The Gang of Five
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Racing the Storm

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bushwacked

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Triste nodded. "Alright." Standing in the middle of the tube, she clenched her fist tightly and took a deep breath. She wasn't used to being taken prisoner - it made her feel so helpless. So useless. On the other hand, at least they now had a way to infiltrate the ship... if Anne was able to figure out a way to get to them in time.

Looking around, Triste felt a strange pang in the back of her head as she looked at the other tubes around the room. Something about them seemed familiar... She shook her head and ignored it. She'd probably seen them from surveillance footage at some point... they had more important things to worry about.


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The door hissed as in stepped Admiral Saul Carrack... a man Vergil was fairly familiar with. He knew him from before... he'd been a hero of the Scorched Earth War, but then had turned traitor and joined up with Rex... and had become quite the butcher by all accounts. He was a well-built man in his early 60s who had a rugged, craggy face. A five o'clock shadow adorned his chin, and his cold, steel blue eyes regarded them with triumph before a thin smile slid across his features.

"So... Vergil... what is it? Speicher now? And Triste Alcyle. You'll have to forgive me if I get your names wrong... they're rather immaterial... ahem." He looked from one to the other. "Where is the last waypoint? What is your objective for the Devastation's Inception?" he inquired.

Vergil said nothing, giving him a stony look. "Very well... let's see which one of you breaks first." Admiral Carrack responded. He took out a controller, and hit a button on it. Vergil was suddenly slammed back against the tank by thousands of volts of electricity that suddenly coursed through his body.

"AGGGGGGH!" he screamed, the lightning danced off the tips of his fingers, toes, and tail, his feathers beginning to fry as he sank to his knees. The tank was clearly rigged to jolt whoever was inside, and Carrack smirked as his eyes moved to Triste. "Feel like talking?" he asked, Vergil crying out again as another burst hit him, throwing him back once more as he writhed like a worm in agony.

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Lily observed the waiting room of the flagship’s infirmary. The pristine white space was sanitary and sterile, with soft white lights that used photoscopic technology to eliminate the effects of night-blindness and vision-induced color bleed. It was more advanced than any hospital she’d ever experienced back on the planet.

“Miss Whent?” The doctor came out. He was clad in a multi-purpose unisuit and carrying a waterproof datapad. “The results are back.”

Lily felt her nerves flutter. He didn’t seem happy. “And?”

“And...by our tests, your psionic abilities should be completely functional.”

Lily bit her lip. “Well, they aren’t. What the hell did Vergil do to me?”

“I don’t know,” the doctor consoled. “But it’s nothing medical.”

“Well, then what am I supposed to do?” Lily balled her fists. “Kalis brought me on board to revolutionize your medical facilities with my abilities. What use am I if I don’t have those?”

“I don’t know, I’m sorry.” The doctor returned to his business, leaving Lily exasperated and frustrated.

She marched out of the infirmary, shooting a glare at a crewman who had the misfortune of walking past the door right as she was leaving. As soon as Vergil is dead, her only claim to fame is her healing powers. If she had any hope of rescuing Ejlert, she’d need to figure out what the hell is blocking those, sooner rather than later.

She found Foley drinking in the technical manuals and logs on the warship's computers. "You look like you're keeping entertained," she remarked idly.

"This is amazing!" he breathed. "The technology on this ship is off the charts. 3D replication of any material, cold fusion, infinite food...surprised that these people are so barbaric considering they've basically got a utopia up here. Did you know Kalis assumed control by backstabbing his former commander? And so did Carrack. And practically all of the senior officers. I'm lucky I'm bottom of the totem pole."

Lily pursed her lips. "Go back to the technology. How are they holding Vergil and team prisoner?"

Foley switched windows. "Um, Vergil and Triste are in restraining pods, the rest are more traditionally incarcerated in the brig. Looks like Vergils' being interrogated right now. But I think you'll find this most interesting." He shifted to a related tab. "Couple of the others are being held in a police station on the ground. Looks like they pissed off the coast guard, completely separate incident. They're not even flagged as being involved with Vergil and the others, I don't think anyone knows who they are."

