wWar of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

"Botton here," Lady G's communicator crackled. "What's up? You need help? I have your location on screen."

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout
Somewhere in the Labyrinth of DOOM

Lady G was relieved to know that somebody friendly knew where she was in this dark maze of tunnels. She wondered what had happened to Lia. The last time she had seen her was back in the entrance hall.

She quickly wrote back to Button: I need to be transported back to the station Katana set up outside. Can you do that for me?

As she was writing it, she was formulating a plan. She seemed to have escaped Lu and Dot for the moment. She was not here in the Tower to run from its occupants, either -- and if she was armed, she was not nearly as intimidated of them. Biting back her nerves, for she knew she wouldn't be happy with herself if she took a quick escape out of the situation from fear, she added to Button: And then can you transport me back here?

She waited and leaned against the wall.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

Lu saw nothing on the tracking device for quite some time as she picked her way through the tunnel. any trap-doors or similar dangers were alerted to her by such source. She came to a split of six tunnels and tried to figure out which one to pick. She bent down on the floor and swiped her hand in the darkness. Maybe she could find a piece of Lady G's hair or test the dirt for some trace of DNA to tell her which way-

"Ow!" Lu yelped as sharp piece of an arrow sliced through her pointer finger. She stuck the wounded finger in her mouth and pouted. "Well, that arrow was in front of this tunnel, so maybe..."

Lu hurried down the tunnel until she came to another split. This time there were two tunnels to choose from. She saw that one went upwards and was about to choose that one- likely Lady G had followed it trying to get out of the tunnels and into the upper- er, actually, middle- levels of the tower. She was just motioned for Dot to follow her when she heard something- very faint, very low, but it sounded like a transmitter or some other echoing whisper. It cut off abruptly and there was silence. Lu knew enough, however- Lady G was not in this tunnel as she had thought. The sound had not echoed back to her like it should have.

Unless Lady G is far ahead and silent, and that echo was something- or someone- else...

No. It was a transmitter. Lu, grinning, charged back out of the selected tunnel and down the other one. As Dot followed, confused, Lu tried to explain, the words hardly coming in her excitement.

It was a transmitter, all right; if it wasn't Lady G in that tunnel, it was another of Lady A's minions.

And one was as good as any other, she supposed.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

"Sure. Tell me when you're ready for the second transport. First transport initializing...transport in five...four...three...two...one...."

With a glimmer of light, Lady G disappeared from sight, and appeared beside Katana.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

Lu raced down the tunnel with Dot beside her. She rounded a bend in the corridor and grinned, seeing Lady G bent over some sort of communication device. She gave a nod to Dot and ran towards Lady G, preparing to tackle her and thus capture her again. With dot on standby, there was nothing that Lady G could do with no weapons.

Just as Lu neared Lady G, she noticed several things: Lady G was holding her quiver as though to wield it at Lu, and in her other hand were bits and pieces of broken- but still very sharp- arrows. Also, Lady G seemed to be glimmering slightly and a voice was counting down.

"Three...two...one..."

Suddenly a blinding light flashed in Lu's eyes and she fell to the ground. When she opened her eyes again, the bright light was gone and Lu was kneeling beside Lady G and Katana. She gasped, then quickly stood to her feet. She stood still for a moment, then suddenly she pulled out her bow and arrow. She felt slightly dizzy and she oculdn't see quite straight; effects of the transportation, she was sure.

"Where...where am I...?" she mumbled to whoever might answer. She tried to keep the bow pointed straight at Katana. After all, she probably had worse weapons than a quiver or broken arrows.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout
In a tunnel leading down into the depths of the Tower

Lia was afraid that she was going to get lost in the Tower. Luckily, she had been a Minion before seeing the light and joining Lady A. After receiving text from Mountie, she fished around in her pocket until she found the little flash drive the contained a file that showed her exactly where she was in the Tower. Plugging it into her communicator, she opened the file. "You are here," it read with a big red arrow pointing to a spot on the map.

"Well," said Lia sarcastically. "That was helpful."

She disconnected the flash drive and sent a text back to Mountie. I'm near the entrance. Second level. Take tunnel three South.

