RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block Vanguard 19: "Screw Your Debate, I'm Starting A Story."

Outside the facility, the late afternoon wind picked up, carrying the scent of the sea along. Brianna took a deep breathe and looked up into the sky. A small shape was heading in their direction. "I can't believe this. Another robot? I'm getting sick of all this fighting."

Leslie checked the clip in her gun. "I'll take care of this one."

"WAIT!" shouted Greg. Leslie lowered her gun, resisting the urge to scream at Blondehead. The day's events had rattled her nerves, and she was in the mood to shoot something. "It's him! He's come back."

Brianna raised an eyebrow. "Him?" She squinted. "Robo Squirrel?"

There was no way Robo Squirrel should get close to Vanguard again. Brianna took off. She intercepted him a hundred feet away from the facility. "What are you doing here?"

"Beep! Robo Squirrel wants to help Vanguard!"

Brianna, unlike Robo Squirrel, was unable to hover in midair. Instead, she rolled left and right and twisted her wings so she could face the robotic rodent. This meant Robo Squirrel was spinning around to face Brianna. "We know all about you. We can't trust you. None of us can."

"Not even Brute Force? Beep?

Brianna bit her lip. He really did sound hurt. "No, I think he still trusts you. But he trusts everyone. And we know why Dr. Sharpe built you. How can we trust someone who was spent to spy on us?"

"Beep-beep! Robo Squirrel has spent many hours evaluating 'The Banshee'. Robo Squirrel knows Brianna has more compassion than anyone else in Vanguard. Robo Squirrel's superiors see this as a weakness. But Robo Squirrel knows this is what makes you strong."

"Compassion isn't going to help you. I can't make them trust you. Even if I decided to trust you."

"Beeeeeeep! But Robo Squirrel wants to help! Robo Squirrel knows things! The thing you are looking for isn't here anymore! They took it away. But Robo Squirrel can show you where it is!"

Brianna shook her head. "I find that hard to believe. That would mean they knew we were coming. They would have sent a swarm of robotic animals. And we haven't seen that many threats."

"Beep-beep! Robo Squirrel thinks they know that their animals are no match against you. The point was not to defeat you. The point was to drive all of Vanguard into the building."

"Drive us into the building?" Now Brianna was confused. "Why that would mean there's something there to--" she stopped dead in mid-sentence. Now it made sense.

The building was going to explode. With Vanguard in it. They had walked into a trap.

Brianna tucked her wings in and dove for the ground. "Grissom! Phil!" Her loud wail wasn't meant to shatter glass, but her cry sent the walls vibrating and the pipes rattling. "The place is sent to explode! We need to get out of here." She turned to her left. Robo Squirrel was matching speeds with her. "Get them out of there alive, Robo Squirrel. Get them out of there, and I swear to be your friend till the end of my days."

"Beep! Have no fear, Robo Squirrel is here!"

Robo Squirrel flew quickly through the corridors of The Facility, quickly beeping to himself. Following their voices with his hyper sensitive Robo-Hearing that I just decided he had, he was on the trail of Phil, Mxy and Grissom.

And he was getting close.

"How long as he been down there?" Phil asked, standing nervously behind Grissom.

"About five minutes, forty-seven seconds," Grissom replied.

"Oh."

There followed a moment of silence.

"You think he's okay?"

Grissom glared over his shoulder. "I'm sure he's fine." Grissom's eyes darted upwards. "Where's Mxy?"

Phil looked around. He looked around.

"He's... not here," He finally answered.

"Find him, will you?"

Phil walked back down the hallway, on the lookout for a Mxy. He found him about thirty metres away.

Mxy was floating a few feet above them, against the ceiling. He appeared to be concentrating intently.

"Mxy! What are you doing?" Phil asked.

"Reading the log!"

"What log?"

"Of every time a ship arrives or departs! NOW SHUT UP PHIL, I'M READING!"

