by Tai Goodman
"It is said that famous German frontman of Die roten Tulpen, Gunter Fruedich, is now entering Lafayette in Louisiana for a motivational speech. He will be performing it at 8:30 in course of charity at First Lafayette Park on Monday."
Chapter VIII: Speaking Out
LAFAYETTE, LOUSIANA
"Gunter Fruedich. How's he a celebrity if nobody on this Earth has been alerted to his existence. And who is Die Rotor Toolhead. Never heard of that band, never wanted to listen to their freaking music."
Phoenix arrived on his motorcycle without his mask on. He left it on his kickstand. "First time I'm gonna leave my favorite hunk-of-junk. Hope nobody takes it." He headed off into the park, covered with banners with swastikas on it. There were so many people attending the speech. Trucks and food vans were parked everywhere. Phoenix stopped in the middle of the crowd to examine a food vehicle. Somebody ran over to him, and grabbed him. "WE'RE STILL INFECTED!"
"THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? GET OFF ME, MAN!"
"WE'RE THE SAME!"
Phoenix shoved him away, and security came to grapple him. The two guards hauled him away by his arms, as he announced, "WE ARE ALL STILL INFECTED!" Then one distinctly dressed man came over to him and asked, "You alvight, sir?"
Phoenix brushed himself off and nodded. The man analyzed Phoenix's attire with his keen eyes. The fur-lined coat, and the grey undershirt with a few scuffs and tears. "You look awfully familiar. Have I seen you before?"
"No."
The man looked around and said, "I have an offer for you, since you vere mauled by that... Insane rat. Follow me to my trailer, I'm sure you're a big fan of my vork." Phoenix then recognized him right when he said that: The German man in a yellow suit was Gunter Fruedich. Phoenix followed him through the crowd, conversating with him..
"You are a fan of jazz, ja?"
"Yes."
"Do you know how to play un instrument?"
"Guitar."
"Ooh. Ve could possibly use you onstage. One of mein guitarists is dealing with an alcohol problem." Phoenix shook his head right after he scoffed. "Surprised the Nazi soldiers haven't taken that guy away."
The two arrived at a very thin trailer, with the door labeled: "FRUEDICH." Gunter opened the door for Phoenix, allowing him to walk inside. "Make yourself at home."
The room was well cleaned, decorated with cushions and couches. Gunter shut the door and pressed a button on the wall, opening up a secret alcohol cabinet. "Vhat do you vant to drink? Killepitsch? Schwartzhog?"
"Nothing, really."
Gunter cabinet and sat down adjacently from him on a very comfortable leather chair. "Your clothing is... Unique. Are you sure I haven't seen you before?"
"I'm pretty sure."
Gunter opened a tablet in the wall, and revealed a touchscreen news application. He pulled the tablet out, and then flipped it around to show Phoenix a picture of.... Himself. As the "Masked Terror." Then Gunter unsheathed a knife and impaled Phoenix through his chest with it.
"DO YOU THINK I WOULD BE IMPRESSED AT YOUR HORRIBLE ACTING? Did you think my memory was that atrocious? I know who you are! And now that I have you pinned down, I shall call security."
Gunter released the knife, backing away. He phoned security through a comms system on his wall, but stopped once he watched Phoenix get up, and remove the knife from his chest himself.
Then Phoenix waved the knife around, examining it. "Alright, show-boy. Let's go onstage. What do you use to communicate with your bodyguards?" Phoenix asked. Gunter stood still for a second, and attempted to grab the knife. He failed, when Phoenix yanked it back. "AHT AHT AHT- You aren't getting this until you tell me."
Gunter sighed, and inserted the passcode to his suitcase. Opening it up, he revealed three sections of where earpieces were. Only one remained. "There." Phoenix snatched it and attached it to his ear. The earpiece then blinked a small bit of green. "Alright, asshole. Get on stage, and say EVERYTHING I tell you. And if I even see you talking to a security guard, I'll send you six feet under with your grandmother." Gunter groaned, then Phoenix stuck the knife underneath the overpass of Gunter's chin. "You got a problem, I can pronounce your ass dead right now."
