Cheryl glanced around the forest, then turned back to Slasher. "I don't sense anyone out there," she said hesitantly.
Shaking his head, Slasher reached out and turned the handle on the door. With a slight push, he shoved it open and stepped inside the dark living room. As he walked further into the house, Cheryl, Terra, and Strife followed suit.
"It looks pretty empty to me," Terra told them as she reached for a lightswitch. Slasher reached out and slapped her hand, shaking his head. "Ow..." she said, rubbing her hand.
"I'm going to get the materials I need from my room," Slasher told them. He began to walk down the hallway with Cheryl in tow while Terra and Strife stayed in the living room.
"C'mon," Strife said, walking over to a set of stairs. "Lets make sure there's no one upstairs."
"Alright," Terra agreed, following him up the stairs to the second floor. As they reached the top, they could see a set of bedrooms for children. No doubt for Chad and Aya, Slasher's two grandchildren. "Looks quiet to me."
"Too quiet," Strife muttered.
Terra moved over to one of the bedrooms and pushed the door open with her hand as he glanced inside. "It's dark in this house..." she said outloud.
"Too dark," Strife muttered.
As she began to turn around, Terra glanced up and saw a hatch to the attic above. However, the cord to pull it open was out of reach. "I think there's an attic up there, but the I think it's higher than I can reach," she told him.
"Too high," Strife muttered.
"Strife! Will you just help me?" Terra asked. Strife paused, then looked sheepish. He walked over and gave Terra boost to reach the hatch cord. As she pulled it down, the hatch opened and a flood of magazines came falling down, burying them both beneath it.
Strife popped out and glanced at the porn magazines around him. "Hey, I don't think I have this one," he said excitedly as he reached over and grabbed a special edition. Terra glared at him as she freed herself. He coughed, then tossed the magazine to the side. "In fact, I don't think I have any of these..." he added.
Back downstairs, Slasher was going through his materials and placing them in a bag. "Alright, I think this is everything I need," he mused, rubbing his chin. He glanced around. "I keep feeling like something is out of place"
Cheryl leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. "I know what you mean," she agreed.
Slasher shrugged, tossing the bag over his shoulder. "I probably just forgot to change out my underwear again."
"That's gross on so many levels," Cheryl told him, making a face. She pulled away from the wall and began to walk back down the hallway when there was a soft click.
Slasher froze, his eyes widening. "Cheryl, look out!" he cried, reaching toward her. Suddenly, the entire house exploded in a huge fireball that reached up high into the sky. Pieces of wood and lumber came flying down and crashing as the remains of the house could fit into a box.
As the thick smoke began to clear, Slasher stood there, coughing on smoke, holding Cheryl in his arms. He set her down, turning to look back at the ruins. "Terra!!! Strife!!!" he shouted as he walked forward.
Terra collapsed to the ground as a gray ooze around her fell to the ground and reformed into Strife, who was burnt and badly injured. "Strife! STRIFE!" Terra screamed, grabbing Strife and shaking him.
Slasher ran over to them. "What happened?" Slasher asked as he checked on Strife's condition.
"He wrapped around me before the blast hit us. He shielded me by taking all of the blast," Terra said. She kept shaking him. "Bloody hell, don't die on me!"
"I managed to phase Cheryl and myself out of the blast in time," Slasher said slowly, glancing over his shoulder. "Who's there?" he asked into the night.
The sound of footsteps could be heard as someone approached. Coming into view of the fire that raged around them was Kio Takemura. "Hmph. So you didn't die," Kio said in disdain as he came to a stop.
Cheryl, who was kneeling beside Strife and checking on his condition, raised her face and glared. "You?" she asked sharply.
Slasher crossed his arms. "Kio. I'm not surprised. You couldn't get enough of your explosions, could you?" he asked calmly.
Terra stared at Kio in shock. "Kio...? But why?" she asked. Kio Takemura was once a part of the team during the great war last year, but after it ended had vanished. A mysterious bombing a month ago destroyed President McCabe's house and Slasher had suspected Kio of being the one involved. ... He never found any evidence to back it up.
Until now.
Kio glanced at Terra. "Oh, it's you," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Slasher eyed Kio. "That explosion you set off in McCabe's manor could have killed my granddaughter," he said, his voice dropping a few notches from it's usual cheerful state.
"And I should care?" Kio asked, tilting his head back. "It seems explosives just aren't as useful as they once were."
Slasher's fist tightened a little. "Blowing up my house is one thing. Hurting those children is another," he said warningly.
Kio apparantly didn't detect the change of vocal sounds or he just didn't care. "I was aiming to blow up a lot more than your house. Oh well," he said. He turned and began to walk away.
"You're not leaving this time, Kio," Slasher said.
Kio stopped, but didn't turn around. "I'm not?" he asked.
"You're not," Slasher repeated.
Kio started to walk away again, ignoring Slasher entirely now. Slasher glanced back at Cheryl and Terra, who were both getting to their feet now as Strife laid on the ground, smoke rising from his body. He turned back to Kio and formed a chi ball in his hand, tossing it directly in front of Kio's path. Kio didn't even stop, merely stepping over the small hole it made in the ground.
Frowning, Slasher formed another chi attack, expanding it more than the chi ball. He tossed it straight at Kio's back and it exploded upon contact, sending Kio plummeting face first into the ground. The three of them stood there as they watched Kio lay motionessly.
Then his hands gripped the dirt in front of him and shoved himself up. Kio then lifted himself up and turned around to face Slasher. "Fine," Kio said. He suddenly blurred and appeared in front of Slasher, rearing his fist back and slamming it straight into Slasher's gut hard enough to shatter a few ribs. He lifted Slasher off the ground with the fist, then pulled it back and let Slasher fall to the ground on his knees, clutching his stomach in agony.
At that moment, Cheryl was already in action, slamming into Kio and sliding him back along the ground. Her fist erupted into flames as she channeled her fire energy and she slammed it into Kio's face. While she might be Ariel's twin, she had a whole separate bag of tricks.