Mxy closed his eyes. Nothing was in his hands, but he was getting the information from somewhere.

Phil sighed. "And... Mxy... when was the last time a ship left here?"

"About twenty minutes before we arrived. NOW SSSHHHH! This is a library, not an action-adventure story!"

A loud beep suddenly sounded from the hallway, and seemed to be getting closer.

"Oh, you're kidding me..." Phil said.

Robo Squirrel appeared before them, playing a quiet little trumpet fanfare as he did so.

"What?" Phil snapped.

"Robo Squirrel is here to warn you!"

"Of what?"

"This building is going to explode! BOOM! KABLOOEY! There is a bomb! Vanguard must evacuate!"

"How can we trust you?"

"Ask Brianna! Beep!"

Phil thought out to Brianna.

We think he's right, Phil.

Really? Damn.

Better safe than exploded, right?

Right.

Phil looked up at Robo Squirrel. "Grissom and Danny are still in there!"

"Robo Squirrel will warn them! You go!"

Phil looked back down the hallway. "Fine."

He started to run, Mxy floating along behind him. Robo Squirrel flew the other way, further into the building.

Grissom stood silently at the edge of the flooded stairwell. He only moved when he heard Robo Squirrel appear behind him and beep.

"Grissom Montag! Robo Squirrel must warn yo-"

Robo Squirrel was cut off when Grissom waved his hand and teleported the robotic rodent outside.

Brianna noticed Robo Squirrel appear in the air next to her.

"Well?!" Brianna asked, demanding a response.

"Robo Squirrel managed to warn Phil and Mxy."

"What about Grissom?!"

Grissom Montag was still standing by the stairwell when Phil's voice appeared in his head.

Did Robo Squirrel find you?

Yeah. I sent him away.

So... you don't know about the bomb?

What bomb?

Shit.

Phil was outside the Facility, walking towards the others. He was weighing up whether or not going back inside was too much of a risk.

Brianna was yelling.

"WHAT?!"

"Grissom Montag teleported Robo Squirrel away before Robo Squirrel could warn him."

"So Grissom is still in there?!"

"As is Danny Hearn."

"WHAT?!"

The whole Facility shook as a huge blast sounded from inside the building, sending shattered glass and pieces of steel everywhere.

Robo Squirrel was thrown backwards through the air by the force of Brianna's scream.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Most of the building was in pieces, leaving only the support beams sticking out of the water. Pieces of the facility rode the waves as the remaining members of Vanguard grabbed onto planks of wood or floating rubber tires.

A shattered team clinging to the pieces of a shattered complex to survive.

Brianna felt a cramp in her wing. It was time to rest her tired wings. She landed on top of one of the support beams and perched herself in a position to view the waves.

She looked to her left and to her right. Mxy, true to his nature, was lying in a palm tree float sipping on a pina colada. 'Underneath the Mango Tree' could be hear in the distance. Leslie had given up looking for any floating debris and instead was clinging to the edge of the tree float. She looked annoyed at having to depend on Mxy for anything. Brute Force was alternating between a rubber tire from a semi and a splintered door -- both were failing to keep him afloat. He would dip down into the water for a few seconds and resurface sputtering. Tiberius, like Brianna, had found a stump from one of the support beams. Phil, for now, was simply treading water. All of them were making their way towards Brianna, who, being on the highest perch, was the only thing everyone could see.

"Beep."

Brianna turned around. "If you're wondering if I'm mad at you -- well, I am mad at you."

"Robot Squrriel did try. Beeoooop."

Phil could see the pained look on her face. "Grissom's been in worse messes. And Danny's tough."

Brianna didn't want to think of Montag as dead. Not yet. I'll go crazy if I think of this now. Just...think about the mission. "Robo Squrriel says he knows where the last robot is."

"Wonderful," said Tiberius. He looked at Robo Squrriel, hovering near Brianna's shoulder. It was true she wasn't quite fond of him, but she was the only one he felt safe with for the moment. "And I trust he can lead us to it?"

