RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block HR #11 [The Lost City of the Dragons]

This is Kathy Lee here at the Diamond Depository here in Downtown Philidelphia where police are still looking for the group of metahumans who pulled of an amazing crime. So far the police are saying that at least four, maybe more, metapowered individuals stormed the Depository and took all six of the employees hostage before making a miraculous getaway with more than $10 million dollars in percious jewels. All of the employees were injured and have been taken to the hospital for immediate medical treatment. A note left by the assaliants identifies them as the same group who has been commiting similar crimes in banks in Chicago, New York, and LA. The group calls itself the Metahuman Brotherhood of.....

"Damn reception!" Hill said as he pounded his fist on top of the TV. The County Clerk's Office had a small, portable one under one of the desks. The reception had been poor and fading until it turned completely into black and white static on the screen. After a few moments, he gave up and returned to his search for weapons of any kind.

"What do you know about small towns?" Dirk asked Tayden out in the hallway as he lit a cigar.

"Apparently they don't like smoking in their courhouses," the angel said as he pointed to a large No Smoking sign above Dirk's head.

"Other than their facist ways," the gunslinger said after letting out a big ring of smoke. "They like to economize. Put as much as you can in one place. Make life easier." He walked down a flight of stairs and stopped in front of a door with a glass window in the center. Sheriff Dept. was stenciled on the glass. "And easier it is."

The gunslinger and the angel walked in while Jason Hill finally caught up with them. A bullet to a Masterlock made the gun cabinet open to them to pillage. "Mostly shotguns and a few Snub nosed .38s. They won't do much but slow the bastards down." Dirk made his way deeper into the abandoned station while Tayden and Hill finished emptying the gun cabinet.

"MOTHER FUCKER!" they heard come from the back. They ran to see what was wrong and then realized when the arrived. Dirk had gone into the back, to the holding cells. There, several accused criminals sat in their cells. They looked hungry. When the zombie hord attacked this peaceful little town, the sheriff and his deputies must have gone to take care of the problem without knowing what they were getting into. In doing so, they had left everyone who had been arrested the previous few nights alone. Everything from drunk drivers to bar brawlers and car thieves lay wasting away.

"We should do something for them," Tayden said as he began to think of ways to ease their pain.

"Yeah," Dirk responded, "but I'm sure you wouldn't like my idea."

Vengeance stalked on through the hallway, until coming to a door. He reached up and grabbed the handle, and found it locked.

Stepping back slightly, he jumped forward, ramming into the door, and knocking it off it's hinges. The door fell back and started to slide downward. Vengeance had found what he was looking for. The cellar. He began to walk downward into the darkness.

Pop!!

The clear plastic covering separating the heavily salted and sweetened snack treats from Tayden and Jason cracked open after Tayden put an executive chair through it.

“I’ve been hanging around Dirk too long.” The angel mused “I’m starting to like breaking stuff.”

Jason laughed.

“I’ve been living off these snack machines for a little while now…I’ve been so out of it I’ve actually been putting money in them…Ha…how stupid is that?” Jason just stared at the broken machine.

Tayden looked up at the scared kid “Hey man…you’ve done a good job…your alive…and now the calvary’s here” He said with a smile.

“Come on lets get these to the hungry men who need them.” They then hurried back to the Sheriff’s office.

Dirk glanced at the two as they entered the room. “About time……I’m hungry”

“Fuck you, man we eat first!!” so said the only man left in a cell (A long hair, bearded biker type who went by the name of Bad Bob.)

“Your mouth is why your ass is still in there……so you eat last if you eat at all.” Dirk said matter-of-factly to the denim clad prisoner.

Tayden threw Dirk a Snickers Bar. “There’s more up stairs…so eat up.”

The hungry men that had been let out of the cells attacked the food in Jason’s arms as if they were a clawing group of undead.

Tayden, Dirk and Jason stood at the door as the others cusumed their snack treats.

“Have any trouble finding it?” Dirk asked.

“No…..Mr. Hill knew where everything was…..he’s been held up here a while” Tayden said

“Uh…huh” Dirk remarked with suspicion, “then why the hell was the front door wide open when we ran up”

Jason quickly looked at Dirk with saucer eyes……..”What do you mean the door was open!”

With that said a crash was heard up stairs.

“Been here for at least two hours and not one of us thought to search the place.” Dirk shook his head. “Well at least we wont have to worry about those hungry fucks outside eating our brains.”

Grimm and Priest walked through hallways in the basement. As a maze would they went in circles, hitting dead ends and ending up where they began.

"Somethings not right here." Grimm looked around, "Almost as if they designed this basement to hide..."

Before he could finished, footsteps could be heard in the near distance. Both man turned, "Dirk?" "Tayden?"

No reply.

"I have a bad feeling." Priest said as he held his throbbing arm.

Grimm clutched his axe and looked around, looking for any clue of who was with them. A crack was heard and a far wall began to crumble. A half a dozen zombies were able to break through the weak exterior of the wall, behind them were more maze like areas.

The zombies attacked Grimm, leaving Priest alone. Grimm didn't notice this as he hacked away at the undead. Priest turned and saw a figure who seemed different than the zombies, but before he could get a good look, the figure threw an object that exploded on impact. The floor rumbled and ceiling above Grimm and Priest fell in seperating the two by layers and layers of brick, marble and stone.

Priest clawed at the rubble, but wasn't able to get anywhere, turning around he saw the enterence back upstairs. Suddenly, he felt sick, falling to one knee his hands shook and head sweated. His last thought before passing out was "Not again."

[ 02-28-2003, 01:34 AM: Message edited by: GoozX ]

Vengeance stood in the middle of the cellar of the occult bookstore. He was staring at a small stone altar in the middle of the room. The top of the altar was covered with reddish brown stains.

It ends tonight. he thought to himself. Months of fighting these things. Day after day, night after night. Now it will be over.

He entwined the fingers of both of his hands, and raised his arms above his head. Swiftly bringing both arms crashing down into the altar he shattered it into several pieces with one blow.

I've done it. I've destroyed their source. I'm free to move on.

Quickly he raced back up the stairs and outside of the bookstore. He looked around expecting to see the bodies laying on the ground, finally at rest. The Spirit of Vengeance was to be disappointed this day.

They're still alive, dammit!

He jumped onto his unearthly bike and drove forward, slamming into zombies right and left, plowing through them like driftwood. He ran over as many of them as he could, pulling into a half turn stop directly in front of the courthouse. He looked behind him, seeing the creatures, mutilated, broken in half, still attempting to move after him.

Suddenly his senses shifted, He looked over at the door of the courthouse. He began to steer his bike in that direction when the front door exploded open and several more zombies flew outward, going over the stairway and landing shortly behind him.

The huge figure of an angry Grimm came crashing through the rest of the doorway, taking out the rest of the door, and hurtling straight for where Vengeance and zombies sat. . .

"Get down!" came the gravelly sepulchral voice of Grimm as his axe flew past Vengeance's head. The spirit quickly ducked down out of the way as the axe, surrounded by it's trademark light blue energy took out two more zombies.

The two living dead men stood back to back, fighting off the creatures.

"You're the biker we saw blow past us earlier." Grimm commented with another swing of his axe.

". . .yes," Vengeance answered, shattering another zombie with his strength.

"How did you know these things were here?" Grimm asked, kicking another corpses' head off of it's emaciated shoulders.

Vengeance deliberated on whether to answer or not, while transmitting his pain pulse through two more of the creatures, shattering them into dust.

"I've been fighting these things for months," the spirit's slightly muffled voice came through the dark red helmet, "trying to keep them contained here, looking for what may have brought them to life." A flash of blue light momentarily lights up Vengeance's next target. A preternaturally strong right cross explodes the being's head. The body drops to the ground. Vengeance notices a small blue glow around the creature's neck, similar to the one coming from Grimm's axe. "Finally, today, I thought I had found the source, an old sacrificial altar to the old ones in the cellar of an occult bookstore here in town. I shattered the altar, thinking I had destroyed the source of power for the creatures, but apparently, I was wrong." Vengeance glanced behind him, watching Grimm.

Grimm swung his axe, taking out more of the creatures, as Vengeance watched, he noticed similar small blue sparks from the fallen creatures, these sparks however leapt up from the corpses and joined with the energy flowing out of Grimm's axe.

"I think I know what the source is," Grimm said, his dropping a bit, his limbs continuing to swing back and forth steadily.

"Do you now?" Vengeance asked, reaching under his long coat with one arm and removing something from the side of his leather belt.

"It's me." Grimm said, taking another zombie's head off.

Vengeance turned around, raising his right hand, which now brandished an ornate sword hilt. Suddenly a flame erupted at the top of the hilt.

"You see, a few months back, I-" Grimm was interrupted by a searing pain and his abdomen. "AAAUUUGHHH!!" He gripped his side, dropping to his knees. He looked down at his stomach, which now sported a large searing cut, crackling and blistering. The black liquid which passed for blood in Grimm's body pouring forth from the wound. He looked up at Vengeance, who now stood above him, brandishing a flaming sword.

"Wh-what-" Grimm began to stammer.

"Several months ago," Vengeance began, "I was brought to this world by a human meddler in the dark arts," He reached up to his helmet and began to unfasten it with his free hand.

quote:

---

Not many months ago, Aurochs stumbled by chance over an authentic clay tablet of
Sumerian time, written by a slave writer of Gilgamesh himself. A tablet talking about
magic, the only one in the world containing the spell to summon angels.

“Leshi-unn, of the Kite floks, come! Clear the Earth from the walking dirt of Hell!”

A tall winged man, long black hairs, a long tunic interweaved of arcane symbols, appears, holding a flaming sword, right in front of Naecken.

---

"Clear the Earth from the walking dirt of Hell!" he commanded me. And I obeyed. . .I struck down one demon, only be killed by one of it's unholy allies." He removed his helmet revealing a once handsome face, now split down the middle by a gruesome red scar. It was a face Grimm remembered. . .

"I was killed by YOU."

quote:

---

Everyone in the tunnels had stopped. Naecken was down on his knees, one arm reached
up to the spot where his other had formerly been. He was screaming. Those who had
known him for some time were shocked into stillness.

Grimm looked over at Naecken and the being with the flaming sword who stood over him,
triumphantly, preparing what seemed to be a killing blow. A low growl began rising in
Grimm's throat. He turned and ran towards the being, chopping and cutting off limbs and
assorted parts of the strange amalgamated creatures along the way. The growl built until it
became a loud scream.

The angel began lowering his sword, aimed to take off Naecken's head. It was too far,
Grimm would not make it. Instinctively, he threw the axe, putting everything he had into
it. The vague blue energy glistened (it seemed as if briefly, for one nanosecond, the axe
appeared to be something else, a scythe? And then was an axe again.) as the axe flew
towards the angel's form.

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion.

The axe struck. Dead center in the middle of the angel's head, cleaving it in two right
down the middle. The angel fell back against one wall of the corridor and slumped down
to the floor. The flaming sword slowly stopped burning, to reveal a hilt with no blade.
Naecken seemed to have passed out.

Grimm just stood there. Watching. What had he just done? He didn't know, and tried to
put the possible origins of the being and consequences of killing one out of his mind.

---

Grimm looked up at the being before him, while holding his side. Zombies still milled about, surrounding them on both sides. And Vengeance readied his sword for another blow. . .

This just isn't my day, he thought to himself.

[ 02-28-2003, 11:15 AM: Message edited by: Grimm ]

Tayden was the first on the scene, quickly followed by Dirk and finally Jason. The others stayed behind.

“What the-“

The entranceway of the Courthouse had all but been destroyed. The support columns hung, barely able to maintain the weight of the huge structure. A huge gouging hole was in the middle of the floor, leaving to the basement. Something or someone had busted through the floor. Dirk looked over the edge of the hole, Zombies jumped and clawed at him, not able to reach. They were stuck in between levels. Dirk pulled out a small explosive and let it drop into the hole, as he walked back toward Tayden it went off, sending blood and organs flying through the air.

“Where is Grimm, Priest?” Tayden brushed his hand over his head, before rushing over to the stairwell down stairs.

As he entered the dark basement, he cocked back his shotgun. All electricity in the basement had gone out with the collapse. He fumbled and lit a match that broke through the darkness. Only feet from him was the body of Priest, laying still. Tayden shined the light over Priest, who laid face down Rolling him over, for a moment Tayden froze. Priest’s skin was lighter, sickly, his face was puffed up, dark rings under his eyes, a purple hue to them. He looked like a cross between a man and a monster. His features moved ever so slightly and formed a smile.

“Priest?” Tayden asked as his stomach dropped, “Are you ok buddy?”

Priest smiled and grabbed Tayden around he neck, lifting him off the ground, “I’m fine. Angel.”

Priest tightened his hand, Tayden attempted to free him self but was unable to. Panicking, he lower the shotgun, placing it point blank on Priest’s stomach.

“Forgive me father.”

BLAM

Priest stumbled back into the darkness, dropping Tayden to the floor. He took a deep breath and looked forward. Lighting another match he prayed that Priest would be fine.

Standing on feet from him was Priest. He laughed as his body increased in mass, ripping his shirt apart.

“What’s going on”

“Your time has come.”

“Don’t make me do this.”

“Do it.”

Priest stepped closer.

“Do it.”

Tayden turned the shotgun upward and shot twice into the ceiling, he quickly moved as more of the ceiling collapsed, covering Priest with rubble.

Tayden quickly exited the stairwell, where Dirk quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the back rooms and second floor. Glancing back, Zombies had begun to fit the court house in the dozens.

Phil stopped in his tracks on the first-floor landing and held up a hand, signaling for Leslie and Charley to wait.

"Courtyard?" Leslie asked.

Phil nodded.

"Makes sense," Charley said softly. "Construction equipment all over the place, piles of building materials, scaffolding, debris from the old walls... There's no better place for a good old-fashioned hide-and-seek shootout. Fisher knows that. And he knows Phil knows that."

"There are only two of them, though," Leslie reminded her.

"That we know of," Phil said from behind the door.

"That we know of," Leslie conceded. "And three of us - four if Gabi shows up."

the courtyard

Gabi wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into. Running interference for Phil, she had been leading the MAW agents on a wild goose chase all over the building, but quickly got lost inside the maze of maintenance corridors, elevator shafts, and blocked-off stairways. Taking a blind left down a darkened tunnel, she found herself outside in a maze of bulldozers, cranes, and piles of concrete blocks and steel I-beams.

Gabi meandered through the maze slowly and with as little noise as she could. She had no idea how to do this cloak-and-dagger stuff, and Phil wasn't around to help her.

A sharp pain lanced through her leg. Gabi gasped and fell to the ground as blood started running from the bullet wound in her right calf. She gritted her teeth and tried not to scream, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the MAW agent headed toward her, lining up his next shot.

Gabi had spent the past month and a half of her life trying to find Phil.

And the irony of the moment was that she was about to die because Phil couldn't find her.

BLAM!

Gabi flinched, waiting for the inevitable - but it never came. The MAW agent gasped and dropped his gun as his hands clutched at the red stain spreading across his chest. He toppled to his knees and gasped for breath.

