Mr_Grey

Shadowshock watched them lead his new cellmate away. He had a few ideas as to where they took him. None of them were good. Still, rumor had it Hotaka had been to Hell and back, so maybe he'd be fine.

He never got a straight answer... Damn Freedom Corps... Damn guards... Crazy thing was, Shadowshock had no clue what the Path of the Dragon demanded of its followers, so he had no idea whether or not the bunk that was made was Hotaka's, or the bare one.

"Dammit... I hate paradoxes..." he rubbed his temples, "Especially these ones born of ignorance."

But he was too tired to not sleep. What a night... He briefly wondered how his mark was doing. She seemed too waifish, to small...

Small?

He tried to run her image through his mind again. It was too brief... Too filled with red...

That had been happening a lot. Losing his temper. He didn't know if it was a side effect of the drug keeping his "powers" dormant, or if it was some residue of the powers still bleeding through the barrier.

"[censored] it," he grumbled and took the unmade bunk.

Even if he was wrong, Hotaka wouldn't have to go through the trouble of remaking this bunk... Unless... He did have to... Because it was unclean?

Shodowshock grumbled again to himself. He couldn't shake this weird feeling. Something was strange... Something was in the air.

Is this inspired from that thread in COH General?

EDIT: Damn... That made my eyes burn. I don't mean it was bad... That's just as close as I get to crying these days. Good stuff. Really good stuff.

"Yeah, yeah..." Shadowshock replied glumly as he stepped into the cell, "Look, hoss, I don't mess with you, you don't mess with me, capiche? I ain't got Family ties in here... Unlike you with the Tsoo..."

He sighed.

"So... First thing's first, I guess... Which bunk's mine?"

Back Alley Brawler was a little weirded out when the BWO dropship was suddenly hovering overhead...

"A dropship? What the Hell?"

Then, Cobalt Black dropped to the ground next to him...

"A Malta Agent, what the Hell?"

"Leave him alone, Brawler," Randall shouted down, "He's a good guy!"

Back Alley Brawler looked back up at Randall.

"What the Hell!?"

A cable lowered and suddenly, Cobalt was grabbing it, his body bedecked in straps, ammo clips, magazines, pistols and a rifle across his back. Back Alley brawler stared at him a moment.

"Good day..." Aaron quipped as he gave a couple tugs to the cable and started to get dragged away, "What? No more W.T.H.?"

"Oh... Go to Hell, boy."

----

"Okay," Solo Stryker informed the Grey's Army crew over the intercom, "Because of our little mid-city stunt, we've got a pair of Longbow helicopters on our butt... I'm gonna need to lose them, so we can't be there when you're raiding the Carnies, 'kay?"

"S'alright," Randall replied, "We almost there?"

"Hotel in Brickstown," the dropship started descending, "And Cobalt's hit the ground running... He's through the door..."

"Come on, boys and girls..." Randall rumbled, "Let's get him some help!"

----

The front door blew off its hinges, and crashed into a Strongman inside. The Strongmen standing next to him only got in enough time to turn and stare, dumbfounded, at the small man clad in dark blue who threw a pair of grenades into the ceiling (that started raining fire on the Strongmen) and dove into the fray.

In an instant, a pair of automatic pistols were in Cobalt Black's hands. Ammunition barked from them like a river, a torrent of hot metal filling the air between the Maltese Resistance freedom fighter and the legs of his opponents.

I can't kill them, he reminded himself, I can only stop them...

The girls were another matter. He had no idea if he was early or late... He didn't know if any of the Carnival girls were Misty and Mindy... He didn’t want to risk hurting them, so he ran until he could think of something better.

He saw a few Seneschals directing them. Apparently, they were all newly raised from simple recruits to fully-fledged Carnival Attendants and Strongmen. Probably explained the stretch marks on the big guys...

"I'm sorry," he gasped when he could run from them no longer, and smashed the butt of his pistol into the forehead of the nearest girl's mask.

It exploded in a shower of purple radiating energy and porcelain. The girl fell backwards, screaming, but it turned into a low moan, then a gasp.

She looked around confusedly for a while as her friends continued their relentless assault. Cobalt noted she seemed surprised, shocked in fact. Like she didn't know what she'd been doing...

The next girl got close enough, and Cobalt popped her mask just like the last. He got the same result. Panic turned to a sort of manic elation. Even if they had raised Misty and Mindy to Attendants as opposed to just initiates, he could bring them back...

He hammered into the girls surrounding him. Trying not to actually hurt them, he was breaking those accursed masks from their faces. The girls were not appreciative beforehand, and quite mystified afterward.

"Whuh... What?" one girl stuttered, "What happened? Last thing I remember was going to a show..."

"You're better now, if dirt poor," Cobalt muttered as he started making his way to the elevators, "But you're free."

Kipland and the Ryats showed up at the front door as Cobalt passed them. Cedric followed shortly after that.

"Dude! You shot their kneecaps!"

"Not so strong now, are they?"

"Aaron!" Kip shouted as he rushed to catch up to his double, "Aaron, look at me!"

Kipland "Aaron, Cobalt Black" Durj rounded on this world's original. His face was grim. His eyes were wide open, but his demeanor was stone cold.

The original Kip knew the feeling well. He and this other were sometimes far too similar.

"Don't lose yourself..." he breathed, "Remember why you're here..."

"I gotta save her, Kip..." Cobalt replied, his voice half-cracked, "I... I... I never... Never felt..."

"Go..." Kip replied, "I know what you mean. But watch yourself... You don't want to cross over..."

He indicated the bodies getting zapped to the Ziggurat.

"That was a bit much."

"Gotcha," Cobalt's face seemed to soften a little, "I'll... I'll lay off a little..."

They got to the elevator and he turned to the rest of the group.

"Break the masks... Everybody else pummels them into submission... And something happens... Break the mask? They look like they get a whanging headache, but they're otherwise fine."

Nester zipped up behind them.

"What I miss?"

"Not enough to keep you from keeping us alive in this..." Kip muttered as they made their way into the elevators.

----

The fighting was intense. Cedric swinging his axe around like a frying pan, the two Kips rampaging through the halls with flurries of punches and kicks, the Ryats covered the floor in ice and filled the air with energy, and Nester kept them ticking all the while.

As they worked their way through the floors, Kipland wondered if they'd be able to utilize this method in the future, or if the Carnival would come up with a failsafe for it. It was sad, that the defeated Carnies invariably wound up in the nut house... Especially with how they got recruited. It was a nice change of pace that this group would avoid that circumstance, but there was no guarantee the solution would work in the future.

As they got closer, hey could hear the Ring mistress yelling at her congregation...

"How dare they interrupt the ceremony!"

"Oh... dear..." Mindy intoned, "You told him what was going on, huh?"

"Yeah..." Misty replied.

"WHAT!?" the Ring mistress shouted, then screamed an incoherent string of gibberish before settling herself and pointing at the two girls.

"You brought them here, you take care of them!"

"Uh..." Mindy turned to her best friend, "Do you really think we can do this (This isn't much fun anymore, is it)?"

"We don't have a choice (No, it's not. Let's quit)," Misty replied.

They started making their way for the exit before the Ring Mistress stopped them.

"Wait!" she commanded, and the girls could have sworn they heard the voice in their heads, too, "You plan on running? Girls! Take them!"

The door burst open and Cobalt Black was there. His pistol raised up, leveled on the Ring Mistress, and he squeezed the trigger. The bullet grazed the mask, but the damage had been done. Hairline cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, and the woman screamed.

