Sinister Six: Re-Engineered

by Rich (Bombman) Kassidy

CHAPTER 11: My Job...

Despite the apparent risk of teleporting human flesh, Apple seemed just fine to the relieved Elecman, besides her pre-existing injuries sustained in Greece. No matter, as Light Labs was more than capable of healing a human being. Taking the unconscious rouge munitions expert in his arms, Elecman entered the door of the hallowed laboratory and made his way to the spare bedroom, where he laid Apple down while he went to summon Roll for her assistance. Hopefully, she’s still acquainted with flesh and blood and not just titanium and nanomachines.

But not before being interrupted by the last two he wanted to see at this point.

“Weellllll….”, Rich began in a loud, abrasive tone. “See you’ve got ya plans for ta’night already worked out.”

“Yeah, why not just skip the chase and put her in [I]your[/I] room for the night, eh Elecky-Boo Boo?”, Gary mocked in his usual over the top fashion.

“C’mon guys…Lay off. She’s hurt.”, Leon defended.

“Ooooohhhh, suuuuure. Gotcha there, boss.”, Bombman winked and gestured with his hands.

“…Don’t you two yutzes have anything better to do than talk about something that can’t happen in the first place?”, Elecman sighed.

“Uhhh, whaddya mean can’t happen in th’ first place?”, Rich scratched his head in wonderment.

“Bomb, I think you’ve drunk yourself retarded. You weren’t actually serious, were you?”, Gary suddenly  turned on the wobbly explosives master.

“God…I’m related to him how?”, Leon shook his head, covering his brow with his hand.

Leon turned and left the pair to continue on his way down the hallway in search of Roll while Gary filled in the confused Bombman on the miracles of Light robotics and just what it’s physical limitations were. If you were to look closely enough, you could see a small smirk cross Leon’s face at the utterly over the top scene that had just played out.

It was indeed good to be home again.

At least, that’s what he thought until he passed the kitchen and found himself in a stare down with the latest being to enter the Light household, who was sitting casually at the dining table with Roll.

“…You…”, was all he said through his gritted teeth.

* * * *

Meanwhile, as Fireman and Gutsman scoured the sand-ravaged city of Phoenix in plain clothes, Fireman was beginning to voice his lack of enthusiasm at this current turn of events.

“This is a waste of time, not to mention dangerous. We can’t be splitting up like this.”, he spat.

“Look, if Elecman thinks this guy’s important, than he’s worth the risk. Elec wasn’t the type to overstate things, you know.”, Erik countered.

“No, he wasn’t…But even he didn’t know if this Genesis guy was here or not. And from what it sounds like, he wasn’t the kind of guy to advertise where he is.”

Ben stopped in his tracks and put his hand on his chin as he reached an epiphany.

“Guts…How is that Elecman even knew of Genesis in the first place?”

“…I guess it’s because he’s well connected. He is a resistance fighter, and a top officer at that.”

“Yeah, but I’d imagine there’s things even he wouldn’t know without a little help. I’m starting to think he may not have been totally straight with us.”, Fireman theorized.

“C’mon…Elec wouldn’t lie to us. Bombman, yeah, cause he did all the time to set up traps for enemies, but not Elecman. He never needed to.”

“Well, what if he thinks he needs to now? It’s been ten years- maybe the man’s changed.”

“…You haven’t.”, another counter by the giant.

“I’m not Elecman. He’s always been very careful. Maybe he’s being even more careful than we know. Look…All I’m saying is that we’re on a wild goose chase out here. Hell, we don’t even know what this quack looks like!”

“Ugh…Damn it, you’re right! How’d we forget to ask him that one?”, Erik cursed.

“Because, theoretically, Elecman wouldn’t know either, seeing as he’s supposedly never met the guy…”

“See? I think that makes a good case for Elecman being honest with us.”

“Or leading us on…”

Erik kicked the dirt at his feet.

“In any case…I think we’re done here. We’d best get home before anything big happens.”

“Plus, this place just plain stinks. No wonder Genesis isn’t here…”, Ben surmised.

