Raven changed into a form that looked a young boy with feathery black hair. He summoned a ball of chaos. He wasn't sure what to do though.

Kaitiln laid Jason's unconcious body on the ground, and inspected his injuries. His left shinbone had been broken, and it looked as if a couple of ribs might have been fractured as well. He also had a gash in his head that was bleeding profusely, and numerous other cuts and scrapes on his body, courtesy of the wall he had been slammed into.

Hitting a couple keys on her PDAP, Kaitiln summoned in a tattered black bandanna bearing the CF-Alpha logo, and wrapped it around the cut on Wolf's head.

He must have pushed himself too far... Checking for a pulse, she found it still strong. But fortunately it seems as if he didn't burn out his nanites. Still...I can't help but think this is probably what he saw when I was in his place back in Germany.

She held onto his hand, patiently waiting for him to regain consciousness. Convalescence can't be rushed, not even if the world is at stake. Seconds ticked by.

Slowly, Wolf's eyes reopened, the glow from his nanites was now blue, as opposed to the iridescent white they had been before. Now the glow matched his eyes, as it always had. However, the glow was very faint, a sure sign of fatigue.

"...Well...that was a close one," Wolf said as he turned to look at Kaitiln.

"I'll say...although I never expected you to...fly."

"I didn't either...but it just kind of happened. I heard that assassin talk about Mastermind bringing about Order...and I kind of snapped. I guess the combination of mental and spiritual energy, plus the enhanced nanites, allowed me to 'know' I could, rather than 'think' I could. However, the exertion involved almost killed me, so don't expect me to try and do that again."

He pulled himself up into a sitting position, and tried to stand up, but his leg was still giving him trouble.

"I guess my nanites are taking a little longer than usual." He said as he began to sink back down to the floor. However, Kaitiln hoisted him up and let him lean on her shoulder.

"I'll carry you. You've burdened yourself with the fate of the world for so long, the least I can do is help you shoulder the weight."

Wolf grinned a bit. "I guess you're right. Help me over to the assassin's body, I need to get my katana back."

The two made their way to the body of Wolf's opponent, he was lying face up, in a giant pool of his own blood, with the sword sticking straight up through his chest.

Wolf yanked out the blade and returned it to his scabbard. He took one quick look at the man's eyes, and knew he was dead by the glassy look in them.

"Funny that I knew him for less than 5 minutes, yet he reminded me of why I came here...why I'm still fighting. He was supporting the belief of Mastermind's that you can make a desert and call it peace. I'm fighting to make an actual peace, one that doesn't involve Total Annihilation. It's been a long road...and this nightmarish war still goes on."

"Well don't worry, soon you...soon we will achieve that peace. Soon this nightmare will end."

Wolf smiled "I know."

The two made their way out of the room and began heading to the control center.

Pressing his back up on the wall again, he checked his PDAP. "Two life signs, huh?" He put that away and leaned his head back, thinking of his next course of action. He tilted his body so that he could see himself what was done the hallway. Sure enough, two guards. Taking a breath he pulled out his PDAP and watched as one turned his vision away, the other towards his position. He waited a few minutes until one was close to him, the other a few feet away, then knocked on the wall.

"Huh?"

Watching the PDAP he saw the blue cone come nearer to him, the white dot at its vertex getting closer to the center dot that was Monk. He never really understood how this radar system worked, but it did, and it made sneaking so much easier. Putting away the the tool, he relied now on his eyes, and the second the barral came into view, he tossed a hand to it, grabbed it and pulled the unsuspecting soldier on the wall, wrapping his mouth with a hand. "Scream... and die..." The soldier nodded quickly. "All right, now tell me, Does Mastermind have an emergancy switch?"

Lifting his hand he let the guard talk. "I know nothing..."

Closing off the mouth again, Monk placed a palm down on the soldier's neck, not enough to break, but just that right amount that it was just about to snap. The guard muffled screams that were accompanied with words. "Willing to talk now?" The guard nodded as much as he could.

Removing his hand, "Please... don't kill me. Mastermind does have a plan B, I head it from a friend of a friend... you know how the deal goes... MM says it..."

Pushing down on the back of his neck, "Stop stalling and tell me..."

He gasped, then finished, "What you want to do... it head down this hallway and get to the second hallway on your right. Reaching that will bring you to a series of forks. The order goes left, right, right, left... I think..." Feeling an angry palm on his neck, "I swear! I know nothing more! Please don't kill me!" He said as loud as possible without actually giving away his position, a sure path to death. Closing his eyes and mouthing words, he soon shot them open and dropped to the ground.

"You'll be fine... I just pinched a nerve that will put you to sleep for a bit. You'll wake up in a few hours..." Picking him up by the shoulders he dragged him against the wall just to Monk's right and sat him upright. "If anyone sees him while I'm gone, it'll look like he's sleeping." Poking his head out into the hallway again, he saw the other guard walking towards him.

"What the?"

Monk shot his head back and up against the wall. "No... I've been spotted." Pulling out the PDAP, he saw a yellow cone come nearer towards him. Darting his eyes around, he looked for a place to hide, then grinned as he saw his answer.

-----

"What the heck was that?" Taking a few steps, his eyes darted about under the black mask he was wearing. "I know I haven't gotten a lot of sleep, but now I think I'm seeing things." Turning the hallway, he saw his squadmate on the ground. "Gary? C'mon..." He let his guard down. "I know you're tired too, but that doesn't give you the right just to sleep on the job. Get up..." He kicked him lightly. "Gary...?" He knelt down to investigate further. He was breathing, but he wasn't sleeping. Tilting his head to one side, he felt something on his shoulder, then saw blackness.

-----

Closing the locker, he stuffed the two guards inside one each. "Lucky these were here." He turned, and followed the path that his victim had told him. Getting to the second hallway, he took his right and took note of what was there.

