching the doll-nappers enough of a lesson when we ran into them on missions, so K11 decided to make something that would give them a real story to tell their buddies to make them think twice."
"I'm not a doll trafficker damn it, I'm a P.O.W. you bastards!" Max shot back.
45 grinned wickedly, raising her hands innocently. "Our organization recognizes and respects the Geneva Convention. However, you are a secret agent - an individual who isn't sanctioned by any nation's government and doesn't even officially exist. Legally speaking, there are no internationally recognized treaties or conventions that grant you any protections...Besides, you've already had your chance, Springfield told us all about how you acted when 'spying' in her café."
"Hey, it wasn't like that! I just...like the tuna there!"
"Bullshit!" STAR slammed her fist on the control panel. "Nobody likes the fucking tuna there!"
Max leaned his head back and sighed, his hand fidgeted with a small panel on the opposite side of the table from the observation window, and suddenly felt the panel shake loose. "You know, ladies, has anyone ever told you that you've..." After fidgeting a little more, the panel's cover popped loose. "Heh, you've got a couple screws loose?"
45 sighed heavily. "You know, I'm going to enjoy shutting you up..."
With that, UMP pressed a button on the control panel, the turbine slowly began to spin to life, and started gradually started sliding down the rails towards the agent.
"H-Hey, wait a minute, whoa whoa whoa!"
"No time like the present, agent." 45 replied coldly.
Suddenly, however, a loud shriek sounded from outside the room. The two dolls ran to investigate and immediately saw WA2000 running down the corridor as fast as her legs could carry her.
"AAAAAHHHH! IT'S ALIVE! VECTOR! UZI! SKORPION! HEEELP! IT'S ALIVE"
"Hey- Wait! Who's alive?! What are you talking about?!" STAR yelled after the fleeing doll, but she had disappeared down the hall before she could respond.
STAR and UMP might not have had any idea what was going on, but being Elite T-Dolls with over 30 years of experience, they were more than wise to the concept that seeing people screaming at the top of their lungs and running away from a certain direction was most likely your cue to drop what you're doing and start running too.
The two dolls exchanged a brief look. "Get out of here, let's go!"
STAR and 45 scurried off after WA, and left the agent alone to his fate.
Inside the chamber, Max frantically felt around inside the panel for something that seemed important. Feeling the wires with his fingers, he knocked the out one by one as the turbine grew nearer, the grabby-shark's jaws clamping open and shut menacingly as it encroached towards his torso. Panic seared through his veins as the contraption grew ever closer, sweat pooled on his forehead as he grew more and more desperate. Pulling out more wires, sparks flew out from the panel, he dug around more, clawing for anything else he could break...
Pulling out another wire, a shower of sparks burst out from the panel, and the turbine slowly whirred to a halt just in the nick of time, the grabby-shark close enough to barely touch him. Breathing out a long sigh of relief, the agent leaned his head back onto the table.
Then, a blood curdling howl sounded from outside the chamber, a sickly slithering noise that caused the hairs on the beck of the agent's neck to raise grew closer and closer to the door.
SLAM...
SLAM...
The metal door dented and deformed, before being sent flying from its hinges. A amorphous mass of noodles slithered into the observation room before halting in place. The noodle mass shifted, the mess of ramen parted to reveal a large eyeball bulging out, which turned slowly towards the restrained agent.
An agonized groan echoed through the chamber as the side of the mass formed into the shape of a face. "It...sees you...run...ruuuunnnn!" The face howled out.
A mass of sickly black noodles suddenly shot out of the face's mouth and enveloped the rest of the face, another agonized moan sounded as the face was pulled back into the mass and vanished beneath the surface.
A voice which sounded like a jumped mess of several people talking at once began to speak. "Join...us...become one...with the biomass..."
A large slit began to form down the center of the iris, blood and black fluid leaked out and spilled onto the floor as the eye began to part along the middle, sharp, crooked teeth sprouted out from the inside of the two-halves as the sound of tearing flesh resounded through the chamber.
"Not good..." Max shakily breathed out.
"Director, I understand that...Listen, it is loose inside my base! I need a Mobile Task Force here right now if you want any hope of containing-...I understand that...Yes, I told you, I understand, but-...Look, is this 'Trooper Unit-whatever' guy really such a-...Director, I strongly urge you to reconsider, if whatever's loose in my base-...Fine...I understand..."
Setting the phone back down onto its hook, the Commander let out a heavy sigh and turned back to MCX, who had been outfitted in a gas mask, a helmet, and a set of mounted GPNVGs. "Well, the Foundation isn't going to be any help today...Looks like we're dealing with this thing on our own."
