Cyber Wars 2.0 Chapter 7: Fury Unleashed

[Wolf99x]

Jason thought for a second. "We could put you in a computer still connected to the network running 40 copies of SimCity at the same time...no wait. I got a better idea. You could hide out in the controlling servers of one of the Cyber World arcades. That should foster plenty of innovation. Of course, you might...that's might accidentally attract undue attention to yourself"

[Wolf99x]

OOC: *kicks self in the ass* i didn't realize JAD had left now...which means i now have to write for Coyote as well. ...this is going to be a challenge for sure.

BIC: Coyote didn't take long to think. "I'm partial towards the Arcade...management if you will. Be like that useless X-men villian who trapped the mutants in games. Except I promise not to hurt anyone, cause you're right. I do like attracting attention to myself, but given the circumstances I'd rather not."

Jason grinned a bit in relief. "Well, ok. You pick an Arcade of your liking, and let me know where you are...discreetly of course. And just call if your cover gets blown."

"You got it. Good luck with the whole 'making the world safe' thing. Watch yourself on the walk back."

and with that, Coyote waved his hand and transported Jason back into the more normal parts of the Cyber World. Though true to Coyote's nature it was nowhere near where they had been earlier. Rather it seemed he was in Cyber Houston.

Well, once i can get to a hub i can get out of here He thought as he set off down the street, using his PDAP to track for a hub location.

about 2 minutes of walking later he suddenly became aware that he wasn't alone. He was being followed by 7...no 8 people at least. They were following at a distance, wearing dark red cloaks that were no doubt concealing weaponry. He also noticed at least 4 more people walking towards him in similar attire, and he noticed that the cloaks had First Order insigniae on them

Well, i guess i wasn't as in the clear as i thought.

he checked to see what weapons he still had available. His .45s were there, as was his katana, but those wouldn't last him long enough against 12, possibly more, assassins. he also realized that Coyote had given him a small gift; An EMP grenade.

...odd, he usually isn't that charitable he thought. Still, as he continued moving while the assassins closed in, his mind began to try and formulate a plan.

If i run they are capable of catching up to me, which is why i guess there are more in the back than in the front, unless they expected me to run backwards...but the hub is ahead of me and they know i need to get there. Therfore. he thought as he gripped the EMP grenade, They won't be expecting THIS

with that he turned and whipped the EMP grenade at the assasins behind him. At the same time he drew his katana and began running at them. The EMP went off just before he crossed into its blast radius, the pulse affecting 6 of the 8 assassins to the rear. Running at them, he slashed away cutting down two of them and wounding a third as he heard weapons beginning to be drawn and cocked. Leaping off the hood of a parked car, and then the back of an 18 wheeler, Jason vaulted himself up onto the roof of an apartment building as bullets whistled by him.

He checked for an open comm channel to the Cyber Force base in RW and found that luckily the First Order hadn't jammed comms yet.

"This is General McKenzie. I'm under heavy attack from at least 12 first order assassins in Cyber Houston. Relaying coordinates now and requesting immediate support, over."

[Zephie]

~Base L.A.~

The senior tech's eyes widened, and he looked back at Tia.

"Jack me in," she ordered, turning immediately and sitting down.

A flurry of keypresses later and she materialized in a stream of code and white light near Jason's position.

But still not quite near enough. Gathering her bearings quickly, she then levitated and flew up and away from the logout/login point, towards Jason a block or two down. As she approached at high speed, she brought her fists up and prepared an electric surprise for her former colleagues...

[Wolf99x]

OOC: damn it, i'm writing something important and i get writers block. ARG!

BIC: Kaitlin had been meditating, attempting to drown out the voice in her head that just seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, when her CODEC went off.

"Major, we have recieved a distress call from General MacKenzie, he is under attack from numerous First Order assassins in Cyber Houston."

"I want a rig ready to log me in by the time I'm in the ops room, I'm on my way!" she said as she got up and ran towards ops.

***

Meanwhile, Jason was trying to keep the advancing assassins off of the roof. so far his guns were keeping them at bay, but 3 were headed up the fire escape, using the metal framework to take cover from his fire while sending rounds back up in his direction.

A fourth assassin leapt up onto the roof brandishing a scimitar. Jason parried his strike with his Katana, but the assassin kept up the attack. With a powerful strike Jason severed the scimitar at the hilt and then drove his sword into the assassin's sternum. he pulled out his .45 and shot the assassin twice in the chest, the force of the shots sending the soldier sliding off the blade and onto the blacktop surface of the roof.

Running back over to the fire escape, Jason sliced away at the two support beams holding it onto the side of the building. With a massive creaking and wrenching noise the fire escape broke loose and fell down to the street, taking the assassins with it.

ok, so far 2 are dead and 4 are incapacitated, maybe dead, he thought he heard the assassin on the roof struggling to stand, so he shot him in the head. all right...3 dead. Still...would be nice if...

he checked his PDAP and saw Tia and Kaitlin closing on his position. He opened a channel to them.

"Tia, Kaitlin, thanks for coming to back me up. Listen, I want to take one of these bastards alive for questioning. Find out where the orders are coming from. Something tells me it ain't Mastermind, and I want to know who it is"

[Zephie]

Leave that to me.

Tia swooped in a half second later and unleashed a furious hailstorm of electricity - multiple lightning bolts shooting forth from her hands and striking each First Order at once. All of them, surprised at the suddenness of the attack, took a moment to adjust and subsequently found themselves being tossed backwards against walls, into the streets, and into dumpsters around the building.

Tia floated down towards the rooftop then and began concentrating, trying to tap into the minds of every one of the assassins left alive and take control. Even should she fail to assume control of their consciousnesses, she could still at least freeze their motor skills. It would take a few seconds longer, though... if she even succeeded.

[Wolf99x]

Many of the assassins were having trouble getting back up, Tia's lighting storm played hell with their augmentations. But they were getting up, and they continued their assault, attempting to reach Tia before she could tap into all their minds.

Two Assassins leapt from a nearby rooftop onto the roof where Jason and Tia were. Jason leapt to one side as the Assassin's opened fire with submachine guns.

Jason returned fire with his .45s, catching one of the assassins in the chest and head. But the dying man's gun still fired, and two rounds hit Jason in the leg, sending him sprawling.

As the other assassin tried to draw a bead, 3 throwing knives flew through the air and embedded themselves into his torso. He looked at the knives in curious shock, and suddenly Kaitiln sent him over the edge with a flying jump kick.

As Jason got back to his feet, he saw that Kaitlin had brought enough ammo to level a city block (mostly in frag and WP grenades), but she also had a KI-42 Assault Rifle.

Walking to the edge of the roof, Kaitlin began firing the rifle one handed and tossing grenades, taking out many of the disoriented Assassins.

"You picked the wrong husband to try and Assassinate" she said as an assassin was consumed by fire and bullets.

That left only one assassin trying to make a beeline in a futile attempt to save himself from Tia's power.

[Zephie]

Mind blocks, hm?

Tia tired of her little toys either running away or getting killed, and dropped the mental approach for a more physical one... one that involved her simply seizing the escaping assassin in a telekinetic grasp and yanking him back over towards their position. Then when he was close enough to smell she flipped him upside-down and brought him over to Wolf. "Ask away, he's not going anywhere."

[Wolf99x]

OOC: Zeph i apologize in advance for taking over for Tia for this post.

BIC: Jason grinned slightly in approval, and drew his .45. he pressed the gun up to the assassin's temple.

"All right, you're going to answer all the questions I ask, otherwise Tia is going to rip you limb from limb with her mind. Maybe I'll shoot you and end your suffering, but i doubt it."

"You goddamn heathen! put me down!" The assassin spat.

"I'm going to let that slide since i still haven't asked you any questions." Jason said. "But now the lighting round begins. First off, who are you working for?"

The assassin hesitated. Jason nodded over towards Tia, and suddenly the assasin's right ankle began to twist unnaturally.

The assasin let out a slight yelp of pain, realizing his nanites weren't going to help him. "Ok Ok! Fine. I'm working for Mastermind who else do you think i'd be working for!"

"Mastermind is dead, wrong answer" Jason said hitting him with the pistol. "Who are you REALLY working for?"

"I'm telling you it's the truth! The leader of our chapter says our orders come straight from our lord...and i've even heard him before! Though..."

"yes?"

"He...doesn't sound...the same. His voice is disjointed and he stutters, but both he and my leader have assured us that it's simply because of all the damage he's sustained."

Jason chuckled a bit. "I think you and the rest of your men are being played here. The disjointed and stammering is usually the sign of an imperfect program copy. Something tells me your "chapter leader" is using Mastermind as a figurehead to solidify his power. Which brings me to my next question. Who is your chapter leader? And where was he last?"

"That...I cannot answer. Last place i saw him was in Russia. That was days ago, he left separately from us."

Well...crap. At least we've got something.

"I guess you can't help us any further," Jason said as he brought the gun in line with the assassin's temple."

"Oh, you think you've got it all covered don't you?" the assassin sneered. "You think you'll just work your way through and kill all of us, no problems? Well, here's something you didn't count on. You didn't count on your worst enemy manifesting itself. right here. right now."

Somehow he was able to turn his head to face Kaitiln. "Activate the enemy within yourself." he said to her.

As soon as that sentence escaped his lips, Kaitln suddenly grabbed the sides of her head and began screaming in agony.

"What the hell...Kaitlin what's wrong?!"

The assassin laughed. "You really don't know do you?" he laughed only for about a half second more before Jason shot him in the head.

"That's all we're going to get out of him," he said to Tia as he walked over to the writhing Kaitlin.

"Kaitlin, what's wrong? Speak to me." She didn't say anything, the screaming had stopped but it was replaced by painful moaning and deep breathing.

"please tell me you're all right..." Jason said.

Kaitlin turned to look at him. Oh, I've never been better.

Jason only had a half-second to realize her eyes were glowing an intense red before he was thrown back by a fireball that seemingly just came from nowhere.

Kaitlin stood up, and Jason could see that flames were seemingly coming off her body, and yet not hurting her.

"At last I am free, free to destroy all who stand in my way."

Tia tried to stop her but Kaitlin sent her sprawling with another fireball that she just seemed to conjure right out of her hand. Laughing manically, Kaitiln (if Jason could even still call her that) threw her arms out to her side, sending a massive explosive shockwave across the entire roof, and sending Tia and Jason flying 6 stories to the ground below.

Tia, despite being knocked around by the blast, managed to slow hers and Jason's descent, but Jason still could feel something in his back give a bit as he landed on the roof of a car.

Jason could see Kaitiln, who had now somehow spawned a pair of ragged batlike wings, take off into the air, firing fireballs indiscrimiately.

Oh God Kaitiln...what the hell has happened to you?

He would have shouted it, but fear overrode it.

He activated his codec, and willed himself to speak. "We've got a code red, I want everyone logged out immediately. Something has gone terribly wrong."

***

In a few seconds, Jason found himself back in the ops room, but he realized that Kaitiln still hadn't been logged out.

