"This is not good." said Red Spade. "I should have never left this fire."
Suddenly a voice rang out from the building that was on fire. "OH MY GOD! HELP ME!"
"Katrina!" said a black man on the street. He was about to rush into the building when Red Spade and Mantis Skin stopped him. "Katrina is in there! You have to let me go rescue her!"
"No you won't, you will die in there!" said Mantis Skin. "But I can go in there."
"Okay, here's the deal." said Blue Star. "I will knock over that water tower over there on the building that is starting to catch on fire. It will take me a few minutes, so Mantis Skin go rescue that woman. Red Spade, you stay here and make sure no one goes into that building."
"Right!" said Red Spade and Mantis Skin. When Mantis Skin went into the building, the man who was about to rush into the building to save Katrina begun to slump to his knees. "Hey man, get up! I am not carrying you and you need to be strong for Katrina! When she comes out of there, she is going to need someone to carry her out of this neighborhood!"
"Yes," said the man picking himself up. The black man did not take his eyes off the building. "You are right."
In the fire, Mantis Skin was calling out for Katrina. While he was not worried about getting burned, his ninja gi could very easily get burned. However it did not take long for him to find the woman. By the time he found her, she was passed out. Mantis Skin scoped her up and looked for the nearest window.
On the other roof, Blue Star was making quick work of the water tower's infrastructure. Lucky enough for Blue Star, the tower was all made of aluminum instead of wood. Before putting the last few arrows into the water tower's infrastructure, Blue Star looked over the edge of the building to see if Mantis Skin had made it out with the woman. Blue Star knew Mantis Skin could take a few thousand gallons of water, but could the woman?
The water tower creaked. Blue Star knew it would fall soon, but she did not know if it would fall where she wanted if she did not fire the last few arrows. Then she heard the sound of glass breaking and Blue Star saw Mantis Skin jumping out the window with an unconscious woman. She did not see it, because she turned her attention back to the water tower, but Mantis Skin landed on a car with Katrina in his arms.
"Run!" yelled Mantis Skin. Blue Star shot the last two arrows into the water tower's infrastructure and brought it down on the fire. Blue Star herself ran for cover. The steam cause by the water falling on the building fire bellowed forth. A news helicopter taking video from the air, caught the falling water tower on video. The cameraman operating the camera within the helicopter could not believe his eyes.
"You guys alright?" asked Blue Star as she re-joined her teammates a few minutes later. Mantis Skin was still patting himself down, as he was smoking in a few places. Red Spade was coughing slightly from the steam and then he hacked, then spit on the ground.
"I will be fine." answered Mantis Skin. "Remind me never to take up smoking again."
"Yeah, I will be fine." answered Red Spade a little horse.
"Well done, heroes." boomed a voice behind from down the street a little. Trident Force turned to it and saw Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron, with a wide smile and slow clap of his hands, walked up to them with the news camera still on him. The camerawoman's face was wet from crying. "Now let us see how you deal with the personification of anger!"
Red Spade #7
(2015/11/07)
"I am Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron! And Contemnotric Energy is my game!"
Red Spade, Blue Star, and Mantis Skin were all in fighting stances and did not know how to answer that. In fact, the three members of Trident Force did not know what "Contemnotric" energy meant.
Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron himself was big and tall. He had on tall, highly polished black boots. The man wore what looked like black wrestler tights with ancient Egypt symbols. Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron wore no shirt, but his muscles were huge and nothing to be ashamed of. His long dreadlocks were painted blue and gold. The painted dreadlocks made it look like that Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron was wearing a Nemes, the striped headcloth worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt.
"Okay." said Red Spade finally. "Contemnotric. What- what does that even mean?"
"Anger! Not only do I inspire Anger in others, but I then feed off of their anger!" answered Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron clenching his fists.
"Whoa, time out!" said Red Spade making the "T" time-out symbol with his hands. "Remember your fan here! Can I have five minutes here with my teammates before you, you know, kill us?"
"Alright, I am a sporting man." answer Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron. "For my 'fan' I will give you five minutes before I..." Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron smiled "...kill you."
"Alright, I ran into this guy earlier." said Red Spade after huddling up with his teammates and showing them his shovel. "He's a local former wrestler. About twelve years ago he seemed to retire and disappeared. When I ran into him, this guy burnt my shovel with eye beams. However at the time he did not kill me, nor did he seem inclined to do so. If he is feeding off of the anger surrounding us, then he must be supercharged by now. But have noticed not everyone is angry. Why?"
"He 'inspires' and 'feeds off' anger, but Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron does not control anger." said Mantis Skin.
"Right." said Red Spade. "Which means I have to face him myself."
"Excuse me?" said Blue Star. "Just a minute ago he said he was going to kill us! You just said he has eye beams. You will be dead in a few seconds!"
"But it has to be me." said Red Spade. "I have been thinking of nothing but my wife and kid since this whole thing started. I am full of love, so he can not reach me."
"Just a minute here. I have not tested the fabric you are wearing on eye beams or energy weapons of any kind. I told you this already." answered Mantis Skin. "Why don't I go?"
