Super Soaker Central

Forceuser handed his gun to Sophie and crawled through the hole. The tunnel was about seven foot long before it went into a small cavern. "OK, I'm through. Piranha come next and push a couple of guns through with you."

After a short period everyone was through, along with their guns. Forceuser turned to his squad. "There's no going back now." By the looks on their faces he knew they were with him. They headed off down the tunnel.

Spinner edged round the building cautiously. He still didn't know whether it was occupied with hostiles or allies, so he kept his 1700 always at the ready.

In front of him was a short staircase leading down to a small door on the left, below ground level, leading presumably to a basement in the warehouse. After a quick look round, he descended, tried the door, and found to his surprise that it was unlocked. He quietly opened it a crack, and slipped into the darkness...

Duxburian was sitting on the warehouse roof reflecting on the past events. Why did the Tempests keep targeting 6? He began to think about what was there that they might want, "Hmm...water balloon launchers, 21Ks, our tech secrets, the contents of our other property? No...that's at the capital. There's a tunnel under the warehouse that leads somewhere, they might be trying to get there...but nobody has figured out where it goes, it's too long." Duxburian then thought, "Nah, they can't even get in there; it's locked, they would need this key!" He studied the tunnel door key and then placed it back in his pocket. "Maybe there's just something that I don't know about this town."

Suddenly he heard a faint sound of a door opening at the side of the warehouse. Duxburian went down to the main floor and decided to go down and find out who, or what, had entered. He motioned for Crashdummy to come with him and they both grabbed a gun. Then Duxburian opened the basement door and they started down the stairs...

Forceuser and his squad (including Racer) continued along the tunnel. Force came to a junction where the tunnel met another one. He signalled for everyone to stop. Cautiously he looked round the corner to the right. That was the way to the main caves.

Standing at the end of it was a Tempest guard. "Dang!" Force thought. He stepped back and gestured for his squad to come in closer. "They have the way to the main caves guarded," he whispered, "We'll have to go the other way. As far as I know, no one has ever explored that way. I just hope we won't get lost."

Silently they crept round the corner to the left. After ten foot the tunnel curved right, towards the heart of the mountain and away from the main caves. They carried on along it for ages, with no turnings.

Forceuser was getting increasingly worried. Then, as he rounded the next corner, he saw something that made him stop in his tracks. "I don't believe it..." he whispered.

There in front of him was a massive cave, easily 100 foot in diameter. However it was what was in it that shocked Forceuser. It was the Tempest base. The walls were lined with weapons, the floor with sleeping bags and tables, there were even lights on the ceiling. "Now, we know why we didn't know the Tempests were here."

The cave was empty of Tempests, but there was a tunnel leading out from the other side from which voices could be faintly heard. "Wow!" Racer exclaimed. He moved through the room and spotted a small side room. He walked into it. In it a portaloo had been set up. "They even have a toilet!" he called out from it.

Unbeknownst to everyone a large group of Tempests were heading up the tunnel they had come from. They turned the corner and saw Forceuser and his squad standing in the room.

"Don't move!" Force wheeled round raising his gun. Seeing the number of Tempests, and being in the middle of their base, he lowered his weapon. "Hands up." They put down their weapons and raised their hands. "Alright, move." The Tempests herded them down the tunnel on the far side of the cave. "Let's see how you like being locked up!" One of the Tempests joked.

Racer, who was still in the side room, heard everything. "Oh no!" he thought. "They've been captured." His mind started racing. He knew he was meant to get what they had found out back to the militia, but he couldn't just abandon Force and his squad. "The Tempests are going to pay for this!" he muttered. He grabbed his 1500 and 75 and headed after them.

Spinner peered into the darkness. Everything was quiet. He moved carefully over to the other side of the room, just at the side of the stairway, where he envisaged the light switch would be. He wasn't disappointed. Suddenly, before he switched on, he heard the upper door edge open.

