Business of War: Comrades Ringman Ch.3 Return to the Motherland. Ring: Dirty Red Starnik: Green Cyros: Blue Lennon: Teal Winterman and Shift: Indigo --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wily was feeling... giddy today. He looked at the world map. He stared at the various colored dots, each color representing different factions. He grinned as he saw the two purple dots marking Cario, Egypt and Hong Kong. Purple was his color. He OWNED those cities. Sure, the cities under control of the RPD and Scissor Army outnumbered his own... but only for the moment. There were plenty of other places to conquer, and with the rising success of his troops, he figured, his eventually victory would be assured. His was giddy... oh, oh so giddy. At least, until Ringman expressed his concerns to him. "You botched the last two missions I sent you on, and you expect ME to send you out again?" He glared at Cossack's turncoat with malice. "And if you haven't heard, I don't give a damn about what happens to Cossack. Maybe you shouldn't either." Ringman's gaze fell down. While he did leave Cossack and his comrades on both sudden and upsetting terms, he couldn't help but feel a connection to his old home. And now it was being threatened by the Scissor Army, shown by the sudden appearance of bright green dots on the world map in Europe and Eastern Russia. Hot spots for the RPD and SA forces. Yet still he persisted. His arguments so far haven't been successful, but he decided to try and stroke Wily's ego. "But wouldn't it be nice to have a string of captured cities between two major continents? Show your enemies that you mean business?" Wily chuckled darkly. "You honestly think separating Europe and Asia is a tactical advantage? Perhaps during the 19XX era it would be, but now... you better come up with a convincing argument soon, robot." Ringman shifted uncomfortably. He had to do something, but Wily wouldn't even let him on the field again! He growled to himself; he knew he was a capable leader! He may not have had a successful mission thus far, but he knew what he was doing, damn it! If it wasn’t for blink luck, he would have brought Protoman back from Madrid. Just why wouldn’t Wily give him a chance? "On the other hand..." The Cossack robot blinked and looked toward the old doctor, who smiled evilly. "Maybe you're right... after all, wouldn't it be lovely if I, Doctor Wily, was the first man to successfully conquer all of Russia?" Shrugging, Ringman humored him. "Uh... yes?" Wily cackled. "And yes, the RPD and SA will be so focused on each other... Maybe there is some value in these battlegrounds... hehehe, it's perfect, perfect!" The doctor's sudden change of view crept out Ringman, but within his mind (or what still remained) breathed a sigh of relief. "However, I'm not going to put you in charge this time." Wily's sour attitude had returned and he looked at his soldier. "You obviously don't have the proper... leadership to lead my troops." This took Ringman aback, yet the doctor continued. "I'll be arranging a mission for you AND my Warriors soon. Go inform them, this instant." “What!? Wily, you know I can pull this off, just give me-” “SILENCE! Are you forgetting that the minute you stepped into my fortress, you pledged your allegiance to ME? I should reprogram you for you’re insubordination!” Wily growled angrily. “But I have more urgent things to attend to. Now, either you work with my Warriors, or you’ll stay in this fortress for the remainder of your miserable life. Ringman, though frustrated, was unsure of what to say, so he meekly nodded and made his way out of the lab. Once more alone, Wily gazed at the world map and grinned. Gingerly he reached out and began stroking the screen. "Yes... my precious world... soon you will all belong to me... my precious..." "FREAK..." "BASS!!! GET GOING ON YOUR MISSION ALREADY OR I'LL SHOVE A BLOWTORCH WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE!!!" “Sparkchan…” ever since Cape Canaveral, the White Knight had thought of nothing else. She had escaped his grasp then but it was only a matter of time until they would meet again and then next time… His soulless voids for eyes looked over his Holy Order all standing absolutely motionless as usual. While they were filled with elegance and grace in the midst of battle, they were exceedingly dull in the times between. It was almost as if the White Knight had no one at all to talk to before heading out. If only his beloved were with him, if only she fully understood the magnitude of his wanting of her then perhaps he would enjoy the quiet times in-between the beautiful bloodshed a bit more. But until that time came he would have to make due with his large scale symphony of slaughter upon the masses and now there was a man he wanted to bathe in the blood of more than ever… Dr Albert Wily… he had stolen what was rightfully his and now he was going to suffer for doing so. Unfortunately, Dr Wily was not the main objective of the Scissor Army’s attack, for now Geminiman would have to settle for killing Dr Cossack. “To find and defeat a Cossack…” the White Knight pondered as he paced in front of his Holy Order of Elysium located in his deployment area. “This would require a conquest of Russia, which in turn requires us to perform one of the most strategic blunders known to mankind. One does not simply march into Moscow unless they want to freeze to death.” “Of course, that’s only in human terms, robots are far more resilient to the forces of nature. However Moscow can wait for another time. In order to bring the right amount of fear to Dr Cossack we must conquer the smaller areas on the outer edge of Russia, slowly turning its vast land into a small cage. Then he will panic, and when humans panic they make mistakes, mistakes we can all benefit from.” A familiar voice echoed from within Geminiman’s head. “Mesmerman… what brings you here?” asked the Twin Terror. “Just seeing what my puppet has been up to recently. I also bring some potentially valuable news for you concerning a matter that might interest you.” The disembodied voice spoke with glee. “What kind of news?” “News of Dr Wily’s recent attempts on advancing into Russia. I believe you have some issues to sort with him and I thought you might like to know that he’s sent his Warriors team into Kalingrad, which from what I have heard is a lovely area with a port that doesn’t get frozen over during the winter. Perhaps you might like to make good on that curse you were talking about earlier and deliver suffering to the old man while also gaining a tactical foothold on the motherland.” “Killing two birds with one stone so to speak.” Geminiman grinned as he turned to face his Holy Order once again. “My Holy Order, we shall head to Kalingrad! Our mission; conquer the city, secure the port and kill anything without the Scissor Army banner that even remotely moves. And if you run into anyone that is of the Wily affiliation, contact me immediately. I wish to deliver a message to someone…” Cossack had news for the Cosmic Gladiators. “I'm afraid you won't be getting scrap this time.” he sighed. “I would send someone else, but you're the last ones avaliable.” The CG looked at each other, especially Pluto who was at an extreme disadvantage. He now had ordinary steel armor, with only his primary weapon made of Solite. “The SA is attempting to conquer Russia, starting with smaller centers.” Mikhail continued. “I have to send you off to Kalingrad, one of Russia's only ports without ice year-round. You must stop the SA at all costs. Wily's troops are in the area, I suggest you find them and team up with them. There are no RPD commanders, but quite a few RPD troops so watch out. You have two hours to be ready, that is all.” He then walked back into his lab and closed the door, without another word. All three of the “pseudo-leaders” were unhappy. They had been planning to go scrap-picking and get some rest for weeks, and now their lives were in danger again. But Pluto saw some reason in the mission. “You do realise that once the SA starts attacking smaller centers, there is no safe place for humans anymore. Soon they'll be attacking African villages, Australian farming communities, Antarctic reaserch stations and Canadian border towns.” he said. “And I know two people personally that live in Canadian border towns myself, they're completely defenceless against something like this.” The other CG, having been humans themselves, knew how dire the situation would be. “Okay, then lets take out these SA jerks. For humanity!” Jupiter pipped. “For humanity!” the others cheered. They rushed off to prepare, Pluto returning to his room to download as much information on Kalingrad as he could... Starnik looked over the vast field of yellow round helmets that surrounded him. “I thought the documents I had gotten were a misprint. Why in the world are our forces compromised completely out of metools?” sighed the scarlet speedster. “I suppose this might be a little retribution from Bass after what you pulled at last week’s victory party.” Stated Cyros in a matter-of-fact tone. The question bothered him as well, though. How exactly does one take over a city using an army of the robotic equivalent of rats? This is just great. thought Starnik dismally. First Classi-cal tells me about her experiences with Gemini Man, and how there’s apparently some good left in him… and now I get to go to war with a tactically inferior force of metools. It was at that point he noticed something strange about them. “Cyros… have the metools all…“ “Been repainted? Er… yes. It was Naoshi’s doing, really. After he heard about how Gemini had customized his own troops, he thought, uh, why not do the same…?” the blue and gold robot trailed off. In all honesty, he wasn’t exactly sure how Naoshi had accomplished it. Each of the 625 Metools had been customized with painstaking precision. It would have either taken either the blinding speed of Quick Man or the single-minded stupidity of Naoshi to manage the task in such little time. It was at that point Ring stormed in. He was absolutely livid about being stuck with “babysitters” like the Warriors. He was sick of people treating him as though there was no possible way for him to be successful on his own! I’ll show that Doctor Wily, and everyone else! They’ll have no choice but to accept my abilities after this next- Ring’s thoughts skid to a halt as he saw the customized metools in front of him. He could feel the lower lid of his eye twitch. “Why… do all these metools have “TA” written on them?” Cyros issued a polite cough, trying to cover up his embarrassment. Where the hell was Naoshi to explain his own insanity? “Er, from what I understand, it’s supposed to stand for our army’s name…” there was a brief pause as he felt both Ring and Quick’s judgmental eyes staring at him. “Team… Awesome.” He finished, dejected. “And the reason why they’re all painted red?” continued Ring. If it was possible, the time-mastering robot seemed to shrink under the glare of his fellow