Gunter walked out of his trailer with Phoenix on his trail. He stood onstage, and cleared his throat into the mic. "MHMM! May I have everybody's attention, bitte?"
The crowd encompassed the vicinity of the stage. "The excruciatingly painful experience that we have had in the last two days, we have evolved from it. There is apparently NO sign of the Masked Terror, and I presume he was killed by someone as he probably turned into one of the freaks. BUT EXCLUDING THAT, we must suffice. Mrs. Anna Pultzei cannot be here right now. SO with that being said... Umm... Ugh... Fuck? Fuck the Nazis. Nazis are NOT in control of... This country... Anyone bowing down to them is a coward and a fool..."
The crowd then started booing at Gunter. Phoenix wielded his pistol and strapped on his mask. "Son of a bitch." Phoenix clicked the hammer on the pistol, and the screen on the side notified him he had 10 shots. "You got ten bullets, Phoenix. You can either kill ten people, or you can get creative." Security then approached Gunter onstage. Phoenix walked through the middle of the crowd, and every row he passed, each person knew who he was. The Masked Terror.
There were two guards ready to haul him away. Phoenix fired one shot, hitting the first guard in the throat. Then he shot the other guard in the face, with the bullet piercing his cheek in a big impact. More guards were approaching. "ACHTUNG!!" Phoenix picked up two empty folding chairs, blocking bullets as they came, one by one. Phoenix heaved himself onstage, and scooted behind the podium where Gunter was underneath.
"Nice work!"
"Um... Danke schon?"
Phoenix pulled the hammer down and saw he had 8 bullets left. "But I can't let someone go who has seen my face." Phoenix shot Gunter in the head, and now seven bullets remain. Phoenix examined his surroundings. Wooden podium. Gunter's corpse. Guards approaching. Phoenix pulled the hammer back down, and switched ammunition types to Fragmentation. "I'm gonna send these fucks sky-high." Phoenix leaned to the right, and fired an explosive shot at three Nazis' feet. BOOM! A huge explosion left two Nazis' guts all over innocent people, blood dripping everywhere. One was left with one vertical half of his body charred. Phoenix analyzed him, and grabbed the two deceased Nazis' automatic rifles from his sides, holding both in an akimbo fashion. The Nazi heard two combat boots hit the ground, and march over to him. With his one good eye, the man focused on Phoenix slowly walking over to him.
The Nazi wasn't normal, however. It was an American turned Nazi. "You... ffuuuck..." he mumbled with blood pouring out of his mouth onto the rug. "You don't sound like no Nazi. You an American, boy?"
"What does it matter anymore.... this country needs straightening.. It's up to us to fuck up the queer... Up to us to destroy the undesirables..." The man kept turning over repeatedly, struggling in anger. "Sit still, not like you can even do shit."
More Nazis approached. Phoenix then changed his direction to the Nazis and fired about a quarter of a magazine from each gun on them. Both hit the ground on top of each other.
"We were... losing the damned war... I had to do something... So I switched sides..."
Phoenix nodded and noticed a badge on the Nazi's pocket, hanging there with a metal clip. He nudged it with the barrel of his left weapon. "You get that award for killing jews?"
"I got it... for courage..."
"Courage. So here's what's gonna happen: I'm gonna do something you might be scared of. And then we'll see how much that useless piece of scrap metal is worth." Phoenix stood up straight, and then stomped the man's skull into several pieces across the grass. "I just realized something. What is there even left of the military. All we are now are a bunch of bees in a hive with no queen."
Phoenix walked down the red aisle, and strolled deep into the fair. A chef spotted Phoenix, but when the two made eye contact, the chef crouched down. All of a sudden... ZAP!
Phoenix was being electrocuted by a voltage source. "AAAHHHHH!"
"Fight it. Find out who the fuck that is." While still being stunned, he turned around, and fired both rifles with the fingers cramping up. "Water's in our bodies. And it's a conductor for electricity. But it don't conduct no Nazi propaganda bullshit." Phoenix shot up a Nazi with a taser-attachment on the end of his barrel. The enemy fell to the ground on his back, crawling backwards. Then with confidence, Phoenix fired into the man's body, killing him.