Two figures crept through and made their way down the stairs. He flattened himself against the wall as they came down. He raised his gun to his shoulder as they reached the bottom of the stairs, but they did not turn on the light. They started to cross the room. Spinner saw his chance. Flicking on the light, he ordered: "Up with them!"

The two figures stood blinking in the light. Spinner asked one word: "Tempest?"

Racer ran as quietly as he could; the Tempests had already captured Forceuser. They went around a corner and he snuck up behind the troops and pulled the last troop that was walking. Racer stuck his 1500 to the troop's chest "Where are they taking them?" he demanded. "Down the hall, to the shower room," the Tempest responded. "Shower room?" thought Racer.

Racer's 75 was not loaded, so he unloaded the troop's 2100 ammo into his 75, and laid the 2100 down. He ran down the hall as fast as he could, then stopped, there was a hidden tunnel that said "SHOWER ROOM THIS WAY" on the wall, so he went down that tunnel.

At the end was a huge shower room! "This must be where they are keeping them!" thought Racer, then he heard Sid, the leader, say, "In three minutes we are going to give you a cold shower! Be ready."

Then the troops walked away and he saw Forceuser tied down to the floor along with the rest of the team. Racer looked at his watch and, once they left and closed the room's door, went in.

When the Tempests had left the room, Forceuser pulled his hand out of the piece of rope. His team would never get away with such bad knotting as that!

He rolled onto his side and set about untying his other hand, managing to loosen it. Then, he heard the door start to open. He rolled onto his back again and made it look like he was still tied. Whoever opened the door was going to have a nasty surprise...

Racer walked into the room. As he got nearer to Forceuser, Force suddenly grabbed his legs and threw him onto the floor. "Hey!" Racer exclaimed. "Racer? What are you doing here?" "I came to rescue you, but it looks like you could have done that yourself!" he joked.

Quickly, they set about freeing the others. Force picked up his gun, which the Tempests had foolishly left in the shower room. "OK, let's move out of here," he said.

Racer walked over to the door, which he had shut behind him, and tried to open it. It was locked! "Dang! The door's locked!" he exclaimed. "Let me," Force replied. He moved up to the door and kicked it. The wood was weaker than he had expected and his foot split the door in half. "Well, I didn't like the colour anyway!"

Force picked up one of the bits of door to move it out of the way. Then, he noticed the Tempests heading back. There were three of them. "B****r!" He charged at them, using the door as a shield. They shot at him, but the shield did its job. Then they realised that Force wasn't stopping. He dropped his shoulder behind the wood and rammed them all backwards.

Meanwhile, the rest of his squad made a quick exit. Two of the Tempests had fallen to the floor and one was left upright. Not for long however. Force smashed him over the head with the door, threw it at the two on the floor and legged it.

After Forceuser knocked out the three Tempests, Racer, still interested in the base, had found a water balloon launcher hanging on the wall, charged and loaded. He walked around and found the captain's room, it said "Tim" on the door. He signalled Forceuser to come with him, the gauge on the water balloon launcher said 72 PSI, almost fully pumped.

"Get ready to charge," Racer told Force. Racer charged at the door and noticed there was someone in there, so, knowing the doors were weak, Racer shot open the door with the water balloon launcher, blowing it up. He dropped the water balloon launcher and they charged in.

Inside, they found and pinned down Tim wanting info. However, Tim broke free and ran over to an alarm and pressed it, this could not be good for them.

Forceuser grabbed Tim and threw him to the floor. He put his foot on his chest and pointed his 4100 at his face. "Racer, reload that water balloon launcher."

Force looked at Tim, "Alright, I want to know what is going on here." "I d-d-don-n't kn-n-now." "Don't play dumb with me. I know who you are." "I don't know what you're talking about." "Don't make things harder than they need to be. If you're not going to tell me what I want to know freely, then I'll have to force it out of you."

Force looked back at Racer. "Is that water balloon launcher ready?" "Yeah." Racer handed Force the water balloon launcher. He pointed it at point-blank range at Tim's face. "Are you going to tell me now." "OK, OK! Don't shoot!" Terror was showing on his face now.

