Big thanks goes to Spanishbulldog63 for doing some edits to these chapters. You are awesome bro.
"Initiate the Countdown..." Part 2
Hayes and Airako headed the pack of superheroes that were traveling along the north road out of TK Ville. The police cruisers had been an option up until they had rounded up all the necessary gear. Turns out, all the other police officers were off to a donut convention in Minnesota, and they took all the police cruisers with them. That left the crew with a bik, a skateboard, and a scooter that Hayes had 'borrowed' from a kid named Simmer. They left those behind too, though, and traveled by foot into the barren wasteland. Each member of the party carried weapons and ammo, and Ivan, Sal, and Airako all carried additional food rations. The weapons were back-up in case Servo's army was a little too fierce to take on directly. Everyone in the group hoped it wouldn't come to that, but they didn't want to come unprepared.
The road dove into the grayish-brown valley, winding through the natural passage like a black snake. Hayes dropped his backpack at his feet and sat on a rocky outcrop. "Break time," he declared.
The group gave a relieved sigh in unison and all set their packs down. They all stayed close together though. Something in the air made them feel unsafe. Was it the there position at the bottom of the valley while they were so near Tom's base?
"Eat up, you guys. This is the last meal we'll have before we reach Hell's gates," Hayes said as he withdrew a donut from his bag.
Kioshi sat cross-legged and nibbled at a stick of beef jerky. "What's our plan when we get there?"
"I'd say we gun 'n' run. The element of surprise is our biggest advantage, and who knows how effective our superpowers will be," Sal answered.
Hayes nodded in approval. "It's a risky move, but we have no choice. My doves might serve as a distraction and an airborne assault, but I can't imagine what kind of powers Tom has granted himself and his followers."
"Sal, Ivan, and myself can take the front lines. We're strong enough to trample over anything in our way," Airako noted.
"Good idea. Kioshi, you would be right behind the front line, providing them with elemental protection. Use whatever you can," Hayes instructed. He wiped the icing from the donut off his mustache. "I'll take the rear, cover us on all fronts."
"What if Yukari's army marches on the base?" Ivan asked. He was keeping watch, eyeing the road they had come down as if demons were going to rise from the earth at any given moment.
"We have to assume the best situation there. Doc constructed a prototype Lament Configuration to destroy the portal between the two dimensions. Doc, with my instruction, also sent Tyler to the other side to negotiate some back-door deals with the other demons. If it all works, we'll get him back for the whole demon army and Kalamity. Doc and Tyler will join us by rover by midday. I sent them the coordinates when we were back at the police station," Kioshi explained in detail.
"It's not actually a Lament Configuration," Airako remarked, referring back to Doc's invention. "You're making an obscure Hellraiser IV: Bloodlines reference that will literally go over everyone's heads."
"I thought we were still allowed to do those," Kioshi returned.
His answer was met with a group sigh of disappointment. "The reference jokes are so 2012," said Ivan.
Unbeknownst to the Triple S, someone had eyes on the group. Klaus's finger rubbed across the metal trigger of his sniper. His eye pressed against the scope, the crosshairs locked on one figure in particular. The trigger was pulled, the echo of the shot reverberating through the valley. Blood splattered across the dirt path.
"My knee!" Hayes roared as he saw the spread of blood and bone on the rock he sat on. "Son of a bitch!"
"Hayes!" Airako stood up and dashed over to his friend. Kioshi, Sal, and Ivan whirled around and saw the culprit standing triumphantly at the top of the valley, the barrel of the rifle aimed down at them.
"Any one of you try to attack me, I won't be so sloppy with my shot," Klaus warned.
"What do you want?" pleaded Airako as he threw off his shirt and applied pressure to the wound. His grey shirt was dowsed in blood almost the moment it touched Hayes knee.
"Nothing more than the wounded cop. The rest of you can march to your death without my help. I have my own priorities."
Airako got between Klaus and Hayes, but the police officer grabbed Airako's collar and pulled him in close. "Go, Airako. You have to go."
"I'll give you to the count of five to make your decision," Klaus hollered.
"Kioshi, we should go," said Sal reluctantly.
"Five."
"I know," Kioshi motioned for Ivan and Sal to take up their weapons and begin to walk. As the two giants passed him, he ran a hand through his hair and winced. "Airako, we're leaving. You can stay if you want, but the Triple S has its mission."
"Four."
Airako got to his feet and through cloudy eyes saw his friend sit up against the rock. Blood still flowed from the wound, but Hayes looked strong. Confident, even.
"Three."
"Get out of here," Hayes insisted. In a quieter voice.
"Two."
"If I don't make it," he continued, "I want to tell you that you were always a good friend, Airako. Remember me...tell your children about me."
