//------------------------------// // 165. Leap Lamb and Caper Canine Special Edition: The Cape Crusaders! (Part 3) // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Southeast Cape Suzette, Smolder- “You’re still on about that?” If another robot so much as scrapes a scale on Ocellus’s current form, I was so eating the entire robot in one gulp. Our new friend Mowgli was still pestering me about surviving fire. “I’m immune to fire, also I breathe the darn stuff.” “What are you a dragon?” Mowgli asked in a disbelieving tone. “Actually… yes.” My blunt statement was met with blinking wide eyes. “We’re just trying to find stuff to do while our caretaker kicks flanks and takes name, knowing where these things are coming from would definitely help with that.” “You’re caretaker?” He seemed saddened, dude doesn’t know dragon parenting tends to be claws off. In Ocellus’s case changeling parenting was community based, but you at least knew who your parents were and would spend plenty of time with them. I had more in common with Gallus in the abandonment department. “Yeah, she’s fairly incredible.” Ocellus stated with a smile. “She’s probably at Kahn Industries helping people right now.” “That she is.” Considering she was seen as a super hero in this world and I would definitely be putting in a good word for her continuing as a Huoshan guard. She’s still doing her duty in taking care of us, though I think she acknowledges that we can take care of ourselves somewhat. “She might not like being called a hero, but she is definitely a decent role model for us while we’ve been in her care.” We were hurrying down the streets with Mowgli in the lead as he was leading us towards Kahn Tower. “Quick question, are you sure you know where they are coming from?” I asked as we were about to be beset by more robots coming from the sky. They were quickly blown apart by two planes flying by and firing projectiles, said planes were being chased down by the flying robots that have a problem with changing direction quickly while in the air. That was the only reason why the Jungle Aces airplanes weren’t being torn apart by the robots in the air, the two of them we saw had at least five robots on each of them had them on speed. “Yeah, I saw the entrance, but it’s hard to describe where it is, but they came pouring out of it and they started spreading out quietly before attacking everything.” Looking away from what was going on above us and to Mowgli, if he couldn’t tell us where it was exactly because it was hard to describe. We were going to need him to lead someone there to take care of the source of the robots. “Though I don’t know what kind of help we can get at Kahn Tower, because… AGH!” Mowgli leapt out a pained yelp as he was sent tumbling when an extending arm created a set of claw marks across his chest. Ocellus went to help him and I was moving forward to lunge onto the robot. “Probably the best kind, the kind that can deal with all of this!” I was immediately on it and three more robots landed and rolled down the street towards us as I was shredding the armor of the one I leapt onto. “Is Mowgli okay?” I finished ripping up the robot I was on and hopped back in front of Ocellus. “He’s hurt, but it’s not too bad.” Ocellus announced and I looked to see his chest wound was covered in… oh… ew… Ocellus’s Changeling goo. “What are you two?” Mowgli asked looking at the stuff sealing off his wound. “Something amazing!” I said immediately while focusing on the robots changing out their weapons for saws as they approached. “Technically nobody who knows Leap Lamb personally is normal.” “You know…” Mowgli was interrupted when a robot blindsided me be erupting through a brick wall on my left and pinned me down. It started hitting me in the face. Sure it wasn’t going to hurt much, but the blunt force was still rattling my head about as it hit me repeatedly. “Hold on, I got you!” A voice shouted as I was dazed and confused as the robots were about to surrounded me. “Yoink!” I found myself tossed over Sly’s shoulder as he ran off with me leaving a confused robot to fall on its face and the other three robots looking left and right before looking our way. I was about to yell that we needed Ocellus and Mowgli, but they were already being carried right up to us by Murray. “Guess nobody thought about what you two would be doing huh?” Sly sat me down and prepped his cane as he turned towards the four robots encroaching on us from behind. “You two okay?” “Hey, I’m tough for my size. I can take hits and I was only knocked out by a possum once, but that guy was insanely strong. These things, I can rip apart with my bare claws easily.” If I ever met Axel Gear again, he needed a fireball where it would be most painful. “We need to protect Mowgli here, he knows where these robots are coming from.” “Then it’s a good thing we can pass on this news.” Sly answered. “I have to show you where they are coming from personally.” Mowgli said with a slight shiver as Murray put him and Ocellus down. “I can’t describe it, you might not find it if I told you exactly where to look.” “I’ve got these guys Sly, The Murray can take things from here!” Murray turned around and charged at the four robots and hopped over a low swinging whirling saw. The pink hippo was fairly agile for his bulk and the fact that the robot had at least three to four hundred pounds of muscular hippo bearing down on it meant