RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Writer's Block Hero Revolution #5 [Hide And Seek]

He recognized his friends falling out of the warp onto the muddy ground, and so he ran to greet them.

Suddenly spotlights were activated and a loud electronic voice said:

"We know that a group of meta-humans are hiding in this camp...give up or face charges and possibly a death sentence! You will come out with your hands behind your backs...slowly!!!"

"Shit!" swore Sonja.

"You better get into the car!" screamed Naecken.

And they all squeezed into the hidden car except for Naecken who ever so slowly rolled it silently down hill through the forest.
Then they switched on the engine and drove at the highest possible speed away from there.

Alas, a soldier saw them and alerted command.
So the chase was on...
A few armoured transports and two armed jeeps chased them through the roads of Mandelovia.

They knew that every police and goverment official would be on the look out for them, as Naecken relayed the past few days events concerning their duplicates rampage across the country.
But they had to get out somehow, without being seen, and without leaving a trail for anyone to follow.

This would be difficult......

[ 02-27-2002: Message edited by: T5 ]

[ 02-27-2002: Message edited by: T5 ]

[ 02-28-2002: Message edited by: T5 ]

"EVERYBODY TAKE COVER!!! To the floor!!!" yelled Tobias, in the driver's seat, as the bullets broke the windows in the back, passed next to everyone and broke the windshield.

"What about you?!" Mick said, in the passenger's seat, keeping his head as low as possible "Your head is like a open target up there!"

"I'll just vibrate my head when I hear a bullet coming this way" Tobias said, without taking his eyes from the way.

"Oh..." Mick replied.

"So..." Tobias said, lowering his voice "You and that Shirley chick... is that serious...?"

"Yeah I think so...!" Mick said, dodging a bullet "I really like her, you know, but, uh..."

"What?" Tobias, vibrating his head to avoid a bullet.

"Well... the problem is... she thinks I'm an hero and stuff... and she doesn't know that... M-X-Y and I aren't the same person..."

"Hey, if she really likes you she won't care about that..."

"You think?"

"Yeah, man... Don't you let go of her" Tobias said, sounding kind of emotional "Don't you let go of her..."

"Yeah, you're right... I guess I should tell her, but not right n--" Mick said, before he was interrupted by an awfull sound of a bullet under the van "SSSSSHIT! That didn't sound good, man! What if that hit the motor?"

"Yeah, the van is in pretty bad shape... But we're so close to the border!" Tobias says.

"May I suggest something, Christopher?" Kristogar Velo says.

"Sure, go ahead!" Tobias said to Kristogar.

"Can you try making the van vibrate like your head is?" Velo asked.

"Sure I can try... Oh, I see where you are going..." Tobias said as he started vibrating.

Everything around Tobias started vibrating too, and soon the whole van was intangible.

"HhUuRrRrYy UuPp TtOoBbIiAaSs" Danny yelled, vibrating like the rest "TtHhIiSs HhUuRrTtSs AaSs HhEeLlLl"

"YyEeAaHh, MmAaNn..." Mick said.

"I'm going as fast as I can" Tobias answered.

“Shit! What’s that?” shouts Tobias, still vibrating.

Right in the middle of the road was a tall robot, standing on what seemed four giant legs, made of silver-like steel.

“I heard about them” Kristogar explained. “The War-Mastiffs”.

“What?”

“One of the toys of the Mandelovian Army”.

The giant metallic dog was patrolling at the end of the road, near the barrier, behind which was the safety for the heroes.

“Who cares? Just vibrate trough it!” shouted Sonja.

But when the van arrived near the robot, it opened his “mouth” and began screaming.

“Ahhhhh!!!!” shouted Tobias. “The scream is scrambling my vibration! I have to come back”.

The van did an U turn, and after a crazy run, well inside the Mandelovian territory, they stopped. No police nor other forces where following them.

Everybody got out of the van.

“It seems they have lost our traks” said Tobias.

“Yes, but for how much time?” replied Kristogar.

“We can’t leave by road, so” said Sonja. “And that’s the only road that join Mandelovia with abroad”.

“So?” said Mick.

Sonja looked at him, and then said: “We have only three options: go trough the mountains, trough the desert or leave by the sea.”

[ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: The Eurostar ]

Andy Reynolds walked into the gym, where he found Turner bench pressing, alone.

"Mr.Turner?"

Turner turned towards the young man, than turned his head back and continued to bench a large amount of weight.

"Umm...Sir?"

Turner finally set the weight on its holder and sat up, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"What kid?"

"I was just wondering, how does it feel to be, artificial?"

Turner cracked a smile.

"Heh. You got balls kid, I'll give you that. Not much in the brain region, but ya got balls."

"You're not even human. A clone. They made you in a lab."

"You know what-" Turner began as he moved towards the young man, "One good thing about being 'artificial' is that they didn't give me a conscious."

Turner got in Reynolds's face.

"I do what I please, when I please."

"You are tagged. You couldn't hurt me if you wante- ARRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!" Energy surged through Reynolds's body, making every cell feel as if they were on fire.

Turner grinned his teeth as pain surged through his head, most men would be on the ground, or unconscious but Turner held it all back "..."

After a few long minutes, the pain was gone. Turner lifted Reynolds off the ground by his collar. Blood dripped from both men's noses.

"Don't fuck with me boy. Just because I’m 'wired' to not be able to hurt any of you pricks doesn't mean that I can't try."

Turner threw Reynolds onto the ground and exited.

If Walker is the devil, this place, the EPS, is really Hell.