The Banshee turned to the robot. "Well? Can you?"

"Beep-beep. If you follow, I can show you."

"Great," said Leslie. "Let's follow the robotic rodent. Because, it's not like he could lead us to trouble or anything." Clearing the explosion and the dip into the waters had made Leslie a little more sarcastic than usual.

Brianna nodded. "Well? Where's this robot?"

"Beep. Robo Squrriel will show --"

"Not show, robot. Tell." She leaned closer to Robo Squrriel's audio receptors. "One C-sharpe note could rattle your insides apart."

"Beep," Robo Squrriel said in a downcast tone. "Melbourne. Beeoooop. The plan was always to go there."

Brianna nodded. She blocked Robo Squrriel's view of the rest of the team with her wing. "Mxy, I trust you can take us there?"

Are we still doing this? Man, this battle seems to be taking weeks. You guys need to move on. But of course, I'll take you to Melbourne.

Leslie scowled. "And that's Melbourne, Austrailia. Not Melbourne, Washington State, or Melbourne, New Mexico, or Melbourne, Georgia." Her fingers slipped and she fell back into the water. "Oooomp!" She struggled to get back on the boat. "I've had enough of your tricks to last me a lifetime."

Don't worry. The prank I pull on you three months from now will make you feel worse.

"Beep! Robo Squrriel will help to!"

"Help?" asked Brianna. "Help? I've had enough of your charity, Robo Squrriel. I don't want you near the team."

"Brianna --" began Brute Force.

"I mean it." She looked back at Brute Force. "Don't you see? He's been nothing but trouble from the beginning." She turned her attention back to Robo Squrriel. "What have you done for us? Sold us to some UN spys, and ki -- lost a teammate and Danny? No. I've had enough of your 'help'. Stay here, Robo Squrriel. I don't care if you live or die -- just stay away from this team."

Mxy's float became big enough for everyone to ride on. The float made it's way towards the city. Leslie scooted towards Brianna. "I knew you'd grow up someday, Brianna. I just didn't know you'd grow up so cold."

Blackness.

It had never occured to Grissom that blackness was something that could be felt. He'd been in some pretty dark places, naturally, but he'd never felt darkness.

Wherever he was, he could feel the black void caressing his entire body. Magically, he wasn't at all weirded out by the infinitude of the eternal midnight. If anything, he seemed quite comforted by it. It felt like a warm blanket - like the duvet he used to roll up in as a child when his father would come home drunk. No matter how scared he ever was, that blanket was his solace - his fortress.

That's how the darkness felt.

Montag couldn't remember a time when he had felt quite so comfortable. Actually... now that he thought of it, Grissom couldn't remember what here was or how he'd gotten there in the first place.

There was a facility and some water and a robot and a thought and... a... think, Grissom... a light. A blinding light. And then...

...darkness.

There was a thought. What was it? He was pretty sure it wasn't a thought of his own. It was... someone else's.

Phil's! It was Phil! Telling him about a... bum? Bond? Bomb? Bomb! There was a bomb! Then that means...

...aw, geez. Was he finally dead?

Somehow, I thought there'd be more angels and big-breasted, naked women with fruit platters and go-go boots... Grissom thought, once again taking in the black that surrounded him.

Part of Grissom was a bit disappointed, really. He'd snuck out of maximum security facilities almost undetected and had managed to evade any sort of commitment or relationship responsibility until just recently... the fact that death had finally caught up with him - and with him being so young - was an understandable let down.

Suddenly, he felt a pressure on his chest... like a small man was pummeling him repeatedly. A short pause, and then more pummeling. It made the comfort of the void feel less... comfortable, and that, in turn, made him a bit irritable. Yet, for the life of him, he couldn't think of a way to make his irritation known. He tried to yell, but his vocal chords wouldn't make a sound. He tried to flail his arms, but they remained limp at his sides.

