Super Soaker Central

Inside was the armoury half of the building. Force examined the weapons, then he found what he was looking for. "Excellent!" he thought. He picked up some explosives, complete with fuses and a remote detonator. Then he left the building and went back to the others.

"OK," Force explained to them, his voice barely audible as it was so quiet, "We are going to blow up the command centre and the armoury. However, as we are not like the Tempests, we will give them a chance to get out first. Piranha and I will plant the explosives and Stingray will cover us. Sophie, you will need to get into the command centre. You will stay there until we signal, then you will light a fire, setting off the smoke alarm. During the panic that will ensue, you will get out. Then when everyone is clear, boom. Any questions...OK, let's go."

Sophie knew what she had to do. She wasted no time in getting herself in. Her entry point: an open window. Once inside, she had a look round. She was in a small storage room. Looking up at the ceiling, she saw that there was no smoke alarm. "Dang!" she thought.

She cautiously opened the door and peeked out. All clear. She crept down the corridor. At this time of night, this section was mostly deserted. However, she could hear a lot of activity coming from some rooms further along. Luckily, she spotted a perfect room on the left. She went in.

It was a small room with a couple of workstations with computers. Sophie had walked most of the way into the room when she noticed the techie sitting at one of them. He was looking at the computer on the far wall and hadn't seen her yet.

"If you're looking for that report, I haven't done it yet," he called out, annoyed. "What?" she mumbled, quickly hiding her gun behind her back.

He spun around on his chair. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else," he said. Then he saw her properly and was stunned by her beauty. "I, er, haven't seen you around before." "I'm new here," she said, making her voice sound young and innocent. She looked into his eyes. "Can you do a favour for me please?"

She walked towards him and crouched down next to him, drawing his gaze. "Of...of course," he managed to get out. She picked a piece of paper off his desk and wrote something on it, out of his view. Then she folded it up and gave it to him.

"Can you give this to the person in charge please?" she asked him, smiling the smile of hers that no one could refuse. "I'll be right back," he said. She stroked the side of his face with her hand. "Thanks."

When he had gone, she went over to the window, and pulling out a torch, she flashed it twice. There were three flashes from the shadows in response. That was her signal. She pulled out a lighter and set fire to the pile of paper on the techie's desk. She saw the smoke rise in slow motion up towards the detector. Then it reached it.

Throughout the building, the smoke alarm went off. There was panic everywhere. The Tempests all rushed to get out. The commander, with a message he had just received in hand, joined them. Meanwhile, Sophie slipped out into the corridor and then into the storage room again. She climbed out through the window and was off.

Forceuser saw Sophie exit the building and saw the Tempests were all out of the building. His thumb pressed the detonation button.

Boooooom!

The Tempests were thrown to the floor due to the force of the explosion. The Tempest commander got to his feet and looked at what had once been the command centre. Now there was only rubble. He looked at the message in his hand, then opened it and read it:

Take that, you ****ers

To assist Racer in eliminating all the Tempests on North Island, Monsoon and the Titan's crew decided to search the eastern side of the island for underwater caves, and storm them if found. The Titan had a small research sub with a missile onboard. Two of the crew would man the submarine and the rest would dive using scooters. The crew went about searching as soon as they arrived. Monsoon had the Titan anchored and they deployed.

The caves were not too hard to find. There was only one entrance, just barely big enough to fit the submarine through. The cave went in for fifteen minutes, and then there was a dead end. Above water, old stone steps lead up to a door.

They docked the submarine and stormed the door. Inside were a group of unequipped Tempests. "Hmmm....that seemed too easy," said Monsoon. "They must have an elite squad around here somewhere," said the first mate of the Titan.

Just then, the Tempest commandos popped in the opposite door and immediately opened fire. Monsoon and his crew dived back through the door. Monsoon pumped up his soaker and popped back out. He drenched one enemy and got another wet. "That's one down!" he said.

