Andrewnuva199

OOC: Alright, well, I'd really advise you not to let him go too far. You can't just have him making things worse like that, even if it is in his character. PeabodySam's letting him have real consequences with the "HQ at near-deconstruction" thing because it's essentially a warning for you and us to not to be doing an action like that that again. He's your character, so do exercise some control over him.Besides, not many of us have characters in HQ that are at the liberty to go around searching for him, so at the least, your cast is going to have to work on stopping Firecracker as well.IC: "It's as simple as I said," Andrew told Mrs. Bishop."Just follow her into battle and watch her back. Provide cover while she's helping us for objectives, and that sort of thing.""Well..." Mrs. Bishop said as she thought about Andrew's proposal. As the Elite Agent waited for a response, yet another explosion, this one particularily audible, shook the stairwell. Andrew fell back onto the wall of the stairway, barely staying on his feet, while the Bishops were knocked down to the floor."Geeze, this building is getting a lot of secondary explosions right now!" Andrew cried out as the shaking subsided."Ugh, it must be that guy, Firecracker!" said Mrs. Bishop as she got up and helped her daughter do the same. "He was with the Squad, and I bet he's getting the idea that bringing the building down on the Mutant Dinos is the last option right now!""But they've barely hit the building, and Dr. Rex has only hit the outer walls! I mean, really, what is he thinking?""He's as explosion-obsessed as Demoman," Kate said, "I heard that he almost set off the explosives Demoman set up in his fit of crazy, and was only stopped by faulty wiring. He's nuts!""Ugh," Andrew said as he put his palm to his face. "We don't have time for this nonsense, I gotta be up on the 13th floor ASAP." He pulled out his PDA and began typing out a message.To all Dino Attack agents in the headquarters but not evacuating or joining the Elite Agents:We've got another rouge agent trying to bring trouble. Agent Firecracker is seemingly intent on blowing up the headquarters, and is possibly the cause of its currently critical condition. It seems now that he is trying to finish the job. He must be found and stopped at all costs!Elite Agent Andrew"That'll have to do for now," Andrew muttered as he hit "Send". "Right now, I need to get going. Think over my offer, but either way, I guess you need to follow me upstairs for either of your objectives."He started running up the stairs, turning back briefly to gesture and say "C'mon!" to the Bishops before continuing up.

IC: Andrew thought quickly how he could address Mrs. Bishop's concerns. She did have some sound reasoning, wanting to be a protective mother and all. If she didn't want her to be seperated from her, then..."Well, you don't have to leave her alone out there," the Elite Agent suggested. "I've heard the stories, you've apparently done quite a job with some of XERRD's forces earlier with the Third Headquarters Squad crew. Plus that incident where you beat up Rotor and Cabin when the came back here's quite infamous among the ranks right now."Mrs. Bishop looked at him and shrugged. "What can I say? You shouldn't stay in the way of a mother trying to protect her children.""Then perhaps you could fight alongside her? I'm sure nobody would mind, and at this hour, I'm sure your help would be most appreciated."

IC: "I mean," Andrew continued, "I know you haven't taken some of the revelations you got at Adventurers' Island quite well, I've read the reports, but you're far from a useless member of the team. You were part of the welcoming team when Zenna's crew arrived back on the island. You helped out with rescue attempts for the Rear Guard, you were very interested and involved with the Maelstrom aspects of the mission, you built a bomb to help off with warding off Mutant Pterosaurs, and you did a good job at swiping us those XERRD binders.""...Yes, I do remember that, Andrew..." Kate said slowly, the thoughts of events past appearing to appear in her head. Mrs. Bishop seemed a bit surprised with the actions of her daughter, but did keep the collectivism to confront Andrew."Listen," she said, "I know she's been rather proactive on the team, but she's gone through a lot over these past 60 hours, it really would be in her best interests to get away from everything.""We've all been through a lot, miss," said Andrew. "The traitor business, French Fries's stupidity, the magnitude of this final battle... but overall this whole team's been holding together and continuing to fight the fight we've fighting for nearly a year.""She's 18 years old! How can you expect someone her age to cope with such matters?""A lot of our good agents are 18, myself included. And look where I am now: I'm an Elite Agent, with a good set of friends and companions, and a collected and stable mindset."Mrs. Bishop looked a little frustrated, but sighed in submissiveness. "Very well, if you think she can be good enough to continue serving, you may very well bring her out there into that mess of a battle.""Might not be the best of ideas at the moment," said Andrew, "given the circumstances, but let me explain it to her first, it's really her choice."The LEGO Islander looked back at the young fellow agent. "Kate, I admit frankly that I've been a bit disappointed by how you've been acting since the XERRD Fortress. I do understand that being forced by Rotor to sneak back in there, being locked in an office by one of XERRD's top leaders, then learning of family connections between you and him is shocking, but it seems you've been taking it very, very harshly.Now I heard what happened in the Maelstrom temple as well. You met Walter Bishop, in the sense that you learned of his true status and connection to your family, as well as the man who took his guise for the sake of Minifig kind. I haven't heard exactly what he said, but from what I heard from Rex and Vinyaya's mission reports, apparently he and you shared several close words, am I right?"Kate nodded in agreement. Andrew guessed that she was thinking about what she had heard Dr. Einstein tell her not too long ago. "Now I know it must've felt horrible to lose such a recently-met friend so quickly, but he died for a good cause, for you to help save us all by stabbing his Creative Spark right into the Imagination Orb, banishing the Darkitect from the temple and the planet!" Andrew suddenly remembered the giant purple Mutant T-Rex at the headquarters gate. "Well, so we thought. But still, the point is you earned yourself a place in the history books, and I don't think that the heroine of the Maelstrom temple should be left a sad, tearful young girl who feels she isn't good enough for the team anymore."The young woman was silent, apparently taking her time to think about all that she was hearing. "Now," Andrew concluded, "like I said, the way out to the battle is mighty dangerous right now, and the battle itself a bit moreso. Specs even encouraged all the Rookies to evacuate. But you're no rookie, Kate. You're a veteran and survivor of Adventurers Island, and as far as I'm concerned, you're as good as an agent as Rex himself. I'd encourage you to follow me to the thirteenth floor, but instead of going to Antarctica, I say you stay with us and help us out with our defeat of Dr. Rex once and for all. You're clever, and good at solving problems. I'm sure you can think of something that can help with the plans. So are you with me?"OOC: Brikman, this by no means excludes you from trying to give your own solution to helping Kate get back on her feet. Feel free to do so when your cast intersects ours.

