A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Aubrey headed out of the bar with one last look back at Caeden.

"I think I may have illegally parked the speeder," Aubrey said to Matthew as they stepped outside. "Hopefully no overzealous traffic constable came by. Master Dyar will never let me forget it if I got her speeder towed."

-----

"Can we focus on the problem at hand?" Malcolm asked, sounding understandably irritable.

"You're right, Malcolm. I'm sorry," Moira said and turned back to Sylvia, determined to keep the conversation on track this time. "I had a premonition of Malcolm being murdered, here in this bookstore by a death entity who goes by the name of Jack. We came here thinking he might be lurking here and we could stop him somehow."

"There've been a few newcomers in town in here today, but the only supernatural one was a vampire Slayer. Doubt that's your death entity," Sylvia answered. "If what you're looking for is connected to death, why don't you try summoning Death?"

"What are you talking about?" Malcolm asked, looking confused.

"Oh, you mean summoning the anthropomorphic personification of Death? Do you know how to do that?"

"I learned a bit of magic when I lived on the Disc. Shouldn't be to hard to use the magic that could summon that world's Death to summon our's."

-----

Jack threw the door of Dressed to Kill open and looked around cautiously. This was Ditto Town, after all, and most of the town's residents could put up a decent fight. There were even a few Jack was afraid to tangle with. But the only thing he could sense was the same two girls, barely out of their teens.

"CAN I GET SOME SERVICE?!" Jack yelled, enjoying the audible yelps of alarm from the back room. An unpleasant grin crossed his face as a pale, blonde-haired girl emerged from the back of the store.

"I heard the bell, there was no reason to shout," the girl said mildly. "What can I do for you today?"

"I'm thinking about a nice jacket with ... oh, who am I kidding? I just want to kill you," Jack said and laughed nastily.

"You'd be surprised to know how many times people have said that to me," the girl commented.

"You're supposed to be screaming or acting ... upset. This is not how things usually go for me."

"And I'm not used to Death entities that have conversations without nasty bits falling off. Nice change though. One gets tired of cleaning rotten flesh off of the floor."

"Death entities? What are those?" Jack asked, mock innocently.

"Are you seriously trying to toy with me?" the girl scoffed and then flicked her fingers at Jack. Glowing symbols dripped off of her fingers and flew through the air at Jack. Jack flipped over backward to avoid the symbols.

"Charter magic!?" Jack yelped. "How? There's no Charter here. How are you doing that?"

"One can do Charter magic wherever there are Charter stones. And there are a lot of Charter stones on Dittopia."

"That's just cheating! How was I supposed to know I'd have to face Charter magic here?" Jack complained and then vanished.

Alex, for that was her name, drew her Charter-spelled sword and a bell from the bandoleer hidden beneath her cloak. It was Saraneth, the Binder.

"And that isn't cheating?" Alex asked the empty air. "I can sense you moving through Death. You're not fooling me, I know you're still here."

Jack reappeared in the back of the shop, shedding ice crystals everywhere. He hurried for the back door.

"Are you going to clean up that mess?" a voice asked from the shadows.

"Ah, the other one. But you aren't a Charter mage. I think I'll rip your head off for the road."

There was a sudden quick flash of movement and a glint of polished metal and then Jack was staring down at a sword buried in his chest.

"The vorpal blade goes snicker-snack," Alice said as she stepped out from the shadows.

A slightly Less Normal Life

Matthew nodded "That would be somewhat difficult to explain away, considering the weird circumstances" he said with a slight grin. Here he was, carrying an unconscious Jedi consular over his shoulder, whom his accomplice had just giving quite a bloody nose to, and then running out to a speeder which was parked illegally...

Heck. if they weren't Jedi this would put them in the slammer for sure.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

"Hey, I was just having a drink with your friend here," Caeden said, jerking his thumb over at Ana. He followed the Jedi outside, his curosity overcoming his fear of the Captain if/when he found out that he'd been hanging out with Jedi. For the moment at least.

"What's this evil voodoo stuff that's got a hold of Vendar?" he asked.

------

"Summoning death?" Nikolas asked with a slight scoff. "I've never heard of such a thing. And I'm a demigod and my father is the god of death."

"Um, I don't think we should question this," Peter said, a little nervously. "Let's just watch and see what happens. Things are different here than they are back in Manhattan."