comrades. “It… is supposed to make them go faster.” He looked up to see Starnik’s face resting in the palm of both his hands. How long has it been since I last slept again? thought the speedster, rubbing his eyes. “Ah, ah ha. I get it now.” Said Quick brightly, pounding his fist into the palm of his hand. “I am having one of those psychotic episodes that I am always hearing about humans having. Yes. Clearly, that is what is happening right now.” Ring just looked stunned. THESE were the people Wily had so much trust in? “Is this how it’s going to be for the whole mission?” asked the former Cossack member miserably. “Oh, things will start to line up when we’re out in the field.” Assured Cyros. They turned their attention to Starnik, who was still giggling madly as he held aloft one of the modified mets. “I just don’t have the heart to tell him how Naoshi has taken up training those mets as well. He’s been sparing with them… and losing…” =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Lieutenant Alicia Foxglove slammed the phone down on its receiver. “Damn them!” she cursed, breaking out into a nervous sweat. Headquarters still gave her no answer about any sort of backup. Instead, she had spent the last two hours tangled in a intricate web of phone reroutes and bureaucratic red tape. There was a map of Kalingrad behind her, with three arrows pointing towards it. Besides each were vague troop estimates; intelligence had only been able to give rough guesses as to what comprised of enemy forces. She had been in the RPD for two years now. She had risen through the ranks faster than any of her colleagues, all the way to her current position. People had commented on how she seemed the type to be “going places” and many hadn’t put it past her to eventually rise up to a command position in the central RPD forces. How was she to know that the old pervert who had groped her in the elevator, who she had then proceeded to tell off in front of several RPD force members, was a high-ranking major? Suddenly the twenty-five year old officer found herself stuck all the way out in the port town of Kalingrad: far away from central RPD in Monsteropolis, and completely cut off from news, supplies, or funds. And now… now I have three threats to deal with, and less than 900 troops to deal with them. thought Alicia, as she ran a gloved hand through her short, light brown hair. Gemini Man was bad enough to deal with, but reports were coming in that Wily had also set his sights on the port city. She was almost relieved to find out that Cossack had dispatched his own group of robots to deal with the intruders. However, she realized that the RPD’s orders regarding the soviet scientist were not flexible in the least, and there was probably very little chance any rebel robot master would risk their necks to save the RPD forces with the threat of the Shutdown Code looming overhead. Lieutenant Foxglove peered out of her office window at the harbor stretched before her. She was silent as she saw the police forces hurriedly rushing civilians to shelters inside the city. It looks like once again I’ll have no one to rely on but myself… The CG teleported into Kalingrad, ready to face anything thrown at them. But strangely, not so much as a speck of dust was blown their way... “No teleport barriers, no enemy commanders...” Pluto observed, “I don't believe it. We're here alone, except for some RPD bots. The RPD basically runs this city, but they must have thought it was so out of the way that they didn't even bother to defend it well...” Mars quickly responded with “w00t! So we can leave at any time!” “Don't be so sure...” Uranus pointed out, “we're here for the sake of the inhabitants and the country that own this joint. If we just left when we wanted to, we'd be cowards.” “Well in any case, we must be the first ones here. Let's try to set something up that we can use to our advantage...” Pluto said. The CG quickly spotted a construction site, where several pieces of heavy machinery and steel girders were laying around. The work had been put on hold thanks to the war. Within a half hour, but with some interruptions to hide from RPD bots, they had each gotten themselves a bulldozer and several pieces of strong construction materials to use as ammo. “Don't forget, we're robots. We can chuck these things at someone if we have to. Just don't lose the vehicles to the enemy.” Pluto said as the Cosmic Gladiators finished their preparations. As if on cue, an explosion occured on the other side of the city. “Gemini...” Pluto responded, “...why does that sound like something I would say back home?” The CG had prepared themselves for Geminiman's arrival. Now it was time to fight. The frigid waters of the Baltic Sea were the perfect cover for Wily's entrance to Kalingrad's sea port. Several hundred feet below the surface, a customized submarine vehicle (adorned with the traditional Wily symbol) trudged through the murky depths. Inside, several hundred Metools laid in wait, while at the bridge of the vessel, the real warriors of Wily's forces guided their little "army" to their destination. "Are we there yet?" Airman resisted the urge to throttle Metalman... again. Woodman was nearby to break things up should they occur, allowing everyone else to concentrate on getting to clunky vessel to it's destination. Crashman grumbled as he slouched against the metal interior. "I still don't see why we couldn't teleport there. We did the last two times we were sent out." "Wily's been overtaxing his limited teleport grid lately," explained Flashman. "And he doesn't want to risk it overloading while he sets up some new satellites." Pacing around, the robot continued. "Let's just hope the SA doesn't notice them launching." "OR, we could just teleport those too." Flashman sighed. "You really think Wily's competent enough to think that?" Crashman thought for a moment and then nodded in agreement. Quickman looked over, having overheard the two conversing, and chuckled. "Yeah, that's Wily for you." He then turned to the other side of the bridge, where Ringman sat. "You doing okay, Ring?" The Cossack bot merely shrugged agressively and returned to his thoughts. "Okay, no need to get snippy." Bubbleman, how had been on periscope duty, finally spoke out in joy. "We're here, we're here!" "Finally!" exclaimed Airman. "Now I can finally see an end to Naoshi's-" "Are we there- GACK!" Airman looked at the little robot in his grasp. "Hey, ever wonder what it's like to be a human torpedo? "Ooo... that sounds like fun!" "Hehehe, it is. Let's just go to the-" An angry cough from Flashman, combined with an amused but stern look from Quickman prompted the fan bot to drop his hostage. Disappointed in his ruined opportunity, he moved toward the cargo bay to prepare the troops. Quickman looked on after him and nodded with satisfaction. "Alright, enough fooling around. Men! Prepare to surface!" ========== Before long, the eight robot masters and their so called army had made their way onto dry land. Fortunately for them, the part of the port city they had docked at seemed to have been deserted from some time. "You know, it would have made a lot more sense if-" "Cyke, pointing out the flaws of others is my job," proclaimed Airman. "You just make them sound so... mundane." Woodman looked over from his resting spot. "Mundane? Pretty big word, coming from you." Before Airman could give out a retort, Ringman groaned out loud, gaining everyone's attention. "Could we get going already!? We're not here to chat amongst ourselves; there are enemy troops to find, AND to fight!" Quickman looked at the red bot and gave off a somer laugh. "There's need to get so up tight, Rebel," said the scarlet speeder, using the Cossack bot's alias. "And there's no need to worry either. After all, you're in the presence of Wily's most awesome troopers!" "That's right kid; you're hanging out with Team Awesome!" In the background, Flashman groaned and smacked his face in embarrassment. "Okay okay, enough of that." Quick silenced his chuckling and soon turned serious. "Seeing the forces we have aren't, how we say... up-to-date, we gotta rethink our strategy this time around." "So what you're saying is-" Quickman nodded quickly to Bubbleman's question. "That's right. guerrilla tactics. Most of our adversaries will be on the lookout for a head on attack by large opponents. So we'll use the size of our Mets to keep them hidden from sight, and they'll ambush anybody who gets close, then move to another spot, etc." Flashman was surprised upon hearing the plan. "Wow. That's a surprisingly good idea, Starnik." Quick grinned in delight; in the background, Ringman sighed once again. "Okay guys, let's get everything ready. They may not be here now, but the RPD or the SA may arrive soon. And once they do, we'll teach them a thing our two!" An array of cheers and affirmatives rang from the Warriors. Ringman, on the other hand, shrugged, but soon found himself following the orders given to him nonetheless. Today was just not a good day for him. The explosion ripped through the streets of Kalingrad. The fighting between the RPD and the Holy Order had punctured a gas pipeline underneath, destroying the nearby buildings and the combatants. It was no matter, though. Holy Order numbers continued to press onward. Gemini looked down in disgust at the SA Joes and RPD Policebots that littered the ground. “Pathetic.” He spat. “I don’t even require one tenth of my army to mop away this pitiful resistance. Where are the Wily’s forces hiding?” he turned and shouted at the various empty buildings. “Maybe they are too cowardly to face the Scissor Army’s most prestigious general! Perhaps they are clinging to their blankets, hoping the RPD will do their dirty work for them!” he shouted, trying to goad a response. Nothing came back to him. The town was almost irritatingly empty compared to the others. Whoever was running the RPD at this station must have had the sense to evacuate the citizens into shelters before he made it into the city. It would just be a matter of time, though… =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= “Well, he’s got us pegged pretty good, huh?” whispered Flash to the other Warriors, who were all hiding a good distance away from the actual battle. The metools had already taken up positions everywhere in the city, and the Warriors decided to check out how the RPD forces were faring against the Geminiman. Neither side appeared to have shown up in great numbers, though. “Hey, it’s not cowardice, it’s… strategic reconnaissance.” Said Starnik peering out at the combat scene. Those “Holy Order” Joes were moving unlike anything he had seen before, and it made him nervous. “Still, we need to do something.” Said Iga, folding his arms in disapproval. “It doesn’t feel right, just standing here and watching them get pulverized. “What we need,” commented Ring finally “is a plan.” “Hell, I’d just settle for an opening,” grumbled Shadowstrike. