K, it posted.

IC:

The power of a thousand suns seemed to drive that large chunk of metal off the ground. It was nearly a smooth flight had not the metallic grinding and whining started that indicated the craft would not stay airborne for much longer.

The groups had swiftly quit their bickering and buckled in, keeping their heads low to avoid any stray bullets that may had luckily indented themselves in the hull. The continued jolting about made it hard for anyone to keep calm-as inpending doom seemed to ride upon whether Knight could fly this plane of not.

The crash was not as bad as it could have been, with everyone none the worse for wear.

"Seems everyone is ok." Thamior stated, looking around at the group of would-be heroes. There would not be any real complaints at first, but he would then notice that OTB was staring up at the top of the ship.

Ears quipped as the echoing thuds made their way from the back of the craft all the way to the front, and back again, despite the nominal damage done to the plane.

"You think HEAT already made us?" Blu inquired.

"That would be a pretty shocking response time, given that Rachel said all the guards would be removed from the hanger." Swift replied, as he walked toward the release hatch. He kept his guns on the ready, as Knight went to open the door....

===

Climbing out from the left wing of the VTOL, DL looked around the hanger. Eyes would almost gain a demonically cold luster as he surveyed nothing behind him aside from open air and a few angry guards making their way back inside the volcano. Looking forward yielded nothing but some pieces of twisted metal. Gauze was fixed around his chest, as he assumed a half gait over to the right wing. Ahead was a scaffolding that led to the interior of the volcano as well as a few doors on the landing level. A small buggy was visible, could seat 4-5 if need be. Spray painted on the walls were bright arrows that pointed toward a small tunnel, probably leading to a lift of some sort for supplies.

But, as per Rachel's word, no one was visible in the hanger.
"Least that woman's good for one thing."

"Hmm, I wonder how far it is into the core..." Blu pondered, also looking at the buggy.

"There's no way that thing will sit us all" Vortex said

"I know..." Blu replied. "Look, why don't we all go and look around, this place is deserted, so we'll have no problems with any hostile forces, so, if we just be wary of any traps, we should be fine."

"Agreed. Let's see if we can't find some directional signs. Complexes, even military ones, always have directional signs." Cy closed his eyes in slight agitation. He could sense psionic reasonances, but mechanical traps were another story entirely. He couldn't be as carefree as he'd been. This was NOT good.

On the outside, Cy's carefree expression had changed to a stoic appearance; the very image of the stern, cold Psion he was better known as.

The had been rounding yet another corridor, the guard leading the way with Bomb following behind him, checking that nobody would follow them, Stressed doing as he pleased either scouting ahead or dropping back to check behind them.

In the distance there was a loud phumpff, and although it was very slight Bomb was sure he could feel the floor vibrate. It wasn't even a shake, it was just a tingle as if... "Did you hear that?" he asked Stressed quickly.
"Yes," the bayfield replied glancing around curiously, "It came from..." he pointed down the side corridor.
"That's the way we're going," the guard informed him, "The hangars that way."
"So either our friends caught up or..." Bomb left the questions hanging, either Knight and Swift had arrived and the Group were causing chaos, or Pyroclads minions were experimenting with something... "A noise that loud will of got attention, there'll be guards heading towards the hangars now."

The buggy was on his list of things to play with, as he jumped off the mangled wing of the plane, finally becoming visible to the rest of the group. Walking toward the vehicle, eyes turned left and right at Cy's suggestion. There were marks and bright oranges lights on the ground, but that was most likely for the runway to fly out of this volcano...

"!! Oh great!" His voice raised an octave, catching a few bewildered glances.

"What's so great?" Cy asked, sterly looking toward him. It was evident that trivial things were not on his docket right now.

"We can fly in here. That helps alot, seeing as how anti-air systems aren't going to blast Hephasteus's outer walls to hit us."

"Don't see how that helps anyone except you three, though. And possibly Thamior." Camden added, pointing to Cosmic as well.

"Didn't say it was going to be useful, it was just an observation." He turned back toward the buggy and sat on it, noticing that the keys were still inside. As everyone began to spread out and look for a few exits, he started the small craft, and began to drive around, occassionly bumping into a wall due to some fragment of the plane being driven over and deviating his path. It wasn't very loud, fortunatly, but still a distraction to get his mind off of what he had to do currently.

"Well, when I was on top of the plane, I noticed that scaffolding. Think that leads anywhere?"

OOC: After tommorow i'll be away for a fortnight...
If things sudden;y start moving then it means that i'll potentially be away at the reunion of my own characters...

Now THATS a bummer, any chance we can keep Bomb and Swift seperated till I get back?
I'll try and update again tommorow, but if I dont make it, see you in a fortnight.

Cy looked over at DL. "I'll check." with a loud crackle of energy, Cy teleported roughly a foot above the lowest scaffold, touching down lightly and looking around.

Justin stayed close to Cookirini as everyone debarked from the now-crashed plane. The desire to reveal who he really was to her was strong, and he just wanted to hold her tight and tell her that he had kept his promise and he never wanted to leave her again...

But practicality, and the fact that they were in the middle of an enemy base surrounded by people he could not trust yet, demanded that he maintain the facade. And in a way he liked it better that way. Even if it was a lie, he could now live a new life, not as the vagabond that had been forced to leave his home planet to chase after his sworn enemy.

Still, I've got to at least let Cooki know. She'd never join up with Stahlmansche and her schemes. But I've got to wait for the right moment...

His eyes scanned the walls, and he stopped short as he recognized something he had seen only hours before, when he had first gone through the portal. Cookirini stopped and looked at his expression. "What's wrong?" she asked, sounding concerned.

Justin looked down at her and shook his head with a smile. "No, it's nothing, I thought I saw somebody. We'd better stay with the rest of the group."

But I could swear that those strange symbols on the walls are similar to the ones that I saw in that place I teleported to, thought Justin as he joined the others, his stun gun out and ready in case he needed to use it.

OOC: Mainly a post to get this bumped up, since Swifty's back. Welcome back, Swift.

OOC: I'd been wondering what happened to the topic... Ah,here it is... okay...

Tetherblood doesnt seem to be around at the moment, so i'll keep this ambigous.

IC:
Swifthom crawled from the wreckage annoyed but content, they'd left before the bloodshed had become to high.

Oh, that was right, thanks to Cy there hadn't been any blood, just a lot of dead bodies. "Typical," he groaned and stretched himself, waiting for knight to emerge behind him.

Their leader seemed all right, but muted by the shakeup. Maybe he was in shock or concussion, but he looked all right as he crawled out behind Swift. He just wasn't saying very much, and clutching his head as if he'd hit it on something. "I wonder if we've got any painkillers," Swift wondered before remembering that he'd left the medi kit in the plane.

Two minutes later he had the medi kit in his hands and had passed it to Knight who seemed to want to care to his own wounds. "Where's Camden?" he asked meekly.
"Um, no idea, I think she climbed out the other side of the plane," Swift shrugged. "Rachel was right, there's no one here."
"Good," Knight replied trying not to sound annoyed, so Swift left hoping that if he did have a headache he'd feel better in his own time. He could see Cy and DL in the distance exploring with some of the others he didn't recognise, he hadn't really got to know the other team yet.

He did recognise Justin with Cookrini though, and waved to call them over. Justin looked fine and came towards him, withdrawing his stun gun in case he needed to use it.
Circling the aircraft Swift called out for the last person he needed to find; "Camden, are you all right?"

He hadn't seen her in the plane, but then again he'd been in the front with Knight and justin wheras she had stayed in the hangar at the back. "Camden?" he repeated hoping that no one else was going to hear.

But then again, if they hadn't heard the plan crash what difference would a bit of shouting make?

OOC: ::Forgot-has a large post to throw up for this, been so behind it sucks:: >> TBlood went poof though. I'll post here today for sure.

EDIT: HA! I RUN FASTER THAN A MAZDA!! Umm.. sorry ::Posts hurridely::

IC:

Stale stagnant air entered his nostils for a moment, before being vehemently exhaled. A noticeable shake of his head before he stood up from his perusion of the far corner. Nope, his side wasn't doing any better from the gunshot wound-in fact he felt a bit disjointed from it. But his focus changed, to that of Cy and the scaffolding that may have an entrance in.

There was a door up there, but as to if it was locked, and if there were sentrys down the hall did not matter, he was willing to do whatever was necessary to complete the mission.

His mission.

As the group seemed to band together in order to assess injuries and foster some sort of bond in order to keep going, he would quietly examine his pockets, idly smirking at the vials in place. There were still a few empty ones, enough for him to collect what he needed and then get out of here without dealing with another explosion. But he had to focus, had to conentrate, or he'd die like the rest of them.

His eyes caught sight of a door though, hidden away partially due to how the place was wrecked. Curiosity got teh better of hiom, and he ran towards it, not wondering if there was a daydreaming guard behind it.

"Looks like we got a way in" Cy shouted back though, as the door flung open forcefully. No one seemed to be running in just yet, so it was all clear. He peeked in, noting just a long walkway with a set of halogen lights covering the ceiling, lighting the walkway adequatly. Some boxes near the end of the hall, but aside from that, nothing.

DL did not respond immediatly, as the second door was forced open with a kick. The bang echoed down the stairwell that lied behind it. He looked up for a bit, seeing that the stairs ran quite a ways up. Possibly 12-13 flights. They were painted red and white, to help better refract light-as the light bulbs statined in this stairwell were all tinted yellow.

"Emergency stairwell. I'd rather go this way." he pointed out. "Only because I'm a stickler for running, I guess."

"It may not be the safest thing to split up now ..DL? I mean what if wehr all need to fight some of these grunts, and they block us off from both ends."

"..Cosmic..you have a point, but they can do that by swarming this hanger, or going through that hallway, or coming out through the hatch that's right over there where I purposely parked the buggy." An arm pointed over, so Cosmic could glance down to the panel that was slightly oputlined, revealing to them all that it was a hatch.

"But, I'm no leader. I'll let Knight over there decided what we do. All I'm saying is that we should ensure the staircase. In case we find Bomb and all."

"You mean WHEN.. right?" Swift cut in. He almost didn't know why he said it in such a curt tone, but DL trook it non aggresivly.

"In case we do. I don't like to think optimistically. Puts your head in the damn clouds where it dosen't belong."

"Well, we got at least 3 paths, one which leads down." Justin stated, speakig up so there would be no arguing. From his position, he could not see Irinikooc, DL or some of the others, but that was alright, hearing trhem was good enough. "We can decide who goes which way later. Let's first figure out just what we are doing here, and which way would be the best to go."

A sigh, as DL looked to Cy. They both shared the same expression, a slight impaitence with the current state of matters.

Yeah, yeah, yeah - hold your horses. I'm on this!

Be a bit patient now children - daddy's back!

**continues wrting his scheduled post**

EDIT: This takes longer than I feared. Still writing the much needed detailed summary of the story-so-far (right now am to the point just before our last triple bossfight, and the thing is already 8 pages long in Word format).

So, I'm pausing this for now - because I am out of shape and have a headache. 😛 Post if you got anything - as long as it doesn't involve Stressed and Bomb - my next post has plans for them.

However, while you're at it - feel free to spam Red's inbox with your character bios so we can place them on the MFW Chars page.

Catch ya either later today or tomorrow.

-TBlood!

OOC:

**throws a basketball at your head for the suggestion**

Saying "spam my email" causes a violent reaction. If you'd just suggested to send an email, then I would've just ignored you. ;p

OOC: so does this mean we send our chara bios to you, TR? oh, and btw...WB TBlood!

OOC: **nods** If you want it posted, yes.

Now, I had this ready for posting since last night, but my ISP crashed and burned and remains down to this moment (I'm at an internet cafe right now).

Anyway, what follows is both a detailed recap and post - both of which rather big, making a rather monstrous post.

Monstrous, and spins things into high-gear, speeding everything towards the final chapter!

So, without further ado...
The Recap:

Chapter 1: The Prologue /// Search-Investigate-Reveal
The semi-independent Administration-funded Research & Development Facility Green Labs headed by Administrator Vector himself and located about several miles east of Sega City was destroyed in a Nuclear Explosion approximately 30 minutes after midnight on November 9, 2004.

Green Labs was developing a prototype miniaturized nuclear reactor a nuclear power plant the size of a briefcase and thus officials were quick to dismiss the event as a freak accident.

However, the Administrators had caught satellite footage that suggested foul play and that an unidentified militant faction was behind the explosion. However, the information gleaned from that footage was not enough to reveal their identity, purpose, or whether or not that was sabotage on the reactor, or a detonation of a separate nuclear devise.

To ascertain the situation, the Admins Vector and True Red spread rumors of the truth to forumers in hopes that the forumers natural desire for adventure would incite some of them into some much needed investigation without provoking too much of a public interest. Additionally, an order was placed on the newly established SONIC Units Commander Jack Reeves to send an operative to investigate the situation.

With rumors abound, and the SONIC Units investigation, it was a matter of time until a small group of forumers got together to deal with this new building crisis. They were:
One Tru Blu or OTB following the call of adventure upon learning of the explosion and heading towards the Crater that was once was Green Labs.
Swifthom & Swiftbomb two physically identical men but not exactly alter-egos nor relatives and completely different in personality with the former being a member of the staff and the latter a former outlaw (who never had much evidence against him to stand trial).
Camden Bayfield AKA Sailor Bayfield one of the Lackeys alter egos. Craig Bayfield has mysteriously vanished and Camden received a somewhat unsettling message regarding the affair from Craigs OTHER alter-ego; the cunning Stressed Bayfield (who up until that point everybody considered effectively dead). While searching for info on her brother (and being lured into the crater by Stressed) Camden initially finds herself inevitably drawn into the whole investigation.
Cookirini a jovial, happy-go-lucky echidna and a newcomer to the MFW.
Thamior Headbuster Long time warrior-hero of the MoFo. Initially drawn into the affair because it was suspicious, but also because as he claimed Cookirini is a fraud. A demonic entity taking advantage of the fact that the REAL Cooki is on another world and nobody remembers her due to mental manipulation caused by Mobius TetherBlood in the past.
Insane as that may sound, that view was also shared by CyKairus a powerful psychic and also a long time defender of the city (even if his motives were not as altruistic as Thamiors).
Inirikooc who was only involved at the beginning in the investigation (but rejoined later). I dont quite remember how exactly she WAS involved chances are Right Place, Right Time. 😛
Darkest Light or DL A Templar Knight sent to investigate the affair under orders of Mobius TetherBlood himself.
And Vass Knight; SONICs officially sanctioned Operative an elite commando chosen to spearhead the fledgling unit (and formerly an Operative of WepTech Corp. among other things) who had an uncanny physical resemblance with TBloods mortal form.

