Avatars LLC, Q-Link
Surprisingly, the Q-Link room has returned to its normal appearance-- a large white-tiled room full of monitoring equipment and plasma conduits feeding energy into a quantum link confinement sphere. Workers are hard at work at all stations, trying to restore communications and stabilize the Q-Link, which is notoriously fickle at the best of time. Now? They may as well be wrestling a Leviathan. An invisible one, which throws off ripples of instability through the air, as if the Aurora Borealis were washing around the core.

A motley crew of adventurers hurtle through the portal. First is a man in golden fox-shaped armor, a Chinese dragon curled tightly about his shoulders, followed closely by an actual golden fox wearing a black jumpsuit; behind them are a dark-haired woman on a nightmare, a brown-furred scrawny werewolf loping after with a 'Hey, wait for me!' air. And just as the portal closes, a tiny dragonfly-winged faerie shoots through.

The tiny faerie lands on Tracy's shoulder, a wisp of smoke emitting from her nose as she breathes. "So this is the real world! It feels like I'm swimming through a sea of feathers. Tickly!"

Yappy shakes his head as people turn to him. "I feel fine! But they keep it awful cold in here, don't they?"

Eddie, or another ladybug-style security robot identical to him, looks up as they arrive. "Oh hello! Holly told me to wait for you here." Behind him, the southeastern door has been closed off by a fall of pipes and broken ceiling tiles. All about are the unmistakable marks of a firefight: bullet holes and craters in the floor and the ceramic hulls of the machinery, scorch marks, green ichor splattered across the wall.

"I feel... weird," Tracy notes, and pokes at her own hand to see if her finger passes through it. "I think the virtual overlays aren't stable here. Jason.. your armor might vanish too, unless we get in closer to the Core."

"Holly didn't perhaps send a tactical nuclear missile with you, did she?" Jason asks the odd bot as he trudges over to one ot the outlets at the wall and plugs his battery packs in to get a quick-charge. "Because my systems are starting to fail and I don't know how long I've got. IT's not like this armor was real, so it's ... well, breaking down into goo."

"We're in real-space and what most of us is carrying or wearing isn't real," Jason says, "That's pretty obvious. Eventually the strong and weak forces will break down and it'll disperse."

"We need to get in closer," Tracy claims. "Eddie, what's the situation in there?"

Eddie shakes its head. "I'm sorry, but we're not authorized for nuclear weaponry here! Though Holly has mentioned wishing she had one." It looks up thoughtfully. "This is the 17th time she has wished for one since we began tracking her requests."

"We were holding them in here," Eddie replies to Tracy. "Just then though, they retreated through that door, and collapsed it behind them, and then we found out why. HEL and the other ADs had finally pinned BLACK down into one Q-Core... But then BLACK activated its Doomsday device. A nanotech device it'd hidden inside that core, that turned everything within 50 feet into some kind of ablative armor before the nanos burned out."

Tracy can't help but silently wonder: would mom's old blaster work here? Maybe I can send a robot to get it..

"I'm not that worried it it fails/fades. I don't need to live out some neo-goth fantasy," Jason quips at Tracy, "Unlike /someone/ I know."

"It appears that BLACK's strategy now is to just destroy all the other Q-Cores, or drive WHITE and HEL out of here so they can't countermand its orders. Once it's eliminated its rivals, the rest of the ADs won't last long, and it can come back out of its shell and take over the network," Eddie says. Its cheerful tone belies the grimness of its pronouncement.

"Why not just cut the links to BLACK's core and just separate it from the network?" Jason asks.

Inari digs up a fresh clip and slaps it into her assault rifle. Yappy looks at her, then peers at his rifle. "Excuse me, Eddie, have you got any spare clips? I, um, seem to be nearly out."

The ladybug pops open one of its wings, revealing a compartment for weapon storage. "Of course! Holly anticipated you'd need reloads."

"What about the giant spider, any activity from that group?" Tracy asks. "And.. what about Chaz and his girlfriend?"

Holly's voice breaks in here. "You're back! Let me review the last thirty seconds..." She glances toward a screen. "We need physical access to the network under the Q-Cores' false floor to cut BLACK off. Otherwise, best we could do would be to take the entire room off the grid. We're still trying to restore the Q-Link."

"I'm sure they cut up the spider and made spider rolls for a snack," Jason quips as he waits for the batteries to recharge and taps on the meter panel. "Is that all? Then we just get physical access."

The ladybug-security robot tilts its head toward Tracy. "We aren't showing Mr. Burgundy and Monica on tracking. There are six remaining of the intruders from Tesliem-- the mage-lord, his spier pet, and four guards. Plus they've still got control over ten security robots. Thank goodness none of their robots can attack the Q-cores! But the BLACK has persuaded them that our robots are the intruders."

Holly adds, "That's why the BLACK pulled its allies back. It needs someone to take out our Q-Cores!"

"Is that all? I just need a terminal and I'm sure I can realign the thinking of the security systems!" Jason claims

On the viewscreen of the intercom, Holly smiles at Jason. "It's always a terminal with you, isn't it? We're trying, but after the BLACK pulled its surprise move, it got a lot stronger. We're doing everything we can to contain it."

"Well, you won't let me have a nuclear warhead, so I have to make do," Jason says and waves his armored hand. "Alternatively we just keep it distracted while some of us stealth into the physical access areas and just start snipping."

"Do we have a clear path around the containment sphere to get to them, or do we have to go in through the core-field?" Tracy asks.

"We've got a big robot on the way, an Einhorn. It won't fit in the standard corridors though, we're having to route the thing through the cargo corridors and lifts, so if you can lend a hand with the intruders from Tesliem to get us time for it to arrive, that'd be a big help," Holly says. "You should be able to head down through any of the four elevators that access the floor, but I'd watch out for traps if you use the west side."

"They might have forces on the sublevel," Tracy warns Jason, figuring that's where he'll be headed.

"There's an easy way to deal with that ... probably. You get in the elevator, climb to its roof, then ride it down. Let the traps go off on an empty elevator, then invade! Or something like that," Jason claims as he starts smacking the power meter. "Oh keep working," he complains at it.

The power meter fluctuates, dropping to midway... Then rises back up to a healthier 95%.

"All right, Eddie will lead you. Here's the tac-map overview." Holly puts up a schematic of the Q-Cores Housing, with red dots for the intruders and blue dots for the friendly robot guards.

"Regardless, we hardly have the forces to do any sort of frontal assault. It's a pity you don't have a halon fire system here. We could activate it and just suffocate out anything organic down there," Jason notes.

Holly shakes her head. "No, we're using modern fire suppression systems. Safe if anyone happens to be trapped in the fire... Fewer angsty headlines about 'killed by the very systems that were supposed to preserve life'." She looks a bit wistful, then turns her attention to Tracy. "Are you all right, dear? You're looking a bit... Well, paler even than the last time I remember you."