The crew were all pumped and ready. They ran into the room, water shooting everywhere. The enemy squad started to retreat. "Good job, but it's not over yet!" said one of the crew. A turret with similar design to the EES Turbine came down from the ceiling and opened fire on the crew. They got a stone from the cave and smashed the turret.

"This base is ours! Take these men back to base for trust testing!" ordered Monsoon. The men were dragged into the submarine and went off. Monsoon decided to stay and look around some more.

Back at the navy "wall", the ships started to go back to base. The war over water was yet to happen for some time at this point. The beach cannons were still fully operational for defence. Some ships still patrolled the area around the private piers.

The Tempests seemed to have lost interest in directly attacking the North Island. They were planning a full-force attack on Vertigo Island, which unfortunately was already underway. This time, they had nukes on their side...

Racer arrived at the shed and called for two extra tanks if the going got rough.

"Time to die you b******s!" exclaimed Racer. He jammed the throttle to maximum and ran over the shed with the Rebel II. "Take that Tempests, you dirty b****es!" laughed Racer.

He pointed the cannon down the small stairway, with the rapid-fire water balloon launchers aimed there also, a few people looked up the stairway to see what happened. "Yeah I knocked over your stupid shed, now anyone who tries to shoot me will be shot and/or killed!" laughed Racer over the tank's loudspeaker.

Shortly two other militia tanks arrived...

Running through town, Toaster headed for the docks. The Armadillo was there and so was Monkey, most likely. They could round up the rest within a few minutes. On his way down one of the side streets, he bumped into Eyleascial. She handed him the Red Baron and a pair of MD 3000s.

"I found your gun," she explained, "And I want you to mod these for me. I also want a shotgun."

"That can be arranged. Later. For now, just come with me. What did you do with the Katana?"

"I left it with Curtis. I don't really like it. Too bulky," Eyleascial said as they made their way to the docks.

"Oh. Well, I suppose Kyle might want it. He's been complaining about his gun for a while now." Toaster said.

Arriving at the docks, they found all of the Sabres and the militia 'recruits' waiting by the Armadillo. Bukan had the Katana rested on his shoulder, and Wontwood had already climbed up to the Broadsword's controls. Grinning at his crew's dedication, he called out to them, "The Tempests just nuked Vertigo Island! We need to help the militia however we can!"

Shouting in agreement, the crew climbed aboard the vehicle. Toaster hopped into the driver's seat and started the engine. He was surprised to see Eyleascial hop into the passenger seat.

"Hey, you need a navigator. And I don't have any decent guns at the moment, so the cab is logically the safest place to be, right?"

"Yeah." Toaster said as he handed her the Red Baron. "Just in case."

Forceuser and the rest of his squad had regrouped a safe distance from the ruins of the command centre. "Are we going to tell Spinner what happened now?" Piranha asked. "No. He'll find out soon enough when the Tempests are all running around like headless chickens!" Force laughed, "Plus it might give away our position. They are likely to be more careful now. We're going to lay low for the night in the forest. In the morning we can see what's been going on and then decide what to do. Come on, let's go."

It didn't take them long to get the forest. However, they had no form of shelter on them. Using their basic survival skills, they made a couple of small shelters - the idea of having two shelters was that if only one was discovered not everyone would be captured - to sleep in. They also gave them cover from any patrols that might come searching for them.

"OK, Piranha and Stingray, you share that shelter, Sophie and I will be in the other," Force explained to everyone, "Although I doubt the Tempests will be able to find us, we're going to have watches anyway. I'm going first, Piranha will follow me, then Sophie and lastly Stingray. We'll switch round every two hours. Well, good night everyone." Everyone apart from Force, who sat down in front of his shelter partially in cover, went into the shelters.

Force sat there wondering what the others were doing. He had good hopes now that they might win. While he was thinking, he heard rustling from behind him, in the shelter. Sophie came out, gear left in the shelter, and sat down next to him.