Eventually the team was ordered to head to a secluded Templar Citadel, as the fortress had vital video footage that would enable them to obtain data on what really happened in Green Labs last night.

Meanwhile, back on the HQ Tower a press conference was held, where Administrator Samanfur briefed reporters on the Green Labs Explosion. The official press statement declared the event as an accident caused by an error during the testing phase of the reactor.

Among the reporters gathered there, was Vortex the well known host of Vortexs Box; the worlds most famous TV Show (and someone that more than once was drawn into adventure), who hurriedly compiled notes on the affair. Immediately after the conference, Vortex was approached by a strange man who introduced himself as Deep Throat at first, but then changed his nickname to Mr. X.

Mr. X told Vortex that the Admins were lying. That the explosion was no accident, but rather a calculated act by some secretive organization. Vortex was also informed that a team assembled by the Admins was on its way to a Templar Citadel to glean more revealing information.

Vortex decided to follow that team, in order to find more about the whole affair. Mr. X on the other hand simply vanished.

The team of forumers eventually found their way to the Templar Citadel, and procured the footage stored there according to which, the faction that assaulted Green Labs was Pyroclads organization FLAME and they didnt destroy the reactor, but rather stole it and used a nuclear bomb to destroy the facility.

On their way back to the HQ Tower, the Forumers were assaulted by FLAME soldiers led by an operative of the elite combat unit HEAT. The operative was called Blaze and was killed during the fight (specifically he killed himself to prevent the forumers from questioning him after he was defeated). With Blaze out of the way and with a serious threat now visible; the team headed back to the HQ Tower, via a helicopter brought by Swifthom and piloted by a man with mysterious ties to the Mafia and Swiftbomb.

While the forumers were debriefed in the HQ Tower, a bomb threat call was made to Vortex. Having met Rad Blue on his way (who was sent by True Red as her own personal operative to keep tabs in the affair), Vortex convinces the rogue (but not evil) Admin to assist him in the bomb threat by offering to buy her lunch (hes such a smooth talker :P). Meanwhile, the SCPD had already vacated Vortexs Box Studio, and Administrator Troophead was sent there by Vector since neither a Moderator was near, and the Bomb Squad wouldnt be there in time. Vortex and Rad Blue also arrived there in time. However, it was revealed that the bomb was actually an elaborate Jack-In-The-Box joke meant as an invitation of sorts by Evil WB himself, who offers information on Pyroclad.

The forumers, under official collaboration status with SONIC (in essence serving as deputy operatives of the unit), assembled to the designated meeting place where, after a short clash with the Forum Rangers, finally met with EWB.

EWB had much to reveal to the forumers: After Pyroclads defeat in 2000, FLAME had gone underground trying to re-establish its operational status. During that time, FLAME and the anti-admins had several clashes involving Pyroclad stealing weapons from EWBs forces.

To that end, EWB had spent considerable resources into locating his rival and discovering information on his plans. E-Dubs admitted having more than a single spy among Pyros ranks and the information gleaned from those spies, however limited, was extremely vital.

For starters Pyroclad was working on developing some sort of doomsday devise which was known only as the MIF Projector witch no one knew what it was capable of, and for that matter what MIF stands for. In any case, the devise apparently requires nothing less than a nuclear reactor to function, and apparently thats the reason why FLAME stole the prototype reactor that was in development in Green Labs. Evidently, Pyroclad plans to use said devise to destroy Sega City (typical).

Secondly he revealed the secret location of Pyroclads fortress. A tropical island out in the Great Ocean called Hinoke Island a fitting name considering that hinoke means heat of fire in Japanese. He also revealed information regarding Hinokes Anti-Detection, and Anti-Air capabilities.

Finaly he revealed Pyroclads new group of elite soldiers: the 2nd Generation of HEAT the Heavy Enforcement Assault Team the first generation of which had butted heads with government in the past.

The members of HEAT, according to the Evil Admin were the following:
Blaze the Martial Artist that the forumers had already dispatched earlier that day.
Cinder the Rocketeer, a heavy-weapons specialist using a flame-thrower, a mini-gun, and a rocket launcher simultaneously while having a rocket booster on his back which enabled him to fly at high speeds.
Thermal the Hunter half dragon, half lizard; an expert on CQC and camouflage.
Flame-Blade the deceptive Ninja, full of tricks and a master of the sword, he was also Fire-Swords twin brother.
Fire-Sword the Knight. A super-strong warrior using a giant sword and exoskeleton armor that resembled a medieval knight.
Hot-Shooter the only female of the group, a deadly sniper using an anti-tank rifle.
Gunfire the flamboyant and acrobatic gunslinger with a 6th sense that warned him of danger.
Phoenix the brash pilot of the Teams aircraft.
Magma the Pyromancer, a wizard specializing in fire magic.
And finaly, their leader, Holocaust: A Master of War, and the man who trained most of the other members of HEAT. Also, FLAMEs second in command and Pyroclads right-hand man.

After revealing all these, EWB mocked the Admins that they should deal with Pyroclad on their own and then vanished with his entourage.

Back on the HQ Tower, the forumers that were willing to see this to the end were briefed on their new Group Mission: Operation: Fire Brigade. Their main objectives were:
- Infiltrate Hinoke Island.
- Destroy the Cloaking Devise of the island.
- Destroy the Communications Center of FLAME.
- Discover the True Nature of the MIF Projector and Pyroclads plans.
- Stop Pyroclad.
And an optional objective of retrieving the briefcase, undamaged if at all possible

Additional Plot Notes:
- Swiftbomb and Cookirini were more coerced rather than convinced into joining the operation. Bomb was promised absolution of his unlawful past while Cookirini (whom the Admins showcased total knowledge of her true identity; that is: the demon entity Gingersnap) was given a chance to prove herself beyond the need for an immediate ban.
- Troophead expressed suspicions to the other Admins, that Knight might be in fact TBlood himself playing everyone as a fool. True Red dismissed them as the natural paranoia induced to people who hang around TBlood.
- Knight on the other had, had privately admitted to Camden earlier during the meeting with EWB that he was in fact genetically engineered to be a soldier and that he was in fact someones clone (but claimed to have no knowledge nor desire to know of his genetic original).
- Craig Bayfield was now officially AWOL and True Red had mobilized the Enforcer Foxes to look for him.
- Seeing that this operation had little chance of giving her info on her brothers disappearance, Camden initially declined the mission and proceeded to leave the HQ Tower only to have a rather violent meeting with Stressed on the elevator who mocked her of not having what it takes to undertake something as serious as a group mission. Camden, with obvious signs of physical combat, stormed back in SONICs briefing room announcing that she will take part in the mission after all. Interestingly enough though, the camera feeds on the elevator recorded her talking to herself and fighting with herself. No sign of Stressed was registered.
- And finally, DL was secretly given an additional set of orders by TBlood: Retrieve the Nuclear Devise. Assassinate Pyroclad.

Chapter 2: The Hinoke Infiltration /// Hide-Fight-Prevail
Using SONICs five stealth-modified SR-71 Blackbirds with specially designed two-passenger Delivery Pod attachments the entirety of the team successfully infiltrates Hinokes south shore. Discovering that for some reason their communications with HQ were jammed, the team was divided in two.

Team 1 (AKA Team Cool) was comprised of CyKairus, OTB, Vortex, Cookirini, Thamior Headbuster, and Rad Blue. Team Cool was tasked to head north-east and destroy the islands communications center.

Team 2 (AKA Team Badass) was comprised of Swifthom, Swiftbomb, DL, Camden, and Knight. Team Badass was tasked to head north-west to destroy the islands extremely advanced stealth devise the Holo-projector; a machine that blocked satellite surveillance on the island.

As the teams headed out Vortex renamed the mission to Operation: Empty Godess.

While on their way to the Communications Tower, Vortex received a Text message from Mr. X (the first of many more to follow) who informed them that he was on the island and would assist them with Intel. Additionally he explained that the reason the SONIC operatives could not contact HQ was due to a jamming field generated by the Communications Center and should the center be destroyed, then the forumers would be able to contact the Admins and Jack once again. Furthermore he informed the team, that he had already placed explosives for them on the Comm Tower that they could use to take it down.

Though somewhat reluctant to trust this unexpected informant (whom they theorized might actually be one of EWBs spies) the forumers had no choice than to rely on the information they received and act upon it.

Indeed, after passing through some grunts, an elaborate code-secured Trap Door and an impressive and explosive (if somewhat short) clash with another HEAT operative Cinder Team Cool prevailed and obliterated the Communications Center; effectively severing communications on the island, while restoring contact with HQ.

Meanwhile Team 2 was not as fast with its own objectives. Having cleared a smaller base-camp on their way to the Holoprojector Complex oblivious that they were being followed by HEATs tracker Thermal.

Near the projector, Team 2 splits up to prepare the infiltration of the main complex by clearing the perimeter. During that time several things happen: Camden enters a state of psychic shock which is felt by CyKairus on the other side of the island (and beyond).

Almost immediately after that Stressed Bayfield appears and attacks a group of FLAME soldiers that had surrounded Knight. The battle reveals that apparently Stressed has the ability to hurt other people, but himself was more of an ethereal entity and therefore immune to all forms of physical attacks.

With the soldiers dead, Stressed threatened Knight that he should stop treating Camden well. As a response Knight proceeded into beating the crap out of Stressed much to the latters horrified surprise.

With Stressed subdued (and unable to understand why it is that Knight of all people could harm him) Knight proceeds to coerce the rogue Bayfield into attacking DL. Intrigued, Stressed agrees and leaves the area while Knight hides from his teammates that he had an encounter with the 3rd Bayfield.

Meanwhile, on a distant reality an alternate Planet Earth Matt Johnson (AKA Tergonaut) storms through the portal that connects his world to the MFW ending up far within ancient ruins of unknown origin. Both intrigued at the ruins and pleased that he was apparently back on the MFW, Terg quickly made his way to the top and out of the ruins where he ran into none other than Mobius TetherBlood himself.

TBlood revealed to him that he sensed the dimensional disturbance and upon realizing that Terg was back he could not do anything other than personally welcome him back. Hinting at the current disturbance with the city TBlood encouraged Tergonaut to speed himself towards the Tower.

Terg at first walked south of his location until he stumbled into Knights motorbike (left there earlier when the group entered the Templar Citadel). Using the bike to drive back, he was stopped by the police. In an attempt to hide his true identity due to reasons relating to why and how he returned, Terg introduced himself as Justin Hobbes.

Meanwhile, in the HQ Tower fledgling superhero Cosmic Kid was trying to convince the Admins to let him partake on the Group Mission

Back on Hinoke Stressed Bayfield had a short encounter with DL, making it known to the entire group that he was on the island (and with Knight not revealing to the rest that he had encountered him earlier). Eventually Team Badass made their way inside the main complex and as per DLs instructions they split up to set the explosives on the Complexs three sensitive points. The Swifts were together on one point, Camden and Knight on the other, and DL was solo.

Swifthom and Swiftbomb planted the explosives successfully but were attacked by Thermal, who knocked Swift out, and effectively kidnapped Bomb by teleporting away with him.

Knight and Camden were divided due to enemy activity, with Knight stalling the guards while Camden was further inside the complex planting the explosives. Unfortunately, Stressed also appeared there, and fought with her with great success. In the end Camden shot her own leg which caused a painful backlash to Stressed as well. Always mysterious regarding his true intentions Stressed disappeared, but not before triggering an alarm that sent more guards in the room.

Knight arrived on the room just as the guards entered but being unable to shoot at the incoming guards from his position he yelled at Camden to Dont think SHOOT!. In order to save her live Camden shot one of the guards in the head, killing him as the rest were taken out by Knight.

Shaken by the experience of killing someone, Camden was silent as Knight performed the necessary first aid on her leg just as DL had finished planting the explosives on his own end and Swift explaining Bombs kidnapping by the enemy over the OpComm.

Back on the City, the police officers had cleared Justin Hobbes under orders from HQ Tower. Justin made his way to the Tower, but on the way stumbled on Inirikooc (who promptly recognized him even though she wasnt open about it at first). Justin finally reached the Tower where he explained to Vector the circumstances of his return (as well as revealing the fact that he was dying from cancer). Vector sent Justin to temporary live at Inis place while he made the necessary arrangements. But TBlood appeared and explained that Terg doesnt have much time left to waste. He claimed he had to be placed in the thick of things immediately, and suggested that a 3rd team had to be created as reinforcements comprising of Ini, Justin, and Cosmic Kid.

Under TBloods pressure on the matter, Vector agreed and soon afterwards, Ini and Justin were back on the Tower and briefed on the situation along with Cosmic. Team 3 (Team Newbie) was just formed.

While Team 3 was being equipped on another room, a discussion was held among the Admins triggered by Troopheads suspicions which eventually revealed that Knight was, unbeknownst to TBlood no less, his clone designed by WepTech Corporation using TBloods DNA from when he was mortal. The Admins kept this information to themselves however and Red ordered TBlood to not interfere with Knights life.

Back on Hinoke, and after a short break from the action to clear their heads (and discuss the meaning of being a soldier) Team 2 was heading towards the designated rendezvous point with Team 1 but was attacked on the way there by Thermal.

After a drawn out and gruesome battle the forumers were victorious and Thermal was lying dead. Despite the victory the forumers did not feel elated as it was obvious that Thermal wasnt necessarily an evil person but rather a soldier on an opposing side (something true about most of FLAME).

Team 1 regrouped with them and helped them recuperate just as Team 3 was teleported on the island by TBlood. Justin recognized the resemblance between TBlood and Knight and indeed in his mind considered the two as one, viewing Knight (like Troop before him) as another one of TBloods tricks.

Meanwhile, Bomb regained consciousness within the Prison Camp surrounded by Magma, Holocaust, and Pyroclad himself who promptly ordered a blonde girl named Jeanette to interogate him. As the FLAME leaders left, Jeanette viciously and sadistically tortured Bomb inflicting serious injuries to him. Just as she was about to kill him, Jeanette was stopped by another woman named Rachel. It was at that point that Bomb lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, Mr. X had sent intell to the forumers that Bomb was being held captive in the Prison Camp that was north of their current location. And thus the forumers immediately set out to free their comrade.

