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The dim
light of the fading Moon : Lines in the sand “Well, you would have to be invited by one of the
leaders, and I happen to be one, you know.
Also, you would have to complete your first assignment with
success. Most recruits fail that second
part usually.” He made his eyes harden,
steeling them and looking at her, a hint of challenge and amusement to coerce
her into wanting this. She remained
silent, holding her breath, awaiting his next sentence with anticipation. “All right, you are hereby promoted to the
rank of recruit first class, all privileges, and most importantly,
responsibilities that come with it, are now yours. Since we are not at the academy, and there
are no instructors present to begin your training, I guess we’ll have to skip a
few chapters, and dive right into it.” “Dive into what?”
She asked curiously, she wasn’t one to enjoy swimming much, already she
disliked this new adventure. “Into trouble, recruit. We don’t call ourselves Riders of Apocalypse
for nothing, you know. Ours is a long
tradition of standing when we should run, holding the line when everyone else
says we should surrender. We are the
Riders, take pride in this title, recruit, for it is that very name, which will
strike fear in the heart of your foes, and hope in the ones that had none. When all else fails, we stand and
deliver.” Frank spoke with passion, with
belief and pride, hoping to inspire the little mutant to think of herself as
being a part of something greater than anything she had known or believed in
the past, and judging from her upright stature, the cold decidedness in her
eyes, the words had rung true. “I understand, ermmm, Leader of Us All, what is my
task?” She asked solemnly, not quite
understanding why Winter chuckled at the title she had just given him. “Your task is as follows, should you succeed, you are
to report to the Riders of Apocalypse Headquarters in Steel Canyon. There you will ask to speak with Control, and
only him, and report your success. Are
you ready for your first assignment recruit?”
Frank knew that Control would ask the little mutant the right questions,
knew that he would add it all up and come here with all the Riders and tear
this place apart. The only thing that
truly mattered though, was to make sure the information got to him. Taking into account he believed his time, and
that of his friend was running out, he decided to take no chances. “But… Sir… Where is Steel Canyon?” Impishly replied by a blushing Lab
Experiment. Winter nodded, she had never
been out of here, and that was exactly what he had hoped for. “Well, in that case recruit, I guess we will have to
show you.” He smiled, then creased his
eyebrows. “Only problem is, only one of
us knows the location of the Headquarters, and whenever we need to go there,
she has to guide us. I guess that
upgrades your mission, recruit.” Winter
was lying through his teeth so much, he looked up at the ceiling, almost
expecting a heavenly bolt of lightning to strike him. “Bring Sun Heat with you, she will be your guide.” Silence, heavy and palpable, full of meaning,
followed. Further into the base, Bear Cat was being carefully
watched by two guards. He slowly walked
in front of a series of table, onto which a myriad of weapons were laid
out. His eyes went from fighting batons
to swords, to battle axes and various types of knives. “The odds are fifty to one against you, Mr.
Bunny. Any last requests?” One of the guards chuckled. “Yah, I wouldn’t mind going out with a little
music.” Bear Cat replied while his hand
brushed the hilt of a vicious looking battle mace. “Sure, got a tune in mind?” “Have a drink on me by AC/DC.” And his hand came to rest upon a familiar
weapon, that hammer he had used to punt his way into this facility, the first
time around. He smiled ruefully, that
weapon somehow made him feel good. His
choice was made. Hefting the weapon
expertly, he swung it around the air a few times and recognised the familiarity
of it. It looked like a plain battle
hammer, long shaft that looked aged and used, the blunt head of it rusted. But it felt good to use it, almost as if he
had always wielded it. A calm, confident
and resolute smile appeared on his rugged face.
He would be going down fighting, kicking and screaming and that was
good. It had been the way of his life
ever since that day he had decided for himself that enough was enough. He knew what he was about to face, he was no
fool when it came to asserting odds for or against himself. Today, was the day he died. Turning around still smiling, the two guards took a
few careful steps back and raised their weapons at the sight of him. They led him into the last corridor he would
ever walk, towards the last door he would ever see open and close, into a
circular room the size of a football field.
All of it did not matter anymore, nothing but the moment now, occupied
his mind. They wanted to measure a
fight, a battle against a foe he could not possibly beat alone. A battle they would get to witness, record
and quantify as they said, the likes of which people read of in the history
books and wonder if it really occurred or if it was made up. They wanted to record a fight, he would give
them a war. Bear Cat’s mind was calm and
quiet, he was hot red steel in the cold, crisp water, tempered and true. The guards closed the double doors behind
him, he heard them sliding what must be a heavy bar across, to block the
escape. Silence, nothing to be seen in
the room all the way across. He had no
doubts that the sliding cargo door at the other end of the gymnasium was where
the enemy would come from. The entire
situation had a certain roman feel to it, the gladiator’s arena, morituri te salutant and all that
crap. This was a wonderful way to die,
no audiences, no one to save but himself.