She rested her head on his shoulder. "I thought you were meant to be sleeping," he whispered softly. He moved his head to look down at her. "Oh well," she replied, and looked up into his eyes, "Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?" "Yes, several times, but that won't get you out of this," he joked. He moved his head closer and kissed her softly. "You better get some sleep, it will probably be a long day tomorrow." "OK," she replied, pretending to be slightly dejected. She laid her head flat on his shoulder and shut her eyes.

Force relaxed and tried to work out how he came to be so lucky. Then he remembered that it was from a situation not so dissimilar to this...

Monsoon only was able to uncover a secret room that was intended for use by the Tempests for a weapons cache. Monsoon and the Titan returned to 12 for a long rest after the recent events.

In the morning, Monsoon woke up and saw that his entire crew were already aboard the Titan once again. "Come on sir, we're going to take the ship to 8 for a good breakfast!" Monsoon smiled and boarded his ship.

The cruise there was peaceful, and it was a warm sunny day. As they docked the Titan, they could smell the aroma of fresh baked bread fill the air. They bought breakfast at the fanciest place in the town.

"Why are you guys being so generous?" questioned Monsoon. "Well, after all we've been through back there, me and the rest of the crew thought it would be good to have a break," replied the first mate. They enjoyed their pancakes and Belgian waffles smothered in fruit, maple syrup and jam. Afterwards, they decided to take the entire day off.

"By the way sir, the militia got the radios back up and running," said one of the crew, "They worked on it all night and got it to work. By the way, I forget to say that the Tempest HQ command centre back on South Island has been crippled, thanks to Forceuser and his friends.". Monsoon thought to himself, "Hah, that lunatic! I bet he nearly got caught!"

The day in the town was average. The crew found an empty building and bought a pack of cards. They played euker until noon, and then decided to hitch a ride to 10. They found a taxi and drove off. On the way there, they passed the airstrip. The militia were doing their usual maintenance and check ups. When they got to 10, they spent most of the day exploring 9 and 10, two towns that were usually ignored by the militia.

When they got back to the compound at 12, it was 4:00 pm. "Wow, we went a whole day without any trouble from the Tempests!" said the first mate. "I know. Maybe they're busy with matters elsewhere...oh my god! They attacked Vertigo Island! I wonder if Dux made it out alive!" said Monsoon. They gathered up their stuff and took the Titan on a voyage to Vertigo Island.

The mainland now appeared in front of Duxburian and co. A huge mountain chain extending as far as they could see in both directions rose up like a wall. They were so tall that the planes wouldn't even make it over. Duxburian announced that the group would have to land at the narrow strip of land at the base of the mountains and climb them to get to the other side. There was no way to get through via the air or water.

The planes landed and the group got out. There were about 30 people, each with weapons and other supplies that they had brought from Vertigo City. The group spent several days at the foot of the mountains, making climbing ropes and other things needed to scale the range.

Duxburian sent out scouts and luckily they found a pass which would not be too difficult to get through. They hiked up through the winding natural paths and stopped frequently to survey the best routes up. They eventually came up to the pass, where a bit of climbing would be necessary.

Quite a few days were spent hauling up materials and waiting for everyone to make it up the steep rocks. Finally, the group arrived at the end of the pass. Above and behind them was the wall of mountains. Below them they could see a large valley that was heavily forested and hilly. It was evening and they could see the lights of a moderate sized town glistening off to the left a bit.

Duxburian gathered the leaders of the group to discuss plans. It was decided that they would enter the town to gather supplies and then build a base near it on one of the larger hills. With that, the weary group sent up camp.

Forceuser awoke to the sound of birds and the smell of fresh morning air. He opened his eyes to see Sophie crouching over him. "Time to wake up," she said, smiling.

Force heaved himself up and staggered out into the sunlight. Everyone else was already up and getting ready to go. Force looked down at his watch and saw that it was twenty past seven - twenty minutes later than he was supposed to get up.

