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As a Weapon Two Dark Fiends, the Blitz Fiend and the Inferno Fiend, stood face to face. Steve looked to Vince, whom he had wanted to kill for so long. Vince looked to Steve, who was a threat to his friends and family. Steve and Vince, the two of them faced off against each other for their fourth battle. Around them, the battle between Omicron and Rho slowly broke up. Commanders from the Rho camp called a retreat. The Omicron defenders fled back into the safety of the Omicron Central Building. No one wanted to get in the middle of a battle between two legendary beings. It began. Vince and Steve rushed toward each other and clashed. Fists of flame flew and met fists of electricity. Eventually, they decided that neither was gaining a lead, so they hopped back, putting a large distance between them. With great haste, Steve shot a giant bolt of electricity at Vince as he landed, but at the same time, Vince fired out a blazing inferno. The two elemental blasts collided in the middle, causing a huge explosion of energy. A rippling shockwave rolled across the battlefield, throwing tents into the air and knocking over anything that wasn't anchored to the ground. All around them, their battle had scarred the landscape. Burn marks and craters from stray attacks littered the battleground. "It looks like we're still evenly matched," Vince commented. "Yeah, but my lightning is still faster," Steve insisted. "And that still doesn't mean anything," Vince said. Steve shot a bolt of jagged lightning at Vince. The Inferno Fiend, however, simply blocked with a fire shield and replied with a volley of meteoric fireballs. Steve dodged the fireballs, but they still struck the ground around him, creating massive explosions that threw gallons of dirt into the air. When the smoke cleared, all that remained was a crater. Slowly, Vince approached the crater. He didn't see Steve, but he knew he was more resilient than that. His fireballs could not have vaporized the Blitz Fiend. However, before he could reach the crater, a fleet of armored jeeps with mounted turrets came around the corners of buildings and into Omicron's field. "Get that monster!" a commander of one of the jeeps yelled. "He's an Omicron. Plus, he's a Dark Fiend, and the government will pay us well if we kill or capture him." "What? A Rho ambush?" Vince thought, shocked. "So they really didn't retreat." One of the jeeps was mounted with a rocket launcher. It fired its rockets, but Vince blocked with his fire shield and replied with fireballs, destroying nearly half of the jeeps, including the one with the rockets. However, the remaining jeeps quickly surrounded him opened fire with their machine gun turrets. Vince couldn't escape, so he had no choice but to hide within a shield of flame. The bullets were incinerated before they could touch him. However, each bullet took a bit of stamina from him, and Vince didn't know how long he could endure the stress, how long he could hold the shield. "Vince is mine to kill!" Steve's voice shouted. "Not yours!" The Dark Fiend of the Blitz emerged from the crater, covered in a web of lightning. He quickly pulled off the web of lightning and threw it as a lightning bolt. After striking the first jeep, the bolt jumped from jeep to jeep until it had hit them all. Overloaded with electrical power, each jeep exploded, leaving nothing but fire, shrapnel, and blood. Vince no longer had to worry about the bullets, but Steve charged at him and attacked with the full force of his rage. Again, fists clashed. Again, fire collided with lightning. Again, neither one could break the stalemate. No one dared to interfere with their battle, although someone really should have. Eventually, it was Stephanie who acted. She looked to the Omicron-controlled machine-gun turret, manned by Robert. However, as Stephanie noted, Robert did nothing. He seemed distracted. Whatever it was, Stephanie broke him free of it. "Robert!" she cried. "That turret! You think you could get a clear shot of the lightning guy without hitting Vince?" For a moment, Robert didn't understand. Then, he replied, "Yeah, I think so." It was difficult to get a clear shot. Vince and Steve moved around so much that whenever he thought he had a good shot, Vince ended up in crosshairs instead. Finally, by some irony, what gave Robert the opportunity to shoot was a successful attack by Steve. Steve struck Vince with a mighty blow to the chest, knocking him down and sending him skidding across the dirt. When Steve ran over to Vince to pummel him some more, Robert fired. The Blitz Fiend took several bullets before he fell to the floor. "You're going to get your friends to shoot me, too?" Steve asked, climbing to his feet. "That's two against one. No need to finish this battle. I'll get you some other day, when you don't have backup." With that, Steve sprinted away. Even though the battle was over, many of the Omicron mercenaries were still hesitant to come out. Finally, Vince's armor liquefied into magma and dissipated. Only then were the Omicron people willing to come out and see him. Vince ran to the turret, where Robert, Steph, and Alice were. "Hey, Rob, thanks for the backup," Vince said. Robert didn't move nor reply. When Vince opened the door, he found Robert inside, sweating profusely and trembling violently. "Robert? Are you all right?" Vince asked. Robert turned to him, smiled weakly, and