"I will," croaked Airako as he wiped his nose. He backed away from his friend and caught up with Kioshi, who had already wandered off down the road. Ivan and Sal were even farther ahead.
"There, there, Hayes," Klaus crooned. "I know it isn't easy to watch your friends leave you behind. But the pain you'll feel after I'm done with you will make their abandonment seem like losing a penny that you picked up off the street."
Hayes scoffed. "That's the best analogy you could come up with?"
"Shut up!" Klaus snapped, quickly destroying the menacing mood he had previously built up. "It's my first time doing something so...personal." The last word dripped from Klaus's mouth like poison.
"If it's so personal, why don't you just come down and finish me off?" Hayes challenged.
Klaus contemplated the idea for a moment. It was enticing enough, but he felt somewhat skeptical about Hayes proposition. As he hopped down the side of the rocky valley, he kept his rifle pointed at the cop. No funny tricks this time. Certainly no birds would ruin Klaus's kill. Like the fat old cop said, this was personal.
"Here I am!" Klaus proclaimed, standing at the feet of his foe with the tip of his rifle inches from Hayes's mustache.
Hayes closed his eyes. The trap was set. What would happen next was uncertain, but he knew that regardless of the outcome, Klaus would die. His unbuckled cuffs began to swell, as did his whole body. Klaus stepped back, watching in horror as his prey began to inflate.
"I apologize for any feathers that get lodged into your cranium!" Hayes squealed in a deep voice.
"Huh?" Klaus was dumbfounded. What was happening? He pulled the trigger to shoot, but the shot only punctured Hayes outfit. No blood came out. Something else did, and it certainly wasn't as satisfying to the assassin.
* * *
Tom Servo's base was hardly intimidating in size. Everything that was truly important was underneath the surface. All that stood uncomfortably on the surface were a few inconspicuous buildings, completely gray in color. In the center was a closed missile silo. But the red lights on top flickered on and off, indicating that the hole was certainly not empty.
The valley was less than a mile away now, and the valley was far behind the Triple S. Suddenly, Airako felt a shockwave knock him off his feet. Kioshi and the others also felt the explosion, but they remained on their feet. The valley was behind them, but a white mushroom cloud rose from where Hayes had been. Doves soared upwards, almost a mile into the air. Everyone watched in awe as the animals careened upwards, higher and higher. They blocked out the sun. It quickly became clear that a majority of them were drifting towards Tom Servo's base! Sirens blared out to silence the furiously cooing doves, but they were hardly a match.
"This is a sign!" Airako blurted out, scampering to his feet and running down the hill towards the structure. "We have to attack now!"
The final battle for TK Ville had begun.
* * *
Inside the silo, a grunt reported the incoming assault with some uncertainty to Zhost.
The mutant was perplexed by the announcement of the incoming adversaries in such large numbers. "There aren't even that many people in TK Ville! What? Did they pull an Avatar and suddenly quadruple their numbers?" Zhost shook his head in disbelief and stood by the window, staring up at the silo doors.
Mungo pressed his ear against the glass. "Do you hear that?" he whispered.
"Hear what?"
"It sounds like...birds," Mungo clarified with some uncertainty. "And it's getting louder..."
"Impossible," Zhost hastily dismissed. "I don't hear it, anyway."
"They're pecking at the doors," Mungo continued.
The mutant leader laughed. "You're stupid, Mungo. Have I ever told you that?"
Suddenly, the doors exploded, and before anyone could react, a flood of white winged bodies gushed into the silo. They filled every crevice and corridor in mere seconds, and sent the base into total chaos. Zhost watched with an open mouth, completely awestruck at the sight. Meanwhile, Mungo kept shouting, "I told you! I told you the birds were coming!"
The birds carried the four superheroes into the base and delivered them on the top floor before quickly dispersing. Despite the fright they had created, Tom's men quickly retaliated and were mowing them down faster than they were coming in.
"We still have a couple minutes to use the birds as cover, I reckon. We need to hurry and find the control room," Kioshi ordered.
“A couple of minutes? Pft!” Airako chuckled, “It only took me less than a few minutes to finish Super Mario Bros 3.”
“A few minutes? I thought it took at least twelve and that’s not a few.” Ivan asked.
“Noob.” Airako commented.
“We can argue later!” Kioshi breaking up the argument and continued, “Like I said, we have a few more minutes that the doves can buy us while we search for the conduit.”
“A few more minutes? No.” Zhost said, as he observed the “battlefield” while forming a huge orb of fire and right before releasing it, he said, “They can’t.”
Right away Zhost released the fire orb out of the control room and into the battlefield. The fire orb quickly turned into a wave of fire and was heading straight towards all of the combatants.
