“Ah, Mister Kennedy. I see you are regaining your senses!”
“Cornelius Moriarty! I should have known you would have done this. Why have you brought me here?”
“I have kidnapped you as a form of protest.” said Moriarty. “For years now I have fought for the rights of those of us who are ‘gifted’, mutants and the like. I have brought you here to this old lighthouse to show that no one is beyond my grasp!”
“And you think I’m against mutants? I’ve been championing their cause for God’s sake! The only ones I’m against are the ones like you who break the law!”
Before Moriarty could reply the ground began to shake, then the whole lighthouse did as the roof was suddenly wrenched off by an enormous force. Moriarty and Kennedy then looked towards the open sky as a Sentinel robot peered in. The huge machine then reached in with one of it’s arms and fired at Moriarty with an energy blast. Moriarty only just managed to raise his shield in time. Then with it’s other hand the Sentinel fired a metal rope which wrapped itself around Moriarty’s ankle. He then hoisted the villain into the air and then swung him down onto the floor. Moriarty tried to fight back by throwing a stun grenade but this had no effect on the huge machine. Then with another massive energy blast he knocked Moriarty out. The attack then stopped. Kennedy crawled over to Moriarty and checked his heartbeat. It was very weak. Then the Sentinel reached into the lighthouse and scooped up Kennedy. It then took to the sky and flew away.
“I’m getting the report now.” said McCloud, seated in the monitor room. “Massive attack on the old Shires Lighthouse in Sussex. Eyewitness say it was some sort of giant robot, and that it was attacking some men.”
“Sounds like one of those Sentinels.” said Magus.
“All the same I’d rather not take any chances.” said Watt. “We’d best get down there.”
It didn’t take them long to get to the now-ruined lighthouse. Red Sun looked up at the damage.
“What could have caused damage like this?” she asked.
“Something with a lot of power.” McCloud replied.
Magus looked up at the ruins.
“There’s someone alive up there.”
Before Magus could say anything Watt flew up to the top of the lighthouse. It was a total mess. He began to clear the rubble until he found an arm.
“Magus!” he called.
Magus soon levitated to the top of the lighthouse. Then, using his powers, he helped Watt move the remaining rubble. They soon found who was underneath.
“It’s Moriarty!” said Watt. “But where’s Simon?”
Magus bent down and checked Moriarty’s pulse.
“His pulse is weak. He’s barely alive!”
“Who could have done this to him?” asked Watt.
“You saw the reports. A Sentinel was sent to rescue Simon and found Moriarty had taken him. The robot obviously did this before taking Simon.”
“But he shouldn’t have attacked like this.” said Watt. “We’ve had our differences in the past, but hell, he has his rights! Is this the new kind of justice these machines will pass out?”
“I agree with you totally James, but now is not the time for such speeches. We must take Moriarty back to the mansion. I can treat him in the infirmary.”
The giant Sentinel, with Simon Kennedy in it’s hand, flew towards the Cyberdine headquarters. It soon flew towards the ground where a giant hatchway opened. It soon found it’s way to the largest cavern where it landed and put Kennedy onto the ground. It was then that the Home Secretary saw a familiar face.
“General Billiar! I should have known you were behind this!”
“I would have thought that you could have shown a bit more gratitude than that Mister Kennedy, after all my Sentinels just rescued you!”
“And you probably killed Moriarty in the process.”
“Cornelius Moriarty is a criminal. He committed a crime.”
“A criminal has rights. Your machines acted like judge, jury and executioner!”
“That is why the Sentinels were created, is it not?”
“That is why I tried to stop this program.”
“The Sentinels are a viable alternative to your Anglo-Force Mister Kennedy.”
Then another of the huge machines entered the cavern.
“Red Leader, return Mister Kennedy to his home in London.”
The Sentinel just stared at him.
“I said return him to London.”
“We will now.” boomed the machine. “Soon we will begin the eradication of all homo-superior, and then the homo-sapiens.”
“Are you mad?” screamed Billiar. “What are you talking about?”
“You used some of your brainwaves in this project. These brainwaves were implanted to out neural networks. Like you we hate mutants. Soon we will begin their eradication, and afterwards we will do the same….with mankind itself!”
“A viable alternative to Anglo-Force?” said Kennedy. “Billiar, I’m going to make you eat those words, it these blasted machines of yours don’t eat us first!”
In the infirmary of the mansion Magus worked busily trying to revive the injured Moriarty. He achieved some success when he started to come to. Watt, who was also in the room, smiled with slight relief when he saw his sometime enemy begin to come around.
“Where am I?” Moriarty gasped.
“Easy, easy.” said Magus. “You’re at the Anglo-Force mansion, in the infirmary.”
Moriarty suddenly sprang up.
“What am I doing here? Where is that…thing…that attacked me?”
“The thing that attacked you was part of a new government project.” said Watt. “It’s called a Sentinel. It’s a new form of crime fighting device. It was sent after you when you kidnapped Simon Kennedy.”
Moriarty stared at Watt.
“And you still laugh at the cause I have been fighting for all of these years Captain?”
“Not any longer Professor.”
Then a call came over the loudspeaker. It was from McCloud.
“Jim, there’s a patchy message coming in. It’s from Kennedy.”
Before McCloud could continue his sentence Watt raced into the monitor room.
“The signal is just starting to break up.” said McCloud.
The patchy image of Simon Kennedy appeared on the screen.
“Jim! Jim! This is Simon. Get to the Cyberdine plant. They’ve gone mad! Destroy the Sentinels! Destroy the…”
The screen went blank.
“Try to get him back!” said Watt.
McCloud worked busily for the next few moments.
“I can’t. The signal was jammed at the source.”
“Which was?”
“The Cyberdine plant.”
Watt turned around to see Magus standing in the doorway.
“I just tried to telephone the Cyberdine plant.” he said. “All the telephone lines are down. There is no sign of life from the plant.”
“Sounded like he was in trouble. He said they’ve gone mad. He must mean the machines.”
“How can you be sure?” said McCloud.
“I am sure.”
They turned around to see Moriarty, dressed in his costume and carrying his shield standing in the corridor. He was clutching his ribs.
“Just before they came online I managed to get my hands on some information about the Sentinels. To complete their programming they needed the imprint from a human mind. They took the imprint from…General Billiar.”
“Billiar hates us.” said Watt. “Could his hatred for mutants and the like be transferred to the robots?”
“It is very likely.” said Magus. “But if that is the cast then all mutants, all of those with special abilities could be in trouble.”
“Which could result in the future Space Ghost spoke of.” Watt continued.
There was silence for a few moments as Watt thought.
“As far as I can see we have only one choice.” he said. “It may mean the end of the team as far as funding goes but we have to do it. Duncan, summon the rest of the team. We have to destroy the Cyberdine plant. We have to destroy the Sentinels.”
“Then I’m coming with you.” said Moriarty.
Watt looked at Moriarty.
“Perhaps now we are fighting for the same cause.” said Watt.
Watt extended his hand. Moriarty grasped it.
The cavern underneath the Cyberdine plant began to work overtime as Sentinel after Sentinel was churned out. Kennedy and Billiar could but watch as the General’s dream went up in smoke.
“If it hadn’t been for that damn Terminator I would have been able to do something!” Kennedy muttered.
“Terminator? What are you talking about?”
“General, if you knew the truth you’d hate me even more!”
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