Blue Team Mission Thread [PG]

[Shy]

[center][img]http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y170/retri_trib/blue2.jpg[/img] [font=trebuchet MS][i]Current Blue Team Leader[/i]: Ozymandius Jones[/center] This mission thread is created exclusively for [I]current[/I] Blue Team members to post in. Players have been notified about the posting order via PM. Please direct any questions you have in regards to the event to [url=http://otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=49109]The Legionnaires Underground[/url] thread.[/font]

[Ozymandius Jones]

[B][COLOR=Navy][SIZE=3][CENTER]Mission #107: Big Explosions In The Desert[/CENTER][/SIZE][/COLOR][/B]

Midnight in the desert. The moon was almost full, reflecting off the sand, the stars were brighter than Sparks had ever personally seen them before, and the silence?the silence was overwhelming. She shivered, pulling her coat closer and wishing she was back in New York City, with its electric stars and noise.

The drop had been uneventful; the hi-tech plane making it in and out of Morocco?s airspace unnoticed, the other territories were less than a threat. Now it was their job to get to Bu Craa, a good five mile walk from where they'd been dropped.

It made her very glad they'd been dropped at night. The thought of five miles of hiking through the desert in broad daylight...

Of course, she thought wryly, not wanting to get immediately captured by Al-Hadiye Radisson might have something with doing this at night as well...

Al-Hadiye, who's real name was Daniel Radisson, had been causing mild problems in the last five years; an English "businessman" who had been hired by the Moroccan government to assist in the modernization of Bu Craa...it seemed that Radisson had enjoyed his authority a bit too much, disappearing into the desert to build a fortress and demanding that the citizens of Bu Craa treat him as their leader.

The town had complied; who knew, perhaps this was the way things were done in England? But, as time went on, it became clear that something was not right with the businessman, who even went as far as to change his name to Al-Hadiye, "The Gift." Things had been re-routed; water and electric went through his complex, a good mile and a half from the city, and at any sign of rebellion they could be shut off.

Plus there was the little factor of the robots...Sparks shook her head, speeding up to join the rest of her team. Tech was busily explaining the "Killer Robots of Doom" (as the exuberant young woman had taken to calling them after she'd seen the schematics) to Mirror.

"So these things are, like, ten feet tall and they have all these spikes and guns and they're faster than you can imagine..." Mirror frowned slightly.

"Yi...not much of a chance to mimic a machine..." Pandora, the third young woman - Sparks had decided to continue calling Mirror a woman despite her unique skills - laughed slightly.

"They'll still break if I want them to..." Up ahead, Impulse snorted slightly. Sparks shook her head, joining the moody telekinetic, leaving the other team members chatting about robots.

"Something wrong?" He jerked his head backwards, his sightless eyes remaining fixed ahead.

"Why are we on a mission with a bunch of kids?"

"Calm down, they're not new at this, y'know...they were sent just like we were. They're good at this."

"Of c-course we are." Sparks jumped slightly, mildly startled by the sight of a hoodie, and just a hoodie, floating out of the darkness. Face seemed to be looking at Impulse, although with this particular young man you never could tell. "Like they'd send us on this mission if we d-didn't know what we were doing..."

"Well," Impulse's voice went slightly colder. "You'd better know..."

"What...?" The telekenetic jerked his chin towards the horizon. Out at the very edge of her vision, Sparks could just see a flicker of light...light that was growing brighter alarmingly quickly. She cursed under her breath, and raised her voice.

"Ok, folks, we've got robots!"

[Blayze]

[size=1]Impulse twisted his head, listening closely to any sounds he could hear. It was easier out here, in the desert, than in the city. There was less background noise, less confusion. Here, he could really concentrate.

"Quiet," he hissed to the rest of the team, "I can't hear anything above your inane chatter." The other members of the team turned to Sparks, looking as though they were about to complain, but she shook her head, knowing it was best to let the telekinetic do his thing.

Listening closely now, Impulse could hear almost everything. The creaking of metal as the armour plates of the robot scraped against each other, the hiss of pneumatics working to move the limbs, the grinding of gears inside the robots, but, almost deafening to his sensitive ears, the hum of electricity, powering each and every little piece of the mechanical beasts, from the eyes to the weapons.

Just from the sound, he could tell that a huge amount of juice was needed to power these things, and a lot of juice meant a lot of weaponry. This was bad. These things were heavily armed, and by all accounts they knew what to do with their weaponry.

Just behind Impulse, Sparks was barking orders at the rest of the team.

"Tech, I need everything you've got on these robots. I mean everything. Strengths, weaponry, weaknesses, anything you've got. Face and Mirror, do whatever you can to fight these things. Pandora, Impulse, you're with me. We're on the offensive. Pandora, make sure you don't get too angry."

"Yes, ma'am," said Pandora timidly. She and the Team Leader moved over to Impulse.

"They're closing in," said Impulse calmly, "They'll be on top of us any second."

"Everybody ready?" shouted Sparks. A few timid replies came through the darkness.

"I said, is everybody ready?" she repeated, this time a lot louder.

"Don't waste your time on them," said Impulse coldly, "They are amateurs."

"I'm not gonna have you talking about the rest of your team like that!" exclaimed Sparks, obviously getting a little peeved at Impulse.

"Oh, is that really the biggest of your worries right now?" spat Impulse, and with these words, a veritable fleet of robots flew overhead, doubling back on themselves, ready to land and take out their targets.

Which just happened to be the Blue Team.

Impulse leapt into the air, not waiting for any orders from his Team Leader, and flipped head-over-heels, landing, crouched, at the feet of the closest robot. He could tell from the volume of noise it was making that these things were huge. It would take more than just him to take out a fleet of these things.

A whirring sound indicated to him that the mechanical goliath was turning its head, or possibly one of its limbs, down to level with him. He was fine if it was the head, but if it was one of the limbs, then he was in trouble. Those limbs were heavily armed.

A clanking of metal flaps and the sound of weapons arming told Impulse that the robot had levelled one of its arms at him. He sighed, and concentrated, sending a telekinetic blast towards the source of the sound. The pulse hit the robot's arm, sending it flying upwards, straight into the robot's face. Something smashed, and shards of metal fell around Impulse. The robot fell over backwards. It may not have been destroyed, but it was definitely incapacitated for the moment.

The telekinetic turned back to the team, where Tech was hurriedly issuing Sparks with information about the robots.

"Can I stop you there, Tech," she said, before turning to impulse.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you idiot? You could have got yourself killed!" she shouted.

"Do you really want to stand here and shout at me while there are eight heavily-armed and dangerous robots standing directly behind me, ready to take out your entire team?" replied the telekinetic dryly.

Sparks thought of a comeback, but managed to swallow it for the good of the team.

"Blue Team," she yelled over the racket, "Attack!"
[/size]

[Kitty]

[SIZE=1]The noise the robots could crank out surprised Tech, and the fact that they had approached undetected until only a few minutes ago startled her even more. But, then again, it did make sense. "They are Killer Robots of Doom. They should be able to sneak up on people," Tech thought aloud, hurridly shoving her papers back into her Travel Box, something she had designed and created a while back and brought along on missions.

Her invention was built to carry her things and was capable of shrinking down to the size of a mouse and fitting on her belt. However, it sometimes glitched and would close up, but not shrink. It was a real pain while on the job, and had happened several times before. "Glad I got all the bugs out," she mumbled, placing it back on her belt.

"Tech!" she heard Impulse shouting from in front of her.

"What is it?" she cried back, turning on her boots and propelling herself through the air towards the rest of her team.

"How do you kill these things?" he asked impatiently. It was all he could do to keep the one robot down and the second one floating above him at bay.

"Oh!" she cried, forgetting that she had only told Sparks the proper way to disable the bots. "You have to smash in the panel underneath them and pull out the four wires inside. That'll stop 'em."

The others heard her instructions as well, and began attempting to turn over the large Doombots. "Doombots, eh?" she smirked as she thought up the clever nickname.

But she had little time to gloat to herself as one of the Doombots came zooming at her in the air. Barrel rolling to the right, she pulled out one of her projectile gadgets and fired at the exposed underside of the bot before it could turn back towards her.

"C'mon.." she grumbled as her shots continued to miss. Luckily, one of the last three she fired hit the panel covering the wires and sent the bot into spasms of malfunction. Down on the ground, the spazzing robot's hidden panel began to glow, and Tech knew instantly that Pandora had the robot covered.

Spinning around to locate the others, she spotted Impulse attacking on of the four robots left still operating next to the first bot to go down. Sparks had brought down another robot, and was busy helping Mirror reach the third bot's wire's in the form of a rather large, muscular man. Sometimes, Tech wondered where the young girl found such strange looking people.

The only one who seemed to be having trouble was Face, who had no way of really bringing down the robot. She saw his hoodie float a bit higher everytime the robot swung by, and realized he was attempting to jump and grab a hold of the metallic machine to try and reach the hidden panel.

"Now, that's not going to work," she mumbled to herself. She flew straight at the hoodie, and when close enough, put her arms beneath the arms and lifted back upwards.

