The Darkest Light

[Impact]

*a news report aired on the morning news in Paragon City*

"Early this morning Striga Island was rocked by an explosion at the base of what was thought to be a dormant and empty volcano. Those in the surrounding area say that the resulting soundwave could be heard for miles. As the news crew arrived on the scene, Sterling Saber, a hero who's taken to the task of cleaning up Striga Island through sometimes questionable methods, was seen being tele-evaced to the hospital in Talos Island. "

"Upon questioning the other heroes in the area we discovered that they were on a mission to stop a Council Archon who'd taken upon himself to build a gigantic robot in an attempt to take Paragon City hostage. Apparantly the heroes were successful but not happy with defeat Burkholder set off a self destruct mechanism that had been planted in the base. "

*the camera pans out from the reporter to show smoke still steadily rising from the volcano*

"After finding and questioning one of the members of this task force,Thora, she had this to say.."

The camera turns from the young reporter to a woman dressed in a blue greenish skirt with a matching top that looks as if it's seen more than it's share of battles. "Saber was an amazing warrior....in battle he showed no fear and took the battle to Burkholder without hesitation." She pauses and glances back at the sun rising over the island. "If not for him we might not have succeeded....and....it would have been me on the way to the hospital....he came back for me and shoved me outside before the explosion...."

"Our sources say that he is in the intensive care unit of the hospital now and his family is being notified as we speak."

[Impact]

Andrew Dyson, the Azure Specter as his ID card read, lay in his bed, alone, staring at the ceiling of his apartment. Wide awake but feeling a bit too lazy to get out of bed he watched the remaining shadows dance across the walls and ceiling. Slowly raising a finger he began to form the shadows into familiar images....images of those closest to him. First the image of his former girlfriend and lover, Terri Imperioli appeared, then that of Theresa Imperioli. With a sigh he wiped both images away, much like erasing a chalkboard, allowing the shadows to slowly combine again, this time etching out the face of his best friend, Brendan Sterling. He laughed out loud to himself for a second.

"I wonder how Bren's been lately anyway....that guy stays busy...." The words had barely lingered in the air when his phone rings. With a grunt he slowly sits up, rolling over to answer it. "Hello?" he answered, the sleep gone from his voice. "Hi...am I speaking with Andrew Dyson?" the voice on the other end was female, and sounded a bit tense, but definately professional.

"Yes...this is him. Who is this?"

"This is the head nurse here at the Talos Island hospital. You're listed as one of the emergency contact people for a Mr. Brendan Sterling..."

It was like a Freak tank had just stepped on his chest....

"......there was an explosion earlier this morning...."

He'd already hopped out of the bed and was getting dressed while a dark tendril held the phone to his ear.

"....Mr. Sterling was one of the heroes caught in it..."

Disappearing into a shadow he appeared outside his door, locked it and vanished into another shadow.

"...he's currently here in the Intensive Care Unit...".

The phone clicks and the nurse stares at it absently "Hello? Mr. Dyson?"

"I'm here...now what's going..."

Rising out of a shadow by the desk in the ICU ward, Andy was greeted by pure chaos. The normally empty regenerative chambers were full of what appeared to be civilians that were constantly being switched in and out while dozens of heroes teleported more civilians into the increasingly crowded area.

"...on..." Taking a glance around again he spotted the nurse hurriedly walking through a set of double doors, motioning for him to follow her. "This way please sir...and hurry."

Dodging several injuried people he followed her down a hallway lined with rooms behind viewing glasses. "He's stabilized some from when we brought him in but he needs his rest. You may see him when he's awake but don't keep him from sleeping."

Andy nodded slowly, opening the door and walking into the room. Lying on the bed was Brendan, covered in both burns and bandages. His face was mostly visible and he stirred occassionally, groaning in pain. "My God Bren...." blinking fiercely he tried to fight back the tears that were welling up at the sight of his lifelong best friend like this. Taking a seat in the corner, Andy dropped his head in his hands, the eerie beep of the heart monitor continuing steadily.

Taking a deep breath, he casts another glance at Brendan before stepping outside and pulling out both his phone and his wallet. Several calls needed to be made. The first one would probably be the hardest but he dialed the number, waiting anxiously as it continued to ring, then was finally answered.

"Hello....may I speak to Ein?"

[Jade]

((I have to admitt, I am very rusty, so if this stinks the big one, let me know. Thanks a ton! ))


“I am a goddess” Thora though as she walked through the hospital door. “I don’t get nervous in hospitals like mortals do”.

She was nervous anyway.

She’d been with The Sterling Saber when the mountain exploded. He’d pushed her out to save her. Thora didn’t know gratitude, only debt. She owed him a debt, and she vowed to repay it. How do you repay this debt though? She owed him her life, because if he hadn’t of given her that shove, there roles would be reversed and he would be visiting her. Not that she was even sure there was a soul that cared about her death.

She stared at the elevator doors, the green glow of the up arrow glowed expectantly. She swallowed nervously, and pushed the up button again.

“Is’a comin’ hon” a man with a hardhat said that was getting on with her.

Her look of distain was enough to keep him from talking again, and the elevator dinged, signaling that it was ready for them, the doors opened, and she looked in. The man with the hardhat stepped in, and she just stood there staring at where the doors had been.

“You comin’ miss? You seemed impatient enough a second ago”

She shook her head at herself, and stepped on, next to the man. “Thank you sir, I apologize” she said very stiffly.

“Is’a no problem luv’, its’a hard to visit someone here. I did’na wan’a get on either”. His accent think, and very understanding.

She shook her head in thanks, and watched doors close. The numbers on the digital display crept up as they slowly approached the floor she needed to be on. She hated facing her own new morality. She looks around her and saw mortals, but was unwilling to accept that she was one herself.

They reached the floor The Sterling Saber was being held on and she stepped out, but without walking further. The doors began to close and the man with the hardhat put his arm out to stop them. “You gonna be alright lov’?” She turned, looked at him, and nodded. “Thank you sir, I will be fine. I appreciate your concern”. She squared her body forward. She was a warrior, not a small girl, scared of hospitals. Debts needed to be repaid, it was that simple.

A young man was standing outside the door on a phone, his eyes were big and wet as he talked, obviously making phone calls to loved ones. She was sorry for that, but unsure how to apologize, so she said nothing. She nodded at him, but was unsure if he noticed her. Looking down at her clothes she felt slightly out of place, her cape slightly singed from the explosion on the mountain.

Walking through the door, she saw him, and felt sad. He was covered in bandages and burns. He was sleeping but would occasionally stir, moaning, she could only assume in pain. She caught a nurse as she walked by. “Ma’am, this man is pain, he needs medication, look at him, it’s obvious, I thought that was the purpose of modern medicine.” She said very curtly almost in anger.

The nurse pulled out his chart, and flipped a few pages. “He’s on pain medication ma’am” the nurse said gently. “There’s nothing else we can give him”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing ma’am, I’m sorry.” She put the chart back and walked out the door. Thora watched her and felt helpless.

She looked again at The Sterling Saber, shook her head, and walked out.

“I’ll go train, Sterling Saber” she promised him, angry with herself. “I will make it up to you. Brave warriors do not deserve to be here” She looked around and stormed out the door.

As she walked to the elevator, she saw a nurse and caught her by the arm, griping almost too tight around the woman’s bicep. Glaring she pulled a wad of cash. “Here, Pointing to his room and separating out 10, $100 bills, and shoving them in the woman’s hand. “Take care of him in that room”

“I can’t accept these miss” the woman said almost scared.

“You *will* accept them, and take care of him especially, understand me?” She growled at the woman. The nurse stared at Thora with wide, scared eyes, as the fire started to burn in her dark eyes. “Good” Thora nodded and almost violently pushed away the woman’s arm.

Storming out of the hospital, she jumped silently to the tram, the fire burning in her eyes. She stepped onto it, destination: Bricktown. It was time to train, and it was time to practice on something harder.

[Nyx]

She wasn’t sure she’d heard the phone the first time… Making a dive for the stereo volume switch, Einmyria Laufeyson turned it down a few notches.

Riiiiiiing…

She made another dive, this time for the phone, and snatched it up on the third ring. “Hello?”

“Hello… may I speak to Ein?”

Einmyria puffed a bit of red hair out of her face. “That’s me… who’s this?”

“Andy, you know, Brendan’s friend. Azure Specter.”

She caught a note of emotion in his voice. “Oh, oh, yeah, I remember… what’s up?” She listened as Andy explained, feeling more and more ill, and face paling. Brendan… in the hospital? Explosion?

“I’ll … I’ll be right there… thank you…”

Shaking, she hung up, then pounced on her shoes, scrawled a note for her sister Eisa, grabbed her coat, and had no sooner flung open and lunged out the door than she ran head-long into …

“Daddy! What are you doing here?”

The trickster god – Loki to most, Lord Mischief to the city, and ‘daddy’ to Eisa and Einmyria – reeled for a moment. . “Uh… I was coming to visit you girls… unless that’s not … Ein, is something wrong?”

Ein brushed away a tear, and explained the situation involving Brendan to her father. Loki sighed, then embraced his daughter.

“Come on… I’ll go with you. Perhaps there’s a use for a bit of my healing magic…”

[Alumette]

...whump...whump...whump...

Alumette pummelled away at the punching bag in her office. Lately she'd been focusing on only two things: training and work. She hadn't talked to any of her friends in a while. Just routine patrols, Dawn Patrol assignments, her punching bag, and weightlifting. She was practically drowning in ennui, but it was more comfortable this way.

buzz "Leftenant, there's a call for you," Chip's breezy voice sounded through the intercom. "An Azure Specter. Shall I put him through?"

Alumette wiped her brow. It was odd. She'd only met Azure once, and it was only very briefly. He was a friend of Brendan's. "Sure, Chip," she said, puzzled over what this might be about. Her phone rang as Azure was patched through and she picked it up.

"Leftenant Alumette sp..."

"Alumette?" he sounded worried. "Can you come to the hospital? Something's happened to Brendan."

Her demeanor instantly changed. "Which hospital?" She was already pulling her jacket on and tugging her gloves over her hands.

"Tal-" she hung up and sped out the door.

"Chip, I'm out of the office," she called over her shoulder as she zipped past.

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

At the hospital, she quietly entered Brendan's room, found a quiet corner, and began to meditate deeply, connecting with her goddess. She hoped that by calling forth the goddess's nurturing presence, she could in some way provide a bit of comfort to her friend.

She stayed still and focused for a long time, until others began to arrive.

[The Widowed]

The glow of overhead lamps was lost beneath a thick layer of textile as the curtains were drawn over the window. Moments later, the light inside the room died entirely. And no flicker from the television could be seen.

Visiting hours were over. She had been content to watch from afar anyway. The first day in the ICU was always the most crowded with well-wishers. There would be time later to give him her encouragements. Or at least she hoped there would.

"Damn it to pieces, Saber," she snarled from her perch atop the Lakeson Plaza building across the boulevard. "You should've had an escape plan. You should've lured the snakey bastard out onto a more level playing field. Those people should've been holding the exit open for you...."

A moment of brooding and chagrin followed as she minded her own words. "Oh, hell. You did all right in there. Kinda wish you told Sonic or me where you were going first, but you did put the brakes on Archon McRobotmaker and his buttcheese posse. And you got a bedpan and some hospital food for your trouble, huh? Why they can't just stick you in one of the heal-'em-upper pods...huh. No idea. I'm sure the doctor has a reason, though."

The pigeons further down the ledge were beginning to annoy her. A single nickel made the leap from pocket to hand, and with a fling of the errant coin the centermost bird was pelted. The flock dispersed in a spray of tumbling feathers, leaving her to her thoughts.

"Hell, Saber, those Fifth...Council jerkweeds are great at making things that shoot or explode, but they don't even have a blasted band-aid among them, let alone some nuclear-powered megatech capable of pulling you outta death's commode."

A pensive and pregnant pause followed. Grasping the concrete buttress with a hop and a half-twist of her black-clad frame, she slid stoically to the sidewalk below.

"Lucky for you, I think I know a few folks who have a lot more than band-aids."

* * * * *

"And you score a big, fat zero for cooperation, RoboGeek!"

A stunned curse pealed somewhere inside the voltaic tank's helmet as his airborne body struck the dumpster headfirst. Dismayed, the medic circled around to aid his writhing comrade once the snarling riot guards had moved forward to intercept their attacker. The clattering slides of submachineguns and the smell of gun oil behind her brought that familiar cold calmness to her muscles.

"This is restricted Crey Industries property," that professional thug intoned beneath moustache and mirrorshades. "You failed to comply with...."

"You tryin' to talk her to death, Chuck? Ice her alreohhllgh!"

Crane Kicks the Water.

Chuck's impatient comrade found it difficult to speak through a crushed nose. As he fell, an unyielding hand seized him about the neck as Chuck the riot guard levelled his weapon. Unnoticed for the moment, the medic knelt over the stumbling man bound in his automated armor and helped him to his feet.

Monkey Grabs the Tree.

A nimble swat of her raised foot struck the muzzle aside as Chuck sent forth his messengers of wounds, full auto. Deftly rolling away from the screaming hail of coppertips, she swung and brought her captive's head around. The dull "thunk" of two skulls colliding marked the end of the riot guards' resistance.

And the melody of hypertech firing to life.

Her sole eye narrowed, bearing on a curious silver box which had found its way into that medic's hand. An anomalous cone of scintillating green energy spilled from the device and cascaded across the voltaic tank armor, accelerating the bonds of proteins and healing the man within. And she approved.

"Oh, yeah...that's what Saber needs! Come here, my preciousssss...."

The medic faltered in the throes of uncertainty. The Crey tank did not. "Stand back, doctor," the heavy voice barked, thick with an electric murmur. "This cyclops bitch is overdue for some shock treatment!"

"Oh, yeah? How'd you wanna bill me for...." And she lost her voice, seized up as she was beneath the onslaught of amperage rippling through the air and washing over her spasming form. Barely a sputter could leave her lips as she turned away and crouched defensively. The crackling arcs fell across her back and bit through leather, kevlar and the meat of her ribs before the tank armor's electrofeed compensators fell to silence, recharging.

And with a curl of her spine, she shrugged through the blistering pain and rose.

"Gkk gkkkk gg ggkkk...you...oh, now that just buttered my toast, greasebag." Her thick boots struck the asphalt in a furious stacatto rhythm as the man's metal-sheathed fingers worked with the armor's wrist-mounted induction coil assembly, hoping to prompt the armor into firing prematurely. But he worked much too slowly.

Cobra Strikes the Rat.

Fingertips punched between plates of metal and plastic, finding the flesh within. And within that flesh, a nerve cluster was crushed viciously. The voltaic tank limped pronouncedly to one side as all the muscles on his body's left half went numb and insensate. Weakly, a grunt left the armor's voice amplifier and only encouraged his assailant further.

Tail of the Sunrise Dragon.

Strewn pebbles of cast-off concrete sung as her foot and her calf swept the pavement in a broad circle. With a thundering flop the Crey tank's shoulder struck where he had stood a scant moment before, and the medic twisted through the open space beyond, floundering across the dumpster's breadth. The tank rose to stand again, to meet with only a relentless assault.

Seven Kings Punch.

Iron Strikes Jade.

Thunder Greets the Storm.

March of the Wooden Horse.

Eagle Claws the Serpent.

Crane Kicks the Water.

Burbling through spilled saliva and a head pounding with pain, the Crey Industries enforcer lay there in his battered armor, face down, unmoving save for the odd writhe or turn bidding for a futile comfort. She stood over him, content with her accomplishment and pausing a brief spell to catch her breath. But she heard a deep inhale and a grunt approach from her rear, and knew that her task was not yet finished.

As fast as thought, the palm of her hand instinctively crossed her breast to snap aloft and around behind her, seizing the fist before it connected with the back of her head. Not releasing that hand, she spun sharply on one heel and met the medic eye to eye.

"You trying to be funny?"

Mere seconds later, she sat astride the heedlessly bold medic's thorax and took the projecting medical device from his limp hand. A steady shaking of his head prevented him from slipping into a daze, for she needed his answers.

"Now listen. My friend's in the hospital because he risked every last friggin' thing he had to save this godforsaken city from a madman with a giant robot, got it? Yeah...sounds funny, but trust me; It's not. Now, the hospital gear isn't helping him out much, but that's hospitals for you. So I figure the Countess has buckets of cash and she invested a good chunk of it in medical technology, just to keep her army of goons functional. Some of it might've gone to help doofus over there adapt to his tank armor, I don't know. Point is, she has what the hospital doesn't, right? So I've seen you mutts use these things on each other before...."

"...no...you don't understand," the medic gasped, his every breath a strenuous effort beneath her weight bearing down on his chest. "We have this...but we've been trying to emulate Rikti medical...tech for years. Theirs appears to be...better somehow...not sure if it is, but no data suggests otherwise. There is much I do not know...."

"Blah blah blah. Just save your breath, will you?" She peeled a fleck of burnt leather--steeped in electric ozone--from her vest and flung it to the street as she rose from his laboring ribs. "I'm donating your gizmo to the Society for Saving Sterling Saber's Sweet Ass Fund Good People Charity Whatever...whether you like it or not. But in the off chance that you're not lying to me, I think I had better pay a courtesy call to a few Rikti invaders. Besides, I've heard rumors that the entire hospital teleportation network's built on stolen Rikti tech. So I might as well see if it's true."

Turning back to the street, she almost ignored the plaintive cries behind her. "Still can't...breathe...."

"Physician, heal thyself...you sorry punk butt."

With no further words to be said, the Widowed broke into a fevered pace and raced to the gate which soon loomed between her and Crey's Folly. If she had a say in the matter, her comrade would be restored to health. They were fellows, comrades in battle. And as if that weren't enough, he was to commence his task of running the Boy's Town fencing course next month. And he couldn't train the indigent youths and teach them some discipline if he was dead.

By her word, Urban Bushido would look after their own. And there was no question in her mind that the others were working no less hard at saving Sterling Saber than she was....

