Jakey_K

Never mind, Morgana, there's always next year. and really, it's all about having fun whether you make the word count or not. I know I didn't get my word count last year, but I did have a lot of fun writing a very silly and dramatic ending (there was a pyramid underground and cat people, XD I went there).

YOu can do it, Coile! if I knew where you lived, I'd come make you a cup of tea to help you on your way!

Max - the old exam excuse huh? It's okay, it's okay if you don't want to write. XD I'll be sure to read your novel when I find it. Good luck with your exam!

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It's a VERY strong alcoholic drink.
Should only be drunk in VERY small quantities straight.
Which explains why I nearly ended up with alcohol poisoning and staying drunk for a solid 48 hours after downing half a bottle with a friend once while at a lan.

Whoopsie!



Edit: After checking ole Wikipedia myself: You're meant to dilute it???


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That explains a whole awful lot

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Sar dear, ummm...*bit worried* you do know Absinthe is reportably able to induce a permanent psychosis of sorts don't you?, I believe thats how Van Gogh went a bit do-lally! , as long as you don't go lopping off ears at lan parties etc

*As GG hinted -that most definately would explain the crazed genius behind the comic strip

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The form it's sold in now has nowhere near the kick of the old drink that was banned in a lot of countries. Changes made to the distilling process have removed a lot of the impurities. I wish they'd apply the same cleanliness to brewing stella so the pikeys falling out of the pub didn't vomit with such alarming force.

But yeah, not so sure about the new stuff, but the old Absinthe was actually a hallucinagen.

In other news: I just reread the 101. Cheered me right up, XD

Thanks man

I suppose I have an advantage, I'm unemployed at the moment.

Not for long, a job will certain hamper my reckless wordsmithery.

Personally, I've finished. Final word count: 57,098 on word.

You can find it here. If you feel inclined, cheer on the others on our SG board who are still going,

and on that subject ...

COME YOU GUYS! YOU CAN DO IT!!

[u]Jakey's secret to writing as fast as he runs[u]
Relentless is your friend, as is Red Rooster, tea, coffee, sherbet lemons, a tablespoon of sugar from the pot, jumping out of your chair and running down the stairs to throw yourself face down in the living room, cuddling the cat, fussing the dog.

But the most important of all is TAKE FREQUENT BREAKS! Seriously, every twenty minutes, just get up and walk off. It's good for your concentration. (I don't actually do this every twenty minutes, I do it every four hours, which is probably why my butt hurts and my legs get stiff)

Having insane 'genius' goggles probably helps too. I like to wear a stupid hat too, but that might just be a personal preference.

In SHORT, you really can do this.

There is a border, but since I was going for the 'card' theme, they're plain white so don't show up on photobucket, it looks better on DA. XD

Thanks for the comments, it's always nice to have feedback.

After an absense I would class as 'too long' from this fine game and community (I can't even begin to tell you how I missed all you guys), I have returned! In body if not in sense!

Here are a few things I've been working on lately. I can't post my NaNo up here because it got verrrry dark very quickly. However, if you are curious to read what goes on in my head when I have 30 days to write 50k words, you can find my NaNo here.

[u]Tarot[u]

The first of my tarot card series. The Fool Card, number zero in the major arcana. My main charater, Jakey K.

Background blended with some of my mum's nail varnish remover. She gave me a very funny look when I stole it from the bathroom. :P

[u]Cyber Valkyrie[u]

Not to spoil for anyone who is going to read Broken String, but Winter's Knight ends up in a rather different look to her usual full plate suit of armour.

Going to colour this when I get a chance and do a laser background.

that's great! It's full of life and energy, and that's always a good thing

SinghMC put his sword down beside him as he sat on a pile of rubble to catch a short break. He blew out as he tipped his head back.
"Hey Singh, still holding off the forces of Arachnos single-handed?" A voice above made him look up and he grinned.
"Well hey there Muse. Don't often see you around here," he said. The empath touched down next to him, wearing the armband of a field medic.
"That's because normally you're not in the hospital. I do duty shifts in there to keep you guys fighting the good fight." Muse was holding a brown paper bag which he offered out to Singh. The swordsman took it and unrolled the top, peering in curiously.
"I brought you lunch, figured you'd been here for hours and forgotten to eat again." Muse grinned as Singh reached in to snag the sandwiches.
"Thanks, I'm starving." To prove it, Singh wasted no time in stuffing one of the corners into his mouth and biting down gleefully. Muse put his hands in his pockets and looked around.
Torn-up tarmac and twisted girders littered the area, half collapsed buildings shed a few bricks even as he watched. Apparently some hero had lost control of his power here and exploded, tearing open the mighty War Walls and laying this whole area to ruin. Closer to the Steel Canyon Gate, the buildings still stood, particularly the hospital. But out here, it was like a warzone. Influxes of Arachnos troops did nothing to dispel that idea.
Muse shivered.
"You're sure this area is clear?" he asked, looking at Singh who was drinking the bottle of water enthusiastically. The swordsman nodded, putting the bottle down and swallowing.
"Arachnos don't usually come where I am and I haven't seen one of those 'Destined Ones' for hours."
"Well, can you blame them? Saying your name in an Arachnos base has about the same effect of saying 'Oh look, there's Jakey K' in Oranbega." Muse laughed, as Singh's retaliation against Arachnos could almost be called a crusade, if Singh was the kind of man to crusade against anything. He grinned back.
"It's nice for a few minutes peace, I'll say."
As the two heroes chatted, two villains were lying flat on their stomachs in a tiny cave under the folds of tarmac. Lieutenant Whithers was frowning darkly, his hand on Red's shoulder. Red, for his part, was having trouble focussing. Everything had taken on a sort of dreamlike quality, the buzz had been going on so long.
"He's with SinghMC. We hold our position. I've heard about him." Whithers looked aggravated. Red just grunted, as nothing quite mattered right now. He couldn't hear anything, but that was fine. Whithers had everything under control.
"Did you make your sedative?" Whithers looked at Red with an intense focus. Red nodded, patting the pocket of a utility belt around his waist.
"He'll be sleeping like a baby."
"Right up until you shoot him, then he'll be sleeping like the dead." Whithers grinned. If he hadn't been so wholly consumed by euphoria of Whithers' touch, his grin would have chilled Red.
"Hmm." Red was about to say something when Whithers shushed him, tilting his head to listen intently.
Singh pushed himself to his feet and rolled up the now empty bag, handing it to Muse.
"Another hot spot just flared up. I better go see to it and you'd best head back to the hospital. Take care and fly high, alright? I'd to even imagine what Venji would say to me if you got hurt while I was around." Singh clipped his sheathe back to his belt and gave Muse a firm look. Muse waved it away.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not stupid. See you later, Singh." He kicked off the ground and soared upwards as Singh hopped down the tarmac to stroll over to the hot spot, whistling jauntily.
Whithers grinned and scrambled out of their hiding place.
"Time to get into position. Red, brush that off, it's dirty." He scowled at Red as he crawled out and stood up. Red just smiled a little, in his own little world of happiness.
"Yes boss, sure thing." He reached down to brush dirt off the rubber body armour with the end of the cape. It was decorated with typically heroic things like stars. Red thought it was very uncomfortable. He wouldn't be wearing it at all if Whithers hadn't been so emphatic.
They skirted into the less damaged part of the zone, avoiding the clusters of gangers who stood around being a nuisance. Whithers found an appropriate alley and pointed to the floor.
"Lie down there and sound injured."
Red did as he was told, shoving some broken bottles and empty packets out of the way. He hesitated for a moment.
"How do you sound injured?"
Whithers made some unintelligible comment under his breath and straddled Red's middle. He grabbed his neck, hauling the top half of his body up.
"Like this." He rammed his fist into Red's face without any warning. It was excruciating, more than it should have been. Red yelped. Whithers did it again, then with both hands around his neck, slammed his head back onto the concrete. Two feelings were warring in Red, the incredible bliss that he could still feel rolling off Whithers and the sharp, savage pain that drilled into him from his fists.
The feel of concrete on his back and hands around his neck, hemmed in on both sides by the dark walls of the alley sparked off a chain of memories Red would as soon forget forever. It was just like back in the Zig, when the warden had 'accidently' put him in the meta-block. The same feeling of total helplessness, of overwhelming despair and fear. The remembered pain.
He screamed, his body struggling like a wild animal. Not again. Never ever again. He could dimly hear Whithers grunt when his fists started slamming him. He could feel nothing but pain.
"Hey! Don't worry, I've got you!" The voice bounced off the alley walls, Red barely registered it. What he did register was a new feeling burning through him. Cleaning, strengthening, calming. He remembered the job, remembered he wasn't in the Zig any more. He threw Whithers off and surged to his feet, ready to stick the boot in for making him relive that. Whithers was already airborne though, aiming straight up.
"[censored]!"
He connected with the man floating above, ramming his fist into his stomach. The other man folded around his arm. Whithers pulled his fist free and then clasped them both above his head and slammed them down onto the man's exposed back. He dropped like a stone, hitting the tarmac hard. Red fumbled for the sedative, running over and jabbing it into the man's neck before he could even twitch. He stood back, panting slightly.
Whithers landed neatly beside the fallen hero, switching on his charming smile. He gave Red a warm look.
"Excellently done, Red. Didn't know you had such a flair for the dramatic." His smile should have stripped away Red's objections once more, but the cool, pleasant feeling of the other man's touch still lapped in his skull. Red just folded his arms.
"Let's get this over with before someone comes." He looked about nervously. Whithers nodded and started pulling off his clothes. Red looked away immediately, staring hard at the end of the alleyway.
"I don't mind you watching, Red," Whithers drawled. Red resisted the urge to kill him. His guns were back on the boat. There was nowhere to hide them on this ridiculous outfit anyway. Unarmed and without back-up, Red stood about as much chance taking down Whithers has a butterfly had turning back a storm.
It seemed a long time filled with the sound of fabric rustling and zips being fastened before Whithers coughed.
"So, how do I look?"
Red looked around, almost grudgingly. With his tattoo and scar pealed off and dropped into a little bag, wearing a uniform jacket and shirt and tie, Whithers looked harmless. He flipped a broad-brimmed hat in his hands before putting it on his head.
"You best take him off to the boat now." Whithers took a card out of his pocket and looked at it, then grinned and popped it back in. Red started to pick up the man who was now dressed in Whithers' khaki.
"So this is where we part company forever, right?" he asked lightly. Whithers nodded.
"Try not to miss me too much in the quiet of the night," he laughed at his own joke and waved. Red watched him kick off and fly away. He bit back against any number of sharp things he could think to say and heaved the man over his shoulder. He snuck back to the bay, hidden from the eyes of the Arachnos base by the two large rigs and skirted around the ruined War wall. The boat was riding anchor behind it and he threw the man into the dingy, pushing off from the rocks and paddling out to it.
Once on the boat, he tore off the stupid costume and weighted it before throwing it overboard. He felt much more human when he pulled on his trademark red coat. The weight and shapes of the jars of poison capsules bumped against his chest and sides. It was familiar and welcome. He ignored his prisoner for a moment, the man wasn't going to wake up any time soon after all, and walked to the aft end to take up the anchor. That done, he returned to the cabin and turned on the engine.
He was an hour out to sea before he looked back at the man, still slumped out on the deck. Red reached his hand into his pocket for the .22 calibre pistol. The smooth, cold metal was grounding. Let the other villains parade around the value of a higher calibre for killing people, the .22 was a professional hitman's choice. Gerise Snr, may he rest in peace, had taught him everything he knew about guns. The .22 had the force to penetrate a skull only once. The slug would enter the brain and ricochet off the opposite side of the skull, tearing the precious organ to shreds as it bounced around without the energy to exit. For quiet, efficient killings in back alleys, nothing beat the old school approach.
He drew the pistol out of his pocket as he walked back to the unconscious man. He levelled it down at the side of his head and hesitated. Nowhere in his mind was the thought that killing a Hero was worse than killing a cop. You could only imagine the firepower that would be levelled against you by a Hero's associates.
If he killed this man now, like this, he would be doing what Whithers told him to do.
Red clicked the safety back on and put the pistol away. It would be a cold day in Hell when he voluntarily did what a meta told him to do.
He dragged the man below decks and left him on the carpet there so he didn't have to look at him and wonder what he was going to do with him. He settled back at the wheel and checked his navigational equipment. Don Gerise was going to be furious when she discovered he'd brought a meta home.

The cell phone rang in his pocket. Red jumped, swearing under his breath as he pulled it out and picked up. He stuck his finger in his other ear to drown out the sound of clanking joints and laser fire as Ada marshalled her robots past him.
"Yes?"
"Well hello Red, you sound like you've found yourself a warzone." A languid voice on the other end sounded amused. Red pulled a face.
"Uh … hi."
"Red, who the hell is calling you right now?" Finch yelled at him, jogging down the street, Falcon a bare step behind her. Red forced a grin.
"That woman from last night I was telling you about."
"Woman?! I BEG your pardon, Red …" Lieutenant Whithers sounded insulted, which was fair as Red had just called him a woman. Finch glared at Red.
"Oh. Wrap it up fast, we have a job to do here, in case you'd forgotten." She stalked off, Falcon giving Red a reproachful look as he kept up with his employer. Red sighed inwardly. Finch could be so prickly about his dealings with the fairer sex.
"Why did you tell your trigger happy friends I was a woman?"
Red turned his attention back to the voice on the phone, feeling awkward.
"I have my reasons, let's just leave it at that." He cursed his decision to go out drinking last night. He'd mistakenly told Gerise and Finch that he'd had a great night with someone, a meta who seemed to have the power of making people feel really good. When pressed for details, he'd realised that it would seriously harm his reputation as a lady's man to reveal he'd been seduced by a male meta. Incredible powers of invoking bliss or not, a man was a man. He still wasn't sure Lieutenant Whithers hadn't spiked his drink, as he didn't remember drinking enough to think that going home with a meta was a good idea. It generally took alcohol poisoning before he started thinking that.
"Fine, babe. Whatever protects your little feelings of masculinity. I have a job for you, actually."
Red blinked, then waved irritably at Alex. He slapped three fresh magazines into the punk's hands and pointed over to where Gerise was terrorising a Longbow operative. Alex trotted off, slinging Todd one of the fresh clips.
"What kind of job?"
"One that's right up your alley. You'd like to stick one to all those [censored] metas in Paragon, right?" Lieutenant Whithers sounded sibilant, his lovely voice making Red's hair creep. Red frowned, Whithers had to have spiked his drink, as he wasn't in the habit of discussing the metas of Paragon City and his feelings about them.
"I repeat, what kind of job?" His frown deepened when he heard Whithers mutter something to the effect that this would be easier face to face.
"I need you to get me into Paragon, do you remember what we talked about last night?"
A few memories dredged back up and Red's eyes went wide.
"You were serious about that?!"
"Serious as castration, babe. Are you in?"
Red turned his head to watch Ada kick one of her robots in the back of the head for insubordination. Beyond her, he could see Gerise holding her arm, in obvious pain but trying not to show it. Finch was already applying a field dressing to the burn, but he should return to them quickly.
"I'm in. Meet you at the Dirty Duck."
"See you then." Whithers hung up and Red pocketed his phone, running over to Gerise and taking out a flask of his 'good' poison to treat her wound.

