1993 replies to this topic

[Jacks]

You made the battle more intense than I had originally intended, Jackson. Though I might mention we are in an outpost-building thing. Not a tent.
At least I think so.

Sorry about that. I've just felt for some time that I need practice writing action sequences. Also, if anyone ever feels that I write too violently, please call me out on it. It's been so long that my frame of reference for RPing here might have slipped a bit.

I edited out the tent stuff.

IC: Loop carefully peered through the trees and saw he had reached his destination - the landing field of Outpost 4. Circling the clearing while remaining out of sight among the trees, he managed to pick out the Talon. He smiled. Success was in reach.

----​----​----​----​----​----

Hotwire's eyelids felt heavy as garage doors, so for several minutes he did not bother to open them. He was lying on what felt like a cot, and his left foot itched horridly. As his senses slowly returned, he realized he could hear voices. Wade and Crusher, he thought. So I'm in the medical bay. Why... Then the fight with Zelda snapped back into his mind. He forced his eyelids open.

The sight that met him was gut-wrenching. Tracer lay on the next cot over, abnormally pale, and hooked up to life support. At that moment, Wade turned and noticed that Hotwire's eyes were open.

"Ah," he said, walking over to Hotwire's cot. "Welcome back. About your leg--"

"Never mind my leg, what about him?" Hotwire interrupted, motioning towards Tracer. Wade sighed.

Dr. Crusher, who was monitoring Tracer's life support, stood up and turned towards Hotwire. "That stromling shot him twice, once through the lung and once through the abdomen. We've been trying to stabilise him, but his chances don't look very good. He's been in and out of consciousness this whole time."

"Now I understand perfectly that you are concerned for your friend," said Wade, "but we really need to discuss your leg. I would ask what possessed you to shoot yourself in the shin with a Space Police blaster, but once we began operating that became apparent." Hotwire nodded, unsurprised. "The maelstrom was already getting to work when you pulled that trigger, and from the knee down your leg looked more like that of a stromling than anything else." Wade paused, obviously somewhat uncomfortable. "Thing is...there wasn't much else we could do...it was barely attached...and as it was infected with the maelstrom..."

Hotwire looked down. His left leg ended in a bandaged stump several inches below the knee. "Can't say I'm surprised. To be honest, that was rather the intent I had. Cut off the infection's only route before it spreads any more."

Wade looked somewhat relieved by Hotwire's reaction, and spoke again. "Now, if we were still on Lego Island, it would be a fairly straightforward matter of replacing your leg with a new one. However, we do have what might be the next best thing. Nazareno, as you may be aware, is quite an expert in mechanical prosthetics..." As he continued about the possibilities of a robotic limb, Hotwire began to zone out a bit. Ever since Kat's apparent death and then continued existence within computers, the line between organism and technology had become a matter of some importance to him, and with this in mind, his response was immediate.

"No."

Wade stopped. "What?"

"I shot my leg off to stay a human minifig. I'm not sure I like the idea of fusing myself with machinery."

"Bear in mind that you could be removed from active duty if you are considered handicapped," said Wade warningly.

"If Rex can stay on the front lines in a wheelchair," Hotwire said, "I'm sure I'll be all right with a crutch and a peg."

OOC: I'll return to Tracer later; at the moment i am too fatigued to continue this.
EDIT: Also, everyone please avoid noticing Loop. Thanks.

Edited by Jackson Lake, Mar 23 2012 - 12:02 AM.

[Atton Rand]

IC: "So you can tell the difference between Stromlings and minifigs?" Garry asked.

"Ultraviolet light," replied Dr. Cyborg.

"I see," replied Garry. "I just hope you're right about this."

He thought about it for a moment. "I think I know a few other people who can help," Garry finally said. "Come on."

Garry led Dr. Cyborg, Nazareno, and Dust towards the storage rooms.

"What in builder's name is the point of thiis?" Dust asked impatiently as Garry got out his keys.

Garry said nothing as he unlocked the door to storage area three and walked inside, staring at the two prisoners.

"Can you walk?" Garry asked.

"I think so," replied Strangebrick.

"Good," replied Garry. He quickly ran over and helped the man up, as well as Tom. "You're coming with us. We got stromlings in the base."

[Brikman McStudz]

OOC: Oh, I didn't mean it was bad, Jackson. In fact. I quite enjoyed that you spiced up the battle.

IC:

Nazareno raised an eyebrow. "I can't help but agree with Dust," he said to Garry. "What is the point of this? Can they detect Stromlings?"

*************************

This is an interesting turn of events.

Zach had learned from his Stromling scouts in the jungle that the Dino Attack Team had still not left the safety of their outpost and time was almost up. According to his last check, there was only half an hour left until his deadline was finished.

As much as he wanted to finish off the Dino Attack, where would the fun be in just killing them at their base? He wanted them to experience the full horrors of the Maelstrom Temple. However, he was a man of his word. He would not give them a million chances to get their act together. I wonder... Zach reached with his mental link to Zelda. It was distant and somewhat faded, but he could still feel the connection.

What is going on over there? Zach was met with silence. Then:

They found me, Zelda muttered. They captured me. Spy paranoia has started up again inside their ranks.

Interesting. Zach cut his connection and began to run over his options. Finally, he turned to Cranky.

"Come," Zach said. "Let's go visit this 'Outpost 4'. I have a little message for the Dino Attack Team."

Edited by Brikman McStudz, Mar 23 2012 - 04:53 PM.

[avmatoran]

OOC:
Well, I did have some posts that took place after the meeting, but I'll make it so they took place during a break in the meeting when everyone else got coffee and donuts.

IC:
"Yes, why are they important? Do they have inside info or something?" Dr. Cyborg asked. "Anyway, I have theory. There might be a small pool of Maelstrom underneath the outpost in an underground cavern or something."

----------------------------------
Catless was stunned. How could a Stromling, two of them no less, infiltrate the outpost? The security here was some of the best there was. She was puzzled, but she had a theory. Cyborg probably had it too, they both thought alike. She spoke up.

"There might be a pool of Maelstrom somewhere in the fortress, hidden, that would infect these agents. Somewhere agents would visit regularly, like the cafeteria or something."

[Delta Titan Sparta]

IC: Fullmetal shook his head. "They can't be--" he began. But Claymore cut him off.
"But they are," he said. "It happens in war."
"Tell me," said Fullmetal. "Tell me everything that happened."

-------

The cell rumbled beneath their feet. Frantic shouts were heard past the bars. Fullmetal poked his head out.

"What in Builders' names is going on?" he shouted. Agents rushed past, their weapons ready, ignoring him. Fullmetal slumped against the wall next to Aravis. She set her head on his shoulder. Spino leaned against the other wall, and Ptero sat cross-legged, looking forlorn.

"So," said Spino, "this is how we die. Like rats." The concept sickened Fullmetal. Here they were, seasoned warriors, and they wouldn't die fighting for their cause. He stood.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" he roared. A blade sprang from his wrist. That caught everybody off guard. Fullmetal examined the dagger-like blade and smiled. With a flourish, he punched a bar, and the blade sliced through with little effort. "Now we're getting somewhere!"

[Andrewnuva199]

OOC: Did we just write a plan compromise into the plot? That's what I get for not posting, I guess.

Aw well, I never really gave Semick's plan, so I think I can work around it.

IC: "...what?" said Bluetooth.

"I can't believe it either, but that's what happened," said Stranger, looking disgruntled as the Mutant Lizard behind him smirked a little.

Bluetooth hadn't seen Stranger in days. For that matter, he had thought he was dead, lost in the chaos like Raider had been when the medical tent at camp had gotten trashed in the ambush. But here he was, looking alot more rugged with a small beard and a torn up uniform, but clearly alive.

"So let me get this straight," Bluetooth began. When you got into the XERRD fortress-"

"Who's XERRD?" Stranger asked.

"The name for Dr. Rex's scientist club. Man, you missed out on alot. Anyways, you're in the fortress when you encounter some lizard you picked a rivalery with during an earlier battle, who after dueling you, saves you when Rotor bombs the Megablokland out of it, and then keeps you as a pseudo-prisoner/house guest in a cave for three days?"

"Pretty much an average experience for any of us," Stranger remarked. "And there's more to it than that. We talked qutie a bit during that-"

"How? You don't know their language?"

"He does know rudiementary English, though, and how to write it with a tail" Stranger said as he pointed his thumb back at the Mutant Dino, who raised it's tail like one would raise a hand. "Sounded rather intellectual, to be honest. It was like talking to one of Rex's old pets. Though he said he wasn't actually."

"Okay..." Bluetooth said, still a little shocked that Stranger, of all Minifigs, had had an encounter like this. "So... what did you talk about?"

"Casual talk. Kill ranks, fighting abiltiies, how and why we hated each other, insulting each other's mothers, and how he was wanting to help us."

This was starting to sound like a weird dream to Bluetooth. But he kept silent (albiet with a confounded face) as Stranger countinued. "Yeah, he's picking up on the whole Malestrom aspect, I guess, and would rather not be some total slave to darkness. So he's willing to serve as a soldier or maybe some incognito guy or whatnot. I dunno, I think he wants to try and talk to Rex about it, or whoever he calls 'The Dino Man'." Stranger used air quotes when he said the last few words. "Sounds pretty pretentiouslly poetic or something."

"Okay, well..." Bluetooth looked behind him, where agents were still scrambling around from the latest commotion in the command area. "Rex is with the other guys, trying to work out the final details of the plan. Though I think they found some more Malestrom spies, so I think we may have-"

"Bluetooth, you in there!" came a familar voice from up the hall.

"Just stop right there, Semick! Like I said-" said another familar voice.

"If what you said is true, then there's no point with bothering with secrecy. It's now or nothing," Semick said as he walked into the communications room, Hertz trailing behind him. Both men were rather cross, though Semick was more concentrated and focused, while Hertz was more eratic and confused.

"Ah, so you are here, and glad to see you're alive, Stranger," said Semick, talking without suprise to the MInifigs in the room. "And you've picked up a friend. Rather fitting, I might add. Now, I need-"

"Semick, we are completely unprepared for-"

"That's how we were in the LEGO Island netherworld, and we got out of that pickle, I remind you. Anyways, open communications to the all-agent alert system. I need a message out and I need it now. We're launching the attack."

"Wha-oh thank goodness," Bluetooth said with suprise and relief. He had been noticing how close they were to deadline.

"Oh, back in act-" Stranger began, before a shout rang out.

"SEMICK, WE DON'T HAVE A PLAN!" cried Hertz.

"Working on it as we speak, now come on! I need every agent on this island informed now! I outrank you, and you need to hear my orders! Now go!"

Bluetooth was confused and worried about what these agents were saying, but he proceeded to the radio controls and helped Hertz set the broadcasting frequency.

"He's going insane," Hertz muttered to the Futuron technician. "The stress is getting to him."