that it was going to be smashed quite badly by the incoming left straight. Murray caved the robots head in completely and grabbed it by the arms while stepping back to whip it bodily into another one damaging its body slightly. “Bentley, we has someone who saw where the robots come from, we’re heading you’re way and we’re going to need a few people to help with that.” Sly stated to his binoculars as we followed him. “They know exactly where the entrance is, but said it was hard to find. We’ll be leaving behind Smolder and Ocellus to help at Kahn Tower to help out. They are fine Mopsy, they are tough girls and have already taken care of a few of the robots already! Murray’s covering our backs and will likely show up to protect Kahn Tower where the heaviest of the fighting is happening.” Sly rolled his eyes before stowing away his binocular and were crossing a canal when a robot powered through the bridge behind us, it began crumbling and we quickly made it to the other side. “This is why I prefer stealth hero to action hero.” Sly muttered loudly as we continued forward as various people were running for cover and others who had weapons were trying to deal with localized problems. Kahn Industries was where most of the noise was coming from and we would soon see why. There were robots entering the building at various levels ripping straight through the walls and on the ground floor I could see Pom and our other friends putting up one Tartarus of a fight. -Shanty- “Oof!” I felt the claws squeezing at my neck as I was slammed into the wall, a spinning guillotine be coming right for me. Pom be quickly leaping through the nearby hole and kicked its extended saw away from me and then leapt and caved its face in with a flying buck that be freeing me up. Then Caper Canine be protecting me from a burst of flames, she barked at me and pointed a digit on her left paw towards the wall and then the robot constantly spraying flames at us as it rolled forward. I be nodding and hopped up onto the wall, then I launched a 'goat fly' over the flames into the robots face making the heart shape implode as I bounced off it. My cutting hooves be no match for their metal, but I can still be hitting hard enough to bust their faces. That or I can cut up their wheels and slow them down. “Hey, we got Sly coming in with Ocellus, Smolder and someone who knows where the robots are all coming from. We need a four volunteer heroes to escort them to the location and then go in to stem the tide!” Bentley shouted drawing our attentions, it be a good thing Darkwing be having those cloud can things that disabled groups of machines with discharges of lightning. “Escort? I can easily do that!” Darkwing announced, he loaded and fired his weapon again creating another colorful burst of blue smoke that be taking down a number of robots. “Suck shock gas evil robots! What about you Quiverwing?” “Don’t know how much help I’d be, I’m already running dry on ammunition and I need to start recollecting my shots.” Quiverwing not be safe getting close to the robots like me and Pom, she had been keeping her distance by staying on the ledges above the reach of the robots on the ground. “I’ll try to hold the fort here Darkwing!” “I’m good for it!” Pom announced. “Cut-Lass can you handle things here without getting your head taken off?” “I can be doing that!” I stated angrily, still willing to be getting back in this fight. Dolly or Caper Canine barked to Pom while motioning my way as she leapt and slung her skateboard into one robots. “Caper Canine says she’ll continue to assist you, Ocellus and Smolder when they get here." Leap Lamb be conserving energy now as she only be dealing with the robots that be getting too close to entering the building. "She won’t hesitate to come help me if I get into serious trouble.” “I’m in if you need a big guy to help!” Stated Bullethead as he landed, I be thinking Kit Cloudkicker is having a fun alias and costume. “We need at least some Cape Suzette representation!” “Well I hope you hurry with stemming the problem when you set out, because I don’t think we can keep these things back all night and there are already several running around inside the building!” Molly stated as she leaned against the building after clobbering a robot with a crowbar, the golden furred bear be a bit exhausted. Several panthers were already working on shooting down the numerous incoming robots to the best of their ability with their projectile weapons, it is not being nearly enough as they just kept coming and if the projectiles be missing their target they usually be bouncing off harmlessly like a cannonball hitting a reinforced steel wall. “Gee, this is going to be a long night. Things will work out even if Mr. Mc D isn’t here! We have both D-W and L-L.” Apparently Launchpad be knowing how to wield his weapon efficiently, he swung his metal bat and it be knocking over a robot and then brought down to destroy the glowing heart face. “To think I hardly ever get to use this thing a friend gifted me back in China, but it’s proving quite useful now!” “We’re here!” Shouted Sly as he, Ocellus, Smolder and the tiger striped wolf come running up. “We’ve also got a few chasers.” “I’ve got them!” Quiverwing announced from above as she be firing two shots and two robots fell to the ground with the center of their hearts pierced by bolts. “Give me a second to get the other two!” Dodo be