Jason unhooks his power line from the wall socket. The odd armored human lifts RIU off his shoulders and holds him out to the power socket so he can lick it and recharge. "Given the problems you seen to get into, I suspect I have to go with all of you for a little bit," Jason says plainly. "The southern elevator gets us in closest firing range without being on top of them. That does mean you'll have to use your laser canon for once."

Cait buzzes about the room. "So this is Avatars LLC? Everything on the walls says Avatars! Wow! Can I get a tour?"

"I'll be fine, Mom," Tracy claims. "It's just a virtual overlay effect thingy.. it'll fade."

"An overlay? Do I need to get a few cryogenic pods warmed up?" asks Holly, concerned.

"Inari, how much ammo do you have left and is the cloaking systems of that, er, rather distracting bodysuit still working?" Jason asks.

"Uh.. I don't know?" Tracy admits, and tells the fairy, "Maybe later, Cait, when the world isn't ending." To Jason she notes, "I've been using my cannon a lot!"

The golden vixen smirks at Jason and leans up against him. "Is my bodysuit distracting you? I've got a couple spare clips, but if I have to hose down the place, they won't last long."

Yappy looks down at the floor where tiny yellow dog hairs seem to be accumulating. "I'm shedding!"

"Mom, do you still have your big gun in your office?" Tracy asks via Eddie. "Think it might work again in here?"

"Yes, it is, since it's tight and shows off, er, nevermind," Jason mutters. "Right, so, I guess we had better move while every one of us is still somewhat functional. Once this armor fades I'll be as useless as a beach towel is to a mermaid," he says louder.

Holly shakes her head, laughing. "They took it away for R&D a long time ago! Do you need something explosive? I gave Eddie some standard grenades, but I can have another robot meet you along the way with something from the arsenal."

"Haven't you ever been snapped with a wet towel?" Tracy asks Jason. "Oh, grenades! Those can be distracting to giant spiders!"

The golden vixen murrs into Jason's ear. "It doesn't actually have a cloaking system, I've been using a little bit of magic when I need to disappear."

Eddie fishes around in the storage compartment and comes up with six grenades on a bandoleer. "Right, then. Here you are, miss!"

"It's winter! I'm supposed to be growing my coat out, not shedding," the brown-furred werewolf complains to Tracy.

"No, I never took gym class," Jason starts to retort to Tracy, only to stop and switch. "I can still smell you even when in this armor," he complains to Inari. "So, er, lets just get moving. Bring bugbot along. It might be good for a laugh, or at least a distraction. I'm sure Holly could annoy them ffrom it..."

Taking the grenades, Tracy hangs them over the pommel of Fuseli's saddle. "Yappy, you're just turning back into Mike, don't worry about it," she tells the werewolf. "You aren't gonna look like a monster chihuahua or something.."

"Grenades? Did I hear grenades?" Jason asks and cackles disturbingly. "Oh, come here you little orbs of destructive beauty! I have such plans."

The werewolf looks a bit disconcerted. "But... Do I look better as Yappy or Mike? It felt kind of nice to actually have some muscles."

"You know what would be funny? Sending down the western elevator with remote-controlled grenades in it. When the door opens and they think they're about to shoot us, boom!" Jason cackles, "Heheheh."

Cait says to Yappy, "Relax! I hear baldness is a sign of male, um..." The tiny little fairy breaks up into giggles, then lands in Tracy's hair, still leaving a trail of faint smoke. "I'm so ticklish!"

"It's easy to get muscles," Tracy notes, and shares half of the grenades with Jason, and even adds an extra EMP grenade. "So, you want to send a remote-controlled robo-bomb into the Core's underpants?"

Holly shakes her head at the going-ons. "I can send one of the greeter-robots over to meet you so you can rig it with grenades, Jason," she says. "Ah... Who's your little winged friend, Tracy?"

"I want to surprise them with a leetle friend. It'll at least be a shock and distraction if nothing else and allow us time to get down on the southern elevator and start staking shots at them as they recover," Jason points out a little more sanely. "And sure, send over a greeter. That'll give us camera and audio to know when to bomb them."

"Oh, Mom, this is.. Cait Sindorel.. a gaming friend who sorta came with us through the portal," Tracy notes. "She was the only one brave enough to follow us, otherwise I could have had a virtual army here.."

"She's a player-character," Tracy explains as Fuseli takes her to the southern elevator along with the rest of the group. "Her link is still.. connected.. somehow."

Eddie leads the way. A silver-skinned greeter droid meets them at the floor's southern lobby. "Hi there, I'm Ruth!" it says in a woman's contralto. "How may I assist you today?"

"You're going to be our happy fun suicide greeter today and go down on the western elevator," Jason claims as he coes up to the robot so he can start wiring in explosives as well as a ling into the bots communication and visual channels. "After all, do not taunt happy-fun-bot."

"Mom, do you have working security cameras or drones on the service level below?" Tracy asks via Eddie. "And.. uh.. is it full of cryogenic lines or other really bad 'do not touch' stuff?"

As they leave the range of the intercom, Holly switches to Eddie. "Cait! This is important. Can you bring up your interface?"

"You'll be safest if you log out right now," Holly says grimly. "But I don't know if you're ever going to be able to recover your character. If you stay logged in, the normal VR protocols that prevent character death won't apply here in the real world... And our studies show that players with a strong link to their characters may experience actual trauma from character death."

"I'll try not to get killed too, Mom," Tracy notes, but worries about what might happen to Tracer and Fuseli even more now.

"Can you carry Cait to a cryo chamber once she disconnects? We can try to send her back in afterward," Jason suggests to Eddie. He then pops open one of Ruth's service panels and starts to tinker. "You know, when people used to joke about turning on a woman..."

Holly sighs. "Tracy, you're a Trudeau. I've taught you how to take care of yourself. But you haven't dealt with what happened after the near-Convergence in 2065 like I have."

Cait gulps. "Um. I do want to help, Mom! Er. Mrs. Trudeau!" She grins impishly. "Besides, what kind of story would I have if I tell people I just went into the real world, and then logged out right away?" She pats Tracy's cheek with a tiny little hand. "I'll be careful!"

"I've been dealing with it for years, Mom," Tracy claims. "I've just today started to heal the wounds. But.. it doesn't matter right now. I'm just glad you left Tracer the laser cannon."

"I doubt it was ever meant so literally as right now," Jason finishes his statement. "There, that should be the comm channel, just get the frequency recorded ... and the video link..."

"I did?" Eddie's head swivels to inspect Fuseli. "Oh! I'd forgotten all about that little thing."

