Worlds Reverse Part 4

Worlds Reverse Part 4
Written by Scott W. Taylor


Last time on Worlds Reverse: The Trash Commandos have entered an alternate reality of London. Here, half the population have been transformed into a mutated state. The Trash Commandos must find the British Telecom Tower and use its transmitter to change everything back to the way it was. Sadly, though, the tower is surrounded by Malice's impenetrable fortress. And there is a new threat: Bio Boss and his insatiable appetite for mutant souls!



Malice stood looking out over the long path stretching outwards between him and the tower. On either side of the path stood the Reality Corps, Bio Boss' personal security guards. The floor beneath his feet vibrated as the guards saluted and brought their collective feet stomping down to the floor in unison. There must have been a thousand of these men and women, all dressed the same, all wearing the same white and contrasting black armour and helmets. Each one stood shoulder to shoulder. 


     Malice felt like they were saluting him, but he was merely the acting commander and chief. The real big cheese here was the Bio Boss, the true evil behind it all. 

    Malice took one step and with each progressive step he felt the exhilaration, the prestige of having these personal guards stand flanking him like he was the big bad, the main villain. 
   He gave a smile as he walked the path, down towards the fortress' sanctum. As he neared the end of the path he could see the large view screen before him flicker to life. The bulbous, green face of Bio Boss appeared.
   'Report' the Boss ordered.  

  'The transmitters have been reverse engineered to augment signals trapped by our dish' Malice replied, looking up at the screen. The Bio Boss looked pleased. 

   'And what of the portal generator?' 

   'The portal generator is complete and awaits your order to begin transporting your spawn here, to our world.'

   'Good, good!' Squawked the Boss. 'They are hungry. The mutants of this world will feed them until they are strong enough to help me take full control of the Department of Fact and Reality, and then...I will be Lord High Ruler of the multiverse!'

   Malice's smile broadened.   

    'And I will rule the world, this world, as well as those that dwell in all those alternate realities. All those versions of London, Paris, New York! Every iteration of them shall fall under my jurisdiction!'

    'Not so fast, Malice!' Bio Boss hissed. 'You will be governor. You shall Govern Earth and all those other Earths, but you shall be required to report to me! Do not forget that! Bio Boss out!'

   The screen went dead. 

    Malice remained silent momentarily as he allowed those last fading words sink in. 

    Finally he turned to the leaver that would activate the portal, and pulled it.

   

The Trash Commandos remained at a distance behind a snowdrift. Unseen by the fortress' surveillance cameras they lay in wait, planning their next move. The two units had been deployed, surrounding the complex, awaiting the word. 

    Commander Trash lay flat on the snow with a pair of binoculars trained on the enemy complex. He looked thoughtfully at his new suit he was wearing, the suit his parallel counterpart wore before he died in combat. He still couldn't get over the fact that he looked incredibly like a comic book hero. However, the suit had the capability to camouflage him. Turning a dial on his utility belt, he watched as the suit turned black, then a deep purple, and finally white to approximate the snow. 

    'Follow my command. Stay here until I give the word. Then move in.'

    Before Cinderella could object Commander Trash had left for the complex. As he neared the base of the complex he noticed the back pack attached to the rear of his suit. There was a button at the base of the pack that had the word "flight" marked clearly next to it. He pressed the button and suddenly two large wings telescoped outwards from his back. 

   'Wow! I'm liking this' he smiled, as he took off from the ground. 
   He glided up with the air current until he reached a ledge. Finally, he was inside. Several of Bio Boss' personal security personnel guards sat up as he entered. 
   'Who are you?' one of them shot. 
   'You guys are ugly!' Commander Trash responded. 'And you-you have a face only a mother could love. Though I guess even she must find it a stretch sometimes, eh.'
   'Show some respect'  another one of them began posturing. 
  
   'We are the elite!' another one of them grunted.
  'I am Mace Face. My iron spikes will make short work of you!'
  'And I am Eyesaur' another promptly declared. 'My eyes will be the last things you see!'
  'I am Scare-Hare!' another introduced himself. 'I will fill your moments with deep and terrible angst!'
  Finally the last one stood up and spoke:
  'And I am War-Head!'
  'Nice to meat you guys, really' Johnathon Trash replied flippantly. 'But I'm very busy. Now step aside!' 