Lily noticed Marie's and Axel's names among the list. "Hmm. Maybe we could work with that. Can we contact that station?"

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Axel, Flora, Anne, Marita, Marie, Rio, and Rose were rolled into the infirmary strapped securely to gurneys. They wore only thin hospital gowns, and a pair of armed security guards flanked them carrying heavy caliber rifles. "Ma'am. The prisoners you requested for experimentation."

Lily nodded as she walked out of her office. "Ah, excellent. Thank you."

"One last thing," the guard handed her a promissory warning. "Carrack was not pleased with the fact that you bypassed the Chief Medical Officer when requesting these test subjects. In the future, any further breaches of rank will result in swift disciplinary action."

"Of course." Lily could sense a threat despite the politeness in his tone. She glanced at the figures. "I will thank the admiral at the next opportunity for authorizing this. I believe that experimenting on these lowlifes will allow me to unlock my psionic powers."

"So does he. Which is why he's giving you a second chance." The guards turned to leave, their last words echoing as the door slammed shut behind them. "Dispose of the survivors when you are done. Don't disappoint the admiral again."


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As Admiral Carrack cut the voltage to the tube, Vergil was left panting, smoke trailing from his body as his skin had heated to super intensity in the span of seconds from the jolts. Carrack turned his attention to Triste now, scowling. The female lizard was left disconcerted by the suffering of Vergil, but she had to stand firm... she couldn't give him any information. "Well?" Carrack asked, folding his hands behind his back.

Triste bit her lower lip and looked to Vergil again, who gave her a slight shake of his head. Nodding once, Triste's eyes hardened, and she glared at Carrack. "Blow me." she replied simply.

Carrack appeared only slightly surprised at this, and smirked. "Very well... we'll do just that." he said, his thumb going down on the button once more, this time throwing electricity into Triste's cell. She screamed and fell back against the walls of the tube, and Vergil managed to get shakily to his feet.

"No... NO!" he yelled out, though could do nothing inside the tube, as his powers were stymied by the barrier in place, keeping him in check as he slammed a fist on the glass, trying desperately to break out but failing rather miserably as Carrack kept up the voltage.

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Marita Stirred first among the prisoners brought out to be ' tested' by Flora. AH.. MY Head " she murmured, Before quickly realixong she couldnt move much.. She looked down and realized she was restrained very tightly.. She then looked around and Noticed Lily " Ah.. crap.. ' she said softly.
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Flora was swimming with the lofty haze of the painkillers the police had pumped her with. Dreamily she opened her eyes at the sound of Marie's voice. "Don't worry, I'm sure they've got some for you too..." she purred, attempting to rub her eyes and only then realizing she was tied down. "I...whu...huh..." Her eyes focused and she recognized. "Oh! Hi Lily!"

Lily shushed her quickly. "We've never met and you're terrified of me because I'm going to kill you," she ordered urgently. "Try it again."

"I don't...you are?" Flora cocked her head in confusion.

"Nooooo!" Rio supplied dramatically, thrashing his bonds for added affect. "Please don't kill me, scary doctor lady! I'm just a kid, got so much to live for!" Very convincing tears welled in his eyes. "I just wanted to join the circus!"

Lily sighed. "Perfect. If we get interrupted, everyone follow Rio's lead. Maybe with a bit less Broadway. Now, what are you even doing out here?"

"We were following Vergil!" Flora supplied. "I never really caught the details, but we came to find something in Egypt."

"Yeah, he wanted a...worldpoint or something..." Rio racked his brains. "Stuck all of us on a boat, we were the getaway, uh, then Flora shot everyone and things went tits up."

"I snogged Rose too!" Flora supplied. "It was awesome!"

But Lily had already taken Foley aside. "They're talking about waypoints, aren't they?" Foley muttered, having been filled in somewhat beforehand. "Vergil either saw it, or knows where it is."

