Julius viewed all this with a smile. "He believes it!" he giggled, "he believes it! And if he believes one, surely two or three won't make any difference?"
He began to type on his computer.
Robert stopped sharp.
Another roaring dragon had just appeared in front of him. Desperate, Robert ran sideways - to face another one! Robert whirled, to find he was now surrounded by dragons. He screamed in terror as the dragons closed in.
Robert's screams reached Ian and Matthew up ahead. Turning, they saw the incredible drama unfolding.
"Robert!" Matthew yelled, "get down!"
Robert dived down.
Matthew raised his arms. Five beams of light leapt from them and sprang on each individual dragon. The dragons seemed to somehow absorb them - and vanished. Five beams of light rebounded and struck Matthew in the face. Matthew toppled over. Robert leapt to his feet, ran over to Ian and they both looked helplessly down at Matthew. He lay unmoving, smouldering, apparently dead.
CHAPTER FIVE
Steve woke, alone in a tunnel. He wasn't the slightest bit disconcerted by this, however; he still had his trusty machine-gun, and when he came across whoever was behind his current predicament...
Checking his gun, he began to walk and it wasn't long before he heard voices - a boy and a girl. Steve raised his machine-gun and leapt around the corner, preparing to fire. He heard the girl scream, and heard a shot. He didn't realise he hadn't fired it until he saw his own weapon lying on the floor.
The boy who had fired, a small, wiry young man with thick black hair, shoved his gun back into his holster,
"Good shot," Steve commended.
"Thank you," the boy grinned. "I'm Philip Vasquez."
"Steve Botham."
"Sarah Vasquez," the girl spoke. Her thick brown hair was somewhat wild, and whilst she was attractive, her face was flushed and she looked tired.
They shook hands and told their stories.
"Well, seeing as we're all in the same boat," Steve said, "I suggest we put our heads together and find the nutter behind all this. And when that's done - ", he rubbed his hands together gleefully, " - I'm gonna kick his ass!"
Ian and Robert stood looking at Matthew's motionless body. They'd been doing that for several minutes, and Ian, despite some sadness at Matthew's demise, decided it was time to move on. "Come on," Ian tried to console the other teenager. "He's dead, it's over for him. I suggest we try and find our own salvation."
"We don't know he's dead," Robert objected desperately. "Have you felt for a pulse?" he moved toward the body.
"No!" Ian stopped him. "He won't be nice to look at."
"Thank you very much!" Matthew cried, leaping to his feet. "You're not exactly a male model, yourself."
"Matt!" Ian cried, unexpectedly delighted.
"We thought you were dead," Robert told him, quickly wiping away any hint of tears.
"Oh, I used my powers to stop the beams actually hitting me," Matthew said dismissively.
"Then why the dramatic collapse?" Ian demanded.
Matthew grinned. "Just wondered if you cared, that's all."
Ian sighed. But he had to admit, Matthew's sense of humour (warped though it may be) was very infectious.
The two robots, imaginatively named Banix1 and Banix2, were operational. Dr. X. Banix watched in delight as they moved exactly according to his instructions.
Chief Marnode entered. "I thought you said these two weren't operational?"
"What if I did?" Banix snarled.
"Landing on Aaron is imminent," Marnode told him. "After we have dealt with the Bad Ian, we will then be dealing with you."
"Look!" Ian pointed.
In the distance was a huge castle, just looming over the horizon.
"Ah," Matthew smiled, "now we're getting somewhere. Come on you two, hold onto me."
"What for?" Ian looked horrified at the very idea.
"Now I can see it I can teleport us there. Idiot," Matthew retorted. "If I didn't even know where we were going, I couldn't, now could I? Now come on!"
Matthew concentrated as Ian and Robert grabbed onto his arms.
The threesome vanished.
Steve, Philip and Sarah heard sobbing and, turning a corridor, saw Scott on the floor, crying.
Steve helped him to his feet. "You alright?" he grunted.
Scott wiped his eyes. "Someone's been playing games with my mind. Making me see dead people - like my mom!"
"This bastard is mean," Steve grinned appreciatively. "Gonna be fun filling him with lead!"
"Oh my," Sarah sighed wearily. "What a nutter!"
Steve glared at her. "Watch it, missy."
"Ooh!" Sarah grimaced. "I'm tewwibly fwightened of you!" she hid behind Philip. "P-p-please protect me!"
Philip laughed at his sibling's sarcasm. "Nice one, sis."
There was a whooshing sound and Ian, Matthew and Robert appeared out of nowhere in the corridor. Steve went for his gun, but Ian kicked it away.
"I'm sick of people doing that!" Steve groaned.
"I suspect we're all in the same boat," Ian began confidently. "So I think if we joined forces - with me as leader of course - we could teach someone a lesson or two."
They stared at him open-mouthed. "PISS OFF!" was just one of the responses...