"We all went insane the day we joined this team," Bluetooth retorted. "Some of us are just more insane than others."

"I hate quotes like that. People throw that around without any real understanding." He sighed loudly and turned around to face the Elite agent. "It's done."

"Good," Semick said quickly as he got up to the mic. Making sure it was on, he cleared his throat and began to speak loud and clearly.

"Attention, all agents! This is Eltie Agent Semick, Commander for the final mission agantist the Malestrom forces on Adventurers Island. Time is of the essance, and we're only a half hour from when our emenies have promised to strike at us once more. As well, we have had recent developments thave have compromised some of our intelligence. Regardless, we are now launching the attack. Any agents 50 miles or more from Outpost 4 shall report to the boundries of the discusssed target territory and will wait for further command, while staying tuned to this frequency. All agents within 50 miles from Outpost 4 will report back and assemble at our front entrance. There, I will give a speech that will also be broadcasted on this frequency regarding our plans for attack. After that, I and the rest of the forces at Outpost 4 will depart for the target territory. Everyone follow these orders immediately and efficiently. The fate of our planet, and perhaps our universe, is at hand here. That is all."

Semick switched off the mic and faced his company. Bluetooth was shocked, Hertz was furious, Stranger and his Mutant Lizard ally were grinning, and a couple of agents who had wandered into the room were looking suprised and morbid, but nevertheless looked accepting of the orders.

"Well then, I guess you've all heard that. Let's get moving!"

As everyone left, Bluetooth heard Semick mutter "The time for action is at hand."

"Em, Semick," Bluetooth politely asked his friend, "Was Hertz right when he said you don't have a-"

"Stop talking," Semick said, holding a hand up, "brain thinking, hush."

OOC: Alright, alright, this might sound like an inconvience, but by golly, if I'm hearing we're down to half an hour till deadline, I say we kick into gear, no matter our condition! MAybe that will get me posting again, too.

[Delta Titan Sparta]

IC: Fullmetal drew his arm back. In a blur of motion, he sliced at the bars. Pieces of metal fell away until a space a minifig could fit through stood before them.
"Jailbreak!" Ptero cried. The five sprinted as fast as they could. "Where to first?"
"We find Tex, Shade, Freefall, and Eno," replied Fullmetal. Anger burned in his eyes. "If they've hurt my family, builders, shield them from my wrath."
"'Family?'" another voice said haughtily. "That's pretty sick, traitor." Colonel Mustang turned the corner, wielding a wickedly sharp rapier. The five agents slowed.
"Out of our way!" roared Fullmetal. The blade extended from his wrist and he charged. Metal crashed against metal as the two combatants exchanged blows. Mustang seemed complacent, which threw Fullmetal into a frenzy.
"Parry, thrust, thrust," Mustang gloated, "Good! I thought this would be boring."
Fullmetal felt his chest grow hot, and opened his mouth. Blue and gold flames roared at Mustang. Needless to say, he was caught off guard. He rolled to one side and landed a blow on Fullmetal's left arm. Undeterred, the DA agent surged forward, bringing his weapon within millimeters of his opponent's face.
"Your file didn't lie," Mustang commented. He patted out a patch of fire on his shoulder. "Expert in close-quarters combat, ferocious, and not the least bit afraid to die." Fullmetal paused, panting.
"You read my file?" he asked, keeping his arm up. Mustang nodded.
"Indeed," he replied. "Not every soldier gets as much attention." His eyes narrowed. "Except traitors."
"We aren't traitors!" Aravis screamed. Mustang suddenly fell to his knees, clutching his head. Aravis's eyes glowed a fierce green. In a moment, Mustang fell, silent.
"Gaia," Fullmetal said. "Roll out!"

[Atton Rand]

IC: "I don't know what information they have on the Stromlings but they could have vital information on XERRD," replied Garry. "Now what do we do? Take them with us and try to keep them safe, or lock them in here and let them be assimilated by the Maelstrom?"


"What's going on?" Windows shouted as Mac ran into the radio room armed with a rifle, with a few sticks of dynamite strapped to his clothes. He was accompanied by Copper.

"We got Stromlings in the base," replied Mac. "Come on."

"Stromlings?" Windows asked. "What do we do?"

"We got to stick together, figure out who's human, and who isn't, and work our way from there."

"How do we tell who's human?" Windows asked.

"I don't know," replied Mac. "Copper, do you think there's some form of test we can perform? Maybe a blood test of some kind?"

"I'm not sure," replied Copper. "I've got samples of the staff's blood on hand. If we were to mix Stromling blood and human blood, and if there was a reaction, it would give us an idea of who was infected."

"Than what are we waiting for?" Asked Windows. "Let's go do it?"

"The problem is we only have blood samples from the base staff," replied Copper. "You, me, Mac, Garry, Fuchs... there's still tons of other people here."

Windows sighed and got up with the rest of them.

***

Fuchs turned toward Minerva. "Do you think you can operate the radio?" He asked. Minerva shook her head.

"That's what I thought," replied Fuchs. "We'll just have to stay here for the moment."

***

Pierce felt a cold chill as the helicopter descended toward the Antarctic landscape. As soon as they'd landed on the pad a group of people came in one-by-one to help the patients out of the chopper. To his surprise, Pierce was approached by a woman in her mid-40's who seemed strangely familiar. She and another man helped to get his stretcher out of the helicopter and to bring him indoors.

[Brikman McStudz]

OOC: I'd say the whole "spy" thing spiraled out of control. Regardless, the Dino Attack always seems to press forward, regardless if they have an actual plan put together.

Also, disregard the part about the "compromise" since Semick seems to be getting things in gear. Trust me, you will not want to stay at the Outpost much longer.
IC:

Zach called Cranky to stop. Outpost 4 was not far from his position. However, he didn't want to enter the outpost. He wanted to remind the Dino Attack of his deadline. Here we go. Zach cleared his throat and used his Maelstrom power to amplify Cranky's voice.

"Get it started, Cranky."

***************************

Nazareno shrugged. "Alright, we'll take them. What are your names?"

"Tom," one said.

"Dr. Strangebrick," the other said.

"Okay. You two are coming with us. We are searching this outpost for-" Nazareno was cut off when a loud, ape-like screech echoed throughout the outpost. Cyborg, Dust, Garry, Nazareno, Tom, and Strangebrick covered their ears as the hideous yell continued for nearly a minute. When it was clear, Dust glanced at Nazareno.

"What was that?" Dust asked.

"I don't know," Nazareno muttered. "It sounded like an ape or gorilla or something."

"What if there is a Stromling Ape in the outpost?" Dr. Cyborg asked, worried.

"I don't think so," Nazareno said. "An ape wouldn't be able to get in here with out being blown apart by this outpost's defenses. I think we-" Nazareno was cut off again as the hallway lights dimmed.

"What is going on?" Garry wondered looking around. "I think all the lights are dimmed across the outpost."

"Maybe the Stromlings are the cause," Dust pointed out. Suddenly, they heard someone clear their throat loudly. The noise bounced off the hallways, forcing them to cover their ears again to muffle the loud noise.

"Hello, members of the Dino Invasion Neutralization Organization!" a voice boomed. Nazareno immediately knew that Zach was the man speaking. "I hope Cranky's wake-up call got your attention. How anxious he is to meet up with your team again. Especially the one who hit him with a Fire Hammer and tried to blow him up! He is waiting in anticipation to meet you again."

Dust seemed to recognize the voice. "That is Zachary, correct?" Nazareno nodded.

"But enough about Cranky! Allow me to introduce myself. Or rather, reintroduce myself, as many of you already know who I am. I am Zachary, Standard Dino Attack Agent. In fact..." Zach paused.

"What is he up to?" Dr. Cyborg asked.

***************************

Zach paused his monologue, considering what to say next. He had always been known as "Zachary" or "Zach" throughout his entire service on Adventurers' Island, both by the Dino Attack and the Maelstrom. He had attempted to hide his last name in order protect himself and his family. He was certain the only people who knew his last name were the Team Commandos and perhaps Andrew.

They don't matter. Nobody matters. He opened his mouth to speak again....

***************************

"In fact," Zach suddenly continued. "Feel free to call me by my full name, Zachary ... Virchaus." Nazareno raised his eyebrow at this sudden revelation.

"You know, I can't say I ever really noticed how he never gave away his last name," Dust noted.

"I personally thought he didn't have one," shrugged Nazareno.

"Anyway!"Zachary Virchaus boomed. Your time is wearing thin, Dino Attack. I gave you two and a half days to pull yourselves together so you could stop me. There is now a half hour until the end. I must say, I am rather disappointed. But then again, you are the Dino Attack Team. You guys seem to take things at one little baby step at a time. This time, I'm not allowing it.

"And before you start blaming me; Yes, I know I am partially to blame for your delay thanks to spies I had placed in your ranks. Let this be known: I only sent two spies. You have captured one, but the other still runs free. Any other Stromlings you find are the result of a corruption I played know part in. Who are the spies, you ask? Well, ask yourselves this: Where would the fun be if the Big Bad just told me everything I needed to know?" A loud, piercing laugh echoed through the hallways.

***************************
Zachary Virchaus. Zachary Virchaus. Zach Virchaus...

Minerva ran Zach's full name through her name multiple times. She had never even considered his last name. He was always just Zach.

The Fire Hammer had managed to get a good distance from Outpost 4 before running out of gas. However, they were still in range of Zach and Cranky (Minerva assumed Cranky was the ape that had roared) so they could still here his message.

He sounds so...arrogant. She thought sadly. He doesn't seem to care about anyone or anything.

"Half an hour, Dino Attack! That is all you get. If you aren't at least moving toward the Maelstrom Temple in 30 minutes time, an army larger and more dangerous then anything you have ever seen will come and they WILL destroy you. I swear. Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye swear. In the meantime, keep calm and may the odds be ever in your favor!" Zach cackled one last time before his voice faded away.

[Atton Rand]

IC: As Mac's group proceeded down the hall he raised his gun at a frightened young girl.

"Who are you?" Mac asked, sternly.

"Kate Bishop," replied the young girl. "Now would someone please explain what's happening here."

"There's Stromlings in the base," replied Mac.

"You heard the message," Copper said. "There was only one. Garry was distracted by another stromling when I arrived. That must have been the one they caught, which means we must still have to deal with Norris."

"Yeah," replied Mac. "Well I don't like to make assumptions."

"Mac," Windows said, somewhat pleadingly. "What if we're wrong?"

"Well then, we're wrong," replied Mac. "We'll take you with us, you try anything and I'll blow a hole right through your megablockn' head. Understand?"

Kate nodded nervously as she joined them. Around the corner they found another group of people, including Garry. Mac quickly aimed his rifle and cocked it, catching their attention. However, Garry was quick to turn and draw his own pistol.

"NOBODY MOVE!" Mac shouted. "I wouldn't want to have to shoot any of you!"

"MAC PUT THAT GUN DOWN!" Garry said.