"Because like you said, you and the fabric are untested against eye beams." answered Red Spade. "Good day to test it then. If it does not work, then you need to live to find the flaw."
"Why not me?" asked Blue Star. "I might not have a family like you do, but that doesn't mean I can't love."
"But you have arrows." answered Mantis Skin for Red Spade. "If he shoots Red Spade with those eye beams, kill him. He can't shoot two things at once."
"Right." said Red Spade. "Then it is agreed. I go face him. I do not want to die, but tell my wife and child I died with them in my heart."
"Time's up, you three!" yelled Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron. "Time to face your fate in the fire of ANGER!!"
Red Spade turned to Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron and started walking up to Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron without fear or anger. When he got within a few feet of Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron, Red Spade stopped and dropped his shovel. Then Red Spade held up his hands. "Hey, you wouldn’t kill one of your fans now? Would you?"
Mantis Skin #7
(2015/11/07)
"Hey, you would not kill one of your fans now? Would you?" said Red Spade to Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron.
Mantis Skin almost flinched, but caught himself. Blue Star leaned forward and Mantis Skin put out his arm to stop her. "No, we must trust him. We honor his courage by trusting him."
Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron looked intently at Red Spade as his eyes narrowed. Then Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron slapped his thigh and let out a belly laugh. For a couple long minutes, Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron just laughed. Then Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron collected himself and put his right hand on Red Spade's left shoulder.
"You are one brave fool, you know that?" asked Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron. "So, a shovel and the red spade. What is your name?"
"Red Spade." answered Red Spade.
"Yes. Red Spade. You said you are a fan?" said Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron.
"Yes, when you were a wrestler!" said Red Spade. "When you did your Pyramid Slam, the crowd went wild! I even bought one of your t-shirts! If I knew you would be here, I would have brought it for you to sign it! I do not go to any wrestling shows these days, but I do plan to take my son someday. Why did you quit?"
"Oh, a couple of reasons." answered Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron. "I broke my arm, during the
Pyramid Slam no less. And then I got a job with the Russian mob and they paid better."
At that moment Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron grabbed Red Spade by the left collar bone and lifted the surprised Red Spade into the air. "And then I got these sweet, sweet powers that feed off of other people's anger! When Westgate Sentinel quit, just icing on the cake! Tonight, East Melbourne! Then tomorrow me and my brothers and sisters will march onto the rest of Westgate City!"
Two arrows flew from Blur Star's bow toward Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron. Unfortunately his eye beams shot of them both down. Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron then tossed Red Spade back first into a car windshield. Red Spade struggled a little and then stopped moving.
"Foolish woman! I have been watching you three all night!"
"Blue Star, get Red Spade out of here!" ordered Mantis Skin not caring that Blue Star was in command. "I will deal with this Zoltron character!"
Blue Star did not argue. She ran to where Red Spade laid half buried in the car windshield. Blue Star checked his pulse and when she could not find one, took out her knife and held the blade right under Red Spade's nose. When she saw the breathing, Blue Star knew Red Spade was alive.
"Oh, thank goodness!" said Blue Star through tears. Blue Star then threw Red Spade over her shoulder and ran as fast as she could out of East Melbourne, not looking back.
Mantis Skin got into his Praying Mantis Boxing "hook" stance and waited for Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron to make his move.
"Oh, oh," said Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron mockingly. "Don't tell me, you are a Kung Fu master! This is wonderful! You see, I know a few Kung Fu moves myself!"
Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron then got into a few mock Kung Fu stances and made the sounds. After making a few mocking moves, his eye beams come out for Mantis Skin. However Mantis Skin just rolled out of the way. Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron again and again used his eye beams, yet Mantis Skin just rolled out of the way.
Just before Mantis Skin could directly engage Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron, the sound of engines was heard landing behind Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron.
"What in the world?" asked Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron as he turned around. There, to the shock of everyone, was none other than Westgate Sentinel himself.
"You murdered people on live television, you monster. I am taking you in, one way or the other." said Westgate Sentinel. Turning to Mantis Skin, Westgate Sentinel continued: "You! Get the camerawoman out of here!"
Trident Force #7
(2015/11/07)
"You!" yelled Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron pointing to Westgate Sentinel. "I thought you retired!"
"I did. Until you murdered people on live TV." answered Westgate Sentinel. Mantis Skin could not believe his own eyes. Westgate Sentinel then turned to Mantis Skin. "I told you to get out of here with that-"
Westgate Sentinel was interpreted when Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron tackled Westgate Sentinel.
***
Up in the air in the news helicopter, the camera operator there was excited about seeing Westgate Sentinel's returned. However his enthusiasm was short lived when the producer cut in: We are cutting the live feed. The WCPD has ordered the airspace cleared!
"Oh man! Cops ruined everything!" the cameraman then had an idea and pulled out his own Canon digital SLR with EF-S 18–200mm APS-C Zoom lens. He then turned to the pilot. "Hey man, take your time getting out of the air space."
