Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

[B4UTRUST]

Inside of Portico's pocket realm Saibot's form had changed to that of the White Guardian. He had broken through the first nightmare and when it ended was shifted subtly into a second...

The White Guardian found himself on familar territory. Before him the monster stood, huge and deadly. It had already weakened a lot of his team and now it came for him. He would have to defeat it to save his friends. But it was too strong, too powerful for him alone.

In the background he could hear the anguished cries of pain and suffering that came from his teammates. Begging him to help them, to save them. Worse yet was the voices in his head that were laughing at him. They sounded like his team as well. The two sets of his team flowed together till he couldn't figure out where one ended and the next began. Mocking, begging, laughing, crying. Each voice was distinct and recognizable, each one in turn making nothing of all his triumphs and pleading for assistance.

And still the monster loomed before him.

[Dark Silver]

His chest was ripped open, the uniform torn, and a swath of red where the weapon had cleaved flesh.

The White Guardian took a stand, the voices of his teammates, and the monster before him, along with the previous nightmare, had changed him.

Lifting his arm above him, fist clenched tightly, the ring glowed. A bubble of blue energy formed, first around him, then expanded, wherever it touched solid matter, sizzled, crackled, then was shredded by the field of glowing blue power.

The monster tried to escape, but lance of pure blue light stabbed it through it's limbs, hoisting it into the air, before the bubble touched it, eliminating it's mental form. Likewise, his former team was decimated in a instant, and the nightmare world began to fade.....

---- o ---- o ----

The Guardian rose from his fetal position, floating in the nothingness, his body encased in the blue glow of the life support force field.

Normally, Saibot would have tried to ponder a way out, resorting to beating on the walls of this pocket dimension, but the Guardian had another way.

"You have thirty seconds to let me out of here, before I bring the walls of your little private hell down, and tear my way out. Countdown begins now."


The Guardian crossed his arms over his chest, and mentally counted.

[LadyTevar]

The shadows began to shift and thicken, almost touchable. Before them the shadows melted together into a phsyical form. The form took shape and fluttered like cloth, moving into the form of a hooded cloak. The red eyes were all that was visable from beneath the hood, the rest an endless black.

One of the summoned shadows stopped moving before it reached the growing body, a set of silver eyes blooming inside it. "Portico, I assume," Argent announced, her dragonform stepping up out of the shadow she'd captured. "You have something of mine. I would like him back."

A shadow-built body. Yes... she could deal with this Freak, whether mental or physical. Her shadow power reached out and tugged at the shadows Portico wrapped himself in. "Of course... I could just pull you apart to get to him," she continued in the same calm, confident voice, her empathy reaching out to give the Freak the first taste of fear in facing her down.

[SirNitram]

"Hey, there's mounds of legal precedent for exile." Gravitas quipped back to Blackheart. "Granted, not in the last hundred or two years, but still, definately there..."

Gravitas' feet left the ground, a side effect of wrapping himself in a protective gravity cocoon. "Any particular strategy? Or should I just try and knock 'em out?"

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost spit out the rest of the jerky. He pushed the talk button on his comm. "Are you kidding me? We got all dressed for this dance and we are only bringing in a handful?" He asked. "So, am I clear to approach the barricade and meet up with?"

[Cynical Cat]

"They're already mind raping our people," said Blackheart. "Flatten them so they can't do any more damage and we start to sort them out."

[SirNitram]

"Are you generally in the habit of assaulting barely-defended noncombatants and children, Ghost?" Gravitas spoke dryly. "Cloak and meet up with me. You'll feel tugs in the directions you should go. Once we hit the mazes, neutralize before they can get at your brain. Live ones are bonus points, but we focus on bringing them down."

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost bit back a reply. It didn't help to argue with a meta with an over inflated ego and a god complex. "Understood." He said into his comm. He pulled the mask back on and cloaked himself. He slipped past the barricades and headed in the direction he felt the tugs.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot and Blast looked at the swelling shadows with widening eyes. "Dude, I think we're second string right now." Hotfoot didn't bother activating his comm, so it sounded more like a squeak.