Phil strode up and kicked the dying man over. "Die slow, you piece of trash." He turned to Gabi. "How bad is it, sweetheart?"

"I... I don't think I can walk," Gabi said as she fought off the throbbing pain in her leg.

Phil snapped his fingers several times, and Charley and Leslie made their way into the little clearing where Gabi lay.

Charlene gasped. "Are you alright?" she asked Gabi.

Gabi nodded. "It hurts, but I'll be okay."

"I'll stay with her," Charlene told Phil.

Phil shook his head. "I'll stay with Gabi." He turned to the others. "You guys fan out. There's two of you and most likely just Fisher out there. If you run into a MAW agent, waste him. If you find Fisher, bring him to me alive."

"Gotcha." Leslie checked the safety on her gun and turned to head back into the maze.

"Fisher's one devious bastard," Phil warned. "Be careful out there."

The bounty hunter nodded. "We've got it handled." She turned and headed off into the maze with Charley following close behind.

Gabi smiled at Phil. "When I came over here to spend some quality time with you, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."

Phil patted her shoulder gently. "It's all right, Gabi. Those two are gonna find Fisher and any of his goons that are left out there, and when they do, we're gonna show them what happens when people push an issue too far. It'll be a wonderful educational experience, don't you think?"

[ 02-28-2003, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: Captain Sammitch ]

A grey Hummer zoomed out of the bustiling tourist trap that was Puerta Mibela. The roads weren't all that great - filled with potholes and debris from the hurricane - but the off-road capabilities of the Hummer that Phil'd found during Jason had more than served the team in getting around the island. Some backroads had been carved out in the meantime, which some of the other members took in getting to and from the Fish Factory, but Grissom Montag was in too much of a hurry now to worry about taking an indirect route.

A cigarette hung limply from the ex-mercenary's thin lips as his eyes narrowed, focusing on the road before him. The heavy strains of Our Lady Peace's "Superman's Dead" played over the stereo as Grissom nervously flicked his cigarette out the window and swerved around a fallen tree trunk that hadn't yet been removed from the road.

Grissom had tried dialing up Kit as he drove, but with the road conditions being what they were, he decided it'd be better to just concentrate on driving than trying to continually calling. No one was answering over at the complex anyway and it appeared that Kit's cell was switched off. If Montag knew anything, he knew it was futile to try to contact a man who didn't want to be found...

As he drove, Griss couldn't help but think about leaving Phil alone with those agents at the complex. "Not my problem," he muttered under his breath. "Phil brought this on 'imself, I reckon..."

Besides, he thought as he continued driving, I gotta find Kit for th' Doc. Could be trouble or what, I dunno, but I don't feel so bad about leavin' with two mercenaries there to protect th' place. Charley's not all that bad a fighter, either, given th' proper tools. No reason to upset y'self, Griss. You're doin' the right thing...

Grissom sighed as he saw Piper's station wagon parked in front of the Fish Factory. That meant MBL's financial advisor was here somewhere. Grissom turned the car off and slipped out of the front seat. One of his guns slowly materialized in the back of his pants. First rule of entering a building, he thought as he walked toward the front door, never go unprepared...

The first sound to hit Grissom's ears as he entered the Factory was that of a telephone ringing in the front office. Griss rushed in, sliding to the phone and picking up the receiver. "MBL Consulting," he answered. "This is Grissom. How can I direct your call?"

"Montag!" the relieved voice of Henry Quantos answered from the other extension. "Have you found Kit yet?"

"Not yet, Doc..." Griss answered, eying Piper's closed office door. "Course, I just got here, so there's really not much I have done..."

"Right..." Quantos replied. "Forgive me. Let me know how it goes..."

"Will do," Grissom answered. "Later, Doc..."

As Grissom placed the receiver back on the 'hook', he approached Kit's door, rapping lightly on the wooden surface as he came close. No reply. Griss' gun materialized in his right hand as his left slowly turned the doorknob... only to find the door locked.

"Damn," Griss swore, backing up a few feet, readying himself. Then, getting a small running start, the Sandcrawler landed a flying leap kick into the door, knocking the thing completely off it's hinges and onto the floor.

Griss heard a slight shriek and, as he looked up, he saw the huddled form of Kit Piper on the floor by his desk with his back to Montag. His body was shaking violently. "W-what... what n-now?" he stammered, his voice moist as though he'd been sobbing uncontrollably.

"Kit," Grissom said. The portly black man looked up at the mention of his name. His tear-flooded eyes widened in surprise and relief at the sight of Grissom, but the expression was short-lived, as the man once more broke down in tears.

"Aw, Kit..." Griss said, sliding his gun into his shorts and kneeling beside the blubbering mass of man. "What'd you do, mate?"

Danny and Kristogar paused silently. Raising one hand with his palm flat, Danny brought Tobias to a stop a few metres behind them. Before his hand was fully lowered, Tobias was standing directly in front of him.

“Mxy…” Danny said softly and carefully.

”Sure. Why not,” Ktl replied, a grin spreading wide across his face.

“How’re you.”

”SUPER! And you? How are you Danny Hearn and Kristogar Velo and Tobias Christopher and little bunny rabbit?”

Danny looked down. A small rabbit sat near them. It looked up curiously, then ran quickly across the grass and out of sight.

“We’re fine…” Kristogar replied.

Inside the mausoleum that stood imposingly behind the four teammates, Rose and Mimic of Project Omicron stood near the doorway, being careful not to make any noise. Mimic was cradling a wrapped bundle in his arms, holding it tightly against his chest.

Mimic peeked silently out through the slightly ajar doorway.

“Four of them. From the museum. One’s large and shiny,” He said softly. Rose nodded and said nothing in response.

As Mimic watched, his face altered and became an approximation of Danny’s. He grinned as he did this, as if mimicking Danny was something he did not as a strategic necessity, but just to amuse himself. He was mocking his would-be adversary.

Rose reached her arms to the holsters located beneath her shoulders, and pulled from there two silver handguns. She gripped them tightly, and ran the barrel of one of the guns slowly along her cheek.

Outside, Ktl hovered above his three teammates. They stared back at him, not knowing quite how to handle the situation. While they had their suspicions, they couldn’t yet be sure. They didn’t rightly know who it was, hovering there above them with the fate of them all in his hand.

But now… they had to assume the worst.

One thought more than any nagged at the back of Danny’s mind. Mick hadn’t said anything. He hadn’t said ‘Mxy’. He hadn’t said ‘Ktl’. Whatever being it was staring back at them… could enter this world through Mick’s body any time it wished.

Danny stepped forward.

“Who are you?”

”Why… I’m Mxy,” Ktl replied. He grinned at them again, and crossed his legs in mid air. Danny got the distinct impression that he was being toyed with.

“Bring Mick back.”

”Shant.”

Danny repeated his command. “Bring. Mick. Back. Now.”

”Mick, Schmick! Stick! Prick! Lick! Banana!”

“Banana doesn’t rhyme with Mick,” Danny said.

”It rhymes with Ramana!”

“That’s not a real world! You just made it up!”

”It rhymes with Guyana!”

“…fine!”

“Getting sidetracked here…” Kristogar said. Danny nodded.

“Why won’t you bring Mick back?” Danny asked.

”Don’t want to. Don’t need to. Might need to fight.”

“Fight who?” Tobias asked, looking up anxiously at the being he’d thought, until moments ago, to be one of his trusted teammates.

”Fight them!” Ktl said, and pointed to the crypt entrance. Mimic had come running out, clutching a bundle wrapped in cloth close to his chest and running off into the nearby foliage. Directly behind him came Rose, stepping slowly out of the doorway and holding her two handguns aloft.

“Tobias. Guy in trenchcoat. Carrying what might be book. Go,” Danny whispered.

”No running on the grass…” Ktl mumbled.

Tobias raised his leg to step forward, and found he couldn’t. The air around him seemed to thicken around him, holding him in place. It slowly got thicker, harder. He felt as if he was immersed a gel, solidifying in the space around him. He panicked as he realised he couldn’t run. It was the one thing he was always good at. He began to have trouble breathing.

“…Tobias?” Danny said. TC just wheezed in response.

The roof of the crypt was a secluded place, shrouded in darkness. And up there, surveying the scene, sat the member of Project Omicron known only as the Sheik. As he looked down, he could sense great power. Great magic. Particularly from the floating one… there indeed was a being with influence.

The Sheik muttered something softly and inaudibly. Or he may have just been breathing out loudly. It was hard to say. But in any event… he was trying his hardest to cast a restricting spell on the power of the being he saw before him.

With a start, Ktl found his influence on the world around him waning.

This was the effect the Sheik was after.

What the Sheik may not have been able to predict, though, was that this would free Tobias.

And before he even fully realised what had happened, Tobias Christopher bolted off into the trees, following Mimic.

Danny and Kristogar, however, still found themselves staring down the barrels of Rose’s twin handguns. She held them firmly in position, locked on the two heroes’ faces. Rose cast a sideways glance into the trees as Tobias ran off, quicker than she could fire at him. But she remained still and silent. Her priority now was to keep these two occupied.

Rose had faith that Mimic could handle himself.

Kristogar looked her up and down, and said, “Hey… weren’t you in Stormwatch?”

Rose just glared at him in reply.

“Right. Never mind then…” He said.

Ktl was having a problem. Tobias had broken free of his hold, and now he was having trouble making things explode in horrible and violent ways. Which was something he really wanted to do right now.
Someone… somehow… was casting some sort of counter spell on him. Restricting his magical influence. Ktl was not impressed.

Ktl pushed with all his willpower against the opposing force. If he was being honest with himself, he could have to admit that it was a power that almost rivalled his own. But he was not in a mood to be honest with himself.

But the thought had entered his head. It nagged at him. Something out there was quite possibly as powerful as him. He’d taken care of Mxy, he didn’t need some new magician on the block moving in. It rankled.

But the force of a fifth dimensional magician is not to be underestimated, and not to be trifled with lightly.
Ktl guessed that whatever it was had something to do with the strange lady in front of him. So he pushed at her. And at her weapons. And he thought hard at her.

So then, before Danny and Kristogar’s eyes, Rose was thrown backwards and her guns were both turned into flowers.

Somewhere across the cemetery, in the centre of a garden full of leafy trees that surrounded the resting place and gave it a certain sense of isolation, Tobias had caught up with Mimic. He ran alongside the trenchcoated man, reached out his arm, and yanked the cloth bundle from his grip. All this happened before Mimic even realised he was being followed.

They both stopped, and shared a momentary glance at each other. Tobias was startled to see Danny’s face staring back him. Taking advantage of this momentary distraction, Mimic dived back through the trees and scaled the stone wall.

For a moment, Tobias was tempted to chase him. It would only take a second. But who know what kind of magical defenses these guys had? After all, he thought, it must have been one of them who cast a spell on him before, slowing him down. Must have been.

The book was the top priority right now. Scores to be settled later.

Tobias ran back to where he had left Danny, Kristogar, and what may or may not have been Mxy. He found them staring down at the woman who held them at bay earlier, clutching flowers. She dropped them to the ground, then got up and ran. A smoky trail followed her down from the roof of the crypt, and enveloped her. An astute eye would have noticed to shapes in the smoke, but that was hard to judge in the darkness.

“Should I…?” Tobias began, pointing towards them.

“No. We have more important things to deal with.” Danny tried not to cast a glance at Ktl as he said this. “And we may need you here. Remember… the book is top priority.”

With that, Tobias handed the cloth-wrapped bundle to Danny, who unwrapped it. Inside, he found… A newspaper. No book. No Liber Vitae. Just a newspaper.

“What the…?” Danny said. Kristogar looked at it.

“It’s in Italian,” Velo said.

“Can you read it?” Danny asked.

“Some.”

Kristogar took the paper from Danny, then began to read. After a moment, he closed his eyes and suppressed a laugh.

“What? What is it?” Tobias asked.

“It’s an Italian newspaper. It’s an article about a break in at the museum. Some meta thieves who got away from the cops in a giant hovercraft…”

Danny didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.

“Those bastards. It’s a bloody decoy…” He said.

In all this, nobody noticed the other Project Omicron member, Pneuma, as he crept silent out of the crypt with a leather bound book in his arms.

[ 03-03-2003, 10:45 PM: Message edited by: Danny ]

the courtyard

Pingggg!

A bullet ricocheted off a steel I-beam just a few feet from Leslie, making her jump back. She ducked behind a stack of similar I-beams and turned to Charley, who was sneaking up on the other side of the stack. Leslie held up one finger, pointed off to the right, and counted off twenty-two yards on her fingers. Charley nodded and slipped between two tall rolls of sheet steel.

A hand fell on Leslie's right shoulder, and she felt the cold circle of a gun muzzle pressed against her left temple. "I wouldn't move if I were you," a low voice growled behind her.

Leslie rolled her eyes. "A bit wooden. You read too many comics."

Her left arm snapped up and around in a flash, knocking the would-be assailant's gun straight up in the air. Just as swiftly, Leslie grabbed the assailant's other arm with both hands and threw him over her shoulder headfirst into the stack of I-beams. The MAW agent let out a muffled groan and went limp.

The loud clang! of the MAW agent colliding with the pile of steel got the other shooter's attention. He leapt to his feet and took a step toward where Leslie was hiding. Charley softly landed behind him and pistol-whipped him into unconsciousness. "Two!" she called.

Phil looked at Gabi. "They took out two." He stood up slowly. "Either of them Fisher?"

"Nope," Leslie said. "These guys weren't with the bunch in the building."

"So there could be more shooters we didn't know about," Phil concluded. "I wish there were an easier way out of here."

"I can arrange that."

Phil looked up to see Fisher coming toward him with his gun drawn. "I wasn't planning on any of this going down this way, but for some reason you had to go and piss me off. But I'm a generous guy. You can put your gun down now, and come with me, and everyone goes home without a scratch."

"And if I decide I've got better things to do?"

Fisher laughed. "You may have noticed that the two agents you managed to take down out there weren't among the crowd in the building, Phil, be honest. You really have no idea how many more men I have with me, do you?" Phil didn't answer. "Now, I would really hate to see anything bad happen to any of your friends, but you won't leave me with too much of a choice if you keep trying to stall for time until more of your buddies show up."

Phil looked down. "I really don't think we should have to negotiate like this. Someone with your experience on the HRT should know better."

"That's beside the point," Fisher insisted.

"Is it?" Phil asked.

"Don't push your luck!" Fisher snapped.

BLAM!

Gabi cried out in pain as another MAW agent emerged from his hiding place, lowering his gun and laughing.

"Gabi!" Phil dove over to where Gabriela was lying on the ground. She was bleeding from another gunshot wound, this one in her lower abdomen.

Fisher scowled. "I thought I said not to hurt any of them until Smith makes up his mind." He turned to the MAW agent who had shot Gabi and leveled his gun at the agent's head.

And pulled the trigger.

Gabi screamed again as the MAW agent's head disappeared behind a cloud of red.

Fisher turned to Phil. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"You bastard," Phil growled. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you right now."

"Because every second you worry about me," Fisher said, "is one less second you can spare her." He motioned to Gabi, who was clutching at her stomach in agony. "You can kill me or you can save her. You can take a life or maybe save one. But I'm pretty sure you can't do both."

