Fangs of a Zaber

[Crimson]

Chapter 7 – The Truth Behind the Cat

The team returned to Naomi’s place after their victory over the Desert Wolves. Soon after they got back they unloaded the Zoids and stationed them in their respective holding places. Jason examined the damage done to the Sniper Tail on Naomi’s Gun Sniper.

“He hit it right on the joint of the tail. This will take some extensive work to get done. Brad I am going to need some help on this, you mind?”

“No, it is no problem. I will require payment for my services though.” Brad said winking towards Jason.

“Fine, whatever, we just have to get this fixed. I will be right back; I am going to make a phone call.” Jason said as he left the hanger. Jason ran up to his room and called up one of his friends in hopes of getting some assistance on his repair.

“Hello?” The voice on the other end said.

“Hey man this is Jason; I was wondering do you have any Sniper Tails for Gun Snipers available?”

“Jason?! I heard you joined up with the Fleugel Team.”

“Yea, that is why I need this tail. Naomi got hers busted in the last battle, and we need a replacement.” Jason told the voice.

“Oh ok, let me go check to see if I have one.” The man said as he left to check his inventory. He returned shortly after leaving and told Jason what he found. “I looked and we do not have any Gun Sniper tails, but I do have a Sniper tail from a Snipe Master sitting around. Will that work?”

“Wow, a Snipe Master. Yea, that will work. Be sure to include reinforcements to the toe locks for the Gun Sniper. I know the power of the Sniper Rifle is greatly improved, this will help.”

“Alright, I will be right on it. We can talk details of payment later. Need anything else?”

“Yea, bring the crane with you, need a way to get the Tail onto the Zoid.”

“Alrighty, see you soon.” With that, they hung up.

Jason made his way back to the hanger and told everyone else that the replacement tail will be coming in shortly. Naomi looked pleasantly surprised and gave Jason a big hug. The tail came in about ten minutes after Jason got his congratulations from everyone. The truck rolled up with the tail on the back. Jason and Brad directed the truck into the hanger and Naomi questioned Jason.

“Umm…that isn’t a Gun Sniper Tail.”

“I know, it is Snipe Master Tail. That is why I also got you the improved toe locks so the increased power won’t knock you back so far.” Jason told her as he and Brad prepared the crane to raise the tail to the back of the Gun Sniper.

Naomi simply said ‘okay’ and left the hanger for them to their job. Rachel hung around because there was something she had to ask Jason. She was up on the crane with Brad and Jason, making this easier to pull off. The drilling, banging, and hammering echoed throughout the hanger as Brad and Jason began to work on the new tail

Rachel waited until Jason and Brad were a good ways underway with the repair before she got permission to ask her question. “Jason, I have a question to ask you.” Rachel anxiously said. Jason kept drilling bots into place and gave Rachel the nod to continue.

“How did you get to where you are? I mean, like, you were a loner before getting here. No one just becomes a loner; usually something bad happens for them to become a loner.” Rachel asked.

Jason was a little surprised by the question, but obliged. “Oh, that is a really long story. I will give you the short version of it. Is that okay?”

“Yes, that is fine. Start when you are ready.”

Jason put the tools down, and sat up looking at Rachel. Jason got a stern look on his face. Do you remember when you walked in on me having that bad dream?”

“Yes, what about it?”

”Well, that bad dream was essentially what happened to my parents. They’re both scientists and they were working on a way to improve the capabilities of a Zoid, but things went haywire and their laboratory blew up. This happened about five years ago when I was 17. The fire from the laboratory spread over to the house, since it was connected, much like this hanger and Naomi’s house. So the fire spread over into the house and set the house ablaze. My brother and I were sleeping. They came in and got me up, and got me out of the house. They tried to get to my brother out of the house, but the door was locked. By this time the firefighters were there and broke through his window and a firefighter picked him up and started to descend down the ladder. Before they could make it down the ladder, the rest of the house exploded.” Jason said. Jason had a tear accumulate around his eye. It was clear that this hurt Jason to the core.

“Oh my God, that is terrible. Did he survive?”

“We have doubted that. None of the firefighters made it, and when we came back the next day, his body was not found. So that is when I set out to find him. Five years and still no success.”

“That is just terrible, I hope you do find him, but until then we hope you enjoy your time here on the team.” Rachel said in attempt to reassure Jason.

“Thank you, now I must get back to work on this Tail.” Jason said as he wiped the tear and got back to work.

The work on the new Sniper Tail on the Gun Sniper was nearly done when Naomi called Jason up to the command center. Jason climbed down off the crane and met up with everyone else. Brad left the hanger a bit before Jason so he was already there.

“Jason I called you up here to tell you that we have a battle scheduled for tomorrow. It is against Jack Cisco and the Tasker sisters, the Lightning Team.” Naomi told Jason.

“Oh ok, that is cool. Everything should be done by tomorrow for the battle. It is almost done now all I have to do is install the new toe locks.”

“Alright, that is all I wanted to know. Is there anyway you can finish it tonight so I can test it tomorrow?”

