A Word From Our Sponsor

It's a trap. 

Simon looked around. The voice in his head went off, sounding like a freight train. He had a sense of vertigo, a strange feeling of deja vu. His vision was askew.

"They're moving," Donnelly said. "I think they are onto us."

"Element of surprise is over," Scorpio said.

Don't do it. 

Simon's head was on fire, like a phosphorus flare burning white. Like the sound of dice rolling across the table, echoing in his mind.

Scorpio brought out his gun and stood at the door to the adjoining car.

Make a saving roll.

Unstationed

Goner leaned out into the aisle, staring. "Hey Frank?"

Frank was looking in the other direction; Akimoto seemed troubled by something that Tatter had said to him. The big man was strange even by their standards. Suki knew the most about him, but she had been gone for so long...

"Did we pick up any other passengers at the last stop?" Goner asked.

Frank tried to remember... Things weren't always clear on the subway. "I don't think so... It was a long time back, wasn't it?"

He saw what had caught Goner's attention. People moving in the car ahead of theirs.

"Angst," Frank said calmly. The cheerleader was toying with her pom-poms while Aqua braided her pigtails. "Get your guns."

Underground Dramatis Personae

STONE - detective turned conspiracy theorist

RIVETA - detective turned metaphysical investigator

DONNELLY - ex-principal or maybe a priest

SCORPIO - geek turned double-agent

SIMON - mystery man

AKIMOTO - temporally-displaced norse samurai

TATTERDEMALION - strange girl from another planet

AQUA - teenage tiger-fist

FRANK - reformed LEGACY hitman

GONER - ex-mercenary

ANGST - cheerleader avec uzis 

Logo Hunter

Logollos put the phone down on the receiver and cracked a vicious smile and said to no one in particular, "'And that's how the game is played."

"Don't you know that in games you can bend the rules here and there?" said a voice from the shadows, which startled the hell out of him. Logollos scanned his office and couldn't find the form. He had to have the bio-detectors checked once again; this was the third time in a month they didn't scan anyone out of the ordinary. He didn't panic, instead quickly moved his foot over to the alarm switch underneath his desk. All he had to do now was stall the intruder for thirty seconds.

"I don't know who you are and how you came in here," he said with all the charm and charisma of a snake-oil salesman. "But it's the last thing that you'll ever do."

"Precisely," Mayganne said as she stepped into the light, holding one hell of a handgun. It looked like an arquebus.

Before Logollos had a chance to reply she pulled the trigger and a blue ball of energy shot out of the barrel.

The top ten floors of the Legacy Tower erupted into a brilliant ball of light which could be seen for miles around.

Open File

The clatter of the tracks suddenly got louder as the car entered a tunnel. Riveta grabbed a railing and stood up.

"Where's Mayganne?" she asked, her voice panicked.

Stone glanced around, blinking. "Ok... calm down..." he said softly, maybe to his former-partner, maybe to himself.

Riveta had the truth of it, though: Mayganne wasn't with them. Scorpio's cell-phone was ringing.

Donnelly turned to them, looking disoriented. "There's some people... in the next car... strange..."

Riveta turned, checking for her pistol under her jacket, relieved at the feel of the steel. Looked past the Father, through the window in the door at the end of the car.

A girl in a tattered sweater talking to a huge man, his blond hair tied in a top-knot. A cheerleader and another teenage girl in a cowboy hat. Two other men.

Simon put a hand out to steady Riveta. "It's okay," he said. He looked exhausted. "We'll be okay."

Scorpio snapped his cell-phone shut, ending his quick call with Greg Logollos. From LEGACY.

"That was the Professor," Scorpio said. "We're supposed to kill the people in the next car."

The Mind Eyes

Tatter opened her eyes and looked around the car. Her breathing was shallow and she was in a cold sweat. Her eyes adjusted to the dim fluorescent light. She glanced around and noticed everyone resting, sleeping. Trying to catch a few z's before the next stop, whenever that would be. Her eyes drifted from the blur of the world through the windows to the back of the car, where Akimoto was sitting lotus-style. Eyes closed, finger and thumb pinched. She got up and moved toward the rear of the car.

"Aki," she said after she sat down on a seat facing him. "You up?"