"Yes. And if Vergil found it, then Carrack is extracting the location as we speak." Lily opened a first-aid kit and removed the standard issue pistol, a testament to the violent culture they were currently working for. "And we become a lot less valuable the second he finishes."

She marched out of the infirmary without another word.

"Hiii Foley!" Flora piped up excitedly. "I'm so drugged I'm not even mad you ditched us like a little prick!"

* * *

Lily quietly slid open the door to the room where Carrack was interrogating Vergil and Triste. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to ask the admiral whether Vergil had revealed any fruitful information.

It doesn't matter, she suddenly realized. This was no time for role-playing the submissive medic. Carrack was already dangerously close to executing her, and anything he's learned couldn't leave the room and return to Kalis. Time to act like I'm a true part of this crew...

Triste's torture was giving her more than enough of a distraction. Bracing the pistol with both hands and placing it a millimeter from Carrack's back, Lily bit her tongue and pulled the trigger.


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As Triste was tortured in front him, Vergil was trying to resist the urge to just break down and give away information... but was he really that strong? There was... he couldn't just sit here and watch her be tortured... the pain looked immense as it coursed through her, and Carrack's evil smirk just made things far worse. "Stop it..." Vergil said softly, pushing his hands on the glass. "Stop... stop it... STOP IT!" He roared, unable to do anything still. This got Carrack's attention though, and the admiral halted the proceedings and directed his attention to the gecko. "Yes?" he asked, looking from him to Triste.

Triste was curled up in the tank, trying to snarl and indicate to Vergil he shouldn't say anything but the gecko cracked, and clenched his teeth. "I... we found the final waypoint... and the last coordinates... you can't... do this to us anymore."

"Then tell me where it is!" Carrack snapped.

"Hong Kong..." Vergil snarled, glaring at Carrack.

"WHERE in Hong Kong? It's a big city." Carrack shot back.

But Vergil paused as he saw Lily head up behind the admiral, and then promptly shoot him in the back. Carrack's mouth twisted in agony, and his eyes bulged, as if wondering just what the hell was going on. He turned, staring at Lily briefly in utter surprise before he collapsed, his face a contorted mask of horror and disbelief. "She hasn't... told you..." He whispered, shifting his eyes to Vergil before all life left him.

"She?" Vergil asked, looking to Lily but wondering briefly he meant Triste. He inhaled sharply, looking at Lily now. "What are you.... doing here?" he asked.

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Lily shot him a glare of pure venom. "I just took your advice to heart. What was it you called me? Lying, reckless, untrustworthy? Sounds like I'd fit right at home here."

Noticing the remote lying next to Carrack's lifeless body, she snatched it up and switched the voltage back to Vergil's cell. "Not that you could even understand a motive like loyalty. You think it's all about you and literally nothing else matters. Everybody needs to get down on their knees and sacrifice their lives, their dreams...everything for you and your hidden plans, and if they don't they're worthless! You don't need to explain things to your team, or protect them. They don't matter. They should just march to their deaths fueled only by your indifference, condescension, and exasperation, shouldn't they?"

She flipped the electricity on. She had questions, she had demands for him. But for now she just wanted to see him in pain.

--------

Rio struggled with his gurney. "Hey, fatty. Untie me or I'll spit on you. Real grosslike."

Foley bit his lip. "I want to. Really. But I don't think that'd be a good move. Lily's in charge here, and they really don't like uppity underlings on this ship."

"Foley why do you suck so much???"  Flora screamed, making a complete 180 from her previous lucid dreaminess. She shook her gurney so hard it threatened to tip. "Why can't you do anything useful? What the hell happened to you?"

Foley tried to stabilize the gurney but Flora thrashed and sent it tumbling over him. Angrily screaming at her former teammate, she began biting and teething at his face, leaving him trying to defend himself in a panic.



Nick22

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Flora! Stop it! This isnt going to help matters ' Marita rebuked her, as one by one, both Rose and Marie came to abnd realized they were prisoners." let Foley up, and let ME talk with him."
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Foley shoved Flora's gurney, sending it skittering across the floor. Flora gave a screech when it pinned her against the wall. "I didn't want to get involved in this shit again!" he shouted angrily. "I'm only here because I want to survive after Kalis glasses the planet!" He angrily grabbed the first aid kit and disinfected his face. "What the hell do you want to say?" He glared at Marita.