As Kio stumbled to the side, his lips curled into a smile. "Pathetic," Kio said and then formed a green ball of energy, throwing it straight at Cheryl. Cheryl stepped to the side to avoid it, only to have Kio smash his fist into the side of her face and send her falling to the ground.
Terra raised her gun and opened fire. As the plasma shots flew his way, Kio turned and threw his hand out and a green wave of energy erupted out of the ground, engulfing and destroying the plasma shots. "I never liked you," Kio told her.
"The feeling's mutual," Terra said.
Kio paused a moment, then chuckled softly. "Good," he said with a smile. He suddenly unclipped a grenade and tossed it at Terra. Her eyes widening, Terra moved to jump to the side before the grenade landed, but a green blast flew out and hit the grenade in mid-air, causing it to explode right next to her. As Terra was knocked back through the air, she crashed into the mud and dirt.
Slasher took a deep breath, then got to his feet. "You're stronger," he told Kio. "Been experimenting?"
Kio flexed his hand. "I embraced my cyborg parts and received enhancements," Kio said.
"And let me guess? You decided to fight for the humans now?" Slasher asked.
Kio snorted, dropping his hand to his side. "I fight for no man or reploid," Kio told him. "I'm merely removing those who stand in my way."
"How trite," Slasher commented. "I was expecting something more. But then again, this is you we're talking about. You never had much going for you in the head."
"If you think you can insult me and catch me off balance, then you're wasting your time," Kio said calmly. "I could care less."
Slasher raised his hands up into a combative position. "You know, I really had a nice collection of porn in there. That took me years to collect," he said. "Now I can't forgive you."
He dashed forward at Kio, who punched straight at him as closed in. Slasher flipped backwards, letting his feet smash into Kio's head and knock him backwards, then he landed on the ground. As Kio stumbled backwards, Cheryl slammed her fists into his back with enough force to stagger the cyborg. Slasher dashed in as Kio was staggering forward, chi energy pumping into his fist as he slammed it straight into Kio's stomach, crushing him between his attack and Cheryl's attack.
Kio gasped in pain, but then it completely cleared from his face and it was replaced by a smile. He grabbed Slasher's face and then Cheryl's hair, then stepped to the side and smashed their faces into each other. As both of them stumbled back, Kio jumped up and kicked Slasher in the stomach, sending him flying back into the flames of building.
Cheryl held her face, her eyes glaring at Kio. She raised her hands up into the air and a fire pillar erupted underneath Kio, knocking him straight up into the air. She then teleported in front of him and slammed a fireball straight into him in the air, launching Kio straight into the lake and sending a mighty splash of water into the air.
As she landed on the ground, Cheryl was suddenly smashed in the face by a green ball of energy that flew out of the lake. Falling backwards, she landed on the ground just as a green pillar of energy rose up under her and slammed her up into the air. As Cheryl hit the ground again, she rolled over onto her side as Kio flew up out of the water and hovered in the air.
Kio landed on the land and shut down the boosters in his legs. He began to walk toward Cheryl, raising his hand and collecting green energy into it when a series of chi balls appeared all around him. Pausing, Kio looked around in surprise when they all flew into him at once and exploded in a massive explosion that shook the area and kicked up the dirt into the air.
Slasher jumped out of the firey remains of his house and landed on the ground. He ran over to Cheryl. "Are you okay?" he asked her as the dirt in the air began to clear.
Cheryl stood up, rotating her arm to get feeling back into it. "Just angry, dear," she said sweetly.
"Too bad for him," Slasher said as he turned to the clearing dust. Kio stood there, his hands clenched shut as he eyed them both. He suddenly fired a wave of green energy right at them both, which Cheryl and Slasher jumped back and over to avoid.
Slasher phased into the ground and came up behind Kio. As he formed into a solid, he tried to punch Kio when Kio whipped around and punched him straight in the face, sending him falling back. Cheryl rushed forward, but Kio turned around and slammed an energy blast point blank into her stomach, sending her crashing backwards into a tree.
Kio turned his hand toward Slasher and it transformed into a rocket launcher. "Here's another upgrade for you to try," Kio told Slasher and fired the rocket point blank at Slasher.
His eyes widening, Slasher formed a chi shield around him as the rocket smashed into it. The shield began to crack as the explosive power slammed into it, then it shattered and sent him sliding backwards. After it finally ended, Slasher lowered his arms just as Kio launched a green energy blast at him. He threw his own chi ball into it the blast and canceled it out, causing an explosion between him and Kio as the two opposing energies collided.
Slasher dashed forward through the smoke left behind by the two energy attacks and punched at Kio, who ducked under him. Kio then kicked upward, slamming his foot into Slasher's groin. Falling backwards, Slasher grabbed his groin in pain and began to pound his fist into the ground. "Cheap shot!" he shouted out.
As Kio stood there, suddenly a punch impacted against his skull, sending him toppling forward from the force of it. Cheryl stood over him, fire engulfed around her fist. She brought her foot flying up into Kio's face, breaking his nose and sending splatters of blood outward. As Kio fell backwards onto the ground, the robotic side of his face turned to focus on Cheryl and a laser blast emitted from his eye at her. Cheryl ducked the blast, but was caught off guard as Kio kicked upward from his spot on the ground and caught her in the chin, sending her crashing back.
Getting to his feet, Kio looked at Cheryl and Slasher on the ground. He turned away from them and suddenly stepped right into a plasma shot in the gut, which sent him stumbling backwards. He glanced up and saw Terra standing there, gun extended outward at him. Blood trickled down from the side of her face as he stared at him. She then pulled the trigger over and over, hitting Kio again and again in the chest, tearing away the flesh and revealing robotic parts underneath. He finally toppled over onto his back on the ground.
Slasher stood up, holding his crotch as he walked over to Terra, patting her on the shoulder as she finally lowered her weapon. Cheryl pushed herself up next and walked over to Kio, kicking him once in the head. "You bruised my face, jerk," she told him.