Each one hating everyone else, all sticking together not by friendship and love, like it was for me and Naecken and Mxy and the others, but by fear and pain.

How can they sustain this life? How can Walker bears the weight of all of this on his shoulders?

High above the Mandelovian Harbour, the heart shaped bay around which the city of Mandelovia was founded, stands, rising from a seep promontory, a powerful fortress, known only as “the Palace”.

Residence of the President-Prime Minister in other times, now, in these days of war for the little but advanced country, it’s the base of operation of the Dictator of Mandelovia: General Colton D’goon.

Dressed in a complex uniform, decorated by dozens of medals, D’goon sits behind his desk. In front of him stands a tall, bearded man, wearing a simple all-black suit. At the end of his right arm, a brass hook replace his hand.

“Well, Colonel Nemo? Have you got the fugitives?” asks D’goon to the Head of Mandelovian Security Agency.

“Not yet. But the Mastiffs of War are on their trail, and our Elite Agents are closing over them. But…”

“The Elite… all twenty-six of them?”

“From A to Z. But I…”

“They are the best. You know I have been one of them, Nemo.”

“I know, His Serenity. But I formally request to discuss the targets of our chase. Although the footage of the massacre seems authentic, there are things that it doesn’t make sense on what has happened in the last hours…”

The dictator raise an eyebrows, than stands up from his chair, and goes to the tall ogival window. Looking to the horizon, he asks: “What wouldn’t make sense?”

“Well…” the tall Colonel seems a little uncomfortable. He choughs, and then continues: “…well, weeks ago, the destruction of Malvan-X was caused by a falling meteor. Although the USA at the time publicized some footages showing metahumans destroying Malvan X properties all around the world, our satellites recording proves that the meteor was displaced from its orbit by an American shuttle.”

“Yes, we all know. One day America will pay for it. Not today, not tomorrow, but one day America will definitely pay…”

“We also know that the meteor had not destroyed the whole of Mandelovia for the intervention of Cicciotto, which seemingly lost his life in the process. We have authentic footage proving it…”

“Seemingly is the key word. Cicciotto didn’t die then. He survived, and then joined his comrades to commit a murderous spree across the city. That’s what happened:”

“But why? Why he would have saved the city and then would have killed so many citizens?”

“For the money. Some of Eurostar friends robbed the national Bank the same evening, while others, he included, where creating havoc in the city. Then, they destroyed the circus, their base until that moment, because they knew we would have tracked them there. Destroying the circus, they have cancelled all the indicia we would have used upon them. And now they are on the run. But we will capture them before they will be able to cross the borders!”

“His Serenity, I am not convinced. They all wear costumes. Anybody could have gone around wearing those costumes and killing…”

“Shut up! Don’t you understand? They are not simply thief and killers. They are agents of America! They want to destroy Mandelovia from inside!” The face of D’goon was distorted and congested

“Still…”

“Ahhh! Eurostar is one of them! Watch this!” Saying that words, D’goon presses a button on his desk, and a giant plasma monitor appeared on the wall.

On the screen, the image of a hi-tech place, all white and glowing, appears.

“The EPS Headquarter, Chicago. Live broadcast” says D’goon, smiling.

“How could…”

“We have a mole, there…”

Then, on the screen appears a figure. The camera zooms on his face. Older, and overthrown. But without doubts, he is really him.

Edulcore Cicciotto, the Eurostar.

“How can he be there?”

“He has strange powers, Nemo. But his comrades are still here! So?”

“Sorry for having doubted it, His Serenity. I will be back with the Revolutionaries!”

"Desert," Naecken said in reply.

"Yup," Mick added, nodding his assent.

Apparently we're escaping the country through the desert.

The roads are guarded. By the army. And giant robot dogs.

I get the impression from the reactions of my teammates that giant robot dogs aren't encountered that often in this time. I decide not to tell them that they're fairly standard military issue in 2083.

"Why the desert?" I ask.

Velo replies, "Sea would take too long. And the mountains are too..."

"...mountainous?" Sonja says.

"Right. Mountainous. Walking constantly up and down is harder than walking along a flat surface."

"But... it's the desert. That flat surface is boiling hot and covered in sand..." Mick says.

"Mountains wouldn't be any better. Freezing cold and covered in snow."

"Right. So we're decided... we head for the desert," Velo proclaims.

Goodie.

Naecken looked at him innocently and said;
"A map. Do we have a map?"
"That wasn´t the word you used a few seconds ago."
"Wasn´t it?"
"No. You said some thing like nasharr or something and a few clicks with your tongue."
"Hmmm. I´m sure I said map....Anyway do we have one?"

Kristogar looks through the car...
"Ah... here we go. A foldable road map of Mandelovia. It recommends us to go to the Sheraton Hotell for more maps of the region. Apparently there are no roads through the desert, so we have to stay sharp folks."
Tobias, now rather furious about the turn of events says;
"Maybe we should get going before they find us here...hmmmm?
"Right. C´mon gang. Lets hike. The desert is only a few miles to the south. So in the meantime we will have to stick to the road side. And be quick to hide if patrols come along.

[ 03-03-2002: Message edited by: The Eurostar ]

Nash-harr tsk plk.

“The picture of the right way”, it translates.

She knows that language. High demonic from the fifth circle.

Is Naecken really the demon she was assigned to find? What is his connection to the incident in Malaysia?

While all these toughs occupy her heads, she and her nine friends arrives to the limits of the forest. The road slowly get lost in the dunes, until the point where there is only sands all over the horizon.

