NINETY-THREE

The Atomic Land Armoured Vehicle, or ALAV, stood with its eight big wheels firmly on the shallow slope, its 75mm Autogun blazing away with a steady thudding. Armoured figures crouched around it as 20mm shells exploded across the top of the slope where it met the old parking lot of concrete flagstones. Another ALAV was burning away with roaring flames and black smoke.

BofS power armour troopers were on their bellies or crouched behind obstacles in the environment be it tough junk or natural. There had not been enough time to dig any ditches or make any other kinds of defences.

Crosswayne had largely fallen quite easily. Most locals had revolted, both slaves and commoners, eagerly taking up weapons stolen from the wealthy families, from sheriff offices, from slave hunters and others. In the distance a two level mansion was abandoned except for some of the new Crosswayne Warlord's troops. These had turned out to be hard surprise, to be elite fighters well trained and equipped with power armour, war-machines and robots. Though larger than had been expected, Warlord Dreshire's army was very small compared to the BofS forces entering Crosswayne and conquering it. Armies of rebelling slaves and commoners, even of other classes, had taken over many settlements. The small private mercenary forces of wealthy land owner families had soon surrendered and the families were either massacred by rebels or held prisoner by the BofS. Knowing they would get more mercy from the invaders than from the rebels, many of the old regime were seeking out BofS units to surrender to.

Five ALAVs had been following a wide rough dirt road when the ambush had taken place, destroying at once two vehicles but the power armour troopers inside had mostly survived though they were shaken up. The surviving ALAVs were using the rise in the ground as cover. But the troopers had known better than just to focus on defending against attacks from one direction, had suspected a clever set-up and enemies to come from their rear. The enemies had not appeared.

They had heard firing and seen flashes of explosions from that direction as if part of an ambushing force had run into other enemies. Even so they were cautious for the enemy of an enemy is not always a friend, far from it in Postwar North America.

They were calling for assistance but the BofS forces tied in for the moment with other actions. The Warlord's forces were starting to pound them with bigger weapons, were moving in on them. The situation did not look good.

Sergeant Andy McDoogle sitting back from the others favouring an armoured upper limb with a hole through the armour. The wounded had been tended to but his power armour was damaged, was acting wonky from other damage done to it in the explosion that had destroyed an ALAV. Despite the power armour he was also still in shock and there was an horrible ringing in his head that refused to go away.

So when the small tight tan brown teddy-bear climbed up over his legs to stand on his lap and looked up to his helmet, the sergeant figured he was hallucinating. The teddy-bear pointed to the wound and hole in the armour with one furry paw and a pulse of light went from his paw through the hole and into the sergeant's body. A warm tingling sensation went through him and he blanked out peacefully for a moment.

When he awoke his power armour was working fine, his body was fine but he looked like he was a big chunky version of the small teddy-bear except that he had hands. The teddy-bear was sitting comfortably on his now furry knee and was slumbering.

He expected that any moment a comrade would appear and be shocked and then mock him. When they did though they also looked like big chunky tan brown furred teddy-bears. Lieutenant Palmer did not sound at all impressed and her voice sounded it. "What is damned well going on. What are we, the Toyland teddy mercenaries?"

The sergeant responded. "We are all healed of any injuries, any damages are fixed but I think the Symbiosphere did what it was doing for a reason. Knowledge is there in my mind but I have to focus on it. A briefing of sorts? Toyland does exist. Your joke may have come from information fed to you. Toyland was a big semi-underground Prewar amusemant park here in Crosswayne. It was under a big armoured dome or at least the actual park was. Other areas were in underground bunkers. The Symbiosphere wants us to go there. Somehow our strange appearance will allow us to blend in more and make us safer from what is there. The dome itself is in a high rad zone infested with very big, very savage mutated beasties. We have to find a secondary way in but another is coming to assist us."

With a sparkling shimmer Daring Dashwood and his side-kick Argyle appeared out of mid-air wearing light power armour and holding MXM16A3 autorifles with MXM306 40mm grenade-shell launchers. But with the young man and the grinning ghoul appeared some slimly muscular, slimly voluptuous young women in tight fitting light power armour.

Dashwood spoke with a flourish. "Daring Dashwood at your service with my faithful, hard hitting side-kick Argyle and my faithful fighting followers of fine form, Modestia Blade, Lara Crash, Buffy Babe, Tanya Red, Raven Claw, Sylvia Silkskin, Bella Blaze, Diana Wonder, Yvonne McBite and the Biblade Triplets."