Fisher turned and headed off throuigh the maze.

"Let him go!" Phil shouted to Leslie and Charley. "We have to help Gabi!"

Leslie ran up and took a look at Gabi. "Let's see how bad the wound is."

Charley pulled out her cell phone and dialed 911. As she was on the phone with the dispatcher, Leslie lifted Gabi's top gently and examined the wound. Her eyes widened, then she squeezed them shut tightly.

"What is it?" Phil asked.

Leslie turned slowly and looked at him. "Transverse exit wound. The bullet must have bounced off the pavement and back through her before it exited." She looked at Gabi, whose pretty olive complexion was growing pale at an alarming rate. "She's got serious liver damage, her spleen has been ruptured, and one of her lungs was punctured."

Charley repeated that into her cell phone. "What should we do?" she asked Leslie.

"You have some kind of wacky healing power?" Leslie asked the other metahumans. They didn't answer. Leslie looked down. "Then I'm not sure there's anything we can do."

After the longest six minutes of Phil's life, the hospital helicopter touched down next to the building. Phil guided the paramedics through the maze of construction equipment and helped them get Gabi onto a stretcher. He followed them back to the chopper, but the pilot shook his head when Phil tried to get on board.

"No room," the pilot insisted.

Phil looked at him blankly. "There's plenty of room in here!"

The pilot shook his head.

"But she could be dying!," Phil insisted.

"Do you plan on doing anything for her?"

Phil glared at him. "Look, I helped save half your patients when the hurricane hit, and we helped transport a lot of your equipment, so don't go shoving me around like I'm nobody of consequence. The woman I love is hurt very badly, and I'm going to the hospital with her." Phil realized he still had his MP5 on him. "I do know how to fly one of these," he said menacingly, gesturing toward his weapon.

The pilot threw up his hands. "Get in," he said begrudgingly.

Phil jumped in as the helicopter took off, leaving Leslie and Charley behind to deal with the incapacitated MAW agents.

As the helicopter cleared the tops of the skyscrapers and headed out over the water on its return track, Gabi mumbled something through her oxygen mask. Phil knelt down next to her and stroked her hair. "It's okay now, Gabi. Everything's gonna be okay."

Gabriela smiled at him. "You're a really bad liar, you know that?" She sighed. "I heard what Leslie said. I know what's going on." She looked at the paramedics. "Unless these guys are on par with the surgical staff at NYU or Johns Hopkins, I really don't think we have that much time left to talk."

"The OR is prepped," the copilot told the pilot after talking on the radio. He turned to Phil. "We've got our best surgical team standing by."

Phil smiled at Gabi. "See? They're waiting for us. Everything's gonna be fine."

"Liar," Gabi breathed. She kissed the hand Phil rested on her cheek. "You always had way too big of a heart to pull off the tough-guy act with me."

Phil didn't know what to say. He turned to the copilot. "How far out are we?" Phil asked.

"Three minutes," the copilot replied.

"Phil," Gabi said, "I'm dying. I think we both know that. But I want you to know that this isn't your fault." Phil started to look away, but Gabi put her hand under his chin and forced him to look at her. "You hear me? This isn't anyone's fault." Gabi smiled. "I don't care what happens now. I'm with you."

Phil tried to keep his voice steady but failed. "But... Gabi-"

"Listen to me," Gabi said. "I don't want you to spend the rest of your life moping about how you could have done something or some nonsense like that. This isn't the movies or the comics or anything like that. You're a real person, and you're an amazing person at that. So don't be afraid to cry for me - but don't let that get in the way of life." Gabi coughed as her one working lung struggled to provide her with oxygen. "I want you to go and see Leslie, and I want you to be with her. She's the one for you, Phil."

Phil couldn't keep his voice from breaking. "Gabi, no..."

Gabi nodded. "Yeah." She looked out the window as the helicopter started to descend toward the hospital rooftop. Gabi turned to Phil and smiled. "I love you, Phil. I thought I'd lost you. But then, out of nowhere, there you were. Remember?"

Phil nodded as a tear made its way down his cheek. "I thought I'd lost you too."

"Taking her in to land," the pilot announced.

Gabi touched Phil's face. "You never lost me, Phil. I was always right there with you - just like you were always right there with me." The helicopter bucked a little as its rotor wash bounced off the hospital roof. "And," Gabi breathed, "I'll always be right there with you."

"I love you, Gabi," Phil managed to sob.

"I love you too," Gabi said softly as she caressed Phil's face.

The chopper's landing gear settled onto the rooftop.

Gabi shivered. "It's... it's really cold-"

The hand touching Phil's face fell onto Gabi's lap as she exhaled deeply and was still.

Debris clouded the air as an explosion destroyed the stairs in the courthouse. "How are we supposed to get down from here?" Hill asked.

"Do you really want to go downstairs?" Dirk responded.

"Um...," Hill began as he saw a horde of zombies pouring into the courthouse, "... not really."

"Priest is still down there," Tayden spoke up. "What are we going to do about him?"

"Kill him if he gets near us," Dirk said as he examined the surroundings.

"You can't mean that. He's one of us."

"I can and do mean it. And he's not one of us anymore. I'm not so sure he ever was." The gunslinger looked out of a window across the parking lot. "There. That's what we need." He pointed to a van with the sheriff department's shield on the side. "We've got to get out of here, and that's our best bet. It should be too heavy for them to tip over and powerful enough to smear them across the pavement if they get in our way."

"You want us to jump out of a second floor window, run across a zombie infested parking lot, and steal a paddy wagon?" Hill stood with a look like he had just finished a gas station burrito that was still frozen on the inside. "You've got to be fucking nuts."

"Seriously introverted with unrefined social skills and homicidal tendencies. At least that's what my old psychiatrist told me right before that nasty suicide business." Dirk went to the side wall and began to uncoil the fire hose. He pulled it to the window and, after breaking the glass with his boot, tossed that end out the window.

He then took off his coat and tossed it at Hill, who stumbled back a bit under the suprising weight. The young man made a reach for the gunslinger's hat. Dirk just turned and headed for the window.

"You're not going," Tayden's voice took Dirk by surprise. "I had better go. They can't hurt me."

"Can you even drive a car, Angelboy?"

"Well, I've never actually tried...."

"I thought so. You stay here and make sure that no one shits their pants or anything while I take care of business."

"No. I still insist that I'm the one who should go. So, it is quite obvious that we need to come up with a fair way to settle this."

"I thought that you'd say something like that," Dirk said a second before snatching his coat from Hill and in the same fluid motion drapped it over Tayden's head. A quick kick to the sternum knocked the breath out of the angel and sent him skidding across the floor as Dirk made his way to and out the window.

"He made it down and is now sprinting across the parking lot," Hill said from his view from the window. "The zombies know he's out there. They're going for him. He pulled out his katana from his back. How many weapons does that dude have anyway? He's slicing zombies in half as he passes them. Holy Christ, limbs are flying everywhere. The ground is just litter with body parts. Damn! I think he just decapitated my ex-girlfriend,"

Tayden, still regaining his breath, slightly gasped, "I'm sorry to hear that. It must be hard for you to take."

"Not as bad as you'd think," Hill replied. "We didn't part on the best of terms. Hey! I think he made it to the van."

Ameristar´s headache from the device on her forehead was increasing, as much as her concentration to activate her ability to teleport was decreasing.
She groaned.

"Ah, ah, aaah. You´re awake." said a cheerfull voice, male yet high as if he had been a choir boy or something.

Ameristar realised she was blindfolded and gagged. A lump of cloth in her mouth that tasted vanilla.

"This won´t take long. And the pain will be short...so bear with me for awhile." said the happy voice in the dark.

A faint rumble could be heard from nearby...her friends maybe?
Hope rose in her chest, and she tried to spit the cloth out...but was only rewarded with a sharper headache as her straining only made matters worse.

"There, there. Now this will hurt only for a second or two...now." the voice reasured her...it was closer, and she could feel the breath of him on her forehead.
What was he planning to do to her....
Rape!
No! That was Crasher...This was something else...
She heard a buzzing sound...something that reminded her of a small...Noooooo!!!!! A drill!!!

"Such a lovely head...hi hi hi hi..."

A sharp pain in her forehead as she felt the drill enter her skullbone.

She tried to scream...

The rumbling sound came closer...but it was far away...she felt everything just drift away...the sound of the ocean...was that waves she heard? Strange...she hadn´t seen a ocean on her way here...stupid thoughts...
***********************

Drax managed to bulldoze the remaining walls to let the team move around more freely.
And suddenly Raptor felt a pain in his forehead. Sharp enough to send him to his knees.
But chance took his arms and helped him up.

"Euro...I mean Raptor...what is it?"

"I...feel her...her pain...impossible...but...she is there, I just know it." With a look of surprise and shock he pointed to a wall further ahead."

Drax replied with a grin; "Say no more. Follow me."
He was just about to break the waal down when two small girls appeared around the corner. Both wore hot pink mini skirts and white tops with the legend " Eat Me!" written on them.
They wore no shoes and had blond hair with pony tails. They were twins.

"We can´t let you do that." they said with giggles.
"Father would be...upset if you ruined his fun, you see."

A telekinetic bolt sent Drax, Raptor and Chance flying into wall behind them...and suddenly their clothes were on fire.
***********************

In the dark room, the man stopped drilling into Ameristar´s head and used a pair of tongs to pull a small peice of Ameristar´s brain out.
With a splatting sound the fat organ that was part of her landed on a plate.

"So...finished. Yor friends can come in now to...errr...rescue you hehehehe."

The man left by using a door on the far side of the room, that led outside into a beautifull garden. There a small helicopter was waiting for him.
As he ordered the pilot to fly, he smiled towards the tower.

"Goodbye children...you freaks."
******************

[ 03-04-2003, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: T5 ]

"I can't believe them," Ktl said to himself, as Tobias, Kristogar and Danny walked towards the crypt. "I just can't believe them."

"Are you coming, Mxy?" Tobias said, looking back at Ktl.

"Be right there, honey!" Ktl said with a sweet voice. "Damned fools..."

As they descended to the crypt, Danny seemed uneasy. Kristogar, carrying a lantern to light the way, noticed this.

"Are you sure we're handling the Mxy situation correctly...?" Kristogar asked, making sure "Mxy" wasn't listening.

"What else could we do?" Danny asked in a low voice. "If it wasn't him... He would have alredy blown our heads."

"If it's him and not something else, then why do you suppouse there's darkness coming from his eyes instead of light?"

"He's just playing us, KV..."

"Exactly," Kristogar muttered, "he's playing with us..."

Danny opened his mouth to say something, when he heard a loud sound coming from behind. He looked back and noticed that the crypt door was closed.

"What the...?" TC said.

Danny didn't remember opening a door on his way in... But that wasn't important now. He looked at "Mxy".

"Did you do that... Mxy...?" Danny asked, impatient.

"Did I?" he replied with a grin.

"Cut the crap," KV said, looking as pissed as he could look.

"All right, if you insist!" Ktl started elevating as he said this.

Ktl stared at Danny, that was standing next to a statue. Danny stared back at Ktl, confused. Ktl closed both eyes for a second, and there was a loud explosion.

"DANNY!" Kristogar yell.

After hearing the explosion, the next thing Danny saw was the floor.

<AAAH!> Hal screamed inside Danny's head, <He sliced our head off! We're just a head lying on the floor!>

"We're still alive, Hal..." Danny said.

<These are our last seconds of counciousness before dying, Dan! Before dying I've got something to tell you, Dan... I-->

"If we're just a head lying on the floor, then how come my ribs hurt so much, Hal?"

"<...>"

As Danny started getting up, he realized that TC was standing next to him, looking at 'Mxy'. "Sorry if I pushed you too hard, Danny, I forgot about your ribs," TC said, without letting down his guard.

Danny saw the statue he was standing next to, and noticed that it was decapitated. The pieces of rock that had been it's head were all over the crypt. Danny realized that if it wasn't for TC, that would have been his head.

"Eh, no problem, Tobias..."

Now there was no doubt in KV, TC and Danny's mind that this was Ktl floating in front of them.

"Whoops, sorry about that, Dennis!" Ktl said as he started floating around the three men in circles, increasing his speed as he went. "Let me make it up to you. You said before that the book was top priotity, right? I'm gonna make the search for the book a lot easier!"

Danny couldn't wonder what he meant for more than two seconds, when things around him started exploding.

"I'm clearing the way for you to look!" Ktl exclaimed. He was having fun with this, and the rest could tell it. All this time posing as Mxy taught him a new kind of insanity. He remembered the days when he wouldn't even smile, and thought of all the fun he had been missing.

"How did we ever beat this guy?" Danny said, as he and the others dodged flying pieces of debris.

"Actually," TC said, "Mxy did."

[ 03-04-2003, 06:47 PM: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

Dirk opened the door to the van. "God I love small towns," he said as he entered the vehicle and locked the doors. He began to look for the keys as zombies encircled him. "Son of a bitch!"

"Why isn't he moving?" Hill asked. "He's just sitting there. Why isn't he coming for us."

"He'll come. Don't worry," Tayden said while rubbing the sore spot on his chest. Sometimes being human can really suck.

"Mother of God!" Hill yelled while pointing down to the ground below the window. A zombie had found the fire hose and had begun to climb up it. "Zombies can climb? Since when can zombies climb? I've seen hundreds of movies, and zombies never climbed! Never! They are unclimbers! Climbing is strictly forbidden! I call foul!"

Tayden grabbed and pulled Hill away from the window before the zombie, who had now reached the window, had a chance to strike at his prey. The once angel then jumped up and began to poung his fist into the head of the animated corpse. It finally caved in and released a blue energy.

As the body fell, Tayden could see more zombies making their way to the hose. He ran and turned the water valve on. The hose sprang to life like a gigantic snake. The two unfortuante zombies who happened to be on the hose at the time were tosses and slammed against the wall. High pressure water struck and catapulted bodies across the yard of the courthouse.

Tayden sat down next to Hill, who had regained his composure. "I'm sorry about that. It's just...... I've been trapped here so long that....."

"You're doing exceptionally well considering the circumstances," the angel reassured him.

[ 03-05-2003, 10:33 AM: Message edited by: thedoctor ]

A sickly pale massive Priest stumbled though the first floor of the courthouse bumping into zombies who simply ignored him…they were looking for fresh meet.

“……Never felt this helpless. I’m feeling my body move but I’m not moving it. Its like a movie or a dream…..”

He wandered in thought and awareness but without control of anything…he was walking but did not feel the ground…he saw with no control of the direction of his gaze…he didn’t feel numb……he felt nothing…….nothing except…..an intense hunger.

(Outside the courthouse)

Dirk looked under the seat and the sunvisor for the keys…..no luck.

“No keys….no problem.”

With eyes still on the zombies in front of him he reaches under the steering column and connect the ignition wire to the hot wire….

“Vrooomm!” with a growl the Van made its presence known.

“I’m on my way bo…” The site that lay before Dirk as he looked toward the courthouse window stopped him in mid sentence.

A fire hose, spouting water, was spinning in a circle with a small-framed zombie in tow at its nozzle.

