Energy crackled
around the colourfully-garbed Sato Kiko and Nagura
Ikku as, for just a moment, their bodies shifted into
a world all their own. The tiny flying warrior woman
were nowhere to be seen; Sei's energy barrier no
longer protected them; and their bodies began to
undergo severe changes.
Kiko looked down at
her body and discovered that for the briefest of
instants she could actually see through the
form-fitting suit she wore, through her skin, to the
circuitry that had embedded itself in her flesh.
Yellow sparks darted along tiny wires, culminating at
her hands, feet and chest.
Where the sparks
gathered hard, sharp, pieces of silver metal formed
which jutted out through her pores, through tiny
openings in the fabric of the suit, and fused
together to form armour - thick but malleable gloves,
boots and a chestplate. An instant later the same
metal emerged from the collar of the suit to become a
thin helmet; the compound split in front of her eyes
to form a two-way mirror.
The crackling energy
surrounding her abruptly vanished and Kiko realised
that only a moment had passed since her
transformation had started. She glanced at Ikku and
found that he had undergone an identical
transformation - but where her suit was yellow, his
was red.
Amazed, she felt the
armour, which was soft to the touch. It did not feel
like it would do much to protect her. In fact,
she realised as she ran her hand along the yellow
fabric of the 'phase one' suit that still covered the
areas of her body not adorned by the silver armour,
it only felt as though a second layer of fabric had
been laid over the first.
"Henshin!"
Ikku cheered. "Miss Sato, we henshined! This is
phase two!"
Kiko smiled, then
pointed at the miniature winged women still flapping
their wings, trying - sometimes successfully - to
break through Sei's energy barrier. "We don't
have time to cheer! We need to beat those things!
What can these suits do?"
"Beats
me!" Ikku replied as he squatted to pick up his
dropped rifle. "We never got to test phase
two!"
Kiko looked across
at Sei. The green energy was still radiating from his
hands and having some success at sealing the room,
but the creatures were still making their way inside.
Ikku picked them off one-by-one with his rifle, but
it seemed only a matter of time before he was
overwhelmed.
She considered
asking Sei for help. He seemed to know more about the
robosuits than anyone else, but he had also already
told Kiko that he was not prepared to 'assist her in
the operation of the robosuit'. It seemed absurd;
they were under attack - a massive, planned assault -
and their mentor had been kidnapped. The robosuits
seemed to be their only way to victory, and Sei was
keeping everything to himself.
"Sei - "
she began.
"Excuse
me," Sei interrupted. "Please be quiet. I
am interfacing with the computer systems of Science
Island and discerning the identity and weaknesses of
our foes."
Interfacing
with...? Kiko thought. Sei... is he...? No,
he couldn't possibly - !
"Very
well," Sei said a moment later. He turned his
head to look at Kiko and Ikku. Kiko was staring at
him, drawing her own conclusions regarding his
unusual behaviour and demeanour. Ikku stood behind
her, enthusiastically shooting at the winged
creatures which, once hit, exploded in a shower of
blue mist. "You will listen to me now."
"Sei - "
"The creatures
which have entered Blizzard Base Zero are called
pixies," Sei explained. "They are created
by Sorceress Miko via an unknown process. Sorceress
Miko is currently incarcerated on Science Island.
Sorceress Miko is not controlling the pixies.
"Pixies are
capable of disrupting energy fields and
instantaneously transporting objects long distances
as long as they remain in constant contact. Pixies
are not living organisms. They are composed of an
unidentified energy compound. You should have no
compunctions regarding their destruction.
"Nagura Ian and
Sato Kiko have been authorised to use robosuits red
and yellow. Please acknowledge your official
codenames: Red Robo and Yellow Robo. I am currently
uploading suit operation information into your
robosuits now. Please prepare yourself as I briefly
disengage the force-field."
The waves of green
energy suddenly stopped rippling away from Sei's
hands and the green force-field vanished. The
'pixies' rushed in at full speed, but Kiko was no
longer helpless. Commands flashed across the two-way
mirror directly in front of her eyes, and she
realised what her suit was capable of.
Sei quickly pushed
his arms directly out to the side, then raised them
above his head and shouted: "Let's
go, Robo!"
There was a blue
flash, and when it faded an instant later Sei was
covered by armour identical to that worn by both Kiko
and Ikku, only blue where theirs was yellow or red.
He ran in front of them, blocking their view of the
pixies temporarily. The pixies, for their part,
turned their attention to the new threat and swarmed
toward him.
"Vertex
Shield!"
Sei cried. Another blue flash and then, strapped to
Sei's right arm, a translucent blue and green shield
materialised. It was perfectly round with a radius
about the length of Sei's forearm.
