Deadly Newcomers (Part 2): Written by Exodus, Original Story by Exodus In Matakos junkyard, Kirie and a group of Resistors, along with their new ally Salvage were ambushed by powerful robotic empire warriors, new and old. “Alan, please... The empire only wants to take over the whole kingdom, if I die, my group will be down one member, that’s all that will be changed. Vilem will still be destroyed for ever resisting the empire. You’re helping the very people that will destroy your home!” pleaded Kirie, bound by the metal sheets. “Maybe so... Oh well.” said Alan, brushing off the warning with ease at he approached Kirie. “You... heartless monster...” insulted Kirie. “Its not like I’d have anything to go back for. You remember how my mother passed away shortly after yours destroyed our home?” questioned Alan. “You’re blaming us for that?...” asked Kirie, the event bringing back horrible memories. “Yes, my mother died from stress, it was too hard for her to support our family after our home was destroyed, that’s why she died, because of your mother’s actions!” accused Alan. “And your brothers and sisters?... What of them?” asked Kirie. “I couldn’t care less about them, you might not know this, but they forgave your family, they didn’t hate you like I do, I just didn’t let them go near you, and because of that, if the empire does attack, its out of my hands...” stated Alan harshly. “I thought you were just bitter when I left the village, but I see now that you’re a heartless animal, you have no soul!” shouted Kirie. “If that is what you think... Then you may very well be right, I’m still going to kill you...” shrugged Alan. Kirie was in tears, this was the same person she once called her best friend, she knew he hated her because of her mother’s roots and uncontrollable actions, but not how far he had changed... If she lost her life to him, he’d most likely stay with the empire, and rise to be quite possibly their greatest warrior. Kirie concentrated hard, usually her hands would normally be needed to generate a psychic attack, but she was very determined to stop Alan from going through with what would lead to tragedy for many, so she concentrated hard with all her strength. “You’re crying for me? How sickening, time to die...” “Yaaaarrrggghhh!!!” screamed Kirie, as a yellow aura surrounded her and pushed against the metal sheet until it split into pieces, of which flew towards Alan, but stopped in mid air and falling harmlessly thanks to his magnetic powers. “So the witch has a few tricks up her sleeve... I won’t hold back...” stated Alan. Snide laughed out loud as he crushed Turok’s energy blast in his metallic hand. “This is about as powerful as you get, am I wrong?” stated Snide confidently. “Very.” replied Turok in mid-charge, and swinging his fist around. It collided with Snide’s face and sent him tumbling into a wall of junk, but nothing much came of it, even though a crack was heard. “What the?... You should be dead... again...” said Turok in disbelief. “You’d think that, but my bones are stronger then ever, ever since my near-death battle with you, Morn added a very strong metal to my bones, said he’d stolen the idea from one of your allies...” stated Snide with a dark grin on his face. “Ross... And he’s like a superhero now...” stated Turok. “Whatever, so I can take a lot more damage than your average trooper... So how much can you take before you break?...” Meanwhile, back at the empire, a famous huntress was bent on getting the emperor to tell her some truths, but he’d decided to test her abilities first. The two soldiers shouted out loud as they drew their short swords and raised them towards the woman. “Heh.” she smirked, before pointing her red-handled grappling hook and shooting it upwards, taking her with it before the swords came down. Before they could look up, a short knife came down on one of the soldiers fast, killing him instantly, while the second was unlucky enough to see his own death coming, seconds before it happened. Cammy came down on the soldier and gave him a sly smile before scrapping her blade across the unfortunate’s throat. A few specs of blood hit the woman’s face, but she didn’t bother to wipe it off. “Is that all?... I think you’d better tell me what I want to know, unless you wish to end up like your fools.” ordered an unsatisfied Cammy. “You wouldn’t stand a chance. Morn, send in those drones of yours, it looks like your machines will come in handy after all...” “Huuurgh!” cried Turok as he was slammed against a hard metal wall, Snide’s large hand grasped tightly around his head. “How’s it feel to be the weak one, huh?!” screamed Snide. “Quite manoeuvrable actually...” muttered Turok. “You what?” Turok’s limbs were dangling down but were quite free, and he took a shot at Snide’s jagged arm. “No!” It hit, and the shock forced Snide to fall back and let go, giving Turok some freedom and the space to throw another punch forward. “Its over-” The twisted claws deflected Turok’s punch, and gave Snide the time to grab Turok’s gun arm, and swing him around and over himself, crushing down on the weapon in the process. Turok tried to take another shot while Snide was a little disorientated by the spinning, but a crackle of electricity surrounded Turok, and he crashed down hard. “What?!” he spluttered, before looking down at his gun, it was dented, crushed, and sparkling with