The Alliance, Part 6

“My name is Brey.”

            Drack and the captured Stray took a right turn, towards the cruiser.

“Alright, Brey. This may be the last time we see each other before I take you to the nearest City. Thanks for your cooperation. My name is Drack, and my partner, who should be here shortly, is named Cain.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t count on that happening!” A voice called from behind Drack.

“Huh!?” Drack grunted, startled by the voice and by the words he just heard. Fear slipped its way into his mind. He froze, afraid of what he would see.

“Now, if you don’t mind, we’d like our Stray back. Un-harmed and un-cuffed!” the voice commanded.

Drack began to turn around.

“No! Stay facing that way! Release the Stray then drop your weapon.” The voice said. “If you cooperate, I won’t have to use force.” The voice said, mocking Drack’s earlier statement to Brey.

Drack tried to turn around again. NO ONE will tell me what to do! He thought to himself.

ZAAPPP!

Drack’s eyes slowly closed as he fell to the ground, unconscious. Thud!

Cain’s motionless body was thrown down beside Drack’s.

“Hmm hmm!” the voice laughed. “That takes care of those two for now.”

“This is wonderful!” Another voice said.

“Now, un-cuff our Stray. We need him around still.” The first voice commanded. “But, now it’s time for part two. Those other pests will be here soon to back up these sorry Searchers. Go around back and wait till I give the word.”

Minutes later…

“Wha… What? What happened?” A Searcher named Raan said.

All the Villains who heard Drack’s call surrounded the bodies of Drack and Cain.

A City Guard member stepped up to the bodies. “That’s the two who called us alright. I’ll check to see if they’re okay.” He then crouched down to observe the bodies.

“What could have gone on here?” another Searcher named Makahr said.

“I just want to know how a single Stray could have taken out two of our own so quickly!” Raan said.

“They both appear to be alive,” The City Guard said. “Cain seems to be in pretty bad shape, though. But, Drack only has a minor injury.”

Something small hit the City Guard, and down he went, right on top of Drack and Cain.

--

The simulation that happened days ago at the Villain’s Research Laboratory, continued…

Nex tried to get as far away from the house as possible. As he was about to step foot outside the house, a giant boulder landed right in front of the door way. He bashed his head on it, toppling over backwards. He scrambled to get up, running for the back door of the house he hoped would be there. He had to get out soon, or that tall building that looked loose earlier, that is now falling directly on the house Nex is in, would smash him to smithereens!

There was a window at the back, but no door he could see. He stopped briefly, heard chunks of the tower crush the ceiling of the front of the house. He decided he would run and break through the back window.

He ran, jumped and, Crash!

He was through the window. He did a roll, got back on his feet and continued to run, barely holding onto his gun. He wanted to lighten up the load by dropping it, but decided to keep it, just in case he ran into some trouble.

Project Weapon, aka Decim8r, was not far behind, staying clear of the havoc he had created. Its goal was to intercept soon. But, it was enjoyable toying with the target!

A huge cloud of dust burst from the impact of the tower on top of the house, sending debris everywhere, nearly missing Nex in some instances.

Nex continued to run, but the dust was gaining on him fast. It would soon be difficult to see. Nex struggled to go faster, away from the chaos. Little did he know, chaos itself was near him at though it all.

--

Currently…

“Huhh!” The rest of the Villains shouted, surprised. They all to turned around as fast as they could, many to fall the same way the City Guard member did.

One by one, Searchers fell to the ground, the other City Guard member with them was the first to fall.

Was this some sort of strategy? Take the Guards out first?

As Raan turned around, he realized they had all walked into a trap. He also saw the face of the mastermind behind this. Ahaz. The menace who killed some of his comrades. The cause of all this mess.

“Hello Sergeant Raan.”

Raan scowled as he recognized the Villain he was staring at. “Ahaz.” He muttered, disgusted.

“Go ahead. Try and attack me.”

Raan growled and continued to stare at Ahaz.

“Well? Don’t you want to attack the one who just took out your whole team?” he snickered.

Raan’s eyes enlarged as he looked behind him to see one of the other Searchers fall face flat onto the ground. Now, his whole team was taken out, Raan the only Searcher remaining.

“I’m still here.” Ahaz said, smiling, his arms out in a come and get me pose.

Raan looked Ahaz in the eyes. “I hope you know what this means, right?”

Ahaz leaned in. “Is that some sort of threat? You’re gonna have to try harder than that. Your Leaders can’t help you right now.”

