by Zod and Happy Noodle Boy
Zed stood outside the new MBL Headquarters preparing to fly off into space to speak with the Matter-Beam Corps, when an energy blast struck him in the back. His gauntlet automatically raised a shield to protect him, but it wasn't fast enough. He felt most of the blast.
He spun around to face his attacker. Before him were seven ten-foot-tall battle suits. Each raised an arm cannon and fired. The multiple blasts toppled him end over end. The battle suits stepped closer and fired again. This time Zed managed to leap into the air and miss the blasts. He retaliated by picking up one of the suits and throwing it, knocking over two others.
"Enough," a mysterious voice said from behind him.
Zed felt a slight pinch in the back of his neck. While he pondered what kind of device could penetrate his force field, he slipped into unconsciousness.
Inside the headquarters, the newly installed alarm system wailed insanely.
Hardy New-Born: "What the hell is going on?"
The door to the meeting room exploded off its hinges and flew across the room, barely missing Agent F7. Six battle suits entered the room.
"I am getting really tired of our lack of security." Hardy New-Born fired a rhyme force blast that tore the leg off one battle suit and its wearer. The other five suits fired back. Three hit their mark, knocking the Rhymer into the monitor screen. The screen shattered into a million tiny, razor-sharp shards. He fell to the floor in a bloody heap.
Agent F7 sprinted across the room and hit the emergency alert, designed to summon all active MBL members to duty. Then he spun and leaped over an energy blast. After dodging multiple blasts, he stopped briefly to survey the scene.
The several annoyed battle suits shifted their aim from him to Hardy New-Born. Agent F7 charged the nearest suit. The last thing he felt was a steely fist crunching down on his neck.
"TriVext Two to Forrest. Location secured."
General Forrest stepped into the meeting room followed by a more stylish black battle suit carrying the limp form of Zed. "Excellent. I think you will find the base's force field controls on that panel over there. Activate them, would you please?"
"TriVext Nine to Forrest. Visual and thermal checks have found no other inhabitants."
General Forrest: "Of course not. I planned this down to the smallest detail. Now, One..." He referred to the black suit. "...please dispose of these three. I have important work to do here."
One carried the three limp bodies, the MBL's finest, away.
General Forrest: "Chop-chop, people. Time is money. We have a schedule to meet here."
Hardy New-Born awoke in a cell with stone walls on the front and back and some sort of energy beam wall to either side. Through one side he saw Zed lying barely conscious on the floor in his own cell, and Agent F7 was in the cell on the other side.
Hardy New-Born: "Hey! Guys! Can you hear me?
Zed: "Yeah..."
Agent F7: "Yes."
Hardy New-Born tried to blast the energy door open, to no avail. He threw himself against it, and he was electrocuted and thrown back. But he noticed that when he hit it, the other beams in the three cells died down a bit. "Agent F7, your cell is next to a corridor. If I throw all my energy at my beam, you two should be able to get through yours."
He threw himself and all his rhyme force energy at the beam between his cell and Agent F7's. As he'd hoped, all the energy was diverted to keep his wall intact, and Agent F7 was able to get into the corridor, while Zed was able to move into Hardy New-Born's cell.
The Rhymer fell back from the beam and lay on the floor. He got up and threw all his energy at the beam between his cell and the one Zed was in, so Zed was able to move out into the corridor. When they were both safe outside, Hardy New-Born fell to the floor, barely conscious.
Agent F7: "New-Born! How are you going to get out?"
Hardy New-Born: "Go, get help. I'll stay here and keep Forrest busy when he comes to... find out what happened."
Guards began to converge on Zed and Agent F7, so they made a quick getaway.
"What will happen to HNB?
Will he ever get to be free?"