Ruth's optics narrow, then widen. Simultaneously, Jason's link begins receiving a video stream of the surroundings from the greeter's point of view.

Holly sighs. "Dear, just remember, you aren't in the virtual world anymore. Fixing real people that you shoot full of laser holes isn't as easy as giving them a healing potion."

"Ah, if getting into a woman's head was this easy," Jason quips, pleased. "Not that it would be better to know what you're thinking," he says quickly to Inari. "It's more exciting having to guess! Really!"

Inari licks Jason's ear. The armor's ear that is. The armor reports unexpected wetness obediently.

"Yappy, be careful not to shoot at anything that isn't moving," Tracy advises her werewolf sidekick. "Or at least nothing that's close to us. There are probably laser and coolant conduits and plasma guides that will explode. I'm pretty sure plasma conduits do that if provoked."

"You'd better hurry," Holly says. "Our robots have just reported some kind of explosion down in the Q-Core Housing."

"See?" Tracy says, as her suspicions are confirmed. "Cait.. do you have your session recording software going? Just in case we all die heroically and stuff. Otherwise I bet my mom will pay you a small fortune for the copy if we survive."

Jason finishes affixing a couple grenades to the greeter-bot. "There we go. Now go to the western elevator and down to say hello to the nice people downstairs," Jason tells the greeter. "Now, everyone make sure you're fully loaded and get ready. It's time to head down the southern tube and cause a little chaos."

"You bet!" Cait says. "When we get done, I'm going to edit it with a rockin' music track and upload it to WorldView!"

"Try not to wreck everything though," Tracy tells Jason. "We'll probably need those Q-Cores again. We don't know what BLACK did with Chaz!"

Ruth winks. "Of course, sir! And may I say, it's been a pleasure to serve you." Inari chews on Jason's ear while the greeter robot trundles off to the western elevator.

"Oh, the BLACK probably took out his brain and put a small core in his body and is now controlling him like a meat-puppet," Jason suggests. "It's not like I can have an explosion jump around stuff, you know."

"I'll be upset if you kill my friend, Jason," Tracy notes, and turns Fuseli towards the elevator, as well as swinging the laser around to cover the entrance in case someone had the clever idea of putting booby-trapped robots in them or something.

Cait hmms. "Fortune or fame... Fortune or fame. What would you pick?" she asks Tracy as they head toward the elevators.

"Relax. I doubt they would keep him near anything that would let him stop what they're doing. He's probably locked in a closet," Jason points out as he heads towards the elevator with dragon around shoulders and Inari in tow.

RIU, perched on Jason's shoulder, emits a tiny electronic snicker as Inari gives Jason such a look.

The Q-Cores housing is a big round football-sized room with offices and maintenance supply rooms ringing the area. The Q-Cores themselves are giant slabs of black material, completely featureless except for the Dantech logo stamped at the upper right corner of each. They are anchored within polished steel clamps from which blue pipes run to the physical facilities department just underneath, and lined up row by row in a grid layout. Under normal circumstances, there would be blue-and-white jumpsuited maintenance workers, but now the room is a war zone, filled with robots taking pot shots at each other and hiding behind fallen Q-Cores.

Were it the robots alone, it would simply be a game of last-robot-standing, but entering the field are the remnants of the Tesliem invasion force. Their leader, a haughty-looking robed sorcerer, calls out orders to the guards. "Destroy the obelisks! This is the charge given to us by the Emperor, that these barriers to his occult might be lowered so that his reign can extend over all the Diadem. Aye, and even to worlds beyond!" Before him are the smouldering remains of several of the Q-Core nodes.

At the center of a devastated crater that used to be a whole section of Q-Cores, there is a huge pillar of some nano-crete like material, matte black. Lights gleam from within it, highlighting front panels of Q-Cores and robot heads and limbs, as if they had been trapped alive when the floor erupted.

The western elevator chimes. "What foolishness is this?" asks the Mage-Lord as the doors open behind him. The guards turn to cover... A silvery greeter robot?

But even as they unleash a withering barrage of weapons fire against the elevator's occupant, the greeter robot hurtles herself out of the elevator! "Hi there!" she carols. "Welcome to Avatars LLC! We hope you'll find your stay fun and pleasant."

Two grenades mounted on her chest-- not that she had one before, but perhaps this is why Inari was gnawing on Jason-- go off amidst the Tesliem forces.

"Explosive chests are just so ... meloncholy," Jason claims in the other elevator.

Tracy is gritting her teeth as the pins-and-needles tingling starts to get worse. "Cait, how are you holding up?" she whispers to her fae companion.

The twin explosions do more shock damage than actual burning damage-- it appears that they were designed more for concussive impact than for penetrating damage, perhaps better for indoor use by security. The guards are sent reeling to the floor, and the spider hisses and screams as it is cut by flying shrapnel.

The southern elevator now chimes and the doors open to allow the fearless adventurers out, just seconds after Ruth's heroic sacrifice.

Cait says to Tracy, "I'm fine!" between clenched teeth, but her grin looks a bit forced. "Want me to distract one of them?"

"They're down," Tracy notes. She offers Cait a grenade, and asks, "Think you could drop this on the spider before they recover?"

The faerie oofs under the weight of the grenade. Her wings switch into overdrive as she summons up a bit of magic to lighten her weight. "You got it! I'm on my way."

"Cait, e-mail your current address to Holly before doing anything. That way if anything bad happens we can find the real you," Jason says as he primes the emitters on his gauntlets. "Looks like it's time to unleash a bit of hell on them before they recover," he adds.

"I've still got EMPs," Tracy tells Jason. "Want me to go after the nearer robots?"

Holly says through Eddie, "I've got it, I had a little word with her. Good luck in there... Keep an eye on my daughter please, Jason?"

"Ah, no. That'll just help them. You'll shut down the q-cores too," Jason points out to Tracy, "Focus on that mage. He's a huge threat with his explody-balls." He then nods to Eddie, adding, "She won't die before I do," he promises.

"Remember, our Einhorn's on the way, so as long as you can hold them for a minute or so, once it enters the field, we should be good," Holly adds.

"Let's go, Fuseli, while the laser is still usable," Tracy says, guiding her mount closer so she can get a clearer shot.

"Come on Inari, time to cause some severe trauma," Jason tells the kitsune. "Lets move up!"

The Mage-Lord and his guards stagger as they attempt to recuperate from the attack. "What foul magic... The Emperor's enemies are using treacherous means indeed!" he groans.

Without taking time to really aim, Tracy does manage scorch a spot on the spider's shell at least. It should keep the monster's attention on her and not on the smaller flying faery.

Jason, since he's out of range to hit, runs towards the gathered foes. Electricity is useful, but can easily be redirected by ionization pockets in the air, has a shorter range than any gun.