He explained, "Well, it all started three months ago. The supreme commander found out that there was a secret store of pressure boosters hidden on this island. We were sent to find and take them. Eventually we tracked them down to being in a secret tunnel under 6. However we can't find the entrance from this side, we think that it has been covered up, and we don't know where it comes out on the other end. We have been attacking 6 so we can explore it and find the other entrance to the tunnel. There, that's all I know."

"Well thank you. Now take a nap." Force hit him over the head with the end of the water balloon launcher. "Right, now we'd better get out of here." Force gathered his squad and they set off again.

They left the room, and started walking to the exit, but then about ten Tempests came rushing down the hall, two with water balloon launchers, all others with CPS 2100s or CPS 1200s.

Racer told Forceuser to keep going, so Racer turned around and took out a water balloon launcher person with the still-loaded water balloon launcher that they hit Tim with. But, still having nine Tempests on your back isn't a good thing, so he threw the water balloon launcher behind him and ran. They got out of the tunnel just in time, then Sid called the Tempests off.

They walked back to the militia in 6, Forceuser was trying to radio in Dux, but there was no answer. They eventually got back to the militia’s base.

At the bottom of the stairs, Duxburian replied to the mystery figure, "Militia, not Tempest. And who are you?" Spinner said, with a sigh of relief, "I'm Spinner. I've come from 7 to seek allies to fight against the Tempests." "Well this is Crashdummy, everyone else is outside." The three of them then climbed the stairs and left the warehouse. Right then Forceuser had just returned with the group that had gone to find the Tempest Base. "Forceuser," Duxburian called out, "I want you to meet Spinner, he's our newest ally."

As the group of people arose from the warehouse and started walking, two Tempests popped out of nowhere with CPS 2100s and shot at the people that came from the stairs. Dux shot one of them right in the face and the other one quickly took off running as fast as he could. "He's a spy!" Crashdummy yelled.

The spy took off running towards 7. The spy was out of range but Racer still had the water balloon launcher. With careful precision Racer shot the water balloon launcher, hitting the Tempest. "Good shot, now the Tempests that are somewhere else on the island won't know about their defeat at the underground section of 6 at the warehouse," Crashdummy said. But one thing bothered Crashdummy, why the Tempest spy was headed toward 7.

Forceuser explained to everyone what was going on with the Tempests. He told them about the secret pressure boosters hidden in the tunnel. "Wait a minute," Nibor said, "There is a long tunnel that leads out from under the warehouse. But I've been down it for ages and there is no sign of any pressure boosters." "Maybe they're hidden in a side cave with a blocked off entrance? Whatever it is, we've got to go and have a look." They set off down for the entrance to the tunnel.

Meanwhile, in the tunnels, one of the Tempests had just alerted Sid. "Sir, I think I've found the secret entrance to the tunnel." In front of him was what looked like another section of wall, but the Tempest had made a small hole in it and it was hollow behind! "Get some pickaxes, we're going through!" Sid ordered.

At the main town:

The duo had just walked out of their hotel.

"Keep alert. We may be attacked anytime," Ed said.

"You sound like Mad-Eye Moody. Chill a bit, will ya?"

"I think it's just better to be on the safe side."

Nat rolled her eyes. "If I didn't know better, next moment you'd be screaming 'Constant vigilance!' at me."

"OK, OK, emphasis on 'may'-wait." Ed had stopped suddenly.

"What?" Silence.

Then a guy wearing the blue Tempest armband jumped from the rooftop.

A flash of recognition ran through Ed's eyes, then anger and impatience. "Rick? What the hell are you doing here?"

"It doesn’t matter what I'm doing here. All I know is that you made my bro kick me outta my team!" he snarled at Ed.

"So," summarised Spinner, "We have two immediate objectives. One is to find the pressure boosters before the Tempests do, and the other is to discover what the Tempest was rushing off to 7 for. Force and Nibor have started on the first mission, so it now is up to us to decide what to do."