Reaching the prison compound, the team effectively raided the place but found no sign of Bomb. Instead, they had to deal with guards, and a surprise (but failed) sniping attack by Stressed Bayfield who was quickly pushed back, disappearing yet again.

Unsure of what may have happened to Bomb the Teams carried on towards the airport base. Their goal: Procure a VTOL Aircraft that would enable them access to Hephaestus; the Central Volcanic Base in the middle of the island and Pyroclads main fortress. At that point, Mr. X sends yet another message explaining that he had to move Bomb away from the Prison, and that if everything went as planed then he would meet them soon

On the Medical Facility of Hephaestus, Bomb regained consciousness and was greeted by a strikingly beautiful woman who introduced herself as Rachel. Rachel explained to Bomb that she was in fact Mr. X. That she was in a personal mission to stop Pyroclad from within (making it clear that not only she was not affiliated with EWB, but also unaware of the presence of any such spies) by performing sabotage and providing information.

She also explained to him that MIF Projector actually stands for Molecular Incineration Field Projector but even she was not completely sure what that thing was capable of aside from mass destruction. She did however point out that the devise is supposedly comprised of three segments: one being the power source (in this case the nuclear briefcase), the second being the core devise, and the third segment being the focus material.

Finally she explained that both Pyroclad and Holocaust along with more than 90% of the entire FLAME forces, including the two HEAT members Phoenix and Fire-Sword had left the island already and were relocated in an unknown location staging their final plans.

In the end Rachel said she had to leave, and probably meet the rest of his comrades, leaving him immobilized in the care of a nanotech healing machine.

Back in the Jungle, the team had made a temporary pause to regroup, as Knight also went away from the group, supposedly due to natures call. However, in truth he called forth Stressed, and after berating him on both the attack and the way he fumbled with the sniper riffle, ordered him to enter Hephaestus and ensure Bombs safety. Stressed agreed and left the area.

United again, the Forumers pushed forth, wary of an attack which indeed did not take long to come. An ambush was set for them by 3 members of HEAT: Gunfire the gunslinger, Flame-Blade the ninja, and Hot-Shooter the sniper.

After an extremely violent and epic struggle the forumers managed to defeat Flame-Blade and Gunfire with some assistance from Hot-Shooter who revealed herself as Rachel, and consequently Mr. X.

Rachel revealed to the forumers the same things she had previously explained to Bomb, along with info regarding his condition and a plan of how to infiltrate Hephaestus.

Apparently, the only way to enter the Volcanic Base, was via a Hangar located high in volcanic mount, unreachable without flight. Problem is, with the islands Anti-Air systems, no one could fly there. So Rachel, confirming Jack Reeves prior plan, suggested they procure a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft from the Airstrip Base that is just on the base of the volcano.

Additionally, Rachel knew of a secret underground passage that would lead them straight to the Airport base. And thus, the forumers followed on, and within minutes found themselves just beneath the Airports runway.

Meanwhile, Swiftbomb was finally released by the Medical Devise that detained him aided by the uncanny appearance of Stressed Bayfield (who had also procured the services of one of Hephaestus grunts). Together, the 3 of them tried to reach the exit of the volcanic compound. However, soon after their departure from the medical facilities, Jeanette discovered that Bomb had escaped, and sounded the alarm.

Back on the Airstrip, Rachel had made her way to the Control Tower where she first checked on Bombs status, only to discover, to her horror, that Jeanette had activated Hephaestus Alarm, and was in pursuit of Bomb.

On the Runway the forumers, oblivious to Rachels latest discoveries, made an exemplary work in refueling one of the jets. However, as they were about to go aboard it, they were spotted, and a brief firefight begun, forcing Knight to prematurely launch the jet with everyone except Rachel on board (also except DL, who was clutching on one wing).

Damaged, but in one piece, the VTOL crash-landed within the Hangar, where everyone was relatively safe and sound. The Hangar itself was empty of troops, but the forumers reasoned that the sound of the crash would have warned everyone in the base about their arrival

Miscellaneous Notes:
- Some time before Justin first arrived on the HQ Tower, Vector was approached by a representative of ECU (Effective Cybertronics Unlimited) who made an offer to lend to the Admins Robotic Guards. Vector politely declined the offer.
- Justin later explained to Vector that the president of ECU was Victoria Stalmansche, a dangerous villain from his homeworld. However, due to Stalmansche not doing anything illegal at the moment, Vector was reluctant to prosecute the woman, he did however agree on keeping his eyes on the situation.
- While the forumers were fighting Gunfire, Flame-Blade and Hot-Shooter, TBlood was installing to the HQ Tower an emergency system called Protocol 13. While it was not revealed to the audience what Protocol 13 was, the rest of the Admins seemed to be aware of its workings.
- Rachel explained that she came from the planar city of Sigil the City of Doors. As a result she uses a peculiar idiom the Cant similar to the one TBlood uses. At this point I dont remember if she also revealed that she used to be, at one point, a member of the Doomguard Faction.
- After Installing Protocol 13, TBlood planeshifted away from the MFW, for Templar related duties.

***************

And now, after much delay, the moment youve all been waiting for; the revival of GMI

Mid-Chapter: Prelude to the Inferno /// Escape-Run-Survive

Control Tower, Hinoke Airport Base
November 9 2004, 22:30 pm
Rachel was frantically using the Towers communications (which, due to working on a different channel than the rest of the Islands communications, could still contact Hephaestus even in absence of the Communications Center) to coordinate the soldiers of the volcanic compound in an effort to buy the forumers some time. Indeed she had managed to clear the Hangar from any soldiers.

Are you telling us to avoid the hangar, maam?! But reports indicate that the infiltrators are there! came a garbled voice from the terminal.

Yes. Rachel confirmed. I am aware of the rogue jet that crash-landed on the Hangar. I have already dispatched another unit to investigate. However, we have reasons to believe that more intruders have infiltrated Hephaestus. Proceed at the coordinates I gave you.

Yes maam! FLAME Commando Squad 18, out!

Rachel took a deep breath and sighed. That was the last squad. She thought to herself. Now with some luck, no patrollers will stumble to the dark of the forumers before they are ready. I just hope I havent accidentally dispatched a unit to Bombs location. Where in blazes IS that blood?! she wondered as she kept staring on the screens for any clues.

Hot-Shooter! a raspy but commanding voice came from one of the speakers. On the screen above it, a man whose facial features were hidden by the cowl of a black and red cloak was displayed.

What is it, Magma? Rachel replied in an effort to sound relaxed and unworried.

Didnt you say you had killed ALL of the invaders during the battle where Flame-Blade and Gunfire lost their lives!

I did. Rachel replied casually.

Then, by Entropy, WHAT is this ruckus on Hephaestus?! the Pyromancer demanded.

The invaders I told you I had killed. Rachel replied with a smile.

WHAT?! Didnt I just ask you if you had killed them and you said yes?!

No, you asked if I said that I killed them. I did say I killed them.

Magma shook his head confused. An angry growl escaped his lips. Are you forgetting our cause? I will not tolerate cross-traders, Sigil-slut.

It was Rachels turn to assume an angry expression. With a grave tone on her voice she exclaimed matter-of-factly: I am not forgetting OUR cause. I am simply going beyond PYROCLADs cause. The time is nigh, Magma A sacrifice is to be made, and the Master has decreed that I am not the one to make it.

Magma was silent for a while, his eyes closed in silent contemplation. I understand I will put in motion the chain of events for the sacrifice It will be glorious!

Rachel sighed. You barmy bastard, I dont understand why you are happy about dieing.

Maybe this is why the Master selected ME for this honor. In any case, time is short. Give the Master my regards and be wary: Pyroclad will be notified about your betrayal.

I understand. Hot-Shooter, out.

The link was terminated, and Rachel got up from her seat. Picking up her sniper-riffle she took a last look on the control room, surveying the dead bodies of the FLAME personnel that she had killed earlier when the forumers high-jacked the jet.

Now I have to find myself a jet and fly inside the volcano. She thought to herself

The Hangar, Hephaestus Base, Hinoke Island

Amazing! Justin exclaimed. Will you take a look at this place?

What about it? Knight shrugged. Its just a hangar.

You apparently dont have an eye for uniqueness, Knight. Justin explained smiling. In his head he still wasnt sure if Knight was all an act on behalf of TBlood, but he had already decided to play along for now. This place is more than just a hangar. It is clear that the cavern itself is much older. The technological stuff was added much later. And if you look more closely, this place is filled to the brim with runes, hieroglyphs and all sorts of archaic symbolism.

And how do you know that isnt just a Flamers attempt at graphitti? Knight asked with a smile.

Because its clear that the hieroglyphs are ancient.

How do you know all this? Are you an archeologist or something? Knight asked.

Justin arched his eyebrows and blinked rapidly, then smiled. Why YES! Thats exactly it!

An archeologist who can shoot straight, and pick electronic locks Thats a new one. DL snorted.

Well, ummm about that well, you see in my world archeology is a tricky business. Such skills are actually necessary. Justin replied scratching the back of his head trying to hide his nervousness.

Youre a regular Indiana Jones. Knight smirked.

A what? Justin feigned ignorance.

Never mind. Just some off-world movie Jack had made me watch one day. Knight explained.

An archeologist I guess that could work. Justin thought to himself. Knight accidentally gave me an idea about my new personas background. Unless of course he really IS TBlood, in which case I am sure this was intentional Curses, now Im confused again. I guess theres no use in worrying about it now.

So, what, Pyroclad built his base in an archeological dig-site or something? Vortex wondered out loud, not really expecting anyone to answer.

Looks like it. Justin replied. In fact, Ive this seen type of hieroglyphs before, in some ruins earlier today.

Ruins?! Vortex asked surprised. We have ruins?

If youd spent some time away from the city, then youd have noticed that the MFW is littered with such ruins. DL replied. I think the Templar call them Segan Ruins. In fact TBlood had done some research on them when he was mortal, but as far as I know there was never an organized initiative to research them neither from the Admins, nor from the Templar. So they still remain a mystery that no one seems inclined to investigate something rather weird considering everyones tendency to get their noses into anything conspicuous around here. He said pointing to several of the non-military members of the group.

Thats because looking at some ancient walls with symbols carved on them is boring! Rad Blue exclaimed. Which is exactly what we are doing here; staring at the walls and talking and it IS boring. Boring, unnecessary, and dangerous. Shall we move on? I thought this place was filled with soldiers ready to shoot us to the death.

Not that I share RBs opinions on archeology in general, but I do think shes right on this one. Thamior entered the conversation. Were in enemy territory, we should move and crack some heads before they get the chance to do the same to us.

Agreed. Knight nodded.

Umm, guys? Camden, who was on the other side of the hangar, interrupted them. Now, I dont know the first thing about archeology, but this looks related to why we are here and it does NOT look good!

Everyone gathered around her and stared at the series of murals she was pointing to.
Though in typical, stylistically primitive art fashion, each mural was rather explicit in what it was depicting: a series of events, in rapid succession involving a city of strange architecture and unknown origin. On the center of the city, floating high in the air was a black box of some sort. Swirling around it were 7 crystals. The whole contraption was bathed in red flames, which gradually spread out to cover the entire city. According to the murals, everything touched by those flames was instantly turned to ash. The final mural depicted nothing but a smoking desolace, the black box still floating in the air. On the bottom line of the murals a series of symbols was vertically arrayed.

Can you read what it says? Camden asked.

Um, no. Justin answered. It would take time and research to decipher the script.

Hold on. DL said taking out his palm pilot. Though I dont think TBlood has actually deciphered the script, chances are my pilot might have some parameters to convey the general meaning.

Pointing his palmtop to the murals and typing in a few commands, and following a few moments of bleeps and other electronic noises, the pilots screen showed three words.

Weapon. Fiery. Death.

Gee! All this show of electronics for just this?! Vortex exclaimed. I could tell you myself that this is a weapon of mass destruction dont need no fancy palm pilots and gadgets!

Everybody exchanged worried looks.

We really need to move fast if this thing is what I think it is! Knight said urgently and tapped his OpComm. Jack, do you read me?

Loud and clear.

Were inside Hephaestus, no sign of Bomb, and we lost contact with Rachel a while ago. All is clear now, but we found some ancient murals which I think depict what the MIF Projector is capable of. And it doesnt look pretty.

What?! What are ancient murals doing there, and how can they depict the MIF Projector?!

I have no idea and Im not interested to know. We need to move fast. What are our orders?

A loud beep was heard in everyones headphones, and Rachel entered the common channel. Im sorry for the radio-silence everyone, I had to take care of your path. You should be ok for a while, but you WILL face resistance if you move in further to the complex. Now listen well, Im on my way there but dont wait for me. Something tells me time is against us. I have no idea where Bomb is, but that also means that no one else on the complex does either. Which means he should be OK for now. There is a control Center with a Mainframe NEAR the Core. Its not THE main control center of the base that one is in the Core itself, which Pyroclad calls the Seat of Flame but the Mainframe there is of great importance: It controls the AA systems. I suggest deactivating it if you want to give this place the laugh eventually. Furthermore, it contains data-bases regarding the MIF Projector. I dont have access to those files, so youll have to hack the files from the local terminal. Magma is also somewhere in the base, probably within the Seat of Flame itself. I still dont know where Pyroclad or the MIF Projector is, or if the Projector is complete for that matter.

Rachel, Justin cut in, We found some murals here that depict some device of fiery death. Is that the Projector?

As far as I can tell, yes. Rachel confirmed. Magma had long ago discovered and researched the dark of the murals of Hephaestus. Turns out that, according to him anyway, this place was an ancient research facility by something called the Segan Civilization. Apparently the Segans became extinct, but not before creating several instruments of destruction, including that which Pyroclads scientists dubbed the Molecular Incineration Field Projector. Magma and Pyroclads scientists researched more murals carved around the core, that apparently were an elaborate instructions manual for building said devise. Even if I had access to the files, those things would be too complicated for my brain-box to contain, but from what I gathered, deciphering the murals was hard and not all of the instructions were 100% clear. Chant is a lot of accidents happened when they were building it and more than a few were put in the dead book in the process. Like I said, the Mainframe holds all the dark of it if you can get it.

I see Knight mused. Jack, you heard that? What do you want us to do?

Well, procuring the information regarding the MIF Projector is definitely a top priority right now. Perhaps in there we can find a method to counter it in case we dont manage to stop its completion so that is definitely your Number One Objective, effective immediately.

What about Bomb? Swifthom asked.

Rescuing him is still on your list of Objectives, but until we get a fix on his exact location, you should concentrate on procuring all the data on the MIF devise. Furthermore you should also deactivate the Anti Air systems to secure your exfiltration.