electricity occasionally, to put it simply, it was shot. “Heh heh heh...” chuckled Snide, “Hah ha ha ha ha! You’re nothing without that blaster!” “I’m half the fighter I was to put it correctly, but its still enough to shut you up.” retorted Turok. “I’ll soon prove how enormously wrong you are!!!...” screamed Snide, charging once more... Several sharp and jagged pieces of metal were lifted into the air, constantly spinning but remaining stationary around Alan, Kirie knew what was next, and all of the shards came flying towards her at great speed. Kirie gasped, and cast a psychic shield, slowly walking towards Alan, but because of her outburst of power, she was beginning to get tired, and the force of each shard was depleting her magic supply. “I have to end this... Maybe I can short circuit his power with the machinery...” thought Kirie. With that Kirie charged forward, disengaging her field to run at Alan. He took full advantage, and sent much heavy machinery crashing down from the piles above. Kirie gasped as a particular block crumbled down and fell directly on top of her... “Sweet revenge...” stated Alan, turning away from the large block only to hear Kirie’s powers shine through. “How did you-” “My powers, I switched them on at the last second to burn through that block so that I could fit inside temporarily.” explained Kirie as she hastily lifted Alan up and forced him to fly into an electric generator, breaking through the protective metal and shocking him. “Yaaaargh!!!” he screamed. “Goodbye Alan...” said Kirie sadly as she walked away from him to see to Lucia. But a large piece of junk came flying at her from behind and knocked her hard on the head, making her dizzy and making her fall. “You were just going to walk away... Again. Idiot. Its not too hard to escape a shocking from some old generator when you’ve got absolute control of all things metal.” stated Alan. Kirie weakly turned herself around as he lifted up two flat sheets of metal and brought it down on Kirie, trapping one of her arms and one of her legs as the metal wrapped around her limbs and tightened. “Ugh...” Kirie groaned. “You think that hurts, just wait a couple of seconds and you’ll know what pain really means.” grinned Alan maniacally as he used his powers to move the metal sheets (with Kirie’s limbs still held inside) and turn them swiftly. “Yaaargh!!!” screamed Kirie as her right arm and left leg were twisted beyond their usual range and broke many of the bones inside. The sheets loosened and floated above Kirie, while Alan gloated at the now helpless woman. “If you’re wondering why I didn’t do all four limbs, its because I want to make you suffer, next I’ll take out your other limbs, and then I’ll start on your torso and finally, cutting you until you bleed. Sounds fun doesn’t it? No? Well it does from my perspective.” The metal sheets flew down to wrap up Kirie’s remaining limbs, but a last minute shot deflected them and sent them crashing elsewhere. “Is this a private party, or can anyone join?” questioned Lucia jokingly as she came down on Alan and tore across his metal armour with her sharp long claws. “Urrrgh... You should have stayed unconscious you stupid robot, now I’m going to have to take you out too.” groaned Alan as he covered his wound with his hand. “Bring it on!” taunted Lucia. “Did you forget what I did to you just a few moments ago, and now you’re back for more?! Is this witch that important to you?...” questioned Alan. “She is.” she replied. “Then you can die with her...” Turok had underestimated Snide a little, without his gun arm active, he only had his body armour and his right fist to use, while Snide had one large and dangerous cyber hand at his disposal. Snide was tearing into Turok, he could feel his fluids leaking out the many tears he had been dealt on his chest. “Weak, am I?! I was always stronger than you in mind, you received your powers because you were a liability, you shouldn’t have had control like you do, but because you have your individuality, you’ll never master your powers unless you cast aside your conscience! I always said I deserved power more than you, and now I have it!” “Grrrr, you’re wrong! Its because I have a conscience and a soul that I’m strong, you only live to torment others, you don’t have a cause worth fighting for!” shouted out Turok. “Well its not doing you a whole lot of good right now!” laughed Snide, laying into Turok and not holding back. Meanwhile, the other two Techno Warriors weren’t doing as well as their leader. Dai was blasting away at Naga who was dodging around the explosive shells like a cheetah. One final blast came raining down on her, and she took refuge in a hole within the heap of junk. “That won’t help you jungle girl...” Dai grinned, as he took a few shots, and brought the masses of metal down on her. Naga reacted quickly, climbing, scampering, leaping and dodging up the metal as it fell, almost too quick for anyone to see, Dai sure didn’t. “Guess I got her.” he assumed. “Guess you’re wrong!” added Naga, as she came down on Dai like an angry beast... Salvage had gotten some early hits against Banter, but now he was firing many small rockets all over the place, if one got past his Hyper Gloves, it would do some serious damage. Salvage was forced to climb up one of the heaps of metal, but Banter easily followed him up by using his hand claws. “You can’t