Aki cracked an eye at her and smiled.

"Bad dream?" he inquired. He didn't move from his position.

"Kinda," Tatter replied; she looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes looking at the ads and posters as they melded into other eras and styles. "What do you remember of Citadel?"

Akimoto's eyes opened wide and he looked at her.

Lost in Thunder

As the small ship finally broke apart beneath her, Kitty imagined what things would have been like if she had never followed Maus off their homeworld to Citadel. Conditions there had been improving since Chem and Vlad had overthrown the Lich-King who had forced her people into poverty. Magics hoarded away in the Castle were being shared, bringing healing and hope to the lands. Opportunities for work, and even adventure, were many. 

Maus had left with them, though. Joined the world's saviours aboard the Nexus Wave and flown for the stars. And, later, to her death. 

And now Kitty was adrift amongst those stars, the final battle raging around her. Rand unconscious, floating away from her, bleeding into the ether. She couldn't see if Drake had escaped from the wreckage. She spun, aching from the wounds, dizzy from all the combat, trying to see... There it was. The Nexus Wave. 

Only it wasn't swooping in to rescue her; it was charging straight for the very ship she had been undercover aboard for months. The key she had stolen from Vixx was sealed in an enchanted case, now adrift with the remains of the escape craft. Without it he wouldn't be able to unlock his dark and murderous prize. Maybe Chem and Vlad could do it after all. So she wished them well and tried not to wish they were sailing towards rather than away from her. 

She knew that wishes sometimes came true - she had wished to join her sister in the stars, and though Maus had fallen by the time Kitty reached Citadel, well, she had fallen in battle against foes of peace. And so Kitty had found her, in a way, after all.

Questions Aske

Aske picked up his pace a little more as he walked through the halls. About him men were scurrying back and forth, grabbing armaments, reloading cannons, and taking the wounded to sickbay.

He stepped over one body and disappeared below. A battle was raging and all he had was the look of a gentlemen who was searching for a quiet place to have a spot of tea. 

"Sir?" a mage said as Aske entered a room. "We lost the scry. They must of done something to it." 

Aske frowned; he leaned forward and said, "Inform Vixx." 

"I thought I would leave that to you, Sir," the young wizard said with a hint of nervousness in his voice. 

"The commander would like to know," Aske said. "And the sooner the better so he can decide the next course of action." 

"Right away sir," the mage said. He got up and scampered out of the room. As soon as the mage left, Aske sealed the door shut and went to the cabinet. Bringing out a key.

Falling Into

The deck lurched and Vlad casually adjusted his posture to avoid slipping. Torvel cranked the wheel and the Nexus Wave evened out. The space around them was exploding in rainbow colours and glittering eruptions. The Vlaniqk fleet was deploying their dreaded Thaumotropic weapons. The arcane energy was tearing apart the vessels of the Citadel fleet, warping the very ether itself and shredding the nearby ships that sailed on its currents. A number of crimson Vlaniqk ships were themselves destroyed in the surge; everything was at stake in this battle and everything had to be risked. 

And so the Nexus Wave was sailing directly into the churning storm of magic, towards Vixx's flagship. Vlad held the gemstone in his hand and could feel the warmth flow from it, like a wind. The Breath of Ranadunn. When the Guard began planning this final strike against the enemies of Citadel, they knew of Vixx's discovery of the Thaumatropics. They knew few powers in all the worlds could withstand them. The divine protective magic bound inside the gem, the ancient spirit of an ancient goddess, had been only a legend. Vlad had volunteered immediately to seek it out. The blood of the dragon who had guarded it still stained Vlad's mighty sword - as a tribute to the gem's guardian the barbarian warrior swore he would only wash it clean with the blood of Vixx himself. 

Shielded in the Breath of Ranadunn, the ship sailed through the strands of toxic energy, weaving over and under enemy battlecraft. Vlad kept his eyes focused on Vixx's massive cruiser ahead. First though... 

Chem patted the Golem's huge steel leg. He called up to Dakk as the armour-suit sealed around him and the gems inside the helmet began synchronizing with Dakk's mind. "Grab them and get them out of this mess!" 

