The Amazon
Damien Sinclair
carefully pushed his way through the dense, damp
foliage, ever mindful of the the collection of items
inside his pockets which, if disturbed, could give
away his location. He carefully controlled his
breathing - in the humidity, it was tempting to start
puffing and panting - and scanned the ground before
each step to ensure he did not put his weight down on
a stray twig or small animal.
His approach was
almost silent. He was sure neither his target or its
captor had any idea he was there.
He was wrong.
"Well, if it
isn't Hired Goon Number One."
While the voice was
not one Sinclair would have described as familiar,
he did find it recognisable - but
despite spinning on the spot and peering through the
thick bush, he could not see its owner.
"Jinsei,"
he said. "Show yourself."
"Why? What do
you want here?" the voice replied.
"I'm not
looking for you," Sinclair said, and he was
telling the truth. The red-skinned,
symmetrical-bodied former ally of Sinclair's own
superior, Satoshi Kakeru, was not his target.
"Show yourself."
"Repeating it
doesn't mean I'll do it, Goon," Jinsei told him.
"Do you expect me to believe it's just a
coincidence that Satoshi's lackey shows up right
where I've been living since we left his corpse to
rot in Antarctica?"
"It isn't a
coincidence," Sinclair responded. "I'm not
here for you - I'm here for something you have."
"Whatever it
is, it's mine, and you can't have it."
Sinclair smirked. As
he had been speaking, he had also been listening.
Every time Jinsei replied, his voice echoed
through the spaces between trees and vines and rocks
and bounced off everything it hit. Listening
carefully, Sinclair was able to tell that the voice
he heard was coming from his right.
Slowly, withdrew
some of the tiny nuts, bolts and shreds of metal he
had kept inside his pocket. The movement was almost
soundless, as his hand had already been pressed
against the scraps to keep them from striking each
other as he walked, giving away his location.
He closed his eyes
and concentrated on the metal in his hand. A dim,
almost invisible red glow surrounded it and in one
quick, sudden movement he threw the metal against the
ground. The red light shone more brightly and what
had initially appeared to be nothing but junk took on
more solid, larger forms, and the cramped space was
filled with half a dozen Gears - small,
frail robots created as cannon fodder by Director
Satoshi - and each Gear was armed with a large
flamethrower.
"Flush him
out," Sinclair ordered.
The Gears stiffly
fumbled with the controls of their weapons and small
jets of flame emerged from their tips. Each robot
stepped forward and again manipulated their
flamethrower's controls, causing the flame to extend
further from the weapon and flash against the
foliage.
There was no cry of
protest from Jinsei - but also, Sinclair noticed,
there were no squawks or squeals from frightened
animals. The area the Gears were advancing on was
empty.
He turned to his
left and swung one heavy, clenched fist. It pushed
through limply hanging vines almost as if they
weren't there and stopped only when the back of his
hand hit flesh-and-bone. Jinsei cried out in surprise
and Sinclair quickly turned to look at him.
"The way I see
it, Jinsei, you've got two options - hand over Miko,
or the Gears burn this whole place to the
ground."
"Miko?!"
Jinsei repeated. "That's why you're
here? You're welcome to her!"
Sinclair frowned
slightly.
"Why? What's
happened?"
"Nothing,
that's what!" Jinsei snapped. "Call your
Goonbots off and I'll take you to her."
Sinclair raised a
hand and the Gears switched off their weapons. They
placed the flamethrowers to one side and rushed
forward to press their mechanical bodies against the
existing flames which, smothered, soon dissipated.
"If you screw
me over, Jinsei, I'll start them up again."
"I bet,"
Jinsei said. He began to lead the way through the
jungle, and if Sinclair struggled to keep up with
him, he didn't show it. The only sign of exertion
Jinsei could see was a creased brow, which suggested
that the man following him was focusing more on his
thoughts than the dangers of moving through a deadly
rainforest.
And that gave
Jinsei an idea.
Out of the corner of
his eye, Jinsei saw a short green snake slithering
its way across his path. He bent down as he passed
and scooped it up into his hands. As he walked he
pressed his palms flat against the reptile's body,
one on top and one beneath, and allowed his powers to
go to work. Bright red energy flowed from one hand,
green from the other, and surrounded the snake which,
under his direction, began to grow.
In seconds, it was
too big to hold. It spilled onto the ground and
continued to grow, to sprout short, muscular arms and
legs, and to stalk menacingly towards Sinclair... who
merely shook his head at the threat.
"You're a fool,
Jinsei," he said.