gave him a thumbs-up. "Let me help you out of there," Vince said, and he did. Robert was too shaken up to stand on his own, so he sat against the wall instead. "War is hell," he finally spoke. "It brings out the worst in people. It changes honest, hard-working people into killing machines. I hate war!" "I know," Vince said. "But you--all three of you--you did what you had to do. Good job, guys. You might not like it, but you did all right." "Robert? Vince?" Alice spoke up. "I-I think I'll stay on the team. I mean, I have you three here to take care of me when I need you, you know? With the three of you with me, everything will be all right." "That's great," Robert said with as much encouragement as he could muster. "Yeah, that's good," Vince agreed. "And Steph?" "I agree with Robert," Stephanie said. "I hate war, but we still have to do this." Vince nodded. "Robert?" "Of course I'll still be working for Omicron," Robert answered. "There's no way I'm going to leave you three doing all the work without me." "Then, it's settled," Vince said. "We're all staying, and we're all fighting, and like Alice said, as long as we stick together, we'll be all right." "That's not quite what I said," Alice interjected. "Vince!" It was Strikov. He had just come around the turret to see him. "I saw it all through the window. You know, at first, I was really surprised and really scared to find out you were a Dark Fiend. Then, after thinking about it for a while, I think you'll be a very useful asset as a weapon. Actually, I'd like you to demonstrate your skills to my men. Tomorrow, of course, after we rebuild today." "Thank you, sir," Vince said as Strikov walked away. For now, the Dark Fiend brought him glory, but now that they knew the Inferno Fiend was among them, it was only a matter of time before Ragnarok caught up with him. The next day, Vince demonstrated his abilities as a Dark Fiend to all of Omicron. It went well. The Omicron mercenaries were awed and amazed. Stephanie was proud to tell everyone she knew that Vince was her boyfriend. Strikov greatly enjoyed the demonstration. In fact, he liked it so much that he promoted Vince to lieutenant, making him an equal to Claren, and made him the commander of all combat operations. Over the next few weeks, as combat commander, Vince led the Omicron forces in numerous missions. Under his leadership, Omicron never failed. Part of this success was because the Omicron warriors were so inspired by the flamboyant Dark Fiend of the Inferno that they fought harder with more determination and resilience. Word of Omicron's battle prowess soon spread, and wealthy individuals began hiring Omicron to do their work. Through Vince's leadership, Omicron even managed to snag two new regular clients. Along with the enigmatic QS, they now had three clients, which gave them triple the amount of steady income. As for Robert, Stephanie, and Alice, they quickly got used to the war. With each kill, killing became easier and easier. Soon, they could kill without thinking. The war had forced the act of killing on them, and now, it fit them perfectly. Like Vince, they were now killing machines, desensitized by the horror of their surroundings. Everything was going well for them at Omicron. All four of them felt as if they belonged. That Vince was a lieutenant made it even more fitting. Working for Omicron was so easy. Soon, all four of them wondered how they ever got along without Omicron. A few nights after his fight with Steve, a few nights after Strikov discovered his hidden gem that was the Dark Fiend, Vince was walking down the field of tents when he heard an explosion from Stephanie's tent. (All four of them, due to their talents in combat, had each received their own separate tents right next to the central building.) Concerned, he turned around and dashed all the way to Stephanie's tent. Throwing open the tent's door, he shouted, "What was that?" "Oh, the explosion?" Steph replied. "I was just experimenting, that's all. I'm all right. There's no problem at all." "Experimenting with what?" Vince asked. "Just experimenting," Stephanie answered vaguely. "Don't worry. I'll be all right." Obviously, Stephanie didn't want to tell him about it, so Vince apologized and left. Still, he couldn't help but wonder, what was she doing in there? "Another successful raid," said an unshaven man with disheveled yellow hair. "Hey, Jennie, how long do you think it'll be before we buy our way into the aristocracy?" "Well, Gregor," said a blue-eyed, blond-haired girl as she ran some numbers on a calculator. "If we keep robbing these trains, we'll get the money we need in a month." "Perfect," the unshaven man replied. "I love these Dark Fiend bodies. With them, we're practically unstoppable." Ever since the Dark Fiends of Earth and Water had left Lydia's clan, they spent their time on robberies. Soon, they discovered that the easiest money was in robbing trains, so they stole train schedules and started attacking several trains a day. Because of all these train heists, they could never stay in one place, lest the train conductors learn and start avoiding their territory. However, their nomadic lifestyle wasn't too bad. Gregor could make a decent hut from the earth in mere seconds, and whatever they couldn't carry, they buried in a series of underground caches, which Jennie memorized. "I love you, Jennie," Gregor said as he wrapped his arm around her. Jennie