Cowboy Samurai X Badass Android Read online

  Chapter 10: CYBORG SMASH!

  Mr. Suit, Jake and Ultraviolet now knew where the secret VR club Kaleidoscope was located and how to gain access. Mr. Suit considered this to be a lucky day.

  “Thanks for the information, let’s go, Jake…err, Orochi.” Mr. Suit was saying as he headed for Pinstripe. However, Mr. Suit was just trying to act all cool and tough, and he suddenly sunk to his knees, coughing and grasping his chest in pain.

  “Mr. Suit, you reckless bastard!” Ultraviolet rushed to his side and her maid outfit morphed back into the nurse’s outfit. She then began a medical examination of Mr. Suit and poked him right in one of his cracked ribs.

  “Ow! That hurt!” Mr. Suit shot her a fierce glare.

  Ultraviolet glared back, unaffected, “Well, it doesn’t look like any of your ribs are broken but…some of them are cracked. You should go back to Headquarters, and let Jake and I handle this…”

  Mr. Suit gave Ultraviolet an incredulous look, “Let Jake and you handle it? Let that lazy coward go up against the Noppera-bō’s biker gang the Metalheads and that sadomasochist freak Nix Duo? Not a chance. I’m going. Besides, I’ve wanted to test the steel of my blade against Nix Duo’s for a while now. I’ve been training hard for our rematch.”

  Ultraviolet sighed. She knew that all of this stubbornness stemmed from Mr. Suit’s goal to become the best living-metal swordsman in the galaxy but it was still annoying. “Tsk. Keh, fine…but let me wrap your ribs at least…” She approached Mr. Suit with a roll of bandages.

  Mr. Suit tried to back away from her, scuttling across the ground, “No need…”

  Ultraviolet became pissed. “I wasn’t asking for your permission, stupid shitty samurai!” Ultraviolet tackled the injured Mr. Suit to the ground and began to strip his smart-suit off.

  Mr. Suit began to panic and flushed. “Ah! Ultraviolet! What the hell?”

  “You’re really lucky that your smart-suit also serves as protective armor or your injuries would be much worse.” Ultraviolet told Mr. Suit with a frown on her face.

  “Yea, yea…” Mr. Suit groaned.

  “Reckless idiot.” Ultraviolet said softly.

  Orochi raised an eyebrow at what was going on between Mr. Suit and Ultraviolet, “Such shameless behavior…” Orochi passed out without further ado.

  Ultraviolet began to wrap white cloth bandages around Mr. Suit’s torso tightly and he cried out in pain. She soon finished and Mr. Suit quickly put his smart-suit back on, smoothed his suit out, and straightened his tie while glaring at Ultraviolet heatedly. The bandages were now hidden beneath his suit.

  Jake stirred awake, groaned, and sat up, blinking owlishly. “Huh…oh crap! I’m awake! Shit! Why did I have to regain control of my body right when we’re about to infiltrate Kaleidoscope?! I can’t do this. I can’t go there. Orochi come backkk~!” Jake gripped his head in a panic and moaned.

  Ultraviolet pulled a cig out of her cleavage, lit up and took a drag. She blew a cloud of smoke in Jake’s direction, “Cowardly idiot…why did you have to come back.” She let out a heavy sigh. “But we still have no choice but to go to Kaleidoscope, arrest the Metalheads and take them to the Cyborg Prison. Come on, let’s go, idiots.”

  Jake dragged his feet as he made his way over to Ginger and reluctantly mounted her. Ultraviolet easily jumped up right behind him in the saddle.

  Mr. Suit followed suit and mounted Pinstripe cringing at the pain this movement caused, but he quickly schooled his expression when he noticed Jake was looking at him questioningly. Jake frowned. Mr. Suit was not at 100% and he was just plain ‘ol Jake Lonestar again. If Mr. Suit ended up needing some actual help they were screwed - big time.

  Jake shuddered at the thought. And they were actually going to try and arrest Nix Duo…a man who had apparently captured and tortured Mr. Suit at one point. Jake looked over at Mr. Suit again but now he had a stoic look on his face. How can he do it? How can he act so calm and composed when he’s going to face that guy? I would be pissing my pants right about now.

  Mr. Suit led the way back to club Salamander while Jake and Ultraviolet followed. Ultraviolet had brought Jake’s cowboy samurai uniform and Mr. Suit’s uniform with her, and Jake had already changed back into it. He was wearing his black domino mask, cowboy hat, black haori wrap shirt, jeans, and a pair of cowboy boots. Mr. Suit was wearing his usual black and silver smart-suit again.

  Mr. Suit and Jake walked into club Salamander as if they owned the place and Ultraviolet followed close behind. She ran her hands over her nurse outfit and the outfit began to transform into a sexy clubbing outfit, which consisted of a sparkly, sequined, purple tube dress, and a pair of shimmering, silver, high heeled shoes. So that she fit in with Jake and Mr. Suit she was also wearing a domino mask on her face.

  Jake couldn’t help but ogle her. Smokin~ for an android. Doable…for an android. He found himself saying and then amending in his head.

  Ultraviolet walked ahead of Jake and Mr. Suit, sashaying her hips as she approached the bar, “Oi idiots, stay back, you’re both way too conspicuous. Let me handle this and watch how it’s done, boys.”

  Jake looked at the two metal antennas that were visible on the top of Ultraviolet’s head and wondered between the three of them who was really the most conspicuous.

  Ultraviolet approached the bar and leaned over it, showing off her petite cleavage to the bartender - a powerful looking cyborg who was wearing a black tie with a multi-colored Tetris pattern on it. “Neh, hey, there big fella, could you please tell me where this wonderful scent of money is coming from?”

  The bartender gave Ultraviolet, Mr. Suit and Jake a calculating look as he stroked his goatee. “You kids need to make some money? But aren’t those two with you, SSF?”

  Ultraviolet shrugged. “Anyone in this freakin expensive city could use a little extra pocket money in this recession as well as some extra street cred. So, what do you say, big fella? Will you beam me up, Scottie?” She winked and Jake noticed that her eyelashes were silver colored now.

  The bartender’s eyes went wide at Ultraviolet’s use of the password and he stopped wiping the glass beer mug in his hand. He gave Jake and Mr. Suit a disbelieving look. “I don’t know how you kids managed to find out about the password, but rules are rules so I have no choice…reckless hotheaded youths.” The middle-aged cyborg shook his head. “But you should know SSF you’re going into the lion’s den…don’t expect to come back out alive. And whatever you’re about to see is a secret you need to take with you to your graves…that’s the only rule.”

  Ultraviolet nodded in understanding. “We understand the risk we’re taking, Tetris. But we’re decided.”

  Tetris nodded and walked out from behind the bar, “Follow me, kids…” Tetris shook his head at the two SSF and their little android girl companion. Tetris noticed her two antennas, which was unusual. “I’ve never seen an android with two antennas before. What series are you?”

  “She’s just a regular Sex-” Jake was about to helpfully inform the cyborg when Ultraviolet stomped hard on Jake’s foot with the heel of her shoe.

  “OW! Son of a-!” Jake cried out.

  Tetris raised an eyebrow at this display, shrugged, and then chuckled in amusement. “Kids these days are into some odd kinks.” Tetris led Jake, Mr. Suit and Ultraviolet to a black door that was splattered with paint in a rainbow of colors. It was so dark past the door that Jake and the others couldn’t see inside. Tetris just shoved the three teens inside and closed the door behind him. Immediately, bright green florescent lights switched on revealing a long, tubular shaped, metal corridor that led down.

  Mr. Suit’s eyes were sparkling with interest as he looked at the corridor. “Fascinating…I never knew this place existed.” He pushed his green-tinged sunglasses up his nose. “Until now.”

  “This is as far as I go.” Tetris informed them. “You kids watch your step. Make sure to use the password at the end of this passageway. And good lu
ck.”