"Sir," the ops tech said. "For some reason whatever's happened to her is also preventing her from being disconnected from the system. The best we could do is isolate Cyber Houston. Citizens are being logged out now, but there's a chance she could...do some damage."

"Why can't we log her out?" Jason said.

"It apppears that something has activated a "dead-man" trigger of sorts within her. If she's logged out while she's like this," the tech gestured to the monitor, "she'll die."

Jason almost went pure white from shock, he fumbled over his words a bit. "I need to make some calls. Keep me appraised of the situation. If anyone is willing to go in there to monitor her from a distance, that's fine. But do not engage her in combat."

With that, Jason turned and ran to his quarters. oh shit oh shit oh shit. Kaitiln has gone completely batshit crazy, you don't know why, and if you don't figure out soon...she's gonna die.

a couple tears ran from his eyes as he realized that. She's going to die and there's nothing you may be able to do about it.

he forced that thought from his mind as best he could. No, I'm not going to think like this. I'm going to save her. I just...

a thought occured to him. I need someone who knows viruses. I mean, that's what this has to be.

he grabbed his phone and dialed Jade's number.

[MC43]

OOC: OH! OH! I GOT IT!! IT'S MINE!!

Monk opened his eye as he watch the phone ring. Sighing, he got up from his meditation and picked it up, "Listen... I'm sorry. No, we do not want your product! Leave us A..."

That's when something stirred in his heart. Something bad. Something serious. "H... hello?"

[Wolf99x]

Jason was a bit taken aback by Monk's reflexive response, but after he switched over to a stuttered hello, he knew taht his friend somehow knew what was coming.

"Monk, it's Jason. Kaitlin is in a lot of trouble. Something has happened to her that will kill her if we keep her in the Cyber World, and will kill her if we try to log her out. I think it may be a computer virus, and I need Jade's help, and probably yours as well. Is Jade around so i can talk to her?"

He knew he tripped over a couple of the words from emotion, but at this point he wasn't concerned about sounding strong.

[MC43]

"Uh..." He looked around, knowing full well that she wasn't home. It prolly wouldn't be for a long time. To be honest... he had no idea where she was. I... am a terrible husband. "Um... no. I'm sorry my friend, she isn't here just yet. However, I'll let her know you called the second she walks in, I promise." He paused. "Where are you?"

[Wolf99x]

Jason tried to not sound extremely worried or pissed. "I'm in Washington DC at the Cyber Force base. You sure Jade isn't around or at work? I could probably just drop in and tell her. I only ask cause i'm working on very limited time."

Then a thought occured to him Stupid me, I could just call her cell phone!

"Never mind, Monk, I just realized I have her cell number. I'm going to call her right now. In the meantime try and get down to DC as soon as you can and as fast as you can. Talk to you later."

He hung up and quickly dialed Jade's cell phone number.

[MC43]

"O..." then he heard the click and dial tone "...k..."

He sighed and softly put the phone down. "I better get a move on. I wonder how I can get down there as soon as possible. I could call the government and tell them to get me down there ASAP."

He sighed and shook his head. "You know... I better leave this one to Jade. She'll call me before she leaves or anything... I hope."

[batgirl]

Jade was actually doing something she normally didn't do, shopping. Browsing through the stores in the mall, she randomly walked into a few and purchased some clothes or other accessories. As she made her way to her car, her cell rang. "Hm, unknown number? Hello?" She almost dropped everything in her hands as she heard the voice on the other line. As the speech went on, her face turned white and she quickly got into the car. "I'll be there as soon as I can." Racing home at break neck speeds, she ran into the house. "We need to go now."

[MC43]

"We do?" He said, his eye opening from his meditation. "Why do we need to...? OH!" He spun around and rushed for the door, not really thinking about much then getting in the car and going to where ever they needed to go. He opened up and jumped in the driver's seat and started banging on the horn. "Hurry up!"

He paused for a second, then slowly snaked his way out of the drivers seat and sheepishly to the passenger seat. "Ok... now I'm ready..."

[Darth SS]

Jax was standing around in the log-in room, confused as hell. One moment he was sniper cover, then he was in a cafe, then Wolf was being attacked, and now Wolf was crying about his 'wife.' The fact that Jax thought about that in quotation marks was a left over trait from his time spent with Neil. Nevertheless, Jax felt it was time to make some calls.

Mostly, he sent a phone call to Interpol, asking if they could have people keep track of Kaitlin and her actions. Then, he called the DND in Ottawa, who then gave him authorization to pull the plug on Kaitlin if she became a threat to international security. Finally, he swung by Greg.

"Nanites...what can you do for me?"

[Zephie]

Thankfully for Wolf and Kaitlin Jax had a particularly weak mind. And wasn't too bright.

Tia had been standing around in the ops room, trying to make sense of what was going on, and consequently overheard and "overheard" a few things Jax had been saying... keeping track of him when he left the room even, she made a note of the dirty little side-lines he was making and decided that it was a bit too important to keep from Wolf.

Jason... there's something you need to know about Jax...

Tapping his brain for a second, she told him everything.

[Wolf99x]

Jason's worries and sadness were suddenly replaced by a sense of betrayal and rage as Tia told him what Jax was up to.

That son of a bitch

In seconds he was out of his room and searching for Jax. Fortunately Tia had also told him where he had gone.

Jason grabbed Jax by the collar and began dragging him away from the quartermaster's desk. "Sorry about the interruption, Greg, this will be one second."

when he had dragged Jax out of the office he pinned the trooper up against the wall and snarled.

"Now let's get one thing straight: I don't mind that you made calls to interpol to keep track of Kaitlin should she break out of Cyber Houston, that's fine. What I do not approve of is you sticking your nose into business that's not yours. The DoD is not going to have any sort of say on whether or not Kaitlin's plug gets pulled. If anyone makes that decision it's going to be me."

He held up his left hand, the one that his wedding band was on. "You see this? This ring signifies the vow I took to protect Kaitlin and do whatever i could to make sure she and I have a wonderful life together. And by God I am going to do just that. If it comes down that she has to die then I'll do what's right, but I am not giving up on her."

He let go of Jax and he slid down to the floor. Jason turned to walk away, only imparting one final piece of advice.

"If Neil were still here he'd be disgusted that you were going to give up on his cousin that easy."

Jason walked to the ops room. When he went in he saw that Tia hadn't left yet.

"Thanks for telling me...I appreciate it." he said as he walked over to where Kaitiln was still laying and took his wife's hand in his own.

I promise I'm going to beat whatever has taken over you. he thought as he looked down at her.

[Darth SS]

Jax followed Wolf. Normally, he wouldn't do this, normally he'd just let it slide. He'd been out of the Patricia's far too long. It'd probably be a good thing to go back, or do something to get some discipline back. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

"You've never really listened to Neil have you? You've never actually heard his opinions on your marriage?"

Jax let his cooler head prevail for a moment. He pulled his handgun and dropped it. That way if Wolf attacked him, he wouldn't draw on instinct. Jax made sure to breathe, and utter a small prayer that Neil wouldn't find him and kick his ass.

"You ever wonder why he wasn't at your wedding?"

The room got a lot colder. It got a lot tenser.

"I still remember this one time, we'd had someone board themselves up in a room with his two daughters and his wife. He was waving a shotgun around because his wife was planning on leaving him. Of course, he was drinking, and started getting more and more violent during negotiations. The negotiator was talking to him and he suddenly spun and was going to kill a daughter to show how mad he was. I shot him there, right in mid-sentence. Right through the head. Neil and I went out that night, since I was taken off active duty pending investigation. I didn't drink much. Neil got absolutely smashed. He started talking about you guys."

Jax briefly re-evaluated what he was doing. Too late.

"His comments approximated to how you guys don't really love one another. You go home, you have crazy sex, and you think that approximates it all. After that hostage situation, he was scared that in ten years, when the sex and fire runs out, you two are going to realize you don't really love one another and people are going to get hurt. He also said that you're blind and gutless enough that you wouldn't order a shot on Kaitlin. Not because you care, but because you believe you're supposed to care."

The silence extended.

"So far, I haven't seen anything to the contrary. Neil just used to have you as a commanding officer, and he likes living. Or, at least he used to."

Jax stooped down and grabbed his gun. He holstered it and turned to leave.

"You should ask him how his wife died someday. It might change your stance on ordering the shot on Kaitlin."

Jax then left. He could go and burn time at the sniper range. That was always a calming action.

[batgirl]

OOC: I'm just gonna step in here and throw this out there, just because I feel it's necessary. From what I just read in this last post, and though I am bearing in mind that these are fictional characters, you are a big douche SS. You turned Jax into a wonderful Angel bitch, behaving exactly the same as you played Angel, with slight differences. Maybe I didn't make this clear enough, but while this is a rather lax version of one, Cyber Force is still a military group. Wolf is your commanding officer. I was your commanding officer in the old game and you took too many liberties there, way too many. I should have said something, but I thought you might shape up when it came playing realistically. In a real setting your ass would have been canned three times over within the first few chapters, not including the fact that you blew yourself up like an idiot.

Now I would have thought that after all the crap I gave you in the first game, you would be better in the second. Forget the fact that you basically turned Angel into a 14 year old emo kid with a bionic eyeball that can do wayyyy too many things for my liking, he's a minor character right now. Jax was a cop and then in Angel's unit. You never mentioned any
'special connections' with interpol or whoever, you just made them up. You throw Jax around like a rag doll without nanites; when you were all on that train, Jax should have been snapped in half a couple of times.

I'm telling you this right now, in front of the other players because pms don't seem to work with you: you are not the top dog in this rp. As much bravado and machismo you stick on your character, as much rulebreaking as you do, you are still under command and you still need to maintain a level of decorum, especially when it comes to tense situations. Not only that, but in all honesty, how did you think you could hide any of your so-called connections when there is a telepath and some very skilled hackers in your group?

So here's my warning on this: shape up. I'm not saying become a zombie soldier, you are entitled to a character and personality, but play the game like it's supposed to be played. I've let you off with too much leniency. So now everytime you step out of line, there will be consequences, dire ones. Consider yourself court marshialed. Jax is off the Kaitlin arc.

[Wolf99x]

OOC: My sentiments exactly

BIC: Jax didn't even get to the door before Jason grabbed him, spun him around and hit him square on the jaw with a right hook. Jax fell to the ground like a ton of bricks.

You brought that on yourself.

Jason noticed everyone looking at him odd. "...disobeying a direct order, maybe? Well...i guess more like disorderly conduct to a superior officer. I want him confined to quarters and have guard posted."

There was some hesitation but eventually Jax was carted off to his quarters.

Jason sighed in minor frustration that he had been forced to do what he did, but he turned and went back to Kaitlin's side.

[batgirl]

A few hours and a favor later, Jade and Monk were touching down at the Cyber Force base in Washington. After checking in with the ops manager, Jade made her way to the main control room. Before opening the door, she walked by an unconscious man being carted off towards the quarters' area. Jade sighed and walked in to see a bunch of new faces, some old ones, and a very distraught Jason sitting with an unconscious Kaitlin. "Taking your frustrations out on the newbies? Come on, you want to scare them off so quick?" She smiled for a moment before turning serious. "What can I do to help?"