Modestia Blade spoke. "Like your outfits. Look tough enough to scare a five year old."

Daring Dashwood spoke. "Now, now, you know this is the Symbiosphere's doing. She wants the BofS to fit into Toyland. We will go one direction and the BofS will go another, deeper into the domed part of Toyland. We have to get to that mansion because it used to belong to Mister Raymond Toymaker, a multibillionaire who started out as a humble toy inventor and salesman. A secret tunnel leads from a basemant bunker there to Toyland. We have to get through Warlord Dreshire's forces between us and the mansion. Dreshire is not here by coincidence and may well be seeking a way into Toyland. He and his forces smell of the Enclave. This will not be easy. Odd as it seems the teddy-bears will take care of the surviving ALAVs, taking them to where they can be well hidden for now and where other BofS forces can pick them up easily enough when they reach the area. I have a radio communicator that will allow you to get past Dreshire's trickery and report to your HQ what is happening."

Modestia Blaze smiled. "This won't be teddy-bear's picnic!"

She got frowned at by the BofS soldiers.

Continued in NINETY-THREE

NINETY-THREE

Bill Doors led the GuardTec soldiers in power armour along a burned and blasted armoured hallway deep beneath the ground. The Progressive Coalition was taking over DCTec territories and facilities with moderate speed but battles were raging in many places. GuardTec forces had turned to supporting Bill Doors partly because in the past he had supported improving conditions for them as in wages, shifts and insurance and partly because they could see he had the full backing of the increasingly powerful USA behind him.

Bill Doors, the original founder of DCTec, had always assumed he knew what was going on with the corporation from the chairman's position down to the factories and workshops, shops and service centres. He had also assumed that he had the loyalty and honest reportage of all of his powerful comrades in leadership roles. He was now finding out jus how wrong he had been. Bill Doors was not a saint, not by a long shot, but he had his limits. He had dismissed whispers that DCTec was selling goods to the slavers, to the raiders and even to the super mutants, some of which they had designed for their customers. Now he knew that this and worse was true.

DCTec had made the special armour for the stupid mutants, exploding slave-collars and mesmetrons for the slavers and the bizarre body-armour for the raiders. They had also built and sold battlebuggies to the raiders and slavers along with gear and services to anybody who would buy it. Armageddon Park was a big buyer as was Paradise Falls and the Darkman.

But now he was seeking answers to darker possibilities. In his power armour and holding a 20mm autogun, he stepped over a dead enemy soldier in power armour marked with a symbol of the Black Star. This was no GuardTec trooper or DCTec heavy security trooper, HST, but a cultist of some kind. The Black Star of the Malevae source of power, the Azathoth that was a blind, mindless, amorphous blackest mass the size of a star that had once floated, in the astral plane, at the centre of a universe. It was now imprisoned in the deepest depths of Hades. It was attended by satellite creatures and protected by many pseudopods along with emanations of insanity.

The Black Star Cult did not worship Azathoth, that would not even be aware of them, but the various Malevae of the Thirteen Dark Stars, whose interests they served in general and who in turn were supported by all of them.

There was the sound of shooting from ahead. They came around a corner to find a mixture of GuardTec troopers and Regulator SWAT-Troopers, also in standard power armour, fighting more cultists. The chamber was a great metal supported smoothed out cavern chamber with a great set of concrete statues of Malevae but these statues were also machines. The cultists had sandbag walls to shoot from behind and power armour. They were not alone. DeepOnes, DryOnes and FlameOnes were there, the last being like living flaming humanoids roughly shaped like the DeepOnes. They hurled small explosive fireballs from their hands by flinging their hands out. These Lesser OldOnes were coming out of an open doorway of blackness dotted with small purple-red flickering flames. It was a great horror of an alien landscape somewhere in Hades. This was a gateway.

A gateway that Bill Doors knew that he had to close as soon as possible for this was a major way that the OldOnes were using to invade the DC Wastelands through.

He crouched behind a large over turned statue of some ugly tentacle clad creature and aimed his weapon, fired a burst and sighed. He was not the greatest of sharpshooters but he had made a Black Star Cultist leap for safety.

What really burned was that not only had these damned cultists hid amongst his corporation, they had used corporate resources to increase their wealth and to construct secret bases often hidden beneath genuine DCTec facilities. Above this place was a DCTec robotic robot factory now manufacturing robots to send, free of charge, to the USA. The trouble was that the factory, like other DCTec manufactories, was half the size as it was on paper and produced robots much more slowly than it was supposed to be able to. The Black Star Cult had stolen the resources that should have gone into expanding and otherwise upgrading that and other manufacturing plants and other sites.