  Mr. Suit nodded at the cyborg. “Thanks, Tetris.”

  Tetris shook his head as he watched the Samurai Superheroes heading down the hall. “Into the lion’s den…the fools…” Tetris exited the rainbow colored door and closed it behind him.

  Mr. Suit led the way down the futuristic passageway while Jake lagged behind clinging to Ultraviolet, who rolled her eyes at Jake’s cowardly behavior. The passageway must have had some kind of automatic, built-in sensors because the passageway continued to light up as they continued down it.

  In just a few minutes, the exit was visible and Jake and the others caught sight of a seven-foot-tall Battle Droid standing next to the exit. As they approached a series of hidden compartments suddenly opened up on the robot’s metal body and several high-tech weapons were being aimed their way.

  “Epp!” Jake squeaked and hid behind Mr. Suit. “Save me~!”

  Mr. Suit’s expression grew serious and he put a hand on the hilt of his sword, prepared to draw it-

  But Ultraviolet walked past the two boys and put a hand on Mr. Suit’s wrist, stopping him. He raised an eyebrow at her but removed his hand from his sword’s hilt and watched as Ultraviolet sashayed past to approach the robot with a smile, “Hey, no need to get so hostile, bro. Why don’t you just…beam us up, Scottie?”

  At the sound of the password behind spoken the robot immediately disarmed and deactivated all of its various weapons. Guns and rockets were hidden back inside of the robot’s body as the hidden compartments closed shut and vanished so that the robot’s body appeared completely seamless once more. “Password received. Welcome to Kaleidoscope. Remember that what you see within the walls of Kaleidoscope stays within Kaleidoscope under penalty of death.” The robot droned in a synthesized voice as he opened the door for Jake and the others to enter.

  The door opened and the mysterious VR club Kaleidoscope was revealed. Jake became starry-eyed as he looked at the impressive interior of the club that in his mind resembled the interior of a spaceship. The entire space was a gigantic silver dome with multiple levels. There were high-tech moving walkways everywhere.

  Mr. Suit noticed that the club had a teleportation platform on each floor that patrons could use to get to the other levels. The center of the establishment was an open atrium so that you were able to see the different levels of the club. One level was obviously a restaurant and eating area, another level appeared to be specifically for dancing, and one looked more like a lounge. A fembot with cone-shaped breasts handed Jake and the others a pair of 3D sunglasses and they put them on. Jake whistled as the holograms that were floating inside of the club began to look even more realistic than before.

  Jake looked up and saw a massive holographic projection of the solar system. All the planets were rotating around the sun right beneath the domed ceiling. Jake saw the moon next, and hundreds of yellow star holograms with faces that were smiling as they danced and floated around the club. Miniature galaxies spun and floated around the entire establishment. Silver flying saucers with little green men who were wearing trendy sunglasses flew around the club and waved at club goers. Holographic images of pyramids with all-seeing eyes sprouted up from the floor occasionally. Yellow cornfields sprung up only to have strange symbols appear in their midst. Just when Jake didn’t think it could get any better a Chinese dragon with a long, red serpentine body floated right over Jake’s head - its body seemed to continue on and on.

  “Cool.” Jake murmured, taking in all of the impressive holographic images and special effects that were inside of the club. All over the surface of the metal dome a kaleidoscope of colors manifested, true to the name of the club. Bursts of rainbow colors appeared and disappeared like fireworks.

  Mr. Suit was also impressed by the club since he was a bit of a Tech Freak himself but his attention was on the people there. His sharp eyes were taking in the gangs that were there, which consisted of aliens, cyborgs, androids and robots. Yes, aliens.

  Mr. Suit pushed his 3D glasses up his nose. This was the most notable difference between the clientele of Salamander and Kaleidoscope. The aliens and alien criminals. Salamander’s patrons were only humans, robots and androids, who didn’t know of the existence of aliens or that aliens in fact lived among humans secretly. The SSF, of course, was part of the secret society that knew of the existence of aliens, so this wouldn’t be a problem. If, however, they hadn’t already been a part of this secret society, and he and Jake left Kaleidoscope and tried to reveal the existence of aliens to the public…they would have been eliminated.

  Mr. Suit began to realize that a hush had come over the club’s patrons at the sight of them. Mr. Suit frowned realizing that it was pretty obvious because of their domino masks that they were a part of the SSF - a special police force known for being in charge of pursuing cyborg criminals but also alien criminals on occasion. This was probably making everyone nervous and all eyes were on them.

  Mr. Suit’s hand twitched and he had to resist the urge to put his hand on the hilt of his sword when he suddenly felt a lot of murderous intent directed his way next. This could turn ugly real fast.

  However, Ultraviolet once again came to their rescue. She stepped up in front of Mr. Suit with a superior look on her face and unabashedly eyed everyone there. She lit a cigarette and took a drag while a haughty smirk formed on her face. “Why’d the party stop, tech freaks? It’s not like we’re here to arrest you. Can’t the SSF participate in the E.T. Tech Race too? We already know of the existence of aliens so there’s no need to get your panties in a bunch. We have the best E.T. Tech at our disposal and we’d like to prove it to you. We want to challenge you - not arrest you. This time. So, do you accept our challenge, tech freaks?!” Ultraviolet’s voice echoed throughout the entire VR club. Jake didn’t know how she was doing it but somehow she was managing to project her voice throughout the entire club. “Or are you all just a bunch of cowards?” Ultraviolet put a hand on her cocked hip and gave everyone in the club a challenging stare.

  A heavy silence descended upon the club but then-

  “HELL YEA! WE ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE!” The gathered aliens, cyborgs, robots, and androids all roared. They had accepted Ultraviolet’s challenge hook, line and sinker.

  Mr. Suit removed his hand from the hilt of his sword and Jake stopped trembling. They had been saved by Ultraviolet once again with her quick thinking. Mr. Suit had to admit he was impressed with the feisty android girl. Ultraviolet’s pretty slick…for an android. Mr. Suit was surprised at his own thoughts and shook his head.

  Ultraviolet began to electronically scan the faces of the cyborg gang members and aliens that were present in the club, some of which were seated at the tables on the restaurant level. Ultraviolet spoke to Jake and Mr. Suit in low tones. “There are a lot of cyborg biker gangs here, but also some…aliens. Over there is Mayor Stark’s gang: the Silver Fox Gang.” Ultraviolet pointed them out to the two Samurai Superheroes.

  “Mayor Stark?” Jake asked as he followed the direction Ultraviolet’s finger was pointing, and his eyes widened when he caught sight of Mayor Stark and five other people - one of which he instantly recognized - it was the Green Avenger. “The Green Avenger? What the hell is he doing here?” The other four who made up the gang’s representatives were slick and well-dressed individuals. Two men and two women. One of the women was tucking stray strands of bright orange hair back into her bun. She had piercing golden eyes with slanted pupils and was wearing a designer red dress. Her partner was dressed in a complimentary red suit. He laughed at something she said and ran his hands through his shortly cropped orange hair while his red eyes glittered with mirth. The other woman was smoothing the nonexistent wrinkles out of her black and white Chanel dress. Both she and her partner had black hair and the same golden eyes with slanted pupils. The man who was with her was looking slick in a tuxedo.

  Ultraviolet continued to electronically scan the club’s patrons until she caught sight of the Solar Flares. “It’s
the Solar Flares but…we just defeated them, so they must be imposters. Just who are they really? Scanning…unable to scan. That’s strange.” Ultraviolet frowned and turned her attention next to a group of space pirates. “Over there…” Ultraviolet began in a low voice to Jake and Mr. Suit. “They’re space pirates. Space Pirate Captain Linx, he’s a two-tailed Nekomata Alien. His galactic bounty is 120,000,000 space credits.”

