| Chapter 4: DOUBLE TAKE, Part 3
Dean's eyes are affixed on the menacing creature standing in the doorway. "Look a little familiar, Dean?" Dr. Ignus asks with a smug smile on his face. "He should. He was at the compound with you. This is Chormax." Linda is astounded. She walks to Dean's side and addresses Dr. Ignus, "I didn't think you would be able to make another one." She looks over Chromax's huge form. His tail sways behind him and his muscles are tense and ready for attack. "I didn't think you could have another one ready so soon," Linda continues. "Not without your research. Not after my men destroyed your records." "What did you do," Linda asks, "get him a tutor?" Chromax locks his eyes on her and snarls. Dean puts his arm on Linda's shoulder and bares his fangs in retaliation. Dr. Ignus simply responds, "I overcame the problem." Linda notices a small metallic plate with circuitry and electrodes running through it affixed to Chromax's skull. A shielded length of cable appears to join the plate to the beast's spine. "So this is who assassinated the other bosses," Linda states. "Correct!" Dr. Ignus answers. "I had hoped that you and Dean would be killed by your associates as a result, but alas, they could not stand up to you." "Are you still sore because I took Dean away from you?" Linda asks. "I can't help it if he finds me attractive." "Of course!" Ignus shouts. "But more so because he betrayed me! I created him. And you. You destroyed years of my research in seconds! You left me to be arrested! You two really pissed me off!" Dr. Ignus waves his hand. He motions toward Dean. "Chromax!" Chromax charges at Dean. The impact sends the two of them stumbling backwards. They crash through the desk sending wood and metal shrapnel into the air. Dean uses his immensely powerful legs to hurl Chromax toward the now guarded windows. The impact of the giant reptile dents the protective steel paneling. Chromax is on his feet in an instant. He charges Dean again and they tumble out into the hallway. Dr. Ignus run out into the hallway to follow the action. Dean and Chromax take boxing stances in front of the elevators. They pound on each other with jabs and crosses. The thunderous sounds of the punches are like rocks colliding, but neither of them falls or backs down. "This is boring me," Dr. Ignus complains. "He waves his arms in the air. "Kill him!" Chromax grabs Dean around the neck and hurls him toward the elevator doors. Dean reaches out and firmly grasps his attacker's wrist and the two of them smash through the metallic doors and plunge into the elevator shaft. Linda looks at the indicator and sees that the elevator had stopped two floors above them. There will be nothing to keep Dean from falling all the way down the shaft. "Dean!" she shouts. She pushes past Dr. Ignus and charges into her office. Dr. Ignus swings a long barreled rifle off of his back and follows her. "Wait, darling! The party is just starting." Ignus arrives in the office just in time to see the steel door close over the secret elevator. He curses and heads back into the hallway to the main elevators.
Linda charges out of the hidden maze of tunnels behind the walls of her main building. She can hear Dean and Chromax still struggling with each other within the shaft. They both survived the fall and are howling savagely. Linda watches the elevator doors intently. Suddenly, the marble floor splits open. Dean crashes through the floor and streaks through the air. He lands across the cavernous lobby, unconscious. Chromax leaps out after him. He lands straddling Dean's body. Chromax looms over his prey hissing. "No!" Linda shouts. She draws a .45 automatic with an extended clip from beneath her jacket and fires at the metal plate on Chromax's head. "Take that, Chrome Dome" "Chrome Dome" lets out a low cry of pain. "That got your attention," Linda says with a smirk on her face. She fires twice more and hits the metal plate each time. Chromax turns his eyes toward her, but proceeds to attack Dean, who is regaining consciousness. "Leave him alone!" Linda demands as she fires at Chromax several more times. Just then the doors on the working elevator open. Dr. Ignus fires his strange looking rifle at Linda. The glimmering spear it launches passes through Linda's back and exits the front of her body. It continues and impales itself deep within a wall across the lobby. Linda falls to her knees. "His head, Dean," she gasps before falling onto her stomach. Blood pours from her body creating a crimson puddle around her. Dean is consumed with rage. He leaps to his feet to attack Chromax. Chromax wraps his tail around Dean's throat and begins to squeeze. The muscles in his tail contract like an Anaconda, choking Dean. The Dinosoldier's arms drop to his side. He bares his claws. His eyes fix on the metal plate that Linda was shooting at. Dr. Ignus crouches down and tries to get a clean shot at Dean, but cannot. Dean manages to work one of his claws under Chromax's metal plate. He begins to pry it off. As he does, Chromax whales in agony. Sparks fly and blood flows as the computer enhancing circuitry is torn from Chromax's original brain. Before long the beast has spasms and falls dead to the floor. Ignus fires another spear. This one lodges itself in Dean's shoulder. His thick hide keeps it from passing clean through. Dean whimpers and looks at his wound with fear and wonder. "Yes," Dr. Ignus says. "These spears will even penetrate your thick skin." The turret beneath the weapon spins and loads another spear into the barrel. Dr, Ignus fires again. Dean leaps into the air. As if in one motion, he leaps toward Ignus, over the spear, snatches it as he crosses over it and brings the spear back down into Ignus's stomach. Dean rushes to Linda's side. He cradles her head in his arms. They can hear sirens approaching. "Run," Linda says. "Go into the catacombs. I'll be okay. People who can help me are coming." Obediently, Dean rests his mistress against a wall and disappears into the underground maze leading to Linda's hideouts.
Dr. Ignus is treated and re-arrested. A government control group, known simply as The Agency, takes a special interest in Chromax's corpse. During emergency Surgery Linda slips into a coma. And Dean is left alone in a world he does not understand. This concludes the origin of Dean the Dinosoldier and the introductory three-parter, "Double Take".
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