Averick

Despite the fact that they were told they were safe, neither Smurd, nor Mystic dropped their protection spells. Mystic did take a seat, though, to rest his old and tired body. He'd seen far more mischief then he would consider prudent for one of his years.

“Is this the Rogue Islands? We’re supposed to have come out near the Rogue Islands.”

Smurd put his mailed hand to his chin thoughtfully. “It appears that these snake creatures are competing with the Circle of Thorns for this area.”

“Jane, you’re getting too far away from your Mentor. I can’t help you if I can’t see you.” The voice in her earpiece was scolding her, but this was her first big arrest.

“Stop!” She tried to use her mental powers to stun the fleeing Lost Gang member, but missed and stunned a slab of concrete instead.

“Concentrate, try to lead him some more.” The earpiece rang out, guiding her with his experience.

“Right, Fog, gotcha. It’s just if he makes it to that tunnel then…” Insane Jane ran fast after gang member, but he had the advantage of superior physical strength and knowledge of the terrain. Mystic Fog called out from behind them, as he struggled to keep her in sight so he could give her the benefit of his mentoring.

Jane had been diagnosed schizophrenic at a young age, when she started hearing people’s thoughts and thought that there were voices in her head. After several psychological evaluations she was always let back into school, only to be committed years later when the voices she heard finally caused her to have another breakdown. Her classmates were nice enough to give her the moniker. She chose to wear it as a badge now, as it represented what she suffered through, but was right about even though no one believed her.

It was this persistent spirit that led her to Paragon, and was leading her further away from her mentor as they continued down the tunnel.

Finally the gang member leaped from the tunnel they were in, down to a railroad platform in the old tunnels. He looked left, then right. There were cars sitting on the tracks and a shack that had been abandoned sixty or more years ago. He ran right past Sword, who drew his blade slowly and waited.

The trap had been sprung above, four Lost Rectors had appeared from nowhere and attacked Mystic Fog and Insane Jane, but Jane had not noticed the attacks, as she was focused on her prey and had followed him to his hole.

“Jane! Stay close to your damned Mentor. You KNOW what can happen.” But the transmission was garbled and Jane was on a mission. She landed with a CLUNK on the wood of the platform. She stood up and fired off a single mental bolt toward the Lost member. It hit him, but without Fog augmenting her powers with his, it was entirely ineffective.

She started to run, and felt a burning sensation in her chest. She made it three steps before she stopped and looked down. Blood was pouring from a two inch cut in her chest. It was staining her costume and running down her leg. She could feel something warm and wet on her back, and a pressure building inside her chest. She looked up to the faint light above where Fog was using his air powers to defeat the Rectors handily.

She reached up toward the light, with her bloodied hand and collapsed on the train platform.

The Lost was panicked now, looking over his shoulder. Something even more dangerous was in the area. He ran straight into Shield and Cold Heart.

“Go ahead, priest, I’ll back your play.” Shield’s offering of the prey was a sign of respect, and he hoped that it would be taken as such.

“I’m looking for work. The ad says that you have work here.” Alan Thomas was not his real name, nor was he really looking for work, but this is all he was thinking about as he spoke to the woman behind the desk. Alan was told that there were strange things going on, so he was prepared for anything, even psychic mind reading. He kept his thoughts on track and didn’t deviate. He’d mastered the unthinking stare for a while now. He would joke that his ex-girlfriend taught it to him, like some Tibetan master.

Behind the desk sat this incredibly beautiful woman, which was uncommonly common for the Rogue Isles. In the last month that “Alan” had been here, working undercover for Longbow, he could swear he’d only seen a handful of average looking girls. She looked up at him from behind her glasses and finished straightening out the sleeve of her suit jacket. “Jobs? Oh yes, jobs. We have jobs. What is it you’re good at.”

“Well, the ad says construction, but mostly I’m good at getting things done.” Alan didn’t look like an undercover agent for Longbow, which was why he was good at it. Truth be told, he was a mutant, but his level of mutation made it under the screening at Longbow, so he wasn’t selected for any of the Warden training. He was just a regular soldier, until his entire group was wiped out during a raid and he had to blend in with the locals for five days until he could make it back to his outfit.

In those five days, Alan participated in a number of scuffles, one of which resulted in someone’s death. This was nothing new to Alan. He had joined Longbow as a way of cleansing himself from his past. He was about four hits of Superdine away from never looking back. But something about his mutation didn’t agree with it. He could still see that what he was doing was wrong, he could still feel guilt as he hurt people. So he set out to set his record straight with whoever may be watching. In this case, it was Longbow.

So now, a criminal was captured and squealed on this place which didn’t even have a name. The building was listed as being owned by “John Doe”, a cute little habit Arachnos’s bureaucrats have of letting people sign whatever they want and then if something goes wrong, they can make them come up with documentation to “prove” that they’re John Doe. Depending on the bribe, they might accept the ID.