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= “Are the charges set?” The policebot saluted sharply. “Yes, lieutenant Foxglove! And the enemy has now breached the perimeter! What are your orders?” “Set the timers for five minutes. Have the others fall back.” Ordered the young commander. She motioned towards the three officer bots that were escorting her, and dashed out of the building. As much as she hated destroying private property, the numbers were giving her little option. They were just going to be slaughtered in a direct confrontation, so some intelligent use of the terrain was needed. We’re going to have to time this just right… =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Gemini boldly strolled at the front of his army. What little was left the RPD was rapidly fleeing the area. The ease of his victory was disturbing him; surely the RPD wouldn’t abandon the city so straightforwardly? There were no reports of any new commanders coming into the area… he mused it was possible that whatever local RPD forces that maintained the place had decided to flee when they saw there was no hope. Perhaps they used the pier to evacuate the citizens out of the city. But how did they accomplish it so fast…? And where were the Warriors?! It was irritating him that he had not seen a hide nor hair of a Wilybot since he first showed up. In fact, this whole city was beginning to feel a lot like one big trap- “Hold it right there, Geminiman!” shouted a female voice down the road. She was flanked by hundreds of RPD officer bots, far more than the partly resistance he had seen up to now. He then noticed RPD officers surrounding his Holy Order’s backside as well, and some were even stationed in the tall buildings adjacent to his army. And each and everyone one of them had their guns trained on Gemini. “I am Lieutenant Foxglove of the Robotic Police Department, and under the authority of the RPD, you are hereby under arrest for your crimes. Disarm your weapons and come quietly, if you value your life!” said the Lieutenant sternly. This statement arose a chuckle from the twin terror of the scissor army. “You’re putting me under arrest? Really? And how long did it take you to piece together this pathetic excuse for a plan?” He motioned towards his Holy Order, who were silently taking aim at the RPD officers. “Maybe your strategy would have worked against human opponents, but I could crush your little band of walking has-beens with just ten of my soldiers! And I have even greater numbers just waiting in the wings. So, ha ha, no, I don’t think I’ll be ‘surrendering’ myself anytime soon.” Said Gemini with a wicked grin. “You RPD scum aren’t even worth my-“ It was at that point Gemini noticed that Foxglove wasn’t paying attention to him. She was looking at her watch. “Time.” She stated, as suddenly explosions ripped up not only the ground underneath the holy order, but to the building directly on either side of him as well! So THAT’S why she didn’t completely surround me using those buildings!! thought Gemini, realizing his foe had been slightly cleverer than he had given her credit for being. The detonations continued moving down the street, as his forces scrambled to get out of the way. He then noticed the blasts were headed straight towards him! I have to move! thought the scissor army commander, making a dash to the right side. It’s no good! It’s about to…! And then there was silence. The explosions had stopped right by Gemini and his last platoon of Holy Order soldiers. Foxglove cursed. “Oh of all the devil’s luck! Open fire!” “Heh. Amusing.” Said Gemini, regaining his composure. The weapons bounced harmlessly off his Gemini Shield. “But ultimately… futile. Unit Epsilon. Begin your counter attack.” He ordered. Suddenly, Holy Order Joes, hundreds of them, uncloaked outside of the RPD perimeter. “We’ve been outmaneuvered! Open fire! Escape and regroup!” ordered Foxglove as the battlefield erupted into a firefight. However, when she turned around, she suddenly found Gemini right in front of her. “Oh, no. We can’t have that, I’m afraid.” Said the commander with a bit of dark humor. “There will be no escape for you-“ BLAM! The sound of the pistol being fired at close range was deafening. Foxglove had pulled up her firearm and shot a round right into Gemini’s eye, the only part of his armor her bullets could probably crack, without hesitation. The clone commander stumbled back, shrieking. “I can’t stand men who waste words.” She said, coldly. Despite her big talk, she was panting and had broken out in a sweat. The sudden sight of the SA commander had filled her with so much fright that her mind had gone blank. Her academy training, however, paid off as she reacted through pure reflexes, and her inherent aptitude for marksmanship. “You little bug! You VERMIN!” shouted Gemini, drawing one of his swords. “For your transgressions, you will DIE!” he screamed as he swung. It’s coming too fast! I can’t dodge it…! was all Foxglove could think. Gemini awoke from his fury to find his sword blocked by a large boomerang. Quick Man, Flash Man, Metal, Crash, Air, and the other Warriors suddenly stood before him. “Now now now, Gemini, that’s no way to treat a lady.” mockingly scolded Quick. “What… what in the world…?” stammered Foxglove. “Don’t worry ma’am. We got you covered. After all, it’s bad for either of us if this psycho has his way.” assured Flash Man. Gemini chuckled darkly. “So you finally decided to show up?” He pulled out his second sword. “Good. Now I can make due payment on my curse… Your bodies will be the messengers that my beloved belongs to me, and only me!” “Beloved? Man, if you’re talking about Doctor Wily, I gotta tell ya, he doesn’t really swing that way…” joked Quick as he circled Gemini. He saw a twitch of Gemini’s muscles, and then a rush of wind; Starnik’s blind faith in his reflexes saved him, as he felt the slash travel across his cheek. His eyes widened. He had never even taken his eyes off Gemini. S… so fast! I didn’t even see him move! “Prattling fool.” Spat the scissor commander venomously. “Next time, it will be your tongue that will go.” The Cosmic Gladiators put their makeshift tanks into full gear and sped off in the direction of the explosion, their minds racing just as fast. <So how're we gonna take down Geminiman?> Venus asked over the QPS, her long ponytail flying behind her as she ran. <Any ideas?> <Isn't he really weak to Search Snakes?> Uranus said, shaking the ground with every step. <I think it was Search Snake...> <Well we don't have anything like that, but i think it's the snakes' acid that beats him,> Jupiter replied, flying just a few feet above Uranus's head. <Man, if only Mercury was here!> <What about Neptune?> Mars suggested, carefully skating down the street alongside his teammates. <I mean, isn't all his 'water' really acid?> Jupiter's eyes lit up. <Maybe we COULD do that!> he said. <Neptune, you think you could spray Gemini down with Aqua-Marine?> <I guess we got no choice b'sides, right?> the giant blue Stardroid replied. <You think it'll work?> Jupiter nodded slightly, and the team continued onward toward where the explosion was without much else discussion. But, in reality, plenty of things were being left unsaid… (Actually...) the falcon-like Stardroid thought to himself, (I don't know if that's gonna be enough...) Mars then made an unexpected comment. <Hey, where's Pluto?> <I'm a couple blocks behind you.> Pluto replied. <I thought of that myself when I found this tanker truck filled with Hydroflouric Acid. This payload will eat right through glass and metal, so hopefully we'll have Geminiman on the ropes.> he explained. The Cosmic Gladiators reached to scene of the battle, the 'dozers plowing through the SA's troops like snow. The plasma shots ate into the steel plating protecting the machines, but they could not stop the 10 metal beasts that came at them. The truck followed the clearings they made, before stopping at the scene of conflict just as Gemini had split to attack Quickman. "Ah, so Cossack's biggest failures have joined in too." Geminiman mocked. "You take that back, you-" Pluto said, spouting profanity in anger. Jupiter and Neptune weren't listening. They had snuck behind the truck and stuck a fire hose in the side, before leaping out from behind it and launching two deadly sprays of acid at each of the two Gemini clones. "Nobody calls my team that!" Jupiter yelled. "Eat search snake, bizwitches!" The sprays of acid were closing in rapidly but the White Knight quickly waved his hand and suddenly two more Geminiman clones appeared in front of the acid and took the entire attack full force. “What was the point of all that?” Jupiter asked with surprise until he then noticed the pieces of armour that were slowly being eaten by the acid were not Geminiman’s, rather they were fragments of Scissor Joe armour. “I applaud your efforts Cosmic Gladiators. That attack would have been most troubling for me. However, your lousy resistance is of little concern to me. I think you’ll enjoy the company of a few friends of mine though.” Several members of the Holy Order then appeared before the Stardroids in their usual Scissor Joe appearance and proceeded to open fire on them. “That was such a bother. I do apologise for the rude interruption, Warriors. Now, shall I begin where I left off?” the White Knight spoke in his usual arrogant manner. The Warriors quickly leapt into action and attacked the Twin Terror whim just smiled as more clones appeared to block the attacks and in the midst of the confusion two of the clones vanished without anyone noticing. “The perfect distraction” he thought to himself, “Now the Warriors will hopefully think they are fighting the actual me when they are actually fighting the Holy Order in disguise. Meanwhile I’ll proceed to pick them off when they least expect it. I think I will start with the so-called Scarlet Adonis…” Quickman dashed after the Holy Order member he thought was Geminiman and attacked it with his boomerang but was amazed to see it vanish before his attack could connect. “Looking for me?” the actual Twin Terror spoke from behind the Warriors leader before firing a laser at him which ultimately missed due to his opponent’s reflexes. “But you were just in front of me a moment ago!” he yelled before regaining his footing only to look up and find that the White Knight was not there anymore. “You seem to be filled with openings, Scarlet Adonis…” Geminiman’s voice came from a completely different angle which prompted Quickman to throw a Quick Boomerang over in the direction of the voice which was quickly bounced off by the former Maniac’s shield. “What kind of trick are you playing?” he asked gritting his teeth. “Trick? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The White Knight laughed as slowly drew out one of his burning swords and quickly faded from Quickman’s vision and soon A sharp pain was felt across the scarlet robot’s back as he fell over and turned to see Geminiman behind him with sword in hand. “Perhaps it is your ego that is making you disbelieve what is happening to you.” Stunned at this turn of events, Quickman shot off away from the White Knight in order to regain his bearings and think things through. But to his horror, he stopped to see Geminiman waiting for him, still brandishing his sword with a large grin on his face. “What’s the matter Quickman? Am I getting too fast for you?” he said mockingly as he leapt at the Scarlet Adonis and slashed at him only to be met with Quickman’s boomerang. “No one is faster than me!” Quick retorted as he dodged another slash from the White Knight and then retaliated with an attack of his own, only to see that his target was no longer in front of him and then felt the force of a powerful kick to his side as Geminiman pulled off a Shooting Star kick into him. “It’s not possible… you can’t be…” Quickman said in disbelief. It was like a nightmare. It couldn’t be real, no one was faster than him, and yet the White Knight seemed to have moved so fast that he had already scratched his face and now registered two hits on to him faster than it took him to blink. “A man’s ego is such a wonderful thing. When it begins to break down the man’s behaviour begins to go erratic and soon forms a tragically beautiful dance of despair” The White Knight withdrew his sword and grinned before disappearing again and reappearing behind Quickman with his laser pointed at his head. “I think I will crush your ego before I dispose of you.” Geminiman mockingly said before he fired his laser once again. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= “I nearly died back then…” Lt Foxglove was still trying to regain her composure as the battle continued around her. Hundreds of Police Bots, Holy Order Joes and Geminimen were shooting back and forth at one another while both the Wily robots and Cossack supporters were aiding in the attack against the Holy Order. “If it weren’t for that Wily bot… then I wouldn’t be here anymore…” She quickly snapped back into reality and got up with her gun in hand and shot a nearby Holy Order Joe in the eye with surprisingly good effect before turning to her fellow RPD Police Bots and troopers. “We will lend our aid to both the Wily and Cossack forces to help defend this city.” She said with determination in her eyes. “But madam, our orders are to arrest any Wily or Cossack forces. To help them would contradict our all that we have been told.” A trooper yelled out to his commanding officer only to be met with a cold stare. “If we do that, then we have absolutely no chance in protecting this city. Politics can be damned, at the moment this is war and we need all the help we can get here. Need I remind you that we have no Special Forces here to back us up?” she angrily retorted, silencing the complaining trooper. She then turned to march towards the Wily Warriors to aid in their fight and smiled. “Besides, I’ve already messed up any chances of me going up the ranks. Why should I bother what the guys upstairs think?” One way or another she was going to survive this battle and make sure this city remained safe. The SA Joes swarmed the vehicles, but the CG were too quick for them. With the vehicles still running, they simply plowed forward, obliterating everything in their paths. Except Pluto. The SA troops shot holes in the HF Acid filled-tanker, causing a gaseous doom-cloud to condense around the vehicle. A few unlucky Joes were eaten alive by it, followed by the truck itself, which sputtered out from the diesel in the tank mixed with the acid forming longer hydrocarbon chains unsuitable for the engine. Pluto's Combat Pattern Assesment System, a.k.a CPAS, had seen the attack coming from a mile away. Like a nimble cat, he leaped off the heads of the SA Joes onto a nearby building. <I'm safe, guys...> he said over the QPS. <And I know his little trick, thanks to the parts I got from the Sagitarrius. See those fragments left on the ground? Those clones aren't really his clones, they're SA Joes with cloaking abilities! It's just simple holograms, I can spot a fake a mile away.> <Good, 'cause Gemini just started to multiply more than possible! He's battling the Warriors, and no matter how many clones they kill he keeps coming back!> Mars replied. Pluto used his new quantum scanner, taken from the Sagittarius to replace the one that was lost, to find the real Geminiman. <There, he's on that roof. I need a distraction!> Pluto said as he snuck down the stairs and through the streets to the side of the building Gemini's back was turned to. <I'm on it!> Jupiter boldly ablidged. He smashed the bulldozer into the front of a closed furniture store, grabbing a mirror and hooping back in to head for Geminiman's perch. “Hey, Ugly-eye-man! Look over here!” he yelled holding up the mirror. “YOU LITTLE- oh, my. I look simply stunning-” was all he could vainly say before Jupiter punched the back of the mirror, shattering the glass. “AAARGH! YOU LITTLE PUNK! I SHALL FEAST ON YOUR ENTRAILS AT DAWN!” Before he could attack, Pluto had his pure Solite claws pointed like a knife threateningly at Geminiman's throat. “Call off the goon squad now and your perfect face doesn't get hurt.” he said menacingly... Laughter began to fill the air as Geminiman just looked at Pluto, still threatening his face with his claws. "You're threatening me?" he said with another round of his usual maniacal laughter, "Better robots than you have tried that. Tried and failed, a little threat like this won't phase me in the slightest!" Geminiman simply faded into invisible mode and ducked out at furry Stardroid's swift slash before another clone became visible behind him and kicked him off the ledge of the building. "Since you insist on persistently interrupting my glorious show, I think I had better silence you right now." he smirked before leaping down with sword in hand to finish off the falling Pluto Pluto quickly dodged the sword, acknowledging the cue from the CPAS device. "Better ROBOTS?" he said. "I think you'll find I think of myself as a NetNavi, not a machine that feels no emotion." "Emotion? Hah, I see in you better than you think. You lack emotion in that pitiful mind of yours more than anyone else in this CITY." Geminiman retorted, laughing. Pluto froze. Somehow, Gemini had struck a nerve. He snapped out of it, though. "You can think what you want-" Pluto stopped and raised his claw quickly to counter Gemini's sudden and swift kick. "...but harm any of my teammates, an innocent person in this city, or anything else dear to me and you will feel my pain ten-fold. Wriathman will learn that the hard way..." he said vengefully. Pluto leaped up, the two robots entering in a head-to-head combat. Pluto blocked most of Gemini's moves, but was equally unable to hit Gemini who used his clones to jump out of the way instantly... The remaining Warriors had problems of their own. One minute they were coming to help their friend, the next they were head to toe with a whole bunch of Gemini clones. More accurately, they were Gem's personal soldiers, the Holy Order. Crashman was getting annoyed on how they would take the hits, disappear, then reappear behind him. He just didn't have the speed to catch up. "Why won't these things stay in sight!" "Quit complaining and just blow shit up!" To prove his point, Airman conjured up several miniature tornadoes which ripped down the ruined streets and through dozens of the Holy Guard. Even those that were invisible were not immune to the high speed winds and fell just as quickly. A few got a bit too close to Crash and he had to duck out of the way or face quite a bit of damage. Not to far off, Woodman was knocking down Joes to and fro, while the remaining Warriors formed a circular ring and blasted out at their attackers. Bubble was the first to ask, "why do they keep disappearing?" "It's one of- LOOK OUT!" Flashman punched away a Holy Order trooper that had appeared too close to the scuba robot. "These assholes can cloak! And they keep using it to hit us and run!" "Cloak? How can they be cloaking?" A spray of plasma ripped apart a nearby Joe. "I dunno, light bending, holograms? Whatever works!" The word "hologram" caught Bubble's ears, prompting him to send more Lead Bubbles in between the Joes ranks. Sure enough, several of them hit invisible Joes, dropping their cloak, if only for a moment. "The invisible ones are in the gaps of the visible ones!" "I can see that!" Flashman changed his tactics from single target to suppression fire in an attempt to take out more Joes. They were more resilient than he realized. Woodman charged through the ranks of Joes, his boots churning up much dust. He was surprised when he saw some of the dust shifting when nothing was there. "Hey, the dust! We can use it to-" "Way ahead of you!" Airman began sending tornado attacks toward the ground, while Crash began launching his bombs toward every piece of rubble he could find. The attacks began to pick up larger and larger clouds of dust. Dust which was able to bypass the Holy Order's invisibility. At the point, Ringman got back into the action. "These guys are mine!" With a flick of his wrists, twin Ring Boomerangs launched into the dust clouds. Their paths were filled with many SA soldiers, all of which either fell or disabled by the razor sharp weapons. They came back to Ring's hands as he smirked. "Amateurs." "Ring! Go help out Starnik!" The Cossack bot looked at Flashman with distaste. Surely their quick companion could take care of him Gemini clones, right? Glancing at the battle, however, told him otherwise. Quickman was having a bit of a tough time verses the White Knight. With a grunt, Ringman made his way toward the battle, only for a Gemini clone; a REAL Gemini clone, to pop up in his face. "It is very rude to interrupt one's fight," sneered the clone. Ringman growled and sent one of his rings at him, only for it to be blocked by a shield. The clone snickered, then raised his Gemini Laser after his shield fell. "Heads up!" Both fighters turned to see a swirling whirlwind of dust, Joes and debris heading right toward them. The clone grimaced and fade from sight, while Ringman leaped backwards as the maelstrom continued right into a building. It promptly collapsed, surely crushing the Joes. Airman hovered over and admired his handy work. "See that, kid? That's the power of Awesome." "You say that like it's a pronoun," Ring said flatly. "It is." Flashman appeared in a blink of an eye. "We can discuss grammar rules later. Let's go after the real threat and help Starnik!" Another Gemini clone appeared, expressionless, and aimed it's arm cannon at Flash's head. A punch from Woodman ended that threat easily. "Watch your back next time, okay Cyros?" "So, I see you are able to predict my every move?" Geminiman said, prodding Pluto for weaknesses as they blocked and dodged each other's attacks. "I also know you're trying to find a weakness." Pluto said. "Well, maybe I'm just stalling for time." Gemini replied. "Nope, you're lying. I can tell when you get nervous." Pluto vaguely revealed. "Well, then predict this." Geminiman said, firing his laser at his opponent. Pluto dodged the attack, but fell prey to two Gemini clones that grabbed him and held him down. "Oh? I thought you were all-knowing. I guess you can't see everything coming." Gemini mocked, laughing evily. "No, but I need competent goons to hold me down." Pluto said as he kicked the Holy Order Joes in the knees so hard it broke their legs. The two bots fell to the ground, and Pluto shoved his claws straight into their heads, destroying the computer brains completely. "So, I can't fool you at all then. Force was working so much better, I'll have to stick to it." Gemini thought aloud. Soon, a platoon of Holy Order troops surrounded Pluto on all sides. Their sheer numbers meant that even though Pluto saw it coming he couldn't avoid it. "Now, now. If you can predict things, then why didn't you see that coming?" Gemini smirked, knowing full well Pluto couldn't have gotten out. Suddenly, a honking noise could be heard, as the other CG plowed through the troops to rescue Pluto. "Ah, friends. So the great psychic has nearly fallen to my army." Geminiman taunted. "Can it, fragile goods, or I'll pump you full of Aqua-marine!" Neptune threatened. Geminiman knew he was beat, so he merged with another clone to escape. His cruel words before parting were "Better robots than you have tried that and failed. I think you'll find your friend here is one of them..." <Forget him, guys.