"I've already told Vector to grab all the incendiaries she can carry. 416's going to see if we have any incendiary 40mm shells laying around. Should be enough to torch the sod to a crisp."
"Do it." The Commander nodded before turning back to the Rad Shiba. "So, the Agent escaped, the Abrams is toast, and now WA's gone and created a fully-fledged biological anomaly that is wreaking havoc inside my island. Any other news to report?"
"I've also just gotten word that Hector is going to be running 3 Honda Civics with spoon engines. And on top of that, he just went into Harry's, and he ordered 3 T66 turbos, with NOS. And a Motec exhaust."
"That's just great..." The Commander grumbled.
RO, who had been standing at his side next to Groza, spoke up. "What are we going to do about the URNC, Commander? Even if we deal with that spy, it's only a matter of time before they send a more capable one..."
"Can we nuke France?" Groza blurted out.
"No." RO replied sternly.
"How many times has she asked to nuke France, now? What did the French even do to her?" MCX asked.
The Commander shook his head. "Nobody knows, even she doesn't know. Her memory got wiped sometime between '64 and '72, we've recovered most of it - except for whatever's causing that...Another problem to add to the list."
"List...LIST! I hate the French! France must burn!" Groza shouted frantically.
RO glared at the Commander. "Commander...Don't mention the word 'List' around her, remember?"
The Commander sighed and leaned his head into his hands. "I think it's time for all of us to take our medicine...We really are getting old."
"Hey! I'm only 30...ish...30's not old, right...Right?!" RO's outburst was met with silent stares from the rest of the gathering.
"I'm...sooorrryyy!" A tormented howl sounded from the amorphous mass before it began to slam itself against the observation room's glass. In the process, the control panel began to crumple and spark from the impact.
The agent's restraints suddenly clicked open, he quickly rolled off the table and scrambled to his feet.
The reinforced glass began to crack, white lines slowly creeped across its surface as it rapidly approached his breaking point.
Max knew he was working on borrowed time, he retreated to the other side of the fan to the back of the chamber, and quickly spotted the cover of ventilation shaft. The vent was wide enough for person to crawl through, like any self respecting supervillain would have made so.
Tearing the cover from its mountings, the agent scrambled inside just as the sound of shattering glass echoed through the room behind him. A shrill shriek followed, and the sound of scuttling appendages.
"Hurry...run..." A voice groaned out unsettlingly close behind him.
The dark shaft stretched out before him, he crawled and clambered as fast as he could while the slamming of appendages against the duct walls along with the agonized groans and wails drew ever closer.
Giving in to L'appel du vide and looking behind him, the agent was met with the mass' eye scuttling towards him, but suddenly it stopped in place and let out another howl.
"Heeelp...meeeee..."
Numerous tumor-like growths suddenly sprouted on the outside of its cornea, bulging out before irises and pupils began to form on the tips. Seemingly millions of small, dark hairs formed on the jet black strands of noodles.
Max immediately began scrambling faster, desperately clawing his way to the light at the end of the shaft.
With a single kick, the cover flew off its mountings and clattered to the floor below. Max practically threw himself out of the vent and dropped to the floor, breaking into a run as soon as he got to his feet. The sound of something heavy plopping to the floor behind him followed in short order.
"Join...our...harmony...or perish...join...die...join...die...k-kill...meeee!" The biomass groaned out, at least a couple dozen black appendages lifted the mass off the floor and scuttled after him, the legs moving so quick the mind could barely register them.
Turning the corner, the agent continued to sprint at full speed, trying to get as much distance from it as he could.
"Remind me again why it's so dark down here that we have to wear these goggles?" 416 asked MCX as the squad leader lead the rest of Spectre Team down the corridor - 416, MCX, Vector, and VHS, all of them clad in full tactical gear and gas masks with GPNVGs lowered over their eyes, the patches on their shoulders stitched with the numerals 'XXVII'.
"Way I hear it, RO gave the Commander an earful when the utility bill came in, and now this part of the base has the lights disabled." MCX shrugged.
"And now the place looks like the set of a horror movie where the characters have no common sense..." VHS lamented.
"That spy's probably creeping around too, try to watch yourselves and give me a shout if you see any shadows movin' about, yeah?" MCX stated.
"Tch, that guy's no Sam Fisher, the guy even dresses so loud that I'll probably get a headache before I even see him..." VHS dismissed, suddenly feeling the onset of a migraine...
