Racing the Storm

[Nick22]

Thanks ' Marita Said, taking the directions From Foley " Get them to safety, and you as well. We'll need you, I'll wager, before the end. we'll need all the help we can get to defeat Kalis. After all, theres only a handful of us.' Marita said as she began heading down the hallway, following the map she had been givenn. Rose and Marie followed close behind her.

[Pterano]

The ship was coming back to Vergil now, its corridors and twists and turns becoming familiar. "Yeah... yeah down here!" he said, stumbling along as he took a left. Fortunately, interrogation wasn't very far from the holding cells, and Vergil could see them up ahead. Staggering through the doorway, he saw two guards on duty outside the main row of cells.

"Hey! What the hell?" called one, shocked to see the prisoner out and about. Vergil attempted to draw his sword, but Triste, apparently not as rocked by the torture as Vergil has been, flashed by him, cleanly picked up a knife hanging on the wall by the door, buried it in the throat of one guard by tossing it before she hit the deck, avoiding the shot of the second and then tail whipping him to the ground, his skull cracking on the floor with a sickening noise.

Blinking, Vergil simply stood there and nodded. "Uh... right..." he said, moving to the switch that opened the cells and dropped the force fields. Soren, Tony, and the rest were released from their bindings and the fields dropped, the ferret nearly collapsing to the floor from surprise as his wrists were released.

"What the hell?" he asked, pushing himself out of his cell to see Vergil, Triste and... Lily. "Lily?" he asked. "What are you... doing here?" He jogged up to one of the prone guards, took his assault rifle and slung it over his shoulder. "This is... a rescue or something?" He had been trying to focus on falling asleep before he'd been released, so to suddenly be dropped to the floor had been a shock to say the least.

Vergil tensed up as he leaned over the control panel, sensing Kalis's presence on board now. "Oh no..." he groaned. "He's... he's here... we don't have much time..." he mumbled, still regaining his strength.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Emilena took a deep breath. Her back wasn't going to get any less kinked in this position...with a strangled grunt she forced herself to her feet. Using her knife to pry a handhold out of the tiny ridges in the pipes, she started scaling to the light above her.

Her legs were burning and her arms felt dead when she finally crawled over the edge of a catwalk. She was overlooking something that looked like a huge boiler. She kept her eyes open for interruptions since she was now in a section designed for humans, but everybody appears to have sodden off to go watch Kalis arrive or something.

She approached the large isolated structure curiously, since it wasn't giving off enough heat to be a boiler. Scaling the catwalks, she reached a hatch above it and took a peek within.

An absolutely awful smell hit her like a sack of bricks. This chamber was a portion of the waste disposal system! Sealing it quickly to keep from retching, she nevertheless considered this a valuable discovery, since a waste disposal system would naturally lead to the edge of the ship.

As she traced the septic pipe along the catwalks, she weighed her options. Technically she should be locating her allies, but she suspected they were either dead or being tortured to death. It hurt to abandon everyone, but she was severely over her head already. Better that somebody live to tell the story of those who fought.

Eventually her intuition proved correct and she reached a hallway with windows revealing the open skies. She couldn't see the ground, but she hoped they weren't moving. Thousand-mile falls to the ground were perilous enough without beginning with thousands of knots of forward movement.

The hallway led her to a small hangar. She looked wistfully at the fighter jets stationed and briefly toyed with attempting to fly one. Instead she smashed the cockpit window and seat-belted herself into the pilot seat. It took a couple of clicks to find out which button on the joystick did what, but considering she was looking for the missile launcher, it wasn't too traumatic when a single missile rocketed out of the right wing and blasted the hangar door open. The hangar immediately depressurized and sucked everything not nailed down, which included Emilena's jet.

Immediately all the blood rushed to Emilena's head and she almost blacked out. The sheer coldness of the outer atmosphere threatened to give her a heart attack, and she thanked her lucky stars she'd located the ejection button beforehand.

A blind press of the button, and her seat rocketed out of the nosediving jet, a parachute popped out with a stomach-wrenching jolt, and she began her unpleasant descent to the desert ground.

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

"So are we going to the escape pods, or are we grabbing the guys locked up in the space jail?" Rio asked in confusion as he, Marie, Rose and Marita reached the fork in the road that demanded they choose a more specific direction.

