The way here has been perilous, but amazingly free of casualties so far for the task force. Teppei and Thompson have earned their pay and then some, acting as the advance team and taking out several ill-equipped defenders (with machine guns and the occasional grenade versus crossbows and swords). For as long as RIU's invisibility spell has held out, he's scouted ahead, keeping watch for ambushes and illusions - and there have been several. Between RIU's scouting, Inari's ability to clearly articulate her "Link sense," and Randall's uncanny ability to sniff out danger, none of the attempts have succeeded so far, and they've avoided pendulum blade, ballista, pit, and gas traps.

There was one point at which it appeared that they would be overwhelmed, as, while passing through an intersection, they stumbled upon a barracks, and were assaulted from all sides and from above - but Holly's "BFG" took out an entire wing of the enemy force in a single shot, Mara ice-cannonballed a supporting beam that brought the roof down on another, and concentrated gunfire dealt with the rest.

At last, after two hours of slinking and shooting, the heroes have reached the edge of the ziggurat park spotted by the spy drones. Interference is so strong that communication is by laser-line only; once out of line of sight of each other, they have no way to communicate (shy of the magical connections between Link and Guardian Beast).

Portal of Light
In the center of the Incursion Zone is a park-like expanse, relatively free of the treading boots of the Army of the White, though not completely spared from the marks of war. Trees bearing faintly-glowing fruits give way to manicured lawns and cobblestone paths lined with tall hedges glittering with luminescent flowers with blossoms ranging from magenta to violet in hue, and which also serve to softly light the way even at night. The paths ultimately lead to a golden ziggurat ringed by hovering crystal pylons. At its apex, four more hovering crystals surround a rippling, amorphic mass that looks something akin to a dancing, glowing smoke ring, and occasionally the scenery when viewed through it changes markedly - as if it is an unstable link to some distant and alien place. White mists pour down from the rift, spilling down the steps and disappearing into the hedges.

The heroes have made their way to the surface, excavating their way past some fallen supports into a collapsed outbuilding that has been overrun violently by sudden growth of foliage. The tunnel below continues westward, and judging from the spy drones' survey, there should be another ruined building in the next cluster of trees as well, but there's no telling how much trouble it might be to get out.

Atop the ziggurat, in the midst of the rippling portal stands a behemoth - a monstrous sphinx-like creature, with lower body of a lion, upper body of golden-armored man, with great fiery wings: It's Blake, in his exalted form, large enough to stomp a tank. At the base of the ziggurat, looking far less impressive by comparison, he apparently has positioned a few warriors to guard the way up. From the heroes' vantage, they can make out an armored night (Nick) and his bear (fully restored despite being reduced to slag in their last encounter), and at another side, a flower-and-plant-attired woman (Jenny) and her unicorn (looking to be in better health as well). Presumably there are defenders on the other two sides, but there's no way to see them from here.

The giant form of blake shakes; his booming laughter can be heard. "I sense the taint of darkness close by. There is no sense in hiding! No one can hide from the Light!" On cue, lightning shatters the sky, blasting the ground and sending smoke and clumps of earth flying.

"I don't think Blake and crew are necessarily the goals," Jason whispers to the others, "I think they're distractions Big, powerful, flashy. All to distract us from attacking the real sync. If we can avoid them and attack the core ... that's our best bet."

Randall sizes up the situation. "Call me crazy if you want," he whispers to the others. "But my police sense is tingling. There's crime afoot." He thumbs the ammo selector over to standard bullets and then checks for time to the planned airstrike.

As quietly as she can (which given that she has to speak out loud to do it isn't that quiet) Holly conjures up a spare 'burst cell' for her gun, so that she can reload quickly.

"So, think RIU and Inari can safely scout out the area?" Holly whispers. "RIU's sensors might be able to tell us something about the platform or find entry into it."

Inari whispers, "I can try. My 'stealth-invisibility' seems to work again, now that we've entered the Incursion Zone - but there's no guarantee that I can rely on that. I will do my best to take advantage of cover. My concern is how to report back my findings. I do not have the sort of link with Akiko that RIU has with Jason."

"I'd suggest Inari do the long-range recon then," Holly suggests. "Not getting too close, but circling the park to see what's out of our line of sight and staying safe. No telling what the pylons can do."

"T minus a minute, little less than," Randall says quietly. He looks over at Jason and Waterson. "You're right, Jason. Probably what we need to do is get in there and through that portal on top. To do that though, we're going to need a distraction to get their attention elsewhere. How long will it take to set up a timed charge?"

"I'm worried about the lightning," Holly admits. "Mara and RIU are still mostly metal. It could be a defense against technology attacks and not just a weather effect."

According to the PDA maps from the drone surveys, the entire garden is surrounded by a perimeter wall some 50 feet high - and, no, that wasn't part of the original park design. North, south, east and west, in the middle of each wall is a tall gate, and currently the gates are closed. The ziggurat is dead center, and the wooded areas cluster in the corners. The approach to the ziggurat is, alas, very open, and even making a mad dash from tree to tree is going to be quite a chore with the wide avenues and the tall hedges, if the warriors guarding each avenue are paying any real attention at all. Nonetheless, Inari nods. "Should I work clockwise or counterclockwise?" On the map, the party is currently in the northeast corner of the park, having some shelter from view provided by the encroaching trees.

Waterson urges, "We might want to keep our heads down when that airstrike hits - IF it hits." Even as he says this, bolts of light streak up from beyond the garden walls, from various parts of the park, and shooting up into the sky, exploding in many-colored bursts and flares.

"RIU is a lightning based creature, to use a game term," Jason points out, "As for a timed change, a few minutes if I had to guess. All depends on many distractions there are. "And if we need another distraction ... Hm. Anyone for remote controlled loaders to attack Jenny and Nick? I can probably repurpose a laser communicator to act as a relay control for that wrecked suit. If there's enough left to be functional, anyway."

Akiko hugs Inari around the neck. "Please be careful! I don't think Blake's going to take prisoners this time."

