BOOK II OF THE HUNTER TRILOGY
CHAPTER VII
SO IT BEGINS
Bass sat in his throne room, looking very displeased over something. Despite his poor humor, he remained patient and collected. Turning to his General and snapped, “Where is that fool, Quickman? He should have presented himself before me long before now!” Starman, knowing full well that this particular tone of voice brought about a significant decline in the number of officers under his command, said, “I've sent another a summon for him just a moment ago. He should be here soon.” Looking at the Maverick with his red eyes and a voice that sent chills through his metal body, said, “Well, he'd better hurry, for your sake. My patience is thin, and almost at it's end.”
At that moment, Quickman entered the throne room and said, “Master Bass. I've returned and successfully completed my task.” Bass suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of the traitor, saying, “Successful, you say?” The look of pride quickly vanished and was replaced with fear. “SUCCESSFUL?!?” He backhanded the Reploid , sending him crashing into the far wall. In another quick motion, he grabbed Quickman by the face and lifted him effortlessly off the ground. “I told you I wanted them alive. Now the scouts tell me that not only are four of the targets are dead, but the leader went missing around the same time a catastrophic amount of Chaos energy was detected near the corpses of my prizes.”
In fear, Quickman said, “Please master! I'll take care of it! I wont make the same mistake again!!!” T sinister look crossed the tyrant's face as he said, “You're right on that part.” Without another word, he released a powerful blast that destroyed Quickman's head on the molecular level. Starman said in a rather uneasy voice, “Master, was that really necessary?” Bass walked to his skeletal throne and sat down, saying, “I am the leader. I have to command. If people refuse to listen, my command fails. If it fails, no one will follow. If no one follows, the empire I built crumbles. Therefore, I need to set an example. Make people listen and follow my orders as they are given, without error.”
Starman wanted to comment, but he didn't want to take the chance of being another “example”. He looked at the monitors that kept track of the Maverick army. Since the surrender of the Lode Runner and the CRIT resistance units, the Maverick army was facing very little threat from all the remaining humans who refused to follow under Bass' rule. Despite this, The Maverick couldn't help but feel uneasy. Rock was a legendary Reploid. No matter what was thrown at him, and how hopeless it was, he always managed to survive and continue. The real question in Starman's mind was, At this point, with nothing left to lose, did he really want to be around when the Hunter arrived at this point.
Regardless, there really wasn't a choice in the matter. If he stayed, Rock would probably destroy him and everyone else who followed Bass. If he tried to run, Bass would remove any trace of him from existence. No matter which way he looked at it, he was as good as terminated. At that moment, his master's voice said, “Starman! Leave me.” Not one to ask questions to a madman, he took this opportunity to make a hasty exit, saying, “Yes master.”
At the same time, he thought, 'But I'm not staying to face that monster you have unleashed upon this world!' And so, Starman left the throne room, and the fortress. As he fled, he thought 'Better the wrath of a madman the the rage of the dead! May the devil have mercy on you and anyone else foolish enough to follow you to their deaths!' As he ran, he took one last look at fortress he had called home after the war started. He would never lay eyes on it again, nor anything else, as he was struck down by one of the sentries who had been ordered to execute him for defecting. As his power left his body, he knew that he was fortunate to perish where he stood, as the city he was to escape to could be seen burning even from here, so many miles away.
Bass listened to the Maverick's report of having killed Starman and sighed. “Yet another example made to ensure my rule. Why am I surrounded by a an army of incompetents?” Wiley's voice came from the shadows, saying, “Yes. Why indeed? A ruler is only as strong as the people who serve. Perhaps it is you who are in fact the incompetent one?”
“Hold your tongue,” the tyrant hissed, “Or I'll remove it from your blasphemous form.” Wiley let out an evil chuckle.
“Again that Reploid pain attempts to thwart me. I must admit. In therms of tenacity, he has certainly earned my respect. In intelligence, on the other hand, he's very lacking. What can he do against our numbers? It's one against the entire world. What plan can he have that would allow him to succeed?” Bass smiled and replied, “Same as what I would in his position. The only one that would allow him to succeed against such numbers.”
Wiley looked intrigued by the comment. “And what plan would that be?” Bass, who looked at the burning city outside his throne rooms window simply replied, “One at a time. It would appear that he and I are not so completely different in the way of thought. He fought for his ideals and the people he cared about, and I fought for no one other than myself, with nothing to lose and constantly craving more power until I finally took over this world. Now the Hunter Rock has nothing left in this world that can be taken away from him, and he will fight until he is destroyed.”
He looked at the monitor, seeing his army fall at the hands of the chaotic Reploid only one city away from his empire. “I can't wait to fight him like this. A battle where he will hold nothing back. I can taste the chaos, and it's breathtaking.” Looking at the screen one last time, he said evilly, “Don't disappoint me, Hunter.”
Only a city away, Rock continued to gun down the Maverick army, a crazed, psychotic expression on his face as he yelled, “I'm coming for you, Bass! And I swear on graves of everyone you took from me... I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!”