"Pfft, you're telling me," Hero said, rolling her eyes. "I haven't seen anyone make a decent pizza yet."

------

"Cor, you're real somefin', aintcha?" Katie asked, looking at Miss Lucinda with wide eyes. "You got dead fings listening to you and everyfin'."

She shrugged at her question. "Ain't got noffin' special. Wings and stuff to fly. But you gotta attach those to your back and they falls off after a while."

------

"Yes, darling dearest, we can make her your little pet," Simon said absently, his mind occupied with thoughts of the monks as he looked over the map.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Vayond

Sirius stood at the mouth of the cave, feeling awkward and not knowing what to do next. Then a girl he judged to be about 18 said to him, “Hello, Sirius.” “How do you know my name? Did Micah already tell you about me?” Sirius asked. Then all of a sudden, Jaegar sprang out of his grasp and leapt towards the deer. Sirius managed to stop him, but not before a good portion of the meat was ruined. “Oh no,” he groaned as he looked over the carcass, “Oh, I am so sorry,” he said, giving Jaegar a good cuff between the ears. “Look, I’ll make it up to you. There’s a butcher’s shop in town, I’ll buy you some meat, as much as I can, though I don’t know how many people it can feed, I don’t-I don’t have that much money, you see…” he trailed off, then caught himself. “I’m so sorry about your meal,” he said again, feeling terrible, but he couldn’t resist asking, “Why are you all here anyway? Not to be intrusive, but there’s lots of better places in town, like that big old inn-wait, no, that one isn’t there anymore.” Then he remembered what Micah told him about the people who destroyed the inn, and he asked, “Are you all running away from them?”

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

"I don't completely understand it myself, Caedan. I do know that right now, Vendar has two Force auras. There's something possessing him, a Sith I'd wager. From what it said, I think it knows me and fairly well."

"You know Sith? Isn't that against the rules or something?" Aubrey asked caustically.

"When one has been a Jedi as long as I have been, you tend to meet a lot of different people," Ana replied.

"And how long would that be?"

"A very, very long time," Ana said firmly.

"And what are we going to do with him?" Aubrey asked, poking the unconscious Vendar as he lay in the speeder's backseat.

"We're going to take him to the Temple and get some answers. But discreetly. The last thing we need the entire body of the Order to find out is that there's some sort of parasitical Sith spirit going around possessing Force users"

"Good point. Oh, we can take him to Robby!" Aubrey exclaimed

"Why would we take him to your boyfriend?" Ana asked as she climbed into the driver's seat. "Aubrey, you've parked this wrong. Last time I'm ever letting you drive my speeder.

"He is not my boyfriend, Master Dyar!" Aubrey jumped into the passenger's seat with an angry huff. "He's just a friend. Who's a boy. Entirely different thing."

"He doesn't think so," Ana scoffed. "Get aboard if you're coming with, otherwise stay here."

-----

"Pizza? What's that? Is it good?" Moira asked.

"Trust Moira to be distracted by food," Pandora commented to herself. She'd crept into the bookstore via the back entrance, which had been left oddly unlocked. Now she crouched behind a bookshelf and watched the others talk.

"You may be a demigod, but I'm an actual goddess. What are you? Five? I've walked this multiverse for over five thousand years. I think I know a little more about these things than you do. I just need to fetch the proper books. Don't steal anything while I'm gone or I'll make you into a hat."

Sylvia disappeared into the back rooms of the bookstore then.

"She might do it, you know. I saw her turn a guy into a beaver once and the next day she was wearing this weird old-fashioned hat.

Vayond

Edmund swallowing, wondering how much he should tell the stranger. Suppose his tiger could talk and told the Hunters? "Well, that depnds on if you tell us a little about yourselves.

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Hinvi pointed forward, “And now we go, TO THE WEST!” Hinvi said with a booming heroic voice. He smiled then began to walk. “I’ve heard lots of stories about towns like these. Stories that tell of travelers who were able to purchase an entire feast with just three animal pelts.” Hinvi smiled, “stories about how the ale runs from the barrel into the mugs, and they still bring ten more barrels out so that you don’t have to wait in line. Stories about how they have stayin’ rooms that are so comfy and warm, it could keep a blizzard warm.” Hinvi said, and then he continued on with his raving about towns such as the one they were going to visit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Falcon walked on through the forest, keeping a steady pace. Should be there by tomorrow, back in solitude, and away from all cursed bustle in the world. Can’t wait to get back. Falcon continued to think about his home.