"H-Hey!" he shouted, obviously startled.

"Don't worry. It's just me. I'm gonna drop you on him next time he comes around, 'kay?" Face nodded, though shook a little bit as the robot reared around and headed straight for the two of them.

"They sure are fast for their size, aren't they?"

"Yeah," Tech sighed, shaking her head. [i]"I've gotta bring one of these back with me,"[/i] she thought to herself.

"Alright, Face. Ready?" The hoodie nodded, and moments before the Doombot flew into the two of them, Tech sped upwards and dropped the invisible boy back down. Careful to follow close by, Tech watched as the hoodie crawled along and reached the bottom, then swung open the panel after a bit of fiddling with it.

It was a bit creepy watching Face move, because the hoodie always looked like it was moving on its own.

Suddenly, the robot plunged towards the ground and Tech moved swiftly to grab Face under the arms again before he crashed with it. The collision with the sand somewhat deafened the explosion, but not the size of it. Sand flew high into the air, and covered everything several yards away in a thin blanket of desert earth.

"Gah!" Tech spat, coughing as some of it entered through her nose and mouth. "This stuff tastes nasty!"

"What e-else would it taste like?" Face mumbled. Tech gave him a glare, but said nothing. She placed him back on the ground and landed beside him to see that the others had taken care of the last robots.

"Alright team," Sparks called as the others, with the exception of Impulse, gathered around her. "We're five miles from where we need to be, and we have to get there fast. They may have sent more of those--"

"Doombots," Tech interrupted. The others turned to stare at her, but she never lost her large grin. Her own cleverness amused her to no end.

"Right.. They may have sent more Doombots out to get us, so we have to be careful. When we get to Bu Craa's hideout, you have to be silent. [i]Silent[/i], you hear me? The less noise and mess we make, the easier it will be to get in and get of that place without any problems."

The team nodded in unison, each visualizing the plan in their heads.

"Move out."[/SIZE]

[Raiyuu]

[font=Verdana][size=1]At the Camden Barfly club in London, Ash had met a bouncer who liked to be known as Muggsy. His muscular physique had been perfect for ripping the insides out of Doombots, and now his large feet were helping to keep the shifting, sinking sands of Morocco at bay.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Keep your ears peeled,?[/b] warned Tech chirpily, skimming through the air, [b]?the Doombots are capable of silent running when necessary. It?s how they snuck up on us!?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]The night was freezing and utterly still, the frosty stars illuminating a seemingly peaceful, practically dune-less expanse of sparkling white sand.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][i][b]Well, doesn?t look like Radisson?s trying to blend in. Could he have made his compound any uglier?[/b][/i]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]Between the Legionnaires and the walled city of Bu Craa stood the squat, armoured shell of Al-Hadiye Radisson?s fortress. Only a couple of storeys high, the blocky building was constructed in its entirety from reinforced concrete. According to their mission briefing, the walls were at least four feet thick and the majority of the complex extended several floors underground. Not even Impulse, the team heavyweight, was going to be busting his way in on this mission.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]About a hundred yards from the compound, Sparks called a halt. From here Ash could make out the power cables and water mains running across the desert from the compound to the city. [i][b]What a git. No one should be allowed to cut off people?s essentials whenever they feel like.[/b][/i]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]Tearing his attention from the pipes and cables and their associated injustices, he scanned the walls for entrances. There only seemed to be one, and there was an armed guard standing ominously before it.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Want me to deal with him??[/b] Impulse asked Sparks, jerking his head toward the oblivious goon.

Sparks[/size][/font][font=Verdana][size=1] shook her head. [b]?Not in the way you?re thinking,?[/b] she replied. [b]?This is supposed to be a covert operation.?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Besides,?[/b] Tech chimed in, [b]?there?s no getting in if we do ? deal with him. The door has retina, thumbprint and voice-recognition access.?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]All eyes squinted at the device mounted next to the heavy steel doors, and then turned to Ash. [i][b]I?m Mirror to them though, obviously. Maybe I should start thinking of myself that way.[/b][/i]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Right, I see what you?re all thinking,?[/b] he replied to their unspoken suggestions, [b]?but he?ll need to be awake. I can?t imprint from a corpse or a vegetable.?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?I can manage that,?[/b] said Tech, [b]?with the Team Leader?s permission, of course.?[/b]

Sparks[/size][/font][font=Verdana][size=1], as usual, looked a little uncomfortable with the responsibility of making a decision as leader, but nodded. [b]?Sure. Whatever works.?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]Almost without warning, Tech grabbed Ash - [i][b]Mirror[/b][/i] - under the arms and took off, arcing around to approach the guard from the side. The slight girl panted a little with exertion. [i][b]Crazy, I?m actually going into contact with the enemy on a mission with the Legionnaires ... deposing despots is a far cry from breaking up drug rings like I imagined but I suppose I've got to start somewhere...[/b][/i]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?I don?t suppose you could be a bit ? lighter??[/b] Tech suggested through gritted teeth.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Oh, sorry, course,?[/b] Mirror agreed. He?d been wanting to get out of Muggsy?s shape anyway. Searching his recent memory for smaller people, he realised the quickest way to relieve the strain on Tech was, in fact, to assume her shape. Having imprinted her only days earlier, the transformation into her wouldn?t take long.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]Mirror felt his bones crunching as they contracted, forcing themselves from Muggsy?s massive physique into Tech?s slimmer form. His skin tightened to fit the frame the bones provided; he grew a head of silver hair to replace the bouncer?s head-stubble. It never hurt, and he?d done it so many times it had ceased even to be weird.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Better, thanks,?[/b] whispered Tech as they swooped towards the guard. Without warning Tech quick-drew a compact pistol from her belt and fired. To Mirror?s horror, a beam of red light speared the guard and he slumped to the ground.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?I said I didn't want him dead!?[/b] she fumed as her feet hit the sand.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?He?s not ? oh, you?re me,?[/b] Tech shook her head slightly, [b]?weird feeling, sorry. He?s paralysed. Fully conscious, eyes open.?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]Mirror's eyes widened. [b]?Where can I get one of those??[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Here, I?ve got spares in my Travel Box.?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]Catching the stunner and shoving it in her belt, Mirror knelt over the supine guard, seized his face and looked straight in his helpless eyes. She felt his dimensions, his skin-tone, eye colour, fingernail length, every piece of information in his body flow into her mind through that eye contact connection. She also took note of the dog-tag around his neck; if the voice-recognition software wanted his name, she needed to know it. Somehow, she wasn?t nervous or scared by the whole experience so far. The professionalism and presence of mind required for the job seemed to come naturally, although there was always a small part of her mind that wondered when she was going to wake up.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]A blue beam transfixed the man and his eyes rolled back as he fell into unconsciousness. As Ash morphed into him, she heard the rest of Blue Team hurrying across the sand towards the doors.

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1][b]?Everyone on your guard,?[/b] warned Sparks. [b]?This seems to have gone ridiculously smoothly so far. I?ll bet the fact that there was only one guard outside means a lot more inside, so be careful.?[/b]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]Ash pressed his thumb against the pad, which beeped. He looked into the scanner. [i]Beep.[/i] He said the guard?s name into the microphone. [i]Beep. Grind.[/i]

[/size][/font] [font=Verdana][size=1]The doors rolled open.[/size][/font]

[Minako]

(OOC: So sorry it took so long! It won?t happen again!)

The door opened to find about over three dozen guards waiting for them, in front of the large, concrete, box-like citadel, guns, lazer guns, knives, etc. drawn.

"Oh Crap," thought Impulse.

After the short battle, they faced the citadel. It looked to be made entirely out of concrete, as the walls were, and it looked like a large block. It was known that the building could possibly go far underground, but that was the least of their worries at the moment. Tech explained that the only way to get inside of the citadel was to swipe a keycard from one of the guards. Sparks walked over to the nearest guard and took his keycard and swiped it. A mechanical voice said, [I]Access granted.[/I]

The doors slid open and the team walked inside. Once inside, they found a lobby with a grand marble INFO-desk. Tech fired a stunning shot at the startled receptionist and Tech explained that Radisson's headquarters were located on the bottom-most floor. At this time, an alarm sounded. The hallway filled with a flashing red light with a voice over a PA system yelling, Intruder Alert Intruder Alert Code Red The team started running towards the hallway on the right and ran into a handful of guards. Sparks and Impulse easily handled them and they continued running. They reached an elevator, and once the door opened, another dozen guards came pouring out. Pandora became frustrated with all the noise, lights, and fights so she picked all of the squirming guards with her powers and flung them at an adjacent wall, knocking them all out at once. ?Take it easy, Pandora! Don?t get mad, ok???Sparks yelled as she thought afterwards, [I]As if we need anything ELSE to worry about.[/I]

They reached the bottom floor to find more another few dozen guards. ?How many guards does this Radisson guy have??? Tech claimed. After a brief scuffle, they came upon the core of the building. A glass-encased, long solarium, filled with exotic plants and animals. At the end of the long solarium, there was a grand mahogany desk with a chair, it?s back turned to the Blue Team.