Blast, meanwhile, tapped his comm. "Blackheart, Blast. We...well, Argent's made contact with Portico."

Hotfoot hit his comm in turn, "So, how do we know which is the good shadow and which is the bad shadow?" a touch of the jester coming back to him in this dark moment.

[B4UTRUST]

There was no fear to be had in Portico. His physical form was mostly gone and he was closer to a shade then a human.

Those mental fingers brushed over her mind. There was no voice but the surety of acquiescence.

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

No voice came to laugh at Saibot's demands. No feelings of rage, or humor. No lightning bolts from the hollow black sky. Whatever force controlled this realm chose to not answer him in any way he might have seen.

He might have thought he was being ignored as he did his little show of counting down the seconds till he blew this place apart. Then a mental blast of force gave him his answer. If it had been a sound it would have been a deafening scream. Instead Saibot's nose began to bleed and he began to develop one hell of a major headache. The answer was a flat out denial.

As the denial came he was thrown once more into the abyss of his own nightmares.

He found himself in the subway tunnels once more, watching Argent, Blast and Hotfoot come towards him, obviously intending to attack him. Behind them, waiting patiently was the others. Gravitas, Legacies, Blackheart, Ghost. Mocking grins on thier face.

And they began to fade away. Blackheart and Legacies first, vanishing into the shadows, escaping his just wrath. Gravitas and Ghost fled him as well. Unless he could catch them he would never have his revenge, never pay them back for the pain and humiliation they caused him.

But Argent remained. Argent and Blast and Hotfoot. They remained to put him down, to destroy him. Already he could see it in his mind, how it would happen. He could break free of this delusion too. All it would take was a flexing of his power, to destroy these simulations of his mind...

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

Portios fled backwards, the cloak billowing as it moved. In its wake was Saibot, whole and untouched. Standing tall. Staring at his teammates.

[Dark Silver]

The Guardian stood there, alone, the three "teammates" approaching him. He dimly, somewhere in the back of his mind, remembered the young Hotfoot, apparently the newest member. Something about him being there during the attack on the surface.

The bloody nose and headache where already gone, the healing factor kicked in, repairing the damage caused by Portico's mental scream.

The sword was drawn free of it's sheath, as the Guardian watched. Already he was going over the known weaknesses and strengths, if they were like his real teammates in powers, he couldn't use his ring on Blast.

"This the best you can do?" he said lowly, as the sword was switched position in his hand.

The next moment, before the others could register, the White Guardian was rushing Blast, the sword granting his increased speed, it's blade biting into the young man's arm, slicing flesh, before the point was jammed down into his side. Saibot swung around, his arm wrapping around Blast's throat, as he held the young meta against him, the sword point jammed into his side, upwards towards the heart, ready for the final stroke, "No hard feelings, but I'm getting out of this place, and no replica will stop me."

[frigidmagi]

Blast had kept his shield down while appraoching Saibot... Man ain't ever doing that shit again. His arm burned with pain and the point dug against Dad's old vest, the kelvar weave was keeping the point from penerating but only just, any real weight and it would punch on through. Oh Mother of God if Hotfoot rushed... Someone would die. Neither Blackheart or Gravtis would be happy... If it was Blast, he would be very unhappy! Yeah this superhero life has it's low points.

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! Nobody move, I mean speedsters, empaths and sword weilding psychopaths! Everyone take a minute to chill out!" He screamed. Okay... He had power, he was scared shitless, he was bleeding and he could turn his "captor" into KFC in a breath. Right, let's talk. He liked talking.

"Okay! Saibot! I see your a little jumpy and that's cool! I'd be jumpy if I been the wringer alright? No one is judging here, nice nonjudgement, NONVIOLENT enviroment. Now I've shot you through a roof before and you know I can drain your ring. I rather not because frankly it taste like shit and it hurts like... 25 hangovers in the middle of a heavy metal concert later. If this was some replica shit people wouldn't be talking, they just be slugging like the movies right? So how about you stop trying to sewer me like a party favor and we have us a chat, I'm not aking you to put anything down, just... Take a fucking breath okay? Let's not look bad in the new kid, you remember the new kid, Hotfoot? Go ahead and wave Hotfoot. Hell he might had your action figure to when he was kid. Come on man, let's break some records and talk for once."

