Chapter I: Day of Redemption

"What'd we do to deserve this shit? Where did we go wrong? I don't know the answer and neither does any of the American people. I can tell the Nazis are doing way more than they seem. Something vile, cruel, and pungent to the soul. What're your plans Adolf? What do you think you're doing?"

 

Phoenix, Abhy, and Hans were inside, watching the television. Peter then walked in and reported, "Guys. I've got some pretty devastating news you should hear." Phoenix turned and said, "Spill it. Not like we've got any other plans other than killing Hitler." Peter shook his hand sideways a little bit. 

"Well.. There's a Nazi on the radio."

 

"Then don't tell me anything."

 

"No no no, you MIGHT want to hear it."

 

"And I might not."

 

"ALRIGHT I'M GONNA TELL YOU ANYWAYS. There's been an outbreak of something, Nazis and hazmat people are on the streets taking more people in but I don't know where. He's saying that there's people being seriously hurt, and brushing it off like it's nothing."

 

"Good. SO you're saying that some people are now like me."

 

"There's more.... They have inhuman reactions, they don't communicate right after they regain consciousness.. They try to bite others." Phoenix looked away from the television like everyone else. Hans heard a knock at the door. "I vill go get it." Phoenix paused the television while Hans stood up and waltzed over to the door. One glance through the peephole, and Hans turned around mortified. 

 

"Erm... Herr Leopard?"

 

"Yes, Hans. What?"

 

"You might vant to come see who zhis is."

 

"Just tell me already."

 

Hans slowly opened the door, and standing right there....

 

Was Stanley.

 

 

BLOODWORTH 2: DARKEST DROUGHT

 

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

 

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Chapter II: Can't Say Goodbye

 Phoenix squinted at Stanley, standing there aloof. He was staring directly at the ground with his neck slumped. "Stan? How are you still alive? You were shot in the head?"

There was a bolt of lightning, revealing Stanley's pale skin and scar on his head for a split second. "Hans, get back. Something doesn't seem-"

Stanley instantly looked up and charged at Hans with an emotionless face. "RRAGGH!" Stanley groaned. Stanley leaned in closer and bit Hans on his neck. 

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK?" Pete screamed. 

 

Hans shoved Stanley off of him.

 

Phoenix said, "ABHY, GET IN THE CORNER, STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"

 

Pete grabbed a coatrack, saying, "GOD DAMN!"

 

Stanley then sprinted directly at Pete, running into the coatrack, trying to scrape at him. "GET HIM OFF ME!" Peter screamed, restraining Stanley. Stanley impaled himself through the coatrack's tip, and zoned in closer on Pete, biting him on his hand. "AGH! MY FUCKING HAND- FUCK!"

 

Peter dropped the coatrack and backed away, after kicking Stanley into Phoenix. "STANLEY- I DON'T WANNA HURT YOU, JUST STEP OFF!" 

Stanley ignored him, snapping at him. Phoenix pulled out a swiss-army knife and stabbed Stanley in his side repeatedly. "I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU- TO STEP- OFF!"

Phoenix pulled the knife out, and Stanley hit the floor. "Alright, I'm gonna go get some gauze, all of you stay put!" Phoenix told them. Heading into the bathroom, Phoenix inserted the passcode into his mirror and opened the metal frame. He pulled out some gauze pads and entered the den again to see Stanley, Hans, and Peter trying to bite Abhy in the corner. "PHOENIX! HELP ME!" 

 

"ABHY! HANG ON!"

 

Abhy's strength couldn't hold them back, as all three closed in on her and bit her. "WHAT THE FUCK'S GOING ON?" Phoenix screamed. Phoenix walked over to the basement door and walked inside. "Hell no... HELL NO!" Then four enemies were in Phoenix's house. Stanley shambled his way over to the door, leading all of the other three. Phoenix watched the basement door open, and all four walked inside. Phoenix pulled out his pistol. "DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!"

 

Stanley continued to stroll over to Phoenix. "I WARNED YOU!"

Phoenix fired a shot through Stanley's head, emptying the clip into his skull. Stanley didn't stand back up. The other three entered the basement. He patted himself down for an ammunition clip, and said, "SHIT!"

 

"You better run, old man. Run like you never have before." Phoenix shoved his way past the three and bolted back upstairs. He locked the door behind him, and said, "LISTEN UP! I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOTTEN INTO YOU GUYS, SO YOU'RE GONNA STAY IN THERE FOR A WHILE UNTIL I FIGURE OUT A SOLUTION TO THIS SHIT! DON'T KILL EACH OTHER, NOW!" 

Phoenix walked away from the basement, and into the garage where the radio was blaring the broadcast. 

 

The radio spoke, "I REPEAT, any scientists in the biological human resource divison, please report to the building in Neu Orleans. Ich wiederhole, alle Wissenschaftler der Abteilung für biologische Humanressourcen berichten bitte an das Gebäude in Neu Orleans." 

 

Phoenix pulled out his mask. "Well hello beautiful." Phoenix strapped on the mask and went through a series of violent images in his mind. Once it was completely strapped to his head, he grinned underneath, with a digital grin on his mask. "Let's get this show on the road." Phoenix turned on the garage door, watching it roll up, as he then saw James standing outside of his garage.

"WHAT THE FUCK?"

 

James sprinted at Phoenix. Phoenix pulled out his choppercycle, and transformed it right when James reached him. Phoenix splattered James on the driveway, then he sped off into Neu Orleans. 

Chapter III: Pawn Between Wolves

Phoenix drove down the road, watching buildings burning as he drove by. "What's going on?"

He then drove into a shambler, splattering them all over his windshield. "DEAR CHRIST!" he screamed, slowing down with his feet. Phoenix operated the windshield wipers, and once the blood was clear, Phoenix spotted a bunch of Nazis in hazmat suits approaching. "ES IST DER VERSCHMUTZTE TERROR! TÖTE IHN!"

 

"Still don't know German. But I know how to kill Germans." Phoenix stepped off of his bike, and sprinted over to the Nazis with a meat cleaver out. Phoenix sliced off the first Nazi's arm, and then snapped the man's neck around in a circle. The second Nazi pounded Phoenix in the back, and kicked him in the shin. "ARGH! Now that smarts!"

 

Phoenix composed himself instantly, and with the dead man's pump shotgun, he blew the Nazi's head off through the suit. "Reflexes haven't aged a day. You still got it, old man." Phoenix pumped the shotgun back, and then fired again, hitting a Nazi in their stomach, having guts hit the ground. The last one backed up a little bit in fear. 

 

"What's the matter pretty boy, too scared to test the old man's mettle?" 

Then from out in the bushes, two shamblers grabbed the Nazi and pulled him towards them. "AAAHAHAH! HILFE! Jemand HILFE!" The shamblers then chomped into the man's arms, with a big bloody bite. "Gotta get outta here!"

Phoenix walked back over to his choppercycle and mounted it. Then a shambler grabbed Phoenix by his arm. "GAH! PISS OFF!" 

Phoenix broke the shambler's nose, and threw him backwards on his bottom. Phoenix cranked the handlebars and sped off to the building. More and more shamblers were piling up on the streets, getting in Phoenix's way. 

 

Then Phoenix noticed a water-tower falling over. "SHIT!" 

The impact let out a large flood that ranged over to Phoenix, washing him into a large ditch. Him and the choppercycle were being washed into a flood drain. Phoenix was in front of it, the choppercycle was behind him. And when he hit a brick wall at the end of the flood drain, the motorcycle hit him right in the face. 

 

"Brink at the gates of death. Fuck you death." Phoenix opened his eyes and straightened his mask. Lights above him were still lit. Planes and helicopters were hovering over Neu Orleans. Phoenix stood up, and popped his neck in place, retracting his choppercycle. "Where the hell am I?"

Phoenix went over to the waterfall of the flood drain, realizing there was no way back up. "Well great. Now I gotta get the fuck out." Phoenix pumped his shotgun, looking around at the dark setting of the sewer. Phoenix followed the series of lights down the sidewalk of the sewer, and then heard a faint screaming noise. He turned around, aiming his shotgun at the sidewalk. And then he noticed someone washed up on the sidewalk. 

Phoenix shook his head and headed over to him, aiming his shotgun, about to fire. "WAIT! WAIT! I'm not one of those things!" the man screamed in fear. 

"It's alright, I wasn't gonna shoot... anyways. DID YOU GET BIT?"

 

"NO! NO! I wasn't bit. Those things are too slow to even get over to me."

 

"Well the ones I've seen can run."

 

"Huh. Well... I'm Tyler. Tyler Fields. Nice to meet you..."

 

Tyler corrected his vision, and recognized Phoenix's face. "MASKED TERROR! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!"

"Ugh. I'm getting sick and tired of being called that stupid name. My name's Phoenix. Phoenix Leopard. You tell the cops and I'll beat your ass to death with a club or something, UNDERSTAND?"

 

Tyler swiftly nodded, helping himself up. "Well... Why are you down here?"

"There was a water-tower, it tipped over and I was washed up down here."

 

"Oh. I didn't see that. But I was running and I fell through a manhole cover." Phoenix was confused. A question-mark was displayed on his mask. "Thought manhole covers were made NOT to do that."

"Well apparently that one is the complete opposite. Anyways, do you mind if I... Come with you? It's better to be in a group than to be alone with those freaks running around."

 

Phoenix nodded and said, "Got any weapons on you? You're gonna need 'em." Tyler shook his head. "Alright, I got a pocket-knife. But if one of those things comes over to you, I learned that you have to get it in the head. Not anywhere else, because it will come back and it will take a bite outta your ass."

Phoenix and Tyler continued down the sewer line and eventually found an emergency ladder. “Alright, we’re going up. And I’ve got a good feeling that whatever is up there isn’t-” The two heard an explosion, making them flinch.

“Isn’t nice.”

Phoenix climbed up the rusty steps of the red ladder, and at the top, he picked up the manhole with his fingers. Looking around, the streets in his area were clear. But it was boxed in by shamblers. “Alright, we’re not out of the woods yet. Keep calm, stay with me, and do as I say.” Tyler nodded, extending the knife’s blade. Phoenix stood on the pavement of the street, and then Tyler climbed up. The shamblers then noticed the two. “Alright, how do we get outta here?”