A calm, British-accent said from behind the chair, ?I?ve been waiting for you, Legionnares.?

Then the chair slowly, turned around...

[Ozymandius Jones]

[SIZE=1]
[I]At the end of the long solarium, there was a grand mahogany desk with a chair, it?s back turned to the Blue Team.

A calm, British-accent said from behind the chair, ?I?ve been waiting for you, Legionnaires.?

Then the chair slowly, turned around...[/I]

?Oh, of all the stereotypical?? Tech protested sotto voice as the chair turned. ?He can?t even think of an original way to greet us?? Sparks cast a glare in her direction.

?The point is not to be original, Tech?? Tech widened eyes told her to look back ? just as the chair finished turning to reveal?a chair. An [i]empty[/i] chair. ?Oh, [i]nice[/i].?

?Isn?t it, though?? Impulse had - quite clearly - picked up on what had happened quickly, his voice sardonic. ?I take it our ?gift? isn?t in his spot??

?No, I?m not, my good man?? The voice was coming through the speaker in the chair?s headrest. ?Furthermore, you and your team will not find me. Not today, not any day.? There was a whirring noise. Tech?s eyes widened again, head snapping down to look at the floor.

?Sparks?? Sparks followed her gaze to the cracks that had ? until now ? appeared to be floorboards. Closer examination revealed hinges?

?SCATTER!? The trap door was faster, however. The floor disappeared, sending Blue Team tumbling even further beneath ground level. It wasn?t a major fall?the wall of the chute they?d been dropped down slanted enough that it became more like a slide than a drop. The team landed in an undignified heap at the bottom ? except for Impulse, who somehow managed to keep his feet. Sparks shoved Face off of her and glared up at the telekinetic. ?I hate you sometimes.?

?Thank you.? Impulse merely smirked back. ?Are you going to lay there all day?? Sparks climbed to her feet, still scowling as she brushed dust off her coat. Once the rest of the team were on their feet, Impulse turned, heading down one of the many passages that seemed to branch from the room where they?d landed. Sparks let him lead; his other senses more than made up for the loss of his sight, and his instincts were (usually) right.

?How?re we taking out the base again?? Pandora?s question seemed meant to fill up the empty air. Sparks waved a hand at Tech. Tech took that to mean ?explain??which she did.

?Al-Hadiye?s base is mostly underground, as I?m sure you can see??

?Duh?? Tech stuck her tongue out in Face?s direction, going on with her explanation.

?There?s a shield to keep off the sand?there?s several million, possibly [i]billion[/i] tons of it over our heads right now.? Sparks shivered slightly. Tech chatted on merrily. ?The idea is to take out the shield, and let gravity do the rest!?

?Um?wouldn?t that trap [i]us[/i] down here, too?? Mirror chimed in, she?d - no, [i]he?d[/i] Sparks reminded herself, the shape-changer was still in the form of the guard - been fairly silent up until now, but this was a good point. Sparks decided to let Tech explain THAT too, as she was doing such a good job with everything else?

?I?ve got it on a timer. We can grab Radisson and be out of here long before it goes off.? There was a pleased smirk in Tech?s voice. ?Made this thing myself!? Confused glances were exchanged all around.

?What thing?? Impulse asked first, still walking in front. Tech reached into her pack and produced a two foot tall cylinder, blue-grey metal glinting in the dim light.

?This!? She rolled her eyes at the four blank stares. ?It?s an EMP bomb?it?ll set off an electronic pulse that?ll fry anything electric based in here bad enough that the sheilds?ll drop almost immediately.? The smirking tone was growing even [i]more[/i] smug. ?And then bye-bye base.?

?When we?re above ground, of course.? Face had grasped onto Mirror?s original point rather admirably. Tech?s eyes rolled again.

?YES, when we?re far enough away!? Tech continued deriding ?technophobes? under her breath ? up until the point when she walked straight into Impulse?s back. ?Hey, why?d you stop??

Impulse didn?t answer; it was fairly obvious why. They?d hit a dead end. The only passage was the one they?d just come through ? and an elevator straight ahead ? behind the man in the most impressive mechanical suit Sparks had seen outside of the Legionnaire?s HQ, complete with a very large laser-gun soldered to the hand.

Radisson.

Sparks sighed, joining Impulse. Off in the corner of her eye, she saw the hoodie slide up and drop to the floor; Face was doing what he did best. She kept her eyes on Radisson.

?It?s over, Radisson.? Impulse?s voice was firm, not gloating, although there was an edge of superiority there. ?You?re outnumbered.? He took a step forward ? stopping instantly when the distinctive whine of a laser being powered up filled the chamber.

?You can?t stop me. No one can stop me?the people of Bu Craa are [i]mine[/i], the land, the oil, it?s all [i]mine[/i].?

?Man, dude, you never stopped being a two year old, did you?? Sparks shook her head. ?Mine, mine, mine?they?re [i]people[/i], they belong to [i]no one.[/i]?

?They belong to ME!? Behind the suit?s facemask, Radisson?s own face was twisted with rage. ?As you will soon!?

?Pffft. I don?t?think?? There was a skittering noise from the elevator behind Radisson, the doors sliding open. A skittering?like the worlds largest ? or possibly only metal ? spider. ??so?.?

[i]clang[/i].

Sparks back up involuntarily at the [i]swarm[/i] of robots that clanked and skittered their way out of the elevator. Tech?s eyes widened.

?They?re so CUTE!? Jaws dropped all round.

?Cute? They?re mini-doom-bots, you lunatic!? Tech seemed unfazed by Mirror?s statement.

?So? They?re still??

[i]Clang.[/i] The nearest robot had just shoved a pincher clear through the metal wall, crumpling the heavy steel ever so slightly. ?Ok, maybe not so cute.? Seconds later, and they were surrounded, the robots clacking menacingly. Radisson just watched, white-suited-arms crossed. Sparks began to focus, seeking out electrical currents around her. The strongest, [i]strongest[/i] pull was from?Tech?

[i]Oh, duuuuh?.[/i]

?You got more than one of the EMP bombs, don?t you?? Impulse and Pandora were already blasting minibots apart; Sparks began focusing on them herself, overloading circuits as soon as she could sense them. Tech nodded, scowling.

?But I?m not setting it off, it?ll destroy all [i]my[/i] stuff too! I worked [i]hard[/i] on these things, I?m not just going to fry them?? Sparks stomped on a robot that had made it past Impulse, wincing as sharp metal pierced her boot before the circuitry inside it overloaded.

?Just activate it! There?s too many of these things!?

?No!?

And then Sparks was too busy focusing on the ?bots to argue. The horrid little buggers were [i]multiplying[/i]. And still Radisson watched. Sparks snarled.

?Get your kicks off of power, don?t ya?? Radisson deigned to answer.

[B]
Meanwhile, behind them?[/B]

Mirror sighed, sending his body through the shift from random-guard back to Tech, the shift coming easier this time.

?Look, I don?t feel like becoming ?bot-bait just because you want your toys to still work!?

?Yeah, well, they?re not toys!?

?Pandora!? The psychic turned, eyes wild.

?[i]What?[/i]?

?Get Tech?s pack to me, would you?? For all her protests, Tech didn?t try very hard to keep Pandora from levitating the pack off her back and into Mirror?s waiting hands. She dug through the bag, keenly aware of the increased number of ?bots. She pulled out a device identical to ? if smaller than ? the one Tech had displayed earlier, sighing in relief. ?How do I activate this? What?s the word?? Even as she asked it, she knew. Tech rolled her eyes, zapping at ?bots with her stunner.

?What do you [i]think[/i] it is??

Mirror brought the device close to her lips, just breathing the word. [i]?Boom?[/i]. The lights up the side lit, glowing ? and then flashing once, an intense white-hot glow that faded almost instantly.

The reaction was dramatic. The ?bots collapsed like so many building blocks, the chamber going silent, even the whir of the laser. Sparks just shook her head.

?C?mon, let?s find the control room already?? They headed onward, leaving Radisson struggling in his useless mech suit.

?useless?

?right?

They?d just reached the stalled elevator when there was a familiar, hated whine, and a bolt of white-blue energy streaked in front of them, ricocheting off the polished metal of the wall and hitting the floor not an inch in front of Impulse?s boot.
Sparks glared at Tech as the entire team raised their hands.

?Fries all circuitry, eh? Knocks out all electronics, huh?!?

?Oh, shaddup?.? You never argue with a man who has a laser gun. Sparks shut up, still glowering. Radisson grinned, gloating.

?Forgot about secondary power, then? You won?t stop me, I had that protected against EMP bursts long before you sorry lot bust in here?? Something rumbled up above, far above, a low, creaking groan. Radisson didn?t seem to notice, continuing. ?Greatest organization in the world, and you [i]still[/i] can?t beat me?? Again came the rumble, this time longer and accompanied by a strange, trickling hiss?Sparks closed her eyes.[i]Sand?[/i] ?And now you will all perish??

?Or [i]not[/i].? Sparks opened her eyes at the sharp, snap-hiss of wires being disconnected as - with a hum ? all of Radisson?s circuits died. Again. She watched with growing amusement as wires seemingly ripped themselves out of the mech suit, wrapping around Radisson?s arms and legs.

