Chapter
CCXVII: Decisions and AWOLs ~Multehx
Pseudo walked along the mountain path above where the Spectrum was parked. He breathed in the chilled night air, smiling to himself.
"Ah, tis a wonderous time to be alive again." He stretched, grinning to himself. "To feel the bite of the night air, the smell of evil present in the air–"
The sounds of a
battle made him glance down to the path below. Apparently, Havoc was locked in
a battle with...some model that looked somewhat akin to him.
Rubbing his chin he mused aloud, "–Hmm, seems the old turncoat is fighting someone of superior make, judging by look." He folded his arms, smirking. "Serves him right for crossing me."
He paused, thinking, and sighed.
"Still, he
was a creation of mine, and thus it would be insulting to my ability to create
Infects if he were to perish. I suppose, this once, I could lend my
assistance."
---
Ratch wasn't
faring too well. He was pretty dinged and dented and Malfector
only had one or two burn marks on him from the laser attack and these didn't
seem to faze him. He dodged two punches thrown to clip his jaw but the third
slammed into his chest with incredible force. He was thrown back and landed on
his back on the rocky ground. As his senses returned, he looked up to see Malfector standing over him. The advanced infect raised his
hand and pointed the laser-lens in his palm at Ratch. The lens glowed brilliantly
and whirred to life.
Ratch felt himself go numb with fear at the realization that this was it.
Malfector looked down, emotionless, at his prey. "Amusing fight, Commander, but your model has proven inefficient. You shall be eliminated post haste."
As the drone of
the laser systems rose to the level that indicated reading to fire, Ratch
clenched his jaw tightly in anticipation.
A rattle of
chains cut through the night sky. The head of an ominous looking
The eyes of both widened slowly as the figure descended onto the path in a few bounds.
Ratch swallowed hard. How could it BE? I saw him dead with my own eyes recently! It..it's...not POSSIBLE!
Malfector simply fell to one knee,
kneeling. He raised his right hand and put it wrist over his heart, hand in a
fist. "Hail, Lord Pseudo Havering, Master of All."
Pseudo raised an eyebrow, holding the Noch Thalt in one hand and rubbing the blade with the other. "Do...do I know you, robot?"
Malfector stood up, relaxing his hand. "Sir, we have spoken once before. I am the newest and most advanced model of evil Infect, the 'Plaguing Virus', Malfector."
The Twilighter
thought, then realization came to him. He slowly nodded. "Ah
yes, the serious one who was on the phone when I called the professor. I
remember now...so, how goes the plan?"
"Without a hitch, sir. The required delivery is here, in the professor's company at the precise moment. We were separated when three of the wanderers attacked us."
Pseudo nodded, smirking slightly. "Excellent...superb indeed." He began pacing, stopping and turning to Malfector. "Listen, there's been a change in plans."
"Yes, sir?"
"Well,
first off, here is not the place or time for it, so you three will keep in
contact with me and bring the...delivery with you, following the Spectrum. I will notify you all when the
time is right and where to be with the necessary item."
Malfector nodded and saluted.
Havering turned to Ratch and sneered slightly. "As for YOU, Havoc, repeat any of this to the Rip Watcher or the agent and I'll personally make life not very pleasant for you, until doomsday. Capiche?"
Gulping, Ratch
slowly nodded in understanding. Pseudo nodded back, chuckling before he started
down the trail, vanishing out of eyesight in moments.
---
On the mountains
that comprised the Council's main cave system, the wind blew in
a soft breeze. Not a thing stirred. For a moment anyway.
In the span of an instant after that the air was distended and rifted by a
swirling vortex of oranges, reds, and yellows. A well dressed Twilighter fell
out of it and landed on the ground. He lay on his back, catching the breath he
didn't need but had been driven from his body anyway. Fighting back the
weariness of his mind he extended a mental message to the crew of the Spectrum, now dispersed around the
planet.
Attention, friends. This is C.R. transmitting via
something akin to the telepathy you know of. There is no fear of anyone else
intercepting this, I am certain. Anyway, I am not sure how to phrase this...
All I can say is...well, I've lost the presence of
several others in my mind's eye. Shensei Aku, Kyanosa Canopus, Mr. Dirk Dareklite,
Vector Sprint, Jade T. Koopa, Sebastion
Ebask, Sheko Calistian, Chazz Merkin, and the body of Joshua Renil.
I'm not sure what has caused me to lose mental
tracking of them. It could be they were beyond atomized, standing in a blind-spot
of my mind, or someone is intentionally blocking my connection with them. But
we must not let this stop us. We still have much work to do. Recent count
informs me we are down some members of the Twilighter Council. But it also
informs me that some that were taken by the missing individuals are still well
and alive. One of these that comes to mind off-hand is
Rebdok. If I do not receive word from the parties
that I already knew were going to take him on do not destroy him or contact me
and retain the right to kill him A.S.A.P., I shall say within three hours, I
give the order for someone else to kill him. I wish you all luck...I am
positive we can win this."
With that, C.R.
relaxed and closed his eyes. Sleep came to his tired body quite instantly and
he dozed on.