 

“Umm… I might not have thought that through!”

 

Phoenix looked around. Nearly every building was boarded up or blocked by debris. There was a vivid alley, however. The shamblers started closing in, some even started running. Phoenix pointed over there. “RUN! GET IN THE ALLEY!”

The two sprinted into the alley in unison, Tyler even locked the gate behind him. Phoenix stopped for Tyler and said, “Don’t mess with that stuff, come on!”

The shamblers reached through the fence wire and grabbed at Tyler. The pair ventured into the alley, leading to a four way intersection between buildings. “Great. Now where do we go?”

 

Phoenix examined each of the three possible pathways. One was blocked by a dumpster that he could climb over and go back out in the street. The second was blocked by a locked gate, with no shamblers on the other side. The third was littered with corpses. “Front way seems like the best option.” Phoenix and Tyler both headed in that direction, and ran into the gate. “How are we gonna-”

Already on the lock problem, Phoenix was picking the keyhole with a spare hair-pin. “Nevermind.” The gate swung open. The two quietly, and slowly walked onto the street. Then a gun barrel was pushed against Phoenix’s head. “ARE YOU TWO MAD? SHUT THE GATE!”

Tyler closed the gate and locked it behind him.

 

Phoenix was forced to his knees by a Nazi with torn clothing. “Mein Gott… You’re the masked terror. YOU’RE-”

Tyler stabbed him through his throat with the knife. “I think we’re in a militarized zone. We’re safe.” All of a sudden, two Nazi soldiers walked around a corner patrolling the area. Phoenix mumbled something to Tyler in a rushed feeling, making Tyler hide the body under bags of trash. “We’re not safe. *Those* guys, they hate me. So... You hide in the alley, I'll come back-" The dead Nazi stood out of the garbage and bit Phoenix on the arm.

 

"GOD! FUCK! NO NO NO NO!"

 

Tyler aimed his knife at Phoenix. "You're- You're BIT. Stay back!" 

He made a few air-jabs and kept his distance from Phoenix. The two Nazis overheard the conversation. "HEY! Wer ist da unten?" 

Phoenix backed up, as hair grew on his arms. Tyler stopped with the fear, and gazed at Phoenix's metamorphosis into a monster. But it wasn't a shambler. Thick brown fur grew up his arms, and to his neck. His nose extended, eyes bloodshot then turned yellow. His ears spiked up and turned brown with fur. His mask fell off, hitting the ground with a small thud.

 

He was a wolf. "Phoenix?"

Phoenix glared at Tyler and snarled. Tyler aimed his knife at Phoenix again. "Phoenix, I'm your friend! Don't hurt me!" 

"My bones feel... Stronger. Legs feel like pouncing. What am I?"

 

All Phoenix could muster up and tell Tyler was: "STAY. BACK."

 

Phoenix's vision was all yellow. He turned and faced the two Nazis. "WAS IST DAS? ERSCHIESS ES!" one of them screamed, leveling his firearm's barrel with Phoenix. The wolf approached the two Nazis on all fours, ravenously panting and snarling on the way. And once he reached the two...

 

"You're among wolves now. And these.... These are my woods."

 

Phoenix slit one's chest open, whilst inserting his claws. "NEIN!"

The other Nazi unloaded his weapon on Phoenix. Somehow Phoenix's body could withstand the bullets' impact to his skin. Phoenix ripped the man in half that he was holding, facing the next one. Out of pure carnage-filled anger, Phoenix clawed the man in his knees, knocking him over, and with two balled fists combined, he slammed a very devastating and bloody blow on the Nazi's face. Squashed.

Then a Nazi on mechanical stilts stepped through town, approaching the source of the gunfire. 

 

"What in the hell? Nazis performing a fucking circus now?"

 

Phoenix sprinted over to the man with wolf-like reflexes. Energy coursed through his veins, the yellow enlarged fury of a true murderous fiend. And in one pounce, Phoenix soared through the man's body, coating him in bloody paste and guts. The two stilts fell down along with the Nazi's dismembered legs.

Tyler was sitting there, watching all of it, and then a Nazi snatched him by his arms. "YOU! YOU VILL SUFFER ZHE WRATH FOR NOT HELPING ZHE REICH IN BATTLE!"

Tyler attempted to stab the Nazi, and he did, through the man's right hand. "You think un KNIFE will kill me? ZHINK AGAIN!" the Nazi refuted. The Nazi jerked the knife out of the hole in his hand, and then forced Tyler to the ground. "LET US SEE HOW TOUGH YOU ARE NOW VITHOUT YOUR MESSER, VERMIN." 

The blade was dangling over Tyler's head, inching toward his throat by the hands of a Nazi. "PHOENIX!"

 

The wolf slowly turned around, gazing at the Nazi with one eye. "PHOENIX! HELP ME!" 

The wolf didn't respond nor react. But it then got on all fours, and barked at the two fighting each other. 

 

"Phoenix. You done killed too many people after that crash out of pure stupidity. Don't add one more." 

 

Phoenix dug deep within himself to head over to the site. "That's more like it." Then Phoenix pounced into the Nazi, having the two crash into the front of a truck. "I VILL NEVER BOW TO YOU! ICH LEHNE AB!" 

The wolf murmurred, "THEN I'LL KILL YOU STANDING."

 

He bonked the man's helmet off of his head, exposing the head. Phoenix clawed the man's skull open, and reached into the wound, pulling out the man's brains. With a balled fist, he crushed the brains within his hand. Phoenix turned around and faced Tyler. The fur and hair all retracted. The snout unextended back into Phoenix's face. Sharp ears rounded, and eyes blanked to white. 

Chapter IV: Dinner Bell

NEU ORLEANS

1 DAY DURING THE OUTBREAK

 

"I don't know how we got outta that," Tyler told Phoenix, lighting the fire on the rooftop. The two remained inside of the militarized zone. "But my real question is, how come you got bit but you didn't turn into one of those freaks?"

 

"I don't even wanna know how."

 

"Are you gonna stay like that for the rest of your life?"

 

"Depends. I'm on the way to the Biological Human Resource Center downtown. But with the people on the streets trying to eat each other, that's gonna be a little slow. Maybe they can find a way to get rid of everything. Ridden with Nazis or not. Speaking of Nazis, you a freedom fighter, son?"

 

"Whaddya mean?"

"You hate Nazis?"

 

"Sure, I guess. Some of my friends were taken by them, never saw them to this day."

 

Phoenix poked the fire with a twig, and put a dead crow on the fire. "Aww... Jeez, we're not eating that, are we?"

"We gotta. Nothing else to eat except for it."

 

The feathers burned in the fire. Tyler looked over to the right and noticed a silenced sniper rifle laid up against the ridge of the building. He walked over to it and picked it up, feeling the weight and wood of the rifle's body. "Don't waste the ammo on that thing." 

"I ain't."

 

Tyler looked through the scope with one eye. The scope was zoomed in a little bit. And then he noticed a man in a hooded outfit on a belltower. He had a sledgehammer in both of his hands, then slammed it into the bell's siding. DIIING! 

 

Phoenix instantly stood up, frightened by that sound. "What the hell was that?"

Tyler pointed in the direction of the belltower. "There's someone up there, just rang that bell." 

 

Phoenix reached his hand out for the sniper rifle, and received it one-handedly. Looking through the magnifying lens, he saw someone sitting on the ledge. Shamblers were surrounding the tower. "Alright. I think that guy just bought us a little time. So listen up. We're gonna leave this asshole of a mess, and we're gonna take a right up *there*, and then go down the road. You'll know what the center is when you see it." 

Tyler nodded as him and Phoenix climbed off of the building. Nazis on stilts were walking around the belltower, popping off a few shamblers with their firearms, drawing attention. "Shit, we gotta go, NOW! They're drawing them away!" 

Phoenix pulled out his motorcycle and said, "Get on!"
Tyler placed his bottom down on the back of the motorcycle, and both sped off through barricades and tanktraps. The motorcycle shifted right through the small fog, and then the two traveled toward a pair of metal doors. 

 

"Shit."

 

Phoenix and Tyler crashed through the doors and out in the middle of the street. Still on the motorcycle, they continued to the right. The stilt Nazi spotted the two riding away. "HALLO! Komm zurück und hilf mir!" 

Phoenix stopped in the middle of his journey for a few seconds. "Gimme the rifle for a second." 

"What? Why?"

 

Phoenix snatched it instead, and with one hand, he aimed it at the Nazi's knee. PEW! The bullet pierced the man's knee. "AAHAHA!" he cried, falling over on his stilts and hitting the ground with a thud. Shamblers then began to encompass his location. "NEIN! NEIN!!!! Geht weg! HILFT MIR JEMAND! BITTE!"

 

Then the screaming was silenced. "That'll shut you up." Phoenix continued before the shamblers could close in on him. He was approaching a dead body on the road, carved up by teeth marks and emptied of all of its internal organs. "Can't stop now, Phoenix." The motorcycle bolted over the head, splashing blood all over the chassis of the choppercycle. "Did you just-"

 

"I can't hear a thing you're saying, Tyler!" 

 

Phoenix was then thrown off of his motorcycle by a pale, skinny being with long claws. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?" 

Tyler and the motorcycle both dropped over and hit the ground. "AGH! MY LEG!"

Phoenix stayed put while under the restraint of the creature. "Wendigo. Heard of this thing before in scary stories. Never knew how right them people were."

 

The wendigo screamed in Phoenix's face, covering his face in saliva and spit. "TYLER!" Phoenix pleaded for help. Tyler held the rifle with both hands, flicking the scope button with his thumb and magnifying the scope. The sight outline alligned with the wendigo's head. "Bullseye!"

POW! From Phoenix's side of the fight, the wendigo's right eyeball flew out of its eye socket in pieces. The light body fell on top of Phoenix, which he removed eventually. Phoenix headed back over to Tyler, who was grasping his leg, bleeding. "This thing's got my leg!"

 

Shamblers were closing in. "I don't think we can ride through. Hold on a second! And only use your gun if you gotta!" Phoenix tugged his meat cleaver out of the loop of his belt.