[Nick22]

Escape Pods ' Marita Said. "We need to get out of here, pronto. Trying to get them out is basically akin to a suicide mission. We Have no Weapons, and the element of surprise isn't enough to free everyone, we'd need weapons for that. So Escape pods it is. Then once we reach the ground. we'll need to get to Hong Kong, as the last waypoint is somewhere in there.  We need to get there and find the ship before Kalis does. Otherwise, its all hail Evil Overload Kalis.' Marita said.

[Pterano]

Not having time to catch up, Vergil led the way towards the escape pods. He paused briefly, sliding to a halt as he looked at a map of the ship on a bronze plaque and saw they were ahead and down a level. OK... easy enough. But as he rounded a corner with the others, there he was... his long flowing red robes... his metallic face from when Rex had sliced it off... his spiky, threatening looking skin and those dead, yellow eyes.

Panting, Vergil leaned against the wall, in disbelief at being headed off like this. "K... Kalis..." He said, leaning heavily to support himself.

"Vergil..." Kalis said in his raspy, robotic voice. "I've been meaning to confront you for years... but then again... my last attempt to kill you didn't work out as I'd planned." He took a step towards them, and Vergil could see Eljert was with him.

"E... Eljert!" Vergil whispered, moving forward himself before stopping as Kalis glared at him.

"That's far enough..." He ordered. "Old friend..."

"What?" Vergil asked, panting heavily and raising his brows. "I don't... specifically... remember... being friends with you... or.. even knowing you all that well."

This elicited a rumbling laugh from Kalis now, who glared cruelly at him. "Really old friend... they really did a number on you... didn't they?"

"Who? What?" Vergil asked now, unsure what Kalis was talking about.

"The Federation you IDIOT! Do you really THINK that you've been dancing for them of your own free will and volition? You've been more brainwashed than even I thought was capable... but I suppose they have that technology... don't they?" he asked, fixing his eyes on Triste now, who seemed frozen and extremely agitated by something.

"Vergil... Vergil..." She whispered to him. "Don't listen to him... he's lying..."

"Hahahaha yes... yes I'm lying... I know all ABOUT you Vergil... who you are... where you came from... what you were born of... and what you became... the Federation's slave... a new identity... a new life... brainwashed into thinking you're some big new hero... a weapon for them to use... that couldn't be further from the truth because I KNOW who you are!" Kalis challenged him now. "You and I go WAY back in fact."

"Vergil! Don't listen! We gotta get outta here! Screw this guy!" Triste yelled, throwing a knife towards Kalis, who simply deflected it with his mind and let it clang into the wall.

"Well what a fetching handler you've acquired for yourself... 'Vergil'..." Kalis said mockingly. "She manipulates... she makes you think you're this what? Federation hero or something? Hahahahah you are their greatest ENEMY! The one they FEARED would destroy them! And then they got their hands on you and remade you into their perfect puppet... defeated you so thoroughly you didn't even realize it had happened!"

"The fuck are you talking about? Triste? What's he mean?" Vergil demanded, looking at her darkly now. "I AM a hero! I know who I am! I... I..."

"Yes... you WERE a hero... 'Vergil'... but that's not even your real name... is it?" Kalis asked, chuckling evilly here. "You want to know the truth? The HORRIBLE truth?"

"I... no... no I... served with you yes but... I... I..."

"Hero of the Scorched Earth War... the Federation's greatest general... suddenly turned traitor with his best friend... launched a rebellion... brought the Federation to its knees... until he was betrayed... betrayed by his friend who wanted it all... wanted what he had... and now I've TAKEN it from you. I am YOUR superior... isn't that right... REX?"

Vergil was trembling in fear now, his legs wobbly and like jelly as he struggled to hold himself upright. "R... Rex?" he whispered. "No... no I'm... I'm Vergil I'm not... I'm not... Rex..."

"Rex... my friend... mentor... superior... supreme warlord... leader of Rex's Rebellion... you should stop denying what you KNOW to be true!" Kalis insisted here.

"I... I'm not... that's... that's a fucking lie..." Vergil panted, backing up unsteadily. "It's not true... liar... LIAR!" he yelled, springing forward now and activating his sword, with Kalis's own blade out like lightning and blocking Vergil's blow easily enough and turning the weakened gecko aside.

"Just ask HER." Kalis replied, nodding to Triste now. "She's the one who knows who you are... whose mission was to lie to you... to tell you lies about who you are to reinforce the Federaton's brainwashing... brilliant really... I THOUGHT I had killed you but... she infiltrated your ship to kill you... was caught up when my guns began hammering and destroying your vessel... you must've been knocked unconscious or something... and she brought you back... brought you back to be reprogrammed into their slave... in just ONE fell swoop... Rex was returned to them... you... IDIOT... you couldn't see what was right in front of you... who you REALLY were?"