The snake lashed out
with its forked tongue and Sinclair jumped to the
side. The fleshy protrusion struck the ground and
buried itself, only to be withdrawn a second later,
taking a large lump of earth with it.
"I thought you
were all about protecting life," Sinclair
taunted. "Now you've put the snake and yourself
in danger!"
"Hah!"
Jinsei laughed loudly. "What can you do
against... uh... Sammy..." He scratched his
head. "Sammy the Snake? Whose awesome codename
is Slither?"
Sinclair shrugged as
Slither flung its tongue at him a second time.
"I don't
know," he said. He hurried to a nearby tree with
low-hanging branches and snapped one free. "Stab
him? Spear him? Slash him?"
"Aren't we
funny?" Jinsei rolled his eyes. "Slither!
Finish him!"
Slither turned back
to glance at Jinsei and raised one muscular arm in
salute.
"Yeth,
thir!" it hissed at him.
Jinsei pressed his
palm against the side of his face.
"Thammy the
Thlithering Thnake hath a lithp," he muttered.
"Perfect."
Slither placed its
hands against the sides of its body, roughly where a
human's hips would have been, and stared down at its
creator.
"Excuthe
me!" it snapped. "You created me, thir! If
I hath a lithp, that'zh your fault! I -- "
Slither never got to
finish his sentence as the heavy, sharp branch
Sinclair had broken free pierced its body. Shreds of
green skin and thick red blood hung from the branch
as Sinclair twisted it and yanked it free.
"Sorry,
Sammy," he said. The snake slumped forward and
collapsed onto its stomach at Jinsei's feet. "Do
it, Jinsei."
"Do what,
Killer Goon?"
"Save Sammy or
I'll do the same thing to you."
"Save Sammy?
How do I do that? You just impaled him."
"I'm not an
idiot, Jinsei," Sinclair replied. "I know
if you devolve any of your creatures back to
their initial form it heals any non-fatal injuries. I
was careful. Sammy's alive. It's up to you."
Jinsei nodded slowly
and knelt beside Slither's body. Once again he placed
his hands on the beast's body and started to
concentrate. Red and green energy surrounded the
snake which quickly shrank back to its original size
and its arms and legs were sucked back into its body
with a loud pop! There was a moment of
stillness and then the snake slithered into the bush.
"So, Satoshi's
alive, then?" Sinclair didn't answer. "If
he is, you're going to want me, not just Miko."
"I was asked to
bring back Miko," Sinclair told him.
"That's what I'm going to do."
Jinsei pushed aside
a thick vine and Sinclair could see a small clearing
with a makeshift shelter in the centre. Beneath it
was an unmoving, pink-haired form which he recognised
immediately as that of Sorceress Miko. He pushed past
Jinsei and made his way across the clearing and
ducked inside the shelter.
"What happened
to her?" he asked.
"It looks like
her evolved state is to be catatonic," Jinsei
answered. "Definitely an upgrade from being a
nasty bi - "
"Shut up,"
Sinclair snapped. "Whatever you did to her, you
need to undo it now."
"I've
tried," Jinsei told him. "She's stuck like
that. Why do you care, anyway?"
Sinclair shook his
head and gripped Miko's hand. He started to
concentrate and in moments, both his body and Miko's
were surrounded by bright blue energy - but they did
not disappear, as they usually would.
"What did you think
I was here for?" Sinclair asked Jinsei.
"What do you -
"
"Flamethrowers,"
Sinclair reminded him.
"Fine!"
Jinsei made his way to the back of the shelter and
retrieved a small remote, which he showed to
Sinclair. The blonde-haired, black-garbed man
snatched it from Jinsei's hand - and before Jinsei
could react, both Sinclair and Miko were gone.
Jinsei grinned.
"Oh, no!"
he gasped in mock fear as he retrieved an identical
remote from another part of the shelter.
"Whatever will I do now that you've taken the
homing device to lead me right to my target?"
He laughed loudly,
but stopped abruptly. Something wasn't right. The
Amazon rainforest was usually humid, but never truly hot.
Still, he could feel intense heat all around him.
He whirled quickly
and saw the Gears facing him with their flamethrowers
primed. Already the trees surrounding the clearing
were burning from the ground up, but just as before
there were no sounds of animals fleeing in fear.
Despite what
Sinclair had suggested, Jinsei did care
about life in all its forms, enough to make sure no
animals stayed near his clearing - a supposed
sanctuary that had been compromised twice already by
his enemies.
