Prelude to War (PRIVATE)

The rain came down in torrents across the sleek metal buildings and roads of what was once a fully functional city. A sign hung abandoned and twisted from rust. It read, “Welcome to Bodhum” and it began too creak and groan as the heavy winds blew across it. Dim lights flickered and flashed through the streets as they struggled and vied for the last bit of mana left to power them. Through the foggy darkness, a lone orange dot could be seen. At first glance the dot seemed to just hang there, but if one were to watch long enough, they would see it move.

Fury removed the now small lit cigar from his lips and let out a wave of smoke into the air. He looked down at the stub and frowned, the thing was almost completely gone. He glanced to Dusty who was crouched under an overhang and wrapped in his cloak nearby. Dusty looked miserable. Fury knew he hated long scouting missions, but he hated bad weather even more. The fact that he had to do both at the same time had him thoroughly pissed and Fury could see that. Standing and stretching, Fury flicked the cigar off into a nearby puddle before saying, ”Let’s go to work.”

Fury placed his helmet on and activated his spectral vision mode, allowing him to see in the dark as well through any camouflage any enemies might be using to stay hidden. Looking around, Fury couldn’t help but feel a sense of anger at seeing his childhood city like this. Hovercycles and vehicles of all kinds were left abandoned everywhere. Everything was left exactly where it was left in the rush to get off of Cocoon when the Fall happened. It was a sad sight to see, but it was a necessary evil.

But Fury pushed those thoughts from his mind. He was on a mission right now. They had found a blimp on the radar. Something was using a large amount of mana in Bodhum, specifically directly under the building in which he used to live in. That seemed like too much of a coincidence to pass up. So Fury and Dusty slithered through the abandoned streets slowly as they made their way to his old home. They silently slipped into a building three blocks away. As they moved from room to room, all they could hear was the pitter-patter of rain splashing across the windows. They crept into a room three stories up and took up position to watch the target building.

As Fury brought the scope up to his eyes he could hardly believe what he was seeing. All around the building were heavily armed men and vehicles. They moved around the building, tearing parts of it away as if they were searching for something. Fury brought his eye away from the scope and looked at Dusty. Dusty did nothing but shake his head at him, giving him an intent look of don’t even think about it/ Fury smirked under his helmet and said, ”We came here to check the building out. One of us have to check it out.”

Dusty still shook his head. ”There has to be at least twenty people down there, not to mention that there are probably more inside.” He brought the spotting scope back up to his eye to scan the group again. ”Besides, there is no way that I’m going down there. I’ll stay up here in the dry safety of not being surrounded by angry guys with guns.”

But this second comment didn’t reach Fury, for he was already on the move, sneaking back downstairs and slipping out into the darkness toward the soldiers. Craig, run facial recognition software, try and figure out who these guys are. Keep all power on the motion tracker and the spectral vision.

Craig brought up the HUD into Fury’s display as he silently crept toward the closest patrol. Fury’s knife gleaming in the dark, he silently stalked his prey…

Fury slipped in close to where all the guards were patrolling. His titanium blade glistened in the darkness as he took cover behind an abandoned truck. He peeked around the corner and watched as two guards discussed something. Listening in, he caught the tail end of their conversation. ”…and that’s where we found him, just staying with this little old couple on a farm in the middle of no where.”

The second guard seemed to get a shocked look on his face. ”And why are we keeping him alive?” He stretched his arms and rolled his shoulders.

The first one looked at the second like he was an idiot. ”Isn’t it obvious? One man with advanced technology in the middle of a world that hasn’t even invented gunpowder yet. We need him to help us use the tech we find on these worlds.”

The second guard’s eyebrow furrowed as he contemplated what he was told. ”Soooo… then what are we doing here then?”

The first guard’s hand went up to his face as he said, ”You don’t think do you? We are trying to get the tech that is buried here out. Supposedly there is an entire armory under this place…. Hang on. Yes…Yes, Sir…. Right away, Sir. Command said they just broke into it the place. We have to get back to our posts. They said anyone not in position will be shot on sight.” He chuckled at the other guard and walked off into the other direction.

The second guard watched him walk off for a moment longer before turning in Fury’s direction and saying, ”Asshole…” He began to walk toward Fury, oblivious to anything around him. As he reached the corner, Fury reached out and grabbed him by the collar, whipping him in a circle and slamming him against the truck. Fury brought the hand with the knife up and plunged it into the man’s throat. The man’s eyes went wide as his life-blood poured warm down Fury’s arm. With one quick flourish, Fury pulled the knife out of the man’s throat and dropped him to the side.

Silently, Fury continued on through the darkness, stalking up behind the first guard. Lightning bathed him in a stark white light as his knife went up in the air and crashed into the man’s neck. The thunder rolled and covered up the sounds of the man’s screams as he crumpled to the ground. He stalked onward. As he approached the door leading into the building, he didn’t even blink at the sight of eight dead guards that lay crumpled on the ground. Before venturing into the building, he turned and waved to Dusty.

Stepping into the lobby of the old apartment complex he grew up in, Fury was instantly hit with memories. He could see himself and his brother running through the place, playing soldier and fighting for control of the front desk. Now, everything was caked with dust from time without care. Fury moved on down towards the basement, a place that no one was allowed to go when he was young. He was about to find out why.

Fury slipped down the stairs leading to the large lobby. Sitting behind the desk under the only dim light Fury had seen in the whole building was a lone guard. The guard had full armor on, but even through that, Fury could tell that he was fast asleep. Stepping into the light, Fury drew out his pistol and chambered a round. He swept up behind the guard without making a noise and inspected the man. He was fast asleep; it appeared that nothing would wake him. Fury’s eyes caught the insignia on his shoulder, though. Somewhere he had seen that before and it ate at the back of his mind.

Agitated with his own lack of memory, Fury kicked the chair out from beneath the man sending him crashing to the floor. Within an instant, Fury was down on the ground on top of him, with his gun jammed in one of the dazed guard’s eye-pieces. Bringing his free hand up to where his mouth would be if he wasn’t wearing his helmet, he held one finger up to the man, signaling him not to speak. Adjusting his weight onto the knee that was pressed down onto the guard’s chest, Fury allowed a moment to pass to make sure no one else was alerted. When he was satisfied that none were coming, he spoke, ”I’m going to ask a few questions and you are going to answer them. If I hear anything come out of your mouth that doesn’t have to do with what I asked, I will paint the ground with your brains. Nod if you understand.”

The guard nodded rapidly. Fury adjusted his weight off the guard to allow the man to answer the questions he gave and then said, ”Who the hell are you guys?”

The guard to in a large gulp of air before saying, ”We… We’re… We’re… hehehe… You may kill me, but you’ll never get it. Everybody down there will end you.” Fury tensed up and moved to strike the man with his free hand, but before he could, there was an audible pop and then the sound of gas leaking from somewhere. The guard’s body began to shake violently. Fury swore before allowing the convulsing guard to fall to the floor.

Glancing up at the elevator doors he spoke, ”Craig, Call the elevator.” There was a pause before he could hear something moving behind the door and Craig’s voice saying, ”Elevator is on the way.” There was a ding as the doors slid open and Fury stepped into the small shaft. Pressing the down button, Fury asked Craig, ”Have you been able to find anything out about these people or what they want with my old place yet?”

There was another pause before Craig’s voice could be heard inside Fury’s head. ”Based on cross-sections and scans of your memories I have been able to-“

Fury cut him off, ”Wait a second… Did you just say ‘scans of your memories’ or am I just hearing things?”

There was another long pause. Fury was about to say something else when Craig said, ”Yes… I have been able to do so the entire time. I need access to the brain to control the nanites and… well… that includes the memories. Now… As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted… Based on cross-sections and scans of your memories I have been able to discover what company these men work for. They belong to an organization known as the Fringe. While there is not a lot of information concerning them available, what is known is that they travel between the worlds searching for new technologies. As for what they want, There is a hidden armory below this building. This “Ark” is one of many spread out among both planets and contain soldiers held in stasis for some unknown reason. The facility also comes with a training center and personal armory. It appears they are raiding the place for such technologies.” Fury nodded, in a type of half-daze.

The Fringe.

He had only ever seen them once, months ago when he went to another dimension and found out who he really was. They were the reason why his real parents were dead. What were they doing here? It didn’t matter; they were all going to die.
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open revealing a huge room with rows and rows of chambers containing beasts and monsters of various shapes and sizes. Fury drew out his revolvers as he moved into the room and brought them up to aim at the guards that flanked the doors. He pulled the trigger on both pistols, ending both guards’ lives instantly. Without even stopping, he moved on to the next ones.

Three rushed towards him, firing their own guns at him as he slid into cover behind a gurney. He waited until he heard them trying to reload and then popped out of the cover and rushed at them. He fired two bullets into the one on the right; one striking the guard in his chest, the other landing in his neck. The guard on the left took a round to the head, blowing the top of his helmet and his head clean off. By the time he was moving to aim at the third, he was extremely close. Instead of firing his gun, Fury chose to upper-cut him with the underside to the barrel which held a blade. The knife cut up through the front of the guard’s helmet, splitting both the helmet and the man’s face in half.

Fury continued his momentum into the next guard. He jabbed at the man’s throat with the barrel of the pistol in his left hand, making sure to pull the trigger just as the barrel would have hit him. The barrel went in through the hole and Fury kept moving, carrying the limp body in front of him as a shield. He ran further into the room firing the gun through the dead guard while that very same guard took all the shots fired at him.

Coming to a halt at the center of the room, Fury tossed the corpse at one of the two remaining guards, knocking the guard over. Fury brought his other pistol up and fired a single bullet through his head. Turning to face the last man, he aimed his pistol at him and said, ”Anything to say?”

The small wiry man was unarmed. He adjusted the glasses on his face to better see Fury standing before him. [color=darkred]”Young man! I am going to have to ask you to leave at once! You are interfering with Fringe official business! If you don’t we will be forced to eliminate you!”ry gave the man a puzzled look from under his helmet. He shifted closer to the man, but kept his revolver trained on the man. [color=red]”I don’t think you completely grasp the concept of what just happened. You have nothing left. You lost. Now, you are going to answer a few questions for me, starting with who are you?”

The man let out a blood-curdling laughter as he walked over to a console and began typing. ”Young man, I may be old and I may not have the best eye-sight, but I can at least see when I am outmatched. But what you don’t realize is that this old man still has a few tricks up his sleeve.”

The man finished what he was typing and the lighting in the bright room changed to an ominous red, casting everything into an evil light. The man laughed again as the containment chambers opened and the monsters were set loose. Fury turned and ran or the elevator as the old man was torn to bits by the beasts. He reached the elevator and closed it up just as a behemoth tried to bite at him. As the elevator rose up toward the surface, Fury activated his communicator. ”Dusty, we have some issues. We need to exfiltrate now. Get ready to move.”

Dusty’s voice echoed in Fury’s ear, he seemed tired and haggard, like he had been running. ”Yeeeeeaaaaah…. About that, Boss. I don’t think you know how big of problems we really have.”

Fury face twisted with confusion. ”What do you-“ Fury stopped mid sentence as he walked out of the elevator and saw Dusty crouched in the doorway leading outside. He approached Dusty and looked out the door. The sky seemed like it was on fire as a giant tear in reality ripped across the night sky, causing bright blues and oranges to streak out. Two frigates emerged from the tear followed by a massive cruiser. All three began to float toward their position. Fury wasn’t worried about that, though. What he was truly worried about was the symbol on the side of the cruiser. The Fringe.

