Averick

The Avatar waved a hand and removed the bothersome lizard from his temple once and for all, unconcerned with his idle threats. He concentrated again and the temple shifted back into the ground of Sharkshead island.

"I want continued reports on our progress with the Leviathan. Keep the eye sated and under control, and keep me posted on efforts to bring forth a champion. And, I'm not certain why the phase shields were turned off, but turn them on again, I don't want any more vermin in here." With that he ordered his undead to resume their watch post and flew back to his chambers.

Force Tech put his scanner away, then moved to one of the transporters, bound for Shark'shead island. He picked a spot secluded and convenient and transported in cloaked. Within moments he was inside the shipyard workers and the demolitions experts, listening for rumors of recently discovered artifacts or caves.

Flame took the eye to the temple proper, where the podium that the Avatar spoke from was, and showed him the circle of power. "From here, you will commune with the old ones, and they will tell you what they desire." Flame pointed back to the teleporters in the other room. "You can use those devices to locate yourself where you need to be to do the bidding of the Dark God."

Flame stayed, waiting for any indication that the Eye understood, without making direct visual contact with it.

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"Thanks," Penny called back to Michael, her eyes still on the visitor who had materialized in her cell. "Do you know what's going on with the lockdown? They seem to be slow turning on the -"

"There are some prisoners attempting to escape. They seem disorganized and... well... stupid actually. I hope they succeed though. That way I won't have to talk to them again." Michael mused at the thought and it made him smile.

To Michael she said, "I saw you go down in the Arena... you looked pretty rocky out there. Are you OK?"

Michael suddenly looked serious. "Don't ever let them see you hurt. Surely someone has told you that. Weakness in here is a death sentence. Worse, actually."

To the visitor she said, "What would you like to talk about?"

"What? Talk about? That was fast. From 'the place is exploding and I thought you were dead' to smalltalk. I think for now, it would be best if you got some rest." Michael looked around at the commotion and made a side comment, "doesn't look like anyone is going anywhere any time soon anyway."

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Post deleted by Averick

Leaf Ellison stood on the bow of the Ferry as it headed toward Talos Island. He desperately wanted to put Whitedock behind him, where it wouldn’t haunt his mind. The rain started to come down something fierce and he heard one of the crew behind him yelling at him to come in.

“Get out of the rain! You’re the last one out there! It’s not safe!”, But Leaf just waved him off. He’d seen rain before, and a ferry is a lot stronger than the fishing vessels he’d crossed oceans with before. It would take a lot more than a little rain and some wind to scare old Leaf.

He heard the door shut, and half looked back to see if the crewman was still looming. He saw a figure standing behind him, and looked straight ahead. “I’m not coming in, young one, so just pilot the boat.”

“I like the rain.” The voice behind him didn’t sound like a young man, shouting against the noise of the downpour on the water or the rolling of the waves against the ferry, it sounded like the water itself were standing behind him, having a conversation with him. His knuckles went white on the railing, as he found himself gripping it.

Leaf slowly turned over his shoulder and looked back at the hooded stranger. He could see that the man was wearing a jacket and jeans, but had strange, black, reptilian feet where his boots should be. Because of the rain clouds, he couldn’t make out the face under the hood entirely, but what he did see suggested something other than human.

Mr Ellison turned away, and looked out at the rolling waves. The voice behind him spoke again. “You’re leaving Whitedock?”

“Yes, I am.” He tried to steel his voice enough to educate the creature on how he would not be intimidated. It was he who got the education, on exactly how intimidated he was, as it came out barely better than the dying words of an extremely old man.

“Not going back.” The voice was devoid of human inflection, making it impossible for Leaf to tell whether it was asking or telling. Either way…

“No, I’m not.” Leaf started to tremble now, his hands frozen by fear to the metal railing. “Are you here to kill me? They’ll see if you do. They’ll see, and they’ll start asking around.”