[LadyTevar]

"This the best you can do?" he said lowly, as the sword was switched position in his hand.

The next moment, before the others could register, the White Guardian was rushing Blast, the sword granting his increased speed, it's blade biting into the young man's arm, slicing flesh, before the point was jammed down into his side. Saibot swung around, his arm wrapping around Blast's throat, as he held the young meta against him, the sword point jammed into his side, upwards towards the heart, ready for the final stroke, "No hard feelings, but I'm getting out of this place, and no replica will stop me."

It was the suit that had thrown her. White Guardian, Leader of Guardian Force. Hero of the West Coast, beloved by many for the tireless defense of California by the Guardian Force as a whole. Argent's own childhood hero, the battered figurine now sitting in Garth's trophy room with his collection.

Then he moved, not towards herself, as she'd expected, but for Blast, with the sword. She'd lost control of this... no... Portico had given her what she asked for. She hoped the commbud was able to catch this.

Blast was freaking out, rambling. Argent winced to hear it, since she had her doubts whether Blast would be able to talk Garth down and there was no way Argent could move fast enough to stop Garth from killing him. Portico seemed to have him still controlled.

Or at least wound him up and let him loose. Speaking of loose...

"No, Portico, you're not getting away," Argent hissed in the most deadly voice any of them had ever heard before. Her shadow power reached out, grabbing the Freak tightly and dragging the shadowy cloak-figure back in front of her. Draconic eyes flashed as she glared at the Freak.

"you did this to him," Lei's voice was calm and quiet, a sotto voice that just did carry to Hotfoot, Blast and Garth. " ... and if he kills my teammate because of your little games, i will take you to a place where what's left of your pitiful soul will scream for eternity, alongside the last person to harm someone i cared about. Release. His. Mind."

The last had all the Empathic Pressure that she could shove behind it. Evan Garth, without the link or even a thread between them anymore, could feel the open promised threat as well as the undercurrent of Angry Female Of Species Seeking Vengence for Mate. Those with links to her still felt it as well, even Legacies, Ghost, Gravitas and Blackheart.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot felt something strange, yet somehow familiar. The presense of another speedster, or at least, something like one. Very few beings came close to entering his frame of reality when he was like this, but this...thing, it came close. The power was external, focused on the sword, yet all around Saibot. It was entrancing, the first time he had seen anything like this, someone physically moving at what was approaching his normal speed. A small "Whoa" left his lips as he watched it go by, and then it hit him: that was Saibot! The costume was different, but there was enough to go by to recognize him.

By the time he had snapped out of his trance, it was too late. Saibot had Blast dead to rights, and every fiber in his body told him to jump on Saibot and rip the sword from his hands before he plunged it in to Blast's chest.

Then Blast started talking. He didn't know exactly what the other man was saying right away, but it was clear that he was trying to defuse the situation. He held back, his body tensed and waiting to jump should that sword move towards Blast in a threatening manner.

When he was asked to wave, he did, trying to put a small bit of cheer into it, but it wasn't easy when the man he was trying to wave to was inches away from killing his impromptu teammate. A teammate he had let get into this position because he had gotten distracted. Anger and guilt flowed from him, mingling with the rage he was feeling from Argent. The level of placid calm that normally flowed from his immersion into his speed form was a thin, wavering line...

[Dark Silver]

"Saibot's not home right now" was the response, though the kid had a point, if they were illusions, they'd be jeering him, or attacking him....

He removed the sword from Blasts' side, and pushed him at Hotfoot, with most of his rather immense strength. Already, his life support field was restored the moment Blast couldn't touch him anymore, and he was floating off the ground.

"You may be right....or you may just be another trick by whoever it is that caught me. Either way..."

The blast didn't emerge from his Ring, rather it seemed to come from his whole body, every inch of space, and it shot out.

No, it didn't shoot out to strike the others, instead it drove into the wall, floor and ceiling, the shadows and darkness suddenly obliterated by the blue glow. The Guardian's helmetted head looked to Portico, where Argent held him, and a beam of light shot into the shadowed cloak. Flame erupted from what should have been the eyes and mouth, as Portico began to shrink, the Ring consuming the shadow-freak from the inside out.