Where had the resources gone to?

Then the answer came to him, though he was not sure how, and it was straight forward. Most of it had gone through that very gateway, had been sent down to Hades itself and to the Thirteen Dark Stars. DCTec false paperwork and datafiles had hidden the truth as it had hidden many other dark truths.

Like over a hundred thousand DCTec hired semiskilled and unskilled workers who had vanished after being brought to the DCTec Sector. They had also been taken, as prisoners, through that gateway.

Now he knew how he knew it to be so. He was picking up the residue of past events, violently evil past events, from this environment, was picking up impressions of many kinds.

Bill Doors vowed to learn every dark truth hidden behind the DCTec trade-mark.

Continued in NINETY-FOUR

NINETY-FOUR

Jasmine glided through the air and her focusi-longsword glowed as she sliced apart a globular floating jellagothe, a semi-intelligent defensive thing and one of thousands floating above the metallic cityscape.

There were five Fawkes now down in city laneways and streets who slammed focusi-sledges through the air to explode against metallic monsters, shattering them and sending them hurling backwards in pieces. The pieces melted into the cityscape itself and new monsters rose slowly to replace them.

Ten Meatdogs were racing as metallic versions of the familiar Meatdog, silvery and dull shiny, They slammed into the metallic creatures pouring out of buildings of steel, bronze, copper, gold and other metallic colours just as they were. Many were copies of humans in power armour but with basic clubs while others were metallic copies of mirelurks, deathclaws, molerats and other Wastelands creatures.

Alpha-Omega had been there not so long ago, was fleeing before the Hunt of Justice Team now hunting him.

Jas floated as a child warrior through the air and fired off her four barrelled sawn off shotgun, or at least what looked like one. The resulting four explosions tore apart dozens of metallic beasts in mid air like globes with many tentacles sprouting from them ending in eyes, claw-hands or tubular guns.

Jas spoke and her voice carried to all others there. "This city is more than just a city; it is a great circuit board of much complexity, its part of a computer central processor. The whole set up is designed to capture something."

Jade spoke as her focusi gattling-laser shot beams of lancing light that caused metallic creatures disintegrate magnificently with amazing patterns of flashing light. "Perhaps us and along with us the Symbiosphere."

Three Red Sonjis raced across the cityscape, leaping from flat rectangular building top to building top in true super hero form. Red Sonjis shot through the air with red glowing wings at their back, straight and metallic, shooting their focusi missile launchers, the glowing energy missiles exploding against creatures and buildings.

They were not doing any real damage as they moved through that strange environment but in truth they did not want to. They simply wanted to corner Alpha-Omega, to gain a true sensing of him and to learn more. All of them sensed that the matters were coming to a head and might do so suddenly at any moment.

Then, as one, they all knew that the Pale Death Rider was gone! One of the Elder Living Gods had departed totally, had truly died, and would return one day as a totally new young living god. Somehow the same had happened to the Dark Maiden.

Two living gods down and a few more to go!

Continued in NINETY-FIVE

NINETY-FIVE

"Millions of them!" The Darkman swept his hands across the impossibly vast chamber which only could exist as it did because it did so in a transdimensional pocket. He was indicated massive skyscraqers of SSS-towers rising high in the air and inside semi-enclosed circular balconies vast numbers of SSS-capsules of various kinds. "Billions of humans and a few pretending to be humans. The whole reality is inside out. All of us are in their, even you and I. When the Great War was seen to be starting, the great super machine was activated. The great machine reached out and drew every human inwards and also those in human shapeform. We living gods did not escape, not even the most powerful of us. The machine was a bizarre paradox construction of human and alien technologies that created an even more bizarre paradox. The focus of the paradox is North America trapped inside its force-bubble and now the focus is 'focusing' down to the DC Wastelands."

Naked humans all cared for by billions of robots, microbots and nanobots. Some of the robots were huge floating things with great fanjets and antigravity pods. Eyebots swarmed through the air keeping an 'eye' on everything though in truth they relied more on their sensors and scanners than they did their 3Dcams.

The Darkman was on a platform built lookout fashion in the side of one enormous wall of the immense chamber. Elder Owyn Lyons, Elder Ironsides and Marshal Sarah Lyons clearly did not know what to say. They could hardly take it in. It was impossible. Somehow they were inside but both part of and removed from the very reality they were dreaming that they were part of.