"How do I know it isn't you?" Mac asked.

"How do you know it is me?" Garry asked.

"I know that there's a stromling in here somewhere," replied Mac. "I don't want to take any chances."

"Mac, I think you should listen to Garry," Windows said pleaingly.

"Shut up Windows," replied Mac. "How do we know it isn't you?"

"I'm telling you Mac," Copper shouted. "It's Norris we're after!"

"CAN EVERYONE JUST CALM THE ZNAP DOWN FOR A MOMENT!" Garry shouted before he lowered his gun. Mac hesitated before he reluctantly did the same.

"Now listen," Garry said. "This bickering isn't getting us anywhere. If we send someone out there it can at least buy us some time. Now what I think we should do is assemble a force of some kind, get together the few people we can be sure aren't infected. We'll only have half an hour, but it will give us a bit more time to find Norris."

"What do we do when and if we find him?" Mac asked.

"I don't know," replied Garry. "Fuchs took the only sample of any potential cure with him when he fled in order to keep it from falling into their hands."

[PeabodySam]

OOC: I am glad to see that, a week later, Dino Attack: At War's End is going strong, with most of our players returning and over two pages of posts. Don't worry; I assure you that, although my posts may not be frequent, I've been patrolling this topic like an eagle and keeping my eye on event here, ensuring that I do not fall behind and need to catch up.

IC: Rex cursed under his breath. It felt like over a year had passed since then, but Rex remembered the day he met Zachary Virchaus in the Aztec Village. Now he was a Stromling Agent who was perfectly capable of and willing to destroy everyone in the camp.

"We should have been moving hours ago!" Rex gritted his teeth. The last thing the team needed was a bit of paranoia to slow them down. It felt like nearly a year since they first stopped at this outpost, and he was eager to get going as soon as possible. He turned to face Adventure and ordered, "See to it that Paulie Gonepus accidentally escapes."

"Right away, honcho," nodded Adventure, who turned on his heel and headed towards the holding cells where the XERRD scientist was held prisoner. Accommodations had already been so that Gonepus could easily be tracked across the island wherever he went. Silently, Rex prayed that Amanda's plan would work... if Gonepus was a coward who turned on his heel and fled the island, then they would have to rely on Villano to lead the way.

Unexpectedly, Rex gasped. He clutched his chest with one hand. His heart had suddenly started beating at a quickened pace, so fast he thought it would explode. Strangest of all, as soon as it began, it was over.

Regaining his composure, Rex glanced around. Nobody had noticed the brief episode.

But as Rex scanned the area, he glimpsed what he thought to be a Mutant Lizard in the camp. Based upon the fact that nobody was firing at it and only occasionally glancing at it with a confused expression, Rex wondered if, somehow, there was another agent in the squad who had taken up Rex's old hobby of catching and taming Mutant Lizards. Then, Rex's amusement turned to bitterness. He remembered how he had once promised himself to never bring harm to these creatures. Even now, he pitied the Mutant Dinos for their uncontrollable urges for destruction caused by the Maelstrom which enslaved them to Dr. Rex.

Now, no matter what, Rex could not erase the image from his mind of that one Mutant Lizard in the LEGO Island Laboratory as he beat it to death with a metal pipe. How sickeningly gratifying it felt to feel the lizard's skull cave in with each blow of the pipe, even after the creature had crumpled to the ground to forever lie still. And for what? Being mutated beyond its control and enslaved by a mad scientist.

As Rex watched the Mutant Lizard walk among the Dino Attack agents, he hoped that this creature would not suffer the same fate as its brethren.

*****

"Having fun, are we?"

Angel Eyes looked up to see agent Spy standing over him. "Just having a bit of dinner, that's all," Angel Eyes shrugged. "Can't go about killing Mutant Dinos with an empty stomach."

Although most of his face was concealed by his cowl, Spy seemed to grimace. "If it were mere Mutant Dinos we were fighting, zat would be of little concern. Now, tell me, did zey tell you what else we are fighting?" When Angel Eyes looked confused, Spy sighed. "Quasifigus lacertilia. Hybrids of Minifigs and Mutant Lizards, with ze intelligence of ze former and ze feral viciousness of ze latter. And I've come back with a report on zeir current actions... wait, where's Scout?"

"Yo, wassup?" called Scout as he popped out behind Spy. "Hah, bet I spooked ya, didn't I?"

Spy did not even flinch. "Why aren't you doing recon with me? Some Scout you are!"

"Well," shrugged Scout, "I was just makin' a long-distance call. This place got real good reception, ya know? Now, I had to hang up and say I'd call 'em back because ya have somethin' important to say. Well, aren't ya gonna say it?"

"Kids zese days," muttered Spy, rolling his eyes, "always on zeir cellphones. Anyway, ze Hybrids have taken note of your arrival, Angel Eyes and Blondie. It appears zat zey are responding by increasing zeir defenses tenfold. I was behind enemy lines and I witnessed one of zem constructing a turret of zeir own, and even Engineer cannot build turrets like zey can."

Engineer looked up from the campfire, pausing in his guitar playing. "Excuse me, buddy," he frowned. "Are you challengin' my building expertise? Because I assure you that I can build better and faster than any of those no-good mean mother-"

"More importantly," frowned Angel Eyes, "if you were behind enemy lines, why didn't you do anything about it?"

Spy faltered. "I... err, well, you see... I may be able to sneak past enemy lines, but I can't turn myself invisible. I would have disguised myself as one of zem, except every Hybrid corpse we get is bullet-ridden to ze point where I cannot even salvage ze armor."

Heavy grinned.

"Besides," continued Spy, "zeir sense of smell is perhaps far too keen for my disguises. And I did not expect zat we would be needing my Electro-Sapper during zis mission, so I left it in my briefcase... back at ze Dino Attack Outpost. Not sure how well it would work against the Hybrids' sentries, though-"

A cellphone started to ring. Scout grinned sheepishly as all eyes fell upon him. "Yeah, I gotta take this call," he shrugged, already getting up to leave.

"If it's your mother," stated Spy, "tell her I said hi." Heavy laughed at this comment, while Scout balled his hands into fists and looked ready to punch Spy.

Still, Scout controlled his anger and walked away from the campfire while Spy continued briefing the others. He answered the phone call and pressed the cellphone to his ear. "Yo, wassup?" As Scout heard a response from the other end, his face turned grim. Glancing back at camp, Scout quickly ran into a dark alley where no one would hear him.

"Yeah? ... Look, ya keep callin' me and askin' for updates. And I keep tellin' ya, it's the same thing! Ya listenin'? ... Okay, look, the Second Headquarters Squad is making steady progress against the Hybrids, and we now know that the Hybrids are stationed at Fort Legoredo. We're bombin' the place, and unless the XERRD folks over at Dino Island Laboratory decide to help out the Hybrids, it's a victory for Dino Attack Team. Got it? ... Yeah, send a message to Dr. Rex tellin' him he sucks. I want to see him do better! ... No, no, I ain't gonna do anythin' stupid and compromise the mission. I'm just sayin'... Look... Oh, I forgot to tell you. Dino Attack Team knows there's a mole, and they're gonna whack... Don't worry, I got this under control, I'll be safe! ... Okay, see ya."

[Andrewnuva199]

IC:
"I swear. Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye swear."

OOC: Clever, mai boi, clever.

IC: "Geeze, those Malestrom guys need a volume control," Stranger muttered as he made his way to the outpost armory. His lizard friend had split, apparently having gone after Rex or something after Semick and this "Zachary Virchaus" fellow had made their speeches. Regardless, there wasn't much time to concern that. There was hunting to do.
Everyone in the armory was going for the big stuff, laser blasters, Xenon devices, SMGs and the like. Stranger, however, knew how to work with the simpler stuff. There were plenty of perfectly good bullet-fueled pistols left and a good handful of sniper rifles as well.

The Dino Attack agent grinned as he locked and loaded. More than ever, this brought him back to those good times he had in the beginning of the attack. Back when he was still technically a civilian, going guns blazing with fellow survivors just to get to an evacuation.

Those were some real good times, Stranger recollected. Living in the abandoned buildings, scavenging off the streets, shooting so many dinos… Dino Attack might have that too, but it’s just not the same when you have so much weapondary at your disposal.

Aw well, the past is the past, and what matters now is that I get back to the present and get back to shooting.

With a final loading of pistol clips and a sling of the sniper rifle on his back, Stranger felt more than ready to go.

---------

"Boy, Zach sure isn't the subtle type, is he?" Laxus remarked. He and Andrew had met up just outside the mess hall, and had just now gotten outside.

"He's inhertied the classic villian trait of occasional dramatic evilness," Andrew replied. "We have our weapons stored in the Fire Hammer, right?"

"Yes, and I've let people know that we'll be willing to taxi people as well. They'll also be willing to help man the vehicle controls when you take off for your plans."

"Good." Andrew had informed Laxus about his Minerva's plans just before he had gone off the command meeting. He had felt uncertain about it, but at this point, he and Laxus had grown so close that he was at the point where he thought secrets between them would just be a bad sign, espically after he let Laxus in on the who transfiguration problem.
erva wa

"Oh, there's" said Laxus, pointing to the pair's left. The commanding agent was passing by, Bluetooth and Hertz both on his trail. "Betcha he's feeling the pressure right now."

"That isn't the half of it," said Andrew, recalling how things had gone down at the command meeting.

---------

...Can I rely on that? We've done good so far, so I feel confident in that, but...

"For Ole's sake, man, this is suicide!" Hertz was saying. "A Kazamahi attack! A march into a Star Wars convention with the intent of declaring midichlorians as the best thing the prequels ever gave us! Think for a second, man! THINK!"

"I am thinking right now, thank you very much. And your cries are not helping my thought processes."

...Now that factor was unpredicatable, but if...

"Semick," Bluetooth was saying, "Tell me you're not just going to make a plan up as we go along. At least assure me of that."

"I'm not, trust me." That was true. He was creating a plan right now. A plan that would evolve and expand over time as he went along.

...So what about those mummies...

OOC: Oh wow, this was my 1700th post! I feel like I missed out on some opprotunity for celebration or whatnot!

Edited by Andrewnuva199, Mar 23 2012 - 09:13 PM.

[Atton Rand]

OOC: Does that mean Scout is the traitor?

IC: "If I were you" Clint said. "I'd probably want to keep an eye on Scout."

Engineer smiled. "Scout?" He said. "What? D'ya think he's a double agent or somin'? He couldn't spy on a cattlefield."

"My partner isn't saying anything," Angel Eyes said. "He merely thinks that there may be something Scout has to hide. Anyway, let's get back to buisine-"

"Alright!" Called a voice from behind him. "Where are the maggots who think they can join the likes of the Second Headquarters squad!"

Angel Eyes turned around to see who was addressing him. "Who might you be?" He asked.

"I AM GENERAL RONALD E. ARMY OF THE LEGOLAND MILITARY!" Replied the man.