What about Magma? Knight asked.

Hes just been bumped into your Target Of Opportunity list.

Roger. Knight said and turned to the rest. Alright people, you heard the man, lets move out! And everybody followed suit, except Justin who stood there for a few seconds, examining the murals his gaze focused on the 7 crystals that were swirling around the weapon.

Justin, cmon! Is something wrong? Knight motioned to his teammate.

Justin blinked as if coming out from a haze. Umm no. Was just wondering about never mind, lets move out we dont have time! He said and followed the rest.
Those seven crystals could it be? he wondered

Hephaestus Core, The Seat of Flame
Deep within the Volcanos core, Pyroclads Seat of Flame, an elaborate throne-room filled with terminals that control every aspect of the volcanic complex, located in the center of a pool of hot lava, sat the lone pyromancer Magma who was holding a communion with Pyroclad and his chief lieutenants over a secure, long-distance channel.

You mean to tell me that Hephaestus was infiltrated by forumers?! Werent they all killed by Hot-Shooter? Pyroclad demanded over the vid-phone.

It is likely that a second group of infiltrators is on the island, Pyroclad. Magma answered. Or it is likely that Hot-Shooter was not as forthcoming as we believed initially.

How do you mean?

Last I spoke to her; she seemed to behave rather oddly.

Maybe its that time of the month. Another voice replied, this one belonging to Phoenix, the brash, hotshot pilot of HEAT.

No, you numbskull! Magma replied. I meant oddly as in suspicious!

You believe that she has betrayed us? Pyroclad asked.

Im afraid so.

Hinoke was our main research facility for the Projector. But it also served as a distraction for any Group Mission that the Admins might form. But when we completed all the necessary preparations, I believe I was explicit in stating that I wanted ALL of the invaders killed! Seeing as how they are alive, and that one of our own might have fallen in league with them, drastic measures are to be taken before more vital information leaks to the enemy. Especially now that they have invaded Hephaestus itself!

Magma nodded. It pains me to say this, seeing as this place is a fountain of ancient lore, but Hephaestus has outlived its usefulness.

Exactly. Magma, your magic will protect you. Make sure that NOTHING gets out of there alive. Meanwhile, our allies and FLAME have some Admins to fry. Pyroclad said nodding to a figure huddled in a dark corner, holding a glowing rod of some sort.

I understand. Magma out.

Hephaestus Base; Somewhere between the Hangar and the Medical Facility

This way leads to the hangar! The rogue guard said to Bomb and Stressed.

Its weird that most of the guards are not here. Bomb mused.

I was picking up random transmissions earlier. The guard commented. Apparently, Hot-Shooter kept ordering all the commandos in circles away from the Hangar. Supposedly, she sent a unit there to investigate, but I didnt hear any such transmission from her. It would appear that shes sent everyone on a wild goose chase or something.

Thats strange. Stressed commented.

Heh! Well strange is like Rachels middle name. the guard laughed.

Rachel?! Bomb jumped as if he was electrocuted.

Yeah, thats Hot-Shooters real name. Rachel. Why, what about it?

Bomb arched his eyebrows and slowly an extremely wide smile was formed on his face.

Whats the deal with this Rachel, Bomb? Stressed asked. Whats gotten into you?

Well. Bomb continued smiling. I think we just had an AMAZING streak of luck!

We had? Stressed and the Guard asked in unison.

Yes. I think Rachels on our side! Bomb exclaimed.

She is? Stressed and the Guard asked again.

Yes! In fact, shes the one who saved me from that sadistic slut, Jeanette. She was also the one to place me in the medical facility, and had hidden some weapons for me under the bed (but no clothes, curse her humor), aaaand she is actually the informant that was helping us ever since we stepped our feet on this god-forsaken island! Yes, it all makes perfect sense now!

Glad to hear that! The guard exclaimed as they approached a closed door. I guess this really is a streak of luck! He said smiling as he opened the door revealing Jeanette on the other side, her gun pointed on the guards head.

Traitorous dog! she said and pulled the trigger.

Blood was sprayed to the two shocked forumers, splattering Bombs face and shirt, but passing through the immaterial Bayfield, as the guards corpse fell to the ground.

YOU #@$%ING @#%$!!!! Stressed screamed, and in an instinctual reaction from his rage, his eyes flashed for a second and then so did the entire hallway. Blasting Jeanette away to hit a nearby wall, making her drop her gun.

Wait! Bomb yelled to Stressed as he cleaned the blood from his face, and rolled up his sleeves. I have a score to settle with this piece of @#%$!

Jeanette slowly stood up to her feet, pulling another weapon her electroshock rod. So, does the little kitten scratches as well as it meows? Hehehe! My only regret is killing that guard quick and painlessly. This is not a luck you will share!

Bomb stared her in the eyes. He could pull his gun and shoot her down, but for the first time in a long while, he was genuinely pissed off with another person. He really wanted to kill her. Not in the professional way of a soldier like Knight. And not in the just business way of his former Mafia affiliation. Not even in the slightly blood-thirsty Enemys-Life-Means-Nothing way of CyKairus. No, this one he PERSONALLY wanted to suffer a painful death.

But suddenly, an alarm was heard throughout all of Hephaestus, followed by a feminine, digitized voice that bore a dire announcement.

Warning. Warning. Hephaestus Self-Destruct Sequence Activated. Volcanic Core Eruption in T minus 20 Minutes. Proceed to Evacuation. Warning. Volcanic Explosion Imminent in T minus 19 Minutes and 56 Seconds. Follow Evacuation Protocols At On

SONIC Operations Command, HQ Tower, Sega City.

Knight! Yelled Jack to the microphone. What was that alarm?

Uhhh Craptastic things are happening here, boss. It looks like we have a time limit of 20 mins, Jack. Afterwards its Game Over.

What? Why are they destroying their research center?! Vector asked.

Maybe because they no longer need it. True Red sighed.

Commander Reeves. Vector spoke urgently. Things look dire. If they are intent on blowing that place up, then we are already too late to stop the devices completion. I do realize that the safety of your men are of paramount importance, but

Say no more, Administrator. I understand. Jack said nodding. Knight. This is Jack. Listen, and listen well. Looks like the devise is ready. Our best chance is to GET that information regarding the MIF Projector, BEFORE Pyroclad uses it against us. And we only have ONE opportunity at doing so. And this is it. You have 20 minutes to hack the Mainframe and get the hell out of there! Deactivate the AA systems as well, so we can send a jet to pick you up. I dont expect that you encounter any resistance. Most, if not all of the Hephaestus personnel, soldiers included, would be more interested in getting the hell out of there than picking a fight with you. As for Bomb I hope you find him on your way. Concentrate on your main objective.

Roger, Knight out.

Jack rubbed his temples to relax from the tension and then turned to the Admins. Is it possible for you to teleport them out of there if the worse comes to bear?

Not directly, no. True Red answered. We have to have visual contact with the people we are to teleport. We COULD teleport in the volcano ourselves, but that would be risky in absence of accurate data on the location. I could teleport within a wall, or worse yet, within the lava itself. If I dont have a clear knowledge of the place, then I cant teleport without great risk, especially to a place like a volcano.

But Administrator TetherBlood teleported Team 3 without even taking a look at the satellite coordinates. Jack mused.

TBlood is the Guardian of Worlds. He doesnt teleport like an Admin, nor does he obey a lot of the laws of nature. He could teleport them out without a problem but currently he is on the other side of the Multiverse and I have no means of reaching him.

Jack nodded in understanding, and tried to relax on his chair, jumping up again when a warning noise was emitted from one of the consoles.

Whats wrong?! Asked Vec.

The city-wide radar registered an unidentified flying object coming out of Cloak just a bit away from the city limits. I guess its cloaking field was deactivated by that Anti-Cloaking system you had installed after the explosion of Green Labs, sir. Another one dropped out of cloak now. And another. And yet another. A lot of them keep appearing!

MF Central, Sega City.
The heart and soul of Sega City, MF Central Square was brimming with life even now at 22:45 pm, and a lot of the citys inhabitants were now on their way to the nightclubs for some fun and relaxation.

Its a beautiful night, Peter. The young girl said to the man who was holding her by the hand, as they neared their favorite nightclub.
Yeah, it is. Peter said looking the sky. Pretty warm for November, and the sky is clear considering that the forecast said it would rain during the early morning hours hey, wait. Can you hear that?

The couple looked around and so did a lot of the people who were on the streets trying to locate the source of that strange sound.

Questions and commends were heard throughout the crowd
What is it?
I think its some random lunatic advertising his kilopost!
I think it sounds like a modified hover-car, blasting its nitro!
I think it sounds like a jet engine!
I think it sounds like Chicken!
I think wait, what?!?

Suddenly, the noise became even stronger, as a FLAME jet swooped over the square, followed by several more. Soon, explosions could be heard from afar, followed soon after by screams.

What, whats going on Peter?
I dont know Mary-Jane, but these fighters dont look like ours! (OOC: Yeah, so OK, I took the names from Spiderman. This is NOT Spiderman however!!!)

The Sirens were heard throughout the city, declaring an emergency. It was clear that the city was being attacked. The forumers panicky ran to all directions Peter and Mary-Jane running towards the night-club.

We should be safe there!!! Peter yelled as they entered the club. Immediately after that, a jet swooped from above launching a napalm strike on the area, destroying everything including the club (Yeah, definitely not Spidey. No Spider-sense. :P)

An entire swarm of fighter jets were littering Sega Citys skies, unleashing a constant barrage of gunfire, plasma, and air-to-surface bombs and missiles

Back on the Tower

The Admins were frantically coordinated the defenses of the City. Jack was now more concentrated on the happenings of Hinoke, but didnt inform the operatives of the invasion, not wanting to stress them more than necessary.

A terminal went to life suddenly, as a bulldog wearing an air-force generals official uniform spoke up. Admins! This is General Eyestat calling from the Aerial Securitys Extended Peripheral Radar Tower!

If you are calling to inform us of the invasion, General, then youre a tad bit too late! True Red said multitasking with the controls.

Not exactly. In addition to the fleet of fighters that are attacking, our long range radars just spotted an extremely large uncloaked vessel, a few miles away from the city. ETA 10 minutes. It would appear that it is an aerial fortress that the fighters were using as a carrier. Not only that, more jets of different configuration and uncloaked are coming from there as we speak!

An aerial fortress?! Vector wandered alarmed.

Sir! Ive just received word that we have identified the signal. Sir Its the Crystal Floating Fortress!

I KNEW IT! Yelled Vec slamming his fist on a keyboard. He tricked us! They were in this together all along!!!

The Crystal Floating Fortress en route to Sega City. ETA 9 mins, 50 secs.

I see your fleet did a marvelous surprise attack, Pyroclad! Evil WB commented.

Yes. Even with the Anti-Cloak system that Vector enabled, my forces should have no problem quelling the opposition. Pyroclad gloated.

Well, your airplanes should concentrate on the Tower. After all, it is there that our prize awaits! EWB said smiling.

I have instructed my pilots to make surgical strikes against the Towers defenses. After all, we dont want the entire building to collapse just yet. We need a clear passage to the underground Vault where the Keys are stored.

So, you truly believe this Segan relic of yours will work?

Of course! Pyroclad exclaimed clutching his fists, making short bursts of flame to come forth. The MIF Projector is already fully operational. It can produce a Molecular Incineration Field already.

But the field is not wide enough to engulf the whole city. Evil Vec commented.

No, but according to the Murals, if we use the 7 Figment Keys as focus crystals, then the field WILL be wide enough to torch this place once and for all! the FLAME Leader said triumphant.

Perfect! EWB smiled. Just remember our deal! After this is over, I get to keep the Figment Keys!

Of course. I have no interest for these relics. I only want the ashes of that city! the arch-flamer commented as he stood ahead, waiting for the fortress to arrive to the City

To Be Continued

OOC:EDIT: Gatcha. Editing post now.

IC:
Cy furrowed his brow slightly, but inside, he was furious. Not only had they failed the mission, but the whole island was about to come down and they hadn't found Bomb yet. He sighed. "This day just keeps getting better and better. Time to kick it up a notch." He began sending psionic pulses through the base. Bomb...can you hear me? Boooo-oooooomb...Pick up.

OOC: Um, Cy, the Operatives on Hinoke Island, are not aware of FLAME's invasion. They are intentionaly kept in the dark in an effort to avoid putting into them more stress than needed.

Need to know basis, so to speak.

It COULD be argued that he could telepathicaly discover what was going on, but that would mean that he actively looks for this - and that kinda stretches the plot at this point.

Besides, as long as our chars are in Hinoke, the whole Invasion is prescripted and nothing we can do can change events.

I must say, this has proven to be quite a long and involved Group Mission. I've no intention to join up (as my character, IC, is actually away from the MoFo at this point in time. But the NEXT one... ).

Nevertheless, this is a very awesome RP, and I'm just giving you all a hearty congratulations, a thumbs-up, a 'keep up the good work', and a chicken.

(sits back to watch the rest)

OOC:
Warning, mild torture themes but nothing graphic at all, and I MEAN nothing graphic, no description just a before and after situation.
Just a discussion about anger and hatred, and Craig, I'm sorry for leaping in and taking hold of Stressed but it seemed like the right thing to do.

IC:
In the Corridor

There was a nice long pause as Swiftbomb's hands quickly did their work, wrapping themselves around his victims hands, ignoring the alarm. "What the hell does that mean?" he shouted at Stressed.

"Three guesses, the Islands going to blow up," Stressed smirked, "This is a volcano you idiot."

"I know that," Swiftbomb sighed, "How close do you think we are to the hanger?"
"No idea," Stressed shrugged, glancing down at his pet guard with a mixture of pity and dismay. "It's a shame..."

"Yeah well, so is this girl when I'm finished with her," Bomb replied as he turned her onto her back, her hands and legs now tied by strips of her own clothing that he'd ripped off.

"We don't have time for that," Stressed told him sternly, "Leave her to burn, lets get moving."

"We don't know where it is," Bomb roared at him, "You can teleport around, go and find out."
"What?"
"You heard me, go and find out. I'll be finished when youre done," he chuckled madly as he expertly turned her back onto her front, gently squeezing her temples.

As Stressed shimmered away he found the pressure points, Stressed hadn't blasted her to hard so she shouldn't be too hard to wake up, one bloody hit and she was down.
And she thought that he had had no stamina for torture.