The Darkman laughed and then he sighed. "Truth is I find it hard to take in myself. It was an accident. I would love to say that I had planned it this way but no, it was just a damned fluke. We are all of us trapped somehow real but inside our own dreaming, our own interactive virtual reality, a shared one at that."

Sarah Lyons spoke. "Then it is not fake, the DC Wastelands, the Lost Hills, New Vegas, Mothership Zeta, the Lunarites and all the rest, it is real."

The Darkman nodded. "Super mutants, the core Darkman now trying to conquer Hades, Hades itself, the other living gods, the Malevae and Lesser OldOnes, all are real." He shrugged. "We living gods can exist on many levels. On the surface we have been deluded but even as we acted out our roles, at a far more subtle level we have been playing another game altogether except this game is a very deadly one."

Elder Owyn Lyons frowned. "What about the ones who were in SSS-capsules, who were in NeoWashington."

The Darkman grinned. "They are right there in front of you. They used to be humans inside SSS-capsules dreamscaping they were in SSS-capsules dreamscaping they were in NeoWashington. Now they are in SSS-capsules dreamscaping they are either living inside NeoWashington or outside of it. I was going to say 'simple really' except it isn't. Now all one has to do is find out what is really real, what is truly true and what is going to get us out of this mess. Mind you I wish to do so with out getting erased from time and space."

A shudder went through everything, a soft shudder in comparison only to the vastness of that great space.

The Darkman nodded. "Two living gods gone and now more to go. At one level it has all been true but at another there has been a lie told not just to others but to ourselves. It is time for me to change as this drama, this melodrama, plays itself out. I suggest you return to the DC Citadel and prepare for trouble. By now the Orbis will have absorbed the DC Citadel and in there you will be safe."

He shimmered, sparkled, and then he was reversed. His skin was no longer pale white but shiny black and his gear that had been black was now polished white. "Now you can call me the Lightman."

Sarah Lyons asked. "What is the lie?"

The Lightman groaned softly in pain and tears of blood trickled from the corner of his eyes. "Only one true living god came to this world and that was Alpha-Omega but he was refusing to die and she was going insane, was fragmenting into many personalities, into many living gods and living goddesses. All of us are Alpha-Omega but we have been trapped in our madness so deeply we could not even bare to face the truth. Now we are starting to truly kill each other and in doing so Alpha-Omega is allowing nature to take its course. No, it isn't suicide. It really is just a letting go. Alpha-Omega will live again as a new living god or what ever. An eternal being truly rejuvenated. We even have friends to help us now. We did not make up the Symbiosphere or Orbis or the elementals. No, they are real and all are here to help us and also the peoples and other life of this world, this very world."

And the air began to fill with elementals, life elementals glowing green, air-water elementals glowing blue, solar elementals glowing yellow-white and the human elementals also.

Then came millions of microbots of the Symbiosphere but of course they were invisible except as a light sparkling mist.

Continued in NINETY-SIX

Wow. that was a lot to read.

It was fun to read, but took me longer because I found it really hard to get into the story. Also I sometimes get confused by the fairly large amount of factions sub-factions, sub-sub-factions, secondary characters, new locations, main characters and story lines. I had somewhat of a hard time keeping them apart or figuring it all out.

That aside, it is well written, has development of character and story and improves as the story advances.

In my humble opinion you should consider lowering the amount of factions and tertiary characters to keep the overview a little easier.

But that's just me.

I'm looking forward to part ninety six

Gunjaer, I agree with what you say. Your advice is excellent and it pinpoints a big weakness in my novel writing.

For ages now I have written only short pieces and have suffered a kind of writer's block when it comes to longer pieces. When I have tried them I have tended to become too complicated too quickly. As it was during the writing of this work I cut back/out a good lot of extra stuff as I went.

From now on my longer works will be trimmed down more but my writer's block is gone!

Thank you for your positive and thoughtful feedback! I am glad you enjoyed the writing, which, I must admit has been tiring to do. Will of course be completing the story ASAP as things are winding up.

NINETY-SIX

Culminating Battles

The fighting was savage as the Darkman and his army swept towards Cthulhu's vast fortress of a thousand burning living torches that flickered and screamed endlessly on the battlements. But Cthulhu was not alone as he himself stood monstrously tall a humanoid with an octopus like head with tentacles reaching down as a beard might. Other Malevae were moving towards the area with their own mighty armies, were determined to crush the Darkman and his forces with out mercy. Hastur, the half brother to Cthulhu, was in the lead.

