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A Series of Fights Vince led Alice, Robert, and Stephanie running down the halls of the Quantum Saviors Headquarters. Behind them, black-armored soldiers chased after them. Alice and Robert drew their guns and fired. Stephanie hastily cast a Holy shield to defend her allies. Yet, it wasn't enough. Robert grunted as he took a hit in the shoulder. Alice screamed as a shot tore into her leg. Robert picked the girl up and carried her. Soon, they left the main hall and ran down a much narrower hall, where they made two quick turns. "In here," Vince shouted as he forced a door open and dashed inside. The others followed. It was a small dark room, full of brooms, mops, and other cleaning equipment. As Stephanie began casting a spell to fix Alice's leg, the little girl winced. Apparently, the spell stung. Vince pressed his ear against the door. "It sounds like they lost us," he said, "but they're searching the halls around here." After a short pause, Robert spoke up. "Vince, I think Steph, Alice, and I should run decoy for you. You're strong enough to handle anything on your own. Plus, you're the only one who knows your way around here well enough to find the control room." "We don't need decoys," Vince replied stubbornly. "Vince, the soldiers are patrolling the halls out there," Robert said. "If we just go out there, they'll spot us and attack us immediately. Now, if the rest of us distract the soldiers, you could slip by and sneak into the control room." "It's not that I'm worried about," Vince said. "Those guys are from the Omega Mercenary Camp. Lorina told me about them. It's far too dangerous." "Vince, we're skilled," Robert said. "You know how well trained I am. Plus, Steph knows Holy magic. We can take care of ourselves. Sooner or later, they'll find us anyway. The longer we wait, the harder it'll be. We need to run decoy right now." Vince hesitated for a moment. "All right," he said. "When you leave the room, the elevator will be down the hall on the right, so go left. Keep the soldiers away from the elevator so I'll have some space to sneak through. And please, don't get killed." "Don't worry," Robert replied. "We won't." He turned to the others. "On the count of three. One... two... three!" Robert, Stephanie, and Alice burst into the hall and ran, firing their guns and casting spells. Soon, they disappeared down the hall to the left, and about half a dozen armored soldiers ran after them. When all was clear, Vince silently dashed down the right hall. Upon reaching the elevator, he pressed the button for service. Nothing happened. "Damn!" he whispered harshly. "They must have locked it down when that other intruder got in." There was a stairwell next to the elevator. It would be a lot slower, but at least it worked. Vince looked around to check for any enemies. Then, he ran up the stairs. Alice and Robert wandered through a poorly lit hallway. A few moments ago, they had lost the enemy soldiers, but in the process, they had also lost track of Stephanie. The Quantum Saviors soldiers had caught up to them, and the ensuing fight had been chaotic. Only by luck had Robert managed to find Alice, and when they escaped down a staircase, Stephanie was nowhere to be seen. "Where are we?" Alice asked. "I'd say the basement," Robert said. "We did go down a flight of stairs, after all." They wandered through the halls for a few more minutes, but they couldn't find the stairs. Suddenly, Robert stopped. "What's wrong?" Alice asked, stopping with him. "I hear footsteps," Robert replied. "And neither of us are moving." Suddenly, he grabbed Alice, and both dove to the floor. A thick bolt of lightning shot by overhead, passing through where he and Alice had been moments before. "Steve?" Robert asked, pointing his gun down the hall. "The Blitz Fiend? Not at all," a shadowy figured replied. He walked up closer so they could see him. He was a young man with long blond hair and a yellow cloak. "The Blitz Fiend quit right after his first job. I am the lightning elementalist, Thunder." Robert fired, but Thunder blocked with a lightning shield. Then, as the lightning mage gathered energy in his hands, Robert grabbed Alice and scrambled down the hall. They barely escaped to another cross-hall just as a lightning bolt cut through the previous hall. As they ran, Thunder appeared in the corridor behind them, energy in his hands. Still holding onto Alice, Robert burst through a door to his right just as Thunder blasted them with another lightning bolt. They made it safely into the room. It was a large and spacious room, but it was dark and completely empty. "Damn! There's nothing in here to help us fight that guy," Robert said. He turned around and saw Thunder walk into the room. "Look out!" Robert shouted as he pulled Alice and ran aside. The lightning bolt shot through the room, barely missing Robert and Alice. Robert fired more shots at the lightning mage, but Thunder simply blocked with his lightning shield. Again, the lightning mage let loose a bolt of jagged lightning. Again, Robert dragged Alice to the other side of the room to dodge it. Then, Alice pushed him away. "You don't have to drag me everywhere," Alice said. "I can take care of myself!" "Look out!" Robert shouted. He pushed Alice forward as he fell backward, and a lightning bolt shot by right between them. Thunder then fired more lightning at Alice, who screamed as she ran. "Leave her alone!" Robert shouted. Thunder turned to face him. Robert fired, but again, the lightning shield blocked his shots. Immediately, the lightning mage followed up with lightning. Robert rolled to the right, barely dodging the bolt. At nearly the same