[Fiction] The Chase

[z-The Morrigan]

Hans “Nachtlöwe” Braun had risen high in the ranks of Project Utopia. Starting with Teen Tomorrow at age fifteen in Berlin, he had performed very well and had earned much praise. On his eighteenth birthday, he had transferred to Team Tomorrow. He had been so eager for his first assignment, and now that it was here, he was a little sick.

Nachtlöwe’s black eyes rested on the table, still spotted with blood. From what he had seen on the camera, the room had been badly stained, but the stains had faded quickly. It was a sure sign that most of the blood had been a quantum structure, but the blood staining the sheets and the IV was the real thing. This is where the nova had been testing that new Mox.

“Nachtlöwe,” Angela “Dauntless” Nottingham called from across the room. One deceptively delicate hand is pressed to her headset as she told him, “Peter wants to know if you have a scent yet.”

“Just a moment, I was gathering myself,” Nachtlöwe said, turning back to the bed and drawing forth his power. Black fur crept over his body as his muscles became more pronounced. Slowly, his back hunched until he had slipped into his second skin: that of an anthropomorphic black-furred lion. Bending a black muzzle over the bed, he sniffed, inhaling deeply. The nova’s scent filled his nostrils, working its way into his mind. She smelled of blood and war, and Nachtlöwe growled before he could stop himself.

Turning away from the bed, he put his nose low to the floor and began to follow her exotic, fatal scent. And unlike the cops, he doesn’t hesitate to follow her into the sewers.

* * *

The being of pure lightening arced down the sewer, careful to hang back so as not to interfere with the tracker. Helia was tracking by quantum signature, and it was slow going. Transistor resisted the urge to hurry her up; pushing her would do no good, except to make things harder.

Still, he burned to catch up with the nova before the Uppies got her. He knew where they would put her; straight in Bahrain. And Transistor wouldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t let the Uppies ruin her.

There were other teams looking for her, but Transistor knew that he would find her. His burning fire arced a little brighter as he considered his mission, and what was at stake. No, he wouldn’t fail, not like he did with Chaos. He still didn’t know what had gone wrong with his old friend, and that failure haunted him. With effort, Transistor gathered the past in his mind and used it to build his determination in the present. He wouldn’t fail this nova, not this time.

* * *

The team moved through the sewers, their night-vision goggles letting them see clearly. The target was going to be hard to find, but their orders were to try to intercept the rogue nova before Project Utopia detained her. This nova was dangerous, and that was their job – to stop the dangerous novas.

It didn’t help Cortez. She had joined the Directive to do just this, but she had seen the street cameras, and she knew that this was a very dangerous nova. The memories of what she had seen on the camera haunted her, and her palms were sweating on the lock gun in her hands. She wondered how Tate at the front could stay so calm. He was the one leading the way into the darkness, following blips on the infrared sensor and motion sensor. Cortez was so scared, here in the middle of the seven-man team; she knew she couldn’t get out in front. Not against the thing they were tracking.

[z-The Morrigan]

She paused at the intersection of the two tunnels and scented the wind, trying to determine the cause of her nervousness. It was an unease that had settled in her bones and could not be shaken, though she had no reason to feel it. A human would have shaken off the unease, called it nonsense and gotten back to the task of finding food, but the creature that she was in her mind refused such a tactic.

Scenting the wind didn't help; the stench of her environment offered shelter to her, but it also blinded her. Stuffing the last piece of the strange food she had found in the metal bin on the surface into her mouth, she took off at a fast lope toward a good place to hide and wait. It was also a good place for an ambush, should she need it.

And deep in her feral heart, she knew she would need it.

It was a massive open area that she had chosen. Metal vines hung from the ceiling with just enough room for her to hide on, and the acoustics of the room allowed her to hear noises up all four connecting tunnels. With her trap ready, she rested on the vines and waited with the patience of a true predator.

Time passed unnoticed; with eyes closed to hide their distinctive glow, she let her nose and her ears watch for her. Finally, she smelled something that wasn't sewer; heard something that wasn't dripping water.

Voices echo indistinguishably until they get close; even when she can make out them out, she can't understand them. Seven of them mill about below her; their individual scents rise to her on the breeze of their own passing. She also smelled their weaponry, a sickly, stomach-churning tang.

She was content to let the pass by, to leave them be. The decision to stop, and somehow find her, was theirs. But once they had initiated combat, she acted without hesitation.

They turned and twisted their sticks up at her, and she slowed the world down. She was landing in between them as the first stick released a fibrous web, throwing it up at the vines. She saw it wrap around the pipes and understood then that it would have entrapped her. The lack of fatal tactics changed her tactics, but only slightly.

She pulled the discharged weapon from the hands holding it and rammed the wide end into the stomach of it's former wielder. The man went down with a grunt, and the red-eyed nova spun the stick around.

She understood suddenly what to do; the wide end, the stock, spun in her hands and rested against her shoulder while the other end, the barrel pointed at one of the other fighters. Her finger found and pulled the little curved bit on the underside of the stick. The stick's noise lasted for a long time to her, it seemed; the web expanded slowly to wrap around an opponent.

A punch caught her in the chest and hurtled her backwards, far further than a human could have tossed her. She knew that this normal-looking human was not normal at all as she twisted in mid air to land on her feet and one hand. The slippery muck let her slide backwards for several feet, but she stayed upright.

The other super-human advanced on her before she could completely straighten; the others fanned out circle them. The short fat sticks they were wielding smelled of ozone and danger, but the special human in front of her was the immediate danger.

Blood rose on her body and dripped from her pores as she screamed. Her opponent stopped short, his eyes widening behind his protective mask. His limbs visibly trembled as she focused her ire on him.

Shouts from newcomers did not distract her; not even the animal smell could draw her gaze away. She leapt on her target, his fear making him slow to react.

[Typhoon]

He sat in the captain's chair of the Aumakua finding himself quite impressed with how fast Long and Conduit were adapting to part-time life on board her. He had decided early on that should they decide to act as crew on-board her then he would teach them. He wouldn't expect them to act like military, but to handle a submarine in any waters required a bit of precision, even for a boat that was as automated as the Aumakua.

On the interior of her, she still bore some resemblance to her predecessor, the wall were rather spartan but no longer were they painted pink, they were now grey, blue, or aqua depending on which deck you were on. The crew quarters were surprisingly large and inviting, they were no five-star hotel room, but what they lacked in creature comforts they made up by being the most utilitarian and spacious crew quarters ever on a submarine. There was no 'hot-bunking' on the Aumakua.

The Aumakua usually stayed in the icy waters of the arctic, and therefore could quickly be in the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans with relative ease. It slightly bothered him that she was comparatively slower than he was, but then most things in the water were slow when compared to Typhoon. She had been put through her paces at a max speed of 130 kts, so he had no real reason to complain. "Aumakua, increase speed to twenty-five knots..." He spoke into a throat mic as he looked over the horizon and noticed the German submarine which passed 3400 meters off their port-bow and never gave the slightest sign of alert to his presence, which wasn't surprising given that the Aumakua was the quietest boat in the water. She could go twice her current speed and still be virtually undetectable. "... and descend to a depth of six hundred-fifty meters." The large propellers noiselessly increased the speed of their revolutions, and the entire vessel dived downward to a 45 degree angle as it descended through the freezing waters of the North Sea. She was just seven kilometers northwest of Norway on a course of 193 degrees, but only four people in all the world knew that fact, not even Typhoon's handler in DeVries could honestly tell you where his favorite nova was currently.

