Astro and Tobio

Chapter 8: Games with a Psychopath

After landing, Astro and Tobio's attention was immediately caught by Zoran, who was sitting shivering next to the computer station, one of the black metal rings around her neck. She was shivering because Sebastian, who was standing just a few steps away with his hands behind his back, had informed her that he could detonate the ring whenever he wanted.

"Zoran!" Tobio yelled. Sebastian watched with a smile on his face as Tobio ran over to Zoran and put his arms around her neck in an embrace.

'Now to demonstrate the full extent of my brilliance,' he thought to himself. Behind his back he held a cylinder-shaped device. He flicked open the top to reveal a red button. He waited until the correct moment and then pressed the button.

Just as he was pushing the button, there was a click and the ring fell to the ground. A surprised looking Zoran quickly got to her feet and ran and hid behind Astro. Tobio backed away from the professor more cautiously, holding up a small object for the professor to see, while saying, "I invented those rings. Did you really think I wouldn't have a key?"

'Of course, I thought you had the key. That is why I pressed the detonator even though I was near enough to be killed in the explosion, that is how confident I was in my prediction of you unlocking the ring, thus disarming it. I even got the timing exactly right. I got that right, just like I got everything else you would do after my Magna Guards showed up right,' Sebastian thought smugly. "Oh well, times up anyway," he replied calmly, looking at the screen as the loading bar reached 100%.

"Sorry to disappoint you," smirked Tobio, "but I managed to find the blueprints for a number of your hideouts when I was your prisoner, including this one."

"All he had to do was show me the location of this building's satellite dish and I blew it up," Astro continued with a smile.

'That would explain the explosion I heard,' thought Zoran.

"You have no way to transmit the viruses. They are stuck inside your own computer system," stated Astro and Tobio together.

'I knew you would and that confirms it. I predicted everything they did perfectly. I even counted down the time to them destroying the dish,' Sebastian gloated inside his head. He had spent the last few months following Astro and Tobio to collect data on them, even sending a few droids to fight them so he could observe how they would respond. What he had collected added to information he already learnt about Tobio when holding him prisoner and things he had researched about Astro during that time. All this data combined with his exceptional mind allowed him to calculate their moves ahead of time.

'Now that I can anticipate their every move, those two fools don't stand a chance against me. Still, it is amazing how individually they would lose against me easily, but together they actually provide a challenge.' Astro freed Tobio. Tobio shutdown the droids. Astro destroyed the satellite dish. Tobio unlock the metal ring on Zoran. They both took it in turns to accomplish something the other could not.

With his hands still behind his back, the professor rotated the device he held 180 degrees and opened the lid on the other end, as Astro aimed his hand, now a blaster, at him. At the same time, Tobio picked up a blaster one of the shutdown droids had dropped, setting it to stun, and pointed it at Sebastian as well. He was unfazed by this and just smirked, "I've got what I wanted so I will be off now." He pressed the second button on the device.

A loud alarm started to blare throughout the building. Astro and Tobio looked around in shock. They knew what it meant. It was the exact same alarm they had heard when they faced Sebastian the first time. As the alarm rang, the roof above them began to open.

The professor took advantage of their momentary distraction to slip on a jetpack he had placed by the side of the computer station. "You have five minutes before this place goes boom," he laughed.

"Are you mad!" Tobio cried.

"This building is right next to residential and business towers. An explosion could kill thousands!" Astro yelled.

Sebastian glanced at the computer screen, which now displayed a five-minute countdown that had just started. "Then I suggest you get to stopping the timer as quick as you can," he chuckled as his jetpack carried him into the air. Astro and Tobio both fired at him but he avoided the shots with ease. He laughed as he disappeared from view.

Tobio dropped his blaster and ran over to the computer station and began typing. Lines of code began to run across a second screen. Astro walked up behind him and asked, "Any chance one of us could deactivate the timer and the other go after the professor?"

"No chance. Even both of us will struggle to override this code in time."

"I thought not," Astro sighed as he moved and started to type on another keyboard. On the plus side, they avoided an argument over who would be the one to follow Sebastian.

Zoran watched them nervously as the timer slowly "ticked". "Are you certain you can get this done quick enough?"

"It will be close but we will succeed. Don't worry," smiled Astro reassuringly as he typed. "If this was something we couldn't do, then there wouldn't be any point in trying and we would have followed the professor. This isn't meant to kill us, it is meant to preoccupy us to give him a chance to escape."

"Indeed," agreed Tobio, tapping the keyboard. "Besides, Professor Sebastian would never kill his greatest enemies in such a cowardly way."

The screen ran clear of code and the timer stopped just as it reached single digits. Astro and Tobio gave each other the thumbs up. "Told ya" they said in unison to Zoran. She ran over and wrapped her arms around Astro's neck in a hug, making him blush.