“You really will pay for this!”

“Oh, stop it with the empty threats!”

Raan scowled.

“Also, if you were trying to send out a distress signal to any other Villains in the area, your transmissions have been jammed.” Ahaz said, grinning.

Raan felt the fear rising again. Was he lying? How could this be?

--

Cain suddenly awoke, eyes wide open, taking in all the madness he saw around him.

He felt crushed, literally. The beating he took earlier was bad enough, now, being under the bodies of fellow Villains, he could barely get up. Then he saw the Searcher Sergeant, Raan, face to face with . . .  some Hunter. He didn’t know who it was, but had a feeling he was the one behind all this, and likely behind the death of some of his comrades who were left lifeless at the Capitol City gate. He looked up to see who was on top of him. A number of Searchers and Drack. Cain slowly, so as not to draw attention, contorted his arm backwards to try and shake Drack awake.

He was successful.

Drack opened his eyes and moaned.

One of the Hunters behind the pile of bodies heard the grunt and started to walk around.

Cain motioned for Drack to be quiet.

Drack was face down as the Hunter slowly approached the front of the pile.

--

Dust engulfed the streets Nex was running down, so, he had no choice but to slow down a bit to avoid tripping on something, or running into a wall.

Where could he go?

What is going on?

Why am I outside the Capitol City?

What is going on?

Where are the rest of the Heroes?

WHAT is GOING ON?!

These thoughts raged through Nex’s mind as he moved along.

Decim8r’s special visual sensors had the capability to see right through the dust clouds. He could see the confusion and fear in the eyes of Nex.

Soon, it would make its move.

Very soon.

If it had the capacity to feel emotions, it would be exited right now.

--

Ahaz ordered Raan to give him the com link he had.

So, Raan did it. There wasn’t much of a choice at this point.

“Very good. Now, you,” he pointed to one of his gang members, “Turn off the jammer. I want to have a conversation with our other Villain buddies.” He laughed a little.

“You betcha!” The gangster flipped a switch on the backpack he wore.

Ahaz pressed the talk button on the com link. “Hello fellow Villains! I have struck yet again! Ha ha ha!” he cackled.

Cain started to look up at Ahaz and scowled. He had an idea. It might be the end of him, but he was going to do it anyway, for the sake of his partners.

The Hunter who was walking around the pile of bodies noticed him.

Ahaz listened to see if there was any response on the com link. Then, moments later, there was one.

“Who are you? What’s your problem, you sorry Hunter!” someone said over the link.

Ahaz pressed talk to respond. “Why would I reveal that? It’s fun to hear the ‘powerful’ Villain Leader’s pathetic servants not knowing what they’re doing. Not having ‘everything under control--’.”

Cain called out, not seeing the Hunter off to the right of him, out of his field of vision. “His name is Aha—“

Boom!

Cain’s body lie limp on the ground.

“What’s going on there?” the Searcher talking to Ahaz over the com said.

Drack stared at his now former partner, shocked to see the wretchedness of these Hunters.

He would enact revenge! One way or another. But, now was not the time. He would surely face the same fate as Cain if he moved even a little bit.

“What was that?!” Ahaz demanded of the gangster who just took Cain out.

“One of them had awoken and tried to reveal who you are, so I took care of them.”

“Drat. Well, we should get going then, very soon.”

He then grabbed a smoke grenade pulled the pin, let go of the release, and threw it at the knocked out Villains, just in case any others were awake so they would see the Hunter gang’s escape.

Pfffffffffff!

Ahaz then responded to the Villain on the com, “Why not come here and find out yourself?”

With that, Ahaz ordered his gang to leave the area immediately as he dropped the com link, which the Searchers and Guard members could most likely track.

They cleared out so quickly, it was as if they were ghosts. There were no traces left to find out where they had gone. Just as Ahaz liked it.

As for why all the Searchers weren’t just killed on the spot, Ahaz wanted some survivors, for the sake of making them feel fear. Some would die, and some would live. He wanted Searchers and Guards to feel the need to watch their backs at all times. He wanted to disrupt the leadership. He believed this would ultimately help in his plan, Anarchy.

To Be Continued…

The Alliance, Part 5

When the team of Villains, led by Barah, returned to The Castle to report on their supposed killing of 3 Hunters…

The Captain of the City Guard and Searchers, who is known as The Captian, listened to the Searcher team’s report. 