"Randall, do you mean we need to go back, sneak past the army, and try to get in through the portal from the other side?" Holly asks. "And yeah, Jason, anything to get the Frys away from the ziggurat would help."

"Yes, no dying on us Inari. I worked hard to make you completely real. I'll be very put out if you go get yourself killed," Jason claims and then flashes a grin to the fox.

Inari noses Akiko's cheek, then nods to Jason. With no further word, she shimmers from view, and the underbrush sways as she slips off through the trees, following them along the outer perimeter wall.

The police officer shakes his head at Holly. He glances over to Mara, who fairly bristles with readiness. "Do it, Jason. Concentrate on distracting Jenny, then take her out, she's their healer. Once the spitting starts, I'll go up and draw their fire and try to take out a pillar or two. Waterson, Thompson, Teppiu, stay with Jason."

"We need to check out the platform, but I suspect Blake is the anchor," Holly notes. "Nothing we've seen so far has been 'upgraded' so I doubt the White could have created a quantum core. But that doesn't mean Blake and his cohorts couldn't have had one set up here in advance."

The soldiers nod solemnly; Waterson doublechecks his gear, while Teppei and Thompson take up positions to cover Jason's move.

The police officer stows his machine gun and starts unshipping the rocket launcher, loading a missile into it to save on Mara's energy. The ice wyvern perks up, anticipating the aerial fight.

"Distraction time - let's see if Fry falls for the same trick twice," Holly says, and begins her bizarre puppet-spell.

Jason brings up the aerial map on his small viewscreen and quickly tries to determine a covered path to get to the downed loader. "Let me see how to get there..." he murmurs. "Ah, we're going to have to make a wide circle and keep under tree cover as much as possible. This might get messy, but I am not going toe to toe with Nick of the large body and small mind."

Thompson asks, noting the map, "Are we going overland, or taking our chances with the tunnel?"

"I need to get closer," Holly says. "I'll stick to the trees as far as I can, then try invisibility. With any luck I can put Nick to sleep or make him ignore everything around him."

"Hmm. Tunnel might be safer, especially given the incoming air strike," Jason says after a bit of analysis.

"Because he could hurt her," Holly notes. "But we'll see what the situation is like. I don't know if I can get close enough before the airstrike."

Randall nods to Thompson and Jason. "Good idea. I'll launch when the diversion hits... 40 seconds, mark!"

The soldiers follow Jason back into the hatch, and they all rush westward down the tunnel, relying on their HUD sensor suites to make their way through the pitch-black darkness, as no torches are conveniently provided this far in to light the way.

The young Hispanic man - well, he doesn't seem quite so young anymore, after all the travels he's been through - locks the rocket into place and runs through his mental checklist. Safety off, check. Laser sight, check. Compressed gas recoil compensator, check. Wireless guidance system, check. Sanity, ch... Ch... He shakes his head and takes to Mara's back. "General, Akiko, go with Holly and watch her back, would you?"

The general checks his weapon just to make sure, and nods seriously, falling behind Holly.

"Heavenly Rain of Purifying Fire!" Blake cries out, his voice booming like thunder. Then, a fiery light erupts from the clouds above. Flaming bolts shoot down from the sky, centered on the ruins of the outbuilding, exploding as they hit the ground!

"Madre de Dios," Randall shouts as he hits the power thrusters on Mara, sending her into the air in a desperate bid to get out of the incoming blast. He really can tell where we are! Or did he just get lucky?

Around Holly, the forest and ruins explode with raining fire. Somehow, she manages to dive into the bushes just in time, though Akiko and the general are caught out in the open - and the same is true for poor Randall and Mara, who are practically at ground zero! However, when the smoke clears, the general staggers back up to his feet, helping Akiko up - and Mara lets out a defiant wyvern roar! Reinforced police kevlar armor and heavy wyvern scales save the day!

"That big... jerk," Holly says as she picks herself up and brushes off some leaves.

Randall's grunt can be heard over the wrist communicators. "Ungh! That's it, go, go go, I'll cover!"

The wyvern soars up into the air majestically, wings stretched wide out and beating rapidly, and then with a gout of blue flames, Randall hits the boosters, hoping to catch their attention away from the others.

Randall takes a quick sighting. "Here, right back at you!" he yells, adding to his distraction factor by launching a rocket at the nearest pylon.

*** Note for GW: End of Round 1. Jason & soldiers underground, moved to P1. Holly & Co. moved partway to Q2. Mara and Randall low-level airborne, S3. RIU scouting at R2 - nix that, going with Jason. Inari scouting at P0.

The rocket flies unerringly toward its target, though there's a brief rippling effect as some of the bluish energies flying between the crystal pylons twist around it. "Ha!" Blake booms. "You can't possibly hope to get me through this -" And then the rocket hits its intended target - the crystal pylon - dead center. It would seem that the spy drone's analysis is correct: This structure may have all sorts of magical resistances against energy effects, and it may well be that the pylons collectively provide an impenetrable force against shrapnel and concussive force spread over an area - but a targeted direct attack with an armor-piercing rocket fired from relatively close range just might be able to succeed where the drones were unable to.

With a resounding crack, the crystal splits, and then explodes in a rain of shining shrapnel! The pieces explode as they hit the ground, and the other crystals wobble just a bit in their places.

"Your ego's a pretty big target, I wanted to try for something harder," Randall shouts back, flying on. Mara, keep us in the air, I've got to reload this thing now!

*** Initiative Note: ROUND 2 - Order = Randall & Co, Jason & Co, Holly & Co, Inari, Bad Guy NPCs.

Over Holly's communication, Randall's voice: "Thank God that the engineers had enough time to set up this swivel mount. Reloading would be such a bear otherwise!" Sound of the spent casing being ejected and a new one being loaded.

The ice wyvern glides to the south. She parts her mouth, charging up a visible orb of blue energy within her mouth.

With a roar, Mara unleashes a beam of icy destruction at the nearest pylon, moving south from the last one!

A cannonball of ice shoots from the wyvern's mouth, impacting the rippling field around the crystal pylon....