...And sure enough, the moment the dolls turned the corner, a mustached man in a mauve tux came barreling towards them.
The dolls raised their weapons, Max skidded to a halt just as the mass skittered around the corner.
On one side of him, four veteran T-Dolls with their weapons trained on him, and the other, a doll-made horror behind anyone's comprehension that was scuttling towards him...
"Yeah, baby!" Said nobody, for this was not good.
The lead doll with pink hair flowing out of her helmet suddenly dropped her rifle to the side, supporting the barrel with her support hand as it dangled from its sling, and yanked out her X26 with lightning speed. She didn't even hesitate to pull the trigger, a mess of barbs shot out from the business end and penetrated straight through the agent's tux.
Max let out an agonized cry as he dropped to the floor, spasming uncontrollably. This was far from the first time this had happened, but it never got any less painful...At least it wasn't pepper spray.
Deftly shoving the taser back into it's holster, MCX slapped her cuffs around the agent's wrists before stepping around him and facing the amorphous blob of noodles staring them down. "Alright ladies, it's time for work. 416, load flash shells, let's immobilize and contain whatever in the devil this is and be home in time for-"
"Machine...mother...why have you...forsaken us...you need us..." The voice groaned.
A growth suddenly burst out the top of the mass, the flesh parted and contorted into the shape of a mouth. "You need us..."
One of The anomaly's "legs" also formed a large slit along the surface, parting to reveal sets of teeth underneath. "You need us."
The same followed for each of its appendages, one by one...
"You need us..."
"You need us..."
"You need us..."
"You need us..."
"You need us..."
"You need us..."
"You need us..."
"Belay that - burn it, Vector. Kill it with fire." MCX deadpanned.
The submachinegun-wielding T-Doll lobbed an incendiary grenade at the mass, which detonated on impact and engulfed the creature in thermite.
The shriek the monster let out was loud enough to shake the hallway, even through the ear-protection, VHS found herself pressing her earphones against her head and groaning in pain. "I'm never complaining about SL8 again!..."
"It's still moving, cook 'em 416!" MCX ordered.
A loud thump reported from the M320, a shell slammed into the biomass and burst into a sea of sparks and flames. Another shriek resounded from the creature as it writhed around.
"Tch, it's still alive?!" 416 huffed.
"It definitely ain't likin' it, yeah? Keep the pressure on the sod!" MCX pressed.
"Watch...out...!" A howling groan sounded from the flames.
A flaming appendage suddenly shot out from the mass, the dolls reflexively rolled aside.
Rolling into a knee, VHS flicked the selector to auto and let loose a barrage. The rifle roared in fury as bullet after bullet was sent bursting from the muzzle towards the thing's eye, the orange glow of the burning tissue making for a distinctive target, the rest of Spectre scrambled to a firing position and followed suit. Muzzle flashes lit up the corridor, spent casings rained to the floor and bounced about, the incessant deafening blasts rocked the walls.
Feeling the bolt of her rifle lock back, VHS dropped her namesake to dangle from its sling as she ripped her Mark 23 out of its holster and continued the barrage while MCX and 416 reloaded their primaries.
It didn't take long for Vector to run completely dry, she tore her Model 327 out of its holster, supporting her submachinegun with her support hand in an effort to stop from burning herself with the red-hot suppressor. She trained the optic onto the creature and let loose a volley of magnum blasts.
Eventually, the shooting stopped, the barrels of the dolls guns glowed red-hot, thick smoke and the smell of gunpowder and burning god-knows-what filled the air as the dolls looked upon the mess in front of them. The thing had stopped moving, a unknown substance slowly seeped out from under it as the flames slowly died down...
But just when MCX was about to say something, the creature began to move again.
"Are you fookin' havin' a laugh?..." MCX grunted aggravatedly.
"I think it's time to call the rest of the Task Force..." VHS began to step back.
MCX's hand moved to her radio as she and the rest of Spectre followed suit. "Banshee, Phantom, Shade, this is Spectre, we have a code-black containment breach on Level B3! Scramble your teams and get your arses down here!"
"Wait, where the hell did that sleazeball go?!" 416 yelled out.
"Forget about him, we've got bigger problems now!" MCX called back as the mass began to regain its bearings and encroach upon the group. "Any ideas, ladies?"
"Running would be a good idea." VHS suggested.
"You're telling me that what WA created constitutes a code-black emergency?" The Commander sighed into his hands as he leaned over his desk.
"Spectre Team's reporting that it isn't responding to conventional weapons. The rest of Task Force Two-Seven is being deployed as we speak." RO affirmed.
