Post by Derrick Ottoy on Jan 12, 2021 16:00:27 GMT -6
Four trucks in total run through the desert during the cold bitter night, the hearts of all within burning with fury against the Renegades, for today marks the end of the ones that have tortured the Dirty Snakes for months on end. Tonight marks the beginning of the Snakes' true rise to power, for control of the criminal underworld, and to Derry, for John. About a mile before the gang arrives at the Renegade base in the Gizard Wasteland, Derry's scouter rings, and he swiftly answers Lucas' call. "What are we lookin' at, Lucas?" "Looks like they already know we're comin', boss. From what we're gatherin', the base is especially active tonight. Hopefully, they haven't realized ya deactivated them mines already. I ain't pickin' anything up from 'em, so I think we're in the clear."
To Derry's right, Wallace is driving the truck, completely focused on what lies ahead of him. "Wallace," Derry asks, "are you sure it's fine to bring you and Lucas along? Ya know if you two get hurt out there imma-" "We'll be fine out there, Derry. After all, when was the last time the three of us were out on the field together? It's almost always been you out there doin' flashy shit, and maybe Lucas or I would be there fo' cleanup duty." The gangster smiled at his friend, then turns his attention back to his call with Lucas, asking, "And what about you, Lucas? You alright wi-" "Like ya even have to ask, Derry. We're with you till the end, boss. We've made it this far already, what's stopping us now?" Derry pauses for a moment, then states, "You know, I'm gonna need you two back at base. Don't go gettin' yourselves killed out there, ya hear me?" Derry ends the call and focuses back on the road laid out ahead.
Derry has yet to break the news to his gang in regards to his plans once this is all over. The gang just never felt the same since John's death, and he's begun to feel more and more isolated from everyone else now that they respect him out of fear rather than who he is as a person. He doesn't plan on sticking around the Snakes any more after this, and instead move on to much greater heights, and the Stargoons were just the thing he needs. Once the Renegades are out of the way, he'll give up the title of boss and hand it over to Lucas. Derry also wonders how many Snakes would remain by the end of the day. Eighty in total, excluding Derry of course, have come out here in order to risk their lives for the sake of the gang, and only twenty remained at HQ to guard it. Now he wonders if he's taken too many Snakes away from HQ.
Derry's train of thought was interrupted by a lone bullet penetrating the windshield of the truck he and Wallace were in, almost hitting Wallace square in the head. "Looks like we're startin' right now!" Wallace shouts as he starts swerving the truck in an attempt to make it harder to hit him. While this was happening, Derry lowers the passenger window and puts his hand outside while charging up several fireballs. He launches a barrage of them at the shooters outside the facility doors and takes them out one by one. By the time all of the trucks have grouped up near the doorway, only a handful of Renegades remained outside, with some of them being up in a nearby watchtower. One fireball was enough to set the top of that tower on fire, and anyone still inside scrambled to the bottom in an attempt to flee before the flames reach them. By they time they came pouring out of the tower, all four of the trucks have stopped. The doors to the containers fling open, and a horde of Dirty Snakes pour out of each one, each toting around their own rifles, taking care of anyone that remained after Derry's initial fireballs.
With the base alarm roaring as loud as it possibly could, Derry and the rest of the gangsters gather around the giant metal door that stood between them and the inside of the cave, where the rest of the Renegades lie. Since the door was completely shut, it looks like Derry will have to burn the gang's way through the door. However, the moment they breach, there would be a hailstorm of bullets and ice rays waiting for the gang and Derry. It's a good thing they came prepared.
Wallace came forth with two smoke grenades, primed and ready to toss inside to give them some cover while Lucas pulls out a single flashbang from inside his jacket, courtesy of John's leftover stash back at HQ. Before Derry cuts completely through the metal door, however, he takes one last look back at everyone that was with him. Eighty men, including both Wallace and Lucas, are now fully prepared to face death in the face for the future of the Dirty Snakes. He couldn't have been more proud of his men that day. The breach has begun.
With one mighty kick, Derry brings the cut out piece of metal down, and two smoke grenades are thrown out, blinding the enemy and preventing them from seeing when the gang enters the facility. Derry takes this moment to fly in himself and cause a distraction so that the rest of the Snakes will have time to find good cover inside and help thin out the number of Renegades in the area. Inside, almost three dozen Renegades aimed their weapons at the entrance, some equipped with regular rifles while others were handling special cryogenic weapons specifically designed to counter Derry. Most of them were stationed either on catwalks high up in the air or were hiding behind large bundles of crates on the ground floor, leaving only a handful of single crates dotting the landscape between Derry and the ones on the ground.
