The Elders returned five minutes late from the forty-minute recess in what they saw as a power move.
ELDER #1
The Quorum has debated; coming to the agreement that yes, Hugh Mann may represent the Archy family in a fair trial. However, word has come to us that other members of the Archy family are attempting a rescue that would disrupt these proceedings.
ELDER #2
The complicit nature of which the defendants and their representation may be involved in has forced us to reach an early verdict.
ELDER #3
We find you and everyone involved with you whether they be familial ties or associates…
ELDER #4
GUILTY!
ELDER #5
GUILTY!
ELDER#6
GUILTY!
ELDER #7
GUILTY!
ELDER #3
GUILTY!
ELDER #2
GUILTY!
ELDER #1
GUILTY!
LE-THARIO
That’s a lot of guiltie’s.
ELDERS
You will be put to death by firing squad…immediately!
KVXIV
Ready to hear that second plan of yours, sweetie!
HUGH MANN
You know these plasma cuffs they have us chained too?
Hugh shook his wrists; the handcuffs feel to the floor.
HUGH MANN
I picked all the locks, LET’S GO!!!
Hugh led the way out of the courtroom with KVXIV, Le-Thario, Protag and Antag following closely behind. An entire battalion of Drone and Vulture bots awaited them on the outside. The five of them put their hands over there heads in defeat.
The Brutal Drones sent to attack Or-I-On’s flat were far more formidable than the usual Security-bots, they learned quickly countering every move he threw at them. His strategy wasn’t really to destroy them just to keep them occupied enough for Lu-Na to finish downloading into her body. The countdown clock read one minute, thirty seconds when two of the Brutal Security Drones pinned down Or-I-On’s metallic tentacles while the other two presented sharp metal corkscrew drills from their under carriage.
They slowly glided down on to Or-I-On cutting into his face and chest when a loud WHISTLE erupted out of nowhere, the Brutal drones looked around to see where the sound came from, Lu-Na stood away from the VR console then emitted a bright blue plasma sword that moved so fast it cut through the Drones in half with one swipe.
Their top halves detached sideways exploding one by one. Or-I-On stood, his cells already rapidly healing his wounds, he looked to Lu-Na, as he formed his metallic wings, she jumped on his back they flew through the shattered window.
Pat-Ree and Mat-Ree got the call and go ahead from Or-I-On to begin destroying the power sources.
R0-RY and Arch-Ie witnessed the drilling of the power source aboard the observation deck of Queen Doctor Viscos’ Submarine as it left Aqua Villagealong with eight dozen other escape pods.
A call from the Quarrel went over the intercom.
QUARREL
We have successfully penetrated the ocean floor.
QUEEN DOCTOR VISCOS
Load the atom charges.
Two Shifter Inc atomic missiles were unloaded from the nearby Aqua Village Submarine, positioned vertically to be launched in the trench.
Mat-Ree finished lining the walls of Archy Manor with c-4 explosives.
QUARREL
Ignition in…Four
Pat-Ree scaled down the gnarled wooden trench with his bionic arm, he worried about his rocket pack accidentally setting off his backpack full of explosives. He reached the bottom tunnel that was over two hundred stories below the surface. Cautiously taking off his backpack, as well as the twenty sticks of dynamite, twelve grenade chargers and four detonators, the light from his eyes illuminated the cavernous tunnel in a bright white and red.
QUARREL
Three.
Mat-Ree positioned herself on Piedmont hill four miles away from the house where she enjoyed a final look at Archy Manor, the residence that had caused her as much happiness as sadness, pleasure as pain.
QUARREL
Two.
Or-I-On and Lu-Na sped like a rocket towards Staten Island.
QUARREL
ONE!
The Elders flew down from the sky in front of Hugh, KVXIV, Le-Thario, Protag and Antag.
ELDER #1
You thought this was going to be so easy, didn’t you?
ELDER #2
Always falling back on your family and your planning like some sick crutch.
ELDER #3
We anticipated your every move.
ELDER #4
We fed the centaurs the stories about the power source.
ELDER #5
We wanted your pitiful family to seek their destruction.
ELDER #6
That was the plan all along.
ELDER #7
To bring forth the real judgment and deliver true justice on this treacherous world.
ELDERS
AWAKEN THE ELEMENTALS!!!
Pat-Ree pressed his detonator with his left hand while his right hand sharply extended out of the tunnel like a grappling hook, pulling him upward while a ginormous fireball flew after him.
Mat-Ree pressed her detonator watching as Archy Manor immediately lit up in a gorgeous cloud of fire.
The two missiles punched into the Ocean floor, rocking the ocean floor with a THUD!
Pat-Ree climbed away from the tunnel, turning back to see huge puffs of smoke exiting its mouth. There was a STOMP! Followed by another until a massive hand made of dirt, wood and stone pushed its way out of the tunnel.