"How did he get so powerful?" Slasher mused as he stood there. "Who upgraded him?" he asked outloud.
Terra walked over to where Kio was and then kneeled beside him, glancing at the robotic interior through the torn and bleeding flesh. "I see a label here," she said outloud.
Slasher walked over and kneeled down beside her. He glanced at the label. "Janus Corporation..." he read outloud.
Cheryl lifted her head. "They did this? But I thought Death Star destroyed their sites," she said.
Slasher shook his head. "Kio must have got himself upgraded before they were destroyed. They would have been happy to tune him up if he agreed to kill reploids," he said. "What an idiot."
Kio suddenly sat up and wrapped his hand around Slasher's throat. "Idiots," he told him and unleashed an energy attack at point blank, sending Slasher flying along the ground until he came to a stop head first into a rock. He then turned his hand and fired an energy blast right into Terra's face, knocking her into the burning building where she collapsed into an unconscious heap near the flames.
Cheryl channeled her fire energy into her fist and slammed it straight into Kio's robotic face and shattered part of the circuits from the impact. The force sent him falling backwards into the ground where he got into a roll and stood up on his feet. As Cheryl dashed in, Kio blured around behind her and slammed a huge energy wave into her back with enough force to send her crashing into the ground beside Slasher.
Kio stood there, rotating his neck and popping it. He began to walk toward Slasher and Cheryl, ignoring Strife on the ground who was oozing toward the flaming building. Reforming himself, Strife stumbled through the flames, flinching from the heat as he searched for Terra.
Stepping over some burning logs, he saw her lying in a spot where the flames were just about to engulf her. "Terra!" he shouted as he ran over to her. Strife reached out and picked her, reforming his hands into something resembling a recliner. He then began to run through the flames until he got her to safety. Kneeling down, he gently laid her on the ground, then glanced over at Kio who was just about to reach the unconscious Slasher and Cheryl.
Stepping up behind Kio, Strife punched him in the back. "Hey!" he shouted at Kio who began to turn around to face him. "It's up to me to show you wh-" Strife began when Kio backhanded him up into the air and sending him straight into the lake. Sinking straight to the bottom, Strife crashed head first into the muddy lake bottom and became stuck.
Kio turned around only to have a fist smash into his already broken face. His eyes focused on Slasher standing there, panting and bleeding. Slasher raised his hands right in front of Kio's face and unleashed a chi blast into his head, knocking Kio backwards. Before Kio could finish hitting the ground, Slasher ran forward, charging more chi into his fists. Leaping up into the air, Slasher came crashing down at Kio and smashed his fist into Kio's head, slamming him into the ground.
Kio hit the ground and bounced off into a flip in the air just as Slasher was landing. He extended his hands and fired a green blast at Slasher, who then phased through it. As Kio's feet began to land on the ground, Slasher rephased into reality and punched forward at Kio, hitting him in the head. Kio's head began to tilt back, but he brought his other hand around and fired a green blast into Slasher's chest. While Slasher was falling backwards, he threw a chi blast at Kio, who was beginning to straight himself up from being punched. Kio reached out and knocked the chi blast away into a tree, which exploded.
Both warriors straightened themselves back up as they stared at each other. Slasher grinned at Kio. "This is great exercise. I've had this crick in my back for days now," he told Kio.
Kio's eyes narrowed and his lips curled downward. "You're useless," Kio spat out.
Slasher grinned. "I think you're getting bothered by my talking," he said proudly. "No man alive can take it."
Roaring in anger, Kio slammed his fist into Slasher's face, knocking him backwards. As he dashed forward to try to hit Slasher before he recovered, Slasher kicked upward into his gut and knocked Kio right over his head into the lake. As Kio sunk downward, he turned and tried to fly back up when a hand exploded out of the muck and grabbed him. Glancing down in surprise, Kio raised his hand and fired a green blast into the muck.
The hand's grip tightened on Kio's leg. As his face twisted up into anger, Kio turned his arm into a rocket launcher and fired it straight into the muck, causing a massive explosion underwater, sending a huge wave of water up into the air and sending the muck all over the lake so that Kio couldn't see. As he floated in the water, glancing around, trying to see through the muck, he felt the hand let go finally.
The muck finally began to clear and Kio glanced around in surprise as Slasher floated on his left side, Cheryl on his right side, Strife behind him, and Terra in front of him. Slasher was holding a chi ball in his hands, Cheryl had a dark energy attack in her hands, Terra had her gun aimed at Kio, and Strife held his weapon at Kio. They all fired their attacks at Kio at once, all of them impacting into him in one mighty explosion of energy they blew him out of the water.
As Kio landed on dry land in a smoking heap, he struggled to get to his feet as the four of them walked up behind him. Slasher looked down at him. "I think we're done here, Kio," he told him.
"Damn...you..." Kio struggled to say as he got to his feet, wavering back and forth. "I refuse to give up."
"Okay," Cheryl said and punched him in the face, causing him to fall back down to the ground. She cracked her knuckles. "Care to get up again?"
Kio glared at her, but continued to sit there. Terra shook her wet hair back and forth. "I don't understand why you did this," she told him.
"You wouldn't," Kio responded.
Strife crossed his arms. "Because you're a world class asshole, maybe?" he suggested helpfully.
Slasher shook his head. "You're finished, Kio. Get out of here and never come back. I won't go so easy on you next time," he told him. He walked over to where he had saved his bag of materials and picked them up. "Lets hurry back, guys. We need to finish the experiment."
As the four of them walked off, Kio struggled to stand, looking at them with a proud look on his face. "You'll learn to regret walking away from me, Slasher!" he shouted out after him. When the four of them were out of sight, he tightened his hands into fists.
As he walked along the streets, he passed a police car as it went down the street. After he had taken another ten steps, he knew instantly that it had to a stop. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that the car was sitting there with the officer turned around in his seat, talking on a radio.