"huh...." she gasped, screaming as the pain pulled her back into consciousness.
"Have you ever played tag?" he asked her conversationally, a manic grin spreading over his face. "Or any other kiddies games?"

She starred at him in wonder, hyperventilating slightly as she tried to look around, struggling on his makeshift bonds. He kicked her to keep her still, "Maybe you forgot the important bit, when you play Tig, after your go it's someone elses turn to play. You had your fun, and now it's mine."

--------

One Minute and Four Seconds Later

Bomb...can you hear me? Boooo-oooooomb...Pick up.
He had long taken precautions to stop telepaths reading his mind, but Bomb looked up in annoyance as he felt Cy calling for him.
So they were here, bugger and he'd just been enjoying himself. He grinned, wondering if he could play a little game with Cy, and looked down at Jeanne. He'd done much better than her, she was still alive, very much conscious and if he took the butt of his gun, probably covered in germs, out of her mouth then he knew that she'd be squealing.
He pictured her in her mind, concentrated on her and, even though he'd never been a telepath he did his best to project it back to Cy.

He didn't know how strong the telepaths stomach would be, and even though he hadn't told him where he was it should give him a small issue to ponder.

"What the..." Stressed appeared behind him, a severe look of distaste on his face as he grabbed Bomb's shoulders. "Are you quite finished?"

"Yes," he sighed, "Help me find a cupboard, we can leave her in there till this place goes up."

Stressed gave him one look, then grabbing the soldiers gun raised it and shot Jeanne. She muffled a cry as he raised the gun but then went silent, put out of her misery; "I think you did enough to her." He didn't seem concerned, didn't see, angry he was just stating a fact.
He had done enough to her...

Swiftbomb looked daggers but he accepted it, he had wasted enough time and they NEEDED to get to the hangar. He glanced back at the corpse behind them, and gulped.

A momentary relapse, back to his old ways?
No, this was worse, he'd never actually done that before. He might have the moral high ground to start with but...
Well, he'd definitely lost that.
Shrugging he strode after Bayfields flittering shadow, "How far is it?"

OOC: It's good to be back.

IC:
"Come on Justin, we don't have time to be staring at pictures!" Blu shouted over the whirring of the alarm.

"Yeah, you're right" Justin said, and caught up with the rest of the group, something was still on his mind though.

This wasn't going to be an easy task. The layout of this place was extremely complicated, it was now just a matter of luck in picking the right way to the control room.

Needless to say , Blu wasn't going down in flames, not without a fight anyway...

Justin dashed after the others down the cavern tunnels, noticing briefly that they were heading at a downward angle. Makes sense that the base would go deeper into the volcano, he thought grimly. Even if these "Segans" didn't tap into the volcano for geothermal energy, Pyroclad is crazy enough that he'd probably put all of the important stuff in the heart of the volcano, make it harder to get to.

Despite the intense pressure of the situation as time ticked away and the group scrambled down the corridors, Justin was feeling more alive like he always did when things got intense. There was fear, yes, but he was thinking clearly, reflexively. There was the temptation to activate the omni-suit, but he wasn't going to dare that unless things got really desperate. He still wasn't sure he could trust everyone present with his true identity, and besides that, there was the chance the suit could end up killing him faster...

He thought back to what TetherBlood had said, about how Justin didn't have much time left and needed to throw himself into it now. Never counted on this happening when he said that. Either way though, no way I'm going to stop here. Still got too much to live for.

He was still gripping his stun gun as he chased after the others, deliberately holding himself in the back as they turned a corner and stomped down a set of steps.

The elevator shook as Georgia Stahlmansche rode it down, the floors zipping past with incredible speed. "Status!" she barked into the ear-mounted microphone she wore.

"The entire city is under attack, ma'am - reports coming in say the first wave is fighters, there's a huge fortress coming in too!"

"Send out the Armada units! All of them, and patch me in to the SHQ Tower while you're at it!"

"Aye ma'am, linking you up."

There was a tense pause that was emphasized by the sounds of explosions outside, and then the static cleared and Stahlmansche heard a male voice answer. "Yes, what is it?"

"This is Georgia Stahlmansche, CEO of Effective Cybertronics Unlimited," she answered smoothly as she held out one hand to keep her balance as the elevator finally slowed down as it went underground. "My people are sending you the identification codes for our Armada units right now, we're sending them out to help defend the city."

"All right, thank you for your help. We're sending back our own recognition codes now."

"Excellent. I'll be available if you need to talk with me. Out."

Stahlmansche cut the connection herself with a button press on the earset, and she adjusted her thin black tie as she stepped out of the elevator into the reinforced bunker underneath her company's headquarters. With everything that's happening, I wonder where my enigmatic friend is? she thought as she walked through a corridor and into a huge secret command center where she could literally see everything her robots could see. Well, I don't have time to worry about that. I'm not going to let anyone destroy my city!

All throughout the city, at various ECU distribution centers and sales locations, hidden wall panels swung aside to reveal rows and rows of humanoid battle robots. Their armor was sterile white, and they stood at a bulky eight feet tall as they activated and stomped out into the streets. Their elongated heads featured a visual receptor that covered the front and sides of their heads, giving them nearly full vision. Their hands, ending in three flexible talons, flexed into sharpness, and their forearm-mounted energy guns hummed with the sound of charging. Like huge robotic gorillas, they were large and almost clumsy looking as they stormed out into the streets. It was only when their legs popped open to reveal thrusters that their true mobility was revealed, and they began to fly up into the air in droves, spreading out in different directions.

A pair of FLAME fighters swung through the city, easily picking off any stragglers they saw in the streets with sadistic glee. One of them loosed a barrage of plasma from its twin guns, but suddenly it shuddered and began losing control. The other one saw his wingman being attacked by a humanoid robot that had landed onto the fighter, tearing into the fighter's armored skin with foot-long talons. The robot tore open a hole and then fired a grayish fireball into the open spot, causing a series of explosions that the robot only barely escaped as the fighter crashed into the side of a building. The second fighter wheeled around to blast the robot, which took a couple of plasma rounds before it burst into a fireball.

A small group of Armada units landed in Central Square and planted themselves onto the ground, their feet spread apart to balance them as their waists extended slightly to allow them complete 360 turning, like tank turrets. As bombs splashed the ground around them and through them, they stalwartly acted as anti-aircraft turrets and began blasting away with their arm-mounted energy cannons.

Other Armada units stayed in the air, dogfighting in pairs against the FLAME and Evil Admin fighters that were coming in. The city's skies streaked with missiles and gunfire as Sega City's own fighters came into the fray.

But even as the defense forces of Sega City rallied around this new set of allies, the Armada units simply weren't enough to turn the tide of the battle. The advantage of surprise was soon lost, and the Armada units become disposable warriors in a desperate conflict.

(OOC: Hope bringing this aspect in didn't seem twinkish or ill-timed, since the action should really be focusing more on the volcano. But then again I'm being hypocritical right now giving more coverage in the city right now. :P)

OOC: Oooooh.

And I am at a loss for what to say. XD

*goes off to think of something brilliant to IC with* >>

The message came back loud and clear to Bomb. Stop playing with the git and kill her, man. We need to get in, get out and get the he** off this island, and your antics aren't helping!

OOC: My word..I need internet in my house >> Anyway Umm this post is bordering on control of everyones char x_x. I'm sorry, I'm just pushing everyone through the volcano so we all don't get stuck in like.. 3 corridors for like 234923 posts. Im not gonna like, throw us into the Mainframe room, but I just want us substantially away from the damn hanger xD.

IC:

All he could think was "Murder." That's all. Just one simple word to wrap all of this up. Everyone began to move-with a bit of anxiety in their step due to the now impending doom.

Just to keep his mind level, DL quickly opened his palm pilot again, and set the alarm for exactly 18 minutes from meltdown to go off. Just so he'd knew he'd have a minute to get the hell away from there if things got really bad...

Especially if he had to save a life of two.

He also took a few scans of the heiroglyphs, just in canse he wanted to relive this moment's intensity.

=======================

"Down into the volcano." Knight grunted as the squad ran headlong into the passageway. Some opted to float along hastily, so others could keep up.

"Well, we have a large amount of work to do and not so much time to do it in." Cy replied, watching doors and other corridors whiz by as they continued on.

"My only concern is why are we working as one large group. This will make for tight quarters if we actually meet up with any other HEAT Members." DL piqued up, since he was once again taking the rear.

"Well, we don't all KNOW where we are going, DL. So it would be better to get there and all know the escape route before we go all willy-nilly about the place." Camden retorted, giving him a glare that made DL even less inclined to try and be nice to her.

"Well, I don't think that's all. See, we all know that most of our current objectives are in the same area, so splitting up wouldn't help us any. Besides, we are going to need as many of us as possible to even begin hacking the Mainframe, as well as to ensure we have an escape route" Justin stated, taking his time to say all that while running behind "Cooki"

"Hacking or not, we need to clip the AA systems so we can get a jet here. Can a jet get here in under 20 minutes?" Rad asked, slightly concerned about that.

"I believe it was a little under 10 that a Jet could fly here." Swift said, absently checking his gun as he ran past. Irinikooc would smirk, and wipe her brow. "That's comforting. So we get that done first, and then what? Hack into that Mainframe thing?"

"That would be wise, so we could have an escape route. I doubt Cy and DL could teleport all of us out without overloading themselves."

"Probably so." They both stated as they flew on through. Cy was now tuned into looking for abnormal frequencies, basically anyone alive that wasn't the group and alerting everyone of their position. But so far there were none.

"Is it just me..." Vortex yelled, in order to be heard" Or is it getting hotter in here?"

Knight had noticed the rise in temperature, but their time scheudule was not one to dawdle with. The next door was kicked open, its form slamming into the adjacent wall-echoing down the corridor. The group filed though-only to be at an oddity. They had walked onto a walkway, that extended in two directions to two different doors. At first everyone seemed a bit frustrated by the suddden introduction of a choice, but Knight would use his superior intellectual combat skillz {I needed an excuse to write the word skillz xD} to figure out their path.

"Rad, can you make a nice breeze right now?"

"...Yeah? But I don't see how that's going to help." She would call upon the powers of that element chanting the necessary words for her skills to be utilized. Soon, a summer's breeze would hit the group fromm the left side of the room to the right, everyone slightly relieved. Knight then took off running to teh right, followed by Cy and DL almost instantaneously. Thamior, standing farther to the right than anyone, would assume they were going right and slammed the door open, ensuring they ran into no one.

"Wait, I don't get it. How did they figure it out?" OTB stated as they followed suit. Rad shrugged and followed, but an explanation came from Cy.

"Vortex said it was warm. So, if a breeze passed by, and it felt cool, that meant we would be going away from the center. Had it felt warm coming from that direction, we'd be going left right about now."

The group continued through that hallway, astounded by the walls that they were running through. DL literally shoved Justin through it, as he stopped and grew all googly eyed over the heiroglyphics on the walls.

"But there's hundreds of words on these walls..."

"To put it bluntly Archeologist...there will be hundreds of your cells around this island if you don't move. In fact..." He hastily pulled out that little device again, and took 10 pictures, 5 of each wall. The device was then put away and nodded at. "I'll send you them so you can drool over them later."

"Oh?! Thanks! That's quite nice of you." Justin smiled, before he began to pick up the pace. DL floated there for a moment now, looking at the walls. He then tapped his inside breast pocket, and shook his head, murmuring.

"Yeah. Nice guy I am."

Biting his lip, DL grabbed the hilt of his sword and picked up the rear again.

Cy silently floated along behind Knight and DL, still scanning for psionic pulses. He knew it'd be suicide for anyone in their right mind to stay here...but hey, he was with a group from a land known for its insane tendencies. He chuckled lightly to himself. Huh? Big reasonance relatively nearby...just what was it?

"Can you hear that?" Bomb asked as they skirted around another corner...

"Yeah," Stressed shrugged, "Someone running, lots of people, hurried footsteps."
"Their getting closer," Swiftbomb ducked behind a corner and peered around it, waiting for whoever it was to approach.

"Cy, anybody near us?" Knight asked angrily.
"No one," Cy replied, "I cant sense anything."

"This base should be crawling with people, I know Rachel got rid of quite a lot of them but still..."

"Don't complain, it makes the job easier," DL murmured as he flew ahead. "This way," he pointed to their right around the next corridor.

"They're guards," Swiftbomb growled, "At least twenty of them."
"Not good," stressed shrugged, "Do you want me to do it or shall we flee like rabbits?"
"Rabbits dont flee, they sit in the middle of the road and watch the car headlamps rush towards them," Bomb replied simply, "We'll both do it."

Checking his gun he waited until the guards were nearly upon them, then suddenly they all disappeared. "What?"
"They went down that door," Stressed laughed, "So much for your death and glory charge."

Bomb shot Stressed an agitated look then dashed after them, ten feet down the corridor then turning left, following the soldiers. Stressed followed him rolling his eyes.

Why they were following them Bomb wasn't sure, but it seemed the only thing left to do. "The hanger was on the right there," Stressed pointed behind them at a turning they'd missed, "So why are we?"

Bomb's eyes raised in surprise and he indicated for Stressed to shut up. He didn't need to, the errant Bayfield had worked it out at exactly the same time he had.
They could all see, in the distance what the guards were following...

"Right here," DL shrugged pointing in one direction, Knight hurried past him followed by the rest of the group. "Cy, any sign of guards?"

"No," Cy shrugged, "The corridor is clear." He glanced behind him at the back of the group, Thamior and Vortex were hurrying along. In the distance behind Cy's eyes could just see the glint of something metal moving in the distance. he froze, but ignored it and carried on moving. When he reached Knight he whispered in his ear, "We're being followed."

"How?" Knight asked, "Why didn't you sense them?"
"they must be shielding themselves somehow," Cy shrugged, "Want me to take them out?"

"No, if they can shield from your radar they might also be able to block your mental attacks, we'll have to ambush them." Knight decided, "We'll keep moving, and set up an ambush. Rachel warned us that the men here would be tougher than they were outside, I dont want to take any risks and we haven't got time to stop moving."

"What about Swiftbomb?" Swift asked Cy, "Can you sense him?"

"He's out there somewhere," Cy shrugged, "I sensed him earlier but now... I don't have a clue."

The Hangar

A small, one-person jet landed in the hangar, right next to the still smoking crashed jet the forumers had used earlier.

The cockpit swinged open and from within, Rachel's lithe figure jumped out - riffle at the ready.

"So, Pyroclad must've ordered Magma to activate the self-destruct sequence... the Master's gonna have his sacrifice."