escape Little Man, I’m gonna blow ya to kingdom come!” threatened Banter. “You forget Mate, this is my territory. I’ve got the home team advantage.” With that, Salvage took off, out of Banter’s range and forcing him to chase Salvage across the unstable piles... Cammy somersaulted aside as Morn’s robots (small rounded soldiers with no lower body, but instead, dangerous spinning circular blades attached around them and the ability to hover) buzzed around her and closed in. One robot got close and dived forward, its blade tearing into the floor as Cammy flipped backwards, but only the floor was cut apart, and the robot and blade kept on spinning. “If you think these toys will keep me from getting what I came for, then you’re sadly mistaken!” shouted Cammy, somersaulting upwards and backwards to land on the second diving robot and slashing into the joints of its neck, then letting it crash down on the second robot while she leapt to safe ground. The blades collided with each other, causing them to stop spinning, and the robots, repelled by the force, spun in different directions uncontrollably as they fell apart. “Now, you’re going to tell me everything...” Cammy ordered. Naga was swatted back by Dai, who started throwing his vertical mines about, many landing less than seconds after the last and exploding immediately. The flames rose up and dissipated, and Naga was nowhere to be seen after several waves. “This time I Must have got her.” grinned Dai, before one last mine came hurtling down, and landed right under him. “No!” The flames burst out in their upward fashion and ripped through Dai’s armour, he fell down burnt, scarred, and his robotic upgrades were shot. Naga descended and landed on top of him, standing on her feet, she had been the one to throw Dai’s weapon back at him, since the mines didn’t go off until they connected to the ground. “How did you...” “I rose high enough above your mines to be lifted up by the force of the blasts, without being burnt by them, you however have been truly burned, and I think those scars will teach you not to come after me again. Now Leave.” Salvage had reached a dead end, in a noisy area of the scrapyard where machines sorted through metal. “Nowhere to run little man.” taunted Banter. “Who’s running? There’s more than one way ta topple a giant, or a madman cyborg.” retorted Salvage. With that, the new ally of the Resistors pressed a large hidden button, and then threw away his gloves and charged into Banter and held onto his legs. Before the enemy could react to this, a large flat magnet above the two came to life, and since Banter was the only one with metal about him, the strong magnetic pull strained his missile boxes and other new attachments to his body. Being a robot trooper now, Banter would have been pulled up completely, but Salvage was holding him down with all the strength he had. Rocket ammunition, gun upgrades, all the newest equipment was torn off Banter before Salvage had to let go, letting a weaponless Banter fly up and clang against the disc-like magnet and be stuck there. “Ugh... I’ll tear you apart with my bare hands as soon as I get down from here.” cursed Banter. “I really don’t think you’ll ‘ave the strength ta.” grinned Salvage, moving the magnet via a switch and then turning it off, the momentum throwing Banter away from the heaps of junk, and crashing on the floor. Turok fell back, his attempts to stop Snide had been useless for a while, and Snide was pummelling and tearing into him. “I... Am... The... Strongest!” screamed Snide between blows. The last hit of the latest combo buried the claws in Turok’s chest, causing him great pain. “Say it! Admit it!” screamed Snide, before tiring of the wait and hurling Turok into the side of a junkheap. Snide leapt forward and held Turok’s head in his cyborg hand, and then rammed his body against the heap. “Say it! SAY IT!!!” “Okay... I’ll tell you what you are...” groaned Turok, “You... are... the... Stupidest...” “How dare you!” screamed Snide, preparing to crush Turok’s head like a soft fruit, but he’d made a grab for the arm and yanked it away from him, briefly putting Turok’s feet on the ground. He slipped his head out of Snide’s grasp and spun to the side, still holding onto Snide and throwing him into the junkheap. Because of Snide’s slamming Turok into the wall, it had started to weaken and crumble, and the last hit sent tons of metal crashing down. Turok leapt back, but the bony claws had grasped his arm, Turok pulled back desperately to avoid the avalanche of junk, Snide screamed out as the masses of metal buried him, and Turok managed to fall back, avoiding the junk completely. As he looked down at his arm, he realised why, Snide’s prosthetic monstrous claws were still grasped around him, but the arm had been ripped off Snide’s body. Turok looked at it in disgust, and pried the fingers off of him before inspecting the pile and digging out Snide. “It doesn’t matter how strong your bones are, Snide, when the rest of your body collapses around you.” Turok expected to find a body, but Snide unexpectedly jumped out at him, causing them to tumble back, he was a real mess, the metal half-helmet had caved into Snide’s head and his whole body was bleeding a lot. He panted and growled and groaned as he stood up and tried to walk away, but he collapsed, and lay motionless on the floor. Turok stayed where he