[Wolf99x]

Jason seemed to become a little less distraught upon seeing and hearing Jade. "Well...I figured whatever's turned Katilin into a flying, fireball shooting monstrosity would have to be a computer virus...and you're the best source of information on virii that I know. So, what i basically need is a diagnosis of what's affecting her. All i know right now is that it's slowly ramping up her vitals and could hit dangerous levels within mere hours, and that if we try to disconnect her she'll die."

[MC43]

Monk took a step foward. "Perhaps..." He hesistated, then continued. "Perhaps if someone was to jack in there and... engage in combat. Things could be cooled down."

He looked around, waiting for some kind of answer. "That way, she'll have time to get a diagnosis."

[batgirl]

Jade looked at the monitor with Kaitlin's vitals on it. "It's always a virus isn't it?" She walked over to the main console and shoed one of the techs away from it. Sitting down, she brought up a diagnostic screen of Kaitlin and analyzed it. Finding the anomalies in her body, she brought those up and thought for a moment. She typed in a few keystrokes only to be met with a giant red X. "Well, whoever made this knows their stuff. It's a complex virus that's hooked up to her vital organs and systems. It seems to feed off her adrenaline levels and suck them dry, that's why her vitals are spiking and dropping like that. I think I can make an antidote, but it'll take time, this is a doozey of a virus. Also, for the antidote to work, I need her to be unconscious in the Cyber World so her adrenaline levels go down enough for the antidote to not burn off. So basically, you have to incapacitate her for enough time for me to get the antidote to you. The only thing I can suggest right now to help her is a morphine drip to keep her adrenaline levels down." Jade slumped in the chair, "I wish I could give you something right now."

[Wolf99x]

Jason thought for a second.

"Well, you've at least started to give us something to go on. The only question is how to incapacitate her. I'm not sure right now, but then again sometimes the best plans are made up on the fly."

he leaned over to a commtech. "Summon all available members of my squad to this room, I'm going to tell them what's up, and if they want to commit to this mission."

he faced Jade again. "I don't know if I'm going to get any help, but whether i do or i don't, I'm going in there."

[MC43]

Monk took a step foward and rested a hand on his shoulder, "Are you sure that you can do that? Listen, I know you tell people that you put the mission in front of everything, but I also know how your heart works. Are you sure you want to do this?" He paused and took a breath, "Are you sure you CAN do this? Who knows what's going to happen in there. To the others, she is going to be a target, and they are going to follow orders to stop her. But you know how the mind works, if it comes to their life or orders, they are going to do what they can to stay alive, its human instinct. If it comes down to the life of the target verses the life of a teammate, the same thing will happen."

He now held both of Wolf's shoulders, "If it came down to it, and it was her life or one of your teammates; her life or yours... could you pull the trigger?"

[Wolf99x]

Jason thought...and he realized Monk was right.

"You're right...I don't know if i can put the life of my team ahead of hers...if anything i'd rather go in alone...but..."

he shook his head. "I can't put her life in someone else's hands. You have to understand that."

[MC43]

"I know it sounds impossible, but I can't let you go in there. You are always telling me that you need the best person to go on a mission of vast importance. This is an important mission, and you know as well as I do that you are not the best man for this."

He stood upright, "I will go. You know I will succede in bringing her down without actually killing her. I am the best at non-leathal kills, and would prefer that over killing. You know this to be true. I insist as a friend."

Picking his head up, staring into the distance, "Permission to go on the mission sir."

[Wolf99x]

In that instant Jason realized he hadn't even considered what Monk was asking to do.

He's willing to put himself on the line for my sake so i don't make a terrible choice.

He smiled slightly. "Permission granted. I have faith you'll succeed."

[MC43]

"Yes sir! Thank you sir!" He eased up and moved into one of the beds, "I'm going to need support. Made sure I have contact with Dr. Odupe at all times." He closed his eyes, "Ok. I'm ready to go."

He could feel himself get dragged out of his body as his eyes fluttered closed. Within a few seconds, he could feel the earth under his feet again. Opening his eyes, he had to wipe off the sweat that had formed due to the heat of the Houston heat. "Man... even in here it's hot..."

Looking around, he found that the place was empty, a few of the buildings with some severe damage. He took a few steps foward, looking around and trying to find her.

It may not have been a good idea to look at eye level however...

[Darth SS]

Jax woke up in his quarters. His mind was swimming already, and he didn't feel too hot. Then the pain hit. It started at the lower left side of his face, right on his jaw bone, then radiated out. As if it was trying to piss him off, it stopped radiating and settled right behind his eyes. Jax groaned. He was lying on his floor, and didn't know how he got there. Then he remembered. Kaitlin pyromanic. Lipping off to Wolf. Wolf hitting him.

"Well, I guess I deserved that."

Jax picked himself off the floor and smirked. Chris had always told him he had a glass jaw. Very slowly, Jax dragged himself over to his bed and collapsed on there. On his hip. His holster jammed painfully into his side. Then he decided he'd better ice his jaw. Unfortunately, he didn't have a source of ice. He walked over to his door and knocked.

"Hey, can you guards send someone to go get me a bag of ice?"

There was silence.

"Not trying to escape. I was just knocked out by someone with superhuman strength. I would like to take the swelling down so I'm not in complete and utter agony every time I talk."

Assuming they listened, Jax slowly moved over to his junk. It had already been moved from Ottawa. Oh, the miracles of modern transportation. However, there were two bags in particular Jax took note of. One was a large disproportioned backpack, and the other was a large blocky suitcase. Amateurs, not checking the room he was going to be in.

Jax went to the backpack first. It was a sniper backpack that he'd originally bought for airsoft, but discovered that it worked good for ERT too. It basically had two water bladders, room for some stuff, and a large chunk of it zipped off to become a pad he could lie on, which was so much better than concrete. It also had a sheath for a rifle. In this case, Jax's baby. His HK SL9. It was the sniper variant of the G36.

The suitcase contained an MP5, which Jax also used when there was no room for sniper coverage, and he was put on an entry team. After grabbing both guns, Jax went over to the door and knocked with his forehead. Immediately, he cringed as his head told him that any more blows to the head was a bad idea.

"Ow. Ow. Motherfucking ow. Anyways, guys, I have a sniper rifle and an MP5 in here with me. You forgot to take these out. I'm gonna' lay them next to the door, and you guys can come grab 'em. Okay? Okay."

Jax walked away, headed to his computer (which the housing staff had graciously set up,) then opened up his iTunes. On went the Sinatra.

[Zephie]

Tia watched while Monk was jacked in, and took a step towards Jason. "Ja-- umm... General..."

She glanced at Monk again and put her question back together, rubbing her arms a bit to help compose herself. "I'd like to go in and back him up. He's real good at what he does, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure he can handle all those fireballs she's throwing without some help."

[Wolf99x]

Ironically enough, as soon as Tia had said that, Kaitlin swooped out of the sky launching a quartet of fireballs at Monk's location

***

Jason had to agree with Tia, especially because he knew that the more help available the better the chances of bringing down Kaitlin without killing her would be.

"If you want to go in and back him up you may do so. In fact, I'd really appreciate it if you did."

[MC43]

Monk, although the place was hot, could feel the heat come from behind him. He dived to the side, flipping himself off of his hands and back on his feet, just in time to see her swoop by. "Whoa... when did THAT upgrade show up? I must have been out of the loop for a long time..."

He cracked his wrists, "I HAVE been out of the loop for a long time. First, shake the rust off, then figure out a way to get her down to my level." He watched her fly in the sky. One option is to get her as she's swooping and rip those wings out, but I don't know what kind of damage that would do. There is a good chance that they are connected to the spine. However... just as you would tame a bird... He grinned, All I'll have to do is clip them...

[Wolf99x]

Kaitlin swooped down, throwing fireballs in what seemed to be a random and ill-aimed pattern, but was actually just to distract Monk while she dove through the air and caught him in the chest with a flying kick.

[Zephie]

...And at that moment a wave of flame erupted from the road before Kaitlin, setting her awash in fire. The flames took only a moment to swell until a gust of wind blew it back in her face and increased its yield. If Tia wasn't so sure she was immune to the flames or would at least dodge or manipulate them, she'd be concerned... but as it was, she was simply drawing attention back away from Monk... with an awfully mighty distraction.

'NOW, Monk!' she thought at him, preparing to slide * out of the way of any counterattack.

(( That would be a "time slide" - she doesn't want to get involved with Kaitlin in a straight fight, just distract her away from Monk and protect him as best she can. ))

[Wolf99x]

Kaitlin's face hardened into a mask of anger at seeing this new threat. waving her hands, about 20 sharp knife-like spikes suddenly appeared. She flung them in Tia's and Monk's direction. the ones that had been sent a little hastily impacted with buildings and set off powerful explosions.

***

Jason watched the battle with an equal sense of awe and worry.

While the attacks Kaitiln, well, to be more accurate the virus, is using are...impressive...they're draining Kaitiln's vitals dry. And if something doesn't happen soon...she's going to die anyway. Hurry up and save her... he thought

[MC43]

He dodged most of the knives, some of them he was forced to bat away with his hands and project to another side, but there was just too many of them to keep track of. Under normal circumstances he could have greatly reduced the damage caused, but near the end there was a small chain reaction. He hit one a little too hard causing it to explode in his hand and greatly buring his left palm. This caused another two to explode giving a nice burn mark on his right leg and upper torso, just under the neck.Screaming in pain, he tried his best to pat off the fire, ducking into a back alley. This is getting me nowhere! I can't do anything while she has the height advantage. I need to get her down into a hand to hand combat situation. But even that... He looked himself over. That's going to be a problem now...

"Yo Myth!"

"Who the...?"

"No time man. Listen, I'll just say I'm on your side. I'll tell you more when you get back to the real world. I think I have something that will take her down."

"What is it?" Monk felt something weigh down on his hip. Looking at the source, he was horrified at the sight. "No way!" He screamead, "I am not shooting a gun! I left those days behind me."

"Relax man! It's a tranq pistol. State of the art and designed by none other than myself. I've been asking around about you, and they said that you was goin' clean. Is that true?"

"Now is not the time for this. As you said, we'll talk later. Tell me about this gun."

"I'll give you the basics. It's your standard issue tranq pistol with an 8 round clip. It's been modified for added percision by using a slide lock mechinism, meaning that once you fire, you'll have to cock the weapon ny hand. A minor detail when it comes to the usefulness of this weapon."

"Who are you?"

"No time man, I'll inform you once you get back. Just know I'm an old friend."

There was a click in Monk's ear, and then nothing as took out the weapon and inspected it. It was very light, and upon taking out the clip to look at the ammo, he found that instead of metallic ballistics, he found tiny syringes. Loading it again, he looked down the sight and nodded. "Yeah... this will work. As long as what he said is true, and this does not kill. I have to trust him though, because right now, I have no chance here on the ground." He ran back into the street and called out, "Hey! Where are you?"