"We call him Soldier," Engineer remarked casually. "He ain't got no indoor voice, but he's mighty fine really."

"Is this everybody?" Clint asked.

"Vel zer iz alzo Demoman," replied Medic. "I'm not quite sure vere he-"

At that moment a tough bearded man staggered towards the campfire mumbling some incoherant. "I'm drunk," he muttered.

Angel Eyes smiled. "Can't even hold his liquor," he said. "What makes you think you're a good demoman."

"IF I WERE A BAD DEMOMAN," Demoman shouted. "I WOULDN'T BE STANDING HERE DISCUSSING IT WITH YOU NOW WOULD I!?"

Angel Eyes paused for a moment. "You are crazy," he said.

"Yeah," replied Demoman. "I challenge you to a drinking contest on the best whiskey!"

"Looks like you got work cut out for you," Clint remarked sarcastically.

"It's a good thing I brought a couple cases of real whiskey," replied Angel Eyes. He stood up for a moment, walked over the cart, and got a small box which he opened to reveal several bottles.

"You ready for this?" Angel Eyes asked.

"Ýou bet!" Replied Demoman. He quickly reached in, trying to get a firm hold on a bottle before taking it out. Angel Eyes then took a bottle himself, pulled off the cork, and took a large swig. Demoman struggled for a few minutes to open his own before gulping down a large ammount and then collapsing, snoring loudly.

Angel Eyes smiled. "You're no fun," he said. "You couldn't even get through one bottle."

"He vas already very drunk," Medic explained.

Angel Eyes nodded.

"Now what about zis buisiness at hand?" Spy asked.

"I THINK WE SHOULD MAKE THOSE MAGGOTS MARCH UP AND DOWN-"

"Öh, shut up," replied Spy, cutting off Soldier.

"Well," replied Clint. "I'd like to see for myself just where these hybrids are hiding. What's your name?"

"Spy,"

"Simple enough," replied Clint. "I'd like you to take me there, at least as close as you can. I'd like a good look at just what exactly we're dealing with."

"We got a contact back in El Paso," Angel Eyes continued. "If nothing else we can at least give the team an update. Anyway, who's hungry."

Heavy quickly smiled. "SANVICH!" He shouted.

"Yes of course," replied Angel Eyes. He took a piece of steak off the frying pan and put it onto a plate before handing it to Heavy.

"Om nom nom nom. OH, SO FILLING!"

***

Pierce was in a large group of patients waiting for treatment. The extant of his damage was fairly minor compared to the others. He could briefly overhear one of the paramedics talking to another person, possibly an authority figure.

"I don't know," he said. "We more or less had everybody and then the Station Manager came in with this body under a sheet, then showed me that the girl wasn't dead."

"Wait," replied the authority figure. "She wasn't dead, but she was brought aboard as though she was?"

"Yeah," replied the paramedic. "I don't get it either. Why would you do something like that."

"Maybe he wanted us to dispose of her thinking she was a corpse," replied the authority figure.

"No," replied the paramedic. "He made an explicit point of informing us she was still alive."

"That is strange," replied the authority figure. "This was where again?"

"Outpost 4 on Adventurers' Island."

"That's Garry's post," replied the authority figure. "Indeed that is strange. Well, how is she?"

"She's okay," replied the paramedic. "She seemed to have been badly beaten though."


Their conversation was cut off when Pierce was approached by the woman he saw earlier.

"Hello again," Pierce remarked.

"Hi," replied the woman, somewhat shyly. "You got a name?"

"Pierce. Alan Pierce."

The name seemed to catch her attention somehow. "Do I know you?" She asked.

"I'm not sure," replied Pierce.

"Bishop!" Another man called. The woman quickly turned toward him. Suddenly Pierce started to realize just why she seemed so familiar...

***

"What exactly was that?" Teri asked as she followed Jackson.

"I don't know," repliedJackson. "Whatever it was it sure was painful the ears."

"He was talking about finding a Maelstrom temple," Teri said.

"I don't know all the details," replied Jackson. "I'm a soldier I just follow orders. Now I think we ought to get some weapons and meet with the higher-ups. Come on Scope."

Teri smiled as Jackson ran off. "Right behind you, Shotgun." She could not help giggling at the horrible codename.

As the two of them approached the armory, they were startled to find a man already there slinging a rifle onto his back.

"Who are you?" Jackson asked.

"Stranger," replied the man.

"I'm Shotgun, and this is my ex-girlfriend Scope," replied Jackson nervously.

***

Andrew and Laxus were surprised to be approached by a somewhat nervous and frightened agent.

"Hey," he said somewhat confusedly. "Agent Norris. Now could someone please explain just what exactly is going on?"

[Jacks]

OOC: Looks like imma hafta start using flashbacks to get everything in on time.

IC: The Talon, fifteen minutes ago

Kat didn't sleep anymore, not really, but even an incorporeal consciousness stored in the flight computer of a combat helicopter needs some sort of rest occasionally. Despite her current non-physical state, Kat considered it proof of her humanity that she still had dreams.

This one was quite odd. She stood in a dark, featureless room. She turned around helplessly, and came face-to-face with another minifig. In the strange subconscious half-light, her only visible features were a pair of piercing eyes and steel-gray hair pulled back in a tight ponytail.

"Hello, Kat," the stranger said. "It's time. He's almost here."

"Who is?" asked Kat nervously. "And where did you come from?"

The stranger smirked slightly. "I've always been here, in the back of your mind, unnoticed. I helped you escape from Cane all those times. I helped you awaken your interfacing abilities on Lego Island. And now it is time to awaken again, to ascend again to a new level of awareness." She reached out with the apparent intention of laying a comforting hand on Kat's shoulder, but Kat backed away, still apprehensive even in this dreaming state. "I know this is difficult for you," the stranger continued, "but you'll just have to trust me. You'll understand very soon."

"Why should I trust you?" Kat demanded. "Who are you anyway?"

The stranger chuckled. "The former question is quite a complex one, given the details of our situation. Bat as for the latter, suffice it to say..." She stepped into the light, and Kat gasped. "I am you."

-------------------------

Outpost 4 Medical Bay, ten minutes ago

Wade was attempting to fit Hotwire with a simple prosthetic leg when Tracer suddenly drew a ragged gasp and opened his eyes. Crusher rushed to his side. "Don't exert yourself," she urged.

"What's the sense in caution?" Tracer wheezed. "I'm not going to make it anyway, am I?"

Dr. Crusher looked down. "It's true," she admitted. "You'd only have about two minutes without life support. We tried to remove the bullets, but there was too high a risk of exacerbating your condition. We had been hoping to keep you stable long enough to operate with more precision once things calm down and we can get better instruments, but word is that we won't be staying here much longer. Everyone's rolling out to find the Maelstrom Temple as soon as possible, and we can't move you safely."

Tracer nodded resignedly. "Lady Luck always spent most of her time scowling on me anyway; I figured I was a goner the minute that stromling spy snatched my gun." He paused to draw another ragged breath. "Listen," he said urgently, "I heard what that doctor, J.D. did. His maelstrom antidote and all that, how he made it." Crusher nodded. "I want to contribute. Let them take my Creative Spark. The whole thing. That should hopefully be enough to come up with a few more doses."

"Are you sure about this?" Wade put in. "If there's any sort of afterlife, you wouldn't--"

"--Wouldn't be doing the team much good if I'm just kicking back on a cloud, playing a harp," Tracer interjected. He paused, seeming to reflect upon his life. "Or getting glued together in Megablokland," he then added with a crooked smile.

-------------------------

Outpost 4 landing field, seven minutes ago

Loop snuck among the T-1s towards the Talon. Luckily for him, there were no sentries around; all the agents stationed at the outpost were apparently involved in some commotion near the main building. The Inferno henchman-turned-semi-stromling hauled himself up onto the deck of the modified T-1.

"Kat, my darling," he said, his normal malicious tones shaded with fatigue. "I know you can hear me. I've waited so long to get you alone."

-------------------------

Medical bay, now

As Zach's painfully loud announcement echoed away to nothing, Hotwire was already in motion. He tightened his prosthetic, grabbed a crutch, and attempted to stand, but winced in pain and slumped back onto his cot. He grabbed a painkiller injector off the table next to him, popped the safety release off, and stabbed it into his left thigh. After a few seconds the adrenalin and pain suppressants began to take effect and he stood successfully.

Wade stepped into his way. "You can't be serious," he said. "You're not fit to leave yet."

"I'm of no use to you here," Hotwire countered, "and I need to do my part to make sure his sacrifice isn't in vain." He gestured towards the cot where Tracer's last worldly remains lay covered by a sheet. "Now please, let me go lend a hand to the friends I have left."

OOC: So yeah, I don't really know how one goes about extracting a minifig's Creative Spark, so if someone could retroactively take care of that it would be superb.

Also, Hotwire's prosthetic leg is something like this. His crutch is similar to those in the picture as well.

[imperial officer]

IC:
-Five miles north-west of Outpost 4, 18 hours ago-
But now, David began to get the horrible feeling he was lost. He had been on a quick scouting mission to the north-west of Outpost 4, when suddenly, he heard an explosion about 20 feet away from him, and with a sinking feeling had realised that James Carlson, the agent he had been paired up with, was gone. Turning around, he saw a fragment of twisted metal. A landmind. But why would there be a landmind here... There was no time to think about that, for the sun had set, the moon was visable, and David was around five miles away from the outpost with no map, for that too had been destroyed in the explosion.

David pulled his PDA out of his pocket. Seven past nine was the time, but David was more interested in where he was. But the trees were too thick for a GPS signal. So, instead, he took out his compass and began to walk in a south east direction.

Edited by imperial officer, Mar 24 2012 - 07:34 AM.

[Delta Titan Sparta]

OoC: Man, the things you can do with LDD! I've created quite a few DA-related vehicles and stuff like that, including my custom Fire Hammer known as *cue RvB theme* the Puma.
EDIT- I've uploaded pics of said vehicle named after a fake animal to my user page on the wiki.

IC: Finding specimen containment was relatively easy. All it required was following the sound of Tex's unique roar. It started out low-pitched, then rose an octave. Fullmetal had heard it described as an eagle shriek blended with a lion's roar. But to him, it was pure music.
Not only is she okay, he thought,she's fighting mad!
Aravis reached out with a mental call, and Tex displayed a mental image of where she was being contained. It was a sterile room, and Tex, Shade, and Freefall were held in place by clamps and harnesses, while Eno was contained in a cell.
"Let's move, Gaia!" exclaimed Fullmetal.

Edited by Toa Antrakha, Mar 24 2012 - 11:01 AM.

[that guy from that show]

In an instant the entire situation had changed. The previously empty hallways became a flurry of activity as agents rushed to make the attack on the temple.

The wave of men and women rushed to the front gate where they would await further instructions but Dust moved against the flow to the 3^rd floor. He had hoped on having time to talk to Dr. Strangbrink and Tom but the hunt for the stromling was the last thing on Dust’s mind.