"I... I..." Vergil looked back to Triste here, who only looked at him with a pained expression on her face. "That's not true... it's not true... please tell me it's not true... I'm NOT... Rex... I'm VERGIL. Vergil Speicher... right?" he asked hopefully, but Triste closed her eyes and looked away.

"Vergil... I'm... I'm sorry... I'm... I was going to..."

"You were going to tell me? WHEN? AFTER I'd killed Kalis? AFTER I'd saved the Federation? When the FUCK WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME?" he roared.

"If you need confirmation... just look me in the eyes... tell me you don't remember slicing my face off Rex... old friend... TELL ME!" Kalis ordered, and Vergil turned his head slowly, his eyes in agony as he gazed upon Kalis's... but there it was... the eyes... yes... the eyes that had gazed at him after he'd... torn Kalis's face off... his fleet... his life...his betrayal... his rebellion... his... his everything. Rex... he was Rex... HE was Rex... HE... was... Rex... his false life was collapsing around him now... and his memories... his REAL memories... they were pounding him like Niagara Falls... and he couldn't escape... couldn't escape it at all...

"I... I..." was all Vergil could say.

"You know the truth now... the very great truth they've been hiding from you this entire time... well... I'd say it's time to end things... Rex... you were my superior once but no longer... I'll kill you and take your place as supreme warlord... the way it was ALWAYS meant to be..." Kalis began advancing on Vergil now, who seemed rooted to the spot, hypnotized and unable to move.

"BASTARD!" Triste shouted, leaping forward to attack Kalis now. "Vergi! GO!" she yelled. "GET OUT OF HERE! I'll hold him off... kill him for good!" she snarled. "GO! you're in no condition to fight!"

Vergil watched Triste struggle with Kalis, the two coming to mighty blows as they fought, twirling, parrying and attacking. He then slowly turned to Lily, staring at her. "I... I'm Rex..." he said softly to her, unblinking. "I... I'M Rex..." he said, holding his hand to his chest, apparently paralyzed and unable to react from the revelation.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Lily bit her lip. She wanted to hate Vergil, but it was hard to hate someone who was so pitifully being stripped of every quality they'd ever held dear. Kalis was brutal, and didn't pull a single punch. But Lily didn't have long to worry about Vergil, because someone more important was in the room.

Ejlert North was a heavyset youth, with sunbleached blonde hair that clashed with his dark skin. His eyes, the same shade of amber brown as hers, widened in surprise at recognition. "M-Mom?" he said, his genius-level intellect quickly putting the pieces together.

Then Kalis backhanded him in the throat with a dagger. "No interruptions," he reminded his guard casually, as both pairs of amber brown eyes in the room widened in dawning horror.

"Ejlert!!!" Lily screamed. Every single cell in her body felt as if it shut down; her brain ceased to think, and time seemed to travel in slow motion; she could only watch as her son staggered and clutched his throat, trying in vain to stem the bleeding. She dropped to the floor; this wasn't a controlled fall, she practically face-planted next to Vergil, even as her son maintained standing with what little strength had not yet faded away.

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

Rio strapped Marita, Rose, and Marie into an escape pod. "Only room for 3 in each one!" he mentioned cheerily. "I'll take the next one down, you guys don't worry! I'm right behind you!"

Closing the escape pod door securely for them, he instead jogged back down the hallway towards the infirmary. Even if Marita's speech hadn't inspired Foley, Rio was convinced. This was his chance to save the world, and like hell he was missing out on that.

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

Down in the deserts of Cairo, two camouflaged individuals had assumed an observational position and were observing the warship. The smaller of the two was a lightly-armed tracker, who had volunteered his services to track down a woman who had done him wrong in the past.

"The muchacha is moving around a lot, SeÒor!" informed Nando in a thick Spanish accent. He refocused his binoculars on the ship, but the lion's share of his attention was on the tracking device receiving signals from his brain. "Her trajectory is muy extraÒo...but..."

He suddenly switched focus when he spotted something falling from the sky. "SeÒor Stryker! Arriba!"

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

With a pained grunt, Emilena felt her ejection seat embed itself into a sand dune. Undoing the seatbelt, it still took her an extra minute to free her legs from the burning sand that had quickly covered her lower body.

Cursing brilliantly, she balanced precariously on the seat. Her pawpads may be calloused, but they weren't prepared for the burning heat of the Egyptian afternoon sand. Taking her knife, she stabbed into the seat and began cutting the leather coating out to cobble some rags for her feet. She'd been on the ground less than a minute, and she already felt like she was getting first-degree sunburns.