lay, quite out of energy, and Naga soon approached Turok, helped him up and supported him, “That’s the freaky cyborgs dealt with, but what of Kirie, Lucia and that Terror Trooper?...” “I will crush you and squeeze you until you cease to function!” shouted Alan. “Aaargh!!!” screamed Lucia, she’d underestimated Alan’s powers, it was suicide for anyone made of metal to go against him, and her body was being pushed inward from all angles. “Lucia... No...” groaned Kirie, unable to stand and trying to crawl closer to the two. “What would you prefer Kirie? Cube or Sphere? Or perhaps you’d like me to crush her into a more unusual shape?” joked Alan sadistically. “Alan’s absolutely evil, and its my responsibility to stop him since I started this mess. I can’t stop him in combat, but I might have one way to stop him for good...” she pondered. “Say goodbye to your metallic friend, Kirie.” shouted Alan. “Alan!... I’m sorry...” apologised Kirie. “Surely you don’t think apologies are gonna turn me away from killing you and your friends.” inquired Alan. “I’m sorry you turned out this way, I’m sorry that the kind-hearted boy I knew is gone forever, I’m sorry for your scars and your situation... and I’m sorry... For This!...” With that, Kirie weakly put her functioning hand against the side of her head, and delved deep into her power, and did what she’d never done before, her power flowed like crazy, and with one concentrated burst, Kirie shot a massive amount of energy into Alan’s mind. “What?! Aaaargh!!! Stop!!! Kirie!... Kirie!... KIRIE!!!...” screamed Alan as waves and waves of psychic energy hit Alan’s head hard and burrowed inside, overloading his mind, until it simply shut down. Lucia dropped to the floor from above, and picked herself up, while Alan tumbled down a pile of junk, and lay on the floor, eyes open, but no movement from him apart from his breathing. “What... did you do to him Kirie?...” questioned Lucia as she helped up her friend. “I shut him down... completely... He was so full of hatred, I couldn’t let him go on to do so much damage to the world... Am I justified in what I did?” asked Kirie sadly. “Well you didn’t kill him... Maybe he’ll awaken someday, cleansed of his evil...” “Lucia... Kirie...” called out Turok, “You okay?... You two look terrible.” “We could say the same thing...” answered Lucia, “What should we do with the bodies of the bad guys?” “Nothing.” answered Dai, holding Snide’s carcass, while Banter had sneaked around and retrieved Alan’s body, “This isn’t the end of the Techno Warriors, nor of this kid, we’ll have our revenge someday. We’ll come back bigger and better.” “And then we’ll defeat you again.” said Turok angrily. Dai snorted, and the two conscious villains made their escape. Shortly after, Turok and Lucia had been patched up enough so that they weren’t in danger of dying, Kirie had a couple of casts on her damaged limbs but would need assistance in getting home. “Thanks Salvage, for this, and for helping us fight. We’d have been outnumbered otherwise.” said Turok. “My pleasure chaps, if you ever need another soldier instead of a worker, then just say the word, it was kind of fun.” The glaring eyes of Kirie, Lucia and Turok were set on Salvage immediately. “Sorry...” “What’s your agenda, and what’s with this place and your armies attacking other settlements.” questioned Cammy firmly. “Okay then, you’ve earned your explanation.” sighed Iyaxxl, keeping an occasional eye on a robot that was barely functioning, “I did away with the past king, I was his advisor and I believe that a peaceful kingdom isn’t what this world needs or the people that dwell in it. The kingdom needs to be enforced, it needs order.” “So, the other settlements aren’t convinced that you are their emperor, so you use a forceful hand to punish and put them in line.” stated Cammy. “Are you satisfied? What do you plan to do with your newfound information, because if you plan on telling the world and warning them of me, then I can tell you that you won’t leave this castle alive. Who are you exactly?” “Cammy Ramirez, of Rolem.” she said decisively. “Rolem, one of the small villages that stands in the way of building up my empire. I suppose you want me to spare it?” inquired Iyaxxl. The surviving robot shot forward, its blade jammed, but the jagged edges sufficient to kill Cammy by thrusting them into her. Cammy leapt over the robot and spun twice before landing on her feet, and then shot off her hookshot device, impaling the robot, and then retracting the device to pull her towards the robot. She dealt one fierce kick, and the robot came off the sharp end of her weapon, and flew slightly right of Iyaxxl’s throne, hitting the wall and falling to pieces. The soldiers of Iyaxxl seemed impressed, but remained cautious. “Spare it? I couldn’t care less about that pitiful village. I’m a famous huntress, and I’ll work for anyone worthy of my skills if the price is right. Now that I know what your ambitions are, I believe that your ways are what this kingdom needs. Too much peace makes people lose their strength. Emperor Iyaxxl. I offer my services to your cause...” Iyaxxl stared at the woman before his eyes took on a more pleasing look, and underneath the cloak, he smiled darkly... Next: The Scrolls Back to “Deadly Newcomers”: Part 1 Click to read the next story: "The Scrolls" Back to “The Complete Set” Back to the Library