Chapter CLXIV: Accept the Bloody Charges ~Multehx

Multehx looked at Tehxno’T’lucan’s face. The eyescar had since been removed; how he managed that one, Multehx didn’t know, but he now had a strange set of markings under it; a pair of what appeared to be light green cut marks. He also gave off a slightly darker life aura. The two didn’t speak, they just studied each other for a long time.

Pseudo whispered to C.R. as not to start the two fighting, “They seem to know each other...how is this?”

The Rip Watcher frowned and shook his head. “It was after you had perished and were still gone; right about the time we found Tehx.”

“Yes, how did he survive anyway, that would have killed anything.”

“Well, luck mainly. He was getting trashed pretty bad falling through the Corrupted Rip Tunnel you sucked him into, and all the stray debris in there was crashing around into everything, and making general chaos. He managed to pull that sickle from around him and shoved it in his belt. Though he was still in Twilighter form, you had him pretty worn down, and each collision with something was taking him a step closer to losing it for good, but in the collapse of the hole, apparently, a lot of other stuff got sucked up too.”

Pseudo frowned in thought. “I would think just scrap from the Genesis...”

C.R. shook his head. “No, a little more- your train, the Spectrum was parked just under it and to the west-“

Havering snapped his fingers, smirking. “I knew how it ended up in your hands somehow involved the agent.”

“Well, actually, there was one other thing pulled into the collapse besides it that saved the agent, and brought train and he to me.”

“And that was?”

“Havoc.”

The Time Bender shook his head. “I knew there was some odd reasoning that brought that robot with us...but did he know of the agent’s presence with us the whole time? And why did he save the agent? Wasn’t he programmed to destroy him?”

C.R. rubbed his chin. “Well, in order, Yes, dunno, and yes. Yes, he knew the whole time. I’m not sure why he changed and stopped trying to kill 707, but he did, and has been working with us ever since, and he was programmed to kill him, but....that somehow was nixed as a priority. You see, he was pulled into the Corrupted tunnel, saw the agent, grabbed onto him for some reason, musta saw the Spectrum freefalling through the tunnel too, and gotten the two to it before activating it and jamming on the controls. Fortunately, he must have pressed some key sequence that yielded an impossible destination, and the train simply returned to it’s origin place, the Nexus of Things, till a new destination was made.

“From there, we sorta got the agent back to full health, save the scar over his eye that the sickle left during the fall, and the ones on his back from fighting with it in the Genesis. He layed low, not reporting in to the agency, as he felt it might be best to not reveal his return just that soon. As he was on leave for an indefinite amount of time on a ‘big mission’ for some ‘mysterious person’, i.e. myself, no trouble came of it. So, he stayed in private here, learned to master shifting between forms but seemed to prefer Twilighter, and had several odd and interesting adventures that lead to a number of the things here today- the Rhyjulian, Scilas, re-meeting Jaded, Kenzo, and finding out of this plot of the Council. Which sorta leads us up to this very moment.”

Pseudo shook his head. “Astounding tale...but, still, where has he met Tehxno’T’lucan before?”

The Rip Watcher waved his hand in surrender. “Was gettin to that, speedy. Eh, lemme see…” he frowned in thought. “It was this past spring, pre-meeting Kenzo, but post all the other things I mentioned. Tehx and I were headed to check out some disturbances in one town. We were crossing a grassy plain, when it started to storm, and over the wind, we heard metallic footsteps on one of the rocks nearby. We looked, saw the source, and got our first glimpse of ‘‘T’lucan. He still lacked a name, so he called himself ‘Dark Multehx’ for the time being. He seemed to have some memory of meeting Multehx before, though neither of us had met this new menace before. They fought long and hard, Tehx won out finally by a narrow margin, ‘‘T’lucan fled.”

Pseudo frowned. “I think I see. I must have been quite busy with my plans if I failed to notice any of this.” He thought for a moment then shrugged. “Whatever, look, they look ready for action.”

And so, both Tehx and ‘T’lucan had relaxed a bit, but tensed up their guard slightly at the same time.

