Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost nodded. He had felt just like this plenty of times on his missions for the CIA, and he had worked through it then, he could do it now. "I'm good," he spoke softly." He kept his rifle pointed the way they were going, his finger resting outside the trigger guard, ready to slip it inside and fire.

[LadyTevar]

Argent paused, emerging from the shadow in the middle of the station. The fear and paranoia were far too strong to be natural; she should have realized that sooner. Someone had to be here, somewhere... even if she didn't see them. The signs in the dust showed people (and other things) had been here.

Out in the middle of the station, she was a target, and knew it even without the creeping paranoia that had her dragonic spine arching. Her head turned, sweeping the station with those great silver eyes. "Enough of this," she spat, loudly enough that Blackheart and Hotfoot could hear. "You wish to play with emotions? Let me show you..."

**CALM/PEACE**

It was hard to find at first, but as soon as she sent the first wave of her own power out to cancel the paranoia, she felt stronger herself. She grabbed the threads in her mind and eased the calming emotions down to her teammates, focusing on Blackheart and Hotfoot first.

[B4UTRUST]

The two near Argent felt the sensations of paranoia and fear ease off of them. It was still there, like background noise, but it was effectively flooded over with the directed waves of calm and peace that Argent shoved down their minds.

The other team wasn't quite so fortunate. The further they went the stronger the feelings became, to the point of potentitally overriding any sort of logical reasoning behind the emotional barrier.

Argent at fairly regular intervals had to amp up her own power to continue her anti-fear field as the dread and paranoia became stronger at almost every step.

Up near where booths use to be set up for token sales and the turnstiles a red light blink every few seconds, cast otherwise in the shadow of the crevice it was in.

[LadyTevar]

"Blackheart......." Argent forced out, concentrating hard to push back the paranoia, sending the calming influence down the threads to Gravitas, Blast, and Ghost. "I see something... a red blinking light near the old turnstiles."

[Cynical Cat]

"Damn," Blackheart swore. "Vibrations?"

[LadyTevar]

"Damn," Blackheart swore. "Vibrations?"

The dragon's head turned back in his direction with a decidedly annoyed look on her face. "Unable to tell, I'm a little busy fighting an empath right now." Seems like a touch of the old Argent is still floating around after all, or at least her sarcastic side. "If you think it's explosives, I'll try not to move much."

[Cynical Cat]

"I was actually thinking onrushing trains," said Blackheart. "Can you try to get the other empath to share headspace with super tumour? That should throw him for a loop."

[LadyTevar]

"I was actually thinking onrushing trains," said Blackheart. "Can you try to get the other empath to share headspace with super tumour? That should throw him for a loop."

A slow blink, then a wide toothy smile grew. "This is one reason I like you, Blackheart... you have such wonderfully twisted ideas," Argent answered with admiration in her voice. "Let me see if I can find the empath......"

The paranoia should have a source, a thread linking back to the living mind channelling the emotions at them. Argent simply had to track that thread, and then touch it to the darkest part of her own connection to the demon-tumor inside Blackheart. "Be ready, Blackheart. The demon's gotten too connected to your own emotions, so you may be in the link as well."

[Cynical Cat]

"I've been down this route before," said Blackheart. He had taken psychic hammer blows before, but not with the tumor acting as a cushion. It shouldn't be too bad. He hoped. "Do it."

[LadyTevar]

Argent reached out, searching for the source of the paranoia and fear, looking for the mind creating it.

She couldn't find it.

"Blackheart. Hotfoot... Close in on me?" Argent asked, her voice tense with concentration as her own bubble of **Calmness** was stretched out to protect them, as well as forcing the calming emotion down the mental/emotional links to the other team. Oddly enough, Saibot didn't seem to need Calming. She did use a sliver of concentration to swath the red blinking light's source deeper in the shadows, cutting off all view. "There's no real mind behind this, Blackheart... it's like a wall, or a bubble ... something meant to keep people out."