Phoenix was then grappled by another shambler. It was a woman with veiny, scraped and yellow teeth. With a swing, Phoenix separated the top half of her head from the jawline of her skull. Then another one waltzed over to Phoenix, hacking and coughing. Bloated pimples and boils were around its neck. "Disgusting." Phoenix slit the man's throat, having puss drip all over Phoenix's boots. "You got my fucking boots all wet- YOU DONE FUCKED UP NOW." Phoenix kicked the shambler so hard, his foot pierced through the ribcage and ended up on the other side. Pulling it back through was a cinch, and hauled the entire ribcage through the man's chest on his foot. 

Phoenix removed the ribcage (now broken in half), and then sliced open a shambler's stomach. Guts and blood hit the pavement. And a cleaver hit and split open the woman's skull. "BITCH." 

 

More and more were approaching. "Alright we gotta go!" 

 

Phoenix lifted the motorcycle upwards, freeing Tyler. Strings of blood and flesh were dripping from the motorcycle's chassis to his leg's wound. "AAHHHHH!"

He shushed Tyler in order to prevent more from approaching. "Shut your mouth or else more will come!" Phoenix ordered Tyler, with a finger over his lips. Tyler nodded twice, attempting to stand. He failed, falling back to the ground. "Come on!" 

Phoenix wrapped his arm around Tyler's, heaving up upwards. Tyler fell onto the back seat of the motorcycle, and Phoenix mounted the vehicle again. "Let's go." The two speeded down the street. Phoenix's mask had the speed limit of 64 MPH in red font on the screen. 

Chapter V: Dead Set

 "I can't believe we made it!"

 

"We made it by a.. A freaking hair, if you would've moved out from under the choppercycle, we wouldn't be in this situation." 

Tyler's face morphed into a scowl. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. But it's not my fault."

 

30 MINUTES LATER

Phoenix and Tyler had arrived at a big white building, with a moderate amount of shamblers roaming around the front mindlessly. "Alright, let's go!" said Phoenix, inspiring Tyler to move. The two scurried into the building, ending up being put at gunpoint by a scientist with a Luger.

 

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he questioned the two. 

 

"Buddy I'm not here to hurt you, lower your weapon," Phoenix told him. 

 

A shambler hit the glass face first, chomping at the three. All three faced their attention to them, then back to the conversation at hand. "Anyways, we're here to help." 

 

"Yeah right. You're the masked terror. And putting you down might put me in the history books." Phoenix grabbed the barrel of the gun, forcing it backwards into the scientist's shoulder, and yanked it out of his hand. Now he had two shotguns. "Now you're on the end of the gun. Who are you?"

 

"I'm a scientist-"

 

"CUT THE SHIT. Gimme your name." 

 

"I'm Dr. Evan Fogarty. I work in the biological weapons division-"

Phoenix pointed the shotgun barrel closer to the man's face. "Alright, keywords: Biological Weapons. What does that mean, you make viruses into weapons?"

"No, no! We examine weaponized biological organisms."

 

"...that spread outside the boundary-"

 

"HOW ABOUT YOU LOWER THE GUN? HUH?
WE'VE BEEN HELPING OUT YOUR FUCKING COUNTRY SINCE WE WERE MADE IN 1901. 

YOU KNOW WHAT WE DID? WE HELPED FIND CURES FOR NASTY STUFF YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO GET OUT.

MEASLES. WEAPONIZED SMALLPOX. OTHER SHIT THAT COULD WIPE OUT THE WHOLE COUNTRY! 

THEY BLOCKED OFF THE EXITS TO LOUSIANA, EVEN THE WATER. WE CAN'T GET OUT UNTIL WE LIBERATE THE VIRUS."

 

Phoenix lowered his shotgun. "That's what I thought. But since you're here, you could do us all a favor." Evan lead him into the laboratory were a device stationed in the center of the room was being tinkered on. "I'm the only scientist left. Everybody else is either dead or knawing on people's knees." 

The device powered on, then powered off. "I've got everything set up. But one thing is required, I need a power source. The main power is out, but going into the power zone of the station is like committing suicide without knowing it. You're strong. If you turn it on, we can eliminate the gene within people that have conducted the virus, switching them back to normal."

 

Phoenix nodded and walked his way over to the door. "I'll be back." He headed to the power room. Evan opened the door and remarked, "Good luck!"

Phoenix headed into the dark room, and switched on a flashlight. "Can't see SHIT." Phoenix walked deeper into the place, waving his flashlight around. He passed a shelf with materials on it, several computer desks, windows of test rooms, and other items. And then he bumped into something. Aiming his flashlight at it, it was the power source. "Are you shitting me, Evan? Was it really that hard?"

He opened the panel, and pulled the circuit breaker upwards. The power came back on, and lights illuminated the hallway and room. Several shamblers were revealed to be in the room.

 

"Oh, this is gonna get bad." 

 

Phoenix watched a scientist leap off of a computer desk and hit the wall, then straighten itself up and snarl at him. "FUCK OFF." Phoenix blasted it in the face with his shotgun. Another one came out of nowhere with goggles on. Phoenix shoved it aside into a window, busting their skull open. The amount of scientists in the room was overwhelming. "SHIT!"

 

Phoenix sprinted all the way back to the central room and locked the door behind him. "YOU COULD'VE WARNED ME!"

 

"ABOUT WHAT?"

"THAT THERE WAS LIKE A FUCKING HUNDRED IN THERE- Nevermind just DO THE THING!"

 

"Right. And this MIGHT make you go into sh-"

 

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AND DO THE THING!"

 

Evan flipped the circuit breaker... And darkness for Phoenix. "Sleeping time, old man." 

Chapter VI: Freedom on the Inside

 "I'm saved from this parasite inside of me. Wasn't looking forward to becoming a wolf anytime soon. Not even sure if it would've happened again. Sure, we're cured of the virus. But we're still inside of this sinkhole of a state." 

Phoenix awakened in the laboratory. "Phoenix, wake up. You might wanna get going before some of the Nazi soldiers come and take you away." Phoenix questioned, "Tyler, you should come with me. You can help us out when we fight for freedom."

 

"I don't wanna get shot, that's the problem."

 

"You won't if you don't do anything wrong on the field. Come on, we need people like you." Tyler disagreed and stayed back. 

Phoenix walked outside and Tyler followed him, saying, “WAIT! I’ll come with you.” Phoenix nodded, with his mask giving Tyler a thumbs-up. The two headed off on the choppercycle. Driving through town, people were getting up off of the street, covered in blood, bite wounds, and etc.

The announcer systems projected, “We have cleared the virus from your bodies, Louisiana. Continue your lives normally. If you find someone affected by the virus that wasn’t cured, report it immediately.” Phoenix kept on driving by.

 

PHOENIX’S RESIDENCE

Phoenix drove into the garage, past James’ corpse. “Gonna have to sweep that outta the driveway.” Phoenix proceeded inside, where there was banging on the basement door.

“PHOENIX?”

“ANYONE?”

“HALLO!?”

Phoenix jogged over to the door while Tyler made himself at home. He unlatched and unlocked the basement door, and then Abhy, Peter, and Hans emerged from the room. Abhy hugged Phoenix removed his mask for him. “There’s my loving husband.”

The two kissed for a few seconds, and Pete said, “Whoa, who’s that on the couch?”

 

“That’s Tyler. I met him on the way to save this place from the virus. Didn’t take too long, to be honest. The scientists at the station have this…”emergency thing” that destroys the material in the body affiliated with the virus. He flipped a switch and everyone’s normal… I guess. But the weird thing is, I also got bit. But I never turned- Well, I did. But not into one of those freaks.”

 

Pete, with a confused look, questioned him, “Well.. What did you get?”

 

“I became a wolf or something. I saw someone else who had the same thing happen to them. Let’s not get into detail about that, though.”

 

“Ja. Ja. So let’s CELEBRATE who prevented us from dying. Today is for HERR PHOENIX!” Hans announced. Phoenix shrugged his shoulders and said, “Can’t argue with that.” Everybody grabbed a beer from the fridge and started drinking.

 

Minutes later, Hans walked over to Peter.

 

“Jesus… Zhat bite on your neck looks big. Reminds me of my vife.” Peter paid attention, pointing at him with a drunk facial expression. “I just had a daydream that I had SEX with your wife!”

The two started laughing and eventually hit the floor. “VAIT, VHAT?”

 

Tyler walked in on Phoenix and Abhy in their bedroom, and Phoenix said, “WHOA, HOLD YOUR HORSES COWBOY!”

Tyler walked back out and shut the door. “What did you need?”

“Where’s more beer?”

 

“It’s in the mini-fridge in the garage.”

Tyler grinned and walked into the garage. Once the mini-fridge was opened, Tyler grabbed two bottles. “Hear hear!”

And then thirty minutes later, all five of the people were outside looking at James’ remains. Phoenix, wobbling back and forth, pointed at Peter and said, “Hey… we knew this guy, right?”

Peter eyeballed him a little bit. “Nope. Never seen this guy in my life.” Phoenix searched for the ID and found his identification card. “His name is.. Uh….”

Phoenix’s vision kept zooming in and zooming out under the influence of alcohol. “It says: Waterfall… Orange…. Mustache…. James.”

 Tyler started laughing and then said, "What the hell are we even doing right now?"

An hour into the party, Peter and Tyler were having a drinking contest of shotglasses. They just finished their fifth shot. "Come on, man. I can drink more than you can drink til your face turns red."

 

"Oh yeah? Well slap my knee and do... er... SOMEthing..." 

Peter threw his shotglass across the room and hit Phoenix in the shoulder, doing nothing. Phoenix went, "Ow," squinting and smiling.

Chapter VII: Trouble on the Homefront

AFTER THE PARTY

 

Phoenix and the rest were in the living room watching television. There was a football game on the screen. Phoenix then looked closer at the screen and noticed one team was full of white people and the other was full of coloreds and jews. "Alright that's enough Football." He lifted the remote, causing Tyler to butt in, "Whoa whoa, why?" 

 

"Look at the teams; The way they're scrambled. Whites on one side and the undesirables on the other. This wasn't like this days ago." Then the television shifted to another channel, and so did everyone else in the neighborhood. Then in the whole United States on everything with a screen and broadcast. Touchscreen devices, food machines, giant television screens.

 

There was a woman at a podium, standing behind it, preparing for a speech.

"What the fuck?"

