Super Soaker Central

The Tempests in the air were still a formidable force. They were planning a direct attack on the militia HQ (12) to dismantle the command force. Their original plan was to attempt to wipe out the navy, which afterwards would leave the North Island wide open for a sea attack. Luckily, they underestimated the power of the militia's sea force and decided to go crazy on the old fort.

The water balloon launcher cannons mounted on the beach downed some more planes. Spinner had a small squad of CF-18s and Mosquitos try to shoo them off. The HQ's defence turrets finished the job. The militia captured a large group of twenty five Tempests that did not attempt to flee after ejecting.

The captured Tempests were all immediately put under the "trust" testing that Monsoon had conducted before. Twenty passed, leaving the other five to be prisoners in the fort's basement rooms. With the entire air force wiped out, the only thing standing in the way was the Tempest sea squadron. The militia navy was ready for anything at this point. All the planes in the air force refuelled and were in their usual patrols. Monsoon ordered that five subs go ahead south a bit to see exactly how far the enemies were at this point.

The Tempest navy was ordered to slowly advance towards the North Island from their position. The militia subs went south for half an hour and spotted the lower hulls of the enemy ships. They radioed back to Monsoon if they should attack or not. "Leave the first militia sea strike to me," said Monsoon, "They're mine!"

Monsoon got a pair of binoculars and spotted a Tempest attack cruiser on the horizon. He readied the obliterator. The massive water balloon launcher aimed and shot at the oncoming ship and almost immediately sunk it, putting a huge hole in the lower hull.

The faster attack ships advanced on the Titan, but the Titan's guns were too much for the small Tempest navy to handle. "Crew, we're heading back to the rest of the naval force!" he yelled. The Titan made a break for it, shooting occasionally at the pursuing boats.

When the two forces clashed, the militia made light work of the Tempest navy. "There's got to be more than that! Something's not right, we'd better tell Spinner..." The situation was strange and eerie. The five captured Tempests were laughing, but refused to tell anything...

Racer sat outside next to his Rebel II with a remote and a screwdriver, tweaking it for the tank, when suddenly, someone appeared out of nowhere, instantly grabbing Racer and taking his radio, taking him and the radio somewhere unknown to him...But Racer still had the remote...

Force and his squad packed up their parachutes and hid them in a small cave in the cliff side. Force looked up the cliff. Somehow they had to get up there. Force turned to Piranha, "You're the climbing expert. Think you can make it?" Piranha laughed, "Easy!"

With only a rope with him, Piranha set about climbing the cliff face. It didn't take him long to reach the top. He ran over to the nearest tree and tied the rope around it. Then he threw the rest over the side. He looked down. Sophie had grabbed the rope, and was climbing up.

Within five minutes, they were all at the top. "OK, now we head for 2," Force explained to everyone, "I know someone there who should be able to help us." They headed off.

Spinner was back at the aerodrome, waiting for his planes to be refuelled. A massive bombing attack was planned on 2. "I wish I knew where Forceuser is," said Spinner to himself, "He didn't tell anyone, rushing off like that."

Then the radio crackled. It was Monsoon. "Come in, Spinner...come in, Spinner..."

As he headed through the forest to 2, Forceuser wondered whether Spinner had got the message he gave to the Hercules pilot explaining what he was doing.

As soon as he had got back, the Hercules pilot had headed for 12, not knowing where Spinner was. When he got to the command centre, he was stopped by an officer.

"I need to see Major-General Spinner," he told the officer. "I'm sorry, he is not here right now." "Well, can you give him this when he gets back." The Hercules pilot gave the officer the message, then left. The officer put the message down on his desk and went off to deal with something else. While he was gone, some more papers were placed on his desk, burying the message...

Racer sat in a small dark room strapped to a small chair.

A light turned on in front of him; he could see his CPS 1500 and XP 75 on the floor next to him.

A person sat in a desk chair in front of him, holding Racer's radio.

"Within minutes I will press the button on this radio to signal your group over here," said the person. "What will that do?" asked Racer. "I don't think you know my plan, do you?" Racer shook his head. "Well, here it goes..."