[Radical Dreamer]

Vivian Walker, also known as the Dixie Samurai, leaned against the kitchen wall of her small one bedroom appartment in Steel Canyon. She was waiting patiently for the cup of water in the mircrowave to heat up so that she could prepare her nightly drink of green tea. For the longest time she had been a coffee drinker but lately she had developed a mysterious craving for the beverage.

The sharp chime of the microwave signaled the heating's completion and the western themed hero removed the cup and began steeping the tea. She was about to add just a little bit of sugar when the phone rang. Setting the cup down on the ceramic tile kitchen counters Vivian steped into the living area of her apartment and over to the phone. Picking it up she spoke into the reciever. "Hello?"

"Vivian, this is Azure Specter, Brendon's friend." the voice on the other end betrayed the speaker's emotions. Clearly Azure was bothered by something.

"Ah recall the name but ah don't recolect givin you this number." She had never actually met Azure Specter but had heard of his exploits through their mutal friend.

"That's not important. It's about Brendon. He's been hurt." Andrew explained.

Vivian froze at the words. The sound of her own breath and the beating of her heart sounded like a thunder storm to her ears. However bad the shock was it quickly disolved and was replaced by an intense burning anger. "Hurt?! Who?! How?! Where?!"

"It was the Council during a raid on their Striga base. They armed the self-destruct and he was caught in the blast while saving some of the other heroes with him."

"Damn." she uttered and quickly sat down on her couch. They had been through so much lately with the entity inside of him and it seemed like they had scored a victory against it. To go through that ordeal only to have this happen. It didn't seem real. "Where is he now?"

"Talos hospital, burn ward."

"Ah'll be right there." she said and clicked the phone off. Standing again the blonde haired woman took a deep breath, set a determined expression on her face and walked to the door of her appartment. There, hanging on a rack, was her cowboy hat. Putting it on her head she took a brief moment to adjust it. Then, she pictured the roof of her building in her mind and in an instant she teleported herself up to the roof. Next she cast her gaze over thousands of lights in the many sky scrapers of Steel Canyon toward the monorail station to Talos island.

In a series of flashes she made her way over to the station, her journey halting only for the few brief seconds it took her to land on a window ledge or rooftop to take off again. In under a minute she was onboard the train to Talos. Once at her destination it was the same drill as she made her way to the hospital's front doors. Storming inside she was assaulted by the typical disinfectant smell that accompanied all hospitals. A quick questioning of the receptionist and a check of her hero I.D. gained her the location of the room that he was in.

Another teleport to the proper floor followed by a short walk found her standing in front of his room. Taking a deep breath to prepare her for what was to follow she opened the door. It was dark inside but she could make out Brendan's form on the bed, his face wraped in bandages. The scene brought back the same feeling as when Azure first told her the news. She could also make out the shape of Alumette, not surprising considering it was the two of them trying to fight the entity inside the hero. Slowly closing the door behind her she walked over to the meditating hero and sat down beside her. This was going to be a long night.

[Alumette]

Alumette felt a gentle presence beside her and slowly opened her eyes. It was Dixie. "Bonsoir," she said softly. Alumette looked completely serene, although her eyes betrayed her worry. "I was wondering if Azure had called you too." She smiled gently. "I'm glad you could make it," she said. "I don't know what to expect when he comes to," she nodded towards Brendan. "But regardless, I'm sure he'll need his friends around him." Alumette paused a moment, reflecting. "Do you know if Ein has been contacted?" she asked.

[Kurai Inago]

It was late when Vincent recived the call from Azure, and he was at home (If you could call a delapidated hotel room "Home") pondering his current situation.

*Ring*

"Hello?"

"Hello.... This is Azure Specter"

"Oh hey, it's been ahwhile"

"I'm afraid I have some bad news about Brendan"

"What..... What happened?"

"There was an explosion at Striga today.... he was caught in the blast.... He's unconcious at the moment."

"Damn... Is he gonna be alright?"

"The doctors aren't sure at the moment...."

"Well... I guess I'll have to come vist then, I'll be there as soon as I can."

*Click*

And I was just starting to think I was doing good for the city again. "Brendan... why you...... How am I supposed to be a hero when I can't even save my friends."

It was then that Vincent got another pressing phonecall, this one pertaining to a personal debt of gratitude.

He put on his costume and ran off, pushing the days events from his mind.

[Radical Dreamer]

"Howdy." Dixie nodded in greeting to Alumette as she came out of her meditative trance. "Ah don't know the answer to that but ah bet if Azure thought enough to call us he called her. Not everybody is as fast as us when it comes to gettin around."

Looking back over to Brendon she examined the gauze bandages that covered his burns. Ein was likely to burst into tears when she saw that. Even Vivian wanted to shed a few tears for her friend. "Ah would imagine he's goin to be in a lota pain or too doped up to focus on anythin. Either way he's not gona be much for conversation. Still a friendly face is better'n nothin. Ein's gona be the one he really wants to see though. Hope she gets here soon."

[The Widowed]

The pale tint of whatever viscuous toxin had tainted the contaminated water still clung to the soles of her boots, though some had rubbed off on the breast of the broken Rikti warrior who lay supine just five yards away. A shallow plasma burn had singed her left temple, leaving a wake of blistered skin and burnt hair as it went. And the hole in her duster hat would need mending, but for the moment she hardly paid mind to it.

Idly brushing the itchy Fungoid spores from her vest and her neck, she mashed a speed-dial number on her pocket phone and began speaking in a raspy, recovering voice.

"Captain's log, stardate thirty-three dash sixteen dash whatever. My search for the Rikti medical artifact continues. The Science Officer claims that it is the only device capable of saving Ensign Saber from an acute case of deathitis. My search has progressed behind schedule, as I have unexpectedly encountered no fewer than five of their patrols."

The bursts of chaingun fire split the air roughly sixty yards away; It would seem that Crey Industries was throwing even more of their crisis units at the defunct ceramics factory which the Rikti away teams had converted into a bunker. But the Rikti had already been dug into the fortification for weeks, and nothing less than a superhero--or several--would be enough to push them from the nest.

Inwardly she hoped that the Crey leadership wouldn't get the same idea and send in their Paragon Protector teams. She hated Protectors.

The reports of a half-dozen plasma discharges washed through the stale air. And the thundering of collapsing Crey armor followed swiftly after.

Undeterred with the proximity of the firefight, she leaned back behind the ruined water tower and resumed with the message. "Though setbacks to our mission have been encountered, I expect the Rikti medical device to be in my hands by sunrise. The Rikti device can be recognized by...well, its shiny metal which looks kinda like plastic, and it's healing energy...oh, hell. I don't know what it looks like, I'm just going off a hunch and some Crey lackey's testimony here. I guess I could just hit one of these Rikti goombahs over the head with a cinderblock and see where his friends take him. That should help me find it."

From somewhere beyond her hard cover, the crisis unit sergeant barked an order to retreat. Sharpshooters provided cover for the crisis units as they pulled their wounded to safety. Within the burned-out hulk of the factory, the Rikti soldiers crouched out of view, recharging their weapons and bracing for the next wave of attack.

"So anyway, my Rolodex is still sitting on the end table next to the phone and the benchpress, so I don't have any of your phone numbers handy right now. But four or five of you should still have keys to my hole-in-the-wall just in case, so I figure one of you might stumble across this answering machine before long. Just thought I'd let you guys know where I was: Crey's Folly, trying to hunt down some Rikti tech so we can heal Brendan. Not sure of the exact location yet, but there's a pretty cool firefight just around the corner. Looks like Crey's getting frisky again. Anyway, there's some leftover moo goo gai pan in the fridge; Go ahead and eat it before it goes bad. Vincent, your Tai Chi video's on the kitchen counter; Thanks for letting me borrow it. If this is Gabe, stay the hell out of my bedroom. You know why. If it's Vivian or Stephen or Vincent, well, make sure Gabe stays out of my...."

BEEEEEEP!

Abigail cursed her answering machine and its three-minute message recording limit. The storming boots of powered armor suits heralded Crey's return to the skirmish. Stray plasma bolts peppered the cistern across the street, leaving bursts of green energy and blackened rings on scorched steel. The shoot-out was getting closer.

But perhaps there would be time for a follow-up call. So she mashed the Redial button and sat through the greeting again. Something akin to the whooping howl of a frenzying beast spilled free of the Rikti stronghold, giving her pause for thought.

"Anyway, I'm not sure what plans you guys have; For all I know, I might be the only one trying to keep one Sterling Saber off the coroner's docket, but I'd appreciate it if you could drop me a line. Don't worry; I have it set to Vibrate in case of...."

The pungent odor assaulted her sinuses moments before she heard the clicking and chortling bounding up behind her. Rolling away from the pounces, she evaded three of the attacks. But the fourth Rikti monkey seized her hair at the base of her neck with its misshapen paw, and the beast swung around as she balanced the cellular phone between wrist and cheekbone, turning to kick an errant monkey away in disgust.

"Gotta go! Bye!"

As another monkey leaped and clung to her forearm, the cell phone bounced and clattered away, losing its battery as it soundly struck the concrete curb. The first monkey had by then been torn from her hair and hurled into the toxic cesspool below, but the Widowed's eye narrowed balefully as four more bounded into the recess to take their fallen broodmate's place. The light, clacking foorsteps which drew near betrayed the Rikti headsman's approach. No doubt he had come to investigate the monkeys' sudden excitement....

"Okay, then! Step right up, you skinless freaks!"

A Dragon's Tail footsweep bought her enough breathing room to begin fighting through the herd. The pitiable noises of wounded and crippled Rikti monkeys followed her as she beat a path to the nearest improvised weapon: A three-foot length of discarded rebar, leaning against a fragmented parking curb. And as she reached for the rebar, it was only from the corner of her eye that she noticed the headsman appear, lining her up in the sights of his plasma rifle.

"Brendan, you'd better be really frickin' grateful for this...."

And the report of the plasma discharge washed through the stale air.

[Nyx]

Ein sniffed and made a face. She hated the smell of hospitals. Her stomach was already a mass of quivering butterflies as she carefully made her way down the hallway to the room she was told her boyfriend was in. Her father followed behind, one hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

She quickened her pace when she spotted Azure outside one door, glancing from his cell phone to the window into the room. He noticed her out of the corner of his eye and nodded to Ein… and after a moment of recognition, to Lord Mischief as well. The three shared an uncertain look, then Andy pushed the door open a bit for Ein and nodded for her to go in. Quietly, clutching her father’s hand, she slinked in, only to stop in her tracks.

"Oh god..."

There he was… wrapped up in bandages, the picture of pain… she felt a couple of tears trace their way down her cheeks. Mischief gave her a squeeze.

“Go on. He needs you.”

Swallowing, despite the fact that her mouth was dry, Ein went to his bedside. Much of him was hidden under bandages, but his face was exposed enough for her to brush his cheek…

“B-Brendan?”

It took a moment, but Ein finally noticed Alumette and Dixie…

[Impact]

(("Reconstruction Blues" - from Macross))

Dr. Mustang continued to make his rounds during the still very busy hospital. He was the doctor on call tonight and his main duties were to make sure that the rooms holding the rikti healing baths continued to be cleaned, used, and then immediately ready for the next patient. Though the tanks were healing patients quickly, the number of civilians who still needed the treatment were still much higher than he liked.

With a sigh he checked over the list of people who were waiting to be transported to hospitals in Atlas Park, Galaxy City, Steel Canyon and Independence Port. "At this rate we can save all these people....but.."

His steady pace stopped in front of a room filled with men and women of all shapes, sizes and colors. Some wore armor, some were hardly clothed...but to him and every person in the hospital they all had one thing in common....they were heroes....and they were clearly becoming exhausted.

"....at what cost to these people?"

Shaking his head slowly he silently said a prayer of thankfulness that they had answered his earlier plea to all the city's superpowered citizens to come offer aid in this time of need. Some had come and gone, they'd worked out some sort of shift system but it was clear that even heroes had their limits as they'd worked nonstop teleporting, healing, and comforting the wounded however they could.

"To think....I used to believe that they considered themselves to be above normal people....but....I'm grateful I was wrong...."

"Did you say something Dr. Mustang?"

Glancing around he found himself at the nurse's station, he slowly shook his head. "Ah..no sorry....I was just thinking out loud." The dark haired nurse gave him a sympathetic smile and nodded slowly to him, then turned her gaze back to the computer screen in front of her. As he turned to walk off one of this shift's nurses came up to him and handed him a folder. "Here you go Dr. Mustang, these are the test results for Brendan Sterling."

"Thank you....they were ready sooner than I thought they'd be. Good work." He opened the file and leafed through it as he headed towards the patient's room. "As strange as it is.....it's just as I thought..." Of all the patients who'd come to the hospital today he was one of the ones who stuck out in his mind.

When he reached the door to Mr. Sterling's room he nodded to what he assumed to be a close friend or relative then knocked quietly, and entered. Inside he saw three women and another man, all of whom immediately looked up at him as he entered. Speaking softly he held up a hand and attempted a smile to show his sympathy.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Mustang. I'm the doctor on call and I've been here since Brendan's arrival. I know you're probably wondering why he wasn't one of the first ones placed in the healing tanks so I'll start there. When he arrived this morning he was hardly conscious and more than a bit delirious, at least that's what we thought. As we attempted to place him in a tank he adamantly refused, saying that there were others who needed it more than he did."

His gaze fell on each person in the room then finally rested on the still sleeping Brendan.

"As I said we thought he was delirious but we couldn't very well force the issue when he began to brandish a weapon. With things as hectic as they were this morning we treated and wrapped his wounds and collected his things, which I can gladly have brought here if one of you would like to keep them for him."

After a slight nod from Ein he continued. "Obviously, the majority of his injuries are burns from the explosion along with several broken and fractured bones from the collapse of the base....at least that's the assumption we've been working from."

Slowly making his way around the bed he checked Brendan's IV and vitals. "Oddly enough though, he seems to heal a bit faster than a normal person....but then again I guess that isn't too odd in this town. At any rate though, we should have all the civilians healed or transferred to other hospitals by late tomorrow night or very early the following morning, which, at that point we'll place him in a healing tank."

Turning slowly he waited a few seconds for any immediate questions then lifted the folder in his hand. "This..." he motioned again to the file, "...is the file we have on Mr. Sterling. Inside it are the results of some tests we ran on him after I noticed some unusual activity in his brainwave patterns. Now....we're not entirely sure as of right now but they show a striking similarity to the ones we've seen in the...ahh Kheldian hosts, I believe would be the best term for them. Except this seems to be much more parasitic in nature. Also...when compared to other hosts...whatever it is that's also inside him seems to be to a lesser degree."

He closed the file and sighed. "I really wish I had more solid information for you and I've made a few calls to try and get some specialists here but it'll be at the earliest tomorrow before any of them arrive." Moving towards the door he stopped as he opened it and looked over the room again. "We really appreciate the things you all do....I only hope that now I can help you in return. But....if no one has any questions I'll leave you with him. He seems to be fine enough that a few of you could stay with him overnight.....having loved ones here may help him regain consciousness quicker, at least that's what it's shown in my experience. Of course call if anything changes or you need anything....I'll be here all night."

Pulling the door closed quietly behind him, Dr. Mustang said another prayer then continued on his rounds.

[The Widowed]

"Damnitdamnitdamnitdamnitdamnitdamnitdamnit...."

Her feet barely touched the floor as she sprinted madly away down the blue-lit corridor, as fast as her legs could carry her. Her wake was marked with the impacts of stray Rikti plasma bolts, peppering the walls around and raining to the floor, leaving puffs of thin smoke as polish and paint were seared to oblivion.

A single leap carried her easily up the stairs. The light ahead was fading. "You can do it, Abby. Stepstepstepstep one door two...."

A flash of hot light on the other side threw her back through the doorway and planted her squarely on her shoulder blades with bone-jarring force. A scorch mark the size of a tea saucer sat squarely beneath her ribs, casting more tufts of wispy smoke rising from her belly. Arching her back, she brought up her knees and bounced back to her feet with a vigorous kippup, just in time to face the black powered armor of the headsman gunner coming through the open doorway to finish her off.

She spat a curse and met the Rikti lieutenant's gaze. "You do that again and we might not be friends anymore." Unmoved with her stoic jest, the gunman leveled his rifle.

The shot missed broadly as she faked left and rolled to the right, then swept in to deliver a solid punch to his midsection. The armor's alloyed shell buckled beneath the focused blow; In the gunman's dismay, the plasma rifle fell to the floor, only to be swiftly replaced with the scintillating edges of a Rikti power sword. From somewhere behind her, the metal-shod boots of her other Rikti pursuers drew nearer....

Unwilling to let the power sword be brought into a striking position, the Widowed lunged in and seized his wrist with a deft swat of her palm and the clasp of her fingers.

"Save it for the tomatoes, Ginsu boy." Her crushing heel came down on the headsman's knees in two swift strokes--one after the other--aided by the force of gravity. An unrecognizeable gurgle escaped the black helmet as her attacker pitched forward and crumpled to the floor.

"Well, you guys seem pretty human to me. I mean, your knees even make those little human-like pops when I suddenly bend them the wrong way, you know? Oh, wait...hold that thought."

She arranged herself just at the jamb inside the first doorway, a fine choke point if ever there was. The first Rikti appeared through the doorway....

Thunder Kick

And the intruder faltered and doubled over, clutching his abdomen.

Thunder Kick

The solid kick to his face sent the Rikti guardian tumbling backwards through the door. Another came forward into the doorway to take his fallen comrade's place.

Thunder Kick

• • •

From far and below, she beheld the white, humming rings pass twice over the squatting Rikti's body. Proteins fused, wounds vanished, crushed tissues were restored to unwounded elasticity. Such a device would surely work wonders for Brendan.

The only problem? It was taller than a man, and easily half as massive.

"Looks like a sleeker and prettier version of what we have in the hospitals. Let's see...ten foot vertical and twenty-five feet of gap between my platform and his. Yeah, it beats taking the long way around."