A Steel Strongman suddenly stepped into view, but Cobalt was ready for him, too. A series of loud explosions later, echoed by the pinging sound of bullets bouncing off metal, and Cobalt stopped. The Strongman took a step forward and his mask came apart, the latches and levers holding it in place were broken.

He stared blankly at the hero before wobbling on his feet and sitting down. He was muttering something, just like the others.

Cobalt pulled the clips from his pistols and holstered them. He turned to the Ring Mistress. Her attendants had Misty and Mindy, still unmasked, surrounded in a ring of blades and boobs.

"Lady... I suggest you give me my friends, no questions asked."

"Destroy him!" she screamed, pieces of her mask dropping from the stress of her face moving.

Cobalt pitched one of the clips through the air, nailing the Ring Mistress's mask square in the nose and turned his efforts to the other girls. The pistols twirled back out, but now they were hammers, bopping the girls on their foreheads and cracking through. The air was awash with porcelain flakes and psychic energy. The girls all stumbled to the floor.

It was over. The fight, the threat... Cobalt ran over to Misty and held her for a long time.

There was nothing else but that moment. She was in his arms, she was safe. She was... Kissing him...

Everything else was lost to a rushing sound.

Eventually, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Kip and the others had arrived and were ushering in the former Carnies from the previous floors. There was a faint... Sobbing?

"Bad news, man," Kip indicated the tear-streaked faces, "Turns out they remember pretty much everything after a while... These girls have done terrible things... At least, the ones that have been doing this a while."

"What about us?" one of the former Strongmen intoned, "I used to have money... I used to have a career... Now it's all gone..."

"We'll try to figure this out, man..." Kip assured him, "Just bear with us for a moment..."

"Oh my God!" one of the former Carnie girls suddenly shouted, "Look at this sexist outfit!"

Kip turned to her and noticed she was a bit more "toned" than the other girls.

"Ma'am?" he asked slowly, a sudden feeling of dread creeping into his mind, "Everything will be alright..."

"Don't you look at me!" she shouted as she grabbed one of the swords, "You filthy man!"

"Lady," Kip whispered to her, "You're not with the Knives of Artemis, and you don't have your toys... Calm down."

"Don't you tell me what to do!" she lunged at him.

Kip reflected for a moment that maybe the Knives let go of a few of their more "overzealous" members before the blade stopped an inch from his chest, wrapped in a black-purple cloud. Too much zealotry could lead to recklessness, which could lead to discovery. Perhaps this girl wasn't a Knife, and it may have been a mistake to remind her of the fact.

Ryat99 picked her off of Kip and flung her against the wall.

"Ma'am, I strongly suggest you stand down..."

"You may be a machine, but you're still a man!"

Ryat99 sighed. He actually sighed.

"So be it," he rumbled emotionlessly before spraying her with an icy mist, "There are more direct ways to cool you down."

She dropped the sword and curled up into a ball, shivering. She started muttering something about being too weak and unworthy.

"Poor girl," Ryat99 intoned as he peered closer, "She seems to have a self-depreciative personality."

Ryat66 approached her from behind and started rubbing her shoulders.

"It's okay," he said cheerfully, "You'll be alright... There ya go, the coolant's worn off... Just relax..."

"Okay," Kip turned to the rest of the crowd, "That wasn't the least bit creepy, no sir... Alright, everybody... We better get you all to the nearest Freedom Corps facility so we can start processing your complaints, maybe get you reimbursed... Maybe get to work on prosecuting the Carnival for what is obviously a kidnapping..."

"For some of us!" one girl sobbed, "Others joined willingly! What about them!?"

They didn't have any answers. Kip didn't even know what to say about the crimes the Carnies committed under the sway of the Carnival's masks. He had no clue how to deal with it all.

----

Outside, it was another problem.

"You have our brothers and sisters," the Dark Ring Mistress called out to them, "Return them at once or we'll take them by force!"

"I don't want to go back!" one former Strongman hollered back, "I know what you did to me! I remember!"

An electrified ring slammed into the wall next to him and stuck there, crackling.

"How..." the Mistress hissed, "...Unfortunate... For you."

A large army of Carnies suddenly materialized out of thin air. Several ranks of Strongmen brought up the forefront, while multitudes of attendants and Seneschals clustered behind them.

Cobalt rubbed his girlfriend's shoulder. Misty took her foil and pointed it at the Ring mistress.

"We're not going back!" she shouted in her high-pitched voice, "You can't make us!"

"No matter how many thugs you send at us!" Ryat66 reinforced.

He was still rubbing that one woman's shoulders. It was having a decidedly sedative effect.

"Then we'll just kill you," The Dark Ring Mistress intoned, "Gentlemen? Take them."

"Hold on there, little missy..."

Randall Grey stood behind their army. He counted about fifty. Good odds.

"You think you can threaten me?" she replied coldly.

"No..." Randy pulled a large rock from behind his back, "I know I can stop you. Threats don't mean anything. Now... If anybody doesn't know the fundamentals of Dodge Rock... I suggest they clear out promptly..."

They were unwise. They didn't know the fundamentals, they didn’t clear out, and they failed terribly at the new game. They didn’t seem to like playing, either, which Randy found to be quite odd...

Not willing to let his boss have all the fun, Kip dove into the fray. He was followed by Cobalt and Cedric, and then the Ryats followed after bonding together as a rampaging battle tower. The former Carnies looked on in awe as the heroes fought for their safety.

More heroes arrived suddenly. Everyone involved with the Council strike just a day earlier, in fact. Draven Erickson led the charge, followed by Psycho13 and flanked by Mad Matt McGinty. The Carnies had no idea what hit them, and when Freedom Corps troops and SWAT police arrived to help end the madness, the Carnies fled.

All that was left was the Dark Ring Mistress and her Steel Strongman. Randall walked up to them, the Strongman trying to stand in his way. Randall took a hold of the mask and tore it apart with his bare hands.

"Woah!" the Ballista leading the Freedom Corps troops shouted, "Might wanna go easy there, Mr. Grey..."

"Okay..." he flicked the mask off the Ring Mistress with his index finger, who fell backwards and gazed about confusedly, just like all the others previously.

Police Drones mopped up the ones that didn't have their masks removed previously.

"Great job everyone," Randy cheered, "Drinks on me!"

Aaron pulled Misty aside and kissed her. She snuggled against him and sighed.

"I'm still freaked out by how all of this turned out today..." he muttered as they dimly followed Randall, "I feel like this all breezed by like a dream..."

"It happens like that sometimes..." Misty squeaked happily.

"Yeah... I guess it does..."

"You ready to play nice?"

Shadowshock glared at the doorway.

"Has it been a day?"

"No, but your old cellmate confessed to jsut about anything to keep from being thrown in with his new roomies..."

"Great..."

"I hope you don't have any trouble with this next one..."

The guard led Shock down the all-too-familiar cells. He noted his old cellmate, Chuck, lying kind of pale-faced in his bunk. If their roles had been reversed, Shock figured he wouldn't have turned out much different.

Of course, then he'd have to be a racist male-cheauvenist. All-in-all, he felt good about the situation.

Until they made it to the Tsoo cells.

"Who're you taking me to see?"

"Oh, something of a celebrity in these cells..."

"Oh no..."

When they arrived, Shadowshock grunted a curse to himself. Being with the Tsoo was bad enough, they didn't like Family guys. Being with this Tsoo in particular? Probably death.

A slow one, too.

"Ryuu Hotaka. Meet your new cellmate."

"Bollox," Shock grunted, "Absolute horse-[censored]!"

"Yeah?" the guard chuckled, "Too bad."

What!? Why!?

It was fun. It was cool seeing the devs in-game... What few I actually saw before they were mobbed by the players.