The person held up a map, "We are in this small shed next to the Tempest base in the woods next to YOUR base, your personnel would go over to this little area, and only find a shed."

"THAT's your plan?" said Racer. "Yes, now shut up. The REAL Tempest base is underground..." Racer interrupted, "Wait a minute, it's underground?" "You heard me," replied the person, "So then, your group will come over here and be ambushed by our elite squads."

"And if you wanted to keep this plan a secret, then why are you telling me again?" Racer smiled. The person in front of him looked angry by that remark, "Send this kid off to decommissioning right now," and then he pressed the button on the radio.

Forceuser's radio buzzed, he picked it up, Racer was screaming in the background...

Wontwood was walking down the path along the beach. Monkey had got all the help and supplies they needed, with Toaster's help, and was now going about putting the Knuckleguard back together.

Strolling along, he saw Toaster sitting on a rock, facing the sea. He didn't look like he was happy, as his shoulders were slouched and he had his head drooped a bit. Concerned, Wontwood strode up to his friend.

"Hey man, what's wrong?" Wontwood said unassumingly, coming up beside Toaster.

"Oh. Hey Jeff. I just miss everyone back home," Toaster replied, as Jeff took a seat on a neighbouring piece of driftwood. "Yeah, me too," Jeff said.

Toaster looked over. "I mean, it's not like it's not fun to be out with my buddies like this, but..." Toaster trailed off.

"C'mon Pip, this shouldn't last much longer, and then we can go home. I can't wait to see Kelsey again."

"Yeah. I miss Rae and the girls. Rae especially..." Toaster said, drooping his head again.

"Good. Everyone on this island misses someone. Except the people who are natives here," Jeff reassured Pip, patting him on the back.

"You know, we've been doing our best, and we've helped a lot. We're due for a break, I think," Toaster said, more upbeat.

"Ah, ah, ah, we're not finished until we get paid. We are mercs, you have to remember," Jeff chided jokingly.

Chuckling, Toaster said, "Yeah, ya got me there. Hey, go check how Monkey's doing. Come back and we'll talk about what to do next. Bring Kyle too."

Striding off, Wontwood went to check on the Knuckleguard's progress, and to round up Bukan.

The militia navy was told by Monsoon to head back north, much closer to North Island's southern beaches. He had spotted a submarine telescope peer above the waterline. This was not a militia sub. He thought that moving back would keep the island safer and since the beach cannons would be in range, they would have extra firepower.

"Dang, my radio ran out of batteries," Monsoon said, "I was trying to contact Spinner to tell him what we have done." The Titan was still at the front of the navy, but much closer.

"Guys, I'm going to leave the Titan to you for a day or two," said Monsoon. "Why, sir?" "My batteries never ran out...there must be some sort of electronic interference."

The first mate looked puzzled, "Wouldn't we catch any Tempest activity by radar?" "The Tempests are too smart to be caught by our radar system. The radar we set up can only detect activity on land and air...they must have infiltrated using a submarine!" said Monsoon.

The Titan lurched towards 12's private piers. Monsoon got off and the Titan went back to the rest of the navy. "Take good care of the obliterator for me, eh?" he called as the ship went off. "I have to tell someone else in power that Tempests must have gotten onto the island somehow," Monsoon said. He packed his things, along with his CPS 4100, and started for the fort.

When he got there, men were scurrying about in the basement control room. They apparently also have found out about the interference. "Glad to have you back sir," said a communications techie, "We have lost contact with the navy and the air force on patrol." "I know, that's why I'm here. Where is Spinner?" asked Monsoon. "He's at the aerodrome, I think. By the way, we lost all communication right when you tried to radio to him."

Monsoon was nervous. He already thought they were close to losing this war once. He didn't want his old home area to be overrun by the evil Tempests. Right then, a radio comm opened up, "Hello there. I have Racer here. He is okay, not hurt and whatnot. Now listen closely, I want a squad of your men to come to the shed by your so-called "hidden" forest base and get him..."

The radio buzzed. The connection was once again lost. "It appears whoever this is, he or they are controlling the radio downtime," said the techie.