He sat there listening to the transmission of the nearby sonar contacts. The transmission was imperceptible to all except those that could detect radio waves and was meaningless to them unless they had the proper training. He navigated by a Virtual Horizon Display or VHD, which was beamed onto an eye-piece which gave the approximate bearings of any sonar or radar contacts on a 3-D display. From his chair, Typhoon could regulate nearly every function of the Aumakua through various controls and the Voice Recognition System, or VRS also now fully recognized Conduit, Iron Rose, and Long as members of the crew with full access to the computer and the logs therein which Typhoon felt was for the best, no secrets.

Something nagged at him however as he sat there. He was the nova who had lost a year of time, he had no memory of it; and mere months ago he had attacked a friend with every intent to kill. He had tried to stop himself, but couldn't. Once Samhra had freed him and helped him regain control by strengthening his mental defenses he felt a measure of control that had eluded him for months. He no longer suffered blackouts, he rarely had the paranoid thoughts that he was being watched anymore, but here he was in full control of a warship that could remove an entire city from the map in a few minutes. His whole rational for building her was so that another madman would never endanger the world on that scale ever again, but was it possible that he was another DeathSquad waiting to happen? That was the whole reason he dared not enter this venture alone, after his fight with Singularity he just didn't trust himself anymore. He had been a pawn to someone else, someone who was still out there somewhere. He had begun all this before he had broken the control of them as well, who was to say that the construction of the Aumakua wasn't part of some larger scheme? He had asked Long, Conduit, and Iron Rose here because he not only wanted back-up, he also wanted a fail-safe should he go rogue again. He trusted that any of the three of them could stop him if she reverted to that same programing that had him trying to kill Singularity.

In addition to that he had noted in the last month or so that droplets remaining on his skin after a swim quickly evaporated, he thought nothing about it at first but then during a recent swim from Pearl Harbor to Seattle he found that he wasn't merely cutting through the water at high speeds, he was vaporizing it. His EM scans revealed that he was indeed conducting large amounts of heat, the strange part was that it was emanating from within him. It waxed and waned. Sometimes it was hardly noticeable, other times he felt only the depths of the ocean could cool him.

His nagging questions were silenced by the lighting going to a bright red. The main computer was programmed to passively read the airwaves through the satellite/GPS link-up. Certain words or combinations thereof would signal the computer to alert the crew of a disturbance that required their attention, it would send a radio signal to Typhoon. No 'Red Alert' klaxon went off on board the boat, ever. The computer's frequency filled Typhoon's senses with a loud whine which he silenced quickly. "Aumakua, give me tactical on the situation." He spoke in voice that only could be detected by the microphone at his throat. His eye-piece imagery changed so that the 3-D display was shunted down to the lower right-hand corner and replaced with a topographical map of the North Sea with dotted lines signifying the borders of countries in the region. A red flashing box appeared over Amsterdam while several news reports played on audio for him. Within moments he understood.

"Aumakua, change course: 176*, increase speed to 80 knots, notify me when within striking range." He pressed a button activating the intercom. "Long, to the Conn, we have a berserk nova in Amsterdam, we have Uppies and Teras on the scene already, I think it's time to let the world know who we are."

[Timeslip]

Timeslip was desperately trying to ignore the stench when there was a mental "knock" at the door of her mind. She knew who it was - only one telepath had that particular feel with his mental contacts - and she sighed in frustration. Doing her level best to shut off her external senses, she let the connection in... but only on the surface. *Ryu, I'm busy right now. What do you need?* It was a clipped mental phrase that was accompanied by feelings that made it absolutely clear that whatever she was doing, this was not the time to interrupt her. She had told him that she had something she needed to do for Orzaiz on short notice; why couldn't he leave well enough alone?

*I just wanted to let you know that I'm heading on a mission with Typhoon, my love.* Long didn't tell her the mission, and she didn't ask; Timeslip had been entirely unenamoured by Typhoon and his little submarining do-gooders club, and both she and her husband knew not to push the topic.

*Fair enough,* she replied, *I'll see you when be both get home.* She pushed the mental connection out of her head, and refocused on the task at hand. Her little assist to Helia was tapering off; Timeslip focused, and a pulse of quantum flowed forward to the tracker, giving new life to the bubble of accelerated time in which the glowing nova was functioning. This is still going too slow, she worried to herself as she floated some six inches above the rank water. She looked toward her other partner on this little endeavor, and gained a touch of reassurance; between Transistor and herself, they should be able to handle the task... if we can just get there in time.

From ahead, there were two noises in rapid succession. The words, "Just up ahead!" came from Helia... just before the deafening roar of a shotgun echoed from the chamber just ahead. "Move!" yelled Transistor, as he shot forward past Helia, her glowing aura flairing up bright and hot to match his own. It's about time, Timeslip thought to herself with a grin as she followed them forward into a wide chamber... and into pure chaos.

[Iron Rose]

Rianna frowned as the screen in her cabin aboaurd the sub dispayed the current situation in Amsterdam. A Rogue nova was raising ten Kinds of hell, and now utopia and the teragen had gotten involved. The situation could quickly become another Ibiza. She made her way to the door only to have it open and see Long dashing by.

"Ryu we're going aren't we?"

Without stopping he nodded. "I would say so. It's the sort of situation a neutral third party like us is going to be needed for."

Rianna smiled and fell in behind him. She knew that even with the four of them they were still a relatively small team, and somoeone would have to stay on the ship.

When she entered the Conn she found Long already seated at a console displaying the actual newsfeed from Amsterdam. She took her seat across from him and keyed into ship diagnostics. Once all systems reported full combat readiness she turned to Typhoon. "All systems report full readiness Captain. I take it we're going to go say hello to all the others in Amsterdam?"

[z-The Morrigan]

Her hands and feet slammed into his chest, knocking him backwards. The soldier fell down, his face slack with fear, as she beat on him. Focused on him, she didn't see the Directive agent aiming the gun at her.

Transistor's bolt of lightening tore through the agent, knocking him backwards. Only Timeslip and Helia can hear his muttered, "Don't touch her, you dirty monkeys!"

A block of rock zinged through the air, announcing the arrival of the Utopians and narrowly missing Transistor. One of the Utopians made a gesture, pulling another rock out of the floor and bringing it to bear on the electric Terat. Nachtlöwe's roar rumbled through the sewer as the black, furred mass turned and sprang at the group of Terats.

Helia shot a bolt of light at the telekinetic; the agile nova dodged, leaving a streamer of glitter that burned in Helia's bolt.

The focus of all this attention was still beating upon the downed soldier, who huddled under her blows. Dauntless rushed her, catching her in a rugby tackle and driving her off the cringing agent. The blood-drenched nova turned on her, a short-bladed knife forming from the blood dripping down her body. As Dauntless drove her into the ground, she drove the knife into Dauntless seven or eight times.