[Nick22]

Marita pressed the eject button and the pod with the three of them it was flung, out into space at a rapid pace. the speed combined with the friction of the atmosphere, began to  make the pod become very hot. " Cant You steer this thing/ Marie shouted. ' No! its flight path is pre-determined' Marita responded. ' we'll land somewhere in the desert, how close we';ll be to civilization, i don't know. Lets just hope Rio, Foley and the others find their way off as well.' The pod red across the sky streaking down towards the lights of a city lying on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea-Alexandria, Egypt.. the pod landed with a crash in an tuned area to the south of the city.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Rio raced down the hallway, passing several crewmembers who mostly ignored him. One of the perks of being a kid, apparently.

He emerged to see a pretty unpleasant site; Triste in full combat with Kalis, dead guards everywhere and the remaining crewmembers looking pretty worse for wear. "Crap, next time I'm taking the escape pod..." he breathed.

Lily closed her eyes, unable to process the flood of emotions coursing through her. It was if every possible negative emotion was flowing through her, destroying her very being and crushing everything she'd done, everything she'd sacrificed to reach Ejlert. She'd lost it all. And there was nothing more dangerous than someone who had nothing to lose.

Suddenly she grabbed Vergil's arm. "Get up." Locking eyes with him, she glared at him for the umpteenth time, but this one was full of fiery molten rage. "I don't care who the hell you are." Pulling him unequivocally to his feet, she pirouetted him to face Kalis. "I don't care what you've done or what your real name is, but you've got a shot to make that bastard pay. It's his fault." She withdrew a syringe from her labcoat, a painkiller/adrenaline booster, and stabbed him in the arm with it. "We can debate philosophy when that space lizard is dead and buried. Sounds like you used to be his boss or something, why don't you show him what happens to uppity lieutenants in this fleet?"

[Pterano]

Vergil watched in horror as Eljert was merely clubbed in the throat, and he couldn't react... couldn't move... Lily collapsed next to him, and he watched as he slowly... slowly started to come round. His breathing was slowing... Rex... he was Rex...

He felt Lily drag him up, but couldn't acknowledge her, and winced as she stabbed him with something. Something... his adrenaline was starting to course through him again, and he tried to register her words? Fight? No... no he couldn't do that... there was something more important he had to do...

He stumbled forwards, arms reaching out, and grasping Eljert now. "Come on!" he hissed, tugging the wounded youth away now. "To the escape pods! They're just ahead! I'll try and heal you!" he exclaimed, running now past the battling Triste and Kalis. "Come on!" he shouted back to Lily, and dove into an escape pod, shoving Eljert into a seat and strapping him down as he sat violently into the next one, buckled himself in, and slammed his fist down on the launch button. The pod blasted off from the ship's side, hurtling down the few hundred feet to the desert sands, firing its retro rockets to slow its descent and keep it from slamming too hard into the ground. As they touched down with a cloud of sand, Vergil was moving, up out of his seat, springing to Eljert and dragging him out to lay him down on the ground, trying to focus... trying to gather up enough strength... trying to... save the youth.

He closed his eyes, laid his hands upon his form, and tried... tried to do... something... but it wasn't enough... it wasn't... he could feel the boy expiring, his life leaving him... no... no... "NO!" Vergil roared out, eyes popping open as he tried but failed... the life force leaving him... there was nothing... nothing he could do. "I... I did... no... Eljert..." he whispered, gazing down sadly now at the lifeless youth. "I... I'm so... sorry..." he said, and he must've been speaking to Lily... or maybe Eljert... or maybe both. "I'm so... sorry." he got weakly to his feet now, looking to Lily here, pure hopelessness written on his features. "I tried... I tried... I... I don't have your powers." he said now. "I wasn't enough... I only wish... I had gotten to him sooner." he said here, apparently struggling to stand, his legs wobbling even after the shot she had given him.

---------

Behind the advanced scouts, a large form rose up from the desert sands. He was now different... a red, cybernetic eye was connected to his face, overlapping his left eye. A metallic spine ran down his backside and culminated in a massive metallic tail. His right arm was a missile launcher, and his left was a Gatling gun that doubled as a bludgeon if he needed it. Smirking here, the now enhanced assassin began bounding over the sands.