Major Malice watched as the portal began to open. 
  'Is it not beautiful?' Bio Boss said as he walked into the room. By his side, chained like a mongrel, was his pet Sabre-Tear. Its eyes narrowed as Bio Boss chained it to a sturdy post, mostly for everyone else's safety.    

   'Good boy' the Boss spoke, patting the vicious Sabre-Tear on the head. 
   He looked over to the direction of the portal. Beyond the whirling, sparking event horizon something large was beginning to stir. 

   'They come!' Bio Boss warned. 'My children! They are arriving.'
   One by one, they emerged from the swirling vortex. Their hunger knew no remorse. They filtered out into the room, looking for mutants to consume.
   

                   

           'There!' the Bio Boss remarked. 'Soon they will feed on as many mutants as we'll be able to supply. They shall grow strong and powerful, powerful enough to help me take over all of creation!'

Commander Trash clapped the dust from his hands as he walked away, leaving a pile of Bio Boss' men laying in a crumpled heap on the ground. 

   'So long, dopes' he muttered as he made his way to the controls. Quickly he deactivated the security network surrounding the complex. He sent word the other Trash Commandos outside, letting them all know that it was now safe to enter. 

   

   Within the main part of the building Bio Boss stood at the tall view screen and watched as the glass panels sitting atop the mighty dome began to extend further outwards. 

    'The mirror's transforming capability will allow the other half of the population to undergo a full mutation' he spoke. 'Then, feeding time!'

   'I wouldn't count on it!' shouted Danny Mult from high upon a lofty ledge. He was sporting an arm mounted laser gun. He aimed and fired it at the screen. The feed exploded in front of Bio Boss. This quickly prompted a swift response from Bio Boss' troops. Before long, the room was filled with the exchange of fire. The Trash Commandos swiftly sprang into action. Dirk Gumbo began to elongate his elasticated body, forming a massive slide long enough for the other Commandos to traverse.

'All aboard!!' Gumbo shouted as one by one the Commandos rode down his coiled, elongated body. Each one taking the offensive as they arrived on the ground. 

   'Lock down the tower!' Bio Boss raged. 'Lock it all down! The transmitter must not be reached. No one in or out!'

   Malice looked up and saw his old arch enemy glide in from above. He pointed and yelled:

   'Trash?! But I thought you were dead!'          'Do I look dead to you?' answered the Commander as he launched himself at his enemy. Malice fell backwards. 

  Bio Boss goaded his children to attack the Commandos. Each one fired beams from the tips of their tentacles. Commander Trash picked up a rifle and commenced firing at the creatures. Several of the monsters were stopped, much to Bio Boss' horror. 

    'No! My children!' he yelled. 

     

  Swiftly, Cinderella stepped up to one of the beasts. As it turned out Commander Trash wasn't the only Commando to receive a new costume. She had been given a nanometic-fibre suit and cape, capable of augmenting her powers. She transformed into an even larger dinosaur, larger even than the previous one.  Two of Bio Boss' babies cowered and ran back towards the portal. Two more remained and bravely faced down the dinosaur, training their deadly beams upon the terrible lizard. Some of the other Trash Commandos watched, amused that Cinderella was easily whooping these beast's asses as if they were mere harmless tadpoles. 

   Commander Trash went to the controls. Ford followed him.        'We have to gain access to the transmitter' instructed Ford.          'I know. I know. What do you think I'm trying to do' offered the Commander as he jabbed at the buttons. 

  'Come on! Come on!' one of these damn things must get us access to the transmitter!'

  Major Malice took the opportunity while Commander Trash had his back turned. He drew a gun from his belt and aimed it directly at the mutant. 

   Jay "Wheels" Malloy noticed what he was going to do and faster and faster he began to rev his wheel. 

  'No you don't, Malice!' he shouted, charging straight into the path of the villain. Malice was knocked and thrust into the air, bursting through the ceiling of the dome, and out over the London horizon. He didn't even have time to know what had hit him. 

