The Adventures of Rajada: page 11

"Oh man." RTSPlayer thought, his mind racing. "I need a plan." He ran back to the tear in the hull, but it wasn't wide enough for him to slip through. "Raja!" he called out, "How much ammo do you have?" "Oh! Plenty!" he replied, a note of sarcasm in his voice. "I certainly have enough to fend off this unrelenting swarm of thugs for days while you prance around in your makeshift bunker losing things!" RTSPlayer was a little taken back at his hostility. "Thugs? Where?" Rajada peered around and noticed the thugs had stopped coming. The darts had stopped flying. Something was wrong. Rajada moved around the corner, putting a rocket into a downed, groaning thug on the way. The area was empty. The battle suit lie dormant. "What the..." Rajada was puzzled. Suddenly G-MO came out from behind the battle suit, escorted by two thugs, one of them holding Rajada's modified Hyperstrike.

Rajada tried to draw his guns but the thugs already had the Hyperstrike to G-MO's head. "Weapons down!" the thug yelled. Rajada reluctantly threw his Triplestrikes to the ground. RTSPlayer, realizing he had lost his Wildfire, stepped back into the wreckage unseen. "What do you really want?" Rajada asked. "Don't move!" the thug yelled back. G-MO shook his head a little. Rajada looked at the thug and noticed his finger was on the alternate fire trigger. The second thug pulled his Scattershot and aimed it at Rajada. "Amateurs!" Rajada yelled as he dove behind cover. The second thug ran after Rajada, but the first was more concerned about G-MO, who slipped away and rolled into the wreckage. The thug missed his shot, and Rajada's special Hyperstrike projectile detonated only a few feet away, too close. A Whomper shockwave obliterated the thug.

Rajada rounded the corner and bumped into G-MO. "G-MO! You saw it too!" Rajada laughed a little. "He had no idea!" G-MO stared a little. "Yeah! Haha, what an idiot!" "Freeze!" The thug with the Scattershot had caught up with Rajada and now had his gun trained on Rajada's head. Suddenly hundreds of metallic darts pierced the hull of the wreck, sticking to the thug's face. They were being fired from within the hull by the modified Wildfire at a blistering pace. After a few seconds of firing, the darts began to fly in a more upwards trajectory, eventually piercing the top of the ship, and finally coming to a stop. Rajada and G-MO scampered from their prone positions and peered through a hole in the wreckage to find RTSPlayer breathing heavily on the ground, smoking Wildfire at at his side. "Hey... guys..." he said between breaths. "I found... the... Wildfire." "You lost it?" Rajada said. G-MO's smile shimmered a little. "Well, maybe we should put this thing back now?" Rajada turned to G-MO. "A little eager after what we just went through, but, hey, want to pilot it back?" G-MO smiled again. "Of course, looks like fun." Rajada laughed a little, turning away, then spun back firing a Secret Shot into G-MO's left shoulder. Fluids gushed from the wound and RTSPlayer stood there, wide-eyed. "What are you doing?!" RTSPlayer screamed, rushing to G-MO's aid. He stooped down to examine the wound then jumped back. A black fluid was receding from G-MO's body. "What the-"

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"Don't you get it? This could be the breakthrough we've been looking for!" said Rajada. "We build a place to study this thing, some kind of lab where we can run tests. We work out the kinks, then we use it to propel our research further! We could invent better versions of the engine, the pacemaker, sliced bread for all I care! We'd be set for life." "Better? We could replace those inventions, control every aspect of our universe!" Balthazar replied. "No, wait, hold on. We have to be careful, as fun as world domination sounds, this kind of power could destroy the universe if not used properly. We can patch up people but we can't 'fix' them. The consequences would be disastrous." "I understand." Balthazar replied.

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"We... we did what we could." Rajada said softly. "NO!" Balthazar yelled, "We could have done more!" "She was terminal, she d-" "We did what you would allow us to do!" Balthazar swiped the operating tools off the table. Rajada inhaled sharply. "You can't 'fix' people, remember? You'll kill them." Balthazar's clenched fist was bleeding profusely. "I wouldn't have killed her. You know a fraction of what I know about the tablet!" Balthazar screamed, poised over the open chest cavity. "I can still- I just need to- unchan the-" "She's gone." Rajada said morosely. "What more could we have done? You think you know but , there's nothing, no solution for this, just band-aids." Balthazar clenched his fist harder, the wound healing over, and threw a punch at Rajada, but it passed right through him. "I will kill you!" Balthazar screamed. "You hear me?! You are dead!" In an instant, the body and Balthazar vanished.

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"Are you sure these machines are up to spec?" Balthazar looked over to his head engineer. "Of course," the engineer replied, "I, I mean, you designed them, I tested them on hundreds of you. They're perfect." "Thank you. Please, watch over the surgery." Balthazar said, taking a seat in a cushioned chair adorned with restraints. "Everything must go smoothly." A machine above him lowered into position, an array of computer chips held by claws in a ring around his head.