It would come down to his will to survive pitted against an enemy that
would give no quarter. No fear here,
just two warriors, facing each other not because they have to, or that they
want to. Because they choose to do so,
because that’s what it was all about in the end: a pure moment of truth. He wondered if the monstrosity he was about
to face understood this, wondered how that thing interpreted this moment. Bear Cat was sure of only one thing at this
moment in time, the clarity of it making him smile. If that beast and him could talk about the
things to come in the next few minutes, they would both agree that Bear Cat’s
life was coming to a sudden alt, soon. The door at the far end of the room began to slide
upwards, revealing a pool of light, the outlines of pairs of feet standing
around what looked to be a giant cage with wheels underneath it. Bear Cat counted seven guards armed with sub
machineguns standing around the cage, the slumped shape of the monster inside
the cage confirmed at least that even the Envoy of Shadows can be subdued by
chemical means. Four guards came to the front of the contraption and bent down
to begin pulling on ropes attached on it.
They brought forth the sleeping menace and let go of the ropes about
fifteen feet inside the gymnasium. They
quickly ran back towards the cargo door, while two more guards aimed and fired
darts inside the cage, at the beast. No
doubt, these projectiles would be the wake up call. The cargo door slid down, leaving the caged
beast and Bear Cat alone in the quiet space.
Maybe fifty yards separated him from the cage yet he clearly heard the
behemoth stir, a grumbling came from it.
There was no doubt now that the time to die was here and now. Bear Cat took a fighting stance, battle
hammer at the ready, he repeated to himself over and over: “I came here to
rescue Turbo Starr, my mission is not complete.” The first note of “Have a drink on me” began to play
in the room, soon the drums would kick in, the base would roll into it and the
screeching voice of the lead singer would come in. Bear Cat wondered if he would make it to the
end of the song… In the laboratory’s control room, several technicians
were seated in front of glowing screen, managing the data from the many
experiments going on. Most of them were
now standing and watching the battle about take place. Money was exchange and bets were made as to
how long Mr. Bunny would actually last against the beast. Dr. Wepp did not intervene in the
matter. In fact letting it go was just
what morale needed today, his people deserved some form of entertainment here
and there, as long as all the data was being gathered to be reviewed later, he
had no quarrels with them standing around and watching the spectacle. He sat there watching the monitors, his eyes darting
towards another screen recording the heart rate and blood pressure and a myriad
of other physical information on Bear Cat’s condition. Sad, the man had refused his offer, what an addition
to his team he would’ve been. Even now,
facing the impossible, his pulse was steady and calm. What a specimen he was. He had seen others like him tested in similar
fashions in the past, and only a few were a match to his composure. Wepp
admired him in a way, although gifted as Bear Cat was, he had also found the
time to develop the nature of his being, the core of his soul. Other super powered beings usually relied
more on their powers than their brains, but Wepp had a doubt that the former
leader of the Hunters of Apocalypse valued and enjoyed using his wisdom before
his brawns. Cheers from the technician broke his reverie and he
saw that the captured monster had risen in its cage, growling its anger. A few gigantic punches later, the reinforced
bars of the door were already bent, in a few seconds, it would be free. His eyes shifted to the Bear Cat
monitor. Motionless, he just stood
ready, awaiting, watching. With a
resounding echo, the cage door flew open and the beast took a careful step out
of it, looking left and right in the gymnasium.
Was this basic instincts, or was the monster actually assessing the
situation? Its red eyes then centered on
Bear Cat, in the distance, and the beast stopped, a low growl rumbling out of
it. Was it sensing a threat? The energy monitor spiked up and everyone
visually witnessed a flowing black smoke emanating from the Envoy of Shadows,
magic in its nature, known to be deadly if someone came too close and was
exposed over a period of time. Crey
personnel had learnt this outright when they first brought in the beast, two
days ago. The beast charged ahead and the floor rumbled, Bear
Cat did the same, letting a long cry filled with anger. Everyone in the lab cheered then feel silent
as the distance between the two was closing.
They watched one screen, then the other, until both could be seen in the center monitor. The clash was gigantic, Bear Cat jumped in
the air, battle hammer raise high above his head ready to come down mercilessly
on the monster’s skull. The beast dove
straight ahead, talon hands extended in a reaching manner, jaws opened ready to
render flesh and bones if it had the chance.
The impact followed, drowned by the excited yells of the technical
staff. Bear Cat’s hammer flew from his hands and continued
its course behind the beast, and in a flash, he found himself shove into the
floor once, twice and a third time.
Breath knocked out of him, he wasn’t given a chance to recuperate. The beast’s right hand closed with an iron
grip around his left arm, he felt the room spin, suffered the smashing effect
of his body being turned into a rag doll as he hit the floor once more, was
lifted again, smashed once more into the floor.
He felt ribs break, muscles and ligaments tore up, blood flew his
mouth. The beast rotated on itself and
violently threw Bear Cat towards the cage.
The man flew through the air and came to a sudden stop inside the cage,
against the far wall of it. So strong
was the impact, that it pushed the contraption to fall backwards with a
resounding clang! Envoy of Shadows growled with satisfaction,
racing towards the cage, it jumped on it, coming to stand above bear Cat’s
broken body. Emitting a rumbling laugh,
the beast stepped to the ground, closing the cage door on the bloody mess. The song had reached the first chorus… |