Julius stared at his monitor malevolently. He didn't like the idea of these people getting together at all, and now his monitor had gone dead. Julius chewed at his fingernails, wondering if he had bitten off more than he could swallow, and dreading what his enemies might be planning...
His enemies were bombarding each other with insults, mostly directed at Ian.
"Me work for a poncy Prince?" Steve grunted. "You've got to be bloody joking."
Ian tried to calm his audience. "I didn't mean work for me. I meant us all help each other."
Steve nodded. "That's better."
"With me in charge," Ian finished.
The insults began again...
The Assessis warship sped sleekly toward Aaron.
"Entering Aaron atmosphere," Marnode spoke crisply. "Arrival imminent."
"Excellent," High Commander Agon's voice crackled slightly through the communicator, "and remember, Marnode - Julius is to be caught and held until you reach Assessis - where I will personally dispose of him. You or any of your men kill him, or let him escape - and I'll execute you and your entire squadron in his place. Understood?"
"Yes, sir," Marnode swallowed.
"Good. Out."
Sighing, Marnode turned in his seat - to face a grinning Dr. X. Banix.
"Problems?" Banix smiled slyly.
The warship flew on.
CHAPTER SIX
Ian had finally calmed down his fellow victims, although there were still some rebellious mutterings - mainly from Steve. Philip and Scott didn't seem to mind much either way, Matthew and Robert were watching in detached amusement, and Sarah seemed to be hanging on Ian's every word.
"Right then," Ian continued, "now it's all settled and I'm in charge, I suggest - "
"Suggest?" Steve scoffed. "You mean you order!"
"I suggest," Ian carried on regardless, "that we try to get out of this mess."
Matthew applauded. "Good thinking," he commented sarcastically.
Julius was watching the news again, although the presenter's comments weren't instilling him with confidence - "The Assessis warship will land on Aaron in two or three minutes time" etc.
"I think," Julius commented shrewdly to no one in particular, "that it's time I left Aaron to the Aaron's."
There was a whoosh of air and Julius turned to face Matthew, Ian and the others.
"Julius!" Ian snarled. "I might have known."
"He's just like Ian," Sarah pointed out rather unnecessarily.
"Apart from that rather nasty scar on your left cheek, right Jules?" Ian mocked. "I gave him that on our last encounter."
Julius sn
arled. "Watch it, brother dearest. Your supreme arrogance didn't do you much good last time, did it?"
"You do enjoy talking rubbish, don't you?" Ian smiled. "If I remember correctly, it wasn't me that ran off at the sight of a tank and left an entire Assessian platoon to be slaughtered, was it?" Julius scowled, reminded of his cowardice.
"What a wimp!" Steve complained. "And this is our super-villain! I could take on this powder-puff blindfolded, crippled, and with two hands tied behind my back!"
"Well," Julius smiled, "it's been terribly nice chatting to you all, but - must dash," he ran for the inner door.
"Oh no you don't!" Philip brought Julius to the floor, struggling viciously.
Julius kicked Philip in the face, knocking him back - only to be knocked out by a karate chop from Sarah.
Ian moved to his brother but recoiled as the inner door opened and Dr. Banix's two robots stepped out. With one hand, Banix1 threw Sarah across the room. Banix2 knocked Ian to the floor.
"This gets tedious," Matthew yawned, raising his arms.
Banix1 smashed him in the face, sending him to the floor.
Scott dived forward and headbutted Banix2. It had no affect whatsoever on the robot and Scott collapsed, unconscious.
Julius crawled quietly along the floor, but the two Banix's pushed past the others and grabbed each of his arms, preparing to pull him apart.
"No!" Ian cried, "not like that!" he pulled out a strange-looking device.
"What are you doing?" a recovering Scott demanded.
Ian fired at Banix1. It released Julius and went flailing around the room, sparking, eventually coming to rest on the floor. "It's an electro-shock gun," Ian said, reloading with another battery as Banix2 attempted to kill Julius singlehanded. "I use it on Zakaria to play havoc with the palace's computers. It shorts them out." Ian fired, but the robot kept on throttling Julius. Ian fired six more times. The robot released Julius and, sparking, headed for Ian.
Steve fired his machine-gun until it had run out of bullets, to no avail.
The robot reached Ian, grabbed him by the throat, and squeezed, causing the teenager to gasp for breath, choking as it tightened it's grip.
"No!" Screaming, Sarah ran at the thing, only to have herself knocked aside without disturbing its grip.
Matthew frowned. "Oh, get off him," he murmured wearily, blasting Banix2 to the far side of the room.
"Come on," Ian gasped. They followed him to the door - and a new enemy stepped through it.
Dr. X. Banix raised an odd-looking gun. "So you're Prince Ian," he rasped. "I've always wanted to try this on a person - and Royalty, no less!"
"What is it?" Ian gasped.
"This device reverses the polarity of the neutron flow in machines. Let's see what effect it has on people, shall we?"
Behind Ian, Banix2 climbed to its feet and lurched toward the teenager, hands raised in a strangling motion.