"All right bitch... I'm coming for you..." he muttered, his powerful legs practically leaping him over the desert.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Emilena winced with every step she took through the scorching sand of the afternoon desert. She was lucky it isn't midday, or she'd almost certainly have passed out from dehydration and heatstroke. As it was, her makeshift footrags were doing very little to ease the discomfort of walking, and she was pretty sure she'd already developed a severe sunburn across her entire body.

But about ten minutes later, that suddenly became the least of her problems when an old enemy arrived to stand before her, barely recognizable due to his new cybernetic enhancements. "Oh for the love of...I thought you died," she groaned, her knife continuing to hang limply at her side. She knew she didn't stand a chance against him, and he knew it too, which was why he didn't even bother to hide his presence. "I don't suppose there's any chance Don Stracci requested you keep me alive for interrogation?"

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

"Ejlert!" shouted Lily, pushing Vergil aside when it was clear he wasn't going to heal the boy. "Ejlert, can you speak? Stay calm!" She had no medical supplies whatsoever, and the boy was suffering from a dagger wound to the throat. Said dagger was missing, meaning that there was severe bleeding. She didn't need a medical degree to know it was a fatal wound. "Vergil," she cried, fighting to keep from breaking down in front of her missing son, "if you're telling the truth that you didn't steal my powers, where did they go? How do I get them back?!"

[Nick22]

Mom...' Eljert Gasped weakly, air hissing through the hole in his throat, with every labored breath- I"m sorry.. I ran away.. please forgive... me..' he coughed, blood shooting out of the hole in his throat.. The youths eyes were dimming. his end was very near.. ' Just.. don't forget me mom.. please? Promise me" he murmured then his eyes rolled back and his head went limp as his last wisps of life left his body and he slumped to the ground. Eljert was no more.

[Pterano]

"I... I don't know!"  Vergil panted, trying to think here. "But... but if... if there's... a reason... the only thing I can think of is your own self-doubt... it's suppressing your abilities because you've become lost... you don't know who you are anymore... you want to retrieve them so badly that it's causing further frustration and anger and you're now stuck... you can't move forward... you can't move back... you're stuck. Lily..." he approached her now. "You have to believe... believe in WHO you are and not lose sight of that! You've lost that... and yes I feel I've contributed to that... but you can't lose yourself."

He placed his hands on his hips now, and shifted his weight onto his left foot. "Lily... you were a determined individual of our group starting out... determined to find your son... and I'm sorry that neither of us could save him... but the enemy... the real enemy... is and always HAS been Kalis. He's the one who corrupted your son... he's the one who who destroyed Lanthae... he's the one... partly responsible for why I'm now Vergil and not Rex... but I... like you... can't run from my past... I am Rex whether I like it or not! I... I can't deny that anymore because my memories... my past... that exists... it wasn't a lie... I... I don't want to be Rex but at the same time... that... that is who I am... you must... accept who you are... and the powers you have..."

He thought a moment now, raising a brow. "Sure I don't want to be Rex but... knowing I am... that's... I suppose a bonus in some way just because I can USE that to my advantage against Kalis... I can use... who I am... against him. As you said...  I used to be his superior... I can once again prove I am... but you have to step up and believe in who you are as well." he said, still weakened from the torture, though the adrenaline shot was helping. "You show the world... everyone... what it means to be you..." he said now, finding strength in his own words for himself as well, despite Kalis's revelation.

"I was responsible for you losing faith in yourself... just as I... was responsible for turning Kalis from a hero... a young... impressionable hero... into what he is now... but we must bear responsibility for our actions... and it is what you CHOOSE to continue being... or not being... that... is your real test now. I set you and Kalis on your respective paths BUT... you both chose to continue on them... you must make... a different choice now... not just for your sake... but for mine as well." he concluded, looking at her with imploring eyes.

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

"I no longer work for Don Stracci... my mission... is termination of you." he said here, sneering. "Your end is nigh Emilena Echo..." he then sprang forward, violently whipping his Gatling gun across Emilena's face and sending her flying back through the air to face plant in the desert sands.

Stryker was over her in an instant, a combat knife appearing from the middle of the Gatling gun, which he promptly shoved into Emilena's spine, missing her vertebrae by inches. "I've made it my life mission to kill you and terminate your existence! Now... I will finally have that chance!" he exclaimed, crowing over his victorious position. Withdrawing the knife from the now screaming Emilena, Stryker picked her up, then used his metallic tail to whip her into the air, firing off a missile in her direction and causing it to detonate close by, the concussion burning her and throwing her through the sky and behind a nearby dune. Grinning, the sungazer lizard began bounding after her. "You can hide!" he exclaimed. "But you can't run! I'm now superior in every way to you!"