A (slighty) Less normal life

Matthew had apperantly laid master Vendar in the back seat of Ana's speeder before walking around the back end of her speeder, tapping it twice like we would do to our cars. Then he turned and walked away to his speeder.

"Lets go" he said as he he hopped in.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Two teenagers glanced around the street hesitantly.
"So, where are we going again?" asked the boy.
"Anywhere!" said the girl brightly, "'we're exploring, remember?"
"Oh yeah. Exploring..."
"Oooh, look! A bookstore!"
The boy looked at it disinterestedly. "OK, so lets go in if that's what you want."
The girl giggled and cast a coy glance at the boy, "You know that's what I want!"
The boy shrugged and made a movement towards the door of the bookstore.
The girl ran to catch up and clasped his arm impulsively. "Jeff, you're a sweet brother."
Jeff looked embarrassed and gently shook her off. With his ears burning bright red he strode into the bookstore with his sister trotting behind him. Looking up just as he passed through the door he spied the name of the place. Realms Bookstore.
It was cool inside, and there seemed to be quite a few people gathered there. Someone turned and stared hard at his sister, and his ears began to burn again.
"Jane," he hissed, "I thought I told you to wear something inconspicuous!"
Jane looked down at her dramatically flared bright orange pants that came up to her ribcage and the peasant shirt with orange flower print that was tucked in to the pants. "But I thought it was!"
"Couldn't you have worn something- modern?"
"But this is modern!"
"No it isn't! It's from the '70s!"
"That's not that old!"
Jane looked hurt, and Jeff dropped the subject with another shrug. He glared at the person staring, who hurriedly looked away. Turning back from his glare, he caught sight of a sign on one of the shelves.
"Cookbooks..." he murmured aloud. There was something tugging at his memory, aroused by the name. What was it? There was something related to cookbooks that he really, really wanted...
Jane felt him slip into distraction and turned to look at him. Following his gaze she knew what he was trying to remember. Hurriedly she grabbed his arm again, "Look!" she said and pointed, "There's books on fashion over there!"
At the word "fashion" Jeff snapped out of his reverie. "Oh no, please not fashion..."
But she dragged him over to the fashion books anyway.

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Pandora glanced over her shoulder nervously as Mandy Klew ran by shrieking followed by Matthias who was doing his best to manipulate the substance of the bookstore to trap Mandy. Inexplicably the crazed detective was dodging his every attempt.

"This place just gets weirder and weirder."

"You can't stop me from finding the secret panel!!" Mandy shrieked, looking back at Malachi just in time to slam right into Jeff. "Oooo, you're cute! Help me find the hidden treasure!"

"Get out of this bookstore!" Matthias yelled, racing down the aisle toward Mandy.

-----

Somehow Cordelia managed to push Bea out of the house, bi-passing Ronald who stood staring at the new cyborg who still hadn't answered his question.

"Would you quit shoving?!" Bea yelped, slapping Cordelia's hands away as she was unceremoniously removed from Cordelia's house. She was all too aware of the dangerous potential of Cordelia's hands.

Cordelia was about to erupt into my indignation when the street in front of her house erupted in a geyser of cobblestones and dirt. A humanoid figure lurched out of the debris and then began to glow. The dirt and other debris clinging to the figure's body seemed to evaporate and the glow vanished.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Cordelia asked warily.

"This is an unauthorized settlement. Take me to your leader so we can discuss your immediate relocation."

Return of the fountain fellowship

The room was dark, with only a few fluorescent lights scattered throughout it. It was a relatively large room with high sweeping sealings. A single cushioned recliner facing a blazing fire in the fireplace made up the only piece of furniture in the room.

"The prisoner is here to see you, sir" Fred said as he stood at attention "Very good Sargeant, you are dismissed, please guard the door until I call" Replied the unseen person behind the chair. Fred saluted and walked back out the door "Hello miss Kay" the chairman said as he spun his chair around.

