Cy simply watched as Ultra took off. His distraction was short-lived as more freeze rays crashed into his psychokinetic shield. He simply turned around to see three Frizonians firing adamantly at him. "Go away." He stuck out his hand, and with a flash of his eyes, ball lightning erupted in a large globe, its center between the unlucky three. He left them in a crispy pile as he made his way, following Ultra. Then, he noticed a Jeep heading towards something...checking a few things on a portable GPS, he noted the Jeep was heading for the crater. He'd follow, but at a slight distance.

OOC: Eh, I'll just wing it and see what comes to mind here. I really need to catch up here. :<

IC:

Kaze could only sort of sit and listen as to the reptilian admin's voices as it crackled through the communicator on the mech.

"Yes, I'll get you out of this, Jin - have faith. But you'll need faith in yourself too, as well as you, Kaze, and all of you. Your strength is what Sega City needs right now more than ever, and you can do it.

"But enough pep talk, there isn't time and I'm cold-blooded, so this weather is affecting me directly. The alien soldiers have been coming from whatever it is that landed in the middle of that apartment complex two blocks north of your position. So has a strange energy reading that seems to be lowering the ambient temperature of the city. Whatever they've got in there will eventually freeze over the city. The rest of the Admins are focusing their powers to prevent the city from freezing over, but they're only slowing down the inevitable. The only way to stop it entirely is to infiltrate the alien landing craft and either destroy it or at least the device that is cooling the city down. I'm assigning you the task of doing that. Should you accept it, you'll be facing grave danger, but if not, then it looks like the city is doomed..."

Easier said than done, thought the chao bitterly. She only stared on in indifference as TTG passed out HotHands to everyone. She would have loved to grab one or two, but she'd practically freeze if she were left the Walker. It was times like this she wished she was more than a foot tall.

A pile-up of forumers, the jeep arrival, and a few quick introductions and later, Kaze turned her head just in time to see Ash pull up next to the Chao Walker.

"Hola Kaze! Enforcer Fox Ash is on the scene. What's the sitch looking like?"

The chao quickly recapped, "An invasion by aliens who shoot ice beams. Vec says to head to where that huge thing crashed and take it out."

"Well...before any of you go anywhere, let me note that the big asteroid now has a giant howitzer guarding it," Ultra spoke.

"Howitzer?"

"One that can freeze an entire building in moments under a concentrated barrage. If it hits you, you're toast...well, frozen toast. Anyhow, there's also three squads of those 'Frizonians' on their way here."

"HOTBLOODS!!!"

"Er...well, they're here NOW."

At this point, the chao turned to notice even more of the Frizonians headed right in their direction, already firing upon them. It'd be a waste to use up the remaining ammo for the gatling gun on these guys. There were way too many of them.

"MOVE!!!" It was Jinsoku this time, who'd already clambered onto the jeep along with a bunch of the forumers along with Mobius and Hukos.

Guess it's actually time I tested out Harris' latest addition to this thing, Kaze thought, eyeing a red button on the left side of the controls. As soon as she pressed it, several things seemed to whir for a moment, then her view from inside the mech seemed to rise a bit. What?
Another holographic screen display that popped up explained it all. Wheels. Small they were, but they were there, coming right out from underneath the feet on the mech.

"Drive Mode activated," the screen indicated as the model shown sped forward using the small hoverjets on it's small holographic feet to propel it forward.

More like 'Skate Mode,' Kaze thought bitterly as the small seat moved forward a bit, leaving at least a bit of room in the back. Humph. This had better work.

The chao braced herself for the inevitable cold and opened the cockpit. "Oi! I think I could fit a forumer or two back here. Come on, we don't have time to stick around here!"

OOC: Still here, just been busy with college work (Ack!). Will post an entry tonight.

( OOC: Kaze Super Mech!)

Ryan watched bitterly as everyone suddenly collided and recollected. The Jeep sped up, the other car came by, whoa was that Ultra?! Keeping a safe distance from Ultra, Ryan pondered what he could do to help, when suddenly Mobius shouted and began speeding off, with forumers jumping into the Jeep.

Turning back to the other car, he'd note a few others were hopping in, but Kaze, Ultra and himself seemed to be the only stalwarts.

The figure in the car stuck his head out of the right side window-and waved at him. "Hey! You! You gonna need a lift right?"

"No. No no! I'll catch up! You guys get a move on!" He turned his attention to the Frizonians that had just appeared, and held his hands together. Concentrating all his focus into his hands, Ryan began to tremble.....

Hero mode. Good job doofus, yer still tired. Still....I can give them some cover before I need to rest.

---

The troops that had found the hotbloods quickly aimed their weapons, aiming to shoot and freeze anything that moved. Of course, that included the cars. Mobius' Jeep was gaining a good lead, but the other car had not yet begun driving. Kaze's Walker was still adjusting to drive mode, and well, Ultra was ready to rumble, cybernetic arm poised to strike.

A barrage of bullets flew at the cobalt blur whom took no hesitation to dash backwards and to the left, evading the principal blasts with ease. He reverse path set him a foot away from Kaze-before a second barrage of Icebeams came searing through the winter air.

Ultra watched as the darkness that lined the street around this troop was forced upward, howling with an energy unknown to the Mobuis Forum for some time now. The beams that were headed for them didn't get deflected. They weren't dispelled either. Rather, it seemed as if the darkness that erupted around this Friozonain troop atethe freeze rays. As the Dark Dome fully closed around the Frizonians, Ryan fell to his knees, holding his hands together. Cold breaths ran from his nostrils, to the point where it seemed he was breathing pure ice.

"Dun ask questions. We got 2 minutes. Then the Icescapades begins again."

Quick OOC note: Ash's car is a more sporty thing, so at most it can hold 3 more people besides himself and Jason, and it'll be a tight squeeze. Not saying fitting folk in is impossible, just uncomfortable. ;p

OOC: Sorry for the short post, but I'm drawing a blank here. I've got a bad case of RP block.

IC:
Kayla barely had time to draw her cannon when the second wave of Frizonians attacked.

"Primus, these guys can't take a hint!"

She fired on every Frizonian she saw, melting some of them. Yet, they still kept coming.

"Guys!" she called, "Anyone have any ideas?"

'I hope so,' she thought, 'My cannon doesn't have infinite power.'

Meanwhile, Silver was attempting to follow along on the rooftops next to the street. Seems everyone's going toward that large cannon down there... I bet the crew won't expect an attack from above!

