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Download "See those guys standing guard over there? They're watching for Shadows," Vince explained. "Since they know I'm a Dark Fiend, if they spot me, they'll attack. They've never seen you before, though, so if they see you here on the streets, it'll be all right." Vince was explaining the situation to Robert along the streets of Kiera, being careful to avoid being seen by the Alliatus. They had come by themselves, leaving Stephanie, Alice, and Mindy on the hovercraft. "Oh, I want to come," Alice had shouted. "No," Robert had replied. "You don't have as much recon skill as I do, and you're not as good a fighter as Vince, so if you're caught, it's all over." A Paladin and a Mystic stood in front of the Cathedral, which was on their way to the Kiera Ragnarok Headquarters. "I'll need you to play decoy for me," Vince said. "No problem," Robert replied. He ran up to the Mystic and the Paladin, asking, "Hey, is the Temple open to the public yet?" Vince used this opportunity to run from the alley in which he hid to another alley, next to the Ragnarok Headquarters. A minute later, Robert joined him. "Sorry, Vince, the Temple's closed," Robert joked. Vince looked at the Ragnarok Headquarters. Two soldiers, dressed in gray suits and silver helmets, guarded the front door. "When I was working for Omicron, I took a look into this place," Robert said. "Of course, I didn't go in myself. I sent a little bird to do the job for me, but if it's still the same as I remember, then there should be no problem. There's an air filter on the roof that connects to the building's ventilation system. We should be able to get in through there." "That's a thirty-foot climb," Vince said. "Yeah, I know," Robert said, "but if we go up to the fourth floor of that mall and jump out the window, we should be able to make it." Robert led Vince to the mall and took the elevator to the fourth floor. Then, they waited by the window. When no one was looking, Robert slipped the window open and leapt out over the alley. He landed on the roof with a roll. Vince looked over his shoulder, then jumped over to the roof of the Ragnarok Headquarters as well. "You'd think they'd have some security on this air filter," Vince said as Robert pulled it off the air vent, opening a hole for them. "Well, normally they would, but they had to get operations up and running so fast that they simply didn't have time to put security on the air vents," Robert answered. "In fact, I don't think the security cameras are working yet, either." Robert led Vince, who trusted he knew the way, through the air ducts. They stopped at one grating and turned so they could both look through it at the same time. "Look," Robert said. "There's the Computer Room, and there's just one soldier standing guard at the door. See that security camera? The status light's off, so the cameras haven't aren't fully functional yet. First thing, though..." Robert pushed the grating open. The space was pretty large. The average person could easily fit through it without a problem. However, the grating squeaked as Robert pushed on it. The soldier apparently heard, for he walked over to take a look. Right as the soldier was under the grating, Robert pushed hard on it, throwing it outward and hitting the soldier in the helmet with it. Vince jumped out of the air duct and pummeled the soldier. Then, Robert hopped out of the air duct, pulled off the soldier's helmet, and hit him with it, a move that knocked the soldier out. Robert then ran to the door. "It's locked," he said. "Try this," Vince replied as he took a card key from the soldier's pocket and tossed it to Robert. Robert caught the key and opened the door. It was the Computer Room all right, and no one was inside. Suddenly, alarms went off all over the building. "The Dark Fiend of Fire has been sighted in the hallway in front of the Computer Room," came the computerized voice. "What the--" Vince said. He looked up and saw that the camera had turned on, and it was looking directly at him. "Shit!" He looked to Robert. He was already inside the Computer Room. "Robert, the camera hasn't seen you yet. You stay in there and hack. It's my turn to play decoy." "Wait, Vince," Robert said, tossing a small device to him. "It's a radio. It fits in your ear. Use it to communicate." Vince stuffed the radio in his ear and ran down the hall. At the first intersection, soldiers came to intercept him. The magma came to Vince and, as his skin became black hide, hardened into his Inferno Armor. As the Inferno Fiend, he knocked down one group of soldiers with flaming fists to clear an escape path. He kept running down various hallways, making random turns here and there to lose the pursuing soldiers. However, Vince chose not to attack the Ragnarok soldiers, except when they blocked his path and he had no choice. Still, when he did attack, he only did enough to knock them aside. "Okay, I'm logged into the computer now," Robert reported. "I'm trying to access the Pentagon database now. This might take a while." "Try to make it fast," Vince replied. "The Ragnaroks are shooting at me now." Vince had to create a shield from the flames to deflect the bullets as he ran. However, after running a few more hallways, he found himself in a dead end. "Well, it looks like I have to fight now," Vince said as a large flock of Ragnarok soldiers blocked his path behind him. They opened fire. Vince blocked