Chapter 6 - Speed of the Iron Cheetah

Cold Open

"Y-You monsters!" Officer Jessica Pink yelled.

She had just watched an Iron Soldier punch a hole through her partner's stomach.

The Iron Soldier turned to face her.

Jessica fired her weapon at the advancing cyborg, but the bullets just ricocheted off its armour.

*click* Jessica despaired as her gun ran out of ammo. Not that the gun was helping anyways, but the weapon had been giving her a sense of hope. Now, after hearing that click, the hopelessness swarmed throughout her body, leaving her paralyzed as the cyborg approached her.

The Iron Soldier grabbed her throat. It tightened its grip around her neck and lifted her off the ground.

Jessica struggled and clawed at the metal hand around her throat, trying to stop the Iron Soldier from strangling her.

As her life was being drained out of her body, she could see the army of the Iron Legion behind her strangler. Amongst the hundred or so cyborgs, one of them stood out to Jessica, even as she was gasping for air. This one had black cheetah spots all over its silver armour, and it only wore a half-helmet - one that resembled the top half of a cheetah's head - which went down to its nose, leaving its mouth exposed.

Several of Jessica's fellow officers were firing on the cheetah cyborg. The cheetah smirked and dodged the bullets with a mocking dance.

The unfortunate sounds of guns clicking made the cheetah smirk again, as the police officers struggled to reload their weapons quickly.

Suddenly, the cheetah dashed off, becoming a blur. The nearest police officer could only watch as the cheetah zoomed right up to him.

The cheetah paused, and then quickly drove his claws into the police officer.

As the police officer screamed in pain, the cheetah dashed off again into a blur. The blur zoomed straight to the next officer and stabbed its claws into him as well.

Again and again, that happened, until the cyborg cheetah had taken out the small squadron. With a wide smile on his face, the cheetah exclaimed, "Too slow!"

Jessica lost all the fight in her after witnessing the cheetah's display of power and speed. She felt her arms drop to her side as her remaining, few, precious breaths started to leave her lungs.



Part 1

A few hours earlier, in the Justice Knight Headquarters, Emma was throwing punches at a punching bag inside the gym.

"Ha!" She yelled as she landed another punch on the bag.

Emma readied another punch.

Suddenly, Iron Spider's face flashed across her mind, and Emma couldn't help but let out a punch with all her power behind it.

"Damn it!" Emma yelled. The punching bag swung back and forth wildly and Emma clenched her fist. She could see some blood on her knuckles.

"Are you alright?" David said from the doorway.

Emma looked up, "How long have you been there?"

"Not long, just saw you punching the bag recklessly," David said as he walked over to where the first aid kit was, "C'mon, I'll bandage your hand."

Emma nodded and took a seat on the bench.

"What were you so angry about?" David asked, as he bandaged Emma's hand.

Emma hesitated.

Then, she admitted, "I let Iron Spider get away."

This time, it was David who hesitated, "Emma..."

Angrily, Emma interrupted David, "I know you're my commanding officer, but you can't stop me from getting my revenge!"

Calmly, David replied, "I may be your commanding officer, but I'm also your partner. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't get your revenge, but you need to think about why you really took this job."

Emma stood up and faced David, "Why I took this job? I took it so that I could avenge my father! I took it so that my sister would have someone to take care of her! I took this job because I'm angry that they took away my father, and now my sister will have to grow up without one! I took it because I am angry at what they did to my family and I will take down every single, last one of those damn cyborgs for it!"

Emma paused slightly before continuing on, "Besides, who are you to question my motives when you joined because of your partner?!"

"My partner?" David responded.

"Don't try to play dumb, everybody knows about what happened to you and your partner!' Emma said, "A cyborg killed your partner, and you killed the cyborg, taking your revenge and scoring the first kill ever against those monsters!"

David allowed a pause to happen for a moment as he considered what to say. Finally, he asked, "Have you ever killed anyone, Emma?"

Emma was taken aback by the question.

"N-Not yet, sir," she replied. She gulped at the thought.

"Your answer shows that you know full well that it will be inevitable if you continue doing this job," David said. He put the remaining bandages back into the first aid kit as he continued, "That kill you mentioned? That was my first kill."