?Now who?s forgetting something?? Pandora snickered, mentally helping Face tighten the wires. Mirror walked over to Radisson, head tilted.

?Wonder if this suit?s got any secrets?? Tech was poking at the frozen joints of the suit, while Sparks and Impulse inspected the elevator.

It was stuck; well and truly [i]stuck[/i], lights off, door cracked halfway open?no prodding or prompting could coax it to respond. The rumbling came again, longer and louder this time, almost a roar.

?We have to get out of here?? Sparks shed her coat. ?Bend down?? Impulse did, letting Sparks use him as a stepstool. She pried the panel in the ceiling open, and scrambled out onto the roof, where she began the long climb back to the surface?.

[CENTER][B]***[/B][/CENTER]

Down below, Mirror had shifted into Radisson, and he and Tech had found a panel in the wall; it hadn?t been a dead end after all. The Command Center ? as it clearly was ? was dark, all the panels and panels of lights dead. But that didn?t stop Tech?.ten keystrokes, and the panels were re-lit, and Mirror was following Tech?s instructions to bring things back online. Everything went fine, for some ten minutes?and then he reached a panel that wouldn?t relight, no matter what he did.

?Tech?? Tech didn?t answer, tapping away at a keyboard.

?Tech!? Still no response, her face scrunched in concentration.

?TECH!?

?Mhm?say ?Al-Hadiye???

?Al-Hadiye ?but?? There was a snap, and a whirr of machinery as a panel slid out of the desk, a panel that revealed a minidisk in a small box. Tech grinned, pocketing the disk.

?Thank you?now, what did you need?? Mirror pointed wordlessly at the panel. Tech took one look and yelped -

?Shields?! Why didn?t you tell me SOONER?!? And pelted out, leaving Mirror to shake his head at the unfairness of it all before he followed.

The instant he was out, the elevator hummed back to life. It took him, Impulse and Pandora?s mental pushing to force Radisson into the elevator. It was a cramped trip back to the surface, the lights flickering continuously, and every now and then the elevator would shudder. But the door finally opened on the surface, revealing a slightly-electrified Sparks, hair standing up in all directions, smoke rising from the charred edges of her clothing. She was struggling to keep the elevator?s circuits going?

?Come on, we got what we came for!? Impulse led the way, Sparks bringing up the rear, prisoner ? freed from his mech suit ? in tow. They made it just as the shields finally flicked and died, allowing the sand to cascade into the crater left by their collapsing. The entire team stopped to watch, Spark?s panting, and Tech laughing at every underground explosion.

Their mission was finally complete.
[/SIZE]

[Ozymandius Jones]

[B][CENTER][COLOR=Navy][SIZE=3]Mission #114: Gods and Monsters[/SIZE][/COLOR][/CENTER][/B]

[SIZE=1]Sparks climbed out of the plane and onto the runway, sighing at the change in temperature. The plane had been air conditioned ? here, outside, the air was [I]perfect[/I], warm and balmy, salt air blowing off the sea. She sighed, bouncing on her heels happily, closing her eyes to inhale the scent?

?Sparks?? Her eyes snapped open, face flushing at the unspoken reprimand in the voice. Impulse, again?she wasn?t sure how he did it, but he always seemed to know when she was acting un-leader-like. He was looking at her now, although perhaps ?looking? was the wrong term. She smiled weakly. One of the two other women on the team, Sakura, actually [I]frowned[/I].

?I prefer stormy weather, actually??

?You?re MAD, child, insane, berserk!? Vernacular was doing [I]exactly[/I] what Sparks had been doing?only twirling in place, arms spread. ?This is the perfect climate, weather, temperature?mmm, I could reside, stay, live here forever?I haven?t been here since my nuptials, fulfillment of my vows?? She sighed at Sparks? blank stare. ??wedding! I was married here.? Sparks nodded, hiding a grin.

?Then perhaps you should wait to spazz about it until you?re here with your hubby?? Vernacular drew herself up to her (considerable) full height, looking down her nose at Sparks.

?I do not ?spazz,? and he?s not my ?hubby?. Beloved, soul-mate, darling, yes. Spouse, lover, husband, yes. ?Hubby,? most decidedly no.?

?Husband. Shortens to ?hubby.? So??

?No! You heartless slaughterer of the English tongue! Shortening words does not make-?

?Ladies!? Both women turned to look at their teammates. Impulse had an amused grin on his face, while Sakura looked somewhat annoyed. It was the young woman who pointed away from the airport, sighing.

?In case you don?t recall, there is a Demi-God taking over this city?? Sparks sighed again.

?Spoilsport.? She brushed dust off of her coat. Normally, the plane would have landed at the Athens International Airport; but that was in the section of the city that Hercules had claimed for his palace. It had taken extreme negotiation to even get them access to the tiny airstrip that hadn?t been used since the second world war?she didn?t even want to think of what HQ probably had to promise Hercules to even get them there?she scanned the horizon?nothing in sight. Not even a jeep.

?Some king?not even a lousy chariot??

?Well, we are negotiators for his enemy.? Sakura pointed out. ?I wouldn?t send us a ride, either??

?Come on, stop talking, start walking.? Impulse already had his duffel bag picked up, still quietly amused. ?It?s going to be a long walk??

?Joy.? Sparks bent to pick up her own duffel; when she straightened, it was to see Impulse frowning, head cocked to the side. ?What is it?? Sakura slid one of her guns out of its holster, standing ready.

?Something?s coming.?

?JOY.? Sparks snarled. Vernacular looked at her, eyebrow quirked.

?Becoming monosyllabic, are we??

?You shut up, you long-winded-?

?Stop it, both of you, I can?t hear!?

?What?s there to hear?? There was a flash of brilliant gold; and the seven lions seemingly appearing out of thin air answered her question. Sparks jumped backwards, yelping. Compared to normal lions, these creatures were huge, easily seven feet tall at the shoulder, golden-eyed and maneless, claws ad fangs and fur glistening in the sun. Sakura reacted quickly, calmly firing an entire clip of bullets at the lion in the lead

-who calmly and coolly batted them out of the air. Sparks? jaw dropped, Vernacular frowned thoughtfully. A small grunt from behind them told Sparks that Impulse was using his powers?but nothing happened, other than the telekenetic?s face beginning to flush. The lions drew closer, into a circle around the Legionnaires. The one Sakura had fired at snarled in Impulse?s face, blowing his hair with the force of its breath.

?Magician, thy mind tricks will not work on [I]us[/I]?? Sparks? gasped; the voice had come from the lion, but it was both physical and mental, like ?hearing? in stereo, it almost hurt. ?Our lord Hercules has ordered us to bring thee to him, but he did not say in one [I]piece[/I].? Impulse stopped focusing; stopped using his powers. The lion nodded sharply, turning on Sakura. ?And your metal bees did not even sting, thou may wish to look at that?it seems rather ineffective.? Vernacular snapped her fingers.

?They?re Nemeans!? The lion?s mouth twitched into a grin.

?Smart lady?? Vernacular smirked at Sparks.

?My thanks to thee, kind sir, I spent many, multiple, numerous years in learning, schooling, bein-?

?Silence! Thy prattle is worse than that of an old hag!? Vernacular?s mouth snapped shut. Sparks started to laugh, but the second she opened her mouth, those strange golden eyes were on her. She swallowed. The lead lion blinked, still grinning his lion?s grin.

?The speaker is correct; we are of the Nemean clan?we cannot be harmed by mortals?? He glared at Impulse. ?Even magicians.?

?Thee would do well to accompany us, humans?? A second lion spoke, voice rougher. ?The trip back to our Master will be easier that way.? Sparks exchanged glances with the other two women before turning to Impulse.

?What do you think?? Impulse just nodded.

?It?s where we want to be, anyway??

?Wise, for a mortal.?

The lions began walking; in a group, practically as one, all movements synchronized. The lead lion spoke again, deep voice amused. ?I am Maerkos. Get ready??

?For what??

?For this.? As one, the for lions broke into a run, the space between them disappearing into a golden blur?one would have thought four humans wouldn?t be able to keep up?but it was as if the ground itself followed the Nameans; Sparks didn?t feel herself move, yet when the lions broke rank - three minutes later - they were Somewhere Else?a glittering white marble palace that she was willing to bet had [I]not been there[/I] yesterday, especially when coupled with the modern city around it. Maerkos bowed his huge head.

?Welcome to my Master?s palace.?[/SIZE]

[4815162342]

[COLOR=Indigo]Maerkos seemed to smirk at the group who stood there gaping. "Impressive yes, but it is nothing compared to the glory of my master..." He turned, heading down a long passageway, waving a tail for them to follow, which they did. Vernacular walked at the back, muttering to herself as they walked up a set of steep black stone stairs.

"Oh, this seems good, yes it does, so wonderful, delighful, superb...now we're stuck, trapped, ens-" She went silent as one of the lesser Nemeans slid past beside her. "I mean I like it, enjoy it...am having fun here. So enj-" She fell quiet once more as Sakura turned to glare at her. "Shuttin' up." Sakura turned back towards the front, calling to Maerkos.