leaping up and smashed one out of the air with the other using his beak and then he started to spit beams of energy at more incoming robots, angrily warbling like a giant turkey. This allowed Sly to be getting closer to the building. “Correction, Optimized Ostrich has them!” Stated Quiverwing in the middle of reloading her crossbows. -Mowgli- If someone told me this night would be the start of a robot uprising, I would have laughed in someone’s face. Then I met a… I want to say pair of dragons, but Ocellus didn’t seem nearly as aggressive as Smolder did. They were unusual, but then so was the scene of Kahn Industries headquarters, Kahn Tower, full of holes and being attack by a swarm of robots. I may dislike my father a lot, but this… this wasn’t something I would wish on my old man. “You’re the one that knows where the robots are coming from?! Then come on over here, this way!” My attention was drawn to, Pom Lambchop? Wait… that pink strip of cloth around her head… she was Leap Lamb?! Wait, was it racist of me to think that all sheep look the same? Speaking of looking the same, what looked to be her more attractive sister was in the van with the turret wielding turtle aiming a gun into a crowd of flying robots coming our way. “Hurry up, we don’t have time to dawdle here!” “You heard her, into the van and point us in the direction of the major problem citizen!” I turned to see a purple wearing duck in a fedora pushing me towards the van and I finally started running. I also saw… wait… Bullethead was real?! I thought he was just a popular comic book character from the times after the Great War when my father started becoming big in the cargo business. “What is going on here?” I was clearly in shock and expecting this to be a horrible dream. This was very much becoming a fever dream as I hopped into the back of the van with Leap Lamb, some guy I vaguely recall being known as Darkwing, Bullethead and the raccoon that was named… wait… Sly as in… the world renowned thief Sly Cooper?! What kind of ride was I getting into and can I please get off of it?! “Go, Mopsy go!” Sly stated as he slammed the back doors close. “Go where, the guy that knows where we need to be needs to snap out of it!” The animalistic sheep at the wheel stated, wait… should sheep even be driving with hooves? Has the world really gone this mad when it was the one with the hooves that was driving out of the various bipeds in the vehicle? “Look dude, you need calm down. Now breathe, we need your help to end this quickly before the city becomes a lost cause and robots start taking over the world.” Bullethead calmly held me steady and I blinked. “Heh, kind of like issue thirty seven really.” “Start by going north towards the mountains at the back of the city!” I came to my senses that, yes, there were super heroes and, yes again, I was among them as a key witness to where all these robots originated from. “Hold on to your flanks!” The beautiful sheep Mopsy shouted as she put the vehicle into gear and then hit the gas, before I knew it we were quickly speeding away from the Kahn Tower while it was still under heavy assault and a fresh swarm of robots were descending on it. “My goodness this van is responsive, remind me to give a few extra teasing compliments to Murray when I see him next!” The hippo guy that we left behind? I hoped he was okay by himself. “Are you really Bullethead?” I finally asked still somewhat in a stupor by all of this weirdness. “At this rate, you’ll find out that a lot of weird things are real or will become as such if you live long enough to see it for yourself.” Pom mumbled, her wool looked rough up and she had several scratches and bruises covering her body. “Ugh, I just wanted to fly away from Cape Suzette and remember it as a nice vacation spot, but no- I had to come back and deal with machines again!” “Eh, we can take them.” It seemed like the fedora wearing duck seemed quite optimistic. “Well… technically I’m not the first real Bullethead, I’m the second as my mentor was the first. I know how to do the Dynamo Plunge at least.” One of Bullethead’s signature techniques? That’ll be cool to see provided we both live long enough to watch him actually do it. “We’ve got MEL’s on us!” The turtle in the seat above us and I heard the gun firing behind us. “What are MEL’s?” I asked. “The dangerous robots of a mad scientist, of whom hates your father, that are attacking Cape Suzette.” Well it seems like Pom confirmed that she knew what was going on, at least more than I did. “Apparently he’s somehow set this up to happen after he died from old age.” I might actually talk to my father after this, because I really want to thank him for sending that team to protect me at the very least. I guess I really did need that bodyguard. The last I saw of said team, they were holding at off at least thirty of those robots while aiding my escape and I really didn’t want to think about what happened to them. “Bentley, to the north, what is that!” The sheep named Mopsy stated as we all saw the upper portion of a mountain split open and something large started to rise from it. “It looks to be made of the same metal as the robots, that’s going to be hard to take down if it’s some kind of super weapon.” “Yeah, good chance of it being just that actually, looks like some kind of magnetic rail cannon of some sort!” Bentley shouted down to us. “We need to get to that hidden base