       

   'Well that takes care of that load of garbage' Trash commented, looking up at the hole in the ceiling above him. 'Thanks, Malloy.'

   Trash commenced pressing the buttons on the panel before him. But nothing seemed to work. 

   In the end he decided to pull his rifle out and just fry the panel. The ensuing destruction of the equipment brought the shields down, and the way to the transmitter was left clear. 

   'It's done!' shouted ford, gleefully. 'We can get to the transmitter!'

  Commander Trash hardly noticed a slimy tentacle reaching round his foot. The long appendage coiled round the Commander's leg and raised him up off the floor. One of Bio Boss' children had him. Bio Boss smiled gleefully as he watched the Commander dangling helplessly. 

    'You may have destroyed many of my offspring' he began, gloating. 'But I have one left. Goodbye, Commander. I trust you will have a slow and painful demise.'

  

      Commander Trash was drawn toward the creature. The creature looked at him hungrily. It was like a giant spider and the Commander was being lured like a fly towards him. 

   'Bight this!' 

   At the last second, the Commander pulled his rifle on the creature. 

   'No!!!' the Bio Boss roared. 'My baby!!!'

   The creature shot back and was sucked back into the portal. 

   'Damn you!!!' he screamed. 

   Bio Boss touched a sensor device on his cuff and was no more. He had vanished, where to, no one could say? Ford was already in the tower, preparing his reality wand, hooking it up to the transmitter. 

   'Hold on to your hats!' 

   He pulled the lever and bang, the transmission was being activated. All around the glob the effects were beginning to take hold. All the mutants were being reverted back to their natural state. Ford smiled satisfactorily. He had succeeded to put everything right again. He and the Trash Commandos could finally return to the respective homes. 

Everyone present said their goodbyes. Commander Trash, Danny Mult, Cinderella Frankenstein, Dirk Gumbo and Malloy said their farewells to the Commandos of this universe: Sergeant Seedling, Eyes-Off, Rag-Tag, Dino-Mo, Chilli Dog, Endive, Cos, and The Fungus. 

  Back in their own version of London again, Commander Trash turned to Ford and asked:

   'So will you go back to you employment at the agency?' 

   'I'm thinking I'm going to take it easy for a time. I never enjoyed my job anyway' Ford answered. 'I want to travel the universe. I want to be able to sit upon an asteroid, get out my paints and easel and paint a nebulae, or a gas cloud. always been in and out of dead end jobs. Never able to fit in. Always wind up being scapegoat, conducting menial labour. I've always known I could be something more than that, you know?'

   'Well, whatever you decide' Commander Trash said, 'I'm sure you'll be a success.'

   Ford and the Trash Commandos said their final goodbyes and suddenly Ford was gone. 

   'I'm going to miss that little guy' spoke Cinderella wistfully.

   'As will I' added the Commander. 

   'Well, chances are we're now stuck in a world where we five are likely to be the only mutants left in this world. We'd probably have been better off had we stayed in that other London along with Seedling and the others' Gumbo sighed. 

   'Maybe' Commander Trash stated. 'But we belong here. Whatever happens we have a world to rebuild. The humans are still going to be disorientated after we changed them back.'

   'Couldn't we have at least asked Ford to change us back before he went?' asked Malloy. 

   'I asked him' Commander Trash responded. 

   'And?'

   'He said it wasn't quite time yet. He said we still have much to do. If we are to succeed in rebuilding our world then we are going to need all our mutant abilities. Trash Commandos! We have a job to do!'

                                        The End.  

  

                                                                             

    

Worlds Reverse Part 3

Worlds Reverse Part 3
Written by Scott W. Taylor


Last time in Worlds Reverse: Ford and the Trash Commandos find themselves in an alternate reality of Earth. Here humans are mutants, and conversely mutants are the natural higher forms of life on the planet. The Trash Commandos have come into contact with an organisation lead by Sergeant Seedling and his men, and Commander Trash had a counterpart in this world too who died defending his people from the mutant insurgents. Also, Bio Boss is at large and possesses the power to eat mutant souls.