David closed the first aid kit. Then he got up to put the kit away. "When I killed that cyborg, I didn't do it for revenge. Yes, I was angry - furious, in fact - that my partner was killed, and maybe it played a small part in what I did. But the main reason that I had to kill the cyborg that day was so that I could protect everyone else."

David turned around to face Emma again, "You already know that I killed the cyborg by setting it on fire. What most people don't know, is that the cyborg wreathed and screamed before he died. I watched as he panicked, as he struggled to live. And I realized, that the cyborgs were still human, even if they didn't look like it anymore. And every time that I had to fight, I remember that they are still human."

David paused as he recalled the memory. Then, he continued, "As wrong and as terrible the actions of the Iron Legion are, just remember that they are still human. I'm not saying that you should show sympathy, or even mercy. What I am saying, is that they're just as human as you and I are. You can't just blindly judge them all, and you certainly cannot place your revenge above the safety of the citizens that we protect."

The air around the two fell heavy and silent.

Finally, Emma said, "I understand what you're saying, sir, but I just can't do it. The difference between you and I here, is that you already got your revenge. I don't even know who killed my father and I will probably never find out. To me, they are all responsible."

With that, Emma left, leaving David alone in the gym.



Part 2

Sasha pushed up her pink-rimmed glasses. Her ponytail bounced along as she walked down the corridor. In her hands were several files.

"Oh, hey Sasha," David said, coming from one of the joining corridors.

"D-David," Sasha said, a little bit nervous from the unexpected company.

"Ready for the meeting?" David asked, with a friendly smile on his face.

Sasha stuttered, "N-Not really. To be honest, I hate having to talk in front of people."

"You've been doing alright so far," David said.

"I have?"

"Yeah. Just relax. You know what you're doing, and you do it well."

"T-Thanks," Sasha blushed and looked down at her files.



Part 3

"Using what we have left from the bodies of the three Iron Legion generals that were killed over the last several weeks, we were able to ID them," Sasha began. She pressed a button on the remote in her hand and a picture of a young soldier in military uniform showed up on the screen. "This was Iron Bull. He was a soldier in the army, a good one at that. That is, until he protected his buddy from a knife during a bar brawl that his buddy started. For that, he was paralyzed from the waist down and was dishonourably discharged."

Sasha pressed the button again and this time, a picture of a women showed up. "This was Iron Eagle. She was the daughter of a politician, who hung himself when he was impeached for taking bribes. Her father's name was later cleared when it was proven that he was framed."

Pressing the button yet again, Sasha brought up a picture of a policeman onto the screen. "And this was Iron Elephant. He was a promising detective until he suddenly resigned after having to release a murderer because the murderer had diplomatic immunity."

Sasha pressed the button yet again. This time, a dozen or so profiles showed up on the screen. "We were also able to ID some of the Iron Soldiers as well, and from our analysis, it would seem that the Iron Legion is mostly made up of people who have had some sort of grievance with the political or the legal system, or just how society currently is."

"So that's what Dr. Chow was talking about," the Captain noted.

"Right," Sasha nodded before continuing, "Also, it seems that Dr. Alber, the missing scientist who is the world's leading expert on cybernetics, actually tried to get permission to use his research to save his wife, who was dying from an accident. He was denied by the government division that was funding him, for various reasons such as national security and secrecy."

David's eyes opened wide, "So this means that Dr. Alber could be..."

"Yes," Sasha said, "Dr. Alber could be working with the Iron Legion voluntarily. And his son and daughter who also disappeared could be part of the organization as well."

The room paused before Sasha continued, "Also, our worst fears have been confirmed: Alberloy can definitely shield electronic devices from EMP bursts. This means that anything made with Alberloy as the outer shell will not be harmed by EMPs, including all the cyborgs. This means that our plan to detonate an EMP bomb at the currently unknown location of their base won't work."

Everyone stared at Sasha. The room grew quiet at the realization that their best hope had been turned into nothing.

"Thank you for the update, Sasha," the Captain finally said. He turned to the rest of the group, "As you can see, this means-"

Suddenly, an out-of-breath member of the Network charged into the room.

"Julie?" Sasha said, looking at the Network member.