The four super humans quickly took notice of the fire wave and prepared themselves by putting up their defenses. Kioshi formed a water barrier to protect both him and all of his friends.
The fire wave soon came over the barrier, but fortunately for them they were saved. The doves were still fighting the minions off as both sides were too distracted by each other to take notice of their impending doom. Right away the fire wave washed over them like a tidal wave and both sides were reduced to ashes with the exception of a few doves being reduced to what looked a few fine cooked meals.
Right away the fire wave vanished and Kioshi relinquished the water barrier and the group of four observed their surroundings. Sal immediately threw up his hands and said, “Well there goes our ‘Few Minutes’.”
“What’s the plan, Kioshi?” Ivan asked in a calm manner.
“The plan is…..” Kioshi was interrupted when they heard Airako’s loud chewing. The tripe SSS members turned around to see the teenager sitting on the ground, eating one of the cooked doves.
The SSS members gave the teen disapproving looks while Airako looked up at them with still a mouthful of meat (No pun intended) and asked, “What?”
“Airako! Now is not the time to eat!” Kioshi commaned.
“Yes, it’s not time to eat.” A distant voice was heard causing the four of them to turn around to see Zhost walking towards them with fire being formed in his hands. “It’s time to die once and for all.”
“Well bad news bub. There’s four of us…..” Sal said, but briefly turned his head to Airako who was still eating the dove and then said, “Three of us, but we still out number you.”
Zhost chuckled in response as Kioshi placed his hand on Sal and said, “No it’s going to be an equal fight.”
“What?” Sal questioned.
“If we all fight him at once then the countdown will be complete and everyone will be turned into a troll following only Tom.”
“Uh…. You know I kind of just said to Mungo that Tom can fuck himself a few chapters ago and that I’m taking over.” Zhost said, not wanting Tom still be getting credit in this confrontation.
“Whatever!” Kioshi said, as he looked back at Sal and said, “I want you, Ivan and Airako to descent down the steps and stop the countdown.”
“Are you goddamn serious!?! You’ll die!” Sal yelled out, not wanting his friend to loose his life.
“As the leader of this team, it is my destiny to….” Kioshi was interrupted with Zhost saying, “Yawn! Hurry it up! I need to take control of an army of my own and kill Tom.”
Kioshi without even looking sent a force of water at Zhost from his hand and incapacitated the man temporarily. The man continued on, “As I was saying, it is my destiny to defend you all. I don’t care if I die so long as all of you are safe and you finish what we here for all.” Kioshi stopped for a moment to see Airako eating another cooked dove and motioned for Ivan to pick up Airako, who at first started squirming for his dove that he dropped.
Ivan walked back to Kioshi with the still squirming Airako, “Put me down! I want my dove!”
“You can eat later!” Ivan retorted.
Kioshi looked at his three comrades and said, “It’s been an honor fighting at your sides. I’ll see you all at the other side when this is over.”
Ivan saluted his leader while Airako still was squirming while Sal then said, “Kick his ass.”
Sal and Ivan who was still holding Airako descended down the steps to look for the control room. Kioshi saw his friends disappeared and hoped he can buy his friends a lot of time by fighting Zhost.
The SSS member readied his elemental powers, as he saw Zhost getting back up and readying to face off against his foe. The two stared down at each other until Zhost said, “It seems like forever has been a long time coming for both of us to have a ‘final confrontation’. Now look at us. Both leaders and a one on one fight of the death.”
“Uh…. I was already the leader in our first confrontation.” Kioshi pointing out the mistake with Zhost quietly saying, “fuck” and then spoke up, “No matter! We’re both leaders and it’s a fight for one of us to be left standing!”
Zhost charged Kioshi while the SSS member quickly fired a few fireballs from his arms, but the muscular man deployed a force field to block the attacks. Kioshi’s eyes widen, as he never saw Zhost being able to deploy a force field to block off his attacks.
Zhost noticing his opponent’s shock, laughed and said, “Surprised, huh? I wanted to savor this power later to really get you going in shock.” The muscular man then laughed, as he removed his force field and launched a fire from his hand. The fireball instantly hit Kioshi in the chest sending him back first into one of the walls of the structure.
The man laughed in a sadistic joy, as he begin to see his foe bleeding a bit from the impact and saw a few burns on him. Zhost continued walking towards what Kioshi appeared to be unconscious. The muscular man laughed in a deep grunted voice as charged up another fireball, readying to make the kill when all of a sudden the tripe SSS member’s eyes shot up.