"I heard that!" answered the helicopter pilot with a smile.
***
Mantis Skin did not need to be told three times. He went to the camerawoman. She was on her knees crying uncontrollably. She had dropped her Eyewitness News Channel Seven news camera on the ground like she did not care anymore.
"Come! We must go!" yelled Mantis Skin.
"No!" yelled the woman. "I want to see that bastard pay for murdering Parker and Winters!"
Mantis Skin looked to the battling titans and realized why there was so much noise coming from the near-by fighting. Westgate Sentinel was still on his back from being tackled. For every three blows from Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron, Westgate Sentinel returned only one. The punches were deafening. The street was cracking. Glass everywhere was shattering.
Suddenly, Westgate Sentinel eye beams shot out and knocked Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron off. Then Westgate Sentinel picked up Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron and threw the wrestler into a car next to Mantis Skin and the camerawoman. If Mantis Skin and the camerawoman had been 50 meters closer to the car, the camerawoman would at least be dead.
"I am sorry for this..." said Mantis Skin and hit the camerawoman. The punch did not knock the camerawoman out, but it did stun her enough for Mantis Skin to toss her over his shoulder and get her out of there. As he was running out of there, he caught one last glimpse of the fight between Westgate Sentinel and Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron. Both had their eye beams turned to full and were now meeting each other, who won that battle Mantis Skin was not waiting around to find out just now. East Melbourne protesters also fled. Mantis Skin looked up and saw the news helicopter moving slowly out of the war zone.
When he got to the police line, where protesters were now being arrested as fast as they could, Mantis Skin handed the poor camerawoman to one of the riot gear police officers.
"She can press charges on me later, I need to get back in there and help-" At that moment, a huge explosion went off where Westgate Sentinel and Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron was fighting. Mantis Skin turned and realized it was now far too late to return.
***
A couple hours later, Blue Star and Mantis Skin sat on a curb together with blankets over their shoulder. They each had a cup of hot coffee in hand and yet each had not taken a sip. The sun was slowly coming up and the black skies had made way for clear blue skies. They had given their statements already and they were free to go, yet both were in no hurry to leave. The camerawoman refused to press charges on Mantis Skin.
"Two broken ribs." said Mantis Skin. "Red Spade got off light."
"Yep." answered Blue Star. "This will be his first time at Lifestream Labs."
"He'll like it there. Good people." said Mantis Skin. A few long minutes went by as the sun started to peck behind some of the lower buildings.
"They did not find a trace of Neo-Pharaoh Zoltron or Westgate Sentinel. Both gone. Disappeared without a trace." said Blue Star with a tear rolling down her face.
"Somehow I get the feeling we have not heard the last of either." said Mantis Skin looking down at his black coffee.
Chief Hiawatha #8
(2015/11/25)
It was early evening and Chief Hiawatha was in his Gray Wolf form. For some reason Chief Hiawatha could only turn into the Gray Wolf at night and Jaguar during the day. However Chief Hiawatha did not question it because much as marveled at it. But Chief Hiawatha hoped beyond hope that he ran into Edward Lightfeather in his Jaguar form, since Chief Hiawatha felt more comfortable in that form.
Chief Hiawatha had been running parallel about twenty feet out along the trail that ran around White Cap Lake to see if he pick up the smell of the Black Bear. Chief Hiawatha did not want to be on the trail, just in case hikers were on it and he did not want to scare them. Then suddenly Chief Hiawatha smelt it!
'There it is!' thought Chief Hiawatha. 'Wow! This is incredible! I can actually smell him! ...oh no!'
The smell seem to be heading to the trail and that worried Chief Hiawatha to no end. He ran the nearly twenty feet to the White Cap Lake Trail. Leaping out into the clearing, Chief Hiawatha did indeed startled three late night hikers. A father, mother, and their teenage daughter. They each froze after nearly jumping out of their skin.
"What are you doing out here?" said Chief Hiawatha in his Gray Wolf form. "Were you not warn about going out tonight? There is a Black Bear reported in the Ironwood!"
The hikers did not have be to told twice. The three family members turned back and ran out of there all the way back to their cabin.
Chief Hiawatha then sniffed the ground again to try to pick up the trail of the Black Bear, but did not take him long to find it. Soon Chief Hiawatha realized that the Black Bear did not get
on the trail, he only crossed it on his way to White Cap Lake.
Chief Hiawatha took off in the direction of White Cap Lake, only pausing here or there to check if he was on the right path. Chief Hiawatha began to recognize some of these trees and realized he was coming up on his cabin, but not quite. Then he realized he was heading for the Japanese man's cabin, the one Ranger Jones said that he likes to fish.
When he approached the cabin, he saw the attacking Black Bear ...and the Japanese man was successfully fighting off the bear!
'What in hell?' thought Chief Hiawatha as he transformed into the Bison and charged the Black Bear. Chief Hiawatha hit the Black Bear at full speed, sending the Black Bear into the side of the cabin wall.
Trident Force Chronicles Page 16