It's a Jungle Out There (IC)

[Cyroa]

James frowned a moment at Alex before starting to move again. "Let's get going. Who knows what trouble Edge is going 'just happen' to find or cause before we get there. We certainly don't want to miss out." He could lie to Alex without batting an eye; he was quite good at it. Not that he did; he simply hadn't answered her directly. Because if she thought he was just going to leave her and the others, abandon them when they hadn't done that to him, she was nuts. There was no way in hell he was going to do that one. If he couldn't leave with them, then he wasn't leaving.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Wander, you go ahead to the left, I'll go ahead to the right. I'm going to stay hidden, but I'll make sure I can see you guys. Now... I hate lizard smell. Ironic, I know," Geckoman knelt and sniffed the path Wander had found. "Why couldn't I get X-Ray vision? Phalanx gets stupid x-ray vision. I get to sniff stuff."

The camo on his costume blending into their jungle environ, ]Chris followed his nose keeping low and attempting to pass unseen.

[Avenger Assembled]

The path up the mountain was a twisted, winding one, the jungle air around the heroes all the more disturbing for its silence. As they made their way further up the volcano, the animal noises around them gradually died away, leaving only green forest that seemed oddly bereft without its animal components. When they reached what was evidently a fork in the path; the teen heroes were left with two choices; the path towards the Serpent-Men village, which was sere in its own way but at least boasted some animal life to go with a sickly-green patch of jungle. Further up the volcano, though, all the plants had acquired a distinctly unhealthy pallor, and _all_ the animals were gone. Indeed, they could see a few dead animals up that way. Those of the heroes with knowledge of death were struck by just how well-preserved the corpses there were in the jungle environment. Either they were freshly dead; unlikely given the lack of animals elsewhere, or perhaps even the small creatures that drove decomposition were avoiding the area.

[Ecalsneerg]

"Well, Valerie, the brochure said it was four-star, I'd hesitate to give it one," quipped Chris, emerging from the undergrowth. "My Winslow was not happy, you know how he gets." He adjusted his goggles. "I'd say we take the path with all the corpses. Logic says the nasty things we're here to investigate are near all the corpses."

[alderwitch]

"Creepy," opinioned Psyche but she nodded at his assessment, "Although I wonder what's causing an aversion down at the microscopic level. Or, worse, its not an aversion so much as perhaps everything has been killed down to that level. We should test that before we all tromp over and trigger some sort of trap. The lizardmens thoughts held said all his compatriats that attempted the mountain died screaming."

She turned a face gone pale to Mike and asked quietly in a voice that cracked halfway through, "You're the heartiest of us, Mike, and the least likely to be affected by anything. Would you go first?"

[Cyroa]

James frowned as he stared up the path towards the 'dead zone'. "Generally speaking, areas with preserved corpses aren't natural by any stretch. Nor is it a good idea to walk through them without knowing what's going on, regardless of how tough Phalanx is. I wonder if it's magical or scientific in nature," he said to himself thoughtfully as he tried to sense something from it, not that it would matter much. "Though, if the serpent people took Edge, and they don't go up the mountain, I say skipping the corpses for now and following them is best." He shrugged. "Don't know for sure obviously who has him though. Can anyone tell or have an idea?"

[angrydurf]

Mike frowned at the death ridden path as they first approached it. He listened as those more knowledgeable about such discussed the options before speaking. "If the Lizard men were after Edge the one Psyche searched would have known. If they just took him because he was easy to grab, which isn't even true, She should have been able to reach him unless he was up in this dead zone." He opined and drifted into the air.

"I'll take point and see if its dangerous. As long as I'm in sight Psyche should be able to pull me back if anything happens." He explained and flew up the mountain path careful not to go out of sight.

[Electra]

Erin looked down the path, then tipped her head up to look at the sky. "The birds are okay," she pointed out, "they can fly over the path. Mike can fly up the path, but it might not mean anything. There could be something on the ground, or in the ground. If we get there by air, it might be safer." Taking her binoculars out of her pack, she trained them on the path, trying to get a better look at what lay ahead along the ground.

[Avenger Assembled]

When Wander peered through her binoculars, she caught a distinct glimpse of silver at the edge of the volcano's mouth, a flash of light off metal, like the glare of the sun off a long-abandoned skyscraper in a too-quiet evening after the end of everything else. There was something familiar about that glint, but she couldn't quite place it; nothing she'd seen on her own world, but still naggingly familiar.