Dashing between lone crate after lone crate, taking cover whenever he can, Derry slowly makes his way towards the bulk of the Renegades. The stray bullets weren't the problem to Derry, since he could easily avoid them or disintegrate them. Instead, the ice rays that were being fired from the cryoweapons were the major issue, since it would slow him down and make his flames weaker, marking him as a target for focus fire. He'll have to play his cards carefully until the rest of the Snakes begin piling in. It's only when Derry looks upwards from his crate does he notice Lucas' flashbang flying in the air, and Derry instinctively looks away. The flashbang lands nearby the ground Renegades and explodes, blinding most of them. Derry takes this opportunity to fly up above to fight the Renegades shooting from the catwalk as the Snakes decide to start pouring in, thinking that they have enough cover now. The catwalk Renegades were too distracted with Derry and the ones on the ground were still recovering from being blinded, giving the Snakes a massive advantage by allowing them to take cover almost wherever they wanted.
As the fighting began on the ground between the Snakes and the Renegades, Derry was busy dealing with the catwalk gangsters. With little cover to work with, it was imperative that Derry takes out the ones equipped with cryogenic weapons before tackling the others. Four in total carried cryogenic weapons while another eight were toting around regular rifles, and thankfully, all four of the important ones were nearby Derry. Through a series of swift punches and dashing between them, Derry successfully knocks three of them off of the catwalk to plummet to their deaths down below. Unfortunately, the fourth one was still standing, and fires his weapon directly at the gangster, grazing his left arm and freezing it. Derry winces in pain, and uses his right hand to launch a fireball at the fourth Renegade, setting him ablaze and leaving behind only eight other Renegades on the catwalk. Derry slowly heats his left arm up to get rid of the ice and moves in to fight the remaining Renegades. It didn't exactly take long, since they were still humans with power levels in the extremely low double digits, but eventually, the deed is done, and Derry is the last one standing on the catwalk.
Down below, things were getting a bit too dicey for the Snakes. Despite the fact that about two dozen Renegades were on the ground floor in comparison to the eighty Snakes that barged in, the numbers are swiftly evening out as they are being assaulted by what Derry presumes was more of those damn androids back in West City. Derry quickly swoops in and crashes down on top of one of the androids assaulting a squad being led by Wallace. As the android was completely destroyed under the gangster's feet, Wallace quips, "You sure did take ya sweet time gettin' down. Ya arm doin' alright?" Derry looks back at his arm, now completely free of the ice but still quite pale. "I'll live."
Derry turns his attention back to the Snakes attempting to fight more of the androids that have revealed themselves and are currently mowing them down. From Derry's count, two androids were tearing this up in the front lines while they're being backed up by seven gunmen supporting them from the back. Derry yells out to the Snakes, "Focus down those damn gunmen! I'll handle the androids!" Derry rushes forward and lands a sucker punch directly into one of the faces of the android. A chunk of its jaw is completely broken off while the second one moves in to attack Derry. The gangster blocks any and all punches and kicks the android throws out, and Derry eventually gets tired of just blocking and delivers a swift kick to the androids head, severing it from its neck. The body collapses to the floor as the jawless android finally recovers and gets up from the ground. Before it could do anything else, however, Derry fires a Flamethrower attack directly at it's chest, penetrating through all of the metal and setting it on fire. As it falls to the ground powerless, Derry takes a looks around to analyze their current situation.
The rest of the Snakes managed to dispatch the rest of the gunmen, and about sixty three men remained including Wallace. It was at this point that Derry didn't see Lucas anywhere. It was only then when he hears a series of gunshots and a scream that sounded eerily similar to Lucas. Derry follwos the noise and sees Lucas, now bleeding from a gunshot wound to his leg and lower chest while standing on top of a dead Renegade. Lucas falls to the floor as Derry rushes to his aid, grabbing him before making contact with the ground. "Lucas, are you there? Stay with me!" "Ack, ya don't need to shout. I'm fine, just-ow a little banged up, that's all." One of the Snake gangsters comes by to see what all the fuss was about. Derry picks Lucas up and hands him over to the gangster, stating, "Take him back to one of the trucks and take care of those wounds. His job is done." The Snake nods and takes Lucas from Derry's hands. As he rushes out of the facility to give Lucas some medical attention, Derry makes his way back to the rest of the gang.
