She sighed a little as Ryan still continued not to seem to trust Scott. "You really have to forgive him... he's been through a lot."

Hell, all of us have...

"Hey... yer that girl...the one that Virgil was going to bring back to us since his other mission got screwed..." Kai's voice still slurred from the alcohol, but he was beginning to become more cognizant of his surroundings, first of all noticing the girl that had been in the last few conversations between them and Virgil before Danae and her goons had bursted in.

Stephanie pulled away from the window, looking dead at Kai. "What?"

"Stephanie Douglas. Only probably the most wanted girl this side of the galaxy. Virgil was going to be bringing you in."

She frowned as he said that. "No way!" Besides, why should she believe the ramblings of a half-drunk man. "This isn't the time for this anyway!" She returned her attention to looking out the window.

Virgil wouldn't get close just to turn me in. I know he wouldn't.

Day of Rage
 

Frank and Ed had just changed their course when an unknown station hailed them.

"I call the Cougars!"

Frank raised an eyebrow and radioed his lancemate.

"Ed, who the hell is this?"

"Damned if I know, but from the way he took Carth apart we can't screw around any more..."

"You in the Cougars, I would highly recommend pissing yourselves followed by a course of praying to your impotent god, though suicide is always an option. But make it quick. I despise long engagements."

Edric hmphed and replied to his buddy.

"What a fucking idiot... he's obviously never played with us before..."

He changed frequencies and hailed Destiny.

"So you wish to die quickly! Well, talk is cheap! Just bring it!"

"Challenge us? You fool! We'll show you your place!"

Destiny charged Frank and Ed, but before he reached them, the two mechs jumped apart in unison, revolving to face Destiny in mid-air and landing behind clusters of buildings. The infantry in the way were not so lucky, though. Two men were caught in the superhot radioactive backwash of Destiny's boosters and instantly disintegrated, and a number of Juli's men had been injured by exploding glass from the overpressure of Destiny's passing. Even as she supervised the bandaging of the wounded, she radioed Frank.

"The unknown's too fast! Not just that, he's dangerous to us even without without targeting us! There's nothing else to be done - we're going to ground. You two, keep his attention in the air. We'll contact you via sonarphone and burst."

"Got it, Jules." Frank said. "Ed! Give him the double-cross!"

As one, the Cougars jumped again, this time opening fire on Destiny beneath them.

******

Virgil folded up the plate-like device he had brought up with him. It was time. He slid down the banisters and laid it in the center of the room. Then he sat behind the door and waited.

He didn't really expect the plan to work on her, but he hoped against hope anyway.

Listen to me, please...

******

The fighting was still going on around and on above the Ghostalkers as they pased the Nova Cat embassy. Invisible, almost silent in the sounds of gunfire, their footfalls generated only the barest amount of vibration thanks to the hard rubber pads on their feet units. The Elementals behind them, in comparison, were larger and noisier, but they were at the same time more heavily armed and armored.

"We're here." Danae said as she saw the "8" nameplate.

She was just about to collapse the building in a volley of laser and autocannon rounds when a shout from inside gave her pause.

"Danae! Wait!"

What th- Virgil?

True enough, the door opened and Virgil came out, hands raised.

"It's been long enough. Let's not make it hard on ourselves."

Destiny boosted backwards avoiding the shots by a mile. It returned the sword to its arm and drew two anti-mech pistols from ports in each hip and opened fire tracking each Cougar perfectly. Tenjin smiled as Frank's left arm went flying and the left hip actuator spat out sparks. Ed managed to get off a litte lighter as the bullet slammed into the torso actuator. Tenjin opened his comlink "obviously YOU have no Idea what Destiny is capable of" Tenjin smiled again as Destiny leveled the pistols at each target as they landed.

[ooc]
Shit... I lost the fight. Was at a party with my girl and haven woken up quite yet... still drows, going to bed again... see ya

Honki Ni Naru
 

Frank noted the loss of the left arm impassively.

Only a laser. A mere flesh wound.

Ed raised an eyebrow, as did Frank. This one's arrogance was annoying.

"You have no idea..." they said in unison. A second before touching the ground they triggered their jets, moving in opposite directions and flanking Destiny. They crouched low in their dashes, dripping behind rows of buildings which erupted into fountains of fire and dust. Explosions followed them as they continued their rocket-powered slalom, but they were untouched by Destiny's volley.

"Now! Cross-up!"

The two mechs boosted up just high enough to expose their shoulders over the roofs of the buildings and fired salvos of 20 LRMs from their shoulder pods. At such close ranges the guided missiles were impossible to avoid, even with Destiny's speed and they took the mecha in the left and right arms, crushing the armored plates and the myomers beneath them, sending it crashing to the ground.

