Rise of An Evil Empire
Disclaimer:
Heroman is owned by Stan Lee and Bones
Hello, and I apologize for the four-year inactivity of this fic. I sort of gotten the WRITER'S BUG and sort of left this fic hanging, and move on to other endeavors. But after getting a review, I decided to try and revive this fic and see whether this fic would be read and reviewed by readers, and see if this would warrant a chapter update.
Last chapter shows that the antagonists of this fic have already launched an attack on Joey, and this is where you would see whether Joey survives the waterfall descent or not, and whether he could escape from Colorado or if a new enemy appears.
Well, enjoy!
Ch. 10: Ekika Bōkō
The scene shifts to the raging rivers where Aquanoid is strangling Joey as he intend to drown the boy, but Joey held on, and tries to reach the gauntlet's orb, and managed to press it to cause a laser to fire, hitting Aquanoid on his face, and the mechanical villain is forced to release his hold, and Joey swam up and managed to get his head above the water, gasping for air, and he looked around, where he realized that he is just a few minutes away from reaching the waterfall, and this would certainly put him in danger if he falls there and might get drowned by the currents.
"This is bad...! I need to get out of the waters...! Better use..."
Just as he is about to use his gauntlet to make use of his enhanced speed to get him ashore, Aquanoid emerged and began to strangle him again, and is making sure to weaken him enough to prevent escape and Joey is in danger again as he is about to be drowned by his assassin, and thinks of a way to escape his current predicament and find a way to get to the main city of Colorado to let the world know that the Joey Jones who is terrorizing the world is a fake.
"Ha-ha-ha!"
"~Gurgle...!~"
"Now you die!"
"~Gurgle...!~"
"There's no one to save you!"
"~Gurgle...!~"
"Any last words?"
"~Gurgle...!~"
Joey uses his gauntlet to fire a laser and struck Aquanoid by his eyes, and when the mechanical assassin turns around, he uses the gauntlet to fire another blast, hitting his "scuba tank" which exploded, but in turn caused shrapnel to scatter, hitting Joey's body and again he is injured and further weakened, and is unable to make a move as he is nearing the waterfall, and there the two are there, which both plunged down as they reached the end of the channel, and you couldn't tell what has become of them, whether they survived or not.
As five minutes have passed, the scene shifts at the lower end of the waterfall where you can see that neither Joey or Aquanoid came out, implying that neither survived due to the height of the fall and that Joey's wounds were somewhat grave that he may have drowned and not survive.
However, Joey emerged from the river, where he is encased in a force field as he managed to use his gauntlet to cushion his fall and land on a shore, where the force field was turned off but he slumped to the ground, exhausted, and weakened due to the wounds he got. You can see that his shirt is in tatters, both of his sleeves ripped, and bloodstains covering his chest, and the left sleve of his pants bore a hole due to the attack by Aquanoid.
Joey felt like he wanted to go to sleep due to the exhaustion and pain, but realized that he has to get out of Colorado and willed himself to get up, nearly screaming in pain as his fractured ribcage and his left leg released painful signatures as blood began to drip down to the ground, but Joey had to toughen himself up to get going and get help.
However, a partially-damaged Aquanoid emerged from the waters, and fired his spear gun, and the harpoon struck his right chest and narrowly missed hitting right lung, but the harpoon nevertheless punctured his chest and Joey screams out in pain as the cybernetic android gloated saying this is payback for what he did to him earlier.
"Ha-ha-ha!"
"~Aaahhh...!~"
"You're not getting away!"
"~Uuuhhhnnn...!~"
"There's no one to save you!"
"~Hhhaahhh...!~"
"Any last words?"
"..."
However, Joey uses his gauntlet and fired a strong blast that struck Aquanoid on his face and fell to the river, and uses the gauntlet's powers to get the harpoon off his chest, and while he succeeded, he was further weakened and is bleeding, and he attempts to walk away to find help, and there trouble arises as he stepped on what appeared to be a liquefied object, which took shape and assume a humanoid-like form.
The new entrant is dressed in a red and black armor. Armed with a rapier, having a left claw instead of a left hand, and his head encased in glass and his whole head resembling a huge eyeball, the attacker uses his claw to strangle Joey to weaken him further, while telling him that he will die here and never return to Center City.
"Hello!"
"!"
"Sorry, but you're staying put!"
"Not again...!"
"You are destined to die here...you have no place to go!"
"Let...go of...me...!"
"Not possible, boy!"
"Damn...!"
The attacker is identified as Plasmanoid, and he said that he will make sure Joey will never escape Colorado alive, and stabs the boy on his chest, this time puncturing his right lung and he screamed in pain after receiving another damage, and this prompted him to aim his gauntlet right at Plasmanoid's head, and fired a blast, breaking the attacker's glass helmet and struck his face, causing him to stagger backwards and fell to the river.
