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Dark FOrce Destructor-COMPLETE VERSION Part Two
By Dac
Chapter 13
Three new allies, three new friends. The alliance now has 153 members, and everyone has their own skills: weaponry, flight, powers and the works. However, new and more complicated matters are at hand as we will now see. Here we pay another visit to the cruel Marjinners, and to their geneticist, Agent Matrix. He has just proved his hand at breaking the seals on the cocoons, but now he is going the next step. He unlocked the door and is now turning the handle!
21 November 2001
Madblast Tower
7.48.32 p.m.
Agent Matrix sat hunched over the control panel, eating something brown and drinking something yellow. The absent-minded geneticist was carefully laying out his plans for a new creature when…
“Hey, AM!”
The test tube fell to the floor and crashed, sending bubbly khaki yellow liquid seething over the floor. The enraged man whipped out a shotgun and spun and aimed.
“YOU INSOLEeenntt…” he began yelling, but his voice faltered at the site of the intruder. It was none other than Major Sharkey.
“Idiot.”
The creature creator hastily tossed his shotgun among the cocoons, where it disappeared.
“Er…good day, major.”
“What was that for?”
“I was working on a Gasgab. It…”
“Spare me the lecture and do your job. The Destructor sent this down.” The major handed the geneticist an envelope.
“Get ready to release one creature, it can be sent to raid Yahoo. Make sure it is powerful and it can do the job well. If not, we shall behead you and feed your body to the creature. Your head shall be left on a pike.
Signed, the Dark Force Destructor.”
Matrix looked up.
“And exactly which creature does he want me to send?”
“Any will do. By the way, have you seen Dac today?”
“Dac? No, I assumed he was on the bridge with you. You’re the first person that’s come here in a few days. Why?”
“He’s reported sick again. We’re not sure why he’s always doing it. Beno-yo thought you were poisoning him to take his rank.”
“Ha! Stupid corporal. I’m going back to work. I’ll choose the creature later. Get my shotgun, will you?”
The major, who was trying not to laugh at what Matrix was eating, went to pick up the shotgun. He found it nestled against one cocoon, which, unlike the slightly purple others, was glowing blue for some reason. He bent to pick up the shotgun…when suddenly something else came down. An enormous brown foot, claws as long as his hands, stepped on the shotgun. He heard the sound of crunching metal and lead as he looked up. An enormous face glared back. Slowly, he backed up as the creature climbed from the cocoon. It appeared to be a huge reptile. Its body was that of a Velociraptor, but on the back, two scaly wings, a deep bottle green, extended and curled constantly. And its head…no dinosaur alive had a head like the creature the major saw before him. It had a jet-black head of a snake, cruel, penetrating eyes that looked within his very heartless soul, and a foul black forked tongue, which flicked in and out of the huge mouth. That mouth opened and he saw row after row of black and yellow gnarled teeth, which seemed to secrete dark green goo, which was obviously poison. The major backed out of the cocoons slowly, the monster following him with an almost graceful movement. Matrix didn’t even look up as the petrified major backed towards his desk.
“Well? Where’s my bloody gun?”
“Uh…Agent?”
The geneticist looked up…and toppled backwards off his chair in shock. The monster stood not three feet away, hissing and spitting. Both men went paler than Esplinter had been before his death, when the agent had a sudden idea. He moved forward boldly, to the astonishment of his superior officer, and held out his hand, palm upwards, and spoke in a curious voice and language, almost like the growling of a crocodile…and the monster cocked its head to listen. That alone nearly gave Sharkey a heart attack. A monster had pursued him with the obvious intention of breakfast, and found another snack, who was now talking to it in an absurd manner…and yet it listened. Then the monster replied, growling and giving the odd snarl at times, and stood up straight. Sharkey decided to give a tentative question:
“What’s going on?”
The geneticist turned to him, grinning.
“Isn’t it obvious? We just found the monster to send!”
Chapter 14
A whole new complex matter has arisen, unbeknownst to the alliance. The site to which they are headed, Yahoo, is the same target of the DFD’s monstrous Ezcar! But while these two paths are about to cross over, the issue of the DFD’s orders is also being carried out: after a slight delay, the torturing of Cyros is about to take shape! The newly promoted Sergeant Beno-yo has taken charge of the body-guillotine and is preparing for one of the most gruesome tortures yet: body-part incision!
22 November 2001
9.46.33 p.m.
Madblast Tower Torture Chamber
A crowd of Marjinners filled the chamber. Atop a platform stood Sergeant Beno-yo, and several other ranking officers. And in the center, stretched over a wooden board, was Cyros. All other low-security or medium-security prisoners, including Jurassiclaw, were standing in a holding pen, watching in horror. But in confusion, Jurassiclaw couldn’t see Dilo-Dude anywhere, and wondered if and why he was a high-security prisoner. In the middle of the crowd’s jeers and catcalls, Beno-yo raised a hand and the sound died instantly.
“Corporal Dino-Snore!”
A burly corporal stepped up, armour gleaming.
“Yes sir!”
“Run us through the regulations.”
Dino-Snore raised a scroll.
“Owing to the offence of holding back information valuable to the Dark Lord, we are hereby permitted to use the torture of body part incision on the prisoner Cyros. Let the operation commence and if the subject of the punishment is too harsh for the prisoner and he wishes for mercy, answer our sergeant’s questions.”
The corporal lowered the scroll. Beno looked at Cyros.
”Now, then, worm, answer this. Though you blinded a surveillance camera, the microphones picked up you talking to someone outside the tower walls. Who was it?”
“I’ll never tell!” snapped Cyros bravely. Beno nodded to Dino-Snore, who sat down at a console and set co-ordinates for Cyros’s ankle. The guillotine moved to directly above Cyros’s ankle.
“Answer now or be sliced!”
Cyros glared defiantly at the sergeant and the guillotine.
“No!”
With a metallic CHING!, the oddly black blade dropped down…and severed the prisoner’s ankle! In horror, Cyros realized why the blade was black…it was covered in pain intensifying poison! He yelled and howled in agony. Beno smirked.
“Tell me, or it goes to your knee!”
Beside himself with pain, Cyros thought hurriedly, ‘Lie! Lie to him! Say it was…’ “RIVERWORLD!”
Beno blinked. “RiverWorld? Why the hell would he risk being caught to talk to you?”
“I don’t know! Make the pain stop! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!”
Jurassiclaw tuned away in horror.
“Where did he go?”
“I will not tell!”
The guillotine dropped through the knee.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!”
“WHERE?!!”
‘Lie again!’ “Gngngn…AskJeeves!”
Immediately, the sergeant whipped around and snapped an order to Dino-Snore. The corporal hit a button and Cyros popped limply off the bench. Two Marjinners dragged him over to the other prisoners, and all the troops herded the prisoners back to their cells. Beno looked at the sodden foot and shin. He grinned to the corporal.
“Deliver those to the captain’s quarters, he’ll enjoy tearing them up.”
He left to deliver what they had found out to Major Sharkey. He found him coming pale out of the spiral staircase that led to the geneticist’s room.
“Well?”
Beno related the events to his superior officer. Sharkey’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t like it. RiverWorld doesn’t even like them. What’s his game?”
“I have no idea. But we better look into it. What if it was true?”
“You’re implying they might have been lying about the whole thing?”
“That’s exactly what I’m implying. But then again, why risk dying for some idiot?”
“I guess. Send someone to AskJeeves.”
Chapter 15
The brutal torture of Cyros has undergone, and the loyal lying man lost his leg below the knee in an effort to save his friends. His lies, though suspicious, worked on the hapless major and sergeant, who believed them and are preparing to send Corporal Dino-Snore to AskJeeves to investigate Cyros’s false claims. However, high above, in the lift tube to the Dark Force Destructor, the other high-ranking officer Captain Dac is investigating an urgent call from the DFD. Could this be a promotion, or does the evil lord have another more sinister plan in mind?
23 November 2001
1.03.59 a.m.
Madblast Tower
Captain Dac gulped nervously. After a night of intensifying training, he was sure he had everything perfect.
He was wrong.
Exactly thirty minutes after walking out of the Gravity Simulator, a message had come down from high above. The Dark Lord wanted Dac up there. Alone. Knowing that he was wanted was bad enough, but even worse was the fact that Sharkey was not needed. It was always the case that both of them went to the room of the DFD together. But no, this time it was specified: Dac was to come alone. The terrified captain couldn’t help wondering what was up. What could possibly-
“Ah, captain, do come in.”
Dac jolted. He was already at the DFD’s room, and he hadn’t noticed.
“T-thank you, my lord-d.”
“Now, captain, I want to talk to you about a bad habit of yours.”
“P-pardon?”
“I have noticed that several times over the past few weeks you have been sneaking into the Gravity Simulator.”
Dac’s heart stopped.
“Er…m-my lord, it is for a good p-purpose…”
“Quiet. I have told you before; there is no such thing as an Ultra Marjinner. If you make one more training session without my permission, you shall be executed. Perhaps you need a reminder…”
“Lord Destructor, please…”
“Get over here.”