IC: The ways to the hanger catwalks were definately going to be a challenge. They had been heavily damaged by the explosion earlier, and some were just barely hanging on their wires or other attachments. The main way up to them consisted mainly of ladders, with a few stairwells around the ends near the walls, and most of which were also quite loose after the ordeal as well.Andrew was going to have be prepared and ready to think quick. There was no other way to the thirteenth floor of the Headquarters. The main halls were overun by Mutant Lizards or severely damaged, and it would take too long to call a ride up to the top of the building. He needed to find a way up to them, and from there he could quickly get to the relatively safer fourth floor, and from there he could reach a stairway to the top.He first decided to take the stairwell, if only to make an easier ascent. Walking to it, he tried the first step. It creaked quite a bit, but the structure seemed to hold. He took another step. It still held. He continued to slowly but surely move up the steps, picking up a little speed as he did so, eventually reaching the first level of catwalks.As he began moving up to the second level, the stairs began to creek more, seeming to be a bit more loose up here. Andrew looked closely at the higher section of the stairs. Sure enough, they were swaying slightly out of connection in the stairs halfway to the third level. He would have to get off at the second and find a ladder from there.When he began going up from the halfway point to the second level, Dino Attack Headquarters shook from another distant explosion. Andrew fell to his stomach on the stairs, watching with horror as the stairs began to sway more and more. He only had seconds to act.He got up on his feet again, clinging to the railing as he moved quickly up to the second catwalk level. Just as he stepped upon it, the stairs swayed heavily away from behind him, pulling on the catwalks with its remaining connections until they snapped, sending the stairs to a timbering fall to the ground.Andrew took a moment to catch his breath as he assessed the situation. The catwalk he was on stretched to the front and back of the hanger, connected by two more paths to intersect another catwalk before reaching the upper levels of the headquarters base. However, both of these crossing catwalks had snapped, so crossing them was impossible.The Elite Agent saw a ladder a few paces away from the site of the stairs, and advance quickly to them. He grabbed onto them, and was about to ascend them when he looked up and was met with an annoying surprise. The ladder was made to only be fully used if one was on the side facing away from the catwalks, otherwise they would only make a person bump their head on the next level of catwalk. Andrew supposed this wasn't a problem for the engineers and mechanics who had to keep scurrying up and down the things when working on repairing various DIno Attack vehicles, but for him, he could only hope he was still as nimble and flexible for this has he had said he had when he described himself as "flexible" while signing up.Grabbing onto ladder rungs with his hands and feet (his laser rifle safely kept strapped on his back), he then reached his right hand around to grab the rung on the other side, did the same with his right foot, then quickly flung himself around the ladder and had his left limbs get a firm hold on the rungs. He briefly took a moment to catch his breath again, then began to actually climb the thing.In no time, he reached the third floor of catwalks. Here were several access stairways to the landing pads atop the hanger along with the pats back to the rest of the base. The level seemed mostly intact, thanks to being more firmly attached to the ceiling at this level, but were notably swaying at a noticeable rate.Flipping over to the catwalk, Andrew knew this was just as risky as his ascent had been, perhaps moreso. The prospect of advancing over these catwalks reminded him of an incident back in the 80s where two hotel skywalks had collapsed, due to faulty supports, on over a hundred people during a dance party. He forced himself to not focus on the memories of the news footage of the scene, and instead reminded him that there was only one option if he hoped to meet his comrades on the thirteenth floor.Taking a deep breath, Andrew stepped back a bit, then, charged down the catwalk to the other end of the hanger. The structure creaked and made slight cracking noises as he ran, but he kept going, taking only the caution to stay close to the railing.Halfway across, the catwalk began to sway. Andrew took only slight notice. Then it began to lean slightly to the left, the side of which Andrew was leaning close to the railing. Now he took notice. He slowed down, and moved quickly to the other side. The moment he grabbed the railing on said side, the left side of the railing fell, leaving the catwalk hanging on its right side, and the LEGO Islander hanging by the handrails.Thank Ole they at least remembered these! Andrew thought.But he wasn't out of his predicament yet. His only option now was to continue moving by crossing along the handrails like the old monkey bars he used to play on in his younger years. It was a hard task, not only because the horizontal nature of the railings forcing him to move sideways instead of forwards, but the factor of looking down and seeing you were four stories away from the ground was never something pleasant to look at, even if one wasn't stuck with acrophobia.Slowly, Andrew made his way across.Soon enough, he he was a little close to a third of the way across.Then a half.Then another third.Eventually, he reached the catwalk on the other end, still upright, having merely had a snapped connection when Andrew's catwalk had fallen. Taking great care to keep his grip in spite of his fatigue and aching arms, Andrew moved up close to the other catwalk, then grabbed onto the snapped-off edge where the snap had taken place. Another moment later, he moved his other hand to it. Finally, he pulled himself up with great effort, and let himself lie flat on the upright structure. He let himself rest for about a minute as he caught his breath.The headquarters shook again. Realizing time was still of the essence, Andrew got up, and advanced to the path to the main headquarters' fourth floor. Opening the door, he was greeted with the smell of smoke and the sight of several collapsed walls. Not only from the explosion earlier, but from the earlier Inferno attack that had crippled Hertz's hearing.Fortunately, the rubble had been cleared by the rescue teams that had come up. It took Andrew no time to find the path to a stairwell connecting to both ends of the tower section of Headquarters. He opened the door, and was mildly surprised to see the faces of Kate Bishop and an older woman that he presumed had been her mother that everyone had been talking about."Oh, uh, hello, Kate," said Andrew, tipping his hat to her mother in friendliness. "Mrs. Bishop. You have to forgive me, I just came from a rather tiring route through the remains of the route from the hangers. I guess you're walking with each other on the way to evacuate your mother, Kate?"----------------Bluetooth was worried. Specs's announcement had worried him. Semick's own had been spirit-lifting, but didn't help.The Futuron technician was realizing now that he was likely to die. Die for the good cause of standing off against the Mutant Dinos to the end, but still dying. He wasn't comfortable about that.In his left hand was his PDA, which he was looking at on and off as he monitored the numbers of remaining enemies on the TALON-9 radar. He felt the need to write something to someone, something like a last will and testament, or the last letter the young men of wars' past had written to their mothers.But who to write to? His family was out in the asteroid colonies, only hearing from him through the occasional transmission from Alpha Team's limited Intergalactic Communications Center in Antarctica. His friends were either in the refugee facilities or back on the Luna base. He wasn't quite close enough to any of his DIno Attack colleagues to send a message to them, so who else could he-"Vinyaya," he unconsciously muttered. His eyes widened. "Wait... no, no, I don't know her! She barely remembers me as it is!"But his mind told himself there was still something between them. There had been the idea of a kind of an alien defense unit that he had talked to her after recalling those warnings from the edges of the Milky Way. That idea, to adapt Dino Attack to such a force after the war, was still unaddressed beyond talks, and after this battle there might not be much left to adapt, but the idea was still there. And ideas had been enough so many times before to create great things.Yes... Bluetooth still had a loose end between him and Vinyaya through that "ADU" idea. Perhaps he could take a chance and use that opportunity. He did have nothing to lose from it, after all.He rose his PDA to his eyes, and began typing out a message.Dear Commander Vinyaya,I know you probably don't remember me. There was the talks about Rotor and Pilot's release, and random meetings before the Maelstrom temple, but we haven't talked much since our first meeting at the camp near where the XERRD Fortress was leveled.Semick's going to stay here and fight it out, so I guess that doesn't stand well for my chances for survival. You're on the front lines, I know, but you have more combat experience than me, so I'm guessing you'll live this one out.Basically, I just want to say I don't want you to give up on the idea of adapting Dino Attack into an alien defense unit or something I suggested. Those UFO readings may be distant, but from what it looks, they still look like they have intents with Earth that aren't peaceful. We should be prepared, especially considering how much we have to recover from these Mutant Dinos, as well as whatever else might target this island, Earth, in the future. Nobody wants what happened to Mars to happen again.Also, I have a confession to make. I'll say it frankly, I'm fond of you. I suppose my nervousness on our first meeting made it a bit obvious, but there's also the detail that I was determined to help Fabello help you when you were taken out by Zach's abuse of your body for a shield. I guess it might've faded a bit when we met over French Fries's idiotic orders, but I suppose I was too furious over the situation to remember that. But now, as it sinks in that I may not survive this battle, I feel the feelings of joy and admiration rising to the forefront, along with the guilt and regret that it never went anywhere before now.Remember me, and remember the "ADU" idea, so to call it. Perhaps if I do make it, we can meet again, and you can get me back down to Earth by making it clear that we can do well as friends and comrades. If not, well, at least I've lifted a large burden on me during my final hours, and hopefully I'll leave a legacy that can help the planet keep on goin' even after this Dino Attack.Most Sincerly,Bluetooth, AKA Ryan RadcliffAfter taking a moment to read over his finished work, Bluetooth hit "Send", and returned to his duties on the radar. It was time to face the music.

OOC: Yes, but remember that she didn't start out that way. You said on the wiki that the main reason you introduced Kate Bishop was to put more girl characters into the team. Back then, she was smart enough to already know a great deal about the Maelstrom legends, freely particiapted in rescue efforts with the Rear Guard, made a bomb on her own to ward off Mutant Pterosaurs, volunteered on her own for the fortress infltration, and her only troubles was not clearly understanding her mission and getting an injury in the Mutant Dino/Regular Dino fight. In fact, this whole "Doesn't really belong" thing didn't really start until you had Kate get forced by Rotor to sneak back into the XERRD Fortress and try and get more intelligence. Being forced to something dangerous, being locked in an office, and learning that one of XERRD's leaders is potentially related to her (Done only because you noticed her sharing last names with Walter Bishop coincidentally, and you and PeabodySam decided to work with it) has to be shocking emotionally, but I find it hard to believe that it would leave her already in the early PTSD stages.All she experienced after that was various attacks and Mutant DIno encounters, which I understand she might not be completely ready for after her slight mental trauma, but hardly horrible, considering the war stories of some other characters. But for some reason, you portray her as already becoming too panicky to even be able to fight in standard battles anymore. You almost made her simply run away from the Maelstrom Temple battle if it hadn't been for PeabodySam intervening for his plot goals. Then of course she gets the plot revelations with Frank Einstein, which was mostly just why her mother thought to hide Wallace's gruesome and sad fate from her, hardly that major of a shocking secret that shakes everything she knows about her family. Then of course, Dr. Einstein dies, but he leaves her with these words: And then she sticks to the man of the Maelstrom and saves the day and gains everyone's gratitude and appreciation (well, all of the good-natured people), and what does she think after that? That she wasn't satisfied by any of it and only left in tears at knowing her mother lied to her and Dr. Einstein was gone and she was alone without anyone to really understand and help her and blah blah blah this is frankly disappointing. Boy, if only Dr. Einstein could see her then and now.Look, my point is that Kate's story of "never shoud've joined the team" is really disjointed and ridiculous. I can understand wanting to write a character arc like that, but your problem is that Kate wasn't started with that story in mind, so she went from a reasonably stable standard agent (she's technically a rookie, but so was Zach and he advanced pretty quickly, and in-story technicalities about low rank have never been that important out-of-story), which I would prefer to envision with That Guy's first attempt at her, to a crying, incapable young girl far too quickly and nonsensically. It started abruptly, it destroyed the effect of an awesome moment contributed by PeabodySam, and its leaving me, when I read you writing Dr. Saran as saying "I don't think Kate will ever be psychologically fit to fight in this team", to want to pull off a facepalm.I'm sorry, I mean no offense to you, Atton. I like you. I like talking with you and playing TF2 alongside you. But what you've done with Kate Bishop is a real annoyance to read.