A hallway.

A really... long... hallway.

Monk clentched his fist. "I've been had!" Taking a few steps deeper, he found a small room, looked like quarters. Stepping into it, he took note of the dresser and the cot. "Wow... five star."

"Man... I can't take this anymore..."

Monk looked behind him, but saw nothing. Pulling out his PDAP, he was a blue cone walking to his position. He sidestepped into the room and closed the door, hugging the wall. Just to make sure, he locked the door. He pasted his eyes on the PDAP and saw the blue cone looking at the door he had just locked. "Hm? I don't remember locking up." Monk's eyes franctically shot about the room looking for some cover, then decided that under the cot was the best idea. The guard must have found his card and unlocked the door because he walked in and tossed his rifle aside. "You know... this whole extended shift thing is shit. The other heads get breaks, why can't I? Damn it..." He dropped himself onto the bed. "It's not like anyone is going to come down this hallway anyway. What moron would be dumb enough to come down to the soldier's quarters anyway? I mean, I know everyone is on high alert what with the evasion and all. Man... what I wouldn't give to be there right now, but no... it's all First Order, and Death Guards, and... all that other shit." His head tilted to one side, and the blue cone vanished from Monk's PDAP.

Feeling a bit of relief, he carefully dragged himself out from under the cot and stodd up over the now sleeping guard. It was obvious he was higher up in the food chain. His sleeve bared three stripes instead of one, and he wore a cap instead of a hood. Pulling out his magnum he aimed it at the sleeping guardsman. "You know... you shouldn't talk about me like that."

The commander's eyes shot open, and his head snapped towards Monk. "Who are you?"

"None of your business. I have a few questions for you."

"You think I'm going to answer?"

"You will..."

"You may be sadly mistaken." Getting up calmly from the bed. "You know full well that I have the answers you seek, you wouldn't kill me. Besides... I've looked down the barrel of a gun before, this is nothing new to me."

There was a pause, then Monk showed the side of his gun, pointing the nozzle up in the air. "All right, you win." He dropped the magnum badk on his hip. "What will it take to get the information? Tourture?"

"I've taught myself to withstand every sort of pain and not crack."

"Threats to loved ones?"

"I'm a lone wolf. Parents already dead. No siblings."

"Insults?"

"Pbbt. At this place? I'm at the top of the bottom of the food chain, I get enough shit."

"Bribery?"

"Dude... I work for Mastermind. I could pretty much get what I want."

"Then what the hell DO you want!?"

"I..." his head lowered. "I don't know... life is so boring sometimes. All I do is order my guardsmen around and make sure no one gets into the mainframe of the secondary launching area."

Well... that was easy... "All right..." Monk relaxed himself. "It's true. You have the information I need, so there is no point in killing you, but... what if I told you that I could get you some real action?" The guardsman's eyes lit up. "Yeah... defect to the real world, and I'll show you what a real battle is."

"Defect!? And go against Mastermind? Are you nuts? He's the strongest force this world has to offer, why would I want to go against it?"

"Because..." Monk grinned. "He's treated you badly, hasn't he?" The guard lowered his head. "He's left you on the sidelines while he's sent his favorite forces up to the front lines. The ones he knows will win."

"Me and my man could stop the Cyber Force!"

The infultator shrugged, "That may be true, but what after them? Will there be another force to be reckoned with?" The proud guard dropped his gaze again. "Excatly. Tell me where to go, and then I'll show you what hell is really like."

The guard grinned from ear to ear, "All right, you have yourself a deal. I'll tell you everything I know." And he did.

Devin stepped through the door...

...and into a sunny day?

He looked around. The air was clean and warm, lit with the noonday sun, crisp, flavored with the salty scent of the sea. He was on a grassy field, and before him stood a squat two-storey building.

He knew this place.

"The Kill House..."

Red Cell had run many exercises here, both before and after they had been upgraded with nanotechnology. He remembered that the walls were reinforced concrete on the outside and standard brick on the inside, that there were holes in the walls where they had practiced breaching walls as part of assaults, and that they had broken the windows so many times that they had stopped bothering to replace them.

The door of the Kill House opened with a creak, ending his reverie. Out strode a small Asian man, clad in the interlocking ceramic plates of military-grade hardened assault armor. Beside him was a taller, red-haired man, dressed similarly. The former was the first to speak.

"Devin! Remember us, Michael and Jonathan? Welcome to our humble abode. Mastermind has been waiting for you." He affected a grin. On his sallow Oriental face, it came off as a mouse's sneering. "Really, you should join us. Look at what we can do..."

Michael casually backhanded the reinforced concrete threshold of the doorway. There was a huge puff of smoke, but Devin didn't need to wait for it to clear in order to tell that the Asian man had smashed a hole clean through it. His hand flickered, and Devin barely managed to bring the Maugetar's blade up in front of him to deflect the chunk of debris thrown at him. He glanced down. There were five holes in it where Michael's fingers had dug in. The gentle wind grew stronger, and the soft light seemed to dim as clouds flowed over the sky.

"You're strong, I'll give you that." Devin's finger flicked and the Maugetar's low whine became an audible thrum. If Michael had anything to say, he kept it to himself. "But I don't think you're fast enough to outrun this."

"No, I'm not. But if you fire on us, you'll die too. Flashback, remember?" Michael tapped the concrete wall he had just smashed with a gloved knuckle. "We will all die, except that we have already been backed up as part of Mastermind's core AI. Truly, we are immortal and invincible!"

Now, the red-haired man spoke.

"We are strong, Devin. Even you can see that. Join us, and Mastermind can give you that strength."

"No."