Sergeant Seedling agreed to allow Commander Trash view the shrine where the other Commander Trash was buried. It seemed morbid, especially when he was asked to visit his own casket. But it wasn't his, was it? The casket belonged to that other version of himself, the one who died defending his world from the mutants. 
    'Here we are, sir' one of Seedling's escorts showed Commander Trash to his counterpart's shrine. 
  'What is that?' the commander asked, pointing to what looked like a strange, black Unitard and cowl presented on a coat stand. It looked like something a dark superhero would wear in one of those comic book movies.



   'It was the vest your counterpart wore in his final battle with the mutant insurgents' explained the other. 'You- I mean, he...He fought bravely in the end. What a hero.'
   'I'm no hero' Trash argued. 'I just do my duty. I'm a soldier.' 
   'This is no time for modesty, Commander' the Sergeant remarked. 'I too witnessed Commander Johnathon Trash in battle. The battle suit you see before you almost protected him against the mutant onslaught. The threads are produced from both an electrochromic and photochromic material, which means that it changes its tincture when certain elements come into play. In short, it has its own camouflage capability.'
    Commander Trash stepped closer to the shrine, and the costume that hung there like some kind of homage to a superhero. 
    'It is your battle suit...that is, if you want it it's yours.'     
   
    In the main command centre the other Trash Commandos were getting to know their extra-dimensional counterparts. One of them stepped forward and appeared to be made entirely out of cloth, patched together haphazardly like a plush doll made up of different patterned material. His name was Rag-Tag. Another member of the team had large ears and red skin who went by the name of Chilli Dog. 
   'Be careful of his temper' Sergeant Seedling warned.
   Chilli Dog raised his flame thrower and shot a column of fire in the air above his head. 


   The reptilian commando with the protective plates on his back was Dino-mo. His armour plated muscles began to ripple as he flexed. Then there was Eyes-Off, the spy with the eye, and another eye, and yet another eye lodged in his chest, as well as eyes in his hands. He had eyes just about everywhere! 

   Sub-Human-Thing was the next to introduce himself. He was the boffin, the brains behind it all. He was the most odd looking of creatures. But his appearance was nothing more than a facade, a shell as it were. With a simple command his outer body split in half to reveal a monkey sitting there at a control panel, right there inside the creature's midriff. The monkey waved at the Trash Commandos rather whimsically and said,
   'Hi, pleased to meet you.'
   The next to introduce himself was a two-headed individual that appeared to have foliage and lettuce leaves growing from his body. 
   'Im Endive' one head introduced. 
   'And I'm Cos' the other chimed in. 
   'Curiouser and curiouser' exclaimed Dirk Gumbo, making a reference to one of Lewis Carroll's greatest books.
   'But why are we here?' Cinderella asked as she turned to Ford. 'Are we simply here to rectify a mistake you made? I'm starting to wonder what is actually going on here. Ford? We arrived from our own dimension. We arrived here in a mirror-alternate world. Moments later two strangers arrive with the ability to feed off of mutant life-force energy. I saw the look on your face when we were showed the video footage of those two arriving. I saw that look...It was like you knew them. Year feared them.'
   Ford knew that he could not keep any secrets. 
   'His name is Bio Boss' Ford answered, a little apprehensively. 'He is one of the higher echelons working at the reality corps. He's like, over security or something. I've never seen him in the flesh, so to speak. But we've all heard of him. Even his name inspires fear. In the Department of Fact and Reality his surveillance equipment was everywhere. No employee could fall out of line and not have security not know about it. Everyone was afraid of him, the Bio Boss, the man who kept us all in line.'