“I can see what we have available. Right this second there’s a small errand that needs to be done right now, if you’re interested. It pays $400 and should take you about an hour. But I have to warn you, the boss doesn’t care for excuses, she expects results. So if you can’t get it done-“

“Oh I can get it done. What’s the job?” Alan took a risk at offending her by cutting her off, but tough guys didn’t like to be talked to like this. It wasn’t some training he received in the academy, he was a tough guy. He’d taken on some lower level heroes before they became the bigshots that they are today. In some cases he won. In others, he gave them a run for their money.

The woman ripped a small slip of paper off of the single white notepad on the desk. The desk that had a phone, a pen, and a single white notepad on it. The only desk in the very large, empty room. The desk, the chair and the girl were the only things in the large, empty room before Alan arrived. They were the only thing there again as he headed into the small entry area to leave.

He paused at the archway and looked back at her. “Don’t you wanna know my name?”

She shook her head. “Alan Thomas, or your real name? Don’t worry, Mr. Thomas, we know everything we need to know about you.”

He was shaken. Identity is everything in this business. He had three layers of fake ID, Thomas was just the first. After that he was Kevin Solonjo, a two bit hood out of Skyway City looking to lay low and earn some cash to pay back some guy named Big Vinnie from Independence Port in Paragon City. If that failed, he was a spy for Arachnos. One of their infiltrators would forge a bunch of paperwork vouching for him, but if it came down to finding the officer who signed this paperwork, the game was up. They wouldn’t risk two operatives for one cover. On this very thin string hung his life, and every quick move tugged at it a little harder than was comfortable.

He was tough though, so he smiled and walked out, shaking his head.

“We are from Hope, both of us. The tropical belt. We admire the hardships of Temple and those who survive there. Your faith in the Dark God is unquestioned. Where our main eliminating factor is competition, yours was survival. I was lucky enough to have time to learn about humanity and its technology while you were doubtless learning to control the elements to survive. I hope the marriage of these backgrounds will assist us in finding this ‘Eye of Mu’ quickly and without attracting much attention.” Sword spoke like a mid level officer, not too presumptuous, definitely thinking of himself as a decision maker and task driven.

Up ahead in the tunnel there was a cave in that blocked most of the passage. They had to pick their route carefully, trying not to disturb the wreckage of the tunnel. This was particularly difficult for Shield, who’s massive girth presented a problem in small spaces. Once they were nearly clear, Sword stopped them with a hiss. His reptilian eyes stared down the tunnel ahead, and he quickly vanished from sight.

Shield whispered to Cold Heart, “he does this when there’s prey ahead. We should get a good vantage point in case he gets ‘hunter’s vision’.” Shield had seen him too many times get his sights set on one target without noticing even large numbers of re-enforcements.

“Where to, Brother Sword?” Cold Heart asked, pushing his hood back. He turned his single eye on the warrior-priest.

Sword thought momentarily before responding, “we travel to retrieve the ‘Eye of Mu’, whatever that is. I thought it would be prudent to have a priest along with me during the process.”

He led them through the twisted caverns of ancient Orenbega, to a disused transportation circle and placed the missing runes on the dais in the spot that had worn free. One small incantation later, the gate sprung to life.

Sword Cloaked and Shield raised his defenses as they stepped through. They found themselves below New York, far underneath the city in some abandoned train tunnels. Shield had to clear out a way for them to get into the main tunnels as the room they appeared in had been sealed for decades, and the air was quite stagnant. Once they could breath fresh air again, well more fresh, then they were at ease in the darkness.

Sword knelt next to the train tracks and inspected markings along the ground, then tracked them up the walls of the tunnel. “We’re not alone down here, but we don’t have time to kill everything, so we should direct our efforts in finding this ‘Eye’ and be gone before they know we’re here. The Avatar wishes to use it to bring a Champion through the gate. I must admit, I am curious to see what a Champion of Mu would look like.”

Meanwhile

John Cobb could barely contain the rage within himself as he stared down at his dirty work boots on the nice carpet under the swank chair he was sitting in. Azemandis’s office was on one of the higher floors, meaning it was better decorated than any room he’d been in for any length of time. He sat on the couch, next to Dee, who smelled strangely like the sea, even though he was dressed like a Hollywood producer. Azemandis sat behind his desk, and after nearly a half an hour of silence, Professor Eviella finally walked in, dressed in something exceedingly expensive and entirely too revealing.

She looked like she were here to receive an Oscar, and truth be told, she might deserve one.

“Are you mister Cobb? Oh no please don’t get up. I just wanted to say, before we started this meeting that we’re terribly sorry about your men and we’re going beyond mere words here and directly getting involved with the medical care for your two injured people. My sister, who is a doctor of some renown, is personally looking in on your friends.” She shook his hand and looked over her purple tinted glasses at him.