When Phalanx flew overhead, he felt only a slight coolness in the air, the birds he could see in the sky nearby flying away with some gusto. When he approached the perimeter of the field, though, he was struck by a decidedly odd sensation: there were voices in his mind. Not with words, but a low, sibilant hissing that seemed to skirt along the edges of his soul, pushing at the edges of the mental blocks he'd learned from Psyche.

[Electra]

"There's something metal up there," Erin reported after fiddling with the binoculars for a few moments. "It's definitely something man-made, but I can't tell exactly what it is. It looks familiar, sort of, but I can't place it from just the little bit I can see of it. Can you see anything from up there?" she called after Mike.

[Cyroa]

James waited, looking around. "So, there's something up there but we don't know what, or can't tell. We going to give it a try? If it's risky or lethal to go and we still need to, let me go." After all, he'd died before. He'd rather it was him than one of his friends anyway. At least he'd be back. "But let's do something. The longer we wait, the more time they have with Edge. Plus, we still need to close those portals."

[Avenger Assembled]

High above the volcano, Phalanx could make out nearly everything below. The circling squadron of a half-dozen metallic humanoids were unmistakably Omegadrones, their movements definite and the glint in their cold metal eyes obvious. Over the mouth of the volcano crouched some terrible machine of unknown origin, a gleaming obelisk of black metal with a shimmering, malevolent energy crackling at its upward tip. Around the edge of the volcano crouched small, frantic humanoid figures that moved with a definite purpose around metal panels that glistened with unholy energy. And at the edge of a walkway overlooking the mouth of the volcano, perilously close to the lake of fire beneath, was a figure in grey and silver metal, giving booming orders to the others, and a single, solitary suspension tube with a lone figure inside.

Mike was so distracted by what he saw that he failed to see the great gun below until he heard the scream of energy and saw the blinding flash of light. For the Young Freedomites below, it was as if a beam of light had reached up from below and pinned Mike like steel through a butterfly.

[angrydurf]

Phalanx took in the scene below in horror muttering out loud and transmitting to Psyche at the same time "Omegadrones?!? Here? They have..." Then the energy beam slammed into him and everything began to happen very fast as the connection severed and he began to plummet toward the earth his energies sapped by the strange beam.

[alderwitch]

Psyche's soft cry of despair was almost buried under the crackling thunder of the beam that pierced Young Freedom's toughest member. For those that heard it, however, it was a wail of the utterly bereft as Mike vanished from her thoughts. Blinking the threat of tears that might cloud her vision away, Psyche forced herself to lift leaden hands as she stopped still on the trail. Alex whispered hoarsely with all the horror of any one who had heard of the Terminous Invasion, "Omega drones. He said that there are Omega Drones."

Before Phalanx had dropped more than a half a dozen feet, she caught his body and whipped it back to the group on the ground so fast that it was little more than a gold and blue blur.

[Cyroa]

James blinked in shock as Phalanx was hit and then suddenly plummeted. "Oh damn..." Before he could take even a single step, Psyche caught her boyfriend and whisked him safely down to to them. "Dude, you ok? What the heck hit you?" He had a rough idea of what Omegadrones were of course, but he'd never faced them. But having them _anywhere_ was a very bad thing.

[angrydurf]

Phalanx frantically lashed out as his powers were suddenly drained from him. As Psyches telekinetic grip closed around him he whispered a soft prayer of thanks.

Still clearing his head from both the blast and the rapid trip back he looked up at Psyche and the rest of the team, 'Thanks' He sent to her comfortingly as he re-established the connection. "Yea I'm alright, I think." He said out loud looking at the scorch mark marring the front of his costume. He stood and went quickly did his best to check to see if his powers had returned, with everything seemingly in order he explained further, "Whatever they shot me with drained my powers, also hurt like hell, but everything seems to be alright now. But they have Edge in some kind of tube up on top of the volcano." The last was said with a firmness of tone Mike rarely used, he was going to get his friend back if he had to face down Omega himself. He just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

[Cyroa]

James nodded, frowning. "Then we're going to go get him. I'm betting if it blasted you and took your powers it'll be damn hard to move too, even if you had your powers. But what if you had a moment with them? Even if you couldn't knock it down, maybe you could crush the ledge its on? If I take stand in front of you and take the hit after porting you, it might give you and Psyche enough time to take that thing out or knock it into the lava. The others will have to take out those suckers and save Edge of course." He paused in thought. "Hmm. Seems a little tight but that's the best I've got. Anyone else have anything better?"