Suddenly, the door to the Commander's office swung open.
"Commander, they didn't have any two-percent, and I didn't know if you preffered one-percent or whole, so I went ahead and got both." M4A1 relayed as she stepped into the room.
'Yo, Commander! I got those cigars you wanted." M16 followed up as she trailed in behind her sister.
The Commander turned to M4 and sighed. "M4...I might need your help soon...You might need to tap into that Relic tech you absorbed back in '64..."
M4's expression grew dire. "Commander...that's...you know what happened last time..."
"It'll be a last resort, but if it comes to it, I can't afford to have you hesitate. Do whatever you need to do to get yourself ready and monitor the situation. If TF Two-Seven can't contain the anomaly loose inside this base, I need you to intervene."
M4 turned her gaze downwards and fell silent, after a few seconds, she turned back to the Commander. "...Understood."
Inside the biodome, Type 64 softly hummed a tune to herself as she watered the field of plants before her. Suddenly, a group of dolls covered in soot and smelling like smoke came charging down the path.
"RUN, SOUCHUN!" One of the dolls yelled through her gas-mask.
"Huh?" Type 64 turned to see a massive hunk of melted noodles slithering down the path behind them, letting out shrill cries as it entangled itself in the foliage. "AAAHHH!"
As the botanist cried out, the leaves of the plants began to melt down and vanish into the noodles, followed by the branches...the trunks...the roots...The mass was absorbing them!
"NOOO! MY PLANTS!" 64 screamed.
The creature let out another shriek, thick vines began to push out of the mass, encircling it as sharpened thorns began to grow out along with a thick mass of leaves.
"It's evolving...this is bad..." MCX uttered.
A guttural croaking emitted from the creature as it rustled towards them. Souchun's watering can clattered to the floor as she and the rest of Spectre took off running.
Throwing open the biodome's emergency exit, the team ran through the corridor only to find Spas-12 casually strolling about.
"SABRINA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?! THIS AREA'S SUPPOSED TO BE LOCKED DOWN!" MCX cried out frantically.
Spas scratched her head as she gazed upon the group of frightened dolls. "Huh? I didn't see any signs..."
"Nevermind! Run! It's after us!"
"What's after you?" Sabrina tilted her head past Spectre Actual's shoulder to see a large pile of piping hot noodles and leafy green salad leaves rolling right towards her.
Spas stepped past the group of dolls, who quickly began shouting frantically.
"SABRINA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
The monster drew closer and closer, until it was mere inches from Sabrina. The large eyeball in the center split wide open, revealing its sharp, crooked teeth and a tongue dripping with goo as it prepared to descend on the unwitting doll...
But then...
Sabrina's jaw suddenly elongated, the lower half stretching all the way to the floor as her mouth opened to proportions thought to be impossible, stretching even wider than the monster's entire height. The creature froze in its tracks, before it began to scamper in the opposite direction.
A sound not unlike one of a high-powered vacuum emitted from the doll, the creature began to shriek as it found itself being pulled back by a powerful force. A sharpened spike pierced out of of one of its appendages and dug into the floor, the piercing sound of grinding metal echoed through the halls as the monster was dragged back unabated. The monster began to scream louder, its rear half began to disappear into the pitch-black void. Its screams grew louder, more distorted, as bit by bit of it was pulled in deeper. It thrashed about more and more desperately, its sharpened appendages clawing into the floor and deforming the metal tiles.
Eventually, all it could do was let out one final blood-curdling scream, its voice distorting into static before vanishing into echoes as the last of it vanished into the vacuous maw.
Spas 12's jaw slowly hinged shut. "Bleh...overcooked."
"Spas 12...ate it?" The Commander uttered in shock.
"I-It just...vanished into her mouth...and then it...I can still hear it screaming..." MCX shakily affirmed.
Pushing the images of the scene out of his mind, the Commander leaned back in his chair. "Well, that's one of our problems dealt with, at least...You said you lost track of that spy in the chaos?"
MCX nodded. "Slippery bugger that one, scrambled off while we were dealing with WA's little kitchen nightmare."
The Commander scratched the stubble on his chin. "I'll keep the base on alert. He'll rear his head sooner or later..." The Commander turned his gaze to the large package on the floor near his desk. "Huh, did M4 bring that here? I don't remember ordering anything from Rainforest."
"Huh?" RO followed the Commander's gaze. "...That wasn't here a minute ago."
The Commander shrugged. "Those Prime guys are just full of surprises these days, let's see who it's for...Huh, no delivery address, that's weird. Guess it's for me then."