Derry makes it back to the other men and Wallace and announces, "Lucas is gonna be outta commission for the rest of the mission, so listen up. We're headin' underground next, and there's likely to be more of those Renegade bastards down below. I need everyone here to keep ya eyes wide open and remain focused. We ain't done here yet until this entire facility burns to the ground. Let's move!" Wallace and the rest of the gangsters grab their weapons and follow Derry to the back of the facility. It was only now that he notices that the base is so eerily quiet now that the Renegades were taken care of. The silence of the Renegades should've been eerie to Derry given the fact that it was once inhabited by his fellow men, but the footsteps of his fellow gangsters only further motivated Derry to end this.
The Dirty Snakes finally make their way to the nearby back of the facility and are greeted by a giant elevator door, likely made to transport vehicles and such down beneath them. As they approach, the doors open up on their own, as if to welcome them to the deepest recesses of the Renegade base. The gang manages to all pile up into the elevator, and even snag a few crates to bring with them as well in the event that Renegades were waiting to ambush them at the elevator down below. The doors begin to slowly close on the Snakes, and a chill is sent up everyone's spines as the elevator makes a loud creaking noise until it eventually begins its slow descent.
Given some free time to mentally prepare themselves for what was to come down below, most of the gang members begin to either do some stretches or have some brief conversations with each other. Derry pipes up and asks Wallace, "There somethin' that I need to say right now, Wallace. I've been keepin' this a secret from everyone else, but I suppose now that we're near the end, I'm announcing that I'm retiring from the Dirty Snakes." "Wait, what?" Wallace questions as he shifts his body to face Derry, "Where the hell are ya goin', then? We've been family for six years, Derry, what's goin' on?" "Truth is, Wallace, that the gang hasn't been the same since John died. Simple as that. I've wanted to be the boss of the Snakes for a while now, but not like this. Not like this. I just can't go on anymore. Lucas will be taking over once this is all over." The pair are now completely silent after what Derry had to say, until Wallace asks, "Derry, you're my friend. Remember that. If you need anythin' from me or Lucas, you know you can call us at anytime. We stick together, ya hear?" Before Derry could respond, the elevator comes to a sudden halt, and everyone inside prepares their weapons and trains them at the elevator door. They waited for the moment to open up. And waited. And waited.
Something was wrong.
A low hissing sound can be heard near the top of the elevator as everyone glances up to see what was going on. A pale blue cloud of mist floats down and quickly begins to cool the room down. Knowing exactly what was going on, Derry begins to unleash a torrent of flames aimed towards all of the vents inside the elevator that were leaking out the gas. This went on for about a minute until the cold eventually caught up to the gangster and his flames began to grow weaker and weaker. The gang began huddling together for warmth as Derry tries his hardest to keep the flames going, even activating his Heating Up and Painful Singe transformations to keep the flames going. The gas kept coming, however, and even in his empowered state, Derry soon couldn't keep the flames going.
Derry groups up with the rest of the gang in an attempt to preserve heat as the elevator gets colder and colder. The elevator door, however, begins to open up, and a hailstorm of bullets are fired at the now huddled gangsters. One by one, the Dirty Snakes attempt to pull their weapons out to fire back, and some of them even manage to successfully land a few shots at the men waiting outside the elevator. Eventually, however, every single person in the elevator fell down to the ground, either freezing to death or bleeding out from their wounds. Derry would normally just disintegrate the bullets, but due to the loss of his heat, he was shot down just like any other man. Wallace wasn't lucky himself, and suffered wounds to both of his kneecaps.
Three men dressed in winter gear step into the elevator and inspect the area. These men weren't wearing the Renegade patch like the others, and some of the ones in the back were even wearing what Derry thought was saiyan armor. Two of the strangers began shooting the Snakes that were still alive as the third one approaches Derry and Wallace. He stares at the two men for a few seconds, kneeling down onto the ground to get a better look at them, before removing the scarf that was covering his face. Derry's eyes widen as he soon realizes exactly who it was he was staring at, and he was left confused and filled to the brim with pure rage. "It's been a while, Derry boy," said John.