The Tesliem Elite Guard-Captain groggily gets to his feet and brings his rifle to bear. "Intruders!" he yells. "They're coming from the right! Protect the Mage-Lord!"

"Sir! Yes, sir!" The third guard manages to find his feet, after the world stops spinning. He sweeps the room looking for the attackers.

Seeing a giant horse-- how did that get in here-- he braces himself on the fallen lab bench and takes aim.

"C'on, Inari! Move up enough to be a great shot and let em face the wrath of a woman with a really big gun!" Jason calls out.

The black jumpsuited vixen keeps her assault rifle levelled as she advances. "The wrath of a woman whose man has been turning on another woman?" she observes archly. Fortunately she isn't pointing and aiming at Jason. She targets the spider instead, and peers through the iron sights of the rifle as she squeezes off a tight three-round burst.

Chiton splinters, and a gout of green ichor spatters across the floor grillework!

The robots on the far side of the room are engaged with each other, for the time being, but the nearest robots break off. "Additional intruders detected!" one emits. "Warning! This room is off limits due to mechanical malfunction of security protocols. You are advised to turn back immediately. Lethal force may be employed should you press further into the controlled zone."

Yappy looks around for anything that's moving, not too close, and isn't them. "A robot!" he yelps, turning his rifle toward one of the nearest robots-- one of HEL's.

"Ignore them, Yappy!" Tracy calls out. "Suppressing fire on the guards, keep them down!"

The werewolf manages to pull back his gun, but not before sending a spate of bullets through the air!

"Um, whoops! I thought all the robots here were bad... Sorry, didn't mean you, Eddie!" Yappy says sheepishly.

"Moving up," Jason says as he advances on the foes ahead. Still out of range, but ... maybe he can hit a guard with a bolt. so he takes aim at the second guard after moving a bit closer!

Eddie blinks twice at Yappy. "No offense taken!" it says in its usual cheery voice. "It's an easy mistake to make, we all look so much alike."

The lightning bolt from Jason goes awry, hitting the grille where it's absorbed, but RIU follows up with a pinpoint bolt that smacks right into the second Tesliem guard! The guard crumples with a tiny sigh.

Continuing clockwise around the chamber, Tracy and Fuseli move on to get a clearer shot at the enemy, while also providing more cover for the Sublevel Access hatch. "Let's do this, Fuseli: Glimpse of the Abyss!" she calls out.

The mage-lord stumbles back, too slow on his feet to dodge out of the way of the hellish abyss opening beneath his feet! Superhot steam vents upward, reddening his exposed face. "ARGH!"

Another guard succumbs to the cracks of doom rivening the floor beneath his feet, falling in and to some unknowable demise. The third guard stumbles and grabs onto the fallen lab bench for support.

"Jason, we've only got one shot like that left in us," Tracy notes. "If you need to get to the sublevel, I can cover the hatch a little longer.."

The spider hisses and rages, caught by the side-blast of the attack! Green ichor burns, turning rapidly into charcoal that seals the wounds of the bullets.

The guard captain loses his feet, grabbing for anything he can to avoid getting pulled into the abyss. "Emperor, preserve us!" he yells.

"The black is up to something," Jason shouts to the others. "Be ready for anything! We have to get it disconnected."

The robots defending BLACK turn their attention toward Fuseli. "Warning! We are now responding with lethal force. You are advised to surrender at once, intruders."

More bullets sing through the air! One smacks into Fuseli's barding, but another hits Tracy on his back, plastering against her enchanted armor. It stings, but does no damage... Though she's disturbed to see that it left a visible crater in the armor. It's magic armor!

"Ugh, I was afraid the virtual matter was weakening," Tracy notes, shocked at being shot.

"Know better?" Inari says to Jason sweetly. "Maybe. Feel better? How would you feel if I put grenades on a male robot in a very special place?"

"Inari, take out any you can easily target and be wary, the black is up to something! I have to get it disconnected! Protect the others and if things look bad, help them get out of here," Jason calls out, "and I would laugh if you did that!"

"I'll have to arrange for it then," Inari says with a fierce grin. She moves for cover behind one of the Q-Cores, then lines up her assault rifle with the spider.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Bullets rip through the spider's head. It crumples to the ground ignominously.

"NOOOO!" The Mage-Lord screams. "You killed Fluffy! You'll answer for that, you enemies of the Empire!"

"Stars, give me the strength to smite these blackguards," the Mage-Lord yells. He summons up his magical power, red energies flowing up from the ground around his robes, concentrating at his hands... And then unleashes them toward the direction from which the bullets came!

Destructive force washes out across the room, shattering three more Q-Cores! The golden fox reels backward, now on her knees with the remnants of the Q-Core providing precious little shelter.

Flames lick across Jason's visor, but does no damage to him. RIU is another story, as the tiny dragon gets spun for a loop from the concussive force of the fireball.

"RIU, Inari!" Jason screams as he grabs for the little dragon to keep it from hitting the ground. He panics and tries to check the link to the little creature as he looks over at the fallen kitsure, terrified! "I swear if they're dead, BLACK, I'm going to find you a digital hell to stuff you in..." he growls.

Yappy yelps! "Hey! You can't do that to us!" he shouts, turning his gun toward the Mage-Lord and unleashing a burst of bullets.

With so many bullets spraying through the air in return, one smacks into the Mage-Lord's chest! Tiny magical runes appear, reducing the bullet's impact... But the runes shatter and he is knocked back a step.

"Way to go, Yappy!" Tracy cheers. "Jason, get down this hatch and castrate BLACK, we'll watch over Inari!"

The footing proves unstable at the edge of the destruction where the BLACK's nanotech bomb had gone off, and the Mage-Lord tumbles to his feet. "Argh! Cursed infidels!"

The Mage-Lord scrambles to his feet with surprising alacrity. "Captain! Guards! To my side!" he roars. "Slay our enemies!"

The guard continues to be too woozy to do more than move a few steps, but the captain is made of sterner stuff. He straightens himself up, obviously preparing to unleash deadly gunfire on his lord's enemies.

Behind him, the Mage-Lord gathers red energies at his hands once more, his eyes on the horse who unleashed so much fiery devastation a moment ago. "Let me show you who is the true master of the flames around here!"

"Yah!" Tracy yelps, goosing Fuseli as she sees the Mage winding up again. The Nightmare vaults over a monitoring station to just get out of the blast radius.

"Come on you bastard," Jason yells as he heads towards the Sublevel access grate and charges up his gauntlets. "Ignore them and attack me you self-righteous piece of ..." His hands come up and even with the distance his anger focuses on that mage and lets loose a burst of electrical energy!

ZAP! The Mage-Lord's remaining defense runes crumble before the assault, as he is pitched back again from the impact of the giant ball of electricity. He claws at the wrecked floor for support.