> Pluto said on the CG's special com-system. <He's just a piece of glass who thinks he's made of diamond. Let's go help the RPD and Wily's Warriors.> Pluto hitched a ride with Jupiter, stopping back at the construction site to get his bulldozer before heading to the main battle. As they reached the fight scene, Pluto saw the Wily troops sitting idle for some reason. <Hmm, the WW forgot to order them into battle. They're just sitting idle... wait, guys. Everyone grab a handful of mets. It's time to play bowling with Wilybots..." The CG grabbed as many of the little but heavy machines in their arms. They strangely didn't struggle or retaliate, somehow lost without a command. Finally in sight of the battle, the CG threw the 200 pound metools at the SA Joes fighting the Warriors. "Eat mets, scrap metal!" Mars yelled, while simultaniously launching several of his missiles. "Wow, chucking mets is pretty fun!" Sunstar exclaimed, firing his rifle as well. The robotic projectiles squealed as they hit some of the troops square on the head. With shots from Shift and Renard hitting them as well, several cloaked Joes had to reappear to provide the spaces for the other invisible Joes to hide in. Pluto's aim was especially good, his scanner going in sweeps to find the cloaked Joes and take them out one-by-one. "You can't hide forever..." he said smuggly. The Joes, unable to ignore the CG anymore, turned and started to attack the CG, leaving the Wily's Warriors unimpeded as the stardroids hopped into their vehicles and ran for their lives... “Glk!” sputtered Quick, as he felt Gem’s swords scrape him once again. It was taking all of his concentration to avoid the blows as they touched him. While Starnik was managing to keep Lennon’s attacks from hitting his vital systems, the “death by a thousand cuts” was beginning to show its effects. I… can’t keep this up… I need to come up with a way to stop him, fast! Then it came to him. It was an incredibly stupid plan. It was risky, impulsive, and dangerous. In short, it was perfect. Starnik watched as Gemini disappeared once again, and immediately felt a blade ripping into his side. Instead of dodging, however, he used his incredible reflexes to bring his hand down to grab the blade as it dug into his midsection. He grunted in pain at the burning sensation that came from Lennon’s sword; however, he refused to let go. He turned to look at Gemini’s surprised face. “Gotcha!” the scarlet speedster said triumphantly. His grin disappeared just as fast as he saw Gemini smiling horribly. Two, then four, then eight blades sliced into Starnik’s body, causing the Wilybot to drop to his knees. Electricity erratically discharged from all of his wounds. H… How? Gemini just crossed his arms, victorious. His armor lacked even a single scratch on it. Wait… what happened to his face wound that Foxglove gave him…? wondered Starnik. Quick Man’s eyes widened when he finally figured it out. “Cloaked… clones!” hacked the speedster. “You know,” said Gemini degradingly. “You are remarkably slow for someone who claims to be so fast.” He simply stood backed and watched as Starnik pushed himself shakily to his feet. He knew he had won; he was just going to toy with the self-proclaimed “Scarlet Adonis” now. “That’s it. Get to your feet. At least make a sport of this. Maybe you can try running away. I haven’t had a good game of hide-and-seek in years.” The white knight sneered. “Heh,” Starnik chuckled. “You know, Classi said there was some good left in you. That deep down, you were still fighting Mesmer’s control. She even made me promise to try and talk some sense into you. But honestly?” he asked, staring Gem right in the eye. There was a dark look that normally never crossed the jokester’s face. “Now I just don’t really care anymore.” Quick finished, suddenly disappeared from sight. Gemini felt a rush of wind come near him, and instinctively brought his sword to block, catching Starnik’s large boomerang weapon mid-swing. “Oh? So you can keep up with this speed. Let’s try faster.” Said the speedster darkly, disappearing from sight once again. Gemini brought his second blade to bear, deflecting Starnik’s attack… however the force behind it caused the Twin Terror to skid backwards. Wordless, the Quick Man disappeared again, bringing another attack at incredible speeds at the now beleaguered Gemini. He’s coming so fast, the force he’s exerting is tremendous! But I can still predict his movement- Gemini was cut mid-thought as a high speed kick landed squarely across his spine, throwing the white knight across the field. Starnik raced ahead of the robot, and brought his razor-sharp boomerang down across Gemini Man’s chest. His advanced armor couldn’t withstand the speed and force of the assault, and a deep gash appeared across his torso. “Urk!” croaked Gemini, falling backwards from the assault. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion. He turned his head and saw Quick Man was right beside him. There was no triumphant grin, only a deadly serious calm. “You’re so slow… even when you fall.” Stated the speedster, ramming his fist down into the already damaged mid-section of Gemini Man. The force of the impact against the street caused a crater, and Gem’s body bounced off the hard ground only to be slammed again by Quick Man’s fist. Starnik continued the punishing attack until a burst of mechanical fluid erupted out of Gemini’s mouth, splattering his red armor with black liquid. Another Gemini, the one Foxglove had previously injured, appeared and quickly re-integrated the dying clone. “Hmph.” Grumbled the white knight. “Don’t get cocky because of a lucky shot. After all what will you do… when I don’t give you a target to hit?” cackled Gemini as he faded from view. Quick Man immediately switched to the defensive. Without a visual target, he had no way he could attack! “Heads up!” yelled Ring Man, launching one of his Ring Boomerangs at what seemed to be thin air. It connected with something metallic, however, and returned to his hand. “Sorry we’re a little late. You simply would not BELIEVE the traffic!” “How did you know where he was?” Ring pointed to a small ring that was fixed to his eye. “It’s another Trick Ring I developed with Wily. The Vision Ring allows you to see far beyond the visual spectrum. Here, catch!” said the red robot as he tossed one of the small devices to Starnik. Quick Man immediately attached it to his right eye, just in time to make out Gem’s silhouette bearing down on him. Starnik’s super-fast reflexes managed to save him again, bringing up his battered boomerang to block. “Heh, oh Gemini! I see you!” taunted Quick as his opponent backed off. “Man, you’re hopeless.” Said Ring Man disapprovingly. “All the other warriors already figured out his trick with their Holy Order enemies.” “Hmph!” Starnik snorted at the sarcastic robot’s comments. “At least we’re down one of his clones…” With all his clones and all his troops no longer able to conceal themselves, the White Knight grinned in amusement as he watched over the battlefield of a city. Showers of razor sharp leaves were going all over the place cutting and revealing his once beautiful army while clouds of dust and bubbles revealed even more. “Ho, so you’ve managed to nullify my ability to go invisible, thus rendering my initial tactic useless. I suppose it’s time to make a more direct approach…” he smirked before pulling back from his fight against Quickman whom wasn’t about to let him escape but was quickly thwarted by the sudden appearance of more of Geminiman’s Holy Order. All of his remaining clones regrouped in the midst of the battlefield and then shot off in separate directions, quickly weaving their way around the Holy Order members before they found themselves surrounding one of the Warriors responsible for the destruction of many of his loyal soldiers. “Woodman, I must say, your leaves displayed a most wonderful dance on the battlefield cutting through many of my Holy Order.” The White Knight said menacingly while his clones slowly circled around the tree trunk robot, “I feel that I must return the favour.” Woodman was unsure on what the Twin Terror was planning, however with all the clones circling around him he was certain that they would launch some sort attack from multiple sides, due to his large stature he wouldn’t be able to duck so he did the next best thing, prepare to pull up a Leaf Barrier. But just as he made the slightest twitch, all the Gemini clones disappeared from his sights. Almost instinctively he assumed they went back to being invisible and he threw his leaves out in the directions they vanished but there was nothing… until he heard the sound of an arm cannon being pointed at him from behind. “Hook, line, and sinker…” the White Knight sneered and he then fired an immensely powerful laser so close to Woodman that there was no possible way for him to dodge. His eyes had rolled over, and his body went limp as the wooden robot collapsed revealing a searing hole in his back so deep that you could see some of his internal workings slowly begin to die down. “Why you…” Flashman screamed as pointed to fire at his enemy, filled with rage and vengeance at the sight of his fallen friend. “If you must blame anyone, blame my beloved Sparkchan. It is her confining in your side that brings this pain to you all. She has been cursed… all that stands with will suffer the same fate until she finally remains faithful to me and only me…” the White Knight creepily said before blocking the rapid blasts of plasma from the time-stopping robot before he realised Ringman rushing towards him ready to