[Hotfoot]

The shifting emotions of paranoia, fear, calm, and happiness were more than just a little confusing. Confusion, however, was a common emotion tonight. Someone had said something about empathic powers and Argent. These things, they were linked to her, and...well, what was his and what was hers? There was...something telling him that some of the emotions were from her...the good ones, at least.

The idea of someone messing with his head would normally be unsettling, but right now he felt calm, not just because of Argent's empathic assistance, but because he trusted her. So far, she had been honest with him, and that went a long way, and it was just emotions. It's not like she was an out and out telepath...

He followed Blackheart closely, staying in his own world between the seconds as he did, keeping quiet for the time being, not wanting to ask another set of stupid questions.

[LadyTevar]

Another strong emotion was nearby.... "Hotfoot, if you've got questions, ask them. Standing around in confusion is only distracting me," Argent snapped, her needed concentration making her temper short. "Although, the trust is touching... just focus on the calm, that's my doing. The paranoia is the Enemy."

"Blackheart, that red light I was worried about? I think it was a camera. I've got it cloaked in shadow right now, but do you want it taken out?"

[Hotfoot]

And now, embarassment. "Sorry, that pretty much covers it. Never had someone in my head before, much less two people." Suddenlly, he was very glad that Argent wasn't a telepath, since the thought that followed that one might have gotten him in trouble. The only thing that Argent would pick up, if anything, was a light, humorous thought. He focused on the calm as best he could as he moved up, constantly looking all around the tunnel, just in case.

[LadyTevar]

"Then think of me in your head, or your gut, if that makes you feel better," Argent muttered. "Wherever you believe emotions spring from. If it has to be your head, it's back near the spine, far away from the thinking portion of your brain." A sideways glance, a sly wink of the dragonic eye to show she's teasing, attempting to hide the stress she was under protecting all 5 team members. "You think with one head, you emote with the other."

[Dark Silver]

He had waited long enough, his helmet picked up nothing that would immediately worry him, and as such, he began to move forward. His movements where slow, his costume thankfully allowing him to blend into the darkness, the IR and night vision from his helmet's scanners helping him to keep the path visible in front of him.

It was time to find the best spot to call in the others, if they would even come. It was nearly killing time, and as such, his mind was methodical, the boil of rage and blood thirst settled just under the surface.

He withdrew the sword from it's sheath, holding it close to him, ready to be used for a quick, silent kill.

It wouldn't be long now.....

The boil of deathly calm flowed down the link, back into Argent, with a subtle undercurrent of tenseness, of almost being ready...

[Cynical Cat]

"Leave it until we pass," said Blackheart. "Taking it out might tip them off." If they weren't tipped off already. "Okay, let's move." Blackheart quickly advanced after Argent.

[LadyTevar]

As Argent walked forward, the paranoia and fear continued to worsen. She focused on protecting the team from it, but with each stride forward it got harder. Her steps became hestitant, like a person walking into a strong headwind.

The Calm started to falter. Saibot's bloodthirst further undermined her efforts, making her battle his emotions to maintain her protective Calm presence in the minds of the other five.

As her concentration and determination started to falter, the wall started to win, snaking its way into her mind as she struggled hard to keep it out of everyone elses. Finally, the dragon couldn't take the next step.

[Cynical Cat]

As Argent faltered, Blackheart got closer. He saw her stagger. The dragon become the woman and he caught her before she fell. He held her gently in his killer arms, swaying from the psychic pressure. The psychic hammer of the empathic defence staggered him. He felt the urge to retreat, to flee and never come back. He snarled and took a step forward. A wave of murderous strength bolstered him. He took another step and then another.

[SirNitram]

Gravitas wasn't aware of what made the protection of Argent's influence vanish, but he knew well enough to not speak on the com. The others might be in trouble. "Ghost. Safety your weapon and holster it. Blast. Try and keep the hair-trigger off. We're going to have to power through on nothing but our own willpower here."