The group has been walking in the sand under the hot sun for an hour. Mick decided to call Mxy. According to him, he did it to help make the journey more easy, but the truth is that Mick just wanted to skip the whole "walking in the desert" part...
Mxy provided a big floating umbrella that followed the group everywhere, but for some reason everyone was still hot. Later, Mxy provided water, that helped make the journey more easy... for the moment.

Behind them, a pair of electronic eyes watches the group. It's the eyes of one of the Mastiffs of War. It has followed their trail for some time and now finally it has found them.
Before attacking them, the big mechanical Mastiff simulates the attack in his inner computer, and decides wich one of the endless possibilities to destroy them he will use. The Mastiffs are not entirely mechanical... no, there is a human brain inside their heads.
In order to make the Mastiffs "creative" enough, the scientists that created them took human brains, got rid of any track of emotion or logic in them, and took the potential human beings have for evil and destruction to the limit. Then they inserted the purely evil human brains in the computer in the Mastiffs' heads, to control and focus that evul... As a result, the Mastiffs not only can track down and destroy, they can also make the target suffer more than they have suffered in their entire lives...

"Where did you take that water from, Mxy?" Danny asks "I'm feeling weird..."

"Oh, you are sick all the time!" Mxy says.

"No, he's right... I feel like that, too..." Sam says.

"I don't -- LOOK OUT!!!" Mxy says, as the Mastiff of War jumps above the team and lands right in front of them.

Everyone takes a fighting possition, especially Kristogar Velo, that recognizes the technology and knows what it's capable of.

"Don't stay close to each other!!!" Velo screams "It will be harder for him if he has no clear target!"

Danny morphs his hands into claws, Sonja prepares to attack, Tobias prepares to "hit and run", Naecken prepares to smash, Shift smiles and shapes his hands into weapons, Lance becomes immaterial, Mxy makes a force field to protect Shirley and the big bad Mastiff of War...
...falls to the ground.

"The hell?!" Lance yells.

"Heeeey" protests Shift "What happened to the dog?! I thought we were going to kick his ass..."

"Who did it?" Sonja asks.

"Don't look at me!" Mxy says.

Kristogar, as surprised as everyone, gets closer to the unactive metallic dog lying in the sand to examine it and find out what happened.
As Kristogar opens the Mastiff's head, Naecken takes his hand to his forehead and makes a small noise.

"Mr Naecken?" Shirley asks "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing... I just had a sudden headache... don't worry" Neacken answers

"It's probably that damn water Mxy gave us...!" Danny says.

"Interesting" Kristogar says "At first I thought the inner computer of the Mastiff had failed... But it's intact"

"Then what happened?" Sonja asks.

"The failure came from the human brain inside the Mastiff's head... It's still active, but it doesn't produce any reactions" Kristogar answers.

"Just like that? What could be the reason?" Sonja says.

"I honestly have no idea... The Mastiffs of War's brains are pure evil, and on this one, it's almost like... the evil got sucked away"

The team soon forgets this mystery, and continue their journey through the desert...

Dr. Charles Elias Walker sat, looking at the battered form of Andy Reynolds lying on a medbay bed.

"Stupid kid," he muttered under his breath, looking to the larger figure standing a few feet away.

Turner.

"Would you like to try explaining yourself, Turner?" Walker asked, a definite edge to his tone.

Turner shrugged nonchalantly. "Kid pissed me off."

"Listen, Turner, I don't know what the hell you think you're doing coercing the members of my team, but if you think I'm gonna sit back and take it, you've got another thing coming!" Walker yelled, closing in until he was mere centimeters from Turner's face.

Turner smirked and stared right back at Walker, unafraid. "What exactly do you plan to do... Chuck?"

Walker was a bit taken aback. However, not wanting to lose composure, simply yelled back: "I'll deal with you later! Right now, I have to check on Cicciotto!"

Storming out of the room, Walker brushed past Tweed and Vidalia, who were flirtatiously talking over a cup of coffee while walking little Eddie around the compound. He didn't even say a word as he walked by.

Walking into the housing area, Walker pressed his thumbprint to the lock beside Cicciotto's door. The hydraulics hissed and the metal door whisked open to reveal Cicciotto, dressed in his brown EPS issue bodysuit and fitted with his restraining collar, kneeling before a crucifix, deep in prayer.

"Well, well, well..." Walker said, walking in, a smile spreading across his lips. "What have we here? A frightful fit of religious desperation, Cicciotto?"

The former hero looked up, a scornful expression on his face. "Whatever it takes to combat a devil like you..."

Walker feigned shock. "Why, Mr. Cicciotto, I believe you've misread me! I am not a devil. You, my friend, and your pathetic little 'revolution' are not the angels. We are all metahumans. We all deserve death."

"You're no friend of mine!" Cicciotto spat, rising quickly to his feet. "And all metahumans do NOT deserve death! We are people too!"

"There you go again," Walker said, smiling mischievously. "You, Edulcore Cicciotto, are a hopeless romantic. You romanticize everything. You romanticized your cursed metahuman abilities. You thought you could become a hero. You romanticized your little team. You thought you could revolutionize the world. Let me tell you a little something about the world, Mr. Cicciotto..."

"You cannot tell me anything that I do not already know!" Cicciotto said, as Walker crossed in front of him, taking a seat in a Spartan-looking hard-backed chair.

"Oh, and there you would be wrong, Mr. Cicciotto," Walker said, picking up a small marble ball from the end table beside him, rolling the trinket around in his hands. "You are quite wrong.

"The world you live in, Mr. Cicciotto, is a cruel, unchanging, unfeeling thing. It has remained relatively the same for millennia. Oh, certainly, the topography may be different, but, essentially, it's always been the same thing..."