[Wolf99x]

"Right here."

The voice came from above. Kaitiln was diving out of the sky, firing fireballs off in Tia's direction to keep her distracted as she whipped around with a flying axe kick aimed at Monk.

[MC43]

He lept back, trying to time the jump just right so that his legs would come around and catch her under the chin.

After the prayer. he was able to bounce on his hands, and land back on his feet, his eyes darting around to try and find where she was going to be next, this time keeping his eyes to the sky, as well as eye level.

[Wolf99x]

Kaitlin had just barely seen the kick coming, so it only glanced off of her chin and sent her staggering a bit. Rather than take off, she leapt at Monk again, sending a barrage of fire at him while preparing to try and grasp him before lifting off into the air.

[MC43]

Monk now had the offense... at least a little bit. He saw the balls of fire that were being hurled at him, and danced around the flames as best he could, the only damage grazes across his arms and legs, one catching the side of his head and burning some hair off.

Seeing that he was being neared, he attempted to grab and counter the attack, but with so many things going on, he lost track of things and soon found that he was in her grasp.

Knowing that he would have no chance up in the air, he grabbed her wrist and attempted to try and snap it, or at least make it so that Kaitlin would have to let go and drop him before they got too high.

[batgirl]

Jade stared at her two screens in disbelief. One had the contents of the virus on it. It was immensely complex, much more than Jade had thought. The twists and turns in it prevented her from creating a viable antidote right away. "Shit this thing is amazing. I'm going to have to make two separate antidotes for it: one to stabilize it and one to get rid of it." She set to work on the first part of it while glancing at the second screen, this one showing the data from the fight in Cyber Houston. It pained her to watch Monk fight with Kaitlin, but she knew that more than anyone, her husband could stop her. She smiled briefly while contacting him, "Don't give up, I believe in you and I love you. Besides, it's your turn to mow the lawn when we get back...Try and keep her busy a while longer, and maybe keep it close range. Her fire powers are beating on her vitals."

OOC: Uh oh, Jade's using her commander voice.

[Wolf99x]

Kaitlin released her grip on Monk as her wrist snapped from his counterattack. She flew back a bit, hovering in mid-air while her wrist quickly straightened back out.

"Seems I have underestimated you slightly. No matter, that mistake shall not be repeated"

Flying back up into the air, Kaitiln drew her hands back and energy began to emenate from her palms. Aiming at a building in the distance, Kaitiln fired a massive blast of energy that blew the building to pieces in less than a second.

"Think you're good enough to dodge that?" Kaitiln asked tauntingly as she prepared for a second blast.

[Zephie]

"He won't have to!"

The second blast found itself smashing into a massive wall of shielding energy that Tia erected moments before the energy ball impacted Monk, protecting him from harm just like she said she would.

But then Kaitlin turned around with hate in her eyes. "Uh oh."

[MC43]

It didn't help that Kaitlin was so high up.

It didn't help that he had burn marks all over his body, making it so difficult to move.

It didn't help that he had a time limit to get her down before she would litereally wear herself out.

It didn't help that as soon as all of this was over, he had to mow the lawn.

...He hated mowing the lawn. Almost as much as shoes...

He shook the thought and moved back to the top of the list, the one about her being so high up. A fist fighter was not excatly the best at ranged combat. In fact... they had NO ranged combat.

He dropped his fists, glancing over the weapon that was given to him not too long ago. His hand seem to shoot away from it, someone could swear that it burned him or something, as he stared at it, and odd look in his face. He knew what he had to do. No one else would hesitate to take the shot, not at this ideal time. Her back was turned and she was focused on something else. If there was a time to do it, it was now.

He slowly unsnapped the holster and pulled the lightweight gun out. It felt like there was nothing there. He wrapped his hand around the handle, covering the right with his left for more stablility. He brought it up and leveled the back of the gun with his right eye, slowly closing his left. He looked between the notches, the sightline that was provided for him, as well as the silencer that was attached. He had her head lined up. All it was now was a single pull of the trigger. All he had to do was wrap his right index finger around the small piece of metal that jutted from the underside of the weapon, and press it in. It couldn't be that difficult. He could push punching bags through walls, it would be a simple matter of pulling back on the trigger. No problem.

And yet he hesitated. His index finger was extended over the trigger, but a safe distance away that incase his tripped or a bead of sweat trickled down as just the right time with just the right velocity at just the right angle, it would fire the gun before he had a chance to not fire the gun.

He shook his head. What was he hesitating for? He was going to kill her. The guy said so. Could he be trusted? He sounded familiar. He hated guns. Anyone who was anyone hated guns, and yet people loved them. He seemed to love them. What was it about this primitive thing that lead them to put so much time and effort into it. So primitive, yet so technologically advanced that the cavemen would go nuts over it. Would have made it easier to bring down a mammoth than a club, they would say. Or would they grunt it? Would they know how to use a gun? Probably not. They didn't even know what fire was until Promethius brought it to them.

He shook his head again. What was he doing? He looked back down the back of the pistol in his hand, and in front of that, the back of Kaitlin's head. He took a breath, snaked his finger over the trigger and took another breath. He was going to do it. He was going to bring down the mammoth by bringing fire to himself. He couldn't watch. He closed his eyes and turned away, just incase his eyelids failed to do the job. His arms wavered ever so slightly as he pulled back on the little metal bar under the gun.

There was practically no sound, but he still felt the recoil of the projectile leaving the barrel. He didn't watch the bullet, he didn't want to. He hated the idea he just shot at someone. Had he had been watching, he would have noticed that his quivering arms did effect his aim, and it was going for one of her wings, and not her head.

Monk hated guns... almost as much as he hated mowing the lawn.

He sighed as he remembered that he would have the mow the lawn after this was all over...

[Wolf99x]

Kaitiln was too busy focusing on Tia to notice the dart bury in her left wing. Focusing her energy again, she let off another powerful blast in Tia's direction.

The efforts were clearly beginning to weaken her. She dipped slightly in midair before getting back to the altitude she was at.

"Such a pathetic body this is, not even capable of handling my strength," she said as she began to swoop in at Tia, assuming her blast missed of course.

She barely noticed that she was slightly dipping to the left. While the dart alone wasn't enough to stop her, it had dulled the muscles of part of the wing.

[Zephie]

Tia looked up from concentration to see the energy blast dissipating along with her shield -- whiffing past her like harmless fog -- only to see Kaitlin at it again.

"Shit!" she exclaimed, whipping up another shield as Kaitlin approached - except this one she flung outwards, using it as a bashing sort of shield which shattered and exploded with concussive force when it reached her.

[Wolf99x]

The blast threw Kaitlin aside, and she was knocked about so badly she couldn't recover in time before hitting the side of a building and plummeting to the ground.

***

Jason's eyes went wide with shock as he saw Kaitiln fall on the monitor. He waited for the inevitable sound of a flatline from the health monitors next to him, but they didn't come.

Wow, this virus sure is resilent...or making her resilent... he thought. Although all her vitals were now looking like somebody who was just about to crash, she was still alive, and most likely stunned.

***

Kaitlin found herself in the middle of the street trying to get up, as her broken bones were slowly healing.

"I swear bitch," she said to Tia "I'll get you yet.

[Zephie]

Now, Monk, goddamnit! Tia exclaimed in thought while she began healing some of Kaitlin's injuries, just to confuse her a bit.

It was the least she could do anyway, after failing to slow her descent.

Shoot! The! Fucking! Gun!

[MC43]

Opening his eyes, he found himself still standing still, the gun in his hands. He saw that his target was on the ground however. Not thinking twice, he dropped the gun on the street and charged foward, his fists at the ready for an assult.

Getting into range, his first action was to take hold of one of wings. "No more flying. That's not very fair." The words were an empty threat. The open chop coming down on the back of her neck however was not, and that was what he was hoping would end this whole ordeal.

[Wolf99x]

OOC: you know this would be funny if it wasn't so painful

BIC: Monk may as well have chopped a titanium wall. Kaitlin barely even flinched from the hit. Instead she whipped around and used her speed to throw Monk to the ground, forcing him to let go of the wing. Kaitlin woozily dragged herself to her feet, noticing that her injuries were even less bad than she had predicted.

"I think I'll be doing whatever i damn well please!" She said to Monk as she booted him into the side of a building as he struggled to stand.

She whipped around and let off another barrage of exploding knives in Tia's direction.

***

"Shit, NO!" Jason said as he saw the virus was now gaining the upper hand, even moreso than before, and possibly at the cost of his friend's safety. He turned to Jade. "How...goes the progress on finding an antivirus?"

I hope she doesn't get pissed that the reason her husband just got kicked through a display window is because i said he could go in there... he added silently.

[batgirl]

"Done with the first, working on the second," Jade said without looking up. Her hands were moving like a blur over the keyboard. She looked to her left and cringed a bit as Monk got booted through a building. "Jason, give her a shot of 50ccs of norepinephrine. It'll get her vitals back up, but it'll also rejuvinate her in the Cyber World. I just need a few more minutes."

[Wolf99x]

Jason was about to question giving Kaitlin even more of an edge, but he decided against it. She knows what she's doing, I don't, he thought as he made his way over to the emergency medical cabinet, got out a vial of norepinephrine and a syringe, and after carefully taking the right dose, he injected it into Kaitlin's neck.

Please don't kill either of them, just stay alive... he thought as he finished.

[Zephie]

Tia facefaulted after Monk was kicked through the wall.

"You fucking idiot."

Then Kaitlin threw the knives in her direction, and Tia'd about had enough of Monk's incompetence at that point. Having gotten a good feel for Kaitlin's strategies, tactics, and abilities by now, she threw her hands up and effortlessly tossed up a wall of shielding energy that bounced the knives aside harmlessly. Then, dropping her arms and throwing one out as if tossing a garbage sack, she hurled the shield energy at Kaitlin until it struck the buildings to her sides and exploded, forcing Kaitlin to shield her eyes from the debris and dust.

Then going towards multitasking, Tia lifted the gun through telepathy and put it in Monk's hand, lifted him to his feet, and began to assume control of his mind so he'd fire the damn thing already. To keep Kaitlin busy, she began throwing a barrage of energy blasts and sickles of air blades that began to circle around and surround Kaitlin, giving her the options of either staying put, or be cut up pretty damn badly if she decided to get out. Meanwhile, Tia began to make progress towards taking control of Monk's voluntary functions.

Monk, you are firing that gun whether you want to or not. And this time, you are NOT going to miss.

The ground around Kaitlin then began to crack and splinter as Tia's air blades and stray energy blasts struck it, ripping massive craters and shattering water lines, which spewed their contents into the air. Tia remained careful not to actually harm her however, but rather to keep her restrained inside the wall of sharp pointy objects.

Across the way, Monk resisted in every way he could. His teeth even grit down from the effort. No! I can't-! I have to save her, not-

Look, you wanna save her? Use the gun. Trust me on this, it's what partners do, and it's the only way to make this work, okay?