Dauntless cried out with pain; the wounds were minor, but so many so fast was still a shock to her. The big brunette amazon used her fingertips to hold the blood-soaked nova in place, rearing back as far as she could to bring a fist to bear on the prone woman under her.

Dauntless froze suddenly, still and unmovable as Timeslip smirked knowingly. With a strangled growl, the feral nova began to wiggle out from under the statue half-pinning her to the floor.

But being half-trapped is what saved her from the worst of the debris.

* * *

"They're right below us!" Tremor shouted, catching the attention of several civilians and his teammates alike. The illusion that had been hiding the group faded away to reveal the giant nova and his three heavily-tainted companions. The other Terats immediately take to the air, knowing exactly what Tremor is going to do.

With a grunt, the massive nova leapt high into the air, gathering quantum. When the Harvester landed, the resulting shockwave shattering street and buildings alike. Tremor crashed through the pavement and all the layers under that, smashing into the sewer system and the room where the fighting was occurring.

The hole quickly widened, bumping more debris into the room below. Several baselines fell into it, unable to scramble away from the edge of the sinkhole. With whoops, the other three Harvesters fall into the hole, eager to join the fray below.

* * *

Pierre "Seigneur De Vent" LeChelre spun around in midair as he heard the rumbling which was followed by the screams of panic and cries of malicious pleasure. Radioing in the disturbance, they zeroed in on the site, goggling at the hole. Still, they didn't hesitate to swoop in, lending aid to their companions.

[Timeslip]

The first chunk of concrete fell with a heavy splash in the middle of the sewer, and the starscape nova looked up looked up to see hundreds more following. Time was extremely short... for anyone else; for Timeslip, it was a resource that was never in short supply.

Reaching deep into the temporal river of this world, Timeslip drank deeply of its waters... and the deadly cascade of crushed stone became - for her, and her alone - the slow descent of a thousand stony feathers, each buoyed to a crawl.

Calmly, gracefully, Timeslip walked through the granite rain, stepping between its stony drops as she watched a pair of massive booted feet descend at the same glacial pace, only slightly ahead of two others. There were others descending amid the rubble as well, but Timeslip did not consider them for long; the shocked looks frozen on their faces, the uncontrolled arcs of their descents, the blood seeping ever so slowly from hundreds of small shrapnel wounds and adding a touch of color to the otherwise grey rain of concrete - they were baselines, and of no concern.

Eventually, the rubble, the blood, the monkeys and finally the four highly-aberrated novas made a feather's landing in the shallow and grimy water of the cavernous sewer, the blood mingling with those waters to form crimson rainbows and enhanced by fresh fluids from the now broken bodies of the various baselines that had fallen - as well as those that had been fighting in the room. A look around that could have been been measured in nanoseconds by an objective observer showed her that while Transistor was up (if unhappy, sporting some massive bruises on his sculpted body), Helia was not; her gloved hand ended in an impossibly thin wrist at the edge of a chunk of concrete and asphalt the size of a Volkwagon. I could gift her with the time, Timeslip thought to herself, but not the skill to use it. Pity.

Some of the Utopians were picking themselves out of the wreckage. The one in the best shape was, thankfully for Timeslip, in no condition to make use of it; Dauntless remained as she had made her - removed from the temporal stream, and a massive bulwark against the avalanche of stone and rebar that had poured into the cavern. Off toward the edge of the now sky-lit chamber, one of the figures in a special operations uniform still stood, looking angrily at his fallen comrades that were broken and bleeding across the room; the slightest flare of her quantum fires confirmed for Timeslip that yes, he was indeed of the One Race.

Finally, she turned back to the massive brute responsible for the new open-air feel of the Amsterdam sewers, as he finished his landing. Returning to normal time, she looked up at his broad grin and said, "Tremor, you're an idiot." Looking past his massive head, she could see other novas moving in from overhead in the distinctive colors of Team Tomorrow. She pointed a star-filled ebony hand up past her hulking colleague; "And now we have company. Thank you ever so much," she said as she prepared for the newcomers - and perhaps for her 'colleagues' as well - by pouring a bit of her precious quantum into what she had come to think of as a crosstime deflection field.

[Conduit]

Conduit was resting on the bunk in his cabin when a screen lighted up with news feed from Amsterdam. He opened one eye and looks at the action taking place. It was time, it seemed, for the group that he joined to make it's debut.

It was no secret that Conduit had his concerns about his participation in this group. He didn't like to play the games that Terats, Utopians, and others played with each other. He was idealistic and he knew it. He had always thought that if Novas were so great then they should be able to figure it out.

These thoughts quickly faded as he saw some of the more dramatic events. He sat up and looked around for his clothes. Once he had them on he opened the door and made his way to the Conn.

Looking inside he noticed Typhoon, Long and Iron Rose were already there. He quietly made his way to his seat. "Are we a go?"

[Typhoon]

Typhoon smiled at Conduit's timely arrival. "We are."

* * *

Within moments they were deposited in a flash of light only a few yards from the chaos. Long returned to the boat to monitor the situation, if things were going badly, then he was to come back for them.

Typhoon strengthened his armor and increased his density as he surveyed the destruction. "Lets see if we can move this away from any innocent bystanders, just as we trained for." Typhoon seemed very much like his old self, the same nova who fought to defend Endeavor over a year ago. His commanding presense was incredible to behold. "Do not engage any Utopians or Terats unless you are engaged first. We should stay together and see if we can get to the catalyst in all this." With that he charged into battle.

[Iron Rose]

Rianna nods and shifts into her own metallic form and walks into the city. She then checks back with Long. "Can you get me the police bands on a secure line? That way we can find out where we're most likely needed and avoid conflict with the other factions in play."

The feed comes in over her earpiece and then Long's voice on their private channel. "I am releasing the analyzers. This should prove an excellent chance to gather data. Thankfully they've been updated to the stealth models."

Then she shifts over to Typhoon and Conduit. "We got a feed on where the action is, but I'ld like to avoid that. Long is trying to plot out the nova in question's next movements. I suggest for now we help evacuate the citizens we can until he can give us a percise fix."

Her head turned to the left and looked down at a collapsed house. Her eyes seemed to shift as she viewed the building through several spectrums. She found three children and an adult female she guessed was their mother huddled together in the building's basement. With a nod and a flash of her green eyes large chunks of debris lifted into the air the opening of the basement. "There are three children and an adult female within the basement, get them out quickly. The debris is already starting to crumble." It was all she had time to say as she returned her focus to the floating debris.

[GDP_ST]

High above the world, he listened to the panicked chatter as it shot pell-mell through the atmosphere, the signals resembling nothing so much as a herd of stampeding animals as they darted here, then there, everyone having something yet nothing to say.

This was bad, he knew. An unknown nova rampaging through Amsterdam. Utopia and Terat alike trying to arrest or claim them. And N! probably ready to broadcast every full-colour atrocity to the world in the name of ratings. Though caution and logic might dictate holding back, conscience could not. Whoever this (probably) newly-erupted nova was, he had to try to assist them, even if that assistance could only be a quick and merciful end for a hopelessly mad individual. Finally, he overheard the broadcast he was waiting for: Large-scale damage in the middle of the city, heavily-aberrated novas and T2M on the scene.