with his fire shield, then threw a cluster of fireballs. The explosions were impressive. Each fireball left a crater in the floor and knocked six or seven soldiers aside. Soon, the hallway was clear again. "All right," he heard Robert say. "I'm in the Pentagon database. I've found the info I need and I'm currently downloading onto a zip-disc." Vince gave a quick reply, then went to look at the soldiers. One of them had severe burns all across his body and bled profusely. Vince took a closer look. The soldier was dead. He hadn't known his fireballs were that powerful. He was careless again, just like when Tina died. He ran to another dead soldier and saw the explosion on the roof. Another dead one reminded him of Tina flying over the edge. Yet another dead one made him see Tina falling, falling, falling. Each dead body he saw gave him another image of Tina's death, another painful memory of a scar Vince kept in his heart. More soldiers arrived, blocking his escape. Screaming with rage and anguish, Vince burned them all down with a blazing inferno. Somehow, he could see Sacrinia in the flames. Somehow, the flames were telling Vince how Tina died, that he was responsible. Vince screamed, unable to control himself. Neither caring nor looking where he was going, he ran. "Vince, I've downloaded the information," Robert's voice brought him back to reality. "Oh, shit! It's Motarius! He's here!" In response, Vince swore. Then, he dashed all the way back to the Computer Room, where he found three soldiers holding Robert against the wall. Thalloric Motarius stood at the computer, waiting for him. "All this time, while you were playing decoy, I knew that someone was hacking into our computer," Motarius said. "You should be more careful. Just because you were able to break in doesn't mean that no one saw you. Now, what were you doing here?" "The Quantum Saviors," Vince explained, "the guys that Mandragon betrayed you for, they're stealing Cobalt Bombs, and they're planning on using them to threaten the government. We wanted to find out where the Cobalt Bombs are so that we could protect them and stop the Quantum Saviors." "You idiot!" Motarius shouted. "You think we don't know about the Quantum Saviors already? After Mandragon's betrayal, we searched around and found out who they were and what they were up to. The Cobalt Bombs are already safe. We've gathered the last twelve of them and put them in a high-security military base." "That's not going to work," Vince shouted back. "You need spread them around and force the Quantum Saviors to spread their forces thin. When you gathered the last four Veiliij Artifacts, we got them really easily because they were all in the same place." "You know this because you're part of Quantum Saviors," Motarius said. "That's what you came for. You were looking for the Cobalt Bombs so you could steal them." "That's not true!" Vince yelled. "After I found out who the Quantum Saviors really were, I quit. In fact, I'm fighting against them now." "Why should I believe that?" Motarius asked. He drew his sword. "Since I know you'd never come peacefully, I'll have to take you down with my blade. In case you try to escape, I have twenty soldiers guarding the door to this room. Now, fight!" Motarius dashed forward to attack, but the Inferno Fiend sidestepped him. Vince threw two fireballs, which hit two of the soldiers' helmets. Tina appeared before Vince's eyes again, and he shouted in rage. The third soldier dropped Robert and ran out the door, apparently scared off after the two men right beside him had their heads blown open. Vince roared. He charged at Motarius and attacked him with flaming fists, striking with all the aggression in his body. However, Motarius blocked every punch with his sword. "Thinking about Tina again, aren't you?" Motarius asked. "Damn you!" Vince shouted as he lunged forward with a burning gauntlet. This time, Motarius was the one to sidestep the attack. Vince missed completely. Within an instant, the silver Ophelia began to glow bright blue. Finished charging his sword with Holy magic, Motarius swung his blade at Vince. The attack knocked Vince into the opposite wall, and the Holy-enchanted sword cut right through Vince's armor. Red blood leaked through the red armor. "Damn you!" Vince shouted again as he climbed back onto his feet and attempted another aggressive assault on Motarius. As Motarius busily blocked Vince's attacks, Robert grabbed the disc from the computer and stuffed it in his pocket. Then, he pulled out his gun and fired at Motarius. The Mystic turned his attention around and blocked the shot with a Holy shield. However, in doing so, he left himself wide open to an assault from the Inferno Fiend. Vince pummeled Motarius while his back was turn, knocking him against the wall. Robert shot several Ragnarok soldiers standing just outside the door with his handgun, then hid behind the doorway to avoid retaliating fire. "Vince, forget about Motarius," Robert shouted as he peaked into the doorway and shot down a few more guards. "He's not important. We got what we came for. We got the information. Now, let's get out of here." Vince's last attack knocked Motarius to the floor. Now, he looked at Robert strangely, as if he didn't understand him. Motarius slowly climbed to his feet and raised his silver sword. Robert shot at him, but the Mystic simply blocked with a Holy shield. "Come on, Vince!" Robert yelled. "There's no point in wasting