Chapter 10 - Howl of the Iron Wolf

Cold Open

Justice, Love, and Iron Bee stared at the cyborg that had just landed across the room from them.

It was Iron Wolf.

The wolf-like cyborg stared at the intruders: the blue knight, the red knight, and finally, his sister.

Angered, Iron Wolf howled.



Part 1

Iron Wolf looked at his sister with anger, "Catherine."

With sorrow, Iron Bee replied, "Neil..."

Iron Wolf snarled, "How dare you betray us?!"

"Can't you see that what our father is doing is wrong?" Iron Bee responded.

"What's wrong is the government letting our mother die when she could have been saved!"

"That doesn't make our father right!" Iron Bee shot back, "He's killing innocent people! And he plans to kill anyone that doesn't fit with his so-called 'vision'!"

"He's making the world a better place!" Iron Wolf yelled.

"No, he's not," Iron Bee said, sadly, "You know he's not!"

"He's our father!" Iron Wolf yelled, desperately trying to win this argument. Desperately trying to convince his sister to reconsider.

But Iron Bee rejected, "So?!"

"He..." Iron Wolf's voice cracked, "He gave me back my legs..."

"Neil..." Iron Bee pleaded with her brother, "Please... stop."

Iron Wolf hesitated. Then, he yelled, "Enough! Four, Nine!"

The two Iron Ninjas dropped down from the ceiling and landed next to Iron Wolf.

"This won't be like last time!" Iron Wolf warned, "Back down now, Justice Knights, and take my sister with you!"

Justice readied his sword. He responded, "You know we can't do that."

Again, Iron Wolf hesitated. But, in the end, he yelled out his orders, "Four, Nine, we're going with Plan Sigma... You are allowed to kill."

"Yes, sir!" Four and Nine responded.

Smoke began to pour out of the vents of the two Iron Ninjas, concealing the group.

Suddenly, two pillars of smoke shot out from the cloud straight up into the air. Shurikens burst out of the smoke and started to rain down at the Justice Knights.

To make matters worse, Iron Wolf charged out of the smokescreen, straight at Justice Knight Justice.

Justice expertly deflected the shurikens with his sword, knocking them out of the air as they spun towards him.

Behind Justice was another story.

"Get down!" Love yelled as she pushed Iron Bee down onto the ground. Quickly, she threw her arms up in front of her; blocking the shurikens with her arms and body, shielding Iron Bee from the shurikens.

"Th-Thanks," Iron Bee said.

"Well," Love replied, "You did save me earlier."

In front of them, Justice blocked Iron Wolf's strike with his sword.

Suddenly the two pillars of smoke shot past Justice and Iron Wolf.

"Watch out!" Justice yelled.

The two pillars of smoke flew towards Iron Bee and Justice Knight Love.

Quickly, Love unholstered her pistol and fired at the two pillars of smoke. The bullets cleared away the smoke until they were deflected by something in the smoke, revealing where Four and Nine were.

"Now I know where you are!" Love yelled.

Four and Nine slashed at Love with their kunai, but Love managed to block them with her dagger and pistol.

"Get out of here!" Love yelled at Iron Bee as she jumped back from the two Iron Ninjas.

"No..." Iron Bee stood up. The stinger on her back dropped down on to the floor with an audible clang. She picked it up by the chain that attached it to her and readied it for attack.

"Ha!" Nine snorted. She pointed her kunai at Iron Bee, "So the little princess wants to play."

"This should be entertaining," Four said, readying his kunai.

Love readied her dagger and aimed her pistol at Four, "Oh, shut up, you two are annoying!"

Iron Bee started swinging her stinger, readying it for attack, as the four stared down at their opponents.

Breaking the standoff, Iron Bee threw her stinger at Nine and yelled, "This stinger isn't just for show!"



Part 2

Justice slashed at Iron Wolf with his sword.

But it was to no avail, as the wolf quickly jumped back away from the strike. Not wasting a moment, the wolf lunged at Justice as soon as his foot touched the ground.

Luckily, Justice was quick enough to block the strike.

"You really think that you father is right?!" Justice yelled.

"Of course he is!" Iron Wolf yelled as he kicked Justice in the chest.

Justice staggered back and fired his pistol.

The bullets struck the wolf in the chest and knocked him back.

"You're just trying to delude yourself," Justice yelled, "so that you don't have to deal with the fact that your father has gone insane!"

Iron Wolf dashed towards Justice, "He's trying to help the world!"

Justice readied his sword, "And killing your sister is helping?!"

That made the charging Iron Wolf hesitate long enough for Justice swing his sword upwards across Iron Wolf's chest.

"Augh!" the wolf-like cyborg yelled as he was knocked back by the strike.

As he struggled up, Neil caught a glimpse of the battle that his sister was in. It pained him as he witnessed one of Four's shurikens strike his sister.

He made his decision.

"Enough!" Iron Wolf yelled. "Cease your attack, Four, Nine!"

Four, Nine, Love, and Iron Bee stopped. They turned and looked at Iron Wolf.

"Sir?" Nine said, puzzled.

"You are right, Justice Knight Justice," said Iron Wolf, "And so are you, Cathy."

The room paused as the wolf's words were considered.

"Neil...," Cathy said, "Does that mean..."

"Yes," Iron Wolf said, "I will help you stop our father."

Iron Wolf turned to his subordinates, "Four... Nine... I know that this is sudden, but, will you still help me?"

"Of course," Nine said, "Our loyalty is to you."

"And not to Iron Lion," Four added.

Iron Wolf nodded, "Thank you."

"Now then, Justice Knights," Iron Wolf said, "If you will have us, we wou-"

Iron Bee hugged Iron Wolf.

Justice chuckled, a little touched at the sight, "Well, there's your answer, Wolf."



Coda

Iron Lion roared and threw his glass away. The glass shattered as it hit the floor.

Iron Lion placed his helmet on his head. The monitor on the table next to him showed his son being hugged by his daughter.

It showed his son betraying him.

It didn't help that another monitor was showing his army of Iron Soldiers being pushed back by the squadron of mere police officers armed with short swords.

Angrily, Iron Lion threw the monitors off the table.

"Incompetent fools!" Iron Lion roared, "I will take care of them all myself!"

Iron Lion walked out of the room and into the throne room.

Calmly, he sat down on his throne and awaited for his treacherous son's arrival.