56. Trask Alive!

In the cavern, the ghost stalked the ant man, lashing out with its blade. The ant man scrambled backwards into the pool. Alone, hovering near the ceiling, Nox pursed her lips and blew a few notes of Fuzzy Wuzzy’s tune. They echoed and bounced through the cavern just as they had during the fight in the pool. Blue lights slowly rose into the dark around the cavern. Through the ghost’s eyes, Nox watched spellbound as she saw a black shadow tentacle silently breaking the water's surface. The ant man stepped back into the pool's depths, falling below the surface. The tentacle, too, disappeared. Neither returned to the surface. With a malicious grin of delight, Nox recalled her ghostly minion.
 
In the stables, the ghost stabbed Fureva-Yung, the wound becoming cold and insubstantial. She returned the favour with a shattering shout, the ghost’s form vibrating, before she ran after the enforcer into battle. In the stables, a battle was already underway between five guards and two ghosts. Thinking there was never enough confusion regarding the enemy, Jaden continued her confusing Jargon, adding in a few theatrics.
“Treason! Insubordination!” She yelled after the one guard who’d survived the barricaded room, pointing him out to everyone present. It did the trick. The commander of this small group tried to rally his forces, but their interest, drawn by Jaden’s words, failed to run to his side.
“I’ll get him!” Marius played along with the act and sprinted after the sniper, pulling the purge off his face.
 
Distracted by Jaden, a guard swung out at his running compatriot in a half-hearted attempt to stop him. His weapon failed to connect, and the sniper continued to run. Another two guards, sure the enemy must be the impressive Fureva-Yung, swung at her with their energy batons, and she quickly ducked aside their weapons. Now facing the seven-foot-tall warrior, the guards saw the folly of their reckless attack.
 
Fureva-Yung’s shattering shout tore the first ghost apart. It fell into pixellated pieces and dissolved into nothing. That done, she turned her attention to the soldiers now cowering at her feet. She quickly picked up one and threw him across the room, making a relatively soft landing in old bedding in a stall. The ghosts attacked the guards, one finding a place to thrust his blade into a soldier. The blade went clean through his body, making the surrounding area transparent.
 
Jaden’s jargon, having done such a good job, continued to list the sniper’s crimes, adding to the confusion in the guard ranks. Swearing in frustration at her success, the commander ran and attacked her with his two-ended energy staff. Seeing him coming, she swung out of his way easily, leaving a foot out for him to trip on as he ran past. He fell face-first into the concrete floor of the stable area, his staff clattering from his hands. Jaden eyed the staff avariciously.
 
Marius, finally free of his latest purge, lept for the fallen commander, knocking the wind out of him as guards around Fureva-Yung circled, putting the warrior between them and the ghost. The thrown guards, covered in the remaining bedding from the night before, stood and cleared himself of muck, and hunted for his energy baton in the straw. Another guard swung at Fureva-Yung with all his might, but he missed it and tumbled into his fellow soldier. They clattered to the floor in a tangle. The sniper was still getting away. Fureva-Yung spotted the fleeing guard and sent a Shattering shout after him. Injured as he was, he wasn’t getting far.
 
Nox was making her way back to the barricade room, her ghost companion in tow. She’d just slipped past the barricade itself when the sound of heavy footfalls and laboured breathing echoed to her right. On the lower level, a behemoth on two stocky legs trundled up to the wreckage of the catwalk.
 
Heads up, everyone! She reconnected with the others. Something big is coming up behind you!
 
Fureva-Yung had problems of her own. The two ghosts had ceased attacking the guards and were concentrating on her. One blade made it through her defences, sending a cold shiver of pain rushing along her nerves and leaving a section of her torso transparent. A problem for later Fureva-Yung. With the commander prone and under Marius, Jaden took her chance and grabbed the energy staff he’d dropped. Weaponless, Marius let the commander roll away and stand as the hulking creature leapt the gap in the catwalk and entered the room.
 