Fury activated his long range communicator and called the only person he knew to. ”Shade… You need to come to Bodhum right now. There is something you need to see. Bring everyone and be ready for a fight.”

Shade Leonhart wasn't one to single-handedly deal with student discipline, but certain circumstances led to her presence in the Infirmary that day while watching on as her friend and comrade finished up the casting procedure to the young male SeeD student. "It's a clean break," Brix muttered nonchalantly with a shrug to her shoulders. "Shouldn't have any issues healing up just fine... Can't the same the same about his pride though!" She didn't bother glancing away from her work to see the young man now blushing profusely, but Shade did. Yet she remained deathly silent while standing there and supervising with an intimidating glare and her arms crossed against her chest. She didn't move an inch from the time she hauled the cadet to the Infirmary, through the x-rays, examination, and casting process. The student swore to himself that Headmaster didn't even blink, let alone show any sign that she breathed either. Just a stone cold statue, awaiting her turn to reprimand the foolish student for his stupid prank which backfired and nearly took his life in the process. Now and then, he dared a glance at the Headmaster, just as he did now once Brix finished up and moved off to put away the medical supplies.


Finally, a single, thin eyebrow arched up over Shade's left eye.

The cadet dropped his sandy blond head and awaited for his emending doom.

Her voice was deadly calm, yet it still made the youth shudder, "As a fourth year, you know damn well a "Float" spell doesn't mean you can fly." He only nodded slightly in response, knowing any attempt at making excuses would only get him in deeper trouble than he was already in. After an agonizing moment of silence, Shade spoke again. "Care to explain what led you into a stroke of stupidity to leap from the hidden room balcony practically three stories from the ground?" The cadet now shook his head slowly, which struck Shade as odd. Most kids only shrugged their shoulders, or replied with a ridiculous "I dunno..." when busted doing something wrong they already knew they shouldn't be doing. This boy did neither, and gave a silent "no" for an answer instead, which meant there was reason for his actions he didn't wish to share. He had nothing else to loose. He already got caught, his pride already wounded, and he knew there was punishment to come. So what else was there for him to be holding back.....


"Who are you protecting, Lane?"

He gave no reply, but his shoulders slumped even more. Now her eyes narrowed in thought, yet before she could continue the interrogation, her communicator alert erupted within her pants pocket. She gave a slight roll of her silver hues before snatching the device, half expecting the call to be yet another annoying issue from another Garden some HeadMaster was too timid or lazy to deal with. Yet when she saw Fury's name across the small screen, her brow drew down in confusion. She answered immediately, but his words, and especially the urgency in his tone sent a foreboding chill through her spine. She shouted his name, but got no response after that save for the infuriating static.


As if some mental switch were flipped within her head, Shade shot into motion, first barking at Brix to grab her gear and head to the hanger. Startled by the unexpected shout of orders, Brix's blond head slammed into the corner of an opened cabinet door for the medical director to shout a string of profanities that even made the young cadet's eyes go wide in shock and his face to blanch. Shade was already gone, running out of the Infirmary and down the east hall while activating the communicator strapped to her ear. The first call was to her secretary to get make an announcement over the Garden's intercom for Jayda to report to the hanger asap for urgent departure and send someone down post haste with her weapons. The next call was to the hanger itself to get the Ragnarok ready for emergency departure.


Once she reached the hanger, she still ran at full speed up the entrance ramp of the airship, and running still from the first level to the next until she plopped into the pilot's seat, barely out of breath. Her skilled hands flipped what switches were to activate the ship's navigational systems as the engines roared to life and the ceiling above split in two and and slowly opened to the sky. Within moments, Jayda and Brix arrived, Fully armed, and naturally appearing frantic and asking urgent questions. Without a word, Shade sent the Ragnarok to elevate out the hanger until it safely cleared the Garden for the engines to now explode and rocket the dragon ship into the cloudless sky.....


Later in Bodhum....



“This isn't happening.... this is impossible....” Jayda's words weren't meant for anyone, or to be answered. It was her state of shock working through her system to help keep the gunner girl sane.

“Screw this waiting around, Shade....” Brix's voice hissed through the stagnant air from behind Shade's shoulder. “Let's just blow the bastards outta the sky and be done with it!”

“They can't possibly be here.... this isn't possible....”

Meanwhile, behind the confines of one dilapidated building, Shade kept to her silence with her piercing steel hues glued to sky through the pitch darkness, struggling to reign back her instincts and rage by the sight of the insignia that verified the airships identity. Screams and the scent of death wavered through her senses from her memories as a slight tremble rushed through her muscles from the firm restraint to keep her newly awakened powers in check. “We're not making a move against them until we get Fury and his team in the clear...” Shade hissed back with to turn and give a stern glare through the rain to emphasize her order. With Brix finally silenced in her usual pouty sneer, the acrobatic thief busied herself checking her weapons for the hundredth time until the word to go into action was given. Shade spared at glance at Jayda, who in turn gave a cury nod that was indeed ready even though still in a state of disbelief.


Now looking to her PDA device, Shade quickly programmed Fury's number into it for the tracking program to pin point his location. She didn't dare attempt to contact him in fear the frequency would be picked up by the enemy and possibly give away either of their current positions. Within moments, a basic map showing a mile radius now appeared with two glowing orbs on the screen, the red being her brother, and due east only about 50 yards away. It wasn't far, but by Fury's brief message, no doubt the enemy was on watch for any move. So what better way to safely cross the distance through the shadows in part due to a dramatic distraction keeping the Fringe attention away then one loopy, talented squirrel. Giving a slight shake of her left shoulder, Skittles' small colorful head peered out through her hair and sniffed madly at the foreign air. “Time to go to work, little one... same routine procedure as in Esthar city, but you need to be even faster this time.... they have radar, more weapons, and there's more than just one ship up there.... think you can handle it?”


As the youthful squirrel looked up to the night sky and saw his potential targets, his tiny dark eyes narrowed and Shade felt the shiver of his anticipation as his little paws jug into her shoulder and his bushy multi-colored tail have a twitch or two. If he needed more speed and stealth, he knew exactly which form to take on for such a challenge and leaped from his perch to run off into the night. Meanwhile, Brix was grumbling for having to rely her life on a rodent as Jayda tensed up with her pistols in hand and ready to go. Within minutes, chaos erupted in the sky as a crimson wraith flashed through the air in multiple directions to lash out attacks with a golden clawed hand against the windows of the cockpit to whichever ship the Vincent Valentine form chose as a target. The wraith like ability he mastered as the real Vincent was a most helpful skill, where Skittles would disappear after each attack, leaving nothing but the impression of his crimson cloak in the wind before he would physically appear before another ship and lunge again.


Shade motioned her small team to move, and swiftly kept to the shadows and avoiding any confrontations with ground troops for the time being until the trio finally came to the building Raven was supposedly in.

Fury watched as troop transports slowly detached from the main ship and hover down towards the building he had recently been inside of. It had been maybe an hour since he had pulled out back to the building Dusty was in and the Fringe had all but reclaimed the building. He and Dusty watched as statues, neither moving more than what was required to breathe as Fringe soldiers walked mere feet away from them. All the soldiers moved through the area with deathly silence as they inspected their dead comrades. None of them even seemed to care for any of the dead, instead they seemed intent on discovering the mystery of who did this.

Fury slowly pulled his eye away from the scope as a blip on his motion sensor appeared to the rear of the building. Something was slowly moving towards their hiding place. Fury’s emerald eyes scanned the room quickly for any place to hide. Not finding any, he tossed his knife to Dusty and pointed to the door. He stood and faced the door as Dusty stood to the right of the doorframe. The blip on his radar got closer.

25 meters

20 meters

15 meters…

The man was at the door now. Fury put his rifle on the ground and looked at the door with his hands raised into the air. The door slowly pushed inward and a man with a gun walked in. He held his rifle pointed straight at Fury. The soldier glanced around the room and realized that they were alone. He reached up with his hand to activate the communications device, but was cut off by a flash of motion from behind the door. In a flash, Dusty was up behind him, stabbing the knife into the side of the soldier’s exposed neck and slashed across, tearing it open and making his shout of shock come out more like a gurgled moan. Both men stood there in complete silence as they waited to hear if anyone else was coming.

A moment later, Fury moved back to his rifle as Dusty cleaned off the knife and moved back to his position next to Fury. Fury placed the scope of the Grievance back up to his eye and quickly scanned the new crowd of soldiers emerging from the transport ship. The cross-hairs rested on the last man to emerge from the ship. The man wore a long black trench coat and black leather gloves. His skin was a deathly gray and his eyes seemed sunken, giving his the appearance of a corpse. The man carried a pistol in one hand and a riding crop in the other. He waved the riding crop over his head, ordering people around and generally screaming at them for being screw ups. Fury’s brow furrowed with concentration. The man looked so familiar. ”Dusty, do you see the guy giving all the orders?”

Dusty shifted his binoculars to scan the crowd for a moment before stopping over the man. ”Yeah, I see him. What about him?”

Fury asked, ”Have we ever seen this guy on one of our ops?”

Dusty studied the man for a moment before saying, ”I can’t say we have, Boss. Why do ya ask?”

Fury continued to study him intently. ”I just can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him bef-… Son of a bitch!” And then it hit him. The man was the one he had seen when he traveled back in time and found the revolver part of the Grievance. It was the man who had summoned the monster who had killed his father. Fury’s pulse quickened as he saw the same curling smile on the man’s face as he had back then. ”Dusty, get me the distance and windage on that target.”

”Boss, tell me you are joking. If you shoot that guy all the other idiots will know exactly where we are. It’d be suicide.”

”I don’t care!” snapped Fury at Dusty. He watched with serious intensity as the man moved through the crowd. Fury thought about just pulling the trigger just right then and there, but his thoughts were interrupted by an explosion in the sky. Fury snapped out of the tunnel vision of the scope to see one of the transports on fire and crashing towards the ground. He brought his scope up to the explosion just in time to see a crimson cloaked man slashing at the windshield of another. He swore out loud as three more blips appeared on his radar. They were again moving straight for him, but this time at a quicker pace. Apparently, they had a way of tracking all their guards. Fury grabbed his revolvers and pointed them towards the door as Dusty did the same with his submachine gun.

A moment passed before a familiar face burst into the room. Brix Dincht. Fury’s guns lowered as she was followed in by Shade and then Jayda. A smirk spread across Dusty’s face as he saw that it was the girls. He turned to watch all the chaos outside erupt into full blown panic. Fury nodded to the girls and said, ”Good to see you. Now let’s get you up to speed. A week ago there was a spike in magical energies surrounding that building. Yesterday, Dusty and I were dropped off and sent in to investigate. When we got here, there was a very small force making their way into the building. We needed to know what they were after so I went in while Dusty watched my back. Long story short, they had found an armory underneath of the building. After securing the building, that giant cruiser appeared and ran us off. The logo on the side matches that of the Fringe. Other than that, I have no clue what exactly we are up against.”