The petrified captain stumbled to 3 feet behind the chair. A pale finger appeared around it. At once, a lightning bolt shot from it and zapped the captain. He dropped to the ground at once, having violent convulsions and screaming. The bolt continued to electrocute him.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
“Listen to me, captain, I am sick of your antics. You may only train if I say you can. We have precious little time as it is. Torbie and his group may want to fell our empire, and you waste the little time we have in a gravity room? Come now, captain, all you needed to do was ask…”
The captain continued to scream. 500,000 volts were shooting into his body, and he was starting to black out…when it ended. Everything was clear again. The bolt had ceased. Dac got up, aching, when a fireball blew from the finger and exploded in his chest, blowing him back into the wall. Energy blasts shot from the finger, and Dac barely managed to dodge them, transmitting himself around the room. Of course, he couldn’t get around to the front of the chair, and the Dark Lord’s hood was pulled over so his profile was not visible. Finally, the blasts ceased. Dac did not have as much blast scrapes as he thought he would have ended up with. The voice spoke again, and Dac thought he heard a slightly impressed tone in it this time.
“Well, well, that training must have paid off. Only twenty of my forty blasts hit you, and you still survived. Now listen, captain, I’m letting you off easy this time, but if you sneak into the gravity room again, I won’t be so merciful. For god’s sake, if you need the training then send word to me and I may consider it. Now go.”
Dac turned and ran for the lift tube.
Chapter 16
Several new plotlines have crossed over now. By order of the Dark Force Destructor, Agent Matrix has released one deadly creation, which happens to be heading towards the same site that Icebreaker’s group is headed! Cyros, ever loyal, sacrificed half of his leg to save his friends, and gave the plausible Sergeant Beno-yo a handful of lies that he believed! And the sinister Destructor has given the menacing Captain Dac a test, putting his training skills to the test after a brutal torture! But let us leave the evil Marjinners to their own private things, and return to Icebreaker and his adventures on Yahoo!
22 November 2001
7.45.20 a.m.
Banjo-Tooie Page
Everyone yawned and stretched themselves out. After an uncomfortable night on the floor of the oil drill building on the Banjo-Tooie Page, they were ready to hit Yahoo and enlist some more allies. Seth climbed to his feet and hobbled over to the computer. He programmed the co-ordinates and double-checked them, not wishing to make Post Grant’s mistake and send them god knows where. Icebreaker stumbled over.
“Anything?”
“Yep. Went over it. Time for Yahoo. You guys know the drill. Hands in the slot.”
The now-familiar feeling encased their bodies and in an instant they were transported to a small alleyway in Yahoo. However, it was how Raptormark had described GeoCities: barren and empty. Feeling crestfallen, Vader spoke up.
“Guess that sucks. No one here. No new allies to enlist. We came here for nothing. And we have to find the computer here!”
However, he spoke too soon. At that moment, a high-pitched scream echoed around the alley, and everyone prepared their weapons and edged around the corner. Nothing, but the screaming was getting louder, and an odd hissing, spitting noise met their ears now, too. They turned off the small street they were in to the main road. What they saw nearly knocked them flat with shock. Converging on two men and a woman was the vilest creature any of them had ever seen. It had a dark brown body like a Velociraptor, and two scaly, bottle green Pteranodon wings extended from the back, beating loudly. But the head was what disgusted them most. It was jet black, rather flat, and was identical to a snake’s. It hissed and spat at the three it was stalking towards, and suddenly TyrannoRex112 let loose a clip from his machine gun. It grazed the monster, which turned and let out a full-throated roar, revealing disgusting breath and foul-looking teeth. It turned from the three huddled under a bench and stalked towards the alliance. Icebreaker glanced at the others. Evilgrinch gaped, Vader stared, Seth was pale and Dino_Dude had gone rigid. Quickly, he lifted from the ground and shot toward the creature. It saw him coming and beat its wings. It lifted from the ground and an aerial combat match ensued. The monster lunged and snapped, its venomous fangs dripping with green goo. Icebreaker shot around it, dodging its mouth, arms and foot claws, and sent a couple of blasts. However, his blasts were in vain: whenever one came near, the beast wrapped itself up in its wings, which brushed off the beams. It lost altitude in doing this, but it spread its wings after the attacks subsided and caught a thermal. Ice was tiring fast, while the monster seemed to never even break a sweat.
Then, it happened.
Ice let his guard down for a second, and the creature used it to its advantage. It lunged forward and snapped its reptilian jaws onto his arm. He screamed in horror and pain as the fluids slowly pumped into its body. The monster, while never releasing its grip, made an odd racking noise as though it was laughing. But it, too, made the mistake of letting its guard down.
Just as Ice’s body started to sag, three blasts, one red, one yellow and one orange shot from somewhere on the ground. The creature noticed them a fraction of a second before they all collided with it, and howling in pain, it blew backwards into a building with an almighty explosion. Ice’s failing senses noticed its energy fading, but not disappearing, before he blacked out. He hit the ground with a thud. Dino_Dude hurried over.
“Ice! ICE!”
Ice was unconscious, but not dead. Dino_Dude turned and looked at Evilgrinch, Vader and Seth. All three were in blast positions, arms extended and palms out. All wore expressions of rage on their faces, and were aiming their hands at the spot the thing had been before it had been blown away. The smoke cleared and revealed the monster was gone. At that moment, the creature appeared again. Two brown arms dragged itself out of the hole in the building it had blown. The ugly head, one side slightly maimed, glared at them. It climbed to its feet and beat its wings in the darkness, and launched itself from the building. Everyone braced himself or herself for a swooping, but the reptile had barely flown two meters when it crashed to the ground. Everyone looked at it, and then they saw why it had bombed out. One of the blasts had mangled the left wing. It was incapable of flight and it knew it. Instead, it ran straight at its three unexpected attackers…who immediately did what the monster could no longer do. They lifted from the ground and dived at it. All three came from different directions, and its head snapped from side to side to front as all three zeroed in. Seth extended a dagger, Evilgrinch raised a fist and Vader aimed a kick. The monster didn’t know what to do, and was slashed, smashed and crashed. It fell to the ground, stunned.
“Now! FINISH IT OFF!” yelled Evilgrinch, and all three raised their hands again.
“Haakaa FIRE!” roared Vader
“Purple BLASTER!” howled Seth
“Mega COMET!” finished Evilgrinch, and the three blasts fired and literally consumed the knocked out lizard.
A smoky crater was all that was left of the repulsive reptile. Once all three were sure it was dead, they landed next to the slumped body of their friend they had saved.
“Well?” asked Seth. “How’s he keeping?”
“He’s still breathing, as far as I can tell,” said Dino_Dude. “But I think that bastard of a thing poisoned him. We need an antidote for snake poison.”
“Um, excuse me,” said a nervous voice. Everyone turned. The three people they had saved were climbing out from underneath the bench. The woman was talking.
“We live here, and Yahoo is a region of poisonous reptiles in the swamps. We developed a remedy for any and all reptile poisons. I have one here. It should help your friend.”
She tossed a small bottle to Seth. He caught it and looked at it while the others opened Ice’s mouth.
“How much do I give him?”
“Er…I’d say about half the bottle. And it’ll take him about five minutes to recover, so don’t expect him to sit up straight away.”
“Right.”
Seth poured it into Ice’s mouth, put the bottle top on and tossed it back to the woman.
“Thanks.”
“Think nothing of it. We owe you all a favour for saving us,” said one of them men. He then introduced them.
“I’m CarnaRaptor, this is Brad and Yvonne.”
“Hi.”
“And you are…”
“I’m Dino_Dude. This is Seth Rex, Vader, Evilgrinch, Spinoboy11, Raptormark, RaptorHiss…” and so forth.
After exactly seven minutes with no sign, no one noticed Ice’s eyes snap open.
“What the…bloody hell…”
“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!”
“Jesus, Ice, don’t do that to us!”
“What’s up?”
They told him what happened, and he thanked the new three for their help.
“So, what are you guys planning to do?”
“We don’t know. Ever since the news got out about the Dark Force Destructor, Yahoo cleaned out. We hid here. What about you?”
“We’re on our way to storm that guy and his minions.”
“Really? Would you be in need of assistance? I mean, extra assistance?” suggested Yvonne, looking at the DD Gang and their arsenal of weapons.
“Well, we wouldn’t want to endanger you…” said Seth hurriedly.
“No, no, it’s quite all right. Our friends are stuck in they’re prison, and we’d gladly help you,” insisted Brad, speaking for the first time.
“Well, if you insist,” said Ice uneasily. “And you did save me, so I guess I owe you a favour…”
‘Oh, here we go again,’ thought Evilgrinch.
***
Again, the visual of the Marjinner’s scout had an image implant. This time, Corporal Dino-Snore was operating the monitor, and it was Captain Dac leaning over his shoulder. He had healed from the beating the Dark Lord had given him, and Sharkey had filled him in on everything. They were inspecting other sites, trying to decide which was next in line for conquest, when the image minimized and a message flashed up: INCOMING FROM YAHOO.