“You are mistaken. There is not you and I out here. Only one of us is out here.” Seconds later there was a splash in the ocean near the ferry, and the overboard siren rang out. From under the water you couldn’t hear the sound of the siren over the rapidly approaching screws.

The ferry was met on Talos by the fire department. They took a report as people disembarked. No body was ever found.

This didn’t do anything to improve Leaf Ellison’s credibility, as he continued to swear that there was another man on the deck with him who fell into the water. In the end, they gave him a mild sedative and released him from the hospital on the promise that he’d see someone about the incident. Only a mild brush with insanity was an incredibly lucky outcome. Things could have been much worse for him, and he knew it.

Michael was brought back from the day room early, due to the lockdown. Not that he much complained. He really didn’t want to get caught up in the whole breakout attempt thing, as he hadn’t finished what he’d started. He needed an army, and the best place to gather that army was right here, inside the walls.

As he was brought through the block, several ex council swore at him in French. He looked on at them as he passed by, sneering at the dogs behind cages. It was a better fate than his world had given them. They were hunted nearly to extinction by the column under his father’s command. It was what gave Helsinger his first great victory and thusly, his first great chip in the big poker game.

Michael was young, and though he worked out every single day extremely hard, still looked scrawny. No one was afraid of him. Everyone threw insults as he passed by. Then he passed three cells where there was nothing but nods. No salutes, just nods. A tall man in one of the cells straightened up a bit, wiping his hand on a rag as he turned to see Michael pass. He nodded as well.

When he was returned to his cell, Fist stood at the back of the cell. “We got a girl in the cell over there while you were gone.”

Michael looked across to see Penny. “Girl! I thought I’d hit you! You’re alright!” Michael realized that he didn’t quite sound like what he meant, or mean what he sounded like. He was relieved that she was still alive, as that meant her secrets could be unlocked and used for his purposes. At the same time, he couldn’t simply say “thank god I can still use you to get what I want!” Girls didn’t seem receptive to such things in his experiences.

“What I mean is… I tried to keep the meta off of you… Well, you’re alive, that’s what’s important.” Micheal retracted his hand from between the bars where he suddenly realized it was extended, as if to grab her. He looked away, trying to gather his composure.

Pain clutch lost consciousness from the heat and exertion, his teleportation beacon kicking off just a second before he blacked out, as it was being melted by the lava. He had just enough time to say, "I almost had him..." to the attendant before collapsing.

Hurt wasn't doing any better. Rounds bouncing off of him and a huge machine trying to tear him free from the deck plating, that his feet were grabbing on to automatically. Truth be told, he would have rather been thrown, but as it was he was still standing on the plating when enough rounds and smashes penetrated his shielding that he, too, succumb and disappeared in a flash.

The Circle of Thorns had paid the mercenaries for a service, and they had provided it. The cavern was aware of this new threat, and moved to block off tunnels that would lead it to them. Further, they would be aware of the tunneling capabilities of the vessel, though it wasn't likely that the mage would share this knowledge with his peers. Better for him if the ship tunneled up under some other mage's area and started making trouble. In the meantime, he activated a couple portals and spammed the area with behemoths and spirits to make it inconvenient to travel there.

These were not the foes he was looking for, but they proved to be annoying nonetheless.

“Our plans, exactly? Return the old gods to power. Allow them to bring order to the universe again. Those females are repairing and upgrading their droids. They serve the Dark God right now, because it serves their purpose to do so.” Flame had a suddenly bemused look on his face. “Would you like to see what you have helped bring about? Why, of course you would, you have the arrogance and ego of a human.”

Flame cast a spell on the eye, and even if Dennis wanted to resist, the Eye would not let him. It provided a back door for the magic to travel through, like the Germans driving around the Maginot line.

Soon they found themselves swimming in the darkest water. Then they could feel cold impressions on their skin. Coins, or metal disks of some sort. Soon there was a will. A will to rise from the deepest depths and move up. This will required that they stop, and move their tentacles now and again, to change the way the pressure sat on them.