She held his gaze long enough to make him feel slightly uncomfortable, and when Cobb looked down, to break eye contact, he became even more uncomfortable and had to turn his head entirely.

“It’s alright, Mr. Cobb, I get that a lot. I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I have if I were all hung up on the realities of life. Breasts attract attention. Usually away from how smart a girl is. That works for me. And I suspect you aren’t someone who gets all hung up on the realities of life either.” The professor stood up and walked to a chair opposite the couch where she plopped down and crossed her legs, causing her tiny skirt to ride up even further.

Azemandis stared at the professor intently, though not with the usual lust in his eye. This was more fear. “Ahem.” He looked away immediately once she turned at his clearing his throat. “I believe, what we’re here to talk about today, if I may, is the injury of two of our workers on your site.”

A puzzled look crossed Eviella’s face. “That’s what I was talking about.”

Azemandis looked even more uncomfortable. “I… I know. It’s just that… I mean… I was trying to formally broach the subject of the… accident…”

“Accident nothing. There’s some kind of beast down there and my men aren’t going a step further until…” Cobb’s outburst was only silenced by the Professor’s nodding and holding her hand up.

“I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Cobb. We did not intend to create a dangerous work environment, or send you into harm’s way.”

Cobb burst out again, “but you did, that’s exactly what you did and now…”

“Yes, two of your men are injured. I understand that the rest are apprehensive as well.” Eviella leaned forward.

“Well… Yeah. And they have-“

“Good reason,” she finished his sentence. “I wouldn’t expect that your men return to work without a fifty percent raise in salary to compensate for the danger they will be facing.”

“Well… yeah” John started, but the professor continued.

“And I would expect nothing less than a full compliment of Cage security to help assist in keeping your men safe, which my corporation will pay for at our own expense, as well as professional medical care to be provided at the site and a more comfortable workspace outside of the mine, say a prefab building being flown in by helicopter or brought in by boat. We’ll hire a cook for your meals and we’ll provide lines for your men to stay in contact with their families if it becomes difficult for them to make it home nightly. Does that sound acceptable?” The Professor put on her poutiest business expression.

“I… I…” John thought about what she was saying for a while. He hadn’t really come with a list of demands, but he wasn’t about to turn down what she was offering. “That will do, I suppose. Though I think we’d also like a taco bar.” He couldn’t let it go without trying to get her to sacrifice in some way to show that she was willing to do whatever it took to say ‘I’m sorry’, sadly with all that she’d already put on the table, the taco bar sounded lame and petty.

“Taco bar? I’ll see that it’s done. You can resume work in two days?” She smiled.

“I… uh…” Azemandus began but was cut short by a look from the Professor.

“Yeah, I suppose two days is enough.” John answered, standing up to follow the Professor’s lead, who had just stood herself. Dee remained seated while Azemandus seemed momentarily unaware of what was going on and quickly rose to his feet.

“It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Cobb. I hope that this unfortunate incident will not impede our work together.” With a quick handshake, she was gone and only the hint of one of the most expensive perfumes made was left to mark her passing.

Dee stood up after she was gone and said, “now, let’s talk logistics.”

“Greetings, sir knight,” the bearded man said as chopped at the second.

It wasn't the first time Smurd had been mistaken for a Knight, though his armor was far more high tech than any ancient knight would wear. "Greetings to you, ugh- Sir." Smurd ducked aside a slashing pair of fangs and swung with all his might, splitting the snake in twain. Soon only bodies lay around them, and Smurd looked back at Mystic, who was holding his bleeding arm and slumped against the rocky wall of the cavern.

"Introductions will have to wait, do you know what happened to Mystic Inferno?" Smurd sheathed his sword and leaped to his friend's side.

Mystic held up a hand, "now now, don't fret, I'm not so injured as to let manners lapse." Mystic pushed himself up along the wall. "This knight here is a fellow member of the SuperNaturals, and my long time associate, Mr John Smurd. Azurus Rigason, part mage, part knight as well it would seem. We are here to infiltrate the Rogue Isles and discover the trail of the new Mu cult. That's why we're skulking about in these caverns."

Smurd handed Mystic a vial of green liquid, which the mage drank in one pull and then placed the empty in his pocket. The magic began to work almost instantly, mending tissue and setting bones. Soon Mystic was simply sore and tired, not on the verge of collapse.

"Are you alright my old friend?" Smurd's face showed concern.

Mystic Smiled from beneath his mask and put his hand on Smurd's shoulder as he walked past, pausing to comment. "I shall have to discover a spell that reverses the aging process."

