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CHAPTER
4: GRANDEVILLE “I am sorry, my
lord. It was a surprise attack; somehow
they knew the access codes to the WEB’s defenses and flooded the entire
compound. They closed all the doors to
the outside and overloaded the generators, causing the water to become
electrically charged,” explained the Arbiter in control of the now-inaccessible
WEB compound. He kneeled before the
master of Arachnos, the looming Lord Recluse.
His eyes grew slightly brighter red with annoyance. “And, my lord,
Barracuda was—” quivered the Arbiter before he was pierced through the throat
by one of Recluse’s metallic spider limbs. “How…disappointing. Sergeant Mather, please organize a rescue
team to aid Miss Barracuda out of her electrical prison. Oh, and get someone to clean this up,”
sneered Recluse. As the appointed
Arachnos Operative made his way out of the dark chamber, the pale physique of
Captain Mako glided from a shadow behind Recluse. “It seems your lackey didn’t play with
ordinary guppies, Mako. Details of this
event irk me; I believe we may have heroes with intelligence in the area of
Arachnos base access. It may be just
another one of Statesman’s task forces, but I have my concerns. I want you by my side at all times until the
perpetrators have been neutralized.” Captain Mako
gave a hiss and sank back into the shadows.
Recluse stood and folded his arms, turning to a window. The blast shield retracted and a view of his
gloomy metropolis, Grandeville. As
always, the sky was gray with clouds threatening to rain upon his loyal pawns
and the lines of new recruits waiting to be processed, just one of the many
requirements for anyone wishing to live in his paradise. A brisk wind blew outside, chilling the
residents of Grandeville and causing the distant ferry in port to violently
sway and rock in the increasingly growing waves. Recluse couldn’t help but think of the cliché
a storm is coming. ******* Again, Araqua
and Blue Barrage found themselves impatiently waiting for Mistress Araqua to
prep their target for the attack. They
had parked a small boat loaded with explosives in a secret cave concealed
during high tide. Lucky for them, they
were able to enter near the end of low tide, giving them the perfect cover and
temporary base of operations. Mistress
Araqua then activated her stealth device and one-by-one planted the explosive
in weak points around the wall of Grandeville, on the Rogue Isle Ferry, and any
other vehicle that could ferry anyone who escaped. Today they were going to put Recluse and his
beloved Grandeville out of commission. Permanently. “Okay, so we’re
gonna sink Grandeville, but what about Recluse’s tower? I can’t make the sea magically raise that far
up to flood the tower,” asked Blue. “Once we flood
the ground, we will enter the tower and overload its power source, causing it
to explode and make the tower topple into the sea below. This should also start a chain reaction for
all other towers to topple, as they are all connected by the Tangle,” answered
Araqua. “Oh yeah, you
mean that big web-like thing over Grandville?
That was really unwise architectural planning on the big spider’s
part. Wasn’t he afraid that the Tangle
would destroy the city if the main tower ever came down,” Blue pondered. “Recluse
believes himself to be a god and that no one would dare attack his web. His arrogance will be his downfall,” answered
Mistress Araqua as she materialized out of thin air by the boat. “The bombs are in place, but we have a bigger
problem: Mako’s spirit sharks surround the island, and I wouldn’t doubt that I
was spotted despite my camouflage.
Recluse already expects an attack, we must hurry.” Araqua and Blue
Barrage give a silent nod of approval.