Tobio pulled the memory stick he presumed held the viruses from one of the computer station slots, before hopping onto his skateboard. 'This might allow the government to prepare for future attacks by the professor,' he thought as he flew his hoverboard out of the room. Astro put his arms around Zoran's waist and carried her into the air, following Tobio.

As he flew down to the pavement outside the building, Tobio looked around to see if he could spot Sebastian but there was no sign of him. After the professor had vanished from sight, he had immediately descended and then disappeared into the sewers. The only thing Tobio observed was the sun was starting to set.

Tobio landed and got off his board, looking over at Astro. His face fell at the sight he was met with. Astro set himself and Zoran on the ground but their lips were pressed together. Zoran still had her arms around Astro's neck. 'Well, I guess I should have seen that coming. I should never have tried to come between them,' thought Tobio, doing his best to smile. 'Those two are like Peter Pan and his Wendy Lady: meant for each other and will never grow up. You know, I should write a fanfiction about that couple. If only I was any good at writing romance.' He propped his board up vertically, waiting patiently while leaning on it.

When Astro and Zoran stopped kissing, they stayed in the embrace, both breathing "I love you" to the other. Tobio waited a few more seconds, then cleared his throat to remind them that he was here. Astro and Zoran jumped apart, both blushing madly.

"Tobio," Zoran began, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for…"

But Tobio shook his head. "No, it's my fault. I should never have come between you, I just couldn't help myself," he said with a small smile. "I'm so sorry for letting you get captured." He looked at Astro. "I tried my best to keep my promise to keep her safe."

Now Astro shook his head. "I couldn't have saved Zoran without your help. I wouldn't have even come here if you hadn't contacted me. And most importantly, Zoran is fine. I'd say you kept your promise. Wouldn't you Zoran?"

Zoran grinned and nodded. Tobio let his board fall to the ground as he walked over and gave Astro a hug, a gesture Astro happily returned. "Does this mean you two are brothers again?" asked Zoran.

Astro and Tobio pulled back from the embrace but both kept one arm around the other. "No because we always were," they answered in unison. They looked at each other in surprise and Zoran became uneasy, worried the two were going to get annoyed again. But unlike the previous day the two started laughing. Zoran soon joined the laughter and the embrace.

A matter of hours later, not long after midnight, Professor Sebastian walked down a hallway in a research facility. He made his way into a laboratory, placing two objects on a table before quickly forcing open a locked cupboard with his hands. He was much stronger than his baggy lab outfit implied. As he got older, he had found that his body, along with his mind, did not wear out. He was as strong now in his sixties as he was in his twenties. He partially attributed this to his perfect diet and routine. But he also believed he was simply a unique human being. It was one of the reasons he thought he should be emperor.

He heard footsteps coming from the hallway and looked up at the ceiling over his shoulder then turned, so his back was to the door. He scanned the labels on the chemical containers inside the cupboard. If this was supposedly the best research facility in Metro City, he was not impressed with their collection of chemicals.

The door flew open and five police officers ran in pointing their guns at him. "Get down on the floor!" the one at the front shouted. Sebastian merely raised his hands in a surrender position. "I said get down on the floor or we will put you there!"

"Very well," replied Sebastian calmly, "But first lets even the playing field." Commando droids instantly dropped down from the ceiling, plunging swords into the police. 'If they hadn't be so focused on destroying me they would have noticed the droids above them,' Sebastian thought as he turned around. The only one still alive was the one who had spoken. The droids held him as Sebastian picked up his machete.

"You can't get away. There are more coming. If you give yourself up we might be able to work something out," said the officer.

"If you had said that when you thought you were in control I would have believed you," said Sebastian before swinging the blade. "But I would have still killed you," he added as the body fell to the ground.

He heard more footsteps. This time he would deal with them himself. He waited next to the doorway until the footsteps were right outside, he then clicked a button on his watch. This switched off the lights, plunging the place into darkness and he was upon the police in a second. The hallway being pitch-black was no issue for him. With every fatal blow he recited a number in his head. He always made sure to keep track of his overall kill count.

After he was finished, he walked back into the lab, leaving the now headless officers in the hallway. He took off his trench coat to reveal an outfit identical to the ones worn by the police he had just killed. Sebastian then picked up the other object he had put down earlier, headgear. This also matched what the police wore. As he put this on he spoke one calm statement into the microphone attached, "Leave none alive."

Exiting the building shortly afterwards, he was met with the sight of his commando droids descending on and killing those who had been standing guard outside. No one paid him any attention as he darted away. The droids knew it was him thanks to a tracking device in his watch and to everyone else he just looked like a comrade running for cover.

After reaching the safety of an alleyway he watched as his droids dragged any survivors into the building. He wondered how many more of his adversaries were still running about inside unaware of what was about to happen. He looked at his watch, as per usual his timing was perfect. A few seconds later a series of explosions sent the building up in flames as the professor made his way into the sewers.

Less than two hours later he sat in his apartment enjoying Gorgonzola cheese and the world's finest fruit juice as if nothing had happened and rehearsing the next part of his plan.

To Be Continued…