entrance pronto before they can use whatever that is on the city!” “Wait… your Mowgli Seeonee Kahn? Never thought I’d meet Shere Kahn’s son, met the guy enough times myself when I was younger to think it’d never happen.” Seemed like Bullethead had a history judging by the flat tone, but it didn’t sound like hatred to me. “We’ll talk later, where do we go from here? I currently doubt we have anything that can take out something of that size and anything flying that can get close enough will be stopped by the MELs possibly guarding it.” “I’ll direct us more once we start getting closer.” Because I’m not going to forget being near where all this started in the first place. “So, how did you all get started as heroes?” “Sly is a thief of an ancient lineage that only steals from criminals and will otherwise return what was stolen if it wasn’t from criminals, his parents were killed by what seems like a giant immortal mechanical owl and he heroically ruins any criminal gangs. The previous Bullethead got a working costume of the comic book character to help his protégé, who is currently wearing it, to help him make some friends. As for Darkwing, he’s apparently the guy who loved a show to the point he wanted to make the hero in it become reality and succeeded… I think. He’s not the most popular hero, but I’d call him a hero even if he is a glory seeker.” Pom pointed out each one Sly, Bullethead and then Darkwing. “It has come to my attention how awkward I am compared to the company I keep now that I’ve said it out loud.” “Really, then what’s your story like Pom?” All those sounded pretty interesting. “Did you get hit by some kind of meteorite and gain grasshopper abilities?” “No, I’m part of a dimensionally lost group and happen to be a magical alien martial arts based guard that comes from a mystical city built into the side of a somewhat active volcano that is the dead body of a dragon that the city is named after in their honor.” Pom stated in a dull tone before she put her face into her hooves and started to groan audibly. “I also am, or at least was, the weakest guard from there. What has my life become that I’m this weirdest person in a group of weird people?” “Wait, you’re the weakest guard from your home?” I asked wide eyed. “If you’re weak, then what are the other guards like?” “The city is primarily run by longma, or flying dragon ponies if you will, capable of controlling fire to fly and fight. I’m a lambkin, a race of hypochondriac, sheep herding, flower eating, quiet nobodies from a lovely little grassy hilled countryside where almost everyone is constantly on drugs to deal with chronic anxiety problems.” Yeah, not going to lie, Pom’s backstory sounds the most impressive out of the four. “Exiled from my home because I started attracting dangerous canines that are family to me… oh goddesses, my life story sounds like a Power Ponies comic book character!” “Wait… sheep herding?” That was the oddest thing I latched onto about all of that and she just admitted to being an alien. “There, there, it’s okay Pom.” Bullethead patted her gently on the back as she slumped. “I was raised by sky pirates for a few years, which got pretty awkward after I betrayed them to save a lot of people. Got into some pretty strange incidents when I was younger like this evil grinning magical body swapping idol.” “I was bullied a lot when I was younger and wimpier, but I could never be put down thanks to my role model Darkwing Duck growing up. Now I am him.” Darkwing Duck stated with a nod. “I’m a guy that can survive stepping on multiple claymore mines within a period of six hours without permanent injury. If my incredible resilience is not overly bizarre, then I don’t know what is!” “Try growing up with mystical thief instincts and not understanding why you like skulking around in the shadows or playing dress up all the time with the girls growing up in an orphanage.” Sly murmured. “Got lots of awkward questions about that. Thankfully those habits became useful later on, also stealing from the cookie jar will always remind me of those who are family to me.” “Take the next right, two blocks and a left, then we’ll be close.” I stated while my mind whirled at the four bizarre heroes I found myself aiding in saving Cape Suzette from what was possibly a super weapon created by a mad scientist. This was going to be one night I don’t think I’ll ever forget. “Right, hope I’m part of that family too Sly, I can even bake cookies for you to steal.” I wonder what Mopsy’s story was? “If you had to ask, I’m native. Also a classy whore who helps an orphanage, runs a dance club, can act as an information broker and joined the Cooper Gang. So no, I’m not related to Pom despite how much we may resemble one another.” “We’re here, there over there!” They could see why I would have problems describing it as multiple robots started rolling out of the base of the mountain as if it wasn’t there. The entrance wasn’t near where the large thing that came out of the top of one of the mountains was. “Huh, well designed camouflaged holographic hard light entrance. Dr. Axolotl may have been insane, but he is somewhat respectable in some areas at least.” The turtle exclaimed as he turned the gun above us to the front. “Mopsy slow us down, I’ll open a path in for our guys!” The four heroes piled out of the vehicle all at once and started following it forward with grim looking determined faces.