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

"Lucidity is the key."

Emilena was sitting next to Tony in the brig. She was chained to the wall, but free to talk. "You're supposed to practise taking control of your dreams first. Don't let them guide you along aimlessly like everyone else gets the leisure to." She gritted her teeth as her hands fell asleep from the awkward position she was trapped in. "I know you probably don't feel like sleeping right now, but unfortunately it's all about remaining in control even when your subconscious is calling the shots."


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" what Do I want? Well, first and foremost to be let go' Marita said. "That goes for all of us currently shackled to these gurneys. Now you said, "you want to live " well if you force us to tell you  all that we know, well then you will have done your job,but then you'll be expendable to Kalis, he'll have no further use for you. You're useful to him, only as long as we have info he doesnt yet possess. Our lives, and their lengths, are tied to yours. Now I'd wager your counter will likely be something aling the lines of " as long as I am useful, Kalis won't kill me". Well thats not true at all. Kalis is a grade A-Psychopath, like Stalin. Guys like him don;t need a reason to kill someone, in fact they get their jollies from killing people, simply from being able to kill people.

 Foley sighed ' You're smart, I'll grant you that. Smarter than the bitch who was clawing my face and screaming at me just a few seconds ago. But You are aware of how hopeless your situation is, don't you? Ok, One side, you have a ruthless warlord with an entire fleet of psionic warriors, with the power to crush just about every government on Earth in a matter of hours.. and on the other side " He smiled darkly " You have you guys, 6 or 7 or 8 blokes, who are all now prisoners aboard this ship, and who are currently being  (or soon will be) brutally tortured until they snap.You want me to throw my lot in with you guys?' Foley laughed mirthlessly. Why?"

" Because he doesn't have the ship yet' Marita pointed out. "That ship is powerful enough to destroy his entire fleet. As long as he doesnt have it, There's a chance he can be stopped. and frankly, as unlikely as it may seem, we are the only ones who can stop him at this point. Like you said, the government wont be able to do it, once he gets ahold of it. They'll be mincemeat in a few hours. And then the entire world will be like a Soviet-era gulag, a living nightmare for all those subject to his rule. How long do you think he'll let you live, once he has absolute power?  'Loyalty, Honor, and mercy' mean zilch to him." Marita said.
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Vergil looked wide eyed at her, astounded by what she'd just done... he wouldn't kill in cold blood like that himself but just seeing how far she'd fallen it was... but he didn't have time to think as he felt the electricity slam into his body and he shriveled up into the tube, screaming out and then being hurled back against the walls.

"No that's... that's not true...! I revealed the location of the... the waypoint!" He said through clenched teeth as the lightning danced all over his body. "Aggggh! I just... revealed it so they'd stop... torturing... Triste!" He exclaimed, trying to open his eyes but finding the searing pain far too difficult.

"You don't... need to do this!" he pleaded. "Please... this is... not you! You heal! You don't... inflict pain!" He was curled up in a practical ball on the floor now, in sheer agony from the jolts.

--------

Tony glanced over at Emilena, shackled the same way he was. Their prison door was a force field, so breaking out was... tricky at best and probably impossible without some outside help. "I think... that makes sense... I..." he closed his eyes here. "So I have to sleep? At a time like this? I... yeah that's gonna be difficult but I'll try... of course... I suppose I could cause a ruckus... force the guards to come in and beat me senseless... or into unconsciousness." he suggested, though figured that wouldn't probably work.

"ugh... all right... I'll try and relax... shit I feel like I need some alcohol for that to happen." He stuck out his tongue here. He tried to just... picture himself in a comfortable bed back home... or driving one of his father's cars... it was hard though. "what... happens after I master lucid dreaming?" he asked now, still with his eyes closed.