Stomp stomp stomp step step step touch touch touch...the hallway leading to the balcony afforded just enough length for a running start. The Widowed pitched headfirst over the balcony and, with a firm flex of her hamstrings, brought her legs up and over the rest of herself. Her somersault carried her over the span just enough to lock her hands around the guardrail on the other side. The surprised Rikti struggled to worm free of the healing pod; Simultaneously, he beheld the human intruder swing herself up over the railing and land soundly on the platform.

"The doctor will see you now. And by 'now' I mean 'later'."

A scant moment later, the recovering Rikti was unceremoniously thrown from the platform and tumbled to the floor two stories down, landing with a resonant flop.

She ogled her prize like a sugar addict who had finally been given a chocolate bar. "Oh, goody goody goody! My, you're a big one! I'm gonna hug ya and squeeze ya and name ya George," she cooed as she went about unplugging the apparatus from its moorings. "And I'm gonna unplug ya and drag ya back to civilization and stick my friend inside ya and kick ya till ya work and...."

Her senses zeroed in on the threat just before the blast from behind slammed into her ribs, propelling her sideward with enough force to breach the metal wall. Steel and stone and fragments of the electric lighting rained to the floor where her body went crashing through the barrier.

The drones and the chief soldier who guided them maneuvered around the pit to find her. The drones, of course, thought nothing. But the leader silently speculated on the chances of the quarry being struck down with but one fatal shot.

And then she pulled herself shakily back through.

Her eyes welled with rage, rage enough to bring her to stand. Rage enough to fortify the muscles which bore her into the confrontation. Rage which clawed at the thick of her mind yet still wasn't enough to extinguish her sinister sense of humor.

"You...bastards," she growled, pausing to spit a bloody gout of saliva to the floor. "If you shoot this thing...I'm gonna sue your asses off!"

And she leaped. And she charged.

[Kurai Inago]

Vincent Sat in a chair in the hospital thinking about what Dr. Mustang had said.
He had an Idea. Maybe even a plan.
But it was Reckless, and stuipd. Possibly even dangerous.

He decided to let everyone else choose for themselves.

"So... A Nictus. I don't know much about them other than the fact that they aren't good, that they're parasites, and that they plague our friend here," He paused, thinking for a moment," I also know, that those quantum guns kill them."

"I'm thinking if we can get one of these guns, and awaken the Nictus in him, and then we blast him, it might knock it out of his system. Or it could kill him. Maybe the Nictus'll just shake it off and kill us. Maybe It'll explode into a bunch of Rikti monkeys, hell I dunno. But It might work, and I'm willing to take a chance if you guys are."

[Alumette]

Grace smiled kindly at Ein, grateful, for Brendan's sake, that Ein had finally arrived. She allowed her a moment to take in the situation, and then added gently, "Ein, you know, if there's anything you need, anything at all, just ask."

Upon the doctor's arrival, Grace listened intently. She smiled as she heard him recount how Brendan had resisted being placed in a healing tank, thinking to herself, "That's Brendan." She exchanged a knowing glance with Ein and Dixie, but as she listened to more of the doctor's report, and idea struck her.

After the doctor left, Grace took in the other heroes with a glance and tentatively offered, "I wonder if Brendan is hoping that his condition will cause the Nictus in him to leave, or die, or whatever they do. Perhaps his refusal to be healed wasn't entirely motivated by his good nature. He maybe trying to save himself from the darkness that's eating away at him."

She shrugged. Perhaps the others would find it absurd.

And then Vincent spoke up. Grace's eyes widened as he described his plan to fire a quantum weapon at Brendan. "Not on your life," she said. But in the back of her mind, the idea tumbled. It was more of an idea than she'd offered. But still, it was among the most reckless things she'd heard in her life.

"We need someone who is an expert on the Nictus. And we need to figure out what his sword has to do with it, if anything." She glanced about the room, hoping the others would have something better to contribute than her restatement of the obvious. After a bit of a silence, she offered, "Ein, I think it's best if you stay with him tonight, if you can. If you need, I can cook dinner and bring it in, and anything else you need." She looked at the rest of the crew in the room. "That goes for anyone, really, who chooses to stay. I'm going to see what I can find out in the city. But I'll be the go-to person for anything you need me to bring to the hospital. I'll have my comm on all night. Just ask."

[Kurai Inago]

Vincent was actually more than a little relived when his plan was vetoed. He knew in his own mind that he was a king of reckless (And admittably stuipid) plans, and it had gotten him in trouble more than once, and he would rather not bring a friend into danger because of a hunch. Besides, he'd be shot with one of those guns himself before, and he knew it hurt like a bitch. So... Time for a new plan. One that wouldn't be so damn reckless.

"An Expert on the Nictus Eh? The only Kheldian I've ever met was Moonfire. So I've got no clue as to whom we should speak to...."

"Or maybe we should just interrogate some of the Nictus themselves? Some of them have been known to show up near villain activity...."

[Nyx]

Einmyria wasn’t sure what a Nictus was, except that it was probably bad. She wasn’t sure about much of anything, actually, because she was still in shock, and still kneeling by Brendan’s bed, holding his hand, in some sort of daze. She did understand kindness, though, and dared to smile a bit at Grace’s offer.

“Thank you so much… for being willing to do whatever’s needed… and for helping watch over Bren until I got here… and…”

She wasn’t really sure what else she was trying to say. She was too busy chewing at her lip and wishing she could cling to Brendan and have him catch her up in his arms like he used to do. She wanted to kiss him, cry, beg him to be okay… her head was such a buzz of thoughts and feelings that the hand on her shoulder was a welcome point of focus.

“Yes, we thank you for your kindness… Grace? Is that your name?” said Mischief. “But I’m sure a meal would do everyone some good, even if Ein isn’t hungry. I think if some of us can find out more about this thing which is plaguing him, that will help, but, if I may…”

He held up a hand, and the faintest glimmers of magic played at his fingertips. “I have some healing magic of my own, which could ease his pain for the moment. It’s temporary, but would leave him more coherent than the morphine surely would…”

Ein finally looked up at her father, as if begging him to make use of his gift of healing, for the sake of her beloved. Seeing no reason he should not, he began a chant, quietly, in some language that was not English, nor Norwegian, nor even Asgardian, but an old, long lost tongue, all the while reaching out to gently touch what showed of Brendan’s hand. Upon contact, a green wave shimmered over the wounded hero, lingering and flickering for a moment before seemingly evaporating into the air. The Trickster ended his chant.

After a moment of silence, Einmyria dared to ask…“Brendan?”

[Radical Dreamer]

"Ah wouldn't discount usin some of those quantum weapons so quick. There mahght be somethin to it but we'd need the advahce of some of the intellectual tahpes. Maybe in low doses we can force the Nictus from Brendon without toastin him." Dixie added as a compromise between the two absolutes. It would be just like using fire to remove a tick and since the Nictus were the biggest parasites the world had ever seen the logic seemed to follow through. Right now the young woman wanted nothing more then to see the Nictus without a host so that it could be destroyed once and for all.

Rising to her feet Vivian looked at the grieving Einmyria. She had only met the young woman a few times and that was when she was training full time with Brendon on her swordsmanship. However she had heard much more from Brendon himself and it was clear that the feelings the two had for one another were genuine.

"Ah'll go with you Alumette." she said as she turned her head toward Grace. "Two can cover more ground then one. Maybe we can fahnd a Peacekeeper or Warshade around. Heck even a hero with a background in scahence an technology would be more then we have rahght now. Ah could also try takin that sword and seein what ah can fahnd out. Ah know Brendon has been doin that for awhile now but maybe ah'll get lucky and fahnd somethin he missed."

As Vivian waited for Alumette's thoughts on the plan of action another idea jumped into her head. "You know we should really contact Wids an the others in Urban Bushido. They'd wanta know bout what's goin on an maybe they can help."

[The Widowed]

Fragments of the exit doors lay scattered across the street, resting in silence save for the groan or gurgle of the Crey operatives and Rikti raiders who had fallen among the debris. A steely clamor mingled with the voice of contentment echoing through the corridors of the darkness below.

"Whistle while you work. Doo dee doo doo doo dee dee. Countess Crey's a jerk. Doo dee doo doo doo dee dee...."

Straining and grunting with her load, the Widowed dragged the healing pod out of the ruined factory and onto the crumbling sidewalk outside. The steel chains which bound the hulk together clattered in protest as she gently laid the pod on its side.

"Well, it seems the worst part is over," she speculated, taking a seat on the pod. "I can just roll this thing down the street, all the way to Brendan's hospital. Maybe I'll get a lot of funny looks on the way, but I'll be the heroine of the day when Brendan sees me rolling in with...."

A sharp gurgling came from below, interrupting her.

Taking it with no less aplomb than a common idle conversation, she answered randomly. "Well, sure. I expect that I'll have to roll you over a hill of rubble here and there, but my back can take it. As long as I keep you out of the cesspools, we should be fine. Don't need you drowning or waking up a bunch of Deathspores, do we?"

More meaningless gurgling ensued. Drawing a pack of chewing gum from her breast pocket, she shook her head as if annoyed.

"Look. We can work around the power supply issue, can't we? I mean, it's a hundred and twenty volts all over the place...maybe two-forty here and there. I don't know. That's why we have techies. They live for this stuff."

A desperate pounding and thrashing came from below. The Widowed continued to sit, gazing out over the clouds of yellow toxins rising from the water treatment plant. "Oh, yeah. That. I'm not sure what the police drones will do about you. I mean, the things are in front of every hospital. Might create problems getting you in. But without you, we might have a lot more trouble getting this gizmo to work. Come on. You're an expert with this stuff, right? Help me out here."

The voice in the pod fell silent.

"See? That's the problem with you guys. You get all pouty when you lose. I mean, how do you expect to take over the friggin' planet when every kid who plows you over with a bicycle sends you into a sulking pityfest? You need to develop a little more focus or you'll never get anywhere. Here, want some Supermint?"

With a wry smile she thrust the half-spent pack of stick gum through the bars of the healing pod. The Rikti guardian inside--bound hand and foot with chains--was unable to do anything more than look at the gum as it was offered to him and soon withdrawn.

"Suit yourself," she muttered as she hopped back to her feet. "Just wanted you to have something to tide you over. It's a long and bumpy ride back to the Brickstown tram, after all. Maybe if I run you up the ramp fast enough the police drones won't notice...."

With a solid push of her foot, the healing pod began rolling down the street. The Widowed followed immediately behind, pushing and shoving every yard of the way....

[Impact]

(("Warrior's Suite" - Rurouni Kenshin))

*Inside the volcano, Striga Island. Earlier that day*

It was hot. Very...very...very hot, and things weren't going well. On one side of the railing five Warcrys and about seven Zenith mechs stood waiting and watching, the eerie red light from the molten lava below us all glinting off their armor.....on the other side was the partly robotic Archon Bulkholder with his two Ascendant bodyguards, an evil grin on his face as he tossed another of our comrades down into the stairwell....the sound of his ribs cracking against the railing echoing over the silence. Reaching up, Saber wiped away some sweat, only to have it be nearly instantly replaced with more and inched a little closer to Mahaf and Thora.

"Alright....." he whispered softly, "...there's mounted guns all around us...Thora can you take them out?"

She turned, giving him the same questioning glare she'd been giving him since they'd begun working for Ernesto Hess.

"Of course I can. I'd hardly be a warrior goddess if such things posed a threat to me. Why do you ask? The real battle is there."

Lifting her arm she pointed a finger at the grinning Archon, who motioned for her to come on with his oversized gigantic claw.

"Why you!!?!"

Thora took a step to move towards him but found Saber's sheath and his arm blocking her path.

"Step aside mortal! I'll put an end to him right..."

"No. You can fly, we can't. Take out those turrents. Hopefully by the time you've done that our teammates will be back up and ready to help us finish this. Mahaf, can you handle those guys while I take on our friend over there?

The shadowy Egyptian god nodded slowly, cracking his knuckles.

"Alright then...." Brendan nodded slowly, sliding his sheath back into his belt, his hand resting for a moment on the small pocket he'd added to it, which held two pictures inside it: one that he and Ein had taken together on a bench in Atlas Park, the other was Ein standing on the balcony outside his apartment, her red hair blowing in the wind as she smiled at him. He sighed, the image of her shocked and teary eyed face from their last meeting flashing in his mind. "Ein....I'm so sorry....I promise I'll make it up to you after this...." ......let's go!"

Bringing his blade up as he quickly closed the distance, he lept up then quickly brought it down on the first Ascendant, who tried to block it with his shield only to have it totally destroyed. Landing he took a step forward, spun and caught his surprised opponent in the jaw with the hilt of his blade, sending him over the railing where he landed two levels below. Smirking at Burkholder for a second he stole a glance back at Mahaf who was making short work of the robots with his Netherworldly powers but Thora was standing in the same spot, looking even angrier than before.

"Thora! What are you doing?!" A bit of worry could be heard in his voice as he saw the turrents begin to target him. "Get them! Hurry!.

"Enough! You will all die here!" With a quick roll Saber avoided impact with the huge claw that was now implanted in the walkway where he'd been only seconds before.

"Sorry buddy....I've got other plans.." Sidestepping a punch from the remaining Ascendant, he locked arms with him, floating behind him and raised his shield just as the turrents began to fire down on him. Closing an eye he turned his head as the bullets bounced and ricoheted in every direction. Once the first salvo finished Saber found himself on the wrong end of the Ascendant's elbow and released him, stumbling back onto the railing for support. "Say goodbye hero!" He charged Saber just as the turrent above them exploded, courtesy of Thora's energy blasts. Taking advantage of his hesitation Saber ducked and spun, the blade flashing in the light as it met with his opponent's head, and lifted him off his feet.

Giving a quick thumbs up to Thora, who simply huffed at him, Saber lifted the Ascendant up and flung him at the freed Archon, who batted him aside in midair with his claw. Saber watched in horror as his still unconscious foe hit a walkway with a loud crack then fell into the bubbling lava. He stood there, his silver eyes widenening then squeezing shut as he looked away, the sight of the man sinking in and the sound of his agonizing screams seemingly homing in on his ears, even over the sound of Thora's blasting and Mahaf's mayhem.

"How.....how could you?!!? He was on your side!"

The tint of the edges of his vision began to darken.....it was beginning to happen again. "NO!....no no....I won't let you...I wont!"

Shaking his head violently, his grip on the hilt of his blade tightened as he tried to focus. It could best be described as a combination of exercises he'd learned from Alumette and Lord Mischief along with his own willpower....a way for him to clear his mind and emotions in order to keep the partial Nictus inside him from gaining control again. His focus was shattered when Burkholder's normal fist buried itself in Saber's gut and was quickly followed by a heavy clubbing blow from the claw to his back, slamming him down onto the walkway.

"You fool! Your pathetic failure will be the herald of a new rule....the rule of the Council!"

Reaching down with his metallic claw, Burkholder clamped it around the now shaking Saber's throat, and lifted him up, laughing as he began to tighten his grip. "All the deaths to come will be on your head hero!"

The sound of an explosion, and the absence of the claws on his neck made Brendan notice the now smoking back of the Archon. Crouching there he looked up to see the smoking hands of Thora and the remains of a Warcry flying towards Burkholder. Gripping the railing, Saber jumped onto the chest of the Council's warmachine just as the robot was batted away. But in the instant that followed Mahaf was upon Burkholder, the sounds of his blows and the archvillain's groans drowned out only by the roar of Thora's massive energy bursts. Using his sword for leverage Saber's vision finally began to return to normal and raising his blade, lept into the fray along with the rest of his teammates, including the injuried ones who'd now made their return to combat.

"Stay on him! He's reeling!"

"You will never defeat me!"

"Wrong villain..." Saber hopped back slightly, then glanced around as his sword began to glow silver, reflecting his namesake. Getting the attention of the villain, he lept onto the railing and ran along it, then launched himself up into the air in an arc that led him down straight at Burkholder.

"Haaa!" "DIE!!"

A loud clang followed by a shriek ripped through the air as sword met claw then sliced into and through it. Brendan landed behind him, glancing back and slowly sheathing his glowing blade while Burkholder clutched at the now limp half of his metallic arm. Breathing a sigh of relief Saber turned to the other heroes and smiled weakly.

"Good work everyone.....now let's get him and get out of here...."

".....oh no.....you don't....I said you'll all die here.....and you will..."

"Burkholder...you're beaten. Give up now." Saber's hand instinctively went back to his sword just as the Archon crawled up onto the nearby panel and smashed a button.

"WARNING! SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED! 30 SECONDS TILL SELF DESTRUCT!"

"We've got to get out!" Saber watched as his teammates hurriedly made their way back down the walkway. "..It's happening again..." In one smooth motion he drew his katana and raised it up over his head, glaring down at his foe, who continued to mock him with his laughter.

"Saber! What are you doing?! We have to go now mortal!" Thora's voice penetrated the advancing haze, and he turned in time to see her floating body impaled by two bullets from new sets of turrents.

"No!" Taking off in a full on sprint, he lunged over the railing and collided with her in midair, sending both of them tumbling into the far wall. Standing up slowly he could feel her blood seeping out of the wounds in her stomach and shoulder. Sheathing his sword again he slowly picked up her limp body, holding her with both hands.

"SELF DESTRUCT IN 20 SECONDS! REPEAT! 20 SECONDS UNTIL SELF DESTRUCT!"

Glancing around as he ran, bullets whistled by him, coming closer and closer while he went down level after level. Hopping down over a rail he landed in a hard crouch as the area around him was peppered with bullets. Gritting his teeth he felt one enter and leave his shoulder while another ripped into his calf. Struggling he slowly rose to his feet and limped along the walkway, as the lava began to bubble up behind them.

"Thora! Wake up!"

She stirred as he limped along, getting closer and closer to the door then surprised him as she half jumped, half pushed her way out of his arms, causing him to flail for the nearby wall.

"What are you doing?!? How dare you touch me!! I am a..."

"SELF DESTRUCT IN 10 SECONDS!! REPEAT!! 10 SECONDS TILL SELF DESTRUCT!!"

"Thora! Shut up and get out!"

Her eyes widened as she flew over and attempted to get his arm over her shoulder. She struggled to pull him along then slowly inched the heavy steel door open. There was never a choice.