“Wait… what? Tentacles?” Dennis thought.

The blinding light of day lit up the entire upper ocean, as they approached the surface, and a small boat. But the water could smell blood, the blood of a little, human boy. A little human boy pinned to the reef. And in that one glorious moment of breaking the surface, there was nothing but the pure joy of eating. The screams meant nothing, those were just the noises animals made when you ate them. The blood was scalding hot across his teeth and lips, but the pain was well worth the reward. And after being made lighter by the fellow reptilian creatures swimming nearby, but away from the mouth, they descended. The dark began to overtake them, and the cold returned.




Fist stood up, not having fully recovered from the first few bolts and teleported to a spot she could see. Before she did, she was hit several times by the firing droids and when she arrived, she did some teleporting of a different kind.

Pain Clutch shook his finger at the reptile man. “You shouldn’t ought to play with itty bitty guns like that. Now where’s your mommy?” With that he supersped into the lava to try to deliver another punch.

The heat was so intense that his armor couldn’t completely compensate, and he was starting to take damage just from standing where he was, combat not withstanding. He would have to make short work of this creature if he hoped to win. Of course, he would also have to not get shot.

Hurt Machine took the piece of panel and hurled it at the first droid, grabbing and ripping at wires or anything that looked like a junction box or control panel and tossing it. Once he felt there was little else left to do to damage the ship, he waded into the droids, determined to take advantage of the bottleneck for as long as he could. He was tough, the bolts certainly didn’t put him down easily, but they started to take their toll.

The Avatar stared at the mammal for a moment, assessing whether or not his ritual had been a failure. Hopefully, the champion would not be so… disappointing.

“Get him some food.” The Avatar waved at Cold Heart and Flame of Mu, and Flame moved to the Eye. With one spell he dried off the Eye and then walked in front of him toward the Technocracy hall.

“There will be food suitable for humanity in here, since you didn’t find the Leviathan’s delicacies to your liking.” He led the Eye into an area where Overstrike and Professor Eviella were working on their droids. The two, stunningly beautiful women were of great contrast to each other. One in clothing that was revealing of her voluptuous form and the other in stylish but far more demure clothing, and partially covered in grease from working.

Past Force Tech, who was stalking past to give his report to the Avatar to the main bench and a computer to unload supplies as required. A small sample box was heated up and released from the table through a square slot that opened up suddenly, loosing a puff of steam. Flame picked up the black container and opened it. It contained a hot hamburger and French fries. He pushed the container toward the Eye. “I trust this will be to your liking, mammal.”


[[Ah, I thought it was a hold, not a regular attack. Nonetheless, I don’t think it was inappropriate for him to be slowed down some by it. Shield still feels pain.]]

Gentle fell backward and teleported behind cover rapidly. She’d taken a beating in just a few seconds and felt the need to warn the group. “OUCH!!!” She took a knee behind a small statue, hoping that the machines didn’t stray from the ramp.

Pain leaned forward to look into the magma. “Huh.”

Hurt Machine smiled and charged toward the nearest panel on the vessel, determined to do some damage before the creatures took him down. He activated all his personal shielding and set his beacon to auto.

Gentle Fist appeared next to the mechanoid and swung with her cyber hand down in an arc toward the lenses of the droid.

Pain sped toward the ramp, in an effort to blow directly toward the lizard and spin into a kick.

When Hurt Machine landed, his mechanical feet smoldered a bit as the dust and debris burned off, and his cyber legs propelled him toward the interior of the ship. He tried to avoid the reptile and make his way up the ramp quickly.

“Ohhh, gross, they’re like, lizards or something.” Gentle Fist of Steel made a face while the other two looked on.

Miliekah’s head came off of the desk and he spoke into the pin. “Lizard? Complete with scales? Velum, didn’t one of the guards report seeing a reptilian monster before he lost what was left of his sanity? These could be the same creatures.” The mage picked up the pin and spoke directly into it. “Attack them, destroy them and cripple their ship.”