OOC: Oh, c'mon. We get that she's got some problems, but after "the one man who could get her access to the real Wallace Bishop killed" (Mind you, he told her she could find him at that Napoleon asylum) tells her how proud and happy he is of her, gives her encouragement, and she, again, beats the freakin' Darkitect, don't you think she would at least have made some recovery?Look, I'm sorry if I sound rude, but what you're doing with Kate is just going a little too overboard with a "realistic" depiction of a 18-year old in the midst of a war on mutant dinosaurs. There's nothing wrong with a little serious look at a young girl's psychological state, but this isn't a realistic story. This is a story where dinosaurs are alive and well (somewhat), a pizza delivery boy and a low-level crook who's tried to take over an island mutliple times work together to fight mutant dinosaurs, and an evil entity based around chaos and deconstruction can reanimate a Mutant T-Rex from the brirk of death. We're not so much playing for realism so much as fun and a good story, and to be frank, seeing a youing woman fall from a good fighter and one of the big darn heroes of the Adventurers' Island campaign to a poor, crying little girl who won't "ever be psychologically fit to fight in this team" isn't the sort of thing most of us want to see.What I'm trying to say, and what PeabodySam meant when trying to help her "grow up" with her moment at the Maelstrom temple, and what That Guy meant when putting her in his psychological session, is simply that we want to Kate Bishop to get over her problems, stop crying, and become an effective member of the team like she was when you introduced her at the beginning of Adventurers Island. Realism be darned, we can motivate her with a good speech from someone, or simply her mother being an encouragement, because we've gotten away with it before in-story, and we can do it again.Also, might I ask you something, Atton? Were it up to you to write that part in PeabodySam's post about Kate and the Imagination orb, would you have had Kate be able to bear the pressure of the Darkitect and strike that final stab that allowed the Imagination to overwhelm and defeat the Maelstrom?Now then, Optimism awaaaay!!! (Superman theme here)IC: "...Well, that's a buzzkiller.""No way. He can't be serious.""I knew we had no chances all along.""Mm, whacha say? I didn't quite hear.""How could this happen to me? I don't understand...""Maybe we better retreat. Allow us to at least say our goodbyes to our families.""Man, if I find the cool dude responsible for setting off those explosives, French Fries will consider himself lucky.""We're doomed? We still have a giant Alpha Team cruiser in the air!"Semick felt chilled to his core like nothing else had over the course of this war.Specs himself... admitting defeat? Advising most agents to retreat, while saying that nearly all hope was lost? It was unbelievable. Their leader himself was losing hope in their chances...Shock quickly turned to fear... fear of defeat. And Semick was reminded of his departure from the Power Miners. He knew that he hadn't left out of fear, but he did know that some others had, following in the tracks of one man who just happened to think his time was done.No, Semick thought. No... no, that will not happen.The fear quickly turned to a firey anger of determination. The Elite Agent's mind quickly went abuzz with plans and words, and in only a few moments, he had grabbed his radio mic, and flipped his frequency to a signal every agent would hear."This is Elite Agent Semick. As you know, Specs has just sent out a message telling us he is afraid we are close to defeat. He has advised the Rookies and most Standard agents to retreat, while advising the Elite Agents to return to HQ to help with a device that may prove the key to victory."I, however, still hold quite a bit of optimism, however unhealthy that may be. Look around you. We have fought long and hard today. The Mutant Dinos are still coming hard, but we have taken many of their numbers out as of now, and they cannot last forever. Furthermore, even if they have allies with the wtiches and Inferno agents, we do have allies of our own. Alpha Team, Agents, the LEGO Villians, even XERRD themselves have come to our aid. We are hurt, I will not lie, but we are not incapacitated."We have hit darkest hours before, and we have survived them to continue fighting. We've had our first HQ decimated by mutiny. We've nearly lost our power station to an all-out attack. We were nearly quashed by an ambush in the Goo Caverns. We were cut off on our own in LEGO Island's Netherworld. We were split between ourselves like no other occasion with the exposure of the Antarctica mission. We were caught by surprise by deception and forced to face our worst fears at the Maelstrom temple. And only recently our integrity and strength were nearly blown away by the actions of the traitor Ata."Because of this, I am not backing down. I am continuing the fight, and if you're like-minded, I want you all, from the newest rookie to the most veteraned Elite, to stand by me, and continue fighting off these monsters! This is not over, we have faced and overcome horrifying odds before and we WILL do so again! We are not beaten, we are not on our last legs, we are a untied team with strong allies and only a few flesh wounds!"However, I will let my fellow Elite Agents know that they may feel free to report to Specs. What his group is doing is important, I am sure, and you are all skilled in ways I am sure can assist with their work. I am just letting you all know that I am continuing to remain on duty here in the battlefield, with the rest of our forces, ready to defend our team to the end. Even if Dino Attack Headquarters falls, the Dino Attack team will not die! We will overcome the odds, just like we have countless times before! And no true agent is going to retreat in this time of greatest need!"We shall stand together, and we will show these minions of darkness and chaos just what the strength of the creative, strong and determined agents of Dino Attack is capable of! Are you with me?!"There was silence on the radio. For ten seconds. Semick briefly began feelling a sense of disappointment, and his hope started to drain. Then, he heard a noise over the radio. It started with one "Yeah!", then a "I'm with you!", then several more, then several dozen more, until his radio crackled with cries of support. Perhaps half or five-sixths of the team was replying at once over the radio.Semick grinned. Grinned with relief, joy, and readiness. "Alright then! Iron Predators, split up and set yourselves away from Dr. Rex and the giant robot, and began aiming at the latter! Fire Hammers, Urban Avengers, start attacking those Mutant Dinos headed for HQ! Their charge should make them more easy pickings! T-1 Typhoons, keep together with your PLARXX rays on and stick together in groups of six, and go for the Mutant Pterosaurs and witchcraft ships and their Maelstrom dragons! Agents, Alpha Team, XERRD, help out however you can, but focus mainly on Inferno's forces and the witches!"Stick together, and stay strong in your fights! We're not done yet!"-----------Stranger hadn't had this much fun since the start of this whole war. Firing away with his laser sniper rifle from the ruins of a bar that had been attacked earlier, he was scoring a kill or two every time he fired his rifle. With his Mutant Lizard ally keeping watch over the area, and misdirecting Mutant Dinos wandering over, he was doing perfectly well in terms of battle survival.Semick is right, the agent though. We're far from finished. Though it is getting a little bit boring around here...Grabbing his PDA, he switched it to the comn frequency and sent out a message. "Hey! To any snipers misplaced during the HQ assult, feel free to hit the dismantled bar those Mutant Dinos trashed earlier. It's ripe for sniping!"-----------"I admit, I know nothing about the kind of sciency technology that we seem to use a lot," Andrew explained to his crew as he drove to HQ, "but I do know building, and if there's a role I can play in gathering parts or designing how this device works or whatever, I'm sure I can do something.""Alright, alright," said Laxus. "I'll just do my best driving this thing while Catless and Pterisa remain on top with the turret. If you need our help again, just call us.""Will do."Avoiding the charge of Mutant DInos hitting around the main entrance, Andrew stopped near the hanger area, which was having less Mutant Dinos enter through it, due to a lack of targets. For now, anyways."Are you sure you don't want our help getting up there?" Laxus asked again as Andrew grabbed his laser rifle and opened the door."You're going to be needed out there like everyone else," Andrew replied. "I just need to get inside and up to the thirteenth floor. The Mutant Dinos are likely going to remain busy around the science labs and lower floors. I just need to reach a catwalk, find a door to the upper floors from there, and reach a stairway. It'll be simple enough after that.""Well, good luck up there," said Laxus as Andrew hopped out. "But just in case of... well, you know, I'd just like to let you know it's been a great pleasure fighting and joking alongside you, Andrew.""Same here. I still have to show you what it's like to be in a real LEGO Island party."Laxus snickered and moved to the driver's seat. As he closed Andrew's door, Catless and Pterisa took a moment to climb off the Xenon turret and say their own fairwells."We may not know each other much," said Catless, shaking Andrew's hand, "but you've definitely proved to be skilled enough at lasting through tough battles like this. I'm glad we could be on the same vehicle.""Again, I'm greatful for all you've done and let me do with you," said Pterisa. "I don't think I would've gotten in quite so easily with your team if you hadn't. Let's hope for the best after all this." She rose her hand, as if to shake Andrew's as well, but as Andrew rose his own hand, she shook her head and muttered "Oh, why not?" and gave the LEGO Islander a hug.Andrew was quite surprised, but not unaccepting, letting himself hug her back and smile slightly. They held that posture for only a moment before moving apart again. Pterisa and Catless then returned to the Fire Hammer turret, and they, along with Laxus, waved goodbye to Andrew as the vehicle sped off back into battle.Andrew, after waving goodbye to them, then started looking for a catwalk to get up on. Several of the stairs and ladders up to them were damaged or broken, and some more had been blocked by containers that looked to be part of Reptile's plans involving the Green Goo, bu there were a few around the back still intact, and Andrew headed over there to check them out.

OOC: Well, I'd understand the "way over her head" idea after seeing the Maelstrom in its purest and learning about the dark side and family secrets within XERRD, but one would think after that crowning moment of awesome when she delivered the final blow to the Darkitect at the Maelstrom temple, she would at least start pulling herself back together and become a willing and strong agent.But for some inexplicable reason, she's failed to do so, and with her mother virtually taking over for her, she's been basically sitting in a corner crying over her circumstances. Surely at some point she would be expected to start recovering from her grief and move on, don't you think? She handled being an agent in Adventurers Island pretty well before the XERRD Fortress, I believe. Can't she do it again?

