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Nuclear Treat The Dark Fiend of the Inferno stood in the snowy woods. Robert and Stephanie lay in the snow at his feet, paralyzed by time spells. Standing behind him were Tempo, the time mage, and Koumilon, the sorcerer. Ahead of him was Stacie Smith, queen of the Quantum Saviors, holding Alice hostage until Vince handed over Mindy. "I'm not going to lose Tina again," Vince said. "I'm not surrendering her to you!" Stacie laughed. "Tina? I see you've grown quite attached to my niece, but Mindy isn't Tina. Mindy is Mindy. Is keeping her all tied up like that really worth the lives of your sister, your girlfriend, and your best friend? I will admit, you have a slim chance of beating us, but would you honestly make that sacrifice?" Vince knew what to do. In two swift movements, he could knock out both Tempo and Koumilon, and in a third attack, he could take down Stacie and he'd be able to save Tina. But how could he let three of her friends die just to save one? Still, to get Tina back, Vince was willing to sacrifice anything and everything. "Vince, you idiot!" Stephanie shouted. "That's not Tina. Tina's dead. Tina's not coming back, ever!" To hear Stephanie of all people say this made something click in Vince's mind. Tina wasn't coming back. Mindy wasn't the reincarnation of Tina. She was just some girl who looked similar. As much as it pained him, he had to let go of Tina. He had to return Mindy to save his friends. "You win," Vince said simply to Stacie. Slowly, he walked over to the hovercraft and unlocked the door. Then, he pulled Mindy out and untied her ropes. "Good-bye, Mindy," the Inferno Fiend said as he brought Mindy to Stacie. "Not Tina?" Mindy asked. "You're not Tina," Vince said. "You never were." Mindy frowned. Stacie threw Alice to the floor, then took Mindy in her arms. "You have what you came for," Vince said. "Now leave us." "A deal is a deal," Stacie replied. "I'll spare your lives, but first--" Suddenly, she kicked Vince right in the face, and he remembered nothing more. When Vince awoke again, he was in his human form, sitting in the backseat of the hovercraft with Stephanie. Robert was piloting, and Alice was sitting passenger side. "Where are we going?" he asked, still clutching his aching head. "Blackwood," Robert explained. "QS still needs the passwords to use the launch program, so they'll need the head scientist and the government correspondent of the Cobalt Project, so all we have to do is protect them. But we don't know their names or where they are, but I'm sure they'll have that information at Blackwood, probably on the Lab 12 computer. That's where they keep track of all the Cobalt Project stuff." "So, we're going to break into Blackwood again, find out who the two guys are, and protect them from the Quantum Saviors," Vince checked his facts. "Yeah, that's exactly right," Robert said. "We should get there in a few days." For a moment, there was silence. "Vince, I'm sorry about Mindy," Stephanie finally said to him. "No, it's all right," Vince said. "Mindy meant nothing to me. I only saw in her the ghost of a memory that was never really there." Vince looked Stephanie in the eyes. "What you said today, you said Tina was never coming back." "Yeah," Stephanie replied. "But I thought you were working on a Resurrection spell," Vince said. "Yeah," Stephanie said. "I've studied the theory behind it, but no one's ever done it in the real world. It's way too complicated." "So... you've finally let go of Tina?" Vince asked. "Yeah," Stephanie said, almost whispering. "It took me forever, but once I realized that a Resurrection spell was impossible..." "I know," Vince said. "I tried so hard to keep Tina alive that I simply pretended some other girl was her. Now I see I was just foolish and selfish." Vince closed his eyes, and again, he saw Tina falling. "I guess it's time I let go of her, but I can never just forget about her, right Steph?" Stephanie was now crying. Vince took her and held her in his arms. "It looks like they beefed up security here," Robert said. "They've got tons more security cameras, and there are security checkpoints all over the place, and they've also put alarms on all the entrances to the ventilation shafts. There's also a network or something along the outer wall of the base so if any one tries to force a door open or make their own door, it'll set off a hull breach alarm." It was a few days after they had lost the disc, and Vince and the others had just arrived at Blackwood Labs. The four of them stood around a small monitor, watching what appeared to be a view into the facility. "Your little bird can tell you that much?" Vince asked. "Yeah," Robert replied. "I built it when we stopped at the electronics shop in Neo Aurora, but it's not as good as the Omicron ones. I think QS made the Omicron birds." "What's up with the boosted security?" Alice asked. "Is it because of how we broke in last week?" "That's what it looks like," Robert replied. "Still, it's way too much security for just one incident. Plus, the disc isn't here anymore. There's something else going on." "How are we breaking in?" Vince asked. "Every two hours, they change shifts in the security room," Robert explained. "Then, my bird can hitch a ride and get into the room. Then, I detonated my bird, setting off