"No? You've got to be kidding me. We've seen how you fought - first against her, and then against those goons. They were nothing. Their lives were nothing. But they let us know exactly how strong and how fast you are, and frankly... you're not. Compared to us, at least. Accept our offer... Cyber Force is simply delaying the inevitable. This world needs the order that-"

"Bullshit. This world needs nothing, except freedom from Mastermind's influence."

"So be it." Jonathan's dark eyes flashed. "If we cannot persuade you to join us, we will harvest your neural patterns and make you one of us as well. Besides, Mastermind said that even if we didn't convert you, he would gift us with even more upgrades if we brought back your head."

Jonathan walked back into the Kill House, while Michael paused for a second to look back at Devin.

"Prepare to die, Devin. It is what you will do here."

Then he faded from view, leaving the door ajar. Devin sighed, and tossed down the Maugetar, dialing up his favorite weapon, the Pancor Jackhammer. He rested it over his shoulder, then looked up at the heavens. The sky was overcast now, the air redolent with the scent of impending rain.

"We are all meant to die, Michael."

He opened the door, and distant thunder followed with him.

"The question is, how?"

He crossed the threshold into the dark, silent building. Outside, the first drops began to fall.

OOC: Wow...just...wow

IC: Angel snapped the C-96 up at the First Order assasin. It snarled at him then vanished. Handilly, Angel's eye beeped it's collision warning and Angel dive rolled aside. Obviously not having expected Angel to have dodged, Angel glared at the first order.

"The fake eye? The big near death experience? MM never caught on? Between the eye and the high levels of nanites that were put in, they also put in a small number of combat nanites. Now, I'm obviously not as strong as you. But, my reaction time is instantaneous, I can beat olympic sprinters for flat out running, and I'm stronger than I should be. The eye even helps increase how fast I process information.a Long story short...your ass is mine."

Angel then snapped upright, dodging a punch that would've popped his head like a grape. Then he ducked and moved under the following chop. With a kiai, he slammed his knee into the First Order's stomach tried to get his gun up.

Unfortunately, the First Order grabbed Angel by the throat and lifted him. Angel grunted, and shook, and felt pressure coming down on his neck. Desperately, Angel pushed off the ground and kick the assasin as hard as he could in the face.

With a grunt, then a sigh of healing, the assasin backed away and glared at Angel who was panting. Then, Angel who neatly sidestepped another rush before diving under a second.

In that small of a room, the assasin didn't have the space neccesary to correct his enormous velocity.

Angel smiled. "It's game time."

He told him excatly where to go, every turn, every guard that would be posted, every trap that may lie in wait for him, everything. The guardsman nodded after finishing his story, "All right... let's go!"

"Hold on..." Monk took a step foward. "What do you mean, 'let's'?"

"I mean... 'let's' as in... the two of us. Let us BOTH... go."

He was about to persisted more when he took a step back and waved his hand towards the door. "All right... let us go. Lead the way."

It was obvious there was a grin tucked underneath his mask as he aboutfaced and headed for the door, only to fall limp. Monk cracked his index and thumb fingers after putting him to sleep. "I'm sorry... I just needed information, not a friend... nor another casualty." Stepping out of the portal he went on his way.


Touching his back to the wall again he took note of what he had to do again. "All right... sneak into the hanger and get to the elevator. Head down three floors into the ground..." Shaking his head. "Let's just stick with that."

Leaning to see what was down the hallway, nodding when his eyes saw nothing, he rushed down the empty corridor and towards the hanger.

The droves of guards kept on coming. For every one Jade killed, another two took it's place. They were quite literally coming out of the woodworks, as some had crashed through the walls trying to catch Jade, J2 and Raven off guard. With Jade's limiters off, she moved through the mountains of guards like a hot wind. Her movements were a blur as bodies fell left and right. However, as much as she and J2 fought, they were not making any headway or progress towards the control room. Jade looked over at Raven. So far none of the guards were paying him any mind, but he looked lost, like he didn't quite know what to do. "Raven," Jade said while slitting a throat, "we need to get to the control room fast. So, if you could help us in disposing of this minor roadblock I'd truly appreciate it."

Dodge left, pull arm in, snap right. Angel's thoughts echoed his movements as he dodged the assasin, then thought, "Now or never," and snapped his leg up and stomped on the assasin's knee.

He dropped, and Angel brought the C-96 around to the assasin's head. He fired. Nanites still working, the assasin dodged but the bullet entered his leg.

And suddenly, his leg stopped keeping up with the rest of him. Slamming into the wall, the assasin yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

Angel twirled the C-96. "Basically, these are First Order killer rounds in my gun. Here, take a closer look."

Angel shot the assasin in the face, then looked around the room, not noting the now dead body. "How to get to Shift...."

Raven tossed the black ball of energy toward the enemies, he missed and the ball exploded behind them sending the group behind the front row crashing into them from behind as the walls and ceiling bowled outward. A dismembered arm hung limply from the now blacked out hall light.

"Shit! I didn't realize it was that strong. I'm sorry are you ok?"

Wolf and Kaitiln were homing in on Jade's position when two squads of Death Guard, one from the front and one from the rear, came at them, guns up. Kaitiln ducked into a small alcove just before the soldiers could open fire.

"We're going to have to fight through...can you run?"

Wolf shook his head, "Shattered legbones aren't that easy for even nanites to fix. It'll still be a while." He thought for a second. "I have a plan...trust me on this one."

"Always do."

***

As the two squads of soldiers closed in, Kaitiln, carrying Wolf on her back in the "fireman's carry" technique, burst from the alcove with her TMP-75 blazing. Soldiers fell while the rest ran for cover.

As Kaitiln ran down the hall at full speed, Wolf covered their rear by firing his Omni-Falcons from his position over her shoulders. The .45 caliber cookie-cutter rounds he loaded in the guns blasted through the soldier's armor, sending them crashing to the ground in the throes of death.