Monsoon got his CPS 4100 and got suited up for forest combat. "I'm going in alone, this is somewhat personal," said Monsoon with a serious face and tone. He decided to take a KA-60 chopper over to the edge of the forest. "What am I thinking, it's most likely an ambush. Oh well, at least if I don't come back, they'll know it's the Tempests." He had no radio connection to anyone. He was alone.

It was getting dark. "Perfect...stealth is key here..." he muttered to himself. He took his fist steps into the dense foggy woods, and started off. This would be difficult, since there were no charted paths in the woods.

About half and hour in, he found the forest base. "The shed has to be nearby." He looked around, pointing his loaded 4100 at anything that moved or made a sound. He saw the shed. It was covered in moss and was there before the militia even took over the island.

He opened the door. There were wet stone steps in the back corner, along with a chair that appeared to be bolted to the floor. There was a pair of handcuffs on the ground that appeared new. Cautiously, he stepped down the stairs slowly and silently. He turned on his night vision goggles and glanced around quickly. There was a much larger room down under the shed. He saw that the Tempest insignia was painted all over the walls.

"It's a trap!" he thought. He backed up back towards the steps. Right when he got to the first stair, a group of men popped out from a door. Monsoon clutched his soaker to his chest and stayed still. "They don't have goggles."

He attempted sliding under the table in the middle of the room. He accidentally kicked a rock and the lights flicked on. "Get him!" yelled one of the men. Monsoon pulled the trigger and soaked one of the men's eyes.

He dodged all the other shots and set his soaker to the spray setting. He got as close as possible and drenched all of them. Two of the ten men backed down. Monsoon started running. He was going to run back to the helicopter to wipe them out. As Monsoon got to the shed's door, something knocked him out cold...

He woke up. He looked around with blurry eyes and saw that Racer was sitting beside him. He appeared badly beaten. A man, obviously a high-ranking Tempest officer spoke, "Well, well, well. Looks like your friend here is going to have some company after all." The man laughed.

"You idiots were foolish enough to take a stand on the South Island, and look at the outcome! You all lost horribly. Unfortunately for you, it's going to happen again. By the way, we know about Vertigo Island, and it's on our take-over list right after this one!"

Monsoon sighed, "If you only knew what kind of crap we have in store for you sons of..." The man stood up and kicked Monsoon off his chair, "Shut up! we already know the potential of your entire army. We still have more men than your pathetic little militia. Luckily for you, you have that Sabre mercenary group helping you. That won't change a thing. Also, when a squad comes looking for you, it will be bye bye for them!"

Monsoon got up and sat down again. The man looked at him again, "Do I know you from somewhere? You look a bit familiar," he said. "No, I don't really have any relations with your muckball 'army', thank you." The man started to look impatient. "You will be taken to the decommissioning chamber, like your little friend did. Don't worry, we never use any numbing drugs, so it won't affect your health," he laughed. Two men came in and dragged Monsoon off into the secret Tempest base...

Kyle was walking through town heading for the pier when he saw Toaster in the phone booth outside a small restaurant. Walking over, he overheard Pip's half of the conversation.

"Yeah, I hope it's over soon, but it won't likely be."

"What? You're actually coming?"

"Hey, that's awesome!"

"No, you can NOT bring your swords."

"Erm, yeah, OK, the cattle prod you can bring, but don't turn it up to high."

"Oh! Yeah, I'll lend you a gun."

"You're bringing your bike? Good. I didn't want you to be burdened having to travel with us."

"You'll be here in three hours. Got it. Bye!"

Toaster hung up the phone, and turned when he saw Kyle. "Yo! Guess who's coming?"

Having heard the part about the swords, he ventured, "A homicidal psychopath?"

Glaring at him, Toaster replied, "No. It's Eyleascial. She's coming to help."

"Oh. Who?" Bukan asked.

"You know, Rae?"

"OH! Yeah, I suppose we need all the help we can get," Kyle conceded.

Toaster smirked. "She'll be here in three hours. Until then, I've got work to do. Care to help?"