Grimacing, Gravedigger quickened his pace, moving around a drunk couple as they wobbled down the sidewalk. As he made it another fifteen paces, he could hear the car backing up along the street toward him. Glancing around to the left, Gravedigger saw a grocery store up ahead one street. Without bothering to look to see if traffic was coming his way, he quickly crossed the street to the other side as he walked toward the grocery store.
Glancing over his shoulder at the other side of the street, Grave could see that the car had stopped as soon as he crossed the street and was in the process of beginning a U-Turn. However, the officer had to stop as a few cars drove by, which gave Grave more time to put some distance between the two. As soon as he was reaching the parking lot, the police vehicle had completed it's U-Turn and was moving up along the street after him.
Crossing the parking lot, Gravedigger quietly timed in his head that the officer's car would be entering the parking lot right about now and would take about seven seconds to reach him. Quickening his pace without turning around, he made it to the entrance of the grocery store and stepped inside it in six seconds, ignoring the officer as he flashed his lights.
Reaching over and grabbing a shopping cart, he pushed it along toward the can isle as the officer was getting out his car and walking toward the entrance. As he passed the sunglasses rack, he reached over and grabbed one. Taking his hat off as soon as he was around one of the corners, Grave tossed it onto some soup cans as he walked by them. Keeping his head low, he could hear the officer calling out for him to stop, but he turned as he reached the end of the asile, putting a few more seconds of distance between them.
Sliding his trench coat off, he handed it to a person passing him. "Here," Grave said neutrally. He slid on his sunglasses and pushed the shopping cart down the next asile and kept walking straight, taking a left on the asile after that. As he walked down the asile, he heard the officer reaching the end of the first asile.
As Grave reached the front, he walked past the only clerk on duty and stepped out the front door just as the cop was beginning to run his way back. Giving a little wave, Grave got into the officer's car, which was still turned on, and shifted it into gear. Driving away from the grocery store, he pulled out of the parking lot onto the road and sped down it toward the hospital.
After traveling only about seven blocks, he glanced up ahead and saw a road blockade made up of four police cars, preventing any way past. Slamming on the breaks, Gravedigger began to curse. "You have got to be kidding me!" he shouted as his police car slid to a stop. Shifting it into reverse, he began to speed back when three more police cars pulled up behind him and blocked his escape route. "Jesus, how many of you are there?" he yelled out.
Reaching down, he turned up the police radio and heard them chattering about having the reploid suspect surounded. There was talk that he was one of the reploids who kidnapped President McCabe going back and forth. "There's always a police officer when you don't want one," Gravedigger muttered, glancing out the car window to see helicopter in the air. He realized it belong to the local news station. "There's reporters here?" he said in disbelief.
As the police began to approach this vehicle with their weapons drawn, Gravedigger slammed his fist down on the horn as he tried to think of something to do. As the horn blarred, the officers stopped, glanced at each other a few times, then began to proceed more carefully. Desperate, Grave reached down and grabbed the radio. "Call off your men," he said into the radio.
A stern, snobbish sounding voice responded back. "We do not negotiate with reploid terrorists."
"If...you don't back off, I'll ... kill the hostage I have in the car with me," Gravedigger lied, glancing around the car to see a kid's toy bear in the right seat with a price tag on it still. Probably picked up that night by the officer for his child.
There was a brief pause on the radio and the officers approaching the car came to a halt. Then, after a moment, the voice came back, sounding wary now. "You have a human hostage?" he asked.
"Yes. A ... child," Gravedigger told him. He held up the toy bear in the window. "See her toy?" He dropped the bear.
"Hand over the child now," the voice ordered.
"You clear a path and I'll hand over the child," Gravedigger countered.
"Hand over the child and we'll clear a path," the voice stated.
"Nooo, I want a path cleared before I hand over the child," Grave repeated.
"This is the Mega City police force, reploid. You will do as we say or we'll be forced to take drastic measures," the voice warned him.
"If you try to approach the car, then I'll be forced to take drastic measures," Gravedigger warned back.
"Do not try my patience!" the voice barked.
"You've already tried my patience," Grave informed him.
"We wish to speak with the child," the voice reasoned.
"And I wish to see cars moving aside for me," Grave said.
"Let us speak with the child and I'll see what I can do," the voice said.
"I'll see what I can do about letting you speak with the kid once you move the cars," Gravedigger responded. He flicked off the radio and leaned back in his seat. "Just perfect..." he muttered.
Michiru nodded and pumped her fist into the air. "We can't let that reploid hurt that innocent child! We must defeat him in the name of justice!"
Silouette stood there staring at her until Michiru dropped her arm. "... we move in stealth and rescue the child without altering the reploid. Then we deal with him," she told her.
"Understood, boss," Michiru responded.
Both of them jumped from the rooftop as they made their way toward the hostage situation in the downtown area.
As his daughter drifted to sleep, he began to walk toward her crib when he heard the soft footsteps behind him. A set of arms wrapped around his waist and gave him a hug. He turned around to look back at Emily, one of his wives.
"I put Chad and Aya to sleep," Em told him softly. Chad and Aya Winters were the two children of his friends Dias and Eve. They died during the war last year, so Slasher had been taking care of them since they were his grandchildren. But with Slasher being hunted by law enforcement, custody of the kids had reverted to their godfather - Snipe himself.
"I just finished here," Snipe told her, leaning forward and laying Andrea down in her crib. He stood up, wrapping his arm around Em as they walked back out into the hallway. As they walked past the rooms, he glanced in at Michiru's room. "She's gone again?" he asked in surprise. "It's really late."
Em glanced at him. "You didn't know she had been leaving?" she asked him.
"No. I guess she's been busy trying to find something to do. It's hard for her not having an outlet with this war going on," Snipe said.
Em studied him quietly. "You really think that, don't you?" she said strangely.
"What?" Snipe asked her, glancing at her in confusion.