Fury looked away from the group to scan the crowd. He couldn’t look at them when he delivered the next news to them. ”One last thing. Dusty and I have been monitoring their comms for the past hour and it would appear that they have a hostage aboard the ship. The comm was filled with a lot of white noise, but it sounded like they said his name was Vex…”

If it was one thing Skittles was superb at, it was being someone's royal pain in the ass. It didn't matter where the ships guns aimed, for he was far too close to another ship, or virtually upon another for the enemy to get a successful shot. That or because he decided to actually sit upon one of the laser canons while making faces at the other ships. The obnoxious summons may not be notorious for his smarts, but at least he knew to put his over active energy into tactical uses. It proved successful enough for Shade and her small team to slip through the shadows while carefully creeping closer to Raven's destination. At any time they risked approaching any ground troops, Shade gave the order by hand signal to fall back or lie low until the coast was clear.

Yet again, Brix couldn't contain her rising irritation. With a slight toss of her head to shake away a random lock of her blond hair from her face, her blazing blue hues were seething with impatience as she hissed her frustrations through her teeth from behind Shade. "Why in the hell are we hiding like cowards, Shade? We can take these scumbags down in no time flat!"

While carefully peering around another corner to scan the darkened alleyway, Shade's eyes narrowed, appearing much like to slivered daggers piercing through the shadows. When confirming their path was clear, she snapped over her shoulder with a scolding hushed tone. "We do nothing that jeopardizes Fury's location. Any hostile confrontation will draw attention not only to us, but to him as well!"

Shade didn't see, but she could practically feel Brix's eyes rolling against her back. "You don't even know if these bastards already have him, or not, to risk jeopardizing anything."

Just as Shade was about to take a step, she paused long enough to slowly turn and leer closely to Brix's face with a rather calm expression, yet her eyes silently threatened bodily harm as she held up the PDA device for the screen to face her comrades face. "See that little red dot? See how it isn't moving at all? That means Fury's still safe... he's scoping....he's watching.... If it's moving during a time like this? Then that's a bad sign." After snapping the top half of the device shut in her hand, she leaned another inch closer with a slight growl in her words. "I think I know my own brother's moves well enough to make a sound call over his status."

Without waiting for acknowledgement, Shade turned away and proceeded down the alley, hearing Brix and Jayda follow silently behind. Her attention solely focused on meeting up with Fury, knowing that if she spared just an ounce on the Fringe swarming the sector, she would give right into the same instinctive demands for revenge Brix so desperately wanted. And now approaching the appointed building, Shade caught site of a solitary soldier stalking through the doorway. She paused and lifted her wrist to look down at the PDA and switched on the timer, mentally counting down the seconds as Brix and Jayda gave her curious looks. After a few moments, Shade held up her other hand, yet still watching the numbers until finally, one by one, she curled her fingers until her thumb was last to make a fist and her eyes returned to the door. "He's dead now.... let's move."

The trio moved at a cautious jogging pace, keeping as close to the outer wall of the building as possible just when an ear shattering explosion erupted within the sky for them to suddenly turn and look up, finding one of the smaller ships engulfed in flames and soaring far off towards the ground. Shade actually heard Jayda chuckle behind her before trying to lighten the mood of their situation. "Well thar ya go, Brix! Skittles blew one outta the sky fer ya!"

Without another second lost, Shade led the way again before anymore enemy troops discovered Fury's location. But when they reached the same door the previous soldier walked through, Shade found it hard to push open, as if something were pressed against it. Without word, Brix was beside her, and both gave the door a heave forward, pushing it open slowly for Brix to be the first to pop her jolly face right in to see Dusty and Fury aiming their weapons straight at her head. With a beaming smile and a seductive wink, her natural flirtatious attitude piped right up. "Damn boys! That excited to see me, eh?" Her grand entrance was immediately disrupted by a shove to her back sending her stumbling across the floor as Shade was next to slip in, with Jayda right behind her wearing her usual bright sweet smile and eager wave as if the group were meeting up for nothing more than a mere picnic. "Howdy y'all! How's the party?" Meanwhile, Shade was preoccupied kicking and nudging the soldier corpse with the toe of her boot to get the body out of her way while muttering under her breath. "For Hyne's sake, learn to clean up your messes...."

But it was right to business and the girls listened intently as Fury dove right into quickest version of events before either of them could ask a single question. Although paying close attention, Shade's mind went wild with rage trying to figure out how the Fringe even came to this world, and why would they? Did they discover Fury's origins to her own world which they already nearly destroyed, and now they sought his power as well? Or was it for the same reasons of obtaining power from this world, as they had done in her own? Still, she kept her lips firmly pressed together to keep from interrupting any important details her brother informed them of. Just then.... she noticed him break eye contact. There was a shift in his tone. Something bad was about to be said... Shade could feel it before Fury spoke. His last words sent a foreboding chill up Shade's spine and before she even looked, she heard the breath choke in Jayda's throat at the mention of her brother's name.

Before another word could be spoken, yet another explosion within the sky sent tremors to vibrate through the ground. Shade advanced a few steps to stand beside her brother to carefully gaze out of a broken window to assess the damage Skittles had caused, only to find his Vincent form appearing to have quite a grand time in his spectacle of aerodynamics and dramatic lunging skills upon another ship. While struggling to keep her breath calm, Shade spoke softly for only Fury to hear. "We better move quick...Not just for our own sake, but for Jayda as well, before she actually goes into a panic attack over the news of Vex." She turned her head to lock their hues with one another, already knowing what must be done. "I assume element of surprise is out of the question now.... any ideas on how we can get into that ship?"

Meanwhile, Brix had her hands full trying to keep Jayda steady on her trembling legs. "Get a grip girl.... I didn't bring any damn sedatives with me on this trip! You know we're gonna get him, one way or the other, so suck it up!"

Fury tore his eyes away from the blazing inferno of chaos to look at the girls. Jayda seemed shell shocked and near collapse. He knew the information was going to hit her hard, but it was better for her to react this way out here, than inside the ship. At least now they had time to get her calm again. Brix’s shouting at her was indication that they were going to get her moving quickly. He just hated seeing her like this. Jayda was the sweet heart of the group, she always kept the mood light, but not when she was like this. Fury felt sorry for any Fringe idiot who stood between her and her brother.

Shade leaned in and whispered hushed commands. She was right, they had to move fast. With Skittles freaking them out, they would surely all pack up inside that ship to figure out what their next move would be. Once that cruiser closed, it would be locked up tight and getting into it would be next to impossible. Fury looked around for some semblance of a plan. His eyes rested upon one of the last remaining transport ships at the bottom of the building they were in. He pointed to it for the others to see. ”That’s how we’re going to get on that ship.”

Dusty looked from the ship, to the girls, to Fury, and then back to the ship before saying, ”What is this? Suicide mission Thursday? Boss, you have to be joking. Even if we can capture the thing, what makes you so sure they’ll let us fly in there with it? They have to have some form of security system other than them seeing the logo.”

Fury nodded ”They probably do. But that’s why we are going to capture the pilot alive.” Fury walked towards the door and opened it up for them to leave before Dusty could argue against it. Dusty sighed and walked out the door. He knew there wasn’t any other way to do it, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that it shouldn’t be done. Everything seemed off about this. Everybody seemed a little too emotionally attached to the mission to think clearly enough to pull this off without a hitch. Fury was too attached to answers, Shade and Brix want revenge, and Jayda is just broken over her brother. This was going to end badly.

Fury crouched at the mouth of the alley way and waited for the others to catch up. He scanned the last of the patrols as they moved back towards the ship. There were a total of twenty on the ship all together. Five of the men stopped out in front of the loading area and began to load the equipment frantically back on the ship. As the others caught up to him he pointed all of them out to them. ”There’s five outside the ship plus another fifteen inside. It’s up to you guys how you want to take care of them. We could hang back and cover you guys while you take the one outside down quietly. Then we can all move in to seize the ship.”

While following Fury closely, Shade gave a quick glance over her shoulder to see Brix with a firm hold on Jayda's arm and following just a swiftly through the shadows alongside Dusty. Since they were drawing closer toward the ship, the dull roar of its idling engines drowned away any noise the team may have made, and the guards attention was more focused on the chaos of Skittles chaotics in the sky. As her piercing hues scanned over the five soldiers her brother pointed out, Shade listened to Fury intently before casually raising her hand and holding it still as she gazed back down at the timer on her PDA device.


As before, when counting down the seconds she knew the previous intruding soldier venturing into Fury's scouting post would be dead, Shade's fingers slowly went down, one by one, until her hand made a fist. Suddenly, a slight cracking sound came from behind, and Shade already knew what to predict before she turned her head. By the time she did, Brix was slowly releasing Jayda's arm and stepping away from her comrade just as cautiously as the blond bombshell gave Shade the "oh shyt" look. Shade simply raised a single eyebrow at Jayda, who now bore a seething expression across her face with narrowed hues that could fire daggers if humanly possible. The 'crack' sound came from the double barrel shotgun gripped fiercely within her grasp as her lips slowly sneered.

"Jayda..."

The gunner's eyes remained fixed on the ship as her voice dropped to threatening octave. "Now.....I'm pissed"

Shade calmly looked back to Fury with a faint twitch at the corner of her lips and a flat tone in her words. "And now.... we're ready."

Brix, on the other hand, was as giddy as ever while twirling her daggers within her hands and sneaking a mischievous wink at Dusty. "Heh-heh, yeeeEA-AH-AH baby!"

Without another word, Shade approached her comrades with her sword drawn and her crossbow loaded and ready. "As much as we like to play, ladies, stealth is the game right now. We make this quick." Jayda and Brix each gave a curt nod as Shade looked back to her brother. "The second we take down the five, move in." With that said, she raised her hand up dismissively as a soft glow began to swirl about her palm. With a flick of her wrist, the glowing mist encircled around the trio of SeeDs and they slowly vanished from site.


Now.... if the trio could be seen, Fury and Dusty would've suffered witnessing Brix's obnoxious antics in front of the first guard who acted as if he were no more than a lazy supervisor watching the others load the ship. Miss Dincht decided a hip thrust dance routine in front of her target was fitting to her stylish flare, since no one could actually see her doing it, before performing her finale of an upper-cut double slice to his throat with her dragon daggers just beneath the chin guard of his head gear. In her turn about, Brix barely missed getting splattered with blood just as the corpse was falling to ground just as Shade's Wolf's Blade drove into another guard's neck for the steel teeth of the blade to extract as her wrist jerked the weapon with a twist for a silent kill. The very moment her sword made contact, she turned and aimed her crossbow to another target and fired as two steel arrows shot through the guard's helmet and straight through his eye sockets. With her silence enchantment activated over her shotgun, Jayda fired a round into the forehead of the fourth guard as her other hand shot out her whip with precise aim to their final target, snaring him around the neck, and with one fierce jerk of her arm, his neck snapped in two and his body crumbled to the ground along with his fallen comrads.


With a hiss of her words, Shade and her team quickly drug the bodies along side of the ship away from the cargo doors and deactivated the vanishing spell to await for Fury and Dusty to join them.

Fury nodded to his sister when she took control of the situation. The Fringe was unknown territory for him and even more so for Dusty and these girls were raised on fighting them. So when all three were ready to take the five men down and Dusty went to follow them, Fury stopped him. They would observe for now and let the girls have their fun. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to get any action later on any way. As they disappeared into the spell and took off towards the men loading the ship, Fury activated his Spectral Vision goggles and was able to see them clear as day as they silently tore through the guards.