moment, Alice fired. Thunder grunted as he took the first shot in the back of his ribs. Then, he blocked the rest with a lightning shield. Robert joined in and started firing at Thunder as well. Robert and Alice stood on opposite ends of the room. In order to block shots from both sides, Thunder had to use both hands. Still pointing their guns at the lightning mage, Alice and Robert slowly approached him from both sides. His face showed an expression of distress. "Is something wrong?" Robert taunted. Thunder began to sweat from the forehead. "Might it have something to do with the fact that Alice and I are attacking you from opposite directions? You see, the problem is, there are two of us and only one of you. To attack one of us, you'd have to turn your back on the other, and you'd obviously take a hit or two, and one of them might be fatal." Robert and Alice were almost within an arms reach of Thunder's lightning shield. "That lightning shield of your doesn't look very sturdy," Robert observed. "If we get too close, I don't think it'll protect you at all." Yelling in frustration, Thunder turned to Robert and launched a bolt of lightning at him. Quickly, Robert dove to the floor and rolled aside. Then, he heard the unmistakable sound of the particle blaster firing. Alice had pulled the trigger. There was a hole in Thunder's throat. The lightning mage coughed blood and collapsed to the floor. "Come on, Alice, let's try to find a way back to the first floor," Robert said. Stephanie wandered about a series of halls. Along the walls was a row of windows, through which she could see the stars. It was already late into the night. A while before, as they ran decoy for Vince, the Quantum Saviors soldiers had caught up to them, and the ensuing fight had been chaotic. Stephanie had only managed to escape by channeling Holy energy into a blindingly bright light. Then, as the soldiers had been momentarily confused, she escaped up a flight of stairs. Now, Stephanie cautiously forced opened a door and peered inside. "Looks like someone's bedroom," she commented. "I must be in the lodging hall." She explored around for a while. All of the rooms she visited were empty. Apparently, all the soldiers were on duty, either defending the city streets or patrolling the headquarters. After some time, though, she finally came to a room that wasn't empty. There, she had briefly glimpsed someone sitting on a bed before she hastily shut the door. "Don't bother," a man's voice spoke from inside. "I saw you already." As Stephanie slowly backed away from the door, her staff raised in defense, the door froze over, then shattered. The man walked out. His head was completely shaved, and he dressed in a pale blue suit. "I am the ice elementalist, Frost," he introduced himself. "And you are?" Stephanie didn't reply. "As I thought," Frost spoke again. "An intruder." Quickly, Stephanie fired a Holy shot at him. However, the ice mage ducked under it. Then, he pressed his hands to the floor, and the spot he touched froze. Then, slowly, the ice expanded, and the deep freeze began to spread across everything. Gradually, the floor became covered with solid ice, then the walls, then the ceiling. Before Stephanie could react, the ice caught up her and consumed her. From within the ice, Stephanie conjured up a spell. Holy energy entered her body and warmed her until she defrosted her way through the ice. The girl shivered. She hadn't dressed for such cold. It was already spring, so she was wearing a tank top. She curled up on the floor to warm herself. The ice mage's spell didn't simply freeze the walls. He had frozen the very air itself. It was colder here than it had been in the Canadian snow. Suddenly, three long shards of ice tore through the wall behind her. Reacting to the sound, Stephanie barely had time to dodge them. Through the frosty air, she heard an echo of a laugh. Then, she ran through a frozen wall. It shattered, made brittle by the ice. "There must be something warm I can put on," Stephanie said as she tore open a frozen wardrobe. "Ugh! All frozen." More ice shards tore through the wall. Stephanie rolled onto the floor, and the ice spears sailed by overhead. Rolling back onto her feet, she peered through the hole they had made in the wall. In the next room, there were several holes in the walls, and in the rooms beyond, there were even more holes. She pulled away. Something was behind her. She leapt away just in time as three more ice spears shot by. Frost, the ice mage, stood in the hole that Stephanie had made a moment ago. He ran back through the hole, and Steph chased after him, but she soon lost him. Apparently, the ice mage had transformed the lodging halls into a complicated labyrinth of ice. It was nearly impossible to navigate. After wandering around for a few more minutes, she suddenly heard the echo of footsteps behind her. Quickly, Stephanie twirled around and fired a Holy shot. There was nothing there. Realizing the trick, she turned back around and blocked with a Holy shield. Three long shards of ice plunged into the Holy barrier and shattered. The ice mage now stood right in front of her. Stephanie attacked with a Holy shot. However, the ice mage threw a handful of small ice fragments. Several of them buried into Steph's bare arms, drawing forth a red mist of blood and disrupting her aim. Instead, the Holy shot smashed through the floor at the ice mage's feet. Before Stephanie could move again, the ice mage ran through the wall and escaped into the frozen labyrinth. Slowly, she walked up to the hole in the ground and peered into it. "Gas pipes," she commented. A few more ice shards came through the wall. Stephanie ducked. The lowest ice