"Who knows - maybe it will send you insane or something," Dr. X. Banix chuckled. "Two Bad Ian’s - what a thought!" He fired.
Ian dived to the floor. The energy charge struck Banix2. Without changing its course, the robot grabbed it's master and began to throttle the life out of him. "Die," it spoke for the first time, "evil must die!"
And Dr. X. Banix, scientific genius and evil mastermind extraordinaire, died horribly at the hands of his own creation.
"Come on," Ian urged the others.
The robot grabbed him. "Please," Banix said, "let me join you."
Ian stared at it and realised it was more than just a tool for good - it was a person. "Very well," he said slowly.
"We must hurry," Banix urged. "Assessis soldiers are here. My former master wished the Bad Ian dead so as to ruin Chief Marnode - they want him alive."
Sarah looked around. "Where is the Bad Ian?"
Ian smiled. "He'll be long gone. Come on." They ran through the door into a hangar where a spacecraft stood waiting. "That's Julius' escape route," Ian smiled grimly. "Now it's ours." They climbed aboard.
Robert and Steve took the controls. "Get back in the passenger section," Steve shouted. The engines roared and, swiftly and smoothly, the ship flew from the hangar and into the blue sky.
Chief Marnode had just left the warship when he saw the craft fly off into space. There was no way they could catch it - half the crew had already disembarked and by the time they were back on the craft the Bad Ian's ship would be long gone. He knew he had failed, and he knew what failure would mean back on Assessis. Drawing his weapon, Marnode shoved the gun in his mouth and decorated the ground with his brains.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The craft had just left Aaron's atmosphere. Exhausted, almost everyone was sleeping in the passenger section, the lights down. All except two.
Robert was in the cockpit, surveying the flight, when Julius attacked him from behind.
Robert had no time to cry out, and virtually no time to struggle before he was lying unconscious on the floor.
Julius chuckled. These imbeciles had thought his plan had been for them. No, they were just for fun, something for his hired mercenaries (still down on Aaron) to do, an added bonus. While he hadn't been expecting them quite so soon, it had been Assessis he had been after all along; he'd wanted to send them a message, to leave him alone - or they'd regret it. All over Aaron, massive thermonuclear warheads with the potential for cracking open the planet like an egg were waiting. Waiting for one signal to detonate and destroy everything. Julius pushed a button. "Bye, bye Aaron."
The planet Aaron exploded, shattering its remains into fragments of debris that scattered all over the universe.
Julius was encased in a spacesuit. "And now," he cackled, "I will destroy this ship and this newly-formed "Ian's Gang." He typed in the password on the ship's computer.
The screen flashed:
IGNITION IMMINENT
INSERT KEY FOR DETONATION'
TO ABORT PRESS "A"
Julius took out a key.
Ian lunged for him. The key clattered onto the floor as Ian punched his brother repeatedly, until Julius buckled under his onslaught. One final punch sent the villain to the floor and into oblivion. Ian punched "A" on the keyboard. The screen flashed:
SELF-DESTRUCT ABORTED
Julius grabbed the key, dived to his feet, threw Ian from the cockpit, and pressed a button. The door slid shut and locked. Julius cackled and typed in the password. The screen flashed:
IGNITION IMMINENT
INSERT KEY FOR DETONATION
TO ABORT PRESS "A"
"Not likely," Julius said vehemently. He checked the scanner, but the debris from Aaron was still flying. "Not yet," he chuckled, "or I'll be turned into sushi."
Ian blasted the door down and, as Julius turned in shock, he fired again, disintegrating the key. Ian moved in and threw his twin into the airlock, locking the inner door.
"No!" Julius pleaded. "You can't!"
"Oh?" Ian sneered. "Why not?"
"The debris from Aaron is still flying. I'll be torn in half the moment I'm out there!" Julius pleaded.
"You destroyed an entire planet," Ian snarled. "If that planet then destroys you - sounds like poetic justice to me." His finger jabbed down on a button.
The airlock opened and, with a terrified scream, "the Bad Ian" was sucked from the ship. Ian closed the airlock.
Sarah entered curiously. "What's all the noise about?"
"My brother and I were having a friendly chat," Ian told her. "But he had to leave. He had an appointment with a few thousand pieces of rock."
Sarah raised her eyebrows.
Ian entered the passenger section. "Okay everyone," he began, "I know a few of you didn't like me at first, and I admit I can be a bit presumptuous. But enough. We've done well. We've banded together and outwitted both the Bad Ian and an entire Assessis warship. I know the delegates have signed you all up to be in "Ian's Gang" already anyway, but if any of you dislike the idea so much, raise
your hands and you don't have to do it. I'll scrap the whole idea. Just raise your hands."
Strangely enough, no one did.
Mind you, they were all asleep.
EXCERPT FROM ASSESSIS NEWS REPORT:
"High Commander Agon is reported to be "disappointed" with the warship's progress on Aaron, and is reviewing Chief Marnode's career possibilities."
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