The Dirty Duck should have been called the Dingy Dive. It was a small, smoky place tucked around the back of the warehouses in Port Oakes. Hellion graffiti tags sprawled across the walls and bins stood around the entrance. Red had never come here alone before, as his 'dogs' had introduced him to the place. It had something of a reputation in the port for it's generally meta-free clientele. Except of course, when Lieutenant Whithers walked through the door. Red frowned starkly, gripping the chiv in his pocket. It was just a small knife, but if you plunged it into someone's neck with the right attitude, it was deadly.
He slammed his fist against the door a few times until the eye slot opened. The doorman glared down at him.
"Red Coat? Fine." He opened the door once he'd recognised him. Red walked past him, taking off his hat.
"Evening Joe. What's the room like tonight?" he asked. Gerise Snr, may-he-rest-in-peace, had always taught him to be polite and civil to the staff. Staff, he used to say, knew things. Keep them sweet and watch how the benefits unfold.
"That meta *******'s here again. Was lookin' for a quiet night an' all." Joe sounded surly. Everyone sounded surly when Whithers was around. Throwing him out was out of the question. As soon as the doorman tried, he'd find himself slumped on the floor in a state of total bliss, disinclined to do anything at all but enjoy the buzz. Red pulled a face.
"Terrific."
To his surprise, Joe caught his arm in his meaty hand, giving him an unusually intense look.
"You shouldn't go near him again. He likes the way you look. No good's comin' from that one, he's bad news."
Red handed Joe his hat.
"Unfortunately he's offering me a business dealing I can't turn down. If I start acting stupid again, call this number and tell Finch I'm in serious trouble." Red flicked his fingers and from his sleeve, a business card appeared in them. Joe took it, looking like he still had reservations. Red clapped his shoulder, grinning in a carefree manner.
"If he likes the way I look so much, he's not likely to mess up my face at least, right?" he chuckled and walked down the short entrance hall into the 'room'.
The Dirty Duck had some card tables, a bar and was mostly sitting and lounging about space. A few people looked around and nodded to him as he entered. He was not an unknown here. Red nodded to them back, running a hand through his jet black hair to loosen it after so many hours under a hat, surreptitiously looking about for his contact.
Lieutenant Whithers was sat on his own at a wall table. He might as well have been floodlit he stood out so much. He wore khaki fatigues and under them, leather armour. His face was hidden under the peak of a military cap, blast goggles and obscured by an ornate tribal tattoo and scar. Red happened to know for a fact both the latter were purely cosmetic. Whithers suffered from the same disadvantage of good looks that Red did. When you were handsome to the degree Whithers was, and his Eurasian mixed heritage made him outstandingly good looking, you did everything you could to put off the attentions of the bigger and stronger. Red would have sympathised with him if Whithers wasn't a manipulative *******. Just like so many other metas, he just took what he wanted, using his strange powers of persuasion to get his own way.
"Red, babe, don't just stand around gawking, come sit down." Whithers looked up when Red approached the table. Though half his mind was telling him to turn around and run away, Red did so, sitting opposite Whithers. The other man put his elbows on the table and laced his heavily gloved fingers under his chin.
"Did you tell your gang you were meeting with your 'lady' again? Hmm?" His smile was wicked and in some circles could be called cruel. Red didn't let it fluster him, instead he leaned back and rested his elbow on the back of the seat.
"What's the job? Talk fast or I'm out of here."
"So abrupt after all we've done together, lover?" Whithers drawled. It made Red want to be sick. He didn't even like men in that way. It didn't bare thinking about, he was just trying to distract him. Joe had not removed his guns. It wasn't generally done in the Dirty Duck. Red pulled one Desert Eagle out and pointed it between Whither's eyes in a single fluid motion.
"I'm not noticing any fast talking."
"I've always considered men who carry such big guns to be compensating for something." Whithers reached his hand out and traced his fingers along the raised edge of Red's hand, over his thumb-knuckle. The effect was instant. Red could feel the warm, delicious feeling rising up his arm, sending shivers and goosebumps through his body. The gun wavered and lowered. If he shot Whithers now, the feeling would go away. Whithers kept his fingers on Red's hand, sliding around the seating to be next to him. He rested his chin on his shoulder, his lips a bare whisker away from the skin of Red's neck.
"What I need you to do, lover, is take me to Paragon. There's a boat waiting for us in the docks. There is a part of the city accessible from sea, where the war wall has been broken. You may have heard of it, it's called Siren's Call. Arachnos has been using the weak area as a staging ground for trying to take the city."
The whispered voice made the skin of his neck shiver with excruciating pleasure. Red closed his eyes, drawing a little breath, trying to keep from melting entirely to the sensation. He just wanted to lean into the body next to him, curl up in those arms and drift in this sea of ecstasy.
"Alright. So I take you there. Why can't you just take a flier. Don't the spiders like ferrying people over there to cause trouble?" he murmured. Whithers drew himself up slightly, hooking one arm around Red's neck and silking his hair between his fingers, his other hand resting on the hand that still clasped the gun tightly.
"I could, but that would make the second phase of my plan just so much more difficult. You see, about the time we will arrive, there will be an empath on duty there. A very specific empath." he said quietly, nuzzling Red's ear. Red just made an affirmative noise to show he'd heard. Words were slightly beyond him right now. He didn't see Whithers smile.
"I will take the empath's clothes and ID, and I will leave you and go into the city and you will never see me again. You will take the empath with you on the boat. Half-way back to the Islands, you will put a bullet in his head and drop him over the side of the boat. Simple, no? Think you can do that for me Red? My precious one?"
To be called precious by someone who made him feel so good made him feel loved as well. Red nodded. What wouldn't he do for Whithers?
"Easy as pie …"

Two weeks later

"Red! Red, stay with me!"
Hands grabbed the lapels of his coat and he felt Finch shaking him. It felt like it was coming from far away at first, gradually increasing until he stopped feeling so cold and numb.
"Finch …? I don't feel so good …" he mumbled.
"Red! Are you alright?!" Don Gerise's voice was laced with concern. It was rare for her to sound so emotional. Red forced his eyes to move to her, struggling to move his body.
"I think … I think it's in me." His words made both women go pale. Hands grabbed him up. Todd and Alex, his two 'dogs', helped prop him up on his feet.
"Are you okay, boss?"
"I've just been possessed, of course I'm not alright, you great banana." Red forced a smile. In the back of his head, he could hear a malicious whispering. There was something unholy loitering on the fringe of his consciousness.
"We need to get it out of you, and fast!" Finch sounded worried, more worried than she generally ever let herself sound. Red was touched.
She's first. We'll kill her first.
"The doc said I'd find extraction and containment equipment here." Red tried to ignore the whispering in his head as he pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to Todd. Todd handed it immediately to Gerise, keeping his attention on keeping his boss standing. Gerise's icy blue eye narrowed as she glared at the card.
"Then let's get there fast." She turned sharply on her heel and headed down the tunnel to the entrance of the Council base.
"That [censored] set you up!" Finch nearly yelled, her cool completely out the window.
"Yeah … I was just considering that," Red murmured.
We'll kill her too when we're together. Stop resisting, I'll win in the end.
"She'll have to wait. First we get it out of Red's head." Gerise did not stop and look around as she spoke.
The reinforced Council tunnels gave way to bright sunlight. Red tilted his head down so the brim of his hat protected his eyes. He heard Gerise pulling on her stolen Raptor pack and let Finch help him into his.
"[censored] man, we'll meet you guys there." Falcon, Finch's hired muscle, bullied the other gangers away from the entrance. Red just nodded to his 'dogs' as they assured him they'd be waiting at the address for them. He pulled the control sticks around to the front and clicked them into place. There was a thudding whir as Gerise took off. Finch dithered, hanging back to make sure he took off safely. Red activated his pack.
Too slow
Red didn't get a chance to even yell before the world stripped away and black cold nothingness crushed in on all sides. He felt like his eyes were about to pop out of his head and he struggled to breathe. It couldn't have been any more than a second later that he tumbled out of the black nothingness over the airstrip in Cap Au Diable. Before he got a chance to yell for help, he was crushed into the void again. It was like he was being torn out of the world and slammed back into it. He popped back into the world next to Gerise and crashed into a wall, staggering wildly.
"Red, what the hell was THAT?!" Gerise grabbed his arm and steadied him. He coughed, his face an unhealthy pale colour.
"I don't even know …"
Finch landed by them a second later, pulling off her pack and dumping it on the ground. She didn't like Red's colour at all, he looked like that thing in his head was already screwing him up. She bit her lip against the multitude of curses she wanted to impart and instead put her fingers in her mouth, whistling sharply. Falcon and the rest of her boys came running.
"We're ready boss." Falcon gave Red a dubious look. Gerise nodded sharply and helped Red into the building.
"Joker, go ahead and see what's happening," she snapped. Her most muscled goon headed off around the corner without a word. Red smiled as brightly as he could.
"Hey, what's with all the tension. You'd think someone was in serious trouble here." He reached into his pockets and dumped extra clips in the hands of his dogs. Todd shoved them into the pockets of his jeans, making them stand out obviously. Alex checked his guns.
"Can we have cooler names, Red? Like Diamond and Joker?" he asked. Red rolled his eyes.
"Fine, Todd's 'dog' and you're 'wolf'. Ben, you can be 'cat'."
Ben just shrugged, code-names were not something he was particularly interested in. He was only around because he owed Red his life, having bet it on a hand of cards.
"Enough squabbling over names, get in now!" Finch bullied her men through the doorway and half dragged, half supported Red into the building. The clinical smell of the lab clashed with the smell of gun oil and the musty smell of combat fatigues. The Wild Cards all saw the Council soldiers marching towards them at the same time. Dual pistols were drawn, Red's shaking slightly but still raised.
The man at the head of the column smiled coldly, ignoring everyone but Red himself.
"Did you really think we'd let you go that easily? Kill everyone but the carrier. We're taking him back to base." With a flick of his hand, the commander motioned his men forward. Gerise scowled, she did not like to be ignored in these situations.
"Boys, teach him a little respect."
Gerise's goons grinned and lunged forward. They were flanked by Finch's men and Red's dogs formed a defensive line in front of their boss. Bullets flew in all directions, the ground became littered with spent shells. Finch pulled Red down out of the way of pressurised flame from one of the Council soldier's throwers.
"Don't worry, Red, I won't let them have you …" she whispered. Perhaps she didn't want him to hear it, but wanted to say it anyway. Red didn't answer her, just in case. He appreciated it though.
Kill them … kill them all … watch them scream. It's such a beautiful sound. You will regret trying to take me.
I'm already regretting it, you demon. Not for much longer though, eh? Either way.
In that, we are agreed.
Red pushed himself to his feet and emptied his clips into a soldier's face. He doubted he could resist the alien for much longer. Dr Percey had said something to the effect that there was a ninety minute grace period, but after that, the alien would have control. Red could almost hear the clock ticking away the precious seconds. His life, no, his very soul was in jeopardy.
How amusing … you are afraid for your soul. You.
I know true evil when I smell it, and you stink of it.
You flatter me. I think I will enjoy taking you for myself. You have interesting thoughts.
If I don't get there in time, I'm putting a bullet through my head. I'm not yours, and I won't ever be.
Oh don't be tiresome. If not you, I'll just take your … sister is it?
You're really bold now you've got some soldiers around trying to save you …
They are better trained than you, lowly little human. They will succeed and you will be mine. Let's end this little charade, shall we? There is no escape.
Red tried to ignore the insidious little voice in his head, reloading his guns. The sound of gunfire in an enclosed space was nearly deafening, he didn't hear the soldier break through the line and come at him until the very last moment. He yelled and threw himself backwards, slamming out his hand. Black energy shot from his palm and slammed into the man, throwing him backwards.
"What the [censored]!?" Finch must have seen it. Red remembered the exhaustive training his grandmother had given him. An attack from behind was usually more successful. Red went to jump over the man's head, but the world stripped away and slammed back. He realised that he was behind the entire row of enemies. He blinked and brought up his guns, emptying the fresh magazines into the backs of their heads. Caught in a crossfire, the soldiers went down. The commander fled, only to be brought down by two rounds square in the back of his neck. Finch blew the smoke off the barrels of her Desert Eagles and looked at Red.
"We need to find that extraction equipment."
"What was that … stuff, Red?" Gerise was frowning at him as she marched to him. Red shrugged.
"I don't know, and I don't want to find out."
"Fair enough."
The lab had more soldiers in it, clearly the Council desperately wanted their Nictus back. Despite the foul thing's whispers to the contrary, the Wild Cards gave the troops no quarter and presented less a group of thugs and punks and more a moving wall of bullets.
Finch and Gerise looked over the extraction device they'd found, figuring out how to work it while their henchmen guarded the doorways into the lab.
"Red, lie down on the bed," said Gerise finally, tapping a few buttons. Red took off his hat and laid it down on the side. He trusted his Don to know what she was doing. He pulled himself onto the bed and lay down on his back. Finch pulled a helmet-like pad on an articulated arm over Red's head. He lay still as she positioned it over his forehead.
"Containment field active, power supply good, we're good to do this." Gerise flicked more switches and turned a dial.
"It'll be over soon, Red. Just hold on a little longer." Finch was using her quiet voice again. Red smiled crookedly.
"Not about to let go just yet."
Oh very droll. This is quite sickening. I will almost be glad to leave your weak, human body.
You're just sore because you lost.
For now, Fukkatsu. For now. But I don't forget a bad turn, nor do I forget a smart-alec. I'll come for you one day-
I'm not afraid of dying, Nictus.
You misunderstand, I won't kill you. I'll make you live, thoroughly against your wishes, ninja.
The sudden silence after the Nictus' harsh rebuttal filled Red's head. Blessed solitude. As quickly as the feeling of sickening evil had seeped in, it had seeped out. He pushed the apparatus away from his head and sat up stiffly.
"There, it's all in the containment field. Dr Percey had better be paying you a hell of a lot for this, Red." Gerise made sure the floating mass of black energy was safely contained and turned to him. Red looked over her shoulder at the Nictus. It didn't look so harmful now, just a slowly whirling tangle of energy. He pushed aside the sensation it gave him. The Nictus had prowled through his memories, but just as easily, had revealed itself to him. He didn't want to dwell on what he'd seen.
"Best go and collect then." He pushed himself off the bed and pulled his hat back on, his grin returning. Finch scowled.
"Yes. Let's go collect." Her tone promised pain for the doctor. Red didn't comment, as far as he was concerned, Percey probably deserved a black eye or three. He unclipped the containment jar from the extraction machine and hooked it under his arm.
"Can't keep a lady waiting. Off we go!"

Author's Note: Just a story about totally 'normal' human gangsters trying to make it in a meta-filled world. The story will deal with adult themes and not a little violence, so count yourselves warned. The easily offended should probably find something else to read.