A second later, it was gone, and the faceplate was facing the dragonic Argent, the wave of fury and hatred coming off the glowing form was palitable to even the two non-empaths.

"You...." he said, begining to float towards Argent...

[B4UTRUST]

There was no howl of pain, or even the thought of it. There were other times, other places...

The shapes took form in Saibot's mind, a flicker at the back of his conscious. Argent, unbelieving of Saibot. That this was him. She didn't believe it at all. Again she refused to accept him. Just as she had always done. How many times did she back him down from what he wanted, no, needed to do. Since the start it had been about her controlling him, from their first meeting. And now look at her. As soon as he was free from her for a second, she refused him. Did he really want to be like that for the rest of his life? Especially knowing that deep down truth between her and Blackheart?

The feelings she had when Blackheart saved her, the emotions and thoughts, were passed to Saibot. Letting him see what he had missed before. There. She had betrayed him. And he remembered what happened when she betrayed him. A flash of the rape. The chill in his spine. The image of her and Blackheart, laughing while they fucked. That's what he had to look forward to.

Portico faded, consumed. And Saibot didn't awake to the eternal blackness. He was still trapped somehow, in this nightmare. With Portico gone there was no longer a tie to him in Saibot. But the seeds planted grew none the less.

[Hotfoot]

Blast kept talking about absorbing energy. He hoped like hell that included the plasma shield, because if it didn't, this was going to hurt. Hotfoot didn't have the time to figure out the best way to tone down his shield and provide protection should something happen, like if Saibot really did lose it. As Blast came flying towards him, he ran alongside moved his arms to catch him, moving the other man's legs into a position to stand once he stopped. He slowly, to him, started to slow down, getting Blast to slowly stop. Assuming Blast could handle the energy, it would feel almost as though he were flying under someone else's power, until he came to a slightly rough stop on his feet a bit shorter than he might have otherwise, and much more gently.

The plasma shield dimmed, causing Hotfoot to fall to a knee momentarily as he caught his breath. That felt far more exhausting than it otherwise should have. The anger was still present, but it was tempered now that Blast was safe, or at least safer than he was a few seconds ago. As he retook his feet, he saw Saibot approaching Argent, and a knot formed in his gut.

[frigidmagi]

The word was buzzed. Yeah, buzzed. The plasma was like pure caffine being pumped into his system... Straight. He felt like he could wrestle a water buffalo, have sex with 3 women at once, take over a small country and fight off the damn US Air Force all at the same time. Did Hotfoot feel like this all the time? He staggered to the wall off of Hotfoot and leaned on it for a minute.

"Please place your tray and seat in the upright position and prepare for landing. Thank you for flying sewer airlines and have a nice day." He muttered.

[LadyTevar]

SHIT! ran through Argent's mind as Garth methodically, casually killed Portico, singing her clawed hand with the Ring's power as he did it. A fast glance around told her the rest of the story. All shadows covered with the Ring's power, Hotfoot protecting Blast.

the faceplate was facing the dragonic Argent, the wave of fury and hatred coming off the glowing form was palitable to even the two non-empaths.

"You...." he said, begining to float towards Argent...

**oh. shit.** echoed down the threads to those still linked to her. Yes, it was a feeling: fear, terror, entrapment, and knowing you were probably dead. Argent tried not to show it outwardly, but her long, lithe body gave away her tension as Garth moved forward.

" ... Yes. Me," she said softly. "The real me ... not whatever that thing showed you." She knew as she spoke it would be little use. Garth raised his ring, and a barrier rose up, cutting her off from Hotfoot and Blast. *FEAR* shivered down the link, tensed her muscles, but did not escape into the air. Somewhere there had to be a shadow, a way to escape. Empathy wasn't going to get her out of this.

"What will you do, Garth?"

His answer was silent as he blurred into motion, and she did her best to dodge what she knew was coming for her.