"Meh. Got nothing else to do," Bukan replied.

"Great! We need to hit the parts shop, and then the workshop. We're doing a custom gun, and the militia might even take up the design," Pip enthused.

The two Sabres headed for the shop, while Eyleascial headed for North Island.

Three hours later, Toaster stood at the dock, his improvised gun in hand. He saw a speedboat rushing towards the wharf, a motorbike strapped to the back. As it came in, the driver tossed him a rope, which he tied down. Stepping out of the craft, Eyleascial greeted Toaster. Together they hauled her bike off the boat and walked it into town, as Toaster explained the workings of the Katana, the gun he'd made for his colleague.

Based on a hyper-diaphragm technology that Monkey had come up with, the Katana was a long, cylindrical construct with four pairs of diaphragm PCs encompassing the midsection of the gun. Using an ingenious lever and gear system, the Katana could be fully pressurised in no more than ten pumps, with a minimum of force required. The reservoir didn't hold much, but Toaster had designed it for a smaller, less experienced warrior, whose emphasis was mobility.

Making their way into town, Pip informed the new arrival on all the details he hadn't already told her over the phone.

Monsoon and Racer were in a rut. After waiting for what seemed like two days, no one had come to their aid. Racer was losing hope, thinking that the Tempests would eventually brainwash them, adding them to their evil army.

Monsoon was pissed off. "We have to find a way out of here!" he yelled. Racer groaned and looked at him, "As long as it's you who does everything I'm fine." There was nothing inside the room. "Wait...I have my pocket knife in my pocket. I can break the ropes free!" said Monsoon, trying to dig into his right pocket. He pulled out a red swiss army knife with a serrated edge and cut his hands free.

He freed Racer and they stretched. "Okay, I think our soakers are in the next room. Follow me and keep quiet!" whispered Monsoon. Racer nodded and kept low.

The next room was basically a coat/locker room. The CPS 4100 and Racer's CPS 1500 and XP 75 were propped up against the wall near the door on the opposite side of the room.

"Careful Monsoon, there's probably trip wires or something," warned Racer. Monsoon stood up on a bench and edged along, avoiding the floor. They grabbed their weapons. "Dang, they're empty!" said Monsoon.

The room on the other side of the door was the conference room where Monsoon's skirmish had taken place. Five Tempests were eating lunch, a variety of heavy soakers on the table.

"We need to distract the Tempests in there. Bang a locker or something and we'll wait right beside the door and sneak in," said Racer. Monsoon went to a distant locker and slammed it multiple times. The door swung open after the two got into position. They rushed into the conference hall and locked the door behind them.

"Good. There has to be a tunnel around here somewhere that leads from the sea," suggested Monsoon. "What are you talking about?" asked Racer. "The Tempests set up some sort of electronic interference on the island. Radio comms have been severed," replied Monsoon.

"So you came here to save me on your own? I owe you one...sort of," said Racer. "Well my plan didn't really go as expected...I wasn't really thinking in the first place," said Monsoon with a smirk. "Oh well, you get kudos for trying. Anyway, how do we get back to 12?" said Racer. "Oh, unless the Tempests did something to it, I have a chopper on the outskirts of the forest," said Monsoon. Racer and Monsoon headed east.

Forceuser listened to the voice on the radio. "Dang!" he exclaimed, "There's Tempests on the North Island. Well, they can't have people there, in the boats and here at once." He looked at the others, "Can they?"

As Force and his squad approached 2 it was getting dark, giving them excellent cover. They stealthily made their way to their destination. A house. Force lightly knocked on the door. After a brief wait, the door opened slightly, locked by a chain. Force got a quick glance of the person before the door shut again. Then it opened fully and a hand gestured for them to come inside.

Inside, a friendly face greeted them, "Hey Force, it's been a while." "I know, it's good to see you." Force turned to the rest of his squad, "This is Bill, an old friend of mine." Force turned back to Bill, "I need some info from you. Tempest numbers, both total and here, and base locations, etc. And also I need you to do something for me." "Well, I'll see what I can do for you."