shard grazed the back of her head, tearing her ribbon. As her ponytail came loose, the girl ran through the wall and followed a straight-line path, heading for the source of the ice shards. When the next set of ice shards came, she blocked with a Holy shield. Then, she used them as a guide, following the ice shards' path. Finally, she came into another hallway and found her face to face with the ice mage. Before he could get away, Steph channeled Holy energy through herself, then touched the walls. A bright flash followed. The ice mage tried to escape by shattering through another wall, but suddenly, he bumped into a barrier. Stephanie had enclosed the two of them within a box made of Holy energy. "Not bad," Frost congratulated her. "You've used my own tricks against me. As I'm sure you know, I froze the walls to make them brittle, so I could run right through them and create a complicated network of tunnels, making it a nightmare to track me down and fight me, but you simply ran right through the walls, using the trajectory of my own attacks to guide you. Not only that, but you managed to stop me from escaping through the walls again." The ice mage then threw another handful of small, but sharp ice fragments at her. Stephanie blocked with her left arm, then used her right hand to shoot a narrow beam of Holy energy at him. However, the ice mage simply sidestepped the beam, and it dug a hole in the floor a few feet behind him. "But you're not as good as I had hoped," Frost continued. "You haven't wounded me at all, but I've already drawn blood from you, and with my tactics, I'm slowly wearing you down. Trapped in a box or not, you still can't beat me. You might as well give up." "Quiet," Stephanie said, holding her finger to her lips. "Do you hear that? What do you think that hissing noise is?" The ice mage looked around frantically. "It's the sound of gas leaking into the hall. My last shot? I wasn't aiming for you. I was aiming to pierce open one of those gas pipes. Natural gas has been filling up this box the whole time." A look of horror appeared on the ice mage's face. "And now--" Suddenly, the Holy barrier on the walls faded away. Stephanie leapt back, and as she did so, she struck the bottom of her staff against the wall, striking a spark. There was a huge, deafening explosion right in front of her. It pushed her several feet down the hall. However, Frost had been standing right in the middle. He had given a shout of anguish, and now, he was no more. All that was left was a hole in the floor and walls of the hall. Stephanie ran up to the hole. "I'd better fix up that gas leak before anything else happens," she said to herself. Vince had been running up the spiral staircase for a while. He remembered that the Quantum Saviors Headquarters was around eighty stories tall, and so far, he had only climbed about thirty. Now he was getting tired. His run slowed to a walk, and now, he had time to observe his surroundings. The stairwell went up, forming the shape of a square screw. The stairs themselves were metal and skeletal, but the walls were painted white. At the center of the column was an empty space between all the stairs, extending all the way up to the top floor and all the way down to the bottom. The only thing preventing Vince from falling to his doom was a metal railing. Suddenly, on a floor just above Vince, a door burst open. A woman in a green cloak stepped out to meet him. "Aea," Vince said, recognizing her. "I'm sorry, Vince, but as a sorceress of the Quantum Saviors, I cannot allow you to climb this staircase any further," Aea said in her slight accent. "Aea, you don't have to do this," Vince said. "You know that the Quantum Saviors are bad people. They're threatening people, Aea. They're trying to start wars." "I know," the sorceress replied. "But I swore my allegiance to the Quantum Saviors, and unlike you, I cannot go back on my word. As a loyal servant to the Quantum Saviors, I cannot let you pass. If necessary, I will fight you." "Aea, we're friends, aren't we?" Vince said. "I don't want to fight you." "Neither do I," Aea replied. "But we must. It is unfortunate that fate brought us to this. I don't want to have to fight you, but it is my duty to defend this place." Aea closed her eyes, put her hands together, and began to chant. A green aura covered her body, and slowly, parts of this green energy separated, forming three large shapes around her. These green shapes then filled with mass and became three blood-red gorillas, complete with clawed hands. "I don't want to fight," Vince repeated, slowly backing down the stairs. "I'm sorry," Aea replied. The three gorillas charged at him. Vince turned and ran. The first one lashed out with its claws and barely missed. The next one jumped the central gap and landed right on top of Vince, who slid fell over and slid down several steps. The gorilla reached its claws at his face, but Vince grabbed the gorilla's arms. However, the gorilla was much too strong. Within a second, one of the claws was already at his check, and it scratched his face lightly, drawing a bit of blood. Then, from Vince's skin, magma flowed forth. The extreme heat set the gorilla's blood-red fur on fire. It leapt off him and jumped around on the stairs, trying to put the flames out. Vince's skin became black hide, and the magma covered his body. Then, as it solidified, it formed the dragon-carved armor he had grown accustomed to. "I didn't want to," Vince said, "but you've left me choice." "Nice that you could join us, Dark Fiend of the Inferno," Aea said. "Now, attack!" As the gorilla closest to Vince burned, the two gorillas above leapt down to attack, their blood-red claws ready to strike. |