As more of the Snakes were being shot dead in the background, the former boss of the Dirty Snakes asks, "How are ya feelin', Derry? Wallace? Doin' pretty well from what I can see." Derry grits his teeth and growls, "John... how..." "I think it's a bit self explanatory, but perhaps you ain't feelin' yourself. To put it simply: I had a deal. These 'Renegades' you're fightin'? They're just the small fries, the little ones to keep ya distracted. And I made a deal with the big boys. I get to set myself up for retirement and all I have to do is give you boys up. Shame, too. Originally, the dealer wanted ya for some future projects, but given how... volatile you've become, he's changed his mind. Oh, and we're doin' a bit of cleanup back at the HQ back in Central, and we also noticed that your boy Lucas is lounging around in one of them trucks ya brought over. Don't worry, we'll be sure to take good care of 'em." Wallace attempts to jump at John with all of his remaining strength, but is sucker punched in the face by one of the other guards who came in with John. The former boss turns his head towards Wallace and pulls out a handgun.
The gas is stopped, and the room ever so slowly begins to heat up. The men outside the elevator begin to take their leave as the two guards move towards the elevator doorway. "Perhaps I'll show mercy by givin' ya a choice, Derry boy," John states. "I only got one bullet in this thing, and from my count there's you and Wallace here. Two people, one bullet. I'll let ya have a choice: You, or Wally over there." Derry is furious and humiliated at the situation that he's now been put in. Before he could answer, the voices inside of his head slowly return to his head, getting louder and louder, taunting him and his failures. His head begins to ache and he winces in pain, his nose now bleeding. Derry screams from the top of his lungs, "ME! SHOOT ME, DAMNIT!" "Alright, Derry boy. You don't have to shout so loud, I hear ya loud and clear," John mocks Derry as he immediately points his gun at Wallace's head and pulls the trigger. Wallace now lies completely motionless on the floor, and Derry is left in complete shock. Everything immediately goes silent inside of Derry's head, as if his very soul left his body. "Whoops, I slipped and miscounted," John jokes as he points the gun at Derry's head, "Looks like I had a second one." As Derry remains completely silent on the floor, a single voice is heard inside of his mind. In his thoughts, someone says...
"Kill him."
Derry swiftly grabs the barrel of John's handgun and shoves it upwards towards the ceiling. Derry quickly tackles the former boss to the ground as the two guards aim their rifles at the gangster. Before they could fire, however, Derry raises one of his hands and fires two larger than normal fireballs at both of the guards, punching a hole clean through their chests and instantly killing them. "What!?" John yells out in shock, "You shouldn't be able to do that!" Derry grabs onto John's throat and begins to slowly choke him to death. The former boss attempts to hit Derry as hard as he could to get the gangster off of him, only to realize that his attempts at escape are in vain. As his face begins to turn red due to the lack of air, John pulls out a small remote from his pocket and presses a button on it. Various different explosions can be heard across the facility, but the noise didn't phase Derry at all. "Don't... you... realize... we're... both... dead men..." John attempts to speak as his lungs begin to give out. Derry begins to slowly giggle to himself and replies, "Does it look like I care?"
John attempts to get Derry off of him one last time, but once again, to no avail. Eventually, John stops breathing entirely and now lies dead on the floor. Derry begins to get up from the ground and continues giggling to himself. A piece of debris hits Derry on the head, and a trail of blood makes its way down Derry's face, but he keeps on laughing. Derry flies up to the roof of the elevator and punches a hole through, resulting in an avalanche of debris that was resting on top of the elevator roof to fall through. Once the debris was out of the way, Derry flies out as he howls with laughter, his mind finally broken. The gangster makes his way back to the ground level of the base, and the roof begins to slowly collapse. Derry looks up towards the ceiling, and could only continue to laugh maniacally as more and more debris falls down. The entire base soon crumbles, burying the Dirty Snakes boss with it.
All was silent.
An hour passes, and two lone men equipped with Saiyan armor are attempting to look through the rubble of the former Renegade HQ. They use their scouters to see if they could spot anything useful, only for a torrent of pink flames to be unleashed from the rubble a few yards away. A single hand with a pink fireball now popped out of the ground, and the two men went over to investigate. They point the palms of their hands at the ground below and prepare some ki blasts, only for Derry to burst out from the ground and incinerate both men using a Flamethrower attack. As the men screamed in pain, Derry, who is now beaten, battered, bleeding, and broken, slowly limps his way towards the four Dirty Snake trucks off in the distance. He was too injured at this point to fly his way back, but it seems as if he was back to his senses. He'll have to drive his way back to North City, but there was something he wanted to check first.