[u]BREAK OUT[u]

Shouting outside the cell was the first indication that not all was well in the Zigurski Prison. Red sat up from where he'd been lounging on his berth, listening to the guards yelling frantically. Their voices held a note of panic he didn't often hear. A smile curved his soft lips. He was sharply handsome with a trim beard and well tended hair, handsome enough to have problems in the all male wing of the prison. Over and over again, he'd blessed his grandmother teaching him a variety of highly unpleasant ways to jab someone with your fingers. He got hassled, but nobody had dared go through with their crude threats or suggestions. Not yet, anyway.
"The Longbow squad is inbound!"
Red watched as a prison officer ran past his door. A moment later, a man with black armour and a distinctive helmet ran past. Out of Red's sight, he heard a meaty smack sound. He got to his feet, slipping his hand under the pillow where he kept a large, razor-edged shard of glass. His dark, slanted eyes narrowed as the armoured man came back, holding what looked like a mace. The end of it crackled with red energy. The man turned his head to look at Red. The fang-like prongs at the front of the helmet and row of beady red 'eyes' caught Red's attention.
A soldier of Arachnos. Curiosity called Red to his feet, but the soldier left. Red drifted to his cell door and craned his neck to try and see down the walkway where he'd gone. A moment later, his cell door hissed and slid open. Red snapped his hands back and looked at the door dumbly for a second. Then every nerve-ending seemed to turn on and his heart raced. He felt alive again after months of being as the living dead.
It was time for a jail-break!
He darted out of the cell without looking back. His clothes would be in the locked storage room. He didn't have to worry about how to get through the door though, as another escapee was already ripping the door off its hinges in a display of inhuman strength. Red hung back. That must be one of the 'super' villains he'd heard so much talk about, the ones that lived in the special wing. Red was no fool, he stayed well clear until the powerful man had gone in and taken what was his. Once he was gone, Red slipped in and looked around the storage room. Huge racks of industrial strength shelves stood at regulated intervals. It was very boring and ordered. Red found the box with his own affects finally, in the 'F' shelves. He took the clothes and looked around. The corner of the room looked like it offered enough privacy to get changed. He nipped into it and started pulling off the bright orange coveralls that constituted the prison uniform. He knew this was a dangerous time. The chaos of a prison break could serve as cover for any number of foul deeds and settled scores, it was a time of anarchy and natural selection.
As if his anxious thoughts summoned them, a gang of older men burst into the room.
"Get your [censored] and be quick about it, you [censored]. We're getting out of here." The speaker sounded breathless with excitement. Red hoped it was his imagination, but he thought he could smell blood. The sound of rummaging and clatter of boxes didn't cover the chatter of the men.
"Gonna bag me a Longbow. Those bastards got it coming!"
"I'm gonna find Officer Norbert and break his head."
Red pulled on the coat that was his trademark and gave him his name. It had been a gift from Gerise Senior, the only father he'd ever known. He grabbed his hat up and stuffed it onto his head.
"Hey!" The rough voiced leader's voice made Red start. The man hurried around the corner of the shelves and blocked off Red's only exit. His smile was small and brutal, "Don't you look dapper?"
Red drew himself up, his Japanese parents had granted him none of the height required to be imposing.
"Get the hell out of my way," he said sharply. The man's smile widened a bit and he cracked his knuckles. On the left breast of his vivid orange coveralls was the icon that placed him in the meta block. He was a meta-human. Red was not.
"Who's going to make me, princess?" The man eyed him with the look of a man who'd been inside so long that anything concave would do. Red flicked his hat up slightly and gave the man an amused smile even though a feeling of dread was welling in his stomach.
"Didn't you know? Lady Luck works for me."
"Does she now?" The man looked honestly amused, prowling closer. His hands started to flex and Red could feel the concrete under his feet shift. He snapped his eyes down and swore. He tried to lunge away, up onto the shelves, when the concrete burst and briars snapped up and lashed around his lower legs. The thorns bit in through his trousers and Red grabbed onto the shelf, trying to pull free.
"I think she's favouring me right now, she's a fickle one," the man drawled. He thought he had the advantage, which to be fair, he did.
"What is it, boss?"
"[censored] off and meet me in the yard, you [censored]-eating losers. Something's come up and I want to see to it." As the man barked at his subordinates, making them scatter, Red closed his mouth tightly and tried to work up some saliva. As he did so, he muttered something in Japanese.
"Saying your prayers?" The man was unzipping his coveralls as he came closer, looking eager. Red opened his eyes, letting him come within touching distance. He felt the wall slam against his back as the man shoved him into it. As their bodies pressed together, the man's hands groping down his sides, Red lunged forward and bit the soft skin where his neck met his shoulder. His fury was enough for his teeth to break the skin, letting his saliva into the wound.
The man screamed as the wound flared with white hot pain. The thorns raked Red's legs and he had to lock his arms around the man to keep him from pulling away. The poison in his saliva worked its way through the man's body and the briars loosened, falling away. Red dropped the man with contempt. When his body crumpled onto the concrete, Red rearranged his coat huffily and wiped his lips.
"Yes, actually. Next time you get horny, don't pick a poison ninja as your victim." Red took great care to stamp on the man's face as he left. There was always one who thought he could take whatever he wanted. Metas were just about the worse for it. If they weren't a 'Hero' and beating you up for 'justice', they were some bullying *******. Red hurried out of the storage room and ran towards the infirmary. He didn't want to have to go around biting anyone else who gave him grief, not just because people left a funny taste in his mouth he would rather do without. As he rounded the corner of the infirmary, he saw a tall, red-headed woman in a white suit. Even if she'd been looking away, he'd know her just by her stance.
"Don!" He broke into a smile as he ran over to her. The tall woman blinked and looked down at him, her one remaining ice-blue eye looking him over.
"Red." As if they'd not been separated for months, she looked over the chaos of escaping prisoners with a distant expression, "have you seen any of the others?"
"No, heard we were all split up into different prisons," Red said. Don Gerise turned a small canister over and over in one hand. The motion of her fingers made the tattoos on the back warp and twist. She nodded sharply.
"We need to get out of here and start over. Any ideas?"
Red thought fast.
"The Rogue Islands. We can probably blag a lift from the nice gents who are breaking out the metas."
Don Gerise frowned tightly, her finger hooking itself into the ring on the canister almost of its own accord.
"Isn't that where Arachnos makes base? I have no intention of grovelling to that one," she said. Red nodded.
"We don't have to. I know a guy we can talk to. We could do worse than being a small fish in a big pond for a while. Build up our man power again, recruit among the Rogue Islanders, safe from crazy vigilantes." Red was rewarded by a rare smile from his leader. Gerise might have been beautiful if it wasn't for the livid scars on the left side of her face. 'Formidable' was a word that better described her, but to Red she was family.
"You know a guy everywhere. Very well, let's get our pieces and blow this lousy joint."
"Sure thing."
It was not even ten minutes later that Red Coat and Don Gerise were running down the length of the prison exercise yard. They didn't stop for a moment, even though other prisoners were breaking out all over the place. Prisoners, high on the taste of freedom, came lunging for them every so often, to be brought down by four handguns. Red ducked when a man swung a piece of piping at him, rolling forward as Gerise fired both her pistols into the man's face. She grabbed his arm and helped haul him to his feet, running on.
A pilot for one of the Arachnos fliers was screaming orders at the milling confusion of metas and his troops. Red slipped through the mess and found the pilot.
"What's the hold up?!" he asked. The pilot turned to him in irritation then looked him up and down. Whatever he saw, it seemed to be enough for him to answer Red.
"I can't take off without my co-pilot, Jenkins. The idiot was supposed to be blowing that radar dish so we can make a clean getaway."
Red turned to look where he was pointing. Gerise caught his eyes and nodded slightly. Red looked back at the pilot.
"We'll go see what's taking him so long if you take us to the Rogue Islands, me and the Don."
The pilot gave a ghost of a smile.
"Sure. Just knock out that dish and drag my co-pilot here kicking and screaming if you have to."
Red resettled his hat and nodded to Gerise. She backed away from the metas, glaring at one until he thought better of arguing with her and just got out of the way. Red slipped after her. They reached the radar station easily and Gerise grabbed the back of Red's collar when he opened the door.
"Red, just remember you don't just represent yourself."
"Yes Don." Red grinned up at her. She lifted one eyebrow, the eye-patch covering her missing eye rising with it.
"I mean it. You are often hasty when you should stand back," she said. Red nodded. It was a fair assessment of his disposition, but things were different now it was just the two of them. Gerise let go of his collar and entered the station. He hurried to follow her.
Inside, the station was quiet but for the hum and blip of machinery down the corridor. Red unholstered his twin Desert Eagles and ghosted close to the wall, Gerise a step behind him. Voices close by made him frown and crouch by the corner, turning his head to listen.
"Who are you here to bust out? Talk!"
"I'm a trained Arachnos soldier, I could eat you two for breakfast!"
There came the sound of a rifle being prepped.
"With a side of pineapple fritter."
Red straightened and cocked his guns. He looked back at Gerise and nodded. She half smiled and they both broke cover at the same time. Their guns spoke simultaneously. One of the two Longbow sergeants went down, grabbing at his chest impotently. Gerise threw one gun up and grabbed something off her belt. She brought the canister to her mouth and tore the pin out with her teeth, lobbing it in time to catch her gun again. The home-made grenade exploded, smothering the remaining Longbow with a cocktail of polymer strands and resin glue. He swore and tried to scrape the muck off him as the two gangsters opened fire.
The Arachnos soldier peered down at the two fallen Longbow.
"[censored] … that was quick."
"Are you Jenkins?" She looked to Red when the man nodded, "check him over."
Red approached Jenkins and found he had several bruises on his face from a rifle butt being slammed into it. He reached into his pocket and took out a vial.
"Here you go, some good poison to pick you right up." He squirted the slightly gooey substance onto his hand and rubbed it over the bruises. Jenkins flinched and blinked at the tingling feeling on his skin.
"Who the hell are you guys?"
"The ones saving your [censored]. We have a bomb to set, let's go." Gerise strode off, her guns still out. Red hurried after her, grinning.
"I see they let you near a work bench for two minutes." He nodded to the small canisters hanging from Gerise's belt. She smiled crookedly and glanced down at him.
"Where did you get a chance to mix up your poisons?" she asked.
"I volunteered to play 'nursie' in the infirmary." Red grinned wickedly. Gerise chuckled, ignoring the Arachnos soldier who tagged along behind them.
"They clearly didn't know us very well."
"And they deserve everything they get tonight because of it," Red said. They entered the control room and four pistols and a shock mace flattened the three security guards in there before they had a chance to even reach their own guns. Gerise holstered her matched Desert Eagles and took out a cigar. She lit it as Jenkins wheeled a barrel of flammables into the control room. Red tweaked a timer on the side, but to be honest, most of the work had already been done. He attached it to the barrel and set the time.
"Alright, time to get the hell out of Dodge."
"Excellent." Gerise followed them out, flicking the cigar back over her shoulder as she went.

I think this is the time and place to point out that the most VIOLENT and SAVAGE team I have ever had the honour of heading up was comprised of one scrapper and 6 defenders.

WhiteSnow and the dwarves seven, they will smash you DOWN.

oh no, Swissy, you changed your avatar! D: I am overwhelmed with the sad now!

I ran a 'fancy dress' party a while back and promised that the person with the best or most imaginative outfit would get a special prize.

The winner was Captain Cathode with his 'Panthro' outfit, nicely capped off with an Eye of Thundara quip while face-planted.

For his prize, I told him I would draw one of his characters in full colour, so he picked his dominator Brussel Sprout.

And then he found the Miracle-Gro ...

For the curious:
sketched with mechanical pencil, 2B lead. Inked with those new Faber-Castell pens (get them, they're awesome and smooth) and coloured with Karisma pencils.

The door to Jakey's room was covered with runes invisible to the naked eye. Gaze knew they were there, though. She touched her hand to the door and breathed on it.
"Madam Tail," she said. There was a click as the lock undid itself and she pushed the door open. Jakey's room was not how she imagined it would be. In one corner there was a tree, trained to grow across the walls and hanging from it was a hammock filled with cushions and blanket. Three suits of armour of varying sizes stood on stands against the wall, engraving tools lying scattered about the feet of one. A work table was pushed up close to the door, littered with coins and jars of coloured dust, glass and other things too odd to even guess at the name and function of. The last wall was dominated by bookcases and books lay in stacks all over the floor.
Gaze picked her way over them to the hammock and knelt down. She ran her fingers over the exposed boards and found a loose one. She prised it up with her fingers and took out the black safe-box from its resting place. She sat down cross-legged on the floor and pressed her thumb to the innocuous circle on the lid. There was a shimmer as the runes gleamed visible for a moment, then a click. She opened the lid and stared at the contents. There were several parcels and a piece of paper on the top. She took it out and unfolded it.

"Dear Gaze.
If you are reading this, then I'm dead. Sorry.
The DVD at the bottom of the box is for you.
It has information you're gonna need. It may
seem hurtful to suggest, but I hope you were
nearby when I died.
Watch the DVD.
The parcels go to their respective owners and
all that. Winter's and the kids have access to
my room and tell Cloudy those three books she
wanted are all hers.
Yours, Jakey."

It seemed so little. She put it aside and took out the first parcel. It was addressed to Vanessa DeVore and she sighed, able to feel the shape through it. It was a porcelain mask, too small to be Vanessa's. It must be Jakey's. So much for him not even considering her offer to join the Carnival of Shadows. The second parcel was for Akarist and felt squashy like fabric. Maybe Jakey had sent the mage less embarrassing clothes. She didn't know and put it to the side with the mask. There were some books for Gregor in Galaxy City and a sheaf of papers for the attention of the arcane academic world. Gaze's eyebrows raised as she read the name they were written under. 'Edward T. Hundenhausen' indeed.
She shook her head and took out the last packet, reading the name on it. Her heart sank a little.
'Susie'.
She pocketed the DVD and stood up, pulling the rope out of her other pocket. She knotted it so the red rings touched and flicked it into the air as she'd seen Max do. The effect was instant, the rope clung to the air like it was stuck and through it she could see a path leading up to a yellow door. It was sunny on the other side when she stepped through, the smell of cut grass filled her nose and she pushed a hand through her blue hair. The small street she was standing in was quiet and she had a feeling she'd been here before, but couldn't remember when or how. She straightened her shirt and walked to the yellow door, knocking on it. She glanced back to check the rope was still there. She could still see Jakey's room through a round hole in the air.
The door opening called her attention back to the door. A teenaged girl wearing a school uniform was holding it open, looking at her blankly.
"Hello?"
"Um … hi … are you Susie?" Gaze gripped the brown paper parcel under her arm tightly. The girl nodded.
"Yeah." She sounded hesitant, like she wasn't sure what to make of this strange woman on her doorstep. Gaze pushed her hand through her hair, wishing she'd worn her hat now.
"My name is Midnight Gaze, I was told to give this to you." She held the parcel out. Susie took it slowly and looked back into the house, as if to make out there was someone else home. Gaze knew there wasn't but made no comment. She stood there quietly as Susie opened the parcel carefully, peering into it. A second later, she dropped the parcel, her hand going to her mouth. She dropped down to pick it up even as Gaze did.
"Oh … p-please come in …" The girl sounded slightly choked. Gaze did as she was asked and the yellow door closed behind her. Susie walked quickly into the kitchen and put the kettle on. Gaze drifted after her, wondering what had been in the package.
"Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Yes please." Gaze looked around the kitchen. So this was Jakey's home? The place he dreamed of returning to? It was a perfectly ordinary kitchen. A bill and some photographs were stuck to the fridge door with magnets and there was some washing up on the draining board. The net curtains hung slightly askew and a spider-plant was budding enthusiastically on the windowsill.
"I'm sorry, I didn't recognise you at first. Normally you wear a hat." Susie put a little jug of milk on the table and a pot of sugar. Gaze watched her as she poured water into a teapot and put that on the table too.
"Please, sit down."
Gaze did so.
"You know me?" She was surprised, if this was Jakey's home, then she was in England. She didn't think English newspapers printed stories on American heroes unless it was extra specially important. Susie nodded, getting some cups down from hooks under the cupboard. She put them on the table.
"Oh, I'll be right back." She hurried off out of the room and Gaze could hear her running upstairs. She took the lid off the teapot and stirred it a bit. Her eyes fell on the parcel and she reached curious fingers over to it. She was interrupted by Susie's return. The girl looked a little flushed and was holding a shoebox which she put on the table before sitting down.
"I've been following Jakey's heroing. I knew it was him. It had to be. How many other cats turned human called Jakey are there? I heard he died a week ago." she said it in a rush. Gaze blinked.
"I … you have a point."
Susie looked at the parcel, her face filled with sadness. She was so open about her emotions that Gaze wouldn't have needed empathy to know she was deeply upset.
"I was waiting for him to come home … I wanted to say sorry …" She dragged the parcel over to herself and shook the contents out. A velvet cat collar with a bell on it slid onto the tabletop and a small coin on a chain. Susie picked up the collar and ran her fingers over the blue velvet.
"He always hated wearing this. I'd always find it lying around the place. He tried to bury it in his cat litter three times."
Gaze smiled sadly. That sounded just like him.
"What was he like?" Susie suddenly looked at Gaze, her longing visible in her eyes. Gaze sighed and poured some tea for them both.
"He was a great friend." Suddenly, it didn't seem so painful to talk about him. She looked at Susie and realised that here was someone who really did understand. Who loved Jakey like she had. She smiled shakily, then stronger. She took a breath.
"He was also a great hero and a huge pain in the backside sometimes …"