Joey then uses the gauntlet's power to give him speed and ran off until reaching a road, but then slumps down to the ground as he is now experiencing difficulty in breathing as his right lung is on the verge of collapsing due to being punctured.
By then a van is seen driving by and stopped upon seeing Joey. The passengers got off and went to Joey's side, where they turn out to be construction workers and they are surprised to see him as they had just listened to the van's radio that Joey Jones has arrived in Switzerland and causing damage there. The construction workers are baffled but then one of them sensed that something is amiss.
"What the...?"
"That's Joey Jones!"
"No way! We heard that he's wrecking Switzerland!"
"Hold on, guys...something's not right..."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"I think the one wrecking chaos all over the world must be a fake..."
"What? Seriously?"
The construction workers decided to take Joey with them and head for the construction yard where a doctor happened to be there and will try to get him treated, and as the van leaves, the construction workers removed Joey's tattered shirt and are shocked to see so many wounds on his torso and the swelling on his right rib cage, and they began to use some spare cloth to stop the bleeding, and they try to keep him awake as Joey is on the verge of losing consciousness.
"Hey, kid!"
"Open your eyes!"
"Listen, kid...you gotta stay awake!"
"We'll get you a doctor...so hang in there!"
"You can't die...you got to clear your name!"
"Don't give in!"
"Stay with us, kid!"
"Kid!"
-x-
At Center City, Matthew Danton is seen at his lab, watching the news about "Joey" and Heroman causing more havoc and is now pondering on finding a way to summon the REAL Heroman, as the scene shifts inside is drawer, where the REAL Heroman, in toy form, is seen, which slowly revealed that when Joey is taken from the wreckage and being loaded inside an ambulance several months ago (after Gogorr was defeated), Danton noticed Heroman's toy form within the wreckage and secretly took it, which shows that it was charred and wrecked, and he secretly studied it to see if Joey's gauntlet is capable to restoring it though Danton opted not to show it to Joey seeing that peace has been restored.
However, with the fake "Joey" and "Heroman" on the loose and causing destruction, Danton is now pondering on finding Joey himself and is thinking of places where he is likely to be taken, as he is convinced that the REAL Joey is missing and an impostor has taken his place. He mentally wished he had an idea that would form a lead on where Joey might be so he would commence the search and have him try to "reform" the REAL Heroman.
"I wonder where the REAL Joey is taken...if only I could get a clue as to where he is taken..."
By then, members of the N.I.A. arrived and Danton is surprised to see them, though he noted that Hughes is not with them, and the next scene gives out a tense atmospheric moments that would cause Danton to be apprehensive and get worried, which slowly makes it self apparent that something is definitely not right here and slowly sensed that something "sinister" is at work here.
"Matthew Danton...?"
"Yes...that is me..."
"We are from the N.I.A..."
"N.I.A. you say?"
"Yes..."
"What brings you here?"
"We would like to invite you to come with us...to tell us where Joey Jones is...we know you're his friend and..."
"The Joey Jones on TV right now is a fake...an impostor...and the REAL Joey is kidnapped...that I believe...and I don't think me coming with you would help matters...wait...why would you "invite" me...?"
As Danton demanded to know why he is "invited" to be taken along, the rest of the N.I.A agents pinned Danton down and handcuffed him and dragged him towards a waiting van, where the teacher struggled to get some answers but is forced inside and the van cruises off, and no one outside the neighborhood noticed it as most are out or some are glued to the TV about the incidents involving "Joey" and "Heroman", believing that the young hero has turned "bad".
-x-
The scene later shifts to the streets, where Psy and Lina are walking together, and they are discussing about where to find the REAL Joey, as they are convinced that the "Joey" and "Heroman" they saw are fakers, and they felt that the REAL Joey is taken somewhere, and they hoped that either Danton or Hughes would find leads that would help pinpoint the whereabouts of the REAL Joey. Lina was emotionally worried about him and wished that Joey would be alright.
"This is bad..."
"Joey is kidnapped...and now an impostor is framing the REAL Joey..."
"And if Joey is somewhere...he probably be aware of what's happening right now..."
"I wish there's something we can do..."
"For now...we pray..."
"Yeah..."
"Let's hope Professor Danton and Mr. Hughes would have better luck in solving this situation..."
"I hope so..."
Both teens are unaware that several minutes ago after leaving Danton's lab, N.I.A. agents came and seized Danton and took him to an undisclosed place, and as the two teens are about to part ways, another van arrived and out came several N.I.A. agents, and after getting confirmation of their names, they told the two teens that they are "invited" for questioning regarding Joey, which Psy declines the "invitation", stating that the Joey who is wanted is an impostor and reiterated that the REAL Joey remained missing.
"Simon Kaina?"
"Yes...that is me..."