He began to
formulate a plan, but it was too little, too late -
one burst of flame struck his hand and melted the
plastic shell of the remote he carried. The liquefied
plastic spilled between his fingers and burned his
palm.
"Damn
robots," he muttered. He sat down, closed his
eyes and waited patiently as everything around him
was burned to the ground.
Later
Damien Sinclair made
his way to the tiny cell containing Doctor Nagura
Scott and knocked loudly against the bars. Doctor
Nagura rushed forward and greeted him, and Sinclair
examined the doctor for a moment.
Doctor Nagura had
once been just as human as Sinclair, but now, his
body - which should have been that of a fifty-seven
year old but, thanks to Jinsei's powers, had been
drawn back to that of a nineteen-year-old - was
covered entirely by thick, silver-grey metal. Only
white eyes, long black hair, bright white teeth and a
pink tongue showed that he was anything other than a
machine.
Much of the metal
was in turn covered by a skintight red-and-black robosuit.
Nagura had spent weeks busily trying to remove
the robosuit - and, more importantly, the related
circuitry embedded beneath his skin - so that the
robosuit could be used by others, but had had little
luck.
"Guardian!"
Nagura cheered excitedly. "Did you find
her?"
"Yes,"
Sinclair replied. "She's been taken into
custody."
"Here?"
Nagura asked.
"Yes.
Why?"
"If she's here,
then Ranma and Denshi will find their way here!"
Nagura explained. "You'd better get ready! Take
this!"
Nagura quickly
stripped the robosuit from his body and passed it
through the bars of his cell. Sinclair took it
gratefully, but raised an eyebrow and stared back at
the doctor.
"What about the
circuitry?"
"It's all...
back in the... suit," he stammered. "I... GAH!"
"Doctor
Nagura!" Sinclair cried. "What's wr -
"
"Nothing!"
Nagura snapped. "I just... it's nothing. I'm
fine."
Sinclair glanced
down at the robosuit before looking back at the
doctor.
"How do I -
"
"AAARRRRGGHH!"
Nagura cried out again. "Sinclair... monster...!
I...!"
"Doctor Nagura,
I - "
"You and
Satoshi... monsters...!" Nagura told him.
"When I get... free...!"
Sinclair shook his
head.
"Doctor
Nagura," he whispered, "I need you to trust
me. I'm on your side. I just need a little more time
to do what - "
"On my...
side?" Nagura's voice was slow, sluggish and
strained. "Prove... it!"
"The implant
Jinsei put inside your head is gone. It's in
Satoshi's office. You've only been obeying him
because you think the implant is there and
you fear the pain."
Doctor Nagura closed
his eyes and clenched his fist. With one powerful
blow he reached through the bars and struck
Sinclair's stomach. The actually younger but
seemingly older man collapsed forward and gasped
loudly.
"You are
telling... the truth," Nagura said. "Thank
you."
Sinclair nodded.
"I need you to
play along with Satoshi for a little while
longer," Sinclair told him. "I have a plan,
but I'm not ready yet."
"What's to
stop... me breaking... out of here?" Nagura
asked. He stepped forward and gripped two of the
metal bars, one in each hand, and began to pull.
Suddenly, his body was flung against the cell, and as
it hit the back wall it was thrown forward again,
coming to a rest only inches from the bars.
"That."
The voice that
replied was not Sinclair's - it belonged to Satoshi
Kakeru, who made his own way to the front of Nagura's
cell. He looked inside at the metal-coated man and
shook his head disapprovingly.
"What made you
think you could try to escape me?" Satoshi
asked.
"I am sorry...
Director Satoshi," Nagura said. "I do not
know... what came over me."
Satoshi turned to
Sinclair.
"What happened?
Why is his voice like that again?" he inquired.
"I think
Jinsei's influence is wearing off," Sinclair
replied, "and he is reverting back to his
original age, but he's still loyal to us. Look!"
He lifted the robosuit and showed it to Satoshi.
"Good timing.
I'm told my men have nearly finished unlocking the Eternity
Changer. Another week, and Operation:
Guardian can begin."
"Excellent."
"Try the suit
on. Let Nagura know if there are any problems - but
first, make sure that implant gets reinserted. I
don't want any more escape attempts, especially now
that we have Sorceress Miko."
"Yes, Director
Satoshi," Sinclair responded. Satoshi turned
away and left the corridor outside Nagura's cell.
Sinclair, in turn, faced Doctor Nagura.
"Don't worry,
doctor," he said. "I made you a promise,
and I always keep my promises."