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Lily could only look at her son's dead body in shock. The light had gone from her eyes, and she could vaguely hear Vergil trying to comfort her, but what did it matter? What did anything matter with Ejlert dead?

But then something Vergil said broke through...she had lost her path. She'd made some terrible decisions in her quest to rescue Ejlert, put her faith in the wrong people and left the right people to die. Her cheeks burned when she thought of how things could have been if she'd stayed with her team. If she'd remained a healer.

But her path was crystal clear now. With Ejlert dead, her new goal was to avenge his death. Kalis needed to pay for what he did to her son. "Vergil..." she started. "That's your name. Vergil. You don't have to think of yourself as Rex, that was a different man whose ideals you don't share. Remember that I was reborn once, too. I could continue to think of myself as that horrible mutated creature from Lanthae...but that would only hurt my ability to change my future." She touched him reassuringly on the shoulder. "You are now Vergil. You have Rex's powers, but you are going to use them for your own ends, and his memory holds no power over you."

She started in surprise as she felt a familiar sensation through her fingers. Slowly, Vergil's wounds were transferring onto her. With the renewal of her purpose came the return of her powers!

----------

Emilena cried out as Stryker punted her directly into the scorching sand. Her new wounds burnt with a dull ache, more painful than usual; leave it to someone like Stryker to wield weapons designed to favor agony over damage. She tried to get to her feet, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the dune below her. She still had her combat knife, and a lucky swing was almost certainly her only hope of survival. "Are you sure you dont want to take me prisoner?" she asked desperately as he bore down on her position. "You could torture me to your hearts desire. It'd be just like old times."

[Pterano]

Vergil considered what she said now, and even though his memories were still painfully flooding back, he was growing to accept them now... it was better than having "amnesia" and not knowing anything. He had sought the answers... and he had found them. "Yes... yes... that's... that's something... I should look at it as. It's my life... but just as you are choosing now... I too have to choose WHAT sort of person I will be from here on out... that... that is the most important thing." He agreed, nodding.

He tensed up as he suddenly felt her powers return, the wounds moving away from him and the great burns that had crisscrossed his body were now fading, as were the internal injuries he had suffered.

He inhaled sharply, and looked at her now with amazement. "You did it... you did it!" he grinned, holding her arms now. "I thought so! I thought it was because you had lost your way! This is great! Oh but... Triste!" he exclaimed now. "If she's still alive... we have to rescue her... and everyone else."

Tony sputtered as he came out of an escape pod nearby. "Hey!" the ferret said. "I'm all for that! But... what about the others?" he asked now.

"They have phones... well... did have phones. We can send them messages... tell them to meet back at Corona or something... chances are Kalis will know where Devastation's Inception is... so... we'll regroup... and hit it with everything we've got... hit HIM with everything we've got!" Vergil declared now, looking to Lily. "But first... we should try and find the others... their pods would be scattered." he pointed out now.

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

Stryker slid to a halt near her now, then shoved the tip of his tail right through the back of her thigh, impaling her rather handily as blood spurted out. "Like hell! There are no good old times!" he declared. "Only the new... but yes... I fully intend to make you suffer before I finish you off!" he crowed triumphantly. Withdrawing his now blood stained tail, he wiped it off on her backside and then whipped it roughly across her face.

"Bitch!" He spat right in her face next, then activated a new feature on his Gatling gun, a device which super-heated the barrels as quickly as an electric stove, and placed it right on her backside, scorching through her clothes and starting to burn her back. "Heheheheheh! How you like THEM apples?" he asked now, smiling evilly down at her.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"You're right," Lily nodded. "I don't know how many of them got out...but we can't give up now." A cold fire burned in her eyes. "I won't rest until either me or Kalis is dead."

She crossed to the controls of the escape pod. "These can communicate with each other. Our comms are out, either damaged in the crash or being actively jammed by the warship, but I've got a few coordinates for other pods." She glanced at Tony. "Did you see anyone else reach the escape pods? I saw Rio for a second at the end, and I'm not even sure if Soren left the holding cells."

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

Foley gritted his teeth as he pushed Axel's and Flora's gurneys down the hallway. "Coming through! Medical emergency!" he shouted people out of his way.

He'd been following the progress of the little coup, and it was clear that Vergil's escape had halfway worked, and the other half was probably about to die horribly at Kalis' hands. That meant Flora needed to be off this warship ASAP. He'd already dressed her and Axel in nurse outfits, in the hopes that they'd look slightly more like crewmen instead of thugs.