He looked back at Sophie, "Why didn't you wake me earlier?" "You looked so peaceful lying there. I thought maybe for once you could relax." Force sighed, "Things have been rather busy recently, with all the fighting. Hopefully soon it will all be over. Well anyway, we need to decide what to do now."

30 minutes later, they were outside a small Tempest outpost. The outpost was not guarded from the outside but had large, strong double doors on the front. They were the only entrance, apart from the windows.

Force needed to know how the Tempests were doing now and the best way to do that was to ask. So that was exactly what they were going to do. Force took off Piranha the small water balloon launcher he had brought with him and attached it onto the side of his gun. He then gave Piranha a small timed detonator he had taken from the Tempest armoury before they blew it up.

Force signalled to his squad to take up their positions to enter the building. Stingray was on one side of the door and Sophie, the other. Force stood back from the door, water balloon launcher ready, and aimed at it. Piranha was attaching the detonator to the doors.

Piranha set the three second fuse and ran out of the way. Force waited, his hand on the water balloon launcher's ball valve handle. BOOM! The detonator blew a three foot hole in the centre of the doors. Force fired the water balloon launcher through the hole. At the same time, Sophie and Stingray kicked open the doors and stepped round the corners. Force switched to his XX 50 and covered them as they entered. Piranha was watching everyone's backs.

Force ran into the building and shot at the few people remaining standing. They had taken everyone inside by surprise. Force walked up to what looked like the commander. He pulled him to his feet. "Are you in charge?" he demanded. "Y-y-yes," the stunned Tempest replied. "Good," Force said, an evil glint in his eye.

After ten minutes, they knew everything they needed. The commander had no contact with any of the other bases and he had heard rumours that some of the Tempests were taking advantage of it and splitting into small groups and fighting between each other. "Excellent!" thought Force, "The Tempests are descending into anarchy. Now, we're going to take back this island."

Force and his squad headed back to Bill's house. They had a rebellion to start...

Toaster and the Sabres were all very concerned. A strike big enough to wipe out Vertigo City, as he had been told it had been, would definitely generate civilian casualties. Eyleascial sat in the cab of the Armadillo, using the equipment that Toaster had installed to navigate. The commander of the Sabres had reclaimed his weapon and was now directing the Estoc towards the shattered City.

As usual, Bukan manned the Epee whilst Wontwood took the Broadsword. Monkey was keeping a close eye on the Estoc's engines, making sure that there were no surprises. The militiamen were dutifully manning the Geminis, ready to use them if need be.

Toaster was beginning to feel a camaraderie with the militiamen. Ever since he'd picked them up in a hasty recruitment, they'd stuck with him. He even was considering offering them the opportunity to join the Sabres.

His train of thought was interrupted by a call from Eyleascial, "Yo! Turn a bit left! We're drifting!" Toaster swung the boat slowly portward. "Good! Leave it there! We should only be about 45 minutes away!"

Toaster looked out to the horizon. Sure enough, he saw coastline rise from the sea.

"Um, sir," one of the militiamen called out, "Possible hostile off starboard."

Looking in the indicated direction, Toaster saw a massive hulk plowing through the water. Despite Eyleascial's protests, he swung the Estoc into a pursuit course. He hoped that the ship was only a 'possible' hostile.

When the Titan arrived at Vertigo Island, the main city was near empty. Dux had made contact with HQ and stated that the Tempests made a strong but short attack on the island. They had used an unknown type of "nuke" to destroy the coastal towns and cities. This was occurring right when their HQ was crippled by Force and his squad, therefore forcing them to withdraw. The group decided to return to North Island.

Almost approaching the private piers, the Titan's crew got an urgent call over the radio. "We are going to strike the South Island in three hours! All units, prepare for an attack against the Tempests on South Island!" said the man. Monsoon ordered his crew to change course towards South Island. All the equipment that his crew needed was already onboard.

On the way there, multiple militia planes and Narsil attack boats passed. The militia HQ received a call from Force saying that the Tempests were a wreck, splitting into smaller groups and fighting amongst each other. "This is our big chance you guys, so don't screw up!" said Monsoon.