hurl his rings, that was until he saw one of the knight’s swords fly at him. The Cossack robot quickly repelled the sword but then right before his eyes, another sword laid hidden behind the other and cleaning cut off the ornament on Ringman’s head. “My… ornament…” he gasped, with a shocked look in his eyes. “How dare you knock my ornament off! You will pay dearly for this!” “Is that so?” Geminiman sneered as he split off a clone from his body and parried Ringman’s following attack. “Perhaps, you’ll be the next message I shall send to milady…” As they were talking, Gemini suddenly flet a strong burning sensation on his back. The CG had lost the Holy Order troops following them in a rail yard, then came back to the fight immediately. "Screw your "beloved". You're not the only one who can use underhanded tactics." Neptune said, spraying Aqua-marine at Gemini while his back was turned. Gemini screamed in pain, the acid eating into him. Pluto attacked in this small opening, his claws digging into the soft mush that was once Geminiman's back, causing him even more immense pain. Then Jupiter attacked with Electric shock, kicking the White Knight while he was down. All this at once made Gemini snap. Despite his immense pain, he leaped to his feet and yelled to his troops. "Kill those-" he yelled so loud that the profanities were lost. Every troop in the army, every last one of them, trained their cannons on the CG. They were not going to leave alive. Or so he thought. The CG used the opportunity to teleport out, with the final words "Kick his butt, Ring." coming from their mouths. Unfortunately, Geminiman was only in extreme pain. The damage was minimal, as was apparent when he brushed the charred dust from his back to reveal the armor was still mostly in place. Laughing evilly, Gemini turned to Ringman ready to take him out. The CG reappeared on the other side of Kalingrad, in the middle of a scrap yard. "I hope they'll be okay. If they have anymore problems we'd better get over there..." Jupiter said as the CG looked for scrap parts to sell. Sunstar was fuming with rage at the notion of fleeing from his first bit of combat in ages just to pick up scrap. he then kicked a already broken TV out of his fury. "GRAAAAAAARGH! I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS! I REFUSE TO PICKUP SCRAP WHILE THE SCISSOR ARMY IS STROLLING AROUND LIKE THEY OWN THE PLACE! EVER SINCE WE CRASHED ON THIS ACCURSED PLANET WE'VE BEEN DOING NOTHING BUT SLINKING AROUND THE BATTLEFIELD LIKE RATS! I THOUGHT TODAY WE'D HAVE THE CHANCE TO FINALLY FIGHT BACK LIKE TIGERS WITH ROCKET LAUNCHERS!" Sunstar shouted out angrily before teleporting to the outskirts of the battle field The CG then stared at the spot where sunstar was standing, speechless. "Y'know, Shift is right! I'm sick of picking up scrap, i just want to kill some SA joes! Who's with me!?" mars said. "I am!" Terra and uranus said. "*Sigh* Yeah, it doesn't feel right just searching for scraps while others such as the CC, wily's forces and the RPD are giving it their all. So i gues i'm in.." Jupiter said "What about the rest of you?" Mars asked. "We'll just continue searching for scraps. Call us on the QPS if you get into a tight spot." Pluto said. "Right! then we're off!" jupiter said right before he, mars, terra, and uranus teleported out The 4 CG members reapeared on the edge of the battlfield to see sunstar using his rifle/flamethrower on the flamethrower setting as a makeshift sword to slice through a group of SA joes. Sunstar then took notice of the 4 CG members. "Heh, so some of you decided to fight afteralll. I'm glad you did, since the SA has been quite a handfull for me to deal with on my own." Sunstar said while shooting high powered plasma blast's at some aproaching SA joes. The 4 CG members and sunstar then began to charge through the battle field with jupiter firing his magna cannon, mars firing photon missiles, terra firing a spark chaser at a group of joes followed by some earthly arrows, sunstar firing a few high powered plasma shots before storing the rifle on his back and switching to his arm cannon, and uranus at the front of the group using his brute strength to smash through the SA joes Ring Man hardly paid attention to what the Gladiators mere diversion offered. That... BASTARD... knocked his ring off! Slowly but surely during the scuffle with the Gladiators, he placed his hand atop his helmet, feeling something that was definitely not there. Suddenly he clutched his fists, feeling an uncontrollable, unidentifiable urge take over his body... that of anger. As the CG finally made their exit, Gemini Man turned to face his opponent once more, laughing all the while. "So... what is it that you are going to do now, hmm? Chuck another feeble ring at me? If so then I suggest you do it now..." Gemini Man swung his arms out in mock gesture. "Come, I'll even give you a free shot... give it your best." A moment passed as Gemini waited for the incoming blow so he could dodge it, thus crushing the red robot's ego further. He had to admit, crushing one's ego was becoming a hobby of his. Unfortunately he soon realized that the communist was not doing anything except... chuckling? "Y-you dare laugh at me?" Gemini spat, suddenly angered yet confused. "I demand to know what is so funny! Well!? Answer me!" Yet the laughing did not stop, much to Gemini's annoyance. In anger he raised his arm cannon, deciding to be rid of the pest before him once and for all. He fired out a blast of his Gemini Laser, watching in satisfaction as it hit Ring Man directly in the chest, the target jerking back in pain as the white-hot laser pierced through his armor. "You do not even attempt to dodge... how pitiful!" Gemini sneered. "Truly you do not understand the proper etiquette when it comes to--" Before he could even finish his lecture, however, Gemini Man felt a hard object slam into his face, knocking him back. Registering the blow, he turned to see that Ring Man was the source, his fist leaving a nice imprint on his face. Growling in frustration, he attempted to pay him back with a punch of his own but was left in awe as the rebel caught it with one hand. The red robot looked at the White Knight, his eyes showing any lack of sanity, his rage over the loss of his head ornament taking over his entire body, even nullifying the pain in his chest. "W...w... what is this!?" Gemini yelled, not knowing what was going on. "Heheheh... HAHAHAHAH!!" Ring Man laughed hysterically, jerking Gemini forward and kneeing him in the gut, causing him to cough up some internal fluid. Ring Man whispered something into his ear. "So, ya think you're just some big, bad guy, huh? Think ya can just go around and do whatever the Hell ya want, huh!? YOU STUPID SUNNAVA BITCH!!" At that Rebel shoved Gemini Man off of him, allowing him to stumble back slightly. Not allowing him the chance to regain his composure, however, Ring Man leaped at him, slamming his fist back into his face, before delivering another blow the gut, followed by a swift kick to the side, knocking him to the ground. Gemini could only gasp as the pain overtook him, before feeling a large, heavy boot press on top of his neck, threatening to squeeze it shut permanently. Ring Man could only look at him with some form of twisted amusement. His damn laughing that aggravated Gemini earlier continued. Not letting up, Ring put the pressure in his boot slightly harder, watching Gemini squirm some. "Heheh... how typical!" Ring Man laughed hysterically. His mind was completely gone. "At first you were just a piece of shit... and now you're a pile of dog shit!" He could only laugh harder as his boot suddenly came down harder, smashing the poor Master of Clones neck, causing a sickening crunch to resonate throughout the surrounding area, paralyzing the clone. His laugh continued until he felt several blasts strike him from all sides--the Holy Order had finally decided to intervene, striking the Wily bot. Facing the new opposition with sadistic rage, Ring Man lunged at the nearest target with a Ring Boomerang extended, smashing the Joe's face in by swinging it wildly as a melee weapon. He then opted to throw another at a nearby target that nimbly dodged the incoming projectile and swung his dagger, tearing it into Ring's arm, sparks flying. Little did it suspect however as the ring came flying back, slamming into it's spine and plowed right through his midsection, effectively cleaving it into two. "C'mon, C'MON!!" Rebel screamed, his eyes bloodshot. "I'LL TAKE ALL OF YOU ON!!" Complying to the order, more Holy Joes appeared, encircling the deranged robot. Although he struggled, Ring Man was incapable of fending them all off, as he was soon bombarded with various blasts and suffered from numerous stab wounds. Despite this, he continued to laugh, his body becoming that of a cockroach, refusing to fall down as he continued delivering blows and accepting some more. Even as his body reached it's limits, he refused to give up, a wild animal lingering in his eyes. Nothing would stop him from this sweet revenge! With another clone defeated, Geminiman’s anger was raising and he quickly merged another clone with the paralysed one and rose back to his feet before the bloodshot Ringman who was still fighting with all his might and all his anger against the Holy Order. Despite all his injuries he continued to go on. “Your determination and rage are certainly admirable, I will give you that.” The White Knight spoke while slowly advancing to the former Cossack Comrade while picking up one of his fallen burning swords from the ground, “Admittedly it was my fault for allowing you the first shot. You do indeed have a great deal of power… however I will not be completely defeated by the likes of you.” Ringman still did not falter as he stood before the Master of Clones, determined to stop whatever attack was going to head his way but there were simply too many Holy Order Joes in his surroundings, so he quickly shot out as many rings as he could and at that moment he felt a burning sharp pain in his abdomen as the White Knight ran him through with his sword. “Now, drown this battlefield with the glorious sound of your scream.” He sneered, but Ringman just smiled as his rings had reversed direction and were now headed straight for Geminiman. “Not before you do.” He replied but then was shocked to see the rings bounce off the White Knight’s back as if they were nothing and then find another Geminiman move from behind the one with the sword slowly shake his head at Ringman in a mocking fashion. “An interesting attempt, but I am aware your weapons are called boomerangs; I would be foolish to leave my back open if I went within their range.” He sneered and then more Holy Order soldiers rushed Ringman with their combat knives and embedded them into the robot’s torso. With his eyes still burning with rage, Ringman slumped over with countless knives littering his body unable to fight anymore. Geminiman removed his sword from Ringman’s body and turned to see the