Catching her breath, Julie explained,"T-The city's under attack!"



Part 4

The Captain, David, Emma, Sasha, and the other members of the Network stared at the huge screen in the front of the room. On the screen was a map of the city, with blinking red dots all over the eastern edge, along with camera feeds showing rampaging Iron Soldiers.

"The Iron Legion is attacking the city from the eastern side with an army that numbers in the hundreds," Julie said, "Two of them are generals, one that seems to be patterned after a cheetah, and the other that seems to be patterned after an octopus, the rest are Iron Soldiers. The local police are helping with the evacuation, but they are ineffective against the cyborgs."

"This... is an invasion," Sasha said, scared.

"Emma," the Captain ordered, "head out in your exosuit."

"Yes, sir," Emma ran off to join the battlefield.

"I will go as well, sir," David said.

"No," the Captain said, "You will stay put until Dr. Onodera is finished with your new exosuit."

"But-"

"No buts, David," the Captain responded, sternly, "You will only get in the way without your exosuit. Dr. Onodera should be done in a few hours, wait until then."

"What about the new weapons that Courtney was working on?"

"They haven't been completed yet either," the Captain said, "So stay put.

Reluctantly, David agreed, "Yes, sir."

Suddenly, Dr. Onodera's voice came over the intercom, "Captain, I know that we have an invasion on our hands, but the parts for the new weapons have arrived. If you could send a few spare hands to the lab, we can get them ready, along with David's exosuit."

David looked at the Captain.

The Captain nodded, and David ran off to the lab.

Entering the lab with a couple of other people, David could see that various bits and pieces were scattered on the remaining workbenches that wasn't already occupied by David's exosuit.

"Okay, everyone," Courtney said, "I am going to show you how to assemble one of these. After that, I will work on the exosuit, while you assemble the rest. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" The group answered.

"Okay," Courtney picked up a blade, "Let's get started."



Part 5

Emma's motorcycle roared as she sped down the empty, evacuated streets.

"You're only five kilometres away from the battlefield," Sasha's voice came through Emma's earbud, "Be careful."

"Thanks, Sasha,"

As she got closer, Emma could hear the gunshots and the screams. Suddenly, Emma could see the battlefield. Not that she could call it that. All that she could see were human bodies laying on the ground, buildings destroyed, and the cyborgs marching through the ruins relentlessly. This wasn't a battlefield - this was a massacre.

Spotting a policewoman who was being strangled by a cyborg, Emma brought her motorcycle to a sudden stop. Quickly she threw her dagger into the cyborg's back.

The cyborg yelled in pain. He dropped the woman and turned to Emma, "Who the hell are you?!"

Emma got off her motorcycle and took off her helmet. She glared at the Iron Soldier. Angrily, she said, "I am the knight who will deliver fiery justice."

Emma held up her hand to reveal the Knight-Former on her wrist. Pressing a button on it, she commanded, "Suit up!"

Red, tiny, metallic squares burst out of the red orb on the Knight-Former and formed an exosuit around Emma. After the exosuit had finished forming, Emma declared, "I am Justice Knight Love!"

"Damn you!" the Iron Solider yelled. He charged toward Love.

Justice Knight Love charged as well. Pressing a button on her Knight-Former, she commanded, "Dagger!"

The red Justice Knight held her right hand in front of her and a dagger formed in her right hand, which she grabbed in a reverse grip. She pressed a button on the dagger and the blade started to glow.

Justice Knight Love unholstered her pistol and fired it at the charging cyborg, who jumped into the air, dodging all the bullets.

The Iron Soldier launched into a flying kick aimed straight towards Love.

Love barely managed to dodge the kick. As the kick was passing in front of her, Love quickly brought her super-heated blade down and through the cyborg's leg.

The cyborg hit the ground. His leg, already half severed by Love's blade, couldn't withstand the pressure and it broke off. The cyborg collapsed onto the ground.

"M-My leg!" the cyborg yelled.

The Iron Soldier roared as he used his hands to push himself into a lunge towards the red knight.

Love quickly did the only thing that she could - she stabbed her dagger into the cyborg's chest.

"N-No..." the cyborg said, in his final, despairing moments.