"Nothing," Em told him, shaking her head once. As the two of them entered the living room they found Hotaru watching the news where a live report was taking place. On the street was a police car surrounded by a series of other police cars.
"You two need to hear this," Hotaru said breathlessly as she watched the events transpiring. "It sounds like a hostage situation."
Snipe walked over and crossed his arms as the reporter began to talk about how the reploid made depends for a means of escape in exchange for a child's life.
"Here's an artist rendition of what we believe the reploid looks like," the reporter was saying and on the screen a drawing of Gravedigger appeared with big, squinty eyes and sharp pointy teeth. "We believe this reploid is extremely dangerous and may have had a part in kidnapping the President."
Jerking back in surprise, Snipe's jaw dropped open. "That's Grave!" he said in surprise. "Or his evil twin brother who needs to see a dentist."
"But why would Gravedigger kidnap a child?" Hotaru asked him, glancing over her shoulder at Snipe.
"He wouldn't. I guess he's trying to escape or something," Snipe said. "He's surrounded." He stood there, wrestling with the fact one of his last friends was surrounded by a human police force who would do anything to kill him.
"You want to go help him," Em said softly from behind him.
Snipe turned around. "What? No...I can't," he began, looking back at the screen. "I have you guys to think about."
"But he's your friend," Em told him. "You should go help him."
Standing there in surprise, Snipe looked between them both. "But you realize if I go help him, I won't be able to come back. I'll be a wanted a criminal."
"We know," Hotaru said, standing up and walking over to them both. "But this is something you have to do, right?"
Snipe paused, then nodded. "I'm tired of losing my friends. I have to watch Dias' children grow up without him ... I don't want to see another friend die," he confessed.
"Then go," Em told him, giving him a hug.
Hotaru leaned over and hugged him, too. "It's why we love you," she added.
Snipe stood there, then rubbed the back of his head. "This is just a ploy to get rid of me so you two can have some sex, isn't it?" he asked.
As he sat there, he saw something black move past his rear-view mirror. Jerking around in his seat, Gravedigger glanced around through the back window for signs of anyone. However, he didn't see anything there. Frowning, he turned back around when he saw an asian chick standing there in a police uniform. She reered back and threw a ninja star through the window at him.
Jerking in surprise, Gravedigger caught it out of mid-air just as the passenger door opened and a sixteen year old girl in a black mask and outfit leaned in and glanced around. "There's no one here, Sil," the girl told her.
Silouette frowned and looked at Gravedigger. Tossing the ninja star to the side, Gravedigger mashed the gas pedal and began to drive the car straight at Silouette. As the girl held onto the side of the car, half hanging in through the doorway, she shook her fist at Grave. "Lunar Girl shall defeat you!" she shouted.
As the car approached her, Silouette jumped straight over it and onto the roof. Drawing her blade from it's sheath, she stabbed through the roof of the car and quickly sliced a hole in it. Gravedigger looked up just as she reached down and grabbed him, jerking him out of the the car. This left the car driverless and it went smashing into the side of a building, knocking Silouette and Grave off.
As Grave smashed into the side of the building, he quickly slid down it onto his feet as Silouette nimbly flipped through the air and landed on the ground. Lunar Girl fell out of the car, holding her head in pain.
"...right, so this town has ninjas and superheroes," Gravedigger said as he withdrew his shovel. "Well, okay, come and get it."
Silouette dashed forward, holding her sword in an attack position. Swinging his shovel through the air, Gravedigger overshot her as she ducked down and slammed the hilt of her sword into his gut. Stepping back, Grave tried to hit her in the back with his shovel but she rolled to the side to avoid him.
Lunar Girl jumped over the ruined car and kicked at Grave's head. Reaching out and grabbing her foot, he swung her away onto the street. "I don't want to hurt you ladies," Gravedigger told them both. As Lunar Girl stood back up and began to circle him, so did Silouette. "But something tells me you don't care."
The police so far seemed content to stand back and let the two women handle their situation for them. In fact, a few of them were even jeering and laughing at the entire thing and bets were being placed on who would win. So far Silouette was taking the majority of the votes.
As Silouette moved in, so did Lunar Girl. They both zeroed in with excellent speed, but Grave was ready for them. He jumped over them both and landed on the ground behind them, just as Sil threw a ninja star over Lunar Girl's head toward him. Before it could hit him, a plasma shot hit the star away into the air. All three of them turned around, as did all the cops.
Standing on the roof was a man wearing a brown coat. He pushed up his glasses with one finger and ran his hand through his red hair, pointing the gun at Silouette.
"Snipe?" Gravedigger called out.
Jumping off the roof, Snipe landed in a knelt position. Standing up, he leaned the gun over his shoulder. "That's right, Grave. Looks like I came just in time to save the day," he said. He aimed his gun at Silouette and Lunar Girl. "This here's my friend - I advise you two to back off."
Silouette came to a stop and looked at Snipe passively while Lunar Girl stepped back in surprise. "Da-?" Lunar Girl began but recovered. "John McCormick?" she said in a thick voice.
Snipe raised his eyebrow. "Who are....? Oh... wait. I know who you are," Snipe began, anger slipping into his voice. Lunar Girl took an involuntary step backwards. "You're .... Lunar Girl!"
Everyone stood there a moment, then Gravedigger shook his head. "Snipe, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to get involved in this war. And stupidly jumping into a middle of a fight on live television isn't the way to do that," he told him, glancing up at the helicopter circling the area.
"We can talk later," Snipe said. He reached into his pocket and fired a grappling hook at the roof. "Grab on!" Gravedigger reached over and grabbed onto him as the device reeled them up onto the roof.
"Come on," Silouette said calmly, moving after them.
Standing on the roof, Grave turned to Snipe. "Just like old times?" he asked him with a smile.