"I must say that dividing our force is risky and not something that I would very much recommend, especially when our numbers are so few to begin with. However, I see no other option - we must find out what is happening over in the direction of 7. The question is, who goes and who stays? We can't all go, since Force and Nibor will need someone here to explain to them and/or help them defend against the Tempests, in case the come out of here in a hurry."

"Let's take a count of our entire personnel."

Spinner

Duxburian

Force (out on a mission)

Nibor (out on a mission)

Racer

Crashdummy

Piranha

Stingray

Sophie

9 militia members

"What do you propose, Dux?"

"I reckon that we should send three people in the jeep to investigate 7. The rest stay behind. This three should probably be yourself, since it's your jeep, after all, myself, and Stingray. The rest'll stay behind for Force and Nibor," replied Dux.

"OK," agreed Spinner. Then he looked out of the office window. "Oh great," he remarked, "Another Tempest attack."

On the way to the tunnel, Forceuser picked up his backpack and 2000. Nibor unlocked the door to the tunnel and pulled it open. On the other side was black. Force produced a flashlight and they headed down the tunnel, shutting the door behind them. As they walked down the tunnel they hit the walls on either side, checking to see if they were hollow. "This could take a while," Force said. They headed off into the darkness.

"Looks like about 30 Tempests attacking, sir," reported one of the militia to Spinner and Duxburian, "We've got all doors barricaded, but they're trying to scale the side of the building with ladders. Sophie and most of the militia are at the windows, firing down at the Tempests, but they've got shields above their heads."

"What weapons do they have?" inquired Duxburian.

"Looks like the standard Tempest weapon, CPS 2100s. Although there are two or three snipers with Doüchenator water balloon launchers behind them."

"OK," said Spinner, "Here's my plan. Racer, you're in charge until we get back. I suggest you man the Behemoth and eliminate those snipers as quickly as you can, but that's up to you. We're going to slip out the way we came and make a break for the jeep. If we get there safely, we'll mount a short counter-attack in the jeep to hopefully draw off some of the Tempests into following us - we should then be able to beat them with the jeep's weapons."

"Aye, aye sir," replied Racer, "Sounds good to me."

Force and Nibor had been down in the underground passage for over half and hour when Force knocked on the wall and heard a space behind it. Nibor picked up his water balloon launcher and put a rock in the chamber. He then shot it at the wall creating a huge hole in it. They both waited for dust to settle and looked in. Their eyes lit up.

Behind the wall was a huge cave. Full of weapons. "There's enough here for the whole f***ing island!" Forceuser exclaimed.

Neatly stashed in cabinets and boxes were guns of all kinds. 2000s, 3000s, Monsters, 150s, you name it, it was there. What particularly took Force's attention were a couple of crates at the end. He walked over to them. They were covered in dust but he could dimly make out some writing on them. Blowing the dust off them, the writing became clearer. "Pressure Boosters" it read.

"I think I've found what we're looking for," Force called over to Nibor. He walked over. "Let's get them back to the warehouse. Then we can get the militia and come back to collect all of these weapons," Nibor said. They picked up the crates and headed back off down the tunnel.

Meanwhile, the Tempests had just enlarged the hole big enough to fit through. Sid turned to the four man scouting party. "Alright men, you know what you have to do." They headed through the hole.

Duxburian laughed when he heard that the Tempests only had CPS 2100s. "Are we really afraid of mere 2100s with only regular water in them? Ditch those guns and pick up these 21000s. They are specifically modified for extremely high sting factor. Also, use the substance contained in the barrels next to the railing when you refill. That's not plain water. It's a chemical that will knock out whoever it makes contact with. They will remain out for several hours, until the effect wears off. The sting factor will drive the Tempests off their ladders and the chemical will send them all off to sleep."