 

Phoenix mashed the channel up button, several times. The television refused to change. "Hallo, Americans. Velcome to a new order, and this goes for those in Louisiana. Ever since zhe outbreak of zhe virus specimen, we locked down zhe state. We are releasing the lockdown today. As for the rest of you, listen close, and listen hard. 

Factories here will be producing for Germany now, and only 20 percent of your precious produce in the end of the day will belong to you. We vill also be imposing several new laws:

 

Undesirables vill now vork on zhe streets, with no pay. They won't have a choice to vork, anyvays. They have un automatic device on their heads that will control them and perform a certain task.

 

Shipping to other countries will be cut off until the quota is matched.

 

And security will be upgraded. Punishments will be more swift, more just, more VIOLENT. No more of these, shall you say, "flunky" security guards and soldiers. You will find out what I mean if you try to attack one. Have a nice day."

 

Phoenix switched off the television. "Great. Just fucking great. Guess Adolf Hitler is gonna have to wait." He walked into the garage, and pulled out a large piece of paper. Peter, Tyler, and Hans followed him in there. "Herr Phoenix," Hans questioned, "Vhat are you doing?"

 

"We're gonna eliminate that bitch. What were the three things she said?" he questioned, drawing three circles with a marker. Peter thought to himself for a minute. "Undesirables were gonna work in public... Umm... Something about our country's manufacturing being cut off... And security upgrades."

 

Phoenix scribbled the three things into each category. "Alright. How are we gonna stop all of this?" Phoenix questioned. Hans proposed, "Maybe we could send un message, to start. If zhat does not vork, we go to extreme measures." Phoenix heard the television come back on. He walked back inside to go sit down, but then saw a news report of a famous Nazi celebrity. 

 

"It is said that famous German frontman of Die roten Tulpen, Gunter Fruedich, is now entering Lafayette in Louisiana for a motivational speech. He will be performing it at 8:30 in course of charity at First Lafayette Park on Monday."

 

 

Chapter VIII: Speaking Out

 LAFAYETTE, LOUSIANA

 

"Gunter Fruedich. How's he a celebrity if nobody on this Earth has been alerted to his existence. And who is Die Rotor Toolhead. Never heard of that band, never wanted to listen to their freaking music."

 

Phoenix arrived on his motorcycle without his mask on. He left it on his kickstand. "First time I'm gonna leave my favorite hunk-of-junk. Hope nobody takes it." He headed off into the park, covered with banners with swastikas on it. There were so many people attending the speech. Trucks and food vans were parked everywhere. Phoenix stopped in the middle of the crowd to examine a food vehicle. Somebody ran over to him, and grabbed him. "WE'RE STILL INFECTED!"

"THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? GET OFF ME, MAN!"

"WE'RE THE SAME!"

 

Phoenix shoved him away, and security came to grapple him. The two guards hauled him away by his arms, as he announced, "WE ARE ALL STILL INFECTED!" Then one distinctly dressed man came over to him and asked, "You alvight, sir?" 

Phoenix brushed himself off and nodded. The man analyzed Phoenix's attire with his keen eyes. The fur-lined coat, and the grey undershirt with a few scuffs and tears. "You look awfully familiar. Have I seen you before?"

"No."

The man looked around and said, "I have an offer for you, since you vere mauled by that... Insane rat. Follow me to my trailer, I'm sure you're a big fan of my vork." Phoenix then recognized him right when he said that: The German man in a yellow suit was Gunter Fruedich. Phoenix followed him through the crowd, conversating with him..

 

"You are a fan of jazz, ja?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Do you know how to play un instrument?"

 

"Guitar."

 

"Ooh. Ve could possibly use you onstage. One of mein guitarists is dealing with an alcohol problem." Phoenix shook his head right after he scoffed. "Surprised the Nazi soldiers haven't taken that guy away." 

The two arrived at a very thin trailer, with the door labeled: "FRUEDICH." Gunter opened the door for Phoenix, allowing him to walk inside. "Make yourself at home." 

The room was well cleaned, decorated with cushions and couches. Gunter shut the door and pressed a button on the wall, opening up a secret alcohol cabinet. "Vhat do you vant to drink? Killepitsch? Schwartzhog?"

 

"Nothing, really." 

 

Gunter cabinet and sat down adjacently from him on a very comfortable leather chair. "Your clothing is... Unique. Are you sure I haven't seen you before?" 

"I'm pretty sure."

 

Gunter opened a tablet in the wall, and revealed a touchscreen news application. He pulled the tablet out, and then flipped it around to show Phoenix a picture of.... Himself. As the "Masked Terror." Then Gunter unsheathed a knife and impaled Phoenix through his chest with it.

"DO YOU THINK I WOULD BE IMPRESSED AT YOUR HORRIBLE ACTING? Did you think my memory was that atrocious? I know who you are! And now that I have you pinned down, I shall call security." 

Gunter released the knife, backing away. He phoned security through a comms system on his wall, but stopped once he watched Phoenix get up, and remove the knife from his chest himself. 

 

Then Phoenix waved the knife around, examining it. "Alright, show-boy. Let's go onstage. What do you use to communicate with your bodyguards?" Phoenix asked. Gunter stood still for a second, and attempted to grab the knife. He failed, when Phoenix yanked it back. "AHT AHT AHT- You aren't getting this until you tell me."

Gunter sighed, and inserted the passcode to his suitcase. Opening it up, he revealed three sections of where earpieces were. Only one remained. "There." Phoenix snatched it and attached it to his ear. The earpiece then blinked a small bit of green. "Alright, asshole. Get on stage, and say EVERYTHING I tell you. And if I even see you talking to a security guard, I'll send you six feet under with your grandmother." Gunter groaned, then Phoenix stuck the knife underneath the overpass of Gunter's chin. "You got a problem, I can pronounce your ass dead right now."

 

Gunter walked out of his trailer with Phoenix on his trail. He stood onstage, and cleared his throat into the mic. "MHMM! May I have everybody's attention, bitte?" 

The crowd encompassed the vicinity of the stage. "The excruciatingly painful experience that we have had in the last two days, we have evolved from it. There is apparently NO sign of the Masked Terror, and I presume he was killed by someone as he probably turned into one of the freaks. BUT EXCLUDING THAT, we must suffice. Mrs. Anna Pultzei cannot be here right now. SO with that being said... Umm... Ugh... Fuck? Fuck the Nazis. Nazis are NOT in control of... This country... Anyone bowing down to them is a coward and a fool..."

 

The crowd then started booing at Gunter. Phoenix wielded his pistol and strapped on his mask. "Son of a bitch." Phoenix clicked the hammer on the pistol, and the screen on the side notified him he had 10 shots. "You got ten bullets, Phoenix. You can either kill ten people, or you can get creative." Security then approached Gunter onstage. Phoenix walked through the middle of the crowd, and every row he passed, each person knew who he was. The Masked Terror.

There were two guards ready to haul him away. Phoenix fired one shot, hitting the first guard in the throat. Then he shot the other guard in the face, with the bullet piercing his cheek in a big impact. More guards were approaching. "ACHTUNG!!" Phoenix picked up two empty folding chairs, blocking bullets as they came, one by one. Phoenix heaved himself onstage, and scooted behind the podium where Gunter was underneath. 

"Nice work!"

 

"Um... Danke schon?"

 

Phoenix pulled the hammer down and saw he had 8 bullets left. "But I can't let someone go who has seen my face." Phoenix shot Gunter in the head, and now seven bullets remain. Phoenix examined his surroundings. Wooden podium. Gunter's corpse. Guards approaching. Phoenix pulled the hammer back down, and switched ammunition types to Fragmentation. "I'm gonna send these fucks sky-high." Phoenix leaned to the right, and fired an explosive shot at three Nazis' feet. BOOM! A huge explosion left two Nazis' guts all over innocent people, blood dripping everywhere. One was left with one vertical half of his body charred. Phoenix analyzed him, and grabbed the two deceased Nazis' automatic rifles from his sides, holding both in an akimbo fashion. The Nazi heard two combat boots hit the ground, and march over to him. With his one good eye, the man focused on Phoenix slowly walking over to him. 

 

The Nazi wasn't normal, however. It was an American turned Nazi. "You... ffuuuck..." he mumbled with blood pouring out of his mouth onto the rug. "You don't sound like no Nazi. You an American, boy?" 

"What does it matter anymore.... this country needs straightening.. It's up to us to fuck up the queer... Up to us to destroy the undesirables..." The man kept turning over repeatedly, struggling in anger. "Sit still, not like you can even do shit."

 

More Nazis approached. Phoenix then changed his direction to the Nazis and fired about a quarter of a magazine from each gun on them. Both hit the ground on top of each other. 

"We were... losing the damned war... I had to do something... So I switched sides..." 

 

Phoenix nodded and noticed a badge on the Nazi's pocket, hanging there with a metal clip. He nudged it with the barrel of his left weapon. "You get that award for killing jews?" 

"I got it... for courage..." 

 

"Courage. So here's what's gonna happen: I'm gonna do something you might be scared of. And then we'll see how much that useless piece of scrap metal is worth." Phoenix stood up straight, and then stomped the man's skull into several pieces across the grass. "I just realized something. What is there even left of the military. All we are now are a bunch of bees in a hive with no queen." 

Phoenix walked down the red aisle, and strolled deep into the fair. A chef spotted Phoenix, but when the two made eye contact, the chef crouched down. All of a sudden... ZAP!

 

Phoenix was being electrocuted by a voltage source. "AAAHHHHH!" 

"Fight it. Find out who the fuck that is." While still being stunned, he turned around, and fired both rifles with the fingers cramping up. "Water's in our bodies. And it's a conductor for electricity. But it don't conduct no Nazi propaganda bullshit." Phoenix shot up a Nazi with a taser-attachment on the end of his barrel. The enemy fell to the ground on his back, crawling backwards. Then with confidence, Phoenix fired into the man's body, killing him.

 

"Put that fucker's lights out." Phoenix continued to head through the park. And then he walked over to the wooden roadblock sign from traffic safety, and kicked it out into the street. A car then swerved around it in order to maintain itself on the street. 

 

"Fuck safety. Safety's for pussies." 