“Oh, this’ll be the Ezcar,” said Dac, and both watched the image.
They gaped at the beating the Ezcar had taken from Ice’s three friends. Once again, an identity check was run, and the wanted list grew larger. Dac left the room in silence, thinking about what had happened, and was going to report to Sharkey, when a Marjinner scout ran up to him.
“Yes, Dark Hunter?”
“Sir, I was just sent to scout AskJeeves, and there are no life forms on that site. I ran a check and I was the first living organism to go there since two weeks ago.”
Dac was bolt upright.
“You mean…”
“Yes. Cyros lied. RiverWorld was not the one to visit, and he never went to AskJeeves.”
Dac wheeled and ran for the major’s quarters, muttering on the way.
“Need another raid to subdue this lot, but where to raid…”
Chapter 17:
A battle against Agent Matrix’s monstrous Ezcar has left Icebreaker in confusion after being beaten by the foul lizard. Though he was stronger than Seth Rex, Vader and Evilgrinch, he was no match for the poison of the beast and lost the fight. His three friends, however, stepped in to gain the upper hand, and blew the creature away to hell! Thanks to an antidote from three new friends, Brad, Yvonne and CarnaRaptor, Ice was back on his feet, and new plans are being concocted. Next stop for the group of 206: Conkula!
23 November 2001
8.22.33 p.m.
Yahoo
“Here it is,” called Yvonne.
The group had been disappointed to learn that they had landed a long way away from the only remaining computer at Yahoo, and had spent the whole day playing card games in CarnaRaptor’s jet on the way. It took the whole day to fly there, land, and walk to the underground complex that housed the computer. When they arrived, Yvonne showed them the computer, and Seth hunched over it, typing in the co-ordinates for Conkula, where they hoped to find more allies to enlist. Then they could liberate Madblast Tower. The familiar slot appeared, the familiar glow beamed up and they found themselves landing on top of each other in Conkula. They found themselves in the games building, and left to try and find the main building. They patrolled the site, when AlanGrant5 suddenly glanced over to the wall of a nearby shed…and saw a site map on the wall.
“Here we go.”
He took it down the map and spread it out over the ground. Everyone pored over it as best they could.
“OK, so we’re here…” said Vader, pointing at the YOU ARE HERE sign.
“And we need to get here…” added Evilgrinch, indicating the main building.
“Across this path,” finished Seth, tracing a small jungle path with his finger. Everyone looked up. They could see the path from where they were, so they started heading down it. As they followed it, Icebreaker had an uneasy feeling, and it was getting bigger the further they went. Then they found the source of the problem when they reached the main building.
About a hundred people wearing armour similar to Esplinter’s, but a duller gray, were crawling around the building, shooting at anything moving in sight. Quickly, everyone ducked behind bushes or up trees. In hushed whispers, Ice gave swift sharp orders. There was no mistaking that armour. Some Marjinners were conducting another raid, and Ice was going to spring a trap for them. Silently, everyone moved into position.
***
A Marjinner, in between blowing holes through everything he saw, was keeping an eye on other things. He noticed a map on the wall nearby, and studied it. According to the map, a small jungle path led from the main building to a maintenance shed, where some more people might be hiding. The orders from Major Sharkey this time were much less subtle this time: kill any and all people sighted, and steal some equipment. He gave a small yell, and all the gunfire stopped. He yelled out that they should check out the shed. Half of them joined him, and the rest went back to shooting. The Major had taken their blasting equipment away and ordered no hand blasting for fear of destroying some valuable equipment.
KOS, the Marjinner who had decided to check out the shed, led several others into the jungle path, when they heard something.
“Heeeeeeeeeeeeeelllppp…heeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllppp…” wailed a voice, which sounded not too far from the path. Quickly, KOS gave the ‘move-out’ sign, and everyone readied their guns and entered the jungle. After about ten minutes of walking through the jungle, they came across the source of the moans. It was a human, who appeared badly wounded, with several bullet-holes in the chest, and looked up at them pleadingly. KOS gave a quick order for some men to pick up the man, when suddenly five of his men fell dead; all with bullet-holes in their heads. Out of all the foliage emerged Dino_Dude and 100 other members of the DD Gang, all aiming guns at them. Shocked, the rest of the Marjinners dropped their weapons and communications equipment. Dino_Dude grinned.
“Easier than picking up pies. Here’s to hoping Operation Two ran as well.”
At that moment, they heard yells of horror, pain and shock. They were coming from the main building.
***
More Marjinners were crawling over the building, when one found a floor plan. And unmarked storage room was in the cellar. He called out to Corporal Dino-Snore that he was going down to check it out.
“Permission to investigate, sir?”
“Get down there.”
A watcher in the tree grinned. Everything was going according to plan.
The Marjinner climbed down the ladder, and to his astonishment saw several weapons in the dark. He couldn’t see what racks were holding them up, but they were uneven for some reason. He yelled up the ladder
“It’s a weapons store room!”
“We’re coming!”
The rest of the army slid down the ladder, and saw all the guns and gaped in delight. This would keep them out of Sharkey’s black books for a while. Then one private hit the power button, and the joy turned to horror. Men were holding the guns, and the Marjinners all had guns to their heads. Dino-Snore bolted up the ladder and ran to the computer room, beamed himself up and escaped. Gunfire rang out through the hallway, and Ice dashed into the room, but Dino-Snore was gone. Vader appeared behind him.
“The rest are in some cellar, I don’t know why. Our men have gone to secure it.”
They ran to the ladder, and yelled out to the terrified Marjinners below.
“Come on out, Marjinners! This building is secure, and there’s no way you’re escaping now!”
An angry Marjinner yelled out from below.
“Hey, we’ve already got problems down here, you idiot! You secured this room too!”
“What? No, we didn’t.”
“What? Then who are these guys?”
“Who? What? Everyone, come on up, and don’t try funny stuff.”
The utterly confused Marjinners climbed up the ladder.
“The guys that caught us are still down there.”
“Come on up, whoever you guys are. If you hate the Marjinners I guess we could come to an agreement.”
“OK, we’re coming.”
Up the ladder they came. One hundred…one hundred and fifty…two hundred and thirty three men came up from the cellar. Ice stared.
“Who are you guys?”
One man stepped forward.
“My name is TRex…Rage!!. I am the leader of this force. We have opposed the Marjinners for some time now, but we believe our force is not strong enough yet.”
“It’s your lucky day. We have a force over 200 strong, and we have a bundle of Marjinners here.”
“But some left through the jungle. They’ll be back soon.”
“I doubt that. We left a little surprise for them.”
At that moment, they heard a voice.
“Hey, Ice, we got ‘em. How’d your operation go?”
“That’s Dino_Dude. He’s one of us, and he caught the other Marjinners.”
Ice walked over to a balcony.
“We got ‘em too, but come and see what else we got.”
Chapter 18
New allies have come at the most unexpected time! Now Icebreaker has enlisted the help of TRex…Rage!! and his resistance force from Conkula, and they are finally ready to attack Madblast Tower and end the Marjinner reign of terror! But all is not well. Corporal Dino-Snore managed to escape Conkula and get back to Madblast. He has valuable information for his superior officers Dac, Sharkey and Beno-yo, and will not hesitate to give it to them!
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
1.05.39 a.m.
Dac sat lazily on a chair in the control room. Sharkey was next to him, asleep in his own chair, and Beno-yo patrolled up and down the room, watching the monitors. The Marjinner working them stiffened every time he passed, and relaxed after he had made sure nothing was wrong and moved on. It was fairly normal in the control room until…
“Captain! Major! Sergeant! DAC! SHARKEY! BENO!”
Dac sat bolt upright. Sharkey jerked awake. Beno-yo froze. All three turned to the door just as Dino-Snore burst in, gasping and wheezing for breath. He appeared worn out and petrified. Sharkey’s eyes narrowed.
“Corporal? Where’s the rest of the troops?”
“Dead…*gasp*…or captured…ambush…trapped…Torbie…resistance…” he coughed, and sagged to the floor. Beno-yo tossed over a revitalization tonic. Dino-Snore caught it and gulped it down. Then he stood up.
“It was a god damn trap! We followed your orders, but some of us were caught by a resistance force and the rest were killed by Torbie’s group!”
“What? Torbie’s group?”
“Yeah. I didn’t know they were there until I sneaked away from the resistance force and Torbie followed me. I got to the computer and escaped. As far as I know, the others are all dead.”
Dac stood up angrily.
“You abandoned your troops to save your own worthless hide?”
“But captain! I escaped because I thought it would help you to know that there is another resistance force, possibly allying with Torbie as we speak! Both have forces over 200 strong, and that would mean they might attack soon!”
But at that moment, an alarm went off.
“BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETT!! BREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETT!! ENEMY TROOPS SIGHTED!! ENEMY TROOPS SIGHTED!!”
The four officers turned and ran to the surveillance monitors, one of which had been alarm-activated.
“Officers! Over here!”