---

Stretch studied the hologram of the senate building layout "Look, they have ventilator ducts heading to the main prisoner section, who ever designed this place was a pure idot"

"That or he hated the powers of the senate and hoped that one day a few idots like us would come along and attempt an almost suicidal attack" Shrims said glumly "We can't do this ourselves. We need help"

"Lets give Zakk a buzz" Cale replied to Shrims

A (Slightly) Less Normal Life

Jeff turned at the sound of very loud yelling in a high pitched tone just in time to get rammed into by a strange screaming girl. At her very odd squeal his ears turned red again.
"Wh-" he stammered, "What treasure?"

Jane whirled only at the "you're cute" comment. She gave the girl a withering look and wrapped her arms protectively around her brother's arm. "We", she said, "are not interested in any sort of treasure." Turning to her brother she said, "Come on, I don't think there are any books here we want."
"Well, wait just a sec, she might need help," Jeff replied laying a hand gently on one the hands that clasped his arm.
"I don't think so," said Jane, with a glance at Matthias. "Come on! Let's go!"
Jeff turned away rather reluctantly and shook his head with a smile at Mandy. "No thank you," he said politely.

Vayond: The Shadowed Hunters

Dalin kicked his horse fiercely, not any happier then his men about their orders. It was far beyond his desire to stop in the thick of a hunt, though this one hadn't been as successful as their hundreds of others. But if they had been given a few mores days, or even some hours, he was sure the fugitives would have been killed. There was no turning back now though. Even he wouldn't dare go against the King's orders. Never would he. Never. Something bound him to those words, scribbled on a piece of parchment, something that made him listen, whenever, wherever. It was something no one new but himself and the king and he planned to keep it that way as long as circumstances staid the same.

Sticking to the backroads and forest paths they headed West; toward the capital city that housed the king and the grand castle. It took them a full day of hard riding before they reached their destination. But even then it wasn't over. They couldn't ride through the front gates even at night. They trotted their horses along the wall, to a place where a Cherry tree had grown. Big, fat, red cherries hung from it's branchs but Dalin completely ignored them as he vaulted off of his horse and slapped it's hindquarters. His black mare trotted off into the night. He, (who had changed back into his black suit) climbed the tree like a squirrel, jumping from branch to branch. Higher, Higher, until he was to the top and jumped to the wall landing solidly on both feat. He walked along the stones for about four paces then lept off and grunted as he came down running. Across the turrets, down a flight of stairs, a sprint through the paths of the palace garden, through a side door and he was in. Any normal man would be breathing heavily by this time, but he wasn't normal. He had an appointment to keep and the king wasn't a patient man.

He wound up more stone steps. Almost there. He saw the door hanging slightly ajar for him. He took a breath and leaped up the last few steps to the landing; then in. The door rocketed open and banged against the wall, jarring it's hinges. The noise brought no one though. They were completely one.

King Xailin had his back turned. His whole body was in shadows. Even the satin of his robe didn't shimmer, for there was no light. The two mens breathing was all that could be heard. Neither moved, neither spoke. Dalin pulled down the hood of his cloak. There was nothing hidden from the king. A minute passed, then five. Finally Xailin moved. His arm twitched. But Dalin didn't have to wait any longer. In one sweeping motion the king turned to him.

"Your right on time."

"I'm never late"

"Something I like."

They spoke, but their voices weren't friendly.

"I have another job for you Dalin. It shouldn't be hard"

"Sir" Dalin said, grinding that word between his death "Our hunt was not finished"

Fire flashed in Xailin's eyes. He turned on Dalin "What!? So you've failed me!?"

"No I have not! You called us back to early. We would of had them..."

"Them!? There was only one I sent you after! She was a mere girl. Don't tell me she evaded you!"

"There were complications. But if you had given us a day or even some hours more it would have been done!" Dalin hissed. He calmed his voice. Emotion was a fault. A weakness. But the king stoked his every inner fire with coals. He had not failed. Nor would he ever. "We'll go back and finish. I swear my king, they will die"

"Watch yourself Dalin. Don't ever forget what I posses"

Dalin felt his hand going for his blade. "How could I ever forget when it haunts my every dream!?" he took a deep breath. His voice softened for his next words "How is she?"

"Fine" Was the terse, final, answer.

Dalin didn't say another word. He let himself calm. To no one else did he ever show this much emotion. To his men, all he displayed was a chuckle of satisfaction, a small snarl of anger. That was all. But King Xailin saw him in his two sides. The lethal and the emotional.