remains of the Cosmic Gladiators fighting off the rest of his Order, they had been a nuisance since the start of this fight, but his thirst for Wily blood was still not satisfied and he brushed them off their actions for the time being and looked to see his other clone fighting Flashman whom was still firing volley upon volley of plasma shots at a Geminiman clone, he wanted to make him suffer for the pain he had brought to Woodman. With all his concentration on trying to kill the clone before him, Geminiman saw this as the perfect opportunity to shoot another laser which would eradicate yet another member of the Warriors team. He began to take aim for the time-stopper’s head until a razor sharp disc sped by and lodged itself into the White Knight’s arm causing him to fire the laser off course. He then saw Metalman looking rather proud of his throw ready another Metal Blade to throw at the White Knight, but this time he was ready and once again another clone jumped out in front of the path of the projectiles and repelled the attack while the White Knight removed the blade lodged in his right arm and smiled. “I believe I have something that belongs to you.” He laughed before throwing the Metal Blade back at Metalman which tore through his body in an eerily bloody mess. Flashman, whom had looked over to see where the missed laser had come from then saw the fallen body of Ringman and the collapsing Metalman and screamed out in anger once again. “You’ll pay for what you’ve done! You hear me Geminiman? You are going to pay!” “We’ll just see about that.” The White Knight grinned as he prepared a pincer attack against his next victim with his other clone but was quickly interrupted by a hail of plasma bullets from the RPD that had come to aid. “You have no chance to win Geminiman! We have you completely outgunned now.” Lt Foxglove yelled out, pointing her gun at the White Knight once again. “Outgunned?” the former Maniac laughed once again and grinned back at the RPD officer. “I suppose you do, but do you really think that worries me?” Leaving his other clone to take care of Flashman, the White Knight separated from the main battlefield with a handful of Holy Order Joes and attacked Foxglove’s squadron of Police Bots while he personally grabbed hold of the lieutenant. “While I maybe outgunned, I am certainly not outwitted just yet.” As he finished his sentence, a series of explosions rocked the battleground and levelled several buildings to reveal small groups of Holy Order Joes who had successfully used the debris to divide the disorientated enemy forces into smaller groups. “I suppose you’re going to curse at me or something. I seem to get that a lot lately. However, I think I’ll much prefer to hear you moan in agony as I slowly rip you apart.” A gust of wind came by followed by a red blur as the Wily Warriors leader had arrived in time to rescue the RPD officer once again. “As I expected… We meet again, Scarlet Adonis. I believe I have some unfinished business to deal with you.” "I think we've gotten everything we can out of this junk pile..." Pluto said. "We've been grabbing stuff and teleporting between here and the Citadel for 30 minutes already." As if on cue, the explosion from the Holy Joes was heard by the remaining CG. "That's not good..." said Neptune. "We'd better get back over there." The five left-over CG teleported back to the battleground. Looking around, the Warriors and RPD were losing badly. "Okay, let's take on the Holy Joes attacking the RPD." Pluto ordered. The two groups of CG members joined up, and with the combined forces of them and the RPD troops, the Holy Joes began to dwindle. Soon there was only about 60 left, out of the original total of 1083. The bulldozers had proven very useful. Of course, the CG took some damage themsleves, and their armor was pocketed with craters as they picked off the stragglers one by one. "Do not fight the inevitable!" a Holy Joe said annoyingly for the thirtieth time. "Elysium awaits!" "I am getting sick of that stupid line!" Pluto complained, shoving his left claw through that peticular Joe's head. Once the last Joe fell, the CG collapsed from exaustion, sitting on the charred sidewalk. Commander Foxglove walked up to them. "Are you the Cosmic Crusaders?" she asked. "Well we were going to be, but we've decided to stick with Gadiators." Jupiter re-plied. "It's more fittin- Hey, aren't you the RPD leutenant?" "Yes, I am." she said. "Don't worry, I'm not arresting you. After being stuck here I don't care much for what my superiors think. Just... thanks for the help. We would have been slaughtered if it hadn't been for you and the Wily's Warriors." "Don't mention it..." Sunstar sighed. "Is there anything I can do to repay you?" she asked. "Not much. We're from space, so Earth tech won't do much for us." Pluto explained. "But a few thousand to Cossack under the table would do..." he said, winking. "Okay, I'll wire 10,000 over to him. Thanks again." she smiled. The CG got up, unable to do much more. "I think we'd better get going.' Jupiter said. And with that, the CG teleported back to Siberia... “Aw, it looks like the Gladiators went and broke all your toy soldiers.” taunted Starnik. “Guess that means it’s just down to you and us.” In reality, the speedster was very worried. Gemini was still fresh from absorbing his clones, while the battle with the Holy Order and Gemini had taken their toll on the Wilybots. Wood, Ring, and Metal Man were down, and Quick Man wasn’t sure how long they’d last without getting treatment, or even if they were salvageable at all! He had to figure out a way to burn through four remaining clones without taking any more heavy losses. “I don’t need them to mop up the likes of you.” sneered Gemini. “Your broken bodies will be the messenger to Spark-chan and Wily. My curse on her will come to bear. It is inevitable.” “That’s mighty big talk for a guy who’s all out of tricks.” Starnik said as he took a sprinters stance. “Everyone, hang back. I think it’s time I settled this whole business with Gemini.” “Hm hm hm, you fool.” laughed Lennon as Starnik leapt into action once again. “I don’t require tricks to disable the likes of you!” Another clone uncloaked as Gemini merged with it, evading the attack. Starnik skid to a halt, then took off again. Direct attacks won’t work on him… time to try something different! Thought the speedster as he began racing around the Twin Terror. Alternating his speed as he ran, after images of Quick began to appear all around Gemini. “Let’s see how you like my own ‘clone’ technique!” “Heh, are you going to prance around me all day like a coward, or are you actually going to attack?” “Oh, you’ll like this, then!” quipped the scarlet speedster as the after images all fired off a load of quick boomerangs. Gemini did not appear to be worried about the quick boomerang barrage, however, as several clones uncloaked and drew their swords, swatting down the boomerangs with incredible reflexes. They made it look effortless, but Starnik didn’t let up. Come on… I just need a few of them to break through… He thought as he dumped more energy into the assault. “I grow weary of this charade.” Stated one of the Gemini’s, batting one of the Quick Boomerangs away. Whether by luck or design, the boomerang sliced into the right leg Quick Man, who came to a sudden stop. “Augh! Of all the lucky ricochets!” yelped Starnik. Suddenly Gemini was on him, blade drawn. The speedster tried to spin out of the way, but the damaged leg slowed him enough for Gemini’s already quick sword work. The injured leg was lopped off, providing no more resistance to the Gemini Sword than a piece of paper. Starnik fell to the ground, a look of shock and disbelief across his face. “That face! Ha ha! Perfect!” Laughed Gemini as his other clones disappeared. “Tell me, Quick Man, how fast can you run now?” Starnik grimaced as he struggled to push himself into a sitting position. He raised his right arm and aimed his Quick Boomerang launcher at the taunting robot. “I still… can fight…” he grunted out of pain and effort. Gemini’s grin lessoned slightly. “Indeed.” He said, a bit more somber. “However… for showing me such an excellent dance back there, I feel it necessary to return the favor with one of my own...” The last of his clones surrounded the one-legged speedster and then began to circle around him in a sinister manner. “I must congratulate you for displaying a most wonderful fight. However, with only one leg left to stand on, there isn’t much else you can do…” The clones were circling closer and closer to Quickman, he had recognised what his adversary was doing, this was the same move that took down Woodman, sooner or later the clones were going to disappear and then one will shoot him from behind. But the clones just continued slowly walking around him, staring at him with their soulless eyes as if they were waiting for something. Thinking he knew the way out of the attack, the Scarlet Adonis turned and threw a boomerang behind him where he suspected the White Knight would attack from, only to find nothing. Smiling, the White Knight merged all his clones next to Quickman’s self-created blind spot and pointed his laser at his head. “So it is only fitting that you suffer a most wonderful death…” There was no warning. No time to react. A split second was all Geminiman could register as something appeared in his peripheral vision. And then there was blinding pain. He screamed, clutching what use to be his eyes and staggered backwards. Next to where he once stood, Flashman held his buster firmly. Smoke and ozone still waved away from the buster barrel. The White Knight cursed at his attacker with all the rage within him. "YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU'VE BLINDED ME! YOU'VE RUINED ME!" Flash merely looked at the stumbling ex-Mech, his face twisted into a scowl. "No... it was your twisted pride that blinded you... and ruined you." He approached the fallen warrior, who still clutched his face. Suddenly, without warning, Gemini unleashed a furious attack with his twin swords, nearly delivering a fatal blow. Instead, they cut violently through Flashman's left shoulder, completely severing that arm. The screams of pain made Gemini forget his own. "Yes! YES! Feel the agony!" Even without his eyesight, the knight proved to be quite dangerous. He turned toward the source of the screams and slashed horizontally, scratching the surface of Cyros' chest armor and sending him to the ground. The Wily bot coughed violently, a bit of fluid dribbling out of his mouth. Hearing dark laughter, he looked up to see the blinded Geminiman approaching him, his swords crossed over his chest. "You... I've been toying with you for too long... and look what you did... heh. It was foolish of me not see you as a threat." Flashman attempted to raise his buster arm, but a sharp pain distracted him. Feeling he was close enough, Gemini raised his swords. "Now... now I'm going to SEND YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!" "Not