  “Space Pirate Captain Linx?” Jake shoved past Ultraviolet to get a closer look and he eyed the half-cat half-man alien. Linx was dressed in a flashy, red pirate coat that had gold tassels on the shoulders. On his head sat a three-corned hat and Jake saw that he was wearing his eye patch. Jake then noticed that both a blaster and an energy saber were strapped to his waist by a large black leather belt. One of the individuals with him Jake immediately recognized as being Zoe, the ex-bounty hunter. She was dressed in an emerald green, faux leather tube dress and a pair of gold Christian Louboutin shoes were on her feet. There were also four other individuals with them: one cute cat-girl and three half-man half-cat aliens.

  These were obviously the members of Linx’s space pirate crew. Jake realized. The cat girl seemed to have a bubbly personality and as she spoke with Linx and the others her pink curls bounced up and down. She was wearing a futuristic pink and silver dress, gloves and boots. He noticed her furry-looking ears and had the urge to run over and touch them. She had two blasters strapped to her waist - which made Jake rethink his first impulse.

  One of the cat-men ruffled the cat-girl’s hair with his large hand and chuckled. This caused his large gut to jiggle. The brawny cat-man was shirtless and Jake could see various kinds of ammo strapped across his chest. The guy even had a bazooka strapped to his back. He was wearing leather pants and a pair of combat boots. All three of the cat-men had golden eyes and brown hair.

  The other cat-man, who was standing next to Ammo Man, was a lot skinnier and had only an energy saber strapped to his waist.

  Then, Jake noticed there was a small cat-boy who had a pair of glasses on his face giving him an intellectual look. The boy looked to be around twelve-years-old.

  ***

  “That Zoe…” Jake grinned to himself. “She must be protecting Linx from the other bounty hunters. She’s so into him, though she tries to deny it.”

  Whoosh! A dagger suddenly flew past Jake’s head, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and imbedded itself into the wall just behind Jake’s head. Jake gulped knowing that the dagger had to have been flung by Zoe, but she…was now looking in a completely different direction. Women are scary…

  Ultraviolet continued to scan the club goers until she locked onto another biker gang she had never seen before. She began to try and scan their leader who was seated at one of the tables on the restaurant level with his boots up on the table in front of him. He was dressed in a green, blue and silver bodysuit that resembled a space suit and there was a full helmet on his head, which shielded his face from view. With him was a group of five robots that were dressed in silver bodysuits without helmets. The robots had single radio antennas on the tops of their heads.

  Ultraviolet raised an eyebrow as she watched one of the robots giving the leader a shoulder massage while another was using a rag to shine the man’s space boots. The leader’s helmet visor was slightly open, but only enough so that he was able to drink a glass of wine using a straw.

  “Scanning…unable to be scanned. That’s funny. I can’t scan that man’s identity either. Gee, a lot of people brought anti-scanning devices here.” Ultraviolet pouted as she nodded in the man’s direction for Jake and Mr. Suit’s benefit.

  “I wonder what he’s trying to hide.” Mr. Suit gave the man a suspicious look.

  There were several empty tables around the mysterious biker as if the other gangs could inherently sense that this guy was bad news.

  He had this powerful aura…it made the hair on the back of Jake’s neck prickle in warning, but then Jake noticed something else - the man moved to set his glass of wine on the table and a silver medallion on a thick chain fell out of the man’s bodysuit to dangle down over his chest. Jake noted the medallion was round and had the clavicula nox symbol on it with two small stars within the circle. Jake’s eyes widened as he recognized the symbol of the Dragon Aliens. A Dragon Alien! He thought to himself. He immediately wanted to confront this Dragon Alien about the whereabouts of his family. It was a reckless, foolhardy, idea.

  “I’m going go to talk to him!” Jake suddenly declared.

  Ultraviolet and Mr. Suit both gave Jake a baffled look. “Huh? What for?” Mr. Suit demanded but Jake ignored him and stalked off.

  Mr. Suit sighed, “Whatever. Ultraviolet where are the Metalheads?”

  Ultraviolet began to scan the gangs. “Scanning…searching for the Metalheads.”

  Meanwhile, Jake was recklessly stalking towards the Dragon’s table. Jake was about to reach the table, and his mouth was already slightly open as he began to speak - the Dragon had even turned towards Jake and stared at him through his helmet. The Dragon Alien immediately began to use his smart-visor to scan Jake, but discovered the same thing that Dr. Valery had - that Jake was unable to be scanned and that he was some kind of anomaly. This caused the Dragon Alien to stand up and approach Jake.

  However, before Jake could reach the Dragon Alien a woman dressed in a yellow and black leather jumpsuit stepped into his path. She took off her yellow helmet to reveal-

  “Astra? What the heck are you- Ack!” Jake began to speak, but was cut off.

  “Jake!” Astra hissed in a low voice as she latched onto Jake’s arm, and began to drag him away.

  The Dragon stared after them before shrugging and returning to sit at the table. He put his space boots back onto the table and waved his hand through the air in an imperious gesture for his robots to resume their earlier tasks of polishing his boots and giving him a massage while pouring him more wine.

  “Whaaa?” Jake complained as Astra led him away from the Dragon Alien.

  Astra dragged Jake around a corner, shoved him up against the wall and kissed him fiercely in order to shut him up! Jake immediately melted into the kiss, his eyes turning into two hearts, however, he remembered how close Astra was and that he could hurt her and so he shoved Astra off. “GAH! Astra?! What the hell?”

  Astra looked back at Jake questioningly. She was a bit surprised he had pushed her away since he had seemed to be returning her kiss so enthusiastically only seconds before. But she shrugged it off. “I had to shut you up somehow, you baka cowboy! You were about to give my identity away!”

  “Riiight, what are you even doing here?” Jake scratched his head beneath his cowboy hat.

  Astra leaned in close and spoke to Jake in a low voice, “I’m in pursuit of a Galactic Most Wanted Criminal! A Dragon, Jake.” To those who were watching it looked as though Astra and Jake were having an intimate conversation.

  “I knew that guy was a Dragon…” Jake frowned and began to distractedly try and spot the Dragon again. “I need to talk to him.”

  “Huh?” Astra blinked back at Jake in confusion. “You knew…wait, talk to him?!” Astra grabbed Jake by his shoulders and began to shake him back and forth. “Are you insane?! Why? What could you possibly have to say to a Dragon like Ryuuji! He’ll kill you before you even open your mouth…Dragon Aliens are dangerous Jake…extremely volatile…”

  “Oh? You seem to be well informed, Astra. Tell me more. About the Dragon Aliens, I mean.” Jake said suddenly, trying to look determined. “Or else I’m going to go over and talk to Ryuuji myself.” I’m not being brave. If that Dragon is the one who abducted my parents maybe I can get him to free my parents in exchange for me.

  Astra sighed, rubbing her temples and wondered why Jake had a sudden interest in the Dragon Aliens. She relented though and began to tell Jake more about them. “The Dragon Aliens are the most powerful alien race in the Galaxy. The Dragon Aliens are a fierce warrior race. They live and br
eathe fighting. They live to get stronger and seek power. Their society respects strength the most. They are a bloodthirsty race though. Once they reach adolescence they have been known to attack and kill their own family…

  “The Dragon Aliens have conquered countless planets in our galaxy. The Dragon Aliens conquer planets by sending only one Dragon Warrior to challenge the planet’s top fighters to a battle, sometimes a tournament, to the death.

  “If one of the planet’s fighters can defeat the Dragon the planet will be spared conquest. However, if the Champion fails to defeat the Dragon then the entire planet is conquered and taken over by the Dragon and the Dragon Aliens.

  “As you already know, Jake, aliens have come to Earth. There are millions of aliens living among Earthlings but the Earthlings do not know of our existence and will not until their science and technology has reached the same level as ours.