Tia narrowed her eyes and matched his glare. We're running out of time.

(( And if that doesn't work, remember that she can make him think he's a six year old girl for the rest of his days. She'll even have Shahdee braid his hair. >;) ))

[MC43]

Monk could feel himself losing the battle against Tia. He thought back to when he was forced to listen to Myth's voice and do things against his will. He was not a fan of this at all, and the fact that she could actually take control of his body was what made him really nervous.

"Hey!" A raspy, yet powerful voice called out from inside his head. "You stay the hell out of Monk's mind!"

Monk's eyes slammed shut as this new voice started to talk, "There... are so many voices in my head!"

"Don't worry though, this time I'm on your side. I'm holding her back as much as I can, but she's got a point there Monk. You have to take control and live your past. I admit what we did was wrong, but that was that, and this is now...

"How can you say that!? It you was you who tried to break me down in the first place!"

I was the defense Mastermind installed into your brain to try and stop you guys from getting the information, but even AIs can change, you know that. They have their own personality, they can make their own decisions. But we're getting off topic, you need to do what you can to get that girl on the ground, and that means that you need to spin that pistol around your finger and do what you did best.

"How can I trust...?"

You can't trust! You just have to follow your instinct. If you're worried about the benifactor, there isn't too much to worry about, he's an old friend of mine... of ours. If its true that he made that gun, then you are holding a fine piece of equipment that would be a dishonor not to use! Now right now you have three options, and I know you won't like any of them. One is to let me take over and shoot that gun, which I don't really want to do, this body is yours, not mine. Two, let Tia win and take over your body and have her do the work for you, but I don't know what she's going to do with you afterwards. Three... well... I think you know what the third option is."

Monk hesitated, starting to regain a little bit of sensation in his body. He dropped his hands, finger still around the trigger however, looking down at the ground. "I'm... I'm sorry."

"If you don't do it..."

Slowly, he started to spin the lightweight weapon around his finger. He stood like this for a few seconds, "Get out of my head Tia..." He grabbed the gun and turned it on himself, "I know this is only a tranq, but it will still knock me out cold and leave you to fight her on your own. You want my help, you get MY help, not my resources. Get out... now!"

His finger was right on the trigger and was very sensitive. One wrong move, and he was taking the shot. No one would take him over, not again. Not after the last time.


OOC: You know, its kind of funny, I stayed up all last night reading over the old posts, just finishing the part where I began to fight Myth for rights to my body... good times...

[Zephie]

I'll get out if you'll just SHOOT the FUCKING-

Kaitlin managed to kick one of the air blades, sending it flying at Tia. She managed to knock that aside, but her concentration was slipping trying to make Monk snap out of it. You fucking pussy, be a man for once! I'm trying to make you understand that!

[MC43]

"That's what I'm trying to tell you! Get out and..."

"I'll take cre of her, you concentrate on the flying demon."

"You know... she IS a friend..."

"Not right now she ain't! Now no more talking and take her down!"

"I'm on it!" Within seconds, Monk could feel total control of his body once again. He dropped his arms so they were in front of him, one hand around the grip, the other around his hand to keep it steady. Looking down the barrel, he found that he still couldn't aim at her head without getting sick. He lowered the barrel and aimed at her wings, taking three shots into each. He ejected the clip, letting it fal to the ground and threw in another, gun still aimed at her.

[Zephie]

(( I'm surrounded by incompetence. ))

At least he fired the damn thing.

Tia tossed another shield at Kaitlin then, one wide enough to encompass the width of the street, and watched it explode, sending her sprawling backwards at Monk.

[Wolf99x]

OOC: Once again, would be funny if it wasn't painful

BIC: Kaitlin flew back and bounced roughly across the road. Her wings were now all but useless, the tranqulizers numbing them almost completely.

She struggled to stand but failed a couple times, and then lay still.

For a moment, Tia and Monk thought she was actually down and out.

...They thought wrong.

Kaitlin's eyes snapped open and burned with the intensity of a thousand suns. "So...you think a few tranquilizer darts are enough to contain me?" she asked to neither of them in particular. "The time for games is over. This time the kid gloves are coming off!"

With that Kaitlin drove both her hands into the street surface and pulled herself up to a three point stance position. A low guttural growl started to emit from her mouth as the pavement began to crack and flames began to flicker around her. All of a sudden the growl became a banshee-like howl, and the small flames became a massive fireball that began to engulf buildings, pavement, and just about anything else in it's path. The entire blast all but leveled a city block

...and other cliched phrases... Kaitlin said wickedly as she waited for the smoke to clear.

***

Jason stared at the screen agape. He couldn't even find the strength in him to start cursing angrily. For all he knew he had just watched two of his friends die.

OOC: Don't worry, i'm not saying that they WERE killed by that...

[MC43]

OOC: PLEASE! You think that could take the mighty Monk down!? BRING IT! Give me somethin' I should worry about.

Monk took the smart way out, by taking the low road. He managed to find a stairway that lead down to the subway system and was able to take cover in there, suffering only some minor burns on his back, and the sweat that came from the oppressive heat. He looked back up, and instead of seeing a sun on earth, he saw the blue sky of a non-flamed planet. He started to move, but winced in pain with each step he took. "The burns... they are getting to me." He dropped to one knee and started to pant. "They feel like they are... draining energy..."

"That's common Monk." Dr. Odupe's voice came into his mind. "In fact, you have a lot more wrong with you than you can feel..."

Monk started to feel his body catch on fire, as he tried to pat himself out, only to find that touching the burns made it a lot worse for wear. He started to scream out in pain as he tried to fight the invisable fire with no way of victory. "It burns! IT BURNS!!" He screamed in hopelessness.

"Monk, calm down!" A small bag with a red cross appeared in front of him. "I need you take a breath and follow my instructions. In front of you is a bag with medical supplies. Do you see it?" Monk nodded, gritting his teeth and eyes trying to hold back screams and tears. "Do you see it?" Dr. Odupe repeated.

Taking the risk of opening his mouth, he responded a quick, "Yeah..." before he started to scream in pain again, apparently the noise right behind his teeth.

"Ok good. In the pack is several small bottles of ointment. I need you to reach in and pull one out." Monk, slowly, reached foward and pulled out a bottle with "disinfectant" on it. Gritting his teeth in pain and anger, he tossed it away and tried again, finding a styptic pad. He screamed again, threw the pad against the wall and tried once more, finding the ointment.

"Ok... now what?" The screams dissappeared and was replaced by a soft whine in his voice.

"Monk! Stay with me! Do you hear me! Concentrate on what I'm telling you, and you'll be ok..." Monk shook his head to try and allivate some of the pain as the doc continued. "Ok, open that up and rub it on the part that burns the most. It should be your back..."

"My back!?" He screamed, "My back is fine! It's my arms that are on fire and... and... ah!" He quickly unscrewed the cap and poured the soothing cool liquid on his left arm, feeling the fire get smothered and dissapear, his arm now feeling that it was covered in liquid ice. "Ah... much better..."

"Good! Now repeat the process on the other burned parts."

Monk did as he was instructed, pulling out two more bottles of ointment and pouring one on his right arm, and the other on his leg. Having full control of his extremities, he took a breath and nodded. "Thank you Doc... I'm ok now..."

"No your not. We're not done here." Monk looked up in confusion. "Yes, you may have at least numbed the pain, and took the steps to cure it, but the wound is still tender, and we need to cover it up. In the bag are some bandages as well. Use those to cover all the burns you suffered."

"But Doc... I need to get back up there..."

"Listen, that's the start of your injuries. We have a lot more to go with. While you work, report to me what you have done so far..."

Monk did as he was commanded, "So far, I've put ointment on both my arms and my leg. I have bandages around my leg, and I'm appling it to my left arm now. Doc..." He winced a bit as he wrapped the bandage, "My right arm... it's sore to move it."

"That's because it's dislocated."

"That might be the reason..."

"I have to guess its sheer adrenline thats allowing you to continue on, but its going to wear off in a few minutes now that your out..." Monk started to scream in pain, "...of combat" Doc sighed the end of his sentence.

"Ok... uh..."

"You can't move it anymore? Can you?"

"Uh... ... no."

Dr. Odupe rubbed his temples. "All right, right now, we need to get that arm back into place. You know how to pop a shoulder back in, right?"

"...yeah..." Monk replied softly.

"Get to it."

Monk looked down at his now limp right arm and sighed. He hated popping shoulders back into place. He looked around in the bag and found a small piece of wood. "This must be a splint. It'll work..." He bit down on it to try and settle himself, then grabbed onto his wrist and closed his eyes, just to try and pretend what he was going to do wasn't going to...

There was a loud snap.

He grunted and bit down harder on the splint, breathed for a few seconds, then spit the splint down on the pavement. "Ok... Its back in."

"I'm proud of you Monk. Wrap out the original burn wound, then use a splint to help heal the arm. You're not being to be able to use it fully, but at least it will help speed the process along."

Monk did as he was ordered. He was now able to get up under his own power, but found that he was still a bit weak. "Doc..."

"I know, you are still suffering from two burn wounds, both on your torso. One on the front, and the other in the back. The back is a severe burn, and is not going to be fully treated with the technique I've taught you, but again, it just makes things a lot better for you in the long run."

Monk repeated the process for his body, ripping away the shredded and ripped cloth and tossing it aside. He rubbed the ointment on his stomach, then his back, then used two bandaged to help heal his torso. Walking over to the bag and adding it to his belt that came with the pistol, he took a breath and started up the stairs. "Thanks Doc."

"No problem. There are a few more injuries to your body, but they won't affect your preformance any. At least, not too bad. Just remember everything I taught you for now, but know that that was just a preview of basic on the field medical practices. There are many more to come. When you get back, I'll teach you so you'll be ready for anything."

"You got it. Don't forget." He emerged from the subway and looked around at the destroyed mess that was Cyber Houston. "Oh man... I am not paying for this..."

[batgirl]

Jade stared at the screen as the second antidote synthesized. "Oh...my...god..." Not wanting to see the toll it took on her husband, she said a silent prayer as the antidote finished. "Done!" She put both of the vials in her jacket and basically dragged an almost catatonic Jason to the log in station. As they materialized into what was left of Cyber Houston, Jade grabbed Jason by the collar and slapped him, hard. "Wake up! Now is not the time to go all melty on me. We need to get Kaitlin down from the sky and incapacitated enough to inject these into her neck directly. Tia and Monk are not dead and we are very far from out of this fight? Get it together. Are you with me?"

OOC: dramatics ftw!

[Wolf99x]

Jason looked around at where he was, rubbed his sore cheek for a second, then his expression hardened into a serious mask of grim determination.

"I'm with you." he said as he pulled out a Colt .45 armed with incapacitating tazer rounds. "Let's show this virus that it picked the wrong person to infect."

[Zephie]

Didn't take 'em long to find Kaitlin. She and Tia were having a little fireball duel down the block that was causing quite a bit of, um... property damage.