I even had to go in as my "Me" (not my Main, as he got lagged out) at one point.

"And nightynight time, no bonus round tonight," Shadowshock grumbled as he heard the automated security droids taze the new prisoners.

He struggled to stand.

"Good ol' Grey... About the only guard you can trust in this... Oh..."

He saw a security droid in the cell with him.

"Now what the [censored] is the point of tha-"

*KZZZZZRT!*

((How can time be subtracted from eternity?

See... This is why I don't get the Christian Mythos. They make everything seem so epic, it's absurd! I'm gonna have to wait a few posts until Dross completes his merging, or until something interrupts the process...))

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Would your hero go clubbing in their tights?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're asking the wrong group questions like that.

Dude...

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah but Athyna, I wasn't asking if the players would go in their tights.. I was asking if their Characters would go...

But yea I know it was a loaded question

[/ QUOTE ]

So, we have to wear tights while playing our characters that are wearing street clothes?

Who thinks this stuff up?!?!?!

[/ QUOTE ]

I think they mean... "tightie whities..."

EDIT: You still going as "yourself" Marcian?

The trolling began. Quite a bit quicker than normal. Seemed to start with the cells closest to the sequestering block.

"Psst..." one inmate hissed to the dark door, "Psst! You in there, Doc? You in there?"

A shoe bounced off the heavy door, and was reeled away by a long piece of old floss.

"Yeah, you're in there, Doc... I want you to listen... Listen real good. We're gonna get a hold of ya... We ain't gonna go easy on ya. It's gonna be rough... It's gonna be hard..."

By the time it got back to Shadowshock, the various hauntings and "fish-calls" had reached even more vulgar proportions. Even his own cellmate got into it.

"You hear me little darlin'?" he shouted over the blacks calling for the blood of the various white prisoners, "I know you can hear me! I know some of the ladies you'll be meetin' darlin'! They gonna think you sweeeeet...."

"Shut it," Shadowshock rounded and barked at him, "I thought you bet on the professor."

"Ooh..." the big man grinned back, "So's that why you pegged her? You gettin' sweet or somethin'?"

Shadowshock glared back darkly.

"You is, ain't ya? You is sweet on that girl..."

He stepped closer.

"Big Bad Blue... All tough and unbreakable... But I think I've found-"

Shadowshock reached out and caught his cellmate in a headlock.

"Listen, Chuck. I've had it up to here with your mouth. Your voice... Is unpleasant. You're grammar? Exceptionally poor. I hear you say 'You is' one more time, I'm snapping your neck. Got me?"

"Yeah, good luck with that..."

Chuck lifted Shadowshock into the air and slammed him against the concrete floor. They rolled around there a few moments before they realized the guards were shutting up the prisoners and their door was open. Guards rushed in and they found themselves getting tazed and pulled apart.

"Calm down, now calm down!" one of the guards shouted, "Slade! Grimm! Calm down!"

The two large men stared each other down, hate burning holes into each other.

"You ain't got no powers no more, freak!"

Shadowshock lunged at Slade, but was restrained by guards again. Another couple of zaps fom the tazer batons, and he lied still. Slade chuckled down at him.

"Take him to solitary," the guard ordered, the trolling dying down as various guards made their presence known, "Maybe a day in the hole will make him more amenable to his next cellmate..."

"Haha... yeah..." Slade spat on Shadowshock's face.

A baton broke over his forehead.

"Augh!"

"Take him to the Panthers..." the guard ordered, "They want someone to play with... Give them the biggest redneck we've got."

"Ugh... no..."

"You made your bed, boy. Lie in it."

Shadowshock was paraded by the sequestering cells. He could hear things were still fairly decent in there. No screaming, no yelling, no gibbering. That was normal. No bonuses this time.

Trolling worked better when the inmates were exposed... Nothing but bars with open air between inmates. You could see how poorly you matched up when compared to them.

Sometimes... Sometimes you didn't break. The past few groups... Everybody broke. But Shadowshock recognized the one called Blind. The guy was a legend. It wasn't likely he'd impart his wisdom... But something was definitely about to happen.

"It would be funny," he groaned as the solitary confinement cell door closed on his prone form, "It would make me laugh..."

I had my introduction. I borrowed from Shawshank Redemption, and had my character and neighboring prisoners take bets on who'd crack first.

Shadowshock pegged Penny. Ten cigs.

If she doesn't break first, he's going to be very ticked.

So our characters... Huh... All of my characters tend toward the "Civvies" outfits.

Heh heh... I guess my main has a suit...

And here I was... Building a "Me" on Test.

Can't quite get the goatee right... I have something similar to the "Musketeer," only not divided in the center of it like it is in the game. Also, my hair naturally curls, so it's hard to get the right hairstyle (I sold out to "Long").

Otherwise, T-shirt, jeans, shoes and glasses to match the perpetual summer. Came pretty close. Oh well.

I'll just throw my main in there, in his business suit. I mean, that's why I made the thing in the first place... For "Formal Occasions."

So... What's the deal on the costumes? Are we supposed to look like ourselves? Are we supposed to BE ourselves?

Or our heroes' RP/Concept alter egos?

"Nice place you have here," Sheldon gestured to the walls of the Brutal Warriors Order facility, "You just get it?"

"Yeah," Dale Simms smiled with pride, "Jared and Dustin got the deed to this place... Now we just gotta fix it up."

"You having any luck?"

"Some of the Arachnos equipment left behind by Longbow is coming in handy. You'd be amazed what you can build out of spare parts... Or even just how many tool sets the LB left behind."

"Probably only took what they thought was relevant... Also intended to demo the place, but red tape got in the way..."

"Yeah... That's what we figured. I found a few generators that didn't work... Cannibalized a couple, now we got three. We had to buy our computers and a satellite uplink... Hoo, that was costly."

"Maybe we can help each other..." Sheldon smiled, "You guys still need a good security system and structural improvements, right?"

Dale grinned back.

"What have you got in mind?"

--

"Have you considered mystical intrusions?" Cory asked Daren "Solo Stryker" Simms.

"Yeah, but we don't have the know-how to set up an effective defence..."

"Well... A friend of mine may be able to help set up some reasonable wards..."

--

The rest of the group was divided into little private clusters. Joe was talking to Sarah over his communciator...

"What do you mean, Felix killed Nemesis?"

"No... No... Kip told us about this thing... It's called NemeSIX... NemeSIX, like the number six, Joe! Let Kip know what happened!"

"Okay, okay... I got it," Joe rolled his eyes.

"And don't roll your eyes at me!"

"I didn't!"

"Don't you lie to me! Don't make me hit you! I'll telepunch you! I can do that, Joe! I'm psychic!"

"I thought you said psychic phone lines don't work..."

His head suddenly snapped to the side.

"Ow!"

--

Randy and Charlene were holed up together in a private room. She was a little leery of oil derricks, and when she learned that this was the same place that ahd caused her fear, Randy figured she needed some comforting really quick.

--

Cedric was taking advantage of the wrestling ring they'd set up.

"You guys fight each other?"

"Yeah..."

"For real this time!?"

"Yeah."

"Aw... I have got to try that! James! You and me, man!"

"You're on Cedric!"

The two were putting on quite the show, pummeling and beating each other. Cedric had forgone his axe, and was focusing an brawling with James. James, however, was utilizing his super strength to its fullest potential.

Good thing Cedric knew how to fight.

"This is funny," Roland chuckled, "I'm gonna miss moments like this."

"Whaddaya mean?" Jared "Draven Erickson" asked the portly defender.

"I can't keep doing this... It's just too crazy..."