It was evening by the time Gaze got back to Jakey's room. She untied the rope and let it fall slack. She rubbed her eyes, still raw from crying. There was just one last thing to do now. She took the DVD out of her pocket and uncovered Jakey's television from the pile of books it was stuck in. She found his DVD player and put it in, turning both on. She sat back on the floor, pulling a pillow off the hammock to hold to her chest.
The picture jumped a bit, then she saw Jakey on the screen, sitting back from what was presumably the camera.
"Okay, I guess it's on now. Uh, hi Gaze." He waved to the screen. "I guess I must be dead if you're watching this. First up, you have to know this, I meant to die. I couldn't tell you about it because … well, it was this big old thing. Cosmic balance and fate and all that [censored]. Long story short, I was going to destroy the world just by being. Which didn't suit me. I know I've made you sad, and I'm so sorry, but I want you and the world and everything to live and keep existing. I hope I didn't die too stupidly. If the Circle of Thorns got me, I totally expect you to let Venji kick their [censored]. That's just embarrassing."
On the screen, he rubbed the back of his neck and waved his free hand.
"See, the thing is, I'm like a god. If you wanna call it that. I'm a life and chaos god, the bringer of light and fire and all that. I mention this because it's important. When I die, uh … died, I expect I exploded. There should be a lot of white light and probably heat."
Gaze found herself nodding, even though he couldn't see her.
"Kate … this is very important. You're going to have to keep an eye on everyone who was touched by the light. It will be- … was pure life energy. It could affect mutations, mutate people who aren't mutants and stuff. On the plus side, their health should be through the roof. The excess life-force that isn't absorbed into the body will dissipate out into the world. Expect to have a green thumb for a while. Oh and … uh … well, I guess I should just say it. For about a year after I die, you should be able to conceive. As in have a baby. I've worked on the numbers according to my current level of power build up, and your body will hold the life force for thirteen months, five days and twenty one hours. Maybe a bit longer, if I die a while after I made this.
Keep an especially close eye on any magic origin people who were touched by the light. Their powers could go all kinds of messed up. You may want to give MAGI a heads-up so they're ready to deal with the ramifications."
Jakey stopped and looked at his hands, then tipped his head back. He laughed a little.
"You know, this is the last time I'll ever speak to you, and yet I'm going to meet you for lunch in half an hour. Isn't that funny … don't you think?" He tipped his head back and Gaze was surprised to see tears in his eyes.
"I don't want to die, Kate. I want to live. I want … to be normal. To be able to live and laugh and be with everyone for … years. I always knew I'd die before you … I'm a cat. Can't help it. But I wanted so much longer. It's not fair. It's just … not fair. Look after everyone for me … won't you? Of course you will. It's what you do."
He reached up and wiped his eyes, laughing a little bitterly.
"Did I ever tell you that you've been like a mother to me? Did I ever tell you that you called me back to life once? You don't remember, because my sister made everyone forget. But you held me in your arms and told me to live. … Thank you Kate … Midnight Gaze. For everything. For … well. You know the rest. I love you … mother."
He reached forward and the screen went blank.
Gaze bent her head forward into the pillow and let herself cry.
"I love you too … my son. Goodbye."

Fin

Muse picked up Cleo from the blanket on the floor and shushed her when she complained. He scooped up the brightly coloured rattle and gave it to her so she could stick it in her mouth happily.
"Ellie, have you got everything?" he called into the kitchen. Winter's came out, wearing a black roll-necked jumper and dark jeans.
"I can't believe how little black I own," she muttered. Muse shrugged, wearing a black shirt and red tie.
"To be really honest, I don't think he'd mind if you wore yellow with pink stripes." He pushed Cleo's toys to the side in a vague attempt to clear up. A knock sounded at the door and Winter's hurried to it.
"Sir!" Her surprised voice made Muse look around. For an insane second, he was gripped by the hope that Jakey was at the door, about to complain that they left the moon without him. He was disappointed to see Wilkins come in. The butler was wearing his customary white suit, but he had a black band on his upper arm.
"Are you ready, Matthew?" he asked gently. Muse nodded.
"Who else is riding with us?"
"The Midnight twins will meet us there, they've gone to get Immemoria from hospital. It's you, me and Ellie for now. Oh, and little Cleo of course." Wilkins smiled warmly and offered Cleo his finger, which was gripped enthusiastically. Muse nodded and patted his pocket, checking he had the house keys.
"Everything off that needs to be, Ellie?"
"Yeah, and the doors are locked and the fir bolg deterrent set." Winter's rubbed her hands together. Muse reached out and patted her shoulder. She smiled sadly and nodded.
"Come on, let's go."
The three of them left the house, Winter's locking the front door. They walked across the porch to the stairs and Muse stopped dead at the top of them. Wilkins and Winter's blinked, the latter unconsciously starting to chill the air around herself, preparing to summon the thick ice armour that protected her in combat.
In the front garden stood a dozen Fir bolg and Tuatha De Danaan. The mortal enemies were for once, not fighting. Instead, they were staring at the house and at the three heroes who'd just exited it. The tallest Fir Bolg stepped forward, swaying slightly on his gangly leg stalks.
"We have heard that the Jakey K is dead. Is this true?" he asked. His voice was unearthly and more than a little creepy. Muse straightened slightly, he wasn't on duty and they were held by a blood pact to do no harm to him when he wasn't. Besides, he was holding Cleo and she enjoyed total protection from the blood pact.
"Yes. He is dead. What do you want here?" he asked, managing to keep his voice level. He didn't want to deal with any fighting today, couldn't they all just push off? A murmur ran through both factions and the biggest Tuatha, crowned with a set of antlers, bowed low.
"We will honour his passing. He did much for us here, more than perhaps you know. He was a great being and a powerful warrior. Croatoa will miss his presence."
Muse opened his mouth and closed it again. He watched as the two factions started to melt away into the perpetual mist that blanketed the lakeside town. He heard the Tuatha sound their deep belling roars, the sound was taken up in the distant woods and hills. It was as if the very land was giving voice to its grief.
Wilkins put his hand on Muse's shoulder to draw him back to the moment. Muse glanced at him and nodded. They descended down to the country track where the car waited. Muse paused and looked up, seeing a formation of Cabal soaring overhead. They were singing in a hair-raising wail. A song of lament. Cleo fidgeted in his arms and he looked back down, getting into the car when Winter's held the door open for him. How much had Jakey done for Croatoa, if the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha had stood peacefully together even for five minutes to express their sorrow?

The Honourable United base seemed a bit quieter than usual, even though almost all of the group were present. Gaze could see Raphael over by the bar with Lionheart, drinking from a tall, elegant champagne flute. Baruk was chatting to Shingi and Captain Cathode on the couches. Most people were wearing the supergroup colours of white and black, the only person not adhering to that was Cat's Meow. She was wearing her usual orange and black striped outfit and cat ears. It was an oddly encouraging sight and Gaze smiled. Meow was their youngest serving hero, quite the beloved baby of the group. Her brother and sister were standing close by and even their mother was in attendance.
"I could really do with a drink." Immemoria took his hand off Gaze's arm and started gamely trying to find his way to the bar unaided. By unspoken agreement, Chillblaze stuck close to him. Gaze took a deep, slightly shuddering breath and scrubbed her hands together. Avenger turned away to blow his nose, catching sight of Muse coming in through the teleporter with baby in arms. He walked over to his lover immediately and leaned down slightly to kiss his cheek before fussing Cleo. Gaze looked around as Winter's came up to her.
"Hey … you okay?" asked the tall woman. Gaze smiled a bit, pushing her raging grief away.
"I'll be fine." She smiled for Winter's and hugged her, having to stand on tip-toes to get her arms around her shoulders. Winter's hugged her tightly back and then pulled away to find her close friends. Wilkins joined Gaze a second later. The two empaths said nothing, neither of them needed to. Wilkins just hugged Gaze tightly. She sniffed slightly but held it in. He pulled away, his hands still on her arms and looked at her. She shook her head.
"Later."
He nodded and hugged her again.
"I hear you're engaged now."
"Yes. Immemoria finally worked up the courage to ask me." She accepted the handkerchief he offered and dabbed the moisture away from her eyes.
"Ah, how did Avenger take the news you're to marry a terrible villain from the Rogue Islands?" Wilkins smiled, the lines at the corners of his eyes crinkling deeply. Gaze smiled a little in response.
"He promised to hold Immemoria upside down over the edge of a building if he ever made me cry. I think he approves. Immy showed his quality out there."
"These lemurs, they'll be alright?" Wilkins put Gaze's hand on his arm so he could escort her for a turn about the base. She needed to be seen, so many of the group looked to her for guidance and reassurance, but he didn't want her to have to make the rounds alone.
"There were casualties, their high priestess for one. The warrior leader fell too, his name was Storm. I believe they'll be fine though. The generator …" Her voice faltered. The generator was recharged. Jakey had given his life to see that it was. Wilkins rubbed her fingers when they tightened on his arm.
"Their defence shield is back to full power. They'll be safe. The invaders ship was just gone when we went to find it. Like some mighty hand had just picked it up and thrown it away."
Wilkins nodded. Gaze stopped him in the corridor by the teleportation room. He looked at her curiously. Her face was turned down and slightly away and her grip on his arm was tight again.
"I'm so angry with him," she said quietly. Wilkins just watched her, letting her speak. "He didn't have to … Why'd he do it? We could have worked something out …"
The butler gazed at one of the potted trees in the corner.
"You and I both know there was more to Jakey than he would ever admit. We've both glimpsed what was inside." He looked back down at her and she blew her nose on the handkerchief. She offered it back absent-mindedly and Wilkins rubbed her hand.
"You may keep it, my dear. Consider it gratis."
"Oh … yeah. Thanks." Gaze folded it up and put it into her pocket. Wilkins took a deep breath.
"Are you ready?"
"No, but let's do it anyway."
With that, Wilkins led her into the official meeting room. It had been hastily rearranged, for as the biggest room in the base, it was the only one that could house all the group. A dais had been set up and rows of chairs filled the bulk of the room. People were already finding seats. Gaze was surprised but very glad to see a contingent of Elflings standing on the chairs and a few arguing over who got to sit where. She knew Jakey would be happy to know they'd come. He was very fond of the Elflings and they considered him a fine and normal sized hero. She caught Bris' eye and nodded to her. The elfling nodded back and turned to point to a few of her fellows and direct them to sit down or she'd tell Kevin on them. The response was immediate and the Elflings sat down, good as gold all a sudden.
Gaze let herself be directed to her seat by Wilkins and looked around as Avenger and Muse sat down beside her. Cleo whined for her bottle a bit until Muse gave her a pacifier to suck on. She closed her eyes with bliss and Gaze wished she could be so easily cheered. Avenger put his arm around his sister, maybe getting the very vaguest sense of her emotions. Behind them, the seats filled, not just with heroes but with civilians as well. There were even some prison guards at the back, minding Vanessa DeVore who sat, resplendent in black and her face covered with a veil. Gaze would have preferred her to stay away, but she knew all too well how Jakey felt about the woman.
Immemoria found his seat on Gaze's other side and she took his hand resolutely, lacing her fingers into his tightly.
It was a while before everyone was settled and Wilkins took his place at the podium. He looked around at the assembled and smiled sadly.
"I'd like to start by thanking you all for coming today. This is a duty that a leader hopes he will never have to do, but today I hope you will join me in remembering a fallen comrade."
Gaze felt sick and covered her eyes with her hand. She didn't want to be here. She didn't want to have to be here. She barely heard the words Wilkins said about how he'd met Jakey. She only registered Muse getting up to deliver his eulogy because the anecdotes he shared about living with the cat caused ripples of mirth the length of the room. She knew she had to get up now and say her words. The words she'd spent days putting together. Her legs wouldn't move. She could feel Avenger's hand at her back, trying to motivate her to move. A hand reached past her and took the sheets of paper she didn't realise she'd been gripping.
Gaze looked up, her vision blurry with tears. She could barely make out Delphine take the podium.
"Midnight Gaze has asked me to read something, written in her words."
Relief flooded Gaze and she bent her head again, covering her face with her hands. She could feel Immemoria's arm around her waist and Avenger's around her shoulders.
"'Jakey K was more than just a colleague to me, he was a friend, a protector and a son.'"
Gaze felt herself dissolving, she let out a hiccupping sob. Hearing the words spoken was like the final straw. She listened to her own words being spoken, about how Jakey had always been a bright, impetuous ally, someone who made her laugh and frustrated. She wanted it to end. She knew she'd only written a page's worth, why did it have to take so long?
"'I will miss my dear friend, Jakey, but I will always remember the fun times we had and the laughter we shared. I know he would want it that way.'"
It was hard to remember the fun times with such an aching void of cat. The service was officially over, people were getting up from their seats to drift to the common room of the base where food and drink were being laid out. Avenger let go of Gaze long enough to take Cleo off Muse so he could go to the bathroom. Delphine nodded to him, as though giving him permission to leave.
"Let them see you, Avenger. They need constance," she said quietly. Avenger paused, then nodded and headed out after the others, leaving only Gaze and Immemoria with the elf woman. Delphine sat down beside Gaze and took her hands.
"Immy, I believe Gaze could use a stiff drink."
The fairy gave his fiancée a tight squeeze and slipped off the seat, tapping his way out to the common room.
"Thank you … I couldn't … go up there." Gaze's voice felt unnatural to her, choked up from too much grief. Delphine squeezed her hands.
"I know." She felt intensely calm, as though she was making herself resonate with the emotion just so Gaze could feel it. The empath took a deep breath, the calm gentleness was warming.
"I just can't believe he's gone. He's always bounced back."
"Kate, there are more levels of life than just this material one. Sometimes people are chosen to walk other planes and there is little we can do about it." Delphine looked around when she heard some muted explosions. The fire-manipulators were setting off fireworks, bright showers of light that lit up the corridors. She could imagine Dax Furnice and Black Wildfire competing to make the showiest flashes.
"Could he still be alive?" Gaze looked at Delphine hopefully. The elf squeezed her hands.
"I don't know, but here is something to consider. You know that young Max has created something called a Codex of Soul?" she asked. Gaze nodded, remembering talking to the young tank over his worries about it causing uproar in the religious community. Delphine smiled slightly.
"It proved that the soul lives on. So maybe, not now, maybe not for a hundred years, the precious essence that was Jakey K will be born again."
"But he won't be my Jakey …" Gaze looked down and away again. Delphine took her chin and turned her face gently, forcing her to make eye-contact.
"Your Jakey is with you, Kate. He's in your heart and memories. He's in the walls of this base, in the good deeds he did. He is here, he'll always be here. Your day is not done. You have a last task to perform."
For a moment, Gaze didn't know what she was talking about, then it came back to her. A while ago, Jakey had told her that if anything should happen to him, she was to go to his room and take a box out from under his bed. There would be instructions inside to follow. She frowned slightly.
"How did you know about that?" She and Jakey had been in the Shadow Shard when he'd asked her. There was no way Delphine could have found out about it. The elf woman just smiled and rose to her feet.
"Information has a habit of finding its way to me. I will make your excuses, they will understand. Oh, and take this."
Gaze stared at the slender rope being held out. It was one of Max's. She took it slowly and rose to her feet.
"Where does it go?" she asked.
"Where you need it to." Delphine inclined her head and walked out to the common room. Gaze stared at the rope, wondering where it was configured to take her.