A few minutes pass and Derry makes it to the back of one of the trucks. He slowly opens the door of the storage container and lifts himself up and crawls his way further inside. He is greeted by the corpse of a Dirty Snake gang member and a motionless Lucas, both of which were shot between the eyes. The broken gangster reaches Lucas and grabs hold of his body, hugging him tight. Derry begins to cry uncontrollably, now knowing that he's been left with nothing. No Wallace, no Lucas, no Dirty Snakes: He was alone. So came the end of the Dirty Snakes: The End of an Era for Derry. There was but one thing he could do now: He had to find the Stargoons.
To Derry's right, Wallace is driving the truck, completely focused on what lies ahead of him. "Wallace," Derry asks, "are you sure it's fine to bring you and Lucas along? Ya know if you two get hurt out there imma-" "We'll be fine out there, Derry. After all, when was the last time the three of us were out on the field together? It's almost always been you out there doin' flashy shit, and maybe Lucas or I would be there fo' cleanup duty." The gangster smiled at his friend, then turns his attention back to his call with Lucas, asking, "And what about you, Lucas? You alright wi-" "Like ya even have to ask, Derry. We're with you till the end, boss. We've made it this far already, what's stopping us now?" Derry pauses for a moment, then states, "You know, I'm gonna need you two back at base. Don't go gettin' yourselves killed out there, ya hear me?" Derry ends the call and focuses back on the road laid out ahead.
Derry has yet to break the news to his gang in regards to his plans once this is all over. The gang just never felt the same since John's death, and he's begun to feel more and more isolated from everyone else now that they respect him out of fear rather than who he is as a person. He doesn't plan on sticking around the Snakes any more after this, and instead move on to much greater heights, and the Stargoons were just the thing he needs. Once the Renegades are out of the way, he'll give up the title of boss and hand it over to Lucas. Derry also wonders how many Snakes would remain by the end of the day. Eighty in total, excluding Derry of course, have come out here in order to risk their lives for the sake of the gang, and only twenty remained at HQ to guard it. Now he wonders if he's taken too many Snakes away from HQ.
Derry's train of thought was interrupted by a lone bullet penetrating the windshield of the truck he and Wallace were in, almost hitting Wallace square in the head. "Looks like we're startin' right now!" Wallace shouts as he starts swerving the truck in an attempt to make it harder to hit him. While this was happening, Derry lowers the passenger window and puts his hand outside while charging up several fireballs. He launches a barrage of them at the shooters outside the facility doors and takes them out one by one. By the time all of the trucks have grouped up near the doorway, only a handful of Renegades remained outside, with some of them being up in a nearby watchtower. One fireball was enough to set the top of that tower on fire, and anyone still inside scrambled to the bottom in an attempt to flee before the flames reach them. By they time they came pouring out of the tower, all four of the trucks have stopped. The doors to the containers fling open, and a horde of Dirty Snakes pour out of each one, each toting around their own rifles, taking care of anyone that remained after Derry's initial fireballs.
With the base alarm roaring as loud as it possibly could, Derry and the rest of the gangsters gather around the giant metal door that stood between them and the inside of the cave, where the rest of the Renegades lie. Since the door was completely shut, it looks like Derry will have to burn the gang's way through the door. However, the moment they breach, there would be a hailstorm of bullets and ice rays waiting for the gang and Derry. It's a good thing they came prepared.
Wallace came forth with two smoke grenades, primed and ready to toss inside to give them some cover while Lucas pulls out a single flashbang from inside his jacket, courtesy of John's leftover stash back at HQ. Before Derry cuts completely through the metal door, however, he takes one last look back at everyone that was with him. Eighty men, including both Wallace and Lucas, are now fully prepared to face death in the face for the future of the Dirty Snakes. He couldn't have been more proud of his men that day. The breach has begun.
With one mighty kick, Derry brings the cut out piece of metal down, and two smoke grenades are thrown out, blinding the enemy and preventing them from seeing when the gang enters the facility. Derry takes this moment to fly in himself and cause a distraction so that the rest of the Snakes will have time to find good cover inside and help thin out the number of Renegades in the area. Inside, almost three dozen Renegades aimed their weapons at the entrance, some equipped with regular rifles while others were handling special cryogenic weapons specifically designed to counter Derry. Most of them were stationed either on catwalks high up in the air or were hiding behind large bundles of crates on the ground floor, leaving only a handful of single crates dotting the landscape between Derry and the ones on the ground.