"Put that fucker's lights out." Phoenix continued to head through the park. And then he walked over to the wooden roadblock sign from traffic safety, and kicked it out into the street. A car then swerved around it in order to maintain itself on the street.
"Fuck safety. Safety's for pussies."
Phoenix then walked over to his choppercycle, and gripped the handlebars. "Sorry I've been gone. Let's go home, baby." Phoenix wiggled himself out of the fur coat and continued his journey back to Neu Orleans. He removed his mask and concealed it in a leather container on the side. "I constructed this piece of metal in 1940. It was amazing how I could make a vehicle transportable. Had to work out at the gymnasium to carry it on my back, through. Put a few kinks in it, and I got myself a versatile rubber burning machine."
Then on the side of the road in a small town, on the back to Neu Orleans, he rode by a woman being raped by three men. Phoenix instantly swerved around and drove back to the area which was an alley. Once he was in front of the alley way, the men had already undressed the woman, head to toe. Phoenix got off of his motorcycle and strapped on his mask, catching all three of the men's attention.
"TIKHO! TIKHO! Posmotri tuda!" one of them said. They were Russians.
Phoenix cracked his knuckles and said in a low voice, "Let her go."
The three started laughing. "HAAAAA! Hahahahaha! Very funny, American, very very funny. You are "masked terror," da? You look terrifying, I no kid around. Because your outfit look like SHIT!"
They all started laughing once again. The woman scooped up her clothes and hid behind a dumpster in the alley. The gang's leader turned around and screamed at her, "GO! RUN! YOU NO GOOD LIKE OTHER WOMEN." Then he faced Phoenix. "Listen, you masked fuck, I not sure why people are afraid of these masks. All they do is hide identity like a pussy."
Phoenix said, "You got 10 seconds to get the fuck outta here or this American boot's gonna kick your ass back to Moscow!"
The three Russian men started chuckling again, but only for a shorter amount of time. "ALRIGHT, DAMBASS, DAY NAM VASH LUCHSHIY VYBOR!"
Chapter IX: Mother Russia BLEEDS
Phoenix sprinted over to the three, and was punched in the face by one, getting knocked on the ground. "ERRGH!"
Trying to get up, he was restrained by the other two on the ground. He attempted to lift himself up, but couldn't. "ANDREI! SHOW HIM THAT MOTHER RUSSIA BLEEDS!"
The two stood him up by his arms, and pushed him against the brick wall to his right. "Mother Russia bleeds? Nope. It's gonna be you who bleeds." The gang leader, Andrei, socked Phoenix in the mask once. "You are BASTARDE!"
Then again. "YOU ARE WORTHLESS AND WEAK!"
And again. "YOU ARE TERMITE! AND I STEP ON TERMITE!"
Phoenix was kicked in the chest. "ARRGH!" he groaned, causing the muscles on Phoenix's arm to glow yellow. The two goons watch it in accumulating fear. "Chto, chert voz'mi, on delayet?"
Phoenix freed himself with his enlarged strength, tearing one of the goon's hands off of his stumps. "GET BACK!"
Phoenix looked to the goon whom he injured maliciously, and with his elbow, caved in the henchman's face with the curve. The other one backed away and pulled out a submachine gun, light enough to be held with one arm. Phoenix didn't notice, as he fought Andrei. "You may be strong, but WATCH!"
Andrei injected himself with a syringe of strength-enhancing steroids. "POLUCHITE NEKOTORYYE!"
Phoenix launched a punch at him, but missed and punched his hand through a wall. Unable to yank it out, Andrei pressed the back of his heel down, and a spike extended out of the toes of his foot. "YA UB'YU TEBYA!"
Phoenix remained in place, and received a sharp kick in the side. Blood started to pour out of the wound. "NOW YOU BLEED."
"Wrong."
With one hand, Phoenix ripped his hand and a big block of the wall out of the wall it was in. Then Phoenix slammed the block on Andrei's head, smashing it to pieces. Andrei endured the hit, with veins pumping adrenaline and blood visibly in his forehead. Andrei picked up a brick and swung it, missing Phoenix. Phoenix uppercutted the brick out of his hand, then grabbed Andrei by his shirt and threw him into a dumpster.