An anxious operator waved them over frantically. 439 glowing shapes emerged over the far side of the tower on the monitor, about two miles from the tower’s foot. Sharkey was the first to break out of the horrified trance they were all in, and bolted to the intercom.
“Attention! This is Major Sharkey! Attention! An enemy force is currently heading this way, they are approximately two miles from the West Side of the tower! I want troops rallied and security on full alert! We have about 440 enemies heading, we need firepower! Use everything you have! Major Sharkey, out.”
He ran back and started barking out orders.
“Sergeant! Corporal! I want you two to lead the troops into the battle! All of you, (he indicated the monitor operators) I want you to activate any and all security systems we have installed, and then I want you to grab weapons and head into this battle! Captain! You and I must alert the Destructor, and then prepare ourselves! LET’S GO!”
He and Dac ran for the door. Beno-yo and Dino-Snore were stunned, and then snapped out of it.
“You heard him! DO IT!” yelled Beno-yo, and he ran to grab weapons and organize the troops. But they were outnumbered, and he knew it. He hoped they could last.
***
Dac and Sharkey didn’t wait for the damn lift tube platform. They flew to the top of the shaft and burst into the Dark Lord’s room.
“Sir! SIR!”
“What is it?”
“We have company! An army led by Torbie is heading here now!”
“WHAT?!!”
“It’s true! We have the troop rallied and the security system activated but they outnumber us!”
“Listen to me. Get back down there and destroy that traitor! And kill all of his friends! I want no survivors! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!!”
“Yes, sir!”
“THEN GO NOW!”
The two men turned and ran. They jumped down the lift tube and grabbed weapons from their quarters. They headed quickly down to the main area where the entire army was waiting. Everyone leveled their guns.
Chapter 19
A battle awaits Icebreaker and his legions of men. Boldly, they are preparing to march straight into Madblast Tower to thwart the Marjinners and release their friends. He outnumbers the Marjinner army with his cohorts and the shocked Captain Dac, Major Sharkey, Sergeant Beno-yo and Corporal Dino-Snore wait for him in horror. Prepare for the battle and sit up straight, because there will be no shortage of interest now!
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
7.03.49 a.m.
Icebreaker ran around to the side of the Tower, keeping out of sight from the windows. The Ice Legion was hidden from sight now, under orders from Seth, Vader and Evilgrinch, and to a lesser extent, Dino_Dude and TRex…Rage!!. He peeked into a window on the East Side of the tower. All of the Marjinners, including the four commanding officers, were eyeing the West Side, so none noticed him peeking in. He ducked down and waved his five lieutenants over.
“Now’s the best time,” he whispered. “They all think we’re over the other side.”
“OK, I’ll call my men in,” said TRex…Rage!!, and he waved them all over. Dino_Dude did the same.
“OK,” said Seth. “Should we go?”
“Let’s go.”
***
“Where are they?” growled Sharkey. “It’s been four hours and they’ve disappeared.”
Dac opened his mouth to reply when an almighty explosion filled the room. The force of it knocked most of the Marjinners flat on their faces. When they had all climbed to their feet, yells and war cries filled their ears. The four COs spun around to see a horrifying sight. Pouring into the room were hundreds of humans, led by a very familiar Marjinner.
“Torbie!” cried the corporal.
Ice spun, and raised his palm towards Dino-Snore, an expression of rage on his face.
“My name is ICEBREAKER!”
A beam shot out of his hand and detonated on Dino-Snore. The horrified corporal exploded.
“ATTACK, YOU IDIOTS!” roared Sharkey, and the Marjinners snapped out of their trance and opened fire.
“Seth!” yelled Ice. “Grab one of them and release the prisoners! We’ll hold them off!”
Seth nodded and disappeared. The gunfire was explosive in the room. Men, Marjinners and drone guns dropped to the ground. Corporal Dino-Snore’s death had brought about the energizing of the Marjinners, and the battle was heating up. Everything had happened so fast!
“C’mon, Seth, old buddy, don’t let us down,” muttered Ice as he blasted again and again into the crowd of seething Marjinners. Dac and Sharkey had taken to the air, dodging bullets and the occasional blast Vader tossed at them. He was busy blasting at them, he didn’t notice a Marjinner sneaking up behind him until the private dropped dead on his shoulder. He spun and saw Yvonne blow the barrel of a pistol she was holding. Against their wishes, she had insisted on coming to back them up. Vader grinned and went back to blasting. Bullets fired again and again. Sharkey fired an enormous energy blast into the crowd of men. Five of them dropped dead, and several more were wounded. The battle raged for an hour, and the relentless Marjinners were showing no signs of slowing down…when suddenly, from behind, the Marjinners started collapsing. Everyone stopped shooting and spun around.
“WHAT THE…” began Sharkey.
Coming up from downstairs was a whole new cohort of humans, and they had sneaked up behind the Marjinners and breaking their necks! Seth had finally released the prisoners!
“GET THEM, IDIOTS!” howled Dac, and guns were whipped around.
“DAN! CYROS! JCLAW! RAPTOR-REX! GUYS! OVER HERE!” yelled Ice, and several of their friends started running through the mess. Jurassiclaw and Raptor-Rex got there first.
“Took your time, Ice!” grinned Raptor-Rex.
“What, you lost your faith? How could you?” smirked Ice. Then Jurassiclaw gave a yell.
“DAN, NO!”
Everyone spun around. Dan had a bullet hole in his head, and he was sinking to his knees, a look of disbelief on his face. Everyone turned his or her heads around frantically to see who had pulled the trigger. Then Cyros looked up and yelled in rage.
“You’ll pay for that, Dac!”
Everyone looked up. Sure enough, high above, Dac was holding a handgun, and the barrel was smoking.
“Kiss my ass, Cyros! I don’t take orders from you!”
“OH YEAH?!! THEN EAT THIS!”
He snatched up another handgun from the ground and fired an entire ammo clip at the captain, but when the bullets reached him he was no longer there.
“You lost this fight before it started, Cyros. ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!”
The captain had transported to just behind and above Cyros, and unloaded the rest of his clip into the valiant warrior’s back.
“CYROS!”
“Sharkey! We need out! Grab one and let’s wait for Torbie somewhere else!”
Sharkey had blasted down several other humans when he heard Dac’s yell. He nodded and flew in at the fastest flight speed Ice had ever seen. He became a blur, and the blur became bigger when he snatched up a human. Ice couldn’t make out the face of the captive, but he knew it was one of his friends. Suppressing his rage, he continued shooting and blasting his race turned enemy. He had just enough time to see one jump out a broken window and fly away.
“Evilgrinch! Get that one that got away!”
Evilgrinch nodded. His face was grim from the friends they had lost, for indeed, he and Cyros had been very good friends. But nonetheless, he chased the Marjinner out of the window.
***
An hour later, the battle desisted. The floor was almost completely covered with the bodies of Marjinners and men. Among those dead were Corporal Dino-Snore (his head lay intact), Dan, Cyros, Brad, MegalodonLives!, TRex…Rage!!, Raptor-Rex, Dark Hunter and the Marjinner cook, mxpx8690. Ice sent Yvonne and a protection squad to find the living quarters to cover the bodies of the dead.
“Even the Marjinner bodies. They could’ve been turned. It was the damned Destructor, major, captain and sergeant that set them like this.”
“And those four remain to be accounted for.”
“Actually, I’ve got an idea that it was the sergeant who bailed through the window. If Evilgrinch returns, we’ll know for sure.”
At that moment, he dropped through the window. Worn out, panting, bloody and beaten, but alive.
“Got the sergeant,” said Evilgrinch. “I left him unconscious, bound and gagged, at the foot of a tree.”
“Good work. We’re off to find the other two COs and the DFD. Come on.”
Chapter 20
The raging battle has subsided, with several humans dead. However, the entire Marjinner army has been eliminated, excluding Sergeant Beno-yo, who Evilgrinch caught, knocked out and secured, Captain Dac and Major Sharkey, who escaped the battle taking an anonymous human hostage, and the Dark Force Destructor, who sat out the battle at the top of the tower. Some remaining humans, led by Yvonne, have gone to retrieve things to cover the bodies of the dead, but Ice and some more of his group have gone to try and corner the three elusive Marjinners and pound them six feet into the ground!
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
10.07.34 a.m.
Ice and his loyal followers ran up the stairs. The spiral staircase kept going up…until it ended at a door. Everyone leveled their weapons and prepared to attack if needed. Ice kicked in the door and the group seethed into the room. However, it was not what they expected. The room had an odd bluish light glowing, and there was only one Marjinner in it. He was facing away from them, in front of a computer monitor. Some odd pulsating things that looked like chrysalises hung in columns at the back. They could tell straight away that the Marjinner was not one of the three they were hunting.
“Get out, Sharkey, and take the others with you. I’m busy.”
The chair swung around. The Marjinner appeared to look casual, but when he saw them his eyes widened.
“Jesus…”
Then he recognized one of them.
“You!”
Raptormark stepped forward.
“Me. I was wondering when you’d show your leathery hide, but you never did, coward.”