The red-coated scrapper nodded.

"You're not gonna try to convince me otherwise?"

"Not my place," Draven replied, "I don't think it's anyone's, man. We all gotta make our own decisions."

"Thanks... I just don't know how I'm gonna break the news to everyone."

"Don't worry about it, man... Your family's cool."

"Not just them..." Round pressed his lips together and grimaced at the ground, "Jared... I figure you're the guy to ask this... You ever tell a girl bad news?"

Simms stared at Roland for a few seconds. Then started laughing. Hard.

"It's not funny!"

"Yes it is!" Jared choked out, "You got a girlfriend? You!?"

"She... I..." Roland pressed his palm into his face, "Frickin' Hell... It's not like that..."

--

Cobalt sat at the edge, talking angrily into his communicator.

"It's not like that... Mist... Look... It's just... I don't think they have your best interests at heart! Of course I don't trust them! I... My friends and I... My... Brothers... and I... We've fought them enough times to know... Misty! MISTY!"

He started slamming the communicator against the edge.

"What's wrong, man?"

Kip.

"It's... It's Misty... She and Mindy... They're getting promoted... Finally being made Attendants..."

Kip was silent.

"Something's really wrong there, Kip... I don't know what they do to those girls... But I've heard... Rumors... Y'know... The Carnies we put in prison... They're all put in the psych ward..."

"I know."

"What if that happens to them?"

"It won't."

"How do you know?"

Kip walked around and knelt until he was staring into his double's eyes. His eyes weren't glowing, revealing their deep green irises. His face was set to a cold, serious stare.

"We won't let that happen!"

Aaron nodded.

"The ceremony's tomorrow... Can we get there in time?"

"Oh yeah..." Kip stood and started heading for the main building, "Pick who you want on the team... I'll arrange for transport."

"Kip!"

"What?"

"We gotta go to Freedom Corps first, though..."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to be doing this... And I need everything I'm familiar with. Everything I know."

He stood and straightened his uniform.

"I need my guns."

So... Am I to "dress" as myself? Myself in real life?

"Looks like Meat..." a large white man chuckled from behind a similarly large blue man.

"Looks like everyone else," the blue man replied.

Every couple of days... More newbies.

Shadowshock watched them get paraded around. The message was clear.

"We caught more of you, scum."

"Yet the streets are still full of costumed freaks," the blue brute muttered, "So... Who cracks first? I got ten cigs on the chick..."

"I'll match that for the college professor!" his cellmate barked.

Bets resounded through the block, mostly hushed and whispered, so the guards wouldn't know. Shadowshock glowered at the little girl.

"You better not disappoint me," he growled.

Recluse: "You know what... I wanna re-roll... My alt-itis is itching."

Black Scorpion: "Cool. Wait... What?"

Recluse: "I wanna try a 'Troller... What do you think?"

Mako: "What're you asking me for!?"

Well, remember, the Zig is a Super-Max. It has no yard, per se. Just a concrete slab that leads up to the multitudinous chain link, razor-wire topped fences. If prisoners are found wandering it, they get tranqued by the tower guards (or are fair game for any passing hero) because it's simply assumed an escape is in progress.

No... We need the gym. Besides, most prisons are equipped with weight rooms and such. The idea is that the prisoners will occupy themselves with bettering their bodies as opposed to butchering each other.

A learning center or library would be nice, too. It's supposed to be a rehabilitation center, after all.

Also, Breaking Rocks... Why has that been coming up in everything I do lately? My dad suggested it for a project we have this summer... A friend suggested it for another project... I even got to talking about the Marines' punitive "CCU" where they spend all day turning big rocks into little rocks and little rocks into littler rocks.

Hm... Well... In the CoX (or Co* if you prefer) universe, super powers have been around for quite a while...

Though mutants are intriguing, it's hardly the same reaction in this world as it is in Marvel's. Super-powered people are everywhere in CoX, and are treated with more celebrity (normal people tend to have a bit of respect, tinged with light envy, for the heroes; villains are typically feared, but not hated based on their powers, but what they do with them), but since powers are by no means linked to a genetic alteration only (Tech Origin: "Man, I want to shoot energy beams like that guy... I know! I'll build gloves that can do it!"), there's hardly the kind of knee-jerk reactions to mutancy as there are in Marvel,

Those "They are still among us!" billboards are actually more of a reference to the Rikti, the aliens that attacked years ago and threaten the hero once he/she hits security level 30. It could also be a reference to the Council, a terrorist military force built off a former Nazi super covert ops unit. It could refer to all of the different villain groups that plague the city as well. You can interpret how you want, but I prefer the first two. You encounter iterations of both groups pretty much throughout the game.

Sounds like you're building Lex Lucifer to be somehting like a physical manifestation of a corrupted Jungian Shadow.

In Jung's philosophy, in your dreams, the Shadow was everything dark urge you suppressed. It wasn't necessarily evil... It too understands the need for restraint. However, it also understands the need to actually let loose the dark side and kick the tar out of those that would do harm to you.

For a quick reference, it's the little devil on your shoulder.

It seems you already have their storyline in mind. Just keep playing, feel your way around the universe, get a feel for the powers and how they work. Then work out how your characters interact with each other.

As for a quick starter... Hm... With what you have here...

I'd say Lex Legend ran afoul of the Circle of Thorns... Sensing a strong destiny in store for the hero, the Circle tried to find a way to keep him off their backs. Knowing they had a limited window of opportunity, they acted quickly, captured Legend before they felt he'd be too powerful, but not too weak to survive the ritual.

The ritual resulted in giving Lex Legend an arch villain... Lex Lucifer. Where Legend is a champion of justice, Lucifer is a destroyer of hope.

Why the Circle would want to keep him alive? Well, as you progress, you'll figure that one out yourself. Like many heroes, he's a being of great destiny. In time, he may learn why the Circle let him live, but wanted him distracted by his dark side.

So... There's a primer, if you want it. Feel free to play with it, alter it... In fact, I encourage it. It's always good to flex your imagination.

King Slater and Dirty Ice circled each other in the ring. Neither had activated their powers, but their weapons were obviously on their belts.

Suddenly, they lunged at each other, bunching up each other's arms and struggling to gain an advantage from the grapple. Slater had a distinct advantage in this endeavor, as he was the taller of the two. A quick twist later, and Dirty was sent flying through the air to land flat on his back near one of the corners.

"Aw... Come on..." he turned to Solo Stryker, "Hey! Do we get to use powers here?"

King pulled the black mace from his belt and answered Ice's question with a hard smash to the mouth. A spurt of blood flew through the air and disappeared in a salty breeze. Ice staggered a couple steps and leaned hard on the corner.

"Ow!" he spat, "What the Hell, man?"

"That's right, Dirty, take it like a [censored]!" Ragin' James yelled into the ring.

"Aw... sonova..."

Fire wrapped around the brute and he yanked the Earth Maul from it's loop. Salt crystals wrapped around the weapon, and he smashed into Slater with a ferocious assault. The crystals exploded on impact, swirled in the air, and came back to the hammer for a second swing.

Slater was thrown to the ground.

"Yeah-heah!" Dirty Ice shouted triumphantly, "That's what you get, Slater! That's what you get!"

Stone wrapped around King Slater's outfit. The tanker stood again, gripped his mace tightly, and dove into another attack.

----

The day wore on... Slater defeated Ice, Draven defeated Slater. Rage defeated Project Whirlwind, and got a by to wait for who would win between Draven and Solo Stryker.

The fight between the cousins was methodical. Solo Stryker had a few nasty tricks, such as disappearing from Draven's sight and catching him in the back of the head with hard hammerfist.