Kaitiln brought them through the blockade, while Wolf cleaned up the few soldiers she hadn't killed.

"Yes! That worked perfectly!" Wolf said.

Kaitiln grinned a bit. "Yeah, but now we need to keep moving."

The two headed towards Jade's signal.

He paced up and down his position. Clicking his radio on, "Nothing so far."

"Good... keep an eye open. There have been reports of an intruder in your area. No conformation, report if you see anything odd..."

"Yes sir." Click off. "Anything odd, huh? Sir! Oh no, there is absolutly nothing here! Is that odd?"

-----

Monk watched the conversation that had just taken place, then plastered himself against the wall. Flipping open his PDAP and taking a look at the map of the room, there were several places he could hide. Crates were strewn about the place, and the two guards that walked about were not excatly checking up everywhere. Snapping the thing shut he paced his way to a nearby crate and crawled on the ground to hide himself better. Snaking his way to the far wall where the door would bring him closer to the elevator he would have to take, he poked his hed out to look at the two soldiers to his right, both of their backs turned. Grinning, he continued his crawl...


OOC: you may have to excuse the lack of posting. My internet is not working at the house, and this was brought to you in the music room during a rbeak. I'm gonna try and get things back on track at main base, but I can't garentee anything.

OOC: Cue the Lesser Demon Fight Track from Devil May Cry 3 - "Taste of Blood"

BIC:

The interior of the Kill House was a silent, gloomy place, the bare concrete walls echoing the sound of the door creaking open all over the house. The smell of cordite wafted up into his nose as his cybereyes shifted into the low-light spectrum.

Devin looked over the room he was in. There were no distinguishing features to commend it to the eye. Not that it needed them. This room was a buffer of sorts, a staging area to practice dynamic entries. The only way through was the door ahead. Devin tried the handle, which turned easily. If he remembered correctly, what lay ahead would be...

... a long, empty corridor, lined with open doorways.

Now where could they be...

"Oh Deviiiiiiin..."

With the speed of no-thought, Devin was already away and to the side, even before the faint clinking of the grenades reached his ears. He dropped his weapon

-damn-

and had no time to retrieve it before the deadly storm of fragments consumed it, drowning the singsong voice out in a low boom. He dove into a nearby doorway...

... and came to lie facing up, with an assault rifle's muzzle staring him in the face. The distorted reflection of Jonathan's ugly grin was mirrored down the length of his weapon's bluing.

"Game over, Devin."

With sudden, violent speed that would have broken the back of a normal human being, Devin jack-knifed his legs up, snapped them around Jonathan's arms in a vice grip. Then, in a simultaneous motion, he drove an elbow into the back of Jonathan's knee, while simultaneous folding his legs double, sending the hapless man rolling forward and out the door of the room. But Jonathan was no pushover. As he tumbled end-over-end during the dragon tail throw, he braced his rifle against his shoulder, got the sight picture of Devin's prone form through his front sight and rear sight, and squeezed the trigger.

Only an instinctive movement saved Devin's life. He pushed himself off the ground, spinning to the side just as the high-velocity rounds tore through where he had just been. Landing in a press-up position, he gathered himself up and launched himself in a sideways leap, getting footing on a windowsill, then jumped again, in a high forwards arc, somersaulting head over heels, to drop an axe kick on Jonathan's gun arm.

The assault rifle sprang free from nerveless fingers, and as its stock hit the ground it went off, sending 7.62 rounds into its former wielder. Jonathan pushed off of Devin's leg to avoid the deadly spray, and Devin, not eager ton being hit, sprang aside in a mirror of Jonathan's dodge.

They landed at opposite corners of the room, in the ir respective half-crouches. The assault rifle landed its stock again, and as it bounced up, it spun, exposing the translucent magazine to them.

Four rounds remaining.

Whoever got the weapon would control the fight.

As one, they sprinted forward, leaving imprints in the concrete from the force of their starts. Devin threw himself forward in a lunging dive. Jonathan went down into a slide.

In a timeless moment, two hands reached for, and grasped the weapon. Devin was the first to touch it, but he had it by the magazine. Jonathan found better purchase - he had gotten the weapon bythe carrying handle. He wrenched, and tore it from Devin's grip.

The moment passed. As Devin slid chest-down over the dusty floor, he swivelled his legs and kipped up, landing in a kneel where Jonathan had been just moments before. He looked up, and found himself staring down the barrel of the rifle again.

"This time... no escape, Devin."

"Your safety's on."

Jonathan thumbed the safety. It was off.

"Nice try. But I'm not as dumb as you. Now die."

He squeezed the trigger.

-click-

Jonathan's eyes widened, and Devin slowly raised the hand he had been hiding behind his back and opened it.

"No! When did you-"

Devin let the magazine fall from his hand. Behind it was an opened combat folder. He grinned.

Then he was no longer there.

Jonathan blinked, and in that moment Devin sprang up off the ground and hammered the blade in like a giant nail. He channelled more power to his arms, and Jonathan hit the concrete wall hard enough to leave the imprint of his body in it.

Moving quickly, Devin withdrew the knife, roughly slammed the stunned Jonathan to the ground, then slipped the sharpened tip into the space where Jonathan's armored spine entered his skull. The SEAL seized a handful of his fallen opponent's hair and looked into his eyes.

"Mastermind gave you power and immortality. But we humans will always be able to do one thing which sets us above your kind."

Devin's knife had twisted. Finding the right spot, he slid it in deeper, then gave it a sharp twist. Jonathan's body jerked once... then jerked no more.

"It's called 'owning you', bitch."

*cue Ready Steady Go by Paul Oakenfold*

***


Angel walked through the door. It had taken a while, but he’d managed to find a stair case that led to the balcony where he’d seen Shift. Now, more than a little sore from fighting on of the most dangerous assassins on the planet, Angel was heading up the stairs for his veritable end game. Everything, every bullet, every miss, every hit, every mission had all led up to this.