Mistress Araqua flipped open the guard of the remote detonator and,
after a flash of her son’s face flew across her mind, she pushed the big red
button. Twelve roaring explosions shook
the island, and the three rogues disappeared beneath the raging depths of the
cold, dark ocean. Stunned by the sudden
attack, the Arachnos scrambled to care for the wounded and enforce a perimeter
of defense. They did not notice,
however, the three successions of one hundred-foot walls of water surrounding
the island and rapidly advancing towards the unsuspecting villains. The first wave
carried the debris from the prior explosions and knocked the soldiers off their
feet. The second wave washed through the
city and its slums, destroying many structures and mecha and drowning most of
the unprotected soldiers and miscellaneous island inhabitants. The third and final wave of the set carried
with it the three rogues. Araqua and his
wife sliced and stabbed through the remaining Arachnos soldiers as Blue Barrage
surged visiting villains against walls and forcibly drowned any other
enemies. Despite the initial carnage,
however, more and more Arachnos troops and mecha descended from the Tangle to
meet their adversaries in battle. “There’s too
many of them, we will never reach Recluse in time,” yelled Araqua over the din
of aquatic warfare. “Don’t worry, I
brought along an old Indy Port friend,” Blue yelled back. He turned back towards the sunken beaches of
Grandeville and began to slowly raise his arms.
A fourth hundred-foot wave built up from the sea, and when Blue turned
back towards the fight he groaned in immense concentration as he directed the
large wave towards the tower. “Araquas
break for the tower, now,” yelled Blue. The Araquas
obeyed, and just as they broke through the front entrance of the tower the wall
of water crashed into its outer walls.
The entrance hall flooded in result, knocking the defenders off their
feet along with the Araquas. Blue
Barrage rushed into the hall and asked the Araquas, “Are you two okay?” “What the hell
was that,” asked Mistress Araqua as she struggled to get up. “Take a look for
yourselves,” answered Blue as he motioned them to the door. The married couple stumbled over to the door,
shocked to find a giant octopus monster toppling the large statue of Lord
Recluse in the middle of the plaza in front of the tower and wreaking havoc to
all the descending Arachnos. “I managed
to lure Lusca out of Independence Port back in Paragon. She’s not on our side, though, so she will
attack you as well. Be carefu—!” Blue was unable to finish his sentence as he
was knocked several feet to the right by the snapping Captain Mako. Blue quickly formed a pillar of water and
knocked Mako off from on top of him.
“Run! Go get Recluse, I’ll take
care of fish-boy here,” yelled Blue. The Araquas
reluctantly turned to head for the stairs when all of a sudden a large, orange
tentacle busted through the weakened wall of the hallway and proceeded to
swiped and pound away at the confused Arachnos soldiers. The Araquas bobbed and weaved across the
room, but did not reach the stairwell before the tentacle grabbed both of them
and drug them out of the tower and high into the air. The Araquas struggled to work their way out
of the monster’s grip, but to no avail as Lusca flailed them about in the air
like a flag. Araqua freed his
arms and held his wife tightly. “Hold on, honey,” he yelled as his mechanical
spider-legs stabbed into the tentacle rapidly.
The monster gave an ear-piercing squeal, and it threw the two rogues
towards the tower. Araqua maneuvered
Mistress Araqua onto his back in mid-air and curved all of his arms into a
claw-like position. They slammed against
the wall, but Araqua quickly recovered and stabbed at the structure with his
spider legs and arm blades. After
sliding ten feet down the wall the two bodies came to a screeching stop. Araqua proceeded to crawl and stab his way up
to Recluse’s lair. As the Araquas neared
their destination, a swarm of Arachnobots and Tarantulas advanced to their
position. “You take left
and I’ll take right,” said Mistress Araqua as she climbed up onto one of
Araqua’s robotic legs. Araqua launched
his wife towards a nearby Arachnobot, landing and stabbing it until it began to
fall in which she then jumped to the next target. Araqua used two of his robotic legs’ blast
cannons to snipe the other set of enemies from afar. As Mistress Araqua prepared to jump to her
fourth victim, she looked down on the battle below just in time to warn Araqua
to hold on. Lusca slammed a couple
enormous tentacles against the tower as it backed up in pain from its
attackers, shaking the tower to its foundations. Araqua braced for this as the Arachnobots,
Tarantulas, and many other enemies above them in the Tangle fell off the tower
and down into the chaos below. Mistress
Araqua used the falling victims as stepping stones back to Araqua where she
clung on his back. When the violent
vibrations ceased, the Araquas advanced up the tower. Araqua used his
blast cannons to melt a hole in the steel shielding of Recluse’s office window,
and then Mistress Araqua used her diamond-tipped stinger darts to weaken the
bullet-proof glass enough for Araqua to use his spider legs to break
through. Both of them squinted as their
eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room as they entered. Off in a corner Lord Recluse’s shadowy hulk
sat in a large armchair, his eyes dimly illuminating the edges of his faceplate
red. “I never would
have guessed that you two would have the courage to venture so far into my web,
knowing very well that you stand no chance against a god,” rumbled
Recluse. “When I heard the details of
the report on the WEB incident, I doubted that you two would be the
culprits. But when I witnessed the
sabotage and destruction of Grandeville’s defenses, I knew only a high-ranked
Arachnos Agent could possibly know the weaknesses of my fortress.” “Lord
Recluse—Stephan Richter—you shall pay for the death of our son, Robert
Lanlock!” pointed Mistress Araqua accusingly.