IC: The stakes had never been higher. HQ was massively damaged and close to collapse. The Mutant Dinos may've taken severe losses by now, but they were far from backing down. The Castle Cove witches and Inferno forces were not giving up. And the Dino Attack agents were suffering from their casualities, fatigue, and moral state.But there was still hope. Most Elite Agents were still up and directing orders. Rotor was appearently close to a rescue by Dr. Cyborg's allies. And they had Alpha Team, the Agents, and XERRD themselves gunning for them. They may be starting to suffer, but they were far from being done with."Keep clear of HQ, and hold formations around the diameter of the site!" Andrew was saying to the team members over radio. "What matters now is that we keep together, and don't let ourselves fall victim to claws, witchcraft, or a giant metal foot!""Also note that we do have an opening coming up for beating Dr. Rex!" Semick also said through the comn. "The Founding Members have gone into HQ to fetch a device that I've received word of being capable of driving the Maelstrom out of that son of a brick's body! If they can get it and work it right, we could definitely turn this battle around!""I'll take any chance we can get by now.""I wouldn't rely on it. It's going to take more than the press of a button on some device to end this, I'm sure.""Why doesn't anyone just shoot the Znap out of that mother-!""Which part of 'Silge armor and Maelstrom regenerative properties' don't you understand?!""The Einstein Device isn't a myth! I knew it!""Miss Witch, I'll give you something to wave a stick at!""That stunt of Pointman's was completely pointless! Why'd he throw his life and ship away like that?!""What did you expect from the likes of him?""B better get back here, stat!""And so does Zach and Fabello too, for that matter, assuming they weren't injured in that explosion.""What caused it, anyways?""Someone get Pyro and Andrew Jackson to fight fire with fire in regards to that Inferno mech!""I overheard some of the Third Headquarters Squad talking about blowing up the building as a last resort in Dr. Rex's assult. Seems like they were a little pre-emptive, though.""Seriously, they should've consulted with us first! You don't just blow up our HQ without teling anyone, darn it!""So much discord right now," Laxus remarked."Yeah," Andrew muttered briefly as he looked up to the skies through his Fire Hammer windshield. Along with the Alpha Team craft carrier and the still-surviving ADU forces, they still had a good fifty-or-so T-1 Typhoons still in the hair. Half of them were recent reinforcements from Antarctica. Most were occupied with defending the ground forces, while a good ten of them were keeping busy attacking the witch crafts and Inferno's giant robot, which was almost taking up the role Cyrista's Bane had been playing eariler ("Someone sic that cyborg T-Rex on the Inferno robot!" someone on the comn had said. "it'd be the coolest battle tonight!").Semick was still leading somewhere around the middle, helping to cover the front lines, while Reptile was still hanging around close to the area of the Headquarters, defending the rooftops as much as he could for the sake of the Founding Member's T-1. Hotwire's team was coming back into the main battle just now, having been helping out B's team with the bulk of the Inferno agents at LEGO City's outskirts.Andrew turned his attention back to the radio. "Semick, how is everybody?""Bluetooth's been helping me get everything understood," The former Power Miner replied. "Hertz apparently went deaf in the attack on the communications and is still getting treated. He's not going to be much help with the radios, but I'm getting Bluetooth to try and talk with him via PDA to see if he can help out with coding and working out how to best narrow frequencies between us and all our allies.""I've already sent a message to him," Bluetooth chimed in. "He better reply soon, and I've told him to let the medics know he has Semick's authorization to be helped back into the field. Or at least, help from the bunker they're making in the HQ basement."Andrew felt horrified that Hertz had suffered such a cruel handicapp, which made Hotwire and Rex's conditions seem minor by comparison. But he was happy to hear Semick working things out. "Good to hear," he said. "how about Cyborg and Rotor?""Rotor sent out a PDA message about their situation," said Bluetooth. "I replied, explaining to him about Dr. Cyborg sending Cyrista's Bane and some kind of friendly Mutant Pterosaur to find them. Hopefully they'll be able to understand what's going on when the two arrive.""And Dr. Cyborg was appearently talking to that Darkling fellow currently leading XERRD," Semick added. "Appearently, our fellow Elite's now the second-in-command, and if Darkling dies, he gets command of the scientists. He should report back in any time now.""Sounds excellent!" Hotwire added, just now flying in with several other T-1s. "Hope I'm not too late to regroup with-Znap, what's up with the Maelstrom dragons?!""You've missed quite a bit," said Swerve. "Including Kat try to talk down Dr. Rex.""What?! Where is-""The building she was on got pulverized not too long afterwards," said Semick. "We haven't found a body yet, though, so there's a chance she's still out there. We're keeping an eye out.""Along with several other agents," said Andrew. "Reports are saying that Zach and Fabello were forced out of HQ with Athena by some XERRD guy. I've asked Joike, Gypsy and Observer to look for them, but they haven't found them yet."If you use thess guys, Brikman, have fun molding out Observer based on his namesake in relation to Joike's and Gypsy's."And where's B, by the way?" Semick asked. "I heard something about him having to settle a score with someone alone.""Uh, yea, that would be true," said Hotwire. "Hopefully he'll have that finished up soon, though.""He'd better. Once the Founding Members get out of HQ, I suspect they'll want us to focus our efforts in a certain way in regards to how they're going to use that device they're planning to use. I want all of us to be able to report quickly and immediately in case they need our help.""Understood," said Andrew. "We'll keep holding out in the meantime.""Great. Now focus back on the task at hand, people. There's no time to waste."

OOC: The same way you missed the fact that Amanda's body was in the middle of a situation that made it impossible to have been recovered for the scene you had with the medical staff's reaction to her death. We all miss a few things when reading everyone's posts from time to time, especially if they're not exactly clear due to being a reference to something not everyone has watched. Just relax, point out the error, and move on.

OOC: Just to remind you Atton, Dr. Cyborg sent some help in search of Rotor's crew in his last IC. I believe it was Cyrista's Bane and the prototype Mutant Pterosaur Screech.

Oooh, I've been getting into the figures, and I've been hoping for a Rory. Looks like it could use some beard detailing, but that's about it.

OOC: I don't quite think so. I think you could get away with using it, but it has to be done right.I'll elaborate further in a PM to you, PeabodySam. I don't want to give too much away if you do consider it, nor do I want to invoke the Unspoken Plan Guarantee trope's effects.

OOC: Noticed the "What the Heck, Player?" addition to the wiki tropes.Oooooooh. Tough luck, Jackson. But I have no worries that we'll think of something that doesn't involve just Deus Ex Machina to settle everything. We're too good for that... usually.IC: "That's it! I've had it with these monkey-fighting Stormlings on my Monday-to-Friday planet!""HEY! What did I say about references?!""That was a reference to something? I don't watch movies, I wouldn't know.""Yeah, just because something sounds like a reference doesn't mean it was. Some of us just say things that just happen to possibly be a line taken from a film or whatever.""Quit the conversation and focus on the lizards in front of you!""HQ's under siege! Darn, so much for my iPhone.""Blow it up on top of the dino scum!""Shoot the glass dome on top of Inferno's mech! It's an incredible weak spot!""But it's our headquarters! We can't lose it!""I doubt any Dino-capturing idealists are doing well morally.""We're at war's end, bud. If or when we win this battle, we won't need a headquarters anymore."-------------The Mutant Dinos were inside Dino Attack Headquarters. The time had finally come for the symbol of LEGO City's saviors to meet an end.Inside, agents were preparing to not let the Mutant Dinos have an easy time. Frozeen, Greybeard, and Sam Race were rescuing allies still stuck inside. Members of the Third Headquarters were trying to blow up the base to keep away parts of the horde. The medical team was bunkering down in the basement, preparing for the worse. Elite Agent Rex was slowly making his way back into battle, but with a dangerously large thirst for vengeance and reptile bloodshed. And others were trying to finish setting up Reptiles Green Goo traps in the hanger, though with the hordes hitting the main area of the building, such efforts seemed futile.Outside, past the Dino Attack vehicles fighting off the bulk of the rest of the Mutant Dinos, along with their remaining allies, Dr. Rex still stood. In spite of his anger and pressuring from the Darkitect, he remained near the demolished barrier wall, perhaps taking some pleasure and glee in seeing his minions-no, not anymore-allies go through the base and pick off agents still inside.This left him a big target to enemy fire, but he, of course, had nothing to fear about that. His Silge armor was taking most of the attacks, and anything that did hurt him was quickly repaired by the Maelstrom. He had nothing to worry about.But plenty to be annoyed at.As he watched Dino Attack Headquarters fall into more and more disarray, a T-1 Typhoon slowly began to draw close to his left. The giant Maelstrom-infused beast paid no attention. It was nothing, it could do nothing to him. The craft continued to draw closer, and the creature continued to think the same.The T-1 Typhoon was being driven by one Agent Pointman. Not an Elite, but given the times, even Standards could man such crafts at this point in time. Pointman didn't talk much, just obeyed orders and acted as seen fit when they weren't there. But he had drawn a reputation for both the stories of his past and the way he acted in battle. This would be an example of the latter.Pointman had dropped off his crew with an Iron Predator a few moments ago, confusing some, but making clear to others he was about to try something crazy. And as he directed his T-1 at high speeds at the biggest monster of the battle with no signs of stopping, the crazyness was clear here.Crazy. Pointman appeared to have had more than a life's share full of crazy, and not just because he lived on the LEGO Planet. He had been born by a teenage mother under study by some fledgling group of monster fighters, and was followed by a brother a year later. He hadn't gotten along well with either of them, and had suffered sizably for it. Eventually in 2008, they (his mother and his brother) went crazy and broke loose, going on a rampage of fire and murder within the small city of Fairport. Pointman joined with the Agent forces that eventually put an end to their reign of fear, putting a bullet in his brother's head himself.Some said Pointman still saw his family, appearing randomly to goad him into doing what they wanted him to do. Others said that the agent had gone crazy himself, with brief losses of sanity contributing to random acts without sense. Regardless, Pointman still served well as a member of Dino Attack, obeying orders and never failing to carry them out.Except for now. Agents, Semick among them, were telling Pointman over radio to stop what he was doing, that it was suicidal and worthless to lose such a good agent as him. Pointman ignored them, choosing instead to begin loosening the attachments of his cockpit's windshield as he drew closer to Dr. Rex.The creature began to finally take note of how close the T-1 was getting, sound-wise. He turned his head, expecting to seeing it aiming its guns in a pitiful attempt to try and shoot him. Instead, he saw the rapidly-turning rotors at the top of the helicopter aiming right at him like a fan on a hot summer's day. Just at that moment, Pointman managed to detach his cockpit windshield, kicking it open and letting it fall to the ground, letting the rain pour in on him.The T-1, now acting without guidance, began scraping its rotors on Dr. Rex's Silge armor, sending it out of balance as the chopper began to turn its tail up and over the Stromling Mutant T-Rex. Pointman leaped out of his cockpit, then, with quick reflexes, turned to let his backside hit the thigh armor, just above a row of sharp spikes.A Mutant T-Rex was huge, and Dr. Rex was no exception. But a T-1 Typhoon was large too, the main body itself wider than a T-Rex, and its total length much larger than the creature too. Pointman's T-1 rotors were snapping off from the strength of the creature's armor and Stromling dexterity, but they had done the job of taking the thing by surprise and stunning him. As the bulk of the T-1 Typhoon flipped upside down, its internal alarms blaring off, it easily eclipsed Dr. Rex and knocked him down to the ground.Pointman had seconds to act, but he acted in those seconds with pinpoint accuracy. As if the rest of the world was going in slow motion compared to him, he guided a slide down Dr. Rex's wet and Maelstrom-covered left leg. The agent avoided touching the tendrils of Maelstrom energy, as well as debris coming from the T-1 as it continued to fall atop the falling creature. At last, he slipped off the end of Dr. Rex's foot and landed on his hands and legs. The Mutant Lizards and Raptors had been startled away from the area by the incident, allowing Pointman to get up on his feet and run several yards away from the sight of his collision.The T-1 Typhoon, now without its propeller blades, lay atop Dr. Rex's form for several seconds. Then, within seconds, the creature's head rose, his eyes glowing in an inminifig fury, and snapped its maw down on the T-1's tail, tearing it off with ease. It then got up, knocking off the remains of the T-1 as it did so. Once on its feet, it lunged at the wrecked piece of Dino Attack machinery and tore it practically into all 605 of its component parts.When that was done, the creature that was barely still Dr. Rex raised its head to let out a roar. At that moment, barely twenty yards away, Pointman drew a pistol from a holster on his chest and began aiming it at Dr. Rex's left eye. Closed instinctively during the roar, the moment the creature opened it, the agent fired his gun, and hit with pinpoint accuracy the Dino Attack snipers could be impressed by.Dr. Rex stumbled back from the shot, shaking his head as the Maelstrom quickly patched up the damage. In anger, he looked in the direction he had heard the shot come from, and saw the ragged agent with long black hair and beard that was Pointman. With only a stern, emotionless face, the agent began running off, away from the direction of Dino Attack Headquarters.Perhaps it would manage to drive away Dr. Rex from Dino Attack Headquarters, if only for a little while. Perhaps it wouldn't. In any case, Pointman had set out do what he needed to do: make it clear that Dino Attack wasn't done yet, and they were willing to do everything necessary to bring creatures like him down.The agent reached the beaten hunk of an abandoned Steel Sprinter, lept upon it, and started it up. It sputtered, but the engine ran. He sped off, realizing that there was a good chance that he would find himself either in the white-hot maw of the Maelstrom T-Rex's jaws, or torn apart by claws or Maelstrom energies.So be it, he thought. He didn't fear death, no matter how horrible, thanks to his past. And if it bought time for Dino Attack to finish business in HQ, and possibly stop the beast as well, that was sufficient. His life didn't matter, his skill was easily equaled by other agents in the team.OOC: Yes, that's effectively clearance for you to kill him off, PeabodySam.His time may be up, but it was hardly the same for Dino Attack as a whole.