In less then an hour he would be at the gates of his temple. The situation had changed much since he first talked with Commander Rockford at outpost 108 and his enrollment in the final attack had not been discussed since their ambush on the south coast of the island.

Dust had gone to great links to insure he was the only hope of getting threw the temple safely. Hotep III’s temple was massive building and rigged with numerous booby-traps. Therefore Dust would be leading the party into the walls.

He took a crowded elevator to the third flour and found elite agents Semick and Rex in the communications room. With them were Bluetooth, and Hertz. Stranger was leaving as he entered the room and he did a double take of the Mutant Lizard but brushed it aside.

“I see you guys are hard at work here.” Said Dust as he looked over Hertz’s shoulder at his console.

“What do you want Dust?” said Rex without looking up. “We basically have 5 minutes to put the logistics together and move the entire fleet one and a half miles from here.”

“I need to know were you want me.” Said Dust getting serous. “I’m the only one who can guide you in and out of that building safely.”

“I hope you hold no dilutions that your temple is definite.” Said Semick. “I could still just as likely be the temple of creation.”

Dust raised an eyebrow. “And you expect to figure in out in 15 minutes?”

Bluetooth handed a file to Dust. “We’re about to track man named Paulie Gonepus. He will lead us to a true temple.”

“Tracking is hard work,” said Dust “This guy is likely to figure out he’s being tailed. You people are moving too fast and your bound to get sloppy.”

“The people following are a small group.” Said Hertz. “Probably just six agents. They will radio back as soon as they have an affirmative location and the army can be there in minutes.”

“We also have a GPS tracker on him.” Added Bluetooth proudly. “He unknowingly ingested it when we fed him.”

The Egyptian was not pleased. “You should have more then enough information by now. We don’t have time to track this man. How long do you think it will take him to get to get there on foot? An Hour? Two?”

“Gonepus was released ten minutes ago.” Said Rex. “We are already tracking him.”

Dust just frowned and did not respond. Instead he just glanced at Gonepus’s file. He hoped his temple was the Mealstrom’s source. It was two late to talk to the man so all he could do was wait. His destiny was in the hands of a lone man walking alone in the jungle.

Dust rubbed his brow and moved to the dour. He pointed a finger at Rex. “I’m heading to the lot. Keep me updated.”

* * *

Semick looked at the slowly moving red dot on his view screen. It was traveling at about two miles an hour. At this speed it would take Gonepus 35 minutes to reach the temple of Hotep III.

Dust was right.

Rex started moving towards the dour. “Semick, you better get out there and rally the troops. They are ready to go and will move out on your order.”

The Elite agent nodded and headed down the hall. Well waiting for the elevator he checked his watch. 12 minutes.

The doors opened and Semick stepped inside. He pushed the 1^st floor bottom and the waited for the doors to close.

A hand quickly stooped them and a tall blond man joined him in the elevator.

His eyes widened as he looked at the man standing next him. He looked just as disturbed as he did the night he and Rockford had visited him in his tent and has hair was still messy and hung in clumps over his red rimmed eyes.

“Hello Carl.” Said Semick. “I have not seem you since the attack.”

Carl ignored the comment and looked into the elite agents eyes. “I need to be on the attack Semick. I have to go to that temple. I’m going.’

Semick looked at the astringed man before him and frowned at the notion of him being handed a gun.

“You think I’m crazy don’t you?” accused the former commander. “I certainly look it don’t I? Well I’m not. I’m going on this mission Semick, I need to.”

Before Semick could say anything more the doors opened and Carl Lutsky stepped into the hall

Edited by that guy from that show, Mar 25 2012 - 09:35 AM.

[Atton Rand]

IC: Pierce smiled as he was placed onto a bed by the woman named Bishop. He finally got a good look at her as she adjusted his sheets.

"Sarah Bishop," Pierce muttered. "My, you've aged."

Sarah smiled. "As have you Alan," she replied.

"It's just like when we met," replied Pierce. "Only the other way around. What are you doing out here anyway?"

"I came here with everyone else," replied Sarah. "Everyone in LEGO City was evacuated."

"No," replied Pierce. "I mean what you're doing working as a nurse."

"Anything to keep myself occupied," replied Sarah. "I have a daughter now and she joined that team and I've been worried sick about her. I just can't stop thinking about how she's doing. I keep getting scared that sooner or later I'm going to find her here, on a stretcher."

"Her name wouldn't happen to be Kate, by any chance would it?"

Sarah looked at him. "You met her?"

"Yeah," replied Pierce. "She's fine. She was actually with me when they I was taken from Adventurers' Island."

Sarah smiled. "Is she doing okay?"

Pierce thought about it. He did not want to upset Sarah, but he also did not want to lie to her about Kate's heroics.

[PeabodySam]

IC: After sending Semick to rally the troops, Rex sat back in his wheelchair and considered his options.

Rex had to admit it... Dust was right after all. The evidence was clear in Paulie Gonepus's path. Precious time had been wasted over debates regarding the location of the Maelstrom Temple, and the whole time Rex had been advocating for a mere red herring. Rex felt bitter disappointment in himself; if he had listened to Dust earlier, they could have already contained the temple by now.

As Rex thought about it, he came to the realization that, once they reached the Maelstrom Temple, they did not know how it could be contained. Perhaps now that Dust had some connection to the temple, he might know something or another about it, but Rex did not feel certain about this; Dust's interest seemed to be based upon the temple itself, not the Maelstrom inside, and Dust had made it quite clear that destroying Hotep's ruins was out of the question. Of course, Rex had the authority to override such a demand... but Dust was a dangerous man, and Rex did not want to make him his enemy.

XERRD. Rex knew that XERRD would be there when Dino Attack Team arrived. They might even be there already. Dr. Provhezor, Dr. Glados, Dr. Breen, Señor Palomar... perhaps even, the elusive Dr. Wallace Bishop. At first, Rex thought about the possibility of somehow extracting information on how to contain the Maelstrom from these scientists, but how would he do that?

Rex blinked. Bishop. Wasn't that also the surname of Kate Bishop, the young rookie that Rotor wanted to use as leverage against Wallace Bishop?

Although she did not seem to notice, Rex stared at Amanda Claw. Only a few weeks ago, he learned of the terrible childhood tragedy she suffered, and only over the past few days did he begin to realize its full consequences upon her. No one should go through such devastation and trauma at such a young and innocent age. Rex was determined not to let it happen to Kate.

And Rotor... not since Kotua had Rex met a Dino Attack agent he so despised. He did not trust that elite agent for an instant, especially after that trial in which he ignored the opinions of his fellow elite agents and attempted to execute innocent Dino Attack agents for insubordination. I'll have to keep an eye on him, decided Rex.

"Amanda," spoke Rex, catching the attention of his companion. "We need to find Kate Bishop and Rotor. They're coming with us."

[Atton Rand]

IC: "Let's start by assembling the elite agents," Garry said. "Dr. Cyborg, we're all human aren't we?"

"That would be correct," replied Dr. Cyborg.

"Good," replied Garry. "Let's get to the planning room. Doctor Cyborg, at this moment you're the only reliable thing we've got. I want you to check anyone and everyone who enters the room. Now lets go."

"Wait," replied Tom. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't," replied Garry. He started to turn around when Tom tried to grab him from behind, only for Garry to turn around and draw his gun.

"WELL GO AHEAD AND SHOOT ME!" Tom shouted. "It's got to be far better than whatever you and your friend did to Jenn-"

"SHUT THE ZNAP UP!" Garry shouted. "At this point you have a choice. Either work with me and possibly get out of this war alive, or stay in here and possibly get taken over by this... thing that's running around, or I COULD JUST SHOOT YOU RIGHT NOW!"

"Garry," Windows said. "What happened to-"

"STAY OUT OF THIS WINDOWS!" Garry shouted. "NOW I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO SHOOT YOU! YOU WILL BE A VALUABLE AID IN DEFEATING XERRD!"

"Oh, and I suppose you're going to beat the everlovin' megablocks out of me like you and that Rotor did earli-"

At this point, Garry knew he was in over his head. He could shout all he wanted but he knew his teammates had heard what Tom said. It was only a matter of time before he would have to confess.

At this point, he felt scared. "Rotor's going to kill me," Garry thought to himself. "Literally."

[Brikman McStudz]

OOC: Honestly, I have no idea how to extract a Creative Spirit/Spark. I wrote in that J.D. simply extracted a small part of his own, and it was apparently easy enough that he could do it with tons of people now. I imagine that extracting a full spirit/spark would require a bit more effort though.

Oh, and I'm glad you picked up on the reference, Andrewnuva. I sorta figured you would.

Note that I started this post in the morning and restarted writing it at night. Imagine my surprise when I see PeabodySam posted twice in two days! And I'm glad we finally have decided which temple is Maelstrom one. Unless, of course, Gonapus is throwing us off...

IC:

Nazareno scowled underneath his mask at Garry. "I don't like what I'm hearing Garry." Garry was silent. Nazareno shook his head.

"Dr. Cyborg, come with me," Nazareno said, gesturing to the cyborg. Dr. Cyborg stepped up to Nazareno and the two left the group in the hallway.

"Why are we leaving them?" Cyborg asked.

"We've wasted enough time with them. We are finding those Stromlings. They shouldn't have a problem finding this Norris since they know what he looks like."

"So where are we going?"

"To the front entrance. If there are more spies, they will naturally want to hear this plan. We go to this meeting, find any spies, and dispose of them before they can send a message to Mr. Virchaus."

************************
"So," Fuchs said. "I assume that was that 'Zach' you told me about." Minerva nodded slowly. They were both silent for a minute. Then:

"I need to go back," Minerva said flatly. "Back to Outpost 4."

"But what about the Stromlings?" Fuchs asked.

"I can deal with the Stromlings. They are nothing. I want to go on the mission to the Maelstrom Temple. If the Elite Agents take Zach's threat seriously, they will be getting ready to leave at any moment. Heck, they might have already left."

"You failed to notice that we have no gas," Fuchs stated.

Minerva shrugged. "I'll walk." She turned and grabbed the Injection Saw and hopped out of the vehicle.

"Hey!" Fuchs yelled out to her leaving back. "What are you doing with the saw?"

"I need this."

"What about synthesizing the cure?"

Minerva was trying to control her anger. She really hadn't wanted to be dragged away from the outpost when the word of Stromling broke out, but her she was.

"I'm going to save him," she finally said.

"'Him?'" Fuchs looked confused. Then he realized: "Zach? You want to save that crazy Stromling?!"

"Yes," Minerva said, turning around and staring hard at Fuchs. "J.D. gave me this to save him. That is the only reason why I have it. I have to save him. I need to save him."

"But why?" Fuchs asked.