He glanced at the buildings the Frizonians had frozen. Or at least if they do, no one will have to see my frozen corpse. That's... not too bad, right?

OOC: This is much faster than I expected, I'll keep up a bit more from now on.

OOC: A bit short but it'll do for now.

IC: While everyone had already begun to split up once even more of those alien soldiers had shown up, she soon realized that she was going to be left behind and the prospect of being left behind with all these strange guys around, caused chills up her back. Not seeing a whole lot of options, she turned tiny and decided to hop on a ride with the Walker again. It seemed like the safest option for right now, and would serve as some nice protection from those crazy aliens.

Ultra just stared at Ryan, his green eyes slightly quivering at the feeling of that darkness...so casual, encompassing, and empty, unlike that deep, corrupting power that he had once wielded so long ago.

Shadow Ultra.

The Dreamworlds.

Dr. Archon.

Nightshade.

The Messenger of the Outer Gods, Nyarlathotep.

Revival...

It was Derek...kind of. Something seemed...odd, about him. Lighter, in a sense...

Even so...one guy who he had least SOME acquaintance with, GMR notwithstanding...speaking of which.

"Hold on. Let me get us some distance."

Ultra wrapped his arm around Ryan's torso and leaped upward, his metallic hand launching and clutching onto the nearest building. One reel-in later, and the two were looking down at the shadowy dome.

Out of the blue, as if unconcerned about it at all, Ultra said, "Sorry for calling you Nightshade's lackey way back when."

Ryan could only arch an eyebrow.

(OOC: Only those who participated in Group Mission: Revival would remember this.)

"MOVE!" barked Jin, running towards Mobius' Jeep, and on he went. Though not inside. It was time for some quick action, and on top of the Jeep he got, balancing himself on the bars to perfection; squatting forward, two feet on the back bars, his one good hand on the windshield, hanging on with all his strength as the vehicle speeds off towards ground zero.

Teeth clenched, he braced for the worse as Mobius set off the nitrous overdrive. Off they went, blazing down the road with no remorse towards whoever or whatever they ran over. With each Frizonian soldier they hammered, Jin's grip tightened. Somewhere along the way, some of the soldiers decided to try and jump in and join their road trip; this is where Jin relied on his nice, chilly, hard and solid frozen arm. With every one soldier that attempted to board, he would swing his frozen arm and knock them off with a swift swipe.

And with each thud and roll the bodies made, the wider Jin's grin got. The closer they got, however, the faster they had to think of something. He looked down.

"Hey guys?!," the wind sheered through any audible sound. The living car ornament noticed this, and raised his voice as loud as he could make it go. "HEY, DOUCHEBAGS!!!" Everyone inside looked up, eyes showing they were not amused. Jin could see Mobius' malcontent glare through his rearview mirror. The hedgehog let out a nervous chuckle.

"IF ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, SPEAK THE @#$! UP! NOW!!!"

Ideas, Shm-ideas, details, details.

Mobius scowled at the thought that Jin's screamed comment was correct, since right now the idea was to approach to simply scope the scene of the crime, and not to really take care of it at this point - perhaps he DID have a couple of the forums finest with him, but right now it meant squat if they went in unprepared.

" I'm with Frosty McJin-man on this one, we need a plan and we need one quick... " He said loudly without looking over his shoulder, before throwing the jeep into a hard right into a turning ahead, flinging off a frizonian that had been trying to cling onto the back, watching it roll on the ground behind them from the rear-view mirror.

"The only thing I can think of is the typical diversion tactics...keep the gun occupied with a few moving targets to draw it's fire away, and mobilise some MoFo's to go down low and take out that thing while they've got something better to do."

He scratched the tip of his beak in thought - His jeep, Ash's car, and the Chao-mech-thing were the only active vehicles in range.

" There's 3 good distraction-worthy 'objects' - How 'bout we pull over and draw straws...? " He quipped quickly, his eyes still focusing on the driving, not really keeping tabs on what was going on inside the jeep so much.

"Draw straws? Pssh." Keeping himself held on for dear life as Mobius turns the vehicle on a dime, he puzzles on whether any of it mattered at this point. Three distractions, and one was practically a walking target.

"We don't need no frikkin' straws," muttered Jin. "Hey Mobe! Drive up as close as you can to that gun. I'll jump ship and -", he stops. Everyone looks up at him, awaiting his plan of attack. Then, out of nowhere, he lets out a burst of clueless laughter. "Pfft, hell, I dunno. I guess I'll wing it from there!" He smiles.

The puzzlement over Ultra's newfound chumminess was disturbing, not to mention distracting, as the dome began to wobble and bend from constant shots from the freeze rays. With every absorbed shot, Ryan coughed up shards of ice and felt that his insides-as smoky as they may be, were going to freeze internally. Releasing his hands, the dome was suddenly frozen completely by the next shot.

Ultra stared down at the new icedome that held the Frizonian squad. "Huh, didn't know that could happen."

"To be honest,..hehe I didn't know that either. Nice to see you again Ultra, though you may not remember me too well." Ultra was now the one to raise the eyebrow in confusion, as Ryan looked over the hedge of the building to see if Kaze and the others had enough time to get out of there

"You didn't know it could freeze?"

"Nuh-uh. It seemed like an impossibility. Learn something new everyday huh?" Ryan laughed off the awkwardness of the moment, and shook his hands to free them of the numbness. "That whole Nightshade deal was a fiasco.Won't happen again." Ryan quickly turned his attention back to the dome, and pointed. "I'm pretty sure they're gonna break out of that, really soon. You'd better catch up to everyone else, I'll need a minute to rest anyway."

Ryan's peripheral vision could not stop looking at the feat that was the grafted cybernetic arm upon Ultra's body now. It was so...seamless, almost as if it was done by mystics and not science. He declined to ask about it, feeling that this was a bit too cold of a place to discuss a possibly engrossing scientific topic.

((OOC: The ice dome is really brittle, so yeah, whoever wants to have them break out, feel free.)

Meanwhile, Ash had taken in whichever forumers had opted to ride in his car, uncomfortable as it might be, and had sped off down the road after Mobius. He had the added fortune of some kind of weapons systems on his car, so he'd been able to efficiently mow down any Frizonians en route. He followed the Jeep as it turned a hard right, peppering the unfortunate Frizonian thrown off with a few shots from the car's guns as he went past.
"Hmm. From what I understand, our frosty invaders have set up a really big freeze ray near here which we'll have to take out... We need a plan."
"Quite so." agreed Jason. "Should I take it you're formulating one?"
Ash shrugged in reply. "Going by what we have available, I'm thinking probably the best tactic'll be to have us vehicle owners act as a distraction whilst some folks try legging it to cause some destruction and mayhem. Seems like the best strategy... besides, they only have the one big gun, we have several possible targets. They can't shoot us all at once."
Jason shivered. "I'd rather avoid being shot at all if I can help it."
"I hear you dude. I'd rather avoid that too." Then he grinned. "But from the sounds of it, Jin's reckless enough to risk his neck on it. No worries!" My kinda guy...he thought to himself.