Taller than Fureva-Yung, the behemoth carried a canister on its back of green goop. Instead of a hand, it carried an oversized metal claw. Misshaped face and broken-bodied, the creature slowly took stock of the room. So did Marius. The commander was now back on his feet, but Marius ignored him and chased after the sniper. He was almost out of sight and heading for the stairs to the next floor. Tackling him around the legs, Marius recognised the persistent hum attached to the man and quickly scrambled away.
 
In the stall, a guard hit Fureva-Yung with his baton. It did almost nothing to his surprise as Fureva-Yung plucked the baton from his surprised hand. The thrown guard rushed at Marius, who was ready for the attack. Stepping back, he let the guard run past, slapping him behind the head for his trouble as the shattering shout went off. The hallway to the stairs was instantly painted bright red. The tide of the battle had turned. Fureva-Yung took a moment to position herself in the centre of the four remaining guards and two ghosts and swung her chain. The chain sailed through the ghosts harmlessly, but the four guards were pulped. Only one survived the maneuver to be thrown to the ground under the blood pieces of his comrades. Fureva-Yung dodged the ghost's attacks as Nox sent her own in to distract the behemoth. A psychic burst missed the monster, but another found the commander, who fell to the ground, clutching his head. He did not get up a second time.
 
With the commander dead, Jaden was free. With her new toy, she looked around for a target. Right behind her, the Behemoth wheezed.
“Don’t just stand there, you idiot! Attack the ghosts!” She commanded the creature, and it leapt to action. In the barricade room, however, another combatant appeared. Only slightly taller than average, this being was covered head to foot in chintious armour. Even their face was masked by chintin. It lifted a gloved hand to Nox, hovering near the ceiling. There was no place to hide as the beam of superheated energy struck her, nearly sending her falling to the ground.
Marius, up the other end of the stables, swung at a ghost with his light fists and hits. The last guard, who was battered and covered in muck, ran for his life. Fureva-Yung, seeing Nox hit by the beam, charged up her chain with a thunder beam and ran for the armoured enemy. Ghosts attack Marius and the Behemoth, missing both, and Marius dodges past to run down the stable guard. Clutching her burnt side, Nox teleported behind the armoured guard as she kept them busy fending off attacks from her ghost. To Jaden, the armoured figure was the one to worry about, and she started her confusing babble in his direction.
 
“Kregor! Get back here!” Shouted the armoured one above Jaden’s din. As Fureva-Yung came into view, he flicked his staff and weight on a monofilament whipped out. Fureva-Yung evaded this first attack, and the weapon swung back, slicing through the chintinous armour as if it wasn’t there. Hearing his name, the behemoth stopped what he was doing and started pounding back to the barricade room and his master. He stopped beside Jaden, but as he didn’t see her as an enemy, he just stood, waiting for orders.
 
Nox’s ghost sliced through the chintinous armour as Nox hid herself in the shadows under the catwalk. Fureva-Yung sent a Shattering shout against the armoured one as she lept into the room. The ghosts continued to annoy Marius and Kregor, Marius dodging away and Kregor taking the attack in silence. Not silent, was Jaden. She continued her barrage of abuse and jargon, trying to confuse communications among the enemy.
 
The armoured one pointed at Jaden, “Kregor. Get her!” as he once more whipped out at Fureva-Yung. This time, the whip hit, cutting through Fureva-Yung’s armour and making a thin line of flesh blood well up. Kregor swung his oversized metal fist at Jaden, who had not had a chance to dodge the blow. She was sent flying backwards, hitting the railing of the catwalk.
 
Below, the shout on the armoured one exploded, making the plates rattle and quiver. Seizing her chance, Nox snuck around the distracted armoured warrior and tried thrusting her worm-tooth dagger into a tasty gap. The dagger bit deep, and the armoured warrior spun around reflexively, yanking the blade from Nox’s hand. Now, she was face to face with the most potent enemy without her weapon. At this moment, Fueva-Yung leapt down from the broken catwalk onto the armoured warrior, smacking into him with her vibrating chain. The warrior was knocked prone, and Nox set out a silent cheer for her hero via her telepathic link.
“Don’t touch my Nox!” Fureva-Yung growled menacingly.
 