"How can you say that?" Cicciotto said angrily, sliding into an equally Spartan-feeling chair. "The world is plenty different! Look at the changes in technology! In medicine! In science! This world is a very different place! Always progressing! Always bettering itself!"

"No," Walker said calmly, still smiling. "The changes you mentioned are all topographic changes. What you do not seem to realize, Mr. Cicciotto, is that the world is society, and society is governed by the condition of the human heart.

"And look at the human heart. Ever since the dawning of time, the essential heart of mankind has despised change. Wars over creed, race, religion, and every manner of thing have plagued this planet from the moment the first men evolved from apes all those billions of years ago..."

"Evolution," Cicciotto sneered. "You scientists are all alike! You deny the existence of a Creator to make room for your own cockamamie theories and foolhardy ideas!"

"Cockamamie theories?" Walker countered, raising an eyebrow. "Foolhardy ideas? Mr. Cicciotto, have you looked in a mirror lately? You are the very proof of these ideas you scorn! You are the missing link! You are the piece of the puzzle that scientists have so long searched for! You yourself disprove the very religion you so adamantly follow!"

"I am NOT a missing link!" the former Eurostar said, rising defiantly. Walker stayed seated and chuckled a bit, making Cicciotto a bit uneasy. After a few moments of silence, the Italian resumed his seat.

"Oh, but you are, Mr. Cicciotto," Walker said, slightly amused by the man's reaction to his words. "Now, not you personally. Let's not get a swelled head about all this. No, you are a metahuman. The next rung on the evolutionary ladder of mankind."

"Then why do you hate us?" the man spoke up again, his voice weaker, but his tone more defiant than ever. "Why do you, a scientist and proponent of evolution hate what one day, all men will eventually become?!"

"Quite simple," Walker said his expression unchanged. "The world."

"What?" Cicciotto said, not understanding.

"You know?" Walker baited. "The world? That cold, unchanging, unfeeling thing? That thing that has always hated change?"

Walker pointed his finger at the man before him. With each word his tone got more and more agressive.

"You are the change. You are the abnormal. You are the feared! Do you honestly think that speech you made outside of the Zoo made people like you? Of course not! Don't be so daft! It made you hated! Feared! Despised!

"Your so-called 'revolution' is a threat to humanity! You and your kind are the reason that families have put bars on their windows! You are the reason that Congress approved organizations like the MCCA and the Tri-Vex operation! You are the reason that people like me exist!"

By this time, Walker was standing. Beads of perspiration had begun forming on his beet red forehead. His nostrils flared and his pulse had quickened.

Shaking his head, Walker returned to his chair, never taking his eyes from the shocked face of Educore Cicciotto.

"So, Mr. Cicciotto," he began again, "you call me a devil. If I am, as you say, a devil, then, be informed, I am a devil because you made me one.

"Metahumans, as the next evolutionary phase, need to be studied. That is what I do. That is my job. I am serving in the best intrests of humanity. If this is a dog-eat-dog world, then my contribution is giving the Chihuahua an edge over the Great Dane. That's all.

"It's survival of the fittest out there, Mr. Cicciotto... and I will not let mankind be brushed under the rug."

With that, Walker stood and exited the room, leaving the perplexed Cicciotto alone with his thoughts.

That man is not only a demon, he’s utterly mad! He talks like the metahuman are not part of humanity! A racist of the worst kind! He never showed the doubt that metahumans are humans, too.
He’s really like Hitler!

But at last now I know why he hates me so much. The speech. The speech I did at the Zoo!

He fears the Revolution! So maybe a revolution has began! The metahumans are lifting their heads?

How did that girl was named? I don’t remember… but she seemed to imply that there was an organisation taking care of the metas… ohh, if only I could remember her name…

"We've got to keep going," Naecken said. "If the sun doesn't fry us, those buzzards will."

Mxy looked up and saw a nest of buzzards, resting up. When the sun rises, they would, too.

"Couldn't you just run ahead and find out where we're headed?" Sonja asked Tobias.

"Possibly, but vibrating that van took a lot out of me," Tobias said. "It'll be another few hours before I'll be back to full speed, plus that water Mxy found is affecting my system."

"Then it's decided," Naecken said. "We keep moving. Maybe with some luck we'll be out of this desert by nightfall."

Sitting at his desk, Colonel Nemo presses a button activating a communication devices, and shouts inside it: “Send out the Desert Worms!”

He sensed something moving underneath his feet.
The motion seemed rythmic and regular.
He decided to test his senses...
Closing his eyes...he concentrated on the motion...
It was water...he just knew it...somehow.
He could feel the softness, the texture of the liquid.
He reached down and started to dig, using his awesome strenght like never before.

In no time at all he had managed to dig a trench deep enough for the water to be revealed.

"Great going you devil!" shouted Danny, his thirst reaching never before imagined levels.

Sonja offered her makeup box as a drinking cup.

Danny looked at him;
"How did you do that?"

"I realised I could sense the density of the ground, the crystaline shapes of the rocks between us. I think I allways could do it, but I never had a need to use those senses...and that´s when I knew that water could easily be found using this ability."

For Naecken, that was a long sentence, so Kristogar asks;
"Are you feeling allright, Naecken? You look a bit dizzy, if you ask me."

"I´m not sure...I had a small headache a minute ago...I usually never have those....and now I realise how to use this connection to the ground. It´s like I´m connected to the ground by some bond."

