//------------------------------// // Mutilated, Pt. 2 // Story: Twisted Magic: Black // by Randomizer77 //------------------------------// Round 3: Black Vista Highway Opponents: 8 The docs in the asylum always asked what I could see. I told 'em I saw what I’ve seen my whole life: darkness. Round Three. All of the death and destruction wasn’t affecting Deke. But there was a part of him—the boxing side—that was relishing a particular feeling: the adrenaline rush. But this wasn’t a boxing match, this was a literal game of life or death. He couldn’t let the rush he got from fighting cloud his judgement, because with what was on the line, a misstep could cost him much more than victory. A turbo-boosted charge down the road rewarded Deke with an MG upgrade and a potential target in the form of a black semi truck. A Field Surge damaged it, but only slightly, as Crazy 8 was too far away. Racing on by, he targeted a white tow truck with a gas can, then jumped across a raised drawbridge. A second MG upgrade on the other side of the drawbridge further boosted Deke’s firepower before he traded paint with the sports car traveling in the other direction. U-turning, he gave chase, refusing to back down when the rival driver hit him with a power missile. After crossing the drawbridge, however, he gave up the pursuit, having seen enough to realize that the sports car was fast enough to outrun his hot rod. Turning around, he set off on a hunt for another target, and quickly found one: the semi truck. Undeterred by the ricochet it launched in his direction, he took advantage of the truck’s inferior speed to dump two-thirds of his mega gun rounds into it, then finish the job with a gas can. Up ahead, the road forked into two routes; Deke took the right-side route and surprised the dump truck with a gas can that, while not inflicting anything more than scratch damage, definitely got its attention. The dump truck’s driver shot at him with a homing missile, and after chasing each other around in a quick circle, Deke hit it with a charged Field Surge. Leaving the truck in his dust, he snatched up a reticle and continued ripping down the road at maximum speed in search of a target. The sports car came by going the other direction, moving too quickly for the reticle to be of any use. A rusty coupe utility that followed it was also too fast, so he changed course onto the lower link where the route crossed a bridge, turned around and waited for a target to enter his sights. He didn’t have to wait long. Taking aim, he charged up the weapon and fired, successfully hitting his selected target. Making a reverse U-turn, he raced up to the point where the bridge’s upper and lower links rejoined, where he threw missile after missile at the car-tank while chasing it to the drawbridge. Grabbing a repair pick-up while crossing the drawbridge, he resumed his dogged pursuit of the car-tank; when it paused to pick up a weapon, Deke used the opportunity to strike with his mega gun, a power missile, a Field Surge and a homing missile. Leaving the car-tank’s flaming wreckage in his rearview, he used a gas can to do a drive-by on the dump truck and swiftly fled before its driver could respond. Speeding onto the bridge’s upper link, he launched a pair of homing missiles at a taxi before snagging a repair pick-up in a hole in the road. With multiple vehicles brawling on the upper link, Deke selected a recently-acquired reticle and backtracked along the lower link to get a target into his line of fire. Sports car: aim, charge and fire. Its driver just managed to dodge the full brunt of the weapon, and quickly broke the connection of a Field Surge. But their machine’s health was now in the red zone, and they couldn’t get to a hiding place without going through Deke first. Chasing it to the fork in the road, he launched two homing missiles, picked up a zoomy, and then used a fire missile to land the killing blow. At the opposite end of the road where the two routes rejoined each other, the dump truck was a sitting duck for the zoomy. It got closer to retaliate, but this move made it easier for Deke to hit it with a fire missile, ricochet and take it out with his machine gun. Racing through the center of the dump truck’s remains, he headed to the drawbridge, where he picked up a reticle and a repair pickup. It was then that the tow truck entered his line of sight; not wanting to let the opportunity go to waste, he quickly selected the reticle, fully charged it up and let it loose. The attack put the tow truck in the red zone, but they weren’t going to go down so easily. They raised a shield for protection against a Field Surge, then stopped Deke in his tracks with a freeze missile, buying themselves enough time to flee to safety. Jumping the bridge and grabbing a turbo refill, Deke came under attack from the taxi; acting fast, he raised a shield and made a speedy getaway. He slowed down to grab an MG upgrade, then hightailed it when the police SUV fired a power missile at him. Speeding onto the repair station, he brought Crazy 8 back to full fighting condition, then turned around to face off against the SUV as it bore down on him. He selected and started charging a reticle, but moments before it reached full charge, the SUV hit him with a freeze missile, causing the weapon to overcharge, backfire and be lost. Breaking the freeze, he launched a ricochet and a Field Surge while reversing to keep his distance, unintentionally breaking the electrical connection in the process. Shooting