In absence of anything else, he coughed. As he did so, he realized why he couldn't yell out or even speak - water poured from his mouth. The briny taste it left in his mouth was disgusting, but it was a sensation and that's what was important. Light peeked past Grissom's eyelids and he opened them, raising a hand to shield his optic nerves as they were pulled into the stark contrast of daytime.

It was at that moment that Grissom Montag noticed two hands resting on his chest, obviously the instruments of the pressure he'd felt in the darkness. He followed the hands to a muscular body and the familiar face of a young man.

"Well," Danny Hearn said, taking his hands off Grissom's chest and falling back onto the beach next to him, "you certainly gave me a scare, Griss. Welcome back to the land of the living."

Grissom grunted as he rolled over onto his chest, coughing up a bit more seawater and a bit of kelp. He glared up at Danny momentarily, then attempted to stand.

"Oh, no problem, Griss," Danny said, talking to no one in particular. "My pleasure. No, I loved saving you! What a great way to come out of retirement! No, please! You can stop thanking me now. Really, it was nothing."

"Are you quite done?" Grissom asked, rising to his feet.

Danny paused a bit. "I guess," he shrugged. Another pause. "I did save your life, though."

"Thanks," Grissom said, nodding slightly. "Any idea where the others are?"

"Couldn't say," Danny said, pulling himself from the sand. "I looked around for Phil, but I couldn't find him."

Grissom shook his head. "Phil's pretty resilient, so I'm pretty sure he made it out okay... and I'm positive that Mxy wasn't affected."

Grissom absent-mindedly held out his hand as if waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, he patted at his pockets. Finding nothing there, he turned to his pack... only to find that it wasn't there.

"Danny," Grissom asked, "where's my pack?"

"Got caught on some coral down there," Danny said, gazing off at the horizon. "Had to cut it off you in order to get you above water before you drowned."

"And I suppose the contents of my pockets got washed out somehow as well?"

"It would appear so."

Grissom swore under his breath, kicking at a bit of sand with his feet. "Well, there go my weapons, my tracking equipment, and most in-fuckin'-portantly... MY FUCKIN' FAGS!" Danny remained silent as he watched the Brit pacing along the beach as he brooded.

"To make matters worse," he continued, "we have no way of knowing if any of the others are even okay..." Grissom bit off his words there, quickly covering his face with his hand.

Brianna, he thought to himself. My God, pretty bird, if anything's happened to you, so help me God...

"Well," Danny said, interrupting Griss' premature bereavement, "we could always ask him."

Griss followed Danny's gaze to a tiny speck on the horizon, which appeared to be getting bigger by the second.

"Mind filling me in?" Griss asked, squinting his eyes.

"Oh, right... you don't have eagle eyes..." Danny said, as if everyone had the potential to see hundreds of feet in front of their faces. "It's that robotic squirrel thing that tracked me down earlier today..."

Grissom gritted his teeth. "And just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse..."

"I heard that..." Danny quipped. As soon as Grissom glared at him, he regretted having said anything. He grinned sheepishly and pointed to his ears. "Dog ears," he said, shrugging.

"Beep!" RoboSquirrel chimed excitedly as he skidded to a halt a few inches from Montag's head. "Vanguard has gone to Melbourne! Beep!"

"Melbourne?" Danny asked.

"You honestly expect me to believe that?" Grissom asked, beginning to lose his cool. "You were sent by the United Nations to spy on us! Why the hell should I trust you?!"

"RoboSquirrel wants to help Vanguard!" RoboSquirrel chirped.

"Oh, that's fuckin' convenient, that is!" Grissom said, throwing his arms up in disgust. "Have you any idea what a pain you've been already?! It's a bit late for a glorified hunk of metal to finally start growing a conscience!"

"Griss," Danny said, resting a hand on Grissom's shoulder, "go easy on him. He might be telling the truth..."