The water had knocked about five zombies down and, just about the time they tried to pull themselves up, the hose would make its full rotation and knock them down again.

To top that water, was filling the streets, so undead were slipping and sliding everywhere.

“Hhh” Dirk let out a chuckle. “Now that’s funny.”

[ 03-05-2003, 08:46 PM: Message edited by: Sonhaven ]

I take away the remnants of my burning clothes, remaining totally naked. I glance for an instant behind me, to see the giant furry dragon helping Chance to get rid of his own clothes.

In front of me, the two giggling girls. This make no sense. In a giant tower in the middle of the Amazon jungle there are two teen age teens, dressed like go-go dancers, speaking plain American and showing psychic powers.

This makes no sense.

“Father wouldn’t be pleased if…” says one of the girl, “… we allow you ruin his fun” end the sentence the others.

They send another mental bolt, but this time I can anticipate it. The bolt catch me, take me off ground and send me back to the wall on the back, but this time I am quick to spread my wings, stopping at mid-air, and flying back toward the girls.

This time the surprise is on their part.

Ladnikia cuts their heads with a simple, elegant movement. The two heads roll down the stair.

I turn back. The dragon and the scientist are staring at me. “Ed… I am sure there was another way…” begins Chance. “ I could…” He stops out of a sudden. His eyes looks surprised. “My power!”

I get it. The blast of the twins has not bounced back. It seems his power doesn’t work. How’s that possible.

Pain.

Great pain in my mind.

Jackie is near here.

“Questions for later, Chance. We need to find Ameristar.” I run upward, along the stair. The two follow me, but I can’t not notice how Chance looks disgusted at my sword.

"YOU CAN'T DENY ME!"

Priest felt a wave throughout his body, it was being held back by sheer will power. For a moment he lost control. His eyes glased over silver.

"AGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

Shives went through Tayden's body as he heard the unearthly cry. This isn't good.

Hill shot around, looking in the direction of the cry.

"That wasn't no Zombie..?"

"No." Tayden replied, "That is much worse."

"What do you mean?"

"Priest, our teammate. That cry. He's not Zombie, he's... Possessed."

Staring up at the creature before him, Danny was scared.

Probably more scared than he’d ever been. Ktl was a creature of immense power. Ktl had magic on the same scale as Mxy. Ktl could kill them all just by thinking it.

Ktl could destroy the world if he really wanted to.

“Shit,” Danny said. Kristogar just nodded.

”BOO!” Ktl said, his booming voice echoing on the stone walls of the crypt they all now stood in (well, Ktl wasn’t technically standing, he was hovering… I just kinda, you know, tried to save some time. Time I’ve now lost with this little tangent in parenthesis… shit…). He then laughed, a laugh that was as terrifying as it’s possible for a laugh to be.

Growing himself a tail and claws, Danny scaled up the wall and onto the ceiling, seeing if there was any way he could make contact with the being. Ktl may be fifth dimensional energy, but he relied on a three
dimensional form. Maybe he was vulnerable…

Kristogar ducked into a corner and pulled out his mobile phone. Perhaps the wisest one there, he knew that they wouldn’t have a chance if they didn’t call for help.

Tobias ran. At Ktl. As fast as he could.

All this happened at once.

Ktl looked upwards, straight at at Danny. Before he could jump out of the way, Ktl directed a blast of explosive energy upwards, tearing the ceiling to rubble and sending Danny flying. Chunks of concrete showered all across the cemetery, and Danny was thrown into a grass clearing outside the crypt. A concrete chunk struck him in the leg, tearing a piece of flesh off and ruining his pants. Tree branches cracked and gravestones were chipped and shattered as the remains of the ceiling fell back to earth.

Tobias took two steps. He took them faster than the human eye could see him taking them. But Ktl saw him. And stopped him in his tracks. The speedster tried desperately to move, and found that he was frozen in place. He panicked. He thought something he’d never thought before. He thought he was about to die.

Kristogar threw his phone to the ground in anger as he realised he couldn’t get a signal. Ktl had interfered with any possible method of communication. He threw up and electrical field around the cemetery. There was no way to call for help. Kristogar knew they were fucked.

All this happened at once.

Across the road, a concerned citizen looked out her front lounge room window. She saw the ceiling fly off one of the buildings in the cemetery. She then did what any conscientious citizen would do… she called the police.

Danny pulled himself up onto his arms, and tried to stand. He collapsed again as he realised his leg was really in quite a bit of pain. Looking down, he noticed blood pouring from a gash in his thigh. He lowered a hand and clamped it down over the wound, trying to stop the blood flow.

“You know… I’ve really gotta stop getting injured on these missions…” Danny said.

<You’re like the anti-Chance.> Hal replied.

Inside the now-roofless crypt, Kristogar stood. He raised a fluffy bunny towards his magic opponent. He knew this really wouldn’t achieve anything, but he’d be damned if he was going down without a fight.

Ktl saw him, and laughed.

Kristogar threw the fluffy bunny. The fluffy bunny, in a rather strange but not altogether uncharateristic magical act by Ktl, turned into a hornet in mid-air, and turned back towards him.

“Well, fuck,” He said, and dodged the insect. Behind him, it grew to the size of a man. Kristogar spun around, and found himself face to face with an unnaturally large hornet. He thought it smiled at him, but it was hard to be sure.

Ducking to the side, all he could hear above all other noise was the sound of Ktl laughing.

One hand clamped over his thigh, Danny limped back towards the building, hurrying as fast as he could towards the entrance. He stumbled up the steps, and reached out to open the doors. He had to leap quickly to the side as the great wooden doors were thrown off their hinges, and clattered to the concrete steps below. Danny was startled to see Kristogar come crashing through the doorway, grappling with a man-sized hornet. They tumbled down the steps and and landed on the grassy patch below. Kristogar raised another fluffy bunny and threw it at the creature, throwing it off him onto the ground and sending a chunk of flesh flying. Danny was about to run down and help when Kristogar grabbed a large concrete piece from the ground next to him, and brought it down on the creature’s head. He kicked it once to make sure it was dead.

<That was really fucking strange,.> Hal said.

“Or at least… it would be… for normal people,” Danny replied.

Inside, Tobias was trying hard to break free from the hold Ktl had on him. He looked up at the creature, his eyes straining. Ktl hovered there, watching him. Grinning. But then a noise from outside caught his attention, and he turned to the doorway. Ktl, as unbelievable as it may seem, was startled at something.

”Alive?! No stingy hornet-doom?!” He yelled.

Tobias took this momentary lapse of concentration and used it to his advantage. While he still couldn’t run- Ktl wasn’t stupid enough to take his attention off him entirely- He could still vibrate. And vibrate he did. He turned his speed back in on himself, moving his every molecule until he was practically intangible (you know… like the Flash does). He then fell through the floor below him, into one of the basement levels.

“What the hell are we going to do?” Danny asked Kristogar as they stood together just outside the building.

“No idea. But we can’t just run.”

“No… if we don’t at least try to keep him here, innocent people could get hurt…”

They looked at each other, then back at the crypt. Resigned to their fate… walking into a battle they knew they couldn’t win… they headed back up the steps.

“FREEZE!” Came a voice from behind them.

They turned, and noticed a police car on the road that stretched through the middle of the cemetery. Another sat on the road just outside the entrance.

“The police…” Danny said.

“Why are they speaking English?” Velo asked.

“I dunno. Must have just been easier to write…” Danny replied.

Ktl came floating out through the now permanently open entrance, and looked across at the police cars.

The closer one, the one inside the cemetery, began to float. It lifted off the ground, a few inches at first and then climbing to above head height. The police officer standing next to it looked confused. The one inside the car looked terrified.

“No! Ktl! Put it down!” Danny yelled.

The car was thrown backwards, hurtling through the sky over the cemetery. The man inside it let out a scream that echoed in all their ears.

Danny and Kristogar ran to help, but found themselves suddenly on fire. They threw themselves to the ground, rolling around frantically trying to put themselves out.

Outside the cemetery, two police officers sat in the other car, surveying the scene and waiting to provide back-up if needed. Looking up, they noticed the other police car flying through the air towards them. The two cars collided, the one Ktl had thrown smashing into the other one and crushing the men inside.

The mangled mess of steel suddenly exploded in a huge fireball, lighting the night sky around it.

“NO!” Kristogar shouted. He found himself grabbed by the ground, being pulled downwards until only his head remained visible.

This kinda sucked, but had the desirable side effect of putting out the fire.

Danny and Kristogar struggled to free themselves as the ground tore and grabbed at them, dirt surounding their entire bodies. Ktl just stared at them and laughed.

”Ground-ground sucking you like a three dollar whore!” The fifth dimensional being shouted.

Tobias suddenly leaped out of what remained of the crypt and threw himself at Ktl, catching him momentarily off guard. The two were brought to the ground. Tobias picked himself up and yanked Danny and Kristogar from the ground before Ktl resumed his hovering position.

Meanwhile, outside the cemetery, a man named Tom walked straight up the middle of the road. He was clad only in sunglasses, a bathing suit, and slippers. His way lit by the huge fireball, he made his way to the cemetery entrance.

Ktl rose a hand, and the three heroes were picked up from the ground and levitated in mid air. Danny looked down and noticed his feet dangling a dozen feet above the earth. Taking them over the outside wall and through the empty space where there was once a roof, Ktl brought them back inside the crypt.

He threw them at the floor. They expected to stop when they hit it, in a rather hard and violent fashion.

But the floor gave way, crumbling in a storm of concrete chunks. It collapsed down to the level beneath, the floor of which also gave way before them and collapsing in on itself.

Danny, Kristogar and Tobias were thrown down through all four levels of the structure, and landed hard amidst a pile of broken concrete. Around them, set into deep recesses in the walls, were various caskets and memorial stones. They guessed that one of them must be Netzel’s.

“…ow…” Danny said, picking himself and clutching one hand to his injured ribs.

“That was… painful,” Kristogar said.

“Why are we not dead?” Tobias asked, springing to his feet.

“He’s playing with us… wants to take his time watching us suffer…” Danny said, stumbling against the stone wall. Looking up, he noticed Ktl descending towards them.

Ktl lowered himself slowly, keeping his gaze locked on his three trapped foes. The faint dark light that once spilled from his eyes had intensified, and an aura of purplish light surrounded the being. It shone out in every direction, providing the only illumination in the dark space. Lightning bolts crackled around him. And Ktl just smiled.

Outside, the man named Tom stumbled across the now decimated crypt. He stepped through the doorway, and looked through the floor at the lower levels. Now fully exposed, the stairway caught his attention.

”Checkmate,” Ktl said, as the stone walls began to shift and metamorphose. Giant stone hands reached out and grabbed the three heroes, keeping them held firmly in place.

”No more games. Quick death now.”

The attention of all four of them was drawn to the bottom of the staircase when Tom, clad only in his bathing suit and sunglasses with tattered slippers on his feet, stepped into the basement. He stumbled to his knees, then struggled to right himself.

“Who the hell…?” Tobias said, still stuck in a stone grip.

A yellow light shone faintly from Tom’s eyes.

“It… it’s Mxy,” Danny answered.

[ 03-07-2003, 07:33 AM: Message edited by: Danny ]

Chance´s mind was troubled...his power should have kicked in the second he had been hit by the girls...and Raptor´s willingness to cut people´s heads off was getting annoying.
He remembered the good old days when hero meant rescuing people, not...killing them.

And suddenly the world seemed to invert itself...and a great burning pain in his head that seemed to want to kill him.

His eyes tried to focus...and he saw a bright light above him...voices....

"It seems one of the subjects has managed to burn his cerebro-sims. Give him another shot and apply new ones." one of the voices said with a detached clinical tone.

Cerebro-sims? Chance´s mind was reeling as the new dose of drugs hit his system...the last thing he heard as he passed out, was the angry voice of someone who cursed and yelled that he had somehow managed to inject himself with the needle......

This wasn´t....real....the tower....the fight....must wake up...

Call me Raptor. I have been blessed by fate with the power of flight. But that, here inside this dark tower, don’t help a lot.

Much more useful is my sword, Ladnikia.

She has changed my life.

I have been always the most ineffectual of the heroes around. At first, I was a speedster. With me, there was the fastest man alive, Tobias Cristopher. He made me look like a turtle.

Then, I gained a super exoskeleton, able to do nearly anything. The first moment I would have used it, my son would have been killed.

Now, my life has changed. Ladnikia is raw, unstoppable power. Whoever stands in my way, ket killed. And there is no need to master swordplay. The blade fight by herself.

Just like now, when a battalion of armored Olympic track runners, aiming laser guns at me, come down the stairs.

“Kill the Eurostar!” they keeps shouting. “Kill Euro! Kill Euro!”

Olyimpic track runners? In the middle of the Amazon jungle? That doesn’t make much sense…

The heads begin flying. One after another, the attackers falls.

Yet, I am weak. Bloods and soul should nurture my sword and powering me… something doesn’t work here… just like for Chance.

THIS CAN’T BE REALLY HAPPENING!

The Hoods’ matrix.

It’s all a deception. A fake.

The world around be begins to dissolve…

…I am strapped to a table, Drake the same on a table near me.

Chance, totally naked, is fighting with two men in lab’s coat. Another one is reversed on the ground, blabbering unintelligible words about his mommy.

The two men keeps throwing things, like scalpels and scissors, toward the Swedish. But no one is able to make contact with him. And by chance (by Chance) one of the scalpels end on the straps that keep me tied.

I stand up, and without take aim send the scalpel in the right eye of one of the lab men. Then I jump down, to the corner where Ladnikia is, take her, and as her power flows back inside me, I cut the heads of both men.

Chance looks at me seriously, but doesn’t say anything. He just point his index finger to the other side of the room. On another table, much distant from where I was, there is Ameristar.

“Jackie!” I cry.

I run to her. Chance lock the door of the room, which is circular, without any window. From what I have seen, the tower is a very tall cone, with the rooms in the center and a spiral staircase on the outside, between the rooms and the external wall.

Ameristar is sleeping, or so it seems. Chance manages to free Drake, that opens his eyes and looks at us perplexed.

While he get back on his feet, Chance comes near Jackie. He open one of her eyes. “She’s in a coma” explains. Then, he notices blood on the back of her head. There is a small hole. Horror appears in the eyes of my friend.

“She needs medical care, NOW!” he shouts.

In the same moment, something begins booming just outside the door.

The Corpral in charge of the guards responded to the alarm in the lab...apparently some of the tests subjects found in the jungle were trying to escape.

"Okay men, posotion yourselves on the right and left sides of the door, I will open it and do a quick scan of the facility...then you follow me in. Anyone not wearing a lab coat is a target.!"

"Aye, aye.Sir!" The ten trooper were well armed and well trained.
This had been a cushy assignment for most of them. Guard a tower in the middle of nowhere, no hostile government troops to be on the look out for, or any terrorist organisantion to take down...just guard duty...that is until the orders came in from above to start this meta research facility.

The first to arrive had been a local weirdo family that managed to escape at one time, but the last of them had now been caught yesterday in the company of some outsiders.
They had been sedated with gas grenades, but only after a few strange misfires.

The staff wanted to take a look at these metas, and apparently the leading researcher had known one of them, a girl, who he then set up a private lab for.