The weather forecast called for clear sunny days for the next week. They picked up another call on radio, "Come in Monsoon, come in, this is Spinner!" "I read you loud and clear, what's the deal?" responded Monsoon. "All boats are to land at the small fishing port at 5, are you clear? You must dock at 5," said Spinner. "Okay, got it," said Monsoon. The radio clicked off and the Titan once again changed course.

Coming up alongside the ship, Toaster noticed that it was scarred and dented. It also appeared to be deserted. Spying a ladder on the side, he pulled the Estoc up and shut off the engine. Tying a rope through a handle in the side of the warship, he secured the Estoc and ordered Bukan and Monkey to accompany him.

Slinging the Red Baron over his shoulder, Toaster began climbing the ladder, with Bukan and Monkey close behind. Looking back, he saw Eyleascial take the controls of the Epee.

After scouting the rest of the ship, they reached the bridge of the boat. The warship really was abandoned. A cup of coffee rested in a holder beside the helm. Picking it up, he found that the coffee was cold.

"So, whoever ran this ship, they've been gone at least a day," Kyle said, looking around.

"Yeah, and there's really no reason that they should have," Monkey observed.

"Whatever. I suspect that they got caught in a storm or something. They probably overreacted and abandoned ship," Toaster said.

"Pip, these guys wouldn't 'overreact'. Tempests are very strict in their chain of command," Bukan observed.

"Not...if their CO was gone..." Toaster trailed off as he looked around. Seeing a closet that was half open, he walked over and opened the door.

A dead body with Tempest Captain insignia was wedged in between the contents. The body was in good condition, suggesting recent death. He also showed signs of being drowned, and rips in his clothes made it appear as though he'd been roped up.

Looking at the horrified members of his crew, he muttered, "Keelhauled. He drowned, but it wasn't an accident."

"Let's get off this ghost ship!" Monkey urged. Bukan seconded the sentiment.

"Not just yet. We need to find a beacon of some kind. The militia will be glad to have a Tempest warship to study," Toaster observed.

Going about the task of finding a radio beacon, the other two tried to ignore as Toaster hauled the unfortunate captain to the side of the boat and threw him over. The body sank slowly into the surf as Toaster silently paid homage to the man who would have been his enemy.

Force put the phone down from calling the militia HQ and looked at Bill. "We have to act quick, the militia will be here in three hours," Force explained. "No problem. Everything is set up. We have small armed groups everywhere. When they attack the Tempests, everyone else will join in however, and with whatever, they can. They are just waiting for the signal," Bill told Force. "What's the signal?" Force enquired. "One mighty explosion from up high," Bill said smirking, pointing up at the mountain. "And how are we going to get there in time?" Force asked. "No problem, follow me."

Bill led them to the outskirts of 2. He walked up to a small garage. From the looks of it, it had been around for some time. Bill pulled out a key. He unlocked and opened the door. Force looked inside and smiled, "Excellent!"

Five minutes later, Force and his squad were riding down the path that led to the mountain pass. On ATVs. The path was treacherous, full of holes and bumps, but Force kept his ATV on course.

It took them half an hour to get through the path as it was so windy and dangerous. Then, they had the mountain pass. The forest path looked like a relaxing ride compared to the mountain pass. It had hairpin corners, steep drops and the ground varied between jagged rocks, slippery moss and potholes.

After a further half hour, they made it to just outside the mountain station. The exact same one Ed and co had just left, but they didn't know that. Leaving the ATVs out of sight, they readied themselves to go in.

Racer had got up the next day and drove back to the militia base at 12. He needed a flight back to 6 on the South Island, so he talked to one of the militia air force guys (dunno who yet) and made a deal for a ride in a Mosquito back to the airport on the South Island, he would be there in an hour. He packed up his CPS 1500 and XP 75 and took off.