Draven cleaved through Solo's defences with his sword. It sang with a high note, and the sound reverberated as he smashed the flat of the blade against the red-clad stalker's belly.

Solo crumpled to the mat, coughing and gasping. Draven brought the blade whistling through the air to slam against the back of his head. The stalker ducked away, rolled, bounded to hsi feet and bounced off the ropes. Draven recovered from his failed attack in time to see Solo's arm crashing into his head.

----

"Unbelievable..." Bioserj shook his head, "You expect me to take you seriously after all of this?"

"Man, believe whatever the Hell you want..." Psycho13 replied from the camera, "We have fun doing this stuff... You want in, cool. If not, that's cool, too."

----

Solo and Draven were bouncing off the ropes. They were just picking up speed, it seemed. Finally, Draven leapt into the air, the pommel of his blade facing toward Solo Stryker's nose. Stryker leapt up with a drop kick and the two connected with a sickening crunch.

They lay on the ground for a few seconds. Dale was counting them to ten. If neither could stand in that time, they'd both be disqualified, and Ragin' James would go on to be the leader that made the overall choices for the BWO.

"Nine!"

Dale shouted and Draven picked himself up. His jaw was broken.

"Aw..." he gasped as he held the injury, "Ungh..."

Solo Stryker lied on the mat. He seemed unconscious and was suffering from a broken nose.

Draven moved to get the pin. Solo suddenly stood, and his face seemed a hideous mask of blood and fangs. Draven fell back, screaming, and Solo faded from view again. Cowering in the corner, the red-coated hero attempted to regain his composure.

Solo drilled his cousin's head against the corner pads. Draven tried to fend him off, but the stalker pressed his advantage, capping it off with a set of stomps.

----

"I thought you were friends..." Serj arched an eyebrow to Slater.

"Worse, family," the tanker replied, "Those two... Psych and Rage, they're brothers. Ice there is on his own... So's Whirlwind. The Ref and Solo are my brothers. Erickson's our cousin. We're all close friends, though... At least... Tsk... We know each other."

"Close friends?" Serj's eyes widened, "And you do this damage to each other for fun?"

"Well, Whirlwind's not too much of a friend... But we've learned to trust him. Otherwise... Yeah."

"You boys are absolutely crazy..."

----

Draven flew into the air. He popped his jaw back into place and slammed a green gem against his chest, healing the damage, but it left a slight ache.

"Rrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaah!" he screamed as he came back around in a dive.

Solo met him in mid-air with a forearm smash, and the two fell to the ground pummeling each other. Seconds from hitting the mat, it looked like Draven's coat turned to blood and was sprouting spikey tentacles. Stryker shielded his eyes and popped his opponent in the eye before they broke contact and fell to the mat.

"You guys have gotta watch that [censored]," Dale yelled at them.

They were lying next to the corners. They had been inches from smashing their heads against the pads.

"I'm not cleaning it up if your brains go splat!"

"Don't worry," Solo grunted, "I'm good... I'm... Woah, Drave... Your eye's swollen..."

"I just got done fixing the broken jaw you gave me..." Erickson replied, "Come on, Solo... It's time to end this."

"Yeah..."

They charged and dove at each other, meeting in the middle of the ring and catching each other's arms. Solo twisted to his right and pulled Draven through the air to throw him against the corner he'd just run from. Draven fell back, but he stopped right at the pads. Most people thought flight was a useless power, mostly useful for just getting from point A to point B... But sometimes... Sometimes it could save your life.

Solo came flying at Draven with a hard body check. Unfortunately, he'd left his arms wide open. Draven caught Solo in the face with his boots and the stalker dropped to the ground. From there, the scrapper hopped up on the top rope and came back down on his cousin with a flipping shoulder slam (commonly referred to as a "Senton Bomb," but also referred to as a "Swanton Bomb/Dive" or "Senton Splash").

Draven hiked up Solo's leg and the Ref got in the three count. There was a brief cheer from the BWO heroes and rogues. Draven got a hold of his cousin and looked him over.

"You okay, Daren?" he whispered.

"Yeah..." Solo groaned, "Don't use my real name right now... That was a Helluva kick..."

----

"So... Rage is up against Draven next." Project Whirlwind muttered as he administered to their injuries, "I wish I had more experience with this... Here we go..."

He cast a mild healing spell he had learned form hsi work with the artifacts he wielded. The magic did its trick, and the wounds on the competitors started to close and heal.

"So..." Psycho13 piped up, "Do we watch the tape, or have Draven and Rage duke it out?"

"You really were recording-k?" Serj asked, "Good lord... I thought it was habit..."

"No! Man! We use this to determine strategy... What we're doing right, what we're doing wrong..."

"Seems to me it's being-k wrong to fight your friends and family..."

"Well..." Daren rolled his eyes, "If we get more people in on this... It won't be so dumb."

"You understand foolishness?" Serj grinned at the stalker, "You are recognizing-k that this is... stupid?"

"Dude, we knew it from the beginning," Ragin' James laughed, "But look at it this way... We get the mistakes out of the way here... We won't make them out there."

"You'll go easy on each other..."

"There was nothing easy about that," Psycho13 rubbed his nose, "And I'm the only friend Whirly really has here..."

The rest nodded in agreement, even Project Whirlwind. Bioserj was still unconvinced.

"Well, look at it this way," Solo Stryker gripped his shoulder, "You... Are an enemy of the Committee. They... Are an enemy of you. They have more friends, more men, more guns, and more money than you can hope to even smell. They'll hunt you down to keep their secrets, whatever few you may know..."

"I only know of efforts to make Infected into super agents..."

"Right... Still, they'll kill you for it. We... Are enemies of the Committee. We're still outmanned, outgunned, and outflanked, but what friends we do have outpower them a scooch more. What we lack in numbers we make up for in raw determination, ingenuity, and straight-up [censored]-kicking."

He gestured to the rest of his friends and family.

"And we're offering you a chance to join us."

Bioserj glared at Solo Stryker. The man was crazy. To go up against the odds they were up against... But he was right. Bioserj would be hard-pressed to find support among the rest of the Rogue Isles. Especially people who would believe this criminal Committee existed. As it was, he had little choice, and these guys seemed... Friendly enough.

"I ask only one thing-k..."

"Please don't ask us to keep from making fun of your accent," Psycho13 interrupted.

Bioserj punched him in the mouth.

"No... I don't want you doing-k that either... I... I am needing-k your help finding-k... friend..."

Solo nodded.

"No problem," he replied, "Right Drave?"

The red-coated scrapper nodded.

"Hey!" Rage interrupted, "I think I have some say in that! I mean, we still gotta fight, Draven."

"Do you disagree?"

"No..."

"Then we'll be helping Serj find his friend," Draven turned to the Russian, "Be honest with me... It's a girl, isn't it?"

Bioserj nodded.

"Is she worth it?"

"She's worth dying-k for..."

They stood in silence for a few moments. The sea wind blew past, accenting how alone they were on the old derrick.

"Okay..." Psycho13 piped up, "Let's watch the tape and figure out where we're wrong!"

((I'm not sure what we're gonna do, Funstuff. It's up to Crimsonwolf at this point. I would think she'd take the offer... but how far she's willing to take it, or even if she will, in fact, take it... I have no idea. This game has had some nasty twists and turns (thanks, Diov), and nothing would really surprise me at this point. We just gotta roll with what we get.))

Sarah Grey thought she heard something, but she was focused on saving her friends. She knew Joe and Nester knew the guys more, but the Brutal Warriors seemed to be decent guys, and they had some nifty toys.