Bill proceeded to tell Forceuser everything he knew about the Tempests. After finding out all the information, Force got out his radio (with a signal booster) and tried to get hold of the militia at 12. Nothing but static. "They must be jamming us, there's nothing but static," Force explained to everyone. He turned to Bill, "Well, we must be leaving you now. Thanks for all the info and see what you can do about that rebellion. I'll see you again when we've kicked the Tempests' arses." "Good luck!" Force and his squad left.

They headed in the direction of the town centre. Soon, they came across what they were looking for. A telephone. Force went up to it and searched his pockets. He looked at the others. "Anyone got any change?" he asked. Stingray handed him some, tut-tutting and shaking his head. Force dialled the number of the aerodrome - the Tempests had never thought of anyone being stupid enough to use a telephone and so hadn't done anything about them - and waited for an answer.

At the aerodrome, Spinner heard the phone ringing. He wondered who it could possibly be. He picked it up. "Hello?" he asked. "Spinner, I'm glad I got through to you, the radios aren't working," Force replied. "Forceuser? Where are you, I haven't heard anything?" "I'm at 2. I gave the pilot who took me there a message to give to you. Anyway, I have bad news. The Tempests are much greater in number than we thought. There may even be as many as a thousand. However the number here is few and I have come up with a way to deal with them."

Force continued, "A friend of mine here is going to organise a mass uprising. Coupled with what my squad and I are about to do, it should bring down the whole of the South Island. I have been told the location of the main Tempest command/communications centre. If we can destroy it, then it will throw all the Tempests into disarray."

"Well, that's good news and bad news. I only hope for all our sakes that you are successful. Well, you'd better get on with it." "Yes, sir." Force put the telephone down and started formulating a plan in his head.

"Difficult to know what to do," thought Spinner, "Once the comm centre is down, we can attack, but not before. Maybe some bombing raids, just to keep them lively..."

Just then there was a knock on the door, and Monsoon and Racer came in. "Spinner, we've got bad news, the Tempests are on the island, they've got a base!"

Spinner listened to them in amazement, then when they seemed to have finished, strode to the telephone. "Get me twenty elite commandos. We're going to have to kick those scum out of here."

Racer ran to the back of the building to his Rebel II. "Are you sure you can go with those wounds?" asked Spinner, "Yeah, I'm fine, I just need to beat the s*** out of them in my tank," replied Racer, "Oh and Spinner? Give these to the militia."

Racer gave Spinner five headsets to talk to each other with. He then filled up his 1500 and 75 and stuffed then in the back, then he got in. He plugged in his GPS/Remote Control unit in to the Rebel II, set auto pilot to the Tempest's base and off he went...

Toaster was impressed. It had only been a day since the battle and near-totalling of the Knuckleguard, but already the redone boat was almost done, with only a few extra touches to be put aboard, and armour plating. Checking in with Monkey, he got an estimate that it would be finished by mid-afternoon. He thanked all the people who were helping put the boat together, then went off to see how everyone else was doing.

Bukan and Wontwood were sitting in the diner, debating some computer game's merits, and Eyleascial was somewhere in town, likely shopping around. Satisfied that he wouldn't be needed for a while, he headed to the command centre in town.

When he arrived, he entered a panic house. Grabbing one of the orderlies rushing around, he inquired what the panic was about.

"Tempests are on North Island!" the frenzied clerk exclaimed. Toaster released him, and headed for the central office, where with luck he'd find one of the generals or at least someone with high enough rank to explain the details of the situation.

Duxburian and the forces on Vertigo Island were prepared to abandon the island at any time. They knew that a large attack was inevitable, the island must have been found out by now. Since radio communication was jammed, they had no idea what was happening on the North Island. The phone lines weren't working either due to hurricane damage.

Early the next morning, the huge attack that Duxburian feared was coming was picked up on radar. Dozens of planes and naval ships were approaching the harbour. Even worse, the radar picked up a giant "nuke" about fifteen minutes away from hitting the capital. Having sent almost the entire navy, land forces, and air force to the North Island, there was no way that the attack could be stopped.