Tehx glared, gripping his sword tighter. “‘T’lucan, you shouldn’t have come here; I can only promise you a very painful end to this.”

The other agent smirked, tightening his grip as well. “Or maybe I’ll just make it pretty excruciating for you.” He chuckled, then frowned at Malachai. “But the battleground is too filled with dead weight; we need to clear some out to make proper room.”

Malachai gulped and began to sprint from the room. “I’ll just leave now and let you two settle old scores.”

C.R. tensed with anger before shouting the former’s name and running after him.

‘T’lucan sneered, then looked at Havering. “And what will we do with you?”

Pseudo crossed his arms and chuckled evilly. “Absolutely nothing, unless you ache to find out just how painful severing tendons from bone truly is.”

‘T’lucan smirked, muttering, “Heh, spirited, and not in a pun sense.” He turned back to the other 707. “Well, you ready to Rock n’ Roll?”

---

Malachai reached the path on the mountain range in just under a few minutes. He rested against the rock wall for a moment, catching his breath. But, during his rest, his instincts kicked in and he leapt straight into the air. And it was just as well, as C.R.’s cane smashed into the rock where he had been. As he landed a distance from the Rip Watcher, he grinned. C.R. just snorted in aggravation and spun to face him.

“Well, what gives me this honour?” Malachai asked smoothly.

C.R. spat and glared at Malachai. “Time to stop running, and face me like a MAN, you coward!”

The aged Twilighter rolled one end of his moustache in his fingers. “Tsk, tsk, little bit aggressive there, aren’t we?”

He was answered by C.R.’s cane striking the ground at his feet. He leapt through the air to avoid the spire of earth that shot up in its wake that would have knocked him for a loop had he remained there. In response, he created a crackling sphere of blue and white energy in his hand. He flung it underhand, and C.R. nimbly dodged it. It struck the earth and electricity flared up around it for several feet before finally it faded, leaving only scorched rock where it had hit.

The Council leader grinned and idly rolled his moustache again. “Impressive, you’ve been practicing, eh?”

C.R. smirked defiantly. “The millennia haven’t been idle for me.” He assumed a swordsman’s stance, his cane held in front of him like a sword. “Too bad it’s not going to be pretty for you, Step-Uncle.”

He bellowed as he lunged forward, taking Malachai off guard. He swung his cane from left to right, catching the demon on the chin, then he spun, backhanding him with it again, and as he stopped facing Malachai, he drew back his fist, then rocketed it forward, smashing it into his opponent’s bearded jaw. Malachai groaned in pain and staggered back, holding his face.

He removed his hand, glaring at C.R. “Gargh...very nice, but why do you incessantly refer to me as ‘step’ when I am by all rights your real uncle?”

“Because,” C.R. started, “you’ll never be anything more to me; the only reason I acknowledge any bond of blood with you is because your sister married my father.”

Malachai snorted and wiped a spot of green blood off the corner of his mouth. “And durn fool mistake she made! Your father was just a shit-heel, a dime in a sea of quarters, she set her standards pretty low to choose him.”

C.R. yelled in anger and swung his cane at Malachai several more times, but by this time, Malachai had unsheathed his slightly twisted sword and parried the blows, grinning the whole time.

“Now I’m positive I should have let you have an ‘accident’ when you were younger; you’re quite the pesty little upstart now!”

C.R. growled, smashing his cane down to be blocked by the sword once again. “My crew will defeat you yet, you bastard!! They’re more powerful than you give them credit for!”

Malachai snickered, retaliating with a sweep-kick that the young Twilighter wasn’t expecting. “A few humans, some freak-girl things, and a buncha lizards are superior?”

He laughed and tried to smash his blade into C.R.’s face, but it was blocked by the soles of his boots. The two struggled for superiority, Malachai saying through clenched teeth, “They’re no match for us, boy! Save some face and quit now.”

C.R. strained back. “Kiss it! They are too, and we already aced one of yours, remember?”