One week later

It was almost appropriate that it was raining when Gaze woke up. She listened to the drumming of the rain on the window, not moving from the warmth of her bed. She didn't want to get up. Not today. She pulled the covers over her head. Dimly, she heard a key in the front door.
"Kate? Kate, are you up?" It was Avenger. She wanted to be alone but she didn't want to tell him to go away. That would give away that she was awake. After a while, the door to her bedroom opened and she heard Avenger cross to the window and open the blinds. The grey light from outside illuminated her warm cave under the duvet.
"Go away, Adam," she mumbled. He sighed.
"Immemoria's going to be discharged in an hour. I said I'd come pick you up."
Gaze poked her head out from under the duvet and peered at her twin brother. He had an unusually ruddy complexion and his eyes looked a little bloodshot.
"Haven't you slept?" she asked hoarsely. Avenger shook his head.
"I couldn't."
Gaze let herself touch his emotions, just for a second. Feeling his raw misery, grief and self-recrimination galvanised her to get to her feet. She pushed her own feelings away and hugged him.
"It's not your fault, Adam."
As if her words were the catalyst, her brother started shaking, hugging her tightly.
"I should have stopped him … I could have and I didn't …" His voice crumbled as the barely contained tears started flowing again. Gaze sniffed deeply, wanting to cry herself, but recognising that Avenger would not be the only person who needed her today.
"You didn't know what he meant to do. It's not your fault."
She held onto him until he gulped his grief back under control and pulled away.
"We have to go …" his voice was shaking but he tried to keep it even. Gaze nodded bleakly. She wanted Immemoria with a sudden painful longing. When she'd found him out in the jungle with a precious ten minutes to spare, he was still wearing his enchanted armour and leaning heavily on his sword. He'd looked every inch a hero out of legend and just for a moment, he looked up and smiled at her. Then the spasm of pain felled him and she nearly lost him.
So close.
If she hadn't been so drained from tending the injured lemurs, she could have done better.
"Kate … are you there?" Avenger took his sister's shoulder and shook it gently. She nodded heavily, reaching up to pat his hand.
"Just … thinking. I'll get changed. Give me five minutes."
When he had left the room, she found some clothes. Her hand hovered over the purple jacket and leggings that constituted her 'hero' outfit. She clenched her hand to a fist and let it drop to her side. There were cat hairs on the jacket.
Gaze turned away from her outfit and pulled open a drawer roughly. She took out a pair of jeans and a shirt. Something she could bear to wear today.
Avenger made no comment over her decision not to wear their trademark purple duster hat and jacket. They left the apartment wordlessly and headed down into the street. Chillblaze was leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets, waiting for them. He pushed himself off the wall and nodded to them both.
"He's being discharged right? Is it okay if I come with you?" he looked so unusually serious that Gaze nodded without hesitation, noticing he was also in civilian clothes.
"You slept last night?" she asked. As a doctor, she was concerned to notice that Chillblaze had bags under his eyes. He rubbed the back of his neck as he fell in step with the twins.
"I tried but it's going to be a big day today." He let his voice trail off and he looked at a Chris Jenkins billboard with more interest than it was due. Gaze would have preferred not to be reminded about that but she nodded.
The three heroes got the train to Atlas Park hospital, showing their IDs to the receptionist when they asked for Immemoria's room. She smiled to Gaze, having met her in a more professional capacity often, and phoned for the doctor. Avenger led the way up to the relatives room and started making coffee for the three of them. Gaze sat down on the sympathetically comfortable chair and stared at the gently coloured border paper ringing the room.
"How's Cleo?" Chillblaze took off his sunglasses and cleaned them with his sleeve as he addressed Avenger's back.
"Cranky. She missed us a lot. Kicks up a fuss when one of us leaves the room." Avenger passed Chillblaze his coffee and put one on the table near Gaze. Chillblaze grinned a little.
"Hell, if my parents had disappeared for several weeks with no warning, I'd be pretty cranky too. Winter's had an okay minding her though?"
"Yeah, though she did point out that whether we realised we were gone so long or not, we owe her a little compensation at the very least." Avenger forced a little chuckle. Chillblaze's grin widened, latching onto something light.
"You could buy that dog you've been promising yourselves. She likes dogs."
"We went down to the shelter yesterday, now you mention it. There are some puppies in, nearly ready to be adopted."
Gaze let their conversation pass by her head, picking up the coffee and sipping it. She could barely taste it, but it was hot at least.
"Miss Thurlow?"
Gaze looked up at the doorway. An elderly woman was standing there, her hair up in a tight bun and a clipboard clutched in her hand. Her white coat and stethoscope hanging around her neck marked her out as a doctor before the identification on her lapel could. Gaze rose to her feet and crossed to her.
"Is everything okay?" she asked. The doctor nodded.
"He's asking for you. I just have some last readings to take, you won't be in the way." The doctor motioned for her to follow. Gaze nodded to Chillblaze and her brother before following her out. She scrubbed her hands with the alcohol-based disinfectant before pushing her way into the ward. The chemical chilled her skin unnaturally as it dried. The doctor led her into a small private room. The ward smelled of spices and that funny odour she'd always associated with magic.
Immemoria was sat on the edge of his bed, wearing a tee-shirt and cargo pants. His sneakers were still tucked into a little locker at the foot of his bed. His beautiful blue wings were flipped down and phased slightly through the bed. The odd little spark of light drifted down from the place where they met his back. He lifted his head when they entered, his horns glinting in the grey light coming through the window.
"Kate?"
Gaze nearly bit her lower lip and went over to him. She took his hands and squeezed them.
"I'm here. How are you feeling?"
"Been given the poke and the prod. Had to answer some questions from the very stern law-keeper types. I think there was a lawyer at one point too. Are you behind the charges being dropped?" he asked lightly, his brilliant blue eyes looking at a middle distance. Gaze stroked some of his hair from his face.
"We'll talk about that later."
"I'm just going to take a blood sample, Immemoria." The doctor's quiet voice didn't intrude on them much, Immemoria lifted his arm and let the doctor take her sample. Gaze surreptitiously moved a finger back and forth in front of his eyes. She sighed internally when they didn't even flicker.
"Are you testing my vision again, Kate?" Immemoria sounded amused. Gaze sighed audibly and nodded, even though he couldn't see.
"Yeah. Sorry."
"Hey, you're a doctor. It's what you do. I don't mind though. I still have other senses." He reached his hand up to her face and stroked her cheek. With the physical contact, she could feel his anxiety and sense of loss, but more, she could feel his love for her. It warmed her cold hands. She wished he could feel her love in return, to reassure him that she didn't think less of him for being blinded.
"So what's the verdict, Dr. Vaughn?" Immemoria turned his face towards his doctor as she labelled the sample she'd taken.
"You're good to go."
Gaze retrieved his sneakers from the locker and held one as he worked out how to tie his laces without the aid of his eyes. She didn't offer to help, knowing he would not appreciate being babied. She passed him the white cane the hospital had provided when he slipped off the bed. He looped the string around his hand and hooked a hand around her arm. She patted it and nodded to the doctor, walking out.
"So I take it from the visit by the grim law-keepers that I'm cleared to stay here?" Immemoria asked as they walked out of the Magical Isolation Ward. Gaze made an affirmative noise.
"I spoke to a few influential people, pulled some strings. In light of your services in the past and your help with the lemurs, you've been given a full pardon and asylum here."
"Good to know, I'd hate to have to find my way around Cap Au Diable blind," said the fairy lightly. Gaze smiled and rubbed his hand. She had no doubt that had he not been blinded, he would have returned to the Rogue Islands, to keep being 'useful'. It seemed such a heavy price to pay to have him here with her, safe.
"Hey Immemoria!"
Avenger and Chillblaze stood up when they came into the relative's room. The fairy smiled.
"Hi Avenger, Chill. We off then?"
"Yeap."

Gaze paced her triage anxiously, rubbing her hands together and then scrubbing them on her legs. Immemoria had been gone too long. She knew she should have insisted on going with him. She felt the stones beneath her feet shake suddenly and she blinked. For a moment everything was still, then she felt the shake again. An impact on the outer wall. She bit her lower lip, drawing a shuddering breath.
It was beginning. Immemoria had failed.
She fought the impulse to go tearing out of the triage, kick off the ground and rush to find her fiancé. He would be okay. He was a survivor. He would be okay.
A thin wail distracted her from her worries and she looked around at the doorway. A lemur was hobbling in, her arm curled to her chest, holding her tiny infant. Gaze scrambled over and picked both up gently. An injury so swift on the heels of the first assault didn't bode well.

Shingi flinched when he felt the shake in the ground, looking around and away from the device. The branches that ringed the courtyard shook and water splashed off the leaves. He swatted an insect away from his face. Petal crouched on top of the device, her long tail flicked around a coil.
"We don't have much time, Shingi. We must hurry."
"How much longer will it take?" He looked back at her, picking up another piece. Petal's ears went back.
"Five hours. If we have no setbacks and everything works perfectly." She had a stretched tone to her voice. Inwardly, Shingi winced. In his experience with this kind of thing, there were always set-backs.
"Here's hoping." He passed the lemur the piece in his hand.

Esher joined Avenger and Jakey, swinging over to their balcony using a vine. He hopped athletically onto the railing and then jumped off.
"Esher am here, Glowie Man. It am booka booka tyme!" The young man sounded impatient for some action. Jakey stretched fluidly, then shook his arms and legs loose.
"It sure am. You're sure the lemurs are ready?" he asked, looking up at Avenger. Avenger shook his head.
"They'll never be 'ready', but it's not like we have any more time."
"Fair enough." Jakey cracked his knuckles and backflipped, finishing his warm-up. Avenger looked up, the wind had picked up and the sky was so heavy with fat clouds that he couldn't see the tops of the roofs or trees.
"When Chill gets down here, make a note of his location and protect him if the soldiers work out where he is. He'll need to recover from all this weather creation."
"Who knew Chill had it in him to create a tropical storm from scratch?" Jakey chuckled wickedly, his tail flicking from side to side.
"Esher bored! Booka booka tyme!!" Esher darted off to the corridor that rang with the thud of the soldiers assault. Avenger put two fingers in his mouth and whistled sharply. Lemurs popped their heads out of the foliage all around him, their eyes wide with fear but they looked resolute. Muse peered out from where he was waiting with the jaguar cavalry. Avenger made a few hand motions, pointing with his fingers and clenching his fists. Storm raised his stone stick to indicate he had understood and disappeared again.
Jakey slapped his palm to Esher's and gripped his wrist before gently knocking his forehead against the young man's. It was time for them to do what they did best. It was time to fight like wild animals.
Avenger cracked his knuckles and strode a few steps down the corridor and braced his feet. He folded his arms, a shining glitter running over his skin. Just behind and either side of him, Jakey and Esher took their places. Both were slightly crouched, ready to push off and throw themselves into the enemy like lightening.
"Don't worry, Venji, we'll protect you."
"Yes! Glowie man get back to daughter alright! Esher an' Kitty am on teh job!"
The two scrappers snickered and Avenger smiled slightly.
"Thanks guys … it's good to know."
The wall at the end of the corridor burst open with a spray of stone and dust. It billowed down the shaft and over the heroes. Avenger closed his eyes to protect them and unfolded his arms. He moved almost on instinct, hearing the scrape of gravel under his feet as he took a more secure brace. The soldiers advanced in a regimented march, led by two red banded ones who chopped through the branches with their axes.
"Drainer seen, I'm going in!" Jakey hissed suddenly, throwing himself forward. Avenger's skin flared as he tipped his hat back.
"Let's see if you can knock my stylish hat off!" The soldiers may not have understood a word he said, but they understood the tone. Rifles snapped up and there was a whine as the draining hose powered up.
"ESHEEEEEEERR!"
"DEATH FROM ABOVE!!"
Esher and Jakey hurtled out of the thick dust at the soldiers feet first, both aiming for the drainer. There was an awful crack as his helmet shattered under the sheer force of the double assault. Avenger had expected to see an exotic alien, but instead it was just a plain human-like face. Slightly rounder, maybe, with almost cherubic cheeks.
Jakey back-flipped off, landing on another soldier's shoulders, with a twist of his body, he threw him off his feet into the soldier beside him. Both were slammed in the lower back by Esher as the young man flipped off his hands on the floor. The pair fought with no distinct style other than sheer feral ferocity. Avenger smiled slightly. They had already taken out three before the soldiers had even realised they were there. Now it was his turn. He ran forward and slammed his arm into the lead axeman. The man folded around his forearm and flipped twice onto his back, the axe clattering away. The second axeman swerved in the tight confines of the corridor and swung his axe at Avenger's side. It struck his ribs and the blade shattered into three pieces, each hurtling off in different directions. Avenger grabbed him by the shoulder and leg and lifted him. He hurled the soldier back into the frenzied chaos of two martial artists and the soldiers.