Then she ducked into a small alcove and crouched there waiting for Mountie to arrive.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

Suddenly, Lu's head swam and her eyes blurred, but she had a sneaking suspicion that those symptoms were not from the transportation but rather...the transformation.

The transformation into Gollum.

Well, almost; she still looked human, but the glint in her eyes and the curl of her lips told her that it had been far too long since her last Gollumolotiphobic medicine. She was indeed a scary sight, crouching on all fours and with the arrows sticking from her cloak. Her hair was disheveled and the curls were half fallen-out, and several scratches on her cheek from scratching against tree things in the tunnels (unfortunately, some very dry species of tree could survive down there) added to her odd look. Lu grinned; she couldn't help it. She gurgled, then began to talk.

"Who is she, Precious?" she asked herself, looking at Katana. At the look of shock on Katana's face, Lu turned to Lady G. She also was shocked. "What's she doing, what's she doing precious? What are they both doing??" Lu whined. Suddenly, her eyes got enormously wide and she sprang at Katana, knocking her over and putting her wide-eyed face so close to Katana's that the girl could feel her labored breathing as well as hear it. "Tell us what you're doing! Why are you going to Booky? Why would anyone want to go in there??" Apparently, Gollum was afraid of Booky, if his face was any indication. He jumped up off of Katana and tried to pin Lady G in the same way, but the latter saw it coming.

"Who are yous??" Gollum had to whine from ground-level, ever crouching. "GOLLUM, GOLLUM!"

Suddenly, Gollum cried out in terror and passed out on the floor directly in front of Lady G.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout - Strike Team
The Labyrinth of DOOM

Mountie pulled her hood up over her head. There was no answer to her question, and still whoever-it-was refused to respond. She vaguely saw something that looked like a person pressed against the wall. Carefully, Mountie made her advance, completely unsure of whether there was even someone there, and if so, whether it was one of the Tower minions or not.

After a few paces, she decided that there was, indeed, a person there. A person she somewhat recognized. "Lady G?" she spoke cautiously.

Before the person could answer, the supposed Lady G flickered briefly, then vanished. Mountie gasped. "What on earth was that about?" She muttered to herself. The kitten she held responded with a soft "Meow."

Her communicator vibrated with a message from Lia, with directions to her location. Mountie sheathed her sword and turned to Silvie. "I need to go help Lia. You're welcome to come too, but please take care of him." She thrust the tiny kitten into Silvie's arms. "Oh, and have you heard from Rose recently? If so, text me." She grinned, holding up her shiny silver communicator.

The thought entered her mind that perhaps Philip, her movie-quoting gryphon, might have left already because this mission was taken so long. She opened another text message. Philip? Do you read me?

Her communicator buzzed a moment later. She wondered how on earth Philip could've typed with those tiny little buttons, but had no time to figure it out. She opened the message. Do you always begin conversations this way? it read

When I'm in the Tower and pressed for time, yes. What's your position?

I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand? came the reply. Mountie frowned at the screen in confusion.

Huh? Um, no... She texted back.

A response didn't come, and she had no choice but to assume he was all right. With that, she took off into the nearest tunnel. And then she realized that she had no idea where Tunnel 3 was, or even the Second Level. The Labyrinth of DOOM had thoroughly disoriented her.

Once again, she used her communicator. Button, can you transport me to Second Level, Tunnel 3? Thanks.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

Sure.

Button read the note again and pulled up her map. After examining it for a few minutes, she immediately beamed Mountie to the correct location. She figured that, since the message had come in text, a vocal countdown was unnecessary.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

When Lu woke up, she wasn't sure what had happened. She was lying in a pile of musty straw and looking upwards. Overhead, looking down at her, were Lady G and Katana. Lu blinked as pain crawled up her neck and she coughed; the cough sounding very Gollum-ish indeed. She struggled to sit up, only managing to lean back on her elbows. She fished in her pocket for a communication device, but she did not have one and all that she found was a broken pencil (probably broken in her fall), a few nickels, a tissue (clean of course) and some lint.