"We are from the N.I.A..."
"N.I.A. you say?"
"Yes..."
"What brings you here?"
"We would like to invite you to come with us...to tell us where Joey Jones is...we know you're his friend and..."
"What? What for? I have no idea where he is as you saw on TV that..."
However, the agents grappled onto Psy, taking his crutches and began to handcuff him, and Lina became worried of this which Psy told Lina to run, but before she could, other agents showed up and handcuffed her and the two teens are loaded inside the van and are being taken to an undisclosed place, with apparently no witnesses to the incident which would surely cause both Psy and Lina's family to get worried.
About 36 minutes later, both Lina and Psy were blindfolded and taken to an unidentified area and brought inside an unmanned one-story establishment, and there the two teens are being forcibly taken inside, unaware that Danton, also blindfolded, sitting on a chair and is still in handcuffs, and the professor was equally surprised as he recognized Psy and Lina's voices, and realized that they were also taken here by force.
"Huh? Kaina? Lina?"
"Huh? Professor Danton?"
"Is that you, sir?"
"What the...you two were taken?"
"Professor...what is going on here?"
"What is this? Why did the N.I.A. agents brought us here?"
"Hey! These two are minors! Why drag them here?"
"Let us go!"
"Yeah! You can't do this to us!"
As Psy and Lina were forced to sit on the chairs, one of the NIA personnel, who is under Tramp and Minami, stood in front of the three prisoners and began asking them where Joey Jones is, and as Danton reiterated that the Joey Jones that is causing havoc all over the world is an impostor, the NIA personnel punched Danton on the face, causing the professor to fall to the ground, and again the interrogator asks for Joey's whereabouts.
Danton told the interrogator that he does not know where the REAL Joey is and said he hasn't gotten a call for him for the past week, but the interrogator pulls Danton by his hair and threaten to use force if he tries to lie his way out. Of course the interrogator is doing this just to instill fear so that Joey's friends would be discouraged from finding the REAL Joey, and the fake interrogation continues.
"Better not FUCK with me...answer the question."
"Uunnff..."
"Where is Joey Jones?"
"I told you...I don't...OOOF!"
"Wrong answer...again...where is Joey Jones...?"
"..."
"Don't make me lose patience..."
"..."
With Psy and Lina still blindfolded, they have no idea what is going on yet they can tell that Danton is being manhandled and the interrogator went to Psy, and asks him if he knows where Joey Jones is, and Psy told him that the Joey Jones that is causing destruction is at overseas and that the real Joey Jones is currently missing and said he has no idea where he is right now.
The interrogator smirked as he grabbed a lead pipe and began hitting Psy's crippled leg, which he shouted in pain, and as he fell to the floor, the interrogator began hitting Psy's other leg with brutal force until it got fractured, and now Psy has become crippled and could not move his lower body. Lina was trembling in fear as Danton shouted at the interrogator to stop, but the interrogator kept on kicking Psy, and then he shifted his gaze on Lina and whispered to her if she knows where Joey is.
"Okay, missy...how about you...?"
"..."
"Do you know where Joey Jones is...?"
"..."
"Don't be afraid...just answer the question and you'll be set free..."
"..."
"So you don't know, huh?"
"..."
Lina trembled further and she shook her head as an answer, showing that she too is in the dark about the REAL Joey's whereabouts, and the interrogator smirked deviously and rips off her dress until in her bra and panties, which she screams aloud fearing that she is about to be raped, and the interrogator then told her to answer his questions HONESTLY so she can be set free, but she reiterated that she has no idea where Joey is.
The interrogator then took out a knife and cuts off her bra which exposed her naked upper body, and she cried in terror and pleaded to him not to rape her. Danton screamed and told the interrogator to stop assaulting Lina but the interrogator said nothing and began to molest her, causing her to cry out in terror, and Psy was forced to watch as he is too injured to intervene.
Outside the unmanned house, you can see Veronica watching and took out her cellphone and contacted Tramp, telling him that everything is working accordingly, as torturing Joey's friends into submission would traumatize them and would result in being discouraged from finding out the truth.
"So far everything is working perfectly, President Tramp."
"Good. Good."
"So far the REAL Joey Jones remained isolated at Colorado...the five Cybernoids are doing a good job of keeping him trapped."
"That is wonderful news. Minami is indeed a genius...and it would be a matter of time before the world despises him for real."
"Indeed."
"Continue torturing his friends until they submitted."
"Yes, sir."
"Okay."
To Be Continued...
I hope the 4-year wait is worth it…as Joey is again assaulted and incurred more damage to his body…
Joey's friends are in a bad situation as they are simply being TORTURED just to make them stop looking for the REAL Joey…who will save them…?
Preview:
The next chapter will show what will become of Joey…and who would bail Lina and the gang out…
See you in 3 to 4 weeks…