  “There are good aliens, but sometimes there are hostile aliens that come to Earth and occasionally try to take it over! It is up to the Galaxy Police to protect the Earth from such threats…the SSF has helped us out occasionally as well…

  “As for Dragons…they were not allowed entry to Earth because one Dragon is capable of conquering the entire planet in just a few days. That Dragon…Ryuuji is illegally here. He is to be apprehended and arrested by the Galaxy Police.” Astra finished.

  Jake had paled at Astra’s words. “So, then Ryuuji is here to conquer the Earth? Is he going to challenge the Earth’s top fighters? If so, why’s he entering the E.T. Tech Race?” Jake asked.

  “Those are surprisingly smart questions coming from a baka cowboy samurai like you! We - the Galaxy Police - do not know what Ryuuji’s intentions are or why he’s really here. But we plan to arrest him before he gets the chance to make his challenge!” Astra declared, puffing up her chest and looking confident.

  “So, you don’t know…” Is he looking for me…? Jake felt guilty for some reason.

  Astra put her biker helmet back on. “We plan to take him out during the race - hence our need for a disguise. I know you and Mr. Suit took out the real Solar Flares earlier today, which makes them the perfect cover. Ryuuji won’t know who we really are and his guard will be down allowing us to take him. So, you can’t go blabbing out our real identity, got that Jake, you baka! Don’t blow our cover.” She said firmly.

  Jake pouted at the pretty blue-haired Galaxy Police officer. “I won’t blow your cover. I’m not an idiot.” Jake frowned before he swallowed nervously. “Astra…do you think you can really take out Ryuuji by yourselves?”

  “Yes, we have a plan.” A sly smile curled Astra’s lips.

  Jake nodded. “Okay, if you say so. If you do manage to arrest him…would you mind letting me ask Ryuuji a question? Just one. It’s very important.” Jake gave the fish-alien a beseeching look.

  Astra narrowed her eyes at Jake’s serious expression, but after a moment she nodded. “Alright.”

  Around the same time, Ultraviolet had finally located the Metalheads. “Scanning vicinity…Metalheads located. There.” Ultraviolet pointed to one of the lower levels of the club. “That’s the Metalhead gang, Mr. Suit. Nix Duo’s lackies.”

  Mr. Suit nodded and stalked over to their floor’s teleportation platform. Ultraviolet followed after him. Mr. Suit stepped onto a circle and stated the level he wanted to be teleported to. “Level three, please.” Mr. Suit said and he was instantly teleported to Level Three.

  “Level three.” Ultraviolet echoed and she was teleported after Mr. Suit.

  Ultraviolet and Mr. Suit had both materialized on Level Three which was the Restaurant Level of club Kaleidoscope. Four of the Metalheads were seated at one of the tables while dinning. As Mr. Suit approached their table all he could seem to notice was that they all had their faces painted white, were wearing heavy black eyeliner, black lipstick, and had several metal piercings.

  There was a sudden crash as an empty bottle was thrown on the floor. Mr. Suit’s eyes were drawn to a hulking, seriously ripped, skinhead cyborg with tattoo sleeves that had koi fish on them. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt with an ace of spades on it, jeans, hipster shoes, and Mr. Suit noticed the several silver piercings in his ears. The cyborg was chugging back a newly opened bottle of rum and Mr. Suit noticed the pile of empty rum bottles on the table. Apparently, this cyborg could handle his liquor. His chair seemed to be creaking under the cyborg’s weight - he was twice the size of Mr. Suit at least.

  “Scanning target. Target identified. He’s in my database. That’s the ex-UFC Champion Thrax.” Ultraviolet informed Mr. Suit in a low voice.

  Mr. Suit nodded. He had heard about Thrax. Thrax had been unbeatable and now he had cybernetics. He wouldn’t be an easy guy to take down. Mr. Suit’s attention turned next to a man dressed all in black leather from head-to-toe, and who had a high-tech, red electric guitar in his lap that he was lightly strumming. Most electric guitars needed to be plugged into an amplifier in order to work but this guitar had a built-in amp. The man had a listless expression on his face and Mr. Suit noticed the dark circles under his eyes that could have been from insomnia. He had long black hair, several piercings and there was a cigarette dangling between his lips. Mr. Suit eyed his cigarette jealously. He could use a smoke himself.

  “Scanning target. Target identified. That’s Tempo. According to my database he can create deadly sound waves with his voice.” Ultraviolet cautioned Mr. Suit.

  Mr. Suit scrunched up his nose when he suddenly smelled smoke. He looked around the restaurant to see where it was coming from until he realized it was coming from the table of Metalheads in front of him. One of the cyborgs must have been bored because he was piling up the paper napkins onto a plate in the center of their table and setting the napkins on fire with his finger that was his own personal zippo lighter. The others didn’t seem to be too concerned by their comrade’s antics however. Mr. Suit raised an eyebrow as he noticed the man’s hairstyle, which he had dyed red and orange and that was spiked upwards on the top of his head in such a way that his hairstyle resembled a lit match. He had a pair of aviator sunglasses on his face, a black button up shirt, a pair of camo shorts, and a pair of comfy skater sneakers on his feet that were tapping against the floor showing the cyborg’s pent up energy and nervous personality.

  “Burn…burn…burn…!” The cyborg murmured in a soft, excited voice as his eyes glowed eerily making Mr. Suit notice his genetically altered blood-red eyes.

  “Scanning target. Target identified. That’s Blaze. He has the latest, state of the art, built-in fire cybernetics. He obviously enjoys setting things on fire.”

  Crazy-ass strength. Sound wave attacks. Fire. Mr. Suit made a mental note in his head of each cyborg’s capabilities.

  Mr. Suit caught a flash of light out of the corner of his eye and his eyes were drawn to a female cyborg who was currently filing her long metal fingernails in such a way that sparks were being sent up into the air. She was wearing a red leather bodysuit and had shocking curls of red hair that had spirals of metal coils throughout. Two tiny metal cone-shaped horns had been implanted into her forehead. Mr. Suit’s eyes traveled down her curvy body to rest at her hip where he saw a coiled metal whip. There appeared to be dried blood on it.

  “Scanning target. Target identified. That’s Solis.” Ultraviolet informed Mr. Suit with a disgusted sneer. “She’s a sadistic bitch who specializes in interrogation. You better stay away from her. I know you’re against violence to women, but she won’t show you any mercy. She’ll chew you up and spit you out, so you better let me handle Solis. You can handle the rest of these shitty cyborgs.”

  “What about Jake?” Mr. Suit asked.

  Ultraviolet let out a heavy sigh as she took out a cigarette. She lit it up and took a long drag from it. “He’s himself right now so he’s completely useless. Maybe if Orochi comes back he can help us - right now he’s just dead weight. He’ll only get in our way.” Ultraviolet held the cigarette between her ind
ex and middle finger as she waved it at Mr. Suit.

  Mr. Suit nodded in agreement, trying to ignore the tasty looking cigarette. “Good point. I guess we’ll have to handle this on our own.” Mr. Suit approached the table and whipped out his badge. “SSF - you’re all under arrest for illegal use of Accelerator Tech.” Mr. Suit had a determined look on his face.

  The Metalheads looked up at Mr. Suit before turning to look at each other thoughtfully before they all burst out laughing. Obviously, they weren’t taking Mr. Suit seriously at all.

  Solis leered at Mr. Suit. “A Samurai Superhero dares to try and arrest us here - in the lion’s den? Don’t you realize you’re completely outnumbered, samurai? It’s not just you against us. It’s you against everyone here. Besides, I thought you losers were going to enter the race?” Solis asked in a voice as smooth as black silk.

  “That was a lie. My mission is to arrest your gang - nothing more. I suggest you come quietly or else.” Mr. Suit threatened putting a hand on the hilt of his living-metal sword Ōkami.

  A heavy silence descended upon the Metalheads’ table.

