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Arachnophobia He couldn't figure it out. Recon had told Vince that there was an unplugged but functional power generator buried under the ruined sector of Tiel. All he had to do was to send some men to pick it up and they could restore power to the city. However, the generator lay in the middle of territory controlled by the Gamma Mercenary Camp, a highly hostile Mercenary Camp who killed all outsiders. Also, Gamma was quite selfish. If they ever found the generator, no doubt they would keep it for themselves. Vince was working on a plan to retrieve the generator, but despite all his efforts, all of his plans had fatal flaws in them. The plans either risked too many lives or risked getting the generator destroyed by collateral damage. "Hey, Vince!" Robert interrupted. "They moved me to Recon!" "Oh, congrats!" Vince replied. Robert had wanted to transfer from Combat to Recon, so he made an appointment to give them a demonstration of his skills. Apparently, they liked what they saw. "Sorry we won't be able to work together anymore," Robert said, "but I just thought I'd try spying and stuff like that." "Don't worry about it," Vince replied. "Whatever you like..." Even though it was January, the weather was warm and sunny, so Vince decided to do his work outside. There were no missions or training sessions scheduled that day, so most of Omicron was out having fun. Alice and Stephanie were playing softball. "Hey, Vince, why don't you take a break from that planning your doing?" Robert suggested. "The weather is so nice today. Let's go have fun with the others." "No, I really should work on this," Vince replied. "Go on without me." "Suit yourself," Robert said. As Robert was about to walk away, they heard something approach from behind, from the nearby 73rd Street at the edge of Tiel. Vince whirled around and saw a giant, titanium spider the size of a small house. It had four turrets mounted on its upper side and a cockpit with a transparent window. Inside, a familiar face piloted the machine. "Mandragon," Vince said. "So, you finally caught up with me." "Yes," Mandragon replied. "Now, this isn't just an MMH like you've fought before. You Dark Fiends have upgraded somehow, so I needed to upgrade, too. This is the Arachne, the first MMH with Titanium-Plus alloy armor, an electromagnetic shielding system, and high-powered Mark II Plasma Cannons. Compared to what you've been fighting before, this thing is the apocalypse! You should surrender or die!" "So far, I've heard only words," Vince said. "Can that thing really fight?" During this exchange, Robert had gone to gather up other Omicron members to come help Vince. They all arrived now, surrounding the Arachne with various weapons. "We won't have to find out," Robert interrupted. "How about you take your big spider machine and leave or me and my friends are going to blow it up?" Mandragon laughed. "Little flies shouldn't threaten the big spider," he taunted. Robert and the others opened fire. Bullets, rockets, and particle shots flew at the Arachne but were stopped within a few feet from the body. Mandragon laughed. Two of the turrets then fired a sticky web-like substance, ensnaring most of the attackers. "Enough!" Vince shouted. "Guys, I can take care of this by myself." As the Omicron soldiers slowly retreated, magma soaked Vince's body, and the Dark Fiend of the Inferno emerged. Quickly, Vince threw fireball after fireball at the Arachne. However, like the bullets, the fireballs stopped at the Arachne's shield. The spider's other two turrets pointed at Vince and fired plasma bursts. Vince jumped out of the way, and the plasma shots tore up the ground, throwing up gallons of dirt and leaving giant impact craters. They were as powerful as Vince's fireballs. As Vince landed, the plasma turrets turned and fired at him again. Vince leapt again, but this time, he landed on the shield above the MMH. As the shield tried to push him away, Vince ignited himself to put more pressure on the shield. The turrets pointed upward and they fired at Vince, but he leapt high into the air, avoiding the shots as they flew past. Then, he threw a series of fireballs down onto the Arachne. As the meteors exploded on the shield, they covered the spider in flame. Vince then smashed down onto the shield, then bounced away. The two stray plasma shots came back to Earth. They, too, smashed into the Arachne's shield. Now, Vince charged, setting himself on fire to become a living, flaming projectile. He smashed into the shield but still pushed forward. The turrets pointed toward the Inferno Fiend and fired, but at that moment, Vince broke through. The plasma bursts sailed safely past Vince as he ran toward the Arachne and smashed its side with his flaming gauntlets. However, the attack didn't even leave a burn mark, let alone a dent or a scratch, on the Arachne's armor. "The armor and the shields work," Mandragon thought, "but I don't need to finish this battle. The Dark Fiend is much more useful in Omicron." Then, he spoke aloud, "Good job, Inferno, but I don't feel like destroying you today. See you some other day!" Mandragon pulled some switches, and the Arachne ran away. "What was that?" Vince said as he helped free some Omicron members from the web. "I didn't even scratch him and he already ran away." "I honestly don't know," Robert replied. "But now that he's gone, why don't