"Sir, are you taking us to see your master?" The gigantic head nodded once.

"Yes, I am doing as you ask..." The group was now making there way through a columned hall, their footsteps echoed off in the shadowed room that they could barely see. "When you see him, you shall adress him as Most High..." The group nodded reluctantly, not wishig to anger the lion, to enrage the powerful beast. Impulse fell back beside Vernacular.

"What do you now about these beings, anything that will help us?" Vernacular nodded.

"I must say I admired, respected, salute your valiant, brave effort against them, on any other creature that might have worked, but as he said. His type is not affected by them..." She glanced up at the Maerkos, and backwards at the lions flanking them before continuing. "Neither are they affected by any of our powers...it takes brute force to take one down...something that I am horrible at...we need to find a place to talk, discuss, converse without prying, spying ears...where we can get a plan to win them over, convert them...so, which of us, me or you, should talk to Sparks? Or shall we ask Sakura, maybe she wouldn't arouse suspicion as she was not plotting, talking, convers-" One of the lions came over and glared at her. "You know what I mean..."[/COLOR]

OOC: The Nemean's it would seem, have a tendency to drop some eaves. ;)

[Blayze]

[b][size=1]"I think it would be best for all of us," [/size][/b][size=1]replied Impulse, [b]"If I asked Sparks about them. You would just take too long."

[/b]Vernacular nodded, surprisingly calm after this last statement, and Impulse sidled up to Sparks, hering the familiar sound of her breathing, and stood next to her. He could feel that the Nemeans were talking to each other, he could hear them, discussing what was to be done with them.

[b]"Sparks," [/b]he whispered, assuming that the Nemeans did not have hearing as sensitive as his own, [b]"We need to find somewhere private, somewhere the Nemeans will not hear us. We need to find a way to convert them to our own cause. But we can't let them hear us."

"I think we can find a way. We need to get away from them somehow. But I don't know how, especially as we are essentially prisoners here. We may have followed the Nemeans here under our own free will, but they aren't going to take it kindly if we try to escape," [/b]replied Sparks.

She walked up to the lions, and cleared her throat.

[b]"You interrupt us in our own home, mortal?" [/b]he boomed. Sparks didn't even flinch. Impulse was impressed with her courage.

[b]"We wish to know where we will be staying tonight. We have been travelling for a long time, and we wish to sleep before meeting your Master. We wouldn't dare to be too tired when we encounter him, in case we disrespect him," [/b]she said, clearly and confidently.

[b]"No-one would dare to disrespect our Master, no matter how tired they are. They would die before they disrespect him!" [/b]replied another lion.

[b]"But, there will be no point in them meeting him if they are so tired. They will not appreciate his majesty fully," [/b]said Maerkos. The other lions backed down at this point, and Maerkos said to Sparks:

[b]"We will show you to your accomodation. But you will have limited time before you meet Him. He does not like to be kept waiting."

[/b]The lions began walking down a long, gilded corridor, with rooms going off to either side, huge, majestic rooms fit for a king, and, Impulse supposed, rightly so. The lions' master was more than a king, he was a demi-god.

They were led to a room, one of the smaller of the many they had passed. Beds were set out, tables and chairs were placed around the room, with food and drink on them.

[b]"You will stay here. We will wake you when it is time," [/b]said Maerkos, before leaving the heroes to it.

[b]"We need to check for any listening devices, microphones, bugs," [/b]said Vernacular, [b]"They could be listening in, eavesdropping, spying on us."

"Do you really think that these people would use bugs to listen in on us?" [/b]asked Impulse dryly, [b]"They are from a time long before our own. They wouldn't know anything about bugs. They must have different ways of spying on us."

"Impulse is right," [/b]said Sparks, [b]"We have to find anything else they could use to listen to us."

[/b]The team began looking around the room, trying to find anything that could be used to listen in on them. Sparks found a long crack going right through the wall, and stuffed it with pillows, blocking it up completely. There wasn't much chance of the lions listening in on them now.

[b]"Right," [/b]said Sparks, [b]"How are we going to convert the..." [/b]But she was silenced by Impulse. He moved to the door and opened it, blasting a pulse of telekinetic energy outside. A servant was thrown down the corridor.

[b]"Continue," [/b]he said, taking a seat.

[b]"Thank you. Ok, so we're in the enemy's palace, and they are taking us to meet their Master in the morning. We have a few hours to decide how we're going to convert the lions to our way of thinking," [/b]said Sparks.

[b]"I think I have an idea," [/b]said Sakura, her face lightening up.
[/size]

[Sakura]

[COLOR=Navy]While the others talked, Sakura was thinking up some kind of plan that would help them convert the lions.

[I][B]'Nemean Lions....where have I heard them.....!'[/B][/I]

[B]"I think I have an idea."[/B] she told the rest.

[B]"Well we don't have any ideas, so let's hear it."[/B] Sparks said.

[B]"Alright, I just remembered where I know of the Nemean lions, I know the story of the [I]original[/I] lion, and with this story, I think we can convert the lions."[/B]

[B]"The original lion? How do you know the story?"[/B] Impulse questioned.

[B]"As a shape shifter I know a lot about things and animals so I can transform into them, I especially know myths, legends and folk tales so I can become those mystical creatures of great power. The Nemean lion is just the tip of the iceberg for my mythical knowledge."[/B] Sakura explained quickly.

[B]"We have to hurry, our time is running out."[/B] Sparks said.

They left the room and searched around for Maerkos, they couldn't really tell the difference between the lions so they just asked one of the other lions to fetch him. The lion growled at the menacingly and sauntered off to find him.

Maerkos bounded up through the halls and looked down at them.

[B]"You called for me, humans."[/B] he boomed.

[B]"Did you know why there aren't many of you lions in this world, or the other world?"[/B] Sakura asked him.

[B]"Of course, our master says we have been hunted and killed for our fur."[/B]

[B]"That is true, but did he tell you that he killed the first Nemean lion?"[/B]

[B]"How dare you lie about our master!"[/B] Maerkos roared ferociously, his teeth were bared and his muscles tightened. [B]"I shall slay you for your blasphemy, human!"[/B]

Sakura dodged the swipes and landed on his back.

[B]"The Nemean Lion was the first of Hercules' tasks, he had to kill it. As the story goes, he strangled the first lion, and skinned it with its own claws to wear its pelt as armour."[/B] she said calmly, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing to emphasise.

He threw her from his back and she landed safely, watching him carefully.

[B]"I do not believe you!"[/B]

[B]"Why don't you go ask him yourself? We'll come with you and stand by the door."[/B] Impulse replied.

Maerkos snarled and turned, running down the hall. The Legionnaires ran after him, they would soon lose him.

Sakura made a swift change into a dragon and picked everyone up, flying with great speed through the halls, after the rampaging lion. She turned a sharp corner and slowed to a stop when she saw Maerkos enter a large door. She put everyone down safely and reverted to her human state.

[B]"And now we wait, bide one's time, tread water-"[/b] Vernacular looked at everyone, they all looked tiredly at her. [B]"Sorry."[/B] she said sheepishly.

Sometime later Maerkos emerged, he looked at them angrily.

[B]"Our master says it had to be done for his task, there was no other way."[/B] he walked past them, his tail drooped slightly, but other than that he showed no signs of sadness.

[B]"Wait!"[/B] Sakura called and the others chased after him, jogging beside him to keep up with his large strides.

[B]"What do you want from me?"[/B]

[B]"Tell the other lions, they should know. And....we want you to somehow delay our meeting tomorrow morning, we have something to do, and we need more time."[/B]

The lion paced back and forth in the hallway before turning to them again.

[B]"I shall tell the others, and for your honesty I will reward you with trying to delay the meeting, I shall come to your room soon and tell you when your meeting will be."[/B]

He stood straight, his tail was high again and he returned to the room that Hercules was in.

The group returned to their room and sighed heavily, Sakura was afraid he was going to eat her. They all started to prepare for their trip to the island. They doubted Maerkos would be able to buy them much time so they would have to hurry.

Maerkos later returned and alerted them that their meeting was to be at noon, and no later. The Legionnaires nodded and took off quickly, it was a few more hours, but not much.[/COLOR]

[Blayze]

[i][size=1]2200 hours
14 hours remaining

[/size][/i][size=1][b]"Quickly," [/b]said Sparks as she helped Sakura down onto the ferry, [b]"We only have a few hours." [/b]Sparks then offered her hand to Impulse, but he declined and merely jumped down from the harbour wall onto the ferry. Vernacular lowered herself gently onto the boat.

[b]"This ferry ride should only take about 40 minutes," [/b]said Sparks, [b]"So if that is 40 minutes each way, that still gives us..." [/b]she did a little mental arithmetic, [b]"A little over 12 hours to do what we need to on this island. So once we get there, we need to be quick in finding it."

"Sorry to be sounding dense," [/b]said Impulse dryly, [b]"But finding what?"

"I'm sorry?"

"What is it we are trying to find? Why are we even going to this island? And why were we picked for this mission?" [/b]he asked.