  Thrax finished chugging his bottle of rum before throwing it to the floor so that it shattered loudly. He gave Mr. Suit an incredulous look as he began to crack his knuckles, which began to spark. “I think this guy is actually serious about taking us on. He’s either really brave or high.” Thrax began to chuckle darkly.

  “Oh, I know him.” Blaze began suddenly, his red eyes glinting with interest. “That’s Mr. Suit! He’s the one who gave us trouble during the last E.T. Tech Race, remember? He sliced Duo’s bike in two! Remember Nix Duo’s face! He was sooo pissed! Let’s set him on fire and bring his charred remains back to Nix Duo. I’m sure that will make him smile.”

  Tempo looked up from his guitar in a lazy fashion. “I could sing him a little song.” A creepy smile curled the man’s colorless lips.

  “I say you boys let me play with him.” Solis put her hand on her whip. “He has such perfectly pale white skin…it will look beautiful dyed red.”

  Ultraviolet moved to stand in front of Mr. Suit protectively and glared at Solis with her hands on her hips, cigarette between her lips. “Back off, freak. You’re not getting anywhere near, Mr. Suit!”

  “What was that, you little android bitch?” Solis snarled standing up from the table and slamming her hands down upon the tabletop.

  Ultraviolet and Solis were glaring fiercely at one another when-

  Jake suddenly landed right in front of Mr. Suit and Ultraviolet. As his cowboy boots hit the floor two small craters were formed there from the force of the impact. Mr. Suit looked up realizing that Jake must have jumped down to their level from the one above them and he felt his temple beginning to throb.

  The Metalheads began to come to the same conclusion as Mr. Suit and their expressions all shifted to surprise when they realized this young man had just jumped down several levels and appeared to be unharmed. He looked human but a normal human’s legs would have broken upon impact.

  Jake raised a hand at Mr. Suit and Ultraviolet, grinning goofily. “Howdy! I finally found you guys. I’ve been looking everywhere. You just disappeared and left me alone.” Jake gave them a pouty look.

  Ultraviolet couldn’t help but think that Jake resembled a lost puppy that had happily found his Masters. She could even envision Jake’s tail wagging behind him.

  Mr. Suit and Ultraviolet simultaneously let out a groan at this new development. The last thing they needed was the baka cowboy appearing just when they were about to confront the Metalheads.

  Ultraviolet quickly bonked Jake over the head, “Jake no baka! Why did you jump down here? Why didn’t you just teleport?”

  Jake blinked at the feisty android as he rubbed his head. “Teleport? But I can’t teleport, V. I’m not a magician or Harry Potter!” Jake began to laugh.

  His laugh irritated Ultraviolet immensely so that she grabbed both of Jake’s ears and began to pull. “There’s a teleportation platform up there, dumbass! It would have beamed you down here…idiot…”

  “Owowowow!” Jake complained as Ultraviolet pulled his ears. “I’m sorry! I won’t do it again.”

  Mr. Suit shook his head at Jake. “What an idiot.”

  Jake flushed, before he glared back at Mr. Suit. “Well, excuse me, Mr. Know-It-All Smart-ass, for finding a shortcut! You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first, ha!”

  Mr. Suit’s eye twitched. Jake really knew how to get under his skin. “What was that? Pervy cowboy?!”

  “Who’s the fool?” Solis drawled as she gave Jake a once over, raking her dark eyes over Jake’s muscular body. “He’s very handsome…but obviously a complete idiot. I’d like to flay his clothes off his body until he bleeds…” Solis licked her black lips.

  Jake’s attention was captured by Solis and as he took in her skintight, red leather bodysuit his eyes turned into two large pink hearts. “Howdy, pretty lady. If I said you had a mint, first-edition, still-in-box, action figure, would you hold it against me?” Jake excitedly moved towards Solis. However, he tripped over the broken glass from the rum bottle Thrax had smashed so that he stumbled forward and his face somehow ended up right between Solis’ breasts with his nose right in her cleavage.

  Jake was so surprised by his good fortune that he inhaled deeply the sweet scent of Solis. Solis looked down at the Samurai Superhero sniffing her breasts in sheer disbelief.

  The other three Metalheads abruptly stood up from the table while giving Jake furious looks. Thrax cracked his knuckles and then his neck from side to side as he gave Jake a murderous look. “No one touches Nix Duo’s woman and gets away with it.”

  “I’ll compose the cowboy a requiem.” Tempo smiled softly as he began to pluck his guitar strings and hum to himself.

  “No, let’s build a nice funeral pyre.” Blaze suggested, rubbing his hands together excitedly. “I wanna watch this cocky son-of-a-bitch burn!”

  Upon hearing all of the death threats directed his way Jake quickly pulled himself together and sprang away from Solis. His face grew pale as he realized the deep shit he had somehow managed to get himself into. “Requiem? Funeral Pyre?” Jake swallowed thickly. Epp! I’m so going to die! Help! Someone! Mr. Suit! Ultraviolet! Jake turned to give Mr. Suit and the android a beseeching look.

  The Metalheads began to approach Jake but Mr. Suit smoothly stepped in front of Jake while unsheathing Ōkami. He pointed Ōkami at the three Metalheads. “Resisting arrest, I see. I guess I’ll have to take you cyborgs in by force.”

  Jake let out a breath of relief and decided to take this opportunity to hide under a nearby table.

  [Mr. Suit VS the Metalheads] Fight!

  Thrax stomped towards Mr. Suit with thundering steps and the ground beneath Mr. Suit seemed to quake. Thrax flung a punch at Mr. Suit who used the flat of Ōkami to block the blow. However, there was such sheer force behind the punch that his sword vibrated violently in his hands and Mr. Suit was pushed back across the floor.

  Just as Mr. Suit was regaining his balance Thrax suddenly began to rain punches down upon him that he was hard pressed to block. Thrax was definitely physically stronger. Mr. Suit knew that he wouldn’t last much longer, and realized he needed to wound Thrax or he was screwed.

  Mr. Suit closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into a meditative state, centering himself while gathering his chi and mental energy. His sword glowed with a green-tinged light as he communicated with his sword via his psy-link. He opened his eyes and charged Thrax, slashing his sword through the air in an arc and then quickly passing the cyborg.

  Thrax turned around to face Mr. Suit, chuckling, “What was that? You didn’t even scratch me, pathetic samurai!”

  Mr. Suit turned around to face Thrax and arched an eyebrow at him. “Is that so?”

  However, Thrax’s cybernetic arm suddenly fell off where Mr. Suit had successfully severed it. Wires at the man’s shoulder sparked dangerously. Thrax grasped
his shoulder, pissed. “My arm! You bastard!”

  Mr. Suit felt a trickle of sweat slide down his back and wondered if it was just him or was it suddenly getting hot in there? Mr. Suit was forced to dodge out of the way from a sudden blast of flame directed at him. Mr. Suit turned to face Blaze who had one of his hands raised and pointed at him. Mr. Suit could see the flamethrower nozzle that had emerged out of the palm of his hand. He has build-in flamethrowers, huh. Great, just great. Here I go out of the frying pan and into the fire.

  Blaze’s red eyes were dancing with mischief as he raised both of his hands and aimed them at Mr. Suit. There was an ominous clicking sound as the cyborg did this. “That was some nice dancing around, samurai! Let’s see you avoid this, twinkle toes!” Blaze activated his flamethrowers and fire shot out towards Mr. Suit.

  “Shit.” Mr. Suit was forced to dodge and dance out of the way of the flames. He executed a couple of impressive back flips and cartwheels as he tried to stay out of reach of the flames.

  Tempo stalked over to the table that Jake was hiding under and using his steel-toed boot he kicked the table over to reveal Jake hiding underneath it. Jake looked up at the creepy guitarist and swallowed. “Er, howdy?” Jake raised his hand to greet the cyborg.