One final door stood in his way. The sign on it said that it led to a helicopter pad and main office. Taking a moment to think back to the insertion, there had been a helicopter pad sticking off the side of the main building. Go figure they hadn’t used the easy way in.

Angel sighed, considered drawing a gun, and took out his Beretta. Then he kicked the door open and stormed in. Immediately, he started a sweep of the room. Of course, this couldn’t account for behind him. Something hit him, and he felt his gun go flying from his hands. He choked audibly, then felt himself lifted and thrown.

Glass exploded around him, and he rolled roughly, barely managing to get onto his legs. He then snapped upright, arms flying out in a block that was engraved so deeply into his mind he could never forget it. Shift’s flying kick met Angel’s arms. In return, Angel quickly rolled a forearm around Shift’s ankle so he had a grip, turned, and threw down. Shift slammed roughly into the helicopter pad before cackling and pushing off with his hands, foot going for Angel’s face.

Angel jerked back, the foot coming within mere inches of his face, then moved his head the side and moved forward, left foot sweeping in a kick that caught Shift in his pelvis and roughly tossed him vertical. Pressing his advantage, Angel moved forward and reached forward, trying to grab Shift’s legs to drive him down and shatter his neck.

Staying one step ahead, Shift turned it into a back flip, and used a leg to yank Angel’s down. Falling off balance, Angel turned his fall into a cartwheel that ended with his right foot slamming into Shift’s chest. Then the cartwheel finished, with a sickening snap as Angel brought his entire body weight and momentum down on Shift’s chest.

Shift was still alive though, and rolled to the side, whipping his hand around for a kidney punch. Angel simply let himself fall and roll away. Then he came onto his feet, hands up in a fighting position.

“I’ll admit this, Shift. You played the game smart. Mastermind did a good job with you. Manipulating us right into his hands, throwing us all for loopholes, bringing back people with a fierce hate of us…it was all done very well. Then, luring me here to get the Aegis program, setting it into a deathtrap, and then leaving a First Order assassin to deal with the only non-nanite enhanced member. Genius. Pure, sheer genius. But, Mastermind has his one flaw. He always under estimates us.”

Shift smiled, then waved Angel forward. “Come, Angel. As much as I love the speech, I have no doubt that I will win. What can a little dress wearing man with wings do to me?”

Angel smiled. “I think you got the wrong Angel in mind.”

Shift’s smile widened, and his eyes started bulging out of his head. Then he suddenly jerked back, a knife stuck in his forehead. Angel sprinted forward drawing out one of his knives, his favorite knife actually, then slid to a stop and leaned backwards as Shift pulled the knife out of his head and swung it at Angel. In return, Angel slashed back, and Shift did an imitation of Angel’s dodge. Angel stepped back, bringing his knife up in a vertical guard that blocked Shift’s second slash to his throat.

Lunging forward, Angel aimed a stab for Shift’s throat, but Shift raised his head, the blade barely missing, and then came forward aiming a stab at Angel’s ribs. Angel widened his arm, let the knife get under his armpit, then snapped that space closed, bent the opposite direction of Shift’s elbow, complete with a snapping as Shift’s arm broke, then slammed his elbow into the back of Shift’s head.

Shift stumbled forward, then turned to see Angel jump and kick him straight in the face. Blinded by broken bones, Shift could only barely see as Angel came forward, and Shift aimed a lazy cut. Angel caught it in his free hand, yanked the arm around roughly, and then crushed Shift’s wrist in his grip, letting the knife fall. Not wasting time, Angel kept pressing his advantage, and lashed his first knife around in a slash that opened up Shift’s jugular.

But Angel wasn’t finished. He got his stolen knife through Shift’s hand, used a knee blow to spin Shift around, and pinned his hand to his back. Just to finish, Angel stabbed Shift twice in the back, then yanked out the Colt SAA and empty all six bullets into Shift, blowing him over the railing. One bullet for each life he’d tried to ruin.

There was a good chance Shift would be screaming if Angel hadn’t cut his vocal cords. Twirling his knife, his favorite knife, Angel wiped it off on the railing then called out, “You’re thinking of a heavenly angel, Shift. I’m the angel of death.”

Lazily, Angel sheathed the knife then pulled out an incendiary grenade. “By the way, we can’t have you getting back up.” Angel pulled the pin, leaned over, then threw the grenade at Shift.

Falling past the stories, Shift could only barely see the red object come towards him. Then it impacted against his chest. There was a brief second where Shift could read what was scribbled on the grenade. It was a big chibi face, with a little speech bubble that read, “Cyber Force says hi!”

Then the grenade exploded, covering Shift in fire and napalm. Once again, had his vocal cords been in one piece, Shift would’ve screamed in agony and rage that Angel had exploited the one thing that Shift could not survive. He was even angrier that Angel had learned from him. By the time that the flaming corpse slammed into the street, and the force ripped it into flaming pieces, Shift was no more.

Angel spat over the railing, then turned back and walked out into the landing. Absently, he spun the Colt SAA, then opened up the cylinder. All six bullets were used. Angel emptied those into his pocket, intending to give them to their respective owners. Then he holstered it and looked around and suddenly started laughing.

He’d won. Around four years of battle, and he’d come out on top. Still chuckling, he keyed his comm and said, “This is Angel. Can I get extraction on the helicopter pad? Yes, the one on the side of the building. That’s right. Target eliminated.”

Angel’s smile widened. “Yah, that’s right. Detonate the charges. When this building’s gone, Mastermind has no more Agents or anything. He’s done. Let’s hope the others do well. When they finish, it’s over. We won.”