The cyborg fell limp. Justice Knight Love quickly shoved the cyborg's body away from her. She walked away as electric arcs surged through the cyborg's body.

Finally, the cyborg exploded.

Justice Knight Love had scored her first kill.



Part 6

Love picked up her other dagger that was on the ground. She was breathing heavily.

"Emma, are you alright?" the Captain's voice came through her earbud.

"Y-Yeah," Emma said. She looked at her blades. Then, she said, "He... he didn't want to die."

"What?"

"The cyborg, he didn't want to die. He was..." Emma recalled her conversation with David, "He was human."

There was a pause on the airwaves.

"Emma?" the Captain's concerned voice came through.

Emma snapped out of it, "Yes, sorry, Captain."

"That was your first kill, wasn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then never forget that feeling. Never forget that we are still dealing with humans, even if they don't look like it anymore."

"Yes, sir," Emma replied.

However, her thoughts grew dark. So what, if the cyborgs were still humans? They still killed her father. Human or not, she would kill them all and avenge her father!

Justice Knight Love walked over to the police officer and helped her up. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes," the policewoman said, trying to catch her breath, "Thank you."

"What's your name?"

"Pink. I'm Jessica Pink."

"Well, I am Justice Knight Love," Love pressed a button on her dagger and it stopped glowing. She then held out the other dagger to Officer Pink, "Here, take this. It doesn't super-heat up like mine does, but it will still hurt those monsters."

Officer Pink took the blade, "Thank you."

"Go and help out with evacuating the rest of the area," the red knight said.

"Yes, ma'am." Officer Pink headed off.

When Officer Pink had gotten far away enough, Justice Knight Love started walking towards the Iron Legion's army.



Part 7

"Haaaaaaaaah!" Justice Knight Love yelled as she stabbed the super-heated blade of her dagger into another Iron Soldier's chest. Quickly, she kicked the cyborg's body away.

Around her, seven cyborg bodies began to surge with electric arcs. Justice Knight Love jumped away. When she landed, the bodies behind her exploded.

"Bravo, bravo!" a voice said with some clapping to accompany it.

Justice Knight Love turned around to see a cyborg with cheetah spots all over his armour. His helmet was shaped like a cheetah's head, but it exposed the bottom half of his face, which was sporting a cocky grin.

Beside him, was another cyborg, clearly female. Her silver armour was fitted tightly against her body. She had on a black half-helmet, which covered her eyes and nose, but left her black lipsticked lips exposed. Four long, many-jointed, metallic things were hanging out from the back of her helmet that almost looked like it was her hair. However, when those things started to move and stretch, Love could see that they were tentacles - like an octopus'.

"Iron Cheetah and Iron Octopus, I presume," Love said.

"Yes, I suppose that our names aren't that hard to guess at all," Iron Cheetah said, "And you must be that new Justice Knight that Iron Spider reported about. Justice Knight Love, I think she said?"

"That's right," Love gripped her pistol and dagger tightly, ready to use them. Her left index finger firmly placed on the trigger, and her dagger in a reverse grip in her right hand.

Iron Cheetah crouched down into a runner's starting position. To Iron Octopus, he said, "Go on ahead, I'll take care of her."

Justice Knight Love, irritated by Iron Cheetah's cockiness, said, "You think I'll-"

Suddenly, Iron Cheetah became a blur, sprinting straight towards Justice Knight Love. He paused right in front of Love just to smirk. Then, he swung his right claws upwards towards the crimson knight's torso.

Barely having enough time to react, Love jumped back. But it was too late, the claws hit their mark. Love yelled in pain as the claws slashed her exosuit, causing her to hit the ground on her back while sparks of damage shot out from the wound.



Part 8

Justice Knight Love landed on her back. Without missing a beat, she pushed herself up just enough so that she could aim her pistol at Iron Cheetah, firing a bullet as soon as the cyborg was in her crosshairs. Then, she fired a bullet to the left and another bullet to the right.

Iron Cheetah started to run to his right to dodge the bullets. He was becoming a blur again. However, the bullet that Love had shot to his right grazed him in the shoulder, and he was knocked off balance. Reacting quickly though, he managed to use his foot to push himself into a spin. He landed in a crouch.

