# [MnM] Project: Daedalus (Prologue)



## Agamon (Aug 3, 2003)

The following is the prologue to an upcoming PbP game called Project: Daedalus, which takes place in the Legacy Universe, which was created by Tokiwong for Generation Legacy.  Toki's allowed me to use my game in his fledgling world (thanks, dude).  This is an account of the first session, played some time ago, as a table top game.


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## Agamon (Aug 3, 2003)

The lights shone down on the bright white room.  A young teenage boy lay unconscious on a table, wires connected to him and monitors surrounding him. Two people in lab coats, a man and woman, worked along side him silently, but thoroughly, turning dials and checking the monitors.

“It doesn’t appear to be working, doctor,” the woman finally concluded.

“Dammit!” the doctor exclaimed.  “But it was working yesterday when we applied it.  Why isn’t it now?  Are you sure you gave him the correct dosage?”

“150 cc’s, just like yesterday.”  The woman looked down at the boy’s face.  “Perhaps he’s already grown an immunity to it?”

“Impossible!” The doctor’s wrinkled brow furled.  “We’ve detected no regenerative capabilities in this elite.  The process should have worked when reapplied.  Take him back.  We’ll try again on a different subject tomorrow,” he added with a sigh.  “Good night, Dr. Kalam.”

“Alright, good night, Dr. McDermott.”  Dr. Kalam watched as Dr. McDermott left the room.  Three men entered the room as the doctor left.  Two of them were large and dressed like orderlies in a hospital.  The third was dressed in military fatigues and armed.  Dr. Kalam unhooked the boy from the machines and the two orderlies moved his body to a nearby hospital bed.  They then wheeled the boy out of the room, followed closely by the military man and the doctor.

Following numerous darkly lit corridors, they came to a stop at a reinforced door guarded by two more armed men.  One of the guards smiled at the doctor.  “Hello, Jaya.  Find that cure for cancer, or whatever it is you do, yet?” he said with a bit of a smirk.

Jaya smiled back at the guard.  “Hi, Michael.  No, we hit another dead end today, I think.”

“Hey, I’m off-duty in 10 minutes.  Want to go have a coffee at our five-star cafeteria?” Michael said with a grin.

Jaya nodded.  “Sure, I could use some caffeine right about now.  See you in a bit.”  She kissed Michael on the cheek before looking into the retinal scanner beside the door.

“Get a room, you two,” the other guard said, rolling his eyes as the door slid open.  The four people entered the hallway on the on the other side of the doorway, leaving the guards to their post.


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## Tokiwong (Aug 4, 2003)

Cool I almost feel special, I shall watch this with great interest


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## Renfield (Aug 4, 2003)

*Continuing On*

Damn I'm tired, I posted the post meant for my story board here >.< Ah well, anyway, subscribing, this looks rather interesting. It'll be nice to have something a tad modern to read.

Z, AKA: Renfield, AKA: Mr. Happy


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## Agamon (Aug 5, 2003)

S'okay, Renfield.  Mistakes happen. 

Darn, Toki, I was just about to email you and the players, I just wanted to get somehting substantial up.  Glad you approve thus far.


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## Agamon (Aug 5, 2003)

The four journeyed down a short hallway with the wheeled bed before it opened into a large, brightly lit room.  Along the concrete walls of the room were two openings into five-foot by 10-foot cells. The wall with the hallway entrance had only one cell.  Beside each cell were a numeric pad and numerous small monitors.  Each cell was covered with a transparent yellow field of energy.  Six of the cells held occupants that stirred as the group entered the room.  The doctor led the bed to the empty cell across the room, where the orderlies proceeded to move the boy to the cot lying inside.

“Yo, what’d you do him?” a black man in his twenties, wearing simple, loose, one-tone cotton clothing, standing in his cell, demanded.  The group simply ignored him.  He tried again.  “Hey, girl, I’m talking to you!  Why don’t y’all talk back, huh?”

“Yeah, where the hell is this, and what are we doing here?” a woman with dyed-blue hair, also in her twenties and in the same simple clothing as her cellmates wore, asked, but she too was ignored.  “This is ridiculous, you have no right to keep us here!”