... and it passes through the rippling field, unaffected. It hits the crystal pylon and there is a spectacular explosion of raining crystal shards ... but, no, the crystal is unaffected. The "shards" are mere ice, still glowing from their magical conjuration, but apparently not enough to do as severe a job against the pylons as that rocket did.

Over Holly's communicator, Randall's voice can be heard soothing Mara. "Don't worry, I've got a plan, just save your breath for now..."

"Don't worry about the others, they can take care of themselves. Focus on working out the re-rigging plans; save time when I get there," Jason tries to tell himself as the guards, RIU, and himself continue their dart through the underground passage.

"Run run run," Holly urges her companions, trying to make the best of Randall's distraction.

As Holly and her companions make their mad dash, they find their way very rough, clambering through the thick underbrush and tightly clustered trees, intermixed with broken walls and piles of construction materials overtaken by artificially-accelerated vegetative growth.

Blake turns his massive form to fully face Randall and the wyvern now. "Keep watch for the others - but don't let him do as he pleases!" he booms out, and then he flaps his wings into the sky - but rather than taking off, he reorients them so that the flaming feathers bristle. "Ashtar's Gate!" With a mighty flap of his wings, a ripple forms in the shimmering gate and expands as it stretches out, widening into a warping cone, toward Mara and her rider.

Randall pops open a small box of rockets - SWAT-issue, so no, not 'S-MART ROCKETS Buy Five Get One Free' - and extracts one, then slams it into place on the rocket launcher, making sure it's in 'load' mode. As he closes the ammo hatch and locks the round into place, he catches something out the corner of his eyes. "Dive, Mara! Dive!"

The rippling effect tears through the sky above Mara and Randall, mere feet away. It continues to expand and ripple, even as it passes beyond the garden walls - where it hits a tower, and immediately warps and twists it, as if it had turned to putty and were being toyed with by invisible giants. Outside of the effect, straining stonework crumbles, and hidden steel frameworks scream out, twisting asunder. At last, the distortion dissipates somewhere in the darkness and well out of sight.

"Whoa, close one! Was it that crack about the ego? Sorry, but it only hurts 'cause it's true," Randall quips.

Even as Randall dives with Mara, he gets a better view of the other sides of the ziggurat. The southern face is guarded by a ghost-like, gaunt horse with milky white eyes ... accompanied by a sorceress-ranger in neo-goth garb of black and neon orange. On the western face, there's a flaming firebird, accompanied by a woman in what appears to be Avatars security forces gear - a strange departure from the fantasy garb that is de rigeur for these parts.

The armored knight hops onto the back of his rocky bear. A cloud forms at the bear's feet, as the oversized beast slowly begins to rise to the air.

Over the intercom, Randall's voice says, "West's a firebird and a co-opted Avatars LLC guard. South's got a ghost horse and sorceress... She looks familiar."

In the distance, toward the south, the explosions in the air become more intense, and a few ground-based magical attacks have been to launch from other quarters outside the garden as well. Something airborne seems to be the target of the magical forces - and it must be getting closer.

Mara's camera scope on Randall's HUD shows a close-up of the nightmare creature and its master. There's no mistaking it: It's Tracer - or at least her Avatars-universe alter-ego - and her Guardian Beast, Fuseli.

"Holly, your daughter's character is loose," Randall warns. "But that's not your daughter. She's offline."

*** Note: BEGIN ROUND 3 - Initiative Order: Randall (51), Enemy NPCs (31), Jason (29), Holly (27), Inari (22).

Mara swoops through the air, focusing more on dodging their attacks. She gives Nick and his bear a wary look, but this time it's Randall's turn to shoot. He swings the shoulder-mounted rocket launcher around to bear on a different pylon and opens fire!

"Horn of Purification!" Jenny cries out, with magically amplified voice, as she apparently orders her unicorn to try to intercept the attack. However, this time it's a rocket, not an ice blast - so the dispel attempt is fruitless. Similarly, the rocket passes right through the rippling protective field around the crystal ... and it shatters the crystal just as spectacularly as the other rocket-struck crystal did. All of the crystals bob more violently.

"Woohoo!" yells Randall. More quietly to Mara, he says, "Okay, just evade, they're going to be extra mad now."

"RAARRRRRRGH!" Blake cries out. "Spear of Marduk!" At once, a flaming spear appears in his hand - which he hurls toward the ice wyvern.

Mara, seeing flaming death headed their way, reacts instinctually before Randall can speak a command. She roars and fires a counter-thrusting spear that blossoms out into a fan of ice to meet it!

The spear hits the center of the shield, and in a flash, vaporizes a huge chunk out of it. The remaining force of the spear still impacts Mara, but it is so weakened that it is reduced to mere sparks against her thick hide. The remainder of the icy shield hovers in the air, vaguely donut-shaped.

Meanwhile, the bear on a cloud hovers up into the air, and reaches the perimeter of the crystal ring - but it hasn't yet picked up enough speed to hope to catch up to Mara just yet.

On the ground, Tracer smirks at Mara's antics, and then gestures. "Infernal Torment!" she cries. At once, Fuseli turns darker, and its mane and fetlocks and tail burst into flame. She hops onto her mount's back, and it sprouts wings of fire.

"What do you know, ice floats," Randall says over the intercom. "Tracer's coming up to play."

Even below-ground, the earth rumbles just a bit with the shattering of the crystals and the destruction being wrought by so many overpowered magicks.

"I hope that was us landing something good and not them," Jason mutters worriedly once the rumble passes. "Don't worry, don't worry. Focus. They'll be fine. Holly won't cast anything goofy. Well, that last bit is hoping for a bit too much."

As Holly and the others dash along, they briefly burst out into a small clearing - though the clearing is surrounded by more trees. There seems to be a break between the trees to the west....

Checking her watch, Holly says, "Not much longer before we need to hunker down. Keep moving until the airstrike!"