joyfully smiled back at him. Then, they heard the rumbling of train tracks. "What another train? But there's no train scheduled--" "Surrender!" came a voice over a loudspeaker. A small train-cart, piloted by William Mandragon, stopped near them. The doors opened and a squadron of Trooper Bots ran out and surrounded Gregor and Jennie. Quickly, they became the Earth Fiend and the Water Fiend and prepared to fight. "This is your last chance to surrender," Mandragon shouted over the loudspeaker. "Surrender now, or we'll have to take you by force--dead if necessary." The two Fiends ignored his words. Instead, Jennie fired a stream of water at some Trooper Bots, knocking them down, while Gregor ran for another Trooper Bot, ready to smash it to pieces. However, they were too heavily outnumbered. Mandragon decided it was time for the Trooper Bots to fire, so they did. The Earth Fiend, with his rock-hard body, took most of the shots without a problem. However, Jennie couldn't defend herself quite as well. She tried to put up a barrier of water, but it was gone within mere seconds. She was completely undefended, so the Trooper Bots began blasting the life out of her. When the Earth Fiend heard Jennie's screams of pain, he stopped smashing Trooper Bots and ran all the way back to the badly wounded Jennie to cover her with his body so that he might save her. Gregor turned his body into solid rock, but the entire battalion was firing at him. Eventually, his body began to crack, and he began to weaken. "Gregor!" Jennie said quietly, her body's strength already fading. "Jennie, if I die," Gregor said to her, "at least I'll die for you." Gregor couldn't take it anymore. His body reverted to black hide and flesh, and he collapsed. He, as well as the Water Fiend, was wounded all over. So much of their blood had spilled that they were lying in a wet pool of it. "Gregor, no!" Jennie said, forcing her strength into her words. "Don't die!" Mandragon laughed. "He's dead. Motarius will be happy, although the researchers won't. All right, Water, you ought to surrender, too, before we kill you." "No," the Water Fiend said, somehow finding the strength to stand up. "I'll never surrender. I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!" Suddenly, gallons upon gallons of water surrounded her, completely shrouding her from view. The water swirled around her at incredible speeds, throwing foam in all directions. Below her, Gregor turned into solid stone. Then, dust particles coalesced on his petrified body until he was encased in a giant boulder. The Trooper Bots fired at these strange phenomena, but the plasma blasts had no effect. Suddenly, Jennie's hurricane dissipated, and at the same time, Gregor's boulder shattered. From the hurricane, instead of the Dark Fiend of Water, another fiend emerged, with black hide marked with blue streaks. On her shoulders, she wore a solid blue shawl, and on her head, she wore a silver tiara with a bright blue sapphire on the forehead. From the shattering stone, instead of the Dark Fiend of Earth, another fiend emerged, with a giant tortoise shell on its torso as armor and large, green, clawed gauntlets on his hands. "Wha-what is this?" Mandragon stammered. "The Dark Fiends, they changed?" "Yes, we changed," the blue-black Fiend said. "Like Lydia always wanted, we've finally unlocked our full power. I am now the Dark Fiend of the Storm, and he is now the Dark Fiend of the Land." "It doesn't matter," Mandragon said, shaking his head. "Trooper Bots, attack!" The Trooper Bots resumed firing, but the worst they could do to the Land Fiend's turtle-shell armor was leave burn marks. As for the Storm Fiend, she formed a swirling column of water around herself, deflecting all shots directed at her. The Land Fiend then leapt from Bot to Bot, smashing each one into debris. The Storm Fiend destroyed her share of Trooper Bots by slicing them apart with a hi-pressure stream of water. Soon, all the Trooper Bots were destroyed. "That might be a problem," Mandragon thought. Then, he said aloud, "That was just a warm-up. Now, face the wrath of my ninja MMH, Shinobi!" Through the train-cart's door, a single humaniform robot emerged, carrying a long, thick, titanium blade. It was the same robot Vince had fought back in Trioustan. With incredible speed and agility, it ran toward the Land Fiend, it's blade ready to strike. However, the Storm Fiend simply knocked it down with a stream of water. The Land Fiend then jumped and stomped on the robot ninja, shattering its metal body completely. "What the hell was that?" the Land Fiend said. "That was way too easy!" "Drat!" Mandragon thought. "It was so much easier designing MMH's against the weaker versions of the Dark Fiends. Now, with these new strong versions, I'll have to do some more research." Then, he spoke aloud, "Nice job! I'll keep in mind the new bodies next time I build an MMH. Then, I'll get you!" Mandragon sped away on the train-cart. The Land Fiend tried to run after him, but the Storm Fiend put her hand on his shoulder, and he stopped. "There are no valuables on that train," the Storm Fiend explained. "Of course," the Land Fiend understood. "We should save our efforts for a real heist." He looked at his new turtle-shell armor and clawed gauntlets. "Speaking of which, with this new power, how long will it take to get the money we need?" The Storm Fiend looked at the Land Fiend and smiled. "A week," she said. |