The Mushroom cloud that was Archy Manor got bigger and bigger forming into a giant Minotaur made of flames.
The earthquake under the sea got bigger and bigger, Aqua Village began a full evacuation, escape pods were jettisoned one right after the other. The Observation peak split off from Aqua Village tower sending the queens and the Archy’s to the surface. Massive waves shoved all the underwater vehicles on to the beach, each smashing into each other. The Observation Pod landed on its side leaping intot he air and rolling until it crashed.
Queen Doctor Viscos was the first to get out of the wrecked escape pod, seeing everyone of the Aqua Village survivors both human and robot staring above in terror. She turned to look in the same direction they were when she saw the unthinkable, a Gargantuan bi-pedal half great white, half killer whale with a hammer head, made entirely out of water wielding a massive harpoon made of gold.
Hugh and the four Archy’s looked to the sky, then went from a pose of surrender into fighting stances, the Elders began to laugh.
ELDER #1
Such defiance in the face of ultimate defeat.
ELDER #2
It would be commendable if it weren’t so pathetic.
HUGH MANN
One more second to gloat.
ELDER #3
Until wha-
A blue plasma shield cut through the air severing Elder #3’s head from his body, Or-I-On dropped Lu-Na from the sky in front of the others where she caught the shield as it flew back to her.
PROTAG
LU-NA!!!
LU-NA
Good to see you too darlin’ but we’ll have plenty of time to catch up once these rust buckets are on the other side of the dirt. Y’all ready?
ANTAG
You have no idea.
Pat-Ree turned his rocket boosters on at full blast, evading the giant hand of the Earth Elemental as it swatted at him like a fly. He flew higher getting further away from the best when he got a call from Mat-Ree on the Archy Link.
PAT-REE
Hello, you’ve reached Pat-Ree Archy he can’t answer your call right now because he’s fleeing for his life!
MAT-REE
I am more than sympathetic my dear.
PAT-REE
Did you actually awaken some angry colossus made of dirt?
MAT-REE
Fire.
PAT-REE
Sounds about right.
MAT-REE
Mind giving me a hand?
PAT-REE
Not at all, believe it or not I think I lost him.
The Earth Elemental’s hands were around Pat-Ree about to squeeze when a sharp silver light bolted out of the sky tearing through the palms of stone, dirt and wood, turning them into rubble, the elemental collapsed screaming in pain. Or-I-On jetted out of the pile of rubble to meet Pat-Ree mid air.
PAT-REE
Mind filling an old bot in on what in the blue blazes is happening!?
OR-I-ON
The Elders duped us into releasing three very dangerous Elementals whose sole purpose is to destroy the world. I brought Lu-Na to the others and left them to get to you.
PAT-REE
Outstanding!
OR-I-ON
By my estimation it will be impossible to defeat these monstrosities alone, or with conventional weapons.
PAT-REE
How is that advanced tech treating you?
OR-I-ON
I am now at full capacity since my capture.
PAT-REE
Then get to the others at Aqua Village.
OR-I-ON
And leave you with this creature?
The Earth Elemental’s hands started reforming.
PAT-REE
I’m not worried about him; I have to help out your Grandma across town. Open up a wide channel on the Archy Link as soon as you get there.
The two zipped off in separate directions.
The centaurs had seen the flaming Minotaur from the harbor, after securing a large section of downtown Ultra City, Hogarth and his best men went to face the behemoth. The half horse warriors charged at the Elemental, shooting it with laser fire and using their slingshots to launch leather flasks filled with their “mystic water”. There was no progress, the beast stomped on and immolated a half dozen of Hogarth’s men.
Mat-Ree flew directly into the face of the Elemental using her sonic screech to daze it so Hogarth and his soldiers could flee to safety. The creature became furious and started spitting fireballs at her. She turned sharply going low to get out of the way of the blasts, which created a massive inferno that consumed downtown Ultra City.
Pat-Ree flew in picking up Mat-Ree before she was hit by another fireball. He called down to Hogarth.
PAT-REE
SERPENTINE HOGARTH! THIS CREATURE ONLY ROAMS IN A STRAIGHT LINE!
Hogarth saluted Pat-Ree taking his men down a side street out of the way of the elemental.
Pat-Ree and Mat-Ree landed on a nearby rooftop out of the way of the fire or the beast.
MAT-REE
We have been through and seen a lot in our lifetime, but this…
PAT-REE
Is next level insanity?
MAT-REE
Words, stripped from my mouth.
Or-I-On’s voice went off inside their heads.
OR-I-ON
This is a high frequency broadcast of the Archy Link.
Le-Thario was in the middle of punching an Elders head in when he got Or-I-On’s call.
LE-THARIO
You aint whistling Dixie kid, that is loud and clear!