Wonderland fell rapidly to 1Kitty and her army that swept across the bizarre half dream land. Mad Hatter led the Crazy Artisans who smashed through the Rosethorn Soldiers laying siege to the Gingerbread House. The Duchess and the Madly Family had smartly changed sides. The Walrus was in prison for tricking and eating the Oyster Children. The Queen of Roses herself fought the Jabberwocky.

The Hunt of Justice fought a vast, endless army of metallic monsters. The heroes multiplied in number and fought like a great army themselves. Then Alpha-Omega appeared and he fought the Hunt of Justice like some great whirling madness. With him came what had been Statesman Alba Diplomori but who now came in the form of a thousand monstrous warriors of earth, wind, fire and ice. As for Alpha-Omega, he came as a mighty force of sheer rage and he hurled everything before him at first until his enemies, led by many Jasmines, attacked him.

In Toyland was a secret hidden behind the outward appearance of a great big dome covered amusemant park. Into that place went the BofS soldiers now calling themselves the Teddy-Troopers, infiltrating into a madness of animal mascot robots, mind controlled human customers and every smiling androids of young beautiful people. Daring Dashwood led his side-kick and followers deep into the dark disturbing underbelly of Toyland while the AntAgonizer and the Mechanist began diversionary attacks on the outskirts of Toyland with their armies of giant exotic ants and wondrous robots.

Orbis now protected all of the major settlements and into them the people were all vanishing taking with them as many resources as they could.

Everybody, even the youngest child and the worms in the ground, it seemed, it could feel that something very important was happening and was about to change.

The Symbiosphere began to protect all those, even the evil raiders, and the plants, the animals, that could not make it into Orbis.

For in truth those were the primary roles of both the Symbiosphere and Orbis except that both had other roles also.

Then the ground began to shake. The sky began to change rapidly, to swirl madly with great energies. The force-bubble covering North America was fragmenting, was breaking down and the mighty Lightening Spikes were not absorbing energy but were dumping it back, it seemed, into the sky, with great lightening bolts shot upwards.

The battles of the Enclave fleet at Point Lookout and the amphibious attack on Freedoma continued but they were starting to slow down as the enemies from the sea seemed to be withdrawing to go elsewhere.

In the new Collective Republic the trapped special clone of the Darkman was being examined by Jasmine, a new third Jasmine, by 2Dog who had come from Bunkertown and by pair of young, attractive advlts who were there to give advice to their daughter. Catherine and James Ashworth were part of the changes taking place.

Up in space the Zetans broke off their attack and fled. The zelenites went with them and would find a home out in the great Asteroid Belt. But the Lunarites did not move to North America but withdrew into their Underworld for it was obvious now to them that something big was happening.

Over the rest of the world the three great battling factions of humanity ceased fighting and withdrew to their fortified settlements and citadels.

Next, the Final Chapters

Continued in NINETY-SEVEN

NINETY-SEVEN

Openly everybody was having fun. Families, young couples in love, all wore clean, neat Prewar clothes and laughed much. They had ate hotdogs or candy floss or other fast food, sweet or savoury. They drank sweet sticky soda drinks or fruit juices or hot chocolate or coffee. They lined up for rides. They rested on benches. They bought novelties at stalls.

But the eyes of the people were glazed and the babies were restive, the laughter was too high, to sharp. The drink and food were laced with exotic drugs. The rides were truly terrifying such as the Coaster of Screams or the House of Horrors from which patrons were often pulled wounded. Children were never hurt but frightened. Others were just bizarre like the Tunnel of Love where naked advlts went in and came out slumbering in exhaustion.

The robotic animal mascots danced, joked, entertained and hurt nobody.

The androids lashed out in accidentally on purpose fashion, knocking down people, throwing hot coffee into people's faces, flirting wildly with one partner of a couple, teasing children until they burst into tears and the humans dared do nothing.

The Teddy-Troopers began to quietly slip new program chips into the robots and androids, a surprisingly easy thing to do since the intelligence in control of Toyland seemed to be greatly over confident of security.

They offered free drinks to people and as the drinks were drank, the humans seemed to awaken out of some awful dream. The newly reprogrammed robots and androids began to take them to the emergency shelters of Toyland. Even as this happened hundreds of teddy-bears began to flood into the amusemant park. A few transformed into teddy-ewoks, armed and dangerous or just friendly and helpful with nice bright orange vests, medikits and other useful resources.