OOC: Understood. I edited my post to fit better.Also, I congradulate Atton for doing an awesome job at a match of TF2 Mann Vs. Machine with me! He was Medic, I Solider, and we kicked brick like nothing else against the tobor hordes!IC: Semick considered for a second whether or not he felt further terms were necessary on his side. "All I want..." he said to Blade Darkling, "is for you to help us defeat these Mutant Dinos, and especially this Dr. Rex fellow here. But I do want you to be willing to face the judgement of our team's Founding Members, as well as the rest of the world's leaders, and possibly even some galactic ones. UNderstand that you won't all get off easy for what you've done to this planet, but all I want is for you to help us save it so that innocents may live on, and that you may have a slight chance at being redeemed in our eyes. Is that good enough?"A few quiet, tense moments passed as Semick waited for a reply. "I suppose that's good enough. For now at least. So would you call that a truce, Elite Agent Semick?""Yes. I would call it a truce," Semick said, wishing partially that he could shake the man's hand in a sign of honesty in his truce. "I'll inform my men. You do the same for yours.""Understood."Semick quickly switched frequencies and began giving out a message to DIno Attack."Attention All Agents! This is Elite Agent Semick! I have just come off a meeting with current XERRD leader Blade Darkling! He has agreed to a truce between XERRD and the DIno Attack Team! I repeat, XERRD has made a truce with DIno Attack Team!All agents are to stop confronting XERRD forces with hostility, unless they are seen supporting Mutant Dino forces! Also, please note that the forces under Dr. Inferno and the witches from Castle Cove are hostiles to all, having disbanded alliances from XERRD due to their agendas! Continue attacking them! That is all""Wow! I didn't believe that could happen!""Someone get Cyrista's Bane to keep this giant Inferno mech busy! He just came outta nowhere and is tearing us apart over here!""Yes! You owe me five bucks, Bob.""I don't trust that Blade Darkling. Semick, you sure of this?""I think Zach & Fabello are being held at gunpoint by someone! Go check that out!""Who's got the neat teal-and-black Urban Avenger over there?""Ouch! Didn't you hear that, mage? Stop hitting me!"

OOC: avmatoran: Possibly, considering Dr. Rex doesn't seem in the mood or mental state to be stopped in the middle of his attack to take a moment to find glee in re-meeting Dr. Cyborg and then eating him.BTW Atton, perhaps you could leave your spoliered final part with Trigger with a disclaimer saying it's perhaps only one way things could've turned out for him, or only his case of what it's like to pass on, so to speak. Or it could just be a fun, non-canon "what if?" type deal.And about your new player character. I'd say Rotor, seeing as he is an Elite Agent in the middle of this battle that you might want to remain focused on playing (I know Dr. Cyborg just sent reinforcements in his last IC)..... but, there still is the possibility to work in the sudden return of a certain character who was last seen being taken away to Antarctica, ready to make a dramatic appearance to help her team in the time of need... just saying.IC: Andrew's crew worked fast. With the efforts of himself, Laxus, and Pterisa, they were able to lift the FIre Hammer onto the makeshift stand from the spare bricks from the vehicle they had been looting for parts. Then after Andrew pried off the hubcap from the ruined front wheel, he managed to remove the wasted part, looking like it had been chewed up by a large dog or toddler, and get the new wheel into place.With Pterisa still watching their backs, Laxus and Andrew managed to push the new wheel in fully, and then reattach the hubcap, securing it in place. Taking a moment to breathe in relief, they then kicked the brick-built stand out of place, letting the Fire Hammer rock back onto four secure wheels once more."Hey!" Catless cried out from the turret. "Warn me first before you do that!""Sorry," Andrew replied briefly as Laxus went back into the vehicle through his door. As Andrew climbed up himself, he turned to Pterisa, who was on her wings and ready to fly back up to Catless's blind side."Thanks for the support," he said."Well, we are allies," the Hybrid responded. "What did you expect? Plus, its the least I can do after all you've done for me."The two smirked again before Andrew climbed back into the driver's seat and Pterisa went up to the Xenon turret. With his door closed and seatbelt buckled, Andrew put the Fire Hammer in drive and moved off again, quickly getting a look of things with the battle going on. Immediately, he saw the giant purple-glowing armored Mutant T-Rex heading for HQ, the large army of Mutant Dinos following him."Get ready, team!" Andrew cried out on the radio. "HQ's about to take a beating! Thin out Dr. Rex's army as much as possible, then we can worry more about taking the big guy down!""Easier said than done, Mister!""Seven minutes. That's all I give for HQ's staff being able to survive that attack.""This is it, guys!""I've heard commotion over at the bowling alley! I think they got Trigger!""What the Znap is Pointman doing?!""Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure fighting with you tonight.""Is it night already? With this weather, I can hardly tell.""I'm hearing rumors about some Einstein Device. Anyone have any info on that?"------------Semick looked back at Dino Attack Headquarters. The building he had been living in for months, planning countless operations, meeting countless strong allies, and giving him his few opportunities for relaxation for the past several months, was mere moments from certain pulverization. He was not a sentimental man, but he knew the unconscious symbolism it would have when the building fell.He looked back to the T-1 that was Hotwire's Talon 2. Hotwire had been relatively quiet ever since he had seen Kat/Catherine wander off. Reports were that she had been confronting Dr. Rex, but not everyone had heard them or had them confirmed. Undoubtedly, he was worried that she would not survived, or whether his friend was truly still in there somewhere."Hotwire," Semick said over comn, "I know you're concerned, but we've got a duty to do here. When HQ falls, our agents are going to be in a disarray of morale loss and strategic confusion. We need to be ready to reorganize our forces for this.""...Okay, I think I'm up for it," said the agent. "What do you suggest?""From what I can see, the Mutant Dino forces incoming are taking a beating. I'm guessing we might be close to thinning two-thirds of the initial army, but I can't be certain. Regardless, with our reinforcements form Alpha Team, Agents and whatever Dr. Cyborg's been doing, along with the possibility that XERRD still might call a truce with us, we could easily settle the Mutant Dino problem and then be able to handle Dr. Rex afterwards.""Not much of a plan," said Swerve, "but I admit we're running out of options, and that is the most achievable one at the moment.""Same here," said Andrew suddenly, his voice finally returning to the Elite channel. "Even though he's still insanely powerful, it's better to have only one of him rather than him and an army of supporters.""We can work on it better once everyone is back and ready," said Semick, "and by that, I mean when Dr. Cyborg is finished at the Power Station, Zach and Minerva are done helping take the latter's mother to safety, and Rotor and Cabin are brought back into the air. Rex would be of help too, but I can understand how he might not be able to, in his state."The former Power Miner glanced back at HQ, where a few T-1s were still hovering over even in the face of the oncoming attack. "Reptile," he warned his ally into the mic, "you need to get out of there to avoid getting pulverized right about now!"