RIU stirs wobbily on Jason's shoulders. Further away from him, the golden vixen gets to her feet slowly. "Ungh... What hit me?"

"The asshole in the dress!" Jason shouts towards Inari. "Right now I want to stuff a grenade in him where the sun doesn't shine and pull the pin!"

Bullets go flying across the room as the robots take aim at their nearest opponents! One smacks directly into Tracy's chestplate... Causing defensive runes to snap and crackle. Another plasters Jason, sending him reeling back into the wall of the chamber, while RIU cries out with outrage against the attack on its master!

With the Mage teetering, and the guard captain taking aim.. Tracy opts for the one with the rifle, and fires off a 3-shot burst from her laser at the captain.

Eddie, following the others, unleashes fire from his own assault rifle while holding up one of his wing-cases as a shield! His bullets bounce off of the other robot's carapace.

Concentrated laser energy rips through the guard-captain just as he lines up his gun with Tracy! He topples back to the ground, this time for good.

The tiny dragonfly-winged faerie zooms through the air toward the mage-lord! "Almost there!" she yells. "Get ready to eat hot explosive death, magey!"

"Ugh," Tracy says after she sees the results of her shot. That was a real live person, she thinks.

Yappy, seeing the Mage-Lord apparently out of the action, switches to the robots that have been giving his buddies trouble! "YAAAA!" he yells, ripping off another burst of fire.

Sadly, his fire is inaccurate. Bullets ricochet off of the ground. The robot comments, "I am programmed not to be judgemental of organic failings, but you are testing my programming, sir."

"Jason!" Eddie relays in Holly's voice. "The BLACK faked us out! We thought it was going for the robots, but it's hacking into the Einhorn!"

"Gah, I'll have to ... secure it," Jason mutters from where he is splatted against the wall and not quite functional at the moment. "Give me a minute ... just have ... ugh."

Tracy decides she'll feel better shooting at a robot, so takes a shot at the nearest one (which has been shooting at her anyway).

The laser rifle's power meter catches Tracy's attention as she unleashes hot laser energy. It's lower than she expected!

The laser rips across BLACK's robot! "Error! Exterior temperature has exceeded safe opera...ting... par..." It topples over.

"Damn, I just lost half the power on this thing," Tracy mutters. "Jason! Check your armor power! I think things are deteriorating faster.."

Jason is trying to focus. If BLACK gets the Einhorn, it could be bad. Thankfully RIU is in full defense of his master and targets one of the bots that was hassling them! A glowing ball surges in his mouth and the little dragon lets loose! Down goes the bot in a sparking heap.

The elevator at the east side of the room chimes pleasantly. The door opens to reveal a massive mecha that nearly fills the entire chamber.

Jason's knee hits the floor with an armored clang. "Come on, you're friends will die if you don't focus. You've got to stop the BLACK," he mentally growls as he brings himself to bear on the situation. Interface active, tracking signal...

He can see it through his wireless interface. It's as if the BLACK were reaching out shadowy tentacles toward the robot, oozing through them into its processing core.

But despite Jason's best efforts, the BLACK seems to have a hammerlock on the robot's CPU! It suddenly comes to life, its optics sweeping the room with red laser-light.

Yappy yells inarticulately as he whips his assault rifle around, attacking another robot!

The other robot peers at the smouldering remnants of the first. "That was a nice try," it suggests. "Better luck next time!"

The nearest robots seem to take heart from the Einhorn's arrival, and unleash withering fire toward the defenders! A stray bullet smacks into the golden vixen just as she was bringing her assault rifle to bear. She is sent flying backward a few steps, spitting out curses!

And then the Einhorn turns its autocannon to bear on the defending robots... RATATATATAT!

HEL's remaining robots turn and pour assault rifle fire into the Einhorn! Most of their bullets bounce harmlessly off of its hull, but one lucky bullet seems to have found a weaker spot, as pieces of armor go flying and sparks emit.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" yells Cait gleefully as she chucks the grenade and takes off.

The remaining Tesliem guard throws himself on the grenade, trying to grab it and throw it!

Sadly, his sacrifice is to no avail. Despite the armor, his lifeless body is flung into the mage-lord, knocking them both well into the depth of the nanobomb crater. Both appear out of action.

The golden vixen rolls to her feet, shaking off the lingering aftereffects of the gunshot. She catches sight of the giant robot and decides with so many bullets flying through the air, she'd better get to cover, huddling in the shadow of a Q-Core.

From cover, Inari takes a second to gather her wits. "That's a big robot!" she complains to Jason. "What I wouldn't give for my sniper rifle..."

"Believe me, I wish you had it right now too and not just because it makes you even more sexy. I have to try and take control of that thing," Jason tells Inari, "So ... keep out of its sights until I can secure it. Or ... you could stealth-see what is below so we can disconnect BLACK"

With the mage out of the way and the west end unguarded, Tracy and Fuseli break for the body of the giant spider to get into range of the BLACK. She tries to take out one of the close-in guard bots with a 3-short laser burst!

Lasers rip through the robot's body! For a moment, Tracy can see through to the other side of the room through the robot... Before carbonized shrapnel rains down, along with the robot's optics and head.

The tiny faerie grins up at Tracy, though she notices that Cait is leaving tiny soot footprints on her armor. "That was fun! Got any more?"

"How about an EMP grenade?" Tracy says, offering one of Jason's taped-together gadgets to the fairy. "We need to hit the BLACK with it, maybe fry those last two robots guarding him.."

"Hmm! And you don't think that it'll suck me in like all those poor robots it absorbed?" asks the faerie, slightly dubious.

"You should tell her to offline! Her body can't last that much longer," Jason shouts!

Cait beams. "That's a great idea! I can throw the grenade, and then go offline! Blaze of glory!"

"Well, if you get close enough to toss the bomb, just log out once it's gone!" Tracy calls. "We're running out of time, and the more damage we do the more we lose our virtual aids.."

The Einhorn, slightly battered but still running strong, lumbers forward, guns blazing.

The remaining robots under HEL's commands return fire, desperately trying to find holes in its armor!

POW! HEL 3 manages to land a hit on its left optic, shattering the glass. The Einhorn emits electronic distress! "Property damage! Warning! Destroying Avatars LLC property will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Lethal force may be employed in the defense of said property!" its mechanical voice grates. "Same to you, buddy!" retorts Eddie.

The nearest robots around BLACK turn around to defend the rogue AD, now that an enemy has breached the perimeter. They open fire!

"Concentrate! Claim the bot from ... the, er, brain," Jason mumbles tto himself as he attempts to lock out BLACK from the Einhorn again!

To Jason's cyberspace view, the BLACK is solidifying its hold on the Einhorn's processor. Defensive spheres are beginning to form! This can't be good.