(( Pantera's Slaughtered (Far Beyond Driven) works well, too. <3 ))

(( Nitpick: Wraith isn't nano-enhanced either. In fact, he's got more human components than Angel now what with that eye and medical nanites and is technically the weakest in the CW without nanite enhancements (Angel has Aegis). ))

(( And six bullets for everyone but Scrya, right? ^^ 'Cause, I like to think she doesn't necessarily count... ))

(( P.S.: I'd post, but I seem to still be waiting on Devin... *coughcough* ^-^; ))

OOC: *stuffs Zeph into a locker*

DETAILS! DETAILS!

NOTHING BUT HEINOUS LIES!

*ahem*

Back to the big dramatic fights...

(( *raps meekly on the door* "Eeelp? ...wittle 'elp 'ere, pmwease?" ))

(( Ahhhhfuggit, I'll just make something up so I can do something constructive for a change. :p ))

*****


Play ►

*****






Cold.


Dark.


Silent.


Alone.


The halls themselves seem to lose meaning as Scrya walks down them, forwards... ever forwards to what she knows must be done... ever forwards to both the ending, and the beginning.

But enough with the melodrama.

Mastermind's speakers blare music into the halls; loud, raucous music that fills the twisting, angular metal corridors with eerie sounds and pulsating drum beats. She recognizes the track: Ministry's So What. A live cut, at that. The effect is spooky... the further she goes, the more paranoid she becomes.

Rounding one corner and stepping into another long, twisting hallway, she feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end -- an unconscious reaction to an unconsciously perceived threat. Bristling for combat, she ducks sideways and halts, ready with her fists to defend or attack, staying perfectly and silently still for a long time to listen... but nothing ever happens. Just time passes. Eventually the feeling subsides, and she starts moving on again.

All the while her mind remains clear, focused... focused on only one objective, one thought, one motive: kill Mastermind. Anything else she meets will just have to be dealt with by situation... as far as she cares, nothing else matters at all. Just... kill... Mastermind.

By this time the music changes, but it takes her some time to notice; so concentrated is she on her task that anything not remotely a threat is tuned out. The music in question has changed to a hidden track on Godflesh's Streetcleaner album... track fourteen. Pounding, metallic, and nasty... it's everything a straight-ahead rumble track should be.

It also sets the stage for a transformation: namely, that of her surroundings.

Her first few steps into the new chamber beyond seem trivial, but soon the walls, floors, even the very air itself begins to change. Dull, metallic walls become stone mason work, with torches and columns lining the walls, and the floor becomes stone with some wood and rugs covering it. She looks around her new medieval setting as it changes form, settling into place as the music fades out of existence, replaced by the faint, almost relaxing crackling of the torch fires.

It takes her a moment to realize that it's long and rectangular, with that large open space in the middle. It takes her another moment to realize that it's lined with many tapestries, shields, and crests... all bearing the emblem of the First Order. But not just the Order's mark... the mark of the Exalted. The same one she wears on her own back, etched there forever as a reminder of her darker days.

Slowly she comes to a dead stop.

Someone's here.

"Welcome home..."

Swirling about, she faces the man who addressed her.

"Scrya." Beneath the dark hood she sees a smile creep across his lips, curling the sides up as he forms the rest of his sentence, "The Exalted First."

Narrowing her own eyes, she takes in the sight: scythe, black cloak, red runic symbols... all thirteen of them are the same. Priests of the First Order. Those who command the soldiers of the First and direct the other orders. Although his face remains covered, she can tell that his eyes peer out at her from under the hood, with that ever-present smirk of confidence on it, too. Squinting farther, she squares up to him and balls her fists. "I don't use that title anymore."

The man practically chuckles, but restrains himself. "Of course."

With a gracious bow he steps aside, moving around her as his minions spread out to surround her. Calmly they move, and steadily she follows them.

"You've long abandoned us, haven't you? You've turned your back on God... turned your back on all of us."

She looks away from the others and locks gazes with his to retort. "It's your God who's gonna turn his back on you."

"Reallllly, Scrya..." he starts, head cocking back just a little in disappointment. "Let's not mince words. I know what you stand for now... and you know what I stand for."

"That's right," she says, nodding and arching her eyebrows a bit. "We do."

"Then let's just cut to the chase, shall we?" he replies, with sudden boom and earnestness in his voice. He also stops, and his disciples come to rest, too, he in front of her and them arranged around her in a circle.

His staff touches the ground with a resounding *thunk* as wood meets stone, and he crosses his arms over the head to demand in a deep, commanding bellow, "You cannot be allowed to pass. Before you may finish your... mission..." -- he says with a scoff -- "You will have to get through us."

Her left fist clenches tighter and moves in front of her, the only visible sign she's about to strike. In her voice is the sum of all her rage, audible thickly on her soft, almost Southernly voice. "No problem."

♪ "By Demons Be Driven", Pantera, from Vulgar Display of Power ♪ (machine gun riff only)

Striking the first blow, she lands a perfectly solid jump kick to his chest, moving far faster than he ever could.

The High Priest doesn't even realize he's lying in a pile of stone for a time, as his senses take some time catching up with him. When he shakes the pain and stands back up with a groan, he opens his eyes only to have them shut again by what happens next...

Landing on her feet after that first kick, Scrya looks around to see the other twelve advancing fast and drawing their weapons -- most with scythes, a couple with pikes. The first two she fends off easily, knocking their weapons away with bare fists and throwing them off her. As the rest close in though, she feels the pressure and the fury building within, and grinds her teeth in a snarl.

She draws back her fist and gathers power, then drives it downward with such raw power and speed that it's sure to leave a crater. But, with an ability she doesn't consciously know she has, the space around her distorts, drawing up air into a pocket of ether surrounding her fist. Visible even to the naked eye, it follows her on the way down, growing ever larger until she connects with the ground.