It was time.

Procyon's aura flared with coruscating light as he plunged downwards from his upper atmospheric listening post, the white shirt and trousers he wore shining incandescently as he streaked towards the small cluster of lights far below. In mere seconds, the cluster resolved into a city, and the plummeting sun god slowed his descent, angling towards the reported site of the incident.

As he came closer, he saw a large cloud of dust surrounding the massive hole in the street, the rumbles of Tremor's destruction still echoing through the air. Above the hole, swooping in like hawks on a kill, were the distinctive bodysuits of Team Tomorrow. And somewhere beneath the streets, a nova out of control.

Procyon plunged through the Tomorrowites, his passage scattering them like quail as he dropped straight into the hole, his radiant aura bringing daylight into the fetid sewer.

"Tremor and company. Well, well, well." The angelic baritone reverberated through the sewer chamber, causing small thrills of fear to run down the backs of those listening to it's unusually cold tone. Procyon glanced upwards at the reforming Tomorrowites, his appearance on the scene evidently having given them pause for the moment, then looked back at the Harvesters. His eyes widened slightly as he saw the shadowy silhouette of Timeslip next to Tremor. If she was with them, then he was in big trouble. Oh well, too late to back out now...

[Conduit]

"Conduit, go in and get them while we stabilize the house." Typhoon said with authority.

Conduit nodded to Iron Rose and Typhoon. He walked through the path cleared by Iron Rose's powers. When he reached the doors he gave a gentle tap. There were quiet voices in response. He looked at the door frame and gave it a sharp push shattering it into small pieces.

He walked slowly down the stairs into the basement. In a corner were the three children and the adult that Iron Rose had mentioned. Conduit put his hand out in a caring manner. "We're here to help. I hope you understand me."

The woman stood up. "I understand a little. What is going on?"

"We aren't sure yet. We need to get you out of here. Your house collapsed." He ushered the woman toward the door to the basement and helped the children up. As they exited the basement Conduit produced a copper archway to protect the baselines from falling debris. They rushed through together with Conduit holding up the rear. On the other side of the archway Iron Rose and Typhoon awaited.

[Ares]

Jans Kahrs felt the violence tingle up through his feet before he heard anything. He looked over at his sister and her two children at the first hint of trouble. By the time the less observant noticed the distant rumble, Jans has already scooped up his neice and nephew. His sister, despite the years apart, grew apprehensive at her older brother's quick action.

Even as she formed the words, "What's happening", the first explosion wripped through the air. His sister was about to follow human instinct and move away from the noise, but Jans stopped her.

"Best get to cover and quickly," he told his sister with her two childern in tow. Experience taught Jans that they were better off making toward some kind of permanent shelter than dodging around exposed as they were.

Two novas went flying rapidly by as Jans watched. His family was almost into the shelter and Jans activated his armor. Now he was ARES, God of War, and he was about to have a very serious disagreement with whomever was causing this kind of trouble to his kinfolk.

Jans jumped down onto the sidewalk and began sprinting after the flyers. He grabbed up a garbage can, slipped it over his hand, and brought forth its inherent defensive power. The shield expanded, turned bronze, and developed its tell-tale Lambda on its facing. Ares drew forth his first spear and made ready for war. Ares spotted the Utopians closing in perpendicular to his own path and moving to intercept the unknown novas in front of him.

Ares could here someone use the name "Tremor" in a derogatory tone. The noises were coming from the novas infront and below him. Ares re-directed his path and moved to come up in a pincer to T2M's effort, no matter how feeble it might be.

[Timeslip]

"Procyon." The word was a deathly echo in an ice cave, as the otherworldly woman looked turned to regard him, her ebony depths an all-too eerie counterpart to the sun god's golden glow. If he's here, I may be in big trouble. She considered the matter for a bare moment, then raised her gambit. "Whatever else we are, we are all of the One Race. Do you want her," she said, pointing at the feral nova that was about to pull herself free from the frozen form of Dauntless, "to wind up in Bahrain? Or do you want to help us save her?"

The subtext was, despite the source, as bright and clear as Procyon's golden rays: Don't make me fight you.

[GDP_ST]

Procyon smiled tightly. "I no more wish her to end up in Bahrain than myself. Let us help her get clear of this trouble together. As you said, we are all of the One Race."

He nodded respectfully to Timeslip, then regarded the wild nova as she finally seemed to have freed herself.

[z-The Morrigan]

As the first of the rubble fell, the focus of all this effort huddled back under the woman serving as a shelter, curling her body in a way that should have been impossible for a human spine. When the rumbling finally slowed, the blood-nova began to dig her way out of the mess again.

By the time she'd regained her feet, the scene had changed once again. Snarling, she faced the newcomers with a defensive stance, a spear forming from the blood dripping from her hand. Her body language stated clearly to the others in the room that she was willing to fight or flee; the choice was theirs. Unfortunately, no one here understood an animal's mind.

Tremor saw their target and took initiative. A miniscule twitch of his massive muscle catapulted him into the air, taking a small jump that landed him right in front of the nova. "Don't worry, we're here to-"

She blurred the second he moved toward her; by the time he even realized she was moving so fast she had jammed the spear into his gut four or five times. Her last strike was aiming for his neck, but Tremor's neck was short and his chin was huge, and it got in the way. Her last strike took him in the mouth, cutting off his sentence.

Tremor stumbled back, his massive hands going to his face and gut. One of the Utopians took this as a sign that she had no desire to join the Terats and she dropped out of the air to hover next the bloody nova. "Come on," the female with the blue hair said, her body strangely foggy. "Let's get you out of here-"

Again, there was no hesitation on the part of the feral nova; she struck at the new target quickly. None of her blows landed; they all passed through the Utopian, who smiled. As the blood nova frowned at her, the Utopian said, "Sorry, sweetie, but I'm not so easy to stop. You, however, are resisting lawful seizure by Project Utopia, and I'm allowed to use force to bring you in."

One pale hand solidified and a streak of pale blue light gathered, slamming into the feral nova. She was thrown backwards, slamming into a wall. The Utopian thought she'd stay down; instead the bloody nova blurred into action. The Utopian carefully shot twice more, but was unable to hit the fast-moving nova.

A rumble from the tunnel that the bolts had disappeared down was the first sign something was wrong. The surging roar that followed hinted that things had gone from bad to worse. Most of the fighting paused as the novas tried to figure out what was happening. "The canals!" Nachtlöwe shouted suddenly, his voice clear despite the distortion caused by his muzzle. "You've breached the canal walls! These tunnels are going to flood!"

[Ares]

Terats, Utopians, and Bears ... oh my!, Ares thought playfully. The Terat made his play, got kicked in the face for it, and then the Toppies crocked it up by flooding the sewers. Well, one thing was for certain, most of the novas currently beneath the streets wouldn't be able to remain there much longer with the water level rising.

Ares unleashed a howl borne in the back of men's minds for the past three thousand years. He liked to think the other Ares, the first Ares, might have called forth this very challenge on blood-soaked fields long ago.

In the ancient Dorian Greek, "Blood the Spears!" is his battle cry and Ares takes a fighting stance beneath his shield, spear held high and ready to strike.