 

Phoenix then walked over to his choppercycle, and gripped the handlebars. "Sorry I've been gone. Let's go home, baby." Phoenix wiggled himself out of the fur coat and continued his journey back to Neu Orleans. He removed his mask and concealed it in a leather container on the side. "I constructed this piece of metal in 1940. It was amazing how I could make a vehicle transportable. Had to work out at the gymnasium to carry it on my back, through. Put a few kinks in it, and I got myself a versatile rubber burning machine." 

 

Then on the side of the road in a small town, on the back to Neu Orleans, he rode by a woman being raped by three men. Phoenix instantly swerved around and drove back to the area which was an alley. Once he was in front of the alley way, the men had already undressed the woman, head to toe. Phoenix got off of his motorcycle and strapped on his mask, catching all three of the men's attention.

"TIKHO! TIKHO! Posmotri tuda!" one of them said. They were Russians. 

Phoenix cracked his knuckles and said in a low voice, "Let her go."

 

The three started laughing. "HAAAAA! Hahahahaha! Very funny, American, very very funny. You are "masked terror," da? You look terrifying, I no kid around. Because your outfit look like SHIT!" 

They all started laughing once again. The woman scooped up her clothes and hid behind a dumpster in the alley. The gang's leader turned around and screamed at her, "GO! RUN! YOU NO GOOD LIKE OTHER WOMEN." Then he faced Phoenix. "Listen, you masked fuck, I not sure why people are afraid of these masks. All they do is hide identity like a pussy."

 

Phoenix said, "You got 10 seconds to get the fuck outta here or this American boot's gonna kick your ass back to Moscow!" 

The three Russian men started chuckling again, but only for a shorter amount of time. "ALRIGHT, DAMBASS, DAY NAM VASH LUCHSHIY VYBOR!" 

 

 

Chapter IX: Mother Russia BLEEDS

Phoenix sprinted over to the three, and was punched in the face by one, getting knocked on the ground. "ERRGH!" 

Trying to get up, he was restrained by the other two on the ground. He attempted to lift himself up, but couldn't. "ANDREI! SHOW HIM THAT MOTHER RUSSIA BLEEDS!" 

The two stood him up by his arms, and pushed him against the brick wall to his right. "Mother Russia bleeds? Nope. It's gonna be you who bleeds." The gang leader, Andrei, socked Phoenix in the mask once. "You are BASTARDE!" 

Then again. "YOU ARE WORTHLESS AND WEAK!" 

And again. "YOU ARE TERMITE! AND I STEP ON TERMITE!"

 

Phoenix was kicked in the chest. "ARRGH!" he groaned, causing the muscles on Phoenix's arm to glow yellow. The two goons watch it in accumulating fear. "Chto, chert voz'mi, on delayet?" 

Phoenix freed himself with his enlarged strength, tearing one of the goon's hands off of his stumps. "GET BACK!" 

Phoenix looked to the goon whom he injured maliciously, and with his elbow, caved in the henchman's face with the curve. The other one backed away and pulled out a submachine gun, light enough to be held with one arm. Phoenix didn't notice, as he fought Andrei. "You may be strong, but WATCH!"

 

Andrei injected himself with a syringe of strength-enhancing steroids. "POLUCHITE NEKOTORYYE!" 

Phoenix launched a punch at him, but missed and punched his hand through a wall. Unable to yank it out, Andrei pressed the back of his heel down, and a spike extended out of the toes of his foot. "YA UB'YU TEBYA!"

Phoenix remained in place, and received a sharp kick in the side. Blood started to pour out of the wound. "NOW YOU BLEED." 

"Wrong." 

With one hand, Phoenix ripped his hand and a big block of the wall out of the wall it was in. Then Phoenix slammed the block on Andrei's head, smashing it to pieces. Andrei endured the hit, with veins pumping adrenaline and blood visibly in his forehead. Andrei picked up a brick and swung it, missing Phoenix. Phoenix uppercutted the brick out of his hand, then grabbed Andrei by his shirt and threw him into a dumpster. 

 

"HEY! AMERICAN!"

Phoenix turned around to see the last mobster, with the submachine gun. "DIE!!"

His finger cramped and fired several short controlled bursts of gunfire, 3 bullets each. The only problem was that Phoenix took the impact like it was nothing. He continuously walked through the gunfire like it was nothing, and noticed people on the street running away. Phoenix arrived in front of the goon, frightening him. A flaming skull appeared on the digital screen of his mask. Phoenix snatched the gun, removed the magazine, and tossed the gun over his left shoulder. 

 

"What you gonna do now when you ain't got no goddamned gun?" 

 

The man sprinted away. Phoenix sprinted over to the dumpster and discovered the fully dressed woman. "You alright? Pretty sure these guys ain't gonna bother you no more," he assured. Then a blue van with a Soviet Union symbol was on the hood. "MY UB'yem VAS!" 

Phoenix looked at the dumpster. "GET IN THE DUMPSTER! NOW! GO!" 

He lifted one of the lids and the woman climbed inside. The escaped henchman aimed his pistol out of the window of the van's door, firing in random directions. One bullet hit Phoenix in the arm. "GODDAMN!" 

Andrei blinked and looked at what was coming. A Russian van was approaching from the front of the alley, and took up the width of the space. "Uh oh." The van drove into the dumpster, ran over Andrei, and Phoenix flew over the hood and onto the roof. With his knife, he stabbed it through the roof to maintain stability. Bullets and gunfire flew through the roof, without hitting Phoenix. The van reached the very end of the alley, pushing the dumpster out into the middle of the street. Phoenix watched the dumpster go over the sidewalk and then crash into a store's display case. 

Phoenix removed his knife, and landed on the ground, right besides Andrei's corpse covered in rubber marks. "You don't understand. It was you who was bleeding the entire time." 

 

Phoenix pulled out his pistol and fired a shot into the back of the van, "BOOM!" 

Flames, shrapnel, and metal fragments flew everywhere. The van's chassis ran into a light pole without tipping it over. Phoenix sprinted across the street to check the dumpster. "Come on, please be alive."

The moment he opened it, the woman questioned him, "Is it over?"

 

"Yeah, you can come on out."

 

The woman jumped out of the dumpster and said to Phoenix, "I know who you are. I won't report you." Phoenix nodded and added, "Well if the police question you, make sure they know I saved your life from those... PIGS." She nodded, and went on her way. "I can't thank you enough!"

 

"Chupacabras. Vampires. Wolfmen. These monsters aren't the scariest monsters out there. It's human beings. Unpredictable, but alike, and the more you predict out of one, the more wrong you'll be when the truth is pulled out from under you."

 

Chapter X: The Powerhouse Effect

 Phoenix arrived home, and walked through the front door as he retracted his choppercycle. "Phoenix!"

Abhy ran into his arms and hugged him. Hans was behind her, standing there impatiently. "Are we ready for the next task?"

 

"I guess."

 

The group entered the garage, and unrolled a map of a factory. "Herr Phoenix, do you know what zhis is?"

 

"Looks like a manufacturing building," he said, noticing the heavy equipment and tubular technology circling the place. "Right," answered Hans, "People's products, fresh filtered water, agriculture, weaponry, people receive it in this building. They order it through a technological device in vhich zhe product is quickly created and sent to zhat person's location through zhe transportational tubes. But when you receive your quarry or package, you must put zhe box back in and send it. And that's where zhe Nazis have made un mistake.

 

And this is an all participational event. Every one of us is going to go. Ve vill use these explosives that Peter and I have created, set the timer, and send zhe box back up. Then the technology within the factory will be demolished. This vill show Pultzei that ve mean business, and that if ve can't have it, nobody can."

 

 

LARGEST MANUFACTURING FACILITY

TOPEKA, KANSAS

 

"We're in the center of death. Circle's closing in by the second until all of us are dead, and it's me still on the decimating platform. I want to reverse that process. But it's a dog-eat-dog world. The dog that's eating us, I'm gonna kill it once and for all."

 

 Phoenix arrived at a large building. It was shaped like a dome. Tyler turned the rentable vehicle off and said, "Alright, we all know the plan, right?" 

Everybody agreed, and Tyler added, "Put on your earpieces, that's when we'll signal each other. AND REMEMBER, buy ONE item, and make it CHEAP." The gang headed inside, each with a custom built explosive in their pockets. The entire factory was surrounded with kiosks with tubes running through the ceiling. "Holy hell, what is all of this?"

 

Somebody bumped into Phoenix carrying two boxes. "Sorry about that." 

"It's alright." Phoenix then continued his way to an empty kiosk, deeper into the building. He found one, with an electronic label reading: "Unoccupied." He pressed the "on" button on the screen and turned on the kiosk. The words were all in German. "GODDAMMIT." Phoenix used his comms system, "Hans, come in." 

 

"Ja? Herr Phoenix?"

 

"Yeah, it's me. Listen, you speak German- Are you at a machine?" 

 

"Now I am, ja."

 

"Okay. I don't know what the fuck this says."

 

Hans went silent for a minute. "Herr Phoenix, I do not mean to insult you, but you do know zhere is an English option on zhe device, right?" Phoenix looked around and noticed a flat button reading, "Speak English? Tap here!" 

He pressed the button and the screen turned into English. "Wow. Technology's taken over this place." Phoenix searched through the catalog. 

 

"Now what's the cheapest item I can buy..." 

 

He narrowed the search options down to a single hairpin. "Jesus Christ, this is actually on sale?"

Phoenix pressed and confirmed his purchase. He looked above at each of the tubes to watch the box come, and without noticing it, the doors slid open with a loud noise. "GAH!"

 

The box with ONE hairpin was ready for pickup. Phoenix opened the box, took the hairpin out, and then heard over the comms, "Great, everybody set the timer for 20 seconds and put it in the box. Press the red button on top when you want to set the timer off." Phoenix winded the circular explosive's round shell, as the timer went up second after second until it reached 20. Then when he placed the explosive in the box, he pressed the red button and sent the box back. 

 

"Done."

"Got it."

"Zhe box is sent."

"Sent it."

"I got it."

 

Then the six stood back from the kiosks and waited. Phoenix put his hands on his hips and then KA-BOOM! There was glass, metal, and smoke falling from the ceiling. Nazi soldiers walked around, confused. "WAS ZUR HÖLLE?" 