She closed her eyes, vanquishing from her mind all the thoughts that nosy telepaths would find suspicious. Not that it mattered at this point - her helmet protected her from mental intrusion, but this mental cleansing was more than just telepathic protection. It was a full mental deprograming that reverted her back to the same personality that Pyroclad and the forumers had come to trust.

Gone was her single-minded determination to The Cause - whatever that is - gone was her zealous determination to eradicate any and all that stand against her Master's agenda. She again embraced kindness and warmth in her heart. She again started to feel for the best of the forumers and Sega City. She again became Rachel, the sniper with a crisis of conscience who, filled with self-sacrifice was willing to play a dangerous game by sabbotaging FLAME from within.

She opened her eyes, literaly a different person, and started running after the forumers.

There was something that bugged her in the back of her head though. An element that she realised remained the same, no matter her mindset...

... she WAS worried about a certain person's survival.

***********

Deeper in Hephaestus

The forumers were running towards the Mainframe, wary of the possibilty of being followed, when suddenly Cy stoped.

"Wait! I'm sensing people!" He spoke in their minds.

"How many?" Asked Knight.

"A LOT... But..." He continued this time talking with him mouth instead of his head. "They give me a headache... their thoughts are screaming with panic. They are running to evacuate this place."

Indeed, the sound of people shouting and running soon came closer and closer. The forumers braced themselves for combat, but as the various technicians, grunts, and even Commandos emerged from the next corner, they seemed completely uninterested in fighting the intruders. Instead, in a panic rush the ran passed the forumers, forgoing any notions of a battle.

This panicky rush was like a stampede, as most of the group struggled as to not get trampled. Cy simply projected a telekinetic field around him, so he was OK, and Thamior was by nature a rather unovable individual - the rest used their own powers (when applicable) to continue on through the sea of people, while those without said powers struggled to keep up.

Justin used his body as a shield to protect Cooki's small frame. Knight did a similar thing for Camden, but only after Camden yelped in pain, caused by her leg injury.

In less than a minute, the croud lessened. There were still people running about in constant streams, but the BIG wave was now over and done with.

The event served as a reminder to Knight; that under THESE circumstances, everyone's prime consern was to survive. The problem was, that HE had a job to do before running away. He had a mission to complete, and he would complete it no matter what. Knight was used in going into situations where his survival was not guaranteed. He took a look to his comrades... Most of them were NOT however. Normaly, he wouldn't care. Certainly, he hoped that every one of them would come out of it unscathed, but he didn't have luxury of worrying about it. As a soldier, his mission came first. His gaze then passed Camden... It was then that Knight realized, that despite his training, he realy wanted HER to get out of this one alive.

His thoughts were broken by Cy's random commentary.

"You guys do realise that most of the people we see running around here, will die."

"What?! Why's that?" Justin asked surprised. For a second the thought that Cy was insinuating he intented of melting everyone's brain but he again realised, that Cy, though brutal in his methods, was not a cold-blooded mass-murderer.

As if it was a responce to Justin's thoughts and not his voiced querry, Cy explained: "Every one of these people are dashing madly to escape. But we all know the only way in and out of this place is the hangar. And we all know there are no jets there. Also, climbing down from this place would probably take a lot more time that what they have before this place realy becomes a hell-hole."

"Dont they have any emergency exits?!" OTB asked in a rust, less than a second later he realised they had no way of knowing. But to his surprise, Cy DID infact provide an informed answer.

"Yes, pod launchers on various parts... Red it off their minds. Barely enough of them to get even half of the Flamers out of here before this place explodes..."

"How can we help them?" Justin asked.

"HELP them?!" Cy spat. "Are you out of your mind?! If things were different these people would blow your brains out!"

"That doesn't matter. We are supposed to be better than that. And besides, you could say we were at war with them before. But now... Now they are just human beings running for their lives. We cant just abandon them here to burn!"

"Why not?!" Cy argued back. "They sure seemed pretty intrigued at the prospect of burning US, our HOMES down. I treat this as 'turnabouts fairplay'."

Knight sensed the potential arguement that was brewing in the group, paused his runing and addressed his teamates.

"Look, guys. This is pointless. Even if we decided to help them, we simply CAN'T. We dont have a ship ourselves, and we dont even know for certain if we can save our SELVES. We are not exactly in an advantageous position here, to even contemplate the prospect. Besides, we have a mission to do. And we must do it now!"

"Are you telling me your mission comes before all those lives?" Justin asked Knight.

"No. But in case you haven't noticed, this is Pyroclad's main base. And it's on self-destruct mode. He doesn't need this place anymore. In other words, it's obvious he's ready!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"How many people you reckon work in Hephaestus, Justin? Fifty? A hundred? Two hundred, tops?! Well, there are over 20 million people in Sega City right now counting on us. And I'd pick THEM over these Flamers any day. Only now, there isn't even a choice, period. We CANT do anything about them. So let's move on!"

Justin was by nature, a very altruistic individual. Be that as it may, he could not deny that the safety of Sega City was hanging on the balance, and that presently they had no means of helping Hephastus' workers and soldiers, and thus silently marched on.

Untill finaly, they reached a door with the sign "MAINFRAME CONTROL CENTER".

TBC...

"Hrmph. Wonder if the idjits even bothered to lock the door." Cy stepped forward and tested the door handle.

Cy pushed down on the handle, and slowly pushed the door forward, and the group peered inide. It was devoid of any sort of life.

What was inside though, was a huge network of computers, mainframes, and data, stacked up all around of the room, this was obviously where the majority of the base was operated from.

"So this is one of our objectives, right?" Blu said, "Well, I probably can't figure out how all of this stuff works, I'll leave it to one of you who's better at that kind of stuff"

Blu then turned his attention to Knight "Were those people that were following us still behind us when we came in here?"

"I think so..." Knight mumbled in reply.

Blu thought up a reply and said "Hmm...I think we should be prepared to ambush them if they come in here, we shouldn't kill them though, we'd need to ask them a few questions..."

Blu then wiped the sweat from his forehead, it was obvious they were in the heart of the volcano now, the air conditioning was working at it's maximum trying to push in cool air in place of the warm air generated by the volcano.

The electronic hum was enough to captivate the scientist as the door was opened. The points that Knight, Justin and Cy had made were all valid-but his opinion would not be a positive one to place upon their minds right now. Mainly because he was thinking of somehow electroncally sealing all the exits to this place to ensure all those Flamers died....

As well as the fact that they were being stalked. Highly unappreciative of that, DL wafted himself along to the nearest computer, and slid into position reforming as he did so he could speak.

"Well, little girls and boys, if we are being encroached upon, I suggest we get the brightest folks here working on these cute construsts of human engineering to grasp all the information we can.

Because..."

With a silent reverie all his own, he had already hooked up his PDA, and set up an antennae for it to send out a encrypted signal. Knowing time was against them, he would spin his PDA around for all of them to look at, as he turned to return back to the screen and look for any pertinent information that could be used.

The clock is ticking..."

===========================

*Undisclosed location 1*

A cat would leap off of its current sleeping platform, hissing vehemntly as it opened. A melange light would be seen as a blue bar began whipping across the screen.

*Download in progesss-3% complete*

===========================

*Undisclosed location 2*

A monitor would turn on, with the image of a woman speaking to what would seem to be an empty room.

Templar Knight Darkest Light {MAN THAT RHYMES-awesome :d} uploading information. 3% complete.

===================================

Mainframe room

Melodramatic interlude over, DL would return to trying to hack into the Mainframe, seeing if he could at least get somewhere where information could be retrieved, and eventually stored away. But he paused at teh sound of a upwelling surge..

It didn't sound mechanical at all, and it did not sound like a magmatic bowl about to erupt....

I don't like that sound

For once you are right. It's coming from inside this facility...maybe some more exploration should be conducted. The palm can handle going the long route...we don't have that luxury.

Dl pulled a small blue object from the Palm and stood by the door, watching the seconds count away...

The PDA read 13:26:04

OOC: The ppl that are following us - Anyone got anything specific in mind, or are they just a generic fight sequence?

OOC: no clue.

IC:

Cy cracked his knuckles. He had no need to "hack" the system; he'd gleaned every password he needed from the panicked Flamers' minds. He began navigating the computer witrh eerie ease, seeing as he had also gleaned the file paths from their minds as well.

First off... Cy tapped in a set of keys, bringing up the escape pod controls, to make sure no one gets out of here...not without my permission.

The word came up. "Set password? Y/N" Cy clicked the Y button down, then typed in six letters. B. L. A. R. G.

"Set as password?" Cy moved the cursor and clicked "OK".

"Now that THAT's taken care of..."

Cy tapped a few more keys. "Bringing up escape routes now."
Cy hooked his OpComm to the computer system and downloaded some rouch schematics of the base, including a map of planned emergency routes, surprising few there were...

OOC: Actually, I did have a small idea Mobius, I've PMed you and if you don't like it we'll go with just the fight scene.

IC:
"The volcano is going to explode," stressed pointed out vehemently, "Everybody else around here is fleeing for their lives..."

"But not these people," Swiftbomb pointed at the guards they were following. "The most dedicated of Pyroclads goons, fanatics who'll follow their orders untill their last breath. Why wouldn't they flee?"

"Why haven't we?" Stressed replied dryly before circling Bomb. "They've stopped just ahead, that must mean that..."

In the instance of time, DL opted to network the information Cy was filtering from the minds of some of the workers he had perused earlier. In a flash of key hitting and plug insertion, he had managed to make his computer terminal a mirror image of Cy's. In fact, as the place seemed to hauntingly becme hotter, the MainFrame room flickered to life, every possible screen suddenly activating and showing the same image that Cy was dealing with on his terminal.

"Gah! Stop DOING stuff like that." Cy stated as he now could look up and around to see what he was doing instead of being focused on a few minds and one screen.

"Well, this gives everyone an opportunity to spot what you do, as well as saving us time to deal with our own escape plan."

He leaned back a bit, settling into the chair he had adopted for the time being. A few lazy mouse clicks, and everyone, in a seperate side of the screen, could see the escape routes for themselves. The Mainframe room would be colorfully circled by DL's cursor.

"Not many ways out. Peculiar though, one escape route seems to be deeper in the room, but it extends deeper in the volcanic crater....makes me wonder if there is even more to this place..."

OOC: Ack, dont get much time online at the moment BUT...
Here goes...

IC:
"HALT, put your hands in the air and surrender..." the voice was loud and angry and muffled as the soldiers behind the door took up their positions, suddenly everyone ducked away from the doorway to get out of the way in case anyone started shooting through the door.

"There's no one there," Cy exclaimed annoyed as he tapped his head with frustration.
"Obviously there is," Swift sighed trying to lean forwards so he could see what was going on, he could just make out a shoulder around the corner... "What do we do..."
"We'll have to get rid of them," Kngiht groaned, "We don't have enough time for this. Cy?"

Laughing Cy nodded, and concentrating for a second he released a small telekentic blast through the doorway. It skimmed straight down the corridor, washing over the guards who grunted but didn't move. "Surrender or we will open fire..."

"Their armour must be too strong?" Justin suggested, but shut up when Cy glarred at him. "What do we do then?"

"We'll have to do this the normal way," knight shrugged checking his weapon, "Okay, on the count of three."

There was a momentary pause, but before Knight reached two Thamior burst from his hiding place behind the door and raced, screaming towards the soldiers who were all waiting weapons raised. "Halt, stay back," the monotone voice ordered without a hint of concern, and all of the guards stood and watched as the gigantic man rushed towards them.
He didn't slow as he reached them and crashed right through them, emerging on the other side with a grunt. "What the..."

"They're holograms," another voice echoed from behind the small squadron of troops as another figure stepped through the insubstantial bodies. Swiftbomb appeared in the midst of the holographic soldiers with a sly smirk on his face, holding the same type of weapon they had been. "The computer created them to slow you down, they don't want us reaching the volcano's core..." he raised his eyebrows as if in mock concern as he cocked his gun, "That is where you're going right?"

Unfortunately, Gingersnap was reduced to giving Justin oogling looks of admiration for saving her life as they entered the main control room. What she would give yo drop the chadade and blow up the base and everything in it...!

Unfortunately, she couldn't. Why? Because she was "Cooki". Weak, silly Cooki. So she played the part.

GINGER: Oooh! What does this button do?

She pressed a red button as Knight, Cy and the others turned their attentions away from her...

Of course, there were thousands of red buttons in the room. A small disc tray extended.

Cy tapped a few of his own red buttons, trying to see what else he could glean from the system. "Hey guys..." he said, pointing to a folder marked "MIF"...

"Look what I found."

"Is that what I think it is...?" Justin wondered outloud pointing to the file that Cy just dug up.

"Details for the MIF Projector, yes." Cy let of a sly smile.

Knight wiped the sweat off his forehead and motioned towards Cy. "This is one of the reasons we came here. Save that thing. DL, how goes the AA system...?"

"Working on it. In a few mins it will be deactivated and we can move out of here."

Knight nodded leaned to the wall. Keeping his riffle always at the ready with his right arm, he uses his left one to grab a single cigarette and place it on his mouth and then lights it with his zippo.

For a moment, Camden thought of telling him off for lighting a cig now of all times - but decided not to. For some reason she couldn't explain, she realised she had a basic grasp of how Knight thinks, and thus knew what was on his mind then. There was nothing Knight could do right now to speed up the process of Data retrieval. So, why not take a break for a short smoke. Of course, these thoughts passed through her mind at the speed of, well, thought, and Knight was already dealing with something imediate.

Swift was already all over Bomb for being safe and all. And most of the group followed suit. Knight only gave off a condensending nod as he kept his sights on the door, in case there were more surprises. The Holograms still stood there, but at least now they had stopped talking too much - it was almost as if some part of their programing registered that they were no longer perceived as a threat.

"How did you got here...!?" Swift asked.

"Well, I had some help from..." Bomb paused as he turned around to point at Stressed only to realise he had vanished. "What the...? He was right behind me!"

"Who?"

"Stressed! Stressed helped me out to keep out of harms way!"

"What?!" Camden jerked forward. "Where is he?!"

"I dunno! He was right here! It's as if he vanished into thin air!" Bomb exclaimed both surprised and puzzled.

"I dont get it, why would Stressed help you out?" OTB asked what everybody was thinking. "Wasn't he shooting at us earlier?"

At this Bomb was slightly surprised. "I... I dont know. But why are YOU guys surprised? I thought you knew he would come for me. He said Knight sent him."