"Well, when you do..." Smurd smiled. He turned and held his hand out to the axe wielding newcomer. "Like my friend said, John Smurd, and I'm pleased to meet you. What are you doing down here?"

Mystic's voice sounded entirely different. The breath was like flame being fanned by wind and suddenly comming to life, and the consenants were sharp, like the pop of wood alight. "Part... I'm not certain. Sometimes I simply don't read all of a spell... in a pinch... it's a bad habit, I know."

Mystic followed the axe wielder with his flaming sword in hand, he looked down at his feet and found slippers and oddly colored pants. "Oh dear."

“Are there more with you? I’m having troubles filtering past all the hissing.”

Mystic thought for a second. "There may be. I had hoped that they were right behind me, but..."

Meanwhile, Smurd had run into five of these snakes in a tunnel not too far away. Their swords clashed with his and sometimes rang off his armor. He mused briefly about how he could be in some board meeting with his peers discussing financial backings of interesting ventures and calling it exciting.

Another blow to the side brought him round, and he took the opportunity of a lowered guard to run a snake through. The bruises were starting to accumulate, though, from the remaining four.

“Who the?” Mystic didn’t have time to bleed, or curse his luck. Pain came out of him through his clenched teeth as he held his shaking arms up and hurled what he could at the cobra. Searing flame arced toward the snake as it approached.

Mystic knew that if it got close enough, he’d be done. He pushed off and hurled himself toward the ceiling of the cavern. His back ached as it slammed into the rock above. He was now hurling every ounce of flame magic he could muster, but the Cobra was still coming closer.

Then he burst into flames himself. He could no longer feel his wounds. He noticed the flaming sword in his hand, and turned to face his opponent. Down he swooped with renewed energy, slashing at the cobra. The heat he’d felt earlier was suddenly replaced with a feeling that the cavern was very cold and empty.

He swooped near the cobra, as it swung its massive, iron blade at him and right through him, drawing flame with it as it went. That’s when he realized he wasn’t ON fire, he WAS fire. He’d once again shifted to the form of an efreeti. The blade hurt, but not nearly as much as it had once before. He sent wave after wave of heat against the cobra, and slashed multiple times with his sword before the beast finally relented and went down.

Then he turned to see how the other mage was faring.

[ QUOTE ]

The soldier explained a few more details before asking, "Any questions?"

[/ QUOTE ]

“Are you kidding?” Creese took off his sunglasses and stared at the device. His hand moved so quickly into his jacket that the security guard reached momentarily for his weapon, until he saw the microcomputer come out of its holster. The machine came to life in Creese’s hand and he started taking notes immediately. “Mean temperature of output fluid, chemical composition of output fluid, is it pressurized or propelled ammunition, how many seconds of fire on a battery, how long to reload at 120 or 240 volts, what battery sizes does it come in, how many colors does it come in and how many moving parts does it have? Are you the one to answer all of these questions or should I talk to the designer?”

“I also have manufacturing questions about production time, overhead, retooling the factories for upgrades and shipping replacement parts to customers. I can think of six buyers right now, I hope the president of Paraguay is still up.” Creese turned away for a second and pulled his cell phone. “What time is it there?”

A second later he looked back at the security guard. “So, am I talking to you or are we going to talk to someone else?”

"What can you tell me about this Omaro Vasquez, Vanessa?" Creese was smiling his best "tell me what I want to know" smile.

Vanessa was somewhat obviously affected by it, unable to contain a smile or maintain eye contact for very long. But then, it was a rather cozy elevator and quite a ride to the roof. "I don't know what to say. He seems competent, but I really don't know him personally."

"And we're going to the roof to meet him because..." She looked like she was searching for an answer, biting her lip a bit. "You have no idea."

When the door opened, Creese strode out onto the roof and headed directly toward Omaro. "Mr. Vasquez, this is Mr. Creese. Mr. Thomas has instructed me to bring him to you personally and make sure he gets everything he needs."

Creese glanced over at her from behind his sunglasses at the word "everything". Creese was dense when it came to women. He liked women, women liked him, but he had no relationship sense. Besides, not a good idea to get involved with the boss's secretary.

"I'm going to need access to people that know how the products we sell actually work." Creese stuck his hand out to offer a handshake.

What exactly was wrong with Thorpe was anyone’s guess. He was stretched out, just inside the mouth of the cave, his eyes wide open and looking around like a terrified animal, but his body wasn’t moving.

When Zim approached, Ted Johnson was kneeling next to Thorpe, with two others standing by, one with the first aid kit open. Thorpe was a big man, late thirties who’d worked all his life. His skin was tough and leathery and he always seemed to have dirt on him, no matter how much he cleaned. He had a small beard, normally peppered, but now it shown entirely white.

“What the hell happened?” Zim knelt next to Thorpe, across from Johnson. “Ted, what happened to Thorpe?”