Chillblaze landed heavily on the domed roof, totally isolated in his blanket of clouds. The rain would come down in a few minutes maybe. He slumped to his knees, his feet sliding out either side and he let his arms hang either side. He leaned his head back and gasped for breath. The heavy moisture in the air slicked even his rebellious hair down, dribbling rivulets of water down under his armour. With a groan he tried to push himself up. He sort of wished he knew more storm wielders, they made this kind of thing look so easy. He grinned at his own thoughts and gathered his feet under himself, getting up slowly and staggering a little.
What did a storm summoner have on him? Manipulating atmospheric pressure was nothing to sniff at. A clatter behind him made him jump and he spun around. Instinctively, he reached out his hands to let them ignite. No swirls of heat formed, luminescent in their intensity.
"Oh … shiiiiit." He threw himself backwards when a blast of energy fire whooshed out of the murk. It passed over him where his head had been and he rolled to the side.
"Whoa!" Someone tripped over him as he started to stand and hit the roof with a thud. Chillblaze looked around.
"Immemoria?"
"Down!" Immemoria sprang up, becoming visible again and knocked Chillblaze down as another blast of energy fire scored the air above them. Chillblaze scrambled to the edge, slipping and sliding down onto the ledged rim of the roof.
"I take it negotiation failed?"
"Only a lot. They've got a really over-blown superiority complex." The fairy hit the ledge beside him and wobbled a bit. Chillblaze put out a hand to steady him and felt something wet on his hand. He thought nothing of it, everything was warm and wet here. The abrasive language of the invaders could be heard to the left and right. Chillblaze tried to ignite his hands again and shook them when nothing came. Immemoria grabbed his wrist and threw himself off the ledge. His beautiful, gossamer wings fluttered and Chillblaze felt suddenly weightless before they landed on the heavy branch of a tree. He looked back but visibility was next to nonexistent. He scrambled along the branch on his hands and knees as the clouds burst forth the rain they'd threatened. The branch, slick enough already, became a total nightmare.
"Move faster!" Immemoria had to shout over the deluge to make himself heard.
"I can't, I'm exhausted!" Chillblaze shot back. He felt the branch under his hands buck as someone jumped onto it. Immemoria cursed and stood up suddenly, his wings out for balance.
"Keep going, make sure you get to Gaze."
Chillblaze blinked at the fairy's tone and looked around. He saw him pull a knife out of his boot and twist it so the blade was pointed at his own chest. His eyes widened.
"What the [censored] are you doing?!" He tried to scramble around to stop the fairy doing whatever it was he was going to do. A foot slipped off the branch and he grabbed at the bark, digging his in fingernails with a purely primal response.
"Immemoria!"
The fairy drove the blade into his chest, his wings flaring with a burst of sparkles. Chillblaze saw his shoulders shake, then heard a cough. Something wet splattered on the branch that was not water, then the knife clattered down. It struck the branch on its hilt and cartwheeled off down to the jungle floor.
"I am General Immemoria Cinnamon, and you may not pass."
Chillblaze was still dangling from the branch, staring at Immemoria as he snapped his arms out either side. There was an intense flash of light and armour snapped around arms and legs and torso. A shield flashed into being on his right arm and a sword in a scabbard blazed on his back. Immemoria reached back and drew it with a resonating chime. The blade ignited with blue fire.
"Get to Gaze. Tell her that I've deactivated the chip. I only have two hours. Join the others, help them defend the lemurs!" The soldiers must have been as stunned by the transformation as Chillblaze was, as they dithered on the branch, now no longer sure what they were facing. Immemoria looked around impatiently.
"I said GO!" He thrust out his right hand and Chillblaze felt a gust of wind grab him and tear him off the branch.
"Sonovabiiiiiiiiiitch!" Chillblaze plummeted, his landing on another branch cushioned only slightly by another blast of air. He clung to the branch for a second before breathing deeply and pushing himself up, scuttling for the nearest window and diving in through it.
He staggered through the cluttered corridors, scrambling over branches clumsily until he reached the triage.
"Gaze!" he yelled as he half fell in. Gaze looked around from where she was tending to an injured lemur, healing the crushed bones in his hand.
"What is it?" She stared at him, her eyes widening as if his strong emotions were telling her a terrible story.
"It's Immemoria … He's deactivated the chip. Said he had two hours." Chillblaze had to fight to keep his voice even past his panting. Gaze went pale and clenched her fists. She swallowed tightly and walked quickly over to him.
"You're needed on the line." She put her hands on his chest and took a breath. A glow suffused down her arms and sank into him. He felt a jolt of pure adrenaline and a warm fizz in his veins. He nodded and spun, darting off, the air chilling around him as he went. Gaze exposed her watch and set a countdown for two hours before returning to her patient with the crushed paw, wincing as three more lemurs came staggering in, two supporting the third. The fight at the line was heating up.

Jakey yowled when a lucky axe connected with his back, sending him hurtling across the courtyard with a bouncing skid. Muse ran for him, ducking past energy fire and scattered melee battles. He skid down beside the cat on his knees and slapped a bandage on the wound, resonating as he did so. Jakey winced and gathered himself back onto his feet even as Muse tied the bandage around his middle tightly.
"I'm good, no, save your feel-better buzz for someone who really needs it." He slapped the medic's hands away to stop him exerting more energy on him. Muse just nodded, his throat now too hoarse to even speak. A scream from the other side of the courtyard made him push himself up and race over there. Jakey forced himself to turn and run back past Avenger. The tank was holding his personal war with the soldiers, taking on twelve at a go, throwing them about like dolls and cracking the stones with his stamps. Jakey jumped off the ground onto the back of a soldier, kicking him three times in the head before somersaulting wildly up into the branches to race along one and throw himself off at another axe-man. Esher shot past him the other way, piling into a soldier who had a lemur by the neck, breaking his arm with a kick that made the armour splinter.
"ESHEEEEEEEEEEEEER!"
Jakey's ears pricked as he skid on the ground, looking around at Esher in confusion. The young man's voice was never that deep. He was surprised to see Esher breaking off his assault and hurtle for the wall of the courtyard, vaulting up the vines. Realisation hit him and he cupped his hands to his mouth.
"Esher, take this!" He pulled a bottle off his belt and hurled it. Esher held onto the vines with one hand and foot and swung his body around, snagging the bottle out of the air and waving to Jakey before darting off to answer Shingi's call. Jakey ducked when the axe-man he'd been fighting tried to decapitate him. He rolled onto his hands and boosted himself up, spinning up and flipping over, ramming his heel onto the axe-man's head.

Shingi rammed his shoulder into another axe-man's stomach and heaved up. His armour groaned as he lifted the man off his feet and crushed him back against the others. He unsheathed his claws and rammed them into the masonry as his boots skidded on the wet ground.
"HURRY, PETAL!"
The white lemur was darting all over the device, attaching bits and fixing others. She looked horribly skinny with all her fur plastered to her skin, revealing its tender pink colour.
"Just hold them off for a while longer!" she shouted back. Shingi slammed his helmet against the axe-man's with a resounding thud.
"How much longer?!"
"Uh … an hour? Two?"
Shingi turned the air blue with his cursing as his feet scraped back against the floor. The axe-man was heaving against him. The doorway they were trying to get through was barely big enough for Shingi to get through, let alone the soldiers, who were all taller.
"Esher am here! ESHEEEEEEEEER!" Esher landed beside Shingi with a splash. Shingi turned his head, his claws starting to splinter the stone as he was pushed back.
"On the count of three. THREE!" He sheathed his claws and jumped back. The axe-man catapulted forward, right into Esher's rising foot. Shingi jumped forward again, his claws snapping out and screaming against the armour of the next soldier who burst out of the doorway.
Esher spun and laid a devastating kick across the face of the third, punching him for good measure. The soldier brought his rifle up and grabbed Esher's shoulder, pulling him forward as he rammed the muzzle of the weapon into his midriff. At that range, even Esher couldn't avoid the searing energy bolt that ripped through him. The soldier buckled as Shingi opened up the back of his armour with a roar of rage. He spun to slash at the fourth and fifth who were spilling out into the courtyard.
The sixth stayed in the corridor, but he levelled a draining hose at Shingi while he engaged the other two.
"Esher!!" A voice from above made Shingi look up. Muse was hurtling down, aiming for the crumpled form of the young man. He landed heavily, staggering with weariness. Shingi drove his claws through the faceplate of the fourth soldier and kicked him off angrily. Behind him, he heard Esher moan with pain and the clatter of him getting back to his feet.
"Thanks Mu- MUSE, LOOK OUT!" Shingi just saw the burst of draining fire out of the corner of his eye as it shot past him. Muse hit the ground with a thud, spasming from the energy over-load.
"NO HIT TEH MUSIC MAN!" Esher fair screamed as he launched himself at the drainer. Shingi heard a sickening crunch in the corridor but didn't have time to do anything but parry another blow and break the rifle with his claws. The fifth soldier broke off from Shingi and suddenly sprinted away.
"Get back here, coward!"
A moment later, Shingi saw what the soldier was running for and he gave a panicked command to reroute all the suit's power into the leg servos. Petal looked up just in time to see the soldier bearing down on her, holding a cylinder in his hand. She screamed and covered her head instinctively as the soldier raised it. A roar sounded above and Shingi saw a pink blur hurtle for the device, leaping it. He registered Storm rolling down from his jaguar's back to grab Petal as he passed. He pulled the white lemur up behind him as the jaguar lunged up into the safety of the vines.
The soldier slammed his cylinder into the complicated looking device and twisted. The explosion was so violent it killed the soldier instantly. Shingi was thrown back and down, scraping across the courtyard with a shower of sparks.
Shingi picked himself up and stared at the mangled mess that had been their last hope. He pushed aside the bitter, sick feeling of failure and crossed to where Esher was crouched over Muse.
"Is he okay?"
"He am hurt. Need teh nice lady, fast-fast!" Shingi nodded and scooped Muse's slender body up in his arms. He activated the jetpack and kicked off the ground, shooting up and for the triage.
"Tell Avenger that those bastards hurt Muse. Let's see them cope with THAT!" Shingi shouted over his shoulder. Maybe it was a cruel retribution, but right now, he felt they deserved to see a very angry Avenger bearing down on them.

Chillblaze threw out his hands and froze the ground around him, making the soldier running for him slip over and hurtle past into his fellows.
"Nice fight you guys have here, is it private or can anyone join?!" he called. Jakey flipped past him dizzyingly, crouching to roar at a group of soldiers, making them panic and scatter.
"Nice of you to drop in, fly-boy!" He flashed a grin at Chillblaze before jumping and spinning to deliver a nasty kick to a soldier's groin. Esher darted past them both, vaulting over a soldier being battered by five lemurs all armed with stone sticks.
"Glowie man! Teh Music man am hurt! Shingi took him to teh Nice Lady!"
"WHAT?!" Avenger punched a soldier in the face so hard he rocketed backwards. Esher repeated himself and had the good sense to stand back. Avenger turned to the soldiers with a snarl of condensed fury. Jakey ducked a low flying soldier and ran over to another one who was about to smash a lemur against a wall. He swept his legs out from under him and dodged when a shot burned a hole in the rim of his hat.
"What about the device he was working on?!"
"It am broked! Not Esher's fault this tyme!"
Jakey stopped still for a single second. The machine had broken? It felt like the world was falling away. Was this what total clarity felt like? He couldn't hear the sounds of combat any more, he could barely feel the concussive shake of the earth as Avenger body-slammed a soldier into the ground so hard he left an indent in the solid stones. He smiled slightly, a gesture that faded even as it formed.
"Oh. I get it."
He felt like he was going to throw up, or choke on all the words he'd never said and had always meant to. He turned in a whisk of motion and fled up the vines. His heart was pounding in his small chest as he dodged energy shot after energy shot that traced his path. He crested the roof and started running. He pulled off his gauntlets and threw them aside as he ran. He jumped a branch and unclipped his chest plate as he landed. He pulled that off as he went. He shed all the parts of his armour as he fled across the crumbling ruins. Now unbound, the moisture on his skin started to steam and smoulder. His skin was glowing, gleaming with barely contained energy.
'I'm sorry, Kate … just remember that I love you … please …'

Below, the wheels turned, great metal hoops whirling around a blazing energy that burned with the light of a thousand suns. Jakey closed his eyes, perched dangerously on the very edge of the catwalk above the engine. Behind him, the door buckled and burst open, armoured troops fighting through the cramped space. The line had failed then. There was no time left to worry about his attachment to the handful of years that constituted his life. He bared his teeth in one final, savage grin and before the first soldier could reach him, armoured hand outstretched to grab his fluttering cloak, he threw himself forward. There was an electric moment and Jakey believed, just for a fraction of a second, that he would fly. Gravity seized him out of his delusion and he plummeted. The wildly spinning rings blurred as they shot up to meet him. His hat was torn from his head by the wind sheer and he spread out his arms, hands coming into claws and knees drawing up. His instincts prepared his body to land, but his mind knew that there would be no landing.
To think it would all end here, light years away from the planet Earth, that he was destined for a lonely death far away from everything he had fought to protect.

Avenger screamed with rage as he charged into the ranks of soldiers still pouring through the opening. Behind him he heard Chillblaze unleash an explosion.
The ground heaved.
Avenger blinked, he didn't think Chillblaze packed that much oomph. A blast of wind hit his face. He put his arm up to shield his eyes on instinct, then staggered when the ground surged again.
A flash suddenly lit up the world in searing brilliance. He spun around and stared.
The reactor dome was splitting. Fissures were ripping through the stones, knife-edged curtains of light shining out.
"What … the … fu-"
The dome exploded.
A wall of light burned towards him.
He threw his arms up and braced to protect himself.
Intense heat and light so bright his clenched shut eyes were burned by it.
Sadness.
Longing.

Silence.
His arms were shaking after so long held up. Avenger lowered them slowly and blinked his eyes painfully. He could make out Chillblaze and Esher after a moment, both were rubbing their eyes. Around them, lemurs were sitting around and doing the same.
The soldiers!
Avenger turned to face them and blinked. The corridor they'd been flooding down was a smoking tunnel. There wasn't a single one in sight. Avenger frowned and rubbed the back of his neck, then swore and shot skyward, aiming for the triage.
Chillblaze watched him go then looked at Esher. He frowned and looked around, noticing that someone was missing.
"Jakey?"

Jakey found Shingi sat with his lemur friend, surrounded by Ancient technology bits. The courtyard they were in was deserted of all other lemurs, but that seemed to please the pair. They compared strange shaped devices with each other and talked quietly. Jakey listened to Shingi's deep rumble and the lemur's tiny chatter for a moment before slinking over.
"Oh, there you are, J. Gaze is [censored] at you for running off," said Shingi when he saw the cat. Jakey sat on a branch and flicked his tail over his lap.
"I've already spoken to her. What are you guys doing?" he asked, peering at the blocks and connections curiously. Shingi nodded to the white lemur.
"Petal thinks we can make a thermonuclear device for the reactor with this stuff. Naturally the space lemurs don't want to know." He picked up an 's' shaped device and passed it to Petal. She took it and fitted it to the growing contraption before her. Jakey frowned, ears pricking.
"Will that work?" he asked. Petal shrugged.
"We hope it will. We need a huge release of energy to power it back up. This is the most powerful thing we can create to do the job." She leaned in to make some connections fit better, her tiny fingers more nimble than Shingi's.
"A huge release of power? Wouldn't that be dangerous? I mean, I'm no expert, but dropping a nuke into a star doesn't sound very bright." Jakey's tail tip twitched as he spoke. Shingi shrugged.
"It's a mile down to the core, but the rings are designed to contain what's essentially one bigass, perpetual nuclear explosion. It'll be okay."
"What's the payload going to be?"
"See that tank?" Shingi jerked his thumb back over his shoulder at the cracked fountain that was filled with rainwater. Standing beside it, vapour coiling down off its sides was a seven foot canister.
"When did you get that?" Jakey demanded. Shingi grinned.
"Teleported it, didn't I? I really didn't want to be shot with that thing in my hands."
"It really was most fascinating to see teleportation demonstrated on a practical level. I'd thought about it but didn't know how to make it real!" Petal suddenly piped up. She grinned up at Shingi, who grinned back. Jakey snorted, getting up.
"Nerds," he muttered, whisking out. They barely noticed he'd gone, falling back to their work and chatting about the principles of teleportation. He sniffed the air and picked up Venji's scent, climbing up through several ceilings along the vine-ways until he found the large domed room that may have been an observatory at one point in the far distant past. Muse was sitting on one of the higher branches and Avenger was in the middle of the room. The warrior lemurs were clustered about on every surface, the odd jaguar dotted here and there.
"Ah, J! You're just in time to help with training!" Avenger motioned him over. Jakey sprang over some rubble and onto Avenger's arm, pushing his head against him fondly.
"I like training," he declared. Avenger chuckled and prised the cat off, putting him on the floor.
"Good, you'll be doing a lot of it today. Alright, warriors, I want you to watch Jakey carefully. His style will be the best for you to replicate, you have comparable size and swiftness. Your enemies are a lot bigger than you and tougher. You're going to need to use all your speed to get adequate momentum to damage them. Okay Jakey, no holds barred. Give me your best shot." Avenger braced his feet and a shining glimmer ran over his skin. Jakey bared his teeth with a feral grin.
"You asked for it." With that, he hurled himself at Avenger.