“Prepare to die!” “Ah yes, the
boy’s parents you two are. Araqua and
Mistress Araqua, yes? Many heroes and
rogues before you have attempted to take me down and destroy the Arachnos. They all failed, as will you,” replied
Recluse as he stood up. “You will not be
the death of me!” Recluse charged
forward, narrowly missing Mistress Araqua.
Araqua is caught in Recluse’s vice grip as they tumble across the
room. Recluse punches at Araqua’s
armored chest plate, heavily denting it.
Araqua brings all four of his spider legs to Recluse’s head and
simultaneously fires his blast cannons.
Recluse stumbles back, dazed for a few moments as Araqua gets back on
his feet and slices at Recluse. Mistress
Araqua fires a volley of darts at Recluse’s back, but they all ricochet off to
the sides. Recluse recovers from the
blasts and grabs two of Araqua’s spider legs and tears them from his spider
pack. Recluse then throws the two legs
at Mistress Araqua, knocking her into a wall and causing several large
machinery cabinets to fall on top of her. “No!” screamed
Araqua. As he turned to assist his wife,
Recluse grabbed both Araqua’s helmet and one of his remaining spider legs and
threw him to the ground, tearing off Araqua’s helmet. Recluse grabs Araqua by the neck, and calmly
says, “You’re strong, but I am invincible!”
With the twitch of his thumb Recluse took Araqua’s life and threw him
out the window and into the depths below. Recluse then
made his way to the pile of machinery that buried Mistress Araqua and tore it
off of her. He grabbed her by the neck,
removed her helmet and repeated, “You will not be the death of me.” A sudden stab of pain entered Mistress
Araqua’s stomach. She looked down with
tears in her eyes to see one of Recluse’s impervium legs pierced through
her. What seemed like a century later
she hit the floor and watched in blurry vision as Recluse walked away. ******* “What is the
news, Arbiter,” asked Recluse as Arachnobots struggle to replace the broken
window in his office. “We managed to
return the monster back to Paragon without trouble. The purging of the city is 46 percent
complete, but the overall damages will take several weeks to repair,” answered
the Arbiter as he assessed the read-outs on his touch pad. “What of Mako
and the perpetrators?” Recluse finished popping the dents made on his helmet
and replaced it on his disfigured head.
Only his eyes were visible on his face. “Captain Mako’s
wounds are almost completely healed. The
rogues and the hero’s bodies have been burned publicly as per your orders, my
liege.” “Did you recover
the video footage of the whole event?” “Yes, Lord
Recluse. We were even able to salvage
the footage of the incident in this office.
What are your orders, my lord?” bowed the Arbiter. “Send all the
footage to the WSPDR News station in Cap Au Diable and have them broadcast it
over the Rogue Isles. Let this be a
warning to all traitors of the Arachnos: death will come swiftly.” The End. |