For his part, the lastest nova to arrive on the scene seems ready to take on any and all comers, playing no favorites.

[Typhoon]

Typhoon tuned into the police band himself and found the center of destruction. He quickly found a large hole a few yards ahead, the very street itself crumbled into the gaping hole, he looked around, back towards Iron Rose as the earth beneath his feet gave way.

He fell several feet into a rushing surge of water. Landing upon his feet he crouched down into the water sensing for contacts.

Four major contacts nearby.

Two close together, seemingly in conversation. One rapidly moving. Another was rather large and seemed to be in pain with a grouping of three behind him. Several more in the distance.

Based on the police reports the quick one was the catalyst of all this. He stuck close to the ground and rode the crest toward the quickly moving nova and sprang up from the water to stand before her. He looked at the creature, she was nude, covered in a blood that would not wash away in the flood. Something about her struck him as inspiring. Her visage suddenly took on a darker tone and it struck him to the core. He took a step back as he watched her.

"I- I mean you no harm." He stuttered despite himself.

[Long]

The recorders registered the battling novas and then the opening of the huge hole in the surface. Only when the data began coming in about the novas involved did Long grow truly angry. "Fools, all of them." He knew the signature on the screen, his wife's signature was the easiest one to recognize.

"Play your little games, just don't get yourself killed." He turned back to the others and found Typhon separated abd facing off against an unnamed nova with another nearby. The flooding was getting worse.

"Iron Rose, concentrate on getting the flooding under control. Don't block it, but find a way to divert it somewhere where it can't hurt anyone."

He keyed over to Conduit's frequency. "Back up Typhoon. He's a hundred meters ahead of you and ten meters down. If things get to rough pull out. The data coming in is off of an unknown nova and she's exceptionally fast. Be wary, I don;t know much more at the moment. There are several more novas closing in, he may need your help. Keep me posted, and if necessarry I will come." Hey keyed off the comm and went back to analyzing the mountains of data coming in. He had already tagged two recorders to Timeslip, and another to each of his friends and the nova in their vicinity.

[Conduit]

"Will do. I'll be in touch." Conduit looks toward Typhoons location.

Leaning down to the people he had just helped out of the basement, "Go that way," pointing in the opposite direction of where the trouble seems to be coming. "Don't stop until you find help."

The family starts running in the direction Conduit instructed. Conduit moves toward the hole where Typhoon had fallen. He approaches slowly, concerned that he may fall in himself.

"Hey Ty? You ok?"

[Timeslip]

"Hey Ty? You ok?"

It was a simple enough question. The answer Conduit received, however, was not to his liking. An inky black figure rose out of the waters, her stars faintly shining. There was no mistaking who this was.

"Stay out of this, Conduit." That creepy voice that Timeslip had developed the previous year sent chills down his spine. Then, an inky star-filled blackness roiled out of her. He had seen this once before, even if the hovering Utopians and the bizarre newcomer armed and armored as an ancient Greek above had not, at the same time and place where her voice had become a kiss from a grave - when she had envelloped Shen-Khan in that stellar shroud and dragged him off, kicking and screaming to another world - and for a moment, he thought that she had the same plan for him.

The growing starfield never touched him, however. Instead, it rose only to the top of the crater, spreading from edge to edge. In a moment's time, there was no crater - it had been filled by a cosmic lake of stars.

Beneath the surface of the shroud, the light of day was cut off by the night sky that Timeslip had created... and that was just the way she liked it. Transistor was still in fighting trim along with Tremor and his three Harvester friends (some of whom were climbing up on the larger chunks of street in an effort to keep above the flood), Procyon was illuminating the cavern with his golden glow as he hovered serenely in the midst of the scene, and she was floating well above the rising water; the odds were distinctly in the Terat's favor against the remnant Utopians (Their friends above are in for a surprise if they try to come down through my starfield, she thought with a silent grin), the sole nova in a special forces unit, and the target of this whole unfortunate affair.

Oh, and our latest visitor, she reminded herself. "Typhoon," she said with as loud a voice as she could manage, hoping that his abilities would permit him to hear her in the water, "I would recommend - in the strongest possible terms - that you take advantage of your gifts and go seal or redirect that canal breach."

[z-The Morrigan]

The nova came at her in a surge of water, and the feral nova did the instinctive thing: she screamed at him. And for the first time all day, he responded appropriately. Taking a step back, his body language changed from aggressive to passive. She breathed a sigh of relief as he acknowledged that she was dominant. And because he had done so before attacking her, she didn't have to reinforce her position through violence. It was a nice change.

She took another look at him as he make noises, which were also soft and diffident. The strange silver appearance to his skin was interesting and she assumed somewhat functional. He was tall and male, two things which normally meant that he would seek dominance. He must be infirm or too young to be confident, yet. She wouldn't be upset about that at all.

Secure in her position over him, she turned to look over battle, noting that the water was providing a distraction. But the hole in the roof, her way out a moment ago, was lost in a cloud of inky blackness, and her instinct said that she could not go that way. She turned to scan the other exits, and was angered to find them blocked by others or unusable.

The female made of stars spoke to the submissive metal man, and the feral nova snarled at the dominant tone of the star-female's voice. She glanced at the submissive male, uncertain if he was going to obey the other female.

That was all rendered moot quickly. One of the other beings who had been climbing above the water lunged for her, and she had all the time in the world to aim and set her blood spear, catching the male in the gut. He screamed as he slid down her shaft. Recognizing that he was caught on her weapon, she released it, allowing him to fall into the water. When his head went under, she stepped on it, helping him to stay down. Her eyes returned to the submissive male and the other female, to see what they would do next.

[Timeslip]

Timeslip watched one of the Harvesters make a clumbsy lung at the rogue nova, and sighed with disappointment as he got himself skewered and drowned for his troubles. With a sigh, she turned to the remaining Monsters and said in a dangerously level voice, "Important safety tip: don't rush the nova with the blood spear...idiots."

[GDP_ST]

Procyon drifted forward above the water, his golden radiance creating a blend of dazzling shapes and flickering shadows in the now-sealed cavern. He fixed luminous blue eyes on the savage female nova, his hands down and slightly away from his sides, palms facing her. He radiated calm, the calm born of supreme confidence in his own abilities. His posture was non-threatening, yet far from timid as his rich baritone resonated through the chamber.

"You can let him up now. He will not hurt you, nor will anyone else." The glowing Terat's voice was calming, reassuring as he stopped a respectful distance from the naked woman, glancing at the other strangers present. "Anyone who tries to assault this young nova will find themselves the object of my wrath, is that clear?"

His eyes flashed, his voice thundered as he delivered this last, and none watching or listening had any doubt as to his resolve. He turned his eyes back to the young woman, his expression and tone softening as he pointed at the bubbles coming up from underneath her foot.

"Please, let him go?" He gestured slowly for her to back away, to remove her foot from the drowning Terat, even as he maintained his polite and respectful distance.

[Ares]

One thought overwhelmed all the others raging through Ares' mind.

Get them out of my city. Drive out the warriors and let them settle their differences, bloodily, out on the waters.