Her mech tore through the wall and she beheld a large wolf fighting Draven and Cobalt Black. Draven's sword was stuck in its belly, and it seemed it had a distinct advantage over the two at this point.

A barrage of ammunition changed that, however. The wolf picked itself back up and glared at Sarah.

"You think that can stop me!? I'll tear you limb from limb!"

The wolf started charging at her, when the back of its head suddenly exploded. It didn't die from the blast, but it was definitely down. The wound was already closing up.

Joe Durnan dropped to the ground next to the writhing body. As Archon Krieger struggled to stand again, he jammed a tazer into the wolf's back and didn't remove it until Krieger stopped trying to stand and just lied on the ground, twitching back to his human form.

"Where the Hell have you been?" Draven shouted as he removed his weapon from the Archon's belly, "We got to the hole and you just disappeared..."

"I took out the guys up on the walls," Durnan replied, "Lots of goons up there who weren't on the wall we took down... Lots of guys trying to outflank you guys, too. Bullets and patience put a lot of them out. Grenades took care of the rest."

"Woah, dude, you're hardcore," Cobalt acknowledged, "I had you pegged for a ninny..."

"He is a ninny..." Draven smirked, "Just a ninny with a gun."

"I'm the one getting married and doing something with my life, Jared," Joe slung his rifle over his shoulder, "Not screwing around with my friends and trying to rebuild some old waste of time..."

"Hey! Ours is a legitimate business!"

"With a recruitment and promotion policy akin to a pro-wrestling system..."

Psycho13 suddenly showed up, his wounds closing. King Slater and Project Whirlwind walked up behind him.

"I thought you got taken out," Joe barked at him.

"I got better!" Psycho13 replied happily, "We gonna get on with this? Where's Randy and the others?"

----

The fighting in the basement levels, a bizarre facility that seemed to be a processing plant for Shadow Cyst crystals, was intense. Every corridor was brimming with Council troops. Several times, Randall found himself "going Granite," and cleaning house.

Nearly twenty heroes were enough to devastate the Council forces, all the way back to the main chamber they were protecting. A force of Ascendant Archons stood in their path, however. Five heavily armored soldiers, each armed with massive sonic cannons. One was trouble enough, five would be damn near impossible to beat.

Randy didn't give it a second thought. He just charged down the hall and punched the first one in the chest, smashing him against the door and stomped a small tremor into the floor, knocking the rest to the ground.

Nester lobbed a radiation bomb into their midst, and Cedric leapt up to come smashing his axe down on the face of the Ascendant furthest left. Roland filled the air with arrows, taking care not to shoot where his friends and family were, and the hall filled with combat after that.

One Archon Ascendant found himself smashed against the walls by Randall himself, eventually tossed down a side corridor and smashed in the face by a piece of hurled steel before he could recover and get his shield up. Another, Cedric, Ryat99 and Blizzard Front pummeled to submission. In the end, Cedric was punching the Ascendant's head while he was encased in a solid block of ice.

The third was taken down by Zeke, Charlene, Nester, Ryat66 and Kipland. At one point, they backed him up to the door and the four "living" heroes fired eye beam blasts, shredding his armor and Ryat66 let loose a blast of condensed energy, slamming the Ascendant through the door. There was still another door to get through, but at least this Ascendant was down.

The other two were taken care of by the remaining forces.

Martin, Gregory and Mider Caid slowly dealt with their Ascendant. Gregory used to be in awe of them, even feared them, and here they were. The Council tended to whisper about them... Wherever they were, the Center's interests lay.

Mider's spells weakened the Ascendant's armor while the three melee combatants dealt with him on a personal level. The Ascendant Archon tried to fend them off with his sonic cannon, but all it really seemed to do was make Martin angry. A flurry to the chest later, capped off by a kick to the face and the Ascendant dropped to his knees. A line of fire burned into his chest plate, and dropped him.

Cory, standing at Roland’s side, blew some smoke off his fingertips.

The last Ascendant Archon was dove for the doorway. Drawing his shield, he stood in their way. He was severely beaten and bruised by the assault he'd suffered at the hands of Matt McGinty and Ashen Roast. His armor was singed, nicked, and pockmarked. He looked desperate.

"You shall not pass," he gasped, "I cannot let you get through..."

Roland fired an explosive arrow at the Archon. The shaft hit the top of the shield and caused the projectile to bounce into the door, and fall back behind the Ascendant's feet. The explosion launched the guard over their heads and down the hall, just behind the smirking Roland.

"Nice shot," Randall chuckled, "Here... Allow me..."

He plodded over to the Ascendant, popping his knuckles as he went. The soldier crawled on his back, confused as to what had just happened. As he struggled to stand, his face connected with a rapidly approaching fist, and the Ascendant tumbled down the hall.

"You sure hit him pretty hard, dad." Roland chuckled, "Think he'll be okay?"

"Nah," Randy grinned, "Let's go."

As the heroes moved to break through the remaining door, the Ascendant just knocked down the hall stirred. He hit himself with a turquoise crystal and picked himself back up to watch them go. He started chuckling when they were gone, then gripped his side.

Removing his mask, the Center took in a breath of fresh air.

"Ow..." he breathed, "I gotta remember... I'm getting too old for this..."

He chuckled again.

"But it's fun..."

----

"Oh my god..." Zeke shouted in that inhuman voice he'd used when they were fighting the Dark Nova, "It's... It's... I don't know..."

"I know what it is," Kipland muttered...

But it wasn't Kipland, either. His armor seemed to be hovering over his body, flickering in and out of reality. His eyes were glowing with that peculiar light that was similar, yet not the same to, the Kheldian energy tendrils.

They were staring at what appeared to be a gigantic Shadow Cyst Crystal. Normally, they were about the size of any person. That was more than enough to transport and store hordes of free-floating Nictus, providing a "host" of sorts until more suitable, mobile ones can be found. This one was several times that, roughly the size of a Kronos Class Titan... Maybe smaller, but maybe far more dangerous.

"If that thing is anything like the smaller ones..." Zeke muttered.

"We gotta break it," Randall rumbled, then leapt over the side of the catwalk, "Come on, let's go!"

There weren't any guards. Just one Archon, and one Void Hunter. They stood at the base of the crystal, but they didn’t attack.

"What is this?" Randall barked at them, "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Hunter Zachariah..." Archon Jerod gestured to the crystal, "If you will?"

The Hunter placed a small dark crystal against the larger one. Whatever it was, whatever it did, the massive block started to hum.

"It's charged," Zachariah replied, "Now, I'm going to check on the anomaly..."

The Hunter disappeared, and was suddenly next to Kipland Durj.

"Gah!" the scrapper shouted, then got into a combat stance.

"At ease, boy," the Hunter looked him over, "I just wanted to take a look... I heard you were similar to ones like him... Not so much her..."

"What are you talking about?" Kip shouted at him.

"You're the Obsidian Blight, right? You were infected with Nictus crystals, correct?"

"Something like that..."

"You should be dead."

"I'm aware," Kip's eyes narrowed, and the armor started to materialize on his body as if it were made of smoke, "Life has a funny way of changing."

"I see... I wanted to get a good look at you... I would stick around, but it seems my role here is completed..."

He turned to Zeke and Charlene.

"Your time will come... It would be wise to surrender now, you understand. Well, perhaps not now, but soon. We'll cut every one of you beings out of this city, and usher in the true Nictus superiority. You cannot stand against this.

"Take this message back to your bosses," Ezekiel and Androm'Geizzer said at the same time, then blasted Zachariah off the side of the catwalk.

"That was a message?" Roland laughed.