Justice Knight Love stood up, with her pistol still aimed at the metal, cheetah-like humanoid.

Iron Cheetah smirked at Justice Knight Love again, "Not bad."

Without another word, Iron Cheetah dashed off again, this time, towards Justice Knight Love, but veering to her left.

The red knight fired her pistol, but it was too late. Iron Cheetah had already left when the bullets reached finally reached where he was.

Justice Knight Love yelled out in anger and redirected her aim. Quickly, she swung her pistol left.

Iron Cheetah paused, just long enough so that he could change his direction and dash off to Love's right, getting closer and closer to her at the same time.

Justice Knight Love grunted. Her aim had been thrown off. Again, Love redirected her pistol, and again Iron Cheetah paused just long enough to change directions.

This time, Iron Cheetah went straight for her.

Love barely had enough time to lift her arms up to block the claws that swiped at her as Iron Cheetah blurred passed her. She yelled in anger at the pain.

Turning around to face her assailant, Justice Knight Love was just in time to see Iron Cheetah stop his run, jump, and spin around to face her with that cocky smirk of his. And then, he dashed off again.

The blur dashed straight up to Justice Knight Love and Iron Cheetah slammed his claws straight into Love's chest.

"Augh!" Justice Knight Love yelled as she felt the claws dig into her exosuit. The impact from Iron Cheetah's dash only made things worse, causing her to fly through the air.

Hitting the ground, Love struggled to get up.

"You're too slow!" Iron Cheetah yelled. He flexed his claws.

Justice Knight Love screamed, "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill all you damn cyborgs!"

Iron Cheetah smirked, "Oh, that's right. You're the girl whose father we cleansed."

"Augh!" Justice Knight Love yelled out in frustration. Blindly, she charged at Iron Cheetah and began firing her gun.

Iron Cheetah dashed behind the leftover rubble from a destroyed building as Love wasted her ammo, firing bullets into the wrecked wall.

"Emma!" Sasha yelled through Love's earbud, "You have to calm down! You're just wasting-"

"Shut up!" Emma roared.

*click*

Iron Cheetah smirked when he heard Love's gun run out of bullets. Quickly, he jumped out of his cover and charged towards Justice Knight Love in a blur.

Love pulled back her arm and swung her super-heated blade at the oncoming blur.

Iron Cheetah stopped suddenly and ducked under the blade. He looked up at the bewildered red knight and smirked.

"Damn you!" Love swung her dagger down towards that cocky smirk.

Reacting quickly, Iron Cheetah grabbed Love's arm and used Love's own momentum to slam her onto the ground.

"Argh!" Love grunted as the front of her body hit the ground.

The red knight struggled to get her bearings. That damn cyborg was too fast, she thought to herself. How was that even possible?! How could she-

Iron Cheetah stomped on her back.

Justice Knight Love screamed.

"Was that all you had?" said Iron Cheetah, mockingly. He stepped off her, and crouched down in front of her. "I'm disappointed."

Quickly, Love slashed her dagger upwards.

Unfortunately, Iron Cheetah had seen her move and had already jumped several feet back.

Iron Cheetah tsked. "Well, I think I've spent enough time here. You weren't really that much fun at all."

Iron Cheetah dashed into a blur again, this time, for the fatal blow. He flexed his claws as he got closer to Justice Knight Love.

Suddenly, a police car slammed into Iron Cheetah and skidded into a stop right in front of Emma.



Part 9

Iron Cheetah roared in pain as the police car slammed into his side.

He hit the ground and bounced forward several times before rolling to a stop.

"Ow..." Iron Cheetah slowly got up. He looked over at the police car to see David step out.

With an angry look on his face, David said, "I am the knight who delivers swift justice!"

"Suit up!" David yelled as he pushed a button on the Knight-Former that was on the front of his waist. Tiny, blue metallic squares burst out from the red orb on the Knight-Former and gathered around David. It began to form an exosuit around David.

A sleeker version of David's previous exosuit formed around him.

The reborn Justice Knight flexed his exosuit. He clenched his left hand into a fist and then quickly flicked it open. Then, he declared his name, "I am Justice Knight... Justice!"