They drink and mumble over Naecken´s newfound ability...then suddenly a few yards ahead, a huge metal snake with rotating saws in it´s mouth, hurls itself up out of a sand dune directy in front of them.
.......
In Italy, a group of people consisting of one middle age man and woman, one young boy and girl, pretending to be a family, step of a boat.
The little girl says;

"He´s closer now. We will find him soon."

"What the hell now?" LLance screamed!

The others had scattered.

LLance phased through the head of the metallic worm trying to disrupt it's circuits. Energy crackled around the worm's head and it stopped...for maybe five seconds and then raises the head back up into the air and sways back and forth surveying it's prey.

"Damn!" Mxy blurted out. "It must have additional back up circuitry running throughout it's body!"

"We better make a run for it!" Kelo suggests.

Just then another worm jumps up out of the sand to their right. Then another to their left! A forth pops up behind the group.

"We're surrounded by these monsters!" LLance screams. "I'm open for any ideas, people!" LLance shouted as the four mechanical worms began inching their way toward the group.

He flew up and through the first worm's head again. It stood paralyzed for a few seconds. As soon as it's head swayed LLance went immaterial through another section. The worm stopped again. LLance had found another set of circuits. LLance flew throughout the worm's metal body. It would stop and then twitch and then stop again. Suddenly, a puff of smoke belched from the worm's mouth. LLance flew to safety as the worm fell to the ground! LLance turned to see how his friends were doing. Velo was standing amid a pile of junk. He apparently had been successful in vibrating one of the worms to pieces, but he was hurt. LLance ran to help Velo. In the corner of his eye he saw his remaining teammates evading the worms when they attacked and another teammate striking from behind as it did. Things seemed to be at a standstill for the moment. Of course, the robotic worms were not going to tire! Somebody better think of something...quick!

Both worms struggled to set themselves free from Naeckens grip, but to no avail.

Velo shouted;
"Look out there, further ahead! Tanks...and helicopters. They have sent the bloody army after us!!!"

They regain consciousness more or less at the same time, inside dark cells, in some sort of dungeon, humid and cold.

Each one is in a separate cage, and the metahumans wears ceramic handcuffs that somehow block their powers to manifest. Mick has normal handcuffs, and a mouthpiece that cut off his voice, and that is impossible, with normal human force, to take away.

After having called each other from cellar to cellar, the heroes and Mick’s girl begin to wonder where they have been brought. As usual, Velo has an answer: they are the dungeons under the Mandelovian Palace, a series of gallery that is said hark back to prehistoric time, and that across the centuries have been used as prison for the worst enemies of the Mandelovian nation.

While they are asking Kristogar for more information, a tall, tan skinned man, dressed in a red military uniform, his chest covered by dozens of medals, appears in the corridor between the two rows of cells.

“Good evening, Yankees. I am General D’goon, your, aehm, guest here in Mandelovia. I sam sorry to inform you that you have been found guilty of mass murder, stealing of national treasures and evading the ban of foreigners on Mandelovian Soil. You will all be executed tomorrow morning, at sunrise”.

[ 03-10-2002: Message edited by: The Eurostar ]

"Cripes!" blurted Naecken! "Listening to this wailing is worse than torture!" He shook his hand at a four-legged shadow that could now be seen at the end of the cellblock! Everybody else continued to stare at the floor, comtemplating their early morning date with death.

"And listening to you bunch of dipsticks is a real pleasure too!" A somewhat gravelly, but distinctive voice boomed! Everybody looked at LLance!

"Th-that's not me!" LLance protested. "It sounds like me, but..."

"It was me, 'master.'" The voice shot back sarcasticly!

The animal had moved into view of the prisoners. He was a white furred mutt of questionable mix...brandishing a gun belt and guns.

"A talking dog?" Velo said in amazement!

"A talking dog packing enough heat to take out most police departments!" Tobias noted.

LLance jumped up and screamed, "Fluffy!" Then repeated, "Fl-fluffy?" obviosly confused.

"Yes, Larry!" The dog snarled as much as actually spoke. "It's me, Fluffy! The puppy from Hell!"

In the backgroud Naecken muttered, "...a freaking gun-toting puppy from Hell... we're going to be killed by a freaking gun-toting puppy from Hell before we can be executed...and he belongs to LLance!"

Fluffy smiled...or at least everybody all thought he was smiling.

To be continued...

"Damn right!" Fluffy answered.

"Wh-what!?!" LLance said groggily.

"You were having some kind of nightmare, Larry." Naechen observed.

"That's right!" LLance agreed. "My little puppy had come to kill us all!"

Velo laughed. "Was he going to pee on us?"

"It's hard to remember..." LLance smiled. "It was just a stupid dream. Let's figure out how we're going to get out of here!"

"Shut up Hal."

"No."

"Bastard."

I'm trapped in a cell.

...again.

To my left, although the sound is muffled, I can hear Tobias in the cell next to me.

"Still trying, Danny?" He yells out.

"Yup," I answer.

"Your optimism would be refreshing if it wasn't so pointless..."

Always the pessimist, that Tobias.

Or always the voice of reason. Sometimes it's easy to mistake the two.

Even so, I'm still trying to make my powers work.

"Tiger claws..." I say under my breath.

I know Hal is sending a signal to my hands. I know that my altered bloodstream is trying to morph my fingers into claws.

But nothing happens.

These damn handcuffs...

Pete sits in the corner Indian style, not worried at all. He scratched his underarm than smells his hand, he looks a little dumbfounded.

"MMMPHHHHHH! MYYYYYYYPPPPPHHHHHH!"

Mick tries to shout at the top of his lungs but can't get a word out.