an EMP, and this will shutdown their security system. That would give us a good ten minutes before they can restart. We use this time to cut our way into the submarine dock and sneak through the ventilation shafts into Lab 12. Anyways, the bird is inside the security room now. Let's head over to the submarine gate now." The four of them climbed into the water. Following Robert's lead, they made their way to the submarine dock entry gate. "All right guys, don't start cutting until after I give you the signal," Robert said. "Remember." He held up two fingers. "Otherwise, the alarms will go off." The four of them took deep breaths and dove deep into the water until they saw the gate. Robert pressed a button on his monitor, then gave two fingers. Vince transformed into the Dark Fiend of the Inferno and began burning off one side of the gate. Stephanie cut the other side with Holy energy. A minute later, they were inside the submarine dock, gasping for air at the surface. Vince let his Inferno Armor fade away and became human again. "I didn't think I could hold my breath that long," Alice commented. "The guards are on the other side of that door," Robert explained, "so be quiet." Silently, they swam to the ventilation shaft. Robert quietly pulled the cover off and the four of them climbed through. They crawled through the narrow space until they came to another room. There was a vault, a table covered with papers, and a computer, but no people. Robert carefully opened the cover and climbed out. However, just before Vince could follow him, red beams of light appeared right in front of him, blocking him. "Damn! That was faster than I expected," he said. "Don't worry. I'll hack the computer, and you guys can wait up there. We'll figure something out later." Vince, Stephanie, and Alice waited in the cramped ventilation shaft as Robert started working with a computer. A few minutes later, he spoke up again. "Oh, that explains it!" Robert said. "They're keeping the head scientist, a Dr. Joseph Zerrfin, right here in Blackwood. That's why they have all this security here. The other guy, Lieutenant Colonel James Powers is being kept in the Pentagon." "Good," Vince said. "So all we have to do is stay here and protect Dr. Zerrfin. Now how do I get out of here?" "You can't without setting off an alarm," Robert said. "Then, I'll set it off," Vince replied. Without hesitating, he grabbed Alice and Stephanie and threw them though the red beams. As they landed in the room, alarms went off. A metal plate slid over the ventilation shaft, sealing Vince inside. However, a moment later, there was an explosion, and the Dark Fiend of the Inferno burst forth from the flames. The door to the hall opened and several soldiers ran in, pointing their guns. "Wait!" Robert shouted, holding his hands up. "We can explain." The soldiers didn't put their guns down, but they did stop to listen. "We're not terrorists. In fact, we've been working against them. We're here to help protect Dr. Zerrfin. We don't want the terrorists to get the password, either." One of the soldiers spoke into a radio, saying, "The intruders claim to have come to protect Dr. Zerrfin. They claim to be anti-terrorists." Someone on the other end replied, "Arrest them anyway. They were intruding and need to be captured and interrogated." Robert dove behind the table. Alice and Stephanie quickly followed, and the three of them opened fire. The soldiers fired back. Vince roared as he charged at the soldiers with the fury of his flames. What happened next was only a blur of flames, gunfire, screams, and blood in his memory. Somehow, Vince and the others made it back to the hovercraft. He sat in the backseat, as a human, panting heavily and sweating profusely. His hands were covered in blood. "How many of them died?" he asked. "Vince, this is not the time," Robert said as the hovercraft took off. "Vince, you had no choice!" Stephanie shouted. "I know," Vince responded. "But that still doesn't make it right." Vince's memory of the battle was hazy, but he knew he had killed. He saw Tina's face, burned vividly into his mind. She was frowning at him. There was no doubt about it now. Tina hated him. She wanted him to stop. The next few days were extremely uneventful. They camped near Blackwood to protect Dr. Zerrfin, but nothing ever came. This, however, was just perfect for Vince. He didn't want to fight anymore. He didn't want to be involved anymore. The last few days, he spent most of his time alone in the hovercraft, haunted by nightmares of Tina's death. In one nightmare, Vince threw Tina off the building, which he felt was not too far from the truth. In another, Tina yelled at him, calling him a murderer and a betrayer, and all Vince did was cower in fear. This was why Vince couldn't fight anymore. "An army calling themselves the Quantum Saviors have taken over the city of Gehenna," the news anchorman said on the hovercraft's onboard television set one day. "Currently, no one can get in or out. Their leader, identified as Brian Mandragon, claims to have thirty-six nuclear warheads and demands that the US government send troops into Canada. Just three hours ago, he transmitted these demands over public airways." On the screen, Brian Mandragon appeared. In the background was a missile tower with several Cobalt Bombs. "Behind me are six of