"HEY! AMERICAN!"
Phoenix turned around to see the last mobster, with the submachine gun. "DIE!!"
His finger cramped and fired several short controlled bursts of gunfire, 3 bullets each. The only problem was that Phoenix took the impact like it was nothing. He continuously walked through the gunfire like it was nothing, and noticed people on the street running away. Phoenix arrived in front of the goon, frightening him. A flaming skull appeared on the digital screen of his mask. Phoenix snatched the gun, removed the magazine, and tossed the gun over his left shoulder.
"What you gonna do now when you ain't got no goddamned gun?"
The man sprinted away. Phoenix sprinted over to the dumpster and discovered the fully dressed woman. "You alright? Pretty sure these guys ain't gonna bother you no more," he assured. Then a blue van with a Soviet Union symbol was on the hood. "MY UB'yem VAS!"
Phoenix looked at the dumpster. "GET IN THE DUMPSTER! NOW! GO!"
He lifted one of the lids and the woman climbed inside. The escaped henchman aimed his pistol out of the window of the van's door, firing in random directions. One bullet hit Phoenix in the arm. "GODDAMN!"
Andrei blinked and looked at what was coming. A Russian van was approaching from the front of the alley, and took up the width of the space. "Uh oh." The van drove into the dumpster, ran over Andrei, and Phoenix flew over the hood and onto the roof. With his knife, he stabbed it through the roof to maintain stability. Bullets and gunfire flew through the roof, without hitting Phoenix. The van reached the very end of the alley, pushing the dumpster out into the middle of the street. Phoenix watched the dumpster go over the sidewalk and then crash into a store's display case.
Phoenix removed his knife, and landed on the ground, right besides Andrei's corpse covered in rubber marks. "You don't understand. It was you who was bleeding the entire time."
Phoenix pulled out his pistol and fired a shot into the back of the van, "BOOM!"
Flames, shrapnel, and metal fragments flew everywhere. The van's chassis ran into a light pole without tipping it over. Phoenix sprinted across the street to check the dumpster. "Come on, please be alive."
The moment he opened it, the woman questioned him, "Is it over?"
"Yeah, you can come on out."
The woman jumped out of the dumpster and said to Phoenix, "I know who you are. I won't report you." Phoenix nodded and added, "Well if the police question you, make sure they know I saved your life from those... PIGS." She nodded, and went on her way. "I can't thank you enough!"
"Chupacabras. Vampires. Wolfmen. These monsters aren't the scariest monsters out there. It's human beings. Unpredictable, but alike, and the more you predict out of one, the more wrong you'll be when the truth is pulled out from under you."
Chapter X: The Powerhouse Effect
Phoenix arrived home, and walked through the front door as he retracted his choppercycle. "Phoenix!"
Abhy ran into his arms and hugged him. Hans was behind her, standing there impatiently. "Are we ready for the next task?"
"I guess."
The group entered the garage, and unrolled a map of a factory. "Herr Phoenix, do you know what zhis is?"
"Looks like a manufacturing building," he said, noticing the heavy equipment and tubular technology circling the place. "Right," answered Hans, "People's products, fresh filtere
d water, agriculture, weaponry, people receive it in this building. They order it through a technological device in vhich zhe product is quickly created and sent to zhat person's location through zhe transportational tubes. But when you receive your quarry or package, you must put zhe box back in and send it. And that's where zhe Nazis have made un mistake.
And this is an all participational event. Every one of us is going to go. Ve vill use these explosives that Peter and I have created, set the timer, and send zhe box back up. Then the technology within the factory will be demolished. This vill show Pultzei that ve mean business, and that if ve can't have it, nobody can."
LARGEST MANUFACTURING FACILITY
TOPEKA, KANSAS
"We're in the center of death. Circle's closing in by the second until all of us are dead, and it's me still on the decimating platform. I want to reverse that process. But it's a dog-eat-dog world. The dog that's eating us, I'm gonna kill it once and for all."
Phoenix arrived at a large building. It was shaped like a dome. Tyler turned the rentable vehicle off and said, "Alright, we all know the plan, right?"