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"Triste?" Lily shouted over the crackling of the electricity. "You mean the only one you ever share anything with? The one you're infatuated with? The one you took with you during the cruise, and Voltaic Station, and the only one who shares a personal history with you? Forgive me for not prostrating myself and renouncing everything I've said just because you were nice to TRISTE!"

She cut the electricity and observed the twitching, prone figure lying pitifully in front of her. "And you know damn well I can't heal. I can't do anything, thanks to you." She fired the pistol again, but this time to shatter the protective glass window separating her observation room from the chamber with Vergil and Triste's pods. "And I don't give a damn about your waypoint," she spat, marching forward. Lily pressed her hands up against the glass of Vergil's pod. "I want you to give me my powers back..." she growled. "No bargains, no conditions. Just give them back to me now."

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

"Look Foley..." Rio rolled his eyes. "I get it, you're hedging your bets. That's just peaches, good for you. If you really lost your balls and need to stay some evil guy's bitch, how bouts you let us go, then we can take turns kicking you in the head and lock you in a broom closet. Say we jumped you, fucking perfect alibi."

Foley sighed. "You guys suck..." he grumbled. He undid Rio's gurney, and the youth quickly scampered round freeing everybody else. "What exactly are you planning anyway? You wouldn't even be up here if it weren't for me and Lily. No way in hell you're not completely improvising this."

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

"It's all about your brain maintaining control after control gets taken from you," Emilena explained. "Dreams are kinda a natural way the body goes into autopilot, so its the best form of practice. There's a reason they're called 'sleeper agents.'" She thought. "There's other stuff we could do, like attempt to extract the trigger using hypnosis or piecing together memories you have of Bolivia, but I highly doubt we've got any shot of pulling that off. Better you spend what time you've got becoming ready to fight back once the trigger drops."

She jumped when they heard heavy footsteps approaching their cell. "Hey, listen to me," she whispered urgently, making unblinking eye contact with Tony. "You've made the biggest step already by accepting the possibility and becoming prepared. Now the trigger cannot completely take you by surprise, and that's huge."

Two burly guards, one with a shiny bald head and the other with a red goatee, marched into the room. While the bald guard levied his rifle at her, the other unclasped Emilena's handcuffed wrists from the wall.

"Just keep practicing," Emilena said evasively, looking in no particular direction. "You can only get better..."

The guards marched her out of the room.


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No this is going according to the plan "Marita said sarcastically as she worked circulation  back into her hands  ' We PLANNED to be captured and endure brutal torture, so we could get close enough to Kalis and kill him. Of COURSE we're improvising this. Look, we need to get out of here pronto. you wanna live longer than a few minutes, you come with us..we need to get out of here and get to China..Hong Kong to Be specific. Finding the waypoint wont be easy . that place is made up of over 200 islands. the definition of finding a needle in a haystack..' Marita said as she waklked over to the first aid kit and pulled out some bandages ' Flora , come here, and let me bandage your wound.."
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After Ryo helped extricate Flora from her gurney prison, the tired folf stumbled over to the operating table and lay down, giving Marita full access to applying her first-aid. Foley handed Marita a tube of fast-healing nanogel, an extremely effective healing salve that only Kalis has the technology to make.

Ryo glanced at the unconscious Axel. "Erm, the big guy's still out. Anyone got a bucket of cold water?"

"Are you sure we shouldn't just wait for Lily to get back?" Foley asked nervously.

----------

Emilena stared at the piece of paper. "So wait. I just sign this, and tell you everything I know about Vergil, and you let me go?"

The science officer nodded. "You're not our target. Vergil is."

"But you've already got him." She was hand-cuffed naked to a hard metal chair in an interrogation room. Two burly but unarmored guards stood behind her with high-powered rifles. "I know I'm not in a position to nitpick, but really I'm not seeing why you're wasting your time with this."

"More information can never hurt." The science officer was getting annoyed. "We saw you have a background in psycho-analytics, Admiral Carrack felt you might be worth a second chance. Perhaps you saw things Vergil didn't even know about himself."