our time. Help me take down those soldiers so we can get out of here." Robert stopped firing at Motarius. He and Vince looked at each other. Motarius let his shield down. Vince nodded. Motarius swung his blade at the Inferno Fiend. Vince and Robert burst into the hallway, one throwing fireballs, the other firing his handgun. Motarius' attack missed, but the Mystic chose to wait in the computer room. It was bad idea to chase them down, for there was risk of being hit by a stray bullet. Vince and Robert fought their way through the Ragnarok soldiers, killing most of them as they passed. Then, when they emerged on the streets of Kiera, Paladins, Priests, and Mystics attacked them. Again, Vince and Robert fought. They fought their way through the streets, killing because they had to. As Robert fought, he was cold, calm, and calculating. However, Vince was full of sweat, rage, and anguish. Finally, they made it to their jeep at the edge of town. Vince collapsed into the passenger seat and reverted to his human form. Firing on those who would chase them, Robert climbed into the driver's seat and drove them back to the hovercraft. When they arrived, Vince climbed into the hovercraft, grabbed Mindy, and held her in his arms. Tears were pouring from his eyes and streaming down his face. "Tina, I'm sorry!" Vince repeated over and over. "I'm sorry, Tina!" Mindy smiled. "What's wrong with him?" Alice quietly asked Stephanie. "I think he's lost his mind," Stephanie replied. "I think it has to do with Tina." "I think I know what it is," Robert said to them. "Most soldiers, each time they kill, killing gets easier. But during the battle just now, I noticed that every time Vince killed someone, it looked like it was getting harder for him. It looked like he was becoming more and stressed out." Alice and Stephanie stared at him. "He's been traumatized, badly. He was the only person to see Tina die," Robert explained. "And now, he can't stand death anymore." "Vince, you're sweating like a pig," Mindy commented. "What's wrong?" "I killed," Vince answered. "I don't want to kill. I want the killing to stop." "I know how you feel," Mindy replied. "I was only six when I made my first kill. Good thing is, though, the more you kill, the easier it gets. You'll be fine, Vince." "You don't understand," Vince groaned. "Tina, I killed. Tina, I killed you." Stephanie sighed. Mindy smiled. It had already been a few hours since they had hacked the information off the Ragnarok computer, but Vince was still traumatized and agonized by all the deaths he had caused. He was in far worse shape today than he had been the day he shot the innocent girl in the head. Thus, Stephanie was flying the hovercraft as Vince sat in the backseat with Mindy. Stephanie's books sat in the passenger seat. "Hello, this is Robert," said the radio. "Hi, Robert," Stephanie answered. "I was looking at the information on my laptop," Robert said. "Oh, Alice is driving right now, just to let you know." "What? She doesn't have a license!" Stephanie shouted. "Yeah, and we don't have a DMV, either," Robert replied. "Plus, she's a good driver. Anyway, as I was saying, I checked the information on my laptop. Motarius was right. The military guys did gather up all the remaining Cobalt Bombs into a single military base called Fort Adamant." Mindy laughed. "That's the stupidest idea ever!" she said. "Putting them all in one place makes them such an easy target." "I know," Robert replied. "Anyway, there are only twelve Cobalt Bombs the military has left. Twenty four of them have already been stolen, so if QS gets these last twelve, they'll have a total of thirty-six." "Wow, is that a lot?" Stephanie asked. "Stephanie, even one Cobalt Bomb by itself is 'a lot'," Robert explained. "Do you know how powerful these things are? One can wipe out an entire city and irradiate it, turning it into another Death Valley, except worse. Once a city's been hit by a Cobalt Bomb, nothing will be able to live there for decades. That and it'll knock up the global radiation level by a few percent." "Oh, my," Stephanie gasped. "Yeah," Robert said. "That's why we have to get to Fort Adamant now. It's not that far. I'll upload a map onto your onboard computer. Steph, set it up for me." "Umm... I'm not really sure how this thing works," Stephanie said. "Okay, I'll walk you through it," Robert said. Over the next few minutes, Robert gave instructions to Stephanie over the radio. When he was finally done, there was a map on the computer monitor with a highlighted square, labeled "Fort Adamant". "All right," Robert said. "Just follow that map and it'll take you to Fort Adamant. We'll stand our ground there and when QS shows up, we keep them away from the nukes." There was a brief pause. "Ah, Vince, I think you should sit this one out. You're in no condition to fight anymore." "I can still fight," Vince said. "I have to fight. I was the one who wanted to fight in the first place." "Yeah, I know," Robert replied. "But the way you lost your nerve today--" "I know, I know," Vince interrupted. "But still, I have to fight. I have a power in me that most people don't, and it just wouldn't seem right unless I used it to protect." "Well, all right," Robert said. "Just... try not to lose your nerve again, okay?" "I'll try not to," Vince answered. "How long will it take to get to Fort Adamant?" "Oh, I'd say we'd arrive tomorrow evening," Robert replied. "Good," Vince said. "I'll be ready." |