The rippling energies between the crystals seem to be weaker, where the crystals are forced to bridge a greater distance to make up for the two pylons that have been destroyed, but the remaining pylons still glow brightly, and there must be some sort of magical effect still in place.

Underground, as Jason's team continues running along, they find a side-hatch and a ladder leading up. Judging from their PDA maps, this ladder must lead up to just one side of the path going up to the ziggurat, on the north side. A sign, only partially poking out from faux stonework that has "grown" over much of the surroundings, reads, "After hours maintenance access ONLY!"

"This tunnel is stupidly long," Jason grumbles as he and his crew continues their push west, "I wish I had the Ozymandias, I would just ram that jerk." he pauses briefly to look at the access panel, then his watch. The result is he shakes his head. "No, onward. Strike is soon and it's safer down here." So, on they go.

Randall steers Mara away to the east, to hover at maximum distance within the confines of the park. "We'll use what's left of your barrier to shield us from a follow-up strike," he says to his ice wyvern though he could have simply thought it for the same effect; it helps to say it aloud for some reason. Maybe because if it's a stupid plan, he'll realize it in the process... No, that's not helping, mainly because he's out of other ideas.

Suddenly, without warning, one of the pylons on the north side - one relatively close to Jenny and her unicorn - explodes in a spectacular showering of crystal particles!

"Looks like we've got a chain reaction going," Randall says hopefully. Though probably best to blow another one up just to make sure.

"I have no idea what they're going to drop on our heads, so.." Holly tells the General and Akiko. "Gather round! Armor of Evangelion!" she declares. "Absolute Terror Field!" She pulls a giant-robot action figure from out of a nearby bush.

Akiko pants and puffs, and draws close, looking curiously at the action figure. The general warily looks up through the branches at the flashes and flares in the sky.

Meanwhile, the flying bear manages to make it outside of the shimmering ring of pylons, but can't hope to keep pace with Mara at its steady glide.

"Don't tell Jason, but I used to collect this stuff as a kid," Holly whispers to Akiko. "Vintage stuff.. not cheap you know."

Jenny and her unicorn look about in a panic for the source of the new attack on the pylons. The firebird takes to the air - but keeps low and near to the ziggurat.

Randall pops another spent casing out, thanksful for his gloves - those casings are hot! He loads another rocket. "Looks like 'Small' wants to play tag. ... I've got an idea, get ready, Holly."

There's a shimmering near the hedges and near the base of the most recently destroyed pylon, as a fox-shaped ripple tears into the landscaping.

The garden is torn asunder as myriad explosives rain down, tearing up trees and hedges, and creating countless craters.

None of the rockets hit Holly or her companions directly, but the trees are knocked over by the concussive blast. The magical protection afforded (somehow?) by the magical action figure diverts a falling tree so that they are not crushed in the mayhem.

The ziggurat itself is completely untouched, and most of the central area described by the ring of pylons is protected as well ... but there are a couple of points of encroachment where the pylons were destroyed by rocket fire. (Oddly enough, there's no visible encroachment in the area where a pylon seemingly blew up of its own accord.)

*** Round 5: Initiative Order - Jason, Bad Guys, Holly, Inari, Randall. Expected airstrike on end of Round 7.

*** Amended: Initiative Order - Randall, Bad Guys, Holly, Inari, Jason. Expected airstrike on end of round 7, still.

Randall urges Mara to the north, pointing toward the ruined building where they started. "Over there! Holly, you'll have incoming shortly." He lines up his shot in the meantime.

"Incoming, great," Holly replies drolly. "I hope it's Fry. We've got a shield down here too, Randall."

As Mara swoops over the landscape, alternating diving and soaring to provide a greater challenge to Blake and his spears, Randall lines up his shot, aiming through the scope. "Come on now, we've got this..." The morning of practice flight comes to him, from when they were pretending to strafe over the Ozymandias as if it was a giant death-dealing space station... And suddenly he knows just which way Mara's going to swoop. Inflect that shot-- now!

The rocket hits the crystal dead center, heedless of the pointless "anti-magic" field ripple, and shatters the pylon into myriad sparkling pieces ... but what's more, a huge shard of crystal is blown forward, and hits the corner of the ziggurat, exploding and sending chunks of stonework and gilding flying every which way.

"RARRRRRRRR!" shouts the bear, as it rockets forward with plumes of volcanic ash spewing in its wake - but even so, it can't hope to keep up with Mara. It just manages to come into view of Holly and her companions, through the low-hanging smoke.

"Hanging Gardens of Babylon!" Blake cries out, laughing as he gestures toward Mara and Randall.

One the crystal pylons flickers a bit, and seems to glow not QUITE as brightly as it did a moment ago.

With a cracking of wood, and a scattering of ashes, a cluster of the surviving trees begins to uproot itself, along with clumps of clinging earth, as they rise upward - a circular hemisphere of rock and soil (and ash, thanks to the destruction) rising up into the air.

The earth trembles underneath Holly, as the ashen ground about her cracks in the process.

The trees, some still burning from the explosions, begin to twist and reach out with their branches, snatching out after the ice wyvern and her pilot.

"Looks like their concentration's wavering, few more pylons and maybe the rest of the field will go down for good," Randall surmises. He lifts Mara to avoid the huge (but easily seen) projectile. "Whoa! Sticks and stones may break my -- that is just not fair."

Fuseli is airborne on flaming wings ... though the horse gallops through the air as if running on land rather than moving in a fashion fitting for the use of wings.

Jenny leaps onto the back of her unicorn, and cries out, "To the air, Amaranth - but keep low!" The unicorn dutifully charges out, cutting through the space where previously there was a pylon (before it mysteriously vaporized).

Suddenly, in the middle of apparently empty space, there is a rippling effect. "Wha-?" Jenny says, startled, and the rippling abruptly dissipates. There's a flash of light starting at the tip of the unicorn's horn, as suddenly the air shimmers and a very solid, very-still-there crystal appears.

Mara gives the unnaturally expanding foliage a baleful look, then sniffs disdainfully at Fuseli as she pirouettes upward using only the air currents to avoid the grasping branches. This is how you use wings. Her thrusters hum at a low pace, ready to be kicked into high speed again.