Ares looked up at the leaderless Utopians and made his move,

"Get the hell out of here," he challenged them in his native Dutch. "I'll split up the combatants and you get the civilians out of the way. I'm a Dutch national and this is my only warning."

That done, and not really caring too much what the saps were getting ready to do, Ares spun rapidly in place and began burrowing into the street. Cobblestones, mud, and tile all spun away from his downward direction and soon the Dutch nova was falling down into the subterranean battlefield below.

Ares came out of his spin, landing with panther-like grace and struggled to keep track of all the combatants around him. The red-eyed huntress had lost her spear somewhere. The starfield lady seemed to be caught up in her own triangle between the steel nova, the Glow-Bug and the huntress.

Ares made his call based on the battle sense that ate within him; the madness that spoke of atrocities and butcheries beyond the ken of saner minds but embraced so lovingly by Nike ... and Nike was well loved here. Glowbug, Steel-sides, and the Huntress held that ladies gaze in equal measure though Glowbug was the strongest.

Ares could hear the heartfelt aches of the dead and dying from previous fights and it left him uncertain as to what Victory really wanted.

Instead of committing himself to any precise action, Ares opted for the uncertain play. He made as if to toss his spear shaft-wise, to the Huntress, while readying a second one from his back pack. Maybe the Huntress would take the spear and take it to her foes. That would certainly make clearing out the rest of this rabble quick enough.

[Blur]

It was five in the morning back in Oregon and at least three hours until office hours begun; that was enough time for Blur to get started. From there, he had two meetings scheduled for the morning and nothing else until the afternoon counseling sessions. Some of it could be put off but hopefully this wouldn’t take that much time. Hopefully.

Thankfully, it was a cloudy afternoon in Amsterdam and gave Blur the perfect spot to get a quick review of the situation. The news channels had been reporting a rouge nova in the city and the nascent rematch between Team Tomorrow and the Teragen had only fanned the flames. And now there was a hole in the middle of the city, filled with some kind of inky darkness that was nearly impossible for him to penetrate. He could see the other novas within the hole through blurred vision as well as the others gathering around its edge. This might not even be worth the effort; there were plenty of novas here that cared about innocents, both the Project and the Teragen weren’t ready for another Ibiza yet, and another person could just make it worse…

Stretching further, Blur checked the area around the hole with much greater ease; it was more out of habit than anything else. The rushing canal water wasn’t hard for him to find, he could hear the gurgling even in the sky, but something felt off about it. Time rolled forward slightly in his mind, countless variables and their permutations swirling to produce numerous possible outcomes, and too many resulted in lost lives and forgotten people. Doubts were shoved aside and forgotten; life always took priority.

Another quick scan of the area revealed service tunnels, basements with worn foundations and the sole subway line in the city; those would be the problem areas. Changing his location instantly, Blur popped into a dark service tunnel between the sewers and the Noord/Zuidlijn line and took another assessment of the area. Team Tomorrow’s initial sweep hadn’t reached this far but the sounds of quantum powered combat had already generated a minor panic in the station on the other side of the doorway at the end of the tunnel. That was going to be enough of a problem, especially considering the language barrier, but the rushing canal water was going to make it much worse once it got to the tunnel. Eighteen years and I still haven’t figured out how to say “Get the hell out here, for the love of God” in any other languages; what kind of nova does that make me?

[Typhoon]

Typhoon stood there awe-struck by the terrifying nova before him, he regarded her on a not quite consciece level as a predator, and he was prey.

Everything else around him was more a blur than anything else, finally a golden nova appeared out of nowhere and spoke in extremely calming voice and Typhoon found himself under the terats soothing, his mind clearing of the overwhelming fear he felt of the blood-nova standing over the drowned corpse of another terat.

A quick head-count informed Typhoon that he was out-gunned. He decresed his density to zero and radioed his crew on their frequency.

*Abort mission of capture, Proycon, Timeslip, and several other terats are on my position including the catalyst. Evacuate civilians as best you can from the danger area, I'll assist in sealing the rupture if able.*

He shook his head disapointedly in Timeslip's direction. "Good to see you again." He gave her a loose salute, and he smiled at Proycon giving him a 'thumb's up', probably an allusion to Proc's recent proclamation and with that his form faded from view. It was as if he had never been there.

[z-The Morrigan]

A malaise settled over her, and she stepped back from the creature she was asserting her dominance over. The male pushed himself out of the water, coughing and choking. Normally, she'd make sure of her power, but she didn't feel like it at the moment. Watching the man who reminded her of summer was more interesting.

Somehow, this starfield female in front of her was responsible for the disappearance of the submissive metal male. She wasn't sure how, but she knew it to be true. Unfortunately, she had no desire to do anything about it.

That reaction shocked her, cutting through the malaise caused by the summer-man's words. With a surge of will, she snatched the offered spear from the newcomer. Holding it before her, she snarled her defiance; a defiance she felt slipping away with each breath.

He had stolen her will to fight, and left her with one option. She growled and turned to run, or at least quickly wade through the waist-high water-

The black stone ceiling disappeared, washing her in light. With new panic, she began to flee as best she could.

* * *

Min "Excavator" Ho was a naturalized Londoner. Despite having retained her natural name, she considered herself a British citizen through and through. Her English was as perfect as her Chinese, and other than her Asian features, she looked just like any other British girl her age. Or she had until her eruption. Her quantum expression had given her mica eyes, and had removed her delicate voice, giving her a gravely, rock-grinding-on-rock bass.

That was where her name had come from in part. The rest had come from the ability she was displaying now. Sweat rolled down her brow as she strained, her fingers spread below her hovering body. At first, no effect could be seen; then a massive amount of the street disappeared, opening the room below to the light of day.

With a shout, the members of Team Tomorrow Europe descended on the open pit.

But as they did, Excavator found herself facing a human-shaped hole filled with stars that turned and looked - presumably - in her direction. Timeslip, she thought in near panic, and her hands flew up in a pattern familiar to those who had seen her use her earth powers in the past - and very close, to the casual observer, to the one she had used when disintegrating the massive hole through the street.

Acting more on desperate reflex than anything else, Timeslip's own slender hand flew up... and for Excavator, there was only pain and then nothing more.

Her teammates watched her turn into a whithered shell and die; with rage in their eyes, they all turned to look at the slender Timeslip. And all four blasters turned their bolts on her.

* * *

Ford didn't like the water on the floor. So far, it was only as deep as the sole of his shoes, but it was rising. "I'm insane," he muttered. "Absolutely insane." But he was also guilty, and so here he was, wading through an Amsterdam subway, heading for one of the many sewer access doors.

He was tired. Despite being in excellent shape, two back-to-back trans-Atlantic flights added to the worry and stress he was already feeling. And the water was ruining his Italian leather shoes.

But he was responsible for her condition, and he had to find her and get her out of this. Somehow. And so he trudged further away from safety and deeper into danger. And all because he had decided he needed a job with seven figures. I'm a moron.

[Typhoon]

*Conduit and Iron Rose, finish up with the evacuation as best as you can. Long, Teleport to junction sixteen in the sewers and bring any large scraps of titanium you can find on board the Aumakua, like ten feet across, we need to patch a hole.*

Typhoon swam through hip-deep sewage-water against the current, water and debris passed through his intangible form as though it was nothing. He was at his destination before he had finished radioing orders to the rest of his crew.