For security reasons the metas were put in VR-Beds, to asess their potential. And their equipment taken to storage...except for the sword, which had a irritating nack to teleport back to the bird fellow´s bed.

But now it seemed their powers had neutralized the VR-Beds and were on the loose.

As they counted down to one, suddenly a couple of stun grenades went off in the corridor.
Sending the troopers to the cozy darkness of unconciousness.
************

Raptor took the closest man in a lab coat and screamed in his face;
"Save her! Now! Or you will suffer a death that will be legendary even in hell!"

The frightened doctor began to do his best with the equipment at hand.

Then the door blasted inwards and a young red booted girl came charging in with guns blazing.
Drake, Chance and Raptor yelled as they took cover behind a desk:

"Crasher! Godammit! It´s us! Stop firing!" Raptor waved a white towel from behind the desk.

"Ooops. Sorry guys. Are you allright? No one hurt?"

Drake stood up and pointed to Ameristar;
"It seems someone had it in for Ameri here." He glowered at the doctors, who recoiled in fright.

"We were only following orders. Doctor Rana was in charge and left as soon as he was finished with the specimen."

Drake was furious.
"Specimen!! We´re talking about a girl here. Where did this Ranja guy go?"

The doctors looke at each other, apparently quiet afraid of the mad man and the armed girl which were pushing them up against the wall.

"Errrr...Rana...Doctor Rana went by helicopter just a few minutes ago to report back to his employers."

"And who are they?"

"Well...we were recruited by Doctor Rana...and the pay was...well...amazing so we didn´t ask."

Drake flung his hands up in the air; "Terrific! Now we have no way of catching that guy.!"

Raptor loomed over the doctor who tried to patch her up. And Crasher came up to him.

"Oh poor thing. What have they done to you?" She held Ameristar´s hands and tears flowed down her cheeks.

The troops outside were slowly regaining their wits, and silently the corpral gave them orders to resume their attack on the individuals inside.......

Ktl looked at Tom. Mick's face had never expressed so much anger.

"You..." Ktl says, "WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!"

As he screamed these words, the ground started shaking making the debris in it jump.

"What a cliché..." Kristogar commented, trying to free himself from the stone grip Ktl had created by smacking a fluffy bunny at it.

Tom noticed that Ktl was staring at him as he yell. He looked behind to see who he was talking to, and only then he realized it was him.

"Uh, look, man..." Tom said, rather awkardly, "I don't know what's going on here, I only came 'cause a voice in my LEAVE MICK ALONE! head told me to. Uh, did I just burp?"

"How many times have we done this? Three? Four?" Ktl asked slowly floating in Tom's direction.

"I've never seen you before in my SEVERAL TIMES, AND I ALWAYS WIN! FACE IT, BRO, YOU'RE THE LOSER IN THIS FAMILY life" Tom said, as he, apparently uncounciously, started elevating from the ground. Then he thought for a moment. "Man, that was a weird burp..."

As Ktl and Mxy argued and Tom made random comments, like any scared and confused young man would do in a situation like this, the stone grips Ktl had created to hold the heroes were slowly falling apart.

"Ktl must be concentrated in Mxy right now," Kristogar rightly deduced, as he gave the giant stone hand a deadly blow with his fluffy bunny.

Danny and Tobias freed themselves as well, both of them secretely wondering how many fluffy bunnies Kristogar had brought with him. The stone hands now lay on the floor, desperately trying to reach their enemies, as they disintegrated.

"...hold me..." one of the hands muttered, as it felt life leaving it's self.

"Die, Nazi hands!" TC exclaimed as he started kicking the stone hands.

"Enough, Tobias," Danny said, holding the speedster back. "They've been through enough. We have to help Mxy now..."

The three men looked up to Ktl and Tom/Mxy.

"You should take a little detail in consideration..." they heard Ktl say, "this time, you can't touch me. Hurt me, and you'll be hurting your pal Mick. Don't you think he's been through enough because of you alredy?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Uh... He's not saying anything. The dude in my head, I mean," Tom said.

Ktl smiled, and prepared to continue tormenting Kristogar, Danny and Tobias to death, while Mxy stood there unable to do anything. As Ktl gave his back to him, Tommxy waved his hands and made the vegetation on the graveyard grow in an unnatural way, and made it sneak up on Ktl.

"What--?" Ktl said, surprised, as the vegetation grew around him, firmly imprisoning the fifth dimensional being.

"Sorry, Mick," Mxy said. He made the vegetation keep growing, because he knew that if he gave Ktl one moment to recover all would be lost.

"He's gonna kill Mick!" TC yelled.

"No!" Danny said. "Hal, wings!"

Seconds later wings grew from Danny's back, tearing the back of his upper body part clothing. He flew next to Mxy.

"Mxy!"

Mxy didn't answer. He was concentrated on Ktl.

"Mxy, listen to me," Danny insisted, grabbing Mxy by the shoulder.

Mxy looked at Danny.

"There's gotta be another way, Mxy..." Danny said, and as he spoke those words he saw movement in the ball of vegetation that held Ktl. Then he saw an arm coming from inside, destroying part of the green prision. "Look ou--"

Then, a good old fashioned big loud explosion of light that covered the whole graveyard...

[ 03-08-2003, 08:54 PM: Message edited by: I'm Not Mister Mxypltk ]

Berlin... ten miles from the cemetary...

Pneuma paused, hovering in the air quietly, turning to gaze in bewilderment at the brilliant explosion from the spot he had just come from. As he gazed toward the explosion, he felt the presence of his teammates surrounding him at this, the agreed upon point of rendezvous.

"It is done," Sheik said, smiling at Mimic, who grinned widely with the face of Danny Hearn.

"Oh, yeah..." the shape-shifter said, brushing off his clothes. "That was more fun than I've had on a mission in a while..."

Rose glared at her co-worker, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Mimic asked, shrugging. "Did you see who that was back there? That was Kristogar Velo! I worked with him in the government back in the day. I would've loved to stop and catch up... see what he's been up to as of late."

"I think it is rather obvious that Mr. Velo has been working for MBL Consulting," Sheik responded, walking over to Pneuma's still-hovering form. "Apparently, our employer couldn't trust the job to just one firm..."

"Could've been more than one," Mimic surmised, changing his face to it's normal featureless expression. "...employer, I mean."

Sheik stopped at this, pondering. "A very astute observation, Mimic," he said, running his hand over his long beard. "However, our loyalties lie only to our employer and to his demands."

As the Sheik extended his hand, the quiet spirit known as Pneuma slipped the leather-bound book into his tanned palm. As the Arab's eyes scanned the tome, his expression remained completely unaffected by what he saw.

"So, what's the verdict?" Mimic asked, his hair changing to a stark red color.

"It is the Liber Vitae," the Sheik answered monotonously. Then, looking in the direction of the cemetary, where the explosion had just lit up the sky, he spoke once more: "We must return to our Berlin safehouse. From there, we will contact Omicron, Xyber, X-Acute, and Arges in Brazil. Let them know we've found it and that they can fall back."

"And in the meantime?" Mimic asked.

"In the meantime," Sheik said, handing the book to Rose, who nodded and slipped it into her bag. "In the meantime, we return to Switzerland and find a way to make contact with our employer. With any luck, we'll be able to arrange an exchange sometime within the next few business days, before MBL Consulting realizes that we've given them the slip."

Mimic popped his neck, his face now that of a thin, long-haired Irish grudge band drummer, as he walked to the road, beginning his hitchhike to the safehouse. Pneuma sighed his assent and vanished from view, heading back to the safehouse. Rose immediately darted back into the forested area, attempting to find the best route back. When they had gone, the Sheik sat calmly on the ground, crossing his legs in a meditation position and closing his eyes. A whispered incantation and a deep breath later... and any evidence that any members of the Geneva-based superhuman organization Project Omicron had once stood on that spot vanished without a trace...

When the armed troopers get inside, the first to fall under the fire is the doctor, which die with an horrible scream.

The second shot that get its target is aimed at the Gaia Unit of Crasher. Sparkles come from it, as the young girl, swearing, take it away from her back, sending him among the troops. The things explodes, buying us some time.

“Chance, finish the operation! Drake, I need Drax. Crasher… what do you know of the tower?” As the girl opens her mouth to respond, Chance stood in front of me: “Operate her? I am a chemist, not a doctor! How can you possibly:::”

I stop him. “Jackie’s dying. Did you never got any biological lesson in university? Aren’t you able to hold a scalpel?”

“I had some basic surgery training in the Army, but it:::”

“:::was enough! With your luck, it will be fine! Now, Crasher!” I cry.

“We are near the middle of the tower. Five levels down, six up. The rooms are in the middle, one for each level, the stairs surround them.”

Just like I though. “Have you any idea what Ameristar was looking for?”

“My dad thinks there is the map to the location of the book, in this place. The map with the route of Cuccubao”.

Drax, which in the meantime has exchanged place with Drake, and Chance, look at me startled. “What? Jackie’s need medical help now!”

“NO” I shout. “We will not leave this place without that damn map. Ameristar’s sacrifice would be meaningless if we leave like this. Crasher?”

The girl looks at me full of hate. “My… my father would thinks the same” she say, reluctantly.

“OK. Drax, you have to protect Chance and Ameristar. I will find the map, with Crasher.”

Without looking back, I take the door, climbing over the dead bodies of the guards, followed closely by Crasher.

The first to return to the hideout in Berlin was Pneuma. A good half an hour later, Rose entered the apartment, with the book.

She put the envelope on the shelf, near to the vacuum device. Ancient book are very delicate artefact, and need every careful attention to be preserved. Sadly, not all the needed accuracy could have been used at the graveyard, cause the MBL irruption.

Rose suddenly froze. What did Sheik there? He opened the book to confirm it was the real one! Rose began wondering if the Arab did the right thing. There was only one thing to do. She went in the bathroom, opened the hot water tap, and let the humidity of the air to raise. Sure, it was not to be considered controlled atmosphere, but at last was much more humid than the dry air of the main rooms. And also of the air outside the apartment.

With trepidation, Rose opened the envelope. Sheik was going to call the contractor, she has to be sure the book was intact.

The leather bound object was in her hand. She carefully opened the first page… and all the pages suddenly wrinkled, and ripped and turned into small pieces, falling on the floor.

“Arghhh!” cried Rose, as Pneuma rushed to her help. It was the latter that noticed, among the dust formed by the remnants of the page, a small piece of paper, still intact, because it was parchment. Fully coloured, it showed mountains, a lake, and many trees. A map. Half of a map. And in one corner, the small illustration of a city carved in a mountain, with a flying dragon above. Just like in the painting of Tanfo da Perugia.

“Not all is lost” said Rose, wiping a tear away from her right eye.

Grissom shook his head and sighed. He'd just heard the whole sad story as told by Kit Piper of the gambling debts he'd incurred with a Mafioso named Gambini, and of the ensuing kidnapping of his two young daughters and his ex-wife, as well as Kit's embezzlement of both MBL Consulting's and the Hero Revolution Fund's money. So much for all the grand plans the team had -- from what Kit told him, the team was broke. And not only that, it was in debt for a quarter of a million dollars with all the bills they'd racked up since the hurricane and the ambitious rebuilding projects. What were they going to do now?

"H-help me, Griss!" Kit Piper shouted at the Englishman, pulling at his shirt in desperation. "You gotta help me get my daughters back somehow!" He broke away, unable to speak any longer. Grissom looked away, unable to see a grown man cry like this.

"Look, mate, you don't need me t' tell you that you're in a heap of trouble -- I'm sure you're well aware o' that fact -- but from what you've told me, it may be difficult to track down your daughters and save both of them. As you were told, if one is saved and the other isn't saved at the same time, the one still in captivity will be killed. To start with, we don't even know where they are."

"There's gotta be a way," Kit said. "There's gotta be a way..." He closed his eyes as he started to bawl again, but then he suddenly stopped. "Hey, waitasec," he said, opening his eyes again, and looking around quickly as if in thought. "Yeah... yeah... I think I know a way..."

"What is it, old man?"

"Lemme find those papers," Kit said, frantically searching around his cluttered desk. "Dammit, where are they?"

"Tell me, Kit! What are you thinking?"

"Remember the meeting this morning? When I told the team about the control of BountyLand Foods reverting to its previous ownership?"

"Well... yeah -- sort of."

"That Mr. Vandemar guy said something about our team being under surveillance for a few months."

"Oh?" Grissom said, an eyebrow raising in sudden interest.

"Yeah, it was before you started setting up those nifty new security measures."

"Right, right," Grissom replied, grinning. "So did he give any names?"

"Gah! Can't remember. Something that started with 'G' -- sort of like your name, but different."

Grissom was quiet for a moment as his mind turned over. He looked at Kit and said seriously, "It wasn't 'Griffin', was it?"

"Yeah! That's right! How'd you guess?"

Grissom sighed deeply. "If there's anyone qualified for this kind of work without getting noticed, it's Griffin."

"You know him?"

"Sort of. We had an... incident... a while back. Bastard left me in quite a predicament a few years ago. But yeah, I see where you're going with this, Kit. He's a professional. Well qualified for this kind of job. But he's expensive. Very, very expensive."

"Dammit."

"Well... I guess I could lend you the capital..."

"Really?" Kit said, his eyes lighting up.

"...after all, these are your daughters we're talking about. And I have been looking forward to seeing Griffin again..." He smiled a wicked smile as his knuckles went white.

"If I can get ahold of this Vandemar guy, I might be able to get in contact with him or something. Maybe we could hire him to find out where my daughters are being kept so we can get them out at the same time."

"Maybe... maybe. But I wouldn't trust him to do the actual rescue. Trust me, mate -- he's not really anyone you'd want around children..."

The French-owned Caribbean island of Martinique, a few miles away from La Perdita in the chain of islands known as the Lesser Antilles...

A fat lump of flesh that had once been a living, breathing man lay motionless in a chair behind a desk in a locked room. The man had received many death threats over the past few months and had taken them very seriously. His advisors had told him to get out of the country... go on vacation for a while... perhaps on a Caribbean island... To that end, the man had gone to this Caribbean island and found a hotel with a well-guarded room, one kept only for VIPs. There were bars on his window and guards posted outside his room and even next to the windows outside. They had told him that no one could enter this room without their knowing it. They had told him that he was safe.

Now he was dead.

Griffin loved these kinds of jobs. He almost felt sorry for the detective who would be assigned to this case. It was a "locked-room mystery" -- his specialty -- which the detective would have to figure out an explanation for. Metahumans were rare -- extremely rare -- and no respectable police detective would use "metahuman" as the reason for what seemed an "impossible crime" -- that would be a so-called "cop-out". No, the detective would probably take the easy route and rule the death a suicide.

Even though the knife was in his back.

Even though the man was physically unable to reach his arms behind his back to stab himself there.

Even though the man's throat had been slit after he had been stabbed in the back.

Murder was an art. And Griffin was an auteur.

A buzzing sound came to Griffin's eldil stone, an artifact which he had figured out a way to use as a pager. It was only one thing -- someone was contacting him by e-mail for another job. As much as he would like to stay and savour his current job as long as possible before someone realized that the man hadn't left his room for quite some time or even called room-service for his next frequent meal, he would have to get back to his own hotel room and check his e-mail.

