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Veiliij Assault "Tina, do you hate me for killing you?" Vince asked. "No, I don't," Mindy replied, smiling. They had arrived at Fort Adamant just a few hours ago, in the evening, and since then, they camped a short distance away, hidden by the darkness of a winter's night. Stephanie was reading her books. Alice and Robert were playing Checkers. The five of them sat around a campfire. "I'm worried about Vince," Stephanie said, finally looking up from her book. "I really think he's lost his mind. It sounds like he honestly believes that Mindy is Tina." "I know," Robert replied. "He wants Tina back, and he says Mindy looks like her--and she kind of does, just a little. I think the stress of fighting and killing combined those two things in his mind, so he thinks Tina is back as Mindy, or something like that." "Tina, why are you all tied up?" Vince asked. "I'll loosen those ropes for you." "No!" Stephanie shouted, rushing over to Vince. Stopping his hand, she said, "That is not Tina. That's Mindy." "What do you mean?" Vince asked. "Look, I'm Tina's sister," Stephanie said. "Don't you think I'd know who Tina is?" Vince looked at Mindy. "Oh," he said. "I see. Sorry, Mindy." "It's all right," the girl replied, still smiling. "They're coming!" Robert shouted, pointing up at the sky. A fleet of Ragnarok Griffins--or rather, Quantum Savior Griffins--flew in through the night sky and dropped their cargo. Hundreds of Trooper Bots fell to the ground. Several Griffins also dropped giant robots that Vince vaguely recognized. "Titans!" he commented. "No, it must a new version. These are a little smaller." Other Griffins dropped Quantum Savior soldiers and sorcerers. Then, the entire Quantum Saviors team--Trooper Bots, Titans, soldiers, and sorcerers--attacked the base. "Aunt Stacie!" Mindy shouted. "What?" Vince said. He looked and made out Stacie Smith among the group of sorcerers. "We gotta get you to the hovercraft where it's safe!" With that, Vince grabbed Mindy and locked her inside the hovercraft. "Come on, Vince!" Robert shouted. "We gotta go stop QS!" "Right," Vince replied as they ran over to the battle's edge. Robert dropped a Transparent Forcefield onto the ground. "Be careful with this," Robert said. "It's the only one we have." Robert, Alice, and Stephanie hid behind the shield and began firing at the Quantum Savior forces. Vince invoked the powers of the Dark Fiend and summoned the magma to transform himself into the Dark Fiend of the Inferno. "Vince!" Robert shouted. "Don't overwork yourself." Vince nodded and ran into the fray. Remembering Robert's advice, he chose his targets carefully. A front formed between Vince's allies and the Quantum Saviors. Alice, Stephanie, and Robert fought bravely, shooting down enemy soldiers from behind the Transparent Forcefield. Vince attacked the Trooper Bots, destroying them one by one. One of the Titans came to attack Vince, firing plasma shots from cannons mounted on its wrists and shoulders. The Inferno Fiend leapt out of the way. Then, with two fireballs, he destroyed two of the plasma cannons. Stephanie, Alice, and Robert destroyed the other two with their handguns. Vince jumped high into the air, gathering flaming masses in his hands. The Titan swung a fist at Vince, but he did a back flip and dodged the attack. Then, with a flaming kick, he smashed the Titan's head. It stopped moving. Sparks and electrical arcs jumped from its head. As Vince fell back to the floor, he slammed the heat mass he had collected into the Titan's chest, smashing a hole in its armor. The resulting explosion knocked nearby soldiers off their feet. "Now!" Robert shouted. With that command, Robert, Stephanie, and Alice fired into the Titan's chest. As their magic-enhanced energy shots tore apart the Titan's insides, the MMH threw off more sparks. Then, Vince threw a fireball into the chest of the giant machine. The first explosion was the fireball. The second explosion--much larger than the first--was the Titan breaking down. After the smoke cleared, all that was left of the Titan was a pile of debris. Suddenly, a projectile of colored energy slammed into Vince, knocking him back. "Vince, how good it is to see you," said a woman. "I see that you've betrayed us. I take it you also have Mindy with you?" The woman had long, red hair and pale blue eyes. Vince had seen her before. Today, she was dressed in a dark blue cloak. "Stacie," Vince acknowledged her. "Die, traitor," was Stacie's simple response. The sorceress cast another Magic Missile. Vince tried to move out of the way, but it followed him. The Missile had locked on to him. Before he could react, the Magic Missile smashed into him and knocked him across the grass again. Alice, Stephanie, and Robert shot at Stacie, but she simply put up a magical shield. As Vince climbed back to his feet, the sorceress fired another Magic Missile. The Inferno Fiend quickly threw a fireball, and the two projectiles collided and exploded, destroying both of them. Stacie leapt back a few yards and pulled a radio from her belt. "Send me the Veiliij Artifacts," she commanded. "Now!" A Griffin flew by and dropped its cargo. The Veiliij Artifacts rained down, landing between Vince and Stacie. "Do you know how powerful the Veiliij Artifacts are?" Stacie