Revenge: Act 4: Invasion Force - part 2
by BlueBard

Previously...

"A second portal is opening!" warned Mentor as a burst of light and power flashed some distance away. Three more alien warriors emerged from the new portal, activated their shields, and took positions.

AlcheMiss, Liberty Lad, and Microwave watched the battle through one of AlcheMiss' scrying portals. "We've gotta help them!" Nick exclaimed in anguish.

"self unable to project any favorable outcome," Microwave replied emotionlessly. "alien entities arriving at a rate of three per portal per five minute interval. there are six portals located in various parts of the city. total invasion force estimated at one hundred and forty-four entities; unknown how many have been disabled. self concludes freedom force will either be defeated or forced to withdraw within fifteen minutes."

"Don't bet on it, Lightbulb," AlcheMiss replied firmly. "Ah don't know what we'll do, but we'll come up with somethin'. If ah only had a way to get to those portals and shut them down..."

A metallic face appeared in the scrying portal. "I'm sorry, AlcheMiss," ManBot spoke in a grave voice. "I feel a great deal of anguish for you and the rest of my friends in that timeline."

"Still with us, Ted?" AlcheMiss sighed. "What's our future look like in your little crystal ball?"

"I can't see the future that way. All I can tell you is that the Dominion triumphs in many of these timelines. It hasn't happened yet for you, but I don't see any way you can avoid it, either."

"You can close those portals, can't you, ManBot?" asked Liberty Lad.

"I wish I could, Nick," he replied sadly. "I can open portals from here, yes. There's nothing I can do about portals opened by someone else."

AlcheMiss got a gleam in her eye. "But you can open a portal from where you are to where we are, right?"

"Yeesss," ManBot replied warily.

"And you can open another one from there to anywhere else, right?"

ManBot shook his head. "I know what you're thinking, but..."

"Peaches and Cream!" she exclaimed. "Are you gonna open us a portal, or do ah have to get huffy with you?"

The flying aliens dove on the Ant, radiation pistols blazing, only to pull up in frustration as the insectoid hero burrowed into the earth.

A short distance away, three aliens pointed their weapons at a downed, nearly unconscious and badly burned Order. "Finish the human off," sneered the alien sergeant. Suddenly, he toppled over as Ant emerged from the ground under his feet. Ant grabbed the other two by the ankles and yanked them down.

Bright light flared around Order's prostrate body, and Law rose up in his place. The athletic woman brandished her gleaming sword at the oncoming aliens. "Order held out as long as he could. Now I will fight this battle with my last breath."

"I hope it doesn't come to that, Law," Ant replied. The ground began to tremor, then shake violently as a hill of dirt pushed its way up through the middle of the street. Many of the invaders were knocked to their feet by the earthquake and Law fought to steady herself.

"Wahoo!" Ant whooped joyfully. "Here comes the cavalry! Or should I say the army... ants!" Giant soldier ants began streaming out of the hill and attacking the aliens with their acidic spray. "Alien invaders and giant ants! I feel like I'm watching a B grade sci-fi movie!"

Before Law could reply, a ferocious blast of energy took them from behind and blew them off their feet. They sailed through the air and slammed into the ground violently. Ant painfully scrambled up on his hands and knees and shook his head. His ears were still ringing from the explosion.. "Ouch," he said. "Forgot about those flyers with the plasma rockets."

"You just don't understand, Catherine," ManBot replied in frustration. "I must not get involved in manipulating the timelines. I'm not omniscient. I don't know everything and I can't do everything. And if I could, I might turn into a megalomaniac like Timemaster."

AlcheMiss' voice softened. "Ted, you're nothin' like that Timemaster character. You're bein' too hard on yourself, and too worried about what might happen. Ah don't believe for a minute you could ever try somethin' like Timemaster did. Fact is, though, if ah don't get those portals closed real soon... the Dominion wins. Don't you think for a moment Lord Dominion's gonna leave you be, either. He can't afford to have you, with your powers, in control of the Celestial Clock."

"I know," he replied. "The Dominion's already tried an assault here."

"They did?" Liberty Lad exclaimed in surprise. "What happened?"