  Tempo just smiled eerily at Jake and began to strum his guitar. He then opened his mouth to begin to sing and the hair on the back of Jake’s neck prickled in warning. All of his instincts were telling Jake to flee and so he did. Jake quickly pushed himself up off the floor, and ran and just in time too.

  Tempo opened his mouth and let out a shrieking howl. “YEOWWW!” An invisible sound wave hit the table where Jake had been hiding and it was blasted to pieces.

  “Mommy!” Jake fled Tempo but the goth cyborg faced Jake and opened his mouth again, aiming his sound wave attacks in his direction as he screamed. Jake wanted to plug his ears with his fingers the guy’s singing was so bad. “Hey, you should forget about entering America’s Got Talent because you suck, dude!” Jake said as he used his superhuman reflexes to dodge and evade the invisible attacks. His body contorted oddly and in funny, comic ways.

  Tempo frowned darkly at Jake due to his comment about his singing. “Some people have no ear for talent. Now, stay still and listen to my performance.” Tempo groused as he opened his mouth to sing in Jake’s direction again. “YEOWWW!” Tempo headbanged slightly as he sang, and his long black hair swished from side to side making Jake think of a KISS concert.

  “Pfft!” Jake snorted. “Do any of your victims ever actually stop running away? Yea right! I bet you have zero fans on YouTube!” Jake continued to run and duck and dodge the invisible sound wave attacks. Man, this guy has a set of lungs! When’s he going to run out of air? Jake panted.

  “YouTube?” Tempo suddenly stopped singing and gave Jake a thoughtful look. “That’s not a bad idea…I should put up a few videos. I might just get discovered. I hear that’s how Galaxy Girl got discovered.” Tempo stroked his pointy chin.

  Jake rolled his eyes at the Metalhead cyborg. “Glad I could be of help.” Jake said sarcastically. I didn’t know that about Galaxy Girl…

  “Oh, right, I need to get back to trying to kill you now. Sorry. Yeoowww!” Tempo strummed his guitar and resumed his horrible screaming, err, singing.

  Meanwhile, Ultraviolet noticed how Solis was still sitting at the table while filing her metal nails to wicked sharpness. The female cyborg was watching the ensuing fight with a hungry gleam in her eyes. Ultraviolet thought her predatory look was similar to a panther waiting to pounce upon her prey. Ultraviolet knew she couldn’t let this wildcat get her hands on either of the boys though and that she had to protect them. Especially Mr. Suit since he wouldn’t fight against a woman.

  Ultraviolet whipped out her two metal tonfa that had been concealed by an invisibility hologram, pointed them at Solis, and rushed forward. She leapt up into the air and smashed the table that Solis was sitting at to bits using her extreme android strength. Solis was forced to leap out of the way, but did so gracefully.

  Solis looked at Ultraviolet pensively but then eyed the two antennas on the top of her head with distaste, “Some kind of crappy Battle Android thinks she can challenge me? The audacity…” She unattached the metal whip that had been strapped to her waist and let it uncoil to the floor. This revealed a long metal whip that had sharp looking barbs attached to it that would provide extra damage and pain to her victims.

  “At least you’re an android and not a robot. I’d be disappointed if I couldn’t at least whip the flesh from your metal endoskeleton.” Solis purred as she looked Ultraviolet over. “Some androids can even feel pain and pleasure…though those are usually the Sex Droid Models. Battle Droids aren’t usually programmed to feel pain since it’d only be detrimental to battle. Pity, I won’t be able to make you scream for me.”

  Jake flung himself to the floor as a sound wave flew over him. It blew his cowboy hat off of his head and Jake was forced to reach out and grab his hat, quickly putting it back onto his head. He then pushed himself up off the floor and ran away from Tempo’s next attack. However, he had heard everything that Solis had said to Ultraviolet, and now he was worried. Shit…Ultraviolet was originally a Sex Droid so does that mean that she can feel pain? Pleasure too? Jake was so distracted he failed to sense the next sound wave attack until it was too late and he barely dodged. The attack hit his shoulder dislocating it. Jake cried out and gripped his arm in pain. “Ow! Shit!” Tears sprung to Jake’s eyes from the pain.

  At that same moment, Ultraviolet lit up a cigarette and put it in her mouth. “Flay the skin off me? You are one sick bitch…” Metal endoskeleton…metal endoskeleton…the words spun around in Ultraviolet’s head. She quickly shook her head while trying to rid her mind of such thoughts. Ultraviolet scowled and attacked Solis. “You talk too much, freaky bitch!”

  Solis lashed her whip out at Ultraviolet, however, and the android was forced to block the attack with her tonfa. She just couldn’t get in close enough to land a blow on Solis. The whip had too long a range while her tonfa had too short a range of attack, Ultraviolet realized in disappointment.

  Ultraviolet knew she needed to get in close somehow, but getting in close would be hard. Sacrifices had to be made. Ultraviolet made her decision and charged forward. Solis’ whip lashed out and Ultraviolet moved slightly sideways but continued rushing forward - Solis’s whip sliced into Ultraviolet’s upper arm painfully flaying some of her skin off on her upper arm and from her metal endoskeleton. The android began to bleed.

  Ultraviolet ignored the pain, grit her teeth so that she wouldn’t cry, and concentrated on smashing her tonfa into Solis’ gut. “Oof!” Solis let out a cry and coughed up a bit of acid from the force of the android’s brutal attack. But Ultraviolet wasn’t through with the sadistic cyborg yet and hit the woman over the back of her head knocking her out cold.

  The mental adrenaline rush faded and Ultraviolet looked at her upper arm. Her eyes widened when she saw that her metal endoskeleton was visible and there was blood dripping down her arm. Ultraviolet gripped her arm in pain, her hand covering her wound from sight, and she sunk to her knees. “I really am just an android…I keep forgetting…but how come it hurts so much?”

  Jake saw what happened and called out worriedly to Ultraviolet. “V!”

  Ultraviolet looked up at Jake with a fearful look in her violet colored eyes. “No! Don’t look at me!” Ultraviolet shrieked out emotionally. I don’t want him to see the truth…to see that I really am just a robot. I’m a monster!

  Jake was shocked by the android’s strange reaction and gave Ultraviolet a confused look. “V…?”

  Tempo became equally distracted by the android’s emotional outburst. “Is she really an android? She can feel pain and she can feel…shame? That’s no ordinary android. I bet you could search this entire city and not find one like her. Perhaps, even the entire galaxy…”

  Elsewhere on the Restaurant Level, Mr. Suit was tu
rning to face his enemy, holding Ōkami in a two-handed grip before him, “Ōkami Evolution One.” Mr. Suit declared as his living-metal sword began to glow with a green-tinged light - but instead of transforming his sword’s shape Mr. Suit continued to command the sword’s power. “Evolution Two.” Mr. Suit cried and the holographic image of Ōkami suddenly appeared next to Mr. Suit - a white wolf standing on its hind legs while wearing a tuxedo, smoking a fancy cigar, and that had gleaming silver eyes. “Evolution Three!” Mr. Suit continued gathering even more power and his living-metal sword began to pulse with a bright green light. Mr. Suit’s living-metal sword began to transform and tiny metal tubes that acted like air ducts began to form all along the blade of the sword. These tubes began to suck in oxygen at a tremendous rate and began to convert the oxygen to plasma energy, which Mr. Suit would be able to use for his next attack.

  A glowing plasma cloud began to create a green aura around Mr. Suit and his sword. This aura began to take shape until it resembled a wolf head. Mr. Suit faced Blaze, who confronted him, before smirking in a cocky manner and raising his hand at Mr. Suit. “Goodbye Mr. Suit - it’s time for a samurai flambé!” He unleashed a stream of searing hot flames Mr. Suit’s way.

  Mr. Suit didn’t move but stood his ground, taking a deep breath and centering himself, “Ōkami Plasma Energy Attack!” Mr. Suit swung his sword forward and unleashed a huge plasma attack Blaze’s way that as it flew towards the cyborg transformed into the shape of a leaping wolf with snapping jaws.