The clouds outside moved away from the moon. The large ball of light spilled it's milky rays on the earth. It shone through the high tower window. It illuminated half of Dalin's face. Dark eyes, a lined face, which showed his dangerousness. But something else was in his ebony eyes. He backed away from the light and flipped up his head. "What are your orders?" he asked huskily.

Xailin raised one eye brow and sighed. "Dalin, kill them. Don't fail me"

"I won't."

He then flew. Down the stairs, to the bottom where he stopped and stood in a corner. He could almost hear his heart beating. He tried to knock any other thought but the task at hand from his mind. Kill them.... Oh he would. But, there was something unusual about this group. He would never tell it to anyone but he could sense it. They'd have to approach it from a different angle. He knew what to do. "The Laughing Rouge...." he whispered then left the tower, sinking into the twilight.

*********

Susanne looked at the carcass of the deer and made a face. Half of it was gone, eaten by the tiger who the boy, Sirius, now had firmly in his grasp. But the amount wasn't enough. Especially for all the hungry mouths it needed to feed. She turned away from it, letting out a hopeless sigh. Last night had been a nightmare.....what would today bring? Her soft blue eyes looked up to Micah for an answer, but he looked just as uncertain as the rest. "Are you all running away from them?" The boy then asked.

Her heart panged. She knew she should be the one to answer, yes. For wasn't it her who had gotten every one into this mess? Hunted like wild animals, trapped like cattle in a corral. She looked at him, and didn't want to reply. She didn't want to drag another innocent person into her death trap. A sob crept up into her throat but she shoved it down. It was no time to cry. "Yes....." she whispered. "Yes we all are, now"

Vayond

Edmund could sense teh uneasiness in Susanne some sorrow in her eyes. "Yes, we all our. And I apparently am runnign from both the HUnters and the King's castle."

Return of the Fountain Fellowship

((OOC: Ok, everyone... I know this post is huge!!! I'm so sorry... but once I got going, I couldn't stop.... if it is too long, let me know and I can condense it )

The air in the bar was heavy with many smells and even some flavors that wafted about. A layer of mist hung at head level.

Shalen sat at one of the tables in the back corner, observing and thinking. She watched all the patrons of the bar mill back and forth in the dark interior, her glasses highlighted them occasionally, linking to various databases and providing her with names, ages, occupations etc, if she had cared.

Six years, she thought, Ace… where are you? Why haven’t you contacted us? She found herself asking the same questions every time she finished a job. Where was he? Her best friend… why had he not been in contact… The serving droid set her drink down, and whirred away. She took a sip and made a face, their drinks were getting worse all the time. There was a sudden tap on her table and she jerked up. CYG was standing there, tapping the table, “we’re wanted in back…new mission”

She sighed. A small speaker on CYG’s armor beeped and Liminata’s voice came out, “It sounded rather… important.”

Shalen nodded to them, took another swig, grimaced again, and stood, “Let’s go”
The two of them slid through the crowd to a metal door in the back, the mercenary lounge, where they and others like them would gather to receive missions, and swap information. It could get interesting in there sometimes, especially when two rival mercenaries happened to be present.

Tonight promised to be different though, there weren’t many mercenaries in, and most of the lounge was empty. The garish color scheme was bright yellow and blue, with purple highlights around the room, it hurt the eyes to look at sometimes.

She blinked, her glasses adjusting to the lighting and compensating as much as possible. Around the circumference of the room, tables were arranged so that their occupants could see the main holoprojector in the center of the room. Each table also had a mini-projector built into the table where Job listings were displayed.

The main holoprojector stood in the center of the room. It was a military grade model, filled up a good chunk of the middle of the room. A ring of chairs were built into its base, each chair having a data screen with full computer access.

Most of the tables were empty except for one or two other mercenaries that were sitting in what little shadow there was. Off to one side, sitting at one of the tables, a man in a dark cloak motions them over.

With another quick glance around, Shalen made her way over to the table, followed by CYG. As she reached it, she nodded and sat. CYG stood over them at the side of the table, and he pushed a button. Liminata’s chip popped out of his arm and he inserted her into the table’s slot. She quickly popped up, “What is the mission?” she asked.