Dashing between lone crate after lone crate, taking cover whenever he can, Derry slowly makes his way towards the bulk of the Renegades. The stray bullets weren't the problem to Derry, since he could easily avoid them or disintegrate them. Instead, the ice rays that were being fired from the cryoweapons were the major issue, since it would slow him down and make his flames weaker, marking him as a target for focus fire. He'll have to play his cards carefully until the rest of the Snakes begin piling in. It's only when Derry looks upwards from his crate does he notice Lucas' flashbang flying in the air, and Derry instinctively looks away. The flashbang lands nearby the ground Renegades and explodes, blinding most of them. Derry takes this opportunity to fly up above to fight the Renegades shooting from the catwalk as the Snakes decide to start pouring in, thinking that they have enough cover now. The catwalk Renegades were too distracted with Derry and the ones on the ground were still recovering from being blinded, giving the Snakes a massive advantage by allowing them to take cover almost wherever they wanted.
As the fighting began on the ground between the Snakes and the Renegades, Derry was busy dealing with the catwalk gangsters. With little cover to work with, it was imperative that Derry takes out the ones equipped with cryogenic weapons before tackling the others. Four in total carried cryogenic weapons while another eight were toting around regular rifles, and thankfully, all four of the important ones were nearby Derry. Through a series of swift punches and dashing between them, Derry successfully knocks three of them off of the catwalk to plummet to their deaths down below. Unfortunately, the fourth one was still standing, and fires his weapon directly at the gangster, grazing his left arm and freezing it. Derry winces in pain, and uses his right hand to launch a fireball at the fourth Renegade, setting him ablaze and leaving behind only eight other Renegades on the catwalk. Derry slowly heats his left arm up to get rid of the ice and moves in to fight the remaining Renegades. It didn't exactly take long, since they were still humans with power levels in the extremely low double digits, but eventually, the deed is done, and Derry is the last one standing on the catwalk.
Down below, things were getting a bit too dicey for the Snakes. Despite the fact that about two dozen Renegades were on the ground floor in comparison to the eighty Snakes that barged in, the numbers are swiftly evening out as they are being assaulted by what Derry presumes was more of those damn androids back in West City. Derry quickly swoops in and crashes down on top of one of the androids assaulting a squad being led by Wallace. As the android was completely destroyed under the gangster's feet, Wallace quips, "You sure did take ya sweet time gettin' down. Ya arm doin' alright?" Derry looks back at his arm, now completely free of the ice but still quite pale. "I'll live."
Derry turns his attention back to the Snakes attempting to fight more of the androids that have revealed themselves and are currently mowing them down. From Derry's count, two androids were tearing this up in the front lines while they're being backed up by seven gunmen supporting them from the back. Derry yells out to the Snakes, "Focus down those damn gunmen! I'll handle the androids!" Derry rushes forward and lands a sucker punch directly into one of the faces of the android. A chunk of its jaw is completely broken off while the second one moves in to attack Derry. The gangster blocks any and all punches and kicks the android throws out, and Derry eventually gets tired of just blocking and delivers a swift kick to the androids head, severing it from its neck. The body collapses to the floor as the jawless android finally recovers and gets up from the ground. Before it could do anything else, however, Derry fires a Flamethrower attack directly at it's chest, penetrating through all of the metal and setting it on fire. As it falls to the ground powerless, Derry takes a looks around to analyze their current situation.
The rest of the Snakes managed to dispatch the rest of the gunmen, and about sixty three men remained including Wallace. It was at this point that Derry didn't see Lucas anywhere. It was only then when he hears a series of gunshots and a scream that sounded eerily similar to Lucas. Derry follwos the noise and sees Lucas, now bleeding from a gunshot wound to his leg and lower chest while standing on top of a dead Renegade. Lucas falls to the floor as Derry rushes to his aid, grabbing him before making contact with the ground. "Lucas, are you there? Stay with me!" "Ack, ya don't need to shout. I'm fine, just-ow a little banged up, that's all." One of the Snake gangsters comes by to see what all the fuss was about. Derry picks Lucas up and hands him over to the gangster, stating, "Take him back to one of the trucks and take care of those wounds. His job is done." The Snake nods and takes Lucas from Derry's hands. As he rushes out of the facility to give Lucas some medical attention, Derry makes his way back to the rest of the gang.
Derry makes it back to the other men and Wallace and announces, "Lucas is gonna be outta commission for the rest of the mission, so listen up. We're headin' underground next, and there's likely to be more of those Renegade bastards down below. I need everyone here to keep ya eyes wide open and remain focused. We ain't done here yet until this entire facility burns to the ground. Let's move!" Wallace and the rest of the gangsters grab their weapons and follow Derry to the back of the facility. It was only now that he notices that the base is so eerily quiet now that the Renegades were taken care of. The silence of the Renegades should've been eerie to Derry given the fact that it was once inhabited by his fellow men, but the footsteps of his fellow gangsters only further motivated Derry to end this.