Dusty on the other hand, still had a grin from ear to ear since Brix had winked at him. She sure was something else in his mind. As the blood started pouring, Fury glanced over to him and rolled his eyes. Just another guy fallen victim to Brix. He waited a moment after Shade and her team were finished with the guards and just stared at Dusty, waiting for the man to come out of lala land. It took the soldier ten seconds after everything was down with for him to realize he was day dreaming and Fury was staring at him. Fury just raised an eye brow and said, ”Does Angel know about you and your thoughts?”

Dusty’s face was concealed by his mask, but if it was showing it would have been beat red. The soldier huffed once and stood up to walk over to where Shade and the others were, saying, ”Oh and you’ve never stopped to think about someone else?”

Fury chuckled and said, ”I have, but I don’t make it so blatantly obvious.” Fury and Dusty crouched down right outside the ship’s open cargo doors and looked at the girls. ”Alright, Dusty, it’s our turn. Try not to be out done by your girlfriend.”

Dusty’s head shot from Fury to Brix then back to Fury and finally back to Brix before he shot out, ”He means my shotgun. Her name’s Delilah.”

Fury choked back a laugh and said, ”suuuuuuuuuuuure,” before slowly sliding into the cargo bay. There were five more men in this part of the ship still loading things up. Fury silently slid up behind one who was just sitting on one of the crates, having a smoke. He drew out his knife and plunged it up under the man’s chin while his other hand reached up to cover the man’s mouth. With one fluid motion, he lifted the man from his seat and rolled him back outside.

Meanwhile, Dusty slipped into the cargo bay and snuck up right behind two guards loading a heavy crate up onto the others. He raised his shotgun up to aim at one of them and pulled the trigger. The silencer made the shot sound like a soft pfft and the spread of pellets tore into the guard’s back. Without the guard there to support the weight, the crate fell onto the other, crushing him and causing him to cry out in pain. Dusty rechambered a new round and shot him in the head, silencing him. But the damage was done, Dusty heard the muffled huh?’s from the other two guards in the cargo bay.

Dusty pressed himself up against the nearby crate and listened for the footfalls of the now alerted guards as they slowly moved towards his position. They were getting closer and closer. He could hear his heart-beat in his ears as the adrenaline pumped through his veins. Just as the two were about to come around the corner and find him, Dusty heard someone whisper, ”Psst, hey dumbasses.”

Dusty heard the conjoined, “Huh?” from the guards again and slid out from cover. Both men had their backs turned to him as they searched for the source of the noise. Dusty slid up behind the one closest to him and brought his shotgun up underneath the man’s throat, strangling him. As he struggled to hold the gun to the man’s throat, he saw Fury stand up from the shadows and fire two silent bullets into the other guard’s head.

Stepping into the light, Fury watched Dusty with one eyebrow raised as the man struggled with the guard. He chuckled and asked, ”Dalilah?”

While struggling against the now half-unconscious guard, Dusty let out a grunt and responded with a venom filled, ”Bite me.”

Fury chuckled again and walked back outside to tell the others they could come inside. Once everybody was gathered Fury spoke. ”On the other side of that door is the bridge along with all the other guards on this ship. We still have the element of surprise and that will stay ours. Once we kick in that door, Dusty and I will toss flashbangs in and disorient them. Then you guys can go in followed by us. Everyone in that room is expendable except for the Captain. You’ll be able to pick him out of the crowd because he’ll either be the one shouting at everybody to kill us or cowering in the corner.”

With that, Fury turned and stood next to the door alongside Dusty. He pulled out a grenade and held three of his fingers up. One by one the fingers fell and when the last finger fell, Dusty stepped away from the door frame and allowed his boot to crash through the door. Shortly after, Fury pulled the pin on the grenade and tossed it into the room…

By the time Fury and Dusty reached Shade's team, the SeeD's were already visible again, and where Shade's attention was strictly directed to their next course of action, Brix found herself momentarily amused by the brief bantering between Dusty and Fury. For a brief second, Shade's focus was interrupted by a faint whisper of her name, and as she turned to glance over her shoulder, she witnessed a rare sight of ferocity in Jayda's hues, but the young woman was now shaking from rage. Giving her a curt nod of assurance, Shade whispered back over her shoulder, “We're going to find him, Jayda. I promise. We're going to bring Vex home.” She saw her friend swallow hard and nod back before busying herself reloading her weapon as Shade returned her piercing gaze back to the issue at hand just as her brother was the first to slip into the cargo bay of the ship. Within seconds, the first body rolled out as the now deceased victim continued to spill his blood onto the ground. Brix hissed through her teeth and flinched back with a scowl of annoyance across her brow before glaring back at the cargo bay even though she couldn't see Fury. “Damn him! He nearly got blood on my brand new boots!”


Shade peered around the corner of the cargo doorway just in time to see Dusty take out the two carrying a heavy load as Brix peered in just as one of them cried out. She gave a smirk at Shade, who in turn was shaking her head and scowling in Dusty's direction instead, while grumbling under her breath about sloppiness. Sure enough, the remaining two guards came to investigate the sound and met their demise rather swiftly just as Jayda peeked in with her rifle aimed just in case a mishap ensued.

“Did'ee say shoot meh?”

“He said “bite me”...” Shade flatly replied while watching the scene intently.

Jayda shifted for a better aim. “Yew shur?”

“Rule 237, Jayda... no shooting my potential dates!” Brix hissed through her teeth as she reached out and lowered the double barrels of Jayda's gun with a slap of her hand.

Shade saw Fury's signal and rounded the corner. “Let's move....”


The team regrouped within seconds and listened intently, although eager to move on. Shade's jaw clenched, struggling to reign back the screaming urge to go into form and simply slaughter them all. End the Fringe existence right here and now.... but there was no guarantee if it would save her own dimension, and there was Vex's possible survival to hold dear. She knew once they had him, and in the clear, her sense of control would shatter. But there was now to think about as the trio got into position just before the door came crashing down and Fury threw in the flash bomb.


The shouts and cries of alarm were to be expected, but completely ignored before and after the grenade exploded, then Shade and the others flew in. Brix managed to be the first through the doorway, using Dusty's shoulder as a foot lift since he was crouched at the floor to avoid the flash. Both daggers gleamed as she flew through the air already aiming at her first two targets, driving the steel of her weapons deep into their chests, then using the gravity of her own decent to take them both to the floor just as Shade dove in right behind her, firing her arrows to take down another just before the prod of her crossbow disengaged and flew through the air to slice through the neck of yet another soldier. She immediately twisted her body into a spin, sending her sword gripped within her other hand to come slicing down across the midsection of another soldier, which put a dead stop to his gun about to aim for her head as his torn torso collapsed to the floor just as Jayda's rifle fired upon the nearest soldier about to fire his weapon at Brix. As his head exploded across the wall of the cabin, Shade screamed out the count “SIX!” just as Brix yanked out her blades from the two soldiers chests to drop to one knee with a spin and drive one of her lethal daggers straight into another target's abdomen with a deadly twist to watch his body lurch forward with a gurgling cry before falling to the floor in a dead heap. “Lucky Seven!” Suddenly, loud explosions shook the cockpit as two bodies went flying threw air to crash against the glass of the room before falling to floor with two enormous slug holes through their chests. Brix and Shade paused, then both of their heads turned looking at Jayda with wide eyes and dumbfounded silence.


The two rifles that fired simultaneously were still outstretched and streaming smoke from the tips of their barrels as Jayda's foot was now lodged against the neck and pinning down a struggling soldier squirming and whimpering in fear on the floor. As Jayda panted for breath, her piercing hazel gaze remained fixed on the last two bodies that fell by her rounds. “That thar be eight an' nayne....” Shade's left eyebrow slowly came to a rise at the only soldier left living beneath Jayda's boot before turning her head to look at Fury. “I believe we got our captain....”

“Aw, gawddamnit!! I broke a nail!”

Fury and Dusty slid into the room after the girls and brought their guns up to cover them. As their guns came up, both realized that their skills weren’t going to be needed for this breach. Instead, both lowered their guns and watched with a slight amusement as all three of the girls tore through the ten soldiers that inhabited the bridge. Fury watched as Jayda slowly walked from the door over to where the Captain was swinging his gun around and shouting orders at the others who were trying to fight back against Shade and Brix’s torments. Fury smirked as Jayda swept his legs out from under him and stomped down on his throat, silencing him, before firing her rifles at the last two soldiers, ending them quickly. There was a moment of tension as both all of the others just stared at Jayda before Brix broke the silence with her usual flamboyant flare about breaking a nail.

Fury just shook his head as he walked over to the captain and knelt down next to him while Dusty walked over to the flight controls. Fury looked up to Jayda, smiled, and asked, ”May I speak to your new friend, Jayda? I’m just dying to know those passcodes to get into the main ship’s hangar.” Watching her grudgingly take her foot from the man’s throat and meander off to take a seat, Fury leaned in close to the captain so that only he could hear him and said, ”Normally I wouldn’t say this, but you are lucky it’s me questioning you and not her.”

Fury stood up and placed the captain in his chair before he pulled a chair up in front of the man and rolled up his sleeves. The ship began its rocky take off as Fury pulled out a cigarette and his old beat up zippo and lit it. He took a long drag from it before blowing the smoke out in the man’s face and took out the peacemaker from its holster and loaded a single round in the cylinder. He spun the cylinder round and slammed it into its chamber and aimed the pistol at the man’s gut. ”We’re going to play a little game… I’m going to ask you a question and aim this gun at a random body part. You will answer the question and if I am less than pleased with it, I’ll pull the trigger. A bullet may or may not enter that body part. But by the end of the game, I will have my answers. It’s up to you how many holes you have in you.”

The captain just stared at him with a clenched jaw, so Fury aimed the gun at the man’s shoulder and asked, ”What is the passcode to gain landing access to the main hangar?” Still the man stared at him with a clenched jaw. Fury frowned but nodded and pulled the trigger.

Click

The man flinched slightly but otherwise showed no emotion. Fury moved the barrel of his pistol down to the man’s gut and raised an eyebrow at the man. Still the captain remained silent.

Click

The captain flinched once more and he closed his eyes for a moment, saying a silent prayer to whatever god he followed. When he opened his eyes again, he was staring down the barrel of Fury’s peacemaker. The man stared at him with a worried look in his eyes. A bead of sweat rolled down his brow as Fury said, ”I know what you are thinking. ‘He won’t shoot me, he needs me for the information!’ well, all I have to say is you are dead wrong. The codes would make it easier for us to get in there, yes, but they aren’t a deal breaker. We’re getting on that ship even if we have to blast our way in.”

Finally, the man’s stare was torn away as he looked downward and said, ”Athena” Fury nodded in thanks and yelled the passcode up to Dusty. Dusty nodded and watched the main ship as they approached its main hangar. A voice could be heard over the communicator, ”Sierra 2-6, authorization, please?” Dusty rolled his chair over to the communicator and spoke clearly into it, ”Code: Athena… Authenticate.” The line on the other end went silent, but nothing moved to stop their progress into the hangar. They were nearly there when the doors of the hangar began to close. Dusty swore under his breath and said something about wish Dizzy or Cowboy were there before screaming to the others, ”HANG ON!!!”