“Raptormark, who is this guy?”
“This is Agent Matrix. He’s the Marjinner geneticist. We’ve known and loathed each other for years. Course, I never knew he was a Marjinner back then, but he’s gonna pay now. This is the guy that made that monster that poisoned you, Ice.”
Matrix eyed him, then he saw that the whole group was in, and he spun around and hammered a button on the control panel on his monitor. The door swung back on its hinges and slammed shut. Iron-wrought bars shot down in front of it.
“So sucks to you guys. Now if you don’t mind, I have a score to settle.”
“Stay back, Ice,” said Raptormark. “This is between me and him.”
With a snarl, the two leapt at each other and started belting the crap out of each other. Raptormark delivered his enemy an uppercut that sent him sprawling back into the window. He climbed to his feet.
“That’ll cost you big time!”
He did an instant transport to behind his enemy.
“You didn’t think the major left me defenseless, do you?”
“You always were defenseless.”
Matrix drove a fist into Raptormark’s back. He dropped to his knees.
“Pitiful fool,” grinned the geneticist.
Raptormark leapt into the air and did a triple flip, landing flat on his feet. He cracked his enemy again and again in the head, and received likewise. The fight raged on when a small liquid container dropped out of the geneticist’s pocket. Raptormark recognized the symbol and grabbed it while Matrix strangled him. The geneticist was so absent-minded he didn’t notice. Raptormark drove a kick into Matrix’s gut, ran up the wall, jumped and landed both feet onto his stunned opponent. He jumped off and looked at him, standing in front of the window. Suddenly Matrix lunged, shooting off the ground and shoulder-barged Raptormark…and the valiant man crashed into the window, shattering it and falling out. Matrix got up and looked out. Raptormark had a grip with one hand on the edge. Matrix stepped on Raptormark’s hand, crushing it.
“I knew I’d win, Raptormark. You won as a kid but softened over the years. I win.”
“Oh, really?” gasped Raptormark, and drove a concealed knife into the geneticist’s leg. Screaming in pain, he fell to the ground, his mouth hanging open inches away from Raptormark. Thinking quickly, Raptormark pulled out the small vial and shoved it into the Marjinner’s mouth. Then he delivered a huge whack.
“EAT THAT! DIE, AGENT MATRIX!”
Ice and the others immediately recognized the effects. It was how Raptormark had described the death of the sergeant he had killed. It paralyzed him by cutting off his nerves senses in thirty-five seconds. He couldn’t move, couldn’t talk. Then his eyes dropped out and melted and his skeleton dissolved. He started having back spasms and ripped his torso clean off, his skin burned up and vaporized and he vomited his guts out. Unfortunately, he spat his burning innards over Raptormark’s hand, and the fiery pain burned his hand so much he let go by instinct. He dropped the whole way down, and there came a dull thud when he hit the ground.
Chapter 21
The loyal, slightly hyperactive Raptormark has met his end at the hands-or innards-of his archenemy, Agent Matrix. Using a liquid he used once before, the man barely managed to destroy his enemy before falling out of the twenty-story window. Icebreaker and the group have honored his sacrifice, and are now trying to find a way out of the genetics lab to find the remaining three Marjinners. But the way is piled with many obstacles, as they are about to find out…
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
10.59.45 a.m.
RaptorHiss hammered at the bars blocking the door, but it was no use. Not all of them could fly, so going out the window was no option. They didn’t know what to do.
“Man, Seth, we need you over here,” called Evilgrinch. He was standing near the monitor. Seth didn’t answer.
“Seth?”
Everyone looked around. Seth was nowhere to be seen.
“Where the hell is he?” wondered Ice. “Where…the…”
His mind flashed back to the battle. He remembered Sharkey diving…he remembered him being a blur from the speed…he remembered the blur enlarging from someone else being scooped into it…
“OH, NUTS! DAC AND SHARKEY HAVE HIM!”
Everyone wheeled. Ice gave his blow-by-blow account of what had happened in the battle.
“I know I didn’t send him with Yvonne because he, Vader and Grinchy are my select lieutenants. It must’ve been him that was taken.”
Everyone gaped. Evilgrinch spoke up.
“Well, I’ll try to work the monitor. Beats waiting around here.”
He peered at the monitor.
“Er…OK…um…”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine, I just need…ah, here we go.”
He pressed a small purple button and a panel flipped up. On the panel were three buttons, one red, one green and one yellow. All had markings: red said RELEASE, yellow said SELF-DESTRUCT and green said ENCASE.
“Er…OK, maybe release will release the door bars.”
He pressed it. Nothing happened. He didn’t notice a needle, like a thermometer on the screen, go up into ALL.
“What…”
Then he noticed the chrysalis things. A few seconds ago they were slightly purple. Now they glowed a faint blue.
“What…”
Then, tiny split marks appeared in all of the things.
“I have a very bad feeling about this…”
Then all of them shriveled up slightly and dark shapes fell out of all of them.
“Guh! That’s a bit volatile!” commented Vader.
“Uh…oh…” muttered Ice. All of the shapes were starting to move. They stood up as one. There were about 30 different creatures lined up and baring fangs at the humans and single Marjinner. Slowly they came into focus. One stepped out in front. It was a four-legged monster, khaki, and had three pairs of spikes sticking out of its back. It had the snout of a Spinosaur, and had an evil looking, long, thin spike on the end of its tail. The one behind it was khaki too, with a crocodile-snout, and it had a pair of spikes sticking out of its back. Its tail, however, had a double-bladed battle-axe. Others glared and growled. One was a fat, purple blob, with two stubby legs, and four hands, each with two sausagey fingers and a thick thumb. It started sending some tiny lightning bolts from those fingers. Another was a mean-looking combination of many animals. It was roughly the size of an armadillo, with hard cockroach wings covering its back. It had the long proboscis of a mosquito, the terrible pincers of a spider, a scorpion's tail and sharp praying mantis arms. Add to that the skin of a shark and one disgusting little parasite was eyeing them. Various other beast extended claws and paws, teeth and feet, and all kinds of foul weapons. Ice glared at them. It was 30 on 30, and this was going to be a tough job. The spiky monster stepped towards Ice, the axe wielder towards Vader, the fat purple thing towards Evilgrinch and the parasite towards Dino_Dude.
Slowly, the purple thing raised a finger, let out a full-throated roar and an enormous electrical blast shot at Evilgrinch. He ducked and the blast hit someone else. He let out a scream, and the stench of sizzling corpse filled their noses. At the same time, Ice fired a blast at what might have been a large Velociraptor covered in mucus. The mucus caught fire and the monster howled. It dropped to the floor.
“ATTACK!” yelled Ice.
“HYARFARGH!” roared his spiky opponent, and the two groups rushed at each other.
Chapter 22
Another issue has come up. Seth has been captured, and their only computer knowledge has gone. Because of this, some slight confusion at Agent Matrix’s computer monitor has released all 30 of his monsters! In a few minutes, one man and one monster were killed, and another battle has been waged. Now Ice and his group face a marauding, merciless group of monsters, and their devastating powers!
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
11.13.13 a.m.
Icebreaker ran and tackled his spiky opponent to the ground. It raised its enormous tail spike and made stabbing moves at the Marjinner on top of it. Ice barely managed to dodge them. This monster meant business. He punched it in its Spinosaur jaw and it yelped in pain, falling to the ground, stunned. Then he climbed to his feet and spun it around like a lasso. He was about to throw it into the wall when it reared its head back-it could bend its head back 270 DEGREES! -and attempted to rip his arm off. It gashed him in the arm, and he booted it away. It flipped to its feet and ran towards him, flinging its spiky tail at him. He threw punches, it threw stabs.
***
Vader dodged the wielding axe on the tail of his own opponent. It swung and swung, nearly decapitating him several times. He ducked and rolled under and drove his fist into its gut. It yelped in pain, and he started kicking and punching it. It copped several blows to the head, and both were wearing down fast. Vader’s attacks started getting sloppier, but he smashed and crashed his attacker nonetheless. Just as he was about to collapse, he raised his arm.
“Haakaa FIRE!” he roared, just like on Yahoo, and his blast blew his enemy away. He sank wheezing to the floor.
***
Evilgrinch’s opponent sent blast after blast of electrical rays at him. He barely managed to avoid being fried, and he tried to get close enough to attack. But he couldn’t: every time he tried to get close enough, it batted him away like a fly. He tried his blast attacks, but they were absorbed by the monster’s foul skin. Then he had a bright idea. He whipped out a tiny jar and undid the lid. The monster roared and growled, when he took out the contents of the jar and tossed it into the creature’s mouth. The monster gagged.
“GYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERR!” it screamed.
“EAT THAT!”
It was so busy trying to get the mucus snail out of its throat when Evilgrinch drove a fist into its belly. The slow-witted thing was trying to reach the snail down its own esophagus when the attack enraged it, and it sent out another electrical blast-right down its own throat. The ray seemed to inflate it and it exploded, goo flying everywhere. Evilgrinch took a quick breather, and ran to help Ice.