   'And now this Bio Boss is taking mutant souls as if they were nourishment to him' Cinderella observed. 
   'I really don't know about that!' Ford shot, clearly afraid. 'I just know what I know!'
   'We have to stop him, whoever he is' Cinderella stated finally. 
   'How?' Ford questioned. 'You are mutants! He eats mutants!'
   'Ford' Cinderella said, looking down at Ford. 'What he is is reneged. What he is is a danger to every mutant life in this multiverse. He has to be stopped!'
   Ford placed his hands to his face in abject fear. 
   'Oh what have I done? What have I done?'
   'Whatever you did, Ford' Cinderella spoke with almost pin-point certainty, 'I doubt you were to blame.'
   'What?' Ford questioned. 
   'Sounds to me like your superiors made the call, and then made you the scapegoat. They made such a good job of covering their own tracks that they made even you think it was your mistake, your mess, all of this. Reality reshaped! Reality tampered with, and all to create a new race of mutants...ripe for the plunder. Why, we mutants are nothing more than cattle for the Bio Boss. He consumes us and he forced you to create us, create us part of his food chain. The Bio Boss is beyond reproach. Just as you were fired for a mistake you never made. And the rest of us get...eaten.' 
   Ford's eyes looked distant as the realisation of Cinderellas supposition began to sink in.   
   Then, without warning, the lights in the room, as well as the computer equipment went off, only to return a moment later, then flicker off again. 
   'We have saboteurs in the main generator!' shouted Chilli Dog, looking at the live feed. 
   Suddenly the door to the main HQ slid open and two commandos walked in with a mutant prisoner. 

        
   It was a female mutant with dark skin, and appeared to be some kind of doctor, going by the white lab coat she was wearing. 
   'We found her loitering near the generator room' one of the commandos reported. 
   'What were you doing in there?' asked the Sergeant. 
   The woman remained silent. 
   'Very well, take her to detention level C.'
   'You humans have no right to threaten our existence!' the captured female shouted suddenly. 'We were never a threat to you, but you gave us no option but to retaliate!' 
   'Retaliate?' Cinderella repeated, looking at the female askance.
   'Yes!' the female responded sharply. 'All we wanted was to be left alone. But you people persecute and attack us! It wasn't our fault that our appearances were altered! Its not our fault that we look the way we do!'
   'Hold on, lady! Wind the tape back a moment' Dirk Gumbo threw up his hands. 'You said that these people have mistreated you and your people?'
   'Yes!' replied the female quickly. 'We are mutants! We are aberrations!'
   'Yes you are' answered the Sergeant. 'And as such we can't allow random elements such as you running freely around the city, causing trouble. Take her away!'
   'Wait' spoke the Commander. 'She has caused trouble, undeniable. But it sounds to me that it is you people who forced her down this path, and forced those just like her as well.'
   The Sergeant could barely believe that it was Commander Trash himself who was advocating the actions of the female mutant. 


   'Now it seems' he continued, 'that either out of fear or hatred, it has been the humans of this world who have sown the seed of rebellion amidst these mutants. Those that attacked us with choppers, and with guns when we arrived on this world. They attacked us...because they thought we were a threat. Why do you think, Sergeant, they thought we were a threat in the first place?'
    The Sergeant was silent as he began to understand what the commander was saying. 
    'Because we saw them as a threat first. We attacked them. We drew first blood and that was all the reason they needed to retaliate. Now then, we have the ability to change these unfortunate people back to their former selves. We can make them normal again. We succeeded back on our world with the help of a large transmitter located within the British Telecom Tower. We can do it here. This world must have a similar transmitter like the one we used in our reality.'
   Sergeant Seedling thought for a moment. 
   'That place you identified as the British Telecom Tower' said Chilli Dog, 'is now a highly fortified compound. Not even our troops can get in.'
   'Mutants?' Commander Trash questioned. 
   'Major Malice' answered Eyes-Off. 
   Dino-Mo went on to explain: 
   'He set up that fortress about ten years ago to surround the very transmitter that mutated half the human population in the first place. No, I'm afraid Chilli Dog is correct, no one can get in.' 
    Chilli Dog pushed a button on the console, relaying an image on the screen, and then another image. Commander Trash could barely believe his eyes. The sheer feet of engineering and skill it must have needed to build such a structure, it defied belief. The entire complex appeared to be covered in elaborate structures, accentuated by towers with protruding sculpted sculls and gargoyles, and spires. It looked like something bang out of a horror movie. At the upper most pinnacle was placed a large dome with what appeared to be a gargoyle-like face leering out over the vast white tundra as if to ward off would-be attackers. Above the dome were two or three large glass panels. No doubt they were made of the same substance of glass that mutated the poor people of this world.     