Justice quickly drew his pistol and fired at Iron Cheetah, who jumped behind some rubble.

Seizing his chance, the blue knight jumped behind the wrecked police car to where his partner was struggling up.

"Emma, are you okay?" David asked.

"Yeah... Thanks for coming," Emma replied, "Your new code name is Justice Knight Justice?"

"Yeah."

"You... chose it yourself, didn't you?"

"Yeah. You like it?"

Emma paused a little before finally deciding to say, "It's.. alright, I guess. It's just a little... repetitive."

Justice opened the door to the passenger's seat and took out a briefcase while watching the rubble where Iron Cheetah was hiding. He handed the briefcase to Love. "Here, take these and catch up to Iron Octopus. These are the new prototype short swords that should be able to hurt the cyborgs. Give them to anyone willing to help."

Love took the briefcase, but protested, "I can help you here!"

"No," Justice replied, "You can't beat him like this."

Love looked away in shame, "I let my anger get the best of me, didn't I? I'm sorry, sir."

"Don't call me 'sir'," Justice replied, "Yes, you did. But, also, your exosuit was built to concentrate on strength and defense while sacrificing mobility, whereas mine sacrifices strength and defense for better mobility. That should make me a better match. Now go, clear your head and protect the city."

"Yes, sir..." Love, with the briefcase in her hands, ran off in the direction that the Iron Legion's army was headed.

"David!" Sasha said through his earbud.

"What is it, Sasha?" Justice looked through the windows of his police car to see that Iron Cheetah had calmly walked out from his cover.

"Iron Cheetah doesn't actually have superspeed! He may be able to run fast, but his reaction times are still that of an average human. That's why he has to pause whenever he makes a sudden turn or movement while running!"

"Okay, thanks for the information, Sasha."

"Be careful, David! He still has remarkably high acceleration and deceleration times though."

Justice jumped on top of his dented police car and looked at the cyborg cheetah, who was just leaning against a wrecked wall, waiting. Angrily, Justice said, "Iron Cheetah. Are you mocking me?"

Iron Cheetah stood upright and replied, "No, it was just out of our old friendship that I decided to wait for you, David."

Justice was taken aback. "Friendship? Who are you?"

Iron Cheetah took off his helmet, revealing his face to David.

"W-Walter?" David said, shocked. "Walter Bai?"

"It's been a while," Walter said while putting his helmet back on.

"That's where you've all this time? With the Iron Legion?! Why? You were one of the best detectives on the force before you disappeared!"

"That's right," Walter said. "And do you know what I saw when I was a detective? Time and time again, criminals getting released because of corruption. Judges, lawyers, and juries all turning the other way, letting criminals walk away because of their greed! The world needs to change, David."

"But not like this, Walter!" David yelled back, angrily, "You really think that killing all these innocent people will help?!"

"In order to change the world, we must first have total control of it. And when we have total control of it, we must cleanse it of those that have been corrupted. Anyone that gets in our way needs to be cleansed!"

"Damn it, Alan was killed by one of your Iron Soldiers! He wasn't corrupted! You really think that he needed to be 'cleansed'?!"

"If he got in our way, then yes, he had to be cleansed."

"So, what? Are you going to 'cleanse' me as well? We are friends!"

Iron Cheetah hesitated for a moment. "Yes, even you have to cleansed. Especially you."

"Can't you hear yourself, Walter? You used to be a cop! You used to serve and protect!"

"David, remember all that stuff about justice that you used to talk about, back in the academy? Well, this is my justice!"

David yelled in anger, "This isn't justice! This is a massacre!"

"Then we're done talking." Iron Cheetah dashed towards Justice, yelling, "You couldn't beat me back at at the academy, what makes you think you can beat me now?!"

Justice watched as the blur zig-zagged towards him - the same tactic that was used against Love. At the last second, Justice sidestepped out of the way and the blur went past him. Quickly, Justice fired his pistol several times at Iron Cheetah's back.

Iron Cheetah grunted in pain and turned around. "Ha! Not bad. I see that my usual tricks won't work on you."

The cyborg cheetah dashed off behind a building.

Justice could see the cheetah, dashing about, hiding behind buildings, trying to obfuscate where and how the cheetah would strike next.