[Electra]

Erin shielded her eyes and looked up towards where Mike had fallen. "That's risky," she pointed out. "A hit that could knock Phalanx out of the sky might tear you in half instead. If anybody should try and take the hit it would be me, but I'm not crazy about the idea either. How close did you get before they shot at you?" she asked Mike. "Do you think you were close enough that someone with powers that work at range, like Psyche's telekinesis, might be able to reach before they could shoot at her?"

[Ecalsneerg]

"Ok, no offence guys," said Geckoman, gesturing at Hellion, Psyche and Phalanx. "But you guys are pretty reliant on your powers. Me and Wander could try and creep up on them and stop that cannon. Yeah, we could get rendered powerless, but we can both fight pretty well without taking them into account. We disable it, give a signal, you guys can come in safely."

[alderwitch]

"Nobody is wrestling the Omegadrones without their powers," Psyche finally spoke up from her concerned checking over of Phalanx. Her hands trembled as they ran over the scorchmark on his chest. "Our first priority is to get Edge back. Hellion can teleport Gecks and Wander to get to the tube while Phalanx and I try and take out that cannon."

A frown creased her brow as she looked up at the Volcano's edge, "Our powers are from the energies of the terminus which may prove easier to nullify than any of yours. It also may be more detectable. I can cloak Phalanx while he carries me and we'll see if we can take it by surprise. If nothing else, it should give the gun a target while you get Edge out."

[angrydurf]

Phalanx nodded agreement. "Besides that gun packs more of a punch than just draining powers." He said, "I don't think any of us should assume any kind of safety in getting hit by it. Best bet is to either go in hidden or fast enough they can't get a good shot."

He peered up at the lip of the volcano, "and we don't know how much time Edge has."

[Cyroa]

James nodded. "Works for me. Let's just going. I'll 'port Wander and Gecks right to the tube. Then I'll move to support you two." He nodded at Phalanx and Psyche. "If that thing is worse for you guys give your power origins and the connection, there's a good chance you'll need backup." He had little doubt that Wander and Geckoman could handle the opposition and free Edge. But if not, well, he could start throwing some fire from there too.

[Electra]

Erin listened, then nodded, looking over at Chris. "You'll probably have a better shot of actually getting him out of the tube, unless we have to actually smash it open. I'll fight off anything we run into there, give you time to see how it ticks, and we'll go from there." She pulled out her bat and spun it open, looking towards James to wait for the transit.

[Avenger Assembled]

The flames of Hell itself spread over Geckoman and Wander, casting them into a scene from the bowels of the Inferno. It was diabolically hot over the mouth of the volcano, the lake of lava below boiling with the fury of a disturbed mountain. A scant few feet away, facing away from them thanks to sheer good luck, stood a titanic figure in jet black armor trimmed in gold, his battlesuit glowing with raw fury as he shouted orders at the scuttling, terrified humanoids who did his bidding among the machines. "Fools! Your incompetence has led them straight to our fortress!" It took the teens a moment to realize that he wasn't speaking of them, yet. "Drone squadron, take to the sky and bring down the targets as soon as you see them. Proles, work quickly! I tire of the degradations of this world."

And with that, he punctuated his words with a blast directly at one unfortunate slave hiding behind a control panel, casually incinerating the man like a bug on a griddle. "Let your suffering bring you closer to the Lord of the Terminus!" Wander and Geckoman both readily recognized Shadivan Steelgrave; the tempter, the destroyer, the most powerful of the Annihilists and chief servant to Omega himself; a leader of the great invasion that had struck both their worlds and so many others.

Beside them, Mark was silent and eerily still inside the metal tube, a long hose over his nose and mouth as he floated in some clear suspension of fluid. He was still in costume, bearing the marks of whatever battery had dragged him to this place against his will.

[Ecalsneerg]

Oh crap. The shock of recognising one of Omega's right hand men was only thrust aside when Geckoman forced himself to crouch low, still enough to not draw attention, any movements carefully plotted to avoid making a sound. He gestured at himself, then at the tube Mark was being held captive in. Then he motioned for Wander to move the other direction, nodding with a look as if to say 'D'ya geddit?'