He went for the further pod bay, just because the closer one was probably a little populated due to Rio and the girls visiting it. Unfortunately this meant that he'd had to use the much smaller auxiliary pods, which could only hold a single person each. He wasn't 100% sure how these things worked, so he did Axel first. Sucks to be a pragmatist, but Foley honestly didn't care if Axel's pod crashed into the ground at terminal velocity and exploded. However, it shot out perfectly and began its slow trajectory to the ground.

Flora was next. Strapping her into her seat, he began preparing the pod for launch, when he heard crewmen enter the bay. "You there, stop!" one of them yelled. "Step out of the pod!"

The sound roused Flora, who looked sleepily up at Foley. "I...huh? Where are we?" she asked in a daze.

Foley pushed the button to close the pod bay door, when a bullet struck him square in the heart. It was a poison-tipped round, bloodless but still lethal. He grunted, and Flora squawked in surprise at the sound of gunfire. "Foley, what's going on?" she stammered, as her memories slowly returned. "I was so out of it, I--!"

"No, you weren't," Foley interrupted, stumbling backwards so the pod door would have room to shut. "I was. You were right about everything, Flora." He got one last resigned look at her terrified face as his vision slowly faded to black. "I backed the wrong horse. I'm sorry."

"Foley!" shouted Flora in a panic as the guards fired at her pod. "FOLEY!"

The pod rocketed off into the sky.

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

Emilena grunted as she hit the sand for the umpteenth time. A sharp pierce in her leg, and she cried out again as she felt her thigh slice open. "Jesus..." not really feeling capable of her usual banter, she simply attempted to bury herself in the dune, where maybe she could play dead more effectively.

But Stryker wasn't done with her yet. A searing pain, even worse than the burning sand, dug into her lower back, sending her into uncontrollable spasms, but she couldn't even crawl away. "Aaaugh!" She gritted her teeth as both sides of her body were singed, but there was nowhere to go. She was too dehydrated to even cry.

Well, I'm not fighting my way out of this one... she realized with dawning resignation. And he won't listen to negotiation...my only real option is to play dead...at least if I die it won't be groveling for mercy...

So even though her nerves were screaming, she forced herself to lay perfectly still. It was worryingly easy, she was already so close to passing out from sheer pain...

From behind Stryker, Nando had silently assembled his automatic rifle. Getting as close to the dueling pair as possible, he took a deep breath and prepared to open fire on his master.

[Pterano]

"Ri-right! The pods!" He said now, nodding. "Good thinking! We'll send out a message for everyone to meet back in Corona!" Vergil said now, heading back to the pod now that he was at full strength thanks to Lily. He got to work tapping out a message, and nodded for Lily to join him so she could deliver the coordinates.

Tony followed them, a grim look on his face. "Well... some got out but shit... I don't know about Soren... I'm not sure if he ever made it out of the holding block!" the ferret said warily. "He wasn't with us when we encountered Kalis so... I... I fear the worst!" he said, his voice dropping out from under him.

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

Stryker then proceeded to raise his bludgeon and smash it down with extreme force on Emelina's back. He then repeated the motion, lifting up the battering instrument and bringing it back hard for a second time... again and again he did this, and finally, he heard the satisfying snap of her spine as he broke it in two. "Heheheheheh!" he chuckled evilly, grinning mirthlessly down at her.

It was then Nando opened fire, his bullets striking Stryker's metal spine. This caused the lizard to whirl around, an angry glare in his eyes, wondering what this was all about...

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"Let's focus on who we can rescue, before taking headcount," Lily suggested. "Soren could have been in any of these pods."

After the scan finished, she pointed to a spot just north of them. "Let's go there first. One pods' already landed, and its got another inbound."

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

Nando emptied his magazine into Stryker, aiming for vital organs. He knew he'd only be buying himself seconds, so the kill needed to be fast.

It wasn't fast enough. Stryker was on him in an instant, his tail swiping Nando across the face and sending his rifle skittering. Spiraling to deflect, Nando drew a sidearm with  his backhand and fired a shot right through Stryker's cybernetic eye. Stryker screamed with rage and smashed his assailant in the chest with his battering ram. Nando grunted but fired his grappling hook, pinning Stryker to him while being crushed into the ground. Simultaneously his tail realigned and buried itself into Nando's arm. Grunting, Nando used his remaining hand to thumb something on his belt. "Checkmate bitch," Nando grinned weakly as the EMP grenade went off, shutting down both of their cybernetic arsenals. Stryker cried out and tried to wrench free, but without his cybernetic skeleton his body was shutting down.