today!" Amazingly, Quickman came slamming into the White Knight's side, launching him several meters away. Somehow, despite lacking a leg, he was able to propel himself into his target. "Cyros... thanks." "Same here," Flash mumbled, wincing in pain as he stood up. "...do we look like shit or what?" Geminiman wasn't so pleased. Screaming in rage, he felt around for his fallen weapons, determined to make good on his curse. His movement stopped once Cyros summoned enough energy to fire a Flash Freeze at the stubborn fool. "Okay, we got him where we want him," Quickman muttered. He held onto his friend's back for support, careful as not to upset his injury. "Now what?" "Pay... back..." Quick and Flash turned and went wide eyed. Standing there, despite all odds, was Woodman, sparks flying from the wound in his back. "Woodman! But- but how!?" The lumbering giant gave a weak smirk. "I'm tougher... than I look... now let me... take care...of this guy..." Woodman turned toward Geminiman and began concentrating on something. Slowly, he began to glow with a strange light. The two other Warriors were unsure of what to make of this, until they looked upward at the sky. The sun was shining brilliantly. "Is he... going to do what I think he is?" The sparks from his wound grew in number, but yet he continued to charge his solar borne power. Thrusting his palms out in the same manner as when using his Leaf Shield, Woodman began to gather an orb of light that rivaled Flashman's blinding visual display. He was on the verge of shutdown, but not before he gave a little present to Geminiman. He fired. A ways off, the effects of the Flash Freeze final wore off, brining Geminiman back to attention. Somehow, he knew something was wrong... Turning his head toward the incoming laser, he knew nothing but the increasing heat that seemed to come toward him. Instinctively, he did the only thing he could think of; shield himself. The Solar Laser plowed right into him and kept going, right into several buildings and out over the Baltic Sea. While brief, the destructive power it unleashed was unlike anything the Warriors had ever seen before. Quick and Flash stared on in disbelief. "...holy SHIT that was cool." Drained of energy, Woodman could not stand up anymore and stumbled toward the ground. The other Warriors, arriving due to the commotion, made their way to their fallen comrades. As for Geminiman... it was a miracle that he survived. Geminiman felt as if he just woke up from a dream, but something was wrong. He couldn’t see anymore, and he felt burnt all over his body. What had happened to him? “Why can’t I see? What’s happening?” he cried out in confusion, as he struggled to touch his face to find that everything seemed charred and his eyes were now missing. “My… my face? What have you done to my beautiful face?” he screamed out in a mixture of anger and horror. The Wily Warriors were slightly confused at the White Knight’s behaviour, was it another one of his ploys? “Don’t try act all innocent, Geminiman” Flashman said while clutching his missing arm. “Not after everything you’ve done to us.” “Everything I’ve…” the Twin Terror began to ask until it all came rushing back to him, the invasion, the threats, his almost successful killing of Woodman, Ringman and Metalman. The city covered in debris and blood… he had done this… he had done it all… Geminiman screamed in horror as he tried to close his mind’s eye but it was all for naught. Everything he had done today was now eating away at his mind, he could not handle it. He didn’t want to handle it. “What have I done? How could I…” he cried out in despair, before shortly pausing and remained eerily still before uttering, “How could I… lose to the likes of you?” The tone of the White Knight’s voice suddenly changed back to the way it had been throughout the midst of battle and soon started to laugh once again. His vision was gone, his body was charred and due to the fact he took all this damage when he was fully merged, he could no longer clone himself. Yet, in the face of defeat, all he could do was laugh and applaud. “Well done, Wily Warriors, well done… It seems that in the end I was both outgunned and outwitted today. I am at a complete loss. So you should all feel very proud of yourselves, because your victory today will be very short-lived…” The remains of the Holy Order teleported out of the scene while a badly charred and scorched Geminiman remained behind and laughed at his surrounding enemies… “I will see to it that the blood of Wily and all those around him will be covered over the walls of the battlefield and my beloved will soon be mine!” And with that, the White Knight teleported away… Even with the Scissor Army gone, the battle was still not over. Lt. Foxglove and her troops, just a tad over two dozen, began advancing on the Warriors. With the worst of the two evils repelled, it was time to deal with the lesser. Warily, she approached the damaged robots, thinking of her next actions. The Warriors had other things on their mind. Unexpectedly, their bout with the White Knight had crippled over half of their squad, Ringman included. Quickman lacked a leg, Flash an arm, Wood and Ring unconscious and Metalman... surprisingly, despite his condition, was still able to speak. “My body... is trying to die...” “Oh suck it up, you’ve had worse.” Airman and Bubbleman began grabbing Metal’s parts and got them into a pile near the others. Supported by Flashman, Quick began to hobble over to the approaching Foxglove. He gave off a weak smile and said, “It looks like we managed to drive them off.” The young woman returned the smile. “It seems so.” Her facial expression was soon replaced by a serious look. “But now, as an officer of the RPD, I must ask for your surrender.” A collective groan escaped from the Wily robots. They had seen this coming from miles away! Sure, they man not have to deal with an army of RPD officers or any special forces, but a majority of the team were in no condition to fight back. It was time to show them they meant business. “‘Surrender?’ ‘Us?’” Quickman gave a small chuckle, which peeved off the young officer. “Hate to break it to you ma’am, but if it’s anyone who’s surrendering...” From ever possible nook and cranny came scores of Mets. As if they had always been there, the small diminutive robots founds themselves surrounding the RPD, their plasma cannons armed and ready. Foxglove’s eyes went wide with surprise. “...it’s you.” She gave off a muffled swear and considered her options. Which were VERY limited. Her small number of soldiers, no matter how good, were no match for nearly a thousand metools. Granted, they may be able to wipe out a fourth of them before they succumbed to the collective plasma attacks, but she wasn’t about to do something so... suicidal. Starnik sighed and spoke. “Look, we’ve both been through Hell today, and only one of us is gone walk home victorious. And truthfully, I’ve had my fill of fighting today.” He briefly paused before looking back at the young women with a smile. “As much as Wily hates you guys, we don’t necessarily feel the same. So we’re giving you this last chance. Run, so you can fight another day. We’ll keep things in check here.” A regular RPD robot soldier stepped up, cautiously, and raised his weapon. “Negative! Protocol states that all robots who defy the Shutdown Code, and those affiliated with either the Scissor Army, Wily and Cossack must be-“ “Stand down.” The robot jerked toward Foxglove’s direction with confusion. “Speedy here is right. We don’t have a chance, not with our numbers. We’re... going to withdraw.” “But ma’am-“ “Don’t ‘ma’am’ me, you two-bit tin can! I’m in charge of this operation, so whatever I say, you do! Is that clear!?” The outspoken robot gave a simple acknowledgement and lower its weapon. Turning back to Quickman, the RPD officer said, “Alright, you win. We’ll leave quietly. Just... take care of the city, alright?” The scarlet speedster gave off a traditional smirk. “Hey, is this the face of a liar?” Flash rolled his eyes; even when he was critically injured, Starnik was still... Starnik. A path emerged from the sea of Mets, giving the RPD troops a clear path toward there method of escape. Slowly, they marched on, leaving only Foxglove behind, to ensure there was no double-cross. Once her troops were out of sight, she turned back toward Quickman. “...I guess a thank you is in order.” “And you get a very warm welcome!” replied Quickman. Foxglove gave a smart smirk, much like Quick’s and crossed her arms. “You know, if the situation was any different... it would have been a great honor to have you on the RPD payroll.” “Well if there was no Shutdown Code and I had no Wily breathing down my neck, I might have considered.” Flash’s eyes blinked with surprise, but no one noticed. “Likewise, I bet Wily could use people like you on his side. Not that would be happening anytime soon, but...” “Damn right. I don’t work well with dirty old men.” Obviously the suggestion had sparked something foul in Foxglove’s mind. However, there was no retaliation; she simple turning around and began walking away, turning back momentarily to say a few last words. “Take care of yourselves, okay?” “Will do, ma’am. Will do.” Soon, Foxglove was out of sight and the Wily’s forces alone. After a few moments, Crashman asked, “So are we gonna call Wily now?” Flashman nodded and, after gingerly placing Quickman down, activated his communicator. He wished he hadn’t a moment later. The news of victory made Wily shout with joy, leaving a ring in Flash’s synthetic ears. Almost immediately, new Wily troops (this time NOT made up of only Metools) teleported into sight, and began setting up defenses. The Warriors looked over the construction and, once more, a victory high came over them. Airman stepped forward and raised his arm cannon into the air “Once again, Team Awesome has come out victorious.” He paused, looking at the injured Warriors, and then returned to his pose. “And I’ve come out barely scratched! Indeed, I am the awesome of awesome.” “Stop. Saying. Awesome.” Airman ignored Flashman and continued his stance of victory. Soon, a familiar glow of energy overcame the Warriors and their guest. And into the heavens, they rose in beams of light. Kalingrad and it’s citizens had been sparred of a vicious bloodbath, but was occupation by Wily any better. Perhaps the Snipe Joes giving out free sandwiches was some indication, but the War was far from over. There were many cities and territories to be claimed, and everyone aside from Cossack was aiming to get it all. As for the Warriors, they could care less about who owned what. They were just lucky to have survived their bout with the White Knight. Even as they were being repaired, two of them, Quick and Flash, though back to Gemini’s brief episode. It was proof that the real Geminiman still existed. That meant there was a chance to bring him back. But that... would have to wait for another time. Fin. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------