With the command given, they sprung into action. Pain Clutch leaped from behind the rocks and began to superspeed wide toward the reptile man. Gentle Fist teleported closer to one of the robots, and Hurt Machine leaped through the air to try to land on the ship.

The Avatar sneered in anger, and his right hand flashed behind him, causing the huge grate lid to rise and slide along the stone floor. “If we cannot burn the human out of the vessel, we shall just tear it out.” With his left hand he summoned up the dark force of Old Ones and surrounded the Eye with tendrils that lifted it high into the air before throwing it into the open sea sewer and dragging the Eye down into the murky depths. The dark energy spun the Eye through freshly carved tunnels, past Cage Consortium contractors and soon to be striking workers and into a black tunnel, freshly blown in the rock.

As the body of the Eye felt the pressure of the ocean, and the intense cold around it, the glowing eyes lit up the dark water enough to make out the outline of a giant, stone door. Due to impulses of energy given off by the eye, the door opened. Only, beyond the stone was no room or hall, but only the unswerving stare of the Leviathan. The mere sight of the creature in whole or part could drive entire villages mad. Now it leveled all the energy of its gaze on but one target.

The water bubbled when the Avatar pulled the Eye from the water once more.

“Now we shall see what survived.” The Avatar turned the Eye back round to face him before setting him down on the stone and releasing him.

Miliekah turned toward the group of misfits that had been assembled before him. Hurt Machine, Pain Clutch and Gentle Fist of Steel were more like cybernetic freaks than hired help. “The tunnels are filled with creatures specifically designed to fight magic. You’re not magical, so you shouldn’t have any problem. Keep those bracelets I gave you on and the spirit guardians won’t rip your souls out. Go kill anything in your path, take the map, READ the map and report regularly. If you have any questions I’ll kill you for being too stupid.” He paused. “Any questions?”

Pain started to raise his hand, but Hurt Machine intervened and gave him a subtle shake of the head. Miliekah sighed, his blue robes rising and falling with the effort. With a dismissive wave of his hand, the three mercenaries were off to check out the tunnels.

Hurt took the lead, with a huge flashlight bolted to his right shoulder, which was as cybernetic as most of him. He was mostly machine, aside from parts of his head and torso. His skeletal frame could crush most things and pound on others for days. Pain was entirely encased in a protective suit. Where his legs and arms ended, the machine parts took over. A visor stretched across his eyes, one of the few things about him that were truly human anymore. Bringing up the rear with her complicated sensory equipment was Gentle fist. She was mostly human, aside from one leg and one arm. She had some dermal plating work done too, for the work.

They wandered through the uncharted territories making noises at each other. Occasionally they would encounter a snake or rockman or coral beastie, but they missed their intended targets. Until they came across a huge chamber with some sort of molten pool and a strange looking island in the center of it. They were standing there only a moment before the first wave of hot air hit them.

“It seems we found something.” Hurt said into the pin he was given, not knowing if or how it was supposed to sent information back to the Circle of Thorns mage.

“I’m not getting much of a reading from here, maybe we should get closer.” Gentle fist started to move down to the floor.

“Oh, surely no harm will befall us if we get closer to the unknown object in the lava. That’s a wonderful idea.” Pain Clutch jibed from the top of the steps.

Hurt looked briefly over his shoulder. “Good, usually we have to convince you.”

Pain stood at the top of the steps for several seconds watching them descend before throwing his hands up and following. “I was… never mind.”

As they began to get closer, it was apparent that it wasn't an island at all.

"That's a ship of some sort." Hurt looked back at the others while taking cover behind a boulder. "Did you guys lose a magma burrowing ship?"

At the other end of the pin, Miliekah laid his head on his book and began to gently weep. His assistant Velum patted him on the shoulder.