OOC: If there's still a forumer sticking around, Kaze's Walker in its current state can probably hold/carry only one more besides herself and Lena. Depending on height, I think it'd be safe to assume only the legs (or a leg) could actually fit in the bit of space behind where Kaze sits, and they'd have to hold on to the back of the seat. It'd be pretty uncomfortable there, too. Given Lena's height, she could probably sit alongside Kaze with no problem.

IC:
After Lena changed size again and hopped aboard the transformed Chao Walker (well, Skater now in Kaze's opinion), the chao waited for the other forumer ; out of the vehicles available, hers had the least amount of room, she realized. Then again, the mech was never designed to fit large beings, only one or two small ones.

Without another word, the mech sped off, bobbing and weaving to avoid the freeze rays, and, surprisingly, she was still at least able to take a couple of them down with the gatling gun arm as she drove by.

She'd barely managed to get by as the smoky forcefield appeared, engulfing the Frizonians still shooting at her from behind.

Following the others in the same hard right turn, a beam suddenly shot by just inches above Kaze's head. As the chao turned briefly to look, the Frizonians in the frozen ice shield just broken free and resumed firing.

"So, diversion tactics it is, then?" she called out ahead, as she barely heard the previous exchange. "Considering what we're going up against, we don't seem to have much else choice..."

---

OOC: Fast GM is fast... some days. o.o;

"Eh, some of the others aren't exactly...'enthused' about my presence." For reasons you might not be aware, naturally. "Besides, I'm not exactly the same either." Again, for reasons you might not be aware of...

"Plainly," muttered Ryan as he stared once more at the arm of adamantium. Really, a marvel of engineering...yes, it was quite-

The Frizonians broke free of the icy dome and opened fire on the fleeing ChaoWalker. Ultra frowned as he aimed with his laser blaster. "Got any other weapons on you?"

Arikyrenne watched as forumers gathered into - or onto - the vehicles that were there. It was clear things were moving quickly. She hesitated slightly though, looking around to see who was left. It was wise to conserve as much energy as possible for whatever lay ahead, but if she had to, she could shift to her smallest form to squeeze in somewhere while someone else who didn't have such an option could take the available space.

(OOC: Just a quick post in attempt to keep up with things (sorta anyway^^; ). Basically, if there's still room once others have boarded the vehicles, then she'll go as is. If not, then she'll shift to cat (as in the four-legged animal) form and squeeze in where she can.)

"Ummm..." Ryan stuck his hands in his pockets, grabbing the sewn cloth inside them, and pulling on them while removing his hands, to show there was nothing but dust in his possession. "Nope. Nothing else, and well...I have this sword..but I dunno how to use it."

If Ultra's memory was good, he'd remember that infamous blade from back then, now seemingly wielded as viciously as a child with his dad's gun. Ryan wobbly held it upright, unsure how to balance its weight, when it wasn't on his back. "Nope, this would be it. But I could think of something really fast that might make up for it?!!"

Very odd how cheerful Ryan was about this whole situation. Just being around other beings was excitement enough for him.

Hukos was not happy. First off, he could barely hang on inside the vehicle. Secondly, he felt like a sardine. It didn't help that Jin was barking at everyone to come up with something.

Gah! What do to? What to think? He just shook his head and decided that someone else might come up with a decent idea.

OOC: Holy crap, I miss a couple of days and this happens. o_o

Lena crawled around the edge of the Walker, a bit tough considering it was moving and with that and the freeze rays being shot about like they were going out of style, she didn't know how much more excitement like this she could handle. She came to the edge of the cockpit where the chao sat and she positioned herself on the edge of it. She had heard the Chao mention 'diversion tactics' and she looked ahead and saw a large cannon like machine, being armed by the aliens. They shot a single beam from it and she watched as it hit a large building, incasing it in a large prison of ice. "So...ummm...what diversion tactics do you have in mind?"

"H-hey! Forgetting something!?" Painting yelled after Kaze after she moved. "I'm out in the open here!" He noticed that this was probably the proper time to flee and ran away. He managed to avoid a freeze ray coming in his direction and ducked into an alleyway. He stealthed, becoming transparent as he fled. "Looks like I'll have to come back and help when I'm in a better position." he thought. He set off to find a place that he could watch the situation from.

Mobius frowned, knowing that he couldn't keep this going for as long as he woulda liked - he hated not being active in a situation, and it dawned on him that, perhaps, Jin's plan was probably as good an idea as any he could come up with right now...

The only question being was how the heck do you co-ordinate something like this...?

" Okay, I guess we should probably make an attempt on the rather large Fridge-gun thing. " He muttered, trying to think about the best methods to launch an attack without being seen before the distraction wore out it's effectiveness.

" We're gonna head out to find the least guarded area possible to scope this thing out...and if anybody has anything that's likely to help us DO that, PLEASE do not hesitate to throw it out there. It's just the few of us versus a VEEERRRY large freeze ray thing, so any ideas would be pretty much appreciated. "

He sighed, watching as more Frizonian's dived outta the way of his jeep barrelling down the road at law-breaking speeds...and shooting in their direction, missing them either completely, or by inches.

It was only a matter of time until their luck ended - or somebody shot at the tyres...it would be massive sucktitude, he goaned internally, if they were intercepted before they could even get close enough to do something.

Kayla looked up when Kaze mentioned diversionary tactics.

'Diversion for what?' she thought.

She glanced around for a moment, before she saw the giant ice tank.

"Oh slag!" she exclaimed, "As if these aliens weren't enough."

She noticed the Chao Walker heading towards it.

"I wonder..."

OOC: Kaze, is it okay with you to hop on your walker? Or has someone else already done it?

OOC: I think you're safe. Lena is the only one else on it and she's like 2 inches tall at the moment.