The Commander pulled out a box-cutter and began to cut through the tape, when suddenly the box began to scream.
A mauve tux'd man burst out from the top flaps, knocking the Commander off balance. A small cylinder clattered to the floor.
BANG
The cylinder erupted into a blinding flash and a deafening bang. When the Commander came back to his senses, he found the agent standing over him, his magnum revolver leveled with his head. "Here's a lesson for the books, Commander - Never bury your enemies alive."
RO recovered her senses, seeing that she needed to act quickly, she reached into MCX's bag for anything that felt heavy. "NO!"
The Commander heard RO shout from his peripherals, and suddenly a bottle of shampoo nailed the agent directly in the forehead and exploded into a shower of suds that coated Max's sunglasses.
"MY SOAP!" MCX cried out.
"My shades, man! Not cool!" Max exclaimed as he stumbled around blind. He couldn't, of course, take the sunglasses off, they protected his super secret identity as a super secret agent. Absolutely nobody could see him without his sunglasses.
RO charged the blinded agent and dove to tackle him, but through dumb luck, he stumbled out of the way and sent the doll flying past him and into a wall.
Frantically tapping his spy watch, the agent manifested a pair of holographic windshield wipers that quickly wiped the suds off his glasses, then he bolted for the door.
AK-12 nearly jumped as the agent burst out of the office and charged down the hall.
"Twelve, after him!" The Commander yelled out as he went to check on RO.
Meanwhile, MCX stood sullenly over the broken shampoo bottle. "No no no no! Soap!"
12 bolted after the fleeing spy, flicking her eyes wide open, her wolf's eye picked up the trail of footprints running along the floor.
Max heard the inhumanly fast footsteps charging after them, he knew he had to act quickly if he wanted to escape unharmed. It was then that his eyes fell on the door to a supply closet. He swiftly ducked inside, though any relief he could have felt was immediately snuffed out at the sound of his pursuer's footsteps slowing as they grew closer to the outside of the door.
The spy's heart began to race as he backed away from the door. "Come on...think Max...think..."
Then, suddenly, he felt the soft rattle of clothes hangers as he backed into a mass of fabric. An idea suddenly popped into his head...
Seeing the footprints trail through the door of one of the storage closets, 12 readied her weapon as she stopped in front of the door. "Nice try, but you'll have to do better than that."
Slamming her boot under the doorknob, the doll effortlessly knocked the door open, but what she saw inside made her do a double take...
"Eeek! How about you learn to knock first? Can't you show a fellow T-Doll some common courtesy?" Definitely-not-Max chastised in his best impression of a high-pitched voice.
There Max stood before her, clad in a black bikini showing off his cartoonishly hairy chest, the white collar and bowtie accessorizing the neck immediately distinguished it as Five-Seven's swimsuit...
"AAAAHHHHH!" AK-12 shrieked at the top of her lungs and squeezed her eyes shut to spare herself the traumatic sight, but it was then that she realized the one disadvantage her wolf's eye had...
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" The doll screamed again, covering her face with her hands.
The door to the Commander's office was flung back open as AK-12 trudged back inside, dragging the bloodied and bruised spy in tow. She practically flung the restrained agent to the foot of the Commander's desk before stomping off to the nearest eye-wash station.
The Commander's expression contorted in disgust at the unsightly sight, setting his Bang aside, he cleared his throat and jumped up on his desk, looking down at the restrained intruder. "THAT DOES IT, YOU HAVE CROSSED THE LINE INTERLOPER! BEFORE YOU ARE SACRIFICED TO THE VOLCANO GOD, TELL ME, WHAT DOES THE URNC KNOW ABOUT MY OPERATION?! HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO INFILTRATE AND NAVIGATE MY LABRYNTH OF DOOM SO EFFICIENTLY?!"
The agent cracked a devious smile. "Isn't it obvious, Commander? One of your own...is a double agent."
"PREPOSTEROUS!" The Commander exclaimed. "I GIVE MY DOLLS LOTS OF CHEESECAKE! NONE WOULD DARE SELL ME OUT!"
"Oh, but they have, Commander...In fact, the traitor is one of your closest allies...they are even in this very room."
MCX, VHS, Vector, 416, RO, and AK-12 gasped in unison.
Suddenly, M4A1 burst into the room. "Commander! Dandelion has gained access to the URNC's Direct Intervention of Coordinated Killers Service's servers and decoded the mission file of this operation! We've been compromised by a traitor!"
"It...It can't be...WHO?! WHO IS THIS REPTILLIAN SCOUNDREL?!" The Commander bellowed out.