The result... is that a giant bubble of force erupts from the crater, in a shockwave that expands spherically until it encompasses -- and eventually exceeds -- the entire compound. All of the priests around her are thrown vertically into the air, and the unlucky ones who were close are shredded into ribbons by the concussive force. Chunks of bodies fall around the room, and the High Priest is thrown back into the wall again, eyes shutting because of the shockwave while the floor around her cracks and breaks free, stones popping up into the air and shattering into dust and pebbles.

Stunned and unable to recover, she then moves among them in a complete blur, at times appearing to be in as many as five places at once. Punching, kicking, and slashing away with a stolen scythe, she kills at will and without mercy, not once coming even close to taking a hit. The High Priest recovers during this and stands, looking up with total fear at the sight...

Such power... such ability to bend the world... only Tia could ever do anything like that. Never has he seen anything like this... it's only when he sees two heads and parts of three torsos going airborne that he realizes that not even Eric or Raven had ever done anything this brutal... none of them... not even the Agents... not even Mastermind himself... perhaps not even the legendary Myth... had ever managed to make the most skilled warriors look like mere practice dummies.

Unscathed, she arrives in front of one target and draws back for a hard punch, and again the air around her fist distorts as another shockwave builds. When her fist connects with the leaping priest -- he thought it'd be a good idea to jump kick her, see -- the backlash of the shock bubble explodes the man's body into pieces, and sends those back into the far wall. The shockwave expands again, reaching outward and smashing into the walls and through them, all the way through the entire compound.

The walls in the room are already a cracked, smashed, and crumbling mess. As much can be said for the floor, too. Continuing her attack, she dispatches the last two by kicking high to her right, decapitating him as he draws back his scythe, then stops and spins, becoming a whirlwind until she regains normal balance and stops behind the last one to kick hard, splitting his body in two with raw power.

She stands in place now and watches the bodies fall... the man on her right never even got to finish the arc of his swing. With three last thuds the room falls silent. So completely silent that only the sound of the fires and her breath fill it.

*****

*****

With quivering eyes and lungs the Priest looks upon this sight, and sees with his two eyes both the most beautiful and frightening sight he's even beheld: Scrya, untouched, with not even a drop of blood on her yet, a magnificent specimen showing her power with the simplest of poses. The proverbial scales fall from his eyes as he realizes the revelation. To put it in blunter terms, what he feels is like what a holy man feels when he realizes that his God is false... that his God is not the One True God. That he's seeing the True God he's been searching for in front of him. Watching her display such ability, and to do such a thing as literally break the laws of cyber physics with those blows, he knows that Mastermind is only a fake God.

That he knows now.

His breath wavers for a second, and his posture quivers. In a whisper he betrays his awe and utter fear, "...Goddess...!"

The sound of his voice reminds her that he's still alive.

Back turned to him, she jerks her head backwards, just enough to look over her shoulder at him. Eyes widening, she glares at him over a fluff of hair hanging over her shoulder, and with that glare he suddenly realizes what he's done as he watches her begin to charge.

He never gets a chance to drop to his knees and repent as he was going to, however... with his last breath he sees her charge and punch, and sees a third shockwave forming on her fist. Coming to a stop only as she hits him with fist extended, the blow explodes the High Priest's body and sends a third shockwave throughout the entire base, shaking every wall and foundation. When it finally subsides, the man is no more.

Lowering her head, she steadies her breath and grinds her teeth, letting the momentary fury die down within her, while her hands relax and fall to her side.

*****

Calmed, she continues her advance down the hallways beyond with a soft step, leaving her one converted disciple in his crumbling tomb.

OOC: (gets up from behind sandbags) ...is it safe?

BIC: Wolf's leg had finally healed to the point where he could walk again, and he was just about to take a few steps when he was knocked off of his feet by a blast that resonated somewhere deep within the fortress.

"What the hell was that?" Wolf asked as he got back up.

"I don't know...but if it's something of Mastermind's I don't want to confront it without some more backup...we'd better find Jade and the others."

Wolf nodded. "You're right." He checked his PDAP map. "Well, if Mastermind doesn't utilize dimensional realignment again, they're only 3 rooms straight ahead of us. Let's get moving,"

Still limping slightly, Wolf led the way into the next room. The room was a massive grid, possibly from some kind of sewer system. There were four pathways all leading to the same spot at the end of the room, a doorway.

"This is...weird..." Wolf said as he started heading down one of the paths. "It almost seems as if something should be attacking us...hell this entire room just screams 'boss battle'."

"True, but maybe this is just a random room that the dimensional realigner just happened to spawn. Perhaps Mastermind didn't mean to create...wait...do you hear that wooshing noise?"

Wolf did, he looked up. "MOVE!" he shouted. He and Kaitiln dove to opposite sides just as an armored soldier with a jetpack on his back landed in between them and sprayed the area with a flamethrower. Both Wolf and Kaitlin narrowly avoided being barbecued by the blasts.

"So, you've come this far I'm impressed." The man said. "But now you face me...the ESA's finest."

European Space Agency? Wolf thought as he took a quick look from behind the pillar he was using for cover. Sure enough, the man was dressed in the bulky space suit of an ESA astronaut.

Makes sense seeing as how that suit is fireproof...but still...this is odd.

The astronaut continued. "Not even the fires of reentry could stop me...let's see if you can."

Kaitlin didn't say anything, she let her Desert Eagle do the talking. She opened fire with the gun, but the astronaut simply flew up and over her with his jetpack.

"Oh, did I mention I can fly too?" the astronaut chortled as he spun around and fired his flamethrower at Kaitiln.

"RUN!" Wolf shouted to her. She quickly dashed out of range of the flames, leaving Wolf with a chance to get a shot in. As he unloaded a clip from his omni-falcon, he noticed with dismay that the flame trooper simply melted the bullets.