"Ein....I love you."

Gathering up what strength he could he shoved Thora through the door. Her shocked face was the last thing he saw before the falling debris knocked him out.

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

*Talos Hospital, Now*

Brendan stood in the middle of the grassy field. Nearby was a badly paved road and the moon rested in the sky above him.....

[Impact]

(("Reminiscence Deep Sleep" - Suikoden 2 OC ReMix)) (http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR00347)

"What the?....Where am I?"

Looking from side to side he slowly ran his hand over his face then his chest.

"Weird...I'm alive..but I'm not at the hospital..."

Instinctively dropping his hand to his waist Brendan was suprised to feel nothing but air where his sword would normally be.

"Well that's just great..."

Bending down in the tall grass he began to feel on the ground blindly, searching in the small area around him.

"...I know I couldn't have lost it..."

Continuing his search, the his sense of worry and urgency grew by the moment as he began to widen his search, leaving a trail of grass that was flattened slightly compared to the rest. Then he heard it.

"What was that....?"

Momentarily halting his search he listened harder....and was answered by a gentle breeze that seemed to carry his name along it's path.

"Brendan...." it whispered as it swept past him and continued on it's way. As if drawn by this breeze, Brendan slowly began to follow in it's wake, ducking under twisted tree limbs until it finally led to an intersection with the road where what appeared to be an old style dojo stood.

"What is something like this doing here...."

Taking in his surroundings, Brendan slowly pulled open the door and peered into the darkness.

"...Hello...? Anybody here??"

His voice echoing off the walls was the only answer he heard. Stepping inside he squinted to look around inside, the moonlight casting an eerie line of light down the center of what appeared to be the main training room. The creaking sound behind him made him turn just in time to see the entrance door slam shut, leaving him in complete darkness.

"Well that's just great...."

Sighing to himself in the dark Brendan began to make his way back to open the door when candles appeared lining the two walls and mysteriously lit themselves, slowly illuminating the room. Watching in what seems to be a trance, Brendan's eyes followed the candles row by row until they reached the far corners of the room where they continued towards the middle and stopped. Between the candles sat a ornate sword rack with a single katana on it. Cautiously observing his surroundings, Brendan walked down the now lit aisle and stopped a few feet from the rack.

"How'd my sword get here?"

The sigh of relief had barely escaped his lips when he heard what sounded like a thunderclap. Glancing around the room once more he made a quick lunge for his sword only to be knocked aside by a huge dark object bursting through the wood floor. The glancing blow sent Brendan stumbling backwards into one of the candleholder and after fumbling with it for a second he grabbed it and steadied it, cautiously approaching the giant figure.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Steadily moving towards the creature, Brendan could see that it looked to be covered in some sort of hard shell and was a lot bigger than he'd thought it was at first. Ignoring him for the moment the creature reached for the sword rack with it's clawed hands then stopped, turning it's attention towards Brendan. Squinting in the light he could make out what appeared to be a face under the shell, complete with a mouth full of teeth. Brendan's eyes widened as the realization of what he was staring at finally hit him......it was a Nictus.

Unconsciously he took a step back and reached for air, realizing his sword was on the rack behind the giant dwarf formed alien. Watching him carefully the creature let out a horrible bellowing sound, which could only have been it's version of laughter. Circling it slowly, Brendan watched as the dwarf form slowly gave way to a purple eyed clone of himself.

"There....now you understand me mortal."

The alien Saber's face twisted into a sneer as he watched Brendan.

"Where are we? And what are you?"

"We....you insignificant flea are inside your mind. And I....I am a conqueror of galaxies, and I am the one who will become the master of this body....that is all you need to know."

Brendan stopped and began to size him up, slowly bringing his hands up, obviously ready and willing to fight. "Hmm....looks like me....might not fight like me....and he seems a little smaller than me....yeah....I can take him.

"Heh...you have no idea how long I've been waiting for this....I'm gonna make you pay for every person I care for that you've hurt."

(("Song of Chaos" - Ninja Gaiden 2 OC ReMix)) (http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR00197)

Laughing once more the alien's purple eyes flared brightly as he took a stance similar to Brendan's and motioned for him to bring it.

"Come then...taste defeat at my hands. We both know you're nothing without your blade."

Brendan only smirked and charged at the clone, who led with a jab-cross combo that struck air, all the while the silver eyed Brendan kept his smirk. Bouncing lightly Brendan responded by swinging his back leg around, checking the clone in the shin hard and knocking him off balance and folding him forward slightly. Catching his chin with his right hand, Brendan lifted him up and introduced his clone to a hard left hook that sent him in a downward spiral to the floor.

"Get up."

The purple alien hurriedly slid back across the floor then stood to his feet.

"You dare to strike me?!! You'll be lucky if I let you live to clean my boots!"

The smirk had faded from Brendan's face. He wordlessly walked intently towards his opponent.

"Raaah!!"

The right hand flew true towards the target the Nictus had intended, Bren's face of course, but again struck nothing. Instead the Nictus felt Brendan's hand hit his left shoulder, causing a sharp popping sound and lifting him slightly into the air, just as his feet were swept from under him. For a second he dangled in midair, held up by Brendan's hand but in the next instant he was drove down into the wood, making a small crater and kicking up dust in a big poof.

"I said GET UP!"

Reaching down Saber grabbed the alien by his jacket and yanked him up to his feet only to deliver a vicious shot to the creature's gut, sending air and blood from his lips and doubling him over onto his knees. Taking the purple eyed clone's head in his hand he held it and measured a punch right to his nose then slammed his head down onto the floor.

Surprisingly the alien slowly and shakily rose to it's feet, it's blood flowing freely from cuts on it's face, lips and nose. The surprise was clear on Brendan's face as the alien began to make a sick, girgling sound.....

"Still managing to laugh eh? Well....I can fix that..."

Brendan began to close the gap between them slowly once more.

Four steps away.....

Three steps away.....

Two steps away.....

His hand was already drawn back and coming in for another hard impact when the alien's eyes shone even brighter.

"...not...this....tiME HUMAN!"

An explosion of dark energy sent Brendan flying back through the air and into the wall of the dojo, the thud and the ringing still echoing in his ears as he slid down the wall. Shaking his head to clear the cobwebs he looked up and watched as the dark dwarf stomped it's way towards him.

"Now....you.....die...."

The cobwebs disappeared rather quickly as Saber dove to the side, avoiding having his head smashed into the wall by the dwarf's foot, while another quick roll got him out of the way of another stomp, which put yet another depression in the wood flooring, and up to his feet.

"Well the bigger they are..."

Taking a few quick steps, Saber closed the distance with a high flying jump kick to the dwarf's plated head, forcing the creature to stumble back a step. While it tried to rebalance Saber buried two quick punches in it's gut then connected with a leaping knee right to it's chin.

"Oow!"

The sharp pain that shot from his knee through his leg brought Saber down to one knee and discouraged him from trying something like that again.

"Heh..heh...heh...heh.."

Moving faster than should have been possible for a creature it's size, the dwarf struck the kneeling Saber in the face with it's armored fist. Brendan's eyes rolled back in his head as he limply fell down to the side dazed. Still laughing the dwarf stomped on the fallen hero, bringing him back to reality as he dented the floor with his body. Slowly pulling his arms in close, his entire body shaking, Saber leaned on his elbows and slowly rose to his hands and knees. Taking full advantage of this the dwarf stepped back and solidly connected with a punting kick that sent Brendan flying the length of the room, through the sword rack then slamming into the far wall, the sound of a few ribs cracking from the combination of both impacts fading as his head throbbed and blood ran freely down his face. Slowly raising his head he managed to focus his eyes enough to see his sword....it was just slightly unsheathed.

"Now...you see...."

The dwarf spoke as it transformed back into it's chosen human form.

"When that witch Stephanie Peebles fused me to you....I was nowhere near my full strength. In truth I was only part of the Nictus you see here...."

Obviously in pain as well the clone slowly made it's way across the room, wiping blood from it's face.

"...but thanks to you I have grown strong. With each creature you killed my power increased...until now..."

It stood face to face with Saber, grinning evilly.

"...now I'm even more powerful than you! And so...I will finish you here and take full control of your body.

"...no...it can't end like this.....you said you wanted to help me....so help already...

Sneering vilely it laughed.

"You seem to be popular with lots of the female creatures on this planet.....don't worry....I'll take very good care of them all. Especially the fiery haired one you hold so dear.....I'll make her my personal slave and entertainer.."

Brendan spit all the blood and mucus he could gather right in his face, smirking slightly as the thing struggled to wipe it out of it's eyes.

"Not a chance in..."

The back of the Nictus' hand struck Saber's face hard enough to knock him to the floor from his imprint in the wall.

"I tire of this....

The Nictus lifted both his hands above it's head, gathering dark energy seemingly from everywhere forming a ball of power that kept growing and growing, sending shadows all over the room. All over except for where the sword lay behind him glowing....

[Impact]

(("Samurai Heart" - Ronin Warriors))

"Welcome to oblivion!"

Still struggling to stand, Saber looked up as the ball of energy crackled loudly, finally fully charged. Saber cringed but stared straight ahead as the Nictus lowered his hands and launched the ball at him. Just instants before it hit Brendan though a blur appeared in front of him and a flash of light caused him to look away.

Blinking and wearily rubbing at his eyes he looked up to see a long haired samurai warrior standing, with Saber's sword in his hands glowing brightly.

"Who..? Wha...what happened?"

The samurai turned and glanced back at Brendan, resting the sword on his shoulder.

"You asked for help didn't you?

Flipping his wrist he spun and sheathed the blade in one smooth motion then bent down to help the groaning Brendan up slowly.

"Can you walk by yourself?

"Does it look like I can walk by myself...and what about the Nictus?"

Giving Brendan a bit of a smirk he jerked his head to the right. Following his gaze Brendan resisted the urge to chuckle at the scorched Nictus lying flat on his back on the floor.

"Wait....what's going on? What'd you do to him and how did you get here?"

Placing Brendan's arm over his shoulder the samurai headed back towards the door. Lightning bolts, thunderclaps and rainfall greeted them as they slowly made it outside, the samurai resting Brendan against the wall as he shut and barred the heavy door then again hefted him up and continued on.

"To answer your questions....I'm saving you and making sure that you are able to continue on and fufill your destiny. As far as our mutual friend, I reflected part of his own blast back at him, in his weakened state it was a bit more than he could handle. And as to how I got here....well....you asked for help and a friend of yours, I believe her name is Alumette, had her Goddess get in touch with me here in your mind."

The sound of an explosion inside the dojo rocked the walls and caused both heroes to look back.

"That sounds familiar....things could get pretty ugly soon..."

"It's possible, but that's not for you to worry about. Listen to me....you're gonna have one chance to get out of here....when it comes, take it.

Brendan nodded slowly and slowly took a step back as the door began to shake and rattle from heavy blows on the inside.

"Remember, you were chosen to carry this blade for a reason. Don't prove me wrong."

The doors flew off the hinges and landed with a splash in the wet grass. The dark dwarf slowly made it's way outside and was greeted by a flurry of sword strikes to it's plated body, the samurai slowly forcing it to step backwards. Moving to watch the battle closer, Brendan heard a familiar voice....one he hadn't heard call his name in a long time...

"Brendan...?"

"...Ein?? Ein??!"

Just inside the doorway the two combatants paused for a second, both looking up as a ray of light parted the clouds. Barely visible inside the ray was the hospital room, complete with a teary eyed Ein sitting by the bed...calling out to him. The Nictus roared and finally connected with the samurai, sending him through the wall of the dojo and out into the rain where he hit the ground, bounced and rolled to a motionless stop. Brendan continued to limp as fast as he could, the strain etched on his face all the while the injured Nictus' heavy footsteps continued to get closer and closer.

As Brendan neared the light the picture became clearer and clearer. He could make out Ein's father, Dixie, Alumette, and several more of his friends, all seemingly waiting for him to awaken. The Nictus reverted to his human form and took to the air, zooming past Brendan.

"No!!

Groaning he tried to force his body to move faster but it wasn't cooperating. Somehow he knew that whoever got to that light first would be the one in control and he didn't want to think of what might happen if the Nictus beat him. As a single tear rolled down his face he looked around, his ears catching a whistling sound...almost like something was...falling..

The Nictus on the other hand was laughing once again mere feet from the light when the light reflected off the silver blade and fell hard onto his back, sending him flying off course and skidding face first in the dirt past the light. Brendan couldn't help but laugh and continue on towards the light, stopping to bow slightly to the warrior who'd come to his aid.

"I'll do my best...."

After he returned the bow, Brendan stepped into the blinding light, closing his eyes tightly.

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

As he slowly opened his light, he was greeted again by a blinding light along with some pain, but not nearly as much as he had been in. Turning his head towards his left he gently squeezed the hand that clasped his and smiled weakly.

(("Her Most Beautiful Smile" - Rurouni Kenshin))

"...hey look.....an angel...."

Ein's head jerked up, staring into his eyes quietly for a moment before more tears welled up and began to fall.

"Bren!! Oh god you're awake!"

He smiled and nodded slowly, tears welling and dropping down his face, making several small puddles on his pillow. Glancing around the room slowly he smiled at his friends before his face was covered in red hair...Ein was standing over him and had wrapped him tightly in her arms.

"Hey baby...I missed you..."

She squeezed him a bit harder. It hurt him some but he didn't mind at all. Her words came out between sobs of happiness.

"...I...I was so worried....you'd been acting so....and....I hadn't seen you in so long...

He gingerly lifted his still bandaged arm and draped it around her, pulling her closer to him. Squeezing his eyes shut he took a few moments to absorb just being in her prescence again.

"Her scent....her touch...."

More tears began to fall...seconds later he was nearly sobbing along with her.

"Ein.....I'm....I'm so sorry...I tried....I tried so hard..."

She pulled back and stared into his eyes, raising her hand to caress his face gently, wiping away his tears as he begun to do the same for her.

"Ein....I love you so much...I....I don't know what I'd do if I lost you...."

Her body visibly relaxed and she smiled at him through her tears, leaned over and kissed him softly.

[The Widowed]

The hand truck creaked its weary path down the streets of New Troy and swayed uneasily beneath the bulk of the healing pod and its passenger. The Widowed pulled it along nonchalantly, doing her best to break the ennui and make idle chatter with her alien captive.

"So I'm kind of thinking that someone like Statesman joining the Green Party could actually give them a bit of presence in the public eye, you know? You take a really popular Hero like Statesman or Schwartzkopf or Hulk Hogan or whoever, you get him elected onto a third party ticket and suddenly the Republicans and the Democrats put their stupid little counterproductive feud on hold and start sweating bullets. And Statesman wouldn't even need billions of dollars to finance his campaign; His accomplishments and his prestige speak for themselves. The rest is just him mugging for cameras and handing out lawn signs to all the rubes. Am I right or am I right?"

A muffled chortling sound--not unlike borborygmus--was the Rikti guardian's only response. She only pretended to understand.

"Yeah, straight to the point. I like that. We're gonna be good friends. I mean, I took such a liking to ya that I even picked up this hand truck so you'd have a smoother ride. You run around Crey's Folly long enough and you'll start noticing half-submerged hand trucks all over the place, so they're pretty easy to find," She recalled, pausing to scratch a deep-biting itch. "The hard part was fighting my way through that mob of deathspores who mistook me for lunch, so I hope you're grateful. I mean, damn...it still itches. I hope I dug out all the spores. It'd be a shame if one of 'em started to incubate...."

A guttural yelp of protest came from inside the pod, followed by the soft thumping of a tightly bound form lurching against the bars. Abigail held the pod fast until the pounding stopped.

"Okay, germinate! I get it! Animals and diseases incubate and plants and fungi germinate! Let it go already! Sheesh."

She grunted as her arms knotted and dragged the hand truck with its cargo onto the curb. Her passenger made a peculiar spitting noise before falling silent.

"See? That's another problem with you Rikti goofballs. You're never satisfied with anything. You have to control whatever you can get your hands on. I mean, let's say you did conquer this island Earth. What's next? 'Well, golly gee, Zorzorg! We have this planet with huge bodies of water, ready-made cities and a slave race of sentient beings! What do we do for an encore?' 'I don't know...let's go conquer some dustball like Mars, just because it's there!' See how stupid this is? Just find your friggin' centered self already."

The Phoenix medical center loomed into view. It bore an imposing profile, being readily large enough to serve all of Talos Island's needs. Somewhere inside, Brendan was waiting.

Abigail lowered the healing pod gently, setting it down to survey the entrance from afar. "Okay, space cadet, here's where it gets hairy. We've done pretty well at racing past the police drones so far, but we haven't had to deal with closed doors just yet. I stop to open the door for you and the drones might just zap you into a jail cell. Wouldn't that suck? What to do, what to do...."

Then her eyes wandered about one hundred yards past the entrance, to where a thick mob of Tsoo criminals gathered. The tong's purpose in sending them to this stretch of the municipality could only be guessed.

"That's it! I'll just rustle up a few ninja. Those Tsoo boys are always so helpful. Like Chinese Boy Scouts, you know? Don't go anywhere."

• • •

"I have delivered what the Lost Son demands. Now where is my payment?"

The ink man's fingers slid across the jade box and its many intricate carvings, their dull green standing in stark contrast to the many vivid tattoos bedecking his hands and his arms. Xian was not impressed with the transaction.

"There were three of Li Tieh Kuai's jade boxes in that shipment. This is only one. Why did you not bring the other two?"

Though the enforcer was chagrined with the rebuttal, he concealed his emotion well. "The Crane clan is not easily thwarted. We used every means to find the other two boxes, but the Circle of Thorns was long gone by the time we got there. We were lucky to recover this one. It has great power."

Xian handed the box off to the sorcerer lingering at his side, shaking his head disparagingly. "One-third of the boxes," he declared as he took only one satchel of money from the enforcer attending him, "one-fourth of the payment."

"No! I went through a lot of trouble just for that one box! Now honor the deal!" Pao's posse of criminals strode deliberately to his side, each hand coyly reaching for a kama or a ninjato. Xian's cohorts responded in kind. The staredown was silently declared.