asked. "Don't worry. I'll show you, and you'll learn, even if it's the last thing you do." Stacie began chanting a spell. The Veiliij Artifacts began to hover and glow. Then, different Artifacts came together, held together by beams of magical energy. Within moments, all the Veiliij Artifacts had come together like pieces of a puzzle, forming a giant humanoid being, almost as large as the original Titan. "This is the Veiliij Golem," Stacie said. "Have fun!" Alice, Stephanie, and Robert fired at the Golem, but their shots were deflected by a shield. Vince threw a fireball, but that, too, was useless. Then, he ran up to the Golem and bashed at its shield with flaming gauntlets. However, that, too, did little to break the shield. The Veiliij Golem fired five Magic Missiles from each hand. Before Vince had a chance to react, all ten slammed into him, sending him flying across the field. He landed several yards behind Robert and the girls. As Alice, Robert, and Stephanie fired uselessly at the Golem, it slowly marched up to the Transparent Shield. "Get away!" Robert shouted, pushing Alice and Stephanie along. As the three of them ran, the Golem stepped on the Transparent Forcefield, breaking through the barrier and crushing the device. The Golem then fired a beam of energy from its face, which hit the floor between Alice and Stephanie, who screamed. Robert picked Alice up and carried her away from the Golem. Vince grabbed Stephanie's hand and pulled her away a safe distance. As they fled, Robert and the girls fired at the Golem, and Vince threw a few fireballs. Something caught his eye. "Every time we hit the shield, the spot we hit flares up," Vince observed. "And whenever my fireball hits the shield, since it's stronger, the spot flares up bigger and brighter. I think the shield works by focusing its energy onto the spot we attack. If we hit it so hard that it moves all of its energy to one spot, then there wouldn't be any energy left to block something else from getting through at the same time." Vince turned to Robert. "Do we have anything that can hit the shield that hard?" "Well, we have a rocket launcher with only one rocket," Robert answered. "It's worth a shot," Vince replied. "Okay, I'll go get it," Robert said, putting Alice down. "It's in the jeep." As he ran off, the Golem fired another energy beam from its face. Vince, Alice, and Stephanie scattered to avoid the attack. The Golem fired more Magic Missiles at Vince. However, this time, he had an idea on how to dodge them. He waited until the Magic Missiles were right above him. Then, he quickly rolled out of the way. The ten Magic Missiles plowed into the dirt behind him. Alice, screaming, dove out of the way of a beam of energy the Golem spat. Then, the Veiliij giant fired another volley of Magic Missiles, this time, aimed at Stephanie. "Stephanie, look out!" Vince shouted. Stephanie was running from the Magic Missiles, but they were catching up quickly. Just as the Missiles were overhead, the Inferno Fiend grabbed her and rolled with her out of the way. The Missiles plunged into the ground, throwing up dirt. "Where the hell is Robert?" Vince asked. "Right here," Robert shouted from a distance, running with a rocket launcher. The Golem spat a beam of energy at him, but Vince quickly got in the way and blocked it with a shield of flame. The force of the beam knocked Vince to the ground, but the beam was deflected upward, away from Robert. Robert came within firing range, knelt on the floor, and aimed at the Golem. "This is our last rocket," he shouted at Vince. "Make it count." "Don't worry, I will," Vince shouted back. Robert fired the rocket, and Vince dashed toward the Golem. The rocket hit the Golem's shield first, and the impact and the following explosion left a huge, bright spot on the Golem's shield, level with its shoulders. A split-second later, Vince ran into the shield at the Golem's feet. As he touched the shield, he felt a slight resistance, but he set his body aflame and broke through. Now, he was inside. The Inferno Fiend threw several fireballs at the Golem, but none of them did any damage. The Golem didn't even flinch. Instead, it responded with more Magic Missiles. Hastily, Vince rolled out of the way, then staggered back. He had almost gone out of the shield. The Golem started walking again. Vince had to sprint to keep up with it. Then, he decided to save himself the trouble by grabbing on to the Golem's leg as it walked. The giant spat beam of energy at Robert, who dove to the ground to dodge it. However, he had dropped the rocket launcher, which was caught in the blast and destroyed. The Golem launched Magic Missiles at Vince, but he simply leapt from the leg of the Golem at the last moment. Instead, the Missiles tore into the leg and exploded, scattering its leg pieces apart. Now, with only one leg to stand on, the Veiliij Golem fell over. "That was stupid," Alice laughed. She, Stephanie, and Robert fired at the fallen Golem, but the shield was still there. Only Vince was in position to attack, and he frantically searched for the Artifact that generated the Golem's shield. Running across the Golem's body, he had to duck as to avoid another beam of energy its mouthpiece shot. "This is useless," Vince said. "Even if I find the piece, how would I recognize it?" He noticed a