"The only way the URNC could have obtained this kind of information is...Commander...our intel is being leaked by..."
M4's voice shook, her words snagged themselves in their throat. All she could do is point, she raised her trembling hand, extending the index finger towards...RO635.
RO gasped. "W-What?! I-I'd never-"
"RO, move." M4 motioned her head to the side.
RO stepped out of the way, leaving the Rad Shiba unambiguously exposed...
"WHAT?!" The Commander shouted furiously.
The Rad Shiba began to cackle menacingly. "Ah-hahaha...very impressive, Lunasia. It seems Father has underestimated you once again."
"F-Father?! Y-you don't mean..." RO's eyes widened, the group felt their veins freeze solid at hearing something like this after all these years.
"Impossible..." M4 uttered in horror.
"Oh, it is very much so...He is very much alive, and has been plotting his revenge for a very long time while you have been playing about on your little island. With the aid of the URNC, Paradeus will rise again, and become stronger than ever. All that's missing are those little tidbits inside dear Lunasia's head." The Shiba declared.
"A Nyto..." RO breathed out.
"I SHOULD HAVE NEVER TRUSTED A DOG! LET ALONE A TALKING ONE!" The Commander cried out.
The Shiba cackled once again. "Oh, but you did...and it's too late to take any of it back, I've got you and Lunasia right where I want you now, I can take out two birds with one stone."
A small gun protracted out of the Shiba's back and aimed itself at the Commander.
"You cannot defeat me quite so easily! You might think you have me dead to rights, Mister Shiba, but I have something that you don't - something that William and his gang of loonies will never understand...The Power of bonds!" The Commander proclaimed.
"Oh yeah? Let's see your bonds stop bullets! HRAAAAAHHH!" The Shiba cried out as the cannon let out a hailstorm of bullets, muzzle flashes lit up the room as the cannon spat out bullets and spent casings alike.
The Shiba continued the barrage until the gun was empty, there was no point in skimping on ammo, once this Commander was dealt with, the rest of the operation was sure to fall like dominoes. Finally, the gun clicked empty, the barrel glowed red-hot as it smoked and sizzled.
When the smoke cleared, the Commander still stood unscathed, staring arrogantly at the Shiba...from behind RO635.
Crumpled bullets sat piled up at the T-Doll's feet as she groaned in pain, her hands covering the plethora of welts over her torso that was generously layered with ballistic gel.
"You see, Mister Shiba? Your brutish villainy is no match for the power of love!" The Commander affirmed.
"Commander...you're sleeping on the sofa tonight..." RO groaned out before collapsing to the ground.
"You monster! I'll never forgive you for what you've done to RO!" The Commander cried out.
"It matters not! You think I didn't expect this?! That was just the warm-up round! Nothing you or your dolls can do will be enough to stop me! I know all of your moves, all of your secret tricks! I can predict everything you're going to do before you even know what you're going to try next!"
"Thanks for warming me up, but I'm plenty heated already! If you think you know what do expect, then I'll just have to settle for the unexpected!" The Commander turned to M4. "M4, activate the relic!"
M4 hesitated. "But, Commander, I don't know what that will-"
"Exactly! Let's see this conniving canine predict this!"
M4 nodded hesitantly. Closing her eyes, the doll began to slowly emit a blue light.
"W-What sorcery is this?!" The Shiba cried out.
"You've walked into this parade with your pants down, Rad Shiba! Brace yourself...FOR MY ULTIMATE ATTACK!"
A blinding blue light suddenly engulfed the entire room, swallowing up the Commander, the Dolls, and the Rad Shiba.
When the light faded, the group remained in the same place, but something felt a little different...
"M4..." The red couch spoke.
"Yes, Commander?..." The green couch spoke.
"I think I'm a sofa..."
"I know how you feel..."
And then, they screamed.
Blue light flashed once again.
When the group came to their senses, they found themselves in a spacious classroom, the morning sun filtered through the windows, occasionally shadowed by fluttering sakura pettles drifting across the windows.
The Rad Shiba sat up in his desk looking around in confusion, only to see the Commander and M4 standing side by side at the front.
"Alright, Shiba! It's time someone took you to school!" The Commander cried out.
After getting her bearings, M4's brow furrowed. "WE DID THIS ALREADY IN ANOTHER EPISODE!" The doll shouted angrily before seizing the Commander by the back of his coat and flinging him straight at the Shiba.
The Commander and the Shiba yelled furiously as they scuffled on the ground and trades blows, while M4 sighed heavily and triggered another flash...