Grissom shrugged off Danny's hand violently. "Don't you start, either, you fuckin' Judas!"

Danny was taken aback, holding out his hands in surrender. "...what?"

"You betrayed us!" Grissom said, his tone finally rising to a full-on scream. "You led us to believe we could trust you and then, just when we least expected it, you took us out - strategically - one by one!" Grissom looked from Danny to RoboSquirrel and back again. "Oh, yes... fine company I've found myself in! The two men who sought to bring down Vanguard!"

Grissom turned and took a swing at post on the pier, making a small dent in the wood... and definitely hurting his hand.

"Grissom..." Danny began, "...that thing with the Complex... that wasn't me. It was..."

"...the little man in your head." Grissom said, rubbing his knuckles. "Right. Sure. You honestly expect me to believe that?"

"No," Danny said, almost scaring himself with his firmness of tone. "No, I don't expect you to do anything. Only I know the hell I've been through since that happened... and I can't possibly imagine you understanding what it's like to watch helplessly while someone possessing you betrays the only family you have." Tears began streaming down his face as his voice got caught in his throat. "I -- I killed innocent people, Griss... and I'm far from proud of that."

"Save it," Grissom said, ripping at his t-shirt with his teeth and wrapping the tatters around his hand, which was already beginning to bruise. "I didn't choose you, but it doesn't look like I get a choice. Congratulations, gentlemen... you get to help me find Vanguard."

"Beep! Hooray!" RoboSquirrel whirred and clicked, spinning in place in the air. Danny merely stood quietly aside, watching Grissom through tear-filled eyes.

"I'll need to stop by one of my lay-over points to pick up some weapons, gizmos, and a new pack..." Grissom said, pacing again, "...and then, we find the others. RoboSquirrel, we'll need your scanners... and your senses, Hearn."

Grissom looked over both former Vanguardians. His heart sank a bit, but he shook it off as best he could. "Well... let's get on with it..."

Phil Smith sprinted through the streets of Melbourne's Docklands district, following a path of destruction towards the heart of the city. Accompanying him were several other members of Vanguard International (to be more specific: Mxy, Leslie, Brianna, Tiberius, and Brute Force or Ben or Greg or whatever the hell we're calling him).

Phil turned his gaze to his left as he ran and winced at what he saw. A car was overturned, litres of blood streaming from the broken windows. Emergency services worked desperately to pull the passengers from inside, but a quick glance inside their minds revealed that even they were aware of their efforts' futility. Next to the car a cement telephone pole was completely shattered.

Whatever had been let loose on this city was powerful. And apparently pissed off. And not even pissed off at any specific thing. Just pissed off in general.

Turning his head to the right, he noticed a bus had been abandoned in the middle of the street, cars strewn around it.

"There! The bus!" Phil yelled, turning around to face his teammates and pointing at the vehicle.

They ran through the open door and onto the bus, Phil planting himself behind the driver's seat and finding the keys still in the ignition.

He paused.

"Um... anyone know how to drive one of these?" He asked.

"Oh, shove over," Leslie said, grabbing him by the shoulder and yanking him out of the seat. She sat down behind the wheel, turned the key, and took off down the wrong side of the road.

It didn't take them long to chase down the city's attacker.

"Whoa..." Brianna said, looking out the window as the bus rounded a corner to be facing Federation Square, the huge open square situated next to a building complex in the heart of Melbourne.

Standing next to the building, a robotic tyrannosaurus rex crouched down on its haunches, swung its huge metal tail to the left, then swung it back to drive it straight through the side of the building.

"Well, shit," Phil said.

"Should we engage it in combat?" Tiberius asked.

"Yeah. Go do that," Phil replied.

Tiberius leapt from the bus door, rushing across the paved surface of Federation Square and throwing his full weight into Robo Rex's left leg. The Rex had no reaction, standing its ground without any concern.

"Oh," Tiberius said, looking upwards at its huge steel jaw.