“I, I don’t know exactly.” Ted looked completely confused and near panicked.

One of the workers standing there, Kyle Green, spoke up in his usual quiet voice. “We heard him and Jake calling for help, so we picked up our shovels and came runnin’. We found him like this.”

Zim looked back at Kyle over his shoulder. “Where’s Jake?”

Ted shrugged.

Zim stood up, “damn it!” He stormed into the cave and picked up a safety light on the way in. He stopped at the mouth and yelled back at the others, “check him for injuries and get the doc up here quick.” With that, he disappeared into the poorly lit cave.

He stalked in only a little ways before he noticed that the other worker, Wil Baker, was following him. When Wil noticed Zim looking back, he pointed. “South six, near the second junction. They were in shaft forty one. I guess it broke into a cavern and they were checking it out.”

Zim didn’t make it to the shaft. As they rounded a corner, they could see a dark lump in the tunnel ahead. Were this anyplace but the Rogue Isles, they’d have immediately assumed it was their missing crewman. This being the Rogue Isles, though, they hesitated as Zim shined his light on the form.

As they approached, they didn’t recognize Jake at first. His eyes were swollen shut, and his skin was pale and blue where it bulged from his clothes. The sound he made sounded like a steady hum, as his throat was all but closed and he was doing all he could just to breath. His right arm was blackened and trailing blood. The blood stretched some eight feet back to the shaft.

Wil started forward but Zim held him back. “Jake, is that you?”

Jake’s arm came up toward Zim, and Zim lunged forward, grabbing Jake by the jacket and dragging him down the tunnel a ways. “Get his leg’s Wil.”

Wil moved to grab his legs and recoiled in horror. “He’s missing one.”

“Well grab his jeans!” Zim’s hard hat fell off, but he didn’t retrieve it, he just hoisted Jake up and waited for Wil to do the same. Once he did, he started running down the tunnel.

Out near the front, Doc Masey was trying to take Thorpe’s pulse, but his hand was wrapped tight around something. Doc finally pried it open, and a small, stone figurine fell out and into a shallow crack in the ground. Ted made a note of it but didn’t touch it.

Thorpe started screaming like he were on fire, and flailing his arms. “Hold him down!” Masey started talking really soothingly to Thorpe, and eventually he calmed down. Well, after the shot anyway. Once Thorpe passed out, the doc could check him for wounds. Not finding any, he just called for a stretcher to be brought down to the cave entrance. It looked like the crisis was over for a bit.

That is… until they brought Jake out.

[ QUOTE ]
"Mr. Creese," Clarence stood as he walked into the office, "to what do I owe the pleasure of you arriving here a day ahead of your appointed time," the question was accusatory. Thomas was on the edge. He did not appreciate schedule changes, but allowed this one because he knew, just as much as Creese knew, that this was an important meeting.

[/ QUOTE ]

“As you’re well aware, Mr. Thomas, I have a reputation in sales. I didn’t get it from sitting around waiting for things to happen. Tharomar Enterprises has a huge sales division and diverse product line with intensive technical information and proprietary secrets that need to be known by heart in order to effectively determine your clients needs and meet them. Your security and ability to adapt to change are going to directly affect my ability to make millions of dollars an hour for this company, not to mention my own paycheck.”

Creese smiled as he offered a handshake to Mr Thomas and took a seat. “So I came early to throw a wrench in your security schedule and see if you could both confirm my identity outside of your regular schedule and give me access to the information I need to be effective. From your reputation, neither one of these things will be difficult at all. It will also provide you with an opportunity that very few on the planet have ever enjoyed. I’ll be working for you for free today.” Creese smiled for the second time, if only briefly. “Everyone expects that, because of our reputations, this is going to be a busy week. I have clients lined up to look at your line that you’ve never done business with, and quite frankly, I need the time to prepare. Unless you want to waste some time.”

Ryan took off his auto-tint sunglasses and waited for Mr. Thomas to drink it all in and make his mind up. He didn’t like domineering bosses who like to push people around, and he’s found the only way to deal with that is to explicitly lay out that he’s both competent and unyielding right up front. Either Thomas would fire him right now for not kissing his butt, or Mr. Thomas would get a feel for what to expect from him. Either way, he liked to have his cards out on the table to begin with. Besides, the offer from Crey expired in twenty four hours and if it isn’t going to work out with Tharomar…

Smurd walked cautiously through the hallways, bare rock and earth between each archway of stone. He wished he had spent more time studying history, as knowing how old the archways actually were would give him an indication of how stable the hall was. Then a distant thump caused dirt to fall from overhead and he decided he made the right choice in not studying history.

The hallway in front of him went dark where it intersected with another hall. He slid into the protective shadow of a pillar and watched with as little of himself exposed as he could manage. A zombie shambled out into view and turned down his hall. Smurd panicked for a half second, reaching for his blade.