The man tapped two buttons on a datapad in front of him. The screen changed to several views of a building. The first view, of the gates at street level, had a note on the bottom: “taken 6 years past”. The next two bore the same note. One was of a speeder platform on the side of the structure, the other, of a corridor with a hole in the ceiling. Liminata gasped, Cyg shifted and Shalen’s eyes grew wide.

Then the view changed to a still taken “one week ago”, again the front gates, but this time the sun was shining, the gates were different, newer. Everything gleamed white in the sun. Suited guards patrolled with weapons held high, and the fence around it looked nigh impenetrable. The next was again of the speeder landing, but this time, it had a shield around it, only enterable when deactivated, and the third was an overview of schematics.

Shalen was the first to speak, “we’re going… back?” She almost couldn’t believe the pictures displayed in front of them.

Cyg slammed the table with his fist, making it rattle, and jabbed a finger at the screen, “Why!?”

Liminata had a hand over her mouth, she lowered it, “You know that we don’t speak of that”

The cloaked figure stared at them for a moment, “I told you It’s important… and it is.” He held up a hand to withstall any comments, “Six years ago, you stole very important data from the lab located on the secure level of this building. After your escape, the whole place was locked down. Exactly one year later, they began a massive renovation and rebuild project. It stands today as you see it in the picture. We KNOW that it holds information and data that is essential to a plan that the MESS are working on as we speak to squash all manner of resistance to them. That includes us… so it’s dangerous and it must be found out… You three are the only ones that have seen the inside of the building, ever. Even with the new design and security, we believe that much of the floor plan is the same as it was six years ago.” He paused to take a drink from a flask on the table, “we need you back in there… we need that information. Aside from the other reasons, you are the only mercenaries that I believe can be trusted with this, unless you know of any others.”

Cyg and Shalen looked at eachother. Liminata rotated and stared up at both of them. The simple glance spoke volumes. They DID NOT want this… they did not want this at all… they had promised eachother that they would not speak of it, or of Ace, until the time when they would rescue him. Shalen sighed, she knew what their answer would be, even if they didn’t want to do it, “We’ll take the job”

The man nodded and his voice lightened a bit, “Good… all the data will be transferred to your datapads and deleted from any records here… I’ll see you when you have the information” He stood, and glided away, out the door.

Liminata turned very dark blue with red highlights, “how… he…” she sighed and returned to normal, “Well… we’ll just have to do it…”

Cyg rumbled, “Aye… but let’s not get messy… Ace planned it last time and it went off without a… anyway, they have upgraded everything…”

Shalen nodded, “we’ll have to look over his plans and see what needs changed, and maybe scrap the whole thing.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two days later, midnight~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe that I’m trying this…” Cyg said into the com.

“Hush up and do it, will you?!” Shalen snapped back. She had been irritable ever since the mission briefing, and had snapped at both of the others numerous times.

Cyg rolled his eyes in his helmet and pressed the accelerator on the hover truck that he was driving. The truck was laden with fresh produce for one of the local markets. It had been borrowed that morning for just this purpose. CYG’s suit had been tuned to project an image of a normal truck driver using his holo-projectors. He actually looked rather ridiculous when it was turned on.

All that was beside the point now, CYG would drive up to the gate and talk to the guard. When he was told to leave, as they were sure he would be, he would turn and head away, only to floor it backwards into the gates. The large truck would hopefully short out the defense lasers and shields, allowing Shalen to get in, and then CYG also.

Cyg drove down, and stopped at the gate when the guard motioned, “Who are you and what is your business here?” he demanded, looking skeptically at the truck and it’s logos.

Cyg turned as he imagined a bored driver would, and licking his lips with distaste at his lines, said, “Well… I’m here to deliver this here load of produce… my they upgraded their systems, I don’t recognize this place…”

The guard’s helmet turned to look at him, “You are in the wrong location citizen.. turn back now or risk having your truck impounded and youself placed under arrest.”

Cyg widened his eyes and the hologram did too, “Alright, alright… I’m a moving along…darned computers always get the location wrong.”

He backed the truck up, turned it about, and drove forward a few dozen feet. Then he slammed it into reverse, and punched the auto accelerator. As he did so, he punched the door off it’s hinges, and launched himself out the opening.