[Wolf99x]

Jason drew a bead on Kaitiln with his .45, but he hesitated. He wanted to fire, he knew they were only tazer bullets that weren't going to kill her, but part of him didn't want to pull the trigger.

Maybe...she can be rationalized with...

He shouted out. "Kaitlin! Listen to me! You have to stop this! Whatever's controlling you, you can't let it win!"

Kaitlin turned towards him, and raised a hand in his direction right now. "Kaitlin isn't here right now...leave a message after the explosion."

A fireball flew out at Jason, he tried to jump back but he still got caught by the edge of the blast as it impacted on the pavement. Rolling on the ground to smother any flames that may have sparked on his clothing, he pulled himself up to his feet.

he looked at Jade, slightly downcast expression. "I'm sorry, I should of realized she's beyond rationalizing."

Damnit, They were right i can't make the right decisions when Kaitlin's life is at risk.

He drove that thought from his mind and prepared to take aim again.

[MC43]

From what appeared to be out of nowhere. a body flew in the air from behind her and brought her to the ground, a tight bear-hug around her arms to help prevent her from moving. He latched wrists, hoping to make the bond more secure. "Enough of the fire. I am not a fan of heat..."

He looked up, "All right... I got her down! Do what needs to be done." He was stronger than her, even with the augs it would be trouble to break free from his grasp, however, it was the virus he was more concerned about that might overpower him. That, and he could feel his arms start to sizzle again. "You also might want to hurry, I'm doing the best I can!"

[Wolf99x]

Kaitiln let out a small laugh. "Your best isn't GOOD ENOUGH!" She pushed herself up onto her feet, grabbed monk and threw him over her shoulder and kicked him off in Jade's direction.

Jason didn't waste any time, as he saw Monk fly by him he was already sprinting full tilt at Kaitlin. She looked up just in time to see him spear her in the chest and drive her to the ground. Getting behind her, he grabbed her in a full nelson hold and kicked her legs out from under her, forcing her into a crouch.

"Let's see how you like fighting against someone who HAS augmentations." he said "Jade, give her the antidote before she breaks free!"

[batgirl]

Jade had enough time to get hit by/catch Monk and skid to a stop before Jason called to her. She laid him down and sprinted at Kaitlin. She grabbed her arm and attempted to force the antidote to inject into her. "Now...hold...still..."

[Wolf99x]

Flames appeared around Kaitlin, causing Jason to lose his grip in shock and surprise (and pain), and Jade had to release herself from Kaitlin's arm. Kaitlin lashed out with a punch to Jade's jaw, then caught Jason in the side of the head with a spinkick.

Jason staggered but his nanites dulled most of the damage. He went for his gun, but found that the heat from the fire had fused the trigger mechanism. He threw the useless weapon aside.

"You wanna dance? Let's dance, virus!" he shouted as he leapt at Kaitlin, striking out with a flurry of punches and kicks. Kaitlin took a few of the blows, but then caught Jason's right leg in mid-kick and slammed her elbow down on the knee, hard.

Jason could feel his knee give out just before Kaitiln pulled him in and punched him in the nose.

Blood sprayed from his broken nose as he hit the ground, stunned.

"You don't have the guts to kill your wife..." he heard Kaitlin's voice say as she moved in to capitalize on his disadvantaged position.

[batgirl]

Jade shook her head to get the ringing out of it and leapt at Kaitlin again. She managed to get her arms and pull back hard, dislocating both of them. "Jason! Quick!"

[Wolf99x]

Jason staggered to his feet, blood still dripping down his face, and he hobbled over to Kaitiln. Remembering what Jade had said about where the vaccine needed to go, he took the syringe and plunged it into Kaitlin's neck. He finished just before Kaitiln lashed out with a kick that caught him in the groin, then headbutting him in the skull and sending him to the ground again.

Kaitiln then stomped down hard on Jade's foot and reverse headbutted her to break free, her arms slowly relocating back to normal.

[MC43]

Monk came in from nowhere once again and landed a clean and powerful right hook to her jaw. "Would you just calm down please. This would be a lot easier if you would just agree to our terms." Kaitlin, obviously not agreeing with what he had said, retaliated with her own melee attack. Monk was able to however block the attack and counter her counter with a quick jab to the ribcage, then another quick jab to the bottom of her chin. "Ok... we'll do it the hard way I guess..."

[batgirl]

Jade wiped the blood from her nose. "We're almost out of time..." Her PDA projected Kaitlin's vitals at their extremes. Kaitlin however, seemed to be tiring. "The antidote is working to neutralize the virus. We need to get the second one in there to destroy it." She lept back into the fray, joining Monk in fighting Kaitlin.

[Wolf99x]

Kaitlin staggered under Monk's blows, but countered by sweeping his legs out from under him and driving a series of punches to his already burned and battered chest. As an added insult to injury she kicked him in his broken arm.

Jade spared her husband from further injury by kicking Kaitlin in the ribs. Kaitiln clutched at her side but struck back with a right hook to Jade's skull. Concussed, she staggered.

Jason hobbled back in to give Jade time to recover. He was dizzy from the blood seeping from his nose and forehead, and his broken leg hadn't fully healed yet either. Plus his groin hurt like hell. He landed only one punch on her right shoulder before she kicked him in the broken leg and dropped him to his knees in pain. Then she drew in close and pulled out a knife.

"Killing you will be a most enjoyable irony" she said as she drove the knife forward. Jason barely deflected it, but the knife still dug into his side and left an ugly red slash on his torso. Kaitiln then grabbed him by the throat and tossed him 10 feet away. Kaitln turned to go finish off Jade and Monk.

Jason landed with a thud and slid a bit across the cracked and broken pavement. He could feel his injuries starting to get the better of him. That and he had no weapon to stop Kaitiln with.

Broken nose, broken leg, bleeding like a stuck pig, hurt back, injured groin...metal thing in my leg...wait

he felt around his right ankle and realized he DID have a weapon. A walther PPK. A last ditch weapon that was probably there in case there was no other way to handle things. He forgot about it in the heat of battle, but now it was right at the front of his mind.

He drew the gun and despite one of his eyes being blocked by blood and his vision beginning to get dark, he prepared to take aim on Kaitlin. Suddenly Jax's voice came to haunt him

"You don't have the ability to pull the trigger if it comes down to it."

Jason's expression tightened and he took aim. I'm going to prove that son of a bitch wrong.

"HEY BITCH!" he shouted. Kaitiln turned. "GET OUT OF MY WIFE'S BODY AND GO TO HELL!"

Jason fired.

*BLAM*

Kaitiln's right knee exploded in a spray of blood. she dropped to her knees

*BLAM*

Kaitln's left knee exploded and she fell to the ground. As she did, Jason fired a third shot and took out her left shoulder to make sure she didn't get back up.

The gun fell from Jason's hands. "Jade..." he said. "Do it..."

Then the darkness overtook his vision and he passed out from his injury.

[Zephie]

Tia fluttered down nearby and got to work stabilizing Jason's injuries, after doing a quick once-over on Monk and Jade. Looking up at Jade to speak of, she didn't need to say anything to express how quickly things needed to be done.

[batgirl]

Jade was seeing double. How anyone could give them all such a beating even with their nanites she didn't know. She clutched her head to try and stop the ringing and pain, but she had a concussion and she knew it. Without her nanites, Kaitlin would have probably caused major brain damage. She looked over to see Kaitlin down and bleeding, Jason having fired three shots into her. She staggered over to where Kaitlin was starting to get up and grabbed her by the neck.

"Time to let our friend go, I know what you are, and you will not win." She drove the needle into her neck and watched the manifestations of the virus disperse as Kaitlin lost consciousness and log out. Jade could feel herself log out as well, and woke up groggy and still concussed. "Anyone get the number of that truck?"

[Zephie]

No time to digest the joke as Wraith stated, "Her vitals are stablizing... all right guys, hurry up and get her the hell to the emergency room!"

He stepped away from the consoles then and shooed the medical teams out, helping to clear the way first, though.

[Wolf99x]

Jason opened his eyes and saw only white, after cringing a bit from the brightness he tried to figure out where he was.

Am I dead? he thought. as he tried to look around his head throbbed in pain, as did his leg and his torso. okay, not dead...i can still feel pain, that's good His eyes had finally adjusted to the light, and he realized that it was coming from a hostpital lamp. He heard footsteps. The lamp was moved aside and he saw the footsteps belonged to Dr. Oedupe.

"Ah, good, you're awake." Oedupe said. "How do you feel?"

Jason grimaced a bit in pain. "Like somebody smacked me around with a sledgehammer."

the doctor chuckled a bit before getting serious. "That's too be expected. Any burning sensations?"

"Slightly..."

"Also to be expected. You might be wondering why you're even here given your augmentations."

"...yeah."

"Well, what happened was that the fire that the virus used against you was already taxing the nanites to repair any damage from burns. Add that to the broken leg, broken nose, getting kicked in the groin, getting skewered by a knife and the concussion pretty much was too much for the nanites and they shut down. They were able to keep your injuries from being too life threatening, which is why you're still alive, and now here. I don't think you'll have to stay any longer than 24 hours, it's just to make sure that your nanites didn't suffer any permament damage."

"I see. Well, thanks for patching me up."

"It's my job."

Jason smiled a bit at that. "Of course, that was a silly thing for me to say." then he had a thought. "...Did Kaitlin make it? I didn't see anything after I...shot her..."

Oedupe grinned slightly. "Rest easy Romeo, she survived the fight, but right now she's unconcious and under heavy sedation. She'll pull through though."

"Where is she?"

"Right next to you."

Jason looked to his left and saw Kaitlin lying in the hostpital bed next to his own. She looked peaceful, despite being hooked up to a few IV's.

"Thank God Jade pulled through in time..." he said.

"Indeed."

Jason turned back to the doctor. "I think I'm going to rest for a while. Tell Wraith I'm leaving him in charge until i recover. And if you see Jade and Monk before they leave, tell them i said thanks."

"Don't worry I will."

With that, Oedupe left Jason to drift back to sleep.

[MC43]

OOC: This is before I forget t do it:

Darkness. There was a long period of darkness that followed before the was a steady pulse of sound, followed by a dim light behind his eyes. He slowly opened them, alowing the light to slowly come in, instead of rushing in. "Wha? What happened? My body feels numb. Better than it being on fire.. but numb..."

Jade was sitting next to him, asleep in a chair. Her hand however, was woven tightly with his.

He couldn't feel that there was something coming out from his hand, but he most certainly feel the presence of his wife. Rolling his head over to see her sleeping brought a soft smile to his face. "Aw... she's sleeping. I better be quiet so as not to wake her.." He could feel his eyes getting heavy again, as they started to flutter close."

Jade could feel a shifting in the bed next to her and opened her eyes. She smiled at him, "I thought you'd never wake up."

"I'm awake!" He nearly shouted. He squinted a bit and rolled his head back over, "I mean... why is that? Did I almost die again?"

Jade's face turned to concern, "you did get beat pretty bad."