"Best of luck to you chaps, I'm going back to my program." With that, the Archon walked back over to the television and laid face down looking up at the screen with his hands behind his head. He tended to view such things as a stretching excercise.

"The arresting officers took all my stuff. I was transferred from a county facility after my 'trial', to here by transport. I have no idea where the armory is. I believe the front door is over there." Michael pointed, now more intrigued than anything.

Michael looked deliberately into the camera that was watching his every move. He put his hands in the air and walked toward the door and out of the sight of the camera, then put his hands down. "Alright, you've killed two guards and you have your powers back and you want me to come with you. I understand. What do you want me to do?"

"I intend to do no such thing. I just got here." Michael stared annoyed at the interruption, then looked confused toward the ceiling. “I don’t hear an alarm. Are you sure you’re breaking out?”

Michael, now more out of curiosity than anything, shrugged and began walking toward the inmate. He picked up a magazine with a white cover, for light reading or for making a surrender flag out of.

“I don’t have a clue. It’s definitely not man made, I’d like to get a bigger piece to study. Now the component is just high tech. Nothing spectacular, a power receiver coupling from a weapon or shield generator. Great craftsmanship, but certainly not Rikti tech. I’d say Malta if I had to guess.” Professor Eviella had run it through her most complicated machines, as had Overstrike, but with little results. That’s when Force Tech took over.

By all rights he should have been an Archon. Far more intelligent than many that preceded him, he was cursed with a huge frame, capable of withstanding incredible conditions. There was a certain density to his muscular structure that allowed him to absorb more radiation and damage than even the hulking Shield could.

He took the samples and put them in the Lacerta built analyzer. It atomized the metal, with some difficulty. The part disappeared instantly. He poured over the subatomic infrastructure and noted key elements lurking between the protons to give a cohesiveness under high gravitational fields that reacts much like strange attractors with photons.

Then he noticed a strange residue and molecular destabilization in the pattern on the power coupling. His final report on the objects read: “alloy, non terrestrial, non Rikti in origin. Component manufactured to appear to be human, but with advanced manufacturing techniques.”

In the main summoning chamber the screaming had finally stopped. Dragon Emperor knelt patiently waiting for the Avatar to give him instructions. From the center of the summoning circle, the Avatar emerged with the green and black pulsating gem. It was as big as a football and weighed sixty pounds, with the black forming bubbles inside the green, aligning and moving, and occasionally forming the slit iris of a reptilian eye before disbursing. He handed the gem to Dragon Emperor.

“Take this to the site. You have until the eye is fully formed to complete the ritual. Only if you succeed will we receive our champion. There will be many lost children there. Recover as many as you can. If the rest must be slain, so be it.” The Dragon Emperor did not look up, he simply took the gem and stood, backing away until he was out of the room. He did not need to be threatened, nor did he need to intimate that he knew how important the task was that he had been given.

When the Avatar later read the report he gave orders that Red Diamond Six be dispatched to track down the parts. The droid was activated and given its orders. It complied, and began moving through Orenbrega for the portal that lead to New York.

The coffee was cold on the table. It sat in its cup, unused, neglected and cold as the two men talked. On any other given day, the coffee would be gone, or still hot. Today, the coffee was cold.

A light rain had begun to fall, tapping at the window when the wind felt like giving it the extra budge it needed to angle in under the gutters. The voices of the two men talking weren’t enough to fill the old house that had been converted to a sheriff’s office. The wood rafters were mostly quiet, with spiders building webs and that damnable mouse deputy Wall had been trying to catch for near on a month now scurrying along, planning his next heist. Under the floorboards a cat named Jeeter was exploring and trying to pick up where deputy Wall had left off.

The two desks that were used had papers and pens on them. The four desks that weren’t used were clear, except for the one corner where Darren had been stacking up boxes of evidence and other case files to deal with the recent homicide. The shotguns, all six, were in the case in the back of the room, well out of reach of the makeshift cage that fit as the centerpiece to the room. At the sheriff’s desk, just to the right of the cage, the two men continued to talk as the grandfather clock by the door ticked away the day.