Civilians began to panic and were pouring out of the capital. The generals had a discussion and decided to abandon the island. They selected the mainland itself as their destination. The militia boarded planes and took off. When Duxburian's plane had just taken off, the Tempest warhead appeared and slammed into the capital.

Spinner was organising a force of commandos to take out the Tempests on the island when suddenly a shock wave rippled through the room. The people in the building took cover as the whole island shook for several seconds.

Stunned people everywhere on the island looked towards the west. Where Vertigo Island was they saw a huge cloud filling the sky. Several small planes emerged heading northwest and then disappeared behind the cloud.

A large convoy of planes was approaching Vertigo Island from the south, clearly Tempests. The Tempest presence on the North Island was forgotten for the moment. All the people thought then was, "What just happened?"

The warhead had been too big to carry through the ventilation shaft, so they had to pass the checkpoints. They had managed to get through the first two, but on the third...

"OW! Sonuva-"

"Shut him up, quick!"

Too late. Alarms sounded all around them, but the guards didn't come. Instead a screen on the wall beside Ed started flashing 'Game Start'.

"What the hell..." Ed murmured.

"Ed, snap outta it and RUN!" came Nat's angry voice, she and Rick were already ahead.

Ed ran after them, only to see a wall suddenly slide from the ceiling, slamming down and separating him from his partners. A door on the side opened. Ed

went through it and then saw where exactly the guards had been.

"Get him!"

Ed somersaulted over the guards, his 1000 and Blazer firing non-stop, but they were wearing goggles. The one that seemed to be the leader smirked at Ed.

"Been fooling around here, weren't you? I've gotta great antidote for that," he growled, and he snapped his fingers. One of the guards beside him whipped out a metal water balloon launcher with a cackle.

(Slow-mo)

Ed ran forward, yanked the water balloon launcher from the guard and threw him behind. He then tripped the next guard, aimed, pulled the trigger...

(end slow-mo)

The water balloon launcher fired so fast that in seconds, all the remaining guards had a balloon to the face. Their leader had his hands up.

"Nonononono, spare me!"

Ed kept aiming at him. "Why?"

"B-because I've surrendered?"

It was Ed's turn to smirk. "Wrong answer." He pulled the trigger and the business end exploded.

Then, many water balloon launchers popped out from the ceiling.

(Slow-mo)

Ed ran, jumped on a wall, jumped off it, slid across the floor, all while dodging the balloons. Another door was ahead...

(End slow-mo)

The door slammed behind him. Ed leant on another wall, trying to catch his breath.

Then a door shook. "Ed, let us outta here!" came Rick's slightly panicked voice. Ed opened it and a barrage of water swept through.

"Dammit, we nearly drowned," Rick panted.

"What the hell happened?"

"Whole frickin' room started filling up with water. Never expected this," Nat said.

"You guys OK?" They nodded. "Good, and the warhead?"

"Right there." Rick pointed at the dome-shaped object.

"Great, now let's get outta here," Ed said as he and Nat lifted up the warhead.

Ed couldn't help but stare at Nat. "What?" she asked.

Ed grinned. "You look kinda cute when you're drenched," he remarked as they ran towards the Trueno. Nat glared for a second, then shrugged. "Maybe."

Chaos reigned at the command centre. Toaster had found Spinner, who had been planning to attack the Tempests underground, but then the reports of the Tempest formation came in.

Many were diving for cover as Spinner tried to quickly formulate a plan to save them. No time to evacuate, they had to repel! So thinking, Spinner ordered for the entire air force to be sent up to meet them.

Spinner had dragged Toaster to the aerodrome. Just before he was made to hop aboard, Toaster spun and shoved Spinner away. "I need to get to my crew!" Toaster exclaimed. Surprised at the resistance, Spinner let Toaster go. Spinner grabbed the old Mosquito, and set off for the dogfight.

Force and his squad arrived at the command centre. They were hiding in the shadows of a nearby building. "You stay here," Force whispered to the others. He crept over to the barracks/armoury, which was next to the command centre. Moving round to the back door, he slowly tried the handle. It was unlocked. He opened the door and went in.

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