He examined the gaping hole exposing a major water artery from the resevior. He solidified and increased his density so that he would not have to fight to keep his footing in the current.

[Ares]

Its all fun and games until someone pops an eye out or

All the rules go out the window once somebody dies.

Ares is already moving when part of his mind catches sight of the Tomorrowite tumbling out of the sky, very, very dead. An immediate reassessment of priorities gets underway and now Ares places more emphasis on not getting caught between the two sides. T2ME was now about to start taking their pound of Teragen flesh and with justification.

Ares alters his movements, starting to mirror that of the fleeing girl, and starts retrograding away from the two floating Terats (Procyon and TimeSlip). As he closes down toward the position were the subway has ruptured, Ares grounds his teeth in frustration.

[Timeslip]

Fucking monkey-lovers. Shock - shock at having killed another of the One Race, shock at having nearly been killed herself, shock at actually surviving the blasts from the Utopian's comrades - tried to push in against her consciousness, but Timeslip shoved it ruthlessly aside, using hatred as her tool of focus; there would be time for shock later.

Something wet and a good deal warmer than the fetid sewer water was running down Timeslip's arm; she looked to see a trickle of entirely uncharacteristic color as crimson formed a lurid nebula amongst the constellations of her skin.

Can't give them the chance to do that again.

Pooling her concentration, the starfield overhead disappeared... then, the pit was filled with the cloying starfield mess. In an instant, all senses - sight, sound, even touch - were stolen from the clustered novas... except for one. In this realm, Timeslip reigned supreme.

Looking around, she could see the Utopians suddenly lost and bewildered in the mirk... just as were her fellow Terats. The strange nova in Grecian armor was holding his ground at a dead-stop, but she could see that his eyes were focused on nothing; he was as lost as any. What she did not see, with a great deal of frustration, was the feral nova that they had come here to save - apparently, the blood-streaked creature had escaped down one of the tunnels.

For a bare moment, Timeslip considered giving chase, but only for a moment. She had no desire to wind up skewered on a spear, and this warrior seemed more than capable of doing exactly that. No, it was time to salvage what could be salvaged from this situation and leave. She turned to do exactly that... and stopped. "I'm going to regret this," she muttered soundlessly to herself as she walked through the star-filled night over to Procyon, took his bronzed hand softly in her ebony own, and rose into the sky, leading him along.

[GDP_ST]

So stunned he didn't even notice the feral woman escaping, Procyon's azure gaze watched the remains of Excavator crumble as they fell into the water and sank out of sight. Numbness filled him: the woman may have been an enemy, but... But what? She served Utopia. She would have taken us all to Bahrain given half a chance. Do you condemn Timeslip for defending herself from such a fate? His paralysis lasted scant seconds and then, just as he decided his course of action, everything went black and the Sun King froze in shock.

He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything: ears that could hear a heartbeat from yards away yielded nothing. He could not even feel the constant background quantum hum of his node. For a split second, he though he was dead, and wondered how the hell that was possible. Who other than Mal or maybe Scripture could kill him that quickly, that cleanly.

Unaware of Timeslip's small hand in his own, he did not feel her drawing him up and away from the center of the conflict. Thus it came as a complete shock to him as his senses suddenly returned in all their glory, and he found himself hand-in-hand with the starry figure of Timeslip some metres above the inky blackness that marked the hole in the street. He glanced at her, faint sadness in his crystalline blue eyes.

"Did the rogue nova flee? I didn't spot her after..." He hesitated, then said. "After the Tomorrowites broke in."

The faded out-of-synch whisper of her voice came clearly in reply. "Yes; she made all too good use of that particular... distraction."

Procyon sighed slightly, then smiled tentatively at the Casablanca. "Thank you for pulling me out of there. I don't know who's going to want your head more: Utopia for the death of their own, or the Teragen for assisting me." The smiled broadened a little. "I owe you one, regardless. You could have just left me in the middle of that mess. If you need anything, let me know."

Procyon glanced down at the starfield below, a frown marring his perfect features. "Right now, though, we had both better disappear."

[Long]

Long acknowledges Typhoon even as the scene between the teragen novas and the remaining Utopians worsens. Timeslip unleased her devastating temporal attack, killing a Utopian. In the shroud he loses track of Timeslip and the target nova. When Timeslip and Procyon reappear above the shroud Long quickly opens a warpgate to their home in Tokyo a few meters from them. he contacts her via their mental link.

Timeslip, take the warpgate home and take Procyon with you. The target nova managed to slip away and things have become untenable for you both to remain here. I will quietly see if I can get the others out.

She sent back nothing and escorted Procyon through the gate and back to their home.

When the shroud fell, Long quickly opened up an immense warpgate. the Teragen on the ground simply fell through the portal and found themselves in Heartland.

His good deed done, Long then grabbed two large Titanium armor plates and met Typhon where he'd specified. Iron Rose was there, using her control over earth to help divert the flow.

"What do you need me to do Typhoon? If you can handle things here, I'll return to the ship. Those of us of the Teragen persuasion are somewhat unpopular here at the moment." As an afterthought he kept the mental link open, knowing his wife may soon need him.

[Ares]

Just like that, Excavator's life was snuffed out by the Starfield nova Ares thought right before the lights went downin the sewers as well. Hell, every sense took a hike. Ares decided it was better to not stick around. What little he could sense/remember led him to chase after the red-eyed killer that had taken the proffered spear and ran off.

Ares was lucky. He merely glanced off the sewer wall instead of hitting it head-on and stumbled out of the all-devouring darkness. He heard some sort of movement ahead of him and took off after it. Staying and waiting for the Utopian's to get their act together didn't seem too intelligent an option, so Ares took off at what he thought was the crazed-looking female nova.

[Blur]

Water was already flooding into the tight corridors between the subway and the sewers, filling the first foot and a half of the hallways and still rising. Blur cursed to himself silently as he floated just above the waterline, frustrated by the practically sieve quality of the barrier between the flooding sewers and the service tunnels and subway. If there was a single point of entry between these two areas, it would take very little for him to stop the water from rising; unfortunately, his abilities weren’t necessarily keyed for individually sealing countless cracks and holes.

Without a viable solution in the tunnels, there were two options left: find the hole from the canal in the sewers or focus on clearing the subway station. The water wasn’t too high out here yet; a temporal patch on the hole would buy him more than enough time to come back and clear out the people in the subway before something more permanent could be found or for the authorities to get a handle on the situation. Now, to find the hole…

The sudden sound of splashing caught Blur’s attention and focus; someone was in the tunnels too. Was it a bystander or a combatant? He shot forward through the corridor, rounding the corner to see a muttering man in soaked khakis and button-down shirt trudging through the knee-deep water on his way towards the sewers. The man was a baseline or a nova that was doing a really good job of hiding his true nature. “Dank u,” the trudging man waved with a dismissive man to the blurred nova, “Maar ik heb geen hulp nodig.”

Great, Dutch. "Look, I,” Blur started to say before his rich baritone voice trailed off to a mutter, “Can’t speak your language and you don’t have a clue what I’m saying, wonderful.” He could just send the man back up to the street without a warning or permission; editing someone else’s place in space wasn’t much of a problem. But the shock could give the man a heart attack or god knows what else.