The ship pitched forward and everyone was forced back into their seats as it barreled for the closing doorway of the hangar. The doors clipped and scraped to hull of the ship as they squeezed through the narrow opening only to crash on the hangar floor. When the smoke cleared, Fury could see soldiers pouring into the hangar by the dozens. He stood up from his seat and shot the captain once in the head before turning and moving back toward the cargo door. Dusty opened a small peek-hole to see rows of soldiers aiming their guns at the door. Dusty turned from the peek-hole to face the others and said, ”So much for stealth…”

Fury smirked and said, ”Time to go to work…” before pressing the button that controlled the cargo doors and drawing his revolvers.

Jayda took in a shuddered breath for control, wanting nothing more than to snap the wretched neck beneath her foot. The things she had seen.... the screams still in her nightmares... the most precious taken from her... the reawakened rage was enough to drown the young woman's sweet temperament all together. But Fury's calm tone sunk through. They needed the information.... and her foot slowly rose up while giving Fury a stern, curt nod as she released her victim, yet remained silently behind him throughout his entire interrogation while purposely reloading her weapons very....very...slowly, for the captain to see. As Fury's pistol would *click*, Jayda would snap the double barrels of her rifles with a loud resounding *CRACK!* after loading the ammo in while glaring silently at their prisoner the entire time.


Meanwhile, Shade took a random seat within the cockpit and yanked out an old rag from one of side pockets and quietly cleaned off her blade. She'd spare a side glance or two at her brother while he interrogated the Fringe soldier with his usual sarcasm, which eventually brought a smirk twitching against her lips. She already knew this guy was going to loose his courage before the very first click of Fury's gun echoed throughout the cockpit. After her sword was rid of the excess blood, Shade handed the rag to Brix to clean off her daggers while the grumpy blond still grumbled about her ruined manicure. She was now looking over Dusty's shoulder at the control panel with a sneer over her lips as she cleaned off her first dragon dagger. "You'd think this shyt would be more advanced the way they come barraging in and destroying worlds.... this crap looks like an elementary playground!"


Finally, the password was given, which brought Jayda's rifle right back up and aiming straight at the captain's head. "Can Ah shoot'im now, Fury?"


Suddenly, Dusty cried out for them to hang on and the ship suddenly lurched, sending Brix flying back with a scream and slamming into Shade who was luckily still in her seat. Jayda let out a startled whoop!! and went flailing back, but luckily her reflexes used one of rifles to catch Fury's chair to keep herself from falling on her rump. The crash didn't help at all with anyone's gracefulness as Jayda now found herself on hands and knees upon the floor with her cowboy hat drooped over eyes as her hands shuffled about for her weapons. Shade gave Brix one hearty shove, sending the obnoxious girl flying into the control panel with a hearty laugh, leaving Shade scowling and gasping for breath. "Lay off... the brownies.... Brix...."


Within moments, the group was upon their feet and assessing their upcoming threat. After taking a glance herself, Shade sighed and motioned for the others to take a step back. "I'll begin with a heavy distraction to catch as many off guard as I can. Decide what targets each of you are going after so we can take them out as quickly as possible. I'll take whatever soldiers that don't follow my lead while you guys take out the dumber ones who like to watch first before they attack...."


With a slight step back, her stark white wings erupted from her back as the Gryphon crossbow began to resonate with a glowing power while the mechanisms within the prod erupted with high pitched turbo sound. As the cargo doors opened, Shade aimed and fired upon the ground as an entire mag of 30 exploding arrows containing the powers of lightening, creating a straight line along the floor dividing the soldiers from the team. The electrified wall would surely damper the efforts of their enemy with their armor made of metalic material and hopefully glitch the hell out of their weapons to buy Fury and the others some time to take out quite a few and Shade took to the air.

Fury flicked the cigarette off to the side and placed his helmet back on his head. He opened his eyes to see the heads-up display flicker to life, displaying vital signs, motion sensors, and shield strength in a light-bluish tint. He turned to Shade and nodded when she relayed the plan to them all. Once again, she was going to throw herself out in the line of fire to give the rest of them a fighting chance. He did not protest the judgment, knowing it would only waste time. Instead, he looked her in the eyes from behind the mirrored visor until she allowed her wings to erupt from her back.

He looked at the others there too. Brix had a wry smile across her face as she slowly slid the blades of her daggers across each other, making a small screeching noise. She had a determined look in her eyes, though, and Fury could tell she was truly focused on the mission at hand. Jayda seemed the exact opposite to him. She had a set look of determination etched onto her face that made her seemed solely focused on finishing this mission. He could tell that if that focus were to be broken, so would she. The determination was a mask that held her together. He needed her to be ready for this. Finally, his eyes slid over to his right where Dusty was leaning up against the bulk-head, loading his shotgun a slug at a time. Dusty noticed Fury looking at him and raised an eye-brow. ”Take a picture, Commander. It will last longer.”

Fury let a chuckle escape his lips before saying, ”The usual bet?”

Dusty pumped the shotgun and walked over to line up with the others and said, ”You bet, Boss. That is if we make it off this hunk of metal.”

Fury smirked and moved to press the button to lower the doors of the cargo bay. ”Since when are you a pessimist?”

Dusty shook his head. ”I’ve been hanging out with Angel too much lately. She can really be a downer sometimes.”

The doors slowly opened and Shade burst forth from the cargo-hold. She tore across the hangar and terrorized the guards that were not expecting an angel of death to rain lightning down on their heads. The world seemed to slow as the others burst forth from the cargo bay and out into the crowd. Dusty slid down behind cover and pulled the shotgun up to aim at a nearby enemy. He fired once, shredding the target’s back with lead pellets, killing him instantly. He pumped the shotgun and readjusted his aim and fired again, disintegrating another’s head.

While he did so, Fury sent himself in motion. He ran straight at the line of electricity Shade had laid down to protect them and dove across it. The electricity made his shields flicker and falter for a second before coming back online. As he hit the ground, he slid straight between a guard’s legs. The guard looked down between his legs at Fury as he slid away just in time to see Fury spin while sliding and pull his revolver out to shoot the man in the face. Recovering from the roll, he uppercut another guard with the under-blade of the Deadmaker, slashing the guard’s exposed neck clean open. He rolled into cover and leaned out to fire at three more guards, dropping each with a well-placed shot in the visor.

Brix was the eager one. She always was. She wore her bitterness and rage for revenge upon her sleeve during any heated battle to hone her skills and techniques, as well as fuel the adrenaline needed to keep her instincts and reflexes sharp to nail their deadly mark successfully with each and every strike. She charged straight for the front line as Fury did, with her fists beginning to glow while gripping tightly around the handles of her weapons. What power she was conjuring grew and brightened around her hands, and just as Fury slid through the electrical wall, Brix leaped into the air and gave her body a few backward flips to get her momentum going faster until the knuckles of her gloves were about to hit the ground once more, only for her quake spell to erupt into the ground. The force of the spell shot her body straight up into the air with such force that she twisted in mid flight and hurled over the electrified wall to come soaring down upon her unfortunate target with her long dragon daggers slammed directly thorough his chest as she landed upon him. From there, her body went into a flurry of motion, yet fluid with every move, be it her slashing weapons, flipping and dodging about as if she were part feline, or her swinging kicks to either buy her some time, or used in a combo attack. Yet from high above, even Shade could hear Brix's raging screams and taunts as she relinquished her lust for revenge upon anyone in her way.


Jayda was by far, more calm..... and deadly. Shade kept a closer eye over her team mate as she sent a rain of steel arrows streaming from above to cover Fury's back and at any other soldier who took aim upon herself and the others. She had rarely seen Jayda so engrossed with rage, and when the SeeD gunner found herself to be, she was dead silent and her movements were solid and with focused precision. There wasn't a shred of fear or uncertainty in Jayda's eyes as her lips twitched with a slight sneer when both of her arms swung the rifles for them to slam their double barrels back into place before aiming them upon separate targets at the same time. The two blasts exploded from the guns simultaneously, and with such force, normally Jayda would stumble from the kickback. This time, her feet remained firmly planted on the ground as her bright eyes narrowed their aim before crossing her arms with the rifles and pulling the triggers again. Within a second or two, the second round she fired made contact with the first round just as they nearly reached the front line of the soldiers and erupted with a fiery impact that sent a dozen of soldier's bodies to hurl into the air screaming in pain and fully engulfed in flames.


Shade knew Jayda would need a moment to reload. It was the one drawback Shade hated her team mate risking for having such powerful ammo, but the team leader was prepared. With a snap of her wings, Shade soared to the ground and slid to stop in front of Jayda as the gunner dropped to one knee and swiftly jammed the spell slugs into her rifles again as Shade's crossbow continued firing rounds of arrows to buy her comrade some time. "Think we need to speed this up a bit...." She shouted above the noise as the turbo mechanism ignited within the prod section of her Gryphon.
Jayda smirked as she held one of the slugs in her teeth as her fingers shoved the third into a barrel, then took the one from her mouth. "Ah thinks we can have a bit more fun iffin' they can't see whuts comin' Shadey..."


Shade didn't even look over her shoulder, but she still nodded, knowing exactly what Jayda had in mind. "You got it...." She growled with a narrowed gleam in her hues and with a swift leap and swoop of her wings, Shade was in the air again just as Jayda swung her rifles as before to hear the same loud crack! of the barrels as she rose back up to her feet. It was then Shade ignited her spell with a glowing mist of her hand that gripped her sword, and with a slice through the air, a gust of powerful wind encased her body, as well as Jayda's and Brix, making them instantly invisible to their enemy. Seeing this, Brix knew to keep her attacks and form as low as possible so not to be struck by one of Dusty's, or Fury's bullets as she maneuvered her way swiftly out of their possible line of fire while slashing a few soldiers across their legs and groin area just for shyts and giggles.


But Shade wasn't done just yet..... Even if her decision may annoy her brother, she redirected her flight with her hand aglow once more as she soared past him with her next conjured spell cast and whipping around him with a brief cyclone of wind. He may not be aware of the Shell and Protect encasing him, but Fury would definitely feel his movements suddenly quicken by Haste effect of the spell. Like it or not, Shade wasn't about to leave him in the thick of it without some added protection.

Fury and Dusty were both swiftly moving through the large mass of soldiers. While in a normal situation these soldiers probably would have been able to easily handle a few people fighting back, they were not ready to combat people with such a wide range of fighting techniques and speed. Men spun in circles as they tried to decide who was the best target to try and kill first. Several times, as several soldiers tried to shoot Shade as she flew past them, they shot each other, speeding up the process of the group killing the entire Fringe in the hangar.

Fury blasted away with his revolvers at a group that was severed from the rest of the body. He slid behind a crate as they all hopped out of cover to open fire with their machine guns on him. He sat comfortably behind the crate as the bullets pinged off the metal crate. He swore as he looked across the hangar to see Dusty tearing through a group with his shotgun. At that moment, the torrent of fire on his crate ceased and Fury rolled out as the men were reloading. He fired his revolvers simultaneously as he sprinted straight at the group. His rounds found purchase in a few, either dropping them dead or with unbearable wounds. He reached the crate that the group had been hiding behind and jumped over it. There was only one left cowering behind it while fumbling to put his fresh clip in his gun. Fury brought both pistols up to aim at the man and pulled the triggers.

Click… Click, Click, Click…

”Shit”

The man abandoned his gun and grabbed the knife that was sheathed in his boot before charging Fury with a cry. He slashed at Fury, who in turn dodged back and caught the man’s arm. He tried to bend the man’s own knife back into his throat, but he was strong. They stood there for a moment, neither yielding to the other’s strength because that would end in death. Finally, Fury frowned and sent his helmeted head forward, crashing into the man’s nose. That was all it took because the knife easily slipped into the throat.