"Because I-" she paused. She tried to find a word to describe her feelings, but she couldn't think of anything. "I just - I..." she could feel her face turning red. She imagined Fuchs has probably figured out the reason. She turned and started running into the jungle, following the Fire Hammer tracks back to the outpost.

[Atton Rand]

IC: Fuchs initially watched as Minerva ran off into the trees.

"Minerva,' he finally called. She turned around for a moment.

"This thing should come provisioned," Fuchs said. He looked inside the back quickly, pulled out a rifle, and tossed it to her before getting one himself and walking toward her.

"Listen," Fuchs said. "I was never much good with one of these, and I'm not much good in combat, but if you're going up against Zach you're going to need all the help you can get. Besides, if you are able to cure Zach I'd like to observe the process. It might help with my research. I also don't want to just sit around out here on my own."

"Look," Minerva said, rejecting the rifle. "I don't want to kill him."

"I understand," replied Fuchs. "There are however multiple Stromlings and only enough of the cure for one. You may want to cure Zach, but you might also have to defend yourself against the others. We also have no garantee that it will work, and what do we do if it doesn't?"

***

Rotor and Cabin were surprised when a panting Garry stumbled into the planning room accompanied by a large group of others. Rotor in particular seemed unnerved when he saw Tom and Strangebrick enter the room. The two of them seemed to show similar concerns.

"Alright," Garry said. "We got to act fast, we don't have much time."

"We should get the other elite agents in here," Cabin said.

"Right," said Garry. "What's your name again?"

"Cabin,"

"Cabin, yes. Get a gun quickly, see if you can find Rex."

Cabin stood up, grabbed a rifle and ran outside.

[Brikman McStudz]

IC:

Minerva debated the inclusion of Fuchs in the mission her head. She began to regret telling him of her and Andrew's plan.

"I don't know..." she said. "I am already going with someone else."

"You can always use more help, though," Fuchs pointed out.

"I guess..." She honestly didn't want Fuchs to come. She wanted to keep the number of people facing Zach down to a minimum.

"Another thing is that the person that is helping me and myself have a...connection to Zach. It allows us to communicate with his Minifigself. To an extent. I'm afraid that if you were to come along, he would disregard our connection and murder you. You say you can't hold yourself well in a fight. Zach will kill you. He has no issue killing medics. J.D. is dead because of him."

"I just rather keep this below the radar. Kareem Nazareno knows of the plan and whoever my partner told, if any. I just don't want you die in a fight that isn't yours."

************************

Zach Virchaus and Cranky returned to the Maelstrom Temple feeling satisfied. I think I got my message across. They will be coming. All around his rows and rows of Stromlings marched around him in preparation. It is a beautiful day, isn't it? Zach smirked as he heard thunder rumble in the sky.

He glared up at the temple. He soon realized that one person he most anxious to kill was Dust. I imagine he will be happy that his temple was the correct one. That treacherous punk. Despite his ties with the Dino Attack more or less cut, he couldn't help but loathe Dust for his spectacular betrayal. It would be rather fitting to kill Dust. I saved him when I first got to the island and kill him in the finale. Completes the circle.

"Where have you been?" Ahua's voice cut across his thoughts. Zach's eyes narrowed.

"Giving the Dino Attack Team the final warning to get a move on. They should be on their way here soon enough."

"Good," Ahua said, nodding. "However, we still have XERRD to deal with. They are extremely close."

"I knew we couldn't avoid them forever," Zach shrugged. "At least this time you aren't going to send me on the suicide mission to kill them, right?" Zach mention the incident caused Ahua's eyes to narrow and he barred his teeth fiercely. "You should be able to overwhelm them with sheer numbers. We have a zillion Stromlings that we can command."

Ahua nodded again. "Cannon fodder at its finest. What do you intend to do during when the Dino Attack Team arrives?"

"I intend to greet them," Zach said. Ahua raised an eyebrow. "Welcome them. They are guests, aren't they?" Zach smiled widely. Ahua rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." Ahua said. "What will you do afterwards?"

"Lead the Stromlings?"

"Wrong," Ahua snapped. "Colonel and us, provided Colonel even returns, will lead. You will stay in the temple and pick off the agents that manage to slip inside. Understand?"

Zach shrugged. "Fine. What about Cranky?" He gestured to the Stromling Ape behind him.

"He will serve on the battlefield."

Zach thought about it for a moment. "Alright. Anything else."

"I don't think so."

"Good."

**************************

Everything is going according to plan, Ahua thought happily. He certainly hadn't expected Zach to be so compliant to his demands. His sudden obedience will speed things along. Now to wait for the girl...

[Atton Rand]

IC: Fuchs remained silent for a moment. He wanted to help Minerva, but he could see where she was getting at. He also did not want to stay behind alone in the jungle. Then again running back to a base potentially filled with Stromlings did not seem appealing either, and especially not the prospect of getting killed. It seemed that every option put him into a difficult situation. Out here was probably the easiest, however.

"I understand," replied Fuchs. "If you're really certain that you're better off without me, I'll stay here. I'd like to help but I don't know how much I can do for you."

He sighed for a moment. "Listen," he said. "If you can, try and save some of that. I don't know if you'll have to use it all or not, but even a single drop could make a difference when it comes to the research. This thing probably didn't have that much gas to begin with so it couldn't have gotten too far. I'll just lay low out here for the moment. There's some sandwhiches in the back that should keep me going for a little while, and I can always try to work the radio. Maybe I'll get lucky and make contact with a nearby Outpost."

Minerva nodded as Fuchs turned around and the two started to go their seperate ways. He momentarily paused and turned around. "Minerva," he said again. She turned.

"Good luck," Fuchs said. "I hope you can do it. If you can I'll have a lot of questions for you afterwords."

He smiled for a moment before turning back towards the Fire Hammer.

***

"So what's the plan?" Rotor asked.

"People are running around here like crazy," replied Garry. "We've got a deadline to meet if that announcement was anything to go by. Now we need to assemble multiple groups with different tasks."

"What do you mean?" Asked Vinyaya.

"We'll need multiple task forces to head out," replied Garry. "Rotor, Cabin, and the other elites. Mac, you're a good pilot. I'd like you to go with them."

"You sure about this Garry," Mac asked, somewhat nervously.

"Yes," replied Garry. "They're going to need all the chopper pilots they can get."

"There's also going to be a small group that stays behind," Garry said. "That's where I come in. Our job is to find the spies. With everyone else heading out it should at least buy us some time to locate Norris' whereabouts and figure out if there's anyone else whose been infected. We'll also be monitoring your progress from here."

"You techy," Garry said. "What's your name again?"

"Hertz,"

"Hertz, you can operate a radio right?"

"Yes,"

"Good," replied Garry. "I need you and Windows to work together. One of you stays behind, the other heads out. The two of you will be in constant contact with each other, and whoever heads out I want to continually update us on the search. The one who stays behind will also have to transmit this information to the mainland, providing the information to our superiors. Any questions?"

"What's our tactical plan?" Vinyaya asked.

"I'm afraid that's not my field," replied Garry. "That's up for the rest of you to decide. Whatever it is just decide it quickly."

***

"She's trying her best," Pierce finally explained. "It's a difficult experience for her."

"I tried to tell her," Sarah replied. "Occasionally I've considered joining the team just to protect her."

Pierce laughed before his face turned serious. "You know, there was something really strange that happened on the island. Kate was involved with a mission. That friggin' 4+ Rotor decided to order her to go alone into a toxin-filled fortress-"

"What?" Sarah asked.

"Don't worry," Pierce said. "She's fine, but they later found her frightened and confused, locked in an office. Stranger still she mentioned being brought to a crazy scientist's office and finding a picture of you on his desk."

"A picture of me?" Sarah asked. "That doesn't make sense, unless... no it can't be. Oh, this is going to be hard for Kate when she finds out."

"What do you mean?" Pierce asked.

"Did Kate ever tell you about Crazy Uncle Wally who died in a car accident?"

"She might have mentioned him," replied Pierce.

"He's not dead," replied Sarah. "I just figured we'd never see him again. Poor Kate was only six at the time. I didn't think she'd be able to comprehend the truth. He was actually locked up in a mental institution."

"What'd he do before then?" Pierce asked.

"He loved experiments," Sarah replied. "He did all kinds of scientific studies. Anything that paid the bills, and some things just for fun."

"You mean, Kate is actually related to Dr. Walter Bishop?" Pierce asked nervously.

Sarah thought about it for a moment and sighed. "Yes," she said. "He's my brother."

After a moment, Sarah got up and walked over toward one of the other beds, which Pierce saw had the battered and bruised girl he'd seen Garry bring into the helicopter covered by a sheet. He still did not understand why.

Sarah sat down next to her, doing her best to comfort her. "You got a name?" She asked.

For once, the girl spoke. "Jenny,' she replied. "Jenny Strangebrick."

[Andrewnuva199]

OOC: Oh, so we're going with the Hotep temple? Bugger, thank goodness we weren't doing bets. Nothing against That Guy, and it's nice to see others helping contribute to the main plot in such a way, but I really liked the symbolism in the Imagination Temple theory.

Oh, and I had intended with my posts to establish that Bluetooth, Hertz, Semick, Stranger and the Mutant Lizard were already out of the communications room and were already on their way out of the outpost (Stranger's part in my last post was almost entirely about him loading up in the armory). I think I can just edit my post to have the former three as still lingering in the room to look over a few more facts, but I'd at least like That Guy to edit his post to establish that Stranger and the Lizard were already gone before Dust arrived.

I'll work on my IC stuff tomorow. I'm already late for bedtime as it is.

[that guy from that show]

OoC:

I think I got that fixed for you Andrew.

I hope you didn't mind me using Semick, I needed an authority figure to reintroduce Lutsky

iC latter perhaps

[Atton Rand]

OOC: Someone post an IC already! Half my characters are interacting with one person or another, and unless I can get some information on what exactly the hybrids are doing in Gold City it's going to be hard for me to write a post from the point of view of Clint at the moment since he's supposed to be seeing this.

Edited by Atton Rand, Mar 25 2012 - 11:20 AM.

[Brikman McStudz]

OOC: Honestly, I saw Jenny Strangebrick coming the moment when she was introduced.

And remember, Atton. PeabodySam switched Breen and Bishop's names. It is now Walter Breen and Wallace Bishop.

IC:

Holly Vinyaya shrugged. "One thing I'd say we need is establish exactly what we may be dealing with. According to that Stromling, he's got a massive army at his side. Assuming this army is made up of Stromlings and Mutant Dinos, we need to establish a closer estimate of how large this army actually is and where it is stationed.

"I'd also say we need to get a group of fighters to hold of this army while a small group of infiltrators enter the Maelstrom Temple and do whatever they need to do to defeat the Maelstrom. Alternatively, we can just blow the temple up and leave it at that."

Garry nodded. "That makes sense."

"I recommend we discuss this with Semick. For all intents and purposes, Semick is in charge of this operation."