Kioshi right away raised his hands up causing the ground to rumble quite a bit sending his enemy flying into a wall. Kioshi got up from the ground and noticed blood dropping from different parts of his body. The member also noticed that he was severally burned on his left arm and already the pain was starting to reel back to him. Kioshi groaned in pain and wished that he were also able to bend ice so he could put some ice on that burn. For now on if he wanted to prevent more of his arm from hurting, he would have to fight with only his right and it annoyed him doing so. Though, he’ll last longer in the confrontation to avoid being passes out from making the pain any worse. But, no matter Kioshi isn’t in it to survive.
No.
He’s in it for his friends to complete the mission and save the world from Tom Servo’s evil plans. Kioshi then looked up to see Zhost emerging from the darkness with a demonic like glare. The two stared down at each other for a moment before charging towards each other.
“Put me down!” Ariako yelled out, as Ivan and Sal were ignoring him as they walked down the steps. The teenager continued yelling, as he then bit down on Ivan’s left arm causing him surprisingly grunt in pain and annoyance. Sal looked at what caused his comrade to grunt and saw the teenager biting him. Ivan wanting the teen to shut up already quickly removed his surprisingly sharp teeth and threw him in a large square space between stairs.
Airako quickly looked up at Ivan with bloodlust in his eyes while Ivan quickly pulled out his mini gun and started aiming the gun at the teen. Sal facepalmed himself in response to see the two acting so irrational that he got between the two.
“Alright! This is a crock of bulldog shit! Our leader sacrificed…..”
“He’s not dead.” Airako intervened, as Sal rolled his eyes and said, “Look we’re not wasting Kioshi’s so you two can fuck everything up. You two knock the bulldog shit off and you two for all I care for can kill each other after our ‘suicide mission is finished.’”.
“What if we die before we get to fight?” Airako asked in a stupid manner.
Sal facepalmed himself and thought ‘You know, I’m just going to lie to the moronic kid just so he’ll shut up.’ Right away Sal looked at the teen who was looking back at him, waiting for an answer and said, “If you both die and end up in heaven then the winner gets a ‘winner winnder dove dinner from the doves that are in heaven.’
“YAY!!!!!” Airako yelled out, as he was now focused on the mission with Sal breathing a sigh of relief. The SSS member looked at his teammate, Ivan and asked, “Are you good…. At least for now.”
Ivan breathed calmly and said, “The sooner that kid is out of my sights the better.” Sal patted his friend on the shoulder and said, “Good, let’s get this show on the road.”
Despite Sal wanting to take the lead, he didn’t want to Ivan and Airako breaking into another fight and risk compromising the mission. He let Ivan lead the way, but not for only for being between the two rivals, but Ivan is armed with a BFG, Old Painless or whatever you want to call it; so in a sense that breathed some relief to Sal.
Ivan and Sal were followed by Airako as they proceeded down the steps only to run into two goons. "I'm Slightly Inconvenient Man!" one of them proclaimed. The other, a bulky gent, merely grunted.
"This is slightly inconvenient..." Ivan remarked.
"Aha!" the crazed villain cackled. "My super powers are draining your morale!"
The Triple S members and Airako shrugged and a general "Eh, not really" arose from each of them. They stood for a second more and then ran by the two goons, with Slightly Inconvenient Man taking the necessary precautions to almost trip Airako as he passed.
The two goons looked at three running past them and right away Slightly Inconvenient man dropped his shoulders and sighed, “I just don’t get it. How come they didn’t really care about my purpose?”
The other goon put his hand on Inconvenient’s shoulder and said, “They’re just jealous of the true power that you wield. The power to be a slight inconvenience in their lives.”
Slightly Inconvenient Man smiled at his friend’s comment and said, “Thanks, Heart of Gold!”
“Don’t mention it kiddo.” Heart of Gold said, nicely.
The group of three continued running down what seemed to be like endless gray steel hallways causing them distress and annoyance. Luckily for them they entered a huge steel like arena and saw one person sitting with what appeared to be a big pile of unknown items.
The Triple S members and Airako were confused at this to the point where Sal began scratching his head. Three members walked towards the man, but upon closer inspection they saw him having really furry hair and hair around his face like a lion.
Right away the goon looked straight up from his pile and looked at the members who instantly jumped in horror at the goon’s ugly face. The goon of course was covered in hair, was quite bulky and had a face that looked like the Fly from the remake, but if Jeff Goldblum became a lion hybrid instead.
The triple SSS members were horrified at the goon’s face, as the goon stared back at them and said, “I can eat candy!” Right away the goon’s face turned to delight, as he dunked his head into all of the candy that ironically had the label ‘copyright’ on them and began to devour them while saying, ‘Yum! Yum! Yum’ multiple times.
“What…. Is that?” Sal asked.
“Well….. Gathering from it’s appearance, it looks like a lion like human, but since it eats candy; I think we can call it Candy Lion.”