"This really sucks," LLance begins "It seems like every bad guy we meet, captures us and negates our powers. We don't even know our power that good, did we miss a memo or somethin'?"

"They don't know all that much," Sam finally came out from the shadows. "Every metagene is different."

Sam put both of his hands up, suddenly they morphed in the opposite direction, he waves toward Shirley in a cell across the prison. Suddenly his hands melt/morph around the handcuffs, and he is free. He tosses the cuffs toward LLance.

"How'd yo do' at 'mate?" Pete asked, thinking that his luck must be the real cause of the boy's escape.

"My DNA is always shifting, never a normal strand. They need somethin' very different to contain me."

"You mind buddy?" LLance asked, lifting his cuffed hands towards Sam, "DNA always Shifting?"

"Just like me appearance" Sam turned his head toward LLance, now looking like D'goon. He lifted his hands in the air, they were sharp blades, he took them down, busting through LLances chains. LLance smiled and turned intangible. LLance made Tobias and Pete intangible, their cuffs fell to the ground.

Sam shifted into the appearance of a guard and shifted his mass to fit through the bars.

"I'll see what I can find out!"

Sam ran off into the shadows as LLance reached out, "wait don't-"

"Dat boy gonna get'em self dead." Pete said, laughter in his voice.

"That's what I'm afraid of"

"MMMMMMPPPPPPHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"I´m not sure...I get glimpses of confusing and contradictory images. And I feel something else to..."

He bends a few bars and does the same for everyone else.
"Now we wait for Sam to tell us what´s on the other side of that cellar door."

The gang prepared themselves. Happy to be free from their restraints, when suddenly...

[ 03-13-2002: Message edited by: T5 ]

He had gotten used to his apartment, it not being what he was used to as a child. He remembers the big house in New York City. A house always bustling with people, usually his father's associates or people he's doing business with. Quite an exciting place for a child...

But that's ancient history. The Yakuza made sure of that. His father and Junichiro Nakamura used to be business partners... almost friends. Nakamura once gave him a katana, a Japanese sword. Some time later his men slaughtered his father's associates, while Nakamura took care of his father and brothers. He was lucky. He wasn't in the business at the time, nor did he ever plan on being in.

Some time after that, Steve truly held the sword for the first time. A wave of power enveloped him. He was faster. Stronger. His senses were better... much better. He realized he was now able to get revenge on Nakamura and his men... for his father and brothers' deaths and for causing anguish on his mother... But he needed training before he took on the Yakuza... and he got it in Los Angeles, fighting crime by night. He called himself the Dark Stalker.

"How..." begins Mick, but Kristogar cuts him: "It seems a shortage of power has made the cells to open. Fast, we must stop Shift before he runs into the guards. We must go to the lower levels, up there will be sure death for us!"

Pete is smiling, knowing that the cells opened thanks to his luck.

Many levels above, in the Palace...

...D'goon smiles in front of his big plasma monitor, looking at the heroes escaping their cages.

"Perfect. They are going just in the right direction. Nemo! Send someone in the cells to collect the handcuffs, and release the beast..."

And so he starts to smash through the walls of the dungeon, until he reaches the stone wall of the ground.
He looks at the others and asks;

"Anyone have a way of creating a chute up to the surface, or do I have to dig all the way?"

Naecken looks puzzled, "Who?"

Just then all turned in the direction from which they just came. A low growling could be heard very distinctly.

"I don't think that's Matter Eater Lad's stomach growling!" LLance noted.

"Who in the hell is Matter-Eater Lad?" Naecken yelled as he begun to dig upwards.

"He's not going to be able to dig fast enough before whatever that thing is catches up to us."
LLance said. "Everybody...be ready!"

"There it is again," whispered LLance.

The rest of the group tensed; with only a few gestures half the group stood guard and the stronger ones continued to dig through the crumbling walls.

"Shore'n I hope that's no lion. I hate lions," said Pete, the Monkey's Paw.

"Uhnnnh!" Mick said as he flinched and brought his hands up to his head, keeling over.

"What is it, Mick? What's wrong?" asked Kristogar.

"I... I don't know," groaned Mick as he bent doubled over in pain as if he had a splitting headache. "Something... it feels... oppressive. Like... like pure darkness... I can't explain it."

"Whatever it is, it seems to be getting closer," said LLance. "Naecken, how's the digging going?"

Naecken didn't reply at first, but continued to hit away at the crumbling wall. "I can't tell. I really have no idea whether this is taking us anywhere or not. But... but this desert seems to bear all the trademarks of karst topography."

"Wha'--?" said everyone at once.

"Karst topography... a landscape which forms natural caves."

Everyone just looked at him blankly.

"You see, this wall seems to have been carved directly out of the rock, and this rock is limestone, which lends itself to karst topography. If we keep on blasting away at it, we may finally get through to a system of caves, the kind used by refugees during World War II."

"That, or we cause the ceiling to collapse on us," commented Danny.

"Well, nobody seems to have had any better ideas," said Sonja.

Tobias, assisting Naecken and Danny with the wall, stopped and turned to the others: "Want me to take a quick look?"

"I dinnow if tha's such a good idea, me boyo," said Pete. "Whutever tha' thing is back there, it's liable ta wanna munch on our bones like you'd munch on hot-wings at the local pub."

rrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

"What IS that thing?" screamed Shirley, suddenly panicking.

"Whoa, girl. Quiet down!" scolded Sonja. "We've all got to keep it together if we're ever going to get out of this &%&^$%*&^ country." She spat as she said the word 'country.'

"Well, I think we SHOULD send Tobias out to take a look," said Kristogar. "At least he could take a peek and race back here before whatever it is out there could even touch him."