The zombie stopped abruptly, as a creature that he’d never seen before floated out into the intersection. It wore a decaying robe and had glowing red eyes. The zombie looked vaguely Banished Pantheon looking, though without the firearms or accoutrements that he had come to associate with them. Only a powerful darkness and fetid vapor rising from it that he was beginning to smell all the way down the hall.

Then a noise, much like a train whistle sound being forced from a thousand human’s throats, tore down the hallway. Smurd’s hand, still tight on the handle of his blade over his shoulder, tightened even further. A dark shadow flew into the intersection and cast a glance down each direction of the intersecting tunnel, its face a mixture of smoky blackness and the twisted skull of death Smurd immediately associated with death. Its eyes burned a blazing red light that illuminated the archway, and revealed another zombie watching the other hall, that he had previously not noticed.

Smurd held perfectly still, unable to bring himself to move back behind the pillar. As he watched, he saw an unearthly creature stride through the intersection. It looked aquatic in nature. Reptilian features and a blur of fear were all he took in. The creature had lances of red lightning dancing off of his green scales. There were red, glowing runes on his scales that were very similar to the ones that Mystic Inferno had emblazoned on his costume to defend himself from harm. From the stride, he determined that nothing in this hallway caused the creature fear which only served to increase the unsettling feeling Smurd was experiencing.

Behind the creature, marched two armored skeletons with bone swords that looked impractically designed and had an odd, blue magic field where the interior of the blade should be. Their eyes also glowed an eerie red, as the stomped out their march behind the creature.

Once they passed, the zombies scurried away down the hall after them, but the wraith lingered. It looked directly at Smurd, and Smurd found the strength to pull behind the pillar. Smurd heard the unearthly screams begin to get closer, they instead of the piercing shriek they were before, there was only an agony ridden moan as the wraith slowly floated down the hallway.

Smurd put his back to the rock, hiding himself as completely as possible as he pulled his sword free and activated his defensive magics. He could feel that this thing was way beyond his capacity to handle alone. He could feel the evil in it, searching him out and desiring only to tear his spirit from his body. But as it closed to within a few feet of his pillar, he could not locate the strength of will to leap from his hiding spot and slash down the creature, or try at any rate.

The silent beckons from its master drew it away from Smurd all of a sudden in another piercing wail, that had Smurd pull his sword close to his chest and try to steel himself for battle. But in an instant, it was gone.

It took many instants for it to be gone… to Smurd.

“Can I help you?” Vanessa looked up to see a young man, early twenties, thin build in a black suit with a white shirt standing in front of her desk. He had a visitor badge.

“Oh, yes, Ryan Creese. I’m in sales. I’m supposed to meet with Clarence Thomas. I just got in from L.A. and I’d like to get settled before I fall behind.” He could tell by the way Vanessa was frantically looking through the appointment schedule that she had no idea who he was or why he was there. He took off his sunglasses and ran a hand through his short, black hair. “I was hired by Tharomar, I’m inside sales. I should be starting tomorrow.” He added these things hoping it would jog her memory, but he felt it was pointless. The girl’s appearance suggested one who was out of her depth and desperately trying to tread water.

“You’re appointment isn’t until tomorrow.” She finally found the record and looked up at him.

“I’d prefer to get a head start, if you wouldn’t mind seeing if Mr. Thomas can fit me in. It’s just a meet and greet handshake thing. Should take just a few seconds to find out who I report to.” Ryan was smooth and high powered. He’d believed every single seminar speaker he’d ever been to on how to sell things. Quick, direct, to the point.

He worked for a company called Armory, selling weapons to the highest bidder for a long time, until Tharomar made a better offer. His personal secretary, Anna, had found him a little apartment southeast of Prosperity, in what she referred to as “a quiet neighborhood.” Just before he left, he made sure to hand deliver her severance pay. He was going for a surprise, and she sure did look surprised.

She wouldn’t be the only woman he’d be surprising this week, as Vanessa seemed puzzled as to whether or not she should put through Ryan’s request.

Ryan smiled reassuringly and leaned across her desk. “Look, I’m not selling anything while I’m standing here, so do you think he’s going to want to talk to me for five seconds so I can start earning him money or wait for a day because you don’t want to ask him if he has any free time?”

He could see Vanessa’s expression changing. He smiled back at her and said, “I’ll have a seat and wait for his answer.”

“Snakes? Those aren’t snakes, they’re too big. How did they get in here? They’re huge.” Mystic was lying flat on a rock as water poured down from just to his left into a pool some fifty feet below. There were giant snakes with arms patrolling an area of water, wary of each misstep Mystic might take to alert them of his presence. He watched, at first in awe, but then calculating the weaknesses and mistakes made by the patrol.