[b]"I thought you were told in the briefing? Apparently not," [/b]she said with a sigh, [b]"Well, Hercules has gone mad. You know that much, I would hope. Vernacular had to be brought along to translate the ancient form of Greek dialect that Hercules will be using. We have to travel to this island to find a form of asphodel plant which will hopefully bring Hercules back to his senses."

"And who gave us this information?" [/b]asked Sakura, suddenly becoming very interested.

[b]"I did," [/b]said a voice from behind them. The team whirled around, to see a tall, thin man, handsome in an odd, old-fashioned kind of way, hovering a few inches above the floor. Upon closer inspection, his sandals had wings on the heels, and his helmet had metal wings, probably purely for decoration.

[b]"And you are?" [/b]asked Impulse lazily.

[b]"My name is Hermes," [/b]he replied, dropping down slowly to the floor, [b]"I am messenger for the gods of Ancient Greece. I came to your leader, the one who calls himself The Arbiter, telling him of our problem. Hercules has gone rather off-course with this enslavement business, and his father isn't all too happy."

"His father?" [/b]asked Sakura, not knowing much about Greek myth and legend.

[b]"Zeus, king of the gods," [/b]whispered Sparks.

[b]"Indeed. Anyway, the rules of existence forbid the gods, including myself, from interfering with human affairs. Hercules, in his stead as a demi-god, the son of Zeus, is able to travel at will between the home of the gods and the mortal realm, and he is technically free from any rules that work against the gods. But up on Olympus, home of the gods, they're not happy. And we can't interfere with human affairs, but we can give you a little nudge in the right direction. And I suggested to The Arbiter that it might be worth his while to send a group to a certain island a little off the shore of mainland Greece to find a certain asphodel plant. So really, I didn't interfere at all," [/b]said the messenger.

[b]"That leaves one question," [/b]said Impulse, [b]"If we needed Vernacular to translate anything Hercules said, how come you speak perfect English?"

"I'm a god," [/b]replied Hermes, somewhat sarcastically, [b]"It kind of removes little problems like language barriers. Anyway, good luck with your mission...whatever it is..." [/b]he said, as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, and disappeared.

[b]"This is a weird mission," [/b]said Sakura, hsaking her head, [b]"We're on a mission from gods?"

"Apparently so," [/b]replied Impulse, turning his head out over the sea.

[b]"Everyone gather up your stuff," [/b]said Sparks, [b]"We're almost there."
[/b]
---------

OOC: Please tell me if I'm treading on anyone's toes here
[/size]

[Ozymandius Jones]

[SIZE=1]"Sparks?"

"Yeah?"

"Um...."

"....yeah?"

"My watch stopped."

Somehow, that simple statement, coming from [i]Vernacular[/i] no less, made Sparks pause, moving from her seat on the railing of the boat, confused.

"What?"

Vernacular held her arm out, displaying her watch. "My watch. It is now a non-watch, it has ceased to function, respond, act correctly." That was more the Vernacular Spark's knew. She took the proferred watch, poking at it. It had, indeed, stopped - the LED display - the one that was supposedly never failing; the one that showed time, location, date and all - was dark, blank...nonexistant.

"Um." Sparks looked at her own watch - watches, to be more precise. One - identicle to Vernacular's - was blank, the other- an old wind-up watch - had frozen, the second hand as still as if the watch had never been wound. Sparks shook it, pressing her ear to the face. Dead. Impulse turned his face towards the two women.

"That's not the only strange thing...listen to the waves." Sparks tilted her head, closing her eyes, listening...it was Vernacular who broke the silence.

"What waves?"

"Exactly." Sparks opened her eyes again, staring over the side. Where the ferry passed there were waves - [i]small[/i] waves, waves that died down the instant they passed ten feet from the boat. The sea had gone completely and utterly still.

"And that's not all...look up." Sparks face turned up obediantly. Again, she wasn't quite sure what she was looking for; until it became obvious, voiced by Sakura. The younger woman had just made her way to the deck.

"We're near a shore - why are there no birds in the air?"

"Because!" All four team members jumped at the unexpected voice. The Ferryman stood on the upper deck, looking down at them for the first time since they'd boarded. Sparks felt her jaw drop.

The ferryman wasn't human; he had the legs of a goat, covered with pitch-black fur and ending in huge black hooves; and two wickedly-sharp looking horns sprang from his hair. He sketched a mock bow.

"You are entering Cerynaea, and the laws of your mortal time and space have no bearing here."

"...excuse me?" The satyr sighed, leaning against the rail.

"Time flows differently hear than it does outside. You've passed the borders."

He recieved three identical blanks stares, and sighed again, louder.

"Time has been paused until you're out of this realm, ok? Understand now?" Vernacular glared.

"So...all that rushing...we didn't need to? We have as long as we like?" The satyr raised a hand, craggy eyebrows raised.

"Hey, now, woman, I never said [i]that[/i]." He nodded back over their shoulders, towards the shore that had appeared. "I just warn you things will be...different than you expected." Sparks sighed, running a hand throuh her hair.

"Oh....[i]great[/i]."[/SIZE]

[4815162342]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Indigo]The ferry bumped against the rocky shore and the satyr bowed them off the boat and, at Spark?s questioning look, waved them towards a set of stairs cut into the rocks that led up to the top of the cliff that the ferry was tied at the bottom of. The satyr waved at the stairs again as he spoke.

?Up those stairs, visitors?you will be greeted most warmly at the top.? His eyes glinted as he leaned on his pole ? dismissing them. The foursome took his hint and made their way to the stairs and up them?and up them?

There were so many that it took several minutes to reach the top where there was a grassy knoll which was surrounded by a large ring of rocks which were filled with niches and shelves. Once there they were stopped by another satyr and three fauns of varying ages, sizes and colours. They stepped closer to the Legionnaires and looked at them ? the satyr in front was the first to speak.

?No weapons of your type are permitted here in Cerynaea, mortals?? He grinned, and pointed at the watches. ?Watches and whatever means you use to communicate with your fellow mortals are not allowed here either?all do not work.? One of the fauns stepped torwards Sakura, hands plucking the silver guns from where they were holstered at her belt.

Vernacular briefly wondered if the guns had special meaning to Sakura before the faun closed his hands around Sakura?s watch and took it and the guns over to a niche, setting them down as another faun walked over to Vernacular herself, pointing towards the watch around her wrist. She slipped it off, setting it on his leathery palm.

?I don?t see, know, haven?t found any reason not to give you it, let you have it, keep it safe for me as it really doesn?t work?isn?t functioning?? she trailed off as the faun turned his back on her and placed the watch in another niche as the third faun stepped up to Sparks ? now Sparks had much more to give the faun than Sakura and Vernacular had. Vernacular?s eye widened as she moved to stand next to Impulse who was exempt from the??customs search? by the fact that he had nothing technological on his person.

?She has?three guns, firearms?two watches, time tellers?some bits, pieces, random odds of what looks like a telephone and?oh?there goes our radio, walkie-talkie?communication with the normal world...oh well, doesn?t work anyhow, right? Now I think that?s a?? She was cut off again at a glare from the satyr who nodded at the four.

?You?re now free to walk in Cerynaea, just take this paper.? He picked a leather case up from a nearby shelf and pulled out a parchment covered in writing. ?It will allow you to move where you will.? He bowed to them and backed out of the stone ring, following the fauns. Vernacular looked at the other two women and the silent Impulse.

?Do we find an inn, tavern?place to stay and make or base of operations?headquarters??[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Blayze]

[b][size=1]"I guess we should find a place to stay," [/size][/b][size=1]said Sparks, looking around for an inn, tavern or other such place.

[b]"You won't have much luck looking around like that," [/b]sighed Impulse, [b]"You need to physically move your body. Like this." [/b]He wandered over to a small hill, which he clambered up, nimble and agile as you like.

[b]"Well, you're going to have to come and look, aren't you?" [/b]he asked sarcastically, pointing sharply to his sightless eyes. Sparks nodded and jumped up to where Impulse was standing. Looking out over the village that stretched out below them, she could see at least three places where they could make a base, somewhere to begin their search from.

They began to head to the nearest inn, a small building built mostly from wood, apparently owned by yet another satyr. He was currently sweeping away some of the dirt that now rested on his doorstep.

[b]"Excuse me, sir," [/b]said Vernacular, and Impulse sighed. This was to be the beginning of a long, round-about way of asking if he had a room spare, [b]"But me and my companions, team-mates, compadres, cohorts, friends are searching for a place to live, recover, wash, sleep, set up a base. Could we rent, borrow, use any spare rooms, dwellings, apartments you may have spare? We can pay you well, gladly, happily."

"What's she saying?" [/b]asked the satyr in a croaky voice.

[b]"Do you have a room we can rent for a little while?" [/b]asked Sparks with a sigh, shoving Vernacualr out of the way.

[b]"Aye, we have rooms spare. I'll need 'em free by the end of the week, though, we've got a big party coming in from the north," [/b]said the satyr, opening the door and letting the party in. Unfortunately, the inn wasn't exactly built for fully-grown humans. They all had to duck down to get in.