He shook his head, "Bah... It'll take more than that to take me down, you should know that. I mean... you're cooking takes a harder toll than that fight did..." he chuckled, hoping that wasn't going to tick her off too much.

Her eyebrow quirked, "and only because you're already in the hospital do I let that pass."

"That... and you love me too much..."

She sighed, "that too." She rubbed her head while cringing.

"You ok?"

"Well, it feels like I got hit by a tank, but I'll be fine. I'm more concerned with Kaitlin."

"Yeah... I heard the shots. She'll make it. I know it..."

"I know...Monk, what are we going to do now?"

He paused, than answered, "Get better?"

She smirked, "after that."

"I don't know... why do you ask?"

"Well I was thinking...that maybe we should stay here."

"Stay... here? You mean... stay and help against the fight whatever is causing trouble now?"

She nodded.

Monk looked away, obvious he was in thought.

Jade waited patiently for a response.

"My... my first instinct is to say yes but... I don't know if I have it in me..."

"Why do you say that?"

"My... my body is not what it was back then. I'm not as strong as I was back then. The only reason why I survived was because... well... I don't even know to be quite honest..."

"Monk," she kissed his forehead, "you are just as strong as you used to be, if not stronger. This virus was ridiculous, stronger than anything we've faced, and moreso because it was infecting a friend. I don't blame you for getting injured."

"I should have been able to... I should have been able to take her down so that no one got hurt... so you and Wolf and Tia wouldn't have to engage in battle..."

"You couldn't have. None of us could have. Kaitlin is like a sister to me, she is my friend. I would have been in the same situation as you. Tia can separate her emotions from the task at hand, and even she got beaten. You care for people and don't want them hurt, it isn't a weakness. It's one of the reasons why I love you so much."

"I... suppose..."

"Don't suppose. You know it's true. We've been married for 3 years, and I know you enough to know that you are just as good as you were back then, if not better. Trust me, I'm your wife, I know these things."

Monk closed his eyes, soaking in what she had said. He was a strong fighter, he may have been stronger since the final battle with Mastermind. What was driving him away this time? There was something that was preventing him from saying yes to staying. He thought he felt weak, but that wasn't it, not in the least. He prided himself on keeping his body in such a shape that he didn't need augs to aid him. He could still fight with the best of them, and still have energy to spare. What was it then? His heart was pulling him away from fighting anymore. "I don't know Jade... I just don't know..."

"You don't need to rely on only yourself, you have people here who will back you up and help you. You're not on your own and you're not a superman. No one expects you to be."

He sighed. She was right. He didn't have to be a lone fighter. Monk nodded slowly to respond to her, but kept quiet on top of that.

Jade bent down and locked lips with him.

His lips responded as they always did, but his heart was still retreated deep within himself. He was still uncertain on the situation. Did he still have the strength to fight? He remembered when he first joined the last time. He seemed so useless in the first battle. So useless until he picked up and used... "The gun!" He pulled away from Jade.

Jade looked at him funny, "what?"

"The gun. That is why I am so afriad. I do not want to turn into what I once was. Jade... do you remember our first battle? When the team first was created?"

"Of course I do."

"Then you remember... how useless I was. When we took shelter in the abandoned warehouse, I could do nothing until I picked up the gun... then after that, things turned sour. I don't want that to happen again..."

"Why would you? Myth is gone."

"I know but... still.. I don't want to risk it. Jason thought he had killed Myth the first time around, and it turned out he was very much alive..."

Jade dropped her head, "do you not want to stay then?"

"No! It's not that... I want to help... but... I don't know..." He looked away. "I... I just don't know..."

"Stop being so unsure. We're a team you and I. I'll help you get through whatever is bothering you. We took a vow remember?"

"I remember, I was there." He shook his head, "I just... I just don't know... I wish I could say more but... I can't. There is nothing else to say..."

She held his hand in hers, "well when you make a decision, you let me know. I'll be sitting here until you get better."

"It may be a while..."

"I've got the time," she smiled.

He nodded slowly. "We should rest... A fresh body will help me think."

"Rest all you like, Or would you like me to rest with you?"

"You're welcome to..." He grinned.

She smiled and climbed into the hospital bed with him. She kissed him, "please don't beat yourself up about this love."

"Of course not. Not anymore than your eggs do to my stomach." He smiled weakly. This is gonna hurt...

Jade made a face and poked Monk in the arm. "Watch it, you're in the hospital, but do you want to be in the ICU?"

"I'm still reling on your love to see me through..."

She carefully snuggled next to him, "always and forever."

[Wolf99x]

Hours later, Jason awoke. Given what had occured in the last 12 hours his rest had been surprisingly quiet. The pain in his body seemed to have dulled to the point where he could move without feeling like something was going to give out.

He sat up and swung around so that he was facing Kaitlin's bed. He noticed that she was awake and looking at him.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked.

"Only about half an hour...are you all right?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I overtaxed the nanites too much during the fight. I think the better question is if you are all right."

Kaitlin didn't speak for a second. "Physically, yes...mentally, no. I mean, I got turned into a monstrosity, I attacked Tia, Monk, and Jade, and I even attacked you."

"But that wasn't your fault." Jason said. "It was a computer virus."

"But maybe it was my fault. I felt like feelings I had kept deep inside suddenly burst forth to the front of my mind, all the anger i had over having 5 years of my life stolen was suddenly unleashed, and many people paid the price for it. And I doubt you're really all right...you did put three bullets in me before passing out."

Jason realized that he was shedding a couple tears, just as she was, but he didn't really care. "You're right...I'm not ok with it. I had to fight the worst possible enemy to fight, a virus that had taken you over and was taunting me, telling me straight to my face that i didn't have what it took to make a choice that could end your life. Things were said before i went in that people weren't sure i could make that call. And in the end i didn't. I aimed only to disable you because I wouldn't be able to handle losing you. If I hadn't hesitated that fight could've been over a lot sooner..."

He looked downwards, trying to hide the tears.

Kaitlin reached over and tilted his head back up. "Jason...you don't have to hide your feelings from me. I'm glad you were able to find it in you to make a difficult choice. I was so scared during that fight. I felt so helpless watching my own body be used as a weapon against you. It's terrible, wanting to cry, scream, wanting to do something because the person you love is being killed before your eyes and you can't do anything about it. I wanted to die when i saw you get stabbed, I was so worried."

she stopped for a second to wipe the tears from her eyes as well as Jason's

"But in the end you did the right thing. I was a danger and you stopped me. But most importantly, you did it without making the choice so many others would. You chose to risk a lot by keeping me alive. You care enough about people to try to see if you can help them before you run out of options. It's a quality so few people lack today. And it's one of the reasons I love you so much."

he grinned a bit, blinking back a couple more tears. "I know, and it wasn't just me. I had a lot of faith behind me that I was going to be able to save you and defeat the virus."

Well, a lot of faith and one dissenter

he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "You should get some more rest, love. I want you to be able to make a full recovery. And if you want to tak about the anger you still hold inside over the 5 years you lost, I'll always be willing to listen. And if I can't help you, I'll find people who will."

"Ok, I'll get some rest and we can talk later...will you stay here though?"

He smiled. "Of course."

Kaitlin smiled back. She began to drift off back to sleep while Jason held onto her hand.

Sleep well, Kaitlin. Remember that no matter what anyone says about us, I do love you and I promise I'll always be there to protect you.

[Darth SS]

Jax was laying on his bed. His lower body was on the bed, at least. His torso was dangling over the edge with his hair touching the carpet. He rolled off and walked over to the door. Then he knocked.

"For the love of god, at least get me another book or something! I'm out of Vinyl Cafe!"

[Wolf99x]

OOC: Collab post!

BIC:

Jade had left Monk to rest and began walking around the hospital wing. She happened upon Jason and Kaitlin's room and knocked on the door.

Jason didn't want to wake Kaitiln so he left her side to go to the door. Opening it up quietly he noticed it was Jade. "Hey," he said. "How's Monk holding up?"

"You know him. 'My body is practically indestructable' and all that. How's Kaitlin?"

"She's still going through some emotional trauma, but other than that I think she's going to be okay."

"Good..." Jade motioned for Jason to walk with her outside. "I found something interesting about the virus."

Jason stepped outside and quietly closed the door behind him. "You did? What?"

"Well, as much as I would like to be wrong about this, it was an Adam virus."

Jason blinked as his mind registered that. "What?"

"I know, I know, it's impossible. But, I looked through the coding very carefully and found the same fundamental components as the Adam virus. Also, it seemed to be tailored to Kaitlin's DNA."

Jason's brow furrowed. "Well...that's a bit disconcerting..."

"I know. I was thinking that maybe Monk and I should stick around."

"You...you don't have to. I mean, I thought you wanted to give this up."

"What's the adage? Old habits die hard?" She smirked, "well I figure that if Mastermind really isn't dead then my mission was never completed. Besides, I'd rather not sit around and do nothing when I have the skills to stop it. Monk is still on the fence, but he'll come around."

"Yeah, it's not like he's going to let you just walk into harms way," Jason smirked a bit as well

"I wanted to go on with my life, but Mastermind or whoever is impersonating him is preventing me from doing so. Naturally I'm pissed and he will be taken out." Jade smiled, "so Major General, this humble Colonel respectfully requests to join your team."

He smiled back. "You didn't have to ask, the door's always open. Permission is of course, granted."

They had made the tour of the hospital wing and were now back at Kaitlin's room, "I know she's resting, but I need to ask her some questions if she's up to it."

"I'd prefer it if you waited till she woke up again, you know, just making sure she rests enough to recover."

"Sure, whenever is best. I better go tell the big ox I'm married to that we're staying here."

He chuckled. "ok, I'll let you know when she thinks she's ready to field your questions."

Jade gave a wave and left. Jason turned and headed back to Kaitlin's room and went back to sitting by her bedside, holding onto her hand.

[Zephie]

~Miami~

Our resident First Order Mysterioso had been wandering around Miami's outskirts for some time now, and had just found the bounty he had been looking for: a convenience store. His stomach rumbled at the thought of the foodstuffs inside, reminding himself just how far he'd pushed his body lately. But that didn't matter, since he was about to rectify said situation.

Strolling inside, he glanced at the clerk and passed a random shopper, heading straight for the freezers at the back. For the most part he drew funny looks on account of his dress, but he ignored everything and warmed up some microwaveable foods.

The clerk was busy taking customers too, and so wound up spending less time thinking about this strange hulk of a man than he thought he would. So busy in fact, that he didn't notice when he walked out of the store with all the Deli Express burgers and Hot Pockets in his hands, munching away greedily.

A customer saw though, and pointed it out. "Hey dude, that guy just totally walked right away with that shit!"

"What? That sonuva-!"

The clerk ran out from behind the counter and proceeded to chase down First Order, until he finally caught up with his happy hungry ass down the street. "Hey! HEY, DUDE! You can't do that!"

"Sure I can," he replied coolly.

"What?"

First Order then proceeded to turn around and knock the clerk out with a single punch. Turning around then, he left the clerk lying flat on his back and returned to his rendezvous point. With some good eatin's, too.