"The deal, fool, is that you would receive one-hundred thousand dollars for procuring all three of Li Tieh Kuai's boxes! Together, they are far more huuuaaagh!!!"

In that moment, the surrounding Tsoo mob stared dumbfounded at where the Widowed had fallen on the ink man feet-first. He struggled against the sidewalk beneath her, groaning as she ground her heel into the small of his back.

"Rule of thumb: Hit the guy with the biggest mouth first. Something about him barking orders. I don't care. It just feels good...."

"Kill her!"

"Oh, boy! I'm in trouble now!" she sneered, leaping and tumbling over the line of ninja warriors who moved to intercept her. She took flight towards the hospital, twisting and weaving as a swarm of shuriken and arrows zipped past her, some within an inch of striking.

Alerted to the herd of galloping feet, the police drones flanking the entrance rotated to face the Widowed and her pursuers, identifying and acquiring targets through a series of stirring hums and beeps. A barely audible radio transmission alerted the crew of the far away holding facility that they would soon be receiving company.

"Hey, good guy hoverbots! Can I play through?" She galloped spryly past the drones without even turning around to watch them go to work.

The first two transporter rays bore into the enforcers who led the charge, removing them from the scene in seconds. And then, despite whatever training they had received, the herd went into a panic, charging forward and away, unsure whether to bravely continue the chase or to beat a hasty retreat.

And the drones kept zapping all the while. Somewhere, hands locked down on a hand truck and a voice pealed loudly over the crowd. "Hang on, Mr. Spock! You're going for a ride!"

In the commotion, few of the Tsoo noticed her sprinting towards the throng with a healing pod in tow. And only the ink man Xian came forward to stop her, his fists emanating warm waves of droning red energy.

"You witch...."

"Hey, welcome back to the big show!" She half-twisted at the waist and the swan kick which followed sent the ink man pitching forward, directly between the healing pod and the police drone. Abigail violently yanked the pod up the stairs and threw the door open as Xian disappeared in a purple, disintegrating aura.

"There. That takes care of that," she mused, shrugging off the shocked and dismayed gazes of the staff and patients littering the lobby...until she felt the heavy gouts drip onto the instep of her boot.

Blood.

She followed the descents back up to the meat of her shoulder, and to the arrowhead which jutted from it. The arrow had otherwise passed cleanly through the deltoid muscle.

"Oh, hell," she grimaced, only then feeling the sharp sting as she came down from her adrenalized state. "Looks like they tagged me after all."

The guardian seemed to burble his response. The Widowed ignored him for once.

"Good thing we're in a hospital, huh?"

[Kurai Inago]

Vincent Heard a commotion outside and a few moments later, Abigail walked in. "Thought that might have been you" Then he noticed the strange contraption with Rikti in-tow she was lugging with her. "Where did that come from?" "Crey's Folly" "Long walk, how'd you get the Rikti Past Security? Eh, that's not important now I suppose. Alright, it's been discovered that Brendon has a Nictus in him, and he doesn't really want medical help at the moment. Right now we need to focus on getting that alien bastard out of him." He paused for a moment,"I'm going to interrogate some of those Void Hunters and see if an onld contact of mine can't tune down one of their fancy quantum guns, you in? Or would you like some treatment for that nasty looking Arrow wound first?"

[The Widowed]

With a dismissive wave of her hand came her reply. "Thanks for offering, but I'll be fine. There's bound to be some Bactine and a crescent needle around here somewhere, right? Maybe I'll have some doctor look it over just to be sure. They can put it on my tab."

The Rikti guardian lurched forward against the inside of the inert healing pod, transfixing Sonic Star with one dark, beady eye.

"So, yeah. Maybe later I'll get to regale you with the tale of how I swamped the police drones with Tsoo mooks so I could sneak Uncle Fester inside. Maybe you could get the elevator for me while I wheel this thing upstairs, eh? Can't say it's good for extracting Nictus parasites, but maybe those Void Seekers'll lend you a hand with that quantum gun thing."

With a wry grin, she continued lugging the pod towards the elevator, dripping a scarlet trail as she went. The Rikti captive continued to stare at Vincent, snuffling loudly while the pod rolled along.

[Radical Dreamer]

As the touching scene between Ein and Brendon unfolded Vivian quietly slipped outside shortly after Vincent left. She was sure the two of them would want their privacy for a time. Moving away from the door she began to walk to the elevator. The tap tap of her shoes on the hospital's tile floor was suddenly interupted by the sharp chime of the elevator. As the doors slid open she was greeted to a sight that was as comical as it was strange. Vivian had fought the Rikti before but never had she seen one caught in such a helpless situation.

The hows and whys of the situation were quickly answered as the morbidly cheeful Widowed became visible from behind the healing pod. Vivian was immediatly reminded of a cat bringing home a prized kill to the doorstep. Vincent was right beside her in order to help her manuver the cumbersome device. "Good to see ya Wids but you look lahke you've been run through the wringer." Vivian commented as she noticed the driping scarlet trail she was leaving behind her.

Moving to the opposite side of the healing pod and drawing the attention of the Rikti away from Vincent and onto herself, Vivian walked along side Widowed. The trio were drawing more then a few stares from the doctors, nurses, and orderlies as they went about their business. Most of them had never seen a Rikti up close and the few that had did not have pleasant memories. Even some of the younger heroes looked on with awe in their eyes.

"So what's the glass tube for and why the Rikti? He some kinda present for the doctors here or are you plannin on makin a giant pot of soup?" Vivian didn't have the same flare for humor as Abigail but whatever happened she was sure the Rikti's fate wasn't going to be very pleasant.

[The Widowed]

"I wanted to get Brendan a Get Well Soon present, and I wasn't cheap enough to settle on flowers and a card," She explained in her own way, settling the pod down again and pacing around to the chain-bound aperture, snapping the arrowhead and fletching off the transfixing arrow as she went. "I figure that since our hospitals use healing pods based on Rikti tech, why wait for Brendan to take his turn in one when we can outsource one straight from the tap? It looks like they've made a few improvements on it...maybe almost a whole new model. That's why I brought Zaphod along for the ride. He's a Rikti guardian, so he heals his buddies and throws up force fields for a living. This pod's probably right up his alley. Having a techie with us would be an even bigger help, too."

She strolled around the pod full circle, stroking the components as she went. "I've been through enough healing pods myself, so I think I have a little feel for this one. This part emits a micro-tractor beam to extract a few loose skin cells and gather a DNA sample from them; Armed with that DNA sample, the reconstitutors in these three rings here restore the body mass to its original form upon arrival, minus the fatal wounds and foreign objects and such. From what I've heard, the bottom ring also features a dermal signature reader and material scanner; The scanner reintegrates inorganic things like clothing, weapons, cybernetic wetware and whatnot, while the reader preserves scars, tattoos and other identifying marks...kinda like my little accident," she hinted darkly to Vivian, tapping her index finger against her eyepatch. "Works on humans and Rikti alike. Kinda suggests that they're not really all that much different from us, doesn't it?"

"So anyway, the rest is a mystery to me. I've only dabbled with the odd superspy gizmo, nothing with all the parts and complexity of a healing pod. That's why our generous friend here graciously decided to tag along against his will. If he fixes our pod and our pod fixes Brendan, I will personally escort this handsome little space invader back to Crey's Folly, so he can beam back to his mothership and tell them what a groovy bunch of people we are. If he doesn't, well, that's where we take turns beating him down twice before tossing him to the police drones outside." Her hand snaked into the healing pod to condescendingly pat the Rikti on the cheek, evoking a snort of rebuttal before grabbing his face by the jaw and forcing the captive to look her in the eye. "Oh, yeah. You heard. I've tussled with enough of you guys to know how you do things. Psychics and telepaths, right? Maybe you can't interpret what I'm saying word for word, but you can sure feel my little brainwaves and sense what I'm saying to you...can't you?"

The Rikti captive shook his head away from her imposing hand. Hardly daunted, she seized his chin again and spoke as if teaching a lesson to a small child. "Fix pod? Pod heal my friend, you go home. No fix pod? You no go home. Fix pod, yes?"

Within his prison, the Rikti almost seemed to shrug in submission, bound as he was.

"So what do you folks think? Can we call any tech heroes in here to lend a hand? It might take half a day, but I think we can make it happen. I just hope we can figure out what sort of power supply we need for this thing."

[Alumette]

Alumette smiled at Ein and Brendan, touched, as she slipped out to follow Dixie. She pondered what the next step might be, but her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of The Widowed presenting a large healing pod to Dixie, as if giving a product demonstration. Even stranger still, the pod held a Rikti captive. Alumette stood by, observing quietly.

"Well, this is interesting," she commented, smiling. Widdy was nothing if not direct. "A healing pod. And no waiting."

She glanced at Dixie. "Shall we go see what we can find out?" And then back to Widowed, "You should get your shoulder looked at," she offered. "And then I think I might be able to get some people to help. Dom knows a guy. Good with tech, although I'm not sure if he's familiar with Rikti stuff," she shrugged. "Want me to call him?"

[The Widowed]

"Sure. That'd be great," the Widowed appraised. "Even if he's not too keen on Rikti tech, he might be able to get the gist of it and figure out what connects to what. Besides, as long as he appears to know what he's looking at, it might be enough to keep our ugly friend here on the honest side. Not that this Rikti would try to mess with my buddy anyway...would you, Chuckles?"

She patted the Rikti tauntingly on the cheek again before withdrawing her hand from the healing pod. "So, yeah. I'm off to find something for this arrow and whatever other bruises and cuts I picked up while I was out jerking around. Maybe you guys could do a little experiment and see if the Rikti will eat hospital food. I'll be right back."

Cupping her wounded shoulder, she sauntered away to the nurse station.

[Kurai Inago]

"How many times do I have to say it, Rikti don't have mouths!" He yelled after Wids had left, and she dissmissed his claim with a wave of her hand. "Eh, oh well, so you Say Stalking Shadow might have someone who can help?" Alumette Nodded "Good... maybe I won't have to call Dr.Wilhelm after all.... I'm sure he could help but we're not exactly on good terms anymore.... But still, he owes me, so just say if you need help"


Now, How to find a Void Stalker...... The only time they show up is when there are Kheldians around, and Vincent couldn't think of any off the top of his head. "Hmm... Guess I'll have to add Kheldian to my list of accomplishments." He said to himself as he headed out of the Hospital, now headed towards Sunstar the main Paragon Kheldian contact.

[Nyx]

"Ein....I love you so much...I....I don't know what I'd do if I lost you...."

Her body visibly relaxed and she smiled at him through her tears, leaned over and kissed him softly.

* * *

Noticing that most everyone else has left, and hearing some to-do in the hallway anyhow, Lord Mischief excused himself, leaving the two lovebirds alone. He was glad to see Einmyria happy again, and hopefully the bit of healing magic on Brendan would keep him somewhat comfortable for a few hours, long enough for their happy reunion. Slipping outside of the hospital room, he leaned against a wall and sighed, watching from a distance something about a Rikti healing pod.

Inside, Einmyria was sitting on the edge of the bed, indulging in the affection she and Brendan had been sorely missing for several weeks. Lips parting, she whispered, “I love you… you have no idea… as weird as it’s been, you’d have to do worse to lose me…”

Another kiss, and she laid her cheek gently against his chest, hoping she wasn’t hurting him. “We’ll get you better… in the whole sense of the word… No more weirdness… at least beyond what’s normal for Paragon… and… my family…”

Sighing, Ein fell silent for a while, enjoying just the pure pleasure of being near her lover again, and knowing that he was himself for the first time in weeks…

“You know… I can’t wait until you’re feeling better…”

Brendan blinked. Ein had that flirtatious look in her eyes… and it had been a while… She knew he knew what she’d meant by that…

[Alumette]

Alumette pulled out her comm and looked up Jerry's number. She hadn't ever called him for anything, but before Shadow'd left he'd given her the number in case she needed his help with any of the "customizations" Jerry had done on their apartment. Gadgets were as beyond her as magic was to Shadow, but now she was grateful to have the number.

A voice answered, in the condescending tone distinctive to those with technological prowess, "Jerry here. What do you need?"

"Jerry? Hi. um, it's me... Grace. Alumette. Shadow's--"

"Oh hi there!" he said. "What's up?"

"Jerry, a friend of mine needs your help..."

[Jade]

Thora had no concept of privacy or romance in her life. She knew that others had it, but she didn’t understand the need for it in hers. She wandered around Bricktown, watching the Crey and Freaks, and fighting them. She’s trained since she’d last saw him. The city said her “security level” had went up 4 times since she’d seen him last. Shaking her head and sighing, she knew it was time to go back.

“You couldn’t possibly dishonor yourself and not carry out your debt” she said to herself, not that she really knew why, because it wasn’t honor keeping her there, it was not wanting any loose ends. Nodding to herself “Loose ends” She tried to convince herself. “It’s just loose ends I need to take care of”

She blended herself into the shadows and walked to the tram. Sighing, she headed to Talos Island. The steady sound of the tram as it traveled reminded her a of a song her father used to sing to her as a child goddess. She sighed, suppressing the memory, and stepped off the tram. The hot, muggy spring air hit her, as she stepped off the climate-controlled train, and her brow broke a small sweat. Wiping it with the back of her hand, her cape whipped around and snapped her in the leg. Cursing, in her native tongue, at the red mark the cape left. Walking up to it slowly, the hospital suddenly became a larger than life figure, but being unsure why, she shrugged off the feeling, and un-hid herself from the world. It wasn’t her intent to scare anyone but suddenly popping up.

Opening the door slowly, the air conditioning hit her, and gave her a chill compared to the muggy spring air. Sighing, she looked toward the elevators, and stomped over to them. Not that she stomped because she was mad, but because she didn’t know any other way to walk. It was a walk of an angry goddess, however ridiculous it may have looked to others.

She hit the button for the elevator 4 times before it reached her. Not that it took an unreasonably long time to reach her, but she didn’t understand technology. Magic she got, technology she did not. Stepping on, she hit the button to go to his floor. Suddenly she felt closter phobic, and stopped the elevator at the next floor. Her breathing became shallow, and she rushed off, her breathing ragged. “Thora” She snapped at herself, “You are a GODDESS”, her own voice thundering in her head. Snapping her head up, and looking around, she saw the sign for the stairs. She took a deep breath, and started making her trek up the stairs.

By the last flight of stairs, she was glad she was there. Not that she was fatigued, as she was a warrior, and had the body of such, but because she knew that she couldn’t put it off any longer. Looking toward the direction of his room, she sauntered off toward the direction of his room, only to stop for a second to watch someone with a captive Rikti. She’d never seen the beasts up close, and her curiosity piqued for a second. She only looked for a second, and continued her journey toward his room, each step her feet getting heavier. She noticed a man with long white hair standing near the door, and thinking maybe someone posted a guard of some sort she nodded to herself in approval.

The door was closed. “Good” she thought to herself, “he deserves privacy”, as she turned the handle slowly. Opening the door slowly about half way, she peeked her head inside, to see a mass of red hair over his body. Slamming the door open, and powering up, she prepared for battle. “Get off of him NOW” her voiced thundered and echoed in the room. The girl leaning over him jumped, and whirled around to face her, obviously startled and obviously upset.

“What are you doing here” Thora thundered, her body language making it painfully clear that if anyone moved a millimeter she was going to fire. Before the girl had a chance to answer, Thora leaped, and tackled her to the floor. “You’d injure an already wounded warrior?” Thora screamed as she used her forearm against the girls neck to push her to the floor.

“THORA!” Brendan screamed at her, and she jumped startled. “GET OFF OF HER NOW!” Obviously confused, she removed some of the pressure on the girls throat, but continued to hold her down forcibly.

“Saber, she was….”

But before Thora was even able to finish her sentence he was screaming at her.

“That is Ein. She’s my girlfriend!”

The slow realization of it hit Thora, and she released Ein, slowly, eyeing her carefully, as she brushed herself off, the tears still in her eyes from earlier. Thora backed away, still battle ready, her body close to igniting in flames.

“I was here to check on your progress” She said defensively, as they both stared at her, expecting her to explain. “I can see that you are awake, and able to communicate, I will excuse myself”, she said, and tried to walk out the door.

[Nyx]

Loki was staring fiery daggers at Thora as she left, fingers twitching, itching to cast a nasty, lingering chaos spell or otherwise wreak havoc upon the hell-spawned wench that had attacked his daughter… he’d heard the commotion and poked his head in – only Brendan’s immediate command of the situation had held pure, fiery, Nordic chaos at bay.

“Daddy… behave.”

He jumped at feeling a female hand slip into his… Einmyria. He turned to her, trying to force some of the sheer venom out of his expression.

“You know I hate that word…” he said with a smirk. Ein gave a weak smile and brushed a bit of hair out of his face.

“I’m okay. Let her go.”

“But she attacked—“

“I’m fine,” Ein cut in. “Please, don’t make any trouble?”

“Not even a sneezing fit spell?”

Ein gave him a look. Her father sighed, lower lip jutting out in a pout. “You know, I’m going to have to make up for all of this ‘behaving’ later…”

Ein patted him on the shoulder and went back to Brendan, but Loki refused to let the matter sit at that. He followed her in, looking to Brendan for answers.

“Who in the icy depths of Helheim was that, and what business does she have with you? And I really hope you have a good answer, because I am just dying to drag it out of her myself, the slow and painful way…”

[The Widowed]

"Whoa, low bridge!"

Widow Abigail pushed up under Thora's imposing arm and stooped to pass under it, sliding deliberately into Brendan's room. The armor of her torso had been unbuckled and discarded elsewhere, leaving only the black sports bra beneath and a few bloody strips of bandage bound around her left shoulder. "Hey, Sabe. Glad too see the Reaper hasn't carted you off yet...looks like he even dropped off a LARPer and a pointy-eared redhead to see you through. Listen...I went to the Folly and came across a few friends from off-planet. After...negotiating for a spell, they kinda let me bring back a little something to help put Humpty Saber back together again. I also brought back a Martian, I think Ally's calling in a supertechie...it'll be a blast. So where do you want me to put your brand spankin' new healing pod?"