**SHOCK/pain/Escape!**

Where the shadow came from, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was Garth's own shadow, thrown down by the wall he'd risen to prevent her escape. Maybe she'd created it in her moment of terror. But it was there and she dove into it, rising briefly on the other side of the wall to snatch Blast and Hotfoot, then vanishing again Between.

....

Gravitas and Blackheart had only that much warning before a shadow in front of them bulged, vomitting out the dragon and her passengers. The two young men wound up on the floor, the dragon shuddering and struggling a little ways away before reverting to human.

The skirt of her uniform slid off her as she huddled on the floor, grasping her belly. The metal buckle that had held the skirt in place was split cleanly in two. The skin-tight, armored leotard it had covered was also clearly split from breasts down, baring pale flesh and bright blood where the saber had bit the deepest.

[Cynical Cat]

"Shit," said Blackheart. Saibot was always an edge, hell he had threatened Blackheart with violence when they first met, going as far as to conjure energy arrows. He had, apparently, been pushed over the edge. Fucking high strung team killing angst monkey Guardian Force amateurs. "You pin him with gravity, I'll close and disarm him," said Blackheart. "I'm strong, tough, heal well, and I am almost out of time anyway. I'm the logical choice to risk getting a yard of enchanted steel in the chest."

[Cynical Cat]

"Unless," said Blackheart, "you can grab Legacies. Faster and stronger. Might be inclined to kill though."

[SirNitram]

"Thanks, I'm not sure 'Close combat' is the best time to find out if I can power this damned ring.." Gravitas conjured the gateway and slipped through grunting as he focused his power around Garth, trying to pin him in place. "And just to up the ante a bit.." As they got into position, Gravitas' mind was already working on the third manipulation at once. The gateway opened up to Legacies, allowing him to join the fray. Maintaining two gates and the pinning field was taxing, but....

[Dark Silver]

They were gone, ina instant, just like that.

The traitorous bitch had pulled them away from him.

They wouldn't follow him, he knew the limitations of their teleporters. In a most un-Saibot like move, he floated backwards, as the energy from his ring flowed up into the concrete, asphalt and rock above him. When he was clear, he commanded the Ring to pull it all down.

The loud rumbles of cave-in began, reverating through the subway tunnels, as tons of stone and dirt and asphalt, pipes and wires all came crashing down. Clouds of dust raced through the tunnels, obscuring normal visions, blinding those less than he, and making sure the teleporters would not be able to reach him easily, seeing as anything after that point was buried under tons of debris.

The stench of death already wafted from the collapsed tunnel, apparently there were people living in the buildings above, homeless, maybe even criminals.

Justice had been rendered. "Guilty" he spoke solemnly, as if pronouncing judgement upon the deceased and dying within.

Sword in hand, Ring glowing with power, and a sense of utter correctness, or pure logic, he proceeded onward, towards the first camp of Meta-Freaks.

[Hotfoot]

Hotfoot stumbled to his feet, disoriented once more by sudden transportation. He looked around, taking in the slowly moving figures and his eyes settled on Argent's wounds. His eyes went wide, and he rushed to her side. The shield dimmed, his aura still extremely warm, but not enough to burn. He was still moving fast, his voice still a mystery to anyone without a radio. "I know enough first aid to close a wound, but we need to get her to a medic, now!" As he waited for everyone else to catch up, he was trying to hold the wound closed, ripping off his MOPP suit into impromptu set of bandages.

[Charon]

Legacies suddenly perked up at Argent's silent call of fright. Something bad was going down and no one was telling him anything. Enough was enough. Without warning the silver figure suddenly jumped into motion, little more than a flash the hero jumped clean over the barricade that was in his path, bullets following after the silver figure as he followed the pulse from Argent, the figure faded from view almost as it bolted down corridors passing within inches of armed or frightened people, who often screamed out as the wind seemed to shove them off their feet. Legacies didn't know that Argent had moved from when she had sent her signal, but there was no way he could, but that was where the threat was, even if it was Saibot. When the portal openned infront of him he did not hesitate to take it.

The world shifted and a collapsed tunnel was infront of him. The smell of death and blood wafted in the air. Saibot had done this. A low growl emitted from the Silver Figure's throat. He looked over at Gravitas. "We need to stop him now."