Chillblaze hovered above the forest canopy, frowning up at the colour-strewn night sky. Below, everyone was working hard to keep their minds off the coming fight while Immemoria tried to negotiate with the invaders. He hoped the fairy would be okay. Rogue Islander or not, he was one of their group now. His eyes drew to the horizon where the gas giant was rising. It sprawled across the horizon, massive and intimidating. The space lemurs called it Kiaria, the 'Watcher'. The light from the planet brought a strange twilight to the jungle. The light was not bright enough to be daylight, but too bright to be night. It felt vaguely unsettling to him.
A flicker of light below him drew Chillblaze's attention and he peered down. Esher was standing on top of the domed roof, flicking a mirror in his hands. Chillblaze nodded and drew his hands together. He closed his eyes and focused tightly on the air between his fingers. It started to shimmer like liquid. He drew his hands apart slowly and let the air around him heat. Below, Esher had disappeared back into the building. Chillblaze swung a hand out and froze the air around it. The air around him was spilling and tumbling around itself. The two extremes of temperature were forcing a weather front to build faster than it would naturally. Sweat slicked Chillblaze's forehead as he kept his concentration. A tropical storm would even the playing field a little, and he was the man to provide.

Storm shook his thick coat, standing next to his pink jaguar. Both were wearing nets of rough twine, strewn with stone beads. He stood on his hind legs and propped himself up with his stone stick.
"Vengeful, the winged one has not returned yet. We should search for his coming," he said, turning his head around. Avenger, who'd given up trying to get Storm to call him 'Avenger', walked over and peered out of the window.
"You're right, but only send your fastest runners."
Storm nodded and tapped his stone on the floor. The lemur warriors who were dotted about turned their heads to look his way, their large eyes gleaming in the ghostly half light.
"Frog, Jump-jump and Swimmer, run quietly in the shadows to find the winged one!"
Three lemurs darted off their perches, swinging out of the window and darting off into the jungle. Avenger crouched beside Storm, frowning outside.
"I hope this quietness means Immemoria was successful," he murmured. Storm sat down on his haunches and rubbed his jaguar's shoulder. The big cat made a low purring sound and closed its eyes.
"If he was not, then many of us will not see the sun rise again," he said, looking at Avenger, who blinked.
"Don't say that kind of thing. You have to believe you'll be okay," he reached over to put his hand on the lemur's tiny, fragile shoulders. The warrior intercepted his hand and gripped his thumb, approximating the clasp the lemur warriors used with each other.
"I believe that I have made my peace with Mrehdeh. She is rushing to our side now, for we are her friends. But by her side comes Veriskavi."
Avenger frowned a little in confusion.
"Mrehdeh? Veriskavi? Are they … your gods?" he asked cautiously. Storm nodded.
"Mrehdeh is the goddess of death, I have made offerings to her every morning of my adult life so that she will recognise me and come swiftly to my side when it is my time. Veriskavi is … he is the god of night." Storm's ears went back and he frowned out of the window. Avenger made himself more comfortable beside the lemur, leaning back on his hands.
"I take it he's not very popular?"
"He is terrible. He protects us, but he carries the stench of blood and death with him. The most fearful guardian of the night. Even though I have taken up the ways of violence myself … I dread his coming. Nothing I or my kin could do would be as terrible as his mildest action." Storm shivered and clutched his stone stick slightly. Avenger noticed the light was dimming. He could hear thunder distantly.
"Yeah … I guess we all dread his coming. We have a word for what I think Veriskavi represents to you."
Storm looked up at him curiously, ears pricked.
"What is this word?"
"War."

The rain was coming down heavily by the time the eight heroes met on the domed roof of the main building. The forest around them looked deceptively peaceful, but the silence soon pressed on their senses. Jakey peered over the side of the roof down in the thick murk below.
"The lemurs are taking refuge in the inner sanctum, but the King refuses to let the warriors in," Chill told the others. Jakey ignored the sharp answer Avenger gave, instead slipping down the masonry and flowing over the branches sticking through the wall. He pulled his hat off to expose his pointed ears and crouched low to the branch. He wanted to see how many they'd be facing.
The mist hung so thick below the canopy that it was nearly fog. His clothes were slicked against his body from the rain and he shook his head to shake some off his face. His ears twitched when he heard the awful, abrasive sound that was the invaders language. He crouched on the branch, his tail hooked loosely about it, and peered down.
Six of the soldiers were standing below him, flanked on both sides by other groups of six. One in every six was carrying the backpack and hose contraption that fired the draining shot. Their words were totally incomprehensible to him. He'd dearly like to know what they were discussing down there. His curiosity would have to wait though.
He pushed up and started to climb back up. His foot knocked a leaf as he went. The large, waxy thing had become a small basin for the water. Below, that water splashed over the helmet of a soldier, causing it to look up in confusion.
Jakey had a split second epiphany that he was being watched and he threw himself off the branch. Not a second later, it shattered from an energy bolt passing through it. The cat flipped in midair, landing on the ground with a dull thud on his feet and hands. He looked up at the soldiers, green eyes narrowing as their weapons all moved to him. It felt like time was slowing to a crawl. He heaved in a breath, still on his hands and feet and roared. The sound drove straight through the soldiers psyches, burning through them the primal image of clawed death in the night.
Three of the soldiers dropped their weapons and ran, breaking ranks and fleeing into the forest, trailing the ear-splitting sound of their screams. The other three were frozen to the spot, rooted with total terror. Jakey smiled, showing his sharp teeth and he launched off the ground, spinning and flipping in a wild frenzy of kicks. The adrenaline rushed through him, making him feel alive. The armoured suits were so hard under his feet he felt like he was kicking solid stone.
A shot burned past his ear, scorching his armour with a fizz. Jakey looked around and saw the two units either side of his targets were running to help their comrades. He bared his teeth, folding his body back out of the way of a frantic kick from his victim. He didn't think he could take them all by himself, but it went against the grain to turn and run. Two of the drainers turned their hoses on him and Jakey dropped in the splits, bringing his hands up, blocking the gun swung at his head. He grabbed it and heaved his weight up from the ground, swinging his body up in a devastating double-footed kick to the soldier's faceplate. He went down with a thud and the cat flipped onto his feet. He stood still for a second, giving the drainers their clear shot, then dived to the side, rolling out of the way. The soldiers running for him from the left swung their heavy guns down. Jakey sprang into the air, kicking his legs around to land on the barrel of one gun. He launched off it and slapped his hands onto the head of the soldier, both feet going out either side. He kicked the two soldiers either side of the first and boosted himself up into the air with his hands. He twisted and came down feet first onto the soldier's head.
The soldiers could barely get a shot to land on the cat, he was so fast and so relentless. Those shots they did land seemed only to be a mild inconvenience. He wouldn't stop, he just kept moving and never hesitating.
Jakey hissed to himself as he back-flipped away from the drainers again, landing on another soldier's head and kicking him into the line of fire. He couldn't keep this up indefinitely. He hated it when recon went tail up. It was time to break for it and tell the others what was going on. He jumped up into the branches and roared at them again. All but one of the soldiers froze up in terror, a few scrambling to cower in small balls against tree trunks. The only soldier who did not flinch had a red band over his helmet, running towards them. He saw Jakey and drew his weapon. Jakey's eyes widened, what kind of advanced enemy soldier carried a massive war-hammer. He considered the force that hammer could bring to bare and swore slightly, whisking up into the foliage and out of sight.
He had to get back to Gaze and the others. The soldiers could break through the walls of the ruins with those things, and who knew what other surprises the hammers had in store.
Jakey burst out of the foliage and bounded up the roof. He looked around, ears pricked. The others were nowhere to be seen. The radio on his belt crackled with static and he pulled it off.
"This is Jakey to Gaze … come in Gaze." All he heard was a burst of fizzing. He jammed it back on his belt with a scowl. The soldiers had set up a jamming field. He'd just have to find his friends the old fashioned way. He sniffed at the air, turning his head this way and that. After a moment, he turned and bounded off down into the heart of the ruins. He swung in through a window to find Esher scribbling things manically on a pad.
"Hey, what's up?"
"Teh kitty in big trouble. Teh nice Ladee say you am no booka booka tyme yet!" The young man looked over at him, his goggles speckled with fine drops of water. Jakey pulled a face.
"It was only recon!"
"You am not invite Esher," he pouted. Jakey jumped down next to the young man and hugged him, purring in a way humans often called 'adorable'.
"I'm sorry. You're invited next time. Promise."
"That am better. Nice Ladee am want see you. Esher am make Esher traps nowz." Esher fussed the long fur on Jakey's head, shaking water off it. Jakey nodded and let go, running out the door. He darted over branches and bounded to the place where Gaze's scent was strongest. She was talking to Immemoria when he poked his head in through the door. He was silent at first, as neither were aware of his presence. Immemoria reached up to brush Gaze's cheek with his hand and whisper something his feline hearing picked up a little too well. Jakey withdrew his head and leaned against the wall of the corridor, frowning. Perhaps he shouldn't have encouraged Gaze when she said she'd fallen for a Rogue Islander. Then he laughed at himself. As if Gaze would let herself be talked out of what she knew to be a good thing by his objections. It didn't take an empath to see that Immemoria adored her.
A moment later, Immemoria walked out of the room. He didn't even see the cat, he was that distracted. Jakey reflected that he should have jumped him then, just to remind him who the stronger was. He shook the impulse off and went into the room.
"Hey Gaze, guess what?"
"Where have you been?" Gaze folded her arms and frowned at him. He ignored it, waving his hand airily.
"They travel in units of six, one drainer and five gunners. But I think they're just the perimeter troops. There's another kind, maybe a higher rank, maybe not. Armed with a war hammer."
Gaze sighed and sat down on a branch, looking tired all of a sudden. She leaned her head on her hands.
"What's wrong, Jakey?" she asked quietly. Jakey blinked. He looked around the room.
"Nothing, Gaze." He eyed what was clearly an ancient diagnostic bed and the attached computer was still running. Runes and glyphs scrolled across its screen. He understood them thanks to the teleportation spell, but it was jarring to see that they weren't English.
"Don't you 'nothing, Gaze' me. I've been meaning to talk to you about this for ages, but you keep slipping off to the Shadow Shard by yourself," said Gaze, watching him. Jakey shrugged.
"I like the Shard, even if I do have to wear my flying armour there."
"Seems like a strange place for you to want to be, J. It's filled with the most dangerous creatures I've ever seen, things that can rip your mind apart and break your body."
"You know me and danger. Can't get enough of the stuff." Jakey grinned widely. Gaze got up suddenly and crossed to him. She picked him up and held him tightly against her. Jakey was surprised, but he didn't resist.
"Why won't you tell me what's wrong? What are you trying so hard to hide? Don't you trust me?" she whispered. Jakey closed his eyes and leaned his head against her shoulder, wrapping his arms around.
"You know I trust you, more than life itself. There's nothing I can tell you, Gaze."
"It's not nothing. Something's eating away at you inside and it's tearing me up to see it," she whispered hoarsely. Jakey bit his lower lip. He wanted to tell her everything, but he held the words back.
"Gaze, I love you, okay? Promise me you'll always remember that …" he said. Gaze nodded.
"I will."
"And for what it's worth, I think you chose well when you picked Immemoria. He's a romantic nut, but he's alright." Jakey looked at the opposite wall as he spoke. 'Romantic' wasn't the best way to describe a man willing to let the Universe be shattered to pieces for the happiness of one woman, but it was probably the kindest.
"I take it he has permission to live then?" Gaze teased lightly. Jakey smiled, closing his eyes, dislodging a tear.
"Yeah … he does."
You all do. He squeezed Gaze one more time and let go, "so what's the plan?"
Gaze put him down and nodded to the devices around her.
"This is going to be our triage. The lemurs call this the 'healer'. It's a self-contained diagnostic station, surgery and medicine dispenser. Light years ahead of what we have back home, of course. I've just been getting everyone scanned by it while they're still healthy, so it has a comparison to run later, if we need it."
"That sounds great, I think I'll go now." Jakey darted out of the room before she could catch him.
"Damnit, J! Don't come crying to me if you get your leg broken!" she shouted down the corridor after him. She drew back into the room and went back to clearing it up so she could have an area to work independently of the station.
"Fraidy cat … just one little scan …" she muttered, tipping detritus out of the window.

Author's Note: Sorry it's been a while, I've had RL issues to deal with that cut into my mojo. This is warming up again, so apologies for the naffness

The 'rustic' alcohol of the lemurs had a really hard kick. Immemoria felt like he'd been run over when he opened his eyes. The only clothes he'd managed to remove last night before passing out was his left sneaker. He looked at where it was lying on its side at the entrance to the 'nest'. He yawned and rubbed at his eyes. Beside him Gaze mumbled something about alpaca sweaters and rolled over, curling her arms around him. He looked at the interlaced branches that formed the curved roof of the shelter. The nest smelt like flowers and such. He wriggled out of Gaze's grasp and crawled out of the nest. In the time it took him to see to his morning necessities, she'd woken and found some breakfast. He blinked a little in surprise to find the water and fruits waiting when he got back.
"Uh …" He'd heard that human males expected the females to provide prepared food when they returned, but his experiences amongst them suggested that this was not to be assumed. Ever.
"You should drink a lot of water after drinking heavily. Good for you." Gaze smiled as she spoke. Immemoria crawled in and sat down, noting that she was half-way through her own breakfast.
"I'm sorry, I should have got this," he said. However humans did it, there were certain fairy customs he'd prefer to adhere to. His thoughts brought to mind the rite of a man before he can marry his chosen woman. His insides squirmed at the thought of allowing the male members of her family hit him with sticks then throw salt on him. Some traditions were best ignored.
"You were very drunk last night," said Gaze, amused. Immemoria nodded, finishing off the fruits. He was so intent on finishing his water that he didn't see her pounce. He yelped slightly as she pushed him down and cuddled him tightly. He laughed when she nibbled on his ear.
"By 'very' do you mean 'too'?" he asked. He slid his hands up into her hair and turned her head so he could kiss her deeply. The way she slid her leg over his waist confirmed that 'very' had meant 'too'.
"I know this could be considered a bad time and place, what with it being a potential warzone and everything …" Gaze kissed him between words, trailing her hands down his face and shoulders.
"Well, who wants to die a virgin?" Immemoria started to help her remove her clothes. Gaze laughed, tweaking the tip of one of his ears.
"It's very sweet of you to think so, but I'm not."
"I wasn't talking about you …" Immemoria was glad his dark skin didn't show a blush. Gaze blinked and sat up, looking down at him.
"You've … never? You're over a hundred! How does that work?" She looked honestly incredulous. Immemoria shrugged a little.
"I was saving myself for the right woman."
Gaze looked at him, holding his eyes for a long moment before leaning down and kissing him again.
"Well, you've found her, so no more saving. It's time to spend."

"Where's Shingi?" Muse asked, half-way through a mango. Avenger was about to say something when they heard an explosion through the forest.
"I'd say he's somewhere south west of here. Just a hunch." Avenger put down his breakfast and watched a hung-over lemur stagger along a branch and vomit over the side. He saw a flicker of red and white through the trees as Chillblaze fell off his branch and floundered in the air like a baby in water for a few minutes.
"I'm gonna go rescue Shingi. Be right back."
Avenger chuckled and stood up.
"I'll come with you. You're in no fit state to fly anywhere by yourself."
"I'm the master flier!" Chillblaze grinned, sagging his arms over a branch for stability. Muse shook his head.
"Sure you are, Chill." He watched the blaster float upwards and raised an eyebrow at his lover, "Either he's still drunk or he's been at the hair of the dog."
"Rock and roll, I guess." Avenger gave Muse a wide grin as he took off the branch. The blond huffed.
"A fine time to clean up my lifestyle."