flickering in the shield above him as an energy shot ricocheted past. Then, he immediately noticed the same flickering on a piece on the Golem's left shoulder. His question had been answered. Quickly, Vince dove for the piece and tried to pull it off, but it wouldn't budge. He tried smashing it with a fireball, but nothing happened. Then, to his surprise, the Golem's face shot another energy beam at him. Vince jumped out of the way, and the beam tore through the Golem's left shoulder, severing its arm entirely and knocking off the shield Artifact. The Veiliij Golem raised its right hand and fired five Missiles at Vince, but Stephanie and Alice shot them, blowing them up as soon as they left the Golem's hand. The resulting explosions tore the hand off. "It looks like no more Magic Missiles," Vince said. Then, he noticed that Robert was no longer with Alice and Stephanie. "Hey, where's Robert?" Suddenly, the Golem turned its head and fired a beam at Vince. Vince rolled out of the way. The Golem turned its head and fired another beam at Vince. Vince rolled out of the way. The Golem turned its head and fired yet another beam at Vince. Vince rolled out of the way. Suddenly, a fast-moving jeep smashed into the Golem's head, breaking it off. The Veiliij Golem's head landed on the ground, then broke apart. An instant later, the rest of the Golem's body split apart into the individual Artifact pieces. "Thank Heavens that's over," Robert said. "No, wait," Vince said, remembering. "The Cobalt Bombs!" Before anyone could respond, he ran all the way back to Fort Adamant. When he was within sight of the base, he saw a Titan carry two missiles into a Griffin. Stacie, standing next to the Griffin, turned around and saw Vince. "You're too late!" she shouted as she ran aboard the Griffin. As the Griffin took off and flew away, Vince swore. Robert, Stephanie, and Alice then caught up with him, having run after him from the battle site. "Damn!" Vince shouted. "While we were busy fighting that Veiliij thing, the Quantum Saviors got all the missiles." "What?!?" Stephanie replied, utterly shocked. "Don't worry, it's not over yet," Robert said. "They still need a launch program to launch the warheads." "The president's Nuclear Football?" Vince asked. "No, not the Football," Robert replied. "Even the president doesn't know about the Cobalt Bomb Project. I was reading the information I downloaded off the Pentagon. The only copy of the launch program is at Blackwood Labs, a military research lab. They have the program on a disc, and they have the disc locked up in a vault. Even if they manage to get the disc, they still need two passwords to launch the nukes. Only the head scientist of the Cobalt Bomb Project and a high-ranking government correspondent know the passwords, and each of them knows only one, so the Quantum Saviors will need to get them both. I'm sure they're highly protected right now." "Couldn't they hack the launch program?" Alice asked. "No," Robert said. "According to the information, the password is encrypted with state of the art technology. It's impossible to hack." "Still, I'd feel safer if we protected the disc ourselves," Vince said. "I mean, we just saw today that the Quantum Saviors can beat the military. I think we should go to Blackwood Labs and steal the disc and keep it safe for them." "Yeah," Robert agreed. "Come on guys. Let's go. I'll upload the map to Blackwood Labs onto the hovercraft for you guys." "So Vince is our traitor?" Brian Mandragon asked. "And he kidnapped Mindy?" "Yes," Stacie Smith replied. "Last night, he came and tried to stop us from taking the Cobalt Bombs from Fort Adamant. I've already made some arrangements. They should be arriving any moment now." A few seconds of silence passed. Then, the door opened. William Mandragon entered, leading Lydia Robertson and Steve Lin. "Ah, good, Bill, you found them," Stacie said. "Yes," William replied. "It was tricky, but fortunately, our Shadow insiders had leads on their location." "So you want us to hunt down the Dark Fiend of the Inferno?" Lydia asked. "You mean Vince Zeng?" Stacie asked. "Yes, that's precisely what I want you to do. Dark Fiends have a natural affinity for other Dark Fiends, so you two should have no problem using our scanners to track him down, and when you do, I want you to eliminate him. We're willing pay whatever you want." "Don't worry," Steve said. "The opportunity to kill Vince is more than enough." "Also, Vince has a little girl with him, my niece Mindy," Stacie continued. "After you kill him, I want you to bring her back to me unharmed." "That we can do, too," Lydia replied. "But babysitting little girls can be a hassle sometimes. I saw quite a nice collection of war robots on my way in. How about you give me a hundred small ones and ten big ones, and we'll get your niece back for you?" "We'll give you thirty big ones and three hundred small ones," Stacie said. "But we'll give them to you only after you bring Mindy back for us." "Fine," Lydia said. "But you'd better not be pulling any tricks on us. Now, where are these scanners? We'll need them to find Vince, right?" William Mandragon beckoned, and they followed him down the hall. Lydia and Steve were grinning. What good fortune! They had always wanted to kill Vince. Now, they were getting paid to do just that. |