But the unicorn fails to avert its course in time, and slams into the crystal, horn first. "Amaranth, NO!"

There is another spectacular explosion of crystal shards flying every which way. Jenny is blown off of the unicorn's back, catapulted into the air. The unicorn twists painfully, blown back toward the ground.

The firebird momentarily diverts its course as its rider jerks to the side to watch the display, but then she returns her attention to the target at hand.

"Garden of Zen!" Holly intones. "Let the Sand Rake of Serenity Dispell the Rage of the Earth!" She produces a tiny rake - the sort used in desktop sand gardens - and hurls it towards the erupting ground.

Suddenly, the hovering section of woods ceases to be animate. In fact, it also seems to be newly beholden to the power of gravity again.

Without pausing, Holly pulls the action figure of Nick from her belt, and says to it, "Nick Fry, I command you to throw off the false memories Blake has given you and remember who you really are! Jenny is your wife, you have children who miss you - and Blake tried to take that all away!"

"What?" Holly asks, not having paid attention to what happened after she threw the rake. "Uh.. huddle close under the AT-Field!"

Suddenly ... well, really, it's impossible to read Sir Nick's expression, since his face is hidden behind a helmet, but it seems that he's not immediately banking to give chase to Mara for the moment.

Another crystal pylon spectacularly explodes, just next to the one Jenny and her unicorn ran into.

Blake recoils in horror as it appears that a full half of the pylons are destroyed, leaving a gaping wide hole that cannot hope to do much to protect the ziggurat. The sky lights up with magical flak as it would seem that another airstrike is on the way. He staggers, and seems to at least momentarily consider a "strategic withdrawal"....

As Jason and his companions run along ... they can see light up ahead! They're nearly there, and there's an opening to the surface!

"Holy crap was that loud!" Jason yelps loudly at the horrific explosion and flails his arms wildly. "Open hatch means less protection! We better get moving away from it in case the structure is compromised! Move, move, move!" And so, on Jason runs!

*** ROUND 6 - Initiative - Holly (44), Randall (19), Inari (19), Rock (16), Jason (13), Bad Guys (13)

"I suggest we run for open ground and hope the smoke covers us," Holly tells Akiko and the General. "If the sky is going to fall, I'd rather be able to move more freely!"

"You'll find no argument from me!" the general calls out, making haste lest a section of forest fall on his head. Akiko gasps and puffs, doing her best to keep up with the rest.

Randall pops the casing from the rocket launcher. "Over there, that way! And dive down, maybe we can use ground cover while we reload," he yells.

The floating island continues to drop from the sky, inexorably drawn, it seems, to pursue Holly and her friends. Behind them, remnants of trees splinter and clouds of ash are blown outward as the earth returns (more or less) to the ground from whence it came. Fortunately, they aren't right nearby it anymore when it happens.

Mara growls her agreement with Randall's idea. The hover fans of the bike-dragon stir up the dirt as she takes up position, just barely peeking over the hillside.

Nick seems to struggle against some unseen force, but he - and his bear - remain hovering in the air, on a cloud, more-or-less above Holly and her companions.

Randall feels a twinge. I should have caught her-- no. "Blake, you coward! You were so busy trying to kill me that you couldn't be bothered to spend an iota of your strength to catch Jenny!" he yells, using the police megaphone on the bike to make his disgust clear.

As Jason and the others in the tunnel reach the ruined basement of the next outbuilding, they can hear the tumult outside - including Randall's voice (he must be airborne, somewhere nearby).

Panting, Jason grabs onto the ladder leading upward. "Sounds like everyone is still alive," Jason wheezes. "Time for us to do something useful. We've got a bot to take over and lead into the fray..." He draws another breath, and starts up...

Blake's face twists and contorts in demonic rage. "You ... you'll PAY FOR THIS!" He raises up his hands. "Grief of Enkidu!" The air around him shimmers with heat-haze, and the seams of the blocks making up the ziggurat glow with inner flame.

"Ooh, how heroic, you're going to take it out on me," Randall taunts, getting ready to dodge.

"Don't just hover there, go stop Blake!" Holly yells up at Nick. She wonders if the man's memories really are gone for good.

kachunk! Another round in the barrel. Randall tries hard not to think about the fact that he only has one or two left rattling around at the bottom of the box.

Fiery energy coalesces from the ziggurat, swirling about Blake. Despite his grief, he grins as power surges through him. "You fools! You don't realize what you're doing! True, I did not see, once ... I saw my own world, but hesitated ... didn't want it to get beyond its bounds ... but then I saw the light ... I was given a second chance, another life. You have taken so much away from me ... but the Light will reward its champions. With righteous rage, I will smite you all! With the fire of grief, I shall pave the way to ultimate triumph, and then we all, bodies made new, shall come to lord over a world reborn from the ashes!"

And then lashes of fire burst out from his outstretched arms, lancing toward Randall. Even as Mara reflexively lurches this way and that, the fire changes course mid-air: it cannot be diverted from its unerring way.

The space between Randall and Blake is not unoccupied. With a timely dive, Randall pulls Mara back down and to his original position. The empty air is not so empty. Blake's blast strikes a crystal unseen, and Jenny's anti-magic field is no longer there to protect it - not even to put up any resistance to him. The illusion immediately dissipates, just long enough for Blake to have a chance to realize what he's done - and the crystal shatters into myriad pieces. The flame keeps going, however.

The flames race past Mara, raining down on the forest, and setting the trees below him alight - but Blake's melodramatic attack is wasted. (Or, rather, put to unintended use.)

As the fire shatters through the crystal, Randall thinks to himself, "Maybe it was a bad idea to get him upset..."

"No ... no ... NO!!!!!!!!" Blake rages. Flame roars out, gouting from the ziggurat.

"You're still blind," Randall yells, lifting up. Quietly, megaphone off, he says over his wrist PDA, "That trick won't work again. Holly, Jason, get ready under cover. T minus ten... Mark!"