Sei swung the shield
forward to defend himself and several pixies flew
irectly into it. They vanished, but reappeared on the
opposite side of the room, next to the wall, which
they hit hard.
"Awesome!"
Ikku jumped up and down excitedly. "Chaos
Sword!"
There
was a third blue flash, this time delivering a sword
into Ikku's right hand. Its hilt was black and silver
and its blade was red and translucent. Ikku dropped
his rifle and started swinging the sword at the
approaching pixies. Kiko tried to watch him,
but found the sword constantly slipping in and
out-of-focus. At times, it also appeared as though
there was more than one Ikku, using multiple swords
to strike at the same point from different locations
at the same time.
"Yellow
Robo," Sei said. "Your participation in our
battle would prove beneficial at this time."
Kiko
nodded and quickly read through the list of commands
displayed on her visor. Most of them seemed too
vague, but one caught her attention: "Electro
Blaster!"
A
fourth flash of blue light; Kiko felt something heavy
forming near the palm of her right hand and she
instinctively reached for it. An instant later she
was carrying a small blaster, roughly the size of a
regular handgun. She aimed it at the pixies, one at a
time, and pulled the trigger. Yellow, lightning-like
energy passed from one side of their bodies to the
other, then they froze. A second passed and each of
the pixies struck by a blast exploded into blue dust,
something Kiko was getting used to seeing.
"Yay!"
Kiko shouted happily. "Go Electro Blaster!"
Kiko
readied herself to fire again, but realised the last
of the pixies was gone. Ikku raised the Chaos Sword
high above his head and cheered loudly. He lowered
his hand and the sword faded away, along with the
silver armour and helmet he wore, revealing a massive
grin.
Kiko
formed two of her fingers into a 'v' shape - 'v' for
'victory' - and her armour, too, faded away.
She had not consciously thought about reversing her henshin
- it seemed that the armour knew when it was no
longer necessary and integrated itself back into the
robosuit.
Sei
turned his head too check for any remaining pixies,
and the Vertex Shield faded - but his armour remained
intact. Kiko frowned.
"If
'Sorceress Miko' is in custody on Science Island, who
sent these pixies?" she asked.
"I
saw where they came from," Ikku said.
"Outside - the initial attack... it was the
Black Battalion. They collapsed, and the pixies left
their bodies." He glanced around.
"Hey..." His voice trailed off.
"Ikku?"
"Dr.
Nagura's still gone." Ikku bowed his head and
stared at the ground. "I had a feeling... that
if we destroyed all the pixies... he would come
back."
"We
will find him," Kiko said. "We will go to
Science Island and make sure they know what happened
here. I'm sure they will - "
Sei
shook his head.
"We
have been ordered to evacuate Blizzard Base Zero and
wait at a specified Black Battalion safehouse for
debriefing," he said. "We will go
now."
"Wait
a minute - " Kiko began. She did not get to
finish, as Sei reached out with both hands and took
hold of his teammate's wrists. A moment later, their
bodies were showered in blue mist and the chamber,
the heart of Blizzard Base Zero and test site of
Project: Roboman, was empty.
Elsewhere
Dr.
Nagura woke to find himself in a dark room. All the
knowledge he had of his location came solely from the
sense of touch. The ground was cold and hard beneath
his feet. He was sitting on a wooden chair, with his
wrists tightly-bound behind his back. He tried to
stand, but found his ankles were tied to the chair's
legs; and as he lifted his head a throbbing pain
struck his right temple and he had to sit down once
more.
The
last thing Dr. Nagura remembered was an attack on
Blizzard Base Zero. He remembered having Sei erect a
force-field around 'the chamber', the
heavily-defended heart of the base... and he
remembered Dr. Smith pulling a gun on him and
revealing that their attackers knew the field's
frequency and would penetrate it.
He
did not remember how he came to leave
Blizzard Base Zero, or the blow that caused his
temple to throb so agonisingly.
Smith,
he thought to himself. Smith betrayed me.
But why?
"You're
awake. Good."
Dr.
Nagura looked up and saw Dr. Smith emerging from the
darkness. The older scientist was smiling broadly
which was disturbing in and of itself. What disturbed
Dr. Nagura even more was that as he walked, Smith
began to change. His aging features tightened; his
hair shortened and darkened, and his clothing seemed
to be absorbed into his skin.
By
the time Smith was standing beside Dr. Nagura, his
form was completely different. His young-looking body
and features were symmetrical, as if a line had been
ruled down the centre of his body and a mirror
inserted. His short black hairs were all of equal
length; the pores of his pale red skin all the same
size. His body was athletic with long, lean muscles,
and he was naked except for a pair of skin-tight
black shorts which covered from his waist to an
inch-or-so above his knees.
"You
are a... changed man... Dr. Smith," Dr. Nagura
said.