"Yeah!" Cedric hopped over the rail, caught it, and looked back at his brother, "The message is, 'Don't [censored] with us!'"

"Sounds good, heeyah!"

Randall was joined shortly by the rest of the crew. Archon Jerod simply smirked at them.

"You can't stop me, now," he laughed, "Our plans have come to fruition! There's nothing you can do to stop the Nictus from taking this world, now! You've seen what a small Shadow Cyst can do... Imagine one of this size! Imagine the power behind it! Nothing can stop us! You will either serve the will of the Council, or be destroyed! You will serve the Nictus, or you will be food!"

"I see one problem..." Randall growled as he walked up to the Archon.

"What's that?" Jerod ripped off his mask and got right in the tank's face, "Look, hero, you lost! You can beat the [censored] out of me, but in the end, you'll be burned out of here by a torrential wave of dark energy, and that blast will tear its way out of this island... It will sweep across the city, tearing away all you heroes and replacing you with Nictus slaves! You'll-"

Randall delivered a savage uppercut to Archon Jerod's jaw. The Council commander went flipping through the air and landed against the crystal.

Then started sinking into it.

"What..." the Archon screamed shrilly through his broken jaw, "What's going on!? What's happening!?"

"It's not a transport device," Androm answered, "It's a transmogrifier..."

Randall turned back to Zeke, and then looked up to the Council Archon being devoured.

"It's too late for him, Randall," Zeke placed his hand on his friend's shoulder, "But we have to find a way to break this thing down. Otherwise, Paragon City is in for the fight of its life."

The Crystal swallowed the Archon, the last of his screams being cut off abruptly, and his body became a blob of flailing limbs before disappearing into the distance. Charlene was the only one to look in and hold her hands to her mouth in shock, horror, and disgust. Roland pulled her away so they could hammer out a plan to crack the crystal.

"I say we hit it with everything we've got. Get Sarah down here, have her pummel it with a million rounds of ammunition, my rocks, everything."

Randall really didn't have much else.

"How can we be sure that will work?" Nester whispered, "It could just soak all the energy we pump into it and send out that energy that guy was talking about!"

"We don't know if it can do that!" Cedric laughed, "Also, why are we whispering? It's not like a crystal can really hear us! I mean, what's it gonna do?"

"No..." Kip breathed, and then pointed into the crystal, "This can't be..."

The group turned to see what had startled him. A mass was emerging from the shard. It was a monster unlike anything they'd ever seen.

Except Kip.

Large, misshapen, and dotted with black-purple crystals of varying size, the creature of the scrapper's nightmares emerged, and bellowed out a pained roar from Archon Jerod's face. The face sat on its left "pect," and was stretched out painfully. An ear rested uselessly on the shoulder. Its legs were thick as tree trunks, and ended as splay-toed feet. It's left arm ended in a three-clawed hand, two fingers hung limply and uselessly underneath. The right arm was completely deformed, with massive crystal spikes jutting from it and an even larger one extending out of the forearm like a sword.

Each shoulder had a large crystal jutting out of it, one on the right shoulder small and resting across the flesh, the one on the left jutting diagonally out of the base of its neck. Another crystal rested prominently on the right side of its chest, like some form of perverse heart. The final gem was sunk into a thick neck resting on the monster’s shoulders.

"It's the thing from my nightmare..." Kip gasped, "Oh my God... They can make more..."

The monster roared, and aimed its arm at them. A blast of negative energy arced through the air from the "sword," and exploded when it hit Roland. The group, save for Kip, Randall, Cedric and Ryat99 was scattered.

----

"I'll start with this..." Nemesix aimed his staff at the cage sitting next to the computer in the workshop, "This... What the Hell? Ah well, this thing dies first!"

"NO!"

Sheldon leapt into the room, reached out, and pulled the staff his way. A torrent of concussive force smashed through the room, barely missing Wallace.

"Ah, so there is someone here..." Nemesix laughed, "Prepare to suffer, Hero... Make sure you tell Kipland Durj what happens when you interfere with my plans!"

He smashed the controller across the floor, sending him sliding into the Control Room. Sheldon could feel his body armor smoldering... There was a faint scent of ozone.

"You still live?" Nemesix chuckled, "Very well... I'll take my time with this!"

Behind Nemesix, inside his cage, Felix gripped his cage. He was shouting his little fur ball head off, but couldn't do anything from there. So, he decided to stop being there.

One quick body check into the opposite wall of the cage, and the container was on the floor. In the next instant, the little mutant animal was out of the cage and rushing up Nemesix's leg.

The Fake Nemesis, however, was busy trying to smash into Sheldon. He kept bringing his staff up and crashing it down, trying to break the inventor's leg. Sheldon kept rolling and backing away, but knew he was running out of room.

Finally, the tiny bear was on Nemesix's face, and pounding on it with his tiny fist.

"Nrah!" he shouted, "Mraaah!"

dink-dink-dink-dink-dink-dink-dink

"What the Hell is this!?" Nemesix reached up with his free hand and grabbed a hold of Felix. He tugged at the critter, but Felix refused to let go. He tugged harder and there was a popping sound.

"Did he..." Nemesix glared down at Sheldon.

He could clearly see the circuitry inside the Nemesis head. It was a fake, and now Wallace knew it. It must have been the one Kip had warned them about, the Fake that thought it really was Nemesis... The one that had tried to assassinate Statesman a couple weeks back.

"It ripped off my mask!?" Nemesix screamed, "I'm exposed!"

The staff fell to the ground, and the machine tried to pull the armor piece from Felix. It was peculiar. Despite out-sizing the living teddy bear nearly a hundred times, Nemesix was having trouble getting his mask back.

"Hng... Grgh... Urrrrrrgh!"

"M-nah... Mrah... G'naaaaah!"

"Let go, damn you!"

"Naaaaaaaaah!"

Finally, Nemesix relaxed a moment, and then exerted some extra force on Felix, plucking the little bear off and launching him into the wall. Sheldon was horrified when the bear turned into a small brown disk of fur and slid to the ground, but Felix got right back up on his feet and started trotting up to the brass-armored villain.

"I'm going to get this back on..." Nemesix growled, "Then I'm going to cleave that little critter right in two! Your little pet is gonna die, hero, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Felix," Sheldon called to his pet, his friend, "I've taken a lot from you over the past year..."

He adjusted a control on his glove.

"It's time to give something back..."

He fired off a beam of energy. Kinetic energy. It was a speed boost.

Wreathed in a green aura, there was a slight popping sound as Felix's bones fitted back into place and he bolted up Nemesix's leg. The machine instinctively smashed at the animal, smashing his own knee joint to pieces in the process. The blur of green energy and brown fur circled around the torso a couple times before finally bolting under the mask jsut as Nemesix refitted it.

The Brass King's impostor fell to the ground, his knee smashed to oblivion and unable to support him, but he was more concerned with his lack of vision.

"Your pet just crawled inside my head," his head turned to where he remembered Sheldon being, "Didn't he?"

"Yeah," the controller replied.

"Nyeh-hah!" the bear chortled a laugh from inside the head.

Immediately, Nemesix shook violently, ripping at his own head, trying to fit his hands around the edges of his mask, into the eye holes, something, anything to get the bear out. But they were just... too... large.

"Get-it-out-get-it-out-get-it-out-get-it-out-GET-IT-OUT-GET-IT-OUT-GET-IT-*K-ZRRT!*"

The body shook violently with the electric sound of the brain shorting out, dropped with a crash, and laid still. The base was silent, save the low hum of the generator's elsewhere.

"Oh my God..." Sheldon's voice cracked, "Fe-Felix?"