The pair suddenly disappeared in a white haze that seemed to reach down from the sandy skies and pluck them from the Earth to deliver them to the heavens. They never would have seen the being rise from the sand seconds later, whom had been keeping close tabs on the pair since their arrival.

“I see…”, the arachnid-like man whispered to himself. “The doctor could be in the area still, despite those two amateurs giving up so soon. Good, as it leaves me to continue searching for him without distraction.”

Looking around cautiously for any onlookers, the Scorpion disappeared beneath the yellowed, sun-heated sands and onto an unknown location.

“He’s here somewhere. It’s only a matter of time…”

* * * *

“This…witch…What is she doing here?!”, Leon demanded of Roll.

“…I’m not here to start trouble. I’m here because I’ve left the Shinsengumi.”, Cutsan interjected before her older sister could answer.

“Leave the Shinsengumi? Are you insane? Do you really expect me to buy that? Nobody walks out of New Center City. Ever.”

“I just did.”, she claimed as she pointed to her bandaged gunshot wound to show as proof.

“Bullshit.”, the EEL captain refuted.

“It doesn’t matter what you think. It’s already happened.”, she was quick to assert.

“Well…now what? Huh? You think they’re going to just let you go? Their top serial killer?

“I am not a serial killer. I am…I was an assassin.

“Oh, I know all about it. Nearly 1,000 kills with only one miss, am I right? Or perhaps…I should say two after yesterday…”, Elecman recanted.

“…It was nothing personal.”

“Nothing personal?! Now I know you’re crazy! You just tried to kill your own brother for that…that…regime! You let them use you.”

“I had no where else to go! I…I had nothing after we disbanded. I had nothing to love, no hopes…no dreams of my own. I’ve always lived for the mission…” Hayasa hissed as she finally stood up and out of her chair.

“You’re a killer. You’ve killed innocent people for your own sake. You’re no better…than Wily.”, Leon proclaimed coldly.

“Elecman! That’s taking it too far!”, Roll intervened.

Cutsan stood in silence.

“Is it? Why don’t you tell her about Les Hathoway, the philanthropist you stabbed through the lungs? I’m sure he was a real threat to the NSG. Or how about the more recent Odevski mission? I’m sure he was really planning on bringing down the government.”

“…They were all enemies of the City. They all were going to be killed one way or the other.”

“You see?” Leon asked his older sister Roll. “’Killed one way or the other’. So, does that mean you volunteered to be their executioner and give them a nice painless death? I’m sure you did it as a twisted form of good will for humanity, right?”

“Elecman…Stop. Please.”, Roll pleaded.

Leon and Hayasa stared daggers at each other before Leon finally broke the tension.

“…Roll, I have need of your assistance in the guest room. We’ll be hosting another woman. Someone who doesn’t kill as a part of some game.”

Hayasa put her hand on her sword handle menacingly. Leon retaliated by shooting sparks from his fists.

“Let’s go, Leon…”, Roll offered, quickly stepping between the two now-bitter rivals.

Hayasa watched the two depart the room, during which Elecman wouldn’t let his eyes leave hers in an act of distrust. Then she finally sat back down, exhausted from her ordeal and the emotional strain of having to confront her own brother.

She could help but wonder…Was it really good to be home again?

* * * *

Once again finding himself shuffling piles of papers on his large, steel desk, Commander Ghoen’s brow hadn’t eased since he received the news on Hayasa’s escape. She, more than any other Shinsengumi member, was possibly the last one Ghoen wanted to have working free lance.

Or worse yet, back with her siblings.

“McKenzie…”, he beckoned to his ever-present, eternally informative lackey. “Did the lab say how long it would take to finish repairs on our trump card?”

“Two months, sir. There was extensive damage suffered in it’s last outing.”

“Feh, ridiculous…”

“Sir, may I remind you that the Council did not approve of your methods during it’s last deployment?”, the thoughtful subordinate refreshed.

“I know that all too well…However, our troops have been utterly useless against those…robots.”