Her attention then drawn by the sensation of her painkiller pills wearing off, her eyes wandered to her bandaged deltoid and the stitched-up wound beneath it. "And after you're done with the pod, I'd kind of like to take my turn. You don't mind, do ya?"

[Quakester]

"That's what information we've gained so far, Sunstar. The Council are seeding the villianous groups in paragon with Quantum weaponry designed to disrupt and destroy Kheldians and their partners. We are still looking into the Circle of Thorns and their connection to the disappearing Warshades. We will relay that information to Shadowchaser."

"Very good, Sentry, but your mission may have to wait. We have heard from Shadowchaser that a human hero was attacked by a nictus. Details are sketchy but it appears that he was gravely wounded. He is recovering now but we fear the worst. We'd like you to investigate. He's called Sterling Saber and we believe that may be an associate of his coming now."


"As you wish, Sunstar. We'd be happy to help."

[Radical Dreamer]

"Sure thing Alumette. Ah'm just goin to get Brendon's things while you arrange the tech support." Vivian commented while the fire wielding woman talked on her cell phone. Walking past Brendon's room she looked past Thora to make sure that everything was still alright. She had hoped that Ein and Sterling would have a little more alone time then they had been given but at least they had a few minutes together. Perhaps after the healing pod issue was resolved they could go back to enjoying each other's company.

Continuing down the hall The Dixie Samurai flagged down a passing hospital employee. "Ah'm lookin for Dr. Mustang. Any ahdea where he went off to?"

"Your friend caused a bit of a panic downstairs when she brought in the Rikti. He's down in the lobby trying to calm everyone's fears." the man replied.

"Thank you kindly." Vivian replied and walked to the elevator. Pressing the button she waited patiently for the elevator to arrive. When the doors swung open she stepped to the side to allow the current occupants to exit before stepping inside. It was a quick ride to the lobby and when she walked out of the elevator she was greeted to the sight of Dr. Mustang surrounded by a semi-circle of unsure looking civilians.

"I assure you the Rikti you saw earlier was not here because of some hospital policy and does not pose a threat to the patients. It is here because of a hero. Everything is under control. Now if you'll excuse me I must see to my patients." Dr. Mustang did his best to calm the crowd but many of them still seemed unconvinced. Vivian couldn't say that she blamed them. The Rikti wars were still fresh on everyone's minds.

Before the doctor could get very far Dixie intercepted him. "Howdy Doc. Ah'm here for Brendon's personal items."

It took but a few moments for Dr. Mustang's eyes to flash with recognition. "Of course. Please follow me."

The two of them walked together toward a small storage room not far from the lobby's front desk. Removing a set of keys from his pocket the doctor opened the door and the pair stepped inside. Within the room was a table with a clipboard and behind it were several metal lockers and even more smaller drawers. Reaching for the clipboard the doctor looked through the names. After locating Brendon's he walked to one of the lockers and unlocked it. "It's all yours. Just sign out the contents on the clipboard."

While Dr. Mustang made his exit Vivian reached inside of the locker and began removing the objects Brendon had been found with. First was the sword, perhaps his most prized possession. By looking at it you'd never know it had been through such a terrible explosion. It still looked as perfect as the day it was forged. Next she removed a few articles of clothing, each burnt beyond salvage and having no purpose except perhaps a momento of the event. Then there was a ring that looked like a wedding band, followed by a whistle, then his wallet with his ID, an ominous looking dark crystal, and finally an empty pouch.

Though the dark crystal was of some interest it was the empty pouch that drew the most of her attention. If she was not mistaken it was the very pouch that had held the Wheel of Destruction. That was something that should not be left lying around. It could have been picked up by the Council since they were likely to swarm the area after their base's destruction or worse the Banished Pantheon. Even a normal citizen could cause unbelievable damage if they got their ignorant hands on an artifact like the Wheel.

Slinging the sword over her shoulder Vivian signed out and walked back to the elevator. Alumette would find this latest discovery very disturbing. Once back upstairs Dixie approached the Dawn Patrol member. She was still talking on the cell phone but this couldn't wait. "We got a texas sahzed problem. Ah just got Brendon's personal ahtems an the wheel ain't withem."

[Stalking Shadow]

Jerry's heart nearly stopped when the long neglected phone on his desk rang. Sighing, he saved the file he was working on, and rerouted the call through the computer, into his headset. Irritated by the distraction.
"Jerry here. What do you need?"

"Jerry? Hi. um, it's me... Grace. Alumette. Shadow's--"

"Oh hi there!" he said. "What's up?"

"Jerry, a friend of mine needs your help..."Jerry's heart nearly stopped when the long neglected phone on his desk rang. Sighing, he saved the file he was working on, and rerouted the call through the computer, into his headset. Irritated by the distraction, he snapped into the microphone, "Jerry here. What do you need?"

"Jerry? Hi. Um, it's me... Grace. Alumette. Shadow's--"

"Oh hi there!" he said. "What's up?"

"Jerry, a friend of mine needs your help..." Alumette launched into some complicated story that, for all Jerry could pay attention to, mainly seemed to consist of some idiot hero blowing himself up in a volcano. “... so... yeah. That’s the situation.”

Jerry steepled his fingers and pursed his mouth as he stared at the screen. “So what? Do you want me to send him a ‘Get Well Soon, Idiot’ card or something?”

He could hear Alumette wince on the other side at his harsh choice of words. “No... no... I need you to come over here. Another heroine, she brought in something to help Brendan. What do you know about Rikti tech?”

Curiosity piqued, Jerry replied, “I know that it blows up stuff pretty good. I got the good fortune to work with a suit once. Interesting stuff,” His cadence started speeding up as he got excited, “It’s awesome, really. I wanted to make a ton of upgrades to Shadow’s ARES. Did you know that the armor uses a point-field deflection system?” He chuckled, “It’s fascinating! Over here, we’re still trying to wrap our brains around wave-field formats. I think that I cou—“

Alumette stopped him before he could go any further into his techie’s wet dream. “That’s wonderful, Jerry! But I need to ask you about the... medic pods. Do you think you’d be able to set one up?”

Barely containing a squeal, Jerry replied, “Heck yeah! The connections on those things aren’t much different from the ones they use at the hospitals over in Paragon City. I dunno how to work it though.”

“That’s alright, I think. We have a Rikti Guardian here with us, and he should be able to do that. All you need to do is stand here and intimidate him with your most massive intellect.” Ah. So Shadow told her that flattery was the best way to get Jerry’s help.

“Heh. Alright. Paragon City’s about five hours from here. Which hospital are you in?”

Alumette paused as she ascertained the name of the hospital, “Phoenix Medical Center, I think. The one on Talos Island.”

Jerry had already brought up a detailed map of the city, and selected the hospital. He chose a computer terminal in the hospital, and ran a program that chose the most likely digital route from his cubicle to Sterling Saber’s hospital ward. “I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

[Alumette]

Alumette snapped her phone closed just as Dixie was revealing her disturbing news. "Excuse me, what?" Alumette did a double-take. "Not with his things? If he had it with him on this mission, it could be anywhere!" She looked down, pensive, and grumbled under her breath in Provencal French. The words that hissed from her lips were probably curse words, but in the breezy, gentle cadence of her Provencal they sounded almost polite.

"Dixie, we've got to find that thing. I don't even know where to start looking. Did Brendan say anything to you about it? Did he have a special hiding place, someplace he might have left it if he didn't have it with him?" She caught a glimpse of The Widowed ducking into Brendan's room, and started after her. "Widdy, something's come up," she said, obviously very agitated. "Dom's guy is on his way in to try to help with the pod. His name is Jerry. You'll know him when you see him,I'm certain," she smirked.

"Dixie, let's hit the streets. And we should put MAGI on alert," she said, walking briskly towards the exits, already putting a call in to MAGI as she did so.

[Impact]

It'd all seemed to happen so quickly. One moment he was enjoying something he'd sorely missed....time alone with Ein. Of course he'd missed seeing all his friends, but they and her father had one by one taken the hint and left the two of them alone. The two had wasted little time and it was becoming obvious that they'd both missed the affectionate relationship they normally had.

Then without so much as a knock someone burst into his room, effectively killing both their moment and the mood that was beginning to take over them both. Before he could get past his lover's red hair to see who it was he heard her voice.

"...Thora?"

In his mind he'd gotten up to greet her, but his body still had it's moments where it didn't totally want to listen, thanks to the drugs from the hospital, so he had to watch in disbelief as Thora began to power up and then tackled his lover to the floor and pinned her. Jerking forward he nearly fell off the bed trying to get to the two of them.

"THORA! GET OFF HER NOW!!"

His voice echoed off the walls and he knew it wouldn't be long until someone else came to see what all the commotion was. Gingerly standing up he leaned against the edge of the bed, his silver eyes glaring down at Thora.

"But Saber...she was..."

"That is Ein!

He motioned to the girl she still held down and gave her a few seconds.

"She's my girlfriend!"

Her head snapped up at that and she quickly stood to her feet and brushed herself off, her embarrassment painfully obvious to him, but by that time it didn't really matter. He'd apologize to her later if need be, right now he only wanted to make sure that Ein was unharmed and that things settled down before they got too out of hand.

Movement at the doorway told him that that was only a few seconds away. The door had been flung open and in the opening stood the usually smiling Loki, staring a hole in Thora. It was the first time Brendan had ever seen him look serious....much less like he did now, as if he could explode with magic at any second. Grabbing his attention for a second Brendan mouthed the words "I've got it.." to him and was relieved when he nodded slightly.

"Well.....I had only come to check on your progress. I see you are awake and can communicate. I will excuse myself now."

With a slight bow she turned and headed towards the door, stopping to lock eyes with Loki for a few tense, quiet seconds.

"Thank you for visiting Thora......I hope I'll get to see you again soon after they let me out of here."

She turned and nodded to him then quickly made her way out of the room as Loki stepped aside.


Flopping back on to his bed with a sigh of relief, Brendan cringed slightly as some of the pain had begun to make it's return. He took a slow breath and smiled some as Ein stood in the doorway trying to calm her father and could only shake his head. After a bit of whispering, Ein came back into the room, followed by her father, and took her seat on the edge of his bed once more, hugging him as Loki began a small barrage of questions. Still snuggling close to Ein he looked over her shoulder at him.

"Her name is Thora. She.."

He glanced at them and decided that if they didn't know who she was now probably wasn't the best time for them to find out.

"..was one of my teammates in the raid on the volcano base."

(("Welcome to Sparefish" - Cowboy Bebop))

Loki huffed a bit then after pacing around a bit and the three of them couldn't help but smile as Abigail made her entrance and filled them in on the small adventure she'd been on. Judging from the bandage and the mention of using the new healing pod she hadn't escaped totally unscathed.

"Sounds like you've been out having all the fun without me. I really do appreciate it Abigail.....judging from how I'm beginning to feel I may be needing that pod soon. So of course you can use it.....you did"

A look of worry crossed Ein's face and Brendan touched her cheek and kissed her gently, clearly trying to reassure her. After a few moments of staring at one another it was obvious that once again, to them at least, they were the only people alive in the world. When the two finally did look up they were alone once again. Sliding over onto the other side of the bed he gently pulled at her, motioning for her to join him on the bed. She giggled quietly and climbed all the way on it, getting under the covers with him and embracing him.

Laying there silently for a second Brendan laughed quietly, prompting a confused look from Einmyria as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"What're you laughing at?"

"Well....I told you you should train with me...."

He laughed a bit more, trying to hold it back.

"If you had...well...maybe she wouldn't have been able to tackle you like that."

Lifting his silver eyes up to her he finally couldn't hold it anymore and burst into laughter until she gave him her pouty look.

"Aww....don't be like that. Back when we first started dating you were a little faster on the draw that's all. I remember getting zapped more than once because of it too..."

Playfully he poked her very ticklish sides, causing her to jump slightly and let out a soft squeal.

"Oh yeah...? Well i'm still pretty fast now..."

Giving him her typical smirk, which reminded him all too much of her father, she poked him in the side, and added a small zap of electricity to it.

"...owww...."

He pulled away from her some and turned his back to her, laying on the other side of the bed.

"Aww...don't be like that baby...are you ok?"

She slid over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, placing a soft kiss on the back of his neck. Turning in her arms he looked at her grinning.

"Of course.....but I'm even better now...."

"Oh really...."

The two lovers' voices had fallen to a soft whisper as they laid face to face, gazing into each other's eyes.

"..mhmm..."

The glance between them said it all and Ein giggled mischievously as they both pulled the covers up over their head. It had been a long time after all....A few moments later the two of them yanked the covers off, eyes wide as someone knocked on the door.

"Hello...Mr. Sterling?? It's Dr. Mustang....are you decent?"

Brendan and Ein exchanged a frantic glance then quickly began to look around in the covers and all over the room. The get dressed relay had begun.

"Uh....NO! I...ah...i'm...umm....just a minute!!"

"Alright."

More scrambling around the room ensued and after getting the ok from a still flustered Ein, Brendan gave the ok for the doctor to enter the room. Instead he simply cracked the door and poked his head in.

"Hello there. Sorry to intrude....I just wanted to say that we're getting the tube your friend brought set up now. I believe one of your friends has some one on the way to make sure it works properly, so I'll send a nurse back with a wheelchair to bring you in shortly."

Brendan nodded and smiled, then sighed, a look of disappointment all over his face as he laid back on the bed, looking over at Ein.

[The Widowed]

The Rikti's head peeked around the door jamb and into Sterling Saber's room. Though the creature struggled against some unseen force which bound its arms from behind, it looked squarely at Brendan and began to bob its head comically, as if speaking.

"Hello, Mr. Volcano Killer. Nice planet. Mind if I invade it? Hey, is it all right if I borrow your bathroom a minute? I've come a hundred million light years to see you get healthy, and brother...I have yet to take a leak. I've been holdin' it in since we blew past the Crab Nebula. Damnedest thing, I didn't see even one crab. Lots of space gas, though...maybe a few dead cast members from Forbidden Planet, floating adrift and half-eaten by Tribbles. Very disturbing...."

The Rikti's voice sounded very, very familiar, with adjustments for a more comedic tone...clearly an attempt to cheer Brendan up. Laughter, best medicine, and all that jazz....

[Radical Dreamer]

"That's why ah'm bringin it to the fore front of our mission." Vivian responded, clearly aware of the importance of finding that damnable artifact. "Four outa fahve tahmes he'd have it in that bag though. No point in throwin wild guesses out though. Ah'm goin straight to the sorce to fahnd out if he had it with him that day. Sides ah'm sure he would want his sword back. Warrior's prahde and all that. Ah'll meet you outsahde when ah have the answer."

Dodging Thora who was already on her way out and stepping past the Rikti turned Widdy's puppet, though not before giving a bemused look, Vivian stepped inside of Brendon's room again. Walking over to the bed she placed the sword so that it was leaning against the night stand. She was sure that the hospital staff would be none too pleased about him getting back his weapon but they could try and take it away again on their own. If Alumette thought that sword was a good thing then she probably had enough evidence to draw that conclusion.

"Sorry to keep botherin you lahke this, since ah'm sure you have things you'd rather be concentratin on, but we got a problem. Some of your stuff's missin. The pictures of Ein you always keep with you and somethin a little more disturbin. Ah need to know if you had the wheel with you the day you went to the volcano." Though she hoped that it was as Alumette hoped, that the wheel was just hidden in some secret spot that only Brendon knew about, she had a feeling that the day was about to get that much more interesting.

[Impact]

Brendan sat up slowly, a grin spreading over his face as the Rikti began to "conversate" with him. Not able to hold it any longer he burst into laughter.

"Whew.....now that's something I can say I've never seen in Paragon....a Rikti muppet show.."

He grinned, laying back on the bed and brushed off a few tears from laughter. It'd been some time since he'd been able to enjoy a laugh like that. The smile on his face widened a bit more as his good friend, former student, and teammate entered the room.

Brendan smirked as she sat his sword down, leaning it against his night stand, which he promptly picked up.

"I take it you didn't run down to the gift shop and pick this up did you?"

His smile faded some as he listened carefully, his brow furrowing a bit. It was probably a bit selfish of him, but he wasn't sure what worried him more....

"Actually...yes I did have it with me...so...it could be anywhere...at least in all that rubble...maybe if we're lucky it fell into the volcano and we won't have to deal with it again...but somehow I doubt I could be that lucky..."

He sighed and looked at Ein, who's eyes showed her worry. She knew as soon as he got the chance...he'd be back on the streets trying to find the Wheel.

"Is it really worth all this?" he wondered. "All the hurt....for her...for me...for us?" "Young one...you know the answer to that question already...it must be done."

The sword. He eyed it, pulling the blade out slightly, staring into his own reflection and sighed. It was right afterall. He grasped Ein's hand gently and smiled at Vivian as he placed the sword back against the nightstand. Oddly enough it didn't look like the patch where he kept the pictures of his love was burned or singed away...simply gone.

[Radical Dreamer]

"Just concentrate on gettin yourself better. Let me an Alumette take care of that wheel." Vivian replied with a smile. “Ah’ll see ya’ll later. Good bye.”

With a wave to Brendan along with everyone else present Vivian’s form shimmered and then faded from view. Not but a second later she appeared outside of the hospital on the front steps. Alumette had just finished with talking to MAGI about their current situation and was putting away her cell phone. Walking up beside her fellow heroine, the smile she had worn in Brendan’s room having faded into a grim expression, she looked at Alumette.

“It’s just lahke we thought. He did have the wheel with him on that mission. Ah sure hope it didn’t land in the ocean. Banished Pantheon don’t need to breath but ah sure do.” Looking away from Alumette she turned her gaze toward the skyline. “So where do you want to start? Its gona be one hell of a race to fahnd that artifact before anyone else does.”

[Alumette]

Alumette sighed. "MAGI hasn't seen it, it hasn't been returned to them, and they have mages trying to locate it. They'll call us if they find anything." She glanced at Vivian. "A couple of their people sensed a spike of magical energy in Striga, near that big graveyard. I suggest we start there, although that place is so packed with oogity-boogities that a magical spike could be anything."