The body was still for several moments. Sheldon approached slowly. Then, there was a shuffling sound, a tapping accompanied by "neh! NEH!" and finally, the mask popped off, with Felix's tiny fist emerging from the center of the hole right after it.

"FELIX!" Sheldon pulled the little bear out of the head and hugged him close.

Felix blinked a couple times, made a small whine, and shivered. Lots of his hair fell off. It was almost immediately replaced by a type of short-hair fuzz.

"How?" Wallace glared at him for a moment, but the animal seemed fine.

Felix crawled around in his arms, finally getting to a position where he could lick Sheldon happily. They sat on the floor like that for a long while.

----

Randall smashed his fist into the gem on the monster's chest. It had laid them low for long enough. Roland was crumpled on the ground, Nester trying to revive him. Kipland had been knocked into the crystal, and Cedric was trying to keep him from being sucked in. The rest of the group was busy hammering this thing that was far more powerful than Kip described from what he remembered of his dream.

In fact, a dark energy field surrounded the monster, not unlike the one that kept Zeke safe from most kinds of harm.

But enough was enough, and Randall Grey was [censored]! It had tried to kill his son, and it was payback time. His fist smashed into the chest again, this time cracking the gem. It took a swing at him with the massive "sword" and followed up with a shotgun blast of dark energy from its "head." The beams scattered about, but nailed Randy, Nester, Charlene and Zeke.

"Oh my God!" she yelled, "It burns... It BURNS!"

"It'll be okay," Zeke called to her, "You'll be alright..."

Randy, however, was far from alright. He was in a mad rage, and his next punch, smashing through the gem completely and taking a few of the monster's ribs with it, exemplified the fact. Sometimes, there was a benefit to having your family in danger, and that benefit was that it brought out untold amounts of potential in you.

For Randy, that potential was rage. He was no longer fighting to win. Well, yes, he was fighting to win, but there was something more. He was fighting to protect his family. Sure, he knew they could all take care of themselves. But he was tired... Tired of watching them get hurt. Tired of letting them suffer, and, most of all, tired of the Enemy thinking they could hurt them without reprisal.

Randall's fist crashed through the gem on the monster's head. He picked it up, and threw it back at the crystal that spawned it. His face was a mask of rage, his eyes had gone completely white, save the pupils.

With a final pull, Cedric wrenched Kip free of the crystal, and the younger scrapper wound up next to Charlene, Zeke, and Nester. Cedric bounded behind them, and they unleashed a torrent of energy beam attacks from their eyes, all of which were directed right at the monster.

Screaming, Jerod fell backwards, into the crystal. Randall threw a rock at it, further compacting him into the impromptu prison.

Roland stood and looked at the situation. The crystal was glowing brightly from its contained energy. Whatever it was designed to do, there was obviously a serious side effect. Perhaps the Archon wasn't all that wrong, and the crystal would launch a torrent into the world...

He searched through his arrow heads and retrieved one he figured would help in this situation. A sonic vibrations arrow, it was designed to weaken foes utilizing acoustic frequencies...

He turned a dial.

Now, it would do some damage to physical objects. It wasn't supposed to... But there weren't innocent civilians here.

He ran for the stairs.

"Come on!" he shouted over the hum of the vibrating crystal, "Let's get out of here!"

The others had to drag Randall away, who was busy beating the tar out of Jerod's fading body, but he came to with a quick application of mind clearing energies from Nester's gloves. The group made haste for the exit, and Roland left a parting gift.

His arrow sailed into the ceiling, struck home, and started to vibrate. The ceiling started to crumble, and they hit the "up" button on the elevator.

When they got to the top, the whole facility was shaking. Randall ushered everyone out of the building as machinery popped and exploded. Steam and water erupted from pipes, the ground started to shake. In the air was the BWO dropship. Daren brought the vehicle to the ground, hovering inches from it. Everyone climbed aboard, including the mech, and the dropship took off like a rocket.

An explosion rocked the island. A dark, black-purple mushroom cloud rose up, then dissipated. The heroes stared at it from the open rear cargo door of the dropship. They watched the island fade from view.

It was over. A major Council threat had been averted, and Grey's Army had finally done something that made an actual difference. There was nothing personal about it. There were no civilians getting hurt. Hell, they may have even saved the world...

"So that's what it feels like..." Kip mumbled as Cedric brought up the point, "It's over rated..."

"Oh, come on!" Cedric shouted, "We kicked some major [censored]! What's to complain about?"

----

"Archon White..."

The Archon awoke with a start. He'd fallen asleep at his desk again.

"I'd expected you in your quarters."

It was the Center. White's heart skipped a beat. He'd done as he was ordered. Did something go wrong? Wait... Everything was meant to go wrong... Randall Grey and Grey’s Army destroy a Council base with nefarious intent toward the Council, or they get captured trying to do it. Win/win, right? What was wrong?

"Uh, yes sir..."

"Sit down," the Center smiled at him, "You're much too uptight..."

"Sir, the last time I met you... It was right after you had most of the other Archons in the room summarily executed."

"Oh yes," the Center chuckled, "I did do that. Nasty business that. You're afraid I'll do that to you, now?"

White looked down at his desk.

"Relax. I just came by to tell you that it all went perfectly. Randall Grey and his forces demolished the base... Arakhn and Requiem are scratching their heads, and my powerbase within the Council is further consolidated. All because of you."

"Uh... You're welcome, sir."

"Indeed. Now, I'm certain you won't be telling anyone about this little transgression of ours, correct?"

"Yes sir."

"If I start to hear rumors about this, White, I'm coming straight for you."

"I understand."

"Good."

And Archon White awoke with a start. He was in his office, just like before. Only it was morning. Had the Center been talking to him in his dream?

"Sir?" Adjutant Jordan walked into the room, a stack of files in his hand.

"I... Just... Busy day..."

"Oh..." Jordan looked about the room, but eventually set the papers on his boss's desk, "Sir... If you need the day off, I can take command... For now! I mean, temporarily..."

"Relax, Jordan," White rubbed his left temple, "I trust you. Besides, I'm not leaving for the next few weeks..."

"Come on, sir, you've been beating yourself up since your last command got thrashed. It happens to a lot of Archons, and they still get assigned posts and cells throughout the city. Adjutants, too. You never know when a hero's just gonna stumble in..."

"Like now.." White muttered.

"What!?" Adjutant Jones looked out the window, but nothing was going on.

"Oh... Oh Jebus..."

"You know what?" Archon White leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet up on the desk, "Tell everybody to go home and take the day off. I don't feel like going through a day of this right now."

"Uh..." Jones was hesitant, but a free day was a free day, "Aye, sir!"

((So... We gotta wait for Crimson.))

((Not tossed over his shoulder. It's a standing headlock, with Poe being used as a "human shield."))

"I don't ask for more than I'm owed," Power Breaker replied to Noitpeced, "So I don't want anything from you than a good night left alone. My record, my problems... I'll deal with them. I made my bed on that one."

He looked to his unconscious friend.

Schayde. Just yesterday she mixed drinks for him. Today... He was willing to lay down his life for her. He didn't even know why.

Still...

"The rest... Talk to her. It's not my place to make deals for other people. I think she'll say no... But I've been wrong before. You want your boss's kid? Take him, as far as I'm concerned. But you still gotta convince the rest of these guys, and I'm NOT letting go until we have a satisfactory verdict."

Poe gurgled.

"Oh no..." he relaxed hsi grip a little and shook the body a little, "You're not dying on me, moron. I'm not letting it happen. I got a good check on your pulse rate... I can keep you like this till you starve or get dehydrated... I don't think it's gonna come to that."