Perhaps it would be another interesting job. Griffin loved his work...

North Vancouver, British Columbia. The home of Dr. Henry Quantos:

Dr. Henry Quantos pressed the "END" button on his cell-phone and breathed a sigh of relief. Well, at least Kit wasn't dead or anything -- Quantos often feared that the EPS would catch up to the guys eventually and hit them at the time when they were weakest -- but things were not all well.

Kit had confessed to Grissom and himself about embezzling all that money from the company as well as the team's own private fund, something Kit never should have had access to in the first place. Kit had been put in a position he never should have been in in the first place, either. Especially not with so much money involved. Sure, Kit had managed to get a few juicy jobs for the team, but he should NEVER have been made President. He was under-qualified for the position, and it had become obvious that it had gone to his head. His gambling weakness was one which Quantos had known about, not to mention Kit's criminal record from when he was a young man, but he seemed to be able to manage things. And since it had been Pete's money, after all, Quantos had left the decision to Pete. Of course, Pete was little more than a vagrant with a bit of dumb luck who had come into money through gambling himself -- how could he possibly make a decision which affected the team as much as it did?

If it had really been necessary, Quantos thought to himself, he would have stepped in to replace Kit if he had proven to be a bad choice as President. Except... Quantos wasn't qualified to run a business. He was a scientist -- a theoretician and researcher, at best (albeit with a bit of applied science and engineering experience), as well as a doctor. Business-training was not in his resume. When he'd been the head of research at Malvan-X, Inc, he had left the details of business to the Board of Directors, and kept them up to date with a weekly report on his department. He was even less qualified than Kit to run MBL Consulting!

Grissom had told Quantos not to worry about why Kit had stolen the large amount of money, but that he would take care of it if Quantos would start working on the financial problems the team was in. But where was he going to start? He was the team's Scientific Advisor and sometime-doctor, and in this he felt way over his head. He had a vague idea about somehow attracting investors to the company in order to get it out of debt enough so it wouldn't have to declare bankruptcy, but where would he begin? He didn't know any millionaires around here.

The doorbell rang just then.

"What is it now?" he muttered to himself, walking over to the door, where Mandelovia was wagging her tail. "Down, girl, down. You'll get your W-A-L-K later."

He opened the door and smiled broadly at the person standing on his doorstep. "Well, hello there!" he said, opening his door more widely. And all his troubles suddenly seemed to fade away as he saw the face of his guest.

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

The Fish Factory, Del Mar, La Perdita:

Kit sat at his desk nervously. Grissom stood and looked at his watch again.

"How long do you figure he'll be here, again?" Kit asked.

"Not long," Grissom answered. "He's very punctual. If he says he's going to be here at a certain time, he's here at a certain time."

"Isn't it a bit late in the day for him?"

"Nah. Griffin's a zombie -- sleeps strange hours, and never at the same time each day. Says he doesn't like to be too predictable. If you're too predictable, if you get yourself into a daily routine, it's much easier for someone to find you. And if it's easier for someone to find you, it's easier for someone to kill you. Like that chap who rode his motorcycle to work each day on the same lonely stretch of road in the countryside. One day someone placed a string of piano wire across that road at neck level. That day on his way to work he ran right through it. Clipped his head right off. That's what predictability gets you. Well, at least that's Griffin's philosophy as he explains it."

"Man..." Kit breathed, his eyes widened, "Where'd you meet this guy?"

"Uhh... that takes some explaining, Kit," Grissom said, scratching the back of his head. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Hell, man, I owe you that much at least, especially for agreeing to keep the secret of my daughters being kidnapped from everyone else until this business is over with. And your secret can't possibly be any worse than what I've done to the company."

"Well, old man, t'tell you the truth, I haven't always been a security consultant. Back in my wild days I used to work as a mercenary. Gun-for-hire. And with my abilities, it made me a lot of money. Enough to start up my own business a few years later. Back then I took a lot of messy assignments, some of which required me to do a bit of damage. Y'understand?"

"Sure," Kit said. "I grew up on the streets, man. Did some stuff in my own youth I'm not proud of. Lost my kid brother that way, in fact. But that's another story. So how'd you hook up with Griffin? From what you've said of him, he doesn't really seem like much of a nice guy. Not like you."

Grissom laughed. "Griffin's not without his charm. Just so long as you never forget that the charming persona which he shows everyone covers up a completely ruthless, psychotic personality which will murder without a single thought if it served his interests at the time. I'm no angel myself, but I'd like to think I have a line I won't cross. Anyways, it was during a job in the Middle East that I crossed paths with Griffin. We worked together so long as it served both our best interests, but he left me in the lurch when he no longer needed my help. Of course, I somehow managed to get myself out of there fine, as you can see, but it was quite a predicament. At the time, I swore if I ever saw him again, I'd kill him."

"Wow. So what now? Are you gonna kill him?"

Grissom was silent for a moment. Then he grinned devilishly and said, "I haven't decided yet..."

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

North Vancouver, British Columbia. The home of Dr. Henry Quantos:

"Here's your cup of tea. Green tea, right? I remembered."

"Yes. Thank you, Henry."

"I love tea. It's a lot easier on the stomach. I gave myself an ulcer a few years ago from drinking too much coffee while under stress, so I switched to tea. Haven't had those problems since."

"You always took things to heart too much, Henry. That's what I remember about you."

"I still do. And there's this thing with this company I'm working for now, too. It's a real mess. I'm not sure what to do about it."

"Oh?"

"Yes. We started it up almost a year ago now, with the help of this guy named Kit Piper. Real used-car salesman type, you understand. Well, anyways, he's been useful for getting a good customer base going, but his leadership of the actual company has been a complete disaster. He relied too much on a business owned by the late Mr. Glover to keep the company funded, but we've recently lost control of that business."

"Ah, I'm beginning to see..."

"Yes, and of course, now that the funds have dried up, all these bills are piling up. Bills that we have no hope in heck of ever paying, not at the rate we're going now. Anyways, Mr. Piper has proven himself to be completely unfit to run this company, and even if he were qualified to do so, we still need a heck of a lot of investment capital to get us back on our feet again."

"I know you too well, Henry. You're like an open book. You're asking me to invest, aren't you?"

"Well... yeah... kinda..."

"Hmmm... Well, I must say it would be a challenge. And you know I love challenges. And I haven't been up to much of anything recently. Traveling has begun to bore me so."

"So... can you help us out?"

"I will..."

"Great!"

"...on two conditions only."

"Okay..."

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

The Fish Factory, Del Mar, La Perdita:

"Hello."

Kit jumped up, startled at the voice. "GAH!"

Grissom smiled as he heard the disembodied voice next to him. "Griffin."

Slowly a tall trenchcoat and hat materialized. One with no visible head. "Grissom -- it's been a long time, you old rascal." The sleeve of the trenchcoat reached up, and a gloved hand stretched out.

"It has," Grissom said, shaking the gloved hand in greeting. As soon as he released his hand, he swung his balled fist directly into the space between the top of the trenchcoat and the bottom of the hat, striking something definitely solid.

The trenchcoat fell back as the hat toppled away. "A-heh."

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do that."

"A-heh. I guess I deserved that one, old chap," the voice said as the trenchcoat pushed itself back off the floor and placed the hat back over it. "But that's the only one I'll allow."

"Agreed."

"It has been a while though, hasn't it? Ah, but enough about old times. You have a job for me, I suppose? I'm assuming you can afford my rate?"

"That's not a problem."

"For you, old man, I'll charge you 75% of my usual commission. Now tell me -- who do you want me to kill?" And if Griffin's face could have become visible at that moment, Kit and Grissom would not be surprised to see a grin upon his face...

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

North Vancouver, British Columbia:

Barbara Townsend heard the doorbell ring. "No, Ladybird!" she whispered. "No barking!" Who could it be at this late hour, she thought to herself as she put on her robe and crept to the front door. She looked through the peephole and recognized the face.

"Henry?" she said, puzzled as she opened the door. "What's wrong, dear? It's late."

"Barbara, I'm sorry, honey, but I'm going to have to ask you to look after Mandy again," Henry Quantos said as his dog Mandelovia pushed through the open door and began wagging her tail at Ladybird.

"Oh Henry," Barbara said, "not another business trip?"

"It's very important, honey. The guys need my help again."

Barbara looked over his shoulder at the taxicab at the curb. "Henry? Is that man waiting for you? Who is he?" The man was dressed in a black trenchcoat and wore a dark hat and sunglasses, even though it was dark outside.

Henry looked back and laughed. "Oh, him? That's... that's Victor Xiang. An old colleague of mine who's interested in investing in my company. I'm going to, uh... give him a personal tour of the facilities."

"I see," she replied. "Well, how long will you be gone this time?"

"Hopefully just a few days this time, hon. Don't want to miss that concert at the Orpheum next week, do we?" he said, winking at her.

"Come back to me, sweetheart," Barbara said as she hugged him.

"I will," Henry said, and he kissed her. He waved as he walked back to the taxicab.

On the ride to the airport, Xiang said to him, "True love, Henry? I never thought you had it in you."

"There's a lot more to me than you might know," he replied with a grin. "Anyone currently in your life?"

"No, no. You know me, Henry. I've never been one to settle down. I did love someone once, but that ship has long ago sailed, I'm afraid."

[ 03-11-2003, 07:37 AM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

"Dammit, Euro!" Chance said aloud, though the Raptor was already gone. "I'm a chemist, not a brain surgeon! How the hell do you expect me to save her life when all I have is First Aid training?"

"Can you do it?" asked the fluffy white dragon as he stood guard.

"How the hell should I know?"

"Geez. Just asking, is all... get a grip," the dragon mumbled, his feelings hurt.

The strain was getting to Kristofer Schanz. Ever since he'd arrived in this world he'd been changing, growing more melancholy, more... gloomy. If this situation had happened on his world, he'd have stepped up to the task with determination and relied on his minimal army medic training and especially his tremendous luck to guide his hands. But things seemed so much simpler in his world -- so much more black and white, though also, paradoxically enough, so much more colourful. This world he found himself currently in was so much darker. So much dimmer. Most of the so-called "heroes" of this world were scarcely any different from the so-called "villains".

Chance had never been depressed in his life until he reached this world. And since then he'd found himself almost constantly worrying about his troubles with finding a way to restore Pete to life again, and his lost relationship with the Shirley Francis of his world. What was going on with him? This world was somehow remaking him in its image. No longer was he the shining example of a hero he had been on his world, the born leader of the MBL. No. There were too many shades of grey in this world for his liking. One couldn't tell the difference between good and evil much of the time. And it really threw Chance's best instincts off. Even his luck hadn't been working as well for him in this world, or he wouldn't have found himself in the position he was in just a short while ago.

And now, as he did his best to patch up Ameristar's headwound, he couldn't help but think how ironic it was that her life was completely in his hands. She who had believed him to be in league with the Hoods and thus a traitor to the entire human race just a few months ago! But he would be able to do nothing for her but patch up the wound and bandage her head. There was no bleeding any longer, and he hoped there would be no permanent brain damage.

"There," Chance said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I'm done. As long as she doesn't start bleeding again, she should be fine until we can get her to a doctor."

"Good. Uh, so, I thought you were in charge of this mission, for some reason," Drax said.

"Yes, that's right."

"Well... then how come the Raptor is giving all the orders, here?"

"Good question," Chance said, a trace of anger in his voice. It was that damned sword! It was changing Euro somehow -- making him more like a Viking warrior of olde than the thoughtful Italian hero he knew him to be. Something had to be done about it... not today, perhaps not tomorrow, but soon. Very soon.

"Drax, I'm sorry about this, pal, but I'm going to have to ask you to keep watch over Ameristar by yourself. If we're ever going to find that map in this huge place, we're going to need more than a little bit of luck."

"Aw, man..."

"Cheer up, buddy. Things could be worse -- at least we haven't had to contend with any rival teams after the same thing we are," he said with a wink at the dragon just as he left.

Drax couldn't help but think of one of Murphy's Laws just then: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

[ 03-11-2003, 08:41 AM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

As the black ichor dropped down to the ground between Grimm's steel covered fingers, he looked up at the being who moments ago had been his ally, now about to strike him again.

Vengeance, having replaced his helmet, no longer seemed concerned about the zombies slowly beginning to surround the two already dead men again.

The flaming sword of Vengeance came crashing down onto the ground, just narrowly missing where Grimm's arm had been.

Grimm leapt to his right, slamming into a group of zombies. The mindless, soulless beings tried to claw at him and each other. He fought them off, while attempting to keep them away from his wound, which was healing much slower than usual.

Vengeance battled into the horde of animated corpses, taking off heads with his flaming sword. He looked over towards his bike and concentrated for a moment. The motorcycle roared into life loudly, almost seeming to growl like a large beast. It drove forward, slamming into the army of zombies, attempting to run them over.

All the while, Grimm and Vengeance fought towards each other through the massive undead horde. . .

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

As Tayden and Hill ran through the corridors of the courthouse, they heard a loud gravelly voice calling out behind them. The voice would stop every now and then and burst out into hideous laughter, like now. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. . ."

The man called Priest lurched forward jerkily, arms and legs flailing about. . .like an out of control puppet. His right arm swung upward and smashed into a framed photograph of Judge Herbert Melvin, once a respected man of this county. Now likely another victim of the zombie horde.

Priest's body continued to move forward wildly, a smile stretched across his pale, sickly lips. . .his eyes, highlighted by dark semi-circles beneath them, looked on with what could only be described as insanity. . .his mouth opened again. . .

"Hello. . .is it. . .me. . .you're looking for. . .Hello. . ." He lifted his head back and began to cackle insanely again.

“You KNOW that Chance is the only one who can find the map in this labyrinth, right, Ed?” asks me the girl in red boots.

“What should I have? Leave Jackie dying?”

“You are not yet lost, so?”

“What do you mean, Crash?”

“Nothing, Ed. Oh oh”.

There are dozens of guards running toward us, up the stairs, armed to the teeth.

Rutuli! Sicani! Labici! All the warriors of this western land are coming down the mountains to salute the son of Venus! Like a giant porcupine, the mass of men, bristling with bronze swords, and axes, and long spears, are charging at me and at my ally, the maiden warrior Camilla.

“Aeneas” she says, looking at me. “For Juppiter!” and throws herself toward the armed people, like the lighting which dare to strike a mighty mountain. She, golden haired and swift, brands her sword, hitting the first line of warrior, which fall like ear under the scythe, in the hottest day of the summer.

I take out my bronze blade from the scabbard, and like a lion among vultures, I jump in the fry. Oh, divus Janus, why the door of your temple are always open? Why I had to fled from my beloved Troy, just to endure war all over my boats land?

Camilla fights as the brave and skilful warrior the poets writes poems about; but she would be easily overcome by the army of Italic peoples, like the mighty elephant could be killed by the legendary red ants of the desert. But that will not happen, because I join her in the fry.

The sword my mother Venus asked her husband Vulcan to create for me, from celestial iron, will make the difference. And as I rotate her in front of me, one after the other the bronze armed warriors die, mortally wounded. It takes the time a nightingale sings his joyful song under the moon, for me to end the life of these aggressor.