Frank and Ed ended their shootdodge behind a multi-storey carpark and a financial building respectively.

"Next we hamstring him. It'll be safer now that his arms are damaged."

"This is Juli. My men are entrenched. Get him over to the central business district and we can let the fun begin."

"Wilco, Jules. NARC him if you can. We almost lost track of him in the first dash. And keep some of your men mobile - he's way too fast for most ambushes."

******

Danae adjusted her controls and the exterior speakers came to life. "What kind of trick is this?"

"No trick. The forces you brought have destroyed too much already. In all likelihood, hundreds may have been killed by your actions, and if this keeps up hundreds more will suffer for it. I must stop this. Even if it means sacrificing myself."

Saying so, he took another step forward and and laid his PIG and generator on the ground. Then he removed his pistols from their sleeve holsters and set them down as well.

"See? No guns. No tricks. If you want to end it, do it now. I am not afraid."

He closed his eyes and raised his hands again.

"Just promise me that the killing will end here."

Danae chuckled.

"It's a shame, Virgil. I expected more of a challenge."

The right arm with its autocannon rose.

"Too bad you have to die like this."

The targeting laser shone forth... and passed through Virgil's body! At the same time, an explosion came from the roof and a black figure shot through the air.

As expected...

"Nice try, Virgil! But not good enough!"

"Oh, really?

What the hell-

Danae looked down again and had just enough time to notice Virgil firing his PIG in the middle of a slide. Then the plasma shell sent her smashing into the building next to the one the others were hiding in. Virgil landed ina crouch and sprung off again, his movements too fast to be natural, his glowing red eyes leaving a burning crimson trail as he pirouetted through a storm of gunfire.

"Try aiming next time, idiots. And by the way Danae... it's Venedict now. "

Yang launched a grenade his way. Virgil hopped up a fire hydrant, rebounded off that to a second-storey window and landed on a rooftop water container after firing another plasma shell. Yang was prepared though, and the shell's splash damage only made a few minor dents in the armor.

Venedict hopped off, crouching low on the opposite corner of the roof to keep out of sight.

It's been too long... too long since I last did this...

Piotr's Ghostalker leapt up as well, lances of light boiling away the masonry around Venedict.

Killing time.

Scott heard explosions outside, and joined Steph in looking out the window. Virgil fired his PPIG at an enemy mech, and he was dodging bullets inhumanly. What kind of man is this? He looked closer, and saw a red hue around him. For a brief second, Virgil turned to face the window. Scott looked at what he was doing, then what Scott did to that Clanner, then Virgil's explanation on Gilgamesh. It all makes sense now...

"Steph...I think I know who I am now..." Scott said. "Virgil's eyes are glowing red, and he's dodging fire like it was nothing, like what I was doing that one day..." He turned to face Steph. "I think I might be part of Project Gilgamesh."

Destiny staggered back as it was hit by LRM fire and fell over. Then in a staggering display Denstiny clammered to its feet and readied itself again. The left arm actuators were not responding. Tenjin thought to himself for a moment I could use the Omega Engine to repair the damage but I prefer to wait until they think im almost finished Destiny braced itself as the panels on its shoulders slid open revealing the MRMs. The quicklock system already had both them locked. The MRMs let loose a volley that would make any pilot scared. Destiny seemingly vanished under the mass of smoke generated by the missles as they hurtled towards Ed and Frank.

"You're one of them too?" Stephanie echoed him, turning back around to watch out the window, but much to her dismay saw Danae in her mech hurdling towards them.

"Next room, now!" Kai was surprisingly sobered up enough to grab at Stephanie and Scott, and without resistant they complied, ducking into the adjacent room as Danae slammed through the man wall.

The impact was enough to shake the whole house, and as the dust settled the trio peered out into the now obliterated room that they had once been standing it.

Did he do it?

Kai was the first in the group to venture out to see whether she was still alive or not. Steph and Scott hung back, never letting their eyes leave the mech.

Once he arrived at Danae's side, he gave the mech suit a good hardy kick, whincing as he limped away a couple of feet. "I think he actually did it." He laughed a bit as he started towards the other two, not able to hear the voice that was speaking inwardly to himself.

Damn... him..

Stephanie frowned as Kai made his way back. "Was it really necessary to kick it?" She had to raised her voice over the shots and explosions outside now, not noticing the slight movement that the mech began to make.

OOC: I hate to say it but im going on a trip in four hours for three weeks and im not sure if I will be able to post during that time *sniff* so if anyone is wondering why I haven't posted during that time thats the reason.

[OOC]

Awwwuuu.. *hughug* Well.. we won't forget about you... and hopefully you'll be able to at least get on a little while you're gone... if not, then you know where we'll always be ^-^