“Cyborgs, sir.”, McKenzie corrected.

“All the same. The bottom line is that I need to start taking them more seriously if we’re to claim them. Without Genesis to continue his research, our true objective will remain at a standstill. We need as many as we can to dissect and study if we’re to continue his developments.”

“With all due respect sir, we had one of them in our fold for the past decade. Why didn’t we simply have Genesis use her instead of waiting? I was never clear on the reasons as to why not.”

“It was another one of Genesis’s…quirks. That was my first order to him, but he claimed he could learn much more from studying her without her knowledge, hence why we sent her to kill all those bogus targets over the years. They were nothing but exercises for her, and little more than fresh study material for the ‘good doctor’.”

“Well…He did provide us with many advancements that way. Just look at our top agents.”, McKenzie rationalized.

“I know he was holding back, however. He knew far more than he was letting on, and his sudden escape is evidence of that. If we could only track him down and forcibly extract that knowledge from that old man we’d be all set. Incidentally, how goes the search for our missing friend?”

“Hitokiri Maro is still scouring the Western United States for leads, as that’s our most probably lead at the moment. Apparently, two of the Tetsu Roku were also in the area recently, lending credence to this lead.”

“Was there any contact made between Scorpion and the Roku?”, the Commander inquired.

“No. Maro knows his objective is Genesis and not a fight with the Tetsu Roku.”

“I see. Excellent. Maro is an exemplary hunter- if Genesis is in that area, our Scorpion will recover him, dead if need be. We must reach Genesis before the Roku or the resistance groups do, however. His information is extremely dangerous to us in their hands, and it could be working against us right this moment.”

“Do you want to activate more agents, then?”

“Yes. Send them out to all of our major outposts and have them monitor the Tetsu Roku. If they move, I want one of our agents to investigate and engage the enemy. The Roku is still very dangerous, even if our Shinsengumi elite are more advanced than they are, and they must not be allowed to reach Genesis before we do. If they do, we must spare no expense in crushing them.”

“Why not attack them at their home base in Okinawa?”, the lackey questioned.

“You don’t understand. The Eastern Pacific region is one of our few supportive areas on Earth. A flagrant attack on their soil would seriously damage our already tumultuous relationship with Japan. We must wait for them to leave that region before we strike.”

“Hmm, that does make sense…One other thing., sir.”

“Hm?”

“…Magnusson is missing.”

“Missing? Where were his last coordinates?”

“He was last recorded around a small Greek village. He hasn’t responded to radio calls in nearly three hours. It could be that his suit ran out of power again and that he’s stranded. However, other reports indicate a teleportation signal around that area at approximately the same time…”

“Teleportation…The Tetsu Roku. What were they doing there? Alright, I want a search team sent to that village now. Turn it upside down until we find our man, then have him brought directly to me for a full report. Understood?"

 “Yes sir! I will inform dispatch immediately.”

 McKenzie saluted once more as per tradition and scurried out of the office to deliver the latest orders.

 Commander Ghoen looked at his papers once again- damage reports from the “Dallas incident” of a few days ago. As the one responsible for ordering the mechanical behemoth code named Pulsar Mk II, he was held directly accountable for his actions and was catching holy hell from the Council itself. Worse yet, they didn’t even meet their sole objective, and Pulsar was severely damaged.

 “Damn it. Genesis…What were you hiding from me?”, he suddenly remarked, thinking back to several actions of the enigmatic scientist that now seemed suspicious. “None of this would have been necessary had you simply continued your work. As God as my witness, I will find out what you’re really planning out there.”

 Ghoen brushed the entire stack of damage reports from his desk in one swift motion then again sought the comforting view of the vast Arctic wasteland. It seemed to bring him less comfort than before each time.

Chapter Eleven Extras: Cutsan

As Cutchan, she was rather cold, even to her fellow teammates. She was even more aloof than Fireman, and didn't spend much time with her "family". She was used extensively, however, and to her credit she performed her missions flawlessly, often without ever contacting the enemy or alerting them to her presence. She was also the most skilled fighter of the team by far.