“You heard what I said, you heard every word of it. Now I’m leaving town and I’m not coming back. You do what you will, it won’t matter anyway.” Leaf Ellison stood up and headed for the door.

“You’re not going to help, you’re just going to come in here and give me this story and show me these books and then leave?” Tanner sat back in his chair for the first time since the conversation began.

“What about this is giving you trouble, sheriff? There isn’t a way to stop it. Unless you’ve got statesman in your pocket, this whole town is going to be washed away with the tide. I’ve seen the signs.” The older man stood his ground.

Tanner put his hand to his chin. “In all this ancient knowledge that you’ve dug up, you couldn’t find one way to stop them?”

“You stop them just like you stop anything, you kill it. Only thing is, they’ve been around for thousands of years longer than us, maybe millions. I’m too old to tangle with the devil, sheriff, in any of his many manifestations.” Leaf held a hand out in front of him and shook his head as he closed his eyes in resignation.

The sheriff nodded his understanding, but as Leaf turned to go, he noticed the old man’s satchel still on his desk. “Aren’t you going to take these books with you?”

Mr. Ellison stopped in the doorway and put his hand on the door jam to steady himself. He suddenly looked very tired. “I’m going to tell you, Sheriff, don’t read those books. If you read those books, they’ll lead you to more books. If you read those… you won’t be any use to the people of this town. The fact is, you’d be better off sabotaging the water purification plant and forcing everyone off this rock.” The old man gave a meaningful glance back, to be met with the look of horror on the sheriff’s face at the thought of hurting a town he’s sworn to protect. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Good luck to you sheriff. Good luck to all of you.”

With that, Mr. Ellison stepped off the porch and down the path until he was in his car and on his way off of the island.

Sheriff Tanner slid a leather bound book out of the satchel and placed it on his desk in front of him. He was running his fingers over the cover, wondering what kind of leather it was bound in when his deputy came in.

“Any word yet on the forensics we sent off, sheriff?” Darren took off his hat and put it on the hat rack, then took off his jacket.

“Oh, hell, we won’t see anything for a while. Big city like Paragon, they have a ton of crimes.” The sheriff picked up his coffee cup and realized that it had been sitting there for an hour as he put it to his lips. “Augh. Cold coffee. I cannot stand, cold coffee.”

As Tanner got up and headed toward the sink and coffee maker, Darren walked over to his desk and spun the book around to try to read the title. “The worshipers of the ancient gods?”

“Oh, yeah, Leaf Ellison came by all spooked about some cult and how he thinks they’re going to try to destroy the island. He left those books. He also warned me not to read them.” The sheriff dumped out his coffee in the sink, ran the water then refilled his cup.

“Sounds like god.” Darren commented running his finger along the cover of the book.

“I’m sorry?” Tanner took a sip.

“The story you told about old man Ellison. God told Adam and Eve that there were terrible things in the world, and provided them with the tree of knowledge, but warned them not to eat from it.” They both mused for a moment over the parallel the deputy drew. “What kind of leather do you suppose this is?”

“It is durable.” Shield was thinking of how powerful the blows were that struck it. “We could use it.”

“I would advise against it. Knowing what I know about humans and their technology, it could be dangerous. Take a piece of it.” Sword and Shield spent some time getting a couple of shavings of metal and a component from the disabled droid before moving on. They noted how tough the machine was, and Sword never stopped watching it the entire time.

It was before they entered the gate that Shield offered to take “the eye” back. He hefted the human over his shoulder and stepped through the portal. Sword briefly looked back at the powered down droid. He wondered if it would realize that, even though it had been damaged, its overall mass had not changed. “Even if it does, it will just give us more information.” He closed the pouch on his leg that now held only four human made tracking devices.