Emilena raised an eyebrow and sighed. "No no no. The correct bait would have been to claim he'd died during the interrogation. That would have demoralized me and made me think there was no use continuing the fight. And for god's sake put the jarheads behind some one-way glass next time," she jolted her head dismissively at the guards. "The hidden show of force is always more effective than the displayed one, lets the perp fill in the blanks with her worst nightmares. Heck, the bald one even has his safety on."

The bald guard growled, undid the safety and whipped the back of her head with his rifle butt.

"So I take it you aren't going to cooperate?" The science officer pressed, but Emilena was slumped over in the seat, unresponsive. "Of course. Bloody waste of time..." he muttered.

"Did you kill her?" the other guard asked. The bald one stepped behind her and checked her pulse. Suddenly Emilena took that opportunity to smash the back of her head into his face. Kicking the inside of the desk, she sent her chair skidding into the wall, pinning the bald guard and giving her the angle to kick the other guard in the crotch. Grasping the pinned guard's rifle and firing wildly, she blasted the bald guard in the pelvis, also shattering the seat of the chair out from underneath her.

The remaining guard opened fire but Emilena wrenched her handcuffs out of the shattered chair and rolled under the table. Firing up through her own cover, Emilena winced as rivets of molten metal sprayed across her face, but a cry informed her that she'd landed an incapacitating hit on her target.

She blasted the science officer's leg for good measure before leaving cover, which turned out to be a good call because he'd had his pistol out and was waiting for the shot. Pouncing him, Emilena grunted and endured a knee to the stomach as she garroted him with her still-locked handcuffs. "One...last thing," she panted in his ear as she choked the life out of him, "I knew you were going to kill me no matter what answer I gave."


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Vergil finally felt the electricity cut off, and he looked up now with pained eyes as Lily approached the glass of his tube. "I can't..." He whispered, not rising. "I can't... if I could... I would do it... please... believe me... but I don't have them... I never did... if I could help you I would... but I can't give what I don't have... believe me... more than anything... I would return them to you if I could." he said here, panting and not raising his voice above a whisper.

"Please..." he reached out now, his head touching the glass where hers did. "You can still do... the right thing... I will try and research... why your powers are gone... I promise... but I don't have..."

A loud alarm suddenly blared throughout the ship. "Attention all personnel. Lord Kalis's ship is docking in five minutes. All personnel, prepare to receive the Red Castle. Attention all personnel of the Leviathan... prepare to receive the Red Castle and Lord Kalis.

Vergil looked up now, still panting. "Lily... you have to get us out of here... Kalis will kill us... all of us... but I can... help... I'm sorry you feel this way... but we aren't enemies... please... help us." he whispered, pleading with her now.

------

Tony thought about this."I'd be willing to try it! Hypnotize me... reconstruct my memories, I'll do it!" he said now, becoming frantic as guards approached them now. "Shit!" he hissed, clenching his teeth as they came in to take Emilena away.

"Get off her! Emilena!" he called out, struggling against his bonds, though this did nothing. She made eye contact with him and told him he had an advantage over the trigger, but for the first time since being brought aboard this ship... he felt genuinely scared... scared he'd give in to this trigger without her there. "GET OFF HER! Don't you touch her you bast-OOF!" he was promptly rifle-butted in the gut, causing him to nearly double over (except he couldn't fully do that as he was still chained to the wall) in pain. "Uggggh!" he moaned, hearing the blaring alarm to announce Lord Kalis's arrival as Emilena was led off. "Dammit..." he muttered, trying to regain his breath.

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"I don't believe your lies for a minute..." Lily growled, maintaining the same withering glare as she shot the hinges to Vergil's cell. The door creaked open. "You took my powers, and you're going to give them back. Until then, I need you alive."

She marched over to Triste's cell and freed her as well. "And no mama bear business from you either," she warned, keeping her pistol trained defensively on the both of them and standing so a wall was behind her.