The Dirty Snakes finally make their way to the nearby back of the facility and are greeted by a giant elevator door, likely made to transport vehicles and such down beneath them. As they approach, the doors open up on their own, as if to welcome them to the deepest recesses of the Renegade base. The gang manages to all pile up into the elevator, and even snag a few crates to bring with them as well in the event that Renegades were waiting to ambush them at the elevator down below. The doors begin to slowly close on the Snakes, and a chill is sent up everyone's spines as the elevator makes a loud creaking noise until it eventually begins its slow descent.
Given some free time to mentally prepare themselves for what was to come down below, most of the gang members begin to either do some stretches or have some brief conversations with each other. Derry pipes up and asks Wallace, "There somethin' that I need to say right now, Wallace. I've been keepin' this a secret from everyone else, but I suppose now that we're near the end, I'm announcing that I'm retiring from the Dirty Snakes." "Wait, what?" Wallace questions as he shifts his body to face Derry, "Where the hell are ya goin', then? We've been family for six years, Derry, what's goin' on?" "Truth is, Wallace, that the gang hasn't been the same since John died. Simple as that. I've wanted to be the boss of the Snakes for a while now, but not like this. Not like this. I just can't go on anymore. Lucas will be taking over once this is all over." The pair are now completely silent after what Derry had to say, until Wallace asks, "Derry, you're my friend. Remember that. If you need anythin' from me or Lucas, you know you can call us at anytime. We stick together, ya hear?" Before Derry could respond, the elevator comes to a sudden halt, and everyone inside prepares their weapons and trains them at the elevator door. They waited for the moment to open up. And waited. And waited.
Something was wrong.
A low hissing sound can be heard near the top of the elevator as everyone glances up to see what was going on. A pale blue cloud of mist floats down and quickly begins to cool the room down. Knowing exactly what was going on, Derry begins to unleash a torrent of flames aimed towards all of the vents inside the elevator that were leaking out the gas. This went on for about a minute until the cold eventually caught up to the gangster and his flames began to grow weaker and weaker. The gang began huddling together for warmth as Derry tries his hardest to keep the flames going, even activating his Heating Up and Painful Singe transformations to keep the flames going. The gas kept coming, however, and even in his empowered state, Derry soon couldn't keep the flames going.
Derry groups up with the rest of the gang in an attempt to preserve heat as the elevator gets colder and colder. The elevator door, however, begins to open up, and a hailstorm of bullets are fired at the now huddled gangsters. One by one, the Dirty Snakes attempt to pull their weapons out to fire back, and some of them even manage to successfully land a few shots at the men waiting outside the elevator. Eventually, however, every single person in the elevator fell down to the ground, either freezing to death or bleeding out from their wounds. Derry would normally just disintegrate the bullets, but due to the loss of his heat, he was shot down just like any other man. Wallace wasn't lucky himself, and suffered wounds to both of his kneecaps.
Three men dressed in winter gear step into the elevator and inspect the area. These men weren't wearing the Renegade patch like the others, and some of the ones in the back were even wearing what Derry thought was saiyan armor. Two of the strangers began shooting the Snakes that were still alive as the third one approaches Derry and Wallace. He stares at the two men for a few seconds, kneeling down onto the ground to get a better look at them, before removing the scarf that was covering his face. Derry's eyes widen as he soon realizes exactly who it was he was staring at, and he was left confused and filled to the brim with pure rage. "It's been a while, Derry boy," said John.
As more of the Snakes were being shot dead in the background, the former boss of the Dirty Snakes asks, "How are ya feelin', Derry? Wallace? Doin' pretty well from what I can see." Derry grits his teeth and growls, "John... how..." "I think it's a bit self explanatory, but perhaps you ain't feelin' yourself. To put it simply: I had a deal. These 'Renegades' you're fightin'? They're just the small fries, the little ones to keep ya distracted. And I made a deal with the big boys. I get to set myself up for retirement and all I have to do is give you boys up. Shame, too. Originally, the dealer wanted ya for some future projects, but given how... volatile you've become, he's changed his mind. Oh, and we're doin' a bit of cleanup back at the HQ back in Central, and we also noticed that your boy Lucas is lounging around in one of them trucks ya brought over. Don't worry, we'll be sure to take good care of 'em." Wallace attempts to jump at John with all of his remaining strength, but is sucker punched in the face by one of the other guards who came in with John. The former boss turns his head towards Wallace and pulls out a handgun.