  Mr. Suit’s attack snapped its jaws through the flames, and not one to miss an opportunity, Mr. Suit rushed forward, his sword still raised and was in front of Blaze in seconds. Mr. Suit changed the grip on his sword and swung his sword at Blaze’s chest - using the back of his blade so that he wouldn’t kill the cyborg. He was a Samurai Superhero, a special police officer that was charged with upholding the law and justice. He wasn’t supposed to kill criminals unless it was absolutely necessary. Best-case scenario he was supposed to bring the Metalheads in alive. Even Nix Duo despite how much Mr. Suit wanted to pay the bastard back for what he did to his partner. Mr. Suit was going to be the greatest living-metal swordsman in the galaxy so this was good training for him - trying not to kill his opponents when killing them would have been so much easier.

  Blaze fell in a heap to the floor, knocked out cold.

  “Ah!” At the sound of Jake’s pained cry, Mr. Suit spun around to see that the cyborg Tempo had cornered Jake with his back against the wall. Tempo was strumming a rock song on his guitar and slowly opening his mouth as he prepared to sing.

  Blaze had been successfully defeated but it had taken a lot of energy out of Mr. Suit and he was panting for breath. His ribs hurt. Evolution Three was a hard form of the living-metal sword to control and took lots of will, energy and power to do so.

  Jake turned his head and gave Mr. Suit a pleading look, “Mr. Suit, help!” Jake decided he’d throw his pride right out the window if it meant that he could live to see tomorrow…the latest issue of Playboy magazine was coming out after all…

  Mr. Suit sighed.

  Tempo gave Jake a tired look. “Now that I finally have you cornered, you won’t be able to pull any more crazy acrobatics. You won’t be able to escape me this time. This time you’ll be forced to stay and listen nicely to my performance, idiot cowboy.” Tempo opened his mouth and began to sing. It was more like a shriek that came out of his mouth and headed Jake’s way. Jake could feel the intense pressure of the invisible sound wave attack as it flew towards him. He knew that once that attack hit him it could very possibly just blast him apart like the table. But Jake’s dislocated arm hurt so much he just couldn’t find the strength to move. This was it. Jake put his hands over his eyes in a cowardly gesture and awaited the inevitable pain.

  Inner Jake: Mommy! I’m so going to die! There’s no use so…I’ll just do nothing!

  Jake wished he could plug his fingers in his ears because the cyborg rocker’s howling voice was really awful. Then Jake realized the man was still singing and that he wasn’t in excruciating pain yet. “What the?” Jake risked opening his eyes and was surprised to see that Mr. Suit was standing in front of him and that his entire body seemed to be surrounded by a green-tinged light.

  Mr. Suit’s sword was raised before him and engulfed in plasma energy, which he was using to create a shield to protect himself and Jake from the invisible sound wave attack.

  Tempo glared back at Mr. Suit angrily, pissed that his grand performance had been interrupted. Tempo leapt backwards, executing a couple of back flips to give himself some more room to plan his next attack on Mr. Suit. If Mr. Suit was able to block his point blank attack that wasn’t much of a surprise, but if he attacked Mr. Suit from a distance the samurai shouldn’t be able to see the attacks and would be hit. The foolish cowboy had surprised Tempo with his battle-honed reflexes but only time would tell if Mr. Suit’s own reflexes were good enough to block invisible sound wave attacks.

  “Don’t underestimate the power of rock music!” Tempo declared as he strummed his guitar and loud rock music made the floor of the Restaurant Level vibrate. Tempo then opened his mouth and unleashed a series of notes Mr. Suit’s way, causing several smaller individual sound wave attacks to go flying towards Mr. Suit that if Mr. Suit could see them would have looked like giant bubbles heading his way.

  Mr. Suit couldn’t see anything but could vaguely sense the attacks that were heading towards him. Mr. Suit decided to shut his eyes and did so. Now he could sense the invisible attacks clearly and was able to block the sound waves with his sword as he ran.

  An impressed look crossed Jake’s face as he watched Mr. Suit skillfully blocking the sound wave attacks with his eyes closed. Unreal. Maybe Mr. Suit really is going to be the greatest living-metal swordsman in the galaxy!

  “Invisible attacks won’t work against me.” Mr. Suit wore a haughty expression on his face. “Especially if the idiot cowboy can dodge them. Your attacks are barely a challenge when compared to Zippo’s deadly attacks.”

  Tempo was looking at Mr. Suit warily now and took a step back. “Impossible…no regular human could do something like that. I thought you weren’t a cyborg. Just what are you, Mr. Suit?”

  “I’m no cyborg.” Mr. Suit drawled as he ran a hand back through his slicked back hair. “This skill is simply the result of all my hard work. Besides, if I can’t even perform a little feat like this how can I hope to become the greatest living-metal swordsman in the galaxy?”

  “The greatest living-metal swordsman in the galaxy?” Tempo scoffed and tossed his head back as he laughed up at the domed ceiling. “Get real. You’re a human. There’s no way a human can win the Galactic Living-Metal Tournament! And a human has never been allowed to participate either.”

  “I will…” Mr. Suit couldn’t resist pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up. Mr. Suit took a long drag and enjoyed the feeling of the smoke filling his lungs before he let out a long stream of smoke. “One day. I’ll win that tournament.” That said, Mr. Suit ran forward and brought the back of his sword up under Tempo’s chin in a fierce uppercut sword blow.

  “Gahhh!” Tempo groaned as he went flying up into the air, his back arching, before he hit the floor with a thud.

  Jake felt elated by Mr. Suit’s victory over Tempo but could tell that this had taken a lot out of the Samurai Superhero since even with his back turned to Jake, he could see that Mr. Suit was panting for breath. Jake watched as Mr. Suit got his breathing under control before turning around to face Jake while wearing a cocky grin. “Guess how many times I’ve saved your sorry ass now, cowboy.”

  “I’ve lost count.” Jake shrugged and stuck his tongue out at the egotistic prick.

  At that moment, Thrax had recovered from the initial shock of his arm being sliced off, and decided to attack the distracted Mr. Suit charging him from behind with his body slightly bent forward as if he planned on heat butting Mr. Suit. “AHHHH!”

 
; Jake’s eyes widened in fright as he looked behind Mr. Suit to see a cyborg rampaging like a bull towards Mr. Suit. “Holy shit. Mr. Suit! Watch out, dude!”

  Too late. Thrax barreled into Mr. Suit shoving him forward and into a wall with such force that a hole was created in the concrete and soon Mr. Suit and Thrax found themselves in another room.

  Jake approached the hole in the wall and reluctantly climbed in after Mr. Suit. As his cowboy boots touched the floor his eyes widened in horror at the sickening sight before him:

  Dead bodies littered the floor of the room and Jake almost slipped since the floor was completely slick with blood. Jake put a hand over his mouth as he looked at the bodies and noticed that the bodies weren’t whole…arms…legs were scattered around the room. Jake swayed on his feet. He felt like he’d just been sucked into some kind of horror movie and that he’d entered a madman’s torture chamber. “What is this…? All these people…”

  “Jake, get a hold of yourself. They’re not humans. They’re just androids.” Mr. Suit explained coolly, also trying to keep his composure at the gruesome, cold-hearted sight.

  “Androids.” Jake frowned as he took a closer look at the dead bodies on the floor. Then he realized that Mr. Suit was right. The severed arms and legs had wires poking out of them and the broken bodies had their flesh torn away to reveal metal endoskeletons.

  “He’s exactly right. They’re just androids so there’s no crime.” A sinister voice made Jake’s skin crawl.