"Let's just say it was a bad idea." ManBot was silent for a moment. "Alright, AlcheMiss; you win. I'll help. Maybe if Lord Dominion gets his grey butt kicked this time he'll learn not to get on my bad side."

"We don't even know where he is," replied Liberty Lad.

"No," agreed AlcheMiss, "but ah bet this Techmaster creep does." AlcheMiss turned to the alien scientist, stripped of his gadgets and confined in one of the power nullification cells. "Well, where is that balloon-headed boss of yours?"

Techmaster growled, "I'll never tell. Nothing you do to me can compare to what will happen to me if I betray Lord Dominion."

"We'll see about that," ManBot spoke through the scrying portal, his voice taut with controlled anger. Suddenly, AlcheMiss' portal crackled with energy and grew larger, large enough for a person to step through. "Bring him here to me. I think I can persuade him."

Microwave deactivated the forcefield on the cell and brought Techmaster out. "Ah hope you know what you're doin', Ted." said AlcheMiss. All five of them stepped through the portal and into the heart of Time. Around them, the Celestial Clock moved like an intricate timepiece and the sound of its' workings reverberated through the vast void.

ManBot stood in his energy-siphoning armor, waiting for them. It whirred as he trod toward them, his heavy steps beating in time with the rhythm of the Clock. He advanced menacingly upon Techmaster.

"So, you're afraid of Dominion," he spoke in a voice heavy with menace. "Let me tell you why you should be more afraid of me." ManBot waved an armored gauntlet and another portal appeared. "I can send you anywhere... and any when I want to. I can send you to back in time to be eaten alive by a pack of wild raptors. Then, when you're just about to die, I can snatch you back here and do it all over again. As many times as I want. When I get tired of that, I'll send you somewhere else... perhaps to the fungal forests on Alpha Centauri to be consumed by brain worms. The possibilities are literally endless."

"You're bluffing," Techmaster huffed. In answer, the portal ManBot created surged forward and engulfed the startled alien, whisking him away through Time. Techmaster found himself standing in a steamy jungle of lush ferns. Just a few feet away, a pack of raptors dined on the carcass of a small dinosaur. Techmaster gasped in fright. At the sound, six pairs of beady, vicious eyes snapped up and focused on the defenseless alien.

Back in the realm of the Celestial Clock, the four heroes watched the scene unfold. "Ted, no!" screamed AlcheMiss in horror. "You couldn't do such a thing!"

"No, I can't," agreed ManBot in an amused tone of voice. "But I don't mind him thinking I could. Hang on, a raptor's about to take a bite out of him." The portal flared and spit Techmaster out onto the floor of the Clock. ManBot stood over the terrified alien menacingly and spoke again in his malevolent-sounding voice, "Well, what's it going to be, Techmaster? Tell us where Dominion is, or face the consequences!"

The shaken alien scientist answered in a quavering voice, "No! I'll tell! I'll tell! He's on your planet, in an abandoned factory outside Patriot City! The old steel mill!"

"Very well," ManBot replied, "I'll spare your life. Don't tempt my wrath again, Alien. Begone!" The portal flared once again and Techmaster disappeared. "I've sent him to one of the holding cells at your Freedom Fortress. He'll keep there for awhile."

"Ah guess we'd better get movin' too," sighed AlcheMiss.

"Wait! You don't have to leave right away," ManBot said. "You can rest here from your ordeal a few minutes, and I can still send you back a second after you left."

The southern enchantress looked deeply into his eyes. "You're lonely, aren't you, Ted?" said AlcheMiss softly.

"Yes." ManBot slumped, weary with the weight of his self-enforced imprisonment. "It's hard. Very hard. I have so much awareness now, and cosmic powers I don't want. The responsibility is a burden, just like the energy powers that force me to wear this armor when anyone's around me." ManBot reached up and took off his helmet to reveal his brightly glowing face. "I've missed having anyone to talk to except aliens that show up here trying to kill me."

AlcheMiss reached a hand toward his face with compassion. "Ted, I..."

ManBot jerked away from her. "No! Don't touch me!" He jammed the metal helmet back on his head. "I'm sorry, Catherine. To touch me is to die, and I couldn't bear the thought of being responsible for your death. I..." ManBot stopped and breathed a deep sigh. "You see past this metal shell and see things in me I never even knew were there. You believe in me... and somehow you help me to believe in myself again. I love you, Catherine."