The tail swung in Tiberius' direction, catching him in the chest and throwing him a full thirty metres across the square. Tiberius stopped only when he collided with his teammate Brute Force, who was running forward to help.

"Hmmm," Tiberius said, rubbing his head.

"Mxy, do something!" Brianna yelled.

"A dinosaur! A real live except not real live but made of metal robot dinosaur!" Mxy said, a childlike awe evident in his voice.

"This is so cool!"

Mxy sat there in the bus, watching out the window.

"Damn it..." Brianna said. She stepped out of the bus, enlisting Phil's help to give her a boost onto the roof.

"Phil!" She shouted back to the inside of the bus, where Phil was standing over the shoulder of Leslie, still positioned at the wheel.

"What?!" He yelled back.

"Can your telekinesis hold it in place at all?!"

"Um..."

Robo Rex had now noticed the bus and taken an interest in it. The rex stepped forward.

Phil thought hard against it, concentrating everything he had towards their giant robotic attacker, and the Rex was stopped in its tracks. Brianna inhaled deeply.

Robo Rex strained hard against Phil's control. Phil tried to maintain his grip, finding the Rex an incredibly strong force to hold in place.

With the sound of groaning metal and a scream from Phil Smith, the Rex broke free of his telekinetic hold. Phil collapsed in the aisle of the bus, while Brianna screamed with everything she had at the oncoming creature.

It had no effect.

"Shit," Brianna said, as the huge tail collided with the bus. The vehicle was thrown onto its side, Brianna being hurled violently from the top of it and sprawling in a heap on the ground. Leslie was thrown from behind the driver's seat, hitting her head against the steel panel inside the bus. Phil was thrown further down the aisle.

"Cool!" Mxy said, his gaze fixed on the dinosaur.

Brute Force suddenly grabbed Robo Rex by its enormous tail, yelling as he did so.

"BACK OFF YOU JURASSIC PARK REJECT!"

He yanked at the tail as hard as he could. The Rex remained motionless.

Brute Force tried yanking again, devoting all his effort to getting the robotic creature unbalanced. It still had no effect.

The robot whirled around, pulling its tail free of BF's grip. Its huge metallic jaws clamped around the Vanguardian's midsection, then it whipped its head sideways and threw him across the square.

He landed on Tiberius.

"Damn it! Again?" BF yelled.

The Rex turned and looked at Brianna. She tried to stand, and fell again as a sharp pain tore through her probably broken ankle.

Robo Rex took a step sideways, to be behind the overturned bus. It swung its head away from the bus, then hard toward it, slamming the vehicle with all its strength. The bus was thrown forward, heading directly towards the injured and motionless Brianna.

She closed her eyes as the huge vehicle closed in on her. When she opened them again, the bus was gone.

It reappeared a second later behind her. Leslie and Phil, however, were still hurtling through the air where the bus had been a moment ago, and they landed in a heap on Brianna.

"This hurts. Lots," Phil mumbled.

"Sorry. Didn't know you were in there. Can't 'port people," Came a voice from behind them.

Brianna turned her head.

"Grissom!" She said, smiling for the first time in a long time. Montag helped her to her feet, and she looked up to notice Robo Squirrel hovering behind Grissom's head.

"Oh. Him."

"And him," Grissom said, pointing at Danny a few metres behind him.

"Oh. Um... hi, Danny," Brianna said.

"You've got a big robot dinosaur thing over there," Danny said, pointing.

They all turned back to face Robo Rex, who currently had Tiberius in its jaws.It swung its head and flung him across the square.

"Right. Time to do something about thi-" Grissom said, but was cut off when Tiberius slammed into him, pushing them both to the ground.

Grissom's head struck the paved surface and he blacked out for the second time that day.

"GRISSOM!" Brianna yelled, crouching at his side and noticing blood pour from the back of his head.

"This is either a running gag or an unimaginative writer," Phil said, helping a barely conscious Tiberius up and off of Grissom.