Through the smoke, more flame flies up toward Mara and Randall - but this is not part of the barrage. Rather, it's a woman riding astride a flaming bird. Her face is marked with some black scratches. She's dressed in Avatars security uniform - and her badge reads "XHT-1337." "Nice trick," she says, with a nod, "but this party's only just begun. I think it's time to break the ice."

"Flametongue!" she cries, and a blast of fire comes from the mouth of her avian mount. It strikes Mara true, despite her reflexive attempt to evade, but her armor holds up. "Ah," XHT-1337 remarks, "I suppose I can't hold back, can I?"

Meanwhile, as Holly pulls herself out of the smoking debris, having narrowly avoided having an island drop on her head, there's an echoing whinny ... and a flame-winged nightmare circles above her. "Hello, Mother!" Tracer cries out. "I'm sorry, but this is for your own good! MAZE OF HORRORS!"

"Coming on awfully hot for a first date, aren't you?" Randall retorts. Hope Jason's getting something cooking quick-like.

Bubbles pop up around Akiko, the General, and Holly, and images play about them. Akiko's bubble seems to display some dark classroom in a high school somewhere back in the Real World. The general's seems to display the bridge of a Stellar Imperial warship in flames, and through the viewports can be briefly seen an entire fleet being devastated - and Gormenghast itself being torn asunder by an assault of the Army of the Light.

Holly sees.. a courtroom. Her husband is next to her, looking stressed, while their lawyers sit to either side of them. The judge is reading over a thick stack of papers, and taking his time.

*** ROUND 7: Initiative - Randall (35), Inari (19), Jason (18), Baddies (18), Holly?, and BIG BAD BOOMARAMA.

Randall says into his intercom, "I've got our old friend XHT-1337 on my tail, and she's got a firebird that's hot for Mara," as he swoops with Mara to the west. Take another shot? Range's longer than I'd like... No, I've got a different problem for right now. Let's get under cover for now, especially with another surprise inbound.

A fox-shaped ripple gives way, as a golden fox dashes at lightning speed away from the hedges, back toward the east.

As Jason and his companions finally make it back to the surface, the terrain around them seems to have undergone certain traumas ... and judging by the dense concentration of magical anti-aircraft fire, it would seem that another airstrike is probably eminent any moment now.

"Out of the pit into another hell," Jason remarks as he finally surfaces and quickly looks around to get his position. "Randall," he calls into the comm now, "Where is everyone? Is anyone down?

Smoke assails Jason's nostrils. It would seem that the edge of the woods is on fire ... and the wind is blowing this way.

"Holly's over east, she was going to tag Nick with that gimmick of hers," Randall replies. "Inari's been distracting 'em with 'explosions'."

"Whatever she did, Nick isn't coming after us right now," the police officer adds.

"Is the plan still going as desired?" Jason asks next as he quickly surveys for the downed loader he planned to take over.

According to the PDA and the survey information, the loader should be just to the south, but with the thick smoke and thick foliage, and the ruined walls of the overrun outbuilding, it's not immediately in sight.

"No!" Holly yells within her bubble, addressing her own lawyer. "There is no way in hell that I'm going to allow my daughter to be exposed to Mark's bimbo! I want to challenge this! So long as Sasha is around him, Tracy won't be!"

"But ... gah, another strike is coming, isn't it? I'm going to wait it out," Jason decides into the comm. Be right back!" And down into the 'bunker' he returns as Holly's comments fade out. He blinks at this, then ponders, "RIU, can you access anything that shows me what's happening to Holly?" he asks, "Maybe I can over-ride it."

"Let's say that I have Blake's full attention, and I think I made him a little too--" Randall breaks off. "Holly! Snap out of it! Tracy's not even online, that's an NPC!"

Tracer's expression twinges momentarily, as she turns to look at the sky. Then, furrowing her brow, she goads her flaming nightmare, and dives down....

In Holly's nightmare, her lawyer reaches up to put a hand on her shoulder, in a vain attempt to calm her from her tirade. But to an outsider, the Avatars-Tracer hoists Holly up onto the back of her nightmare, pulling along bubble and all - and then she dashes off, away from ground zero....

Jason hits the floor just under the hatch and kicks up his small computer system. "Effects, effects, area effects have stats, sort of. Like power did. If I can kick down the stats of the effect on Holly and the others they can break it's grip, I hope!" His fingers flurry as he works and his breathing draws shallow and his brow starts to sweat. Hacking under duress used to be exciting ... but when friends are in danger .... it's just plain terrifying. A blur over a section of his map appears, the effect in question. "Oh dear lord that's huge," the hacker whimpers. He flicks through the list of its highest power numbers and starts dropping them as low as he can by trying to trick the system into thinking the spell is expiring or fading. "Come on, come on, work!" he pleads with the system, "I don't care if this gives away my position, I have to save them!"

The bubbles around the general, Akiko, and - further away - Holly flicker ... and then blink out entirely. Tracer clicks her tongue and hisses in disgust.

Suddenly, the courtroom gives way for Holly to find herself flying through the air on the back of a nightmare (riding bareback, no less), held by the tall, Avatars-version Tracer.

"And furthermore," Holly says, waving a toy robot in her hand, "I.. uh.. why am I riding a flaming horse?"

The general and Akiko snap out of it as well - and the general's reflexes are a little quicker. "Incoming!" he cries - or maybe he's still in the throes of his nightmare? In any case, he grabs Akiko, and together they dash for what remains of the treeline.

Laughter follows Randall, meanwhile, as the flaming bird practically dances in the wake of the ice wyvern. "Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here? FLAME TORRENT!"

Randall whispers to Mara, "Bite me if I start making an excess of ice jokes around you, okay?"

Flaming meteoric bursts fly past Mara, setting more of the woods below on fire, but the ice wyvern, under Randall's expert guidance, manages to weave between the trees, using them to absorb and divert the enemy's rapid-fire volleys.

"I've got a tap directly into the source!" XHT-1337 boasts. "I won't run out of juice before you do!"