"Will do," Dakk said softly inside the Golem. The first three gems, for sight, for sound, and for warnings, were active. And then, thanks to Stryker's discovery, the fourth gem awoke as well. Dakk smiled. "Let's go, Bekki," he said, and piloted the Golem over the
edge of the ship.

Cry Havoc

Serisia stood in the control room overlooking the scene. Her hands were clasped behind her and hidden by her wings, which were folded over her like a cloak. 

Did I know this is how it would end? Did I sense it all those years ago, that night in Pleasuredome when I first met Chem? I was searching for something, and I found it... And now we could all lose everything...

"Your highness," Admiral Stryker said as he approached. He was dressed in the regal uniform, looking more of a magistrate than the commander he was. It was the second time in his life that he had worn this uniform. It only seemed appropriate to don it now. 

"Is everything set?" she asked as she turned. Then she looked him over and gave him a smile. 

"Yes, milady," Stryker replied as he held his composure. "Let's see this through to the end." 

"It's about time," Serisia replied, turning her attention to the battle unfolding.

The Breach

The Vlaniqk ships swarmed the small vessel, grapples firing and snaring like spider-webs. Rand winked at Kitty and drew his sword. The first wave of the Vlaniqk commandoes, in their sleek black and red armour, leapt from the railings of the battleships and dove towards the deck of the battered star-skiff. 

Below-decks Drake dropped the key Kitty had stolen into a glowing case and snapped it shut. In case the plan failed. 

Kitty grinned back at Rand and sprung into space, directly toward the nearest commando, arcing her body past his spear-blade. Crashing into him, sending him off-course and away from their ship. Ricocheting toward another commando, thrusting her own blade out to impale him. Pivoting off his corpse to kick another in the jaw, stunning him so that as he neared the deck Rand easily cut him down. Kitty yanked her weapon free of the body, floating in the space between the Vlaniqk fleet and the escape ship. More commandoes descending around her, cannons being trained on her. She had decided months ago, deep into the undercover mission that would eventually lure Vixx off course, draw him out of the shadows, that when the final battle came she would fight it as if it was her last.

Suddenly, a line tightened around her waist and she was being pulled back toward her team's vessel. Drake called out to her as he reeled her in, over the whispering etheric winds, "Don't you go showing off until the rest of the Guard get here!" Beside him Rand slashed at a Vlaniqk; the bard was singing softly as he swung his blade, the melody lending his attacks and parries and lethal rhythm.

As Kitty touched down on the deck, ducking the spear of a commando, her eyes widened. "That would be now then." 

For a moment everyone paused. Kitty, Rand, Drake. The commandoes. The captains and crews of Vixx's fleet. Staring in shock as all the stars and swirling etheric clouds above the battle began to churn, spin, melt away. A spectral cloak on a scale unheard of, an enchantment against the senses and against all the known scrying and divining spells. It had drained almost all of the Battery Mages' power; a last desperate ploy to force a battle with Vixx. The illusion of empty space falling away, revealing the gathered fleet of Citadel, the Nexus Wave at the head. And behind the dozens of ships, Citadel itself.

Like Pawns on a Board

"Now?" Torvel asked. 

Chem had his hand held up in the air, unmoving. His eyes closed and counting away seconds in his mind. He was visualizing the battle and what was unfolding. Vlad stood off to one side and glanced out the window; his suit seemed to shimmer like distant stars in a twilight sky. 

"This has got to look good," Chem whispered. "Too soon and the jig is up."

"What if we get there too late?" Torvel inquired. He was restless, his huge frame huddled over the wheel of the Nexus Wave. He lived for the battle and he seemed to be missing it. 

"We won't be," Vlad said. He turned around and looked at Chem. "Let's do it."

Rockin' the Boat

The little ship rocked violently as a cannonball hit the side. Chunks of wood ripped off like a scab and floated away from the ship. Kitty cursed under her breath as she hit the deck and grabbed onto a line; her arm automatically reached to her scabbard and took out the dagger as well. It wouldn't be too long before the pursuit ships were on them and boarding and she wanted to be ready. 

Inside the pilot's room Rand returned from below-deck. 

"Where the hell are they?" Drake inquired of Rand. He knew this little ship was faster than the pursuing vessels. "Why aren't they here now, they should be here." 

"Playing by the book," Rand replied. "We have to make this look good."