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A Forced Hand "Attack!" Aea commanded her blood-red gorillas. One gorilla was on fire. It jumped around on the metal staircase, trying to put the flames out. The other two gorillas leapt down at the Dark Fiend of the Inferno, who stood on a lower step. Vince threw a thick blaze at the burning gorilla. Now, caught in a hotter flame, the gorilla screeched. Then, it faded into green energy and returned to Aea's body. The two remaining gorillas struck Vince as they landed, and Vince fell down several more steps and crashed into the wall. The gorillas then charged at Vince, lashing at him with their long, sharp claws. Vince blocked their repeated attacks with his gauntlets, but slowly, the gorillas forced him down the stairs. Then, at the next corner, Vince found his opening. He gave a flaming kick to one of the gorillas. Screeching the whole time, the gorilla flew into the white-painted wall, ricocheted back, and fell down the central gap between the stairs. Then, green energy came back up and returned to Aea's body. The last gorilla viciously clawed at the Inferno Fiend, but with only half as many gorillas on him, Vince had a chance to fight back. He gave the gorilla a flaming uppercut, knocking it into the bottom of the metal stairs above. Then, he threw a fireball upward. It hit the gorilla, and the resulting explosion tore through several steps in the stairs above. Green energy emerged from the center of the explosion and returned to Aea's body. The Dark Fiend of the Inferno dashed back up the stairs and jumped the gap he had created. He climbed his way up the stairwell until he met Aea again. "Look, Aea, I don't want to fight you," Vince pleaded. "I'm sorry, Vince," Aea said, "but I have one more summon you need to battle." Aea began chanting again, and her body glowed with the green aura. Vince tried to use this opportunity to run past her. However, just as he reached her, something hit him and knocked him down a flight of stairs. Aea, still glowing with green energy, had drawn a dagger and struck him with it. Some of the green energy separated from her body and hovered over the central gap. Eight thick strands protruded out, and each touched upon a piece of the metal staircase. Then, the green energy filled with mass and became a giant spider, climbing up and down the central gap between the stairs. From its mouth, the spider spat a thick, green liquid at Vince. Instinctively, he dodged it by hopping down a few steps. The green liquid hit the metal staircase and instantly began to dissolve it. "Acidic venom," Vince thought. "I'll need to be careful." The Inferno Fiend replied with a cluster of fireballs. They exploded against the spider's body, but didn't even leave a crack in its black shell. The giant spider spat venom at the steps below Vince, dissolving them away. Then, it turned back to Vince and spat at him. Vince leapt over the newly made gap and landed safely on the steps below. The spider started to turn around. As one of its legs passed by, Vince punched it with a flaming gauntlet, but the leg neither cracked nor scratched. They were much too hard to break. The spider now pointed its rear end at Vince and shot web at him. To avoid it, Vince hopped down a few more steps. Then, starting from above Vince, the spider began covering the metal steps with web, slowly moving down the stairs. This forced the Inferno Fiend to run down several flights of stairs. Then, the spider climbed down below Vince and began webbing up the stairs. The Inferno Fiend sprinted up the stairs, trying to stay ahead of the spider's web. Then, he came to the web-covered stairs above him. He tried to jump over it, but there was simply too much web. He landed on a thick layer of web. He tried to pull his feet up, but his boots were stuck to web. The spider came back up and spat venom at him. Vince blocked with a shield of flame. The spider then turned its rear to Vince again and shot more web at him. Vince still blocked with his shield of flame. Somehow, the web stuck to his fire shield, and soon, the Inferno Fiend was encased in a huge ball of sticky spider web. Vince let loose a shockwave of flame, knocking loose the web that covered him. However, the web on the metal stairs stayed. All the shockwave did was melt it, making it stickier. The spider had its mouth pointed at him again, and it spat. Vince leaned far to the right to dodge the venom. Then, he grabbed some molten web. Just as the spider was about to spit again, he threw the sticky glob into the spider's mouth. The spider screeched and shook violently. After a few moments, it finally cleared the web off its face, but parts of its mouth had dissolved, and venom leaked from a hole in the side of its face. "That's interesting," Vince thought. "It looks like the spider can be burned by its own acid. Let's see if I can use that against him." Could Vince use his fire magic to catch some of the venom? Vince remembered that once, he had woven his flames into a net to catch bullets during his battle against the MMH Titan. Perhaps he could make use of that skill again. The spider spat more venom at him, so Vince used his left hand to form a fire shield to block. Then, with his right hand, he frantically weaved his flames into a magical net. Vince dropped the shield. The spider spat some more venom. Vince put forward the net of fire, and it caught the entire droplet of venom. With his right hand, he produced a fireball, carefully dipped it into the acid, mixing the green with the red, and threw it at the base of one of the spider's front legs. The acidic explosion tore the leg off. Hastily, Vince threw two more and destroyed more front legs. However, he didn't have time for an fourth shot. The spider