Phoenix and the rest headed out to the vehicle, and met up with Tyler on the way out. "Not sure how we pulled that off unscathed." 

 

"We got lucky, that's how."

 

Abhy, Peter, Phoenix, and Tyler arrived at the vehicle. Tyler inserted the key into the lock and unlocked the car. "Wait... Aren't we forgetting somebody?"

Phoenix took a head count. "DAMN! WHERE'S HANS?" 

The earpiece's audio projected dialogue: "You are under arrest for terrorism in zhe factory-" 

Phoenix walked over to the trunk and opened the secret compartment. All of Phoenix's weapons were in the styrofoam block. Phoenix pulled out his rifle and headed back inside with his mask on. Before he entered the building, he yelled, "STAY THERE!" 

 

Phoenix wandered down each aisle, being spotted by people. "HANS?" 

Then a Nazi grappled Phoenix. "GIMME YOUR FEET, BOY!" he barked at the man. Phoenix tripped the man over his knee, and grabbed him by his two boots. "NEIN! NEIN!!!!"

Phoenix started swinging him around in a 360 degree circle. "Never rode a carousel in my life. But I'm sure it would've been like this." Then at a high speed, he released the two boots and sent the Nazi flying into the ceiling. Phoenix continued and then spotted Hans a few aisles down. "Dammit, Hans." Phoenix mashed a button on the side of his rifle, and a scope popped out of a secret compartment in his weapon. Looking through the lens, the ironsight lined up with one of the Nazi's heads, belonging to one holding Hans at gunpoint. 

BANG! One shot, and the Nazi received a bullet between the eyes. The other one wrapped his arm around Hans, pressing his Luger against Hans' head.

 

"DROP YOUR VEAPON OR..I VILL SHOOT! I MEAN IT!"

 

Phoenix stopped what he was doing. "Fuck." Phoenix threw his gun forwards on the ground, and once it landed, POW! The gun fired one impact. The Nazi's knee was blow out by one bullet. "Mein Knie! Er hat mein Knie geschossen!" he said, grasping the kneecap with his soon-to-be-bloody palms. Phoenix sprinted forwards, swung his arm down to snatch his rifle, stole the rifle from the floor, and continued moving. Right in front of him, the Nazi picked up his pistol with one hand and aimed it at Hans, sprinting away. He fired two bullets, then was pounced on by Phoenix. 

Phoenix pulled out his knife, and slit his throat with a quick slice. "Piece of shit." Then there were some mechanical sounds approaching. Phoenix scooted behind a kiosk and reloaded his weapon. While he was swapping the clips, the sound of steel footsteps were getting louder, shaking the ground beneath Phoenix. "Someone's got some big old feet." 
Phoenix glanced around the corner of the kiosk, and there wasn't anything approaching. He copied the same action for the other side, and a big mechanical robot identical to a gigantic automaton of a Nazi was stomping his way. 

 

"Well well well. As I live and breathe, the motherfucking Tin Man. You're gonna look nice when I made you into a chassis from all the scrap I'll salvage off your metal ass." 

 

Phoenix inserted the clip, hearing the CH-CH sound effect from his rifle. "Great." 

Hans appeared out from behind a corner and snatched the dead Nazi's pistol. "Yo! Get back over there!" Phoenix commanded Hans. Hans scooted his way behind a kiosk, sitting still. The sound of steel was as close as it could be. Phoenix watched a big steel boot press on the concrete besides his leg. "HANS! SHOOT!" 

The two started shooting the huge creation in unison. Although, the amount of gunfire appears to have caused little impact. Phoenix looked over to Hans and said, "GET DOWN! GET DOWN!" 

The robot aimed his arm with his other arm and fired the balled fist on his hand into the concrete next to Phoenix's weapon. Phoenix pulled his weapon away as the chain retracted and excised a huge chunk of concrete from the ground. "HANS! HOW DO WE KILL THIS THING?" 

 

"I DO NOT KNOW, HERR PHOENIX!"

 

Phoenix moved over to another kiosk and leaned past the corner to examine the automaton. "Hmm..." The robot's jaw opened as it launched the huge chunk of concrete at Hans, missing, but destroying a kiosk.

 

"HERR PHOENIX! HELP!" 

 

The robot stormed over to Hans and grabbed him by one of his legs. "HELP! PLEASE! HE'S GOT ME!" 

Phoenix then looked over the Nazi's corpse on the floor. And sticking out of one of the pockets of his belt was a grenade on a wooden stick. "He's got a potato masher. Go get it." Phoenix sprinted over to the corpse, and grabbed the stick of the grenade. Then he ran over to the gigantic robot, climbing up the edges of the thing's armor. Last but not least, Phoenix shoved the grenade down the thing's mouth. "OPEN UP!"

Phoenix took cover behind a kiosk, and the entire top half of the robot exploded into pieces. Hans fell out of the thing's grasp, and hit the floor. Hans coughed three times, and noticed Phoenix's hand besides him. 

Hans accepted the offer and hauled himself up back on his feet. "Vell then, let us proceed with escaping." Phoenix nodded with a skeptical smile on his mask. The two men walked alongside each other, out in front of an entire circle of Nazis.

 

"Oh mein gott."

"Dang, that's a lot of them." 

 

All at the same time, the soldiers rose their guns that were pointing at Phoenix and Hans. The rest of the gang in the car sat there, watching the ambient silence of the circle. "Herr Phoenix?" 

"What is it Hans?"

 

"Vhat are ve going to do?"

 

"Good question." 

 

Tyler moved over into the driver's seat of the rentable vehicle, causing Abhy to ask, "Hey! What are you doing?" 

Tyler inserted the car keys and the technology of the vehicle turned on. "Saving their ass!" he answered, pressing the gearshaft's "FORWARD" button. The vehicle drove out of the parking lot, and sped behind the Nazis. Phoenix noticed over the Nazi's shoulders the oncoming vehicle driving at a high speed. "What in the FUCK?"

 

BLAM! Nazis were ran over, and sent flying over the hood and towards the two. Only two Nazis remained. One of them aimed their weapon at the window on Tyler's door, and shot Tyler a few times. 

 

"SHIT! TYLER, HOLD ON!" 

 

Phoenix ran over to the Nazi, and tapped him on the shoulder. Once he caught his attention, Phoenix flicked the man's helmet off and slammed the man's skull into the side of the vehicle. Hans on the other hand was shooting up the other Nazi with all of the ammunition in the one clip he had. Then with the grip of his pistol, Hans beat in the Nazi's face into a cave-in of blood, teeth, and bone. 

 

"FOR FUCK'S SAKE HANS, COME ON!"

 

Phoenix snagged Hans by his shoulder and dragged him towards the car. Once Hans entered the vehicle, he heard Nazi footsteps approaching, and he said, "Alright I know you're there, so you might as well turn your ass around and go home." Then the foosteps faded away. "That's better."

Chapter XI: Loose

 Peter drove the vehicle back onto the road, while Abhy was in the back nuturing Tyler's wounds. Phoenix looked over his seat and said, "Tyler, what you did was fucking stupid! We could have gotten outta that another way!" 

Tyler bent his head up a little bit and said, "LOOK, I'M SORRY- I JUST WANTED TO HELP." Abhy pushed his head back down and kept nuturing.

 

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C…

 

Anna Pultzei settled in her office, covered in Nazi propaganda. Essentially everything represented the Nazi movement. Her husband enter the room, shutting the wooden door behind himself with a loud thud.

“You know, Franz, the commercial center for marketing in Topeka was destroyed recently today by the Masked Terror.”

 

“Ja, und vhat do you vant me to do about it?

 

“Vell vhy vould anyone want to destroy a marketing place? What bad could a building do? This anarchist must be stopped immediately. So I vant you to manage your undesirable control mechanism more closely, just in case zhe Masked Terror arrives there.”

 

Franz nodded and said, “Do not vorry, mein love. Ve vill take zhis terrorist down.” Pultzei lit a cigar and said, “Gut. Gut.”

 

SOUTH CAROLINA

 

“Now time to take down this mind control crap. I’m sick of seeing helpless people on the streets with big old pieces of metal on their heads, forced to do things they don’t wanna do. Franz Pultzei. He’s in control of that stuff. And I will make his ass pay as well as destroy his stuff.”

There was a central machine surrounded with a fence and some watchtowers. Phoenix arrived on his choppercycle, parked on the side of the road, and then retracted his choppercycle. As he walked through the fence, guards recognized him on the dot. "MASKED TERROR! ALARM!" 

Phoenix punched his fist through one of the guards' chests, stealing their heart, and then squeezing the blood out of it. Then with his boot, he raised it up to the other guard's face and pulled the string, puncturing several metal spikes into the man's skull. Phoenix removed both his fist and his boot.

 

"Stupidest bunch of guards I've ever seen." Phoenix waltzed right in. Meanwhile, Franz looked on the surveillance cameras and spotted Phoenix. "Vell vell vell... WIR MÜSSEN AUSSERHALB ALLE GARANTIEN BENÖTIGEN, unser ungebetener Gast ist da! Töte ihn auf Anhieb!" 

 

All of Franz's men said, "JAWOHL!"

 

They all marched out of the room. But then Franz stopped one when he said, "WEICROFT! Kommen Sie für eine Sekunde her." The soldier turned around and reentered the room. Franz held up a bear trap by its chain, and said, "Set zhis up. It will serve as a... 'Good welcome mat.'"

 

Phoenix continued his way into the building. Most of the building's hallways were tight with about a few feet of space apart from each wall. He pulled out his pistol, and said, "Armor piercing." The ammunition type switched. Phoenix overheard footsteps approaching his direction. "Come and get some!"

 

The first Nazi looked around the corner, and once he spotted Phoenix, he started firing. Phoenix shot the man through his helmet, and kept moving. He stopped for a second before he turned the corner. Phoenix looked down and stole the man's rifle. It was a Sturmgewehr. Wooden stock. Rest of it was electronic.

"Nobody's got time for a half-ass." Phoenix pointed the rifle around the corner and sprayed fire in random directions without seeing where. Bullet casings hit the ground as much as Nazis. The moment he spun around the corner, he saw three Nazis on the ground, aching and moaning in pain. Phoenix knocked one's helmet off, and then stomped the man's skull in with his boot. "One bitch."