"Funny,"
Smith replied, "but there never was a 'Dr.
Smith'. I am called Jinsei." He took a long,
deep breath. "I am glad to be rid of your vile
laboratories. Everything was so artificial. You
cannot begin to understand how much that pained
me."
"You...
betrayed me," Dr. Nagura told him.
"I
could not betray you if I was never truly loyal to
you," Jinsei told him. "Besides, I was not
the one who revealed your secret plan to the
Black Battalion. There was a true traitor on
your team."
"The...
Black Battalion?" Dr. Nagura asked. "What
do they..."
"Oh,
right," Jinsei said. "You only saw the
pixies. A pity - their arrival at the base was a true
masterpiece of fusion between my powers and Miko's.
We need to work together more often."
"Miko?"
Dr. Nagura repeated. "Sorceress... Miko?"
"So
you do know what I'm talking about!"
Jinsei exclaimed happily. "You see, our master
knows all about your secret plan, and he wants you to
turn your considerable talents toward our cause.
It hurt me to need to remain in such an unnatural
environment for so long, spying on you, but we had to
wait until we knew you had made the necessary
breakthroughs to be of true use to use before we set
in motion the plan to destroy your base."
Destroyed?
Dr. Nagura thought. Sei! Ian!
"I
tell you, Nagura," Jinsei continued. "Miko
had no problem joining us against you. She remembers
what you did to her."
"I
had no... choice," Dr. Nagura said.
"I
don't... care," Jinsei mocked.
"Whatever your history, you both work
for the master now."
"I
will never... help you!" Dr. Nagura protested.
Jinsei
smiled. "That pain in your head? You must feel
it. That's a little electronic bug we attached to
your brain. You serve the master whether you like it
or not."
"No..."
"Come
on, Nagura! Say it! Say 'I serve the master!'"
Dr.
Nagura tried to fight the impulses in his head, but
the more he resisted the more pain he felt shoot
across his brain, distracting him, weakening his
resolve. He could not fight it.
"I
serve... the master," he said finally.
Science
Island
Rose
Brachis was on a rampage. She marched through the
long, sterile halls of the security complex she
maintained near the centre of the island, her deputy
chief of security, Senshi, hurrying to keep up with
her. He knew where they were going.
Sorceress
Miko was their prisoner but she was also, as far as
they knew, the only person on Earth capable of
creating the creatures she called 'pixies'; the
creatures which had somehow taken hold inside the
bodies of an entire squadron of elite Black Battalion
soldiers and turned their assault on Blizzard Base
Zero - their attempt to capture the traitorous Dr.
Nagura - into a slaughter.
They
needed to learn how she corrupted the
guards. And they needed to find out before she could
do it again.
They
arrived at her cell with such determination marking
their steps that the guards securing her knew to open
the door without Dr. Brachis saying a word. She and
Senshi stormed into the cell without pausing and
confronted the woman in pink and white tights, who
they found laying on the small bunk that was the only
piece of furniture, other than a toilet, to be found
in the cell.
Brachis
took her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet,
then raised a hand and slapped her hard across the
face.
"How
did you do it, Miko?" she asked. She pointed to
a small handgun holstered at her hip. "Tell me,
and don't think I won't use it."
"I
will gladly tell you," Miko said. "Why
would I be at all reluctant to demonstrate the utter
incompetence of the Black Battalion and the genius
staff of Science Island?"
Brachis
put one hand on the butt of her gun.
"Quickly."
Miko
sighed. "It was quite simple. When your precious
Battalion cornered me in New Orleans, I feigned an
escape attempt. I knocked out a wall, coating your elite
soldiers in what they thought was nothing more
than broken plaster."
"Pixie
dust," Senshi said. "It was a trap."
"Someone's
got their head screwed on around here!
Congratulations!" Miko continued.
"Thousands of spores spread through their
bodies, capable of combining and growing into my
pixie-spawn. Here in my cell, I maintained my psychic
connection with each of my pixies; I ordered them to
spread from host to host, infecting hundreds, before
leading the attack on your Antarctic base."
"Hundreds...?"
Brachis repeated. "But the Battalion contains
only a few dozen - " Miko winked. "No! You
can't possibly - "
"But
I did," Miko interrupted. Out of the corner of
her eye, Brachis saw two pixies zoom through the open
cell door beside which lay the two unconscious
guards. Each landed on one of Miko's shoulders and,
before either Brachis or Senshi could draw their
weapons, the pixies emitted a brief blue glow and
disappeared along with their master in a rain of
light blue particles.
"Damn
it!" Brachis yelled. "Senshi, I want this
island locked down! No-one enters, no-one leaves,
until we know who has been infected by the pixie
dust. Go!"
Senshi
saluted and ran from the room.
NEXT: Heroes
without a home!