In the stall, the wild ghosts swiped at Marius and Kregor. Marius dodged the attack and took a moment to catch his second wind. Kregor, slow and uncomprehending, took a ghost blade to the shoulder. With Kregor distracted, Jaden reached up and disabled Kregor’s oversized mechanical arm. The arm went limp, swinging uselessly from the shoulder. He tried swinging out at Jaden, this time overbalancing as the arm's weight dragged him around. With Marius on his back, Kregor stumbled into Jaden, pushing her over the railing and into the barricade room, a very uncomfortable sandwich. On top of the stack, Marius stood and climbed up the broken catwalk.
“I’m coming to get you! He boasted above the armoured attacker, “for attacking my minions!”
 
The armoured assailant stood, raising their hand to blast Fureva-Yung with their heat ray. Inside, something sparked and crackled, and the ray failed to appear. Debilitated, her vision swimming, Fureva-Yung grinned. There may have been two armoured foes now, but now there was more for Fureva-Yung to aim at. She swung her chain, striking true. Nox sent her ghost in for a final attack, the blue blade bypassing the chitin thrust through the armoured one’s chest. Nox sailed above them as the enemy fell to the ground, embracing her damaged friend.
“My hero!” Her tiny frame almost knocked Fureva-Yung off her feet.
 
The fight was still not over. Though the guards were gone, there were still two ghosts and the behemoth, Kregor. Trapped under Kregor, Jaden was still able to evade their attack and stab them with the butt of her staff. Electrical sparks rained down among the rubble as Kregor sizzled and convulsed. Marius now found himself above the only real threat. Aided by gravity, he jumped, hitting Kregor with his full weight through his armoured fists. Cracks in the tank on Kregor’s back ooze green fluid, spilling onto the struggling Jaden below as Kregor gasped his last. Fureva-Yung summoned her strength and went after the remaining ghosts with her chain. Nox sent her ghost, and Jaden swung at one with her staff. Finally, the comrades were alone in a room of carnage and destruction. Fureva-Yung collapsed to her knees, spent.
 
They looted the bodies, discovering under the chitinous armour the face of Ghul Vissius, the scientist who had stolen Trask. He had to be close! Taking the Monowhip and the gauntlet with the heat ray, the group started down a hallway from which Kregor and Ghul Vissius had appeared.
 

To the left was a chamber filled with three floor-to-ceiling vats, each growing an armour much like that Ghul Vissius had been wearing. It seemed his armour wasn’t quite cooked when they arrived to save Trask, lucky for them. At the end of the hall, there is a workroom with stations equipped for biomechanical engineering. One last door let into a room dominated by a bed surrounded by devices siphoning off liquids into vials from a pale insectile humanoid strapped to the bed. It was Trask!
 
As Jaden and Marius slowly disconnected Trask from the machines, Fureva-Yung stood by the bedside, clasping her friend’s hand.
“Don’t worry, officer. We’ll get you out of here,” she whispered gently to her frail second officer. They took their time and were able to reverse some of the damage the extraction process had done to Trask. Nox jumped as something banged against the door she’d closed against those still in Rockspine.
“Time to go home?” She asked, joining the others as Fureva-Yung helped Trask stand.
“Not without my Bellyache!” Jaden protested. In a flash, they were outside near where they’d left Bellyache and the beasts. The crystal on top of the larger building was glowing, and clanging noises could be heard from inside.
 
Setting Trask down, the group took a small break as Nox beckoned down Indomion, still flying high above Rockspine. Something on Marius sparked, and he gave a start as his enlarging cypher finally gave up the ghost. He shrugged, pulled a heat ray from the gauntlet and started grafting that into his arm.
 
Nox, too, took out a cypher she had been carrying for just his moment. Placing it on her back, the cypher grew connections to her muscles and spine as large transparent dragonfly wings extended out her back. Within ten minutes, Nox had wings of her own.
 
“Time to go home, now?” She asked.