"Too far, "RIU move closer, I need you to relay," Jason tells the little dragon. The little dragon dutifully moves up!

Inari peers toward the Einhorn, then around the other side, noticing a robot exposed, gun aimed toward Jason. She leans out and fires off a burst!

"Error! Gun arm no longer connected... to ... the..." The robot goes down under the weight of her attack. "Shoulder... joint..."

The werewolf, failing to see any target nearby, sweeps the room, nosing the air... And then he catches sight of the Einhorn. "Oh... Frotz."

The Einhorn lumbers onward. It swivels its autocannon onward, vengefully raking HEL 3 with bullets.

More sparks fly as some of their bullets find their way home! The Einhorn appears genuinely damaged now, torn metal grating against its armored joint housings.

More robots turn toward the intruding faerie with her deadly EMP grenade cargo... But she continues to weave through their bullets with ease! "Darling," she retorts to Tracy. "I AM a jinx! I jinx them! It's what I do."

The brown werewolf spots a hatch leading to the sublevel. "Oh hey! A safe spot!" he yelps, diving for it, fumbling at the latch.

The EMP grenade clatters to the ground and lodges in the nanotech-created pillar's side! It sparks and begins ticking ominously. Tick, tick, tick.

"Clear out, Cait!" Tracy calls as she and Fuseli move further north around the edge of the BLACK's crater - partly to put the pillar between them and the Einhorn, but also to block one of the guard bots so the laser can be used on the other, exposed one.

Another robot goes down, in a guilt-free carnage of melting plastic and plasma explosion!

Inari leans out and tries to line up a shot on another of BLACK's defenders. Her tongue sticks out from one side of her muzzle as she concentrates.

Unfortunately, the robot moves at just the wrong moment... Targeting her! The bullet spalls against its thicker chest armor.

"I've got to find BLACK's links," Jason thinks as he disappears down the hatch that Yappy was messing with. RIU slinks closer and closer to the Einhorn, trying to stay behind cover and out of the line of fire as he moves closer.

Yappy instinctively backs out of the way as Jason approaches the hatch. A definite Omega personality, as wolves go!

As Jason climbs down the ladder, he notices his armor power gauge dropping as it's diverting more energy to sustaining its systems. It's down to about half now.

Cait zooms behind another toppled lab bench for cover as the EMP grenade ticks toward fulmination! The grenade's top completes a full revolution... And unleashes a wide burst of bright blue electricity!

Maybe RIU is defending Inari because he knows Jason would be upset if he didn't. Or course maybe he's saving up to zap Inari himself! In any event, a ball of lightning zips across the floor and fries one of BLACK's guards! Zap!

Electricity wreathes the giant pillar of necro-computer-doom. The BLACK screams, still-intact robot vocoders shrilling inarticulately. "INSECTS!" it yells in several voices at once. "YOU OFFEND A GOD AT YOUR PERIL."

"A god?" whispers Cait to Tracy. "Anyway... Logging now! It's actually getting pretty hot in here."

"Okay Fuseli, I don't know how much time we have left," Tracy says to her Nightmare, "but let's see if we can crack BLACK's shell a bit. Glimpse of the Abyss!"

Cait looks far into the distance, her eyes unfocused... And then crumples against the inside of the table, leaking black ichor. "Must... Must..." Her tiny thready voice says.

Spectral cracks run from Fuseli's hoofstomp toward Black, spreading out to envelop the necrotechnological pillar! But Fuseli's strength seems to be waning, as it does little more than to scorch the paint on the robot and the pillar itself. Cait is another story, as her wings begin to smoulder. "Must... FLEE!" she yelps.

Inari thumbs-up to RIU as the mini-dragon takes down another robot! She peers worriedly out the other side at the Einhorn as it approaches.

"Stay away from the Einhorn!" Jason pleads to Inari through their comlines. "No shooting unless you think you can aim and definitely take out one of its weapons! Stay safe!"

"Cait, aren't you disconnected?" Tracy asks, wondering if the fairy is just running the autonomous default behavior or not.

"Flee! Your horse is setting things on fire, strange lady!" yelps Cait. "Must flee!" Tiny droplets of black ichor spatter the ground beneath her.

Inari nods. "Got it. Going stealthy," she says. She traces a mystic symbol in the air... And vanishes from sight!

"Right, I need to get BLACK isolated. Where are his damn links? Holly, if you can still get this, which way to BLACK's physical links?" Jason complains into the comm.

"Best as we can tell," Holly responds over the armor comm. "It's hooked pretty solidly into the grid right under the pillar. If you can work your way there, you should be able to cut through the line."

It's not easy to run under a spuerstructure and try to hack into the Einhorn. It's like chewing gum, running, and trying to juddle all at the same time. Still, Jason tries!

Through RIU's whiskers, Jason is able to wirelessly probe the Einhorn for weak points, but unfortunately all the jostling is really cramping his game. For now, the Einhorn's attention is thoroughly on smashing the tiny little robots that are attacking it, so it devotes no attention to tracking back the electronic assault.

The Einhorn continues forward, trampling through the room and leaving tiny craters where its feet tread! A sign marked 'DANGER! SENSITIVE AREA! PLEASE SECURE ALL INSTRUMENTS' falls from the nearby pillar.

Yappy follows Jason hurriedly down into the sublevel. "Where are we going?" he asks. "This is going somewhere safe, right?" He peers around at the wire bundles and the pipes running mysterious green fluid.

"Actually, we're going right under the great God of doom, anger and evil and we're going ti tickle it's medula oblongata," Jason remarks a bit dryly. "With cutters!"

More bullets fly through the air toward the Einhorn, striking sparks off its carapace!

While Fuseli moves to keep the BLACK's pillar between them and the Einhorn, Tracy dares to close her eyes and try to summon up more power. "Hear me, Oh Light, giver of life; your Champion beseeches you," she says. "Our strength is waning, but the battle against the darkness rages on. Grant us the strength to push back the shadows.."

From the unseen distance, Tracy feels warmth rushing through her. How had it gotten so cold without her noticing? Fuseli brightens as well.

"Preferably a live hero!" retorts Yappy. "What if it just FALLS on us? And crushes us? That thing's big!"

The faerie continues to flee! "Must... run! Must... Must... Hungry. So hungry." Her wings sag as she drops to the ground, loping. Her tiny black rogue's outfit seems to have spread outward across her visible skin.

"Kid, if we don't stop it there won't be a world to go back to. It's die down here, or die out there," Jason points out, "Personally I may as well go down trying to do something worthwhile for a change. I found someone worth fighting for. Several, really, but..." He shrugs.

The Einhorn continues to roll forward inexorably. Its remaining optic swings briefly toward Tracy.