“Sounds about right and doesn’t look harmless just like the other two goons we’ve encountered. So let’s move onto the next room faster than you can say, ‘Where the hell is Airako.’” Sal said, as the two SSS members tried to look for the teenager until they saw right before their eyes, Airako was away from the two and eating some of the Candy Lion’s pile of candy.
Airako was devouring the candy, not one by one, but five at once and shortly drew the attention of the Candy Lion. The hybrid looked at the teenager eating some of his stash and right away complained, “Hey, young boy. That’s mine!”
The teenager stopped chewing, looked at the Candy Lion and roared out, “No! This! IS! My! Copyrighted! Candy!” Airako within seconds punched the candy lion out of the arena causing both SSS members to finch in horror, as they saw what the teenager did.
Airako went back to eating his newly claimed pile of candy while Sal walked slowly towards the teenager and said, “Airako.” Right away the teenager looked at Sal with hatred, as he was thinking that he was after his stash of candy and instantly began to growl at him.
Sal cautious looked down at the pile, saw a candy bar that he knew would do the deal, crouched and grabbed it really slowly. The SSS member unwrapped the candy while Airako’s face turned red with anger, as he saw his supposed ‘friend’ taking one of his candy bars.
Ivan having a bad feeling about this confrontation, readied his mini-gun and aimed it the teenager to prevent his friend from getting hurt. Sal pointed the candy and said, “Airako, you’ve got to calm down.” Airako’s face turned to a really bright red with anger and was even start to foam up like he has rabies, “Here, have this copyrighted candy bar that contains both chocolate and nuts.”
Sal pointed the candy bar for Airako to take and the teenager instantly grabbed it. Sal backed up a few steps with him turning his head towards Ivan and motioning him to make sure he’s ready incase the candy backfires. Airako inspected the candy bar for a moment while poking it and sniffing. Then right away Airako devoured it in one bite and swallowed it seconds later.
The Triple S members stared at the teenager who was still looking angry and really possessive over his stash. Then they saw that Ariako stopped foaming, the red on his face was gone and a smile grew.
Sal walked over to Airako, whom the teenager looked happily at and the SSS member smiled and said, “You’re not you when you’re hungry.”
“This is the greatest thing since having sex with an evil ghost lady on a dinner table! Airako yelled out.
Sal gave him a disturbed look and said, “Good, let’s get to the control pane….”The member was interrupted when they saw a figured in black drop right next to them from the sky. This caused the three heroes to collapse onto the ground with Sal colliding into Ivan and Airako being launched towards the wall.
Sal and Ivan quickly got up and readied to fight. They saw the figure glaring at them with red glowing eyes with nothing but black heavy armor, a spiky helmet and a really sharp sword pointing right at them.
The figure looked at the two members and said in a loud, dark booming voice, “I have come in the service of Tom Servo to stop your attack on preventing world domination!” For once the two triple SSS members looked intimated by this warrior, as they both thought, ‘Tom actually created a goon that’s frightening.’
“You will all die by my hands; for you shall know my name by Self-Inflicting murder man!!!!!!” The goon yelled out, as he raised his sword right towards the two members’ necks, as they looked intimated.
The goon then yelled out, “Prepare to fight!” Self-Inflicting Wound man raised his sword up, swung it towards them, but they quickly ducked and the sword went in a three-sixty direction. Both Sal and Ivan looked at the swordsman and right away the dark armored figure’s head fell clean off and shortly after his body too.
“Well I hope we have no more interruptions so we can just get to the control panel.” Ivan said, as the two recovered and Airako ran over to them. The three ran over towards the door to head into the next room when all of the sudden they heard music. The three looked confused, as they questioned what could possibly be interrupting them now.
“What the hell is that music?” Sal asked in an annoyed manner.
“It sounds like Ride of the Valk….” Ivan was about to say when Airako jumped into the conversation and yelled out gleefully, “Apocalypse Now reference!!!!!!!”
The three looked up in the sky to see multiple helicopters dropping ropes down to the arena with multiple soldiers dropping into the arena. Right away the choppers flew away and the soldiers aimed their weapons at them whether they were swords or guns; the three really felt that they were surrounded.
One of the soldiers walked towards the three heroes and said, “On the behalf of our lord and savior, Tom Servo, I demand that you two surrender to him.”
Sal snickered to Ivan and said, “Yeah, right.”
“If you surrender then you’ll be able to live where Tom Servo has established a world with peace through tyranny.”
“Oh come on! You’re ripping off Transformers!” Sal complained.
“If I learned anything from my friends is that it’s not really a reference if you directly call it out.” Airako chimed in with Sal giving him a nasty look of annoyance.
Ivan than joined the conversation and said, “You a man who was probably a someone in his life have allowed this twisted sick little man to twist your mind. Until now you have become the very thing that we all hate.”