[b]"Well, this is cosy," [/b]said Sakura, shoving her way through to get to the stairs. She clambered up them with some difficulty, and found that the upstairs dwellings were a lot more spacious than the downstairs, and they could easily stand and move about upstairs.

[b]"Ok, we have limited time in this inn. I suggest we get this asphodel plant and get off this island in the week that we have the room. Otherwise things could go a little sour for us. Who knows what's going on with time outside the island. So, let's start the search straight away. Sakura and Impulse, you go and start searching the west part of this island," [/b]Sparks said, taking a map from her pocket and spreading it out on the table.

[b]"This is where most of the plants grow, so it's where there are most likely to be these asphodel plants," [/b]she said, indicating to the west side of the island, [b]"If you two search there, then Vernacular and I will search here," [/b]she indicated the east side of the island, the second most foliage-covered part of the island, [b]"That way, we're more likely to find the plant. Sakura, you'll have to do most of the searching, but Impulse, you try and protect her from any dangers that could arise. I'll do the same for Vernacular."

[/b]Sakura nodded, and Impulse walked out of the room slowly. He lead the way to the west side of the island, somehow managing to find his way. Eventually Sakura caught up with his quick pace.

[b]"Slow down, Impulse, I can't keep up," [/b]she said.

[b]"Not my problem. You should be faster, and I'm not going to slow down if we have a time limit on finding this flower. We have to be quick and thorough. Can you do that?" [/b]replied the psychic dryly.

Suddenly, something swooped down from the sky, clawing at Sakura's head. She cried out and dropped to the floor, surprised at the sudden attack. Impulse kept very still, and listened for the rustling of feathers.

He turned, and sent a telekinetic blast out. Something screeched, and a soft thud followed.

[b]"What is it?" [/b]he asked Sakura, who crept over to the prone object.

[b]"It's so strange. It's a bird, brown feathers, talons, but...it has a woman's head," [/b]she replied, [b]"Sparks must know something about it."

"Don't think that Sparks is the only one who has some knowledge of Greek legend. This is a harpy, half-bird, half-woman. Dangerous. and they never travel alone, which means there is a flock of them somewhere around here. We'd better move fast," [/b]he said, grabbing Sakura's hand and pulling her along. They leapt into a patch of wild flowers, as Impulse heard the screech and cry of more of the bird-women, the flapping of wings getting louder as they came closer and closer.

[b]"Keep very quiet," [/b]he whispered to Sakura, [b]"And don't move a muscle."

[/b]The soft cry of a harpy came, followed by a chorus of hideous cries. They had landed.

[b]"On my count, get up and start swinging," [/b]said Impulse, handing Sakura a chunk of wood he had just picked up from the ground, [b]"One, two, three!"

[/b]Both of them leapt onto their feet, Sakura swinging the log, batting harpies out of the air as they swooped towards the pair of them, Impulse blasting them out of the sky with telekinetic blasts. Soon enough, they had scared most of them away.

[b]"I'll take care of the stragglers, you try and find the plant," [/b]said Impulse, running after a small group of harpies, blasting them to the ground.

He returned, wiping the perspiration from his brow, and stood next to Sakura, who hadn't moved.

[b]"What's the matter? Why haven't you started looking?" [/b]he asked, somewhat harshly.

[b]"There...there's quite a lot of plants," [/b]she said, swallowing.

[b]"How many?"

"Lots..."

[/b]Sakura turned back to the field. Acres and acres of land, stretching as far as the eye could see, full of plants.

[b]"This could take a while..."[/b]
[/size]

[Ozymandius Jones]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Navy][B]"Oh, I like this..." [/B]Sparks growled sarcastically, tramping through the tall grass on their way to the east side of the island. [B]"I'm going to recommend this place for vacations once we get back."[/B] Vernacular chuckled.

[B]"See, as I know you are being facetious, jocular, kidding - in essence, [i]sarcastic[/i] - I will not tell you that I, indeed, would find this local, demain, place quite pleasant on a vacation..." [/B]Sparks fixed the other woman with a glare.
[B]
"You're joking."[/B] Her boot hit a rock, and she tumbled to the ground, rolling back to her feet and pretending as if nothing had happened, although Vernacular was smirking at her. [B]"There's no technology, we're surrounded by flippin' [i]plants[/i], and that satyr was giving me the eye back at the Inn..." [/B]She shuddered. Vernacular just laughed.

[B]"That's somethin' right out of legends, tales, myths, stories as well, also..." [/B]She nimbly followed Sparks down the hill. "[B]Satyrs falling in love with mortal humans..."
[/B]
[B]"EW, no." [/B]Sparks shuddered again.[B] "They have [i]fur[/i]."[/B]

[B]"This is indeed, truth, fact, a salient point....but satyrs aside, I was not being jovial or in jest about this making a fine, marevelous, delightful vacation point...the pastoral seaside nature...it is quite relaxing..."[/B] The two women lapsed into silence as they crested the hill....hitting upon precisely the same problem Sakura and Impulse were having. [b]"Oh my..."[/b]

[B]"That's....um..."[/B] Sparks scratched her head, looking at the miles of plants, framed - in the distance - by the clear blue of the ocean.
[B]
"I would advise we begin our search, hunt, exa-"

"Ah, shut it." [/B]Vernacular stuck her tongue out, moving into the field.

[B]"Then start looking."[/B] [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[4815162342]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Indigo]As Sparks walked off in one direction, Vernacular headed in another, walking slowly through the multitude of flowers.

Some flowers were spiky and wild, growing out of control and running rampant over large amounts of land - looking for all the world as if they wanted to rule the island - while others were more controlled and sedate, staying in small clumps dotted here and there across the landscape -and the colours! Purple, blue, orange, green...they were every colour imaginable.

But what Vernacular was enjoying the most was the scents, all of them vying for her attention and with so many there it was hard to distinguish one from the other. She stood still for a moment - silent for once - as she took in the sight and the smells. Just as she was about to sit down in a patch of grass she was jolted back to reality by Sparks.

[B]"I've found the flower, it wasn't all that hard to do, either."[/B] She walked over to Vernacular, grinning proudly as she held out a flower - a flower which was abundant in the field surrounding them. Vernacular bit her lip for a second before shaking her head.

[B]"No, nuh-uh, nein. That is not, most definately not the asphodel we're looking, searching, scouring this field, vista, land for...that's false, fake, not real asphodel..."[/B] She dodged the flung flower and backed up slightly. [B]"We are looking for one, uno, single flower...it will be the absolute only flower of its type, genus."[/B] Sparks scowled at her, arms crossed over her chest.

[B]" Do we know what the real, actu-"[/B] She growled slightly and started over. [B]"Do we know what the actual asphodel looks like?"[/B]Vernacular nodded once.

[B]"Yes, si. Its a pale blueish-grey and smaller than that."[/B] She pointed at the flower that lay on the ground next to her. [B]"We have to find, discover, root it out of...that."[/B]And on that relatively short bout of speech she pointed out at the field which now seemed even bigger than it had [i]before[/i].[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[Blayze]

[size=1]Impulse stood, taking in the massive task that lay in front of them. They needed to search the whole island for one tiny little plant, and they had to do it pretty quickly. He didn't want to spend any more time on this island than he had to, frankly.

Sakura was already frantically searching in amongst the plants for the elusive asphodel plant. She was beginning to get frsutrated, though.

[b]"Don't get angry over nothing," [/b]said Impulse, [b]"Just calm down. You'll be able to search better that way."

"I'm sorry, I just...it's so frustrating," [/b]she replied, standing up and wiping her brow, even though there was nothing up there to wipe.

[b]"I know it is. But try being me, the only guy on this mission. God, you girls complain a lot."

"Was that...humour? From you? Last thing I'd expect to hear from you, especially in this situation."

"What? I can be funny when I want to be. I haven't always been the reclusive loner type, you know. I used to have a lot of friends."

"What happened?"

"Nothing that concerns you. You should really try to keep your nose out of other people's business."

"Sorry. Just trying to make conversation."

"I appreciate it. No-one really looks past this exterior. They see the loner, and then don't give me the time of day. Its nice to talk to someone."

[/b]Sakura turned back to the plants. She had never expected to have a heart-to-heart with Impulse, of all people. Maybe it was the air on this island...

[b]"Wait a minute! That's it! The air on the island! That's how we find the asphodel!" [/b]she cried out.

[b]"What is?"

"I can transform into an animal with a highly developed sense of smell! I can smell the asphodel!"

"One slight problem. Have you ever smelt an asphodel plant before?"

"No, but it must have it's own unique scent, different from all these other plants. If I can find the unique scent, and track it down, I should find the asphodel!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go."

[/b]She hunched down on all fours, and fur began to sprout from her back, bursting out of her shirt. Her face elongated with a sort of grinding, crunching noise, and her eyes turned yellow. Her bones rearranged themselves, shifting to form the bone structure of the particular animal she was transforming into.

[b]"A wolf?" [/b]scoffed Impulse, [b]"That's original."