Then, his eyes fall upon Inari, desperately dashing across in an attempt to save Akiko. "You ... YOU ... this is YOUR FAULT! You treacherous, filthy, vile creature!"

"Your trickery ends here! TOWER OF BABEL!" And then he raises his hands into the air, as the earth rumbles, and cracks open up, revealing fire and vents of smoke. The ground contorts and breaks, and the beautiful flowered hedges soon blacken from the released heat and chaotic energies.

One of the "destroyed" crystals suddenly ripples back into place, as the earth around Inari churns and turns itself over. She lets out a simultaneous fox-like yelp and a cry of alarm, as the flaming earth swallows her up.

Rockets explode all around, burning away even more of the forest, and filling the air with heavy smoke. Even Blake seems to have taken some damage, as his armor is bent up and torn up in places, but magical energies seal up his wounds.

The crystals, however, are looking the worse for wear. The crystal that just a moment ago flickered back into reality now explodes for real.

In the midst of the ash and rubble, a soot-marked paw forces its way through the dirt, claws gaining purchase. "Ngh," comes from a foxish muzzle, and the cracked remains of a Boomhound gas mask fall free from it. "That hurt."

Randall, not seeing this, yells, "You murderer! You forced her to play the villain, twisted her mind and Akiko's, and now you kill her to pretend that you did something good? If this is the kind of twisted, 'good' world you want to create, I will fight to the death to stop it!"

*** Round 8! Iniative Order - Jason (53), Holly (48), Inari (40), Randall (29), Bad Guys (22); Inari not dead, thanks to Dramatic Dissheveling.

"Murderer?" Jason whispers on hearing Randall's shout. His his fingers going rigid on his keyboard and then his jaw clenches, "No. No, you bastard. RIU, invis yourself and go help Randall. Guys, we have a bot to salvage and arm. Lets move. I don't care how big he makes himself, that bastard is going to pay." And with that, Jason is up the shaft and making his way towards the armored bot in an all out run. His shotgun is drawn and cocked ... and he looks pissed.

The way is a lot clearer now - but Jason's companions have trouble keeping up with him, as he throws all caution to the wind in his mad dash. Just up ahead is that power loader - amazingly, still intact, shielded from the worst of the explosions by some fallen trees (now reduced nearly to splinters) and some reshaped earth (a relic of all the magical "terraforming" done to the area). It's a robo-lift, able to switch between wheeled, quad, and biped locomotion, as best fits the terrain.

Meanwhile, unseen to anyone - except via a special connection directly to Jason to keep him up to date - a little invisible dragon whips through the air at high speed, chasing after the fiery bird and icy wyvern.

Tracer seems taken aback, and stifles a laugh, though it still shows in the tone of her response: "Nf. You've got to be kidding. Even if I did, you'd be mincemeat. No, we'd be mincemeat. No. Not going to happen."

Turning to look into Tracer's face, Holly says, "Look into your angst, and see the true darkness within you, Tracer. Join me, and together we can kill Blake and rule the Diadem as mother and daughter!"

To any sane listener, of course a speech like that wouldn't work. Why, it's clearly just a distracting tactic. Surely Holly would expect no such speech would prompt anything more than an embarrassed stare or laughter from her own daughter ... but it would seem that this Tracer is just a little bit different than that. There's just a hint of something teary in her eyes. "Do ... do you really mean it?" she asks, breathlessly.

"Blake isn't worthy, just like your father," Holly says. "Look at how he treated Jenny! I can protect you from him."

Over the intercom, Randall's voice crackles. "Cover me, I'm going in." With vengeance in mind, and the fact that Blake is momentarily disoriented now, but he's healing fast, Randall elects to swoop a wide circle around the guard and her firebird, dashing in instead to just outside the circle of crystals. "Here's one in the eye, Blake!"

Greywolf says, "Ace Shot {I might have the name wrong} is automatic successful hit with a raise. It's one of the power-gamer cards."

As power surges rock the crystal ring, only three of the crystals are still glowing at full brightness now....

Randall, trying very hard not to think about the firebird breathing down their backs, lines up the shot as Blake staggers. A tiny little red dot appears, practically lost against the giant leotaur's pores, but as he moves back and forth, it moves across his armor. It's like shooting womp rats, Randall tells himself, and Mara must have heard him because for a moment, they're moving together, she's hovering in just the right way to compensate for his movements. He squeezes the trigger, and a tiny rocket whooshes from the barrel, accompanied seconds later by the sounds of the sabots flying in all directions.

Fire and shrapnel blossom from Blake's face, as he staggers back. The crystals flicker, and the energies immediately start to bathe his fresh wounds, rejuvenating him. He tries to roar something, but at least for the moment, it seems he hasn't an intact mouth with which to say anything.

"Now!" Tracer cries, "There's not a moment to lose. He'll regenerate...." She turns her nightmare about, and shoots into the crystal circle, just as the energies weaken, on the side where most of the crystals have been obliterated.

"Not so fast, fly-boy!" XHT-1337 cries out, as she circles about. "Leet! Target his saddlebags - let's see what it's like to lose the REST of his rockets at ground zero! FLAMING TORRENT!"

Mara roars, earshatteringly loud if it weren't for Randall's helmet providing ear protection! She flicks her head back, giving the firebird a distinct Want more where that came from? look.

"NO! YOU VILE --" XHT-1337 roars, though she's cut off by the crashing noises of her firebird's volley of over-powered, over-charged fire bolts hitting in a burst pattern right onto the crystal Randall had positioned himself behind for his rocket attack on Blake....

The fiery burst, despite XHT-1337's fears, isn't sufficient to destroy the crystal, but it seems, at least, to have prompted her to divert her strafing run for a moment.

Blake shakes himself as his wounds rapidly mend themselves. "Wha ... what? Oh ... yes ... must ... yes. I serve you. Only you. I will not fail." His voice becomes clearer as his mouth finishes realigning to its proper shape.

Mara bares her cavernous fangs as she dodges the blast, letting it whoosh by to impact the crystal. Her snarl is thunderous.