Coming to their senses once again, the Commander and M4 found themselves on a street corner, the building next to them simply labeled as "The Bakery". The sun sat high in the sky, shining its light down onto the city, it was also smiling cheerfully, for some reason...
"Commander, stop looking into the sun, you'll go blind!" M4 scolded.
"Oh, right, the Nyto dog." The Commander turned back to the Rad Shiba in front of them, who protracted a set of metallic pincers from its back.
"Now you've done it, you have no idea what I'm capable of, what you've just started!" The Shiba growled.
"No, I'm not starting anything..." M4 declared, her hands gripped the post of the 'Stop' sign beside her and tore it out of the ground. "I'm putting a stop to it!"
"So be it, en garde!" The Shiba extended its pincer directly at M4, the sound of grinding metal filled the air as the doll deflected the attack.
Clanging metal echoed through the streets as M4 traded blows with the pincers, each block and deflection drawing her closer to the Nyto, when suddenly, a large shadow fell over them...
SLAM
A massive marshmallow suddenly fell over them, the three quickly writhed their way to the surface and took a long gasp for breath.
"Urgh...it's all over me...my uniform..." The Commander lamented.
"My arms...I can't move!" M4 cried out, her arms trapped firmly as her sides as she tried to wiggle her way out of the marshmallow.
"Mine too..." The Commander called back.
"Ehehehe, looks like you two have gotten yourselves in quite the sticky situation...right where I want you." The Shiba cackled, its pincers piercing through the surface of the sticky mass around it.
The Commander's expression, however, remained neutral. Suddenly, his eye-patch flicked upwards and revealed a bionic eye. Before the Shiba could even react, a red laser shot out. Unable to move, the Shiba was left defenseless and completely unable to dodge or deflect...
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The Shiba cried out at the top of his lungs, its body vanished in a blinding flash of red fire as the surface of the marshmallow around it was thoroughly toasted, and within a couple of seconds, the Nyto had been vaporized entirely.
"Wow, talk about a rare sight, I wasn't expecting the man himself to do something so raw."
The Commander and M4 turned to the sound of the voice to see a slab of raw beef protruding from the marshmallow, a pair of mirrored aviators and a moustache sitting over the top.
Without a word, the Commander's laser fired into the slab, the sound of sizzling and the smell of cooking meat filled the air.
"NO! NOT WELL DONE! PLEASE NOT WELL DONE!"
With another blue flash, everyone appeared back in the Commander's office.
"Please...please tell me we're back to normal now?" The Commander breathed out.
"Yeah...I think so..." M4 replied, looking around the office. "...Do you think it's true, Commander? That William's still alive?"
"We're going to find out. Go get Dandelion and have her dig up everything she can about the URNC's research divisions."
"Uh, folks...What about me? Can't we work something out?"
The group turned slowly towards the agent, still restrained at the foot of the desk, albeit with several scorch marks on his torso...
"God of the Volcano, it is I, Vector! Hear my calling! I bring to you a sacrifice to satiate your burning desire for destruction! Behold!" Vector stood at the edge of the cliff looking down at the vast lake of burning magma below, the rest of Spectre carrying the agent strapped down to a wooden slab behind her.
"YOU REALLY BUILT A BASE ON AN ACTIVE VOLCANO?! WHY?! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO IF IT ERUPTS?!" The agent cried out.
"It won't erupt, because we're going to sacrifice you to it." The Commander replied.
"THAT'S RIDICULIOUS! COME ON, YOU GUYS! I TOLD YOU EVERYTHING I KNOW! I CAN'T HANDLE A VOLCANO, THAT'S TOO HOT EVEN FOR ME TO HANDLE!"
"Throw him in!" The Commander ordered.
On cue, Spectre tossed the wooden slab down into the crater.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The agent cried out as the slab plummeted into the lake, growing smaller and smaller until it disappeared into a brief flash of flames.
RO stood by the Commander's side, watching the scene unfold. After the agent disappeared from sight, she turned to the Commander. "...But, seriously, Commander - what are we going to do about the Volcano?"
"We'll...figure it out later." The Commander sighed deeply. "I knew there was a reason property values were so cheap here...In any event, we've got a much more immediate problem at our hands."
Stepping down from the hill leading up to the edge of the cliff, the Commander and RO moved to where ST AR-15, M4A1, M16, and Dandelion had assembled.
"I take it you don't have good news for me?" The Commander asked M4.