Fury looked up just in time to see his sister fly overhead and cast a spell on him. He grudgingly accepted it and surveyed the battlefield. Brix was slithering from person to person with cat-like grace. Everywhere she went people fell with screams. Shade was still flying above all of them, raining hell down with her arrows. He saw Dusty kneeling down on top of a guard’s chest while he repeatedly slammed the butt of his rifle down on the man’s head and screamed, ”Don’t! You! DARE! Scratch! Delilah!!!”

But it was Jayda that truly caught Fury’s eyes. The cowgirl was steadily walking across the field as her arms worked at full speed firing and reloading. Her face was etched with a stern gaze as her eyes locked on the door leading to the rest of the ship. The fight was practically over, but the doors were just opening up to reveal even more soldiers rushing in to fight them. A few bullets pinged off of the protective spells Shade had placed on Fury as he watched Jayda’s mouth curl into a sneer. He had never seen her like this before. She brought up her rifles and fired a shot at the Fringe officer leading the charge at them. The bullet connected and tore into his head, knocking him back into the group. She then spun around and fired her second rifle at the fallen man. The bullet tore through him until it connected with the other one and detonated. The resulting explosion decimated the charging force.

Jayda just continued to walk toward the door, thinking all the men were dead. She began to load her rifles as one of the men stumbled to his feet. He drew out his knife and started to rush toward her as she stumbled to load the slugs into the shotguns. Realizing that she wasn’t going to get the bullets in the gun in time, Jayda did the only thing she could think off. Just as the man was right in front of her, Jayda sent her foot up and connected with the man’s groin, doubling him over with pain. She then reversed her grip on her gun and swung the stock of it like a baseball bat straight into the side of his head. She delivered another kick to the side of his head and said, ”That is NOT how yew treat a laydy!”

It was at this time that Dusty walked up behind Fury and stared alongside him. ”Remind me never to piss her off”

Fury shook his head side-to-side and then walked over to the door to meet up with everyone. He had C.R.A.I.G. pull up the schematics of the ship and formulated a plan while the others grouped in. ”Because they locked the hangar doors, we’re going to need to get to the bridge to open them again so we can get off of this ship when it blows. At the same time, though, we are going to have to find Vex to get him out of here. I made a promise I intend to keep, so Shade, you Jayda and I are going to go after Vex. He should be down in the laboratory. At the same time, Dusty, you and Brix are going to go take control of the bridge of the ship. I trust you two not to blow this place up before we’re off it.”

With that, the waited for any questions and then headed out.

((OOC: changing Brix's font color. Didn't realize what a pain in the ass this yellow was. She'll be in green now))


For the most part, Brix was far too focused on her targets, as well as her guard, having to be up close and personal with her tactics. Even when under a vanish spell, one can't be too careful when stray ammo was flying around all over the damn place. But when she found a crate to dive behind and take a quick breather, it was then Brix noticed what had Fury pause and staring, but whatever it was that briefly caught his attention she couldn't find. She could only hope it wasn't Shade or Jayda in need of help when Brix couldn't see either of them. But what did catch Brix's attention was Dusty's wild outburst about his precious weapon which had her wickedly chuckling behind the crate before spying about for her next charge and attack.


The only way Shade could possibly keep track of her own team was by what bodies fell by some unseen force or by where Jayda's ammo was fired from. But she had to remain focused upon her own targets and keeping herself from being struck. But then Jayda's voice rang out and led Shade to pause suddenly in flight when hearing her comrade shout about treating a lady. That's when she spotted a solitary soldier keel over by the waist, only to then get socked so hard in the jaw, he flew backwards unconscious to the floor. It was one of the very extremely rare moments Shade ever knew or saw Jayda royally ticked off, and even though she couldn't see her comrade, the force of the blow alone against the soldier was enough to prove just how pissed Jayda really was.


With the last enemy fallen, Shade swiftly landed with a trot to her step to reach the group quickly as she dismissed the vanish spell for her team to now be seen again. That obviously made Dusty's day when he passed a wink at Brix, but when Shade heard Fury's plan to split up for those two to be a team of their own, her steel hues widened a bit as her head slowly turned to just.... stare at her brother as if he grew a third head. With Brix and Dusty both nodding their heads with eagerness to take out even more of the enemy, Fury headed off with Jayda's firm pace silently matching his own right beside him. It was then Brix looked to her partner with eyes wide in wonder and whispered. "Wait... the bridge... You know where the bridge is?"


Dusty turned and gave her the very same perplexed, dumbfounded look. "I thought YOU knew where the bridge was...." Then they both turned and looked at Shade with brazen smiles. With a heavy sigh, Shade spared a heated glare at her brother's back as he continued off to their next point of destination before slowly shaking her head and simply pointing where Brix and Dusty needed to go. They both tore off together like a bat out hell as Shade turned to follow Jayda and Fury some distance behind while groaning to herself. "We're so doomed...."

As Fury walked, he had C.R.A.I.G. display the layout for the ship in a three-dimensional hologram within his helmet. He stopped at a fork in the corridor and looked both ways before choosing the right one. Since they weren’t exactly an unknown entity to the owners of the ship, they had to move fast to ensure Vex’s safety. He wasn’t about to come this far only to fail now. He wheeled around a corner to see two guards standing on each side of an elevator door. Neither of them were ready for them to show up at their doorstep. Fury’s arms shot up with a revolver in each hand and fired simultaneously. Both guards were laying in a pool of their own blood a moment later as Fury stepped over to the elevator doors and called it. The elevator doors opened and thy all three filed in before the doors closed.

As the elevator slowly started to descend, cheesy elevator music started to play. Fury raised an eyebrow and said, ”Really? You’ve got to be kidding me…” before shooting the speaker with his pistol. After that, Fury pulled out a small pad that fit in the palm of his hand. He turned the gadget on and the schematics of the ship appeared for all three of them to see. Fury pointed to the elevator. ”We’re here, going down to the lower levels. We’re going to have to cut through the cargo hold and the engineering section before we reach the prison area. That means there is going to be a lot of fighting between here and there.” With that, he folded up the pad and got everything ready to go. A moment later, the doors opened with a ding, revealing a large cargo area filled with people who all seemed to stop and stare at the elevator. ”Here we go”

Meanwhile on the other side of the ship…

Dusty kicked in the door to the room that he thought was the bridge and held up his gun, ready to shoot anyone who stood in his way. There was only one person standing in the room and he was facing the wall, relieving himself in a urinal. Dusty and the man blinked and stared at each other for a moment, both confused for different reasons. Finally Dusty cut the silence with a, ”Awwww Shit! Not again!” The man quickly started to try and zip his pants back up as Dusty casually started to walk over to him. Just as the man finished and turned around, he was met with the butt end of Dusty’s shotgun.

Dusty shook his head and sighed before turning back to Brix and saying, ”Well, this one was wrong too. Your turn to pick a door. Hopefully you’re better at this game than I am.”

When Dusty busted open the next door that revealed a soldier at the urinal, Brix facepalmed herself while shaking her head as her partner cursed once again over his folly of choices. She smirked as their enemy frantically scrambled with his zipper as Dusty casually strolled over and thwacked the guy in the skull with the butt of his gun. As the body crumbled to the floor with a thunk, and the zipper still down, Brix smirked when Dusty suggested she choose their next door. "I'd most likely sniff us out a bar, dude!" But still, she gave him a nod and spun about on her heel into the wide hallway to skillfully choose their next destination.


Her eyes narrowed as if in deep thought, then she slowly began cracking her knuckles as she took a step or two. She tilted her head to listen for any sounds that may give her a clue. Finally, Brix casually brought up her index finger and slowly stretched out her arm, prepared to point. until she erupted into a rhyme and began pointing in random directions. "Eenie meenie mynie moe, show me where there is a foe, if he screams and starts to run, bast his ass with your big ol' gun!" Just as Brix shouted the last three words, her body spun around and swung out her leg to kick down a door to her left, sending it off its hinges to reveal a room full of soldiers now with their heads turned and gawking at the buxom blond.


Knowing they couldn't see Dusty yet, Brix gave her partner the thumbs up behind her back as she played off the element of surprise. Her face lit right up with her flirtatious charm as she struck a pose with her hands on her tilted hips and her chest puffed out to stretch against the straining seams of her top. "Well HOT DAMN!!! I just hit the jackpot, now didn't I? How many lucky girls find themselves a room full of MEN!! And allllllll to heeeerrself! Any of you darlings wanna help me get undressed!?" She was obnoxious and blunt to the fullest, but Brix knew damn well how to stun a man's brains with just a few shocking words, as well a wink and a seductive smile.


Meanwhile......


Shade and Jayda stuck close to Fury, yet when he paused at the corner, they knew to take a step back when it came to him firing off his guns. With the coast clear, they trotted swiftly into the elevator. Hearing the unexpected music play caused Shade's face to pinch up with disbelief, yet Jayda revealed a smirk while quietly shaking her head, knowing darn well Fury was going to shoot out those speakers before he even aimed his gun. After the brief fresh air of momentary humor, it was back to business. Shade and Jayda studied over the map and nodded while taking in the information. Shade slid her gaze over at Jayda who was standing at Fury's other side and took notice of her rapid breathing, but otherwise, her team mate appeared sound and ready. Seeing the numbers upon the small screen grow lower as they descended, Shade maneuvered her self in front of the both of them. "Allow me....."


When the elevator doors slowly slid open, all enemy eyes turned on them, but what shot out of the elevator first was a blinding light not only meant to momentarily throw off their foe and buy the trio some time, but to reveal the summons Shade had unleashed. The blast of light erupted from the ground, giving her team the time to disperse and get their first shots as the Guardian Force exploded from the floor to spiral into the air while both creatures combined their powers to work as one. As the phoenix looking Pyre screamed forth it's flames toward several soldiers, the wolf hybrid Tempest followed suit, roaring hurricane force winds to encircle about the flames into a tornado funnel, which controlled it's projected path. The fiery tornado raged into a grand scale cyclone, snaring and sucking in random soldiers by the sheer force of the winds as dying screams filled the room. The width of the flaming tornado continued to grow, reaching out to ensnare anything in its path while keeping clear of Fury and Jayda's locations. With the GF bonded to their summoner, and the massive attack able to follow selected targets, Tempest Pyre guided the flaming winds in whatever direction Shade's gaze would lock upon.


With a tornado full of fire whipping about the room, her comrades should make it to the engineering doors with little trouble in their way.


Tempest Prye template in case you need it for any reference in your post

The elevator opened up and Fury took a step back to allow his sister to handle the situation. As the Guardian Force tore out of the elevator, Fury took a moment to truly appreciate the raw power of the beast. He may not like or trust magic, but he did have a healthy respect for it. He looked to his sister who was busy controlling the immense beast. It was at times like these that Fury learned to respect just how powerful she was. He may be a formidable warrior, but even with the ancient powers slowly awakening inside him, he would never be on par with the raw natural power that she wielded. The primal power that she brought down on her enemies with the snap of her fingers was just unrivaled.