“Don’t lecture me! You all haven’t seen what Tom Servo has done!” The man rambled on, as he for some reason began to walk in circles looking like he’s about to get into some weird fight. “Tom Servo has brought peace! Justice! And security to his new Empire!”
“Your new Empire?” Ivan questioned in disgust and continued, “That’s a load of sh….” Sal then interrupted his friend and annoyance and yelled out, “Now you’re just stealing from Anakin’s whinny speech from Episode 3!”
The soldier growled in annoyance, as the then thought of one that he’d know that will get the three to surrender. “I have an offer….”
“Godfather.” Sal said, right off the bat.
The soldier growled in annoyance and right away began to throw a tantrum like a little kid such as jumping in one place. The soldier looked up at the three with venom in his eyes and shouted, “Kill them!!!!!”
“Fuck this!” Sal said, as he pulled out a handgun and instantly shot the talking solder in the head. The soldier stumbled a few feet with Sal smiling and all the other soldiers looking at their leader in confusions. Then all of the sudden the leader stood back up, looked at three heroes with a devishly looking grin.
The triple SSS members looked at the man with confusion on how he can still be alive when he plucked the bullet out of his forehead and dropped it. The man instantly laughed as he morphed into a liquid form and slithered away. The three had confusion marked on their faces, as right away the soldiers raised their weapons at them and began shooting at them.
Sal instantly leaped high in the air while Airako turned in his wolf form and began charging towards the soldiers in his direction. Ivan quickly did a combat roll to avoid the bullets from hitting him and instantly started to mow down the soldiers with his mini-gun. Sal crashed down to the ground with him being surrounded by a group of soldiers and right away noticed the danger of one of them having a flamethrower in his hands. The soldiers aimed their weapons at him when the SSS member quickly ran in circles around the soldiers. Sal stuck out his fist and one by one he ran by them, punching their heads clean off. By the time Sal stopped his three-sixty run, he looked at the soldiers that were surrounding him and they instantly fell down to the ground.
Airako charged at the soldiers who began shooting while he avoided the bullets and one by one he tore them apart into bloodied remains. Within seconds they were all gone and he looked at Sal and right away gave him a childish smile, as Sal gave him a freaked out, but calm thumbs up .
Ivan continued mowing down the soldiers, but it seemed like more and more were coming. Ivan noticed that Sal and Airako were still taking care of their share of enemy soldiers. Even as strong as the brute he was all it took was look away from his share of the battlefield till multiple bullets hit him in the chest.
Ivan dropped his mini gun and clutched his hands to his chest and he began growl in pain while blood was leaking out of his body. The soldiers that shot the SSS member slowly walked towards him while pointing their guns at him, but what they saw as they kept walking towards him, truly shocked them.
The soldiers saw Ivan’s skin growing scales, a long tail came out of his body and his hands stuck out onto the ground with claws growing out of his finger tips. Then the soldiers looked at Ivan, as he raised his head up to reveal that his face was no longer human, but something far worse.
The goons right away began shooting at the newly formed creature, but the bullets were hardly damaging him even though blood was still leaking out of him. Ivan roared at them, gaining the attention of both Sal and Airako, as they couldn’t believe their eyes. Sal’s friend looked no longer human, but a crocodile like creature.
The crocodile like mutant instantly leaped upon a goon and punched a hole through his stomach. The remaining goons began running away, terrified from this creatures, as Ivan looked up and swung his tail at a few of them. The goons he hit with his tail were swung super far into the wall to the point where they simply painted the gray steel walls with red. Ivan continued terrifying the remaining soldiers to the point where he decapitated them with his very own jaws and yet Sal and Airako watched in amazement to the point Airako reverted to his human form.
Within moments the battle was over and bloody corpses surrounded the three. Sal looked around the arena and saw Ivan still in his crocodile like form all bloodied from not only his lost blood, but also the goons’ blood. Sal immediately wanting to tell his friend that the fighting is over and he can go back to normal looked back at Airako and motioned for him to stand back in which he complied.
Sal walked over to his friend and said, “Ivan.” Right away Ivan looked at his friend and snorted and Sal continued on, “Ivan, buddy it’s over. Revert back to normal.” The man pulled out of his bag some medical supplies that can help treat the wounds, “Let me patch you up so we can continue this mission all well and better.”
Ivan finally beginning to calm down was starting to revert back to his human form all the while grayish liquid start slithering behind Ivan. The liquid started to rise up and started to take form in human form, as Ivan was getting closer to reverting back to human form. Sal smiled, as he saw that his friend was calming down when his smile reverted back to worry when he saw the liquid taking form into that goon commander.