The maintenence corridor was just one of dozens in the subway, but it would let them through to the next set of tracks, running parallel. From there.. Well, he didn't know. But Gravitas pushed through, focusing his mind on the distant parts of the universe, far from the influence of this throbbing, invasive presense.

[Hotfoot]

The fear started to take over, the thoughts racing again. This wasn't supposed to happen! Things were supposed to be right when he was like this! He dove in deeper, trying to catch up with his thoughts. The shield flared into a brilliant flame. He wanted to run, it made sense. Nobody forced him to be here, he chose to be. He started to run.

The feeling began to abate, some clarity entering his thoughts. He couldn't just abandon Blackheart and Argent, even if he was afraid. Grabbing on to an I-beam, he spun around, letting go before the steel gave way to the heat from his shield.

One thing made sense, something made him want to run away. If he went back, he'd want to run again. So it was time to do something that was probably stupid. He ran forward, gaining speed until he was moving at a fair clip. He couldn't reach top speed, not like this, not unless he had a fair amount of space to ramp up. Still, the speed was impressive as he blasted back through the area. As the last of his confidence left him, he launched himself into the air, letting the fear overtake him as he soared through the air. He normally liked the sensation of almost flying, but this time, it was horrifying. He screamed in fear, fear that he would land wrong, fear that he wouldn't land at all, fear that someone would see him, fear of more things that even his sped up mind could process. The scream was little more than a split second shriek as he flew past Argent and Blackheart. He desperately clawed towards them, begging for them to catch him as he sailed by. Tears started streaming down his face as he watched their frozen forms drift further away, uncaring, unknowing.

And then, suddenly, everything was fine. He looked around and realized he had done something extremely stupid. He winced as the ground came up to meet him, but not soon enough to stop the wall he had angled towards. He contorted his body to get his feet into position to rebound off. The ricochet angled him back into the ground, but with enough of a spin that he could at least push off with his hands to spin his body into a more upright position. A handful of super-speed flips later, and he was back on his feet and stable, over a hundred meters down the tunnel. He looked back at the two still nearly frozen forms, rather unaware of the crying, screaming, and mindless gibberish he had spewed a few moments before.

"Um....good news, I don't feel like running anymore." It would take a little while for that message to come through, however. It had about a minute of a descent into crying, bubbling fear to get through first.

[Dark Silver]

Hotfoot's screams echoed down the tunnels, reverting off the stone and metal constructs. Saibot nearly cringed at the sound, backing up into a pocket of deeper darkness, in case someone decided to come checking on it.

His voice was low, almost a inaudible whisper, as he spoke "Mirage Team codesecured frequency. This is Saibot....I'm at a relatively secure location...approximatly fifty meters from the Freak's base."

[LadyTevar]

It was odd to say but Blackheart's touch was comforting, simply because it was a dark, fearful emotional presence that Argent -knew-. 'Better the devil you know' whispered in her head as she felt It/Him snarl and force his way forward.

She wanted to leap out of his arms and run... and as that feeling past over her, Hotfoot's aura flared. The brightness made her hide her eyes in Blackheart's chest, and so she didn't see the bright flare dim (with Hotfoot's departure), grow (with his return), nor fly past several feet off the ground. She also missed the spectactular landing he made on the other side.

But what she did feel was his emotions as he went from horribly terrified to nothing.

"The edge... he found the edge.." she whispered to herself "He found it...."

[Cynical Cat]

"Just a couple more steps," said Blackheart. "A couple more steps and-" They were through. He smiled. "We made it."

[LadyTevar]

If Argent hadn't already been in Blackheart's arms, she'd have sagged to the ground in relief. As it was, she didn't know if her legs could hold her if he did put her down. She was drained beyond anything she'd done before. "Permission to collapse...?" she joked weakly, and then her eyes rolled up in her head as she fainted.

[Agent Fisher]

Ghost looked at Gravitas and did as he asked. And then he felt it. The same fear that had gripped him when his unit had been gassed. Ghost kept walking, using every trick in the book he knew to keep calm, even humming the tune of one of his favorite Jimi Hendrix songs.