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AUGMENT ALLIANCE HEROES
IMPALER — THE BALLBUSTING DEVICES — PART 2
By Arthur Comic
Doc watched through the monitor.
“Now we discover how long a hero can keep fighting after the Impaler has him.”
The first additional targeting system locked onto Vern.
TARGET CONFIRMED.
The second followed.
TARGET CONFIRMED.
Vern clenched his fists.
His remaining Augment energy began building.
Outside, somewhere beyond the underground walls, an explosion shook the facility.
Dust drifted from the ceiling.
A second explosion followed.
Closer.
Doc looked toward the ceiling.
Exactly on schedule.
He turned back toward Vern’s monitor.
“Begin phase two.”
The Impalers moved.
The device already attached to Vern’s codpiece tightened around the reinforced Augment housing.
Eight mechanical arms contracted simultaneously.
COMPRESSION: 32%
The glossy lime-green latex codpiece buckled inward.
Vern screamed.
Then the second Impaler fired.
Vern saw the black cylinder streak toward him.
He twisted.
Too late.
CLANG.
It struck the side of his Augment housing and immediately unfolded.
Eight steel arms snapped outward.
Then closed.
SECONDARY ANCHOR ESTABLISHED.
Vern gasped.
“No—”
The two devices began pulling in opposite directions. One holding each testicle.
One compressed.
The other twisted.
His Augment system registered the assault immediately.
AUGMENT OUTPUT: 61%
58%
54%
Warning lights illuminated Doc’s laboratory.
Doc leaned closer to the monitor.
“Beautiful.”
A technician looked over.
“His energy output is collapsing faster than the simulations predicted.”
“That is why simulations are insufficient.”
Doc tapped the glass.
“You need heroes.”
Another explosion thundered through the facility.
This one shook the observation room.
One of the monitors flickered.
Then went black.
VANGUARD
Three floors above Vern, a reinforced security door flew inward.
Vanguard stepped through the smoke.
His royal-blue latex was covered in dust.
Behind him lay the remains of two automated defense turrets.
A squad of Syndicate soldiers fired off harpoon-like devices.
Vanguard raised his arm.
Blue Augment energy surged across his gauntlet.
BOOM.
The blast hurled the entire squad backward.
Vanguard continued walking.
His HUD displayed the signal Marcus had transmitted.
VERN — 43 METERS BELOW
BIOSIGNAL: CRITICAL
Vanguard’s expression changed.
“Hold on.”
A warning appeared.
HOSTILE AUGMENT-SUPPRESSION TECHNOLOGY DETECTED
Vanguard stopped.
Something moved in the darkness ahead.
A mechanical launcher descended from the ceiling.
Then another.
Then six more.
All of them carried the same black cylindrical weapon.
Vanguard stared at them.
“So this is what Doc built.”
Red targeting lasers appeared across his chest.
His abdomen.
His legs.
And finally—
His own Augment housed codpiece.
Vanguard’s eyes widened.
“Oh, hell.”
The launchers fired.
THE TEST CHAMBER
Vern’s knees buckled.
The restraints holding his arms prevented him from falling.
The Impalers continued tightening.
AUGMENT OUTPUT: 46%
The third targeting unit activated.
Vern looked up.
Another weapon rotated into position.
“No…”
The targeting laser settled on the damaged testicles.
Doc’s voice came through the chamber speakers.
“You should be proud, Vern.”
Vern breathed heavily.
“Go to hell.”
Doc smiled.
“Your suffering is going to make every future model more efficient.”
The third Impaler fired.
Vern moved his hips at the last possible second.
The weapon missed its intended target.
Instead, it slammed into the restraint mechanism beside him.
Its claws unfolded.
ANCHOR ERROR
TARGET LOST
Vern looked at it.
Then at the energy building through his wrists.
An idea.
He stopped resisting the restraints.
Doc noticed.
“What is he doing?”
Vern closed his eyes.
His Augment energy dropped.
41%
39%
“Sir,” the technician said, “he’s shutting his system down.”
Doc stood.
“No.”
Vern whispered to himself.
“Come on…”
His output dropped again.
31%
The Impalers detected weakening resistance.
Their compression systems automatically increased.
Exactly what Vern wanted.
Energy began collecting inside the damaged codpiece core.
Not outward.
Inward.
A concentrated feedback loop.
Doc realized it.
“DISENGAGE THEM.”
Too late.
Vern opened his eyes..
“Got you.”
The Augment discharged.
BOOOOOOM.
An electric energy erupted across the chamber.
The restraints snapped.
One Impaler flew across the room and buried itself in the wall.
The second remained attached for half a second longer before Vern grabbed its shaft with both hands.
He roared.
Twisted.