"It's worth a try," agreed LLance. "Tobias? You up for it?"

"Always," said Tobias. A mere split-second later he was gone.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

"Holy shite!" exclaimed a startled Pete.

"Tobias? TOBIAS!" called Kristogar.

"Where is he?" shouted Danny over his shoulder as he and Naecken continued blasting away at the wall.

"I wish I knew," said Kristogar.

"Think we should go out and look for him?" asked LLance.

"What? And leave the rest of us here to fend for ourselves?" said Sonja.

"We'll come back," said LLance.

"That's what our lad Tobias was supposed ta do, an' Sam a'fore him," commented Pete, holding one grimy hand on Mick's back. Mick was still doubled over in pain, unable to speak.

"Well, it's better than doing nothing," said Kristogar. "I'll go."

"No," said Sonja.

"I'll go with you," said LLance.

"NO!" shouted Sonja. "We've GOT to stay together. Only united can we remain strong. As soon as we begin to separate we'll be easy pickings. We're already missing Sam and Tobias -- we can't afford to lose you two as well!"

"We don't really have a choice," shrugged Kristogar. "That's Tobias out there." He glanced over to LLance, who nodded and cautiously followed him towards the sound of the growling...

[ 03-21-2002: Message edited by: TheTimeTrust ]

A few "wow´s" could be heard from the people underneath him.

"Continue to climb up." Naecken said.
"Iwill go down again to see what has attacked our friends."

The huge dark man squeeeeeezed past the others, who began to walk up to freedom.

Naecken slid down and landed on the floor where the tunnel began.
As fast as he set foot on the floor, a loud grooowl filled the corridor. Behind him a huge metallic wolf prepared for attack. It wasn´t alone.
It had a chromium body with red glowing eyes and a transparent duraplex stomach.
inside two of the wolves, he saw his friends struggling to get free.
The wolf jumped...
And Naecken simply hit it into a million peices, sending shrapnel all over the place.
The other wolves stopped, and focused on him...........

"There's Tobias and Sam said Kristogar!" He pointed to the two figures who were backed into a narrow, dead-end crevice. They were besieged by several several metalic wolves digging furiously into the narrow crevice.

"How are we going to stop those creatures, LLance?" Kristogar muttered softly from their hiding spot.

"We can't!" LLance answered. "We have to get them out of there!"

"Stay here, Kristogar."

LLance ran up to and past the wolves in an intangible state. They snarled and snapped at him. Two of the creatures actually bumped heads and fell over...momentarily.

"Grab my hands!" LLance ordered.

"Wh-what..." Tobias said somewhat confused. LLance thrusted his hands into theirs.

"Touch the wall!" LLance commanded.

Tobias' hand phased through the wall. Sam was able to do the same thing.

"I'm not sure how I'm doing this, but I do know it's taking a lot of concentration..." LLance said. "...run straight through these monsters! Whatever happens, don't let go of my hand!"

The trio dashed out and past the bellowing beasts. LLance phased through a wall to gain some distance from the pursuing beasts. Upon coming out of the wall he fell to the ground. All were solid once again! Kristogar scooped up LLance and screamed at the others to run! It was to be a futile gesture. Two of the beasts gobbled up three of the four heroes whole! Only Sam had escaped back into the tunnels from which they had came! They could be seen in the belly of the beasts, alive but unconscious or stunned! About that time they saw Naecken sliding into view from what looked like a tunnel to the surface!

[ 03-21-2002: Message edited by: LLance ]

[ 03-22-2002: Message edited by: LLance ]

Luck was with him. One of his new teammates, LLance, was able to give him a door to freedom.

Now, twenty minutes had passed and he could only be sure about two things. 1) These tunnels are miles and miles of mazes, and 2) he is not alone.

Sounds could be heard all around, even through the walls. Moans, screams of pain, something was wronge.

Sam formed his hands into knives and squinted his eyes, this time he would be ready for an attack.

"...wat allie we gots here?"

A deep voice rang through the tunnel. A group of savages appeared, lead by a skinny white male. His body cut. His mussels defined. His head bald. His body bruised and scarred with time.

Time hadn't been his friend.

"Mi names Razor, these air mi men. Ya fresh meat."

Sam could smell human flesh and blood in the air. These men were covered in it. These men, some sort of savages... cannibals.

"We be da discarded o' Malevilla. We be the unwanted. We BE da prison'ors condemmed to death. Welcome, to air' home, you shall be her' for a lung time."

Tobias, somehow, has lost his powers, he is not able to vibrate through solid objects. “I feel dizzy” he whispers, while Lance, keeping his hand, makes him intangible, to avoid the laser rays from one of the wolves to hit him.

“Retreat, retreat!” shouts Kristogar. “We are not enough in force to combat. We need rest and food!”

The heroes gathers near Kristogar. “Everybody, hit the cave walls!” he orders, and suddenly heavy punches, rays, magic and other kinds of powerful blast makes part of the ceiling of the cave to collapse, separating the robotic hordes from the metahumans.

“Pfehhu” whistle Kristogar.“Well done, ladies and gentlemen... and demon.”

“Yeah, well done. Now we are cut away from the surface by miles of rocks!” whispers Sonja.

“The surface is full of soldiers and robots. We must escape underground. It’s our only hope. And we must find Sam, don’t forget”.

“I… I feel the darkness!” says Mick. Shirley looks at him worried.

From the other side of the tunnel comes a strange growling, and on the wall the large shadow of a feline appears.