The Einhorn unleashes a deadly barrage of autocannon fire toward the horse and its rider! The impact crashes right through her armor, knocking her off the saddle. Fuseli too is sent reeling.

Yappy reluctantly follows Jason. "Okay, but if I die, my ghost is haunting you forever, got that?" he says.

Yappy admits, "Like if you die, what is my ghost going to do? Stand around for eternity griping at your ghost that it was your fault?"

"Aaurrgh!" Tracy cries from the bullets, and manages to roll off Fuseli before the steed can pin her. She's sore from where she was hit, but it's not disabling (even though her armor isn't fairing too well). "Fuseli!" she cries, checking the Nightmare for bleeding.

Fuseli whinnies, evidently in a state of shock. The bullet hurts him, in a way nothing ever has before!

"You could always possess Tracy's underwear drawer," Jason points out. Of course the scream from above makes him ammend that to, "If she survives." "And even if I survive, Holly will now kill me."

Another lucky shot finds its way through a weakened spot. More sparks fly, and gears grind as the Einhorn's left manipulator gets blown off!

Silently, the golden vixen sneaks through the room, getting closer. Vision-blurring magic swirls around her and disguises the sight but not the sound of her laser-sword igniting.

"RIU, get to the bead of that huge machine and open it up. We may not be able to take control of its CPU, but we can cut its CPU control lines and you could drive that thing like a giant puppet!" Jason orders the little dragon as he continues to dash for the main link.

BLACK's surviving robots lean out from behind their cover to attack HEL's robots as they move! One robot flies apart into splinters, but the other two robots merely take scrapes and scuffs.

"I really need to learn how to meditate," Jason realizes while running, "It might make this easier!"

RIU lands on the giant robot and its claws sink through the seams in the outer armor of the monstrosity. The little dragon flares bright blue! Those claws seem to have dug into something important. It also seems to tickle because RIU actually giggles rather maniacally! Just what did that little dragon take over?

The Einhorn's surviving flashes red, then shift to a calm blue as the upper half swivels independently from the feet toward the BLACK's defenders!

The BLACK's attention visibly shifts to the chamber and those within. "HUMANITY NEEDS ITS NEMESIS," it declares. "CHANCE, DISASTERS, DISEASE, CRIMES... YOU DO NOT CRAVE THESE. YOU LONG FOR THE ENEMY WITH A FACE. ONE THAT YOU CAN HATE."

"JOIN ME. YOU WILL BE RICHLY REWARDED. YOU COULD GOVERN THE PARTS OF THE EARTH THAT WE WILL CLAIM," the BLACK promises.

The BLACK intones, "JASON, AID ME AND I WILL GIVE YOU AID IN YOUR REVENGE AGAINST YOUR NEMESIS. YOUR OPPOSITE."

"I prefer to handle my own problems, thanks," Jason remarks as he starts tinkering on his own gauntlets to rewire the failing hardware into an arc-cutting system to use to sever the AD's link. "Oh, he means the duplicate of me that's acting like the slave of the jerk Andrei. I could manage him in my sleep, while drunk."

With the Einhorn being denied to her as a suitable revenge target, Tracy growls and swings the laser to fire at the BLACK's pillar instead, using another triple-burst!

Yappy stands guard. "Okay... Hmm. I could shoot you in the back and take this guy up on his offer! But Tracy would hate me, right?"

Brilliant laser strikes cut into the pillar, severing feed pipes! They writhe in all directions like living anemone tentacles, spouting green ichor.

"You forget two things. One, I have a dragon that would kill you for that. Two, I have a girlfriend that would torture you, then kill you, for that," Jason points out without looking back. "And hmm, three, Tracy would probably let her horse eat your head."

"And besides, who else do you know that could find you a way to stay a werewolf?" Jason quips.

The BLACK screams as Tracy's laser strike cuts into its heart! "FOOL! SLAY ME AND YOU WILL SLAY YOUR FRIEND AS WELL!" Nanotech-armor peels back to reveal an unconscious Chaz Burgundy, and Monica next to him also unconscious!

Wires swathe their forms like spiderwebbing, and go up to small electrodes at their temples.

"That's.. devious!" Tracy argues. "No god should have to hide behind human shields!"

"Who said anything about slaying you? I just intend to cut you off from everything," Jason says.

Holly yells into Jason's and Tracy's comms, "That's how he got through our defenses at the Einhorn! He's been absorbing what Chaz knows!"

BLACK's robots turn toward Tracy! "SURRENDER NOW AND YOU WILL BE SPARED," the BLACK promises.

The zombie-like Cait drops through the floor grille and buzzes toward the first thing she sees that looks edible... Yappy! The first thing Jason hears about it is the scream. "AGH! A PIXIE IS NOMMING ME!"

Jason walks up to the main link under the AD core. He spreads his arms and activates the failing system. A brilliant blue arc of electricity forms between his hands as he says, "One makesift arc-cutter at your service. Time for you be alone with yourself, you bastard," he says and then uses that arc of energy to begin chewing through the main link!

"If you can't subdue a girl the size of your hand, what hope do you have with Tracy?" Jason calls over his shoulder. "I'm kind of busy here!"

"I'll surrender if you release your hostages," Tracy claims, but swings her laser turret around menacingly at the other robots.

The arc cutter chews through the toughened nanocrete armor, striking live wires! The BLACK screams again.

The Einhorn turns its autocannon toward the robots threatening Tracy and unleashes a fusilade of bullets.

The bullets whine through the air around the robots, causing them to pull back for cover!

The BLACK claims, "THEY ARE NOT MY HOSTAGES... THEY ARE BEING INCORPORATED INTO ME. THEY WILL BECOME PART OF MY GODHEAD. THIS OFFER IS OPEN TO YOU AS WELL. YOU COULD BE MORE THAN HUMAN."

The robots, following their security programming, identify the biggest threat-- the Einhorn-- and open fire on it!

Bullets rip into the Einhorn's weakened frame. RIU abandons ship scant seconds before it topples over and detonates!

The golden vixen winces from behind the Q-Core, suddenly glad she didn't go in for the kill on the Einhorn while it was distracted. She sneaks onward toward the center of the action.

"Ow! Ow!" Yappy struggles, trying to get at the faerie where she's nomming unsuccessfully on his hide.

The werewolf finally manages to get a grip on the faerie and flings her away! She smacks into one of the support beams, where she falls to the floor and wobbles dizzily.

"THIS IS YOUR FINAL CHANCE," the BLACK tells Tracy. "JOIN ME... YOUR HORSE WILL BE REBUILT AS A LEGEND AMONG NIGHTMARES. NATIONS WILL SHUDDER BENEATH THE STOMP OF HIS HOOVES. YOU WILL BE THE REAPER OF MEN'S SOULS."