[The Widowed]

"You're sure that's where it goes, right?"

The Rikti guardian answered Abigail's question with an incredulous stare and a slight snuffling noise as he inserted the triangular shaft into the superassembly, adjusted the ice pack bound around his left knee and sat on the floor again. A nonplussed shrug of her unwounded shoulder followed.

"Oh, okay. It's your doohickey...or was, I should say."

After casting a brief backward glance at Sterling Saber over the foot of his bed, the Rikti bowed his head and resumed his work, sliding what appeared to be a tiny circuit card back into a narrow aperture in the pod's base. Shifting his wounded knee for comfort, he silently gestured to a metallic button with shining edges at the crown of the pod. Abigail mashed it and a slight clicking noise rippled through the device as it sprang to life, only to fail and fall silent again. A heavy, weary exhale was heard as the Rikti reached for an alien tool, its parallel spindles humming as it pulsed with some power beyond mere electricity.

She stepped over the jury-rigged power cord and mashed the button again, allowing the device to power down completely. "Remember: Once we get this thing running, you're going in first. I figure that if we let you walk to freedom, we could at least patch up that knee that I gimped for you before we turn you loose...and before Brendan takes his turn in it. Kinda makes you want to make sure you're doing a good job with fixing this pod, doesn't it?"

The Rikti didn't reply, focused as he was on welding together some piece of the weird assembly he held. Only his narrowed eyes signaled his displeasure.

"Oh, quit your sulking. I'm still nursing four or five plasma burns from that welcoming party your homeboys threw for me back there. You have any idea how much it costs to patch a Kevlar weave?"

She dutifully tightened a thumb bolt on one of the supports while the Rikti removed another chip of silvery metal from a concealed port in the base. No words were passed for half a minute or so.

"So...what're you planning on doing once you get back to Planet Riktus or whatever? Sleep in all week? Play some lawn darts? Maybe laser-blast Bill Pullman out of the White House? Come on...you can tell me."

The Rikti continued to ignore her, reaching for some tool which resembled a crescent wrench as he did.

"Fine. Be that way," the Widowed scowled, raising her voice to be heard down the hall. "Hey, Miss Mette! When's your techie friend getting here? He's bound to be better at conversation than Greedo here...."

[Nyx]

Ousted from the hospital room by now, the chaos god wandered the halls of the hospital, thoroughly bored. It was beyond even him to mess with ill and injured people for entertainment, and the idea of being thrown out when his daughter was still here tending to her boyfriend was distasteful to him. Thus, he wandered, peering into this or that room, at times muttering about how damned fragile mortals were. His healing magic, weak as it was, thanks to Odin taking away the majority of his power, would do most of them little good anyhow.

After flirting with a few nurses, he came upon a strange scene... a one-eyed woman with a bandaged shoulder fixing a strange mechanical contraption with an alien being, all the while babbling to her off-world companion.... He cocked his head and glanced again at her shoulder-- didn't look too bad... of course, if she were busy doing this rather than receiving medical attention, it mustn't have been too bad... slinking back outside the door and into a shadow, he took a moment to whisper an incantation...

Slinking into the room, he tapped her bad shoulder, transfering the healing spell to her...

"Excuse me... what's going on here? Anything I can do? I'm so bored it hurts..."

[Radical Dreamer]

"Oogity-boogities hu? That's one way to describe'em. Ah reckon we can tear the place appart and see what we can fahnd. If we're lucky one of them mobsters picked up the wheel and won't know what to do with it." a grin crept its way onto her face at Alumette's choice in words. It was as good a description as any when describing that place. Wolves, Vamps, living Tikis, and of course thousands of zombies called that place home. Not to mention the countless Council soldiers, Warriors, Sky Raiders, and other more mundane dangers. It was a wonder how the island even operated as a port anymore.

Concentrating on her katana back in her appartment she gathered the same magic energy she used to teleport herself around. Within the span of a mere second her weapon disappeared from where it rested and appeared in her left hand. Slinging the harness over her shoulder she took a moment to adjust the fit before looking back at Alumette. "Ahll rahght. Ah'm ready. Ah'll see you at the port. It's tahme to save the world again."

Summoning the teleporting magic again she vanished from Alumette's side and began the many jumps needed to take her from where she was to Striga island.

[Impact]

As the heroes busied themselves throughout the hospital, the various TV screens cut to another news report coming live from Striga Island.

A young reporter, the same from the news brief earlier is shown walking under a roped off area surrounded by a few armored members of the Paragon City Police Department.

"Only moments ago we arrived here..", he motions behind him to the cave with small slivers of smoke pouring from it's entrance. "..at yet another one of the Council's underground bases here in Paragon. But, the odd thing about it this time, we're not sure if it was heroes who found and discovered this base, but apparently..."

*the camera zoomed in as the young man stepped aside, allowing a small shuriken to fill the screen*

"..whoever did it, held some very different tastes in their methods and choice of weaponry."

*The camera moves inside the base as the smoke finally clears and inside there are cuts and scrapes along the walls, along with large indentures and signs of explosions and an overrun makeshift barricade with pieces of artillery and guns scattered around it, then shifts back to the young reporter*

"Most of the soldiers here had to be shipped to the Hospital in Independence Port but a few of the ones with lesser injuries were taken away for questioning by, what we believe to be, a super powered police officer. We haven't been given much information from the police but there is speculation as to if this has any connection with the destruction of the Council base inside the Striga Volcano or if it's another incident of gang warfare here on Striga Isle. Stay tuned to the Super Station, Channel 8, for more details on this breaking story."

[The Widowed]

"Wha...whoa, watch the shoulder there!" the Widowed barked as she lurched away from the chaos bearer. "Is that how you...oh? Oh. The pain's gone."

Her prodding finger found its way beneath the bandage, pushing it from atop the wound that no longer existed. It was a familiar sensation, learned from any number of clashes with Paragon City's waywards and criminals, missions which often placed her in the role of protecting superhuman allies bearing empathic superpowers in exchange for the benefits of their flesh-mending sorcery or technology.

"Healing power, right?" she surmised openly to Mischief. "Okay...no nanobot delivery vehicles, no 'cold fire' sensation of radiation, no chemicals...hmmm. It means you're either a Merlin or a mutant. The LARP rags say magic, but hey...thanks either way. It works better than corn starch by a mile. So what brings you to this little patch of Rhode Island, anyway?

[Nyx]

"Oh me? I'm here for the alcohol and the women. That and I got kicked out of my pantheon. No banished pantheon jokes, please... I've heard them all. Trust me."

Without exactly being asked, he undid the bandage around her shoulder to examine the spot where the wound had been. It looked fine now. "You're right, though. Magic. The effects are temporary, though. You should be good for a few hours, but... well... we're in a hospital, so I'm not too worried. If I hadn't been stripped of about ninety percent of my power, the healing would be permanent and complete... if you know what I mean," as he gestured at his eye. Finally, he looked over to the machinery.

"Like I said, I'm bored... so if you need a hand with anything here.... or can think of anything else fun to do... I'm all ears..." Suddenly smacking himself in the head... "Ah, where are my manners?" He gave a flourishing bow. "Hero and Villain alike call me Lord Mischief, but I much prefer my friends call me Loki... as that is my proper name."

[Stan Walker]

"WALKER!!! GET IN HERE!!"


The words echoed throughout the PD, I had just gotten back nearly an hour ago bringing the 2 jerk weeds in for questioning. The uniforms should have been able to bring these guys in no problem, but when they started mentioning "The Council" everyone flipped out and who got called in? Yep that’s right yours truly, and on my day off to boot so to put it mildly I was NOT in a good mood. That didn't bother the Captain much, we never did see eye to eye. I thought he was a political poster boy not a cop and he…well lets just say he wasn't crazy about my methods.


I trudged though the hallway, there was a bustle of activity going on, reporters from all forms of the media there wanting answers that we didn’t have as of yet. At least not that I knew of. I gave a brief wave as a barrage of questions flew from all directions when they saw me.

"Detective Walker do you have confirmed identities of the two agents you brought in?"

"Detective do you have any correlations of who led this attack and if so will they be brought in for questioning?"

"Detective is it true they brought you in because of the special ops team that’s in the works to handle preternatural and super powered crimes?"

Then a female voice from the back of the room I recognized it and loathed it.


"Detective Walker..Is it true that the last case you worked resulted in the death of the three suspects due to police brutality on your part?"

I continued on my way to the captains office, the last question irking me a bit. That was Barbara Fischer, she worked for the Paragon Enquirer..a tabloid piece of trash. I opened the door to the captains office and closed it just as quickly. Captain Garcia glared at me behind his oak desk. Clearly he was in one of his more pleasant moods.

"Captian…"

"Sit down Walker…"

I planted myself down firmly in the plush chair in front of the desk. The captain removed a small remote control from his desk drawer and the television behind him flashed to life. The image was of a small metal room, inside two men were seated their hands bound to a metal desk with power cuffs. Apparently the PD wasn't playing around with these guys, and did not want to risk the chance using standard issue handcuffs. A wiry man stood in front of them repeating question after question. Their names, who the officially worked for, what happened at the base. The only reply he got was from the dirt bag on the left asking to see his lawyer.

"Not talkin huh?" I whispered keeping my voice low as to still hear the television.

"No their not Courtner is in there now and he's not getting anywhere with them."

"Courtner is the best interrogator we have".

"Yeah well he's not getting anywhere…I want you to go down there and see if you can get anything out of them."

I turned my head over my shoulder and looked at the Captain.


"Me? Look Cap. You know interrogation isn't my thing. and besides its my day off I did this as a courtesy…"

"I don’t really give a sh1t.." He cut me off.

"We don't have much time before their lawyers get here. We don't even have a booking sheet on these guys because we cant get their names. Time is short now get down there. and see what you can find out!"

My own temper was starting to flare up. Where did this jerk get off telling me what to do on my day off? He wanted an interrogation fine he was going to get one. I began to stand and fished into my jacket pocket for a Marlboro.

"Anything else Captain?"

"That's all..except there is no smoking in the PD ..you know that"

"Yeah..but I don't really give a sh1t" I said with a grin as I lit up.


I stammered out of the Captain's office and back down to mine where I crossed the line of the reporters, waving to them all with one finger, the Captain could clean up that media mess himself.

"Oh I'll get him an interrogation" I thought to myself as I loaded up a brown paper sack with some items from my office and made my way down to the interrogation room.

Now I did have to give the department props, they really shelled out the money in the event we catch any super powered goons. We had once cell and one interrogation room in the basement of the place. Both made of reinforced titanium with a sprayed on Kevlar alloy. I wrapped loudly on the thick metal door, thought better of it then rang the buzzer. Detective Courtner answered.

"Whatcha got Stan?"

"Captain said take a break..let me have a go at it."

Courtner grinned and looked at the paper sack, as he began to point I immediately cut him off with an answer.

"I might get hungry."

Courtner's smile grew wider as he walked out of the room, this made me grin a brief moment as well but as I walked in I had to put on my tough cop face again. That’s me Mr. Serious all business.

I marched up to the metal desk they sat at and slammed the bag down on the table. I slowly began taking the items out of the bag. A bottle of Jack Daniels, a few lighters, and a phone book. The two exchanged glances briefly, then jerk weed on the left spoke.

"What is that?" His accent was thick but I couldn't place it.

I moved away from the table and over to the corner where the Captain had the security camera set up. I reached up and with a quick yank ripped the chord out of the camera, then turned back to them.

"This.." I said pointing to the items. "Is what I'm going to use if need be to make you talk."

Joe Dirtbag on the right looked down at the items then up at me, his eyes wide. I returned the look with a smile as I took the chair in front of me and turned it around backwards and sat down. Jerkweed on the left though was playing it cool, he didn't believe me. His mistake.

"Oh I understand..your friend was in playing good cop, now it's your turn to be bad cop."

My eyes narrowed and held a faint glint of amber.

"No..good cop and bad cop left for the day…I'm a different kind of cop."

He looked to his friend and then back to me I think the severity of what might be coming was starting to sink in.

"Now question one..who do you "officially" work for?"

Jerkweed started his standby response. "I want to see my.. GLARP!!"

His statement was cut short as I shot out my hand catching him in the throat with fleshy part of my hand between the thumb and forefinger. The blow was solid with just enough oomph put behind it. I knocked him out of his chair and now his was hacking about for air.

"Wrong answer…"

Then I picked up the phonebook………..

[The Widowed]

"Good to meet you, Loki," she offered with a slight nod of acknowledgement. "The citizens and the press call me 'The Widowed'. My friends call me 'Abigail' or 'Abby'. And my enemies call me 'Oof' or 'Kill her' or 'Die, you one-eyed bitch, die'. So how do you know Saber, if you don't mind my asking?"

[Stan Walker]

I whirled to the other side with the phonebook and struck the other piece of sh1t square in the jaw, his head snapped back then forward.

“How bout you chief? Still want to talk to your lawyer?”

The soldier whined. “You can’t do this! You’re the police!”

“TALK!” I screamed as I wrapped the phonebook against the side of his temple. God I loved soundproof rooms. Jerk weed number one got to his feet rubbing his neck with both hands. His voice came out raspy.

“The Tsoo…they attacked us…they were looking for “the one with the silver blade.”

My temper flared to life. If I wasn’t pissed before I sure as hell was now I had my own reasons for hating the Tsoo.

“What else..?” I asked at near a shout as I approached him winding up with the phonebook.


“They..." He gasped for air again.
“They seem to think “he” was there recently when the volcano blew up."


“So this is because of some guy with a shiny knife?”

“The silver blade. A hero..named Sterling Saber..he's hospitalized in Talos.” His partner chimed in.

The door to the interrogation room opened, I spun around to see a rookie who had clearly wandered into the wrong room. The rookie knew it too, his face was slack.

“What the hell is this?” he asked

My demeanor had to change I couldn’t let the anger show on my face I managed a weak grin. It had to have looked fake as hell.

“English 101.” I replied.

The rookie just turned and walked out of the room. I would have to deal with him later. Hopefully he knew about the code. Cops don’t rat out other cops. If not, I wouldn’t have to remind him. Hell the rest of the PD would.

I focused my attention on my two “suspects.” My anger temporarily sated.

“Now “gentlemen” and I use the term loosely. Is there anything else I should know about? Anything at all?” I leaned over the desk my eyes blazing red even through the thick glasses I was wearing. Traces of flame licked the rims. The two looked at each other then to me.

“The Pantheon, their making themselves more pronounced then usual. Word is out that The Council has been looking into it, and they are a bit skittish.”

I looked at him raising an eyebrow my eyes still aflame.

“And why is that?”

“They sent out a pack of Warwolves..and what they got back aren’t Warwolves.”

I nodded as to go on.

“They are a hybrid of zombie and Warwolf.”


“Interesting.”

I eyed them both back and fourth and brought up the phone book, they both shuddered. “Anything else?”

“No that’s it I swear!”
“He’s right that’s it!”

“Fine.” I growled as I lowered the book down then carefully placed it back into the brown paper sack.

“Now, the other Detective is going to come in here..you tell him what you told me, minus the part about the Sterling Saber. Got it?”

They both shook their heads vigorously.

“Also. this never happened got it?”I knew I had them. True I had roughed them up a bit but there wasn’t a mark of evidence they were touched. There was no way any jury worth their salt would believe them even if they did go to their attorney. I gathered up the bag then plugged to surveillance equipment back in and walked out of the room. Courtner was there waiting.

“You’re not going to believe this Al; they got something they are just dyeing to get off their chests.”Courtner just shook his head with a grin.

“Learned the error of their ways huh?”

“Apparently. Now I have had a long day. which I'm supposed to have off by the way, so why don’t you go in take their statements and get the glory for this one. I really just want to go home."

“You sure Walker? By all rights this is your collar.”

“Positive.” I said as I walked down the hall lighting a cigarette, but I knew I wasn’t going home. I was going to Talos Island.

[Stalking Shadow]

A loud flash accompanied by a bang filled the hospital ward, and quite suddenly, a portly man wearing a pair of wrinkled khakis and a white collar shirt with a marinara stain on the breast was standing next to the telephone with a toolkit in his hands. Jerry made a noise of obvious distaste. "Goddamn encryption on these networks. Took me half an hour to make it through. Sorry I'm late. Where's the machine?"

He spotted the Guardian working on the medipod, and looked over the alien's shoulder, "You're doing it wrong. This transformer won't give you the voltage you need. Can you say soft-boiled?" He opened his tool-kit, and took out a soldering iron and some components, ranging from circuit-boards to solenoids. "So... what's wrong with the regular medipods?"

[The Widowed]

"Saber's too much of a saint to hog one up while the queue's this long," the Widowed blurted from behind him, "So I used my powers of persuasion to requisition a new pod from our Rikti friends. They sent me a techie to help fix it up, of course. Sorry if he looks worse for wear, but we...had a disagreement. Over his paycheck. Or something."

A slight vexing gurgle pealed from the Guardian's throat as if in retort. She blithely resumed.

"The pod's a little fancier than the ones our hospitals have, so I'm sure we could use the extra help. I told our friend here that I'd run him back to the Folly and release him back to the wild if he cooperated. Maybe I'll give him some of these In Front Steakhouse coupons I found, just to sweeten the deal. So...I guess Ally called you in to help him do his job right. How long have you been working on Rikti tech, mind my asking?"

[Nyx]

The dramatic appearance of what Loki assumed was the rikti pod repairman -- he scratched his head at that one -- came abruptly before he could produce an explanation of how he knew Saber. It seemed that his one-eyed acquaintance had turned her attention to someone who knew something more useful for the moment, and the chaos god felt the need to make a slick exit.

But first... one last trick.

He was gone by the time she realized it... but it didn't take the Widdowed long to suddenly realize she was clutching rose in one hand...

[Stalking Shadow]

Jerry jimmied open a transformer with a screwdriver, and looked up at the one-eyed lady "I've been looking at this stuff for a couple years now, conceptually." He looked at his digital watch, "But hands on? About three minutes, now. E.T., hand me those wire strippers." When the Guardian didn't do anything, Jerry made a noise. "Fine. I'll get it myself." Grimacing, the man leaned over and grabbed the tool and returned to the open component. "Name's Jerry."