               
   Behind the dome was a pyramid structure with what looked like an eye in its centre. This structure had a look about it that gave it a rather mystical appearance.  
   'As you can see' said the Sergeant, 'there is no way in.'
   Commander Trash looked down at Ford and the reality wand in his hand.
   'I think there might be a way' he said. 






                                            To be continued....  
   
      
      
       

       

Worlds Reverse Part 2

Worlds Reverse Part 2
written by Scott W. Taylor

Last time on Worlds Reverse: the Trash Commandos have been transported to a flip-side world where the humans are perceived to be mutants, and the mutants are in fact the natural, indigenous inhabitants. The 'mutants' or 'aberrations' appeared on the scene and attacked the Trash Commandos. The Commandos retaliated and those mutants of this dimension were defeated, and left for dead in the snows that blanket London.





   
'So what do we do now?' Commander Trash asked. 'Where do we go from here, Ford?'
   Naturally, Ford had the answer.
   'We venture south. 14 clicks in that direction.'
   'Okay' said the commander, 'do as the man says.'

   A moment or two after the departure of the Commandos a small glowing aperture appeared in the air and just hovered there about a metre off the ground. Emerald in hue, it began to grow larger, big enough for a humanoid form to easily pass through from one dimension into the present one. 
   'Here we are' uttered the large green form as it emerged from the aperture. 
   'Yes, my glorious master' replied the other form that followed. 
   'A fresh world. A new feeding ground.'
   'Yes, master' spoke the diminutive lackey. 
  'Ford has unwittingly led us here, simpleton that he is. I must find mutants. I must gather them. Harvest their genetically abhorrent structures and prepare them for the coming of my spawn. My children are hungry. They must feed.'
   'Yes, master. Bio Boss is hungry too?'
   'Indeed I am! I need a snack. I need to replenish my power.'
   The human forms that had recently been beaten by the Trash Commandos started to recover consciousness, and pick themselves off the ground. 
   'Ah, humans' spoke the bio boss. 'They are no use to me. I only feast on mutants.'
   'But, Boss, look! Your tendrils glow with hungry anticipation.'
   Bio Boss looked at his appendages with an odd curiosity.

   'That's odd. They only do that when there are aberrations near by. There are only these humans. Yet I sense a tingling in my taste buds when I see these humans. How curious.'
    The human forms looked at the two strange creatures looking back at them, and instantly went for their weapons.
    Bio Boss aimed his clawed appendages at them and instantly bathed the human forms in a searing light. The human forms slowly fell unconscious, their DNA was being masterfully extracted from their weak and enfeebled bodies.
   'Curious' Bio Boss spoke as he completed the extraction process. 'I fed on these humans as if they were mutants. Very curious indeed.'
   'Yes, my master.'

   The Trash Commandos continued to walk in southern direction. The snows were deep and sections of the city were treacherous on account of the deep crevasses that lay in hiding deep beneath the ice and snows. 
   'How far is it now?' Danny asked as he felt cold and listless. 
   'Not far! Not far!' Ford spoke excitedly. 'The seat of government in this version of London is close. They are mutants like us.'
   'Except they are human' Malloy corrected him.
   'That's true. And you'll find that they are very militant. They had to adopt that lifestyle since after half the population of this world were changed into aberrations, they have been at war. Humans mistrust mutants. They fear each other. But I think the indigenous peoples of this world will be more willing to help us since we look the same as them in every respect.'
   'So we're seeking their help?' Commander Trash queried.
   'Yes we are' Ford agreed. 'If I am to succeed we need help. There is safety in numbers. And I need to find the British Telecom Tower in this world in order to transmit the signal, and bring about the restoration of this world as well.' 

   'How do you know the tower even exists here? And if it does, then how do you know that it's transmitters are still operational? I mean, look around you. Half these buildings you see look derelict. Doesn't look as though anyone has used this stuff in years.'
   'Have faith' Ford spoke. 'We will find a solution. We always do!' 