OOC: Whoa, this is moving way faster than I thought it would

IC: Arikyrenne heard a feminine voice ask, "Arikyrenne isn't it? Mind if I call ya Ari? And are we late to the party?"
She turn around and saw a gray cat and two humans; one seemed to be dressed in some sort of military outfit and the other wore a purple robe & armor. MoKat had appeared behind her with MDM and Marcus. The Dark Magician immediately flew up, past the roof of the nearest building.
Before the forumer could reply, MDM shouted, "Boss! Those ice-heads brought out one heck of a party favor! Looks like some sorta cannon! Oh! And there's a Jeep heading toward it!"
MoKat blinked and looked at Ari. "Please tell me the people in the Jeep have a plan..."

Jason furrowed his brows. Come on, surely you're regarded as a great tactician for a reason...think! Think!

Ash pulled a sharp turn, nearly tilting the car halfway off the road. Jason almost shrieked in shock. "What school licensed you to drive?"

"License?" quipped the fox, gritting his teeth as the car stabilised. "Everything I know about driving I learned from Out Run 2."

"We coulda gone flying off the road because you wanted to try driving at a forty-five degree angle! Are you cra--" Jason paused in the middle of his outrage to consider a stray particle of inspiration that struck his mind. Ash looked over at him briefly.

"What?"

"Idea, Captain! You said Jin was going to go headlong at that thing? Right, we'll have him get out of the Jeep and ascend to a nearby rooftop. While we're driving around like lunatics and diverting that cannon's attention, Jin can attack from above before they can orient the bloody great thing. We have to tell them before they drive into a freeze ray!"

Ash nodded. "Can only hope they get cold feet about the plan they have right now. Here we go." With that, he pressed the acceleration pedal to the floor.

"Arikyrenne isn't it? Mind if I call ya Ari? And are we late to the party?"

Arikyrenne the tigress's ears automatically swiveled a bit before the rest of her turned towards whoever had called her name.

She blinked as she saw the group of three, and wondered both where they came from - she hadn't noticed them before - and how the feline who addressed her knew her name. She could answer the questions, though, and was just about to open her mouth to do so when the purple-clad person flew up and reported what he saw.

"Please tell me the people in the Jeep have a plan..." said the gray-furred feline, looking towards Arikyrenne once again.

"I'm not sure," Arikyrenne replied. It was too bad she didn't have a better answer, but it was the best she could give considering she really didn't know. "Hopefully they do. They took off soon after more of the aliens arrived…"

Looked like the remaining vehicles were moving out, and more freeze ray blasts were on their way. The mention of the aliens reminded Arikyrenne that this place certainly wasn't safe either!

Ultra shook his head and prepared his body for the swift descent he was about to accomplish, when Ryan grabbed his shoulder.

"Waitwaitwaiiiit! Idea hit me!." Ryan noticed the ears of the hedgehog twitch, conveying he better speak quick 'cause time was of the essence.

"There are troops all over, and we're heading toward the gun right. That means we have the astute problem of being double backed upon. What we can do..." Fingers suddenly danced in the air, writing out diagrams as he spoke "is make it so the troops help us rather than bother us. I'm guessing you can't run really well on ice, right?"

"That's a given." Ultra turned to face Ryan, noting the person was exceptionally jubilant right now.

"Perfect. All we have to do is find a group, and make them attack us. We double back around them, and somehow get them in the path of the ginormous freeze ray. That'll make them into a huuuuge ice-brick-that we can then push forward, giving us cover and allowing anyone else to get up close to really harm the gun! Waddya think?"

Ultra stared, dumbfounded...was Ryan really serious?

Mobius was getting pretty frustrated about the way that things were panning out so far - without any way of figuring out just what was going on in the others minds, and with the figure of Jinsoku getting ready to pounce as they got closer, the whole thing was liable to turn into the potential snake that ate it's own tail...

He still had the single grenade that he'd found earlier - if anything was gonna add to the mess of things later on, he knew that at least that would give them some extra leverage when it came to the ground assault later on...but that was pretty much the last one he had here right now, and the only other offensive item he had other than the pistol and shotgun that were stashed nearby...

All in all, he thought grimly, The forecast for the time being was a harsh cold front and gloomy skies...they had to do something, and soon.

...uh huh. The sheer amount of logistical problems involved in that plan alone were immense. So many things could go wrong, compared to other, simpler plans. And...he was kind of 'giddy' compared to his previous persona. Well, a couple of years can change people. "You know, we could probably do the same thing with cars and other pieces of debris instead of other...Frizonians..."

Idea.

Hmm. Ultra glanced away from the crater, staring at the frozen road...the scattered bodies of fallen Frizonians...the large incline as one got closer downtown, stretching upward...

xxxx

The Jeep, the ChaoWalker, and the other car's engines roared as they advanced onward towards the icy asteroid, weaving and avoiding as many of the Frizonian freeze rays as they could. Every so often, they would dive into nearby alleyways to seek refuge from the enemy assault.

Mobius grumbled as he shifted the gears to R, going in reverse down the alleyway. Darn it all, KNEW we should've scouted out...

Jinsoku cursed under his breath. "Hmm. Winging it is proving tougher than I thought."

The eagle resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Fortunately, his eyes found other things to stare at.

Namely, the giant blocks of ice that suddenly zoomed past them along the road, smashing into a few Frizonians on its way to the 'icesteroid'.

"...what the?"

Then another came, crashing into a couple of more. A constant barrage from the icy howitzer chilled it so much that it fragmented...but in the end more were coming. It only took a few moments for people to realize they were looking at potential cover for their advance.

xxxx

Further up the road near downtown Sega City, Ultra and Ryan - each bearing ice guns confiscated from the corpses of fallen Frizonians - fired on empty vehicles, dumpster bins, and other large objects. It only took several seconds to freeze each object into a large block of ice. Then, a quick push...and voila. Down the hill towards the icy asteroid, hopefully bowling over Frizonians...and probably offering some help to the others as well.

"Gotta say, this was a good idea Ryan."