his mega gun, he followed the assault with a fire missile; a civilian car was unlucky enough to get in the way of a second one, but there was no obstruction for a third one to land the killing blow. U-turning away from the wreckage, he refilled his turbo, picked up a reticle and headed to the two-level bridge, where he fired the weapon at the taxi from a long distance away. The missiles disappeared into the distance while he closed the gap between the two vehicles, and he was soon notified that all of the missiles reached their target. Launching a satellite, Deke quickly brought it down onto the taxi and the coupe utility, the latter which happened to be in the blast zone. Racing away from the two tangled-up opponents, he rear-fired a trio of fire missiles before U-turning to take out both vehicles. A few homing missiles dispatched with the taxi, but it was a flaming spiked ball showing up out of the blue that finished off the ute. Having seen every weapon useable by every contestant’s vehicle, the ball could only have been a Special Attack, and could only have come from the tow truck. Sure enough, the white machine showed its face again and was ready to fight, attacking with another flaming spiked ball that Deke barely dodged. But he still had some advantageous cards he could play. Using his car’s speed, he activated a Field Surge and literally ran rings around the tow truck, just avoiding the hail of mega gun metal it tried to hit him with, the bullets instead striking any civilian cars unlucky to be within range. Halting the truck with a freeze missile, he emptied his entire stock of mega gun ammunition into it. Round 4: Minion’s Stadium Opponents: 1 Crimson clouds constantly shifted across the night sky. Bloodstains and the charred remains of destroyed vehicles sporadically littered the ground. Crazy 8 sped into the stadium through the sole entrance and skidded to a stop; behind it, a massive metal door slammed down, trapping vehicle and driver inside. Sitting near the center of the stadium was their opponent. This guy won last year's contest, but I ain't afraid. If I can just find a way past his shield, I can beat him. For his first move, Minion charged. Most would be shocked by his truck’s speed and remain still just long enough to be rammed. But not Deke, who dodged with the aid of his turbo. Rushing to the outside ring of the stadium, he stocked up an MG upgrade and a few missiles before going on the offensive, hitting Minion’s right shield panel with a fire missile. As the massive tanker started to chase him down, he rear-fired another that hit its front panel. Minion got up close, close enough to be within range of Crazy 8’s signature attack. A drive-by Field Surge quickly took out the right shield panel and managed to damage the three remaining ones before losing its connection, but Deke didn’t get off scot-free, his vehicle being damaged and set alight by Minion’s flamethrower. Both drivers moved off the outer ring of the stadium and back into the center, where Deke raised a shield to safely dash past Minion and grab a turbo refill, repair pickup, and two weapons. The former knew that he couldn’t so much as scratch the latter until he took out their shield. But there was no getting around the danger and difficulty of doing so. He’d have to approach this fight smartly. Taking advantage of the distance between himself and his foe, Deke charged up and fired off a reticle, but Minion saw it coming and angled himself so his shield blocked the weapon’s full force. Rushing off the edge of the arena, Deke activated a shield, raced in to the danger zone and destroyed the front shield panel with a power missile, using turbo to aid his escape. Minion wasn’t going to let him get away so easily, however, and launched a barrage of fireballs that swiftly zeroed in on and struck their target. Within a second, the reigning champion moved entirely onto the offensive, opening fire with his machine guns while taking off in hot pursuit of his adversary. Pushing his car’s ancient engine as hard as it could go, Deke gradually created a gap between himself and Minion, and stretched it to the point where he could safely swerve and nab a repair pickup. But the repairs were almost immediately rendered moot as the tanker started pelting him with homing missiles, and he raised a shield just in time to block a fully-charged reticle that would have otherwise finished Crazy 8 off. But this wasn’t Deke’s first rodeo; he’d been on the back hoof many times before. Refilling his turbo, he raced around the stadium’s edge and fixed his badly damaged machine with repair pickups that had regenerated, topped off by one dragged by a helicopter. After doing a quick check of his weapons, he came up with a plan to take out Minion’s shield. Against an opponent of Minion’s caliber, the plan was risky, to say the least. But Deke hadn’t made it this far into Twisted Metal by not taking risks. Dodging a zoomy that was fired his way, he retaliated with a fire missile while jumping back onto the blood-and-metal-littered dirt that formed the center of the stadium. Selecting a homing missile, he fired at the exposed left shield panel, but Minion turned and made it strike his shield at the last moment. Just as planned. Not missing a beat, Deke raced in, charged up a Field Surge and let it loose while driving around Minion’s left and back sides. Two explosions—music to Deke’s ears—sounded as the reigning champion’s final two shield panels were destroyed, and with it, his