The trudging man just kept walking, still waving off Blur while switching to English, “Thank you, but I don’t need any help.” Once thing was for certain; this guy was determined to get into the action and not out of it. Unless he had some kind of ace up his sleeve, no baseline would be safe on the other side of the walls, water or no water.

Blur kept himself between the baseline and the rest of the tunnel leading toward the sewers and did what he could to keep eye contact through his personal haze, “I’m sorry, sir, but it’s not safe in the sewers. There are several powerful novas on the other side as well as uncontrolled flooding; you may feel you don’t need help but it seems clear that you need to leave the area.”

The nova’s words didn’t seem to bother the man but he did stop in front of Blur, “Look, pal, I’m trying to help a friend, I need to get in there, and I can take care of myself, okay?” And I thought I was focused.

Shaking head, Blur held up his palm and kept a reasonable tone in his voice, “I understand you want to help someone, but unless you’re a nova hiding yourself or you have some kind of illegal technology on your, it’d be suicide for you to get between Terats and Tomorrowites while chasing a rouge nova. Please, turn around and go back to the surface; I can even send you up there myself right now, alright?”

[Typhoon]

Typhoon reached for the large titanium plate in the cramped quarters. "What did you do, take the scenic route?" He hollered the sarcastic question over the rushing water. He pushed the piece of hull up against the whole in the wall, applying enough pressure to cover the hole taking the pressure off the weakening foundations of this particular junction, but not quite seal it. "Okay Long, go on. Rose and I will finish up here."

He looked over to Iron Rose as Long vanished. "I don't suppose you can plug this hole?" Rose noted that the temperature in the tunnel was rising very fast; the source seemed to be Typhoon himself.

[z-The Morrigan]

"The rogue? Have you seen her?" The question was almost desperate, and Ford wanted to kick himself. This was not the way to impress this nova or to convince him to help Ford find her. And he'd said "Terats and Tomorrowites" which meant he wasn't with either group. And his words clearly hadn't convinced the nova to help him.

"Look, it's not her fault she's all crazy," Ford said quickly. "It's the berserker drugs; they've destroyed synapses in her brain, specifically in the personality center. She's just confused, with no memory of who she was. I - God! I have to help her! I mean, I'm- it would be wrong to leave her alone, confused and hunted."

"Can you reverse it?" There was no hesitation from the blurry nova.

"Her own regeneration will take care of that," Ford explained, trying to answer as quickly as he could, "or else she would have been a zombie years ago. She just needs to heal. She just needs time and to not be hunted.

"Look, I have a plan, I'm not stupid," Ford babbled, talking as fast as he could. "I have a warper on standby - I'll just need to get her through the gate and she'll be somewhere far away and away from people. Somewhere she can recover."

"You don't have a heart condition or anything that makes you react badly to sudden stress, do you?" the nova asked, and Ford blinked.

"No, I used to play football in coll-"

"Good." And the world mercilessly twisted around him, taking him somewhere else.

* * *

She was still being hunted. She had gotten away from all of them but one. But was she hunted or was this something else? For the scent blown forward by the wind carried the smell of combat and war; so familiar to her, but different.

Oh, but she was tired. The weariness wasn't affecting her yet, but she could feel it gathering strength. Soon, she'd be unable to fight or run. She needed to get away now, while she could.

She came to a crossroads; she couldn't hesitate or she'd lose momentum. She started to turn right; when she slid in the muck and went straight instead, she just kept going. When one didn't know where they were going, one way was as good as another.

How long she kept going, she didn't know. But the tunnel ahead of her opened into the sky, and fresh air filled her lungs. And for the first time in years, far from prying eyes and constant cameras, the Morrigan opened completely up and ran.

[Iron Rose]

Iron Rose nodded andconcentrated on the Titanium plates. Using everything she knew about engineering and the substances in question, she reformed the Plate into the exact shape of the hole and prayed that it should hold.

"Ok Typhoon, that will hold it for now, but longer than six hours and we run the risk of it reopening. We need to finish evacuating the area, and then we can come back and fix this the right way."

She looked back in the direction of the Sub. "Typhoon, Long needs to leave the area. He's the only Terat here, and his wife just mummified a Utopian. His presence here is only going to cause problems."

Typhoon nodded and Rianna called out to their furry teammate. "Ryu, it's probably best for you to leave the area entirely. The Utopians are going to be out for blood. If you can give me a warp back to the Sub, I'll take over for you and you can go wherever you sent Sunshine, and Stargirl."

Long responded with a low growl. "Alright Rianna, but keep the line open. I'll return if you need me. Don't overextend yourselves."

Rianna turned to Typhoon. "You're giving off extreme waves of heat, Typhoon, is there something you can do to dial it back? Long is going to leave and I'm returning to the ship. From there I'll continue to coordinate with the relief crews. We're going to have our work cut out for us."

As she finished speaking a gatewayy openeded beneath her and she fell through, then appeared on the deck of the Aumakua, landing flatly on her butt. "Ryu you goddamn idiot!"

"In you metallic form you are simply too large for me to warp you to the bridge. Now take over, I have other matters I should attend." Before Rianna could respond, Long vanished in a flsh of blue light, presumably to where he'd sent his wife. Rianna had no time to worry as she powered down and took her place at the Conn. "I'm back gentlemen, what say we help these people get things back under control?"

[Ares]

Ares burst forth back into the light of day. Norms staggered away from his reddish visage, giving the warrior a cautious deal of room.

"Well, this has been a total cluster-fuck," Ares muses. "Time to motivate."

Ares takes off at a steady run, cutting back and forth through craft stalls. Until someone came looking, Ares decided that focal point to all this chaos had made the surface and was God Knows were.

[Blur]

The man was babbling, talking as fast as he could. "I have a warper on standby - I'll just need to get her through the gate and she'll be somewhere far away and away from people. Somewhere she can recover."

Does he really think I’m going to help him capture her after he’s all but admitted to me that he’s the one who did this to her? What’s with these people… Time to move on before more innocent people got hurt. "You don't have a heart condition or anything that makes you react badly to sudden stress, do you?" Blur asked immediately. It never hurt to ask.

The man blinked and answered, "No, I used to play football in coll-"

“Good,” Blur cut him off and warped the space around the man, sending the baseline by himself back to the surface and out of harm’s way. Whoever he was, there was enough honesty in his words for Blur to be certain that the baseline believed that all this rouge nova needed was time to get her bearings and sanity again. Not that there were even more important things at hand.

Alone once again, Blur popped out of the flooding tunnels and into the sewers beyond the shrouded hole. The water was much higher in here, up to a man’s waist, but it seemed that the flow was slowing down, if not ending. Maybe someone fixed it… I saw Team Tomorrow colors, normally they work on protecting bystanders as well as whatever objectives they have. Forming a mental map of the water flowing below him, Blur glided further through the sewers, looking for the hole to be sure everything was patched.

Make sure the hole is fixed, then make sure no one drowns in the subway or a poorly built basement… here’s hoping that this rouge nova got her chance to settle her own mind… or that not looking for her won’t cost any lives.