And ripped the machine free.
Sparks exploded from the damaged codpiece.
Vern collapsed onto one knee.
AUGMENT OUTPUT: 18%
Barely enough.
But he was free.
VANGUARD’S CORRIDOR
Vanguard caught the first Impaler in midair.
The mechanical claws opened around his forearm.
He smashed it against the wall.
Another struck his shoulder.
He spun.
A third passed inches from his codpiece Augment housing.
“Not happening.”
Vanguard fired downward.
The floor collapsed beneath him.
He dropped through the concrete.
One level.
Then another.
Then another.
He crashed into the laboratory corridor below in a cloud of debris.
Emergency lights turned red.
SECURITY BREACH — LEVEL THREE
Vanguard rose from the crater.
His HUD recalculated.
VERN — 12 METERS
Then he heard footsteps.
Heavy ones.
A massive figure stepped into the emergency lighting.
Then a second.
Then a third.
Syndicate mutant brutes.
Each nearly twice Vanguard’s mass.
Metal armor covered their shoulders and torsos.
And strapped across each brute’s back—
Impaler launchers.
Vanguard stared.
The largest brute cracked its neck.
“Doc said you’d come.”
Vanguard brought his fists up.
“Then Doc knows what happens next.”
The brute charged.
VERN
Vern stumbled toward the chamber exit.
Every step hurt.
His Augment codpiece was sliced and one of his testicles was out.
He reached the door controls.
Locked.
“Of course.”
Vern raised one hand.
Behind him—
CLICK.
Vern froze.
The damaged Impaler lying against the wall had reactivated.
Its red targeting sensor blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then another sound came from the ceiling.
CLICK.
Vern slowly looked upward.
Four concealed compartments opened.
Four fresh Impalers descended.
All five targeting systems activated simultaneously.
Red lasers converged across his body and Augment housing.
Vern stared at them.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Doc’s voice returned.
But the amusement was gone.
“Phase three.”
The launchers armed.
Then—
The wall exploded.
A royal-blue figure came through it sideways, carried by the momentum of a charging mutant brute.
Vanguard slammed into the floor.
The brute landed on top of him.
Vern stared.
“Vanguard?”
Vanguard looked toward Vern.
Then toward the five armed Impalers.
Then back to Vern.
“Little busy.”
The brute raised both fists.
Vanguard kicked him backward.
“Can you move?”
“Barely.”
“Good enough.”
The five Impalers fired.
Vanguard lunged.
He grabbed Vern.
Both heroes hit the floor as the weapons screamed overhead.
Three embedded themselves into the opposite wall.
One struck the mutant brute.
Its claws snapped around his armor.
The brute roared.
Vanguard saw the opportunity.
“Vern!”
Vern understood immediately.
The machine overloaded.
BOOM.
The brute disappeared into smoke and shattered machinery.
Silence.
For about two seconds.
Then alarms began screaming throughout the facility.
Vanguard pulled Vern upright.
“We’re leaving.”
Vern looked at his damaged Augment codpiece.
“Doc has hundreds of these.”
Vanguard stopped.
“What?”
“Hundreds.”
Vern looked toward the production levels beyond the chamber.
“He wasn’t testing one weapon.”
Another tremor shook the underground complex.
Vern looked at Vanguard.
“He was testing an army of them.”
DOC
From the observation room, Doc watched both heroes disappear into the corridor.
The technician looked terrified.
“They escaped the chamber.”
Doc remained calm.
“The chamber was never the objective.”
He pressed a command.
A new screen appeared.
Recorded combat telemetry filled the display.
IMPALER COMBAT DATA ACQUIRED
VERN RESPONSE PROFILE — COMPLETE
VANGUARD RESPONSE PROFILE — 63% COMPLETE
LIVE-FIRE ADAPTATION MODEL: ACTIVE
The technician stared.
“You knew Vanguard would come.”
“Of course.”
Doc enlarged the footage of Vanguard destroying the incoming weapons.
Every movement.
Every defensive response.
Every instinct.
Being analyzed.
Being learned.
Being copied into the targeting software.
Doc smiled.
“Vern taught the Impaler how to break a restrained hero.”
Another screen appeared.
Vanguard’s image rotated beside a digital combat model.
“Vanguard is teaching it how to catch one who fights back.”
Deep within the factory, hundreds of finished Impalers suddenly illuminated.
One rack after another.
Red lights filled the darkness.
SOFTWARE UPDATE RECEIVED.
TARGETING MODEL UPDATED.
COMBAT ADAPTATION INSTALLED.
UNITS READY FOR DEPLOYMENT.
Doc looked at the glowing production chamber.
“Now we begin mass deployment.”
TO BE CONTINUED.
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