Meanwhile, in a helicopter over Melbourne, Jacob Rogers, Declan, Declan 2 and some pilot were closing in on the site of the battle. Declan 2 had a laptop computer on his lap (which is where they're SUPPOSED to go) and was typing furiously on its keyboard.

"Still no response from the squirrel?" Rogers asked.

"No."

"Obviously you're not typing good enough," Rogers said, as he looked out the window at the scene playing itself out below them. "Damn it!" He continued. "How did anyone get the plans to that thing?!"

"Why would you have Galileo Sharpe design it if you never intended to use it?" Declan 2 asked.

"It was supposed to be a last resort. It was never meant to be a terrorist attack on a major city. And I just commissioned a remote vehicle. I never wanted it shaped like a goddamn dinosaur, that was Sharpe's thing. He was a bit mad that way," Rogers explained.

"No..." Declan 2 said. "Professor Galileo Sharpe is a brilliant man. You'd know that if you knew his greatest work."

The helicopter was circling the battle, but not getting any closer.

"What are you talking about?" Declan asked, looking up and sideways to face Declan 2.

"Professor Sharpe's greatest work. The animal designs you've seen are crude approximations of his ideas. Simplifications. His life's dream was a complete and exact replica of a living creature. A robot with a design so sophisticated that it would fool any observer into thinking it WAS the animal he designed it to be."

"And... what animal did he decide to build?" Rogers asked, one eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"A human," Declan 2 replied, grinning. "A robotic person with human intelligence that looks human and sounds human. This was his idea. And he succeeded."

"What... what the hell?" Rogers asked, speechless for the first time in his career.

Declan 2 grinned again. "Beep," He said softly.

Jacob Rogers reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a gun, and pointed it at the android that had been named Declan 2.

Declan 2 reached out with one hand and swiped the gun from Rogers' hand, then reached out with the other and snapped the man's neck.

"Shit!" Declan yelled.

"I had to defend myself. Don't try to struggle against me or I will be forced to do the same to you. Both of you," Declan 2 said, raising his voice so that the pilot would hear him.

"You... you're behind all this?" Declan asked. "The robot animals? The robberies?"

"Yes," Declan 2 replied.

"Why?"

"The end result is down there. The robotic tyrannosaurus rex."

"Why would you send it into a city full of innocent people?!"

"I needed to finish Professor Sharpe's work! The effectiveness of the robotic dinosaur was merely a guess. A hypotheses. And no scientist is finished with a hypotheses until it has been tested," Declan 2 said, grinning at the mayhem below.

Brianna was hunched over the unconscious body of Grissom Montag, holding his head in her lap.

She looked up and saw Leslie pull Phil away from a shower of cement created when Robo Rex smashed through a concrete wall.

She saw Brute Force pick himself up, shaky on his feet, and hold out a hand to a bleeding and battered Tiberius.

She saw Danny hovering on the fringes of the battle, unsure of what to do.

She had no idea where Mxy was.

"I don't know what to do, Grissom... I don't know what to do," She was saying to his unresponsive head. "Wake up and tell me what to do," She said softly.

"Robo Squirrel knows what to do," Came a voice from behind her.

She turned her head. Robo Squirrel was hovering there, his gaze fixed firmly on the enormous foe ahead of him.

"What are you going to do?" Brianna asked.

He looked down at her.

"Robo Squirrel knows what love is now. Robo Squirrel loves his friends."

With those words, Robo Squirrel shot forward at top speed, towards Robo Rex.

"What's he doing?!" Leslie yelled.

Brute Force suddenly realised what the squirrel's plan was.

"ROBO SQUIRREL! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed.

Robo Squirrel paid no heed. The smallest Vanguardian struck the torso of Robo Rex, piercing its metal skin. Robo Squirrel passed through the outer shell and lodged himself in the Robo Rex's fuel reserves. As he did so, he ignited his chest-mounted flame thrower.