There was a scream of tyres as Ash pulled up alongside the Jeep as Mobius turned it.
"Yo! Looks like we've some form of cover guys, so how's about we make use of it? Jason's given me a good idea."
The eagle at the driver's seat nodded. "More than we've got right now. Spill!"
"Right, well we've got some cover now." he glanced at Jin. "Jin, you'd be happier moving by foot, right? Maybe you could get up higher and launch an attack from above, whilst us in the vehicles run distraction tactics." he looked thoughtful for a moment. "In fact, take a few guys with you. If we attack from multiple directions, they can't hope to stop us taking out that big gun one way or another. Then maybe we could get a better look at that asteroid they arrived in - I bet you there's probably some useful info in there - and failing that, it seems to be where they're all coming from, so if we take that out, we take care of our frosty fellows."
Mobius shrugged. "Well, it seems relatively sound..."
"Alright then! Then you guys best decide who's gonna try attacking and who's gonna help be a diversion..." Ash kicked the car into gear and pulled a quick 180 turn, much to Jason's discomfort. "I'll go and start the party!" He stomped on the gas, and his car rocketed off again back out on to the main road the large chunks of ice were sliding down. As he went, he tossed the car's radio to Jason. "Here. Give Kaze an idea of what we're doing, would you?" He grinned, as he weaved between huge ice blocks, taking the occasional potshot at the massive freeze ray with the car's machineguns. Jason just nodded, quickly considering how to relay the plan to Kaze. Anything to keep his attention away from the fact that they were, as always seemed to happen whenever he went on some kind of adventure with Ash, throwing themselves once again straight into the jaws of mortal danger.
We've always been lucky so far though. he mused as he started speaking into the radio.

"Hasta la vista, Dumpster!"

The crackle of the freeze ray slamming into the metallic waste disposal unit was loud, but soon the reverberation stopped, leaving what was once open now iced over. Satisfied with his latest creation, Ryan ran over and slammed his body weight into the mass. "Here comes the fun part!!"

The street was covered in a ice luge of sorts, making it simple for them both to push their assorted ice-bricks down towards the howitzer. The Frizonians manning the gun were none too pleased with the barrage of ice coming back their way. What made it worse, there was now a damn semblance of resistance, as one car seemed to bob and weave through the constant barrage-firing at them. The howitzer slowly began to run toward that vehicle, barrel glowing with energy...

"Gotta say, this was a good idea Ryan." Ultra stated as he fired upon a set of three cars.

"Yeah..this works..." He tapped the side of his head with one finger. "Sometimes. Now, let's wrassle up these last little puppies and throw 'em to the kennel." Ryan gave his best Western shout before turining around and firing at the next largest object he saw. As he did so, he made sure to keep an eye out for any sneaky or suspicious movements that may have come their way. They had more than enough freeze guns to spare if these ran out."

"Gotta wonder how these guns operate, like what kind of energy." Ryan shouted to Ultra, as he continued his firing barrage.

A blue blur sped back to the pile and scooped up another gun, reformulating into Ultra as he took aim at a squad car. "I'd assume some sort of cryogenic core? Why?"

"Eh, you know how us mad scientists think-err gimme a hand with this one?" Ryan and Ultra rammed their weight into a really large truck, pushing it forward fast enough to send it sliding. Running to the next frozen object, Ryan continued "You know, dismantling it, creating a cryo-bomb of some sort. I'm sure its possible. I was just wondering how *grunt* volatile the weapons power supply was. Dun wanna accidentally freeze myself trying it. Eh dun worry about it."

"Glad you are on our side, Ryan" Ultra amusingly stated as they both saw they had more than enough items frozen right now to continue the onslaught. The duo got back to it, pushing all the icy items they had accumulated over toward their iceslide.

OOC: I don't really see any problem. As far as I know it's only Lena that's currently in the Chao Walker with Kaze at the moment.

I'll see what I can come up with later, my brain's running a bit on empty.

Meanwhile, Silver, still roof-hopping, noticed the barrage of ice heading toward the cannon and the vehicles weaving around, making sure the cannon didn't have a clear shot at anyone. That should be enough of a distraction to keep them from seeing me... just a few more blocks and I can jump down there and crash the party.

We've always been lucky so far, though. Jason fiddled with the radio.

"Hello, hello, Kaze? This is Prosecutor Jason Rapidfire and Moderator Ash Fox. Can you hear me?"

A timid response of, "Yes," could be heard from the other end. Jason nodded.

"Capital. Listen, this is the strategy. Keep bobbing and weaving to draw attention. Jin and a few others are going to try and surprise the cannoneers from above..." His voice trailed off as a frozen dumpster slid across his line of sight, but he rebounded from his confusion. "Anyway, that's our plan of attack. If things get too dangerous, don't be afraid to get out of the way. Ash and Mobius are already providing distraction, you understand?"

The plans were made, and a grin formed across Jin's face as the rushing chunks of ice-cover raced across the street ahead of them. Soon, the others turned and bolted ahead of them, bobbing and weaving by the new cover Ryan and Ultra had provided for them. Mobius followed suit, and the higher up they got on the road, the more he braced himself. Suddenly, he barked one last command to everyone else in the jeep.

"Do as he said," he bared his teeth as he grinned nice and wide, "but don't follow me!" With the next sudden weave, Jin used the momentum of the whipping turn to his advantage; he had let go of the top of the windshield he was gripping on to, and kicked himself off the bars he propped himself on. Flying through the air in this crazy stunt, he notices that it's not enough flight to reach the nearby rooftops of downtown. In a split second he grabbed the pole of the nearby stoplight with his one good hand, swung himself over once, twice, and then let go for another vertical burst to reach him high atop one of the buildings.

Jin hit the ground running, and didn't lose any momentum as he jolted across other rooftops, leap after leap, keeping up with both vehicles down below, watching to make sure they weren't hit by the massive force of the ice rays.

"C'mon, freezeheads," he muttered to himself, "all eyes on them. I don't exist to you right now..."

(OOC: How big's this gun again? And is it on high ground or low ground, protecting the asteroid?)

(OOC: The freeze cannon is the size of a howitzer, located on the road behind a frozen chunk of concrete. As such, it has sufficient cover to fire without pause within its range of fire. Three Frizonians guard it. Note that there is a thick cord connecting it to the icesteroid, offering it the chilled energy for 'ammo'. It's also blocking the entrance to the icesteroid.)

"Well, given the number of scientists throughout the MoFo, I imagine it'll be simple for them to analyze this. I think we'll save a few dozen for Vector to look at once we've dealt with the alien invasion." Things had been going smoothly so far. And he was actually enjoying himself! No Redley to mess things up either. Awesome.

Ultra turned his sight further down the road, towards a gasoline tanker. "Ooh...18-wheeler..." Let's hope someone down there has a weapon of some kind that can ignite this puppy.

xxxx

The Frizonians manning the ice cannon scowled. The foolish hotbloods were still coming! "Contact Commander Icepick! Tell him we need more reinforcements! Have the other forces throughout the city converge on the icesteroid! We will QUELL this resistance!"

"Sir, look!"

The Frizonian at the controls stared...and paled. A partially frozen truck was barreling towards them. An object of that size would shatter the concrete in front of their Freeze Cannon! "FOOLS!"