AlcheMiss' breath caught and her heart leaped. "Ah love you, too, Ted," she replied in a trembling voice. "Ah wish... Ah wish things could be different for us. But we've got these awesome powers and all of the responsibility that comes with ‘em." AlcheMiss turned away. "We... we'd better go now."

Microwave interjected, "this unit has an observation. temporal mechanics should permit juxtaposition of timeflow, allowing these units to act within the timestream at multiple points in spacetime. this would be an efficient use of fifth dimensional effects to close the dimensional portals in the shortest time period allowable."

AlcheMiss glanced at the robot with a look of irritation. "Microwave, you sure know how to ruin a moment with jibber jabber. You want to run that by us again, Mister Computer-Brain? This time in English?"

"I understand what he's getting at, AlcheMiss," mused ManBot. "Microwave, you're saying that I can send you through to each portal for as long as you need, then pull you back and reinsert you into the timestream in a different portal location a second later. For you, you'd spend a few minutes at each portal, but to any observer in that timestream it would be as if you were in each location at the same time!"

"affirmative."

ManBot waved his gauntlet and another portal appeared. "Go on. I'll get you where you need to be and when you need to be there."

Liberty Lad and Microwave stepped into the portal and disappeared. AlcheMiss hesitated. "Ted, maybe when this mess is all over with... maybe ah could come back here from time to time. Just to talk and keep you company for a bit."

"I'd like that."

AlcheMiss smiled slyly. "One of these days, ah'm gonna figure out a way around those energy powers of yours, Tin Man. That armor of yours won't protect you then!" She turned and ran through the portal.

ManBot was alone again. But underneath the metallic shell of his helmet, ManBot... smiled.

The alien onslaught was overwhelming. Minuteman noted grimly the efficiency with which the aliens carried out their strategy, even as he fought for his life. The invaders had set up defensive lines between Freedom Force and the dimensional portals, using their formidable shields to create nigh impenetrable walls. From behind the forcefield-protected soldiers, other aliens fired their weapons to keep the heroes at bay.

As soon as one invader's shields fell, another alien stepped forward and activated their own shield in its' place. Minuteman and the others had been forced to fall back away from the portals that kept disgorging reinforcements.

Some of the invaders had jet boots that allowed them to fly. These aliens harassed Freedom Force with plasma rockets, pinning them down and blowing up whatever the heroes tried to use for cover.

Bullet dashed away from a plasma explosion, trying to escape the blast, and ran into another alien's radiation beam. "AAAaggh! I'm hit!" he cried. The silver speedster wobbled away out of range down the street.

Mentor's telepathic voice reached Minuteman. "Bullet has been severely hit by radiation. His accelerated metabolism provides him with a healing factor, but also aggravates the effects of the radiation. I have telepathically instructed him to withdraw in the hope that his healing factor will be able to deal with the radiation poisoning. I fear we will be forced to retreat from this location."

"If we retreat, they'll be able to fortify their positions," Minuteman replied. He dashed toward the last intact car on the street and lifted it over his head as if it were made of paper-mache. With a mighty heave, he sent it tumbling through the air toward a flying alien. It knocked the alien out of the sky, then crashed to the ground near one of the alien positions and exploded. The blast didn't so much as cause one of the shields to flicker, but flying shrapnel took out one alien who didn't duck fast enough. Minuteman fled back out of range, lest one of the warriors recover enough to catch him with a radiation beam.

"We can't stop them this way," Mentor tried to convince his friend. "Our only hope is to retreat and attempt to regroup the entire Freedom Force for a coordinated assault."

El Diablo rocketed toward the aliens protecting the second portal. Deadly beams speared upwards, narrowly missing him and forcing him to evade backwards. "Ay, Caramba! I can't even get close enough to drop my Inferno blast on them! Looks like that portal's about to open again. I'm gonna try it one more time!" El Diablo spiraled back toward the portal just as it flared brilliantly. "There's three more coming! I'm gonna try to nail them before they get all the way through!"

Mentor shouted telepathically, "Diablo! Wait! Those aren't -- "

To Be Continued...