His cloak was blue, and blue on the outside with red trim. If he were quiet, he might be able to sneak in to the water through the waterfall and float by on his back. If they saw him, though, it would be a worthless ploy. He could try flying over them, perhaps they wouldn’t look up just at that moment. The mage was beginning to realize what it meant to not be built for stealth.

Rough hands grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away from the ledge. He was lying too close to the water to hear them approach. Three snakemen were suddenly around him, and he could smell that aroma that you find in the reptile section of the pet store. One had a hold of his shoulders and one faced him with a sword. The third stood off a bit, looming.

“What issss thissss human doing here?” The looming one spoke like a cartoon snake man would. At first, Mystic didn’t know whether to believe what he was hearing. But the sword point against his chest brought the situation to a very real state very rapidly.

Flame. Fire erupted everywhere around him. The thing about using fire in combat is, it’s bright and usually quite loud. Not the flame itself, but the screaming. Not only that, but unlike bullets or laser beams, it doesn’t work all at once. Sure, you can take someone down with a quick flash over by boiling their blood and causing them to pass out before they burn up, but usually, it’s a contest of wills. You have to burn them until they stop moving. All the while, they’re usually trying to kill you.

Mystic had a force field around him made of magical energy designed to turn cutting and piercing attacks into kinetic impacts. So he wouldn’t bleed so much. It’s also supposed to slow or stop some damage. With it he can be shot or stabbed without bleeding profusely. That being said, when the snakeman hit him in the arm with his sword, Mystic grabbed his arm in pain and winced.

The looming snake sprayed venom all over the side of him, and Mystic turned away to avoid the green liquid. When he turned back and fired off a blazing bolt of heat, the snake reared and fell backwards as flame enshrouded it. The mage felt a sting in his back as the snake behind him stabbed him. It was a burning sensation, like the tip made it through the field, and when the blade was withdrawn, he could feel warmth running down his back.

Mystic summoned a flaming sword, and slashed at the snake behind him, sending him to the stones. The snake in front slashed at him one last time, before he succumbed to the fire that blackened his scales. The blow sent Mystic Inferno to his knee, as he watched the crease of red appear on the shoulder of his blue robe.

He cradled his left arm as he hovered away from the scene, uncertain whether the snakes below had seen the flashes of light or heard the battle. He hovered back toward the portal, doubting his decision to come to the Rogue Isles greatly so soon after arriving.

Smurd rolled his eyes as the girl made threats. "I don't have time for this stupidity, I have other stupidity to attend to." With that he stepped into the basement and surveyed the damage. The girl did good work. There were cracks and chipped paint everywhere, though how much of it was there BEFORE her temper tantrum is anyone's guess.

The Portal spun in the middle of the room, one single glowing ball of light. Smurd drew his blade and stepped inside. He appeared in a cave with water dripping from the walls and one exit. Two sets of footprints were visible in the dirt, one professor sized, and one large rock creature sized.

"Well," said Smurd, "that's a start." And proceded down the passage.

"Dude with sword is still confused as to where Mystic and the Golum went and why we were attacked. I don't mind saying, if that portal that Mystic rigged up is down, we've just left our friend in the rogue islands someplace with no friends but a single golum of unknown origin." Smurd put his sword away. "So if you don't mind, before we get this negotiation underway, I'm going BACK down into the basement to check the portal. If you want to get in my way this time, I'm going to be very angry."

As he finished, he activated his defensive spells, rendering him almost entirely immune to the earth magic's effects and protecting him from gasses. He was certain that if the young rock wielder were more experienced, he'd be trouble, but Smurd had been around the block and had picked up a number of tricks. He was fair certain he could do him serious harm should it come to that. He was also hoping it wouldn't come to that, lest he risk further damage to the structure.

Smurd strode toward the basement.

"Hey now little golum, where'd you get that, oh you know that's not nec-" The blow struck Smurd in the armor and sent him flying out of the quicksand and onto the stairs. "What?"

Smurd panicked. What if the others were ambushed and these villains had come BACK through the portal. His sword was in his hand and he was back on his feet in an instant. "What have you done with my friends?"

Sword labored over the smithing of his answer as they approached Point-Defense. When he finally did answer, he was very deliberate to let Point know that he was included on purpose.

"I question Consort-Inquisitor's devotion to the cause, but I would never question the Avatar's judgement with regard to this invasion. There's billions of them. Any bolstering to our numbers is a smart move. Besides, or ancestors have been using humans for a very long time. This isn't a purist war, it's a reclaiming of our birthright."

Once they were convinced that the area was secured and they were properly relieved, Sword and Shield decided that they were going to take the lead in exploring the next chamber. Sword asked for volunteers before moving to the end of the tunnel and stepping through the transportation circle.