[/b]Sakura merely turned and snarled at him, before raising her nose to the wind and sniffing. Then she was off, at a much faster rate than Impulse could have managed. He struggled to follow her, but managed to just about keep up.

Where she was heading was a different matter...
[/size]

[Sakura]

[B]OOC:[/B] I'm soooo sorry for not posting, I always either forget or don't have the time anymore. And don't mind me changing some of the words, just couldn't be bothered typing the same thing/copy & pasting.

[COLOR=Navy]Sakura's mouth hung open, as far as the eye could see the landscape was covered in a blanket of flowers of all the colours imaginable. She just stared at the acres of land they were supposed to cover.

[B]"What's the matter? Why haven't you started looking?"[/B] Impulse asked as he came up behind her.

[B]"There...there's quite a lot of plants."[/B] she told him, swallowing.

[B]"How many?"[/B]

[B]"Lots..."[/B]

Sakura nodded and walked to the flowers, kneeling in front of them and starting to search through them for that specific flower they were looking for. She tried to handle them as carefully as possible, not wanting to uproot any of the beautiful plants. Sakura started to push some to the side to reveal the small hidden flowers beneath, covered by the larger ones.

After searching for what felt like hours Sakura was starting to get frustrated, she had only made it a few metres in and she was sore and tired from searching so thoroughly. She let out a frustrated sound only to hear the reprimanding voice of Impulse behind her.

[B]"Don't get angry over nothing. Just calm down. You'll be able to search better that way."[/B]

Sakura looked at him, he was looking toward the direction they had come from, searching to see if any more enemies were going to attack them. For some reason she had had a memory lapse when they were attacked by the harpies. She knew what they were, she knew practically all of the mythological animals so she could transform into them, but at that time it had slipped from her memory, maybe it was something to do with the island.

Sakura stumbled to her feet, shifting so she wasn't crushing any of the flowers, running the back of her hand across her forehead. [B]"Sorry, it's just so frustrating."[/B]

The two of them started up a conversation and she blinked as it got close to him, with him confessing that he liked having someone to talk to since usually no-one wanted to get to know him from his exterior. She was thinking about the air and took in a deep breath, exhaling suddenly when the idea came to her.

[B]"I got it! We can find the asphodel using the air!"[/B] she exclaimed.

[B]"What is?"[/B]

[B]"I can transform into an animal with a highly developed sense of smell! I can smell the asphodel!"

"One slight problem. Have you ever smelt an asphodel plant before?"

"No, but it must have it's own unique scent, different from all these other plants. If I can find the unique scent, and track it down, I should find the asphodel!"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go."[/B]

Sakura nodded and fell to her knees, avoiding the flowers and she placed her hands on the ground, digging her fingers into the grass and hitting dirt. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly, starting the metamorphosis. She started to growl as her teeth changed into sharp fangs and her face started to protrude and become hairy, her hair disappearing and her ears moving to the top of her head. Her body sprouted silvery grey fur all over and she felt the end of her spine shoot out to grow another appendage and it sprouted fur immediately, her legs changed the way they bent and she felt her palms and soles turn into soft durable pads and her nails changed into claws. She was finally complete as a wolf, her tail wagging as she lifted her muzzle, sniffing the air.

[B]"A wolf? How original."[/B] Impulse said it quietly but Sakura heard it loud and clear with her hearing, turning and snarling with her teeth bared.

She turned around again and sniffed the air, it was amazing and she had definitely underestimated the island. There were unique scents flowing [I]everywhere[/I] on the island, making it a little difficult for her. She saw each of the scents as streams of colour and noticed that most of them were repeated, while she knew that the asphodel flower was one of a kind. She quickly brushed them aside and was left with several scents that were unique. Sakura chose the one closest and took off, her paws were swift not caring as much about crushing the flowers under foot now she knew what she was searching for. She loved the feel of the wind rushing through her fur, inhaling deeply to follow the track. She could hear Impulse trampling noisily behind her to try to keep up.

Sakura started to slow down as she was in the vicinity of the first plant. She directed her muzzle to the ground instead and snuffled around, finally finding the right plant, sniffing it and waiting as Impulse wandered over. They both inspected the flower. Impulse straightened and pulled out the map that showed the island and marked the area they were to search, Vernacular had scribbled on the side what the flower was supposed to look like with a to scale drawing. Sakura blinked at the paper and wondered how Vernacular knew about the flower but pushed that away and compared the information to the flower before them, deciding it wasn't a match up. She barked at Impulse who tucked the map away and extended a hand forward to her. She woofed and picked another scent, taking off again with Impulse trailing. She hoped that they would find the flower soon so they could leave, but then she reasoned that perhaps the flower wasn't on their half of the island, if so, she wished the best of luck to Sparks and Vernacular.[/COLOR]

[Ozymandius Jones]

[COLOR=DarkSlateBlue][I]Man. And I thought this was going to be a cakewalk...[/I] Sparks waded through a field of identical looking flowers, none of which were the right shade, shape, size or scent to be the asphodel. She kicked a rock, scowling.

"This is like finding a needle in a haystack!" Vernacular straightened up, a silly grin on her face.

"No it's not...it's finding a flower in a flower field, which is infinitely, cosmically, massively harder." Sparks just looked at her, trying to gauge whether or not see was serious. She decided she was when the silence returned.

"This is all well and good for you, you go on nature walks and all that jazz with that kid of yours, don't you?" Vernacular straightened, prickling.

"Hiranmayi is not 'that kid', she is the pride, pinnacle, best achievement of my existence!" Sparks snorted.

"She has, single-handedly, destroyed more of my equipment than I have. She is a terror."

"You're just mad, annoyed, angered, miffed because she beat, whipped and kicked your sorry posterior at that infernal noisy, obnoxious, irritating dancing game."

"It's called DDR."

"DDR, Dance-Dance-Game, it's all the same to me: 'menace'." Now it was Sparks turn to prickle.

"You're just afraid of progress!"

"That thing is not progress, it's a pain!"

Some part of Sparks wondered at the absurdity of it all - wandering around an exotic Grecian island and arguing about video games - but she didn't give it much thought as the two of them continued trudging through the flowers, heading for the cliffs off in the distance. Only once they reached a small hollow halfway between where they'd been and where they were going did Sparks sit down, panting. "Ok, time for a breather..."[/COLOR]

[4815162342]

[SIZE=1][COLOR=Indigo]Vernacular plopped down onto the grass beside her, grinning widely as she started to pick through the flowers that were in front of her. Soon - all the while listing off names beneath her breath - she had a large pile beside her. She paused for a moment and looked over at Sparks who was simply pulling them out - giving them a cursory glance - and tossing them to the side. After a full minute of watching this Vernacular reached out and caught hold of her hand before she could uproot any more of the flowers.

[B]"This is not, most definitely not working, going the way it should, you have no idea what you're [i]doing[/i]!"[/B] She let go of Sparks' hand as she released the flower and closed her eyes so she could think. Finally she opened them again and pointed at the plant. [B]"You pull, uproot and I will name them, the plants, the things you are so carelessly throwing, tossing, discarding over your shoulder. That way [i]you[/i], being the herbologically..."[/B] Here she gave a slight pause, she wasn't quite certain that was a word but...it worked. [B]"...challenged person, human that you are will not throw away what we are searching and looking for!"[/B] Spark pulled a face at Vernacular, crossing her arms over her chest.

[B]"I never trained to be a Girl Scout! This isn't fair, considering you obviously were one judging all those plant names you're spouting off."[/B] She picked a small flower up and threw it at Vernacular's head where it hit and bounced off her forehead. [B]"See, there are plant people, like you, who are stuck in the past..."[/B] Sparks twirled another plant between her fingers. [B]"...and then there are technologically advanced people like me, who can see progress in the future!"[/B] Vernacular threw up her hands and poked Sparks in the ribs.

[B]"Drop that! I'm just as much in the future as you are, Sparky. And for you information I was [i]never[/i] a Girl Scout."[/B] She sniffed exaggeratedly as she took the plant from Sparks' hand and set it on her pile. [B]"I was too loud for them."[/B] At that Sparks burst out laughing and began handing Vernacular flowers. Vernacular glowered at her. [B]"I don't see why my daughter calls you aunt, you're a regular hyena!"[/B] Sparks shrugged and grinned cheekily.

[B]"I'm a very cute hyena, though!"[/B] Vernacular - for once - didn't even answer as she went back to sorting the flowers. A short time later Sparks - who had been lost in her own thoughts - looked up; Vernacular was singing a song quietly under her breath, but there was something...[i]else[/i] making noises as well. Vernacular continued to sing.

[B]"Here's a flower, there's a flower, and another little flower...purple flower, yellow flower...flower flower..."[/B] Just as she was about to start over again in her song Sparks knocked her flat onto her back with a loud, yelled,

[B]"DUCK!"[/B] Vernacular yelped in complaint but stopped as she looked over to the side - Coming towards them again after its failed first swoop was a large Harpy. She didn't say another word as Sparks helped her to her feet and both women took off running full pelt towards the cliffs. Hopefully they'd meet up with the others and gain some help![/COLOR][/SIZE]