"We're going to show them how it's done," Snipe said as he ran along the roof. Gravedigger followed along behind him and the two came to the edge of the roof where a car was parked in an alley. "Down there!" Jumping down, Snipe used the fire escape to make it to the alley and got into the driver's side of the car. Gravedigger merely threw himself over the side of the roof and landed on the roof of the car, rolled off of it, and landed on the ground. He opened the passenger door and got inside it.
"You know, this car looks like a family vehicle," Gravedigger mused, picking up some food wrappers.
"Hello? Angry police force outside - I can just leave you behind," Snipe threatened.
"I love the smell of fast food," Gravedigger said naturally. Giving him the evil eye for a moment, Snipe mashed the breaks and drove out of the alley, taking a sharp turn to the right and driving away from the police barricade. The police cars quickly broke formation and began to drive after them.
Speeding along, Snipe glanced up as the roof seemed to bend in a little, but shrugged. He turned to look at Gravedigger. "Child kidnapper?" he asked.
"It was a toy bear," Gravedigger said, glancing back at him. "We need to get to the hospital right away."
"The hospital? There's about a hundred cops between us and the hospital," Snipe responded, taking a sharp turn to the left and speeding down a side road. The sounds of sirens could be heard in the background.
"Wind's daughter was stabbed in the stomach. We need medical supplies to save her life," Gravedigger informed him. "Just get me close to the hospital and I can do the rest."
Snipe's jaw tightened and he turned to look at Gravedigger. "You're telling me Katrina was stabbed?"
Gravedigger paused, studying him. "Yes."
His hands tightened on the steering wheel so hard the knuckles began to turn white. "Who did it?" he asked Grave.
Gravedigger shook his head. "I didn't find out before I left," he told him.
"Then we go to the hospital," Snipe said, pressing down faster on the gas as they sped through the tight alley space. Up ahead a truck could be seen backing up.
"Um...Snipe..are you sure...?" Gravedigger began, then shook his head and grabbed a handle. "To hell with it."
The car smashed past the backing up truck, scraping the side of the vehicle up as it reached the next street. The police vehicles behind them became trapped by the truck.
Taking a left, Snipe began to speed back in the direction of the hospital. "I learned that trick from taking Michiru to soccer practice," he informed Grave.
"Why am I not surprised," Gravedigger said dryly.
As the car sped into the parking lot hospital, Snipe brought it to a halt. As both of them stepped out of the car, Gravedigger suddenly whirled around and aimed his sai straight at the roof. "What in the hell---?" Snipe began, turning back around to see why Grave was attacking the roof of the car when he spotted Silouette and Lunar Girl on the top.
"We have company," Gravedigger told him.
Silouette jumped off of the car. "We heard what you are doing," she said naturally.
"Oh yeah ... I know who you are. You're that creepy Sil girl," Snipe muttered, eyeing her then Lunar Girl. "Birds of a feather, I guess."
Lunar Girl jumped down. "We want to help you," she told them.
Gravedigger shook his head. "We don't want your help," he said flatly.
"You need all the hands you can get to grab this equipment," Silouette said calmly and logically. "Turning us away could hinder this."
Gravedigger pointed his sai at her. "I was doing fine until you came along," he told her.
"It looked like you were surrounded to me," Lunar Girl said outloud.
"Look, Grave, lets just use their help. The quicker we get back to Katrina, the faster we can help her," Snipe stepped in.
The four of them stood there for a moment, then Grave shrugged. "Fine." He began to walk toward the hospital quietly.
Terra and Strife walked over to the car and began to remove the branches while Cheryl stepped up beside Slasher. "I think he's been following us," Cheryl told him as she watched the two uncover the car.
"Oh, he's just pouting," Slasher said.
Terra slid the last branch off of the car and turned to Slasher. "We're done," she announced. Slasher nodded and began to walk over toward the driver's door. As Terra began to walk to the back doors, her gun dropped from the holster and bounced under the car.
Bending down, Terra began to reach under the car when she paused, glancing up at what seemed to be a wire running under the car. She followed the wire and saw a blinking light, attached to what appeared to be a detonator.
As Slasher was reaching for the car door, she grabbed her gun and slid back out. "Bloody 'ell, no!" she shouted, tackling Slasher as he opened the car door. As the two bounced off the ground, the car exploded in a massive fireball, knocking Strife and Cheryl back.
Coming to a stop, Slasher looked over Terra at the flaming car. "My car!" he shouted in surprise as he pushed Terra off of him.
Terra stood up, reaching a hand down to Strife who was sitting upside down on the ground. "There was a bomb attached to the car."
"Some pouting," Cheryl said disdainfully as she stood back up.
Slasher shook his head. "What is with his obsession with bombs?" he asked in disbelief. He turned to Terra. "This is your fault."
"MY fault?" Terra yelled back, stepping toward Slasher. "I saved your life!"
"You could have just told me there was a bomb under the car before I opened the car door," Slasher told her.
"Oh," Terra began, then paused.
"Well, lets walk," Slasher said cheerfully, grabbing his bag and tossing it over his shoulder. "It'll be fun."
Strife rubbed the back of his head. "Fun. Right. I can feel the fun already," he said.
Gravedigger held up some of the items he grabbed. "I grabbed my part," he told him. Silouette held up her stuff quietly.
"I got mine!" Lunar Girl announced, waving her items at Snipe.
Snipe scowled. "Right," he said, grabbing them from her hand. He looked around, then grabbed the items from her. He pulled out a laundry bag that he stole from one of the rooms and began to toss the items in there.
Gravedigger held back his items when Snipe reached for them. "This are delicate machines, Snipe," he told him.
"I'm being delicate," Snipe snapped, snapping his fingers and gesturing for the items.
"You're about as delicate as an elephant in a china shop," Gravedigger snapped back.
"I don't see you doing much right now, Mister Clumsy Hands," Snipe returned.
Silouette quietly reached over and took the bag from Snipe, then added her items into it. She reached over and grabbed Grave's items next, gently placing her items in it. The two of them glared at her, then looked away. "Lets go," she said quietly.