Once through, they navigated Orenbrega with ease. On their own plane, they had several facilities to memorize, and this was at the top of their list. Several times they entered and exited seawater, which made it more difficult to track them. As well they also flew across areas and used portals. In the end, when they felt that they were well inside the Circle of Thorns held territory, and the bodies of Thorn sentries had begun to pile up to where they could hear the shouts of coordinated hunts echoing down the halls, they clustered together and called for the old one to bring them back.

Deep in the heart of the Temple of Mu, the old one’s eye opened. The water sloshed as body parts of humans bobbed near it’s massive, grey and black head. It concentrated and reached out to the three priests and pulled them to him. On the grate above, four arrived in the temple.

The eye was draped over Shield’s shoulder as he stepped out onto the stone floor. The Avatar appeared in the room to see if they had fulfilled their quest, but before Cold Heart could even bow and report, the Eye of Mu flared to life. His body spun out of Shield’s grasp and burst into flames. Shield cried out with a gurgled scream as he was also engulfed in flames so hot that they melted the stones beneath him.

“Fools! Treat it with care!” The Avatar pulled free his wand and pointed it toward the Eye as it spun slowly, enshrouded in flames. Darkness washed over it, and the flames subsided.

Shield pulled himself free from his stone encasement, but the stone did not leave him. The eye had fused his powers to the element around him, forever changing his magic and forcing him to start all over in learning to use his powers to the benefit of the Dark God. As he stood there, enshrouded in stone armor, Shield stared at the manifestation of his new power oblivious to the scene around him. A sharp rap by Sword’s blade on his stone encrusted leg brought him back to the moment, and he kneeled in the depression his transformation had caused.

The Eye, now shrouded in darkness, was floating behind the Avatar as he flew out of the room. “See to your new powers, Shield, we will need your services. Sword, you are needed by the Technocracy. Cold Heart, we begin the ritual.”

Hours later, the Eye is tied to a circular run in the summoning chamber. Several priests are gathered. “We must harness the Eye’s power to bring forth a Champion onto this plane. A champion who can crush the trespassers once and for all. Let it begin.”

The three captives tied to stone blocks were killed by the priests, and as their blood flowed into the center of the summoning circle, the Eye ignited and came conscious.

Shield made no attempt to dodge. All three rounds hit him square in the chest. He stopped pressing forward at normal pace and seemed almost to be walking forward. Ignoring things that paralyze, mesmerize, lock him in place, these were things that he did. Nonetheless, the bolts were powerful, and he couldn’t shrug off the entire effect. However, he wasn’t trying to take the droid one on one. He was trying to maneuver it, just so. “A little left… will have to be good enough.”

Sword struck from a crevice, where he could not be seen. Being cold blooded, he didn’t give off any heat signature at all, and his skin was capable of blending into any background. If you weren’t looking really, really hard for Sword, you usually could not find him.

He wound up, focused all his Chi and drove his blade toward what he imagined to be the power core of the creature. When you’re a Lacerta, little things like being electrocuted or irradiated don’t bother you as much.

“So I’m going to ask you, just one more time, how he got these injuries.” Michael woke on his side on a gurney. He was completely unattended, but barely capable of movement.

A second voice, from behind him chimed in. “I told you, the arena.”

Michael could see the very light grey and blues that painted the room with color. He could see the curtain surrounding him, presumably behind him as well. He could smell the sterilization fluid on everything. The first voice spoke again, this time heavy with the effort to maintain patience. “That’s impossible. The arena is a danger room. There’s no way he got these bruises there. It’s a mixture of psychointeractive machinery and particle control physics holograms. He simply couldn’t have been injured to this extent.”

“That one guy died three weeks ago.” The second voice hastily pointed out.

“Look, Simmons is it? That incident was a freak accident and everyone knew something was going on the whole time. That’s why they tried to lock it down. Accidents happen, but I can assure you that if the same accident were to have happened in this case, we’d be arguing over a corpse, not a recovering convict.” The first voice became stern.