Sal quickly yelled out, “Ivan! Get out of the way!” Ivan, hearing Sal’s words turned around to see the Goon Commander right behind him and not even getting a chance to move out of the way. Ivan was met with scythe like blade impaled into his face and to the horror of both Sal and Airako it didn’t stop there. The goon commander split Ivan vertically in half.
Sal witnessed his comrade and his friend being brutally murdered in front of his very eyes. The man formed tears in his eyes and quickly formed into anger while the goon commander completely formed back into his human formed and used his devilish smile. The SSS member’s first instinct was to beat the fucker into a pile of remains, but knowing that thing is just like the T-1000; he’d had to kill with something else. Sal quickly spotted the flamethrower from one of the dead goons, as the goon leader charged towards him and right away the SSS member picked up the flamethrower.
The muscular man saw the goon commander leap up in the air towards him when Sal pressed the trigger on the weapon and instantly released a stream of fire onto the commander. The goon instantly dropped to the ground and roared out in a screech of pain, as he was being burned alive.
Airako, witnessing his comrade continuing to set the creature aflame even though it was long dead. The teenager knowing how Sal was feeling on loosing a friend of his walked up towards him and placed his hand on a shoulder.
Feeling the hand on his shoulder, Sal turned around to see Airako showing a face of condolence for the lose of his friend. Airako looked at Sal’s face, which had a mixture of sadness and anger with tears still in his eyes. The triple SSS member slammed the flamethrower on the ground, walked towards Ivan’s split corpse and looked at it for a moment.
Airako looking at Sal in a worried manner, decided to keep his distance, as he thought it was best that Sal wanted to be alone with his deceased friend.
Sal’s tears dropped onto the ground next to Ivan’s corpse, as he then sunk to his knees and looked over his body. Sal saw Ivan’s dog tag around his neck and right away ripped it off. The man stood up and put the chain around his neck along with his own already on his neck.
The SSS member looked at Airako and said, “Let’s finish this job already and stop the fucking assholes before they turn the goddamn world into fucking stupid land.”
Airako stood in place, as he had a hard time believing that Sal was finished mourning and right away spoke up, but in a nervous tone, “But… don’t you want to stay and mourn your friend.” The teenager tried to say the best he could, but already knew he said it wrong, but hopefully the SSS hero will try to understand his intention.
Sal looked at Airako with a very angry look with the tears from his eyes drying up and replaced with strain in his eyes. The man then said in a deep angered voice, “I’ll mourn when Tom’s fucking head is on a pike!”
Sal began walking towards the door that lead the next room and noticed that Airako was still standing in the same place. Sal fully turned around to see the teenager standing in a nervous position after all he had saw and wasn’t in the mood for tolerance. Especially with a kid that’s been annoying him and asked in a harsh manner, “Are you coming or what kid? Because I’m not going to baby-sit you and let Ivan’s sacrifice go in vain!”
Airako not wanting Sal to yell any more walked towards him, as he was walking on eggshells and right away Sal turned around with his back facing towards him. Then the two walked out of the arena area, not taking a look back at the carnage that had just happened.
"What do you mean it can't be ready to launch by two minutes?!?!" Mungo screamed at the top of his lungs at the subordinates. The two were annoyed by their superior's annoying attitude and wondered why Tom had even promoted him. One of them with red hair and pale like sin decided to speak up.
"Sir, isn't it better that we can launch it in one minute instead of two?"
Mungo looked at the minion who questioned him and yelled out, "Fool! Don't you dare question me! One minute is too clichéd and boring! Two minutes make it more fun!"
The minion rolled his eyes, went back to the device and said, "Whatever you say boss, but if Tom finds out about this... then it's entirely your faul...." Right away both Mungo and the other minion heard a loud gun like bang when they quickly saw the minion's fell over. Right away blood was pouring out of the minion's head and was partially all over the controls.
Mungo and the other minion startled on what just happened, turned around to see both Sal and Airako walking in. Sal was holding a pistol in his hands and had a very angry looking towards Mungo in particular. Airako on the other hand was still walking on eggshells with his companion's recent attitude. Though of course he couldn't blame him since his friend had just went through the chopping block, but of course he just wanted this to be over already.
The short stubby commander looked at his remaining minion that he had direct authority over and yelled out, "Don't just stand there you fool! Kill them!"
The minion looked at his two foes, as a he took a gulp of fear and knowing this isn't worth his time, he looked at his commander and said, "Yeah.... no."
"What the hell are you doing?" Mungo screamed at the top of his lungs, as he jumped down in a fit of rage.
"I'm tired of dealing with your shit for these past few hours and all this crap that has to happen here. Screw it! I'm going to Macan! I heard that town is actually peaceful and heave..." The minion was then interrupted when Sal shot him pointblank in the neck.