A huge explosion tore them both apart as the Vanguardians all ducked for cover. Pieces of metal were thrown in all directions, most falling in a smoky heap where moments before the two robots had collided.

Through the flame and smoke, Brute Force ran to the site of the impact.

"Robo Squirrel?! Little buddy?!" He yelled.

"Get out of there!" Tiberius yelled, diving through the smoke, grabbing BF around the chest, and pulling him out of the fire.They both fell to a heap on the ground, coughing and spluttering. A second later they heard a clattering noise as something small fell to the ground at their feet.

Looking down, Brute Force noticed that it was Robo Squirrel's dented and charred head.

"...he's gone..."

In the mayhem of fire and smoke, five Vanguardians were gathered around what looked like a small ball of scrap metal, mourning the death of their comrade, but it was not yet the moment for prayers and tears.

Another friend was lying unconscious over the ground.

"Grissom! Grissom" was yelling Brianna, unable to wake up the British. "We must bring him to the Hospital!" she said, her begging eyes wandering from one to another of her friends.

"Only Danny knows the direction!" shouted Phil, trying to overcome the booms of distant explosions. Even with the destruction of the steel monster, the city was still in danger, as the mercy of the enraging fire. "We must find him."

But there was no need, as the Australian landed exactly in the middle of their group. As his giant bat wings folded up and vanished trough the cuts in the back of his jacket, he deposited a quite anonymous man over the ground. "I caught him at mid fall from an helicopter!" explained Danny, panting madly.

The man was trying to say something, but it was evidently shocked. Then he shook, and remained still, finally dead.

"Shit!" exclaimed Phil, who had just peered inside the man's mind. "The one behind this havoc is gonna crash the helicopter into a nearby nuclear power plant! He is completely nut!" As every mad evil characters does, Declan 2 revealed his final desperate move to Declan 1 before throwing him outside the helicopter.

"We must stop him!" yelled Bruteforce, holding the last remnant of Robo Squirrel. Suddenly another explosion shook the ground, and a nearby building collapsed over itself, creating towering clouds of dust.

"We must stop the fire" shouted Phil.

"We must help Grissom first!" screamed Brianna.

Danny was sweating cold. What he tried, and was able, to avoid for so long finally had fond a way to him. The old days of fights and tears and adrenaline rushes were knocking again at his door. He shook his head, he gritted his teeth, he felt suffocating... but finally the voice returned, and, like it had a proper will, start to give order.

"Leslie... take a car and bring Griss to the hospital. Phil will feed you the right way directly from my mind."

"Phil, Ben, Brianna... and you, whoever you are... " said referring to Tiberius... "you stop the helicopter!"

The he sighed deeply... "And, Mxy... you and me will stop the fire. MOVE YOUR ASS, Vanguard!"

The rest of the story went on quite predictably, and we recap it in a very short manner here, to not detract from the real ending of the story, which obviously is the sacrifice and demise of the late and lamented Robo Squirrel.

Leslie was able, slaloming between explosion and falling buildings, to bring Grissom to the Hospital were he was saved from the sever wounds he got in the fight with the T Rex.

Brianna fled fast like she never had before, and was able to sabotage the rotor of the helicopter just moments before it reached the nuclear plant. The mad robot Declan 2 survived the fall, but Phil Tiberius and Bruteforce were able to stop him after a fierce battle. It was Bruteforce, quite fittingly, that in the end crushed the head of Declan 2 between his bare hands, avenging his little friend.

And Danny, after a little incident involving the creation of many men made of flames, was able to induce Mxy into stopping the fire with the milk raining copiously from the breasts of an heard of flying pink and lilac cows.

Thus, Melbourne was saved.

And we end this post with all the Vanguardians around the hospital bed where Grissom has just awakened.

And Grissom looks at all the present and finally to the blond young Australian, and poses the inevitable question: "And now, Danny?"

Danny shrugged. "Dunno."