IC: "Znap, Rotor and Cabin are down!" Bluetooth cried out, reporting immediately after seeing the results of the Mutant Pterosaur scuffle on the PLARXX radar.Semick instinctively raised his hand to his face in frustration. He could only assume the horde of flyers that had to be with Dr. Rex's charge had taken them by surprise. And this far out from HQ, their TALON-9 systems were too weak to handle such a rush. Still, it was a matter of extreme frustraiton."Hotwire," he said over the radio, "the Pterosaur swarms have overwhelmed Rotor's crew. Looks like you're alone out there in that area air-command wise. Hold your forces together, I'm coming to assist you.""Got it," came the reply, "I'll appreciate the help.""You're more than welcome. Dr. Cyborg," Semick continued as he moved his T-1 directly into the front lines area, "spare some of your forces from the Cyborg T-Rex takedown to go assist Rotor and Cabin's crews. I'm not leaving them alone out here when I need every Elite to help keep this team together!""I'll do what I can," the good doctor replied. "And it's called Cyrista's Bane, Semick.""We can bother with insistent terminology later." Semick turned around and looked at Bluetooth. "Bluetooth, I'm not liking Hertz's radio silence. Get in contact with the HQ medical team, I need them to start filling me in on these things.""Understood," the Futuron technician said, picking up his own radio mic and switching the frequency over to HQ's. "This is Standard Agent Bluetooth! To any Dino Attack medical staff still paying attention to the radio transmissions, we need an update on the status of Elite Agent Hertz! Our last communication with him was shortly before the Inferno bombardment on our communications center! Has anyone found him? What is his status?"--------------"######, we've got two more elites down!""It's time to run, dino cowards!""Make that three, Andrew hasn't said anything in a while.""I've survived Mr. X's stunt rallies! You've got nothing on stopping my rock on wheels, Rexy!""Andrew's getting a wheel change, he'll be back in a jiffy!""In the middle of this?!""These dinos haven't heard pain until I've blasted bad pop music on my speakers!""Aaaaggh! Whoever's playing Friday really loud, stop!!!""Hah hah! Didn't expect a former Flying Legando and his amazing seperation abilities, did ya, Mr. Raptor?"

OOC: I'm back. Chicago was quite fun, but now I must return to business.Also Atton, I figured you would work in a character with references to Prometheus after seeing your avatar. Glad to see I wasn't mistaken.(plays awesome Hl1 music and gets to work)IC: "You're pulling my leg off. That cyborg thing is on our side?!""Hah-ha! Our list of pet monsters just keeps getting bigger and bigger!""Omaigawsh, that Gonapus's gun is horrible! Distengration,eggh! I hate that!""Who's leading XERRD now? Gonapus?""I think it's the Darkling fellow.""Dr. Cyborg was part of XERRD. Maybe he can convince them to let him lead!""After taking control of that Cyrista's Bane, I'm supporting anything he wants to try.""Is that a gunslinger riding on a Mutant Lizard out there?""Oh wow, what a reversal of fortune!" said Laxus. "Alpha Team comes in, Dr. Cyborg tames Cyrista's Bane, man, what's next?""I have no idea," said Andrew, "but the odds sure are stacking up in our favor. Let's just hope things stay like that."With the forces drawn closer to HQ in their last bids to defend it (in spite of the charge Dr. Rex was leading), the Mutant Dinos were getting more ground to try and push the Dino Attack vehicles aside. The team was holding up, but some of the organization was fraying at the edges, with most of the T-1s still recovering from having the Cyrista's Bane affair taken care of and the extended absence of Hertz and his communications team.Currently Andrew was doing his best to help the T-1s get full understanding of the situation on the ground-based front lines. Zach and Minerva were busy trying to get Athena back to HQ for evacuation, and Dr. Cyborg was still cleaning things up over at the Power Station site, so he was mostly alone in this job."B's going off to handle some challenger who has a personal problem with him, it seems," Hotwire was saying. "And just to inform anyone who was curious, Kat's... gone rogue. In a nutshell, she's still got a bit of Katerina in her, and she's gone off on her own to try something.""Katerina appears to be an intelligent woman from what I've seen of her," said Rotor. "I wouldn't worry too much about her, but if she is going to try something suicidal, you have my sympathies.""Same here," said Andrew. "Keep up the good work out there, and once Zach comes back, we're sure to have everything together to push even Dr. Rex back!""I don't know about that," said Cabin, "but I see your point. Good luck down there.""Same to you."Andrew focused now on several Mutant Raptors hounding his Fire Hammer on the left side of the vehicle. Catless and Pterisa were doing well enough picking them off, but they were insistent on hitting the vehicle. It was becoming a large level of concern."Darnit, it's taking too long to shoot them with their shields up!" Catless said with frustration."I can't get a shot from this side of the vehicle!" Laxus was saying. "Geeze, I'm wishing Minerva was still with us right now.""And I'm driving," said Andrew, "so I can't exactly wield a large Cosmotronic Ray right now. Just keep them off, an-"POP!The Fire Hammer suddenly jerked to the front-left side, making the LEGO Islander lunge over the wheel and leave the horn honking for several seconds before he managed to collect himself. Taking a moment to open his door window, he poked his head out briefly before ducking back in. It took about two seconds, but it was enough to find the problem.One of the Mutant Raptors had managed to pop the front-left wheel. This left the craft heavily off-balance, and made steering, espically to the left, an incredibly difficult task. The wheel well was grinding loudly from being dragged across the road, and it was surely getting ruined the more the Fire Hammer moved at the speed it was going.Logically, Andrew had two options: Find a new vehicle, or replace the wheel. Both were insanely difficult given the circumstances, but the former moreso due to the scarcity of an empty vehicle that wasn't torn to bits. That meant he would have to do the latter."What's happening?" Pterisa asked."We've got a popped tire," said Andrew. "Under the circumstances, we're going to have to get it replaced, and fast.""In the middle of a battle zone?!" cried out Catless. "Are you nuts?""We don't have any easier options. Look, there's a downed Fire Hammer up to our right. I'll pull up to it, get out, pull off a wheel, then we can get the thing propped up on some bricks so we can pull the old one off and attach the new one.""We've done it before on Adventurer's Island," said Laxus. "It's a bit more difficult here, but I think we can do it again.""Alright," said Catless. "I'll keep cover from up here. You guys get to work.""I'll assist however I can," said Pterisa."Good to hear," said Andrew as he managed to get the Fire Hammer to turn and break (in a stopping sense) at the downed vehicle of the same brand. It looked to be sawed in half vertically by some kind of powerful laser, but its wheels were still intact and okay for use.After coming to a screeching halt, Andrew and Laxus piled out of the vehicle, guns blazing at the remaining Mutant Raptors still on their tail. Then they ran for the broken FIre Hammer.After taking off the hubcap holding the wheel in place, the two friends grabbed the wheel on the front right side. After a count to three, they pulled on the thing as hard as they could, slowly sliding it off the Technic rod it rested on. The vehicle wreck creaked as they did so, its balance being rocked as the wheel was detached.As the pair finally slid the wheel off the rod, letting it fall on its side on the ground, the broken half of the Fire Hammer shifted to lying on the ground by its front end and the back wheel, producing a sizable thunk! as it did so. Still focused on their task, Andrew and Laxus didn't notice as the moved to pull the wheel back up straight and began to wheel it back to their Fire Hammer.They did notice the results of the "thunk" when they heard Catless's turret thumping over them, and turned to see the horde of Mutant Lizards approaching them. The two quickly moved to finish moving the wheel to the relative safety of their vehicle.As they leaned the wheel on the side of the vehicle, they turned just in time to see a Mutant Raptor charging right for Andrew. The Elite Agent quicky ducked, letting the giant lizard slam into the hull headfirst, putting a bit of a dent on the driver-side door. Andrew reached for the laser rifle he had left on his back, but as he drew it, the Mutant Raptor regained its composure and knocked the weapon out of his hands with its head.The Raptor reared its head and prepared to lunge at him with its teeth, but before it could do so, a lightning bolt struck square in the top of the head. The creature shook from the electrocution, and was quickly knocked down as Pterisa swooped in and kicked it right in the noggin. The Minifig/Mutant Pterosaur Hybrid then got to Andrew's side and pulled him up."Whoo, thanks," said Andrew. "Guess I should've watched myself better.""Don't worry," she said with a smirk, "I've got your back. Now get back to work on that wheel.""Yes, ma'am," said Andrew in a cocky tone. The two smiled for a second before Andrew ran back to the chopped Fire Hammer, needing some bricks for the job of holding the vehicle up during the wheel change.