Knight raised his eyebrow and stood up. "He said I did WHAT?!"

"You heard me."

Knight puffed some smoke and shook his head. "Last time I saw the bastard, he was pointing a sniper riffle at me, and I was trying to blow his brains out. There's no way he could have said that!"

"Well, he did."

Camden looked at Knight. "But... But Vass was with us the whole time!"

"No." DL cut in, still typing commands at the AA terminal. "Not the whole time."

"Yeah, that's right." Knight smiled. "I ditched you at some point to take a leak. I COULD have spoken with him then... but I didn't."

"And why, pray tell, should we believe you?" DL asked.

"Because I said so." Knight replied mater-of-factly. "And because Cy can read my mind and see I'm telling the truth."

Cy shrugged. "It's true... All I see in his head, is him peeing.... And that's NOT a pleasant thought thank you very much."

Knight looked at Bomb. "It's not like Stressed is a person to be trusted."

"But why would he lie?"

"I'm not sure how much that lunatic is adhering to reason but if you want an educated guess: 'Divide and Conquer'. Maybe he wants you to believe I'm working with the enemy."

"Well..." Bomb scratched his head. "I guess that would make sense but... I dunno, he didn't exactly gave me the impression of a killer... A killer wouldn't bother saving an enemy soldier."

"What are you talking about?"

"As he was springing me out, he procured the services of a soldier. He wanted to save him, along with me. Just because. Maybe a crisis of altruism, I dont know."

"Where's that soldier now?" Knight asked.

"Dead." Bomb replied looking at the floor.

"So, he 'saved' a tropper, who ended up dying anyway... I think he was just using him for his own purposes." Knight replied.

Bomb nodded in agreement, but in his head he had a different opinion. There was no point arguing with Knight at this point. Granted, he didn't have any reason to trust Knight, but Cy DID say that he registered clean. And Stressed wasn't exactly on the side of the angels here. Still, he was certain he wasn't the manipulative 'evil' guy Knight painted him out to be. Bomb was no newbie. He has spent enough time around Sega City's criminal underworld to tell the difference. His trail of thoughts was interupted when Knight pointed his weapon at the door, only to lower it as a member of HEAT with a sniper riffle entered. She was a woman with purple hair, the only trait of her head visible from that helmet.

"Bomb! It's good you're safe!" She said.

"Rachel?" Bomb asked in disbelief. He had gleaned earlier that Rachel was Hot-Shooter, but hearing it was one thing, seeing it was entirely different.

Rachel took of her helmet and looked him in the eyes. "I see you got some new clothes. They fit you well." She said with a smile and a wink.

"How did you get here?" Knight asked.

"Got a one-person mini jet. Do you got a way out?"

"Yeah, HQ will sent us a jet as soon as we deactivate the AA. How's that goin' DL?" Knight nodded to his comrade puffing cigarrette smoke.

DL laughed. "AA systems, DE-activated..."

"Great!" Knight smiled. "Now let's get the hell out of here!"

"Whoa! Guys, wait a sec, take a look here!" Cy cut in and pointed at one of the monitors. The message displayed was an unpleasant surprise:

PARAMETER 16: SEALING HEPHAESTUS

"What does that mean?!" Justin asked.

Cy pushed a few buttons and various video feeds were displayed on nearby monitors. All of them showing the escape pod hatches being sealed, and most importantly, the hangar doors closing.

"It means the oven's doors are closing, and we are right inside of it!"

"Well, get them opened!" Knight shouted.

"I cant! Someone locked the controls! And it's not from THIS terminal!"

"The Seat of Fire." Rachel sighed. "This maybe the main control hub, but the ACTUAL heart of Hephaestus control's is in the core... Magma is locking us inside it!"

"Can't we bypass it?"

"No. We need to get to the core if we want to open those doors!"

Knight droped his cigarette on the floor and put it out with his foot. "Which means we'll have to get through Magma in the process."

Rachel nodded.

Knight looked at his watch. "We got 10 minutes left! We GOT to hurry or we toast!"

Rachel nodded again. "I know the quick way in. Follow me!"

"Right behind you." Knight confirmed and activated his OpComm. "Jack, you read me...?"

The sound of static was heard through the common channel. "...Jack...?"

"Maybe we get interference because we're inside the volcano?" Thamior wondered.

Cy closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated and then almost imediatly he opened wide in amazement. "No, worse. We need to RUN!"

"What's wrong?!"

"Trust me, let's run to open those doors, and PRAY that jet is here to get us, 'cause I just had a mindsweep over Sega City and things are NOT going well over there. Pyroclad's made his move."

Justin raised his eyebrows in horror. "What?! Why? How?! What's going on?"

Knight snorted. "He'll explain it on the way. We got no time. We need to get out of here to stay alive. Rachel! Lead the way!"

The sniper nodded, wore her helmet, and started running...

TBC...

EDIT/OOC: TBlood here: Making some minor modifications to better portray Magma's thoughts and abilities...

IC:

Oh, for the love of....!

In the confusion leading to the revelation of Magma's actions against the team, Gingersnap simply rolled her eyes. It was apparent to her that the people in the room with her were totally incompetent.

So she teleported out of the room, quickly and silently. She decided to do something on her own, and to heck with her stupid team.

--------------

Magma chuckled maniacally as he continued the closing of the pods. It was all going as the master had wanted. To be sure, he would have to die for it, but what was his life compared to righteousness of The Cause?

Soon, a battle would be waged. A battle in which he would sacrifice himself.

???: Hello!

Magma's instinct went first. He threw a flame attack in the direction of the sudden new voice. He expected to kill an unwitting commando, or, if he was lucky, one of the accursed forumers.

But he was in for a surprise. Suddenly, his attack went right back towards him, covering his forearm with fire, but otherwise not harming him. With an angry yelp, he lifted his staff and pointed it towards the shadows.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" He roared.
???: If you insist, fool.

As the shadow approached, Magma could not help but feel his mouth drop ever so slightly. It was one of the forumers! But it was not what he had expected. It was an echidna, and the smile she gave him somehow made him uncomfortable. He wasn't sure why until the girl opened her hand up...revealing flames on her fingertips.

"Hmm." Gingersnap evily grinned as she looked at her hand. "Interesting powers, I have to say. You certainly have a good deal of control over it. Thank you for sharing the knowledge of your powers with me."
"What?!"
"I can draw energy from atoms, fool." Gingersnap pointed to the ground, and it promptly bust into flames. "I can even draw the energies from an attack and copy it for my own....and make it stronger with my power. Unfortunately, I can't kill you here...though I'd have loved to. But I have an image to keep."
"Your attempts are futile. Copy my powers all you want... You cant use THEM against ME!"

With that, Gingersnap blew a kiss at Magma, and from her mouth fire shot out at Magma. Quickly, Magma dispersed it, but was puzzled that Gingersnap was still laughing at him.

Then he turned around and saw what she did.

ABORT OPERATION.

Most of the hatches were closed, but some were still open, even half way. The forumers could escape!

With a roar, Magma tried to reverse the operation, but to no avail. For at that moment, the computer burst into flames, and not even he could touch it, as there were other powers obviously at work with the wretched forumer.

"DAMN YOU!" Magma knew what would happen if the forumers escaped. "I'll give you one chance to avoid suffering a slow painful death! Reverse it and I'll kill you quickly!"
"You'll have to catch me first."

With that, Gingersnap laughed and ran off. Magma, in fury, begun to run after her, his staff at the ready.

The chase was on!

(OOC: If this does not fit, please see it fit to have me edit it. Or whatever. I just think we should move the plot along a little. ^^;;;)
----
TBlood: Taken care off. ^^

Magma ran after Cooki, making sure to lead her away from the Core.

"Starting the battle this early will do me no good. All of them must be present. But I have to make sure that they come, and for that I have to chase her away for a bit longer!"

For a few seconds more, Magma kept running after the fleeting shadow that was Cooki's running form. When he decided it was enough, he muttered a few incomprehensible sylables and vanished...

...Only to reapare, a split-second later back to the Core. The pyromancer looked at the enflamed terminal and snickered.

"Demons... So simple and predictable. Computer. Voice Activation. Continue with Sealing of Hephaestus. And make the process ireversible. Final Access Code: 666."

"Code Accepted. Sealing Hepheastus."

He then looked at the doorway from which 'Cookirini' had escaped moments before. He spoke with a thunderous voice, and as he did the lava around the room bursted, as if the whole volcanno reflected his actions.

"Can you hear me, forumer? You will have to do better than that to leave this Mountain of Fire..."

When he finished that sentence, the lava begun to rise, and rise slowly...

-----

The forumers heard Magma's voice echoing all around the volcanno, with Rachel confirming its identity. 'Cookirini' had teleported back to the group as quietly as she had left, cursing her luck. Looks like there was no easy way out after all.

"We are getting closer!" Rachel yelled as they approached a large Archway. The heat emited from the place was too great, and it was only their Sneaking Suits' temperature insulation that allowed them a modicum of comfort as they entered the Seat of Fire - the very Core of Hephaestus.

The large Chamber was actualy a network of bridges build on top of the very pool of lava that was beneath the volcanno. Normaly the temperature alone would be enough to fry every piece of electronic equipment in the area, and the fact that it didn't, sugested that unknown magical forces were at work here. Even with the various computer terminals in the room, the room had a distictly different feel than the rest of the island. Gone were the murals, and electronic sensors of the Hephaestus. Gone were the buildings and technological equipment found in FLAME's base. The glowing runes, the pentagrams, the various arcane tomes placed in flying libraries, the alchemical vials in elaborate mystical tables, and the profound eery sense that tinged the air around the forumers had made them realise that for all intents and purposes it was as if they changed realms. This was not just an enemy base. This was not a commando they were going to fight. This was a Wizard's Domain. His inner sanctum. They were up against Magic. And its wielder was nowhere to be found...

<!~~EZCODE ITALIC START~~>"Fire</em><!~~EZCODE ITALIC END~~> a hollow voice was heard around the room.

Knight pointed his riffle on various directions trying to spot the enemy, and so did the rest of his comrades.

"Fire... the voice was heard again. Beneath them, the pool of lava and molten magma begun to stir. And from it's dead center, a figure slowly emerged.

"Fire. A giver of life. A taker of life." The wizard said as he started to raise himself high in the air, floating above the forumers.

Knight didn't waste time, through his sniper scope he aimed at the wizard's head and fired, only to have the bullet deflected by a globe of protection that was instantly manifested around Magma.

"Fire signifies Life and Death." Magma continued his rambling. "The primitives discovered it, and realised it could help them survive winter. And yet, even though fire was always used by mankind to survive, it was also an instrument of Death. For fire burns away. It destroyes, and disperses energy around as it does. It is a glorious manifestation of Entropy... I... am Magma. I will be your fiery demise. Or you will be mine... It makes no difference. For The Cause! For Entropy!"

And with that his limbs were covered with Fire, and around the forumers, 3 vaguely humanoid shapes made of fire apeared out of nowhere.

TBC...

BOSSFIGHT: Magma
Magma is a wizard specialising in magical spells involving magic. He is completely immune to all forms of fire, and extremely resistant to all forms of magic. He is a master spellcaster, and do not make the mistake of thinking that his specialization in the element of fire, has rendered him unable to manipulate other forms of magic. He can actualy cast a variety of arcane spells.

At the moment, Magma is protected by a Mana Shield, which absorbs all physical damage. He is, presently, practicaly immune. He has summoned 3 fire elementals to fight you. The elementals are made of fire, and are partialy unafected by physical attacks, but they are not immune.

Magma will do nothing untill the elementals are defeated. Or untill I post next. 😛

Mindblank: Magma has cast a Mindblank spell on himself. His brain is completely sealed by telepathic intrusion and attack. He is otherwise not-resistant to psionic attacks unless protected by his mana shield. (Note to Cy: I'm using the 'Psionics Are Different' Variant, so dont count on your Power Resistance to resist his spells and vice versa he is not very much protected from your attacks by his Spell Resistance ~_^ - the rest of you may ignore this, I'm sure Cy will understant what I'm trying to tell him here :P)

As with previous bossfights, your chars are not aware of Magma's abilities and will have to discover them on the go. I will post later more about what Magma can, and can not do. For now, have fun with those elementals, but be a bit quick. You have 9 minutes to kill Magma, and get out of the volcano. 😛

Have fun! ^^

OOC: OK, transparency off. Hee hee hee. You just made this fight a whole lot easier.
Also, you need to get on AIM more so we can geek again, TBlood.

Cy let out a small smirk out of the corner of his mouth. A wizard, eh? This took the cake. He formed a ball of ice energy in his hand and pelted it, only to see one of the elementals take the hit. "Son of a...wait a second. He summoned those things." His hand glowed red and then purple. "Heh...heh heh heh..." He lunged headlong at one of the elementals. He plunged his hand into the elemental's chest before it had time to react giving a kiai yell, the purple glow returned to his hand, ten times as intense. The elemental seemed to explode around Cy's hand, only without any heat emitting...as though it had ceased to exist on this plane...

Cy pulled out his hand, completely unscathed, still wrapped in the protective red glow. "You honestly think your tricks'll work on someone on OUR level? It is to laugh."

Another one of the fire figures stood before Blu. It was pretty menacing for something that didnt have a face, but it was giving off an immense heat.

Blu was sidestepping around the thing looking for a opening. He knew that physical attacks wouldn't work, and connecting with a good bolt of magic was the best way to deal with it.

Blu then took a step back and glanced at Magma, floating above them. He just stood thre, arms folded, and smirking at everyone below him.

"Cocky idiot" Blu thought. "People like you deserve to go down in flames..."

Before he could laugh at his own terrible pun, he was lunged at by one of the flame figures, Blu performed a backflip and countered with a few bolts of magic of whatever element decided to appear.

OOC: I HATE LAB COMPUTERS ><
::Cries as he retypes post at home.::

EDIT: I sucked it up and made a better post HA! TAKE THAT EZBUKAKKE >O!

==========================================================

The mission of any arcane instrument is to be able to disperse, utilize, and concentrate magic energy into the form the user wishes, by sheer will. It was that fact of magic that DL allowed to run though his mind as they reached the Seat of Fire.

As their nemesis showed up, Dl zoned out all the noise and distractions, in order to fully focus his mind to the situation at hand. The past few conversations did not matter, all those that seemed to be traitors to the cause would be exonerated by his blade. Right now, the number one priority was to exit this volcano, and have Cy explain just what was going on back home-because for one-he needed to know if he needed to head there, or to a Templar station to get some more information to aid in ths threat's extermination, and secondly, if he was better off just leaving that world in scope for another.