Emilena moaned pitifully, barely observing what was happening around her. She could only register that something had happened that likely saved her life. Staring over at the pair, locked forever in terminal combat, she realized Nando's identity with a flash of shock. "Oh my god, Nairda..."

Nairda was as doomed as Stryker. He looked weakly over at Emilena. "I'm sorry...I didn't act sooner..." Tears fell from his eyes. "Now we're both going to die..."

Emilena coughed up blood. "Well...it happens to everyone...it's...good to see you again. Didn't think I'd get to... How did you find me...?"

Nairda chuckled, then winced in pain. "Remember back in Lanthae...? After we saved Soren in his house. I registered that tracker on you. You never took it out."

Emilena's eyes widened. "You've been tracking me since then? That was...fucking months ago! Stalker creep..."

"I was going to tell you...eventually..." Nairda smiled sadly. "Also since we're dying, there's something else you have to know. Something I learned at Emile's and Lena's."

Emilena's eyes widened. "Wait, you went...to my parents?......Why?"

"Not yours. Ours." Nairda didn't care that her face filled with horror at his revelation. "I always...knew I loved you, but I'd never realized it was also as a sister."

Emilena collapsed, breaking eye contact as her face filled with burning sand. This was far more information that she was prepared to deal with. And she'd been so close to never learning this before the sweet kiss of death removed her memory forever.

"Emilena?" Nairda asked, worried. "You still love me, right?"

Emilena's head spun. Her heartbeat, growing slower as her body lost critical amounts of blood, struggled to grasp the question. Finally, as she felt oddly cold despite the sweltering heat and realized it was the coldness of death, it gave her a moment of crystal clarity. She was going to die. Morals didn't matter anymore. "Yes," she sighed. "I love you."

There was a blinding flash of light, and Emilena shielded her eyes in horror and bewilderment. A wave of hot sand washed over her from a massive impact, and she clawed herself back to the surface with her hands, her legs remaining paralyzed from Stryker's final blow. Half of her was convinced this was God's divine justice, smiting her for her hubris in committing crimes against nature.

But no, an escape pod had merely landed right on Nairda, giving him that unmarked grave he'd always wanted. It also gave Emilena some much needed shade. Though her vision was getting darker of its own accord...

[Pterano]

"Right!" Vergil nodded firmly, pursing his lips and seeing it was about a mile away. They set off now, the gecko sprinting to make the time go faster, his trained body not needing to rest much out here for only a mile. Tony on the other hand... somewhat lagged, but he huffed gamely along, having taken some supplies from his escape pod.

They arrived just as the escape pod landed on Nairda, Tony and Vergil wincing as it threw up a cloud of dust. Sensing Emilena, Vergil's eyes widened. "Shit! Oh Christ!" he said, running around the pod now. "It's Emilena... god... goddammit!" he said, seeing her pitiful state. "I... she's gonna need healing!" He called, waving Lily over.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"I can do that," Lily's gaze was steeled as she pressed her hand against Emilena's shoulder blade. "How...exactly did you end up in this state?" she couldn't help but ask once the most grievous of the injuries were healed.

"Aaugh!" Emilena cried out repeatedly as she felt bones snap into place and muscles seal themselves. Lily's healing was different now, more efficient and void of painkillers, but she also noticed that Lily no longer inherited the wounds from her patient. "Old friend of Tony's dad came to say hi..." she grunted, gritting her teeth in agony, "...but I think it just got dealt with. Glad to see we got our medic back, though I'm not sure where you came from..."

"Yeah..." Lily looked away. "Vergil and I patched things up. Do you know where any of the others are?"

"Only whoever just gave Stryker a viking burial..."

Emilena glanced at the pod. Lily threw open the pod door to reveal Axel, still blissfully unconscious in his seat. Rushing forward, she buried her husband in a hug. "Oh my god, you made it out, thank you God..." Lily whispered softly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything..."

Emilena staggered to her feet and glanced at Vergil. "Any of you gentlemen have clothes to donate? And we need to move quickly; I can imagine the warship can track the landing locations of their escape pods."

Lily nodded as she freed her husband from his seat belt. "We just need to grab any other survivors, then figure out our next plan of attack. This fight isnt over."

(OOC: Do we wanna do a time skip to Hong Kong or some new location? Anything else need to happen in the deserts?)

[Nick22]

(We can time Skip. That will Allow Marita and the others to reconnect)