OOC: I think I sense a difference in opinions here. I'm the one writing posts with the idea that Dino Attack is taking heavy losses, but still going strong with plenty of agents holding out, me having not killed or severely injured any of my characters yet, and people like Semick keeping to their optimism (mostly) that they can still win this.Meanwhile, nearly everyone is killing or injuring their characters severely (Rex's lost everyone he's cared about, Hertz is deaf, Vinyaya lost an eye, one of the two insanely awesome Agents riders is most likely dead) and Takanuva's writing seems to get across that we're essentially on our last legs.Maybe I need to lay off the Pyrovision goggles or something. Speaking of which, I vote Verison 2.*Tries to imagine Rex in a wheelchair on a rampage with a flamethrower*IC: Semick realized quickly that it would take some time before he could get any reponse from the aircraft that had just arrived and was providing cover fire now. Everyone was trying to find out what it was. The comn chatter made that clear:"Took Space Police long enough!""That ain't the Dadleus, bud.""And in the nick of time! We're barely holding out as it is!""I need a hero! I'm holding out for a hero 'till the end of the night!""Pfft, maybe you're having a hard time, but I'm doing pretty well, as is most of my comrades! We're winning this easily!""So then do you have a plan for the Maelstrom-infused T-Rex coming at our base?""Just shoot at it! Do you need a better plan than that?!""Glad to see Alpha Team's finally helping. That's one of their crafts for sure.""Ospery," Semick said to his Agent ally over the radio, "You have any guesses about this thing?""Not one of ours," was the reply, "but guessing by the color scheme, I'd say its our old rivals'. Impressive, I didn't know they had any ships like this.""I think it's something Alpha Team tried to use against Kotua during his mad period," said Andrew. "The Iron Mallet or something. I think it was shot down, but I guess they fixed it.""Well, I'm happy nonetheless," said Reptile. "I just wish they could've come sooner. But at least we'll have the help with this Dino Rush and Dr. Rex.""Do any of you honestly think that the 'shoot it with everything you got' method some of the men have been talking about will work?" asked B, who, though not Elite, was friends enough with most of the current Elite agents to get access to their comn network."I have my doubts," said Reptile, "but scientifically speaking, everything has its limits. The electrocution Adventure gave him must've fried his body inside out, and only the Maelstrom is keeping him up, literally. After what you did at Adventurer's Island, technically all the Maelstrom presence should've been wiped from the planet except for the essence that's key to Mutant Dino DNA. Now I don't know how much of a foothold that gives the Darkitect or whatever he is to keep his presense, but clearly its enough to keep Dr. Rex alive a while longer.""And Maelstrom possession has a habit of giving extra strength and regeneration abilities to what it possesses," noted Ospery. "Compounded with Dr. Rex's Silge armor, that means it's going to take a Megablokland of a barrage to even have a chance of killing him.""In regard to the Silge," Reptile continued, "there is a chance that the Maelstrom's natural corruption hazard could possibly make it began to decay. It's a natural weakness of the Ssol component, but it's combination with G.E. metal, which is naturally immune to Maelstrom energies to a great degree, usually cancels it out. But if the Darkitect himself is acting through Dr. Rex, it could be enhancing the Maelstrom decaying energies to a degree high enough to start decomposing the Silge. And on another note, whatever method Dr. Rex used to fashion the armor on himself could become susceptible to the Maelstrom decay as well, so eventually the armor could just fall right off.""Possibly," said Semick, "but we don't have enough time to wait for that to happen. Still, I get your point. Dr. Rex is almost a zombie in terms of his body state right now, and in spite of every bit of invincibility fate seems to be handing him, it could lead to him falling apart if enough stress is put upon him. But that would take time we might not have.""Let's hope XERRD provides some advice," said Andrew. "I just got out of an encounter with a guy named Blaire Darkling, who's apparently calling the shots now for them. He's apparently some kind of notorious criminal, but he said some things about wanting to redeem himself, so he might help. If not, we can still kill him and hope the next new leader actually has a smarter head. Otherwise, we're on our own, Alpha Team and us.""Right," said Ospery. "Which means that we have to keep thinking of ways we could possibly halt him. Remember that, comrades. The Maelstrom's biggest enemy is creativity, and if there's one thing I think Minifigs are naturally good at, it's creative thinking. Keep sharp."------------"This is Digger. Specs, Shadow, Viper and I are in a T-1 monitoring the battle, so keep the comn clear of annoying badgering about us not being around. Also, Semick, you're doing alright getting the Elites to work together, at least, so congrats on that.""I knew being annoying enough would help.""You know, that Andrew Jackson guy might want to talk with Pyro. Seems like she could give him some answers.""Anything that keeps that guy quiet is good enough for me.""I need some new goggles.""Has anyone seen that Trigger guy? I'd expect him to have some good advice on how to fight these things.""I think he ran away. The coward.""Revenge... fire...""Who said that?"

OOC: I didn't even know who Matthew Vherestorm was, to be honest, so the impact of the twist was kinda lost of me. But thanks to the Dino Attack RPG Wiki, I was able to realize the significance of the character to Nazareno and arguably the rest of the cast. Thanks, Dino Attack RPG Wiki! *Thumbs Up* [/shamelessplug] You could use a balaclava head with the the standard Dino Attack helmet with goggles attached.

OOC: My my, That guy. It seems you have several people waiting on you to make a post to help continue their stories.IC: Stranger could see it now with his sniper scope. That giant purple Maelstrom mummy of an armored Mutant T-Rex was coming right at them. And he had brought quite a party with him. Though even if Dino Attack managed to take his backup down, something told him it wouldn't be hard for Dr. Rex to pound a giant hole in Dino Attack Headquarters. Clearly, this building's days was numbered, and by minutes, no less."Looks like we're overdue for a getaway, comrade," he said to the Mutant Lizard. The creature stared at the sight itself and shivered, nodding as it did so. "Let's work on that now, shall we?"The hanger was nearly empty. Every vehicle that could be driven had been taken out, used by the remaining agents to enter the battle or retreat to another location. Not everyone had followed their lead though. Some were preparing to bunker down in the basement, while others were using a teleporter to make a one-way trip to Antarctica (the least popular option for those still concerned about the battle and its outcome). Regardless, the point was that Stranger and his companion were alone for the time being.Stranger had managed to convince the one-eyed lizard to wear something resembling a harness over its torso. With a bit of glue and velcro straps, it would be an excellent way for him to ride the creature and ally into battle, assuming he managed to focus well enough on keeping his balance while he used his pistols during the ride.The agent hopped onto the creature's back and let the velcro straps sync up between his pants and the harness. Then, upholstering his pistols, he said "Let's do it."The Mutant Lizard grunted in agreement, and charged off into the battlefield. It moved fast and swift between the Iron Predators still set up out front, catching the curious eye of many onlooking agents witnessing Stranger's unique mode of transport. The agent didn't pay attention to them, focusing mostly on the targets ahead: the Mutant Lizards and Raptors itching for a takedown.As the Mutant Lizard cleared the Iron Predators, Stranger practically channeled his Wild West roots as he began firing his pistols like mad, striking at the heads of those enemy Mutant Lizards that let themselves in range.Oh yes, Stranger thought to himself, this was going to get fun. --------------"Oh my builder, this battle's getting more insanely awesome by the minute.""Though not exactly in our benefit, though.""Where's that Kate Bishop girl? After sending the Darkitect to Kingdom Come, I'd think she'd be kicking butt like crazy by now!""This is just supercalifragilisticexpialawacky!""I think her mum's filling her boots for some reason.""Now I really hate the Maelstrom.""What for? She beat the FREAKIN' DARKITECT! Why the Znap would her mother have to take over for her?!""Nobody shoot the Mutant T-Rex being rode by a guy with a sword, I think that's Zorrik and Zyra!""No way! That's Fullmetal and Tex!""Somethin' about traumtization regarding her family, I guess. I don't buy it though. Her case isn't that extreme, Pointman's had it worse.""You know what I don't hate? I don't hate vests."

OOC: As much as I think you care about the equipment in the power plant, I think you can spare a little careless demoliton in getting rid of the building. Dino Attack isn't exactly in a position where they can spare several hours for much of anything.Plus you could make the excuse that a couple of hours have passed already, what with the wildly confusing timeline the events of this RPG seem to run on.

IC: "What is he thinking?" Laxus asked incredulously. "I can tell that this Brickhouse was a guy he was close with"Zach has a bit of a habit with grudges with those who take on his friends," said Minerva. "Dr. Provencal learned that lesson well, I gather.""Well, he better not get himself killed over it," Andrew said with a bit of half-serious annoyance. "We've fought hard for his sake for awhile now, I'd hate to see him die in a fit of vengeance.""Joike's keeping an eye on him, though," said Laxus. "If he gets into trouble, he should be able to come to his aid. Mentioned something about 'the Timmy incident' and getting a broom just in case, but I'm sure he knows what he's doing.""Yeah, he probably does," said Andrew. "Now-"Just then, the radio came in with Semick's voice. "Andrew, do you have a moment?""Well, I am driving a semi-durable vehicle in the middle of the front lines of the battle area," Andrew said, watching as he saw a teal-and-black Urban Avenger rush by in pursuit of two Mutant Raptors, "but I can still talk. Hope that isn't the same hazard category as phone-using while driving.""I'm sure it isn't. Now, with the Dr. Rex development, it seems logical to conclude that the only way we can stop him at the moment is to try some of the tricks we used in the Maelstrom encounters in Adventurers Island. From what I understand, what was key to beating him in the Maelstrom temple was a good amount of creativity, am I right?""Uh, sure, yeah. Some creative thinking and determined standoff managed to empower that Imagination orb back at the temple to drive the Vortex away, though i think Dr. Einstein's sacrifice played a good deal of a role as well.""As I've heard. Well, in this situation, I know we don't have a Maelstrom orb on us, so we're going to have to try some other method to stop whatever's giving Dr. Rex his boost. Any tips?"Andrew sat back a little bit as he thought. "Well, I remember utilizing various facts about building to help empower my creative will at the time, along with perhaps annoying the Darkitect as a side effect. Didn't really use much else against the Stormlings except shooting them.""Well, I'd think we'd need every gun we have to shoot Dr. Rex down in his state, and even that may not be enough. We'll have to do something outside the box, I know that much. Stun him, trap him, shoot him into space..."As Semick continued to speculate, Andrew saw a Fire Hammer by at breakneck speed not too far from him. He wondered briefly what trouble the driver might be in and how to act, but was stopped when he felt his steering wheel start to vibrate from something other than the rickity roads he was driving over."Oh my Builder..." he heard Catless say via comn from the Xenon turret."Looks like we're about to hit a major low point," said Pterisa. "We best prepare ourselves.""What are you-" Andrew began, but was stopped as he saw from his door what was passing by some distance from his left."... this is bad," he uttered.---------------"Oh Znap. Oh Znap! OH ZNAP!""Get out the way! There's no stopping the Dino Rush Dr. Rex's leading!""To the Founding Members, now would be a good time to get out of HQ and FREAKING HELP US FIGHT!""We're really going to let them take HQ, just like that?!""You're welcome to play Tank Man if you want. No promises that they'll stop for you, though.""Besides, we've lost an HQ building before. We've fought without one before, we can do it again!""I'm still bitter that we lost the first one. I spent a good deal of time designing it myself!""But what will we do without it?!""Nearly everyone's out of there by now, and if Hertz did his job right, we'll have our communications center back up in no time.""Don't worry guys, we're doing a great job keeping our comns organized as it is right now.""Yeah, now that we finally shut that Andrew Jackson guy up."---------------Attack had just managed to finish shooting down the Inferno chopper when Defend piped up from the back. "Semick," the agent said, "the big guy's coming for HQ!"Semick turned back to look at the rear gunman with a flash of dread. "Andrew," he said into the radio, "keep on that line of thought while I handle business here." Putting down the mic, he yanked hard on the T-1 controls as he directed the chopper backwards away from the smoking Dino Attack Headquarters, then made a quick 180-degree rotation to see the sight for himself.Seeing the initial large army come in from over the river had been a shock, but this was much more chilling. The purple-entrenched Dr. Rex was leading a charge with a massive amassment of Mutant Dinos, which was oddly ignoring most Dino Attack resistance unless it crossed their path, where which it was either trampled or torn apart. And their path was directed straight for the building their protection was aimed at.He immediately began pulling away, reaching for his mic as he did so. "Attention all agents! If you see a Mutant T-Rex covered in armor and purple tentacles leading a large force of Mutant Dinos, pull out of their way! They are intent on reaching DIno Attack headquarters, and our sources tell us that the creature leading them is not going to be taken down easily! Pull out of their path and focus on thinning the army of Mutant Dinos as they try to reach the building! Do not engage the giant purple Mutant T-Rex in combat, I repeat, do not engage the giant purple Mutant T-Rex in combat! Focus on thinning the small army following it and distracting the charge!"And to all agents still within HQ, this order should go without saying: Evacuate the building immediately!"He then switched over to the Elite comn. "Hertz, if you're somehow listening, I hope you're within safety right now. And Reptile, if you have any plans for this, do it now, because you're going to need to pull your forces out or risk overwhelmance."OOC: I hope I'm not harming any plans you had regarding what Sam Race & Friends were trying to do with warning the rest of the team, PeabodySam. I only figured that the rest of the team would catch on pretty quickly without having to be told, especially the T-1 crews and their birds-eye view of things.