******************

Nazareno squinted as the crowd of Dino Attack Agents gathered at the front entrance. They all looked trustworthy from a distance, but he knew some of may be Stromlings.

"Anything?" he asked Dr. Cyborg, who had his visor down and was scanning the area intently.

"Everything seems okay," Cyborg responded. "I can't see any Stromlings from here."

"Alright, move to the next area. A few more checks and we should be done. It is looking like Zelda and Norris are the only Stromlings here."

*******************

Minerva breathed a sigh of relief as she broke through the jungle vegetation, revealing a large crowd of Dino Attack Agents gathered around the front entrance.

I made it, she thought, smiling. And it looks like we are almost ready to go. I better go find Andrew.

*******************

Find the girl and bring her here. Ahua hissed to the Maelstrom spy in the Dino Attack Team. Ahua presumed he was the spy that had been with the Dino Attack Team since the attack on the village, since he spoke with some level of intelligence and authority.

It will be done. The Stromling replied simply.

You know what she looks like, correct?

Yes. In fact, I rode on a Fire Hammer with her once upon a time.

Excellent. Capture her and bring her here.

I must ask. Why do we need Fabello?

Trust me. It will help us out in the long run. Ahua felt doubt radiate from the spy's consciousness. Then:

Whatever. I'll bring her. With that, the spy's link disappeared. Ahua smiled. Zach was coming closer to his end every second...

[Atton Rand]

And remember, Atton. PeabodySam switched Breen and Bishop's names. It is now Walter Breen and Wallace Bishop.

OOC: Yes of course. It's easy to get those two confused. Maybe I should just start calling both of them Wally.

IC: "Yes of course," replied Garry. "If anyone knows where Semick is they should go get him quickly. We're also going to need a bit more time. Maybe we should send a few people out, if only to create the illusion that we're moving. That should in theory allow Zach to give us more time."

[that guy from that show]

Dust stood on a rot iron bridge connecting the upper levels of outpost 4 to the cliffs and the vehicle lot. The salty ocean air had caused rust to form on the heavy garters and it creaked with every steep from the dozens of passing agents, Dust still felt an unmovable quality from the structure.

Before he had left Outpost 4, he had recovered his black Australian hat from the wreckage and now wore the standard issue utility belt of Dino Attack trooper. Three Knifes were clipped to his belt and he held forth in his boot.

At his hip was a silver handgun and on his back was an automatic riffle. A black bandana covered his face and he carried a satchel over his shoulder.

Opening the bag he withdrew tightly folded peace of paper. To spite the fact that he knew the qualities of the temple down to the last stone it was good to have a hard copy of the translated blueprints.

Holding his hat to his head he crossed the bridge to the crowed vehicle lot. The aria went right up to the cliff and when he leaned against the railings he was able to see the fleet boats and inflatable hovercrafts departing along the coast.

A T-1 Typhoon lifted of the ground and Dust had to avert his eyes from the gust of air. The Egyptian held tight to his hat and started walking to the far side of the lot where he could board an Iron Predator.

Urban Avengers were one by one disappearing into the forest and the rumble of engines filled the air. Dust worked his way up the access ladder of the lead Predator and checked the time. 8 minutes.

“Dust?”

The Egyptian looked below and found Minurva looking up at him, “Have you see Andrew?” she asked.

“Not today.” Yelled Dust over the noise. “But he’s around here somewhere with Laxus.”

Minerva nodded and headed into the lot followed by Fuchs. Dust did not know weather or not he had missed Semick’s briefing but he assumed the assault should be well underway.

He knelt down be the view screens and watched the information come in. A significant amount of Mutant Dinosaur activity was cluster about a mile and a half north of their location. He had no idea how well the temple was fortified but quite frankly that was not his concern. The battle was irrelevant he just wanted inside.

Garry’s voice crackled over the radio system. “Urban Avenger wave two launch. Fire Hammers wave one launch.”

The vehicles departed into the jungle and the next wave moved into position. The Egyptian sat back and smiled all he had to do now was await Semick's order

[Atton Rand]

OOC: That Guy, I think it's worth noting that Minerva actually talked Fuchs out of going with her.


By the way Brickman, was that Stromling spy supposed to be Norris, or was it just another third party that we were previously unaware of?



Anyway for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to have Clint Wayne's recon mission happen off-screen. Instead we'll visit our old pal Maria.


IC: Maria looked up from her desk as a large man with a tan-coloured jacket and an old, worn hat stepped into her bar. The man remained quiet. As he sat down in the corner, he took out a harmonica and started to play.There was a strange tone to the music, like a cry for justice. Then it dawned on her. She could recall something mentioned by her superiors about an agent named Harmonica. They also said she'd know who he was when he entered... because he was literally playing a harmonica. A few of the other men in the bar were getting annoyed as they turned toward him.

"Would you cut out that racket?" Thomsen asked. He'd been a bit less scared to come by now that Angel Eyes was gone. The man ignored him. As Thomsen and his two no good henchmen drew their guns, there was a loud gunshot, and Thomsen's hat went flying. They turned to see Maria holding a shotgun with a menacing look on her face.

"Get out of my bar," Maria said sternly. "If I see you boys 'round here again I'm gonna blow a hole clean through yer head."

Thomsen grumbled as he picked up his hat and walked for the doors. "I can't believe it!" He muttered angrily. "I got my hat shot off by a megablockn' woman."

Hearing this remark, Maria once again shot Thomsen's hat clean off before lowering her gun. She smiled and chuckled as she put it down behind the counter. "Some civillized town this is," Maria remarked to herself. "If people keep going on like this we ain't never goin' to build that railroad."

Finally she turned toward the mysterious stranger.

"Hey you," Maria called out. "Harmonica, why don't you come up here."

The man lowered his harmonica as he stood up and walked toward the counter. Maria quickly poured him a glass of whiskey. "You got a name?" She asked.

"They just call me Harmonica," replied the man. "You know, you haven't by any chance heard from a man named Angel Eyes, have you?"

"Yes, actually I have," replied Maria. "He and his partner left for Gold City this morning."

"That's what I thought," replied Harmonica.

"You know you're quite a charming man," Maria said. "How would you like a room?"

"That'd be very nice, thank you," replied Harmonica. At that moment, their attention was drawn by a loud explosion. The patrons all turned around to see the general store across the street was in flames, and a man with a thick grey mustache and a long trenchcoat stepped into the Saloon with a large grin on his face. He sat down at the counter in front of Maria.

"Firecracker," Maria remarked. "Where have you been? We were expecting you two days ago."

"Oh, I ran into Chang Wu on my way here," replied Firecracker. "I think I got him this time. I set thirty charges under his palace while he was inside."

"You mean you abandoned your mission because you wanted to blow up a dictator?"

"That about sums it up," replied Firecracker.

Maria sighed. "You're lucky Rotor isn't out here," she whispered.

OOC: I apologize for the sexist attitudes of some of the characters. I'm merely trying to create a feel for what life was like, and this is after all based on a (heavily romanticized) time period in which women were often seen as inferior, and so a woman using a gun was not normally considered "proper".

Edited by Atton Rand, Mar 25 2012 - 06:03 PM.

[Brikman McStudz]

OOC: Quick response since I don't have a whole lot of time.

The second spy was intended to be a character I named once in a post long ago. Instead of a single mention and then throwing him away, I'm using him as a spy who has been in the Dino Attack Team for days. Norris would be the result of other corruptions that Zach mentioned that he played no part in.

As for Gold City, I can't say I know exactly what is going on over there. From PeabodySam's two posts related to the subject, the SHS have begun bombing Fort Legoredo. Also based on the Fort Legoredo wiki page, it appears the only way to truly defeat the Hybrids is to take back/blow up Fort Legoredo. So if you ever decided to continue Clint Wayne's mission, you could simply fight Hybrids and attack the fort. If you wanted to make it even more interesting, you could inject some sort of Boss/Dragon character to lead the Hybrids. Or at least be the visible commander while a real leader waits in the shadows.

[Atton Rand]

IC: "I don't know what's taking Cabin so long," Garry said. "Alright, we don't have much time. Mac, Rotor, you two get to the airfield. If you find Cabin tell her to get out there as well. Hertz, Windows, I need you to hurry up and decide who goes and who stays. Just remember that no matter who does what you'll have to remain in constant contact with each other. Talk about your personal lives if you have to, just keep talking."

"What will that achieve?" Vinaya asked.

"Aside from one man being able to constantly update us," replied Garry. "If the radio cuts we'll no much sooner that something is wrong. We're also going to need a couple of people who are good with guns in here. What's your name again?"

"Vinyaya,"

"Yes," replied Garry. "Someone like you will need to stay behind. I'd like a few people guarding the communications room in case a stromling gets in and tries to break our communication."

[avmatoran]

OOC:
I'm going to try to explain where Norris came from. I've already mentioned it.

IC:
Dr. Cyborg and Nazareno were walking to go to another region of the base camp. Nazareno was looking down, lost in thought, so he had some warning when it happened. A small Maelstrom symbol lit up purple.

"Dr. Cyborg, watch out!" he yelled. Too late. They both fell in when the trapdoor opened. As he fell, he saw some minifigs watching, so they knew where to not step.

He looked down. They were falling into a river of Maelstrom. They, or at least he, was going to be Stromling now.

----------------------------------

Dr. Cyborg saw where they were falling. He realized that while he was immune to Maelstrom, Nazareno was not. He landed on his feet, and caught Nazareno before he touched Maelstrom.

He turned on infrared, and saw one way was warmer. He believed it led outside. Nazareno was sending a bulletin to all Elite Agents. Cyborg had wirelessly connected to his PDA, so he saw it on the inside of his visor.

Dr. Cyborg and I have fallen into an underground
Maelstrom cavern. All the agents in the courtyard
saw it. Interview them, and set up a barricade.
We will try to get out.

Nazareno


Nazareno shifted so he was riding piggyback. He groaned as he did, being a foot above Maelstrom didn't help his wound any.

"I thought your wound was better," Dr. Cyborg said.

"It was, but it's infected with Maelstrom. The proximity to all this doesn't do me any favors." Nazareno replied.

"I can fix that. I can remove the Maelstrom from your body," Cyborg replied.

Nazareno thought. He had forgotten Cyborg's extraction abilities. That might work.

Edited by avmatoran, Mar 26 2012 - 01:22 PM.

[imperial officer]

IC:
As it turned out, David had no reason to be afraid. He had found his way into a clearing, got a GPS signal, and promptly found his way back. But now it was the following afternoon. David was eating a late lunch when he looked up and saw the familiar face of Dr. Smith.

"Joseph!" exclaimed David. "I haven't seen you for a bit. Nice to see you again."

"You too," replied Joseph. "I've been here at Outpost 4 since the whole Rotor court marshal business. I've been keeping myself busy though, researching samples of maelstrom energy, would you have it."

"Maelstrom energy?" asked David. "Sounds interesting, but I hope you've been keeping yourself safe. From what I've heard, it's very dangerous."