*** ROUND 9: Iniative - Inari (53), Jason (48), Holly (35), Bad Guys (23), Randall (8). For time being, Tracer goes on Holly's action.

"Well, his brain is in the other end of him," Jason quips into the comm as he comes sliding in next to the robo-lifter.

Suddenly, a rippling, vaguely giant-fox-shaped shimmer comes rippling through the smoke and ashes, bounding up to Jason, and at last she fades into view, panting and puffing. Her fur is blackened and mussed in general, and only a few burnt scraps remain of the "barding" armor from earlier, but what wounds she has look relatively superficial. "Thank you!" she gasps. "You must have done that - dispelled the illusions - saved Akiko!"

Jason has had scant moments to take a look at the robo-lifter, but it looks as if it has been merely abandoned, rather than disabled, per se - though he could use a few hands to clear it out of the foliage that has grown up around it. (Fortunately, perhaps, most of that has been burned away by the recent destruction, but there are still some stubborn roots clinging to the rear legs.)

And Inari finds herself getting a huge hug! "You're alive! They're alive," the hacker actually chokes, "I thought ... what with Randall ... he said ..." Jason draws a breath, leaving the thoughts there and just lets her do. "Sorry, I just ... I need to get this thing running fast. It should move quick I hope ... and loaded down with some C4, be able to deliver charges to the remaining crystals." And with that, Jason tears into the bot before him, checking it and trying to get it running ... among other things if there is time ...

"This is it, then?" Waterson asks, quickly catching on. He swings his satchel packs around and helps Jason rig the robot up. The other two soldiers dig in and start clearing out the entangling foliage.

Even Inari is amazed as Jason flies through his work. In mere moments, the robo-lifter is back up with a little heave-ho ... and it has some extra-special enhancements loaded on board.

Jason begins entering the attack plan, high-speed deployment of C4 onto each to the remaining pylons using the loader arms. "Make sure the explosives go on armed timer once placed. You can configure them to arm on feeling pressure, I hope," he instructs Waterson in a rather distracted tone. The commands are ultimately simple, bypass all speed limiters (courtesy of his modifications), haul butt to each of the remaining pylons, and move in a pattern that keeps it close to the pylons as it goes to help prevent people from trying to shoot an explosives laden loader for fear of blowing apart one of the crystals. The way his hands fly as he adjusts commands and tunes the modifications are amazing, really. It ends with a loud slap of his hand on the fender as he says, "All right, time to take the battle to that twisted jerk."

Below Randall, a robo-lifter suddenly careens by, its servos smoking (overclocked, to say the least), as it swings out a lift arm and slaps an explosive charge onto the bottom of the nearby hovering crystal. It keeps right on going.

The crystal explodes in a shower of glittering shrapnel. A brief moment later, the next crystal down explodes with such force that the top half launches up into the sky before coming crashing back down.

"Are you sure you're on the winning side anymore?" Randall says. "Seems to me like you might want to reconsider whose side you're on. Especially whether Blake is going to give a fig about whether he catches you in the collateral damage when he aims for me."

A rapid-fire burst of electricity bounces off of XHT-1337's backside, repelled by her armor. She doesn't seem to notice.

As soon as Fuseli is close enough (which is very close), Holly sticks the end of the BFG into Blake's right ear and says, "Bad Kitty" before pulling the trigger.

XHT-1337 seems to consider this for a moment, then says, "Ah ... point taken," as she looks with alarm at Blake - who is recovering quickly, and returning to being just plain enraged again. She goads her firebird to turn about - it would seem that she has chosen to leave off this battlefield for now....

Mara snorts, looking inclined to give pursuit and find out what firebird tastes like.

Holly pops out the old capacitor and slaps in her reserve one, telling Tracer, "Let's try for his left ear."

Tracer frowns. "I'm starting to think this is a bad idea. Fuseli! CLOAK OF PHANTOMS!" She goads the nightmare to move away - and quickly, circling about. Their collective form ripples and becomes ethereal and indistinct, making it unclear where, exactly, they might be.

"I was going to give her a great big hug," Randall jokes over the intercom. "That way she'd be certain to get caught up in any AOEs. T minus two mins or so-- look out, Tracy!"

Despite the shimmering shield around the nightmare, the arm is just so big that it sweeps through a considerable portion of the air - and they are so very, very close. The flying horse is backhanded!

The nightmare hurtles through the air! Tracer screams, clinging on for dear life!

*** Note to GW! NOT TODAY! Uhm ... redo the past few lines. He didn't really hit. Jason calls on the com and warns them just in time!

*** Or ... no, really, it's just a glancing blow, didn't REALLY hurt, and we don't have to retcon as much. ;)

Randall swoops Mara over to the south, behind Blake, but still playing 'hide and seek' behind the crystals. "Jason! See if you can hack those crystals, make them drain his strength instead!" Hoping that the guard's retreat is for real, he proceeds to reload his rocket launcher.

The nightmare suddenly rights itself. It was merely dodging, after all, and not really hit? No, it was some sort of trickery of the Phantom of Shadows! What Blake THOUGHT was his foe was actually just shifted a bit to one side, and instead, he smashes through one of the glowing crystals at the top of the zigurrat.

The glowing crystal shatters. The rippling portal contorts and tears wider. Lightning crashes all about, striking the ground in rapid fire. Winds tear about, and a cyclone begins to form around the ziggurat. "Noooo!" Blake cries. "Treachery! The prime link is unstable!"

"Egad, that's a good idea! If I can alter the crystals to do negative effect on Blake instead of positive, we might have a chance!" Jason says as he slaps the side of his head. The hacker then stands there, his hand against his temple, as we watches chaos break out. "Aw .... frap. Here I was hoping it couldn't get any worse."

"Us? You're the one who did it," Randall taunts as he slams the last rocket in place, closes and locks the rocket launcher. "Because you're so certain you know what's right, that you never stopped to look at what you're doing, to yourself and everyone!" Inward however, he's thinking NOW what do we do?