The truck obeyed it’s computer systems, and went to full acceleration. It careened backwards, in a straight line. The guards at the gate jumped clear just as it impacted the high density electro-shield that was blocking entrance. The truck was immediately electrocuted with a thousand Killowats of power and was rapidly stopped in it’s tracks. It was also, however, thrown to the side. The truck was large enough that when it flew sideways, it crossed the two opposite polls of the electric grid, and shortcircuited the whole system. There was an explosion in the back of the compound, and the system went dark.

Shalen watched the whole thing happen from the top of a building that was just tall enough to look over the walls of the place. As soon as it went dead, she took a running leap, barely clearing the gap and landing with an ‘ooff’ on the side. She gripped the top, swung herself over, and dropped the 10 or so feet to the ground.

She glanced across the space where the gate used to be, where now about 10 guards milled about, trying to figure out what happened, and trying to secure the opening. On the far side, in the shadows like herself, she saw CYG vault the wall, and land with a muffled thump. He immediately dashed off to the side. She followed on her own side, around the building. The entire courtyard of the place was ablaze with searchlights and patrolling teams of soldiers, but they made it past without incident. At the back, they stopped at the Air intake ducts at ground floor.

Cyg quickly wrenched one of the grates free of it’s housing, and Shalen climbed in, Cyg followed and jammed the grate in place. They dashed inside the huge, box-like chamber, and found a set of maintenance rings built into the side, leading up.

“well…” Shalen said with a sigh, “we climb..” and placed a foot on the bottom most rung.

It had been determined that the airshaft, up until halfway, was completely clear of all surveillance equipment. At the halfway point of the building, the section of the air shaft ended. A secure barrier had been set up completely across that floor of the building. The entire upper half of the building was almost a separate unit from the bottom floors, having its own power generators, air system, and security system. The MESS had put a lot of work into this.

A floor down from the halfway point, Shalen held up her hand and pointed to a grate in the wall, “here’s where I go in… see you in a bit”

She hooked a rope to the grate and eased it off of its hanging points, then slipped inside. She crawled along the duct for a good distance, finally coming to a branch that lead to a hall. She watched as several soldiers and a couple of messengers rushed past. She pushed the grate open and crawled out into the hall.

She immediately stood, looked both ways, and sprinted toward the turbolifts that she knew were at the end of the hall. Halfway there, she saw a sign that said ‘locker room’. Nodding to herself, she ducked inside, and found herself in amongst the racks of lockers. She spotted one open (isn’t there always one open?) and peeked inside. There was a white lab coat hanging inside, and she quickly slipped it on. She removed her glasses, took the passkey from it’s place hanging on the door, and strode back out like she knew what she was doing.

She headed for the turbolift again, and it quickly rose to her floor. She entered, the doors shut, and she punched in the next floor as her destination. With a barely audible hiss the lift came to a halt and the doors shot open. The hall was long, white, clean, and loaded with guards. Probably a dozen MESS soldiers patrolled the hall. She gulped a bit, and walked down the hall. The guards only gave her passing glances at first, but as she passed the doors to labs and such, and walked toward the middle of the building, they became more alert, watching more intently.

She turned to the nearest internal turbolift, leading to the restricted section, and pushed the button. The computer display asked for her card. She took it off, inserted it, and prayed that it would take the card.

Moments later, the buzzer beeped, “access denied”. The guard next to the lift turned to look at her. He took the card from her hand, and looked at it. The card showed a picture of a middle aged man. The soldier’s head snapped up, and he was about to utter a sound when Shalen grabbed him by his helmet and gave a vicious twist. His neck snapped and she yanked him in front of the lift control. It read the autotag in his armor and opened the doors. She dashed inside, and let him drop to the floor.

Just as the doors closed, she heard the sound of blasts being fired, and then impacting the armored doors. The lift shot up one floor, and the doors opened again. She stepped out onto the floor, looked both ways, and headed down the hall toward the restrooms. The guards eyed her, and just as the door closed, she heard an alarm sound. She quickly removed the coat, found an air duct, and crawled inside.

It was tight, and it took her a few minutes to locate the spot that was above where CYG waited. She tapped twice on the metal, and there was an answering rap. She placed a cutter to the plates of durasteel and activated it. Two minutes later, the plate was cut on three sides, and CYG pushed it up, “About time!”

“There are complications, they know I’m here… We have to hurry!”