***

~CF Base~

Wraith, too, was in the medical ward, but for different reasons. He'd already paid a visit to Kaitlin and Wolf - albeit a brief one - but at the moment was hanging out in Scrya's room. She was still asleep, drugged into a deep one, which left Wraith alone to his thoughts and prayers.

Part of him wanted to ask her what had happened to her all these years, part of him wanted to feel sorry... another part felt it knew what she was going through... in fact, so many parts were tugging in different directions he like a fleshbag Stretch Armstrong. Only he couldn't talk because of the lump in his throat.

Besides... he'd already said his piece a thousand times over in the last couple days while she slept, and hadn't much else to say... so he stayed by her side and hoped for her to come out of it soon. It was about all he could do, really.

The door creaked open then, though, and in peeked Shahdee. "...Wraith?"

He looked up and choked on his words, swallowing the lump as best he could. He couldn't. "Yeah..."

She closed the door behind her while he coughed, and asked, "Is she-?"

He nodded. "She's doing fine."

Sitting up a bit in his chair, he added with a slightly less-ragged voice, "She'll be fine... I just... hate seeing her this way."

Shahdee nodded too. "I've never seen her so bad... she used to be like... unbreakable, y'know? And now she's like... so vulnerable..."

"Yeah..." Wraith said, drifting off. He stared like that for some time, but then figured he must be wierding 'Dee out and snapped to attention again. "Ahem, so, um, how's Devin?"

"Oh, he's... okay..."

Somewhere across the base Jax's laptop flashed, indicating he had a message. When opened, it showed a bigass flashing smiling face and an invitation to join a game of Halo 3, signed the Devinator.

[Darth SS]

Jax grudgingly accepted. They ironed out the match. Team Capture the Flag, five bots for each person. Jax got into the game on the blue team, and made a bee-line for the shotgun.

First round, Jax won. He'd gotten the flag, and then he'd bludgeoned "The Devinator" to death with it.

[Zephie]

Devin proceeded to win round two... and promptly violated Jax's lower orifices with the flag.

(( Sorry, couldn't resist. ^^; ))

[Wolf99x]

OOC: Ok i need to get this beyond the bizarreness apparently

BIC:

Jason had to give a status report to the joint chiefs, something he was dreading especially given the circumstances. But he was also starting to realize something more important than constantly reporting to them and obeying their orders.

"So the damage in houston..."

"That my team contained" Jason interrupted.

"Yes that your team contained," the CNO said "was caused by a virus that remnants of the First Order unleashed?"

"Yes sir that is exactly what happened."

"And in the process 3 members of your team were badly injured?"

"Yes sir that is the truth. And it has caused me to resort to some emergency measures. For starters, Ambassador LaFleur has requested to be attached to my command, not as an adjundant, but as a tertiary XO. Under the circumstances I have approved this request."

Director Stoyanovich scoffed. "You would put that...criminal..."

Jason cut him off. "She stopped not only Mastermind but this virus that the First Order unleashed on the populous. She is not a criminal she is a war hero and if you say otherwise I will prove that you are not only wrong, but that you know nothing of which you speak."

Before anybody else could say anything Jason simply said. "I now have some briefings to attend...briefings of my OWN design."

and he logged off.

Finding himself back in his room, Jason tried to figure out what the next move should be.

That first order soldier we interrogated mentioned something about Russia...Wraith mentioned First Order activity in Russia. Maybe there's a connection.

He opened communications to Jade and Wraith. "I need you two to meet me in the ready room, we need to start putting some pieces of this jigsaw puzzle of a crisis together."

[Darth SS]

Round three followed a new pattern. Jax found Devin, shotgunned him twice in the head, then guarded a bot as it grabbed the flag. The game was a good distraction for the mind-numbing boredom that was "confined to quarters."

As his sound system was cranked up, the MPs could hear. One who was being relieved of duty actually came in to watch.

[batgirl]

Jade was busy arranging for quarters for her and Monk, knowing that he would just come along regardless, when she caught the message on her PDA. After changing her clothes and making herself look a bit more presentable, that is like her old self from when she led the Cyber Force, she walked to the briefing room. "Almost got lost on the way here, you've done some redecorating."

[Wolf99x]

Jason had just finished sending out a memo to allow Jax to be released from his in-room imprisonment just as Jade came in.

"Well, it is a new base after all," he said with a slight chuckle in response to her comment. "I guess Wraith should be here shortly. In the meantime i want to get you up to speed on what we know so far. According to a Mastermind programmer we found, Mastermind couldn't possibly be back. According to a First Order soldier we interrogated, Mastermind is back but he sounds different, something that soldier's leader attributed to program damage. Speaking of, the soldier mentioned Russia as a staging base, and Wraith had a run in with a First Order elite while he was still in Russia. So I think there's a connection, but we'll have to wait till he gets here to know more."

[Zephie]

"What's that about me?" Wraith asked, walking in the door.

Appropriately he surprised a few people.

[Wolf99x]

Taken aback for a second, Jason quickly continued. "I was saying how you ran into a First Order Elite in Russia, and how that might be connected to the First Order soldier we interrogated claiming that Russia was a staging base for a major operation."

[Darth SS]

Jax had his priorities. One- Get his guns back. Two- Go to meeting. As such he walked into the meeting, flanked by two MPs. He was also putting his holster on and loading the gun as he walked into the room. There was a snap as he loaded the gun, then holstered it.

"Sir, you didn't tell the MPs to take me off guard."

He spun a chair and sat down in it, and looked at Jade. "Good day, my name is Jax. I'm the new sniper for Cyber Force. I'm assuming you must be Jade LaFleur. It's nice to finally meet you."

[Zephie]

Wraith stepped a bit, rubbed his chin in the complete silence that followed, and then pointed with that same hand to Jax while asking Wolf, "Now, am I wrong, or wasn't this supposed to be a private meeting?"

[Wolf99x]

Jason shot a frustrated but not angry glance at Jax. "Now Jax, i just released you and you showed up to a command meeting i didn't invite you to. No offense but right now since we, by which i mean the commanders can't figure out what our next move is, this is what the meeting's for. once we actually have a plan, THEN we can tell everyone else including you. So, you are dismissed. Go get some fresh air or run around or something. And yes, you're also released from having the MP's watch over you."

[Darth SS]

Jax obediently obeyed. He went over to the gym, and literally followed Wolf's orders. He got onto the track and just started running laps around it.

[Wolf99x]

"So anyways," Jason said after Jax had left. "I'm tired of all this defense and this questioning. It's time we started hitting back. Wraith, what can you remember about the First Order Elite you ran into in Russia?"

[Zephie]

Wraith shrugged. "Not much... he sticks out in a crowd, that's for sure."

Glancing around a second, he collected his thoughts and added, "He seemed to have some business with one of my contacts there, though... I'm not sure if he's associated with Sergei's assassination, or the terrorist attack in Russia, but even if he's not, I'd say it's safe enough to assume he knows people who do. He looked like one of those guys that knows... things..."

After drifting off there a bit, he looked at Jason again and added, "We should start with him. Get a 'Net search running, find out what he knows."

[Darth SS]

One of the MPs who'd been guarding him was there. Jax was just starting his third kilometer when he noticed him. The MP was still standing around in full uniform, beret and all.

"Yo!"

"Good day sir."

This threw Jax off. So, Jax decided to correct him. He slowed down to a jog, then came around to the MP.

"Don't sir me."

"Sorry, sir. Regulations require I adress you formally at all times while on base."

"Or...what? Greg or Wolf will get mad at you and excommunicate from this church of technowizardry?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay. Then, you're off duty. Why are you still in the uniform?"

"Sir, the regulations also state that all personnel must wear full uniform while on base."

Jax mulled this statement over in his mind a bit. Full uniform would mean one of two things. 1) He'd have to dig out his old army greens. 2) He would have to wear his reds. Now, say what you will about the mounties, one thing was true for sure. Tourists loved to see mounties wearing their reds. Jax was of the opinion they should charge per photo. Why? Reds were HORRIBLE to wear. Many thought they were the work of the devil himself. They were scratchy, stuffy, the collar was tight, they were way too warm, and the pants pulled unnaturally tight in the crotch. Then Jax realized he was a member of personnel. He was on base. Wolf wouldn't make him wear them...would he? A few short hours ago, he had lipped off like he had never, ever lipped off to a superior officer. Looking back, it was very, very out of line. Would Wolf punish him with the reds?

Jax turned around. Greg was there, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Jax jumped and yelped. Greg smiled wickedly.

"Hello, probie."

"Hi! Greg! Wow, didn't see you there!"

"Of course not. Come, I've been told you're a sniper. I want to see how good your eyes are."

Jax paused. "Is this going to be dangerous?"

"Exceedingly."

"Oh, okay."

At that little tale is exactly how Jax found himself in the REAL shooting range, not the pansy course that he'd been in earlier, with Greg at the other side holding three cups and six peas. The actual place threw Jax off immensely. When he'd been in the army, you handed your empty mag to a clerk the day before an exercise, or whenever you just got back from the field. In about two hours, you would return to pick up your magazines. They would be filled with bullets. If you were a sniper, they gave you one box of ammo, and that lasted you a month. You did everything yourself. The neccesity of both was rare occurence. When he joined the mounties, he had one day a month where he got to go practice shooting. There, he would have to carefully register painful amounts of detail for about two hours. Then, he would be handed a box of ammo, with the exact number of bullets in it. 24, typically. Twelve per mag. When he'd joined ERT, the snipers were treated the same. If you were on an entry team, however, there was a closet that was just stacked full of boxes of ammo. You would need to write down your name and how much you'd taken.

But here? At Cyber Force? There were buckets of it! There were just buckets of ammunition sitting around, free for anyone to use. Jax shook it off. Greg, was about to show off. What he was going to do was put two peas into each cup then do some fancy switching. Then, Jax would have to shoot the cup with all the peas in it.

Greg performed the moving of the cups. However, none of them ever left the table surface. None ever had a chance to switch peas with one another. Jax looked at the cups with a look of confusion. Then he shot all three cups, and found...no peas underneath. This confused him more. His brain really started to hurt when he realized there was something in his pocket. He checked. Six peas. Jax stared dumbfounded at this. Greg was smiling insanely. Greg actually began to laugh.

Jax clutched his head and said, "Ah! My brainmeats! You hurt my brainmeats! Do it again."

Greg smiled and shrugged. "Let's get more impressive. Watch this-" He gave a small flick of his hand and a knife appeared. With another flick of the wrist, it dissapeared. Jax had seen this trick before. "Turn your hand around, it's on the other side." Greg did. The knife was not there. In fact, it was in Greg's other hand, standing on the tip of the blade.

"Is the shooting range really the safest place to do this?"

"Believe it or not, yes."

"What?"

"People see this and say, 'That is crazy. I should not go shooting, for fear of killing him.'"

"Really?"

"Notice we're the only ones in here?"

Jax turned around. They were. It would appear the quartermaster had learned the nuances of the facility.

[Wolf99x]

ooc: new chapter is up