Barah was concluding her oral report. “And this, Captain, is all that is left of that sorry band of Hunters.” She motioned for one of her team members to show the Captain the scorched blue armor plating they found in the wreckage of the missile blast zone. He did so.

The Captain reached out and took it in his hands, and inspected it.

“Hmmm. Are you certain this is all that was left? That there weren’t any others who saw the whole thing and got away?” The Captain asked of Barah.

“Have I ever failed a mission before, Captain?” She responded.

“That doesn’t answer my question.” He shot back.       

“I had my team search out the area thoroughly. In fact, some even went back to the scene at a later time and looked around, just in case anyone was planning to come back to see what was left of their incinerated Hunter friends. We came up with nothing.”

“Alright. Good. But, I do have something to say. And, I want to make myself clear. The Leaders did not call for a war against all Hunters. They wanted to find only the ones who killed my troopers, and terminate those ones in particular. Not all Hunters are necessarily enemies. Some might never cause a problem with us, and I don’t want to deal with unnecessary conflict. From now on, we need not engage Hunters in every circumstance. Only in cases where they are hostile towards us. If that happens, you have my personal permission to engage. But, if you see a gang walking down the street during a patrol, and they carry on or run away, let them go for now, unless otherwise instructed. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Captain.” Barah said.

“Good.” The Captain then stepped toward Barah, and said in a hushed tone so that only she could hear was about to be said, “Now, if I were speaking to any other Searcher, I’d be direr with my consequence. You’re a well-respected Villain, and you’re too good to let go.” He leaned in closer, squinting his eyes slightly. “But, don’t let that get to your head.” He stepped back and looked at Barah’s squad.

“Understood.” She said, also whispering.

“Alright. I think I’ve said quite enough. Be on your way now.”  He saluted Barah, she and her squad did the same, and were dismissed.

--

Inside their cells, the Team Alpha Heroes looked at the screens that had come down from the ceilings. All that remained of Team Alpha were Stormer, Furno, Breeze, Rocka, Stringer, Surge, and Nex, who was now inside the Chamber. Evo died at the hands of Ahaz and Bulk fought valiantly against the mighty Anak during the Villain’s takeover of the Hero Factory, but lost. The last thing these Heroes want to see was another one of their team mates leave them.

--

Nex walked around, still wondering what was going on. He knew something wasn’t right. Something was wrong about this. Very wrong.

For a split second, he felt a presence off to his right, just out of the line of sight. He turned to see nothing. He did an about face, trying to see if there was someone or something behind him. Nothing. He knew there had to be something there, though. 

A bit of fear creeped into his mind. He quickly pushed it away. I can’t be frightened that easily, He thought to himself, walking towards a smashed house. Maybe he could stay here. It probably wouldn’t make him as vulnerable compared to being in the open.

He was nearing the door of the house when… It came again. That presence. It felt like it was from... behind!

He spun around. Nothing at all. All he saw was a wrecked city. A building that looked like it could collapse any day now.

--

The machine kept its eyes locked on Nex from the shadows, moving to and fro. There was no sign that its target, Nex, was aware of its presence. As soon as the target entered the house it was heading into, Decim8r walked into a big building that looked very unstable. He then looked up at the ceiling and saw what it was looking for. 

--

Nex saw a chair under a bunch of clutter, and decided to clear it off and rest for a little while. Finally, something better than a cement floor and metal beds! He sat down and relaxed a bit. He tried his hardest, but couldn’t keep from closing his eyes. He felt a sudden sense of tiredness. Wow. He thought. I never thought a chair like this would be so comfy.

RUMBLE!

Nex’s eyes shot open, frightened at the sound he just heard. He tore towards a window to see the cause of the noise.

“Oh No!” He exclaimed.

--

The Heroes in their cells saw everything Nex saw. They were all scared for Nex too.

--

The Alliance was gathered together once again, also having the rest of their crew who were in The Hatch listen and watch their meeting on a video call. It was the only video call system they had set up, but it was thanks to Oran’s handy work.

Jerin stood before everyone and the camera feeding to the Hatch.

“Alright.  I hope everyone is rested up. Now that we have the new Square system set up, and radar surrounding our posts, we can begin the next major phase of The Plan: setting up underground tunnels to save and release families for the Villain’s cities. We’ll start by targeting smaller cities, without as large of security teams. Having scouted many areas over time, thanks to our wonderful and brave scouting teams, our first place will be a city east of here. We have to do it slowly, that way these Villains won’t notice.