Phoenix did the same thing with the second one. Blood and brains covered his boot. "Two bitch."

Phoenix reached the third one, and the man pulled out a hand grenade. "AUF WIEDERSEHEN, ARSCHLOCH!" 

 

"RUN." Phoenix sprinted away from the explosion radius and concealed himself behind the corner again. The hand grenade exploded, coating the suicidal soldier and the rest in fire and the explosion's radius. Phoenix proceeded to move through the smoke. He then noticed a room. Phoenix wafted the smoke out of his face and it revealed the label: "ARMORY." 

 

"Candy store for adults. Except everything's free for the taking." Phoenix twisted the knob, and figured out it was locked. "Shit." Phoenix kicked the door in and intruded the armory, where a soldier was sitting in a chair asleep with headphones on. "HALLO! ZIMMERMANN!" 

Phoenix pulled out his knife, while under a surveillance camera's eye view. "ZIMMERMANN! WAKE UP!" 

It was too late. Phoenix stabbed the man through the back of his mouth, and quickly removed the knife. "Errr...! NEIN! AMERICAN! YOU LISTEN TO ME, AND YOU LISTEN VELL. COME INTO MY OFFICE, AND YOU VILL BE DEAD LIKE ALL OF MEIN WEAK MEN!"

 

"Yeah yeah, just keep talking, sauerkraut!" 

 

"VHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"

 

"SAUERKRAUT."

 

Phoenix was shot repeatedly in the back. Before he died, he turned around and looked at his killer. An anonymous soldier in a black outfit. "Been a while since I fucked up. So much pain in one spot. I can barely move. I feel like a crippled man. But not anymore." The electrocution vest revived Phoenix from the dead and electrocuted the soldier. 

 

Franz squinted at the security screen. "Vhat in zhe FUCK?"

 

Phoenix stood up, as the lead of the bullets started falling out of the wounds on his back, and they regenerated with flesh. The soldier was firing his gun in random directions as he watched Phoenix stroll over to him. "Beats the hell out of dying, doesn't it?" 

Phoenix pointed his pistol near the man's forehead, and fired. One bullet straight through his head and skull and brain. "HOW DID YOU DO ZHAT? YOU CANNOT- AAAARGHHH!" 

 

Phoenix then looked up at the camera and destroyed it with a gunshot. While he was still in the armory, he looked around at all of the weaponry lockers. "That's a lotta firepower." He walked by several lockers. Then one caught his eyesight the most. A huge revolver pistol. Stainless steel. Golden writing on it. Phoenix broke the padlock and opened the case. "Heh heh heh...." Phoenix stuffed it in his belt pocket and continued to Franz's location. Franz noticed Phoenix was near the hallway leading to his room.

"Sieg fertig machen..."

Phoenix busted the door open, aiming his new weapon, and then the bear trap snapped down on his foot. "AAHHH! MY FREAKING FOOT!" Phoenix squealed.

 

Then a soldier came out of a corner and put an electronic dog collar around his neck. "Get- GET THIS OFF ME." Franz stood up from his chair and mashed the red button on a remote control. All of a sudden, a huge surge of electricity soared through Phoenix's veins.

 

"AAAHHHHH!"

 

Franz removed his thumb and then slowly walked over to Phoenix to taunt him. "Vell vell vell.. You are ein idiot for coming here and not picturing anything happening to your PRECIOUS SOUL. Now you may learn zhe truth." 

 

"You ain't gonna do NOTHING."

 

Franz laughed and said, "Oh ja? THEN VHAT IS THIS-" 

He mashed the button once more, and electrocuted Phoenix to the point where he was experiencing hallucinations and flashbacks. "GAAAAAAAARRGH!" Phoenix screamed in excruciating pain. He then saw a hallucination of Stanley. He wasn't doing anything, but then he crouched down besides Phoenix and said, "Hey there buddy, how's it been?"

Phoenix only looked at him, as opening his mouth would make it even more painful. "I see you got yourself in a bit of a uh.... 'Pickle,' wouldn't you agree?" he taunted him, zooming in closer with his body to examine the pain and frustration he was suffering. 

"I bet you're thinking: Whose side am I on? Lemme answer that for you: Nobody's. Sure I was on yours when I was alive, but now that I'm dead, all I can do is threaten you into un-fucking yourself and getting your ass in gear. So when I disappear from this horrendous imagination of your's, I want you to GET UP. And go kill that guy with the remote. Got it? Good." 

 

Phoenix's mask displayed a retro-style scowl on its screen. Phoenix then fought through the pain, and ripped the bear trap open with his bare hands. The soldier struggled to pull out his pistol. "SCHISSE!"

Phoenix ripped the collar off of his neck and threw it at Franz. After that, Phoenix unleashed his inner darkness on the assistant soldier, grabbing him by his collar and choking him against the wall. Franz dug around in his desk for a weapon. "Come on.. COME ON!"

Then he found a golden Luger. "AHA!" 

 

Right when Franz discovered the weapon and had it in his hands, Phoenix had the soldier with his neck snapped, and used him as a human shield. Franz aimed for Phoenix's head, and missed, blowing off a piece of the soldier's cheek. "YOU MONGREL!" 

Franz unloaded his weapon on the corpse in random areas. One of the shots hit Phoenix in his shoulder. "MRRGH!" 

 

Franz checked the clip in his weapon. Only one bullet remained, as indicated by the miniscule screen with a "1" on it. Then when he paid attention to Phoenix approaching with rage and vengeance, Franz stuck the gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. A splatter of blood and brains flew onto the wall behind him.

 

"How's that gunpowder taste? Bet it tastes like the bitter and hard world you've created." Phoenix identified the door behind the chair. It lead into the mind control machine room. "Huh." Phoenix searched Franz's body for the keys, and all of a sudden, Phoenix watched Franz's head turn all the way around and laugh at him. "GAH WHAT THE FUCK?"

 

But in reality, the corpse never came alive. Phoenix was already holding the keys in his hand. "Franz, you stay dead. That's the best favor you can do me, you Nazi bastard." Phoenix unlocked the door and headed inside. The machine was left isolated. And in front of it, lied a machine. A machine with a screen, a keyboard, mouse, and other technological devices. Phoenix walked over to the desktop and then stopped himself. "Nah, I should just destroy it."

 

Then he shook his head. "Nevermind, I should actually TRY to do this." He clicked the mouse and the screen was covered in German language. "Alright scratch that, my way it is." 

Phoenix walked around the contraption. There was moving hydraulics, electricity soaring through transparently tubular pipes, and then one openable compartment. Phoenix felt the handle sticking out, and yanked out a slot. "Please insert a data packet," spoke the machine. Phoenix pulled out a spare hand grenade, pulled the pin, and then shoved it in, sending the slide back inside. Phoenix left the room, walking away casually. BOOM! Pieces of metal and electric parts flew everywhere. Phoenix ventured outside of the facility and looked around. Undesirables were pulling machinery off of their heads. 

 

"I'M FREE! OH MY GOD! i CAN'T BELIEVE IT!"

"THANK. THE. LORD!"

"¡Soy libre!"

 

Phoenix was then hugged by a jewish woman and asked him, "Did you do that, Masked Terror?" 

He looked both ways and nodded to her. The woman then continued to hug him. The alarm system turned on and an announcer informed South Carolina: "ATTENTION, ALL RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND SPECIFICALLY SOUTH CAROLINA. ALL UNDESIRABLES HAVE BEEN RELEASED DUE TO AN UNEXPECTED DISTURBANCE. PLEASE REPORT ALL UNDESIRABLES RUNNING AMUCK TO POLICE OR NAZI SOLDIERS. THANK YOU. ACHTUNG, ALLE WOHNER DER VEREINIGTEN STAATEN UND INSBESONDERE SÜD-CAROLINA. ALLE UNDESIRABLES SIND AUFGRUND EINER UNERWARTETEN STÖRUNG FREIGEGEBEN. BITTE BERICHTIGEN SIE ALLE UNDESIRABLES, DIE AM POLIZEI ODER NAZI SOLDATEN LAUFEN DANKE DIR."

 

"Keep talking moron, that's all your good for." 

Chapter XII: The End of the Beginning

"An offer to kill a special Nazi? That's an offer I cannot refuse. Anna Pultzei is a criminal mastermind, but she thinks she's the good guy. Heh, that's a funny joke. But all jokes have an end. And this one is hers. Delivered on a silver platter. Garnished with the remains of her Nazi friends. Served with the big red white and blue fury of this nation. Let's do this."

 

Weißes Haus, WASHINGTON D.C

 

Phoenix arrived on his motorcycle, and retracted it. He stood in front of the White House, and examined what it once was. People on the streets recognized him and had shocked facial expressions. Phoenix turned around to face the crowd. 

"ALRIGHT. YEAH, I'M THE BAD GUY. BUT LEMME ASK YOU ALL THIS: DOES THE BAD GUY TRY AND HELP HIS FELLOW CITIZENS, EVEN IF THEY ARE DIFFERENT?" 

Everybody stopped panicking to ponder his dialogue.

"IS THE BAD GUY THE PERSON WHO MAKES SACRIFICES INCLUDING HIMSELF AND OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES FOR THE GREATER GOOD? ARE BAD GUYS ALL BAD? NO. I'M NOT. I HAVE A GOOD SIDE. EVERYBODY HAS A GOOD AND BAD SIDE, WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT. I'M HERE TO DECLARE YOUR FREEDOM. I'M HERE TO TELL YOU ALL YOU'VE BEEN BRAINWASHED BY THESE PUNK-ASS, RACIST PLEBIAN... GODDAMNED COWARDOUS TRAITORS! Now let me do what has to be DONE."

 

Phoenix transformed the handlebars into the choppercycle and proceeded with his mission. Phoenix drove through the White House gates and entered the property. He swerved around the fountain outside, and drove up the steps, rocking up and down and up and down. After all of those obstacles, one last one: The two front doors. Phoenix crashed through them. At this point, they're not even doors, they're wooden debris. Phoenix fell off his vehicle while retracting it at the same time. 

White House security with bigger armor appeared out in the hallways. "Let's do this." Phoenix pulled the slide back on his cyberpistole and fired one bullet at one of the guards, killing them with a shot to the throat. Then he did the same with the other one besides him, shooting him through the cheeks. A bigger, more armed soldier busted out of a room and shoved aside a more lower ranked soldier.