At the same time, though, Fury was focused on the situation at hand. He shook his head free of the thoughts that distracted him. As the Tempest Pyre raged its way across the cargo hold, tearing apart unsuspecting soldiers, Fury nodded to Jayda and then took off for the engineering room. As he moved across the room, Fury snapped his assault rifle in rapid succession from soldier to soldier. He fired in his rifle as fast as he could as the soldiers focused on the raging summon and not him or Jayda.

At last, they reached the door leading to the engineering room, and Fury held up his hand to Jayda, telling her to wait. He looked back to the room to see all of the soldiers still focused on both the summon and Shade. He was confident that she would be fine, but there was still the pang of regret leaving her behind. He looked back to Jayda and drew another grenade from his vest. He nodded to her once before pulling the pin and tossing the grenade inside.

He waited until he heard the bang from the grenade exploding before he rushed into the room. His rifle snapped up to his shoulder to allow him to aim down the sights and sweep the room from left to right. He fired once at a soldier that was trying to struggle his way back to his feet, killing him instantly. As he finished his sweep, he saw that Jayda had already taken care of the rest expertly. What he didn’t notice, was the scientist at the nearby terminal activate it with his dying breathe. There was a loud beep before the large mech that was in sleep mode activated and began to move towards them. It aimed the large canons attached to its arms at both Jayda and Fury.

Fury blinked once before turning to Jayda and said, ”We can’t get a break, can we?”


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

Dusty leaned on his rifle as Brix slowly started to try and look for the next room. Her little poem was cute and all, but they were in a hurry. If they didn’t get to the bridge soon, the others were going to be in a lot of trouble. They were racing against time, and they were really getting lost.

But when Brix kicked the door in and gave him the thumbs up, Dusty hugged the doorway. He listened to her little spiel to grab the attention of all the men in the other room and gave them a moment to fully process what she said before he wrapped around the doorframe. He saw one of the men start to stand up, his mouth already half-open to say something to her. Dusty brought his shotgun up and fired a single slug into the man’s chest and said, ”Too late! Dibbs!”

The rest of the room erupted into action. The other men scrambled to get their weapons as Dusty fired away with his shotgun. He knew Brix would have his back the whole time, so he focused on one side of the room. In just a few brief moments, the room fell quiet. All the soldiers lay either dead or wounded and Dusty walked over to the controls of the ship. He began to press buttons at random, trying to familiarize himself foreign controls, as he said, ”Alright, you can go ahead and start with the shirt. I’ll be over to help with your pants and boots when I get this thing to land.”

Just as Dusty tore into the room with guns a blazing, Brix charged in with a cry that sounded more like she was entering a party rather than a life or death fight. She purposely made it appear that she was charging after the nearest guard head on, until she fell suddenly to her knees with a swing of her right arm to slam her first jagged dagger into the gut of her target as her other hand threw her next dagger into the air to land with a sound thud into the chest of another guard. While pulling her blade free from the first, she spun about to kick another right in the groin to buy herself a split second to free her other weapon as the guard fell forward with a painful grunt so Brix could slam both daggers down into his back at the same time.


As the last body fell from Dusty's rounds, Brix began kicking or nudging the bodies aside to keep them from stumbling over them as her companion took over the control panel. Hearing his humor, Brix snorted her laughter as she wiped her blades clean over one of the fallen soldier's back to clean the daggers off from the blood before re-strapping them to her hips. "HA!!..... Like I need to be blamed for you crashing this thing because I was stark naked!" She approached the ship's controls with curiosity across her brow as she watched Dusty pressing several buttons and levers with what she hoped was with an experienced brain. "Do you know what the hell you're doing, or is this a wild game of guess and be lucky!?"


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


Shade focused her attention and powers over her summons, knowing Fury would get Jayda to the next section safely while positioning herself to follow them when the time came to do so. If Tempest Pyre's spell didn't nail someone, then the debris of crates and whatever else was in the cargo hold would definitely hit their mark. And by the explosion of Fury's grenade Shade dismissed her Guardian Force as the last enemy guard finally fell to his death. By the time she reached the next section of their destination, Jayda and Fury were already facing their next challenge.


When Jayda first saw what she and Fury had come up against, quite the rare deadpan look came across the young gunner's face before she looked to Fury when he spoke. "Oh I'mmah 'bout to get a break in jus' ah minute by breakin' the hell outta this thing!" Turning her head with determination set in her eyes, Jayda made orders of her own. "Shadey... iffin yew would be so kind..."

Her hand was outstretched toward Shade, but it took a brief second for Shade to fully realize what Jayda's plan was and began to shake her head. "Jayda no.... we can take this thing out togeth..." "We don' have tayme, Shade!! Fer all we know, these bastards know we're already 'ere!"

Shade spared a brief second darting her gaze at Fury, then back to Jayda who beheld a mix of pleading and anger in her hues. Knowing she would take whatever risk to save Fury, Shade gave a solemn nod to her friend who was desperate to save her own brother and clasped her hand around Jayda's wrist while slowly closing her eyes to concentrate on her own powers. "Fury.... just buy us some time...."


The moments that followed was a flow of power transfer Shade only used to give another in small amounts to simply get one through a battle, or to strengthen their own healing powers so one wouldn't die. But never before had Shade focused on giving another far more power beyond one's means. But Jayda showed no sign of fear at all. Simply fierce determination within her eyes with her jaw clenched while concentrating on her own strength with only Vex in her mind.... somewhere in this place, kept prisoner from her and his friends for so long, and by the very enemy that long ago shattered their lives without so much as a blink of remorse.... With such painful memories now drowning in Jayda's mind, the floor beneath them began to shake as the air within the room began to crack and explode with an unforeseen pressure that left ones hair at the nape of their neck come to a prickling stand. Jayda slowly extended her other hand which still gripped tightly around her rifle as she aimed it at the mechanical blockade that separated her from her brother as Shade's power continued to transfer to the gunner. The entire room now began to tremble just as the mechanical beast tried to make a move in defense by whatever Fury was dishing out upon it as broken sections of the massive machine suddenly hovered within the air for a brief second before soaring toward Jayda to latch onto her meager rifle. Within moments, the magnetized air sent even more pieces to slap together, creating an even larger, more intimidating looking weapon beheld in Jayda's hand that also stretched out behind her to rest against her shoulder.


With her eyes shut tightly in concentration, Shade could feel the rage building up within her friend, but could do nothing more but to simply trust Jayda in controlling the flow of borrowed power that now infused into the newly developed weapon. The small canon barrel slowly charged with rippling lightning, growing brighter and stronger by each passing second until Jayda's own hues were practically as bright as the spell she was conjuring into the missile. ”Best be movin' ottah the way, Fury!!” Once she saw he was in the clear, Jayda gave a loud hollering shout as the missile beam of lightning exploded out of the newly created launcher and slammed into the giant attacking machine with an ear shattering explosion. But it wasn't just a single blast as was expected. The beam of entwining lightning bolts remained steady, baring into the mechanism like an enormous drill and deactivating its circuits within seconds. But Jayda wasn't satisfied until the cursed obstruction was clearly out of the way and honed more of the power through her weapon until the retched tank blasted apart in shambling pieces all across the room with an earthquake force that no doubt ripped through the entire ship in itself.


Now left catching her breath, Shade released Jayda's wrist and simply stared at the remnants lied scattered all over the place as her eyes scanned in search for Fury. Jayda's scowl remained fixed on where the machine boss once stood as her now free hand calmly adjusted her tattered cowboy hat. “Now I'mma rightly pissed off....”

Dusty let out a hearty laugh at Brix’s question. He continued to work the controls with a deliberate concentration. Like he would try driving a twenty ton super-cruiser filled with explosives and things that wanted them dead if he didn’t know how to do it? That was such a… a…

Spot on idea.

He reached out and pulled a lever that was flashing an angry red at him. For a second, nothing happened, but then the ship lurched forward as two of the four engines peeled away from the ship, causing it to start to tip down towards the earth. Their decent began to pick up speed at an alarming rate. ”OH COME ON! WHO THE HELL HAS A LEVER THAT GETS RID OF YOUR ENGINES?!?!?!?!”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fury looked from Jayda to Shade then to the Mech and then back to the other two again. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but he knew what his role in the little plan was. He was the bruiser. He had to keep the damned robot busy while they developed whatever plan they were preparing. So Fury drew out both of his revolvers and checked to make sure they were loaded. Then he walked towards the mech.

The large robot loomed over him. Its polished white metal plates gleamed in the light. He had a large canon attached to one of his arms and a large Gatling gun attached to the other. The large red eyes glowered with an almost real hatred towards Fury. Fury just stared back at the large mech with an uncaring stare. Finally, he reached up and scratched the top of his head with one of his revolvers and said, ”Yeah, I can’t think of a one-liner. Let’s get this over with.” Fury snapped his revolvers up and began to fire at the mech.

The giant robot reared back from the magnum rounds it took to its face, but quickly recovered. It pulled its giant arm with a canon attached to it and aimed at where Fury was standing. He fired it, tearing apart pieces of furniture and beakers and such while narrowly missing Fury. He then brought up his other arm, sending a torrent of bullets at him.

Fury kept dodging and firing at the robot to keep its attention while the other two worked towards their goal. Finally, Jayda yelled out for him to move and he sprinted back to where the others were, bringing the robot into the kill-zone. The bolt shot out from Jayda’s guns and struck the robot, destroying it.

At last, the coast was clear to go on to the prison area. Fury reloaded his revolvers and slowly moved towards the door. With a swift kick, he blasted the door down, only to see a man reach and pull another off a medical table. The first man held a gun to the other’s head, the look of a trapped rat in his beady little eyes. Fury had never met Vex, but he assumed it was the man being held hostage. He kept his revolvers aimed directly at the man, but made no move to fire or anything else. This was Jayda’s family, and her call, he was just there for the-

The ship lurched forward, sending everyone flying. ”DAMNIT DUSTY!”

It took a second or two for Jayda to catch her breath from conjuring such a powerful spell, as well as to snap out of her own shock for doing so. She spared a quick look at Shade who casually arched an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders at her comrade while drawing out her sword again. "I figured you'd want enough energy to make a bigger boom stick for a bigger boom...." Jayda's jaw simply hung lax as Shade passed her by and gave a tug to gunner's arm for them to move on.


It only took a moment for Jayda to get her mind focused again, yet her nerves were a wreck with each step ran for their next destination. How much further would they have to go? She knew they were running out of time, and her biggest fear was that her brother may possibly be dead by the time they reached him.... But at the crashing of the door by Fury's kick, Jayda had her rifle poised and ready to fire at anything that may come at them. Then the startling blow knocked her like a killing punch to the gut when she saw Vex's face, and he looked terribly ill and weak. What lurched through her heart the worst was the heartache when her brother looked right into her eyes as if he didn't recognize her at her all. As if he weren't even conscious, although his eyes were open. Even with their remarkable twin bond, she felt nothing at all from him, which terrified her even more.


Instincts wanted her to scream and tear after him, but Jayda regained a fierce grip over herself and struggled to remain calm against the rising panic. ...so close.... so damn close! ....I can't loose him again.... I won't! Her aim was upon her mark.... right between the eyes.... her breathing steady through the pounding of her heartbeat crashing against her ribcage as she focused on what Fury told her that day in the Training Center.... ...you have to have something you're willing to fight for.... so long as you are hopeful about whatever you are fighting for, your spirit will help you through it..." Just as her heart rate calmed and her eyes narrowed for the shot, the entire room shifted with a hard jolt that tossed everyone within the room across the floor like a bunch of rag dolls and Fury screaming bloody murder at Dusty....