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Balthazar walked up to the main entrance to the lab and shoved both guards away without even lifting a finger. Forcing open the thick doors with his mind, he walked in. "Knock, knock!" he said. "Anybody home?" Rajada had seen the entire thing through Balthazar's own eyes and was positioned in the next room. Balthazar walked into the room where Rajada was waiting. "Hey old buddy thought I’d take a tour of the lab." Balthazar said snidely. Balthazar looked around and said "I like what you’ve done with the place, but allow me to redecorate." Rajada drew a triple strike. "Don’t move a muscle." He said. "Don’t worry, I won’t." Balthazar began to glow. Rajada fired his Triplestrike, but the rockets were pushed away into the walls. Rajada fired the Triplestrike again, this time launching all three missiles tethered together by a large three pronged claw-like device. Balthazar tried to push the rockets apart but the tether kept them on target. The central claw grasped Balthazar's head, sending electric signals to his brain. Balthazar fell to the ground, writhing in pain. "I’m sorry. I told you I was so-" It was the last thing Balthazar heard before losing consciousness.

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The black fluid had peeled back, and Balthazar was left staring up at Rajada's Secret Shot. "I invented that device!" Rajada said. "I'm sure you did." Balthazar replied. "But did you ever use it to its full potential? Of course not. You never do." Balthazar tried to get up but was stopped by RTSPlayer's Wildfire. "Do you mind?" Balthazar said. RTSPlayer didn't flinch. "I destroyed your chips." Rajada said tersely. "Why would you come back?" "To kill you mostly, leveling your facility would be nice too." "Yeah good luck with that." Rajada said, pulling a canister off his belt. He pushed the top of the device and it unfolded into a Sidewinder. Electricity was arcing between its fork. "Oh Rajada, you and your gadgets. I should have known earlier you know. When I put those chips in my brain, I had everything I needed to crush you. I had control of almost everything. The passage of time, the weather, your very tether to your soul. What I didn't have was enough understanding of how those things interlocked. I couldn't straighten things out. But after you fried my head, it didn't take me long to regain my memories, the source came right back to me, no chips needed. I left that inescapable island, with a flick of my wrist. Well I've had plenty of time to master my powers now, so if you don't mind, I'd like to kill you now."

Rajada fired the serrated disk from his gun but it shattered mid-flight. Balthazar threw Rajada and RTSPlayer back. RTSPlayer lost his gun and rolled down a hill, but Rajada recovered and landed on his feet. He tried firing his weapons but the projectiles just smashed into the ground. Balthazar came closer. "You had the power to cheat death, but now I have the power to take life!" Balthazar glared at Rajada. Rajada suddenly felt sick, his body froze and his mind began to fill with gibberish. General protection fault! History:wwindow::wndproc <- wwindow::Static Proc <- wwindow::wndproc <- wwindow::Static Proc <- Enforce Tick Rate <- Main Loop...

Rajada awoke inside one of his own containment cells. A forcefield buzzed furiously in front of him. RTSPlayer was slumped over in a corner of the cell. Four masked thugs were in a circle guarding the outside of the cell, discussing something.

"I say we just kill him."

"And the other one?"

"Why not?"

"Balthazar might still need them."

"Maybe, but maybe he makes a break for it, tries to escape, and we take him down."

"If he just happened to get a hold of a weapon, we wouldn't have any other choice."

"And the other one?"

"Please, he can barely hold a gun let alone fire one."

"Hey, guys." Rajada said, pulling one of the guard's Secret Shots. "I escaped."

All of the guards whirled around and fired, but Rajada was already behind them again. He fired the Secret Shot, but it spewed darts like a machine gun, eliminating two of the thugs in less than a second. Rajada kicked the third to the ground, darts finishing him off. Then Rajada performed a sweep kick, knocking the last guard flat on his face. Rajada grabbed the guard's mask, exposing his face. To Rajada's amazement, his face looked nearly identical to Balthazar. The guard was groaning, but Rajada showed no mercy. With a single look, the guard flew into the forcefield, vaporizing in an instant. RTSPlayer sat in the cell, staring in amazement. Rajada saw him looking on. "Stay there!" he yelled. RTSPlayer just shyly put his hands up.

Rajada picked up another Secret Shot and proceeded down the hall. He mowed down every thug that tried to get in his way. As he approached is destination, a wave of a dozen thugs streamed out of the doorway at him. Rajada threw his pistols behind him and produced a Whomper out of thin air. The thugs screeched to a halt and ran back for cover, but all got jammed in the narrow doorway. Rajada fired the Whomper, and guided the shot right into the middle of the crowd.

Rajada opened the secure door to the time machine room. Sure enough, there was Balthazar, modifying the machine with spare parts. "Need a hand?" Rajada said menacingly. Balthazar spun around, surprised. "Rajada! You're just in time to be killed!" He dramatically flicked up his arm at Rajada, but nothing happened. Rajada continued to advance at him, fists clenched. "Not this time, buddy."

WHAT SHOULD HE DO?

1. Kick butt.

2. Take names.

3. Show no mercy.

4. Show incredible mercy.