***
Dino_Dude squared off against the little parasite, which tried to hook him on its mantis arms. He blocked them blow for blow, and struck back, but the sharkskin scraped his skin, and his leg became bloody. He tried everything he could, but his attacks couldn’t penetrate below the armor. He tried a blow to the head, but the spider pincers shot up and he nearly copped a bite. He tried a boot up the rear end, but the scorpion tail launched out and he nearly was stabbed. A blow to the chest was no good, because if he missed the mantis arms there was still the tough skin. Then he remembered a trick his father had taught him before he had died.
“OF COURSE!”
He raised his palm into the air.
“SEEKER SLICER DISC!” he yelled.
An enormous flat red cylinder appeared on his palm. He tossed it at the monster, which jumped away. But the disc followed, and no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t lose the disc. Its tussle with Dino_Dude had left it weary, and the disc chase had left it ready to drop. After five minutes of being chased by the disc, it collapsed, and the disc decapitated it. He ran to help Post Grant tackle another beast.
***
Ice was wearing down fast. The spiky thing was relentlessly coming back for more and more, and Ice just couldn’t seem to wear it down. It had chunks missing from the gut, a hind leg and one of the spikes on its back was cracked. But this monster seemed hyperactive, and it just wouldn’t stop.
“Matrix must’ve put this one on steroids,” he muttered.
Then he just lost it.
He levitated into the air. The charging reptile halted and looked up at him. All the battles were frozen as the fighters and monsters looked up at him.
“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” Ice yelled.
All the humans dived for cover. The creatures looked around, confused. Ice raised his arms.
“FINAL FLASH DIVIDER!”
The beam flashed out and split up into many other beams. The shrieks and yelps of the things were the only sounds audible over the explosions as they met their deaths, not 30 minutes after their release. After the smoke cleared, the humans surveyed the scene. The room was barren. It was covered in pieces of the creatures.
“Thank God that’s over,” groaned AlanGrant5. Then he noticed something.
“Hey, look! Ice blew the door down!”
They looked over. Sure enough, the doorway was empty. Quickly, Ice made a few plans.
“OK, Vader, Evilgrinch, Dino_Dude, CarnaRaptor, RaptorHiss, Spinoboy11 and myself are going after Dac, Sharkey and the DFD, and to rescue Seth. You others find Yvonne and join up with her group. We’ll see you when we see you.”
“OK. Let’s go!”
The two groups divided and ran into the hallway connecting this room to the computer rooms.
“We’ll try that door,” said Ice, pointing at the only door they hadn’t tried yet.
“OK. Good luck,” called Post Grant, and the two groups went their separate ways. Ice’s group ran into the door to find a staircase, and they quickly ran up two flights. It ended in a door. Ice kicked it down, they ran in…and suddenly they found two guns aimed at them.
“Going somewhere?” sneered a familiar voice. They had run straight into Captain Dac.
Chapter 23
After a brutal fight against Agent Matrix’s monsters, Ice and his handpicked team escaped the lab and left to find their missing friend Seth Rex. But the road is not easy, as they just found out! They walked straight into the clutches of the menacing Captain Dac! His guns cocked and ready to squeeze the triggers, he is showing no signs of letting them pass, which is going to make it difficult to get by him! And just what other sinister plans does the mastermind have up his sleeve? Where is his accomplice? Where is Seth? And where is the Dark Force Destructor?
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
11.50.22 a.m.
“Bet you thought you were clever,” smirked the captain.
“But while you were down playing with Matrix and his monsters, we took the time to set our little trap up. We’ve been waiting for you! SHARKEY! THEY’RE HERE! BRING HIM OUT!”
A small door opened at the side, revealing another downward staircase. The major stepped out, dragging someone behind him. He had an M-16 in one hand and the person in his other. Ice stiffened as he recognized the badly beaten prisoner.
“Seth!”
Seth looked at him.
“I’m sorry, Ice. They got me while I was unsuspecting.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It is! I should’ve been watching my back!”
Dac and Sharkey sniggered. Everyone except Seth glared daggers at them.
“You evil…vile…disgusting…” growled RaptorHiss through clenched teeth.
Sharkey grinned.
“Anyone twitches and your friend gets it!” he raised his gun to Seth’s head.
RaptorHiss snapped and shot towards him. Sharkey raised his gun.
BANG!
RaptorHiss dropped to the ground, a hole in his head. He was dead.
“Pop goes the weasel,” cackled Dac.
“You sons of bitches!” roared Ice.
“Watch your tongue, Torbie,” cautioned Sharkey with a sneer. “Anymore words and this one cops it too.”
Ice stiffened again. He couldn’t do anything without endangering his friend’s life, and he knew it. But everyone was watching Ice, and no one noticed what Seth was doing. Then Ice looked at him, and opened his mouth to say sorry, but instead his eyes widened and he yelled in horror.
“SETH, NO!”
Everyone wheeled. Seth was holding a grenade and the pin was missing. Sharkey dropped his gun in shock and stood paralyzed with sudden fear.
“Don’t worry Ice, like you always said, death is no regret. Goodbye.”
The explosion rocked the room. The shock wave blew Dac into the wall, and all the humans flew back through the door. Only Ice remained standing, the look on his face terrifying the others. Dac climbed to his feet in rage.
“Oh, perfect! Thank you very much!” he roared. Spinoboy11 stared at him.
“WHAT THE HELL DID WE DO?!! YOU GUYS KIDNAPPED HIM!”
“YOU KILLED THE ONLY FRIEND I HAD! YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT, TORBIE!”
Ice was seething with rage.
“My…name…is…ICEBREAKER!”
Suddenly a second explosion sounded, but no shock wave came. A yellow ray engulfed Ice, and he seemed to radiate with power.
“FIRST DAN, THEN CYROS, THEN RAPTORMARK, THEN RAPTORHISS AND NOW SETH! YOU AND YOUR DESTRUCTOR WILL PAY FOR THIS, DAC!”
The floor started to crack. Dac gaped with astonishment as Ice’s power caused the rocks to rise and splinter in the air. But what was most astonishing was the fact that his hair seemed to spike and glow gold…and his eyes turned green…then they went normal…then green eyes and golden hair…then normal…then…then…
Dac backed into to the wall.
“OH MY GOD!”
All the humans looked at him.
“HE’S TRANSFORMED! HE…HE…HE’S BECOMING AN ULTRA MARJINNER!”
“What?”
“The…the prophecy goes that a Marjinner must have an inner rage to terrible to control…then he…powers up and grabs a whole new power…and he becomes the Ultra Marjinner, a fighter so powerful he can obliterate an army of humans with a flick of his wrist!”
Ice looked up.
“So that’s it? You are about to be undone by your own actions?”
“Not me, pal. I have someone on the inside that can fix you no effort!”
Dac turned and ran.
“NOT THIS TIME!”
Suddenly Ice appeared in front of Dac.
“What the…”
“Cop this!”
He delivered an uppercut into the captain and sent him sprawling into the wall. He ran over and picked him up and threw him into a section of the wall. The wall blew away, revealing an odd little hidey-hole, very dark, and seemingly empty. Then they heard the voice.
“You fool, Torbie. You didn’t know there was a lift tube here, did you? Well it just so happens that it goes to the Destructor! Let’s see what you make of him!”
Dac increased his energy and flew up out of reach.
“GOD DAMN IT!” yelled Ice. “I HAD HIM AND HE GOT AWAY AGAIN!”
“Relax, Ice,” grinned Spinoboy11. “He said it’s a lift tube. Let’s go and meet him up there!”
Ice grinned.
“OK, let’s go!”
He blasted at the rubble, revealing a platform that could levitate.
“Hop on, guys, this party is over.”
They all stood on the platform and waited.
***
Dac reached the Dark Lord’s room, out of breath. He heard the sound of a blast far below, and gulped while running into the room.
“Captain? What is the meaning of this?”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I have important news!”
“Well?”
“First of all, we lost the battle. They outnumbered us. Beno-yo and myself were the only survivors. Dino-Snore, mxpx8690, Agent Matrix, his monsters and Sharkey are all dead.”
“And you let them die?”
“No, sir, it was…”
“I don’t want to hear anymore on that subject. Tell me what else is nagging at your brain, I can sense something.”
“Yes, sir…well, it’s Torbie…”
“Torbie?”
“Yes, he…er…became…transformed into…an Ultra Marjinner…”
A silence followed this. Finally, the Destructor spoke up.
“What kind of fool do you take me for?”
“Sir?”
“I have told you time and time again: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ULTRA MARJINNER!”
“But sir!”
“NO BUTS, IDIOT! YOU HAVE LET YOUR COMRADES DIE, AND YOU ARE PLAGUED BY A MYTH! FOR THE LAST TIME, IT IS A LEGEND! AND I THINK YOU NEED THE LESSON RE-TAUGHT!”
That familiar finger appeared once again, but this time, something interrupted Dac’s mythology lesson. The wall and door to the lift tube blew forward, and Dac was buried under the rubble. The Destructor stopped, stunned by this. Then a voice broke through the room.