Malachai smirked, putting on more pressure to the sword. “Don’t you remember? You were down one to start?” He grinned triumphantly as he gained momentum with the sword. “And don’t think we don’t know about your trying to bring him back.” He grinned evilly and there was an odd glint in his eye.

C.R. finally broke away and rolled to his feet, getting into a crouch. He paled at a realization.

“Wait...how did you kn- You set a trap for them, didn’t you?!”

Malachai chuckled deeply and advanced. “Quite ironic- they bring him back, but he and a good many of them are killed the instant after he is.” Malachai’s sword took on an odd translucent aura and C.R. flipped to his feet. “You remember this, don’t you boy?”

C.R. didn’t even nod. He just remarked, “Your inherent ability- you can make a weapon so sharp or high powered that it can cleave or atomize even the thickest metal.”

Malachai sneered, trying to kebab C.R. with the blade. “And he can be taught!”

----

In the meantime, Tehx hadn’t been faring his usual illustrious success potential. ‘T’lucan could read him like a book; heck, he was him, so he was pretty much calling all the moves, and dishing out some hard hitters of his own. Tehx estimated that he would have been dead from blood-loss by now if it hadn’t been for the fact that most of the slashes had been dulled from their full potential by his resistance to the dark weapon’s natural element. Being evil did have its perks.

He held the deep cut on his shoulder. It was a pretty deep wound; heck, if his defences hadn’t dulled it somewhat, it probably would have severed his entire arm. He gathered his breath and ploughed into ‘T’lucan with renewed strength. Each blow seemed to hit the double’s sword, which he had dubbed the Rhyjulian II with much grandeur during the fight, and promptly before giving the agent a near lobotomy that took a bang off his head. And, once again, this onslaught suddenly took a turn for the worse when ‘T’lucan dodged a slice, and retaliated by smashing his fist, still holding the sword, into Multehx’s skull.

The agent toppled head over heels before ending up in a sitting position on the opposite side of the cavern floor. His body throbbed with agony, but still seemed responsive enough to move as ‘T’lucan tried to punch clean through his face. Instead, the fist plowed into the rock wall, deeply at that. As the double struggled to free his fist Multehx took this as an opportunity to deal some damage of his own. He crowded over ‘T’lucan, driving several powerful punches into his spine. ‘T’lucan also groaned in pain as Multehx began to claw his back with renewed fury, drawing a decent amount of green that stained the back of his alternate’s cloak.

He followed this up by a few hard punches, and a few elbow-drops until ‘T’lucan wrenched his hand free, spun, and blasted him point blanc with a release of dark energy. Multehx crashed into a wall of the room and slumped to the floor. Breathing heavily, he looked up to see Tehxno’T’lucan retrieve the Rhyjulian II from it’s resting place, and turn to face him.

“And now,” ‘T’lucan panted slightly, “I tack you up like an insect.”

Multehx slid one arm down to his side between breaths. “Before ya do that,” he began as he shook something in his sleeve down to about the elbow, “have a riddle for ya.”

‘T’lucan smirked and folded his arms. “Droll, but fine, I’ll humour you in your last moments.”

Tehx smirked, shaking his arm slightly again, making the object fall to his wrist. “What’s black, white, and red all over?”

‘T’lucan shook his head and shrugged. “I dunno, tell me, what’s black, white, and red all over?”

Multehx shook his arm again, and the circular disc with the golden “M” insignia fell into his palm. He slowly grinned.

“Wouldn’t you know, whatever it is, I don’t give a damn.”

With that, he swung his arm, hurling the mine through the air. ‘T’lucan didn’t even get a chance to curse before it collided with him, and a tremendous explosion resulted. He crashed into the wall with tremendous force, leaving a slight impression, then crashed to the ground. He coughed up smoke for a moment before getting to his feet.

“D..gaw...g...dammit! I can’t believe I trusted myself like that!”

It looked around nervously and held its chest with one hand.

“I can hear that infernal Rip Watcher returning, I best vamoose before he comes and lends you a much needed hand. But mark my words- you haven’t seen the last of me!”

It put the sword on its back before vanishing in a black and green burst of fire.