you come and play softball with us." "No, I can't," Vince replied. "I have to work on these plans." "Don't worry about that, Vince," said Strikov, who was nearby. "That mission's been cancelled. I'll give you the details tomorrow, but for now, go and have fun." Vince was a little hesitant. "I don't know..." "Oh, come on, Vince," Steph said, pulling on his arm. "Well, I guess so," Vince gave in and headed over to the empty grass field. "Kiera was retaken by Alliatus forces just yesterday," Strikov explained. "There will be much chaos in the city as power changes hands, making the city a sitting duck for looters. However, our window of opportunity is incredibly small, so we have to act now." It was the next day. Strikov was explaining to Vince the sudden change of plans in the middle of the field. All around them, mercenaries were packing up their tents and valuables and loading them onto trucks. "Our client QS wants us to steal another artifact for them from the Kiera National Museum," Strikov explained. "With pockets of Shadow resistance all over the city, the museum should be the least of Alliatus' worries, so there should be little resistance, but we have to leave now. We're packing everything and heading there by train." "What about all the equipment in the Central Building?" Vince asked. "I would have thought that all that stuff would take days to pack." "Not at all," Strikov replied. "Watch." All of a sudden, the walls moved and the Central Building folded inward, packing itself into a neat little package. Wheels popped out from underneath. The whole complex had become a simple boxcar. "Wonderful, isn't it?" Strikov said as mercenaries attached the boxcar to a truck. "Yeah, that's pretty cool," Vince said apathetically. "Well, Vince, it's time to go," Strikov said. "You can ride either in the train or in one of the accompanying cars, wherever you can find an available seat. As for me, I'm riding in the train. See you around, Vince." As Strikov walked away, a green car pulled up. "Hey, Vince!" Robert shouted from the driver's seat. "You want to ride with us?" "Sure," Vince replied as he climbed into the back seat, where Steph sat, waiting. "The next train that comes down this track will be a freight train," Jennie said, reading a schedule. "Those things tend to have more stuff than passenger trains." "Ah, more loot," Gregor added. The Storm Fiend and the Land Fiend waited by train tracks, prepared to ambush. "It should be here any minute," Jennie said. "I think I can see in the distance," Gregor replied. "It looks like it's escorted." "That's good," Jennie said. "They must be guarding something valuable in there." "More loot," Gregor repeated. The freight train came, accompanied on by a fleet of armored jeeps and trucks. There were also a handful of automobiles. Gregor plunged his arm into the ground, and a wall of earth piled itself over the train tracks, forcing the train to stop. Immediately, the people in the cars and trucks brought out weapons and opened fire. However, Gregor simply took the shots--they were nothing to him--ran over to the trucks, and started smashing them. Jennie set up a swirling barrier of water to deflect incoming shots and replied with streams of water, knocking over cars and smashing them into each other. From a green car, Vince Zeng gasped, "Dark Fiends! What are they doing here?" He quickly hopped out of the car. As he ran to meet the Dark Fiends, magma covered his body and became his armor as he became the Dark Fiend of the Inferno. "Hey, you!" Vince shouted at the other Dark Fiends. "Leave my train alone!" "Look, it's Vince," the Land Fiend said. "You want to play?" "With this new body, I can surely beat you," the Storm Fiend taunted. "What?" Vince said, stopping, surprised. "Gregor? Jennie?" "Yes," Jennie replied. "We've found our true power. Now, Gregor is your equal, and I am your superior. Remember our first battle? It'll be just like that, except no one will come and save you." Jennie shot a stream of water at Vince, who tried to dodge by jumping out of the way. However, as soon as Vince landed, Gregor slammed his fist into the ground, sending seismic waves to knock Vince off his feet. Jennie immediately followed up with a stream of water, blowing Vince away. "You go raid the train," Jennie said to Gregor. "I'll take care of Vince." Vince tried to climb to his feet, but Jennie knocked him right back down. "Water extinguishes the fire, and my water-attacks will extinguish your life," Jennie taunted. "Do you remember the pain, Vince?" Vince didn't have to remember. Every time Jennie splashed him with water magic, he felt it. He felt the water particles burning through his armor, through his body. "We have to go help Vince!" Stephanie screamed. Robert nodded, then grabbed a rocket launcher, climbed out of the car, and fired a rocket at the Storm Fiend. However, the Land Fiend blocked the shot. "Get out of our way!" Robert shouted. "Our fight isn't with you." "No, your fight is indeed with me," the Land Fiend replied, "because an enemy of Jennie is an enemy of mine. If you want to go fight Jennie, you'll have to fight me first." Robert glared angrily at the Land Fiend. Then, he shouted to the train, "Hey, Strikov! Send some units to go help Vince while we take care of this big turtle here?" "Don't bother," the Land Fiend interrupted. He leapt onto of the train, crumpling a train car beneath his feet. "If anyone