Crasher stares at me, while I wipe the blood away from my blade.

“Thanks for spoiling all the fun” she says, but I know it’s only a joke from her strange sense of humor, and the bitterness is because she disapprove of my methods. Or, at last, from my feral thirst of blood.

The deaths have brought power to my body. I feel myself full of energy, and I wonder…

…if…

A blow. A single punch, and the wall come down. Outside, below us, trees without and end.

“Ed, if you keep opening hole like this, I think the whole tower will crash down” the girl says, half smiling. “We must find the map, save the Hulk show for later”.

But in the far corner of my field of vision, an Apache helicopter appears, flying straight toward the tower.

“Other Hoods? “ I ask.

“Other? These are not Hoods, Ed” explains Crasher, pointing at the dead guards.

“I though…” I begin, but Crasher push me up the stairs, while a missile from the ‘copter hits precisely the place where we were standing.

“Fuck them!” I shouts.

Branding Ladnikia, I break the wall right in front of me, and jump outside.

The helicopter is hovering right in front of the hit spot, below me. I land on the back of the aircraft, and with my bare hands, I rip open the steel cover. Inside, three heads lift up. One is one eyed, on the front… but before I can even recognize what he is, the one at the pilot seat, raises his right hand, and from his gauntlet something explodes, and I am throw away from the copter.

Falling, I see two figure leaving the aircraft, one jumping in an elaborate move toward the opening in the wall, the other just flies away, steam threads from his boots.

The helicopter, then, just falls, right over me.

I manage to squeeze away just seconds before it crashes over me. I roll on the floor, get up, run a few hundred meters from the spot. I turn, and from the wreck, comes out the third man. The one eyed. He is taller, much more taller than any normal man.

And then I recognized him. He is a Cyclops. Just like his brother, Polyphemus. The one which took me and my men captive, and which I, Odysseus, made blind with a burning pole.

The son of Chronus, branding his axe, comes toward me: “I will avenge my brother, son of Laerte!” he shouts.

The Lost City of the Dragons
CHAPTER 194
"THE DEATH-DEALERS OF CUCCUBAO!"

There was death afoot in the darkness.

The Tower of Cuccubao was ancient. And this ancient structure had a history steeped in blood and evil. Its very air sought to bring out the worst in all who walked through it. As Chance crept through the dim, cobwebbed passageways with nothing but a torch to light his way, he could feel the stains of evil clawing at him from the darkness.

But Kristofer Schanz was no mere mortal man. He was Chance -- the Luckiest Man Alive! And as he stalked through this passageway with a grim determination few men are capable of, his muscles rippled as if possessing a life of their own. He not had time to don any clothing at all since the group had been taken captive not long ago, and so he went through the corridor still completely naked, his bronzed skin covered only in blood (though none of it was his own), sweat and grime. His sandy blond hair remained untousled, however, and if a savage could have seen him at that moment, he very well might have fallen to his feet right then and there and worshipped Chance as a god.

Chance always kept his hearing alert, and now he listened even more intently than usual. However, the only sound that greeted him was the sound of his own bare feet running against the cold stone floor. Occasionally a large beetle or even a large rat could be seen scurrying out of the way as Chance ran through, but no other signs of life were to be found anywhere.

He stopped then. What was that sound he had just heard?

Chance's keen ears perked up as he listened closely to a new sound in the stillness of the eternal night of Cuccubao. It was a horrible moaning sound that could have meant only one thing -- Chance and his faithful allies had not been the only ones caught unaware by the vile fiends who had made the Tower of Cuccubao their base.

His pace picked up then as he followed the sound down a dark passageway, never missing a step even as his torch blew out and left him in complete darkness. The Luckiest Man Alive, however, needed nothing but his unerring instincts to guide him, and Chance closed his eyes even as he ran blindly down one passageway and through another, up a stairwell and down another one, all while sheathed in complete darkness.

The moans grew closer now, and Chance knew he was nearby the latest victim of the horrors to be found in the Tower. The bronze-skinned Swede opened his eyes, then, and saw a light dim in the darkness before him but growing brighter and brighter as he ran swiftly towards it. It was not a sunbeam -- it was like no natural light at all. It bathed a horrible shade of green across everything around it, a shade which existed only to mock the true, life-giving color of green found in the Amazon jungle. This was a shade of green which could only be found in the worst of red-light districts and horror-movie vendors. Chance suppressed a shudder as he these thoughts passed through his keen mind in less than a second while making his way to the passageway to the room from which the tortured moaning sounds were coming.

Chance stopped at the doorway. The stench of blood and human bile coming from this ramshackle laboratory was almost too much to bear even for the sturdy, heroically-built Kristofer Schanz. And his stomach almost heaved involuntarily as he saw the horror played out before him!

A hunched-over, elderly man dressed in what used to be a white robe which was spattered in what looked like dark black drops in this green light turned as he heard the newcomer. "Vell, vell, vell -- ve zeem to haf found a new playmate for our experiments, ja?"

"You... you monster!" Chance breathed as his eyes gaped while scanning the room.

No man should ever have had to see what Chance saw occur in this room, yet as a man of action, he was sworn to seek out adventure wherever he could find it. Yet this was nearly too much even for him.

There were body-parts everywhere -- countless decapitated heads hung dripping dry from hooks connected to a metal chassis upon the high ceiling, while arms, legs, and even torsos were neatly stacked in bins and a few on tables. The old German "doctor" -- for that was what he considered himself to be -- wore a calm smile which belied the absolute horror of the situation around him. There seemed to be nothing but death in this room, death displayed under shocking green lamps as if in mockery of life.

And that was not the worst part of it, for as Chance moved slowly into the room and looked over the shoulder of the old doctor, he saw the face of what seemed to be a beautiful young Indian maiden. The thought of the old butcher's experiments on this helpless young girl enraged him so much that he almost lost control. Yet as the doctor stepped back, the blood rushed from Chance's head. The face of the young girl he had seen seemed to be attached to a horribly misshapen body made up of many different parts!

"You appreciate my work, ja?" the old German doctor laughed.

"Horrible monster!" Chance spat out as righteous anger took control over him. "What have you done? What have you done?!!"

"This?" the doctor said, motioning around the room with his hands. "Ach, this is all done in the name of medical science, young fellow."

"Don't. You. Dare..."

"Hm? Vhat vas that?"

"Don't you dare desecrate the good name of science, you... you filthy devil!" Chance said evenly, his rage causing his muscles to ripple involuntarily.

The German doctor laughed, flashing his crooked teeth for a moment as he smiled a sickly smile. "You are man of science as well, I take it?"

"BASTARD!" Chance shouted, lunging at him.

"Ernst! ERNST!" the doctor shouted as Chance went for his throat.

A huge hand gripped Chance from behind, pulling him back away from the German doctor, who fell to his knees as he tried to breathe again. Chance could not see what had grabbed him, but he could feel the texture of sweaty, hairy skin upon his back as "Ernst" pulled him in a grip tightly.

"Aghk!" the creature groaned after a moment, letting Chance go. He had only succeeded in crushing himself somewhat, as Chance's involuntary force-redirecting ability kicked in.

Chance turned on the balls of his feet as soon as he was free from Ernst's grip, and he saw what had held him. It was difficult to describe, but it was an abomination of nature -- a new, huge creature with four huge arms and legs as large as those of a rhino. Its dead eyes gleamed with a reflected sickly green light even as they receded into its huge cranium.

"Ve haf been very busy here, you see, young man," the German doctor began again, speaking loudly from the far end of the room, where he seemed to be getting something. "Ernst was my first successful experiment, you see. Zey say zat cloning is ze only vorthvhile endeavor left in the field of bio-technology, but I say zat ve hafen't exhausted ze ozer possibilities just yet, as you can zee before you!"

Even as Ernst grunted and lurched forward again to attempt another try to grab Chance, the Luckiest Man Alive heard the sounds of several more creatures coming from the shadows, each enraged to see a stranger in their midst. A stranger who had tried to hurt the doctor.

Chance looked around for a weapon to use against them. His force-redirecting ability had almost always worked for him in the past, but he had never been in such a situation as this. Even now he was surrounded by the horrible man-made monsters which as one moved forward, closer, and closer, and ever closer, to grab him and pull him apart, limb by limb.

Suddenly, Chance leapt up into the air. He grabbed one of the meat-hooks dangling from chains hooked to the ceiling and flung the head which was impaled upon it at one of the monsters own heads, knocking it unconscious. Quickly he pulled himself upwards, seeking to escape from the beasts.

"Ah ah ah," the old doctor said laughing, as he pressed a button.

The chain upon which Chance had begun climbing suddenly began lowering into the pit below him. The monsters began licking their lips as they looked at their next meal. Though much of his body would be used to create more of these misshapen monsters, there would be leftover parts tossed to the horde for food.

As the hook at the end of the chain lowered, one of the monsters grabbed it and began pulling it down faster, shaking it as it did so in an attempt to throw Chance off. The Luckiest Man Alive leapt from one chain to another a few feet away and began climbing again, this time more desperately to the ceiling, though it, too, began to lower at a rapid pace.

"Zere iss no escape, young sir!" the German doctor cackled. "Zere iss only vun entrance to this room, and it iss guarded by my test subjects. You haf no place to go!"

Yet Chance continued to make his way further and further across the room to the other end by leaping from one chain to another. Finally he made his way to the far upper corner of the room where his bare feet gripped him firmly against the rough stone walls which afforded him a very little ledge.

"You are trapped now, young man! Vhat are you planning to do? Stay up zere forever?" The German doctor began to laugh heartily, and as he did so, a horribly gleeful, groaning sound which could only have been an attempt at laughter began to come from the horde of monsters far below.

Chance could hardly see anything in the dark corner, for the sickly pale green lights were affixed at points much lower than where he precariously stood. Yet his keen vision was better than those of most ordinary men -- he quickly adjusted to the lack of light and saw exactly what he was hoping he would see when he reached this upper corner of the room.

Gripping his powerful hands around the rim of the metal chassis upon which all the chains and hooks were affixed, Chance braced his bare back against the ceiling and corner and began to push, push, push with all his might.

Chance's bronzed arms rippled as muscles rarely seen in the human form popped magnificently under the strain of this mighty feat. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes tightly as he pushed with everything he had against the metal chassis connected to the ceiling by a mere few iron bolts in a few places.

Yet Chance knew how ancient the stones of the Tower of Cuccubao were, and how easily they would crumble if enough force, enough pressure, could be applied to them. After several tense moments of effort, a creaking sound could be heard as the metal chassis along the ceiling began to groan against the pressure.

"Nein..." the doctor breathed as he realized what Chance was doing. He turned and tried to run towards the exit, but could not get past the horde of creatures he had spawned in this very room. "Back! Back, you monstrosities!" he shouted, but the monsters were too slow to listen, especially since they were trained so intently on Chance. A few had even begun climbing the chains in a vague attempt to reach the hero. This only served to help pull the metal chassis further out of the ceiling. "GET OUT OF MY VAY!" the doctor screamed in horror as the implications set into his mind, but he could do nothing to move his creatures.

"AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHGGGGGGGHKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!" Chance groaned loudly as the strain became almost too much, even for him. But the metal chassis in the ceiling was becoming looser as each moment passed quickly by. A metallic popping sound could be heard as screws and bolts fell away toward the stone floor. And then, the cracking of old wood and stone signalled the dislodging of the metal chassis which held so much weight from it.

The next moment passed almost in slow motion, in near-complete silence, as Chance lost the grip he had on the wall, and took that moment to push himself away from it, leaping out towards the center of the metal chassis even as it fell far below to the floor. Chance gripped his huge hands around the bars and felt weightless during the flight down, preparing himself for the sudden deceleration as he hit the stone floor.

WHAM!

The metal chassis smashed upon the stone floor, its weight crushing everything underneath it -- operating tables, desks, chairs, and the horde of monsters which should never have been allowed to exist in the first place. Blood spurted everywhere as the creatures came apart and were impaled by the spikes along the bottom of the metal chassis upon which the chains were affixed. Random body parts were flung into the air in the few gaps between the bars. And the sound of the metal hitting hard stone reverberated throughout the large room.

Chance had held on tightly to the metal chassis as it fell to the ground, and it had taken every muscle in his body to keep from being thrown more forcefully to the ground along with it. He steadied himself as it bounced once and finally settled again upon the floor. Most of the creatures below him, if they had ever really been alive, were now dead. But just to be sure, Chance grabbed one of the hooks and made sure to finish off each one he heard still moaning, putting them out of their misery forever. As he killed the last one, he looked down to see the severed head of the young Indian maiden at his feet. Too horrified for words, he picked it up and looked into her face. How old could she possibly have been? 14? 15? Well, the horrors she had been put through were at an end, now. Hopefully, if there was a God in this fallen world, she would be in a better place now.

His keen ears then alerted him to a sound by the doorway. He placed the head carefully back onto the floor and walked over to the exit, where he saw the old German doctor attempting to pry his bloodied leg from beneath the weight of the metal chassis in order to escape. As he saw the shadow of the Luckiest Man Alive fall over him, the old German doctor displayed the first signs of fear on his face that he had ever truly felt.

"Y-you vouldn't h-hurt an old man," he gasped as he flinched backwards, "vould you?"

The only answer was the sound of metal against bone as Kristofer Schanz tore his head apart with the meat-hook still in his right hand.

Several moments later, Chance stood in the corridor near the room feeling nothing but numbness. He didn't know what to feel. What kind of monsters could have done such things to innocent human beings? He had just killed a man, something he had never done before and had never believed he was capable of. Yet there was nothing else he could've done. It wouldn't have been right to let that bastard -- that inhuman monster -- live after what he'd done. After all the people he had killed in the name of science. Executing him was the obvious thing do, no doubt about it.

It was then that the point of this mission came back to him, and he realized he had to get moving again if he was to find the map and continue the search for the old tome which MBL Consulting had been hired to find. Yet he had not counted on anything like this. And he couldn't very well just leave all these corpses lying crushed on the ground like they were. They needed a proper burial.

Kristofer Schanz's ancestors were Vikings. Whenever a Viking warrior had died a warrior's death, he would be placed upon a boat which would be set on fire as it was set adrift, even as the Valkyrie maiden-warriors came to take him away to the gates of Valhalla. Well, the monsters he had fought were no Viking warriors, but they deserved some kind of decent burial, at least. They had not chosen to be what these scientists had made of them. A burial by flame seemed the logical thing to do.

Chance quickly found a closet by one of the nearby walls, the door of which was the only thing that had been smashed off. He grabbed two large jugs of bleach and popped the caps off, quickly splashing them around the room, careful not to get any on his bare skin (though luckily enough, nothing splashed onto him), and soon had covered enough of the room. The new bleach smell mixed with the rancid meaty smells and created a worse odor than before, if that were possible. Tossing the two emptied jugs of bleach into the room behind him, he ripped one of the lamps from the wall above the doorway and threw it down to the ground. Sparks flew, which caused flames to quickly jump up and engulf the room. But Chance was already gone.