Because if those murals came true, and they returned to a wasteland, there would be many a suitor claiming the role of Emperor of the area. That was an unpleasant thought that sat in DL's conscience {as small as it was} as the fire and heat began to engulf his form.

The train of arcane thought did not dissipate, as everyone around him was speaking and could not be heard. The roar of the volcano was negligible as well, it was the focus of energy Magma was using that had DL in a tizzy. His mind had come up with an idea for deterrence, but it would be left to the others to see if they could crack that shield for their success....

Because he had an escape fom the volcano now.

Him..and Cy.

So without a moment's haste, Dl would dart as fast as he could across the embankment, watching as the symbols that whizzed by glew with a melange green coloration. A coloration that gave Dl a smirk of confidence, as he did the unthinkable next.

"For entropy-well then, let's see who's entropic desire can be fufilled first." With that statement, Dl leapt. Over the edge of the railing, to a surprised assortment of faces. The minority of his comrades knew he could fly as well as teleport, but with the firelemental surging after it in almost complete silence, it was hard to tell what the Templar was doing.

===============================================

"Did he just jump into the lava? Did he? He's going to live right? He has some kind of magic that's going to make him try and knock the bag guy out right?" Vortex asked, halfway paralyzed by fear. Not fear dictated by Magma's presence. Moreso fear dictated by the realization that they may not even make it out alive. That their bodies may be incinerated by this inferno and that they'll never recieve proper burials.

"Don't know. All I know is that he better do something or he's going to get fried. That goes for all of us." RB commented as she wiped her brow-aggravated from the heat.

Cy didn't waste time in looking at the Templar, he knew that phantom thinker was up to something...He shrugged and went back to Magma. Or course the wizard had more in store for them-the problem was that they didn't have the time to stay and chat with the magic man.

======================================================

With no resolve to the heat, DL would teleport from his freefall, allowing the fire form to surge through the space where Dl's body once occupied and fall into the lava. It would begin to resurface, covered in magma and attaining a bulkier size, as the magma dripped off in steamy intervals. As the colorfully bright form looked up, Dl would reappear, lower toward the magma pool but on a small precipice, balancing on one foot as if he was a mystical piper of the region. A hand raised, bubbling with liquid smoke that seemed to mimic the magma in evey way.

Magma just said that the primitives discovered fire, and saw that it could be used for survival. He's also making the point that fire can be used for Entropy. So why don't we show him how much entropy can be caused.

Eyes glanced upward, before Dl dropped what seemed to be his own hand into the convecting magma cell. It took only a moment before one could see that DL was about to be burned to smithereens by that fire walker.

Or that would have been the case. The flames reached Dl, but at that instant, a large mouth appeared, coarsing with serrating black teeth that seemed to be overflowing with darkness. They bit into the flames, not nullifying them, but eating awway their light. The intensity was gone when the brightness was consumed, leaving the fire to be black in nature, and unable to harm DL, as he smrked. The energy to burn was lessened dramatically, as the light fell from the strike. As such, this form began to feast, as the darkness jumped into the convecting magmatic dungeon below- screaming in pain as it was wreathed under the heat.

That was for a moment, before it shot out in a multitudinous form, beasts running along the walls, eating the light from the magma as hastily as possible. It was near impossible to suck the light from this area completly, as the energy being devoured began to coarse throughout the beasts, allowing them to replicate themselves. They lunged ion the magma, appearing as fleeting sunspots upon an heavently star. Blakened husks would wreath to life with fire once again, as that process of natural convection continued to feed DL's maniacal plan of suction.

A beast lunged at Magma, only to be dispelled by a firey blast from that lazst fire peon. The beast regrouped with two, and both were blocked by Magma's impenetrable shield. But they clung on.

They began biting and chomping, licking the shield with voractiy, leaving even Magma to wonder if the shield even tasted like anything. But the pattern of reformation could be seen, as the energy that was being used to form the barrier was flowing from the top to the bottom in a lateral direction.

======================================================

"That...was fast..and weird..." Justin said as a beast landed next to him, before licking his chest and jumping away. The lick left a black streak in the air around Justin, dimming just that part of the space until it was invaded again. The group would still be focused on Magma now, even though the area did become darker quite readily.

"If he keeps making it dark, we're not going to have an easier time fighting him." OTB stated, recovering from hs attack.

"Maybe we're not supposed to worry about it being dark..." Vortex said, as he looked around. The symbols-those mystical arcane words that possibly held meaning they were unable to read, they were still glowing intensly, enough to give the room a new lighting source. The glowering volcano was still bright, but at the height they were at from the actual magma pool that might eventually consume them, it was considerably darker. However, the brightest of these alternative light sources would be...

========================================================

..Magma's shield is visible. They'll eat that light and he'll just keep feeding them. Withought that reaction that causes visibility, energy used for magical blasts will soon lose their strength-as their wavelengths are dissipated throughout consumption.

I'll let the fools up there figure out how to break through it once it becomes weak enough. He may be able to sustain that shield for 9 minutes, but not with the hounds of the abyss hounding his every output to keep that shield erect. Their hunger shall overcome his entropic desires-until of course it breaks by his or their regard.

He continued to stand there, even as the magma began to swell and rise, eating away at the precipice he stood upon. The heat was unbearable, but so was his stubbon plan of disillusion. If the energy Magma outputted could be lessened, then the group could have a better chance of getting out of here...

OOC: I don't think this should interfere with DL's postage, just wanted to slip in on the action.

EDIT: This post basically takes place before DL's post, I posted this while he was editing his post.

IC:
Justin popped off a few bullets from his Glock at Magma, the electric bullets merely sparking and melting into nothing as they struck the energized bubble around the red-robed wizard. Blazes, looks like that first shot wasn't a fluke, he thought, frustrated by his near-powerlessness in this situation. I hate magic, I can't use it and it affects me weird if it's used on me.

"Justin, access the control panels and try to stop the self-destruct sequence!" shouted Knight as the seasoned soldier dodged a baseball-sized fireball thrown by one of the elementals.

"Roj!" replied Justin, the gun still clutched in his hand as he started to run along the rampway around the battle scene. Of course! If I can shut that down, then we can focus on getting out of here safely!

He dashed around to one of the control panels and placed his left hand onto the console, letting the fingers fly across the keys. But before he had even so much as entered a command, a blazing triple-six flashed onto the screen, and a monotone computer voice droned, "All access denied. Self destruct mode engaged. Eleven minutes and counting."

"Dang! Looks like I'll have to do this the old-fashioned way," Justin said as he cracked his knuckles and reached for his belt pouch...

The roaring of flames behind him alerted him, and he ducked and rolled to one side just as one of the elementals raked the air with a set of flaming claws that left red outlines in the air. Justin was already sweating, but the sheer heat being given out by the immolating creature attacking him made it even hotter as he backed off, reflexively firing off a pair of shots. The electric stun rounds sparked, but were ultimately burned up into the elemental.

"And that's the last of that," Justin said conversationally as he dumped out the empty cartridge and slipped in the other one - the one with the armor-piercing EMP bullets. "Playtime's over, fire-face!"

He snapped off another bullet, aiming for the creature's "head." It passed right through, going fast enough to create a small hole through the creature before it quickly sealed back up again. "I hate magic," growled Justin as he turned around and ran back toward the others, wondering just how he was going to fight when his weapons wouldn't work. And I'm sure not punching those things, my glove shields aren't strong enough to take on that kind of heat. Hate to say this, but I'm basically useless...

The temptation to reach within himself for the power of the omni-suit rose to the fore of his mind. No! Can't do that, too many people watching and I'm not sure it could help anyway. I'm gonna have to rely on the others until we can lower Magma's shield, and then...

He had run out of stunner bullets, and his armor-piercing rounds would certainly be lethal to a normal human if he shot in the right spots. He wasn't sure there was much that he could do, given that he wasn't about to start killing now...

"The comps are locked out, we're gonna have to fight our way out of this one!"

"I love that set of words!"

Cy leapt to the front of the group and took focus at the third elemental that seemed to be attacking everyone at random, a dark look of grim solemness across his face. He'd faced enough wannabe elites, enough nameless grunts, enough real elites, enough crap, and furthermore, they'd all been horribly duped! Oh yes, it was kill time. The air around his hand began to condense, water falling to the ground around it, boiling away as it touched the floor with a loud hiss. Blue wisps of energy gathered in his hand once again. He brought his hand to bear on the creature and unleashed a manifestation exactly like the one he'd launched on the grunts they met shortly after landfall; an enormous sphere of pure, unadulterated, blue, cold-based energy, straight at it...

As Magma had come Swiftbomb and hom had been some of the first to dissapear, ducking to the centre of the group. Like Justin neither of them liked magic or had anything to do with it usually, but after his previous experiences neither of them wanted to be seperated quite so soon...

"What the hell have I missed?" bomb whispered as he ducked down, shielding his face from the roaring heat as fireballs soared overhead.
"The usual," Swift shrugged, "We got the guy who kidnapped you and then came here..."
"So kind," Swiftbomb smiled appreciatively, backing away from the wall of fire ahead of them. "How the hell are we meant to fight this thing?" Now DL had dissapeared and Cy and OTB were putting up their own fight...

Raising his weapon Swiftbomb glanced around, glancing up at Magma who was hovering above them sneering at their plight as the outer members of the group fought with the fire elementals...

As everyone was fighting the elementals, Cosmic was trying to think through how to hurt these things.
"If I shoot them with my laser, they'll absorb it, because it is a form of heat... and if I punch them, my hands'll light on fire... what can I possibly do?" he thought to himself as he hid. He thought, and thought, and eventually ended up in the world of flashbacks...

"Cosmic... what did you do?"
"Ryan... you've made me so proud... I'm sorry it has to end like this..."
"Mom! No..."
"They'll pay for this! I'll make sure of it..."
"There are many ways to live life... and you have chosen the wrong one... you are scum now in my eyes... we shall never forget this Cosmic Kid... never... now get out of my sight..."
"Cosmic... why did you kill them?!"

Huddled behind a table, he was in a daze, reliving the horrific memories of his past...

Gingersnap frowned. Did she really have do to all the work?

If I concentrate too hard, though, that jerk Cy will be able to sense me....what can I do at this moment?

Justin felt so helpless as he stayed near the middle of the group, watching as CyKairus used his psionic abilities to dispel another fire elemental in a flash of brilliant blue light. The air was alive with sparks from the glowing red pool of lava and from the elementals that had been destroyed already, and it was so very hot that Justin felt the sweat beading on his face and rolling down his skin. Even though he was not in action, he could not appreciate the subtle beauty of this place, for there was no peace to be found until they could defeat Magma.

To Justin's left, Thamior Headbuster brandished his huge sword, facing another one of the elementals. He hadn't seen much of the big man, but Justin knew that there was more to this quiet but strong swordsman than sweating muscle, and he could almost feel the look of concentration that was expressed in Thamior's eyes. Then with a roar, he pulled the sword back to one side, held it so that the flat of the blade was parallel to the ground, and he twisted around with such tremendous speed and power that the elemental tore in half and fell back into the lava to bubble into oblivion.

There was a mad laugh from above, and Justin looked up at Magma, still encased in that spherical field of energy. The red-robed fire mage, dressed in a combination of traditional wizard robes and technological battle armor, looked positively insane as he hovered above the lava and the group. "All things began in an explosion of fire, and all things shall end in that same conflagaration!" he shouted above the constant hissing of the lava, spreading his arms wide. "Your struggling is now meaningless! The MIF Projector is being moved into position even as we speak, and though your city fights valiantly, there will soon be nothing but ashes of Sega City!"

Something in the harsh, arrogant tone the fire-mage used stirred another fire within Justin's heart, and he raised up his gun to aim at the shield again. "That's where you're wrong, Magma! This is not how it's going to end!"

Magma's eyes widened through the shadows that enshrouded his head, his laughing deepening as Justin fired a few aimed shots that bounced off of the shield. "Hah! A mere mortal like you, with no understanding of the universe, cannot comprehend the glory that shall soon engulf us! But perhaps you might be able to see some finite measure of it, for that brief moment between life and death..."

"Just shut up!" countered Inirikooc as she joined in the shooting, bringing up her revolver and firing it along with Justin, and then Cookirini joined in as well. Each bullet bounced off the magical barrier that surrounded Magma, the shield flashing white with each strike, and it appeared to be having no effect to shoot it. But then there was the thunderous report of Rachel's huge rifle as well as the guns that Knight, Swifthom and Bomb had to bear.

CyKairus finished piercing through the last of the fire elementals that arose from the lava, and just as he did, Magma held up one hand and the shield suddenly expanded, parts of it spiking out to forcibly push Justin and the others backwards and sending them sprawling across the floor. "Enough of this. You may have defeated those elementals, but I can make many, many more, and you cannot possibly overcome them all for they are as relentless as time itself. And you only have minutes to spare before we will be consumed in glory!"

He's right, but we can't give up! There are too many people counting on us now...and we have to stop Magma, but I can't kill him...I cannot, even now...but we must stop him!

"Magma, you idiot, don't you have any desire to live? Is there nothing for you besides dying here with nothing to live for?" shouted Justin.

"You try to appeal to me, but unlike you, I am not afraid to die! I will gladly allow myself to pass on into oblivion, and I shall take you with me!"

Psycho, he's insane! Nothing can be done for him...I can't kill him, I won't, I shall not...but I can't transform either, is this the time of desperation? Will it be too late in a few moments more?

But the slimmest glimmer of hope rose in Justin's heart as he saw the flashing shield. Though his own ammo was now finished, his gun cast aside in uselessness, he could see that the constant pounding on Magma's shield was beginning to weaken it.

More fire elementals sprang from the lava, but Thamior swung at them and kept them at bay as Knight shouted "This is it, pound him with everything you got!"

As the shield expanded, Cy simply turned around. "Pitiful wizard...hiding behind a shield like a scared child." His voice crept to a low growl, as he firmly planted his hand against the shield by the time it reached him, grabbing one of the spikes and wrenching it upward. "If you won't fight us honorably by choice..." said Cy, snapping the spike in half, "then I'll force you to, coward." His glow flared white for a second, and wisps of what looked like steam formed around him. Giving a shout, Cy pointed at the shield...and a virtual hailstorm of sharp crystals formed around him, making a mist that sparkled red in the light of the molten earth around them. The crystals began to swirl around Cy, then moved in a straight vortex at the shield, like a giant, crystalline drill...