"Heh, looks like you're outta luck here," the astronaut said as he began to advance on Wolf.

Wolf merely shrugged, grabbed the GMR and fired one shot, not at the astronaut, but at the wall next to him. It bounced off at an angle and hit home, right on the napalm tanks strapped to the astronauts back. The resulting explosion tore through the astronauts suit and sent him flying over Wolf and Kaitiln, his jetpack also misfired and slammed him into a wall, leaving him a smoldering heap on the floor.

Wolf holstered the gun and walked over to the dying man. With one bullet from his Omni-Falcon he ended the astronaut's suffering. Finding the dogtags on his charred corpse, Wolf read them aloud.

"Commander Sven Feldman, European Space Agency. I've heard of this guy. Apparently he got badly burned on reentry while testing a new spacecraft for the ESA. Apparently there was some psychological damage as well because he became obsessed with fire afterwards. He disappeared about 2 years ago...now we know what happened to him."

"It's so tragic..." Kaitiln said.

"Yeah...but there's a moral here...never issue flamethrowers to insane astronauts."

Wolf pocketed Feldman's tags and he and Kaitiln continued towards Jade's position.

OOC: To Zeph: Eeee! My name was mentioned! To Wolf: (slaps forhead)

---

It was a good thing that Monk's back was to a massive crate when all hell broke loose, and the building shook just a bit. And by bit we of course mean that the two guards walking their posts were lifted up then dropped.

"Wha... What the hell?"

"Call into HQ, maybe they know what happened."

"HQ... please respond."

There now was a thrid voice, one that came from a distance. "This is HQ."

"What the hell just happened!?"

"Unknown. Remain at your posts."

"Our posts!? Sir, the ground where I was standing on... d...d...done quaketh! All right... when it does that, it's telling you a little secret... MOVE!" The other guard chuckled.

"Quit your crying and keep your eyes open."

"Yes sir..." Click. "Man... we get stuck in an earthquake... and we're forced to stay here..."

"I know... this sucks." The two got up and brushed themselves off. "But... orders are orders, you know."

"I know... Let me know if you see something. Who knows? The boogy man may arrive!"

Unknown to them, he had already left and was already in the second part of the hanger.

---

Again he rolled and kept his back to a crate. What are they moving anyway? Shaking his head, something caught his eye. A projector? Flipping open his PDAP, he saw a signals... lots of them... all facing away from him. Peering out from behind the box, he saw that they were all watching some sort of movie. Training video? Brainwashing material? It didn't matter what it was, it made his job that much easier. Standing up and walking towards the table, he saw that there were two projectors, not one. Well... may as well have a little fun... Clicking a button, the vidoe switched from the left side of the back wall to the right side, and everyone shifted their attention to the pictures. Letting out a single chuckle, he was quite tempted to keep pressing the button, but he did have a job to do. He got on his stomach and crawled under the light where another box was waiting for him. "Home free..." he muttered softly.

Knowing the army was preoccupied with the film, he quickly, but quietly, made his way around the left side of the boxes. "There is an intruder!" Monk rolled and pasted his back on the box, sweat now forming. "Intruder to the left!" Looking to the PDAP, he saw all the blue cones look right at him. Taking a breath he jumped up to his knees... "Intruder to the right!" ...and saw the backs of the army. Giving an odd look to the group, he slowly lowered himself back behind the crate. "Intruder in the back!" Every soldier pointed his weapon towards the projectors. "All right... at ease men." All the blue cones moved towards the screen. "Had that actually been an emergancy... you have been trained to handle a situation like that. Back to business..."

Monk zoned out after hearing that announcement. Taking a sigh of relief, a little embarassment along with it, he finished walking to the door and headed into the last part of the hanger.

OOC: Tiredness is starting to set in... the last part of Monk's adventure to be finished tomorrow...

OOC: My turn...cue the entire soundtrack from Dracula 2000. The. Entire.One.

BIC: It was getting crowded in the small confines of the hallway. Bodies littered the floor, along with large sections the walls, ceiling and floor, rounding out the debris. Jade, J2, and Raven were fighting valiantly, but were still not making any headway. They were clearly getting frustrated, and Jade had had all she could take. Her temper was flaring as she shot and sliced through guard after guard, never making a dent. Suddenly, she felt the whole building shake. J2 turned to her, “what the hell was that?”

“I don’t know but I hope it was from our side.” Jade took advantage of the momentary confusion to throw a grenade into the middle of the multitude of guards, and take J2 and Raven through the door, right into the room both Wolf and Kaitlin had just entered. The grenade went off sending them all sprawling. As they began to rise, a veritable army entered the room. “These guys don’t know when to quit.” Without acknowledging Wolf and Kaitlin, the three jumped back into the fray.

As Jade introduced her combat boot to a guard’s face, J2 unloaded on a group of guards with a spray of Uzi bullets. Grabbing her sword from its sheath, she downed a large number of bodies with alternating slashes and shots from her Falcon handgun. She was quickly being swarmed over by the sheer number of guards pouring into the room. Jade leapt up and grabbed onto the piping in the ceiling to hoist herself up into the shadows. Looking far into the previous room, she saw a lone guard. Suddenly, the guard split into two, then four, eight and finally sixteen guards. All but one entered the current room. “A copy program? Duh!” Jade’s distraction from the battle allowed a bullet to hit her in the arm as she was swinging back down to the floor. Blood spewed out a bit before sealing up and Jade resumed her fight while yelling back to Wolf and Kaitlin. “Take out the guy in the other room! He’s using a program to copy himself!”

OOC: It's time for a new chapter, I'll get it up momentarily. To tide you all over, here's a bit of crappy art I put together when I was really bored one night. I know I drew it in a notebook...sorry bout the lines.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...Mastermind.jpg

These are the thoughts of mine when I am left alone with them.