invulnerability. It was impossible to tell for sure if Minion was angry, but since he then attempted to incinerate Crazy 8 with his truck’s flamethrower, it was possible, especially if his previous opponents hadn’t put up nearly as much of a fight as Deke was doing. But Deke wouldn’t give up; not now, not ever. The moment he accepted the invitation to compete in this contest, he was all-in, and he had no plans to leave in a body bag. Backing off, he retreated to the edge of the stadium to stock up on weapons, and Minion, not one to intentionally let an adversary get a leg up on him, did the same. After loading up, he turned toward Deke with astonishing speed for the size of his vehicle and fired a zoomy, though the latter dodged half of the ten-missile barrage. Deke then made an incredibly bold move. Firing a satellite into the air, he rushed at Minion, feinted, got behind him, let the weapon bring down the hurt, and then swiftly dashed away to avoid retaliation. Minion had no way of showing it from inside his truck, but he was impressed by this driver’s boldness. But that didn’t change the fact that he was playing for keeps. Deke got in close again, this time striking Minion with a power missile and taking advantage of the weapon’s knockback to hit him hard with a full clip of mega gun bullets, taking off about a quarter of the truck’s health before speeding away. Minion gave chase while shooting homing and fire missiles at the fleeing hot rod and following with a flurry of fireballs to keep the pressure on. Deke slowed down and dropped a charged land mine before swerving to grab a repair pickup out of the air. Upon landing, he swiftly U-turned and started driving in reverse while aiming and charging a reticle. Minion launched more fireballs, but Deke didn’t falter; he stood his ground and let the attack land, then fired the reticle afterward, the cluster of missiles taking off another near-quarter of his adversary’s health. Deke opened fire with his machine gun while Minion closed in, then when he got too close for comfort, braked and activated turbo to slingshot past him toward the stadium’s edge. On the ring, he filled his weapons bay to the brim while dodging even more fireballs, and followed the weapons with a turbo refill and repair pickup. Minion charged up a reticle and shot it at Deke, but he blocked it with a shield before retaliating with a zoomy, aiming carefully to make sure all ten missiles hit. Zipping in close, he struck with a ricochet and power missile, then quickly moved away when Minion’s flamethrower spewed a jet of scorching flames at him. U-turning, he showered Minion with mega gun bullets, bringing his health down to slightly less than a quarter. The champion rushed him, and when Deke moved to dodge, steered into his path while unleashing another torrent of flames before slamming into him at top speed, sending Crazy 8 skidding across the stadium. Minion may have been almost on his last legs, but he clearly wasn’t going to go down easy, and Deke wasn’t foolish enough to get complacent and sloppy when he thought victory was a sure thing. Just like in boxing, he wouldn’t let up until his opponent went down. Time to finish this. Crazy 8’s machine gun started chattering away while the hot rod fearlessly charged at the tanker, then launched a power missile shortly before colliding head-on. Though pushed back by the collision, Deke used the opportunity to line up and fire another ricochet, followed by a homing missile, fire missile and another power missile. Minion was now hanging on by a thread. Deke launched a gas can and brought it down for a bullseye to finish him off. But he slammed on the brakes when a massive piece of Minion’s exploding truck sailed straight toward him. In the nuthouse, I was always drugged up; I never thought about what happened to me. But after I was out, I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about it. I was a boxer. You never heard of me, I was strictly small-time. One night, I went up against a hotshot fighter from outta town. A fighter nicknamed “The Drill.” Deke, a.k.a. “The Tank,” stood in his corner of the ring, red eyes brimming with confidence. I never saw it comin’! Cheers, gasps and shouts came from the crowd as the match rapidly heated up. I got torn to pieces before the end of the first round! Following hit after brutal hit, Deke went down, and the chime of the ringside bell followed. My jaw was shattered, my nose was broke... I was a mess. Some of the guys from the gym said they knew a surgeon who could fix me up good as new. Maybe there were better doctors in town, but none that I could afford. Besides, I’d heard this one was a big fan of the fights. …Too bad old doc made the mistake of bettin’ on me that night. “20,000 bits,” the griffon said sourly. “20,000 bits I lost on you tonight.” As I went under, all I could hear was the scraping sound of doc’s blade, and this blaring opera music he played while he worked. With a flick of a switch on an old-fashioned radio, music filled the room as the doctor started to operate… The bedside tray was filled with two eyeballs… Then a tongue… When I woke up, my face felt like it had gone fifteen rounds with a semi truck! …The doc did a good job fixing me, I’ll give him that. But from what I hear, I went crazy... They say I busted up the hospital tryin’ to find the guy. In the process, I killed six innocent creatures. …But now that I’m out, there’s no place for the doc to hide. The metal door finally rose, allowing Crazy 8 to exit.