  Jake’s attention was drawn to an imposing, solid iron throne. The throne was incredibly elaborate with curls of thorny metal vines weaving their way around the throne’s arms and over the throne’s back in an artistic, decorative pattern. Seated on the throne was a man with spiky black hair, dressed from head-to-toe in black leather with chains wrapped around his body. There was a faceless mask on his face and a holographic image of ‘02’ occasionally flashed on it. The Nemesis Zero was also wearing a spiked collar, his ear piercings were visible, and Jake noticed the living-metal sword that was strapped to his waist.

  Jake paled when he realized just who was seated before him. “Nix…”

  “Duo.” Mr. Suit finished for him and Jake was surprised to hear his partner’s voice dripping with venom.

  Crap! It really is him! Nix Duo! Jake paled. Didn’t someone say that Nix Duo tortured Mr. Suit! Jake looked over at Mr. Suit and wondered how he could possibly look as calm as he did given his current predicament.

  Nix Duo was seated languidly on the throne with a pretty young woman seated in his lap. She was dressed in a white leather bodysuit, and had a head of white curls that had metal spirals throughout the do. She looked exactly like Solis but dyed white. Nix Duo was fondling her right breast through the white leather of her skintight outfit, not in the least self-conscious that he was being watched.

  Jake swallowed trying to get rid of the dry feeling in his throat as he approached the iron throne. “Not a crime? Are those all…were those all…Sex Droids?” Jake asked tremulously.

  “Why yes, you have a good eye, cowboy. They were all indeed Sex Droids.” Nix Duo admitted and a knowing smile curled his lips behind the faceless mask, but Jake knew that evil smile was there. He could feel it.

  Jake clenched his hands at his sides. “Then…there’s really no difference. Those poor androids - they experienced pain as you tortured and killed them. That should be a crime. In my eyes…it is a crime. You’re a murderer and one sick son of a bitch!” Jake stated loudly, his voice trembling.

  A few Battle Droids that were standing behind the iron throne looked at Jake and slowly shook their heads at him as if to say ‘say no more’. Jake knew that those droids agreed with what he had said.

  Mr. Suit was surprised that Jake would be trying to stand up to Nix Duo of all people. Even he had to admit to himself that he was a bit freaked to be in the very same room where Nix Duo had once tortured him and his partner. But, if even Jake was showing such strength of character, then he should too.

  “Oh? You think so?” Nix Duo laughed and turned his attention to the pretty young woman in his lap. “What do you think, Lunae? Was what I did abominable?” Nix Duo took out a piece of leather and began to wrap it around Lunae’s neck slowly.

  Lunae smiled at Nix Duo and licked her lips. “Mmm, no, I had fun watching. I was envious of those androids…all that delicious attention they received from you.”

  “Don’t worry, my pet, I’ll give you the attention you so desire…” Nix Duo said as he began to tighten the leather cord around Lunae’s neck and began to cut off the girl’s breathing.

  “What the fuck is he doing?! He’s going to kill her!” Jake exclaimed in shock.

  “It’s called erotic asphyxiation.” Mr. Suit explained to Jake, pushing his green-tinted sunglasses up his nose. “Theoretically, if the young woman enjoys pain she can find such treatment…stimulating. She must trust Nix Duo a lot to place her life in his hands though because it’s up to him to stop asphyxiating her before...” Mr. Suit choked on the words.

  “What if he doesn’t stop?” Jake asked, shaking.

  “Then she’ll die.” Mr. Suit informed Jake simply.

  “Fuck that!” Jake started forward. “That’s sick, man! Let the girl go!”

  Mr. Suit reached out and grabbed onto Jake’s shoulder to stop him. “There you go acting without thinking again, Jake. People might misunderstand and think you’re actually brave. But I know better. She’s not in any immediate danger. You see…she’s smiling. That poor masochistic woman is actually enjoying it.” Mr. Suit’s expression was both sickened and disturbed.

  Jake’s gaze shifted to look at Lunae more closely and noticed that Mr. Suit was right. Lunae’s eyes were glazed with lust and she had a pleased smile on her face. Jake couldn’t get over how similar Lunae and Solis looked. Twins? Jake wondered.

  As if Nix Duo could read Jake’s mind he spoke aloud. “No, not twins, clones. Solis and Lunae are clones that I had specially made for my enjoyment. Aren’t they beautiful?” Nix Duo oozed in a slippery voice that reminded Jake of dripping black tar.

  “Clones?” Jake echoed thinking about Solis and how she seemed like a total sadist where this girl in front of him seemed like a masochist. A sadist and masochist set of clones. How much weirder could things get? Welcome to the Twilight Zone. Can I leave now? Jake wondered.

  Nix Duo’s attention focused on Mr. Suit again and he stiffened in response. “Mr. Suit. I’ve been expecting you. Thank you for escorting him to me, Thrax. Though it could have been done with a bit more finesse. I’ll take it from here.” Nix Duo waved his hand at Thrax in a dismissive gesture.

  “Sure thing, Nix Duo.” Thrax said gruffly and nodded before walking over to the side of the room.

  Mr. Suit gave Nix Duo a disgusted look. “Really, Nix Duo, is that any way to treat a lady? Unhand her and fight me. We have a score to settle, after all.”

  Nix Duo squeezed Lunae’s breast causing the girl to cry out. “Fight you? Aren’t you here to arrest me and read me my rights, Samurai Superhero?”

  “Scum like you…” Mr. Suit shrugged. “Has no rights. Even if it’s true you’ve committed no crime butchering these poor androids that doesn’t mean you haven’t committed any crimes. You’re a murderer just as Jake said. And it’s time to pay for your crimes. It’s time for justice to be had.”

  Nix Duo abruptly shoved Lunae off of his lap as if angered by Mr. Suit’s words. The female cyborg clone fell to the floor but looked up at Nix Duo with an excited look on her face while she licked her lips. “Mmm. Nix Duo.”

  “Hey! Watch it you bastard! You could have really hurt her. Would it kill you to be a bit more gentle!” Jake burst out.

  But Lunae stayed on the floor and moved her limbs into a sexier pose. “Ooo Nix Duo…throw me down harder next time. It makes me so hot when you rough me up a little.” Lunae ran her hands over her body sensually.

  Jake blushed and turned his head away before it
looked like Lunae started to pleasure herself in front of everyone as she tweaked her own nipples through her leather bodysuit.

  Nix Duo stood up and unsheathed his sword to point it one-handed at Mr. Suit. “I’ve been waiting a long time for this Mr. Suit…you’re finally just where I want you - at my mercy. You’ll pay for what you did. Not only did you interfere in the last E.T. Tech Race and nearly cost us our victory, but you also destroyed my precious smart-bike - slicing her in two like that. To a biker - a bike is not just a bike - that bike was my baby, Mr. Suit. You’ll pay for having destroyed her and taking out my bike’s personality chip and destroying her too…that was going too far.”

  Mr. Suit arched an elegant eyebrow at Nix Duo. “Your baby? I didn’t think you cared about anyone, let alone anything. It was just an A.I. personality chip - it’s not like your bike was alive. That bike wasn’t alive like my partner was!” Mr. Suit suddenly shouted and then shut his mouth as if he hadn’t meant to say that last part. Mr. Suit shook his head. “I’m not the same man you knew a year ago, Nix Duo. I’ve gotten stronger. This time you’ll be the loser when we fight.”

  Epp! Jake looked back and forth between Mr. Suit and Nix Duo, they both had really fierce battle auras but…Mr. Suit was injured. Can he really defeat Nix Duo in his current condition?

  “Just two more cyborgs to go…” Mr. Suit said to himself in a low voice while trying to pump himself up for the ensuing fight. He needed to somehow find the energy to keep on fighting, to keep on moving forward. “I can do this. Jake.” Mr. Suit turned to face Jake briefly and his expression softened. “I want you to remember something…if…quitters never win and winners never quit.” Mr. Suit turned his attention back to Nix Duo. “Yosha! Let’s do this.”