The three fliers dropped to the canopy floor when they heard the sounds of fighting below. Shingi ducked another armoured soldier and blocked his arm with his claws. He twisted around and drove the sharp points into the soldier's gut. Avenger dropped down into the mob, driving one foot down hard as he went. The ground bucked wildly around him from the impact, throwing all the soldiers clear off their feet.
"Hey Shin, fancy seeing you here!"
"Hey Avenger, about time you dropped in."
Muse dived down and hovered above the pair, holding his hands to his chest as he focussed on producing the right sound to warm tired bones and help Shingi's body recover its wounds.
"So typical we'd find you up to your eyebrows in trouble." Chillblaze threw down a fireball, making the air thunder with the concussion. The air temperature dropped around him and Muse increased his efforts to compensate.
"They started it!" Shingi shouted. Avenger grabbed the stocky man by his waist and spun on the spot, throwing him up into the air.
"Doesn't matter, it's time to go!" He kicked off the ground a moment later and soared up after the retreating trio.
The misty daylight was bright after the gloom below the canopy when Muse and the others broke through the leaves. The four of them drifted, feeling safer.
"You remember what happened yesterday, Shingi?! Why the hell did you think it was okay to go swanning off by yourself?!" Muse, now his friend was out of danger, turned to him furiously. Shingi pushed his visor up and scowled at Muse.
"I was trying to get hold of something that would help us get home while you were all getting drunk with the fuzzy wannabes."
"You could have been killed, you idiot! How would that have helped?!"
Chillblaze started when an albino lemur popped her head out of the compartment on Shingi's back.
"Uh, Shin, you have space lemurs …"
"Can't you hear that?" Petal's tiny voice broke through the argument Muse and Shingi were still having. All four heroes listened intently.
"I don't hear anything-" Shingi began, interrupted by Muse putting his hand over his mouth.
"The soldiers are marching. There's a lot of them. Heading in that direction …" Muse pointed through the mist and Petal nodded.
"They're moving on the star's location. We have to rally the warriors."
"Oh hell." Chillblaze curved around tightly and shot away from them, "I'll get the others, you guys go ahead!"
"[censored]! I haven't even had any coffee yet …" Shingi shot off in the other direction, following Muse, trusting his uncanny hearing implicitly.

She thanks you all, I think you made her shy!

This was a gift to me from my dear friend Hope Colpan, and she's agreed to let me show you all. You can find Hope here, and this is her gift.

I hope you guys like it as much as I do, and give her some love for being so fantastic,

Author's Note: I make no apology for the sentimentality. I'm pretty sure later explosions will balance it out.

The lemur warriors lived in the trees, in a village that was really a glorified platform of planks and even more surprisingly, stone blocks. The stone blocks, however they had ended up there, served as platforms for fires.
"I can't help thinking that trees plus fire equals disaster waiting to happen," muttered Chillblaze as he sat down next to Shingi. They had been led to the widest platform and it creaked a little warningly under their feet. Muse took his place next to Avenger, pushing a hand through his hair.
"Given that it rains here every day, I think the fire may be on the losing side," he said. Avenger put his arm around Muse and sighed out, resting his head on his shoulder.
"Okay, so there are fluffy warrior lemurs. I can deal with that. Wake me if anything happens." Avenger closed his eyes as he spoke, leaning on Muse.
"Poor thing, all tired out." Muse sounded amused and rearranged Avenger so he could rest his head on his legs comfortably. The blue-haired man made a sleepy complaint at being moved around so much but settled quickly. Gaze gave Muse a curious look.
"What's gotten him all tired out?" she asked. Muse grinned sheepishly.
"Uh … he hasn't gotten much sleep last few nights. It's the heat." His quick addition made the rest of the group shake their heads and look away. Avenger probably wouldn't notice if you filled his bath with lava instead of hot water.
"You were brave to fight the Ones of Stone. You must truly be the Light Warriors." The lemur with the Mohawk came over to them. Gaze eyed him, noticing that he was rather larger than the more gentle lemurs in the ruins. His tail was boldly ringed in a sharp contrast of black and white.
"Do you mean the invaders who crashed here?" she asked. The leader nodded, his sharp muzzle dipping once in a quick motion.
"My name is Storm. I am the strongest and fastest warrior of our clan. I welcome you to the place that is ours. Tell me, what are your names and how can we aid you?" He sat down on his haunches and laid his stone-stick by his side. Gaze blinked as more lemurs started to assemble about the platform. They were of varied ages and genders. Most had the boldly ringed tail but she noticed a few of the softer, redder kind who lived in the ruins. They looked quite fragile compared to their striped brethren.
Gaze introduced them by name, sometime pausing to explain what they meant to the warrior lemurs, who seemed to put a lot of store by knowing these things. Storm's jaguar padded onto the platform, licking its chops and lay down lazily behind him. Gaze wondered how the lemurs had formed such a bond with the predators that they lived so easily together.
"As for how you can help, I really don't know. We were brought here to fix the reactor," she said, watching Storm. The dark patches around his eyes gave him the look of a perpetual frown.
"The star by which the Chosen put all their faith." Storm sounded irritated, but it was hard to tell.
Jakey's tail flicked back and forth and he sat up from where he'd been lounging as lazily as the odd jaguar dotted about the platform or branches above.
"What do you know of it?" he asked. Storm slapped his hands on the planks, looking around at the other lemurs.
"Find the song-weaver and tell her it is urgent." He turned his head back to the heroes while a few of the other warriors darted off into the darkness not reached by the small fire's light.
"She will come and tell you what we know of the star. While we wait, you must eat. It has been a victory today and we give thanks for our lives."
When Storm mentioned the word 'victory', the other lemurs suddenly perked up and exploded into action. Jakey jumped when they rushed back and forth, bringing food and clay pots of liquids.
"Warrior Jakey, you are like our brothers, we will get you something to eat." Storm slapped the floor again and turned to a small lemur who appeared at his side. He said something quietly and the little one nodded, disappearing again. Esher watched the lemurs in total fascination, shaking Chillblaze who'd started to follow Avenger's example and nod off. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, watching with half interest as the lemurs prepared leaves and fruits.
"We were under the impression that you guys here didn't fight," Shingi said, moving his leg out of the way as some lemurs scuttled past with a basket. Storm snorted.
"That is the way of the Chosen. When they cast out the first of the Lost ones, they pretended we had never existed. Perhaps they truly have forgotten about us, believing that living outside the Ruins is impossible." He brushed off his hands as he spoke. The jaguar behind him nudged at one arm and he reached over to scratch at its cheek with his nimble fingers.
"You seem to be doing very well for yourselves. Why were you thrown out?" Chillblaze asked, putting his arms on his knees. Storm flicked his tail a little.
"The Lost do not believe it is best to live on the achievements of others. The Ancestors were very powerful and very great. All across this world there are testaments to their greatness. We have tried to build, but what we have made barely lasts two seasons."
"So you left to grow?" Muse asked curiously. Storm nodded.
"The Chosen are as children. They have never sought the unknown, nor left the confines of the Ruins. The first of us spoke out against lives spent in indolence and ignorance. Being cast out was hard. Many died. Those that lived became strong, cunning and swift. We learned to fight, to scavenge and to think. The price was worth paying." He spoke with a deep conviction.
Further conversation on the subject was forestalled by several lemurs pronouncing the meal to be done. Gaze edged a bit closer to Immemoria while they were being served, large waxy leaves serving as plates. She could see her brother and Muse from her position. Avenger still had his head on Muse's lap and looked totally comfortable with being fed grapes and other such things. Muse grinned over something he said and leaned down to kiss his forehead. Even surrounded by friends and warrior lemurs, they'd found a kind of private intimacy that nothing could overthrow.
She smiled to herself wistfully. It was difficult not to want that kind of relationship and be faintly envious.
"Kate, try this." A roasted drumstick appeared in her vision. She looked down at it, then at Immemoria.
"That's meat …"
"Yeah. It's really spicy, you should try it."
Gaze wondered if the warrior lemurs ate meat themselves or if they had no problem preparing it for their jaguars. She took the small drumstick and nibbled it. Her eyes widened and watered slightly.
"Wow … when you said 'spicy' …"
"Jakey's eating his fifth bird right this second." Immemoria laughed at her surprise and jerked his thumb at Jakey. Gaze looked over and grinned suddenly. Jakey was surrounded by five lemurs who seemed rather intent on feeding him all the meat he could want to eat. The cat looked very flattered by all the attention.
"He looks like he's having fun. Aren't you going to try a bit?" Gaze offered the drumstick back. Immemoria gave her a funny look.
"Vegetarian."
"Oh … yeah … silly me." Gaze shook her head with a grin. She sometimes forgot Immemoria was a fairy, as before she'd met him, she'd associated 'fairy' with six inch high creatures who wore flowers a lot. Immemoria ate some roasted mango, grinning slightly.
"You okay?" he asked. Gaze nodded.
"So what had you so amused back in the ship? You going to let me in on the joke?" She nudged him with her elbow. Immemoria told her what he'd overheard.
"'Queen'?! Me? That's pretty special," she said. Immemoria nodded, picking up a clay bowl filled with a greenish liquid. One swallow revealed it to be alcoholic in nature and he blinked. It wasn't half bad, if a little rustic.
"You'd be a queen one day if you married me," he said. He'd meant it off-hand. Gaze's hand covered his on the decking.
"I'd marry you even if you were a dustman."
The noise of the lemurs celebrating and the other heroes chatting seemed suddenly very far away and irrelevant. Immemoria swallowed the alcohol, glad he was master enough of his reactions not to choke. He looked at Gaze, blinking slightly.
"You would?"
"I would. If you ask. If you don't … well, I guess we'll never know."
Immemoria promptly forgot all his meal, he put his leaf and vegetables aside and turned slightly, so he could take both her hands. His heart was pounding and for a second, he couldn't get his voice to work. He stared into her eyes, taking courage from her calm expression and the slight, encouraging smile.
"Kate, will you marry me?" His voice felt a little unnatural to him. Gaze's smile widened and he was amazed to see a slight pinkness on her cheeks.
"I thought you'd never ask." She leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Yes. I will marry you."
Immemoria felt a bit faint and giddy. He split into a wide grin, laughing a little sheepishly.
"Wow … uh … " He freed one of his hands from hers to wipe at his eyes with the back of it.
"Immy, are you crying?" Gaze's smile was almost delighted at that development. She pulled him into her arms tightly and laughed a little. Immemoria leaned against her, wrapping his arms tight.
"Shush, I'm allowed to be sentimental sometimes."
"You're a truly terrifying villain, Immemoria Cinnamon."

Shingi scowled at some of the lemurs who'd taken up perches on his discarded helmet and legs. One of them, untroubled by his severe expression, sniffed at his face, round ears pricked. Shingi pushed it away.
"When's this singer supposed to get here?" he demanded of no-one in particular. Chillblaze snored slightly from where he was sprawled out on the decking, clutching a clay bowl still half full of the green liquid. Esher had disappeared off to eat in private, as was his habit, and Jakey was regaling his female admirers with some story of getting his [censored] kicked, probably. Storm put his hands together.
"You are the … 'engineer'?" he asked. Shingi nodded, as they'd given their occupations to the lemurs with their names as part of the introductions.
"She is here, if you are ready to speak with her, she awaits you." Storm indicated a long branch that led off into the darkness. Shingi looked at him and then heaved up to his feet. He walked to the edge of the platform and dropped off, engaging the suit's hover function. Storm followed him, hopping easily along the branch. Shingi used his hands to pull himself along until they came to the flimsy end. Sat amid the leaves and closed flowers was a lemur even smaller than those in the ruins. She was pure, perfect white in colour, showing up even in the dark.
"Song-weaver Petal, this is Engineer Shingi. He would know of the star." Storm seemed uncomfortable and didn't draw very close. Shingi hovered near the branch, as close as he could.
"Uh … hello ma'am."
"Greetings Shingi. Warrior Storm, you may go. Enjoy the celebration of victory." The white lemur had a quiet voice and didn't turn to look at the big warrior. Storm seemed glad of the excuse to leave as he fled back to the firelight without another word.
"Forgive my appearance. I know it may be concerning." Petal swivelled her head to look at him. Shingi shrugged, he didn't want to say but the lemurs all looked the same to him. Except of course that this one was white.
"I don't really judge by appearance."
"That is very noble of you. Tell me, what would you like to know of the star?" The lemur arranged herself into a comfortable crouch on her haunches. Shingi shrugged.
"How can we power it back up?"
"Scientifically speaking? Thermonuclear fusion initiated in the core. Star seeds last close to a million years, but even they need maintenance." The little lemur picked at the bark with her fingers. Shingi opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"You understand thermonuclear fusion?" he asked. Petal's tail flicked back and forth slowly.
"I understand a lot of things. I read the forbidden scriptures while I was training to be a priestess. My superiors don't understand them, you know. They can't. I tried to explain, that they'd gotten it wrong …" she trailed off. Shingi half-smiled.
"I don't suppose you know where I can get my hands on some hydrogen?"
"The machines that would extract it failed long ago." Petal picked at her ear. Shingi made a huff sound out of his nose.
"So … what can we do?"
"There's always magic." The white lemur gave him a level look.
"I don't like to put my faith in magic." Shingi folded his arms. Petal shrugged.
"All the practitioners on this moon together couldn't channel the kind of power that would be needed. Only transcendary life-forms can do that."
"Whats?" Shingi scooted back to where the branch was thick enough to bare his weight and sat on it. Petal walked over on all fours, sitting down again to look at him.
"Maybe that didn't translate. You know 'gods'? Life-forms that often wield incredible power?"
"Oh yeah … yeah I know the term. Where are we gonna get a god at this time of night?" Shingi sighed. Petal rubbed her hands together, looking down into the black drop that led to the forest floor.
"That is why they were confused. The other priestesses. They misunderstood Light 'Warrior'. It more correctly translates to 'Bearer'. The scripture on the cosmological process of Chaos and Order is theoretical only. The Bearers were theorised to be able to channel huge amounts of power. The one of Light is like … an inlet valve for the universe, and the one of Shadow is an outlet. The generator and the destroyer. The exothermic and endothermic. Do you understand?"
Shingi scratched his head.
"So … when the lemurs brought us here, they thought that we could do that?"
"Like I said, they did not truly understand. There may be nothing you can do." Petal reached out hesitantly and put her tiny hand on his arm. "They sought the Light Bearer because he or she could simply pour energy in. It is the Light Bearer's function in the Universe."
"Theoretically."
"Theoretically." Petal nodded. Shingi picked the lemur up and pushed off the branch. She was startled and clung to him suddenly, looking down, alarmed. Shingi rose above the canopy. Instantly the air was lighter, the blaze of colour overhead illuminated the night. It brought out the ghostly white of Petal's fur and startling pinkness of her eyes. Shingi turned in the direction the reactor lay, over the hills.
"So either we find some way to get our hands on some hydrogen, or we pray for some deus ex machina. I'm not really into the latter, but I do know that a really good form of rocket fuel is liquid gas." He gave the lemur a significant look. Petal blinked at him.
"From the invader's ship? Do you think that's wise?"
"No, but I like them apples."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Uh … it's an expression."

Every time I go to comment on your arts, I get distracted by your avatar. This may make me a very bad or easily distracted person. For example, I've managed to forget what I was saying. Something about greatness and the you being of it.
... no, really can't remember. I guess you'll just have to settle for me really liking your stuff until I can remember exactly what I meant to say.