Great. I can scribble "help" on the tissue and wave it on the end of my pencil. Or I can throw the nickels at Lady G and Katana. Or-"

Any other sarcastic thoughts were swept from her mind as the pain worsened. She groaned and lay back down. If help didn't come soon, she was going to pass out, and then who knew what the minions of the opposing side would do to her? That thought spurred her on; she stood up and clamored up out of the straw, then ran. Her footsteps matched the pounding in her head, her back ached, and she could feel another spasm coming on. Biting her lips against the pain and the words, she ran until she couldn't see for the pain, and crumpled into a heap under a snowy-white flowered tree. As she lost consciousness, she whispered "Oh, oh, Izzy...where are you...?"

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lovers Lookout
Outside the Tower

As Button's countdown commenced, Lady G gripped the communicator tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. From the two other times she had been teleported, she had found that it was a very disorienting feeling -- which, considering what had been going on lately, was something she was currently not looking forward to experiencing.

There was a flash of light and she opened her eyes. Button had transferred her to the right spot. But wait! -- she turned to see Lu cowering on the ground beside her. How did she get here? she wondered, rapidly backing away.

But Lu seemed in no condition to fight her at the moment. When she got up and ran away, Lady G watched her go and wondered. Then she turned to the stash of weapons Katana had hidden and chose a replacement for the ones she had lost (including a smaller blade she hid under her cloak). "Thank you so much! I will see you around!" she said to Katana, and then texted Button once more: I'm ready now. Can you transport me back? And thank you too. She forgot until it was too late that Button would not recognize why she said too.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

The Grand High Dark Overlord strapped on his Kinetic Cloning Belt and selected his favorite lightsaber (a red double blade, naturally) and added a few other trifles to his pockets. Then he vanished in a burst of smoke and reappeared in the control room.

"Pilot, what have you done to yourself?" he huffed at the barely conscious creature. "I see someone's already been in here straightening you out. Unfortunately, there's nothing for it, but to go the drastic route. My patent-pending Sugar Purge shot. It won't hurt. Much."

The GHD Overlord jabbed Pilot with a hypospray. Several minutes later and after several violent vomiting sessions, Pilot was back to normal.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout - Strike Team
In the midst of teleportation to Tunnel Three

Mountie gasped as she found herself being separated into millions of particles, then re-materializing again in a matter of seconds. The teleportation process was startling and caught her quite off guard. She swirled back into place as the process completed, and the room spun a few times before she regained her composure. She looked around, but could discern nothing in the darkness. The tunnel was very similar to the Labyrinth of DOOM, but in this case, Mountie could actually feel walls around her. They were cold, wet, and gooey. Ew.

She couldn't see Lia anywhere, so rather than speak and risk being caught, she sent Lia a message through her communicator. Lia? I'm invisible, just so you know, so that could cause problems as far as finding each other. I'm in Tunnel Three. Are you still here?

Mountie thought briefly about how wonderful it would be to actually be visible and able to speak again, once this was all over. Then she pulled her hood closer around her face and leaned against the wall to wait.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout

Somehow, Lu had managed to crawl to where Booky was. She had tracked him and knew where he was, but the hard part was getting her body to move; she felt entirely weak.

As she crawled into the room, she saw Booky and a pilot.

"Gollu...molo...tiph...obic...med...icine..." she gasped before crumpling on the floor again.

She was a very strange case indeed.

War of the Overdoms: Battle at Lover's Lookout
In the Tower: Second level, Tunnel 3

Lia heard a light thud when Mountie arrived in the Tunnel, but she was not quite sure who it was that made the thumping. Then, several seconds later, her communicator buzzed. After reading the text message, Lia came out of hiding. She looked up and down the Tunnel for Mountie then smacked her forehead. Well, duh, she thought. Mountie is invisible. You won't be able to find her.

Lia started back down the Tunnel the way she had come. At least Mountie would be able to see her. Just then she heard a tiny little "meow" coming from the opposite direction. Turning towards the sound, Lia crept towards the sound. Taking her emergency sword from her belt, Lia was about to whack the maker of the sound, when she heard a voice call out to her.

"Wait!" it said.

"Mountie?" asked Lia. She could see nothing, but then again, when one is invisible, you are not supposed to see said invisible person. Hence the word 'invisible'.