[The Widowed]

"Abigail," she replied. "It seems there's a lot going on right now, so I'm just here to make sure Brendan makes a smooth and effortless return to his peak condition. Now, I can't say I've worked on anything more than the odd crimefighting gadget, but I think we could just tweak this...well, it looks like an output regulator of some sort. If we can't measure how much power's coming out of the reintegrator thingies, maybe we could toss a ham in there, fire the pod up, see if it cooks and turn it down a notch if it does...."

The creeping sensation of something spindly in her fingers invoked her interest. She drew her hand up to her eye to see the errant rose.

"Okay, this isn't a screwdriver. Funny...I don't recall seeing this anywhere before...."

[Alumette]

As the heroes busied themselves throughout the hospital, the various TV screens cut to another news report coming live from Striga Island.

A young reporter, the same from the news brief earlier is shown walking under a roped off area surrounded by a few armored members of the Paragon City Police Department.

"Only moments ago we arrived here..", he motions behind him to the cave with small slivers of smoke pouring from it's entrance. "..at yet another one of the Council's underground bases here in Paragon. But, the odd thing about it this time, we're not sure if it was heroes who found and discovered this base, but apparently..."

*the camera zoomed in as the young man stepped aside, allowing a small shuriken to fill the screen*

"..whoever did it, held some very different tastes in their methods and choice of weaponry."

*The camera moves inside the base as the smoke finally clears and inside there are cuts and scrapes along the walls, along with large indentures and signs of explosions and an overrun makeshift barricade with pieces of artillery and guns scattered around it, then shifts back to the young reporter*

"Most of the soldiers here had to be shipped to the Hospital in Independence Port but a few of the ones with lesser injuries were taken away for questioning by, what we believe to be, a super powered police officer. We haven't been given much information from the police but there is speculation as to if this has any connection with the destruction of the Council base inside the Striga Volcano or if it's another incident of gang warfare here on Striga Isle. Stay tuned to the Super Station, Channel 8, for more details on this breaking story."


Alumette grabbed Dixie's arm as they walked past, stopping her, and pointed to the TV screeen. When the shuriken filled the screen, both heroines smiled. Their needle-in-a-haystack task just got easier, as this clue narrowed down the list of possible villain groups significantly. "Well, I think I know where to start," Grace said. "Shall we?"

[Radical Dreamer]

"Ah reckon but it's a bit unusual. Striga's not normally Tsoo territory an ah should know. There's enough emnity between me an them to span a lahfe tahme an beyond." she responded. As far as she knew they were the only group of super villains that made heavy use of throwing stars. Also many of their advanced techniques could cause those kind of marks, most notably the far fire school.

"Ah guess it coulda been a raid. If memory serves they were after the wheel an it makes sense they've been trackin it while Sabre had it." she said and then turned her head downward, muttering as an after thought. "More ah think about how stupid he was in keepin it the more ah want to slug him. That'll have to wait till he's healed up though."

Vivian playfully made a fist with her left hand and smacked it into her open right hand in order to make a sharp pop. "If it was the Tsoo ah figure they aren't gona stick around long. If you've got any resources you mahght want to tell them to watch the ports in Independance an Talos for any Tsoo comin off a the ships inbound from Striga. In the meantahme ah want to talk to the police officer who took those prisoners. We'll know exactly what we're lookin for when we get an ahwitness account of who attacked the Council."

[Alumette]

"Sure thing, Dixie," Alumette said. A slow smile crept across her face. She turned to look at her companion. "When you get done slugging him, can I have a shot at it?" In truth, of course, both heroines were concerned about their friend. But after all the two of them had been through with that Wheel and Brendan, one could see why they at least owed him an 'I told you so.'

"Look," she said, eyeing the TV screen for more footage that might provide a lead. "I'll head down to the ports in Talos to watch for Tsoo. And as for IP, I have a friend who..." she paused. There was no way Luiz would agree to that. But Dom would."I'll take care of it. And we'll see about getting some answers. I'll have my comm on if you need me."

She dashed out the door, putting in a call to Dom as she went.

"Dom, it's Grace. Are you busy?"

"What did you need?"

"Well, it's more exciting than picking up a gallon of milk on your way home, but only just," she paused. "Stakeout. Your favorite thing."

Stalking Shadow sighed. Stakeouts were not his favorite thing at all.

"We're watching for Tsoo," she said to sweeten the deal. "And we need to ask them some questions when we find them." She could practically hear him grumbling on the other end of the line. "Look, if you have stuff to do, I understand," she said smiling. "I can see who else is available."

[Radical Dreamer]

After fifteen minutes of chain teleportation Dixie found herself outside of the police station. Walking up the front stairs she pushed open the glass door to the lobby. In front of her, behind the front desk, sat a middle aged officer who was busy clicking away at his keyboard. All around her the sounds of the busy police station surrounded her. Continuing forward she approached the desk

"What seems to be the trouble?" he said as he looked up from his work.

"No trouble a'tall but you can help me all the same. Ah'm lookin to speak with the officer that took those prisoners from Striga ahland." she spoke as she leaned against the front desk.

"I'm sorry miss but that's police business." he answered flatly and looking back to his computer screen.

"Ah'm makin it hero business then." Vivian said as she removed her hero identification card and handed it to the officer. Frowning, he looked up again and took it. Clearly having to rely on super heroes for crimes rubbed the man the wrong way but Vivian didn't have any time for messing around. "Ah don't usually lahke to flash that thing around but this is important. Ah've got a hunch that it was the Tsoo that attacked the Council and if it was ah got a feelin ah know what they were lookin for. If'n you want to call MAGI they'll give you any authorization you need."

"Dixie Samurai, security level 34....." he muttered to himself as he scanned the card and then returned it to her. Picking up the phone he dialed out to MAGI. After a brief conversation he hung up the phone and looked at her again. "Everything seems to be in order. Unfortunatly you're too late. The officer you're looking for is called Stan Walker and he's left. He indicated he was heading to Talos hospital to talk to that guy named Sterling Saber who took down those Council guys in the volcano."

"You've got to be kiddin me. Hell, that's where ah just was." Vivian removed her had and held it in her left hand while she scratched the left side of her forehead. She then placed the hat back on her head and pulled it down snuggly. Getting mad wasn't going to accomplish anything. Besides, if he wasn't here that means he was done questioning the suspects. "You didn't happen to get a statement from those Council thugs did you?."

"I think Courtner just finished. You can talk with him if you want." the desk officer offered.

"Won't be necessary. Ah just need to know who it was that attacked them. Have him give mah cell a ring." she raised a hand as she spoke and waved it to signal her decline.

"Sure." he responded and looked back down at his computer screen to continue his work.

Marching her way back outside the police station she looked up into the sky. In a flash she teleported herself up into the air and then back toward the Talos hospital. If anything at least this little wild goose chase was giving her a lot of practice in chain teleportation. Before she had made five jumps she heard her phone ringing in front jean pocket. Picking a safe rooftop to land on she set down and quickly pulled out her phone. "Hello."

"Dixie I take it." came the reply.

"That's me. Ah'm guessing you're Courtner and you have some information for me." she cut through any pleasantries that might have taken place.

"It was the Tsoo. Funny. I've never seen them that active in Striga before." he said.

"Then it's true. Thanks for your help. Ah'll be sure to mention your station as bein vahtal to helpin take'em down, assumin ah'm the one who gets to take'em down." she said and then hung up. Quickly after she dialed Alumette's number. "Alumette? It's Dixie. Your hunch was rahght. Accordin to the arrested Council agents it was the Tsoo. Looks lahke they want the artifact. Any results on your end?"

[Impact]

A few moments after the doctor left the room a nurse knocked on Brendan's door.

"Come on in."

Slowly opening the door she walked in to see Brendan sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning against Ein who sat beside him, rubbing his hand gently.

"Alright Mr. Sterling. I'm here to take you down to where your friends are readying the healing pod for you."

Brendan nodded slowly, wearing a slightly pained expression. Pushing the door open a little further, the nurse pulled a wheelchair into the room, glancing at Ein as she pushed it over by where he was sitting. Hopping off the bed, Ein took his hands in hers and gingerly helped him down into the wheelchair.

"Easy there hun ..."

Rubbing his shoulders gently Ein stood beside him then leaned down and kissed his cheek softly.

“Miss, would you like to wheel him down?” the nurse asked, stepping from behind the chair and motioning Ein closer.

”Oh…well…sure. Of course I would.”

Leaning back in the chair Brendan smiled, looking back at Ein.

”Heh…I know you’ll take care of me hun.”

Giving a final nod to the couple the nurse opened the door and held it as Ein slowly wheeled him out into the hallway.

”How’re you feelin Bren?”

”Not bad…your dad’s spell’s wearin off though…

Behind him, Ein made a face. If there was one thing she hated, it was seeing Brendan hurt. As she pushed him down the hall, she couldn’t help but picture the many times he’d staggered into the door of their apartment, only to have her lay him down and spend sometimes hours bandaging and patching his wounds. And now, she knew as soon as he was better, probably long before he was totally healed, he’d be back on the streets doing what he loved, but could one day kill him. She sighed, stopping in front of the elevator and wheeled him inside. Leaning forward Brendan pressed the button and leaned back, groaning slightly.

”Ein…thanks for staying with me..”

With a soft smile Ein brushed her long red hair out of the way then simply leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

”C’mon…let’s go get you better..”

The elevator dinged and she leaned up, taking a deep breath and slowly wheeled him out to where the pod was being worked on.

[The Widowed]

The rose had been tied into a simple loose loop knot around her wrist. Sometimes, all it took was such a simple gesture to evoke the past, to connect her with happier days....

Somewhere inside the pod, nanotubes hummed to life. The reintegrator rings swiftly coasted upward, locking themselves into position at the top of the supporting computerized array. The Guardian snuffled a snort which could have betrayed satisfaction as it removed a three-prong plug from the analysis cycle's exterior port, moving it back to the DNA recompiler. The scintillating readouts and green pulse bars lent a content and functioning air to the device.

"Good job, Jerry and Rikti Boy," she chirped, almost ignoring the elevator clamoring not far from where they stood or squatted. "I'm still up for the idea of teleporting a ham into this thing, but it would probably try to give the ham CPR or something. Are those remote defibrillator things back where they should be?"

The Guardian tapped an impatient, gnarled finger to the numbly buzzing electroprojector plate just across from where she stood.

"Good deal. Okay, ladies and gentlemen...any last-minute adjustments, addenda or admissions before we kick this piggy and see how it squeals?"

[Nyx]

It looked like things were functioning... Einmyria poked her head in, hearing the hum of the pod and the eagerness of those congregated to test the thing...

"So..." she ventured meekly "...it's ready? Because the nurse had me bring Brendan..."

He was just outside the doorway in his wheelchair, doing his best to not look like he was in pain... Ein knew her father's spell was wearing off, and it would soon give out completely. Come to think of it... she wondered where he'd gotten off to...

* * *

He didn't just call himself Lord Mischief because it sounded pretty.... Somehow, he'd found a set of fingerpaints in a children's play room. Oh the possibilities! The red and yellow were a complete, dried up mess, and of little use, but the green... ah the green... presently he was leaving green footprints up the middle of the hallway ceiling on his way back to Brendan's room. By now, the boy should be needing another dose of his accursedly temporary healing magic....

[Stan Walker]

I had just gotten to the hospital, didnt even get the chance to walk inthe front door when my phone went off.

"Walker.." my standand answer.

"Walker, it's Al what the hell are you in?"

"What do you mean?"

"We just had a a hero from MAGI in here wanting to know about you and your investigation."

"Really? Guess I'm goddam famous now." I answered with a chuckle.

"I'm serious Stan watch your back you know what happens when tights start getting involved."

"Yeah nine out of ten times things go to hell in a handbaskett in a hurry..I'll be careful. What's the capes name thats looking for me?"

There was a rifling of papers then the voice came back on the line.

"Calls herself The Dixie Samaurai.."

"Cute.." I answered as i jotted the name down on my handy dandy notepad. A good police officer never leaves home without one.

"More than likely if she's involved then other heroes are going to be as well, getting into that room is going to be a pain in the ass."

"More than likely." Courtner replied.

"Well if she's looking for me she'll be back here I'm sure, she can take me up to the room that way I ain't gotta deal with all the other capes." I reached into my coat and fumbled out a cigarette and lit it. I few passersby gave me dirty looks, which i returned to them in spades.

"Allright Stan was just giving you a heads up."

"Thanks." I answered then hung up the phone, I'm not one for long goodbyes. I stood outside the hospital mentally reviewing my questions for Sterling Saber, and burning through about half a pack of cigarettes while i waited for this Dixie Samurai person.

[The Widowed]

"Speak now or forever hold your pieces," the Widowed quipped. "Mr. Scott, one to beam up!"

The Guardian, acting at her cue, joined the last power conduit to the healing pod as she slid a fateful switch and braced for the results....

[Alumette]

It had been some time. Grace was getting antsy, which was nothing new; it usually only took about 2 minutes of having to sit still for that to happen. The small glob of silly putty she usually carried with her for fidgeting purposes had already expended the sum total of its entertainment value. So far no Tsoo had disembarked any of the ferries from Striga.

She checked her PDA again. So far Bonny Morass hadn't responded, which meant she likely hadn't spotted any Tsoo in IP either. Alumette almost jumped out of her skin when her comm buzzed. It was Dixie: "Your hunch was rahght. Accordin to the arrested Council agents it was the Tsoo. Looks lahke they want the artifact. Any results on your end?"

"So far, no. I haven't seen a single Tsoo disembark here in Talos," she said. "And Bonny hasn't contacted me either, so my guess is, so far, nothing."

[Radical Dreamer]

"Damn. Ah reckon either they have another waya gettin back to the mainland, they ahlready got back bah the tahme we were on to them, or they're playin it real stealthy lahke." she said back to Alumette. "Ah'm ahlmost back to the hospital. Gona go check in on Brendon real quick an we can decide on what our next step is. Probably go proactive an find those artifact pieces before the other groups do. Keep me informed if they make a move."

Hanging up the phone she resumed her chain teleportation across the sky and toward the hospital. With one last jump she suddenly appeared at the base of the stairs leading up to the medical facility. Stan had never seen The Dixie Samurai before but all it took was one look to tell him that he had his hero. Jeans, cowboy hat, boots, and katana. She looked just like he imagined she would. His hands by his sides he waited patiently in front of the door as she ascended the stairs.

"You must be Dixie." he said with a cool unimpressed tone to his voice as he flicked the butt of his cigarette haphazardly to the ground.

"That's me but ah don't remember ever meetin you before. Somethin ah can help you with?" she asked. There was something about this man that set her on edge.

"Detective Walker." he waved his badge, more out of habbit then anything. "I'm here to question the hero named Sterling Saber about his involvment with an incident on Striga Island. I know all his little hero friends are going to be around him so in order to make this easy I'm going up there with you."

The police. Giving a look to the police drones on either side of the man she figured if he was some sort of villain they would have zapped him long ago. "He ain't exactly in the condition to be recevin guests but ah reckon sayin no is just goin to delay the inevitable. Come on. Lets go see how he's doin."

[Stan Walker]

Yeah the kid looked just like her namesake.

"Cute.." I muttered under my breath, reaching instinctively for another cigarette, then thinking better of it jamming my hands down into the deep pockets of the trench coat. It just wouldn't due to smoke in a hospital..even I'm not that crass. I did take careful note at the expression that crossed her face when she introduced herself was something there she didn't like..hell for all i know she read all the bad press. Not that it bothered me I was here to get some answers.

I followed her past the entrance and into a long corridor to the elevator, my senses were heightened as is so the stench of disinfectant nearly choked me..If I actually breathed anyway. I do it more out of force of habit then anything people tend to give you strange looks when you don't.

The familiar "ding" of the elvator chimed and we stepped in.

"Ya got guts kid.." I muttered.

"Ah don't reckon ah follow Detective.." she replied

"Using your hero clearance to horn in on a police investigation, takes guts..makes me interested in what you know about this whole thing."

She didn't respond to that. Something in her facial expression told me though that time was of the essence and this was someone fairly close..I dropped it.

The elevator opened and she mosied..yeah mosied down the hall to a room. The desk nurse started to protest, then was quickly shut up by the flash of a badge..god who new a small piece of metal had so much power. Dixie opened the door where i saw my witness..surrounded by a lot of capes.

My day just couldn't get any better....

[Alumette]

"I'll keep an eye out here for a bit. Bonny's supposed to check in with me every half hour, and we're coming up on 30 minutes. I'm with you on going proactive, though, Dixie. You can count on me to help in hunting down this artifact. Give Brendon my best. I'll wait for your call."

Alumette continued to watch the port for any Tsoo or anything else suspicious. After all, they could be working for or with another villain organization; or perhaps they were being framed.

In the meantime, she sent her most fervent prayers to Belisama that Brendon would be protected, healed and nurtured.

[Kurai Inago]

"This probably won't go anywhere, but I've got to take a shot." Vincent said to the two men sitting at the Diner Table with him. They were the two people he felt could help him in finding and Modifying a Quantum Gun to simply render a Nictus braindead, instead of blasting both host and parasite. They were two of Vincent's best tech Contacts, Dr. Martin Lancaster, a former hero who helped in the creation of Vincent's supersuit, along with the few gadgets he carried around at any time. He was crippled now, but that wouldn't stop him from trying to help. The Other, a Hero known as Kurai Inago, former Crey researcher, he saved Vincent's life after his unit leader shot him. He was also a recently fused Kheldian hero, which means that using his connections to Sunstorm and Shadowstar he could easily learn the ins and outs of the Void Hunters, not to mention learn more about the Workings of the guns. "Are you with me?"
"This is Suicidal.... But I'll be more than happy to help."
"Hell, one last Void Hunter on the street's enough reason to help out. So long as you don't test the modifications on me, I'm more than willing to help."