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

Emilena broke the air vent from the wall with the butt of her rifle. It was a tight fit, and the only reason she could even move was her relatively small frame and her fur being slicked in cold sweat. She reluctantly had to swap the rifle out for the officer's pistol and knife; it would only clatter and make unnecessary noise.

Wouldn't say no to detouring for a drink... she thought, fighting mightily to stifle any coughs from the incredible amounts of dust she was kicking up around herself. Where the hell am I even going... Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the announcement of Kalis' arrival echoing thunderously through the pipes, leaving her ears ringing and her teeth gritted.

Unfortunately the air duct developers neglected to install windows for her to figure out where she was even going, and before long she found herself staring at a straight drop. Cussing quietly to herself and well aware of her incredible chances of dropping right into a tighter path that traps her, she slid 90 degrees downwards and found herself plunged into a wave of hot steam. Seconds later, the pipes around her grew hot to the touch.

Cursing furiously and completely abandoning any hope of keeping herself quiet, Emilena rubbed her blistering hands along the pipes until she found a groove, then started shooting it to break the integrity of the solder. After expending her clip and jamming her knife into the cracks, the pipe finally buckled and dropped her into pitch blackness. She smacked her head on something metal, then her leg, then her arm...finally she slid to a stop amid a mess of pipes.

As she clutched her head and tried to get her bearings, Emilena took her first extended break. Right now she was buried deep within the internal mechanisms of the ship, an area not built for people to walk in. She saw light above her, but she couldn't be sure that was just her vision exploding with phosphenes. For the moment, she needed a moment to catch her bearings and nurse her burns.


Pterano

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Vergil managed to get shakily to his feet, resting a hand on his knee. "Thank you... we need to get the others and get out... they'll be coming for them very soon and... thank you." he said, looking to her now. Triste rolled her eyes, Lily apparently forgetting about her ability to cloak and go invisible, but since Vergil and her were a bit... worse for wear, she figured she'd regain her strength first and then try something later on.

"You don't need the gun." Vergil said softly. "At least... not for us. And I'm telling you the truth... if I knew... I'd give them back immediately. But I honestly don't have your powers." he made his slow way over to Carrack's corpse, retrieving his sword as Carrack had apparently decided to keep it for himself, perhaps as a trophy to present to Kalis. "OK... We've got five minutes... let's get to the prison cell area and free the others. Then make for an escape shuttle and get the hell off this ship." he suggested, heading for the door now, leaning against it heavily as he opened it, and then moved out into the hallway. "Ugh..." he exhaled wearily, starting to move off down the hallway... this ship... seeming familiar to him... yes... maybe he had been here... having served under Rex in the past...

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Nick22

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Marita applied the gel to Flora's injuries, then gave some of the gel to Rose and marie to heal the cuts in thier wrists. ; alright' Foley" she said turning to him." We have only a couple minutes to get out of here before Kalis's ship docks with this one. whats the quickest way off of this ship?
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aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)

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"You want to get OFF? We just bloody got you on the ship!" Foley exclaimed in frustration. He looked at Rio angrily.

"Hey, I'm not the strategy guy, I just pickpocket bitches," the youth shrugged.

"Ugh." Foley checked Axel and Flora's vitals. "Neither of these two are in a position to travel. I'll stay with them here and send them after you once the nanogel has fully healed their wounds." He glanced at Marita. "If you're honest that you think you can defeat Kalis, then they're not in any danger. But even if you fail, I'll make sure I get them off the ship alive." Behind him, Flora gurgled happily as the nanogel sedated her.

Foley drew some quick directions to the escape pods. "You can take these to get off the spaceship. They'll be guarded so I hope you're ready for a fight. Alternately, take a left here and you can rescue your friends from the infirmary. It's up to you."

----------

Lily nevertheless kept her guard up as they made for the escape pods. Triste in particular had been unsettlingly silent, and Lily remembered her pulling off some impressive combat feats in the name of protecting Vergil.

Another part of her couldn't keep a tiny nag of doubt worming into her thoughts. Could Vergil be telling the truth? Did he truly not steal her powers? If that's the case, what happened to them?