Racer contacted Forceuser by radio about a favour, "Hello? Yeah this is Racer. Listen, once you are done with whatever you are doing, I need you to bring the Rebel I down to the airport for me. You have one hour to get it there. The tank is parked at the small militia compound in 6. Thank you."

The Tempests were fighting amongst each other on sea as well. Two Tempest attack ships were shooting at each other. Monsoon aimed the obliterator at the winning ship and sunk it. The other ship made a quick retreat and Monsoon decided to let it go.

They were two hours from docking at 5. The northern end of the island was in view, and small groups of former Tempests were again fighting each other. "Wow, this has to be easy!" exclaimed Monsoon. The obliterator was ready, aimed at the land. Monsoon let off a pot shot at a Tempest defence turret and smoked it.

The cruise was exciting, as some Tempest ships attempted to engage the Titan, and usually failing to make so much as a scratch on the hull. "The Tempests were only strong in bulk remember, one or two ships won't pose any threat to us aboard the Titan," assured Monsoon.

Just then, the radio commlink opened, "Hello? Titan crew? We have direct orders from Spinner to not attack until we are all regrouped at 5!" The radio clicked and turned off. "So we are striking at full force? Good thinking Spinner!" said Monsoon.

"Force, I think I heard something," Bill said. They strained their ears.

Two engine notes, one high-pitched, with irregular hisses, the other one was -

"It's Ed's car, sounds like there's someone else with him..."

Ed glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw it.

"Someone's following us," he said, and downshifted. The needle jumped to 5500 RPM. "Not again," Rick mumbled.

Ed cleared corner after corner with near-perfection, but there were too many straights on this section of the pass. The persuer closed up the gap and he saw the badge.

"Skyline...GT-R?"

"What car's that?" Nat asked.

"Inline-6 turbo engine, 4-wheel-drive. Even at stock, its maximum power's 280 hp!" Ed exclaimed. As if it heard him, its blow-off valve hissed.

The black car was already starting to tailgate Ed, then it got beside -

WHAM!

The GT-R's driver had slammed into the 86, pushing Ed off the narrow road. He managed to stay on the tarmac, but the GT-R had pulled ahead of him, its taillights glowing eerily in the darkness, sparks flying out of the exhaust.

"It's a BNR34..."

Then the taillights flashed bright red.

Tires screaming in protest, Ed managed to pass the GT-R without crashing into its rear bumper. "Close one," Rick managed to say.

The GT-R's door windows opened and two water balloon launchers popped out. Balloons pelted the 86, on the rear window, quarterpanels, the tires. Ed was starting to lose control.

"Guys, I can't keep driving like this! I'm going to open up the rear door, try and take him out, but hang on!" Ed yelled to Nat and Rick as he struggled for grip.

"LOSER!" Rick yelled as he fired at the tires. Nat had dislodged one of the water balloon launchers and was now trying to do the same for the other.

In the driver's seat, Ed's mind was working furiously. "For all it's merits, there is still one flaw in the GT-R."

A right hairpin was approaching. Ed turned left a little, downshifting to fourth.

"That flaw is..."

Downshift to third, turn right all the way, control drift...

"...its weight!"

Sure enough, the GT-R had to slow down more than the 86 due to inertia. Ed was starting to gain an obvious lead, they were in the most complicated section. By now the persuer was losing his temper. Through the last corner of the section they were in, he even scraped his car on the guard-rail.

They were now on a long straightaway. The GT-R was headed directly towards Ed's 86 like a missile. Ed suddenly realised how near Nat and Rick were to falling out.

He closed his eyes, slamming the brakes, waiting for the impact...

Tires were screaming themselves off, a smash of metal against wood, glass breaking...

"BYE, LOSER! WRITE US HOW MUCH THAT HURT! HA HA HA!" Rick was yelling.

Ed opened his eyes. His 86 had stopped, and Rick had jumped out yelling at the heap of mangled metal that was the GT-R. Ed got out.

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