“Yea, I will have it done for you tonight.” Jason said as he grabbed a snack and prepared to head back to the hanger. “I am going to finish things up now. Brad, if you are tired I can finish things myself.”

“Yea, I am calling it a night, catch ya’ll in the morning.”

Brad, Rachel, and Naomi turned it in for the night and Jason went back to the hanger to finish installing the toe locks onto the Gun Sniper. It took Jason nearly an hour and a half to replace the two old toe locks with the new ones. After finishing his work, Jason went up to his room, took a quick shower and went to sleep.

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“Good move sir, good move.” Said a man who was watching video footage of Jason’s previous Zoid battles. “I never expected you to be this good.”

The man was watching intently on the videos he was watching looking for any pattern to Jason’s attacks.

“I have been waiting a long time to get my crack at you, searching this planet up and down, and back and forth looking for your ass. I finally found you. You made a big mistake joining up with the Fleugel Team. Your face has been plastered all over the media, giving me the chance I needed to track you down.”

As the man sat at his desk, another man walked in and began to talk to him. “Keith, I have good news for you. It seems the Fleugel Team has a battle tomorrow against the Lightning Team.” The other man said.
“Thanks a lot Michael that really made my night so much better.”

“No problem, I am heading off to bed now.” Said the man as he left Keith’s room.

“Haha, tomorrow eh? Tomorrow will be your day of reckoning Jason.”

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Jason woke up next morning to the sound of gunfire. It kind of bothered him because he was sound asleep.

“Heh, Naomi must be testing the new Tail and toe locks.”

Jason rolled out of bed, used the bathroom, put on his clothes, and went outside to where Naomi was. Naomi noticed Jason outside and got out of her newly improved Gun Sniper. She ran over to Jason and gave him a massive hug.

“Thank you so much, the new Sniper Tail is so much better than the old one.”

“It was no problem really; least I could do for giving me a chance on your team.”

“I owe you a big one Jason, at least let me repay you.”

“Repay me when you see fit, but I am good right now.”

“Okay, sounds good, let’s head on up. It is almost time for our battle.”

Jason and Naomi went up the command center and found Brad and Rachel sitting there. Naomi gave Brad a kiss for his help on the Sniper Tail and Rachel whispered in Jason’s ear was he okay after revealing a lot of himself to her. Jason simply nodded and sat down at the table. They discussed battle strategy for the Lightning Team battle. They agreed to implore the same strategy they did against the Desert Wolves since that seemed to work best. After the team meeting, they went to the hanger and loaded their Zoids onto the Transport and left for the battlefield.

The battle was scheduled to take place in an abandoned city near the border of the desert. The Transport arrived a little bit before the Lightning Team did. This gave Naomi enough time to get a good sniping post to prepare for battle. The judge came down soon after we got there.

“The area in a ten mile radius is a designated Zoid battle area. All unauthorized vehicles and others must leave the battlefield. I repeat, all unauthorized vehicles and others must leave the battlefield. Area scanned, battlefield setup, the Fleugel Team vs. the Lightning Team. Battle mode 0982. Readyyy…FIGHT!”

“Alright girls, let’s ge…agh!” Jack said before getting shot.

“JACK! AHH!” Both of the Tasker sisters said before they got shot as well. The shear power of the blast caused a great booming sound to ring through the ears of everyone in the immediate area.

“Warning, unauthorized Zoid has entered the battlefield. I repeat, an unauthorized Zoid has entered the battlefield. You must leave now, or expect dire consequ…Ahh. Bzzt, must…leave…bzzt…bztt…bzzt…field.” The judge bot was rendered useless by the mysterious Zoid.

“Who the hell did that?!” Jason yelled out, searching for the culprit.

Jason turned to see a black Zoid coming from over the horizon. The Zoid was a spectacle to behold. Its black armor glimmered in the sun that was beginning to set. Its piercing blue eyes looked as though it was ready to kill any pray that came its way. The Zoid kept approaching and as it got closer it became easier to distinguish what the Zoid really was.

“Wow, it is a Konig Wolf. That is a very rare Zoid.” Brad stated as the black enigma became a tangible object.

The Konig Wolf, the rare Wolf Zoid that was, like the Liger Zero, directly based off a wild Zoid type. It is equipped with Double Barreled Multi-discharger, which was the weapon used to disable the Lightning Team and the judge bot. The DBM-d was a shotgun based weapon which shot a spread of bullets at the opponent. It has an impressive array of melee capabilities that give the Konig a definite edge in close ranged combat.

The Konig Wolf approached Brad and Jason and stood there, waiting. Jason was brimming with anger because the pilot of this Zoid just ruined their battle, and Jason took a great offense to that.

“Hey, bastard, just who the hell do you think you are interrupting the battle like that?”

“Haha, well isn’t this a pleasant surprise. Looks like my people were right when they said you were fighting the Lightning Team today. They sure fell easily didn’t they?” The man said mocking the Lightning Team.

“AHH, shut up! I don’t care who you are anymore, your ass is mine!” Jason said, overflowing with ferocity.

“Why, that isn’t the way to say hello to your brother now is it?”