Then Duxburian turned to Spinner. "If NiborDude and Forceuser find what they are looking for, I think we should all leave here and head for the militia compound at the capital at 2. The Tempests won't realise that what they want is no longer here, and we will have a much better position. The tunnel branches in several places, but one of them leads directly to 2. It's also very secure with 2 ways in, both of which are locked and only the militia has keys. It also wouldn't be much of a loss if we abandon the warehouse; the special chemical will run out soon, and most of the barrels and boxes here are empty. Plus most of the militia's special tech is at the capital. What do you think?"

"Sounds a good idea to me," agreed Spinner, "However, don't forget we also need to find out what's going on at 7. So I'd suggest that when Force and Nibor reappear we then split up, the jeep and its crew as detailed earlier going to investigate 7, while the other proceed to 2 to make the fortifications there ready."

The rest of Force's squad wondered what to do with the Behemoth as it would be too big and heavy to take through the tunnels to 2. Dux provided the answer, there was a small lockable storage room in the warehouse that, however hard they tried, the Tempests would not be able to get into. They moved the Behemoth there for safekeeping.

Forceuser and Nibor returned and told everyone what had happened. Crashdummy had an idea, they could use Spinner's jeep to transport the stuff over to 2. Dux and the rest approved and they started loading up the jeep. Racer managed to pick out one of the pressure boosters from the crate.

Spinner, Dux and Stingray headed off in the jeep to 2 to drop the crates of pressure boosters off and then go and check out 7. Meanwhile everyone at the warehouse picked up the 21Ks loaded with the special chemical and set about dealing with the Tempests. It didn't take long. They were dropping like flies with the lethal combination.

With the Tempests dealt with, Nibor gathered all the remaining men in the warehouse. "All right, we're heading out." Nibor locked the warehouse shut and everyone headed into the tunnel. As he shut the tunnel door behind him and locked into, everyone was plunged into darkness. They switched on their flashlights and headed off. Force thought over the plan in his head. The place where the tunnel split off to go to 2 was a short distance after the cave. They would pick up all the weapons and head for 2. Simple. But Force had a nagging doubt that something would go wrong. They carried on along the tunnel.

New chapter

Meanwhile, a lone boat docked at 4. It’s single occupant unloaded his over sized carrying bag with wheels and trudged his way to 2. He quickly headed straight for the closest food store. As he walked out with a chocolate bar, the cashier asked, "Who are you? I've never seen you around before." "My name's Monsoon," he replied. He walked out and started looking around 2.

Spinner and Dux drove along the high street through 2. Suddenly, someone munching a chocolate bar stepped out in front of them while looking the other way. "BEEP!" went the horn as Spinner jerked the wheel to the right. The figure realised his danger and stepped back, just in time, and watched in horror as the jeep went hurtling to the other side of the street. Smash went a stationary car's mirror and window as Spinner fought desperately to regain control of the wheel. Somehow, after the collision, the jeep righted itself. The car didn't look in too good a condition though.

Dux jumped down and inspected the damage. Then he laughed. Pointing to a familiar insignia on the door, he nudged Spinner. "You certainly chose the right car for that. Looks like a Tempest vehicle." Spinner's features broke into a grin, and then he looked at the paint on the jeep and frowned. "Oh well. It's only cosmetic."

Then the figure who had caused the accident came running up.

"I don't remember ordering any of this. I don't even remember you being in the Tempest Squadron, and considering it's MY elite unit I imagine I would know! Where did you find 50 odd people to fight? Where did they train? Why the hell are we dug INSIDE a mountain?" Belisaurius had many questions. He was also rather grumpy. Who were these people, and what were they doing on this small island? Why wouldn't this man answer his questions? Where did they get the money and resources for a significant underground fortress?

It was all very puzzling. The envoy was obviously not afraid of evoking his wrath over all the lost sleep, but when it came to answering his questions he could not see how the Tempest Squadron could have mobilised the intelligent portion of the troops. The small skiff pulled into the docks at 4, and Belisaurius climbed onto the shoreline.