even touches Jennie, I'll destroy this train." Stephanie grabbed a blaster and ran blindly for the Storm Fiend. However, Leon caught up with her and grabbed her by the arm. "Let me go!" Stephanie shouted. "No," Leon replied. "I know how important Vince is to you, but the train is even more important. If the train is destroyed, we'll have no supplies, and we'll all die, and that'll be the end of Omicron. Even if Vince is killed, we can still continue without him." Stephanie gave him an angry look. "I know it sounds selfish, but we have to leave Vince to himself this time. We have to go protect the train." "I'm sorry, Steph, but he's right," Robert added. "Think of it this way: The more you help us, the faster we can defeat that turtle. The faster we defeat the turtle, the sooner we can help Vince." "I don't care," Stephanie cried. "I need to help him." "Stephanie, wait," Alice interrupted. "I care about Vince, too, but Robert's right. We have to leave Vince, hard as it might be." Stephanie hesitated for a while, then frustrated, said, "Fine then!" "I'm still waiting," the Land Fiend said. "Is anyone coming to fight me? I guess I'll just destroy this train anyway." "Hey!" Jack shouted at him. The Land Fiend turned around, only to be hit by a rocket that Jack had launched. Yet, it didn't seem to affect him. The Land Fiend laughed and jumped off the train. Landing next to Jack, he grabbed him and held him up into the air. "That was pathetic," he said. Suddenly, an armored jeep, driven by Molly, slammed into the Land Fiend's back. Lorina, standing through the sunroof, fired her machine gun at the Land Fiend. Laughing, Gregor dropped Jack, picked up the jeep, and threw it aside. Lorina fell out of the jeep, and crashed onto the dirt just before it slammed into an armored truck, knocking it onto its side. Another group of mercenaries ran up to the Land Fiend and tried to attack. "We can't just fight randomly," Robert said. "His stone skin is too strong for most of our weapons. We have to break through somehow." The Land Fiend jumped onto a jeep, crushing it beneath his feet. Its passengers screamed as they were crushed into a bloody pulp. A truck sped toward the Land Fiend, trying to ram him. However, the Land Fiend slammed the ground with his fist, knocking over the truck with seismic waves. "The heat beam cannon!" Alice shouted. "It's in the train." Upon hearing this, Robert dashed toward the train. Unfortunately, the Land Fiend saw him and ran after him. As the windows of a train car opened up, Robert shouted to them, "Cover me!" The mercenaries in the car then pulled out their guns and fired at the Land Fiend. However, Gregor ran over to the train car and smashed it open with his fists. Once inside, he crushed the Omicron gunmen one by one. Despite the casualties, Robert made it to the train and wheeled out the heat beam cannon. As quickly as he could, he readied it and pointed it at the hole in the train, waiting for Gregor to come out. Instead of through the hole, though, the Land Fiend made a new hole in the roof, jumping over Robert and landing on an automobile behind him, crushing it. Robert whirled the heat beam cannon around and fired. It was a perfect shot, but nothing happened. The Land Fiend stood there, the red laser pointed into his chest, doing nothing. "What's this?" he said. "Utterly useless!" He ran up to attack Robert, but Molly rammed her armored jeep into the Land Fiend again. Quickly, Molly drove away, and the Land Fiend chased after her. Elsewhere on the battlefield, in Robert's green car, Stephanie discussed strategies with Alice. "I know!" Alice exclaimed. "Let's set him on fire! Maybe that'll do something." "Yeah, but Vince is our fire-elemental," Stephanie replied. "Without him, how are we going to set the turtle on fire?" "Easy!" Alice replied. "There's a fuel car on the train. All we got to do is lure him onto that car and drench him in gasoline. Then, we hit him with a rocket, and he burns." "That just might work," Steph said. Steph climbed into the driver's seat of the green automobile and drove over to the train. Then, carrying a rocket launcher, the two girls climbed onto the roof of the fuel car. Elsewhere, the Land Fiend had thrown a jeep into the train's front end, destroying the engine. A rocket then hit him from the side. Gregor looked up and saw Stephanie with the rocket launcher standing on the roof of a train car. "Hey, you ugly turtle!" Alice shouted, standing with Steph. "Come and get us." The Land Fiend sprinted toward them. Quickly, Stephanie and Alice jumped off the other side of the fuel car and ran as far as they could. The Land Fiend tore through Robert's green car, then through the fuel car. Gasoline splashed out of the train and onto the dusty ground. Then, as soon as the Land Fiend tore through the other side of the car, Steph fired a rocket at him. The rocket hit the Land Fiend, and the explosion set him on fire, as well as a large portion of the gasoline drenched ground and the broken fuel car. Despite being on fire, the Land Fiend simply laughed, showing no sign of pain. "You thought you could hurt me by setting me on fire?" Gregor taunted. "You fools! My stone skin is impenetrable! You've only wasted your time." "No they haven't," Robert thought. "They've done exactly what I needed them to do. This just might work." With that, Robert began wheeling the heat beam cannon toward the Land Fiend. |