===========================================================

Brix arched a blond eyebrow as she watched Dusty scramble over the controls trying to look like a genius, yet nothing on the panel made any sense to her, so who was she to criticize? "Well look'it you, Mr. Flyboy! Got it all figured out, don't you!" That's when she saw him aim for the lever with the big flashing red light. If it was one thing Brix knew without knowing a damn thing about flying.... you DON'T go touching anything that's red!! "WAIT!!" She lunged after his hand, but it was too late.... Brix completely froze with both her hands wrapped around his that was still holding onto the lever as they both fell silent and stupefied during the seconds of silence.

When the ship lurched and Dusty screamed over the controls, Brix fell forward with a shriek as her butt crashed over the control panel. "NICE MOVE EX-LAX!!" Just then, Fury's voice came booming from the speakers within the walls from Brix's rump managing to find the audio controls to the section of the ship they were in. Before either of them could make a move to fix the situation, the direction of the ship changed again, this time the existing engines going into full throttle as a sudden rising whining sound could be heard before the ship lurched forward from the thrusters going into full power and now sending everyone to be thrown in the opposite direction.

As they both flew through the air and crashed into the opposite wall, Dusty could be heard yelling at the top of his lungs. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOUR ASS DO, BRIX!?" She wound up landing upside down on the floor screaming right back. "OH DON'T YOU EVEN BLAME ME OR MY ASS FOR THIS!! YOU STARTED IT PLAYING ON THOSE CONTROLS LIKE SOME VIDEO GAME!"

===========================================================

Everyone went flying again in the opposite direction, either screaming or cursing through the air as the ship took a powerful jolt forward. But Jayda's sights still remained fixed on the bastard who had her brother, seeing the man still keep his grip on Vex's weakened form during the tussle and fall. As everyone else was regaining their bearings and Shade was now screaming and cursing at Brix when hearing her and Dusty yelling at each other through the overhead speakers, Jayda was wildly scrambling across the slanted floor for her rifle as it quickly slid away. It slipped right inbetween two giant crates that left no more space for her hand and arm to be able to reach, and with a raging scream of frustration, her fist crashed into the crate before the gunner turned to get up into a staggering run against the chaotic shifts of the airship.


Her sudden one track mind searched frantically until she found Fury struggling for balance by another stack of crates as the scientist looking man was now shouting frantically at his hostage for not moving fast enough. Her rage was boiling, but Jayda knew she only had a matter of seconds. Her hearing concentrated on the man's voice, predicting his location without even looking as she dove across the floor and slid in the direction of the severe slant the ship had maneuvered, only to reach out and snatch Fury's vest so not to crash into the wall as her other hand reached at his waist for one of his pistols. With a swift swing of her arm in the direction of the man's voice, there was no thought, no blink, nothing at all in the room save for her, the enemy, and the bullet between them that now fired with an echoing thunder. Just barely brushing past Vex's ear, the round hit home in the enemy's right eye socket, lurching his body backwards to fall to the floor as Vex's helpless form fell with him.

Fury swore as he was thrown across the room. When he slammed against the wall his gun was ripped from his grasp, sending his assault rifle skittering away from him. He dove after it just as the ship lurched again, sending him flying across the room and landing face first in the side of a crate. He swore again as he tried to regain his balance. The entire bad situation was getting worse in a hurry. If they did not resolve the situation soon, there was a good chance someone wasn’t going to walk away from this standoff.

He glanced around the room as he slowly regained his balance. Shade was still recovering from being thrown aside, the target was dragging Vex along at gunpoint while he fought to hold onto what little balance he had, and Jayda was sliding towards him. He caught her eye as she grabbed his vest for balance. This was not the Jayda he knew. She was entirely focused on what she was doing, blocking out everything. She had finally found a way to just make it natural. He watched Jayda grab one of his revolvers and spin, shooting a single round at the Fringe doctor. A split-second later, the doctor’s head exploded, sending a fine pink mist into the air and Vex tumbling to the ground.

Fury ran to Vex’s side, finally finding that the ship wasn’t tilting and tossing them. He slid to a stop and reached for Vex’s neck to check his vitals. He could feel a faint, but steady pulse. Reaching down to his vest, he pulled out a long silver tube and twisted one end of it. A long needle shot out of the opposite end and Fury jammed the silver tube’s needle into Vex’s neck, releasing a steady stream of nanites into Vex’s blod stream. He looked up at the others and said, ”He’s stable but he can’t move himself. I’m going to need help to-“

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Dusty fought against the forces of the jerking ship to reach the controls again. He was nearly halfway across the room when the ship shifted yet again, sending both himself and Brix flying towards the controls. He crashed into the steering wheel a second before Brix crashed into him. The resulting force broke the steering wheel clean off of the console. Dusty blinked once with the wheel in his hand before he turned to Brix and said, ”I think we should get going now…”

He quickly slammed a button on the console that opened up the hangar doors on the cruiser. He grabbed Brix by the arm and rushed out of the room just as the cruiser tilted towards the ground. They made it maybe half-way down the hallway when the ship crashed into the ground, scrapping the bottom levels of the ship off and sending both Dusty and Brix flying the rest of the way down the hallway. He got on the communicator and said, ”We’re heading to the hangar. We have to get off this ship now, Boss.”

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Fury wasn’t able to finish his sentence when he was thrown across the room along with Vex and the others. As they tumbled, the opposite wall was torn and ripped as the ship crashed into the ground, revealing a large hole leading directly outside. The ship shrieked and howled as the entire bottom of the ship tried to break free. A moment later, Fury heard Dusty’s voice over the communicator. Fury told them to go ahead and leave before he stumbled to his feet. ”We have to get out of here!” he shouted to Jayda and Shade.

Jayda was hot on Fury's heels, and even caught sight of Shade angrily tossing aside a smaller crate that fell against her during the chaotic shifting of the ship and run after them as well. The young gunner came sliding to her knees beside her brother while desperately clinging to her self control as she clasped Vex's face within the palms of her hands and frantically whispering out his name through the rising sobs within her throat. "Vex! Vex, please wake up! Look at meh! We're here! We're here now! We're takin' yew home... yer safe now... Vex! Please!" Her tear filled eyes now locked with Fury's before any began to spill down her cheeks. "Tell meh he'll beh okay! He's gonna be alryght, riyght Fury? Please tell meh he'll be okay!"


Knowing her life long friend would find this moment to be far too emotional to handle, Shade came up from behind Jayda and crouched down next to her with a firm hand on the girl's shoulder while using her usual stern tone to get through to her friend. "We have to get him out of here, Jayda.... you know that's what's most important right now.... Fury gave him something to give Vex the strength he needs to stay alive.... So let's get him to safety, alright?" Jayda managed to nod repeatedly as she sniffed back her tears and stomped down her panic just when Fury confirmed what Shade said about Vex now being stable, but the ship took yet another severe lurch that led the trio shouting in alarm and tumbling over once again....


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Dusty flew across the control panel and just about regained his balance when a screaming Brix came stumbling out of control and crashed right against him. She first heard a loud *snap!*, which already told her that couldn't be a good thing before she even noticed the steering control now in Dusty's hand followed by an "ohhhhhh shyyt...."


By the next blink of an eye, Brix found herself suddenly drug out of the cockpit room and tearing down the hallway with Dusty until the ship crashed and lurched again, sending the both of them soaring and tumbling down across the floor. Normal people would begin to panic at this point at the realization of extreme danger, or the close brush with death, but Brix was never known for normalcy. Her hysterical laughter echoed the whole way down the hall.....


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Shade didn't waste anytime once she regained her balance and hearing her brother's words. Vex was in dire condition and Jayda couldn't take on much more pressure as it was. Vex would need Fury's strength to help him out of the shambled ship and she knew Jayda would remain with both of them to aid her brother and guard Fury's back.

Without a second of hesitation, Shade whipped out the Griever pendant which instantly summoned the massive fiery lion outside of the crashed ship with an ear shattering roar. If any soldiers upon the ground would dare charge for the crash sight, Griever would hold them off, or make them think twice before attacking at all. She ran ahead, motioning for Fury that the coast was clear thus far before turning her head to face him. "I would think George can easily carry you and Vex off to safety while Jayda and I follow with Griever..."


Jayda was about to protest with Vex's weight on her right side and her arm wrapped around his waist, but Shade expected it and turned to her next. "Fury is the strongest among us, Jayda.... You know damn well Fury won't let him go where you and I would struggle keeping hold. You and I would do better to keep the escape free and clear for Fury to get your brother the hell out of here...."


Jayda's expression turned from deep concern to a serious glare and a firm nod before the gunner looked to Fury with absolute confidence within her eyes and tone of voice. "Ready when you are, Fury..."

Dusty stumbled into the hangar right before Brix. He could see many Fringe soldiers scrambling to jump inside troop transporters to get off the massive pile of scrap-heap before it exploded. He looked to Brix and said, ”I guess we found where the party is. I hope we didn’t crash it.” He swung the butt of his shotgun out in a wide arc to strike a soldier square in the throat as he ran past, clothes-lining him. Dusty followed up by bringing his rifle up in the air and then crashing down into the man’s face. He then crouched down and non-chalantly searched through the man’s belongings. Finally, Dusty found what he was looking for. He raised the keys up for Brix to see and jingled them, saying, ”Let’s go see what’s behind door number one.”

As the ship exploded into chaos (and quite litterealy too) Dusty walked from ship to ship with a very non-chalant pace. He would aim the ships as he passed them and press the unlock button, but each time he did so, nothing would happen. Finally, he reached the last ship in the hangar and he reached out and pressed the button. There was a beep beep and the lights flashed as the ship unlocked. He glanced to Brix and then back at the 1969 Chevy Camaro with wings and then back to Brix again before saying, ”It may not be the pretties thing here, but I bet it has one hell of a roar.” Dusty slid across the hood of the car and landed on the drivers side when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was a massive red button that read, “SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE” Dusty looked both ways to make sure no one was looking then he reached out and pressed the big red button. A timer appeared counting down from ten minutes as Dusty hopped in the front seat and started the car. It lifted from the ground and took off out of the hangar…

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Fury dropped the cross that hung around his neck to the floor and it erupted in the familiar pale light that appeared each time he summoned George. He allowed George to pull Vex up onto the horse with him. Fury turned to face Jayda and his sister again and could see the determination on both of their faces. They were both riding on him. He gave a terse nod to both of them as he walked next to George to the massive hole in the ship. The ground was still speeding by at an alarming rate and Fury could tell they weren’t going to be able to just jump down and ride away. He couldn’t add any more weight to George without doing just that, though. So he looked up to George one more time and then slapped his horse right on the ass. George’s horse lurched forwards, extending its wings and taking flight from the ship.

As the summon rode the air-currents, Fury released his fiery wings. His golden hues made one last glance back to his sister and Jayda in a final good-luck, before he dove off the torn metal. He beat his wings furiously to keep up with George’s horse. He began to swim circles in the air around the summon, creating a sphere of fire that protected it and anything it carried from any harm. They flew until they were well out of the way from the crash. Finally, George gracefully set down on the ground and Fury did the same. He slowly pulled Vex from the horse and laid him out on the ground as he called for the Kestrel to come pick them up.