“Get ready!” says, tired, Kristogar… but the beast which appears is… Lil’Jo, Tobias cat, which was missing from before the trip in the future.

“Lil’Jo! Come here!” shouts Tobias, smiling for the first time in many days.

The speedster holds the tabby, and everybody laugh.

Only Mick looks at the animal puzzled. “I still feel… the darkness….” he whispers.

[ 03-22-2002: Message edited by: The Eurostar ]

"One passageway had a subtle, but distinct breeze blowing into the cavern," he said.

"That path must lead to the surface!" Kristogar said aloud what eveyone was thinking.

"I could hear what sounded like water thundering in the distance in another passageway." Tobias continued his report. "I could hear the faint snarling of our robot wolves coming from the third passageway...and it was getting closer!"

"Let's get our butts up that third pasageway!" Sonja concluded aloud.

"What about Sam?" LLance asked. "We can't leave him down here!"

"We're not!" Naecken said sternly. "If we go topside again this close to where we did before we'll surely run into more troops!"

Everybody looked at the ground. Naecken continued speaking. "I suggest we ambush and destroy those robotic wolves in this cavern and then find Sam!"

LLance spoke up then. "The sound of water suggests an underground river. We might be able to make rafts and cover a lot more ground faster after we find Sam."

"It might even take us to the surface!" Sonja noted excitedly.

"First things first." Naecken said. "Lay our ambush first and get the metal wolves out of our hair." He paused and then added, "I can't help but feel there's something else down here. Something very, very dangerous...and dark!"

Llance sighs. "So much for being big and strong."

I'm standing near the front.

Not through any sense of leadership. Or bravery. Or anything that could be misconstrued as something... heroic.

I'm just standing here because it's pretty damn dark down here.

And owls have excellent night vision.

A few flaming torches line the walls alongside us. They provide some light, but not much. They only light a few metres in every direction.

Which is why I'm standing near the front.

It's nice to feel useful, but it's even nice to feel safe...

Oh, well. Can't have everything.

Wait... flaming torches lining the cavern walls?

I stop.

"Who put those there?" I ask out loud, to nobody in particular.

Kristogar stops behind me. The others follow suit.

"He's got a point," Kristogar says.

Tobias looked at him, quizzically.

"The torches. They're not exactly a natural rock formation," Kristogar explains.

The others nod agreement.

"So... someone is living down here. Most likely several someones..." Kristogar adds, talking more to himself than directly to anyone else. As if working something out in his head as he spoke.

"What, like some sort of underground civilisation? MOLE PEOPLE?!" Mick says, laughing softly to himself.

"And that seems far-fetched to you?! Man, we just fought giant robot man-eating wolves," Tobias replies.

"...point taken..." Mick says.

"So, there could very well be someone living in these caverns. And we don't know if they're hostile or not. And Sam is still missing. I don't like to play the pessimist, but I can think of a worst-case scenario or two..." Sonja says.

The group is silent for a moment.

"Right. So we keep going," I finally say.

"Exactly. See anything up ahead, Danny?" Llance asks me.

"There's a tunnel that branches off to the side here. I'll check it out, it might lead to the river. Someone come with me..." I answer.

I step forward, into the cavern.

It's dark, even with my enhanced eyes. I step forward a little more.

Pete follows me, staying close. He probably can't see a thing beyond the few metres allowed by the occasional flame.

"S' bloody dark..." Pete says.

"Yup," I reply, nodding my agreement.

I hear a soft "meow", then turn to realise that Lil Jo had followed me and Pete into the cavern.

A hear a loud "rumble". This sound was decidedly non cat-like.

"You hear that, Pete?"

"Yeah. Reckon we oughtta head back to th' group..."

I nod. Although he probably can't see it.

Suddenly, the entrance to the small cave we had just entered... collapses.

The roof and the floor decided to become better acquainted, amidst a shower of falling rock and dust.

"SHIT!" I yell. Pete grabs me and flings me to the ground. We both take cover behind a nearby crevice, dragging Jo behind us.

The noise is deafening. And it's lasting for at least a minute.

When we finally emerge from our hiding spot, it's only to discover that our entrance was entirely sealed. There's no way for us to reach the main cavern that the rest of the team was in.

We're completely separated from the group.

"We're completely separated from the group," Hal says.

"Thanks for the exposition Hal, but I already covered it in the narration," I reply.

"Oh. Right. Fair enough. Well... shit"

"You're quite the eloquent one, aren't you Hal?"

"It's all part of my programming."

"You tallkin' t'me?" Pete asks.

"No, sorry Pete. It's my second brain, the one that lives inside my head and makes my powers work. He talks to me."

"...oh. Right..."

Okay, Danny. Don't panic. You're trapped in a cave. But those guys outside know you're in here. And they have powers that could probably have you free within moments.

Okay... you're trapped in a cave with a cat. And a guy.

An incredibly lucky guy...

Well, hell. The cave collapsed. That wasn't so lucky. Where's his trademark luck now?

I suddenly become aware of another sound in our tiny cavern.

Running water.

I turn around. Run a few metres.

And there it is. The river. The river we've been searching for. The river that will hopefully lead us to Sam, and to escape.

"Pete, you magnificent lucky bastard, we found the river..." I yell behind me.

He took a huge rock out of the ground and raised it as a shield against the falling debris.

Mick says;
"So how long can you hold all that up Naecken? Please don´t drop that on us until we have figured a way out of this.

"Uuuuhhhh long enough, but hurry, there seems to be something that is leeching power out of me....."

Tweed approached Walker and said "Hey, there's a new metagene in LA."

"Initialize procurement."