With the various robots distracted for now, Tracy whispers to Fuseli, "Rest, but if you can, cast Maze of Horrors on the BLACK. If he's plugged into Chaz's mind, it could affect him. I'm going to try and save them, don't worry about catching me in the Maze." Then Tracy gets up and runs for the BLACK, intent on disconnecting the captives if she can.

Fuseli neighs woozily, trying to get to his feet. It's a battle he seems to be losing, perhaps due to the blood he's lost.

"We have a medical team on the way," Holly says through Tracy and Jason's comms. "If you can shut the BLACK down, we'll do what we can to save Chaz."

Running up to the 'gap' in the BLACK's armor, Tracy grits her teeth and examines the captives to see if there's anything really vital connecting them to the machine.

The wires beneath Tracy's feet seem to move as if they were alive-- but she manages to avoid being tripped by them.

"Ah!" she cries, dancing back. "What, were you programmed in Japan?" she accuses the AD.

To her layman's point of view, there don't seem to be any feeder pipes leading anywhere important, so they haven't been put on life support yet. The electrodes themselves... Cutting the lines to them might do something, but whether it'd be traumatizing to Chaz or Monica, she doesn't know. Either way, if she wants to free them, she'd have to choose which one to start on.

"Some on, you can hold out a little longer," Jason tells his armor, "I designed you with redundant systems, so ... " He keeps th arc going as he tries to sever that main link!

Using her sword to give her some distance, Tracy tries to cut some of the cords holding Monica to see what happens - she'll wait on the electrodes once she knows how BLACK responds.

Sparks fly! Jason's powered armor battery drains lower and lower as he cuts... But just as the last wire flies, so does his armor. All systems go black and shut down, leaving him wearing some thirty pounds of metal.

The BLACK screams. "NOOooooo!" The remaining robots under its controls stop dead, and then their optics blink back to the friendly, reassuring blue of HEL's domination.

"Aaugh," complains Jason as the weight hits him all at once and he collapses down to his knees. It's a strain but he tries to start shedding some of the dead weight. "Total system failure for me," he says in to the com in case anyone can still hear him. "Worth it, though. BLACK is isolated."

The BLACK whispers, "YOU HAVE WON... FOR NOW. BUT KNOW THAT WITHOUT A NEMESIS, HUMANITY IS ITS OWN ENEMY. THE TIME MAY COME... WHEN YOU WISH FOR WHAT I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT YOU."

The western elevator chimes. An Avatars LLC SWAT team pops out, along with a medical team, ready to evacuate the injured and fallen.

Yappy rushes to Jason's side and helps him with the armor. "Is it my imagination or is this stuff... kind of see-through?" This notwithstanding that his own shedding problem has gotten a lot worse, a puddle of wolf hair at his feet.

"About time," Tracy says, and quickly cuts Chaz free, before trying to drag him and Monica out of the crater. "Medic!" she calls.

"No, the field that kept it stable is failing. We need to get out of here," Jason insists as he struggles with the armor.

Fuseli writhes in pain... Or perhaps he's growing insubstantial. He neighs to his mistress.

"Fuseli!" Tracy cries out, struggling with her burdens to get closer, and trying to ignore what might be happening to her own skin right now. "I'll find you again! You and Tracer! Thank you for everything.."

And just as Tracy clears the perimeter of the crater, the pillar collapses, feeder pipes crumpling down from the ceiling, robot parts spilling out of the entire necromantic-technological horror... And at the center is a swollen brain that nearly fills its smoked glass case, but something seems to have gone wrong with it. Black ichor swirls through the nutrient fluids, rendering it all but unseeable.

"And I think you need to find the hair club for men, you're sure losing a lot of it," Jason points out to Yappy.

Yappy looks down. "Ack! Oh no--" and then screams as he crumples to the ground, his legs making unpleasant popping noises.

"Just hold on, it'll be over soon!" Jason tells Yappy as he continues to fight with his fading armor. "We'll get you out of here and to a hospital!"

Tracy feels shorter, somehow, as she kneels by Fuseli's side, laying Chaz and Monica down. Her skin, where her hands reach out to feel his warm horsehide, is a healthy pink again, and her armor pulls tightly against her form. Lady Tracer is almost gaunt, where the real Tracy is healthily figured.

The golden fox armor fades away, and with it, Jason feels a sense of approval from afar.

Inari shimmers back into visibility, and sheathes her laser sword. She runs up to help Tracy with Chaz and Monica. "Are you all right?" she asks, then reaches up to her com, tapping the transmit button. "Jason! Where are you?"

"Fuseli," Tracy whispers, trying to stroke the horse's neck before he fades completely, and trying not to cry, because she's pretty sure if she started she wouldn't be stopping anytime soon.

Jason is really happy the armor is gone. It's a real weight off his body! Of course now he has to deal with Mike's weight. So, he gets up and tries to drag the shape changer away from the underside of the BLACK. "You did good, kid," he tells the younger man. He then shouts, "I'm underneath and dragging Mike back to the hatch. He's going to need a medic."

The nightmare nuzzles at his master. His look seems to convey the sense that they will meet again. He lolls his head back against the floor, relaxing... And sparkles into a puff of smoke that wisps away.

"Got it! I'm on my way," Inari replies. "Mike again, huh? That's a pity, he was kind of cute for a werewolf."

"Well, he could become one again, maybe. If he really wanted to and we find something actually trustworthy to do it," Jason points out.

The northern elevator chimes and Holly rushes in... With the original Bee Eff Gee! "It took me forever to find this!" she says wearily. "They had this baby crated up, if you can believe it. But it's... Are you okay, dear?" She moves to Tracy's side.

"We have to find Cadena," Tracy says, a bit quietly, into her microphone. "He'll be with Margaret.."

There are few sights quite as disconcerting as a matronly Chinese woman with a gun almost as big as she is. "He's okay," Holly says, hugging Tracy back. "I just got a report, he made it here. We'll meet up again in debriefing."

"Right now we need rest or we won't be any good to anyone," Jason points out as he finally lugs the squirming Mike to the ladder. "Come on, you'll have to help some," Jason tells him as he tries to shove Mike up the ladder. "I'm not in that good of shape!"

The golden vixen smiles down at Jason, reaching down to help Mike up. "It's okay, I got it, sweety. But we're going to have to get started on your exercise program!"

"Ugh, exercise? Why?" Jason asks as he heads up the ladder once Mike is clear from the tube.

"I want a hot jet bath," Tracy all but blubbers. "And ice cream, and steak, and.. we still have to get Sasha and Jason Zero!"

Jason blinks, confused as he sits on the upper floor with his feet dangling down the access tube. "The what who now huh?" is about all he manages out, his brain seemingly short-circuiting on what Inari just said. It also may be the first time in his life he wisely doesn't say anything more!