OOC: Good call, though it might just be that Atton forgot that Spy Clops was an official LEGO character instead of just another made-up Inferno henchman. It's been ages since the Agents sets were out, after all.

IC: "Zach's alive! I repeat, Zach is alive!""Finally some good news on the comn.""Let's hope our in-the-middle-of-a-battle marriage goes better than Rex and Claw's.""Yeah, I want to go to LEGOLAND for our honeymoon!""Besides that Pterosaur girl from Adventurers' Island, you just can't trust hybrids.""Let's get a move on!""Wow, I forgot that these Urban Avengers are as strong as Fire Hammers.""I hope Rex isn't wasting time weeping about Claw. If I were him, I'd be taking my anger out on some Mutant Dinos right about now.""If you were him, you'd have a problem with just plain-old shooting Mutant Dinos.""Touche."Andrew was relieved to hear the news coming in from the Agents folks. "Good old Zach, still as determined to survive as ever.""I do wonder who that woman he found is," said Laxus. "All I'm hearing is that she's similar to his 'lady friend' or something. Minerva, did you have family in the area?"Minerva looked a little tense, as if the word about this "lady friend" was a disturbing matter. "Uh, no... At least, not any female members of the family.""You'll find out in a little bit, I guess," said Andrew. As he took a moment to rotate past a fallen Iron Predator he said, "But I think once you meet up with him, it'd be best if you found another vehicle. Fire Hammers aren't meant for too many agents to gather. Laxus, see if we have any agents in the area who can spare room in a Fire Hammer or something else with lots of room to go get him.""On it," said Laxus. As he started communicating, Andrew checked in with the crew on the Xenon launcher via the comnlink linking them. "You two holding up well up there?""Launcher's overheating more frequently," said Catless. "But otherwise, things are rather swell. Pterisa's saved my behind more than once up here, she's a good ally to have around.""Thanks for the compliment," said Pterisa. If Andrew had to guess, she was definitively acting more with the confidence he had first seen her have as the veiled samurai back in the Maelstrom temple now. Battle atop a vehicle, he supposed, was a bit easier when she didn't have to focus as much on the attention of other agents, besides when watching where they were aiming."Joike's got a Fire Hammer being manned by only him and his colleague Gypsy," said Laxus. "They're following the signal of the ADU chopper that found Zach and the woman, and heading there as quickly as possible."Brikman, I implore you to characterize Gypsy and Joike with as much MST3K references as their names imply!"Good. Remind them to come to us and pick up Minerva when they have him." Andrew turned to said fellow elite agent. "You guys work best together, am I right?""Yeah, I'd say we do," she said with a slight smirk."Alright," said Laxus. "Good luck, you guys."

OOC: BTW, a late remark: I know we haven't always agreed on what LEGO material we deem strictly canon or not before, and this would be one of those occasions. However, I will point out the the game on LEGO's Website for DIno 2012, Dino Outbreak, seems to say that that the dinosaurs were unleashed by some guy opening up some kind of ancient portal/jail/whatever at an old temple. Personally, I found that more fitting to the Dino 2012 theme rather than a tangential connection drawn with last year's LEGO Villains in a measure meant only to find a way to tease the new LEGO theme in the year-end wrap-up comic. But that's just me.IC: "The main problem I can see with your plan, Reptile," Semick said in response to what his fellow Elite Agent was saying, "is that I don't think the Mutant DInos are the main problem right now. Our forces are holding them back, and it'll still take some time for them to reach HQ, though I admit some of the lines of defense are starting to falter...""Exactly. They could be on our doorstep whenever they do one big push.""But still, there's an even bigger problem here: I don't think Maelstrom has any weakness to Green Goo, so if the... thing that was Dr. Rex tries to hit our base head-on, frankly, we don't stand a chance at stopping it unless we outline a plan to take down a giant Maelstrom-infused Mutant T-Rex in nigh-invulnerable armor within the next few minutes."Andrew crackled into the Elite comn signal. "*ktzzz* pulling back to surround HQ again. But we're leaving some scouts near the river in the Steel Sprinters to monitor the forces crossing it. Observer's been noting a couple of boats crossing, and we're hoping that maybe some of them will contain XERRD scientists we could capture.""And there's a chance Zach might show up around there," said Fabello. "I have a good feeling that whoever took him brought him in that direction.""Sounds like a decent plan," said Semick. "If you do get some XERRD scientists, maybe we can actually convince them to help us, because now that Dr. Glados is dead, they might be in a bit of disarray as they try to figure out a leader.""But isn't Dr. Gonapus still somewhere out here?" asked Hotwire."Haven't seen him in a while," said Dr. Cyborg, "though obviously I've been preoccupied. I think he got downed by some sniper with a laser rifle, but I haven't found a body.""Keep on alert, and keep working on that cyborg T-Rex issue," said Semick. "I hope that power-plant idea of yours works.""It has a name, you know.""I'll learn it later."Semick focused for a few moments on the current field status. The Maelstrom Dr. Rex hadn't returned yet to the battle area, so the forces were mostly occupying themselves with the Mutant DInos moving in from the city and river, along with the Cyborg T-Rex currently being held back by Dr. Cyborg's men and the IP defense line. Andrew and Hotwire (with B's help) were working on directing most of the forces focused on the river to create a more stable front line behind HQ. Reptile had lost several T-1s, and was trying his best to keep his PLARXX shield formation together. The ADO forces were focused on helping Rotor and Cabin cover the overall front lines and help organize the IPs in Rex's absence. Semick himself was currently hovering close to HQ, trying to fend off an Inferno helicopter that was trying to snipe out agents through the HQ windows.Things were really starting to get rough, but currently they were holding together. He was getting anxious. When that Maelstrom Dr. Rex reached them, things were certain to get really chaotic, real fast. HQ was in the midst of evacuation, but the fighters were still directed around a stragedy of defending the building. And Semick realized then that if HQ did fall, it would be hard even for him to be able to reorganize the team while trying to defend himself and his men.With Attack and Defend focusing on taking the Inferno chopper while he simply flew, Semick was able to think harder about the situation. For the first time in a while, he realized he was uncertain about the outcome of the battle. Most of their vehicles would have trouble taking on large-scale Stromlings, he knew that from his experience from the Ape Zach had commanded at Hotep III's temple. Combined with Dr. Rex's weakened-yet-somewhat-sharp mind and Silge armor, they were going to have a very hard time trying to defeat it. He wouldn't likely respond to lures, and holding him back took a lot of extra effort.He thought back to the reports on Adventurers Island. What he had been told was this: The Maelstrom had been stopped thanks to a globe of "pure Imagination" that had been empowered by the creative thinking of several agents, along with the heroic sacrifice of Frank Einstein.A thought came to him. A thought that chilled him to think of, and that he very much was personally against.He shrugged it off. Whether or not that would be necessary, there was still a major problem with the idea: as far as he knew, Dino Attack had no samples of pure imagination. That was stuff Nexus Force dealt with, not an earthbound organization like theirs.Still, there was always surprises and opportunities emerging in this battle. Perhaps if the lab agents had something in mind just for this occasion, perhaps if XERRD made that truce with them and offered their help, that time would come. Until then, Semick had to keep his T-1 flying in the midst of their firefight with the Inferno craft, and think of how else he could use imagination to his advantage. And there was only one person he knew could help him with that.--------------"Uh, what should we be aiming our Cryothermic Cannons at?""Anything that gets close, shoot it!""Maelstrom, schmaelstrom. If it's gone down before, it can go down again.""If it bleeds, we can kill it.""I hate Mutant Dinos.""Where the Znap is Alpha Team?!""They'll get here when they get here!""Nobody's dying in vain today! The Dino Attack's gonna end today if its the last thing we do!"