"MASKED TERROR!"

 

Phoenix identified the man's weapon as an automatic shotgun. "Oh, SHIT!" 

The Nazi started firing, popping pieces off of the wall and surrounding objects. The head of a bust was destroyed, and turned into stone pieces. Phoenix took cover behind a piece of furniture. One slug hit Phoenix in his back. "AAAH!" 

Phoenix pulled out his shotgun and held it with his other hand. "YOU BETTER GET READY, BITCH!" 

 

Phoenix bolted out from cover, firing both weapons in his hands, hitting the supersoldier from all over. Once he was in punching range, Phoenix kicked the man backwards while stealing his shotgun. "You ain't gonna need this no more!"

Phoenix threw it aside, and then shoved his knife into a weakspot in the man's armor. "HOW DOES IT FEEL? The pain and suffering in your neck? You deserved it, well and fair." Phoenix yanked the knife out, getting blood all over his clothes. The two mediocre Nazis reappeared, firing in short controlled bursts. "This guys are plebians. No need for guns. All the guns you need are in your hands." 

 

Phoenix dropped his guns and sprinted into the two, knocking them down like a bowling ball hitting pins. As they were down on the ground, one decided to fire directly in Phoenix's direction. He stole a bust off of a placement statue and threw it into the line of fire as a bullet pincushion. He then pressed his foot against the one missing his weapon, and snapped his neck four times in a circle. Then he removed his skull from his neck, swinging it like a lasso. Phoenix slammed the skull-on-a-spine onto the other Nazi's helmet, blinding his vision. "AHHH! ACHTUNG!"

 

Phoenix sat on the man's chest, slamming his head down repeatedly on the floor to crack his skull open. A pool of blood started staining the red carpet. Letting the corpse go, he started going upstairs. Two guards with a battering ram knocked Phoenix into the wall, cratering him. "MMMRGH!"

 

The veins on his muscles started glowing.

"You still got it old man."

Then the muscles themselves glowed yellow.

"Take all your anger out on the enemy."

Phoenix's mask had a boxing ring's bell being rung on it. A ding-ding! sound effect echoed through Phoenix's ears.

"All I gotta say is:"

 

"WANNA FIGHT?"

 

Phoenix bent the battering ram into an arch-shaped object, then slammed a Nazi's head deep down into his chest. Blood squirted out of the ridges of the crater. The other Nazi stopped panicking, and then held two fists up, British style. "PUT UP YOUR FISTS, DUMMKOPF!"

Phoenix shook his head, and leaned forwards in on the Nazi, shaking in his boots. Phoenix simply said, "BOO!"

 

The Nazi sprinted away in fear, yelling, "AAAAAAHHHH!"

 

 

 Phoenix arrived upstairs, right when a tank arrived. The general outside managing it, commanded, "He's on the..." He checked the surveillance cameras. "...SECOND FLOOR. FIRE UP THERE!" 

Phoenix traversed the hall, and an explosion blowing open the left wall sent him into the right one. "Ugh.... My head..." 

He then corrected himself, stepped off of the crater, and proceeded to the main office. Phoenix sprinted through the lobby and arrived at Anna Pultzei's office. "Moment of truth."

 

Phoenix kicked the doors open. Anna Pultzei had a pistol, firing at Phoenix. All Phoenix did was continue to walk casually through gunfire until her magazine was empty. "Lady, are you kidding me? Is that really all you got to try to kill me?"

On the desk were a cactus plant, a small knife, and a copy of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf." Phoenix grabbed the potted cactus and shoved the thick spiny pricks into her skull. 

 

"Feel that? The spikes in your brain. Bet they itch, don't they? But you just can't scratch it. That's how we all feel after you assholes came. Feels like bugs under your skin, huh? While we were lying in the mud, you all came to taunt us so. Well guess what? We're all out of it." Then Phoenix grabbed the knife and stabbed her in her stomach. He started twisting it around. "AAAH!"

 

 

"WHAT'S WRONG? WHAT'S THAT I HEAR FROM A HIGH LEVEL NAZI- CRYING LIKE A FIVE YEAR OLD? YOU SHOULD'VE SAW THIS COMING, IF THE PROPAGANDA CROWD DON'T KILL YOU, SOMEONE WAS GONNA. And I filled that spot." 

 

Phoenix grabbed the copy of "Mein Kampf" and smacked her in the side of the head with it. Anna landed on the floor, groaning and trying to crawl away. Phoenix's mask displayed a series of things: A mushroom cloud from an explosion, a steam train's rain gauge going off the limit, and a thermometer breaking. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?" 

Phoenix kicked the cactus plant out of the wounds on Anna's head, and slammed the book as hard as he could into her head.

 

"Anna Pultzei and her husband are now dead. Mission accomplished. After this, the Fuhrer's next. Pretty sure the whole country's looking for me. I leave plenty of evidence, none of it tracing back to me. Phoenix Leopard is never gonna be heard of again. And I've always got a way out." 

 

Phoenix finished turning Pultzei's skull into a pancake, and fell on his bottom. "Well... Time to fight the crowd."

 

 

Chapter XIII: The Day The Leopard Ran

 PHOENIX'S RESIDENCE

 

Phoenix arrived home, all covered in blood, and retracted his choppercycle. "Gonna miss this place the most." Phoenix entered the house where everybody was doing their usual jobs. Then Tyler noticed Phoenix walk in. "Guys, the big man's back!" 

He approached Phoenix and asked him, "So, Pultzei's dead?"

"You bet."

 

He laughed and did a fist-pump. "Now we're on to Hitler, right?"

 

Phoenix stopped him there. "Actually... That's what I wanted to talk about.. Ummm... Could I talk to you all as a group?" 

 

Abhy sprinted over to Phoenix and wrapped her arms around Phoenix, just to hug him for about a few seconds. Everybody sat down in the living room, where Phoenix was about to break the news. "So... Pultzei's dead. Adolf's gonna need a replacement, but that's where we stop that. I'm gonna kill Adolf once and for all-"

Everybody cheered, then Phoenix said, "STOP! STOP! This isn't all good news..." Phoenix ordered. Peter threw his hands up, and murmurred, "Well... Spit it out, what's the bad news?"

Phoenix sighed, placing his hands on his face to cover them for a split second. And once he removed them, he revealed the terrible truth:

 

"None of you are coming with me."

 

Nobody said anything. Hans discontinued fiddling with his robotic leg and paid attention. "...Vhat? Vhy not?" 

"Hans, the whole city and the rest of the United States are lookin' for me. I can't act like a citizen anymore, everybody sees me as this innuendo, a masked man who I don't wanna be. But I am anyways. If you all come with me, you might as well be killed on sight. They'll kill accomplices too. You all stay here... Make a life out of it... Forget I ever existed. But don't forget that I was the one who killed the mad man who started all this. And if you don't get it by now, I'm going on a mission to kill Hitler and get myself killed. And if that don't work, I might as well just be killing more Nazis EVERY SINGLE DAY. I'm heading off today. There's no time to screw around. Hitler's gotta be stopped, and apparently I'm the only man who's gonna do this shit. Go ahead, say your goodbyes. They might be your last. I'm sorry, but it's gotta be this way."

 

Peter pointed his finger up in the air. "Well hold on, I got something for ya!" he excitedly added in, heading to the garage. When he reentered, he brought three things inside with him. "Put these on your wrists." Phoenix slapped all three things on his arms. "So these two that look the same- These are beam-blades, made them myself while you were gone. Press that green button and it extends the blade, and this thing can cut through EVERY thing that isn't hard as bedrock or the Earth's core... Not like I tried it on that. And the second thing is a weapon duplicator. Press it, and it spawns a weapon out of quickly materialized resources that is an exact replica of the one you have in your right hand. Pretty useful."

 

Phoenix pressed the green button, and a huge blade with a heated beam along the edges stuck out. "Holy shit, this thing's cool!" he said, rotating it and examining the heat radiating off of it. Peter also put an earpiece on Phoenix's ear. "This won't be our last goodbye. We'll communicate with you frequently, if you need it." 

 

Phoenix nodded, as him and everybody else headed outside. Tyler offered Phoenix a handshake. With his right hand, he grabbed the palm of Tyler's hand and shook it with a great grasp. "You're brave. You're kind. Tyler, don't change man. And don't go too over your head." Tyler chuckled and said, "Trust me, I learned from my mistake." Phoenix looked at all of the bandages on Tyler's bare-naked chest. Bloody spots and coagulated blood circles left a vivid set of marks.

 

Then Hans walked over to him and hugged him. When the two separated, Hans gave him a badge. "I made it from spare tools. It is un swastika, crossed out." Made from gold, the symbol was a swastika with a cross-out symbol over it. Phoenix attached it to his shirt. "Thanks, man." Hans saluted him and said, "HEIL PHOENIX!"

 

Everybody else did the same and said, "HEIL PHOENIX!"

 

Peter walked over to him and patted Phoenix on the shoulder. "You don't waste them things, you hear? Made them just for you, and the blades were made to melt Nazi faces." He nodded to Peter. "Farewell, Phoenix. You were like family to me, man. Don't forget about me and all the good times we had."

Phoenix nodded and said, "Those were the best moments. I can't let go of those." Peter laughed and said, "Do what you gotta do." 

 

Abhy was last, and she was crying her eyes out in rivers of tears. "Phoenix... Please... Don't leave... We can live in this world..." 

Phoenix shook his head and said, "No. Everybody in America deserves better. That's what they're gonna get. I'm sorry, Abhy, but this is something I gotta do." Abhy sniffled, and then hugged Phoenix. "Please... Don't leave me..." 

Phoenix's mask displayed a crying face, as he was also crying. "I know, baby, I know." The two spent the next two minutes hugging each other, and gave one last kiss on the lips before Phoenix departed on his choppercycle.

 

 "What've I done? I've killed so many Nazis, probably left so many children up to be adopted now that they ain't got no parents. And now what? More death and destruction and mayhem? Probably. The United States deserves a free government, free nation, free land. I hope I get my mission done. Now let's do this shit." 

 

CREATED, AND WRITTEN BY TAI GOODMAN

 

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 13.02.2019

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