Chapter 9 - Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

The wizards Sabian and Venger stare into Sabian's scrying pool, watching the cyberbandits defeat at the hands of Sabian's stepdaughter and her friends. Sabian's eyes glow red in fury as he sees the relative ease with which these children had bested such powerful adversaries. He looks over at Venger, his new ally.
"You're right," he says, "they are powerful indeed."

"And resourceful," replies Venger, "as time passes and they become more proficient in the use of their weapons, they will become even more difficult to defeat."

"My stepdaughter and her friends are quite formidable on their own," says Sabian, "together they will be tough to beat."

"Now you see why you need me," replies Venger.

"What do you propose?" Sabian asks his partner.

"I will need time to study the young ones' new friends," replies Venger, "a few hours alone with a scrying device should suffice."

"Very well," agrees Sabian, "you can use my private study, and I'll provide you with the device you require."

Hours later, Sabian is sitting on his throne in his audience chamber when Venger appears in a puff of smoke. "We might be allies," growls Sabian, "but don't presume you have free reign in my palace. If you wish to see me, ask permission for an audience!"

"Humble apologies," says Venger with an insincere bow, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "it will not happen again."

Sabian glares at his ally. "What do you want?" He says.

"I have found a weakness in your enemies," replies Venger with an evil grin, "one we can exploit."

Sabian leans forward, very intrigued. "A weakness?" He asks, "What weakness?"

"It seems that Thundarr's Sunsword is powerless against negalightning," explains Venger, "Apparently a wizard named Yando used this against him some time ago."

"Yando?" Asks Sabian, "Never heard of him."

"I'm not surprised," says Venger with a laugh, "He wasn't a true wizard. Merely a human using smoke and mirrors, passing off slight of hand and simple tricks as real magic. But he discovered that negative lightning can render the Sunsword powerless, and that a fully charged Sunsword cannot cut through a weapon powered by negative lightning."

"Interesting," says Sabian, "but negastorms are difficult to predict. And even if there is a negastorm, how do we use it to our advantage?"

"I have a plan," says Venger, "In the ruins of Manhatt, there was a wizard named Gemini who was beaten by your stepdaughter and her friends."

"I've heard of Gemini," Sabian tells him, "Powerful wizard. Nearly as powerful as myself."

"This Gemini had an army of robot knights," explains Venger, "all of which were destroyed by that barbarian and his mok friend. I plan on retrieving those knights and repairing them. I will arm them with swords and shields that are wired directly to their power sources. Then we will power them with negative lightning. Thundarr's Sunsword will be unable to do them any harm."

Sabian lets out a wicked laugh, "My friend," he says, "I like it! Now get started. Any resources you need are at your disposal."

Some time later, out in Sabian's courtyard, an entire legion of robot knights are all standing perfectly still, as though at attention. Numerous human slaves are wiring shields and swords to the knights' hands. Mutants who are skilled in robotics and electronic repair work on fixing the damage caused by the barbarian and the years of neglect since their defeat. In the middle of the courtyard is a massive iron tower with a metal antenna on the very top. Coming from the tower are dozens of heavy cables spreading out and attached to the robot knights. The two evil allies Sabien and Venger stand on the balcony, overseeing the work. When Sabian's mutant guards give their masters the signal that all is ready, Sabian steps forth. Raising his arms to the sky, the evil wizard shouts, "Wind and clouds, under my thrall! Come to me, answer my call! Crimson clouds, grow and take form! Bring to me, a negastorm!"

Dark red clouds roll in and the sky grows dark. Rain the colour of blood pours from the sky and crimson lightning crackles through the air. Then Sabian points at the iron tower and says, "Negalightning! Come to me! Do my bidding!"

A red bolt of lightning strikes the tower and runs along the cables. In moments all the robot knights are activated, their shields and swords glowing a bright red. In unison, they all raise their swords in salute to their new masters. Sabian turns to Venger, and the two of them share an evil grin.

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