Smurd came down the steps in a hurry, hoping to find the group not quite ready to go. Instead he found that he couldn't move when he hit the basement floor. For the first second or two, he didn't realize what was happening. He thought the magical effect was some secondary magical runoff from the portal.

Then he saw the stone man and said, "You've gotten smaller."

Sword shrugged, "to hear the elders tell it, they were all sentient long ago, though very stupid. They would destroy each other to try to rise above each other, even if doing so only brought them down. They would mate indiscriminately, abandon their young and believed in gods that never helped them once. Creatures ruled by their instincts to breed and dominate each other, they would spend most of their time trying to accumulate wealth and impress each other.”

As they walked back from the final seal, Sword recounted some of his experiences with Arachnos humans and how they acted. “It doesn’t seem to me that they have changed much in the last two thousand or so years.”

John Cobb was a big man. Being a Scrapyarder meant hard work and usually big muscles, but Cobb was bigger than most. Some say he was smarter too, but Cobb often referred to himself as “not too bright” or “slow”. Regardless, he was the man often chosen to get the job done, because he was one who could. Now he was under the rock some two hundred feet near the shore of Sharkshead island. The job was mining. It was dirty, dangerous work, and that’s why they called John Cobb.

Lativ wasn’t anyone Cobb had worked with before. He was an ex soviet military explosives expert and he came highly recommended. Along with Scott Zim, who would be running the thirty workers directly, they had to make sure the entire thing went smoothly.

Day one was setting up camp. Cobb, Lativ and Zim met with this guy who went by Dee. He looked like a cross between a Hollywood agent and a Tai Kwan Do instructor. He always had some muscled beach boys hanging around him, acting tough and staying quiet. They didn’t try to intimidate any of the crew, which was a good thing, cause Scrapyarders don’t take kindly to that. They also don’t scare easy. This Dee guy just explained how things were going to be.

“The main camp is to be here, in this cave, where we will be digging in these four tunnels simultaneously. The air shafts are to be set here and here, with tributaries running off as you see fit. This is the progress we’d like to see in the first week, this in the second, this the third. Is this clear? And save the explosives, we’ll need them later. Call me if you find anything.” Dee was pointing to a map laid out on the hood of Cobb’s pickup.

Cobb looked impressed for a second, but kept rubbing his bald head wondering what he was missing. The plan looked way more professional than most clueless money types would have, but something truly should have been there that wasn’t. Then it hit him. “How do you want to handle extraction?”

“Extraction?” Dee looked puzzled.

“Of the color, sir. The gold?”

“Oh, however you see fit. If you need more supplies call me at this number.” Dee handed him a card then left the map on the truck and moved to his Corvette. His toughs got in with him, quietly, without making much eye contact.

Zim stood next to Cobb as the car pulled away, the ocean lapping against the rocks in the background. “Well, at least that wasn’t all strange and creepy.”

Lativ looked down to the rocks where the cave was and the water crashing against them. “I too have a not so good feeling about this.”

Cobb sighed and turned to face Lativ, “well, what do you want to do about it.”

Lativ sighed heavily as he looked out on the ocean then turned around and threw his hands into the air. “Vat is there to do? We do job.”

“Yeah, I guess we do. Get em started, Zim, I’m going to check out the shaft.” And with that, Cobb donned his hard hat and headed toward the crashing water.

"Pizza? No... I. They should be in the basement where Mystic was working on that thing... or... stuff. Maybe. I don't recall." Smurd slung a small bag over his shoulder and headed downstairs.

“It does seem odd to not bring Fusion back,” Cold Heart said as he followed Sword. “There are so few of us.”

Sword looked back at Cold for a second. "I don't believe that we intend to simply cast them aside. For whatever reason, our attempts at revival have failed. The Avatar is much better at this than we are. If he is not capable, then it is likely the wand that interdicts. We may have just found a new weapon."

Sword stood by, as invisible as he could while Cold did his work.

Smurd had overslept… a lot. The panic started when he opened his eyes to some noise. The noise was instantly forgotten and replaced by another noise, a loud noise, the noise of a man getting ready rapidly. Sword, armor, these were not quiet things to don.

Soon, the noise made its way to the kitchen, the fridge was opened and whatever leftovers he could find were snatched. He was having turkey… or creamed spinach… it was difficult to tell. It didn’t matter, throw some milk on it and call it breakfast, he had to hurry.

“Wait,” he said aloud… “something’s not right.” Smurd was a man of incredible attention to detail. Nothing slipped past him. “There are no donuts.”

Suppressing panic, he noticed Newton watching him with wide eyes. “Hi, haven’t the others left? They were supposed to leave by now? Have you been downstairs? Was there a delay? Why aren’t you answering me? Oh, maybe I should give you a moment.” Smurd paused to allow Newton to speak.