PAT-REE
Can everyone hear me?
LE-THARIO
Sure can!
ANTAG
Yes.
PROTAG
Father.
LU-NA
Howdy!
ARCH-IE
Copy!
R0-RY
Yo.
KVXIV
We can all hear you except for Hugh, I’m sure.
HUGH
No need to rub it in.
PAT-REE
Well kiddos, as I don’t need to tell you we are in a bit of a predicament.
OR-I-ON
Vast understatement.
PAT-REE
I always tell you to plan ahead and believe it or not there is a plan for this scenario.
LE-THARIO
All ears Pop.
PAT-REE
We need to go full Major Machine mode.
R0-RY
You have to be joking.
OR-I-ON
Would anything less be required for a situation such as this?
LE-THARIO
I don’t know, it’s been a minute Pop and none of the youngsters OR KV are trained.
PAT-REE
The world is literally on fire; there is no time to argue.
OR-I-ON
What must be done?
PAT-REE
Everyone line up, oldest in the front, youngest in the back.
Across the three locations they all did as they were told.
PAT-REE
Now close your eyes and try to relax. Think of train going one end of the track to the other, focus on that image and repeat it.
On Staten Island Hugh stood in awe at what was happening, Antag was in the front and the first to physically separate into a million pieces that attached themselves magnetically to Protag, then Lu-Na who then grew taller and separated into even more pieces that latched on to Le-Thario, finally forming around KVXIV until collectively they were Offspring I, a twenty eight foot tall robot, with black arms, red chest, yellow legs, KVXIV’s head and Antag’s red visor.
OFFSPRING I
MERGE SUCCESFUL!
On the beach the Queen Doctor Viscos observed R0-RY combine with ease, then
Arch-Ie who sputtered a few seconds before splitting in pieces, aligning with Or-I-On to form Echo-Boom a Major Machine that was twenty six feet tall, silver & white with pink and red stripes and enormous metal tentacles protruding from its back.
ECHO BOOM
MERGE SUCCESFUL!
Pat-Ree and Mat-Ree had already merged into their thirty foot tall Major Machine, Solid Gold.
SOLID GOLD
MERGE SUCCESFUL!
Solid Gold ran through the flames of Ultra City while putting them out by igniting their high-powered blow jets. After all of the flames were extinguished they were face to face with the flaming Minotaur. The two Titans ran head first at each other.
Offspring I picked up two Elder’s slamming them into each other until they permanently shattered into obsidian glass, a swarm of Security and Vulture Drones surrounded the Major Machine, covering it in a mountain of metal, a bright white light shot through the mound obliterating every drone around it until their metal turned to dust.
Echo Boom reached the water Elemental before it could set foot on the main land. They grabbed its harpoon breaking it in half, then dug their sharp metal claws into the sides of its hammerhead slamming it down into the sea. The monster did a swift kick, knocking Echo Boom into the water, leapt on to the Major Machine pounding away at its stomach until the tentacles reached out, piercing the Water Elemental on both sides of its body tearing it apart, there was steam instead of blood as it dissolved into nothing, forever.
Solid Gold traded blows with the Flaming Minotaur, neither one giving in or tiring. A STOMP was heard at the other end of the city, the Earth Elemental had emerged from the jungles of Central Park. The sight of the other elemental distracted the flaming Minotaur giving Solid Gold the opportunity to grab it by the horns and use its boosters to rocket forward, on instinct the giant quickly turned his hand into a large dagger of wood and stone piercing the Flaming Minotaur while at the same time the fire burned him alive. Solid Gold pushed the Minotaur’s extinguished limp body forward on to the pile of ash that was now the Earth Elemental.
After returning to their original forms, the Archy’s freed everyone imprisoned by the Elders.
KVXIV and Hugh oversaw the cities reconstruction, draining what was left of the Archy family fortune.
Pat-Ree and Mat-Ree left Ultra City with the Centaurs to explore the uncharted regions of the Eastern Hemisphere.
Or-I-On kept making advances into the cyber world until one day he decided to permanently live there.
Le-Thario retired from being a Private investigator, sold his life rights for an undisclosed “dump truck amount of money” that he used portions of to open a museum dedicated to himself.
With her kingdom destroyed for the second time, Queen Doctor Viscos successfully jumpstarted the Archy’s fallen space casino franchise.
While on vacation Antag thwarted the attempts of eleven con-men seeking to rob the space casino, forever winning the heart of Queen Doctor Viscos.
Protag sold all his shares in Archy Corp to permanently drive across Ultra City in a Winnebago with Lu-Na, planting trees.
R0-RY and Arch-Ie were married at an undisclosed location. Eons later they held each other as they witnessed the Earth’s destruction from a far away space station
The End
The Drewniverse 44 