The gas is stopped, and the room ever so slowly begins to heat up. The men outside the elevator begin to take their leave as the two guards move towards the elevator doorway. "Perhaps I'll show mercy by givin' ya a choice, Derry boy," John states. "I only got one bullet in this thing, and from my count there's you and Wallace here. Two people, one bullet. I'll let ya have a choice: You, or Wally over there." Derry is furious and humiliated at the situation that he's now been put in. Before he could answer, the voices inside of his head slowly return to his head, getting louder and louder, taunting him and his failures. His head begins to ache and he winces in pain, his nose now bleeding. Derry screams from the top of his lungs, "ME! SHOOT ME, DAMNIT!" "Alright, Derry boy. You don't have to shout so loud, I hear ya loud and clear," John mocks Derry as he immediately points his gun at Wallace's head and pulls the trigger. Wallace now lies completely motionless on the floor, and Derry is left in complete shock. Everything immediately goes silent inside of Derry's head, as if his very soul left his body. "Whoops, I slipped and miscounted," John jokes as he points the gun at Derry's head, "Looks like I had a second one." As Derry remains completely silent on the floor, a single voice is heard inside of his mind. In his thoughts, someone says...
"Kill him."
Derry swiftly grabs the barrel of John's handgun and shoves it upwards towards the ceiling. Derry quickly tackles the former boss to the ground as the two guards aim their rifles at the gangster. Before they could fire, however, Derry raises one of his hands and fires two larger than normal fireballs at both of the guards, punching a hole clean through their chests and instantly killing them. "What!?" John yells out in shock, "You shouldn't be able to do that!" Derry grabs onto John's throat and begins to slowly choke him to death. The former boss attempts to hit Derry as hard as he could to get the gangster off of him, only to realize that his attempts at escape are in vain. As his face begins to turn red due to the lack of air, John pulls out a small remote from his pocket and presses a button on it. Various different explosions can be heard across the facility, but the noise didn't phase Derry at all. "Don't... you... realize... we're... both... dead men..." John attempts to speak as his lungs begin to give out. Derry begins to slowly giggle to himself and replies, "Does it look like I care?"
John attempts to get Derry off of him one last time, but once again, to no avail. Eventually, John stops breathing entirely and now lies dead on the floor. Derry begins to get up from the ground and continues giggling to himself. A piece of debris hits Derry on the head, and a trail of blood makes its way down Derry's face, but he keeps on laughing. Derry flies up to the roof of the elevator and punches a hole through, resulting in an avalanche of debris that was resting on top of the elevator roof to fall through. Once the debris was out of the way, Derry flies out as he howls with laughter, his mind finally broken. The gangster makes his way back to the ground level of the base, and the roof begins to slowly collapse. Derry looks up towards the ceiling, and could only continue to laugh maniacally as more and more debris falls down. The entire base soon crumbles, burying the Dirty Snakes boss with it.
All was silent.
An hour passes, and two lone men equipped with Saiyan armor are attempting to look through the rubble of the former Renegade HQ. They use their scouters to see if they could spot anything useful, only for a torrent of pink flames to be unleashed from the rubble a few yards away. A single hand with a pink fireball now popped out of the ground, and the two men went over to investigate. They point the palms of their hands at the ground below and prepare some ki blasts, only for Derry to burst out from the ground and incinerate both men using a Flamethrower attack. As the men screamed in pain, Derry, who is now beaten, battered, bleeding, and broken, slowly limps his way towards the four Dirty Snake trucks off in the distance. He was too injured at this point to fly his way back, but it seems as if he was back to his senses. He'll have to drive his way back to North City, but there was something he wanted to check first.
A few minutes pass and Derry makes it to the back of one of the trucks. He slowly opens the door of the storage container and lifts himself up and crawls his way further inside. He is greeted by the corpse of a Dirty Snake gang member and a motionless Lucas, both of which were shot between the eyes. The broken gangster reaches Lucas and grabs hold of his body, hugging him tight. Derry begins to cry uncontrollably, now knowing that he's been left with nothing. No Wallace, no Lucas, no Dirty Snakes: He was alone. So came the end of the Dirty Snakes: The End of an Era for Derry. There was but one thing he could do now: He had to find the Stargoons.