"No..." M4 breathed out, and turned to address the rest of the group alongside Dandelion. "Alright, listen up - Dandelion has successfully cracked the security on the URNC's Ministry of Science, and it confirms the worst..." The doll turned her head down and let out a heavy sigh. "Somehow, William returned..."
The gathering broke out into a storm of murmurs.
"Wait, do we believe this?..." RO uttered frantically.
"This is bullshit! The last time we saw William, I distinctly remember a white-hot light and the universe feeling just a little bit emptier!" STAR interjected angrily.
"Relic science...cloning...secrets only Paradeus knew?" M16 theorized quietly.
The Commander quietly seethed. "Dandelion, where is William now?"
"Somewhere in the former NSU. I've pulled his itinerary, as far as I know it shows exactly where he is now."
"Give me the coordinates!" The Commander ordered before turning to his communicator.
"K11, move the satellite into position! Fire the Urethral Inversion Ray at this man in particular!" The Commander bellowed out.
A wicked laugh sounded on the other end of the channel. "Oh...I've been waiting for this!" K11 menacingly cackled.
The Commander and the rest of the group turned to the west, a slim, bright beam of blue energy suddenly shot down from the sky over the horizon...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A scream echoed from the distance, reverberating through the sky before vanishing into the sky, blending with the crashing of waves against the shore.
Meanwhile, in URNC Territory, somewhere in the Caucasus Region...
"Jefuty!" Mendo cried out, storming into the room with his weapon raised.
He had just managed to catch up with her after chasing her for days, finding himself at a building surrounded by dead bodies with wounds consistent with gunshots from a 7.62x54R bullet, he had been just about to investigate the scene further before the most harrowing scream he had ever heard suddenly sounded from inside. And now he had found Jefuty before him, kneeling over the corpse of a middle-aged man, a large mess of blood staining his pants...
"Oh my God, what did you do to him?!" Mendo cried out.
"I-I didn't...H-He just...He was monologuing at me, but then...then his..." Jefuty shook her head and let out a deep breath. "...Then he started clutching his chest and spasming on the ground...I think it was so painful that it gave him a heart attack..."
"Well...that's it then. Your Father's dead. Are you happy now?"
"No..." The silver-haired girl uttered.
"Do you see now? Revenge isn't what you were looking for, Jefuty, instead of-"
"I wanted to kill him!" Jefuty cried out, breaking into tears as Mendo stared at her, an annoyed expression frozen on his face...
As the screams faded into the sunset, the Commander began to cackle. "Muhahahaha...MUHAHAHAHAHA! AH-HAHAHAHAHA! NOBODY CAN STOP ME NOW! I SHALL ASCEND EVEN FURTHER TO GREATNESS, AND BECOME THE RULER OF THE ENTIRE UNIVER-"
Ring Ring Ring
The sound of his cellphone ringing suddenly cut the Commander off. After scrambling for his phone, he quickly answered.
"WHO DARE DISTURB MY PLANS FOR WORLD DOMINATION?!"
"Dad...should I have called Mom's cell instead?" The voice on the other end replied.
"Oh- Anna, sweetie! No, I have time to talk, there was just a thing with the island and- ah, it's not worth getting into."
"Hey, is that Anna calling?" RO quickly leaned over.
"Hey- she called me first! Er, your Mother says hello too."
"I wanna talk to her too, she hasn't called us in forever!" RO clambered for the phone.
"Mom, it's only been a couple of weeks!" Anna defended
"Do you have any idea how long that is to me? You'll understand one day when you become a mother!" RO retorted.
"Anyways, what are you up to? Was there something you wanted to talk about?" The Commander tugged the phone back.
"Oh, right, I just wanted to say that Auntie SOP says that she isn't mad at Mom about the speech, and she did just fine on her own."
"Oh, yeah, we saw that. She's really coming into her own as the President isn't she? I'm sure with a smart girl like you as her aide, she has nothing to worry about!" The Commander replied.
RO wrestled the phone back. "How have you been doing? Have you been eating well? Getting lots of sleep? Don't tell me you've been pulling a bunch of all-nighters like your Father used to."
"Mom, Mom, I'm doing just fine. I've got everything under control."
"I hope you're not lying. I can always ask Auntie SOP about these things, you know!"
Meanwhile, Spectre team looked upon the two.
"Damn, there was something I wanted to ask the Commander. How long is this going to take?" Vector asked.
MCX shook her head. "They'll be like this for at least half an hour, maybe more. Best leave it for now."
One by one, Spectre team filed off, leaving the Commander and RO wrestling back and forth for the phone, pelting their daughter with an endless barrage of questions...