Toyland was the real secondary source of psychic power for the Darkman!!!

The dark intelligence running it was a Darkman close to the core Darkman, a secondary Darkman, and was almost as dangerous as the core Darkman himself.

Deep in Hades the core Darkman realised his real secret was found and he cursed but then he laughed for he was sure that Toyland would take a long time to conquer, that the secondary Darkman there would drive the invaders back long enough for the Darkman to carry out his evil plans.

The Darkman returned his focus back to fighting the Malevae.

Fighting broke out in the Laneway of Clown Heads, the Teddy-Troopers leading a small army of teddy-ewoks not just along the laneway but over the roofs of the gaming places of turning clown heads that looked like colourful tent stalls but which were hard permanent structures. 20mm shells were soon ripping through the air along with 7.63mm bullets and laser beams. Androids attacked them wearing power armour or just in kevlar body-armour, waves of androids and with them sentrybots and MrGutsys.

Sergeant Andy McDoogle saw the mass armies surging towards his own forces, his allies, and he doubted that he could win easily or maybe at all. He crouched on top of a fake tent and aimed his weapon carefully.

At that moment there was a sparkling shimmer thousands of Brotherhood of Steel soldiers from the west began to appear across the already invaded area of Toyland. Next to him appeared, bemused but not surprised, Field Marshal Patton herself. She was surrounded by elite bodyguards and highly skilful and experienced aides.

On his other side appeared Marshal Sarah Lyons of the Lyons Pride and around them the fighters of the Lyons Pride.

In the distance Marshal Cran appeared with many fighters of the Sisterhood of Steel.

The newcomers brought vertibirds with them, battle robots, and all ten of the Liberty Primes found in the chamber in the Citadel. The great hulking Liberty Primes charged into battle and this time their great cries of patriotic fury were aimed at the Darkman. The word Communism was not mentioned once.

The sergeant sighed and wondered why it was that the first time he got to meet the great Field Marshal Patton herself, not to mention the famous Sarah Lyons, that he was dressed as a bloody big chunky teddy-bear.

Patton turned to the sergeant with a bemused smile. "Sergeant Cute and Adorable, please report at once."

The sergeant cursed inwardly knowing he couldn't but go along with this joke and that neither him or his platoon would fail to hear about it for many years to come.

Continued in NINETY-EIGHT

NINETY-EIGHT

The Brotherhood of Steel entering Crosswayne in great force filled the sky with its airships and fewer skyships while massive hoverships moved about a hundred metres above the surface. The flooded into the farming lands and did harm to none for the lands were now controlled by the BofS except for some isolated patches. Most Crosswayners were happy to welcome the newcomers and even to ask them to stay in a large bunker complex buried beneath a series of large hills. The bunkerplex was infested with monsters but surely the BofS could deal with them.

Toyland was a raging battle as the Darkman there rallied a large counter force of androids, robots and clones that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They came with fast moving agile hovertanks and even faster flying, more agile hoverjets. The Darkman himself strode into battle in elegantly bulky black super power armour firing volleys of missiles and even greater volleys of 40mm shells. For a time he threw back the enemy, driving them from the Side Show Alleys towards the Exhibition Galleries. But then the tide turned as the animal mascot robots joined the side of the invaders. Symbiosphere forces flooded into the Toyland Dome as did AntAgonizer with her super ants and the Mechanist with his master robots.

Cran and her S/of/S troopers cut off the Darkman and a large chunk of his forces. Cran herself confronted the Darkman, she in her power armour, he in his super power armour, and they fought. It was obvious he was beyond her and he grinned as he brought down his death blow upon the brave Marshal. But then she drew out a special weapon that Jasmine had given her, a strange crystal spike-knife that glowed with power, and thrust it into the chest of the Darkman. It sank easily through his black armour as if it was not there and the Darkman died, his terrible scream of agony echoing across the great domed space.

Marshal Cran died a hero as the Darkman's great black sword cot through her!

The Darkman's forces in Toyland fled or surrendered. In a matter of less than an hour the whole of Toyland belonged to the invading forces.

Daring Dashwood, Argyle and the fighting women with them, found the storage cells of emergency psychic energy for the Darkman. It was a cruel and revolting display of demented science and technology with rows of humans and animals, even super mutants, floating inside cells of sparkling jelly substance.