“Ah, so, you must be the Dark Force Destructor I’ve heard so much about.”
The chair spun, and the darkness masked the face under the cloak.
“And you are our renegade Torbie.”
“Renegade? I prefer to call it refugee.”
“Refugee? Er, that is absurd.”
“And so are you. We heard your little conversation as we were coming up. You don’t believe the myth? Well then, let me prove it for you.”
From the gloom came a burst of light, and Ice was lighted up, his face had a smirk on it.
“Well, now, my friend, you’ve seen me. Can you show me the same courtesy?”
“Gladly, if you really want it. Prepare to meet a face from the past, Icebreaker!”
The Destructor stood up and lowered his hood. Ice and his friends gaped at the face that grinned back at them. A face they had believed imprisoned. A face they had trusted, made jokes with, and had fun with since they were children.
“DILO-DUDE!”
Chapter 24
It appears that a whole new twist in the tail has left Icebreaker speechless! The long-time mysterious, menacing mastermind is none other than old friend Dilo-Dude! What possessed HIM to do it, of all people? Did he hide his traits all along, like Dac, Sharkey and Beno-yo? Or was he unaware of it when he was younger? Either way, he’s sure as hell aware of it now! The face from the past is back, and he means business! Can Ice rise to punch his former friend-turned-enemy in the face, or is he too astonished to act?
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
12.15.36 p.m.
He grinned.
“Yes, it’s me. Always shocking to find out the truth, isn’t it? First your beloved brother paid a visit, and now your old friend is the Destructor. Pretty slick setup, right?”
“No. Pretty sick setup, if you ask me. Why in God’s name are YOU the criminal behind this scheme?”
“Criminal? No, just a Marjinner. I was a lowly one, not even worthy of being a Private. Look at the two COs I had! General Dac and Colonel Sharkey, our two Australian friends. They were horrible and cruel. So I trained myself in secret, and resurfaced to the Marjinners as the Dark Force Destructor!
The name instilled fear in every Marjinner around! I rose as a leader, powerful and strong, impossible to beat! And then I was the one that pushed around those two lowlifes! I became as cruel as they did, while still maintaining my composure as Dilo-Dude. I was the greatest, and ruled this race for years!
But then Dac and Sharkey made inquiries. I had to try hard not to slip up and show my face. Though if I did, those two cowards would probably still fear me. I became more powerful than they did, as I said before. I was practically invincible!”
“I note the practically.”
“Er…forget I said that. Anyway, life got very boring, living at the top of a tower. But I was patient; after you were identified at the Animorphs Page, I knew you would come. I waited, and now you are finally here!”
“But WHY?”
Dilo-Dude sighed.
“Have you seen the way those ruthless Aussies treat the downtrodden cadets and other low ranks? I was one of them. But I couldn’t bear to live with it. I was the first rebel, and I left. They didn’t care; there was plenty more. I was in my late teens at the time, and they were early twenties. Their fathers were officers, that was why they achieved the ranks they had. When I came to power, I demoted them, but then I gave them the ranks of Major and Captain. They were the most experienced, and somehow I needed some with experience. They chose the Corporals themselves.
And not once did I suspect that you, a childhood friend of mine, were the lost Torbie! You were the one! I could have handed you to the Aussies’ fathers, and risen to a rank myself, and had my real name known! It was agonizing to live with the name of Destructor. I wanted to be famous, or infamous, as myself. The life as the Destructor was fun, but there were times when I caught myself wishing to be Dilo-Dude again. Not having to act as the friend of humans, but, say, General Dilo-Dude. I can picture it now! But I couldn’t. So I staged a hologram of myself being taken prisoner so everyone would think I had been taken.”
“What do you mean, I was the one?”
“You were the last descendant of the only Marjinner to reach the stage you just achieved. Must be genetic. That must be why I couldn’t obtain that power level. And now I see the living proof in front of me that they exist. Oh, well, Ice, looks like it’s one on one. I wish you plenty of bad luck, but I doubt you’ll need it. I may not have obtained Ultra Marjinner power, but I’ll match it instead. This time, you’re the loser and I’m the triumphant winner.”
He grinned.
“Right. I’m f@#$ed if I’m gonna live on this site, and in this tower! So out of date! I have not been outside for months! Computer, open the hatches. I think my friend and I need a little time outdoors.”
“VERY WELL,” said the flat, toneless voice of the computer.
Hatches opened on the roof until it had all slid away.
“Let’s fly. Don’t worry about your friends, they can watch from the top. The lift tube goes into a spire at the top. Once they get out of there, they jump down and they’re on the rooftop. After I’m done with you, I’ll annihilate them.”
“For once I’m glad you don’t have medical insurance.”
“Ha! Very funny. But let us get this over with. I have waited long enough to fight someone almost as powerful as I.”
“I sure hope you’re ready to eat your words.”
“Let’s fly.”
The two Marjinners flew out the hatches. The lift tube fired the others into the spire. They climbed out and jumped onto the rooftop. The hatches had shut in the few seconds they had taken. Dilo-Dude gave Ice a steely grin. Ice sent his enemy a stony look.
“You foul bastard. I don’t know why you took this life, but I’m going to punish you for it!”
“That’s what they all say.”
“But this time it’s for real! You sent fellow Marjinners to their doom! You were the cause of millions of human deaths! YOU VILE MONSTER!”
“Oh, please, I’ve heard speeches like that before. But you remember the first rule of our gang, right? The first rule is never kid a kidder!”
“Ah, yes, how could I forget. So how about you stop kidding around and let’s get this over with.”
“Finally! Someone ready to meet his demise!”
“You’re that prepared, are you? You are smarter than you look!”
Dilo-Dude went purple with rage.
“FINE! YOU WANT IT LIKE THAT? EAT THIS!”
And the long-time Dark Force Destructor charged down the warpath at one he had once known as a friend. Ice glared, and then he, too, charged.
Chapter 25
Former friend Dilo-Dude has revealed his past, and Icebreaker and Co couldn’t be more disgusted. But there is no time to dwell on that now, because Ice and Dilo-Dude have the chosen the field of battle, and an all-out war is about to ensue! Keep your head down, because the two greatest powers in history prepare to collide with each other in a fight to the death!
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
1.00.00 p.m.
The first collision sent out a mighty shock wave that nearly blew the humans off the tower. The airborne silhouettes of the two Marjinners were giving everything they had to each other, and more! They did the occasional transport, but neither was prepared to use it too often. They took the blows hard and fast, and retaliated even faster! Blast fronts and shock waves exploded from the sheer force of the beatings, and the humans had to grip the edges of the open hatches to hang on!
“WHAT’S HAPPENING?” cried Spinoboy.
“I’VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!” howled Evilgrinch. “HOW CAN THEY TAKE IT AS EASILY AS THAT?!”
“HOW DO THEY DO IT?” yelled Vader. “ICE IS STRONG, BUT I’VE NEVER SEEN HIM THIS POWERFUL!”
“DILO-DUDE CAN’T POSSIBLY STAND UP TO IT!” shouted Dino_Dude. “SENSE ALL THE ENERGY THEY’RE GIVING OFF!”
“I KNOW! IT’S NOT POSSIBLE! NO ONE COULD BE ABLE TO STAND UP TO IT! NOT UNLESS THERE WAS ANOTHER ULTRA MARJINNER, AND DILO-DUDE SAID HIMSELF, HE NEVER ATTAINED IT!” cried CarnaRaptor.
“THEN HOW THE HELL IS HE DOING IT?”
“HE MUST HAVE ANOTHER WAY!”
“BUT HOW?”
Oblivious to the yells and shouts below them, Ice and Dilo-Dude continued belting the crap out of each other. Then Ice dived back and sent a blast ball from his hand, and Dilo-Dude was forced to zigzag all over the sky as it followed him. After attempting to blow it up with his own blasts, he stopped and waited for it. Just before impact, he let out a yell.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”
The force of his power blew the ball up, and the explosion of light filled the sky. Ice was temporarily blinded. When his vision came back, Dilo-Dude had vanished.
“Knock knock!”
Ice wheeled. Dilo-Dude sent his foot into Ice’s gut, and Ice was sent sprawling back. Dilo-Dude clenched his fists and sped towards him, a look of glee on his face. Just as he was about to punch Ice in the face, Ice’s eyes snapped open.
“WHAT?!!”
Ice grinned.
“Bon voyage!”
He booted Dilo in the head, and Dilo flew backwards.
“HYPER BEAM BAYONET!”
Just like on Banjo-Tooie, a glowing yellow spear-like beam appeared in his hand. He tossed it dead at Dilo, and it stabbed through his hand.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”
He stared at the hole.
“FINE THEN! CHEW ON THIS!”
From inside the hole appeared a tiny red light, which filed the entire hole. Then it became an enormously long beam, and fired straight at Ice! He quickly dived out of the way, just as the beam passed through the air where his head had been not two seconds before. Dilo launched at Ice, and the fistfight resumed, both wearing identical looks of rage.