Lunar Girl walked over to the hospital door and opened it a crack, glancing outside. "The coast is clear," she said, stepping out into the hallway.
Gravedigger stepped out next, then glanced right at a huge orderly standing there. "Except him, I suppose," he muttered to her.
"Oops," she said with a shrug.
"What are you doing here?" the man asked Gravedigger, then glanced at Snipe and Silouette as they stepped out into the hallway. "You're...robbing a hospital?" he asked in disgust.
"Doctor ... Simons asked for ..." Gravedigger began, glancing at Snipe for help.
"He wants some wart cream," Snipe said seriously, patting Silouette on the back. "Isn't that right, Nurse Sil?" Silouette just stared at him with a blank expression. Snipe glared at her, then turned back to the big orderly. "She's shy," he told him.
"I'm going to call the front desk about you," the orderly said, turning around. Before he could take two steps, Lunar Girl reached over and gave him a swift chop to the neck, causing the huge man to fall over in one hit.
Gravedigger stood there, glancing down at the man, then at Lunar Girl. "Impressive," he said.
Snipe rubbed the back of his head. "You remind me of my kid..." he muttered outloud.
Lunar Girl beamed with proud. "Like Michiru?" she asked.
"No ... Andrea," Snipe told her, turning to walk down the hallway. Lunar Girl stared after him in disbelief, but Silouette tapped her shoulder as she walked by and shook her head no.
The four of them began to work their way down the hallway to the elevator when they saw an officer stepping off of it. Gravedigger grabbed Snipe and jerked him back out of sight. "Not that way," he warned.
Snipe frowned as he glanced around the corner at the officer. "Damn. They must have found the car downstairs," he said.
"Is there another way we could escape?" Lunar Girl asked.
"They probably have the stairs being watched downstairs," Snipe muttered thoughtfully.
Gravedigger paused, then spoke up. "Lets go up four floors. There's a hole in the wall from when Death Star attacked Wind in the hospital. We can climb outside from there," he informed them.
"Alright, sounds like a plan," Snipe agreed, sliding along the wall to the stairway. Opening the door, he poked his head in and saw no sign of the police, so he waved them on. The four of them began to work their way up the stairs up to the floor that Gravedigger mentioned.
Stepping out onto the floor, Snipe saw no signs of the police. "Okay, it's clear," he told them as he stepped out. Gravedigger stepped out after him, turning to see a doctor standing there, eyeing them as they walked around with a laundry bag.
Gravedigger sighed ruefully and chopped the doctor on the neck, causing him to fall over onto the ground. Snipe glanced at the doctor, then at Grave. "When the hell did you learn to do that?" he asked.
"Apparantly on the day you skipped out on learning how to sneak around," Grave answered as he walked down the hallway. Silouette glanced at Snipe with what could pass as a bemused expression for her.
"Oh be quiet," Snipe muttered as he walked after Gravedigger. The four of them came to the end of the hallway where a plastic sheet had been added to the hole in the wall. Silouette stepped up and brought out her sword in a quick flash, sheathing it a few seconds later. The plastic cover fell down.
Stepping out onto the ledge, Snipe glanced down. "This is pretty high up," he muttered nervously.
"I advise not falling then," Gravedigger suggested.
"You're not helpful," Snipe told him.
"Good," Gravedigger responded. Snipe flipped him off, then began to peer down at the next ledge. He unattached his grappling hook, then bent down on the ledge. Connecting the hook to the ledge, he started to slide over when he tripped and began to fall down.
A quick hand jerked out and caught him before he fell too far down. Glancing up, Snipe saw that Silouette was holding onto him with one hand while the other hand gripped the bag of equipment. "Becareful," she warned him. Nodding, Snipe used his free hand to grab the rope from the grappling hook.
Climbing down the rope slowly, Snipe made it down some ways before running out of string, then slid onto another ledge. He waved the others down. As they each made their way down to the ledge, Snipe unhooked the grappling hook and then rehooked it onto the current ledge, allowing them to climb further down.
Once they reached the bottom, Snipe glanced around and began to run across the parking lot toward where their car was parked. Ducking behind a car, he glanced over and saw there was fifteen police officers standing around it. "Damn," he muttered to Grave as he arrived. "They found our car."
Gravedigger nodded. "It looks like it. You take the seven on the left, I'll take the eight on the right?" he suggested.
"Sounds good. Lets go on three," Snipe said. Gravedigger nodded. "Okay, one...," he began. "Two..." he started. "Thr---" He began to move when he saw all fifteen police officers were already on the ground with Silouette standing over them.
Gravedigger stared in surprise. "How'd she do that?" he asked.
Snipe shook his head. "I hate ninjas," he muttered as he ran over to the car. He jumped into the driver's seat.
Lunar Girl hopped into the back of the car with Silouette as Gravedigger took the passenger seat. She looked at everyone. "Silouette's amazing, isn't she?" she asked.
"Whatever," Gravedigger and Snipe muttered at the same time.
"Let me guess...you learned how to drive like this while on the way to the delivery room," Gravedigger asked dryly.
"You told me to lose them so we could make our way back to Wind," Snipe snapped as they sped down the street. The police cars chased after them like determined pitbulls.
Silouette sat calmly in her seat, as if she were meditating. "You need to go faster," she said with her eyes closed.
"Back seat drivers aren't appreciated," Snipe said as he took a quick right down another street.
"Then learn how to drive," Silouette calmly responded.
Snipe turned around and pointed his finger at her. "You stay out of this, okay? When I want your advise on how to drive, then I'll ask for it!" he yelled at her.
"Tank," Gravedigger spoke up.
Snipe glanced at him, still turned around to face Silouette. "What?" he asked.
"Tank," Gravedigger repeated.
"What in the hell are you talking about?" Snipe said as he turned around in his seat to see a military tank coming their way. "Jesus H. Christ!" he shouted, taking a quick left down another street. "You could have warned me!" Gravedigger reached out and hit him in the back of the head with his shovel.