Daring Dashwood and his companions began to fight off hordes of Darkman clones that leapt out of lines of Victorian wardrobes. But even as Dashwood's companions began to die heroically, he stood at the right spot, raised his arms and called upon the Light, upon Enlightenment to flow into him and through him.

There was a great flash of light and the trapped entities were free.

In Hades the Darkman screamed out in agony and sheer hate. His army fell backwards and his followers started to vanish for they were linked intrinsically to him. The OldOnes attacked with a vengeance. The Malevae cried out ancient chants of hatred and vows of conquest that would turn the Multiverse into a vast empire of domination and suffering.

But then Hades simply vanished!

The Rim Guardians found themselves guarding a great beautiful underworld of forests, marshes, small seas, lakes, rivers, grasslands, hilly regions and small mountain ranges. The burden of their endless duties were over. But they were not alone. From the Labyrinth of Lost Souls came, with Uncle Leo at their head, the now full healed and newly shapeformed healthy former followers of the OldOnes. The reborn Hades would be their home also.

As for the OldOnes, they were now trapped in a new underworld below the surface of the hellish jungle world of Venus, a world of dragons and dinosaurs.

But the Darkman was not finished!

The Hunt of Justice, with Jasmine at the lead, drove Alpha-Omega straight into a great metallic battle arena. The insanely criminal laughed for it was in his mind a trap for them, not him, though he was cornered.

The world reality began to shift profoundly.

Continued in NINETY-NINE

NINETY-NINE

The last of them gathered in the great metallic arena and they fought there, fighting each other and monsters of many kinds that emerged from the floor, the very air and from their own minds.

The Darkman and Alpha-Omega, the Omega Man, fought crazily for time, walking-stick against distorted golden sword, flashing lightening and jetting flames with each clash of exotic weapons.

But it was Jasmine who came and cut them both down, one by one, first Alpha-Omega and then the Darkman. They fought with amazing speed and agility, hardly to be seen if not invisible so fast did they move. Invisible that is except for the flashes of energy. Alpha-Omega died quietly as if relieved that it was all over. The Darkman died with great defiance as if cursing the whole Multiverse for what had happened.

Then Jasmine stopped fighting and everything faded away, everybody vanished and she was alone in that vast chamber.

She bowed her head and for the last time she called upon the Light and Enlightenment.

The light exploded through and engulfed the whole world to sweep beyond and take in the Moon as well.

Finished in ONE HUNDRED

ONE HUNDRED

Things had changed but far from totally.

The Mysterious Stranger stood on top of a big hill from which he could see much of the DC Wastelands. It was now a hundred years in the past but the DC Wastelands were changed even in that past. He could see an armoured steamtrain making its cautious way along a gently winding railway as it pulled a line of armoured carriages with guards, robots and turrets. Fears of raider sabotage made high speeds too dangerous.

DC Wastelands were still tough and in some ways were more dangerous but they were now generally more greener, more fertile and provided more food and other resources. Rivers flowed with only lightly radded water and rains often came with purified water. Wild horses ran in herds and goats were abundant along with less aggressive molerats and many other creatures.

Jasmine was yet to be born along with many of the others but she would be born in a bigger, more friendly and peaceful vault. She would be sent out as a volunteer to find out what was going on out in the DC Wastelands and she would be welcome back.

3Dog had yet to leave the Lunar Federation but now the Federation was better from the start and he would be coming willingly as an investigator with companions.

The Orders of Steel, more diverse than just the Brotherhood of Steel, were yet to come to the DC Wastelands.

The Mysterious Stranger was now dressed as a Regular because he had created the Regulators and, through them, the Sheriffs' Network. Beside him stood a horse with a saddle, a big rifle in a scabbard and panniers. The horse nibbled his ear in a friendly way and to remind him that sugar lumps were good for horses.

A light breeze blew and their was a slight dampness to the air.

Change was coming and with it new challenges!!!

THE END!!!

:intergalactic: :drool: :dmc: :gun:

:flamethrower: :read: :foodndrink: :shocking: :turtle:

:sadvaultboy: :celebration: bliviongate: :brokencomputer:

Good job Dragon. This must be the first fic in a while that was completed. You have my praise and hopes for another story.

Thank you, mere! Another story is planned which will be more basic, more Fallout 3 traditionalistic and with fewer central characters and factions but it will not be for at least a couple of weeks to come.

Newer story will have no living gods!