my thirty-six nuclear warheads," he explained. "Each one of them has the capability of completely wiping an entire city from the map. I don't want any unnecessary civilian deaths, so let me be short and simple. I want the US government to declare war against Canada and mobilize troops against them. If they do not respond in twenty-four hours, I will launch a nuke and destroy a city at random. Now, I know you are sensible people. Please, don't disappoint me." The anchorman reappeared onscreen. "Military officials are unsure as to the nature of Mandragon's demands," he continued. "However, Lieutenant Colonel James Powers from the Pentagon has confirmed that these terrorists do not have the passwords to launch nuclear warheads. There is currently no nuclear threat. The only threat these terrorists pose is against Gehenna, which the military is working full-speed to dispel." Stephanie turned off the television. "Vince, what are we going to do?" she asked. "Absolutely nothing," Vince replied apathetically. "You heard the guy. They don't have the passwords. They can't launch the Bombs." "But what if they don't need the passwords?" Stephanie asked. "What if they hacked into the program and found a different way to launch?" "The launch program is impossible to hack," Vince said. "Right, Robert?" "Right," Robert replied, but his face didn't reflect the certainty of his words. The next day, they watched for more news about the Quantum Saviors. "Tragedy strikes at Neo Aurora," the anchorman reported. "The terrorists calling themselves the Quantum Saviors launched a nuclear warhead just three hours ago and have completely destroyed the city of Neo Aurora. The estimated death toll is twenty-four million. The terrorist leader Brian Mandragon issued a follow-up threat over public airways just a few minutes after the destruction of Neo Aurora." Brian appeared on the television set. "I'm so disappointed," he said. "You people thought I was bluffing? Well, now you know better. My demands are still the same. The US government is to send troops to war against Canada. You have twenty-four more hours. Otherwise, I'm nuking Washington." The anchorman reappeared onscreen. "The Secretary of Defense has stated that war against Canada is not a possibility," he continued. "The military is working full-speed to dispel this situation. Negotiations are underway, and force will be used as a last resort. In the meantime, citizens of the United States are advised to stay calm." "I thought you said they couldn't hack into the program!" Alice shouted. "I thought so, too," Robert replied, turning off the television. "Or at least, that's what the Pentagon's information said. That's probably why the military didn't do anything. They thought QS was bluffing, just like we were, but they're not." "We have to go stop them!" Stephanie said. "No!" Vince shouted in reply. The other three stared at him, completely shocked. "If you want to go and fight, go right ahead," Vince said, "but leave me out of it." "But Vince," Robert pleaded, "it was your idea to fight against QS in the first place. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." "Yeah," Stephanie said, "and remember at Fort Adamant, when you insisted on fighting because it was your idea in the first place?" "This is different," Vince shouted. "That was before. Now, I just don't want to fight anymore. Tina wouldn't like it." "Vince, Tina is dead," Stephanie said. "And that's precisely why I can't fight anymore," Vince yelled. "Do you guys have any idea what it's like to see someone so close to you die? And do you know how much worse it is when you know that it's your own fault. Tina died because of me. I was the one who killed her, because I wanted to fight. Now do you see why I can't fight? Now do you see why I want to sit this one out?" There was a long silence. Then, Stephanie grabbed Vince's hand. "Please, Vince," she pleaded. "For me. Come fight with us for my sake." Vince didn't reply. "If I fight and I died, then it would be your fault for not being there for me. Come on, fight with us. Protect me." "If you're afraid of dying, then don't fight," Vince answered bitterly. Alice took Vince's other hand and followed Stephanie's lead, pleading, "Come on, Vince, please come fight with us. You're the strongest of the four of us. We need you." Finally, Robert spoke up. "Vince, remember when I didn't want to fight, but you insisted on it so much that I decided to come along to watch your back? Well, now, it's exactly the same. Me, Stephanie, and Alice want to go fight. I watched your back back then. Why won't you watch our back now?" Vince didn't want to fight, but Robert's argument made a lot of sense, as did Alice's and Stephanie's. He didn't want to fight, but with his friends pleading with him, it made him feel guilty to deny them. "All right," Vince said, finally giving in. "I still don't think it's right, but I'll come with you and fight." "Thank you, Vince," Stephanie said, kissing him lightly on the cheek. "Thanks," Alice said. "Thanks, Vince," Robert said. "Now, we gotta head over to Gehenna. Somehow, we gotta sneak into the QS HQ and stop them from launching those nukes in less than twenty-four hours. You up for this?" Slowly, Vince nodded. "Yeah, let's go," he said. The hovercraft, with Robert behind the wheel, lifted off and sped away. |