   In a not so distant bunker other eyes were watching the Trash Commandos approach. 
   'Open the hatch. Send an escort to see that our new guests arrive at our HQ safely.'
   The eyes narrowed as the image on the view screen was magnified showing the approaching commandos in more detail.
   'Right away, sergeant.'
   'And make them welcome. They need our help just as much as they'll need ours.'
   'Aye, sir.'

   The snows blanketed the terrain endlessly. It was a white, featureless tundra...Featureless, until...A hatch began to open up by way of an hydraulic system. Two individuals wearing snow gear stepped up out of the aperture and called over to the Trash Commandos as they approached. 

   'The Sergeant requested that you accompany us to our HQ' one of the individuals announced. 'Don't be alarmed. Its not safe up here and...Commander Trash? Is that you?'
   Commander Trash stepped forward ahead of the others.
   'Do we know each other?' the commander asked the stranger who couldn't have looked any stranger to be honest, with his purple skin, and that one bulbous eye that seemed to sit in the centre of his cowl.
   'Yes...I mean yes, I know you. You're Commander Trash, the greatest hero that ever lived. But-but...You're supposed to be dead!'
   'What?' blurted the commander.
   'He must mean your alternative counterpart' Ford reasoned. 'There must have been another Commander Trash who was indigenous to this plane of existence.'
   'Greatest hero that ever lived?' Danny Mult smirked.
   'Yeah, don't let that go to your head' Cinderella said to a stunned Commander Trash.
   'Would you accompany us, please. Like I was saying, it isn't safe out here' the one-eyed individual began to gesture.
   The Trash Commandos followed the two escorts down through the aperture in the snow, and then heard the hydraulic system lock the secret hatch back into place behind them.
   They took an elevator about a few miles down. 
   At the base, the Trash Commandos were escorted to the main HQ where they were greeted by, what appeared to be, an animated pumpkin with eyes and a cigar hanging from its mouth. 
   'Oh my...' spoke the pumpkin. 'I didn't believe it at first. But it is you. Commander Trash. The greatest-'
   'I know, I know! The greatest hero that ever was!' Commander Trash interrupted, finding this kind of outburst rather irksome at this point. 
   'Why yes' replied the pumpkin. 

                                        
'Oh, how remiss of me. allow me to introduce myself. I'm Sergeant Seedling. I'm leader of this operation. Now I understand that you six individuals are not of this world, but you are from an alternate world, like this one? Am I right?'
   'How did you know that?' asked Malloy.
   Ford smiled. 
   'They have inter-dimensional technology' he explained. 'Here humans developed different technology than humans on your world.'
   'Indeed' agreed Seedling. 'We developed ways to manipulate the barriers to other local dimensions about a decade ago. We're not saying we're more advanced than your people. I'm just saying that our two worlds advanced in mutually different directions. For example, we never were able to fully perfect the creation of a simple electric toothbrush. But your dimension pulled it off nicely. Good going! Ingenious!'      
   'So what happened here?' asked Trash. 'And who attacked us when we arrived?' 
  'Those were mutants. Mere aberrations created by Harold Zarkmann. Over a year ago this evil man managed to transform nearly half the world's population into those creatures who attacked you earlier. We watched the whole thing on live feed. We witnessed your incursion into this world. We also witnessed another incursion.'
   Seedling ordered one of his men to play back the tape recording. 
   'As you can see by the view screen, this insurgent could be a danger.'
   The Trash Commandos watched as the tape showed the form of Bio Boss and his minion appearing in the snowy wastes. Then the mutants (human forms) as they pulled themselves round. Bio Boss appeared to bathe the human forms in a blinding energy blast shot from both his tendrils.'
   'There!' pointed Ford. 'Do you see? He's feeding off of the mutant's life force. He's consuming them.'
   'That happened soon after you left that area, and those mutants- after you'd successfully kicked their butts- were left to their horrible fate when those two arrived only a few minutes later.'
   'Who are they?' asked Trash. 
   'I don't know. But they could be trouble' Seedling stated with a concerned look. 






                           To be continued....