Will be based on factions and their subfactions:
New United States of America (NUSA)
Unified Semiautonomous Settlements of the District of Columbia (USSDC)
*Citadel City (linked to DC Citadel)
*Rivet City (DC Harbour)
*Megaton (airforce base? crater centred)
*Atomica (Church of Atom)
*Arefu
*BigTown and Little Lamplight
*Canterbury Commons
*GNR Radiotown (lower GNR Tower)
*Vaultburg (hidden except for outpost)
*Vaultville (as above)
*Rockpolis (as above)
Other settements.
*Republic of Dave
*Oasis
*Paradise Falls
*Tenpenny Towers
*Ghoul Underworld
*Armageddon Park (as above)
*Meresti (The Family and 'Friends')
*Smallville (rebel/escaped super mutants)
*Peoples Democratic Republic of DC
*Other
Loosely settled spots
*SuperDuperMart (great semi-underground shopping complex)
*Toyland (robo-automated amusemant park semi-underground)
*Crosswayne (mountain and hill sheltered fertile area, farming)
*Sewerlands
*DC International Airport?
Orders of Steel based on US Aerospace Special Forces and other Great War elements.
World Dominion of Enclaves (WDE) focused on DC Enclave
VaultTec Vauts (varied kinds) being experimental, recolonisation, research-development, military and other
Law being Regulators of Justice, Sheriffs and some other law forces.
Outlaws ranging from bandits to common raiders (gangers) up to ravers and reavers. Includes slavers and slaver bounty-hunters plus cannibal hunters.
Mercenaries, free lance and corporate or having permant contracts fixed to certain parties.
Aliens
*Zetans (zetans, zetan-human hybrids, processed abominations, alien mercenaries)
*Escaped aliens from crashed Zetan saucers.
*Greys
*Omegans

Wastelander Lotech and Midtech: (Generally surface settlements)
Lotech and midtech are common:
Horse riding. Horse or brahmin drawn vehicles. Bows, crossbows, spears and javelins used for hunting. Many older crafts such as coopering, fletching, pottery, leather working, etc.
Return of steam trains to some areas. Slow moving and heavy armed and armoured.
Pony Express and Stagecoaches with armed escorts.
Windmills.
Guns are fairly common but most are revolver pistols, double or single barrelled shotguns, bolt-action rifles with less pump-action shotguns, lever-action rifles, semiautomatic rifles and even less semiautomatic pistols, submachineguns or autorifles. There are some oddities such as revolver-rifles, hand pumped gattling-guns and even muskets.
Hitech is either rare or non-existent in many areas be it robots, laser guns, smartguns, power armour, atomic motorised vehicles or etc. US rogue robots and Soviet infiltration robots only appear in certain areas.

Everything is bigger, more spread out and there are more harmless and semi-harmless beasties. There are also relatively more monsters.

Super mutants have four kinds. Standard (tall bulky human), big, extra big and super big (behemoth) with uncommon super behemoths. Bigger = more stupid but more powerful. Zentaurs (centaurs) are fast moving, wall climbing and ceiling clinging monstrocities with lashing tentacles. Zounds are super mutant hounds of terrible speed and power. Others?

More to be added.

Feedback is welcome.

Awesome! 100 Chapters, that is just awesome! I enjoyed reading this Dragon and looking forward to your next one...

Thank you, Josh gro-Grahz (your name is cool). I am already working on the background, plot structure and other facets of the next story.

You should call them Extra Large because that makes me giggle

I need to reread this whole thing, damn.

Extra large super mutants? Well, okay, sometimes that is what I will call them just to give you a giggle.

Thank you Kikaimegami very much for your wondrous feedback. :clap:

(I suppose you belong to some ancient secret African tribe according to your name or is there some more rational explantion?)

It's Japanese, actually. It means "machine goddess".

Brilliant name! I wish I could use it for a character in one of my stories.

I am open to forum friendship to you and others but I am not very good with the system.

Kikaimegami!!! Machine Goddess! Again, brilliant name and concept. Does it come from any particular mythology or story etc?

Thank you

I actually came up with it myself about ten years ago and have been using it ever since. I just used the general naming convention for dieties to create it.
Kikai - machine
Megami - goddess

Sometimes I'll use Kikaikami if Kikaimegami is too long for something. Kikaikami just means "machine god" (could also be Kikaigami, but I liked having all the k's)

EDIT: I wouldn't mind having a guest spot in one of your stories if you're wanting to use the name for something

Fascinating!

I would be honoured to use your name in a story.

thank you, Kikaimegami!