Justice pressed a button on his Knight-Former and commanded, "Sword."

Metallic squares burst from the red orb as Justice held his right hand in front of him. A sword formed in his hand. The handle and the blade of the sword was normal enough, but it was the guard that stood out - it was a small turbine encased in a metal circlet. A switch lever stuck out of the turbine, close to the handle.

"David!" Sasha yelled through his earbud, "Get out of there, Iron Cheetah's going to-"

"Thank you, Sasha, but I need silence right now." Justice turned off his earbud.

Standing there, Justice listened as the blur that was Iron Cheetah ran circles around him.

Sasha and the Captain watched the camera feed from a somehow still standing traffic camera.

"Is he going to be alright, Captain?" Sasha asked, nervously.

"I hope so," the Captain replied, "David knows what he's doing."

Suddenly, the blur paused and Iron Cheetah dashed directly towards Justice Knight Justice's back.

"David!" Sasha yelled.

Back on the battlefield, the cyborg blur sped towards the exosuited knight's back. Iron Cheetah flexed his claws, ready to killing the killing blow.

Suddenly, Justice Knight Justice swung around. His sword followed him and it slammed into Iron Cheetah's side, cutting off the cyborg's arm in the process.

There, the two stood, with Justice firmly holding onto the sword that was cutting into Iron Cheetah's torso, and Iron Cheetah firmly gripping the blade in the side of his chest with his remaining hand.

Justice Knight Justice grabbed the switch lever on his sword and pulled it up. Then, he quickly pulled the switch lever back to its original position and the turbine started spinning.

The blade started to spark with electric arcs.

Iron Cheetah smirked. He painfully said, "Looks like you finally beaten me. I never did like all that stuff about your so-called justice that you kept going on about, by the way."

Sadly, David said, "Damn it, Walter, it didn't have to be like this."

"Yes, it did," Walter said.

Then, the sword finished charging and the electricity flowed into Iron Cheetah's body.

Iron Cheetah screamed as he was getting electrocuted.

"Damn it!" Justice Knight Justice yelled. He pulled his sword through Iron Cheetah's body, cutting the cyborg into two.

The cheetah's legs collapsed on to the ground, his torso following shortly afterwards.

As Iron Cheetah laid on his back, he recalled the last straw - the event that made him decide to join the Iron Legion. He recalled being in a court room, feeling powerless to do anything as a rapist was declared not guilty by the jury.

The rapist was a powerful politician who almost certainly had bribed and bought his way to freedom. The worst was the evil, slimy smirk that the rapist had given to the victim who he past as he walked out of the courtroom that day as a free man.

The victim's black lipsticked lips quivered and tears rolled down her cheeks, and Walter's heart was broken.

Electric arcs surged through Iron Cheetah's two halves.

"Goodbye... Skyler," Walter said.

Then, Walter Bai exploded.



Coda

Officer Jessica Pink drove her dagger into an Iron Soldier's chest.

The cyborg screamed in pain, and then his body went limp.

Officer Pink breathed heavily and managed to push the cyborg's body on to the ground. She stared at the body.

Suddenly, the body began to surge with electric arcs.

"Get back!" A voice yelled.

Suddenly, Officer Pink was dragged back far away from the Iron Soldier.

Officer Pink turned to see Justice Knight Love, "Love! What's going on?"

The Iron Soldier's body exploded.

"Whoa! What happened?!" Pink exclaimed.

"Their bodies explode when they die," Love explained.

"W-Why?"

"We think that it's because their systems overload when they die. Either that, or the enemy doesn't want us getting our hands on their technology."

"We've taken care of the other Iron Soldiers, ma'am," a police officer with a prototype short sword walked up to the two, "These swords really do work! Now we can finally fight back!"

"We?" Officer Pink asked, "How many of you are there?"

As if to answer her, around fifteen to twenty other officers appeared with prototype short swords in their hands.

Love turned to Officer Pink, "We're going to stop Iron Octopus and the rest of their damn army. Will you join us?"

Officer Pink looked at the blade that Justice Knight Love had given her. Then, she looked back at the red knight and answered, "Of course."

Justice Knight Love nodded, "Good. Let's go."