Back at 2, the cause of the accident approached Spinner and Dux. "Sorry for that, I didn't see you coming," he said. "It's nothing," said Spinner, "We hit a pile of junk anyway." "By the way, I'm Monsoon." Dux looked up for a second and said, "I think I remember you being here before...some five years ago when there weren't any wars going on." "There's a war going on here? I guess my timing is perfect," said Monsoon.

"Yeah, there's a huge war going on here between an elite few and a mass army. It's gotten pretty bad," said Spinner. "Monsoon, what's in the travel bag?" asked Dux. "Five soakers and some other stuff," said Monsoon. "Perfect, you need to come with us right now. We're going to fill you in on the latest, and then you can maybe help us against the Tempests!" exclaimed Dux. All three hopped in the jeep and started off.

Toaster smirked as he sat in the passenger seat of the Armadillo. Bukan sat at the controls of the rolling behemoth as they waited for the ferry to dock. "3, what a strange name for a town," he thought, "But that's beside the point. We're here for the supposed war."

He clutched his modified Blazer, the Red Baron, close in his lap. A thud signalled the ferry's arrival. "Get ready for us," the commander of the Sabres mercenary squad warned whoever got in his way.

A few hours of bushwalking left Belisaurius just south of the cave system, and he sat down to write a letter to the opposing force. It went something like:

Dear Sir,

I would like to propose a few guidelines, notably:

- Physical injury to another is grounds for expulsion

- As both teams will need supplies, I suggest that 4 be made neutral territory

- Physical destruction of property, whether forts or water guns, is grounds for expulsion

Please notify me of the acceptability of these guidelines.

-Belisaurius

He rose and proceeded to the entrance of the cave system, thoroughly ravaged by opposing raiding parties. He grabbed one of the passing soldiers, saying, "Get this letter to the opposing troops and do not return without a reply." At that he gave the orders for a general withdrawal into the stronghold, to regroup and reorganise.

Filling his XP270, he pumped it to maximum pressure and progressed deeper into the complex in search of Tim, the reputed commander.

Spinner, Duxburian and Monsoon had arrived at the militia compound. Duxburian gave Spinner instructions on which ways to take as the driveway branched randomly.

Duxburian explained that this was to confuse enemies. All the wrong routes met and connected with other wrong routes and some led into a circle and then branched into more wrong ones. The militia compound was in a wooded area, so the branching driveways were very effective at creating confusion.

Finally, the jeep reached the gate of the compound. Duxburian unlocked the gate and they were in. The compound consisted of a high outer wall with a ditch behind it and another wall behind that. Doüchenator-style water balloon launchers were mounted at certain intervals on the top of each wall. At the centre of the compound was a warehouse, similar to the one at 6. There were about 7 other buildings arranged around the warehouse.

Spinner parked the jeep and the three of them got out. There was a large rock in the courtyard next to the warehouse. Duxburian explained that it was fake and that pushing the front half away revealed the entrance to the tunnel from 2 to 6.

Monsoon then suggested that they unload the pressure boosters and also have their guns ready in case there was trouble down in the tunnel. Duxburian and Spinner agreed.

Spinner noticed a large garage nearby. He then asked Duxburian what was in it. Duxburian replied, "Remember in a war a long time ago in a different place one team had a tank that shot water balloons..."

"I have no time for waiting around!" exclaimed Racer, so he hopped on his motor scooter and sped off to 2.

Meanwhile at 2's militia compound, they were about to walk away from the jeep when they heard a scooter...it was Racer. "Hey! Let me in!" "Eh, why are you here Racer?" asked Dux. "I got tired of waiting around, so I figured I would come see what happened." "OK, OK, I'll let you in."

The militia arrived at the cave. They quickly set about gathering all the weapons. Forceuser was standing just in the entrance directing everyone when he thought he heard footsteps. He motioned for everyone to be quiet. Moving to the edge of the entrance, but just out of sight of the tunnel, he listened. He heard a faint rustling sound but then nothing.

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