“Doctor Lowell, accidents happen to prisoners.” Simmons hurled it up as half defense and half “you don’t want to know”.

“If it’s an accident, I’ll have to file a report for the Zig safety bureau. The arena is there for one purpose, to give the illusion of violence and provide an outlet for prisoners with super powers to release aggression and frustration. I assure you that each and every one of the dampener panels is operating at maximum efficiency. The spectrascope reads prisoner intentions and simulates a response. That’s why nothing appears too solid or deadly.” Lowell calmly explained. “So do I file this under, ‘he fell off of the bus… a lot’ or do I put it to a prisoner’s name?”

“I’ll bring you the prisoner’s name, you can file your report. It’s starting to sound like the least distasteful of all the options.” Simmons did not sound happy.

“Don’t.” Michael said from the gurney. The curtains were drawn back quickly.

“What? Are you awake?” Lowell moved to inspect Michael.

“I just woke up,” Michael lied, “and heard you talking about reporting this. Don’t. I don’t want it reported. There’s an honor amongst us, despite what you think. Simmons was simply doing what was necessary to teach me my place and it got out of hand. I don’t blame Simmons. Don’t get him in trouble.” Michael didn’t roll over, he just stared at the curtain in front of him.

There was a long pause, “Fine,” the doctor finally acquiesced, breaking the silence. “If it happens again, though.”

There was more silence, then Archon Steele heard the guard walk away. Within an hour he was back to his cell, walking perfectly, no limp, no dragging the right foot, no wincing as he put pressure on his ribs by staying upright. All the way to his cell, before he collapsed on his bunk on the bottom shelf.

A pair of legs dangled over before a very, very tall white guy landed near him. “I recognize you from line. They say you fought in the Arena.”

“I didn’t win.” The Archon didn’t even smirk, though he almost meant it as a joke.

“Got a kill, though.” The large guy shrugged.

“Oh no, the girl with the secrets!” Archon thought to himself, beating himself up for trying such a risky maneuver. He finally turned to the large guy. “I’m Archon Steele, Fifth column.”

“Argum Hestottower, but everyone calls me fist.” With a meaty “thwack” his fist pounded once into his palm. “You’re a tough cookie for a little guy. Some other Fifth asked if I would join their club. I said yeah, but I didn’t know if you were going to be in their club too.”

Michael smiled and closed his eyes. “Yes, I’ll be in their ‘club’ too. But right now, I need to sleep.”

“Right, no one is gonna disturb you.” Fist turned and faced the door.

“This is going to be easier than I thought.” The Archon drifted off to sleep. A couple hours later, a guard came and collected the Archon and put him out in the yard, alone.

“You get two hours a day for the next two weeks. You also have access to the day room.” The guard turned to leave, then stopped and turned back. “Simmons says you’re even, he doesn’t owe you anything.”

Michael, again, didn’t turn to look. “Tell Simmons that he’s more generous than he need be. Oh, and tell him ‘thank you’ for me.”

“Whatever, convict.” The guard shut and locked the door. Michael wandered to the “day room” access and was let in, where he sat and watched television for a while, trying to catch up on current events and ancient history all with the same program.

Sensing the change in temperature around him, Shield pressed the attack. That’s pretty much all he was, a damage machine. He smashed with his hands at the construct, attempting to bend it apart with his blows. Over his should he called. Get the eye out, I’ll take care of this thing.

((Well, since Zeta and Harrier aren’t here… and I am… ))

Shield moved to interpose, his powers pushed up to the top in anticipation of a battle. He’d saved his strength for battle, eager to prove himself, but was unsatisfied with the minor skirmish of earlier. Other than that brief encounter, he’d only found temporary amusement with the door of the hotel room.

Now he sought to break something that was going to try to not get broken. Shield opened with a right hook and a powerful claw from his left to follow.