He was on the run again, his naked skin caked over in drying blood and filth. And while he felt numb, he felt almost as if he had been put through a baptism of fire himself. Until now he had been playing by the rules of his own universe, but there were situations in this world, such as the one he had just encountered, that called for an attack which was just as fierce. This event had changed him, he knew. He knew that these horrible events would be played in his mind over and over again for as long as lived. But he was ready, now. He was a part of this world, like it or not. To use an analogy, his cherry had just been popped.

[ 03-27-2003, 07:32 PM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

Zombies crowded around the van. A sea of the undead stretched before Dirk. He put the van in gear and slammed on the gas. *THUMP! THUMP!* A couple of bodies fell beneath the vehicle as he hit the brakes. The threw the transmission into reverse. *THUMP! THUMP!* The van accelerated forward. *THUMP! THUMP!* And back. *THUMP! THUMP!* Finally, he put the van into drive and stomped on the accelerator without letting up. *THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!*

Seeing the van heading towards them, Tayden and Hill turned off the water to the hose and began to climb down . They'd rather take their chances with the zombies downstairs than with the crazy Priest, who, by the way, can't sing a Lionel Ritchie song to save his life. Tayden drapped Dirk's coat over his shoulder as he lowered himself. They jumped on top of the van as it pulled up and slid in through the passenger window.

Dirk began to drive off and was a a couple of yards away when he noticed that Priest had made his way out the window and down, obviously after the angel and the boy. "Excuse me," Dirk said as he pushed Hill's body over onto Tayden's area of the bench seat. He put the van in reverse and violently slammed down on the gas. Priest let go of the hose and turned in time to see the van slam into him. The force pushed him into the wall. Brick and mortar buried him. "Forgot one," the gunslinger said to his passengers and he took off one more time.

"Now we can get out of the cursed fucking town," Hill said as they made their way from the court house.

"Not yet," Dirk said as he drove. "We go to the bookstore first. Then we find Grimm."

"And what about Priest?" Tayden asked, already knowing what Dirk had in mind.

"That's why we need Grimm. To help take care of Priest."

"I don't think you un...." Tayden was cut off by a sudden jolt. He looked out his window to see an old Chevy truck riding beside them. The driver wore a CAT baseball cap, a denim jacket, and the strip of flesh that hung down from his face. The van once again jolted as the Chevy slammed into its side.

"First climbing zombies. Now we have zombies that can drive." Hill's face became flush with anger. "Fuck you George Romero, you lying bastard."

"Check the lower right inside pocket," Dirk said to Tayden. The angel searched the pocket of the gunslinger's coat and produced a grenade. He rolled down his window, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the open window of the Chevy. Dirk hit the brakes as the Chevy continued on and burst into flames.

"That was easy enough," the gunslinger said as he continued on to the bookstore.

[ 03-12-2003, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: thedoctor ]

The Lost City of the Dragons
CHAPTER 196
"THE GHASTLY GHOST OF GLOVER!"

The ever-present evil in the Tower of Cuccubao seemed to flee in terror before the bronzed form of Kristofer Schanz which raced through the labyrinthine corridors of this hellspawned structure!

Chance scarcely knew where he was going so intently. All he knew was that he needed to find the map to the Lost City they'd come here for in the first place. Time could no longer wait for them. As soon as any guards saw the destruction of one of their so-called "laboratories" -- though "butcher shop" was a more appropriate term in Chance's mind -- the danger Chance and his comrades found themselves in would be doubled.

The Luckiest Man Alive ran up uneven steps carved from stone to an unknown destination. And as he did so, he couldn't help but to worry about the teammates who had left him behind and who he had left behind. He had not run into the Raptor and Crasher at all so far, though they could have been anywhere in this maze of tunnels and corridors by now. Were they in trouble? Did they need the trusty assistance of their able ally, Chance? The Swede knew in his gut that it must be so. Yes, they had run into danger somewhere in this place, though he knew not what it could be. And what of poor, unconscious Ameristar? Was Drax able to guard her from the horrors which lurked in the deadly Tower of Cuccubao? Chance could only hope that the powerful dragon form of Drax could hold off any and all attackers. But for how long? Thus time, he repeated silently to himself, was of the essence.

Yet as Chance flew through the passageways on feet like steel, he began to notice a slight irritation come over his unclothed body. He paid it no mind at first, continuing to move through the labyrinth and through many unoccupied rooms in search of his prize, but the irritation slowly grew more and more painful. Finally, as the pain began to grow so much that he could not ignore it any longer, he fell to the ground, doubled up in pain.

"AGHKK!" he croaked as the pain became almost too much to bear. "What's... happening to... me?" he groaned to himself as his veins felt like they were shooting hot flames through his whole body. He felt pain in every part of his body at once, somehow, pain that no ordinary man would have been able to endure. But Chance's magnificent body took in that pain and sought to master it.

Chance fought against these searing, almost-crippling, sensations, his muscles going into involuntary spasms from the shock of it all. But he managed to push himself up on his knees, and after a few more moments he managed to fully stand. The bronzed Swede stood up and flexed all his muscles at once in an attempt to shake off the paroxysms of pain going throughout his body. And after a few unbearable moments, the pain slowly began to lessen, and lessen, until finally it receded altogether.

The strain of it all was nearly -- but not quite -- too much for our hero. He was now covered in sweat -- much moreso than before -- sweat which was quickly washing away the caked-on blood and gore he'd received during the dirty business in the laboratory just before.

"What was that?" he said to no one in particular as he began to feel some semblance of normality once again. He had needed to use a technique of meditation he'd once learned from a Hindu mystic during his youthful travels in order to master the pain, and he had accordingly gone into a near-catatonic state to do so. Now that he was out of it, his quick wits attempted to think of an explanation. But none was forthcoming.

It was then that he heard an eerie sound.

Chance's keen hearing perked up once more in the dreaded darkness of the Tower. Strangely enough, the sound he now heard eerily echoing through the passageways seemed to be... singing!

He listened closely, and he could soon hear the following ditty sung faintly over and over:

"I'se the b'y that builds the boat,
And I'se the b'y that sails her,
I'se the b'y that catches the fish
And brings 'em home ta Lizer!"

Chance's eyes widened in astonishment in the darkness, and a grin broke over his face as he recognized the unique voice who sang that traditional folk song of the people of Newfoundland.

"PETE!" Chance cried out gladly. "Pete? Is that you, you lucky bastard, you?"

In the darkness at that moment, Chance's vision could now focus itself on the dim shape of what seemed to be that of a human. Yet it was transparent and glowed eerily in the darkness. It was the ghastly ghost of Pete Glover!

The diminutive ghost stopped singing and only now seemed to notice Chance's presence. He looked the Swede up and down with a wry, toothy grin on his face and finally said in a voice which seemed somehow to come from far away and right before him at the same time: "Why're you traipsing 'round like that, me old son? You're buck naked an' covered in the devil's funk! Shockin' that is, shockin'! Idn't dat foolish, b'y?"

"Pete, are you ever a sight for sore eyes!" Chance laughed. He hadn't seen a hide nor hair of Pete ever since the first week he had arrived in this world. And, amazingly enough, he had grown to miss the little bugger. "Pete, I'm -- I'm so sorry, man. This has rightfully been your life I've been living on La Perdita with the team. You should be here rather than me. And I've been trying desperately to find a way to bring you back all these months, but I've had no luck at all so far."

"Bring me back?" Pete said with a humored expression on his face. "Now why da 'ell would ya try ta go an' do a daft thing like now, old son?"

"But, Pete, I--"

"Shut up your prate when I'm yappin', b'y!" Pete continued. "I've gotta say, me old son, that it's been a hoot to watch you these past months mopin' and moanin' about poor ol' Pete -- whatever am I gonna do? Boo-hoo-hoo! It's turned ya into a real angishore, ya chucklehead! But enough's enough. It's time ya took control o' your own life and stopped tryin' to find a way to bring me back. I'll have you know I'm happy the way I am!"

"But where have you been all this time?" Chance asked him.

"I've been beatin' the pat with you the whole time, ya daft-brained jinker. You couldn't see or hear me 'til now on account'a you're so demmed stubborn! And, o'course, part of it is that the writer's tired o' scribblin' so many scenes without any dialogue -- somebuddy's gotta put you in your place once in a while! It's amazin' you've held on to your past life so well up until now, me son, but I tell you it's time ta put an end to it. An' that's why I'm here now. I'll be with you from now on. But don't expect me ta do any'o yer work for you -- I've agreed ta be yer sidekick for ta be the comic relief, not fer anythin' else, b'y!"

Chance grinned, his recent troubles put out of his mind by the friendly face of the ghostly old Newfoundlander. "I'm glad to hear it, Pete," he said. "But I can't stay to chat right now. There's something I've got to find." At that, he turned and kept running on his intent search for the map he was determined to find.

"Ye're feckin' arse is showin', b'y!" Pete's ghost shouted at him as the Swede ran on. "Put on some demmed trousers, why don'tcha!"

[ 03-27-2003, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

A zombie with a T-shirt saying "Philidelphia: The City of Brotherly Love" lay with his head underneath the wheel of county inmate transporting van. The van was pulled up to the door of an old rare books store in the historic downtown area of a now defunct Pennsylvania community. Inside Dirk lit a cigar as he and Tayden began to search the shelves. Hill stood, uneasily, looking out the window.

"Why can't we just leave?" the young man finally asked. "We don't need to stick around. All those for leaving raise your hand." His arm sprang up and he stood on his tip-toes to try to further emphasize the point he was trying to make. No one even acknowledged him.

Dirk continued to yank books from the shelf and let them fall to the ground as he searched. As the angel searched the shelves, he began to feel a strange sensation all across his body. The closer he came to the rear of the store, the stronger it became. His skin started to feel like thousands of needles were pricking the surface of his skin. "Uh... guys," Tayden finally spoke. "I think there's something back here."

The gunslinger let another book fall as he joined his teammate. They entered a small office in the back. Dirk and Tayden began their search again. "This drawer is locked," Tayden said while sitting at the desk. Dirk was getting ready to shoot the lock when Tayden yelled, "Wait! Here's a key!" He put it into the lock and turned it. After the click, he slid the drawer open.

Inside lay a cloth wrapped around something large. Tayden picked it up. A spark lit up inside his body as he lifted it. He unwrapped the cloth to reveal a relic of a book. The former angel opened it and revealed its passages transcribed so long ago. "Latin," he said after a few moments. "It's written in Latin."

"You know Latin?" Dirk asked.

"It kinda comes with the job."

"Comes with the job?" Hill asked. "What are you? A priest or something?"

"Um... yeah. Something." Tayden knew that trying to explain would only complicate things further.

"Well, what is this thing?" Hill felt like he had walked in on the middle of some complex movie, and he wanted to know just what the hell was going on.

"It's the Liber vitae. A record kept by a monistary centuries ago. It was common practice for churches to keep records of members and major events. There seems to be something extremely special about this one, though." Tayden studied the book further.

"If it was common practice, how do we know that this is the one?" Dirk said right on cue.

"He's telling me it is."

"He?"

"Yeah," Tayden said as he motioned upwards with his eyes. "Him."

"Him?"

"Yes. Him."

"Hmmm...." Dirk stared at the angel. "He's not going to want a cut, is He?"

[ 03-13-2003, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: thedoctor ]

The Cyclops advances, tooting his axe toward me. Around me, the barren rocks of a volcanic island, here on the western sea, beyond Herackle’s columns. Surroundings so empty, that it seems there is no way to escape the confrontation.

What can I do, Athena? Where are you, Hermes?

This time, no wooden horses will show my astuteness. There’s only my sword between myself and the monster. But I have no chance in beating him. I am no demi-god, I have no magic weapons forged in Olympus… I can rely only on my mind… but this time, what I can do?

Need time.

Try talking…

“Son of Chronos, I don’t understand what you want to avenge. I never met your brother!” I shout, pointing my sword to the ground.

“Liar!” exclaims the giant. “You blinded Polyphemus, tricking him without revealing your name. But Poseidon told me, and now I will take your head to make a gift for my brother!”

Think think think.

“Arges, wait a moment. You want my head, just like the blue haired god of the seas want. But Athena protect me, and also Hermes by the quick feet. Don’t you dare to touch me, or you will experience their wrath!”

The one eyed giant stops for a moment. Then smiles. “Your dirty tricks are old, Odysseus. Athena is nowhere in sight, and Hermes is far, far away. There is nobody here to help you!” But he doesn’t move.

Insist.

“You know that the Gods are not visible, unless that’s their will”, I say. “You really want to risk your life for my head? Don’t you fear the anger of Zeus? Do you really want to end like Atlas, Prometheus or Iapetus?”

Arges seems to think, and his expression is not the most intelligent I ever seen. Yet, his finger becomes white around the handle of his big hammer. He is reluctant to attack, but in the end he will, I know he has not any other option.

“We could make a deal. If we find an agreement, Athena would not meddle, don’t you think?” I ask.

“Uhm… speak, mortal! What kind of agreement?”

“I will let you killing me, so that you will avenge your brother. But I will choose the way you’ll take my life. Deal?”

The giant begins to laugh. “Deal, Odysseus. I though you much more smarter than you are.”

“Sorry to have disappointed you, son of Chronos. I know there is no way to outsmart the immortals!” I say, lowering my eyes.

“So, son of Ithaca, tell me, how do you want to die?”

Wait. Wait a moment. Let him wonder what I will respond.

I open my arms, like to embrace the flat, desert, rocky island. “Hang me, Arges!”

The giant freezes. Looks around, in search of any tree, well aware that on the island there is not the smallest bush.

And then cries.

One, long, loud cry.

And then, swearing, began to smash a rock with his hammer, to vent his anger.

I quickly spread my wings and take flight, while the Cyclops, totally furious of having been deceived, is smashing the helicopter wreck with his bare hands.

Gotta find Crasher, and discover who these men are.

In the burning wreckage of the now crashed helicopter, a small burned logotype can be seen with the ruined words: ...dustries.
Frustrated Raptor flies back to his fellow warriors.

“Can we go now?” Hill asked. He looked like a child who had to go take a piss as he glanced back at the two heroes from his post up front.

“No….We’ve got to find Grimm…..” Tayden eyes were still fixed on the book as he spoke. “I got a bad feeling about this…”

“Really, Gabriel….I can’t imagine why you would possibly have a bad feeling about any of this.” Dirk’s tone was thick with sarcasm.

“Statements of the obvious aren’t what we need right now…We need to find Grimm ….and if we get the chance..” Dirk’s voice switched to one with a slight hint of compassion “..We should off Priest. ”

“Guys” Hill barely got out the words. His eyes squinted in unbelief at what he saw approaching the bookstore. What looked like a thousand zombies began to walk slowly and almost uniformly toward them. Some carried guns, knives, sticks, and some even had pitchforks.

“What the F….We got company!!….oh, shit man it looks like all of them are headed right for us!” Hill shook out the words.

Dirk and Tayden walked toward the Van where they see what was on its way.

“Keep your shit together Hill.” Dirk said as he eyeballed the mob.

“You know what it looks like” Tayden softly spoke to Dirk. “It looks like a military formation…like they are being commanded.”

“Yeah…….I got a bad feeling about this.” Dirk said “Get in the van.”