Blast after blast erupted. The truck was on the verge of breaking apart just from the sheer cold.

Silver, atop the nearby building, stared at the gasoline tanker...and smirked. Perfect! Impulsively clutching his twin fireswords, the hedgehog pulled them out, letting his pyrokinetic powers charge. Let's heat things up a notch.

KRAKOOM!!!

A column of flame pierced the truck's side.

Reaction.

KABOOOOM!!!

An enormous ball of fire erupted, consuming the truck. All ice within thirty feet immediately melted. The ambient temperature rose by leaps and bounds. The nearby Frizonians shrieked as the impulsively dove for cover...including the ones manning the Freeze Cannon.

For all of the forumers on the assault, they knew that THIS was their moment of opportunity. It was now or never!

MoKat frowned and said, "Diversionary tactics it is then, since we don't know what the plan is." The gray feline pulled a pair of binoculars out of her Hair of Holding as she gave a mental command to her Dark Magician. ~"Suppressing fire. Give 'em second thoughts about targeting Forumers!"~
~On it!~ the magician replied as he flew evasively toward the nearest group of aliens and cast Firaga on them. Three Frizonians shouted as their protective suits went up in flames.

The gray cat looked at the blond human. "Marcus, do you have medic training?"
"Yes, ma'am." he replied with a grin.
"Stay here, off the front line, then. I might have to teleport injured people back here."

(OOC: That's one way to plothole people who are in the middle of the fight & need to drop out...)

MoKat looked through her binoculars and examined the cannon. "That thing requires a gunner. I can slow them down by teleporting over there and taking the ice-head for a ride. Won't take 'em long to put a new body in the gunner's seat tho'." She let the binoculars drop down around her neck as she pulled something else out of her Hair. The item appeared to be a pair of black gauntlets that were trimmed in gold. "These should protect my hands from frost damage." MoKat explained as she put them on her paws. Then she lifted the binoculars up to her eyes and looked again. "I can use my teleportation ability two ways. First involves line of sight; if I can see my destination, I can reach it. Second involves familiarity with a person or location; that's how we got here without being noticed. I walk through this neighborhood on a regular basis on my way to the stores. But since I don't wanna get to know those ice-heads -that- personally, I'll go with the first method." She stopped her narrative to nobody in particular when she saw an 18-wheeler barreling toward the cannon. The rounded container and a red sign depicting an open flame made its contents obvious; this was a gas tanker.

"Hold on; looks like somebody's gonna light up their life!" MoKat declared with a wide grin. The "KRAKOOM!!!" and "KABOOOOM!!!" that soon followed could be heard quite well by everybody.

~"Here's our opening!"~ MDM commented telepathically.
~"Provide cover fire for anybody attacking the cannon."~ MoKat ordered while pulling 2 cards out of her Hair. One card was yellow and had a picture of a humanoid made of molten lava; the other was a green card. She said, "I summon Lava Golem." and the yellow card glowed. Two of Frizonians who were closest to the explosion were vaporized and in their place rose a 20 foot (6 meter(?)) creature that glowed yellow and orange from the heat of the lava that made up most of its body. MoKat held up the green card and shouted, "Lava Golem! Attack the Freeze Cannon!" The molten monster roared and lumbered toward the howitzer-sized weapon.
The feline figured that the alien freezeguns would probably bring down the Lava Golem before it could get in a good hit, but at least it will keep those ice-heads away from the cannon for a while.

OOC: OK, let's see what I can do here, now... this is assuming Kayla's already hanging on for dear life on the back of the Walker, or at least very uncomfortable. :crazy

IC:

"No way, you've got to be kidding me about that thing!"

Kaze stared almost in disbelief as she caught sight of the ice cannon. "Crap, how are we gonna get through this?"

It was at that moment that the communicator crackled to life again.

"Hello, hello, Kaze? This is Prosecutor Jason Rapidfire and Moderator Ash Fox. Can you hear me?"

"Yes," the chao responded timidly, caught off guard for a moment.

"Capital. Listen, this is the strategy. Keep bobbing and weaving to draw attention. Jin and a few others are going to try and surprise the cannoneers from above... Anyway, that's our plan of attack. If things get too dangerous, don't be afraid to get out of the way. Ash and Mobius are already providing distraction, you understand?"

"Got it." Kaze looked to Lena and Kayla. "Looks like we're part of the diversion," she told them. Hold on tight, now, I wouldn't want anyone falling off-- or worse!"

She looked around and, seeing Mobius' Jeep head off in one direction, already dodging blue-white beams, she made a sharp turn and headed the opposite way. The other two held on as the Chao Walker tipped a little dangerously to the side.

"Primus, that's a bit too close for comfort!"

"Sorry, Kay, this thing's not really meant for larger beings." Kaze was still looking around, checking out the surroundings as well as looking for something. "Say, I think I forgot someone," she said, referring to the fox that was with the group before the new wave of Frizonians arrived and attacked.

I hope he's okay...

---
OOC: I'll finish this one off a little later.

Was he OK? Well, that depended on your definition of "OK"...
Because currently, Ash was busy navigating his car between blocks of ice and freeze rays. "By Archer, that was a bit close!" he commented as he slid the car neatly between two blocks of ice and a blast from the cannon. It was then he noticed WHAT that last block had been. "Oh snap!" he yelled and turned the car, rocketing AWAY from the cannon.
"Something the matter, Captain?" inquired Jason quizzically, before he noticed the sign on the passing gas tanker as well. "Ah."
KABOOOOM!
The explosion rocked the ground under the car, but he somehow managed to avoid ploughing straight into a building or otherwise. "Crikey!" he snickered, "The insurance firms are gonna have nightmares!"
"Quite." agreed his hedgehog friend. "So what's the plan now?" This was answered by the car's engine revving and the vehicle surging forward again. "Ah, of course. Throw ourselves recklessly right into the path of mortal danger, how silly of me."
Ash laughed. "Well, it's always worked before!" he replied with that same grin Jason had seen on his face a good few times before. His expression became serious again for a moment though. "Besides, that explosion's given us a great opportunity. This can be our golden turnabout moment for this battle if we seize it with both hands!"
Jason nodded in agreement. "Crazy as ever, but I'm inclined to agree. Strike while the iron--or in this case the explosion radius--is hot!"
"Dang straight! And speaking of heat..." Ash pushed a button or two on the car's dashboard. There was a whirring sound above their heads, as a very compact missile rack unfolded from the car's roof. "Let's heat things up some more!" he grinned, pushing another button as a few crosshairs appeared on screen, locking onto the cannon and what very little remained of it's cover. Jason blinked a few times in surprise.
"You had those all along? Why didn't you use them earlier?"
"Wanted a clear shot." was the reply he got, as the five small missiles erupted from their launchers and hurtled toward the cannon. They may not necessarily take it out altogether, but they'd certainly put a good dent in the armour if nothing else. Plus they should take care of the Frizonians that were manning it currently, and that would buy them some very valuable seconds.