C.R. walked into the chamber moments later. His clothes were a bit roughed up, and burned in several spots, and his face was smudged with ash, but he looked rather alright. He looked over to Tehx, and frowned concernedly at the condition he was in. He helped brace the agent on a shoulder and headed towards a way into the chamber that led to the demon capital before he glanced over to Havering.

“He’s pretty badly beaten up, I have somewhere I need to get him. What will you be doing now?”

Pseudo shrugged. “I have some business elsewhere, then I shall return to the Spectrum; I am that group’s leader now, remember, and that motley crew needs all the help they can get.”

C.R. slowly nodded, then spoke out as something came to mind. “Oh, please just watch out for-“

“-The trap the council set. Yes, I know, it was at the forefront of your mind and you seemed to have had your mental barricade down. Rest assured, no one gets the better of me.”

Havering winked before walking back up the stairs and vanishing from sight. C.R. shrugged then helped the agent down the corridor.

----

Later that night, in a rather shoddy apartment, the phone rang. One of the residents picked it up.

“Hello?”

A rather arrogant, British voice was on the other end.

“What are you doing answering?”

“He’s busy doing one of his experiments; somethin’ to find out if that light thingie really does go off when ya close the door.”

There was a frustrated sigh, then-

“Just tell him ‘yes, it does’, and that I’ll explain the theory of the quantum energy snatching things that are involved sometime, and just to pick up the sodding bloody phone!”

The being who picked up rolled his eyes and walked off. In the meantime, another being of similar metallic exterior picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“....you’re not the professor...who is this?”

“No, I am not the professor. He is on his way. I am simply the newest creation- I am the superior device of destruction! I am the new master of mayhem! I am the supreme Infect!”

Then, there was a squabble on the other end, and the British voiced gentleman thought he heard the professor’s voice saying something along the lines of “tone it down, the walls are thin!” before the phone was picked up, this time, by the desired person.

“Yes? Alfred speaking. Who am I addressing?”

There was an exhasperated groan.

“Who the bloody hell do you THINK this is?!”

“Well, I wasn’t sure. You could have been someone else. They surprise you like that on this planet, then they give you nice things, like cash.”

“Yes, I’m bloody Ed McMahn of the prize patrol, here to award you cash.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“Really? But I thought this was-“

“I was being bloody SARCASTIC! Of course this is me!!”

“Oh, yes, I thought so. You don’t have to get to temperamental about it. You know, there’s this great recipe for tea when you get all-“

“I DON’T WANT TEA, DAMMIT!! I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF YOU HAVE THE BLOODY DEVICE OR NOT?!”

“Oh, yeah, the device. Yes, we have it.”

“WELL, when are you planning on getting it to me? I don’t have the interstellar teleportation capacities I used to like this you know.”

“Well, it would have been this week, but the security down here is so tight and all. Seems something did something to two big buildings and then there were several cases of something being sent through the mail, and so now they watch things like a hawk!”

“Bah. Don’t they realize my return makes such events look so...so..TRIVIAL in comparison? I mean, REALLY!”

“Well, I dunno sir. First Earthers ARE strange creatures; so closed minded to the whole picture you know.”

There was another pause, then the caller asked-

“Say, who was that on the phone before you. I think it said it was an Infect.”

“Oh, that’s Malfector, the virus Infect.”

“...I never made such a creation, where’s he from?”

There was a nervous chuckle on the other end.

“Well, ya see, we kinda wanted to test the thing out and, well-“

“You started it, it asked for specifications, you put some in, and a robot came out, right?”

“Yes, sir, to the letter.”

“Why haven’t you just scrapped it?”

“We would have, but this thing shows...well, you have to see it’s abilities to believe it sir.”

“I suppose I would have to. You’ll bring it along when the robot and yourself bring my device to the scheduled meeting place?”

“Indeed, sir! And might I add, quite a brilliant spot and all! I mean, they’ll never think to-“

“Professor?”

“Yes?”

“Stuff a bloody sock in it.”

There was a click, and the caller hung up.