"Well, it's mainly because I've been in Section 18G. We deal with research that requires more... care."

David nodded in understanding. "Well, keep me posted."

[that guy from that show]

Hertz shrugged. He saw Garry had a point but neither he nor Window’s had much experience with field work. An experienced radio operator was essential to coordinating the highly complex battle plains but it would be dangerous for non combat personal like him.

Hertz still thought the battle would be a bloodbath. He trusted Semick’s planning skills and his ability as a commander but he knew that even the most experience leader should not be able to plain a battle of this magnitude in less then hour.

A lot of agents were going to die but his assistance was essential to saving lives. He glanced at Windows. The other radio operator was clearly going threw the same conflict as he was.

“Windows?” asked Hertz. “You doing this? You’re an elite you should at least have some field experience.”

Windows frowned. “I have a family back home we techs are the first to go you know. I can’t leave them.”

“I have Naomi.” said Hertz. “But I’ll go. Someone needs to do it, I’ll just have to put up the best fight I can and do my job.”

Jerry nodded. “You better go Hertz. We’ll talk to you at the temple but in till then you better go and catch a ride. The convoy leaves in one minute.”

[Benton Kabrinsky]

OOC:

Wow. It's been back for over a week and I didn't even know about it. (shows ya how often I go on this site. )

Now, I 've tried to understand what's going on, but I have no clue, so if someone could tell me, that would be great.

I figure that I should update B's profile since I've done a bit of a retcon in my own personal character continuity.

Name: Benton Kabrinsky ( B )
Age: 23 (In 2010)
Skills: Excellent marksman, Charismatic
Vehicle: Fire Hammer
Personality: Formerly idealistic and firey, B has become subdued and icy since the beginning of the war.
Background: Son of one of the only idealistic cops in the Lego City Police Department, B learned very quickly who he could and should trust. The only people he really trusts are his family: His brother Sam, his two cousins, Rob and Kevin, and his friend Chris. He joined the Alpha Team in 2005 along with his "family," and despite all the protests against their family ties, they managed to stick together as a squad. However, due to bureaucratic decisions made at the top, they were separated. B has spent most of the Dino Attack war behind the scenes, trying to get his squad back together.

I'd do an IC right now, but as I said before, I really don't know what's going on, even after reading through the topic.

[Atton Rand]

I'd do an IC right now, but as I said before, I really don't know what's going on, even after reading through the topic.

OOC: Basically a lot of stuff happened and now Zachary's a Stromling and everyone's heading out to find the Maelstrom temple except a small few who are remaining behind at Outpost 4.

IC: "Alright Windows," replied Garry. "Get to the radio room. Hertz, you go with Mac and Rotor. Get to the choppers now."

Hertz nodded as he, Rotor and Mac stepped outside. As they went toward the entrance, they were approached by Cabin.

"I can't find Rex anywhere," she said.

"Alright then," replied Mac. "We got to get out, you're coming with us."

Rotor quickly ran out to one of the T-1 Typhoons and climbed into the cockpit, pleasantly surprised to see Lance as the gunner. Meanwhile Mac was leading Hertz towards another helicopter. Before climbing into the cockpit he turned toward him.

"Remember what Garry said," Mac told Hertz. "As soon as you get in you are to put yourself through to Windows, and remain in constant touch with him."

With that, Mac climed into the pilot's seat.




Garry stared out the window as the men finished their preparations. "Now we need a few people to stay here and guard the place. I don't want anyone coming in here and trying to kill Windows. I'd also like to split up the hospital staff. Wade should go with the rest of the attack force while Copper and Crusher stay with us, and I think someone should watch over our two prisoners."

At that moment Garry was suddenly grabbed from behind and thrown against a wall. He looked up to see Tom menacingly approaching him, He reached down for his gun, only to realize it was gone. Tom held up the revolver for a moment with a grin before throwing Garry a punch in the stomach.

"That's for Jenny!" He called out. Garry grabbed the XERRD technician and threw him against a table. Tom got up and attamped to attack Garry again. "You got no morals you know that?" Tom asked.

"Listen, Tom," Strangebrick said. "I don't think this is getting us any farther."

"Shut up doc," Tom replied. "This is the guy who killed Jenny! Him and that other no-good 4+ Rotor that they just let go!"

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Vinyaya shouted.

"You would have done the same to me!" Tom continued again. "ONLY REASON YOU DIDN'T WAS BECAUSE I COULD ACTUALLY TALK TO YOU!"

"Look," replied Garry. "Calm dow-"

"I'm not going to calm down until you pay for Jenny's lif-"

"SHE'S NOT DEAD!" Garry shouted angrily.

"Then where is she?" Replied Tom.

"I sent her to Antarctica," replied Garry.

"What is all this about?" Vinyaya asked, nervously.

Garry looked at her and sighed before he sat down. He now had no choice. "It's Rotor," he said. "Early this morning a couple XERRD prisoners were brough in, Tom and another girl, who according to him was named Jenny. Rotor insisted they had information, and talked me into helping him get it. His method of 'interrogation' turned out to be to beat the child senseless until she gave in, which she was too traumatized to do. When I saw her later on, lying there on that bed, I just couldn't take the idea of her facing anymore. I knew Rotor would kill her eventually, and if he found out I'd betrayed him he'd probably do the same to me. I put her on the medivac chopper to get her as far away from Rotor as possible, and had Copper write up false records of her death to keep Rotor off my back."

***

"What happened to you?" Sarah asked the young girl lying in the bed.

"Those two men," replied Jenny weakly. "They hit me, and wouldn't stop hitting me. They kept asking me questions."

"It's alright, Jenny," replied Sarah. "Everything's going to be fine."

[Brikman McStudz]

OOC: I'd recommend restarting outside of Outpost 4, where Semick is about to give the final mission briefing before heading out.

IC:

Nazareno groaned in pain. The amount of Maelstrom increased the pulsing in his wound.

"Alright, we can try it," Nazareno said through clenched teeth. "After we get out of here." It was only lucky that Dr. Cyborg was immune to the Maelstrom. Nazareno stared at the Maelstrom below him with extreme distaste. He groaned again.

"Hurry!"

******************************

Commander Vinyaya glared at Garry fiercely. She was realist, that was sure. As a Space Police officer she had her share interrogations, particularly of the agressive kind. However, she had never heard of a grown man beating a child senseless. And frankly, it sickened her.

"I can't say I'm impressed," Vinyaya said darkly. "Not impressed at all. I don't know exactly what position this "Jenny" had in XERRD, but if she was a child, she couldn't have known that much." Garry looked down, clearly ashamed.

"However," she continued. "I have shred of admiration for you by saving that girl from any more senseless beatings. In the meantime, we need to deal with Rotor. This is the last straw. The trial and now this? He is out of control and clearly has abused his power. He needs to be expelled and sent of this island. Now."

"But without Rotor, our T-1 Typhoon fleets are disorganized and sloppy. He knows how to lead them," Garry retorted.

Vinyaya scowled. "This is the same reason why we let him go the first time!" she sighed. "But you are right. Without him our fleet is nothing. We'll let him go now. Once this war is over, however, I want him arrested. As for you," Vinyaya eyes shot to Tom. "You have ever right to be angry, but I would not recommend attacking Garry or any other Dino Attack Agent again. You are bound be caught by someone who will not respond as well as Garry or I."

******************************

Minerva scanned the vehicle lot, hoping to find Andrew or Laxus. She figured it would be best to just stay with Andrew during the search. If Rudo Villano or another informant could lead them to the Maelstrom Temple, the need to split up would be pointless.

She walked past a group of Fire Hammers when a voice called out to her. "Hey, Fabello! Rex wants to see you!" Minerva raised an eyebrow and looked around in confusion. "Come on!" the voice called out again. Minerva shrugged and tried to follow the voice. She walked in front of the Fire Hammer when she felt a hand grab her neck and pull her between two Fire Hammers.

Again?! She was sick of being taken captives by bad guys. She was about to just swing a punch at her captive when she felt a sharp jab of pain against her spine. She collapsed, allowing the attacker to beat her repeated in the stomach and face. Minerva tried to fight back, but the attacker overpowered any attempt.

When he finally stopped his brutal attack, her body was bruised and swollen. Her eyes fluttered several times to see a blurry Dino Attack Agent staring down at her, grinning viciously.

"Sorry, Fabello," the minifig said. "But you have obviously made yourself a threat to our cause if Ahua wants you at the temple." Minerva was extremely disorientated, but she felt like she could recognize the name Ahua. Her vision began to improve, allowing her to pick out individual details on the Minifig's face.

The agent had long, wavy, blonde hair that drooped over his left eye. He had a face that could have belonged to a child. He had three freckles on each cheek. His eyes were an icy blue color that stared intently at Minerva.

"I know you..." she muttered. The Minifig grinned and punched her in the face again.

"I know you know me," the agent hissed. "Ahua was rather happy that I knew what his target looked like." She squinted, then gasped in realization.

"Ghost?!"

"Spot on," Ghost said, slamming his foot into Minerva's stomach.

[Atton Rand]

IC: Fuchs took a large bite out of a sandwhich as he sat in the driver's seat thinking. There was not much else to do besides try to work the radio, which he attempted once or twice before without success. At thsi moment, he started to think of what led him here, the cure to the Maelstrom, and then he remembered the creative spark, and began to wonder.

"She said J.D. took his own creative spark and used it in the formula," Fuchs thought to himself. "I wonder if... no it can't be. Can it? If the creative spark is part of a minifig's consciousness, does that mean part of its original owner ends up in the patient. Perhaps his memories."

At that moment, Fuchs suddenly had a realization of how he could potentially get that cure. "If Zach was cured, perhaps he'd have access to J.D.'s memories. Could that mean that he'd be able to recall the Maelstrom formula? Maybe he can tell me how to make it."

"Minerva I hope you cure him," Fuchs muttered as he sat back. Suddenly he heard the sound of a twig snapping. He got outside, picked up a rifle and looked around, but there was nobody there. He walked back toward the cab and opened the door to see a familiar face.

"Hello Norris," Fuchs said. "It's been a while."

"Indeed it has," replied Norris. His eyes started to glow red. Fuchs already knew what was going on. He quickly raised his rifle and fired one round after another. He knew this would not be enough to stop Norris, but it would at least slow him down. He quickly closed the door. Norris had found him.. He knew now that being out here was no more safer than at the base, only there there would be other people who could provide protection. Quickly thinking, he looked in the back, found a stick of dynamite, lit the fuse, and tossed it inside before he began running back through the forest, following the tracks. There was a loud noise in the distance as the vehicle exploded.

***

Garry stood up and picked up his gun off the ground before putting it back into its holster. "Listen," he said. "Whatever you do, I told you nothing. If Rotor finds out I betrayed him he'll probably not only beat me senseless but then take me out back and have me shot for aiding an embedding a prisoner."