recovered and spat another slew of venom at him. A rushed response, Vince threw the fiery net of acid at a fourth front leg and blocked with a fire shield. The spider suddenly went down a floor. With only its four hind legs, the spider couldn't balance itself properly. It was barely hanging onto the metal staircase. The Inferno Fiend threw a cluster of fireballs at the stairs on the opposite side of the gap, destroying the entire flight of stairs. The spider's last four legs no longer had a stable structure to hold onto. As it fell, it frantically reached its legs out to grab something. However, with only four legs, it couldn't find anything. The spider fell out of view, to its doom, and green energy came back up. Then, the webs faded into green energy and joined with the rest, returning to Aea's body. Vince ran back up the stairs, jumping the gaps and climbing the twisted metal wherever the venom had dissolved metal. Aea stood on the steps a few stories up, a dagger in her hand. "Between you and the Mystic who was here, you have destroyed all of my summons," Aea said. "I have failed." "Don't feel too bad," Vince replied. "You did pretty well. Now, let me through." "No," Aea interrupted. "I am to protect this tower with my life. If you want to come through me, you're either going to have to kill me or find a different way. I'm not going to step aside for you, Vince, even if you are my friend." Aea lunged at him with the dagger. Vince didn't even move to defend himself. He didn't want to fight her. The dagger stabbed into his abdomen. Then, Aea pulled it back out and slashed it across Vince's chestplate, knocking him over the railing. Now, Vince was hanging over the central gap, holding onto the metal railing with both hands. Aea stabbed the dagger through his left gauntlet. Vince screamed in pain. Then, she pulled the dagger back out. Vince's left hand slipped off the railing, leaving a smear of blood. Aea then stabbed the dagger into Vince's right gauntlet. Vince screamed again. "I'm sorry, Vince," she said. "We fought on opposite sides, and one of us had to die. I'm sorry it had to be you. Forgive me, Vince." Looking death in the eye, Vince knew he had to act. Before Aea could pull the dagger out, Vince clubbed her thigh with his left fist. This knocked her off balance, and before either of them realized it, Aea fell over the railing. Vince reached for her and caught her green cloak, but it tore under her weight. Aea fell down the central gap of the stairwell, between the metal stairs. Aea fell to her doom. Vince could do nothing. His mind brought back images of Strikov dying, then Lorina dying. Finally, Tina fell into the street, to her death. Likewise, Aea was falling to her death. Vince swung himself back over the railing, back onto the sturdy metal stairs. His armor liquefied and left him. Vince, now human again, sat down against the steps. "Like you said, Aea, one of use had to die," Vince said. Tears began to flow. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to kill you." Another image of death had been added to his collection. Robert and Alice had been wandering the basement for quite some time now. However, they no longer wandered the halls. Somehow, they had wandered their way into a network of rooms connected in complicated ways. During that time, they had seen many sights--some strange, some mundane, and some outright scary. "This place is freaking me out," Alice complained. "Hey, Robert, I heard that in a maze, if you keep following the right wall, you'll find the exit." "What do you think I've been doing?" Robert asked. "It's not working." During that time, they had seen abandoned dining rooms, abandoned kitchens, stockpiles of old tanks, guns, missiles, and robots, rooms full of empty cages and horrible smells, but not after their encounter with Thunder, they had yet to see another person. Robert opened a door, and in the next room, he saw rows upon rows of robots, each about nine feet tall and loaded with gear. "Why do I get the feeling I've been in this room before?" Robert asked aloud. "You haven't," came a reply. "I've been here the whole time." Robert jumped in surprised. "Who's there?" he asked. "Someone who's not an intruder," came the reply. A man walked out from behind one of the robots. He wore blue robes and a hat. "I am Gaius, the terrain mage. It's a pleasure to meet you, and it'll be a pleasure to kill you." Pre-empting the terrain mage, Robert pulled out his gun and fired. Gaius raised his hands. Energy flew from the robots to him and formed into a forcefield, protecting him and blocking Robert's attack. "I am a terrain mage," Gaius explained. "I draw my energy from the environment. I can make the battleground itself your enemy." More energy came to him from the robots, and he fired bright, wide, colored laser beams at Alice and Robert. They ran to hide behind some of the robots, but then, arcs of electricity began jumping between the robots, crackling threateningly. "Holy shit! Let's get out of here," Robert said as he grabbed Alice and fled. As soon as they arrived in the next room, Alice pushed Robert away from her. "I thought I told you I could take care of myself," she shouted. It was cold. Apparently, they had walked into a refrigerated food storage room, except most of the food left in there was rotting, creating an awful smell. Suddenly, the door burst open behind them. Robert fired at the terrain mage, but Gaius simply absorbed the cold energy from the refrigerator and blocked with a barrier of ice. Then, he cast another spell, and the cold, stagnant air of the refrigerator became a blizzard. The rotting food gave off clouds of poison. Robert ran for the door, but Alice was still standing there, firing at the terrain mage, despite the