Silouette calmly crossed her arms in the backseat. "We need to leave the car," she said quietly.
"Good idea. Then the cops can run us over," Snipe retorted.
Lunar Girl looked behind her. "I think you lost them briefly with that last turn," she told him.
"We need to find a sewer entrance, right?" Snipe asked suddenly as he turned right onto another street. He began to look ahead at the businesses, as if he were looking for something.
"Yeah," Gravedigger answered. He paused suddenly. "Why do you ask that way?"
Snipe twisted the car suddenly to the left and drove them into a dark alley. He turned off the car. "Hurry up, we're going," he told them as he hopped out of the car. He began to hurry back toward the street.
Lunar Girl popped out of the car next. "But that's back to the cops," she told him.
"Shove it, cat girl," Snipe said back as he stepped back onto the street and hurried down the sidewalk. The other three glanced at each other, then began to follow him down the street. He ran half a block and the sounds of police sirens could be heard in the distance.
"Snipe, we're out of time," Gravedigger told him.
"We're here," Snipe said, coming to a stop.
Gravedigger glanced up. "You brought us ... to a strip club," he said outloud. "We're looking for a sewer entrance."
Snipe smiled, then walked up to the door. "How much?" he asked the man. Once he got the price, he shoved the cash over for all four of them, then began to move inside.
"Wait," the man said. He pointed at Lunar Girl. "She's underage."
"She's my wife," Snipe told him.
"Your...wife?" he asked Snipe, glancing at him like he was a pedophile.
"Oh shut up," he muttered, grabbing a surprised Lunar Girl's hand and leading her inside the strip club. Gravedigger sighed, rubbing his face as he followed after them and Silouette quietly walked in, looking strangely put off.
As they entered the strip club, Snipe glanced around the bright lights, spying the nude girls dancing around poles. Lunar Girl stood there, adjusting her mask as she looked at the girls. Snipe glanced back at her, raising his eyebrow. "Are you watching those girls?" he asked her.
Lunar Girl looked away. "No!" she said quickly. Snipe shook his head, then began to walk toward the bar area when Gravedigger grabbed his arm.
"We need to get back to the sewers right away," Grave told him.
"I'm working on it. Trust me," Snipe said, giving his famous innocent smile. He walked over to the bar. "Hey, Lenny. You might if I go to your back rooms real quick? Me and my friend here have some lovely ladies," he told the bartender, gesturing at Silouette and Lunar Girl. Silouette gave him an eat shit look.
Lenny wiped at his glass. "That one girl looks like she's an underaged superhero, John," he told him.
"I'm a cradle robber, what can I say," Snipe said.
Lenny glanced at Grave, who adjusted his sunglasses, then looked at Silouette. "You two seem to fit each other," he said dryly.
"Fuck you," Gravedigger responded.
Lenny looked back at Snipe. "It'll cost one hundred," he told him. Snipe smiled, reaching into his pocket and handing the money over. "Have fun, John," he called to him.
"You betcha," Snipe told him as he walked across the strip club, ignoring the dancing girls as he worked his way to the back. Opening the back door, he began to walk down a small hallway. Stopping at one of the rooms, Snipe pushed it open and walked inside, glancing around the bedroom.
Gravedigger stepped in afterwards, making room for Silouette and Lunar Girl. "You brought us to a bedroom," he stated.
"Be quiet and help me move this bed," Snipe told him, grabbing the bed and shoving it to the side. Gravedigger stood there looking down at him, not moving a muscle. Sighing, Snipe rolled his eyes and shoved the bed all the way to the side. "This place was added on over an alley way that use to be here," he told them. "Lenny is a cheap bastard, though," he added, ripping the carpet up and revealing a manhole cover.
"I get it now," Gravedigger acknowledged. "Back up," he told Snipe, waving him to the side. He brought down his shovel and began to pry open the cover. After a minute of working at it, he managed to pop the cover up.
Snipe gestured at the hole. "Ladies first," he told Silouette and Lunar Girl.
Wind leaned back in his chair. "Surprising," he admitted.
McCabe adjusted his suit. "I told you. Despite locking me up, Death Star never had anything done to me. He seemed to take great care to make sure I was alive," he said.
"Again - surprising," Wind told him as he wheeled away into the next room where Katrina was laying on the bed. He looked at Ariel, who was sitting on the other side of Kat, holding her hand.
X2 looked at everyone, then turned to Wind. "I'm going to go finish patching up Cole," he told him. "I have him unconscious right now to help his auto-repair systems work."
Wind nodded silently and X2 walked off. President McCabe walked over to Katrina, then looked at Wind. "What are you going to do to end this war now?" he asked him.
"I don't know," Wind confessed. "I just hope Slasher can find the answer I'm looking for."
"Why reploids have souls? Are you hoping that this will bring the war to end with the humans - how?" McCabe asked.
"It's just a feeling," Wind told him.
"What? That since we have souls we should be united instead of divided?" McCabe asked scornfully.
"Maybe that's all we need - one clear, defining similarity to hold us together," Wind told him, looking annoyed.
Before either of them could say anything, the sounds of commotion could be heard in the main lab area. Wheeling himself out of the room, Wind saw that Gravedigger had arrived, along with Snipe, Silouette, and what appeared to be Michiru in a costume.
"Did you get the materials?" Wind asked Gravedigger.
Grave nodded, gesturing at Silouette holding the items. "It's right there," he responded.
Wind let out his breath. "Thank God. Take that stuff to X2 for me so that he can help Katrina," he told Grave. Gravedigger nodded, taking the bag from Silouette and walking into the back room.
At that moment, the panel opened again and Slasher, Cheryl, Terra, and Strife walked in with their bag of equipment. "I have everything I need," Slasher said, holding up the bag. He glanced at everyone's grim faces. "What? Did I run over someone's puppy?" he asked.
Kio placed the tracking device back into his pocket and reached down, lifting the lid up. He tossed it onto the ground next to him.
Time to flush them out.