Ryan took a moment to perch himself atop a dumpster he had used as Ice sculpture base, creating a spire on which he now stood, watching the truck speed along. Ultra's adaptation to his plan was per-flawless, and the sight of someone-or something wielding fire that was able to understand the implications of their ability..

"Sheer genius Ultra. I'll hand it to you. But..." DL's sentences trailed off as he jumped off the spire, immediately turning into a glide.

"But?" Ultra commented, turning away from the intense heat wave that followed, giving them both some much needed warmth, though not as much as those nearer to Ground Zero.

Dl's half glide landed him next to the guns they they had collectively collected from the mass of Frizonian bodies.He picked up as many as he could carry, before turning to Ultra. "While they take out that cannon, they're gonna be wide open for attack. I'm thinking we use at least one more propelled "glacier" to get us down there, and smash the competition, while having ourselves a shooting gallery."

In truth, Ryan was eager to see how well Ultra could adapt this plan farther, or if he had an even better one. Nonetheless, t'was fun to be out on the winning side for once.

Kayla held on as the Chao Walker began to wobble.

"Sorry, Kay," said Kaze, "this thing's not really meant for larger beings."

Kayla gave the Chao a smile.

"That's okay. I think I'll be better off running anyway."

She then noticed the passing gas tanker.

"Ooh, that'll be interesting."

The gas tanker suddenly burst into flames as a loud explosion rocked the area. Kayla revelled in the warmth the explosion gave off.

"I don't know who did that, but thank Primus for them," she said.

"Hey!" said Kaze, "The Frizonians manning the cannons are gone! The tank's wide open!"

Kayla grinned and cocked her fusion cannon.

"Well then," she said, "Let's show these guys what we're capable of."

Cy was grinning inside. He'd fallen back enough to observe. He COULD enter the fight now, but it seemed just about moot. From the best he could tell, as his telekinetic field was telling him, the cannon was about to go kaput, and whatever was behind it wouldn't last too long, either. He looked at the Frizonian reinforcement squad that had come from a side street, the squad which was now in his telekinetic grasp, uttering ten kinds of curses at him and his kin. "You annoy me." Another flash of fire erupted the same time as the tanker, and Kairus perched himself on a rooftop, content to keep reinforcements off their backs as the scrappy bunch below made their advance.

"Well...don't think all of those freeze rays will do much good against those Frizonians. Sure, they make for good projectiles, but I don't think they'll do well in an all-out melee." The blue hedgehog grabbed a pile of the weapons and deposited them into a large recycling bin by a small (now frozen) coffee shop. They'd come back for these later. "Though I think now we'd best head on and regroup..." Though how to regroup without becoming popsicles...

Now, Ultra did have a fair grasp of tactics and strategy. It had been a necessity in the days before Redley, when he had run the FPA - the Forum Protection Agency, with his primary enforcers being a Pikachu army titled the Pika-Death and Pikmen, supersoldiers that grew from the ground - with a fairly efficient fist, aiding in the enforcement of the laws and dictates of the Staff (a bit too zealously at times, to his misfortune). When he wasn't joking around, he actually had a bit of a brain on his shoulders.

Adapting to the presence of an assassin in your head also helped. Keeping an even sense of self helped in such situations.

Hmm. How to advance?

Ultra walked towards two of the few remaining cars on the block, slightly freezing the wheels to slide them into a particular position. Grabbing two freeze rays, he opened fire...and watched as they froze, bridging together at the slight gap between them.

Ooh...

Ultra grinned as he walked over to a lamppost, punching it once with his cybernetic arm. "Ryan..." It creaked and fell. "I think I have a plan." His hand morphed into a blade.

xxxx

As the forumers advanced, the head Frizonian got back to his feet. "Stupid...weaklings!"

The freeze cannon fired nonstop, unleashing entire cubes of frigid ice at the Hotbloods. "Where are the damned reinforcements?!"

"They should've been here by now sir!" The Frizonian grimaced as he got to his feet, responding to the advance of Kayla and Kaze. Ice blasts met fusion blasts, canceling each other out. "They're advancing!"

"And we have more hostiles inbound!" roared the third soldier as his icy hand pointed down the road.

It was truly...an interesting sight.

Five cars, frozen together into an arrowhead pattern. Two large trash cans, frozen atop two of the cars to serve as shields for Ultra and Ryan to crouch behind. And finally, a light pole frozen to the tip of the arrowhead, the frigid ice covering it carved into a wicked-looking spear.

The gunner snarled. "YOU DAMN, DIRTY, HOTBLOODS!!!"

A combo of a Kayla fusion cannon blast and a long-distance fireball by Silver struck the Frizonian's hands, making him shriek with pain.

The spear struck home, skewering the freeze cannon and sending it off-balance.

"NOW RYAN!!!"

Ultra and Ryan leapt into the air.

The latter landed atop the Frizonian preoccuped with Kaze and Kayla, making him crash into the ground.

The former reared his adamantium fist, smashing it into the face of last of the Frizonian trio. The shattering of frigid armor met the hedgehog's ears as the alien collapsed. "Oh! You just got served."

Now THAT was epic!

Damn, it felt good to be one of the good guys.

Amazing, he thought as he kept running towards the direction of the now defunct freeze cannon. Jin had caught everything unfold in sheer seconds below him. It was an astounding feat to be sure.

One final leap high into the air. Looking down, there was Ultra, landing his final blow into the Frizonian gunman, directly below him.

Well done, smirked the red hedgehog. But I'll feel better once we take care one last, minute detail.

***

Ultra grabbed his fist that had just seen some action, twirling it about in his other hand, getting a good feel of himself after such a bloody blow. As soon as the gunman's body hit the ground, steam poured out of his shattered helmet, this world's temperature unbearable to their likes, even with their makeshift weather changes. All seemed good as he turned around to see the displaced and skewered cannon, now out of commission, but something caught his eye. What's this shadow growing bigger on the base?