Sal then pointed his gun towards Mungo and the short man yelled out, "Thank you! Those two were getting annoying."
"I didn't do it for you so how about you shut the fuck up and just die already." Sal yelled out, as he fired his gun, but fortunately for the little man, he quickly dodged out of the way.
Mungo got back on his feet and laughed gleefully at the failed attempts of the SSS member. "Now it's my turn to end to your pathetic attempts!"
The short man quickly released a short burst of electricity with Sal jumping out of the way and hitting Airako. Right away the unexpected happened in front of Mungo. Airako instantly fell down to the ground, laughing. The short man yelled in anger, as his power wasn't injuring the man and right away began shocking him some more. Mungo's attempts were futile, as they were doing nothing more than causing Airako to curl into a ball and start laughing pure tickling.
"Stop that!" Airako laughed out, "That tickles!"
Mungo repeatedly jumped in anger due to his powers not harming his opponent and right away Sal noticing this opportunity decided to kill the commander right there and then. Sal immediately aimed his pistol at Mungo and fired the trigger, but the gun was out of ammo. The SSS member grunted in anger and did the next best thing to do: Sal right away threw his handgun at Mungo's head.
The pistol right away collided with the short man's head, causing Mungo to yell in annoyance, as he took his focus off of Airako and towards Sal. Though of course right away, Sal lept at Mungo causing the two to crash into the control panel. Mungo immediately tried to retaliate with his electrical powers, but Sal immediately punched the commander a few times before the dwarf was able to throw a punch. Of course it didn't do much except piss the SSS member off even more.
The two continued to exchange their punches with it looking like Sal was actually winning the fight. The SSS member was now punching the short man in the face, resulting in him getting a bloody nose and before Sal knew it, he heard huge alarm.
Then all of a sudden an automated voice was heard, "Rocket is now ready to fire." Sal was stunned by the alarm and Mungo took this opportunity to get near the big red button to signal the launch. Sal looked at Mungo who now had a devilish smile to his face and his fist was circulating with electricity.
"I just saved the whole world from it's old and bland self! Now it can be turned into my version of the world where everyone follows me and there will no longer be any of that bullshit that we have today."
Sal eyeing a glass of water that was somehow placed on the control while Mungo was speaking. The SSS member devised a plan to get rid of that nuisance once in for all. "All this trouble huh? Just to make you emperor of your new world? It wouldn't make a difference for long since every king looses power eventually from his followers."
Mungo gave a look of anger at Sal and said, "What do you know about being a king huh! You think by stopping me and making our world just be a simple boring place will make you a hero!" Mungo at this point, his face was boiling red at how stubborn Sal was and finally yelled out," You think you're a hero huh? You think you're a hero!"
Sal finally enough with the midget's bullshit, said, "No I'm just here to ban you to hell!"
Before Mungo knew anything, Sal immediately jumped towards the glass of water. The SSS member quickly grabbed it and threw it at Mungo. The short man with barely any reaction quickly lowered his hand towards the red button, unknowingly his fist still had electricity circulating it. The water made contact with him and the control panel and right away the control panel was fried while Mungo screamed in extreme pain with him being electrocuted.
Sal watched, as Mungo was still screaming in pain while he was quickly being reduced to a crisp. Within seconds Mungo's body was now charred remains, as he dropped to the ground. The SSS looked at the remains shortly before looking the control panel when the automated voice the came on, "Launch deactivated."
Sal had a very small smile, as the launch was shut down and looked down to see Airako laughing. Before he went over to help his friend up, he started to remember that Kisohi was still locked in combat with Zhost. The SSS member ran over to the teenager and tried helping him, but Airako was still laughing from the electricity. Sal rolled his eyes and pulled out a candy bar and shoved it in Airako's mouth.
Soon enough this caused Airako to stop laughing and devoured the candy bar. Airako stood up straight and looked at his friend. "Did we stop the countdown?"
"We did." Sal answered.
Airako looked around the room and noticed the charred remains of Mungo. The teenager then pointed and asked, "Is that the short angry man that has short man syndrome?"
"Indeed."
"How did he end up like that?" Airako asked.
"Fried like fried chicken from water." Sal said, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Why did he die from the water?"
"A well placed glass of water." Sal breathed out in annoyance.
"Oh.... what was his last words?"
"A shitty line from a Transformers movie." Sal said, as he was starting to get angry.
"What abo...."
"We have more important matters to attend to than play twenty questions!" Sal said, as he walked out of the room with Airako still standing there, observing his surroundings.
"Does that mean we're playing while we're walking?" Airako yelled out.
"Just get your ass over here!" Sal yelled out in an annoyed tone.