Cyg grunted in response, and Liminata spoke, “Then I estimate we have about 5 minutes before they swarm the building…”

Cyg and Shalen exchanged glances, then began to climb rapidly up the side of the shaft.

It took them another minute to climb up to the floor designated as their target. Once there, Shalen sighed, closed her eyes for a second, then popped the vent off. She climbed in and crawled along. Cyg climbed up a foot or two more, then placed a small charge against the wall, and activated it. The thump was loud in the shaft, and the wall blew out, into the hall.

Cyg jumped through the hole, his gun arm spinning and blazing down the guards that came running at him. A moment later, Shalen emerged from a door down the hall, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to do that!?”

He shrugged, “We can stand around arguing or we can get this info!”

She nodded and turned to blast another soldier who came running. The turbolift showed that a car was rapidly approaching from both upper and lower floors. Cyg nodded and they both broke into a run, down the corridor, and around the corner. They looked at eachother, they had both realized that they were standing in the same hall from 6 years ago… newer, yes… different, no… They ran ahead and to the doors. No subtlety this time, no hacking the computer, and no waiting for some guy to finish…

Cyg raised his arm and clicked a finger. And One rocket built into his arm flew at the door, blowing it off it’s tracks and into the room. The startled techs inside jumped aside as they both entered. All of them had drawn pistols, and, having no armor, were quickly mowed down by CYG.

He rushed to the main terminal, loaded Liminata in, and she began downloading.

Both Shalen and Cyg posted themselves as guards at the door, watching, waiting. Cyg picked up one of the sections of the door that he had blown in and placed it sideways, for cover.

Liminata had decided to download all the files that she could find available, everything that might be important. And rather than try to decode and read them there, she would take them with her and sift on the way. Therefore, her downloading went quite quickly, and she was on the last batch of files when all heck broke loose.

Shalen and CYG had been wondering why there had been no rush against them, and no effort to stop their access to the chamber after they had gained entrance. It was at this point, that the floor behind them, in nearly the exact spot where they had punched through before, exploded.

The plates of the floor detonated outward and upward, spraying shrapnel and metal debris everywhere. The metal pinged off of CYG’s armor, tore into the computer systems, and lacerated Shalen.

Shalen screamed with the impact, and fell against their makeshift shield even as CYG rolled to cover her. Liminata groaned and growled as her connections with all of the computers in the room were suddenly severed, “GET US OUT OF HERE!” she yelled.

From the hall there came the whine of laser fire, streaking overhead and burning into the backside of the door. Liminata screeched as a bolt hit the control panel, then shouted, “Hey! You MESSey Tinheads, watch it!” She glowed bright red, and the automatic fire control system activated, spraying the halls with white foam. The soldiers yelled, but kept running, although slipping around. From the hole in the middle of the floor, a soldier’s head and arm appeared, holding a blaster. “Freeze!”

When the fire control foam went off, CYG picked up Shalen, bleeding and in severe pain, and dashed to the bank of consoles. He held out his hand, popped Liminta out, and stepped on the soldier’s arm in the process of getting to the back of the room.

The soldiers in the hall had apparently decided that it was better to just destroy the entire room rather than try to capture them, and so they opened a hail of laser fire upon the room. Cyg crouched in the back, protecting Shalen as the bolts impacted the walls, computers, and a few on his armor. He shook his head, “I don’t know if we are getting out of this…”

She nodded, “We have to try…” she winced “Punch out the wall… the speeder platform is right below us…”

“I’ve only got one charge left… and it might backfire into the room if they have shielding on the outside”

“Do it CYG!” She ordered through the pain.

He nodded, planted the charge and covered her with his body. An explosion sounded with a loud BANG, and a sudden wind blew through the room. Cyg looked up, grabbed Shalen, and threw himself out the wall. The platform for the speeders had been rebuilt, with sheilding to cover unauthorized access, but the shields were down because of the power disruption.

CYG landed on his back, Shalen on top of him, and he caved in the metal floor a good foot. He got up quickly, as two or three soldiers began to shoot down at them from the hole in the wall. The nearest form of transportation was a troop carrier that had evidently unloaded some of the soldiers from above, the doors were open and the repulsolifts warm. He shrugged, sat Shalen inside, and climbed in the drivers seat.

With a Roar he lifted off from the landing pad, sealing the doors on the way, and swooped out over the city.