Before he had a chance to look up, a red blur practically crash landed into the base of the cannon. Shifting his eyes to get any sort of comprehension of what he saw, there was Jin, his frozen fist engulfed inside the base of the cannon, down on one knee. Now, with a regained balance, he lifted his right hand, fist clenched, and reared it down, back into the base. A sudden roar burst out of Jin's voice, raising in volume as he placed all his strength down to this one action. Ultra cocked an eyebrow. What is he doing?

The massive sound of sheering metal, crunching and shrieking, twisting and turning, pierced into the ears of everybody nearby. Lifting the cannon, now shattered off of its planted base, Jin let out one last roar as he, almost effortlessly, tossed the giant thing off to the side and onto the road. Huffing his breath, he turned to face the others, and gave his accustomed grin.

"Just wanted to join the fun," dusting off his good hand off his pants, he stepped down towards Ultra and the others, still catching his breath. "That," he gasped for air, "and you all did such a bang-up job, that I felt a little left out." He grins his ass-eating-grin.

Mobius finally found himself in a better position to come back to where the others were, after having watched the epic destruction of the over-sized fridge cannon in his jeep..
He'd lost the attacking forces that were on his tail a while ago, and was now just driving his way back towards the group assembling nearby - he got out a little whiles away, and tipped his hat somewhat, slamming the jeep door behind him and giving them all a quick grin, typical of the eagle in a somewhat smug mood.

" Well, looks like that's proven to be a damn bang-up job, My congrats to all you guys who, uhh, cleaned house. "

He pauses, looking around and just shrugged a little...still shivering lightly from the cold. He reached into his jacket pocket, and pulled out the OH-so-handy handwarmers that had mysteriously turned up on the jeeps dashboard sometime ago, clenched one up into a ball, and just held onto it with either hand.

" ...I just get the feeling that we're not outta the woods just yet - but hey, that's just my take on the matter, heh! "

OOC:

Congratulations!

You just beat the Mini-Boss! Good teamwork everyone, lots of creativity while sharing the workload. But there'll be plenty of opportunities for people to contribute as the Group Mission rolls along, and we're not yet done with this first chapter of the GM.

IC: Inside the icesteroid's control center, the commander, Hoplite Icepick, was upset as he spoke with General Heartcease over the communication relay. "The hotbloods are advancing on this position even as we speak. My troops have been routed, the defense cannon has been destroyed, and they will surely take this icesteroid out."

Heartcease seemed more interested than annoyed, though his expression was hidden behind the personalized heavy cryosuit he wore that bore the scars of many battles. "Based on the vids you have sent me, these hotbloods are like none we have encountered throughout the galaxy. They are courageous and bold, as willing to fight as any cold-hearted Frizonian. But their resistance will be useless even if they defeat you; the Mobile Glacier will finish setting up in the next hour, and then we will begin lowering the temperature of the entire planet. But your orders are to keep them at bay as long as possible, and prevent them from destroying the cold fusion generator."

Icepick thumped his hand against his armored chest. "They will pay dearly, sir! You can count on me."

The vid screen blinked out, revealing a blank sheet of pure ice suspended from the ceiling by an icicle. Hoplite Icepick turned around and faced the more heavily-armored troopers who made up the elite officers of the icesteroid. Their bubble visors were smaller, their helmets and armor thicker. "You heard the general," Hoplite shouted into the icy domain for his officers to hear. "We defend this place with our lives! I will pilot the Freezer myself. Station yourselves in pairs of two along the corridors leading here, and block off entryways with barriers of ice. Make the hotbloods pay for every step they take! Go now!"

The troopers made their way down the curving, sinuous passageway that led around the inside of the icesteroid, the ice-white walls nearly blinding as they reflected the light from outside through its corridors. On the outside it looked like a big chunk of ice, but cold computer panels lined certain rooms inside that controlled the cryogenesis process, rooms that were connected to each other on a spiral corridor that ran around the icesteroid like the inside of a nautilus shell. At the entrance to the icesteroid, two of the elite troopers froze an ice barrier into place over the doorway, and positioned themselves behind cover.

Hoplite Icepick waited at the center of the core, preparing the Freezer vehicle for the arrival of the hotbloods. They would pay for their insolence!

OOC: More details on this "Freezer" later, once they get to the core. Almost there, but now it's time to deal with cramped conditions inside the icesteroid itself, which will limit the use of group tactics.

If anyone needs help figuring out where they are or what's going on, feel free to bring up questions in the discussion thread.

Jason stared ahead, slightly slack-jawed. "They actually did it..."
Ash pulled an incredulous face. "You formulated the plan, didn't you?"
"I didn't it would work so well," Jason admitted. Then he grinned and whooped exultantly before clearing his throat and assuming his usual air of pretentiousness. "Ahem. Now we must capitalise on the opportunity presented unto us here."
"I hear you," Ash replied in approbation. "Got any ideas on how we move forward?"
Jason sat back to ruminate. "Perhaps we should rally our troops first before we go forth; that is, unless you have any ideas..."

The forumers - including Gyser, who had followed the sight of the explosion from earlier, arriving only after the battle had ended - all gathered around the wreckage of the freeze cannon, with Jin taking a quick headcount. Okay...Ultra, Ryan, Mobius, Jason, Gyser, Ash, Kaze, Kayla, Silver, Cy, Hukos, Arikyrenne, Lena, Painting, MoKat and her purple-coated Houdini...and me. Geez, too many damn people. "Okay. We're all here. The rest of the bad guys-" He gestured towards the large sliding door several feet away, bearing a coat of frost. "-are in there. And we need to get in."

All eyes fell upon the unarmed Frizonian sitting quietly amidst them, arms bound by thick rope. It was the same one that Ryan had landed on. "And we want to get in NOW."

The Frizonian scoffed. He wouldn't break.

Silver let his fireswords come alight. MoKat's Dark Magician charged a fire spell. Everyone else brought forth their HotHands.

The Frizonian blanched.

Ultra mentally snickered. Only in the MoFo.

The Frizonian trooper got over his momentary lapse of control. "Melt me all you want, hotbloods, but you will get no help from me to infiltrate the icesteroid. My life is of no worth to you as a hostage."

The icesteroid itself was nearly as tall as the apartment buildings around it, and looked like a ball of ice that had melted and refrozen, leaving it with some jagged edges here and there like a glacier. Steam had stopped rising from its underside, and only ice remained where it had frozen permanently in place in a frosty corona around the icesteroid, and it almost could have looked like a gigantic blue-white fireball. There was no sign of an entrance anywhere, save the one entryway that had just been frozen over with more of those freeze ray beams.

And Marcus the Third stood nearby, watching it all.