fact that all her shots were being blocked by his ice barrier. Robert ran back, grabbed Alice's hand, and pulled her to the door. "Come on, Alice, let's go!" he yelled. "If you can take care of yourself, how come you don't run away when you're supposed to?" The next room was an abandoned aquarium. The huge tanks of water on both sides were filled with skeletons of enormous fish and the rotten remains of seaweed. This wouldn't do. What Robert really needed was an empty room. Without a terrain, what could the terrain mage do? He definitely remembered seeing some empty rooms down here. All they had to do was find one. Suddenly, the water in the tanks around them started swirling like mad. Cracks appeared in the glass, and water leaked. Above them, it seemed as though it were raining hard. Gaius was right behind them. Robert pulled Alice to the left. A high-pressure beam of water shot right past them, missing them only because Robert had moved. Then, as he pushed Alice down the walkway, he fired back at the terrain mage, only to see his shots blocked by a swirling barrier of water. Suddenly, Alice slipped and fell. The water had made the floor slippery. Hastily, Robert picked her up and carried her to the door. In the next room, they found themselves on a narrow, metal walkway, high above a room full of huge circular vats full of strange, colored chemicals. The drop was at least fifty feet. There also seemed to be a strong draft in the room, blowing alternately to the left and to the right. Robert looked around and saw huge ventilation chambers at the top of the walls. Still running, he came to the end of the long, metal walkway. "Dead end," Robert observed. "We're trapped." The walkway simply ended, suspended high up in the middle of the room. There was no way to climb down, and climbing up the wires that supported the walkway led to nowhere. Slowly, Robert put Alice down. Then, they turned around, guns pointed, waiting for the terrain mage to arrive. Gaius certainly took his time. A full minute had passed before they could see him again. "It looks like you're sitting ducks now," the terrain mage said. Robert and Alice fired, but the terrain mage called forth energy from the air currents and formed a shield of fast-moving air around himself. "I'm sorry, that's not going to work," Gaius said. "And now, to eliminate you." The terrain mage raised his arms. Energy came to him from the air currents and the chemical vats below. However, as the energy from the chemicals entered his body, he burst into a sudden fit of coughing. Then, he lost his balance and fell over the railings. Screaming all the way down, he landed in a chemical vat and didn't float back up. "It looks like this terrain didn't like him," Robert laughed. "Come on, let's go." Alice and Robert followed the long, metal walkway to return to the exit. When they came to the door, they noticed that the door had a sign. "'Quantum Saviors Chemical Weapons Development'," Robert read. "Interesting." Stephanie was still wandering, and she still had little idea where she was. She had left the lodging halls a long time ago, and now, she was in a hovercraft hangar. The unpainted metal walls and the rows of huge hovercrafts gave this place a militaristic feel. As Stephanie walked across the hangar, she noticed a figure on the opposite end of the room. She stopped. The figure stopped. She moved to the left. The figure moved to the left. She took a few steps forward. The figure took a few steps forward. "No doubt it's already seen me," Stephanie thought. "I'll go take a closer look." As she ran toward the figure, the figure ran toward her. They met in the center of the hangar. The figure turned out to be a sorceress, dressed in colorful, fanciful robes. She looked about the same age as Stephanie. "Why are you imitating me?" Stephanie asked. "I'm a copy mage," the sorceress replied. "I am the master at imitation. To fight me would be as fighting yourself. It's a battle you cannot win." "We'll see," said Steph. The girl attacked with her staff, striking with the bottom blade. However, she was suddenly blocked. A moment ago, the copy mage was unarmed. Now, she held an energy staff in her hands. Stephanie attacked with her staff, but the copy mage mimicked her every move. She was as precise as Stephanie was, and as long as she kept copying her moves, there was no way Stephanie could get an attack through. Finally, Steph leapt away from the copy mage, and the copy mage leapt back the same distance. Focusing her energies, Stephanie fired a Holy shot, and the copy mage fired a Holy shot right back. This took Stephanie by surprise, and the Holy shot hit her, knocking her to the floor. Likewise, the copy mage was knocked to the floor. "What are you trying to do?" the copy mage asked as they both climbed to their feet. "If you don't plan on blocking your own attacks, you're going to kill yourself. And trust me, a double-suicide's not going to work. I'm not that stupid." Stephanie cast the Angelhair Snare and snared the copy mage, but she, too, was caught by yellow threads. Stephanie channeled Holy energy through herself and used the strength to tear through the snare, but the copy mage did the same. Then, Stephanie fired another Holy shot, then watched as the copy mage fired her own. Now, she simply stood there and watched as the Holy shot approached. Then, at the last second, she put up a Holy shield and blocked the shot. The copy mage did the same. "She blocked it!" Stephanie thought. "I didn't think she would react in time. It's like she has no reaction time at all. She reads my moves, and an instant later, she's already copying them. There's no delay I can take advantage of. This isn't going to be easy. I'll need to come up with a different tactic." |