“YOU DIRTY ASSWIPE!” roared Dilo.
“TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE!” shot back Ice.
Both sent punch after punch at each other. Dilo appeared to be wearing down slightly, while each blow energized Ice. His attacks were getting harder and more frequent, and his enemy was slowing down every so slightly.
“Your power is decreasing with every blow I give you!”
“In your face!”
“No, in yours!” Ice drew back his fist and smashed Dilo dead on the jaw.
“AAAAHH!”
“I said in yours!”
Dilo dived back and started firing millions of blasts at Ice. More and more were fired, and more and more were bounced back! Dilo started dodging his own blasts while firing them! Ice blocked and blocked and blocked until he got sick of it, and let loose his own blasts, which consumed all of Dilo’s. Then he let loose one really huge one, which fired and looked like it was about to vaporize Dilo as well as his blasts!
“Oh, Ice, behind you!” sneered a voice.
Ice spun again to find Dilo sitting behind him.
“YAH!” yelled Dilo, and he brought his foot up and booted Ice in the chin.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”
Ice blew backwards. Dilo raced after him and prepared to deliver a blow…suddenly, two blast, one red, one orange, exploded from the tower, and hit Dilo in the side.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!”
He looked down at the tower. Vader and Evilgrinch had their hands extended.
“EAT THAT!” yelled Grinch.
“WAIT YOUR TURN!” snarled Dilo.
“I’ll have to remember those two,” he muttered.
“Meanwhile, remember your primary objective!”
“Huh?”
He looked up just in time to see Ice swing both fists into his face.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” he yelled as he plummeted down. He caught himself just before the ground and sped back up. The fist and foot fight resumed, and was just as intensive as before, if not more. The crack in the face seemed to have revived Dilo’s energy, and he was now fighting dirty. He punched and kicked Ice in every body part he could (including you-know-where, that’s how dirty he was fighting!) and was now showing no signs of slowing down! But even so, Ice matched him nearly every blow, and was hitting Dilo with more force than the dreaded Destructor could muster! Dilo tried hard but just couldn’t penetrate Ice’s defense after he had attacked everywhere. Then he shot into the air, feeling disgusted and tired with the whole battle. He let out a full-throated roar, and was obviously going to destroy Ice forever.
“MARSENKO!”
The yellow blast shot down, straight at Ice. Ice looked at it dully. Dilo laughed in delight…until Ice swatted it away as though it was a mere fly!”
“WHAT?!!”
“Is that all you’ve got? Well, then, I guess it’s my turn!”
He raised his hands.
“FINAL FLASH!”
The beam shot out. Dilo raised his hand.
“MARSEN…AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHH!”
The blast hit him full force. Everyone saw his silhouette in the middle of it. Chunks of his body were breaking off, and he appeared to be breaking apart like a rock!
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGHH!!!!!!”
His body was swallowed up and broke apart before vaporizing.
Ice watched.
“Finally…it’s over…”
Suddenly he realized how much he ached from the fight. His rage had gotten the better of him.
“ICE!”
“Huh?”
He looked down and saw his friends on top of the tower, waving him down.
“Hey, Ice, come on down! You did it!”
He grinned as he landed rather sloppily on the roof. The hatches had been shut.
“You guys saved me at one point, there.”
“Think nothing of it.”
“Thanks.”
“Well, that’s all sorted. I guess we can go home now!” grinned Spinoboy, as he looked towards the sky. Then he stopped dead, and his overjoyed expression was replaced by a look of terror.
“AAH! Oh…my…god…”
“Huh, what is it?”
Spinoboy was too terrified to speak. He was trembling. Everyone looked at the spire. And at the sword blade. And the cracked and mangled armour. And the bruises, and scars, and slashes. And at the familiar, raging face.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!” they all yelled. “IT’S DAC!”
Chapter 25
Even after the vanquishing of the dreaded Dark Force Destructor, a.k.a. Dilo-Dude, another fighter has risen to fight the Ice! Being buried under rubble wasn’t enough for this particular one, and now the worn-out Icebreaker has to contend with a battered but determined Captain Dac!
24 November 2001
Madblast Tower
2.13.56 p.m.
Dac gave a yell of rage and raised his sword. The blade suddenly glowed red, and he slashed at the air. A long, flat beam, which looked like a blade, fired from the sword, and was headed right for Ice.
“ICE!” yelled CarnaRaptor.
“AAH!”
Carna knocked Ice to the side, when the beam hit him…and went right through him!
“CARNA!”
The blade beam sliced Carna neatly from the left shoulder to the right hip. His torso fell off.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Everyone dropped to Carna’s side. He was dead.
“DAC, YOU MONSTER!”
“Gee, I thought you were dead and buried,” growled Ice.
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“You’re forgiven, now either leave and finish your reign of terror or die now!”
“I choose neither.”
“Your problem.”
“Your demise. Here.”
He tossed something to Ice. Ice caught it in surprise. It was another sword.
“Tradition, Torbie. Even a memory wiped Marjinner like yourself knows how to sword fight. We are born with it.”
“Really.”
“Yes. Seeing as we are the last two Marjinners and you have turned to evil (“Hypocrite!” scoffed Evilgrinch) we must end with a sword duel. Prepare yourself.”
“I’m prepared. I just beat the crap out of the Destructor, so I’m ready for you. You spent too much time under rubble dwelling on being demoted from a General.”
That threw Dac for a moment.
“WHAT?!! HOW DO YOU…”
But then he maintained his composure.
“So, he told, did he? Oh, well, he’s out of the way now. I’m next in line for his job.”
“My ass!”
“Watch your tongue, or you might let the cat get it.”
“Pathetic one-liner.”
“It was all I could think of right now. I’m more focused on carving you up!”
“Famous last words.”
Both of them launched themselves into the air. They were about 50 feet apart when Dac raised his sword again.
“HYPER BLADE BLAST!” he roared, and the blade glowed yellow. Instinct told Ice what to do.
“DEATH DUEL BEAM!” he snarled, and his blade glowed red. Both fired their shots and the two beams collided. Although they had enough power to slice through mountaintops, they could not get past each other. Force of mind required Ice and Dac not to attack, but to defend. Then the beams retracted into the blades. Dac shot forward.
“COME AND GET ME!”
He flew up to Ice and made savage slashing attacks, and the occasional stab. The captain relentlessly attacked Ice anywhere he can, but neither let their guard down for a second. Ice blocked and parried, parried and blocked, Dac slashed and stabbed, stabbed and slashed, and both Marjinners were wearing down. Neither had the energy to fly anymore, so they fought on the rooftop. Dac made a slash at Ice’s neck, and Ice barely managed to duck, and attempted to stab the captain in the stomach. Dac knocked the stab away, and both resumed the attacks. Finally, the captain’s attacks ceased, and Ice fought back, harder and faster then Dac had been. He seemed to have been intensified, and his power was back with a vengeance.
“EAT THIS!” snarled Ice as he stabbed frequently.
“Nah, I’d rather watch you eat it,” growled Dac, and he made another stab at Ice’s face. Ice knocked it away, and delivered a mighty punch into Dac’s gut. Dac sank, wheezing, to his knees. Ice booted him in the face and he tumbled off the edge of the tower.
“Oh, god.”
Ice jolted. That was the second last one! Something tickled in the back of his head, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He had just killed the only other Marjinner.
“My god. I truly am the last one!”
But then a sneering voice came from over the edge.
“As long as I’m here, you’re not!”
Ice walked over. Dac was clinging to the edge of the tower.
“Why won’t you die?”
“I dunno. It’s not your business anyway.”
“Why don’t you fly up?”
“Because I’m out of energy.”
“Really.”
“Yeah.”
“Dac, you don’t have to do it.”
Everyone looked at Ice.
“What do you mean?”
“You can shed your evil ways, and become one of us.”
“Pardon me, but how?”
“Look at me. I’m the living proof that it can happen!”
“I don’t fancy losing my memory.”
“You don’t have to. I’m sick of the killing. I look at the good things in life, but you all look at the dark things. It polluted your goodness. You can plan your future. It’s not too late.”
Dac absorbed this, and was hanging silently for a few minutes. Then he spoke up again.
“You’re right. I’ve got my future planned out. There’s only one more life I intend to take.”
“And they are…”
In answer, Dac raised his other hand. A glowing ball appeared.
“Dac, no.”
“Yes. Au revoir!”
And he blew himself through the stomach!
“NO!”
Dac’s eyes popped wide. A dull grin spread across his face. The hole in his stomach smoked slightly. His grip on the tower edge released, and he fell. Everyone watched him fall.
”He…committed…suicide…”
“Why…”
Evilgrinch spoke up.
“Well, he kept his promise. He planned his future out and only took one more life.”
Everyone looked at him, then at Ice.
“Let’s find the others. I want this tower burned down, and then everyone can go home.”
Silently, the group went down the lift tube.
THE END
A Dac Production
7/7/2002 8:30:07 PM
(Updated: 7/8/2002 4:52:57 AM)
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