Now, these tunnels cannot start in our hideouts. They must be a distance from here, just in case a Villain discovers our tunnels. For security reasons. We’ll have to make a way to seal them off from both sides, that way the tunnels are not so easily accessible. Now that everyone is here, you all are free to pitch ideas about how this will work.”

The Alliance carried on for quite a while. Having many present at this meeting provided quite a few viewpoints and perspectives. Bouncing the ideas off of a lot of bots helped in making a more concrete plan of action, having covered ways to deal with different scenarios. It went quite smoothly. They would soon begin the next phase.

--

Days after the meeting between Drack and Cain with the Fire Lord and Witch Doctor…

Cain was driving the patrol vehicle today.

“Hmmm. Still no sign of any dangerous Hunters.” Cain said.

“Nope. I haven’t heard anything from The Captain.” Drack said.

Drack’s mind suddenly went to a thought of Sheer. He hadn’t thought about her in a while now. Hmm… He wondered. It must have been because he was thinking about bots who were against the Leaders. He was slightly surprised he hadn’t seen her anywhere. Ever. But, because he always had Cain with him on patrols, he never had the chance to look for her.

“Hey! I think I see something!” Cain said. He slowed the cruiser down. “Is that what I think it is?”

“Whaaa…” Drack shook his head, clearing it. “What is it?”

As soon as he asked the question, it was answered for him.

“A Stray!” Cain said.

“Alright. Pull ahead a little further. Once we park, we’ll try to intercept the bot.”

Cain did just that.

Drack picked up the Searcher communicator, pressed the talk button and then said, “There has been a potential Stray sighting. My partner and I are attempting to engage. Here are my coordinates.” He named them off. “Get here as soon as you can. Over and out.”

The receiver beeped and a voice came from it saying, “Copy that. Back up is on the way.” Another voice said, “We hear you. We’re heading your direction as well. Over.”

The two Searchers took off toward where they saw the Stray last, inside a house. They exited the patrol vehicle, and brandished their rifles. They were nearing the house they saw the Stray in.

“Okay. Listen carefully. The Stray may know we were coming back for him. So, I’ll go around this side of the house while you go around the other. I will enter through the front. You stay outside, just in case he tries to make a run for it. Maybe we can catch him in his attempt to escape.”

“Good plan.” Cain said. “Let’s do it.”

So, Cain circled around the back of the house as Drack circled the front. He looked around and stayed as quiet as possible. He ducked under a window to avoid being seen.

The front door was only a couple of steps away now. 

He entered the house.

“Okay. I know you’re in here. Come on out. You can make this easy for the both of us and just come towards my voice and turn yourself in. I promise not to hurt you, if you do that for me.”

Silence.

“Don’t make me use force.”

He stepped further in.

“Come on out!” He called as he entered a hallway with three doors.

He opened one of the doors, and turned on his flashlight. Nothing in that one.

He stepped in front of the second door and waited. He then called, “If you have some sort of weapon, I’ll have no choice but to use force against you!”  He cocked his gun slowly, intentionally. Click… click.

He connected the light to his rifle and pushed the door open. Still nothing.

He entered the hallway again.

“I’ll give you one last chance! Come on out, unarmed, and I won’t hurt you. You have my word!”

He waited a moment. The house was quiet.

He walked in front of the third door, adrenaline starting to rush.

He kicked the door open. Smash!

There was the Stray, sitting in a corner of the dark room. The only room in the house without a window.

“Come on out, and keep your hands where I can see them.”

The Stray sat there, scared.

“Did you hear me? Get up, I said!”

He got up and stepped toward Drack.

“Hands in the air.” The Stray put his hands up. “Alright. Stand right there. Your hands are to remain up!” He pulled up the small com link from his belt. “Alright Cain, I have the Stray right here. Come on in. I have him in a room. I’m cuffing him right now.

The Stray followed all of Drack’s orders as he cuffed him.

Drack noticed Cain had not responded.

“Hey, Cain, I now have him cuffed. He didn’t put up a fight. I’m taking him to our cruiser now.”

No response still.

“Say,” Drack said to the Stray, “How have you been able to survive for so long?”

“I just found enough to get by,” he responded.

The Searcher and Stray stepped outside.

“I’m impressed. Thank you for not putting up a fight. That would have been a very bad choice. By the way, what might your name be?”

“My name is Brey.”

To Be Continued in Part 6