Once the unconscious boy was put in the cell, the doctor pushed some buttons on the control pad beside it and a yellow field covered the opening to it, too. As the orderlies rolled the bed back down the hallway, the armed man looked at Dr. Kalam questioningly.  “You can leave.  I’m just going to monitor his vitals for a few moments.  I’ll be fine,” she said, waving her hand at him as she turned toward the control pad beside the boy’s cell.  The soldier followed the orderlies down the hallway.

“Let us out of here, and we’ll see how fine you’ll be,” a young Hispanic man said from his cell.

“Yeah, what he said, man.  I’m gonna mess you up!” the black man added.  A large, olive-skinned man simply sat on his cot in his cell and glared at the woman through the energy field, his nostrils flaring as the others taunted the doctor.

“If it were up to me, I would let you out, but it’s not,” Jaya finally responded without looking away from the monitors, her voice low, but forceful.

A young Asian man, sitting cross-legged on his cot then spoke, his voice calm, “But that is not true.  You enter this room often and have the codes to open our cells.  You have done so many times in the past.  You may believe you cannot free us because of what others tell you, but it is within your power to do so.”

“That’s right, you could!” added the Hispanic man.  “Hey, we could, like, throw you in a cell and maybe even rough you up a bit, or something, to make it look like we caught you by surprise.  Just give us a chance.”

“Not likely,” Jaya responded coldly, though her face showed signs uncertainty.  She gave the monitors a last glance and turned to leave.

“Dammit, let us out of here!” the blue-haired woman yelled.

At that, the last prisoner awoke from her sleep, a red-haired woman in her twenties.  She gracefully leapt from a curled-up position on her cot and started clawing at the energy field, to no avail.  “Let me out!  Let me out!  Let me out!” she continual shrilled as Jaya made her way down the hallway.  Jaya paused before reaching the door, her face stricken with grief.  She stood and thought for a few moments before settling herself down and opening the door.

As the door closed behind her, she looked to Micheal, still standing guard at the door.  “See you in a few minutes, baby,” he said with a grin.

Jaya, seemingly distracted, didn’t smile in return.  “Okay.  I need to talk to you about something…”


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## Agamon (Aug 6, 2003)

“Let me out!  Let me out!  Let me out!”

“All right, Sam, enough already,” the blue-haired woman said.  “She’s gone.  She doesn’t care.  None of them do.  They just want to run whatever tests it is they’re doing to us.” She backed up from the glowing field and sat on her cot, putting her head in her hands.

Sam stopped, gave the other woman a bit of a dirty look before her face softened into a state of resignation.  “Sorry, Sarah, but this place is really starting to drive me buggy.”

“You mean catty, dontcha?” the black man said, leaning on the force field.  “Oh, no, wait, you already a cat, or that’s what you say.  Now that I’d like to see.  Girl turning into a cat-girl.  Wouldn’t that be cool…”

“You’d only see it for a few seconds before I clawed your gaping eyes out, Tyrone,” Sam replied jokingly.

“Hey, I’m glad you guys can sit there and joke, but this ain’t funny,” the Hispanic man said, anger in his voice.

“And I ain’t laughing, Miguel.  But what the hell are we supposed to do?” Tyrone yelled back.  “We tried every trick in the book, but them rent-a-cop guards musta seen all those old movies, too.”

The young Asian man, seemingly meditating upon his cot, spoke, not opening his eyes, “We will not be free of our prisons by simply wishing it so.  We must be patient and await our opportunity.  Our captors will make a mistake eventually, and we shall be ready to take advantage of it.”

“No offense to you, Kiro,” the large Greek man finally said in a thick Russian accent, rising from the bed, “but I am not a patient person.  While this prison keeps the beast locked inside me, I was raised to believe one should be able to go where he wants, do as he wants, and be what he wants.  I would go mad were I to remain here much longer.”

“Right on, big guy.  What Max said.  You make your own opportunities, that’s the only way you get ahead in life, man,” Tyrone added.  He jerked his head around, trying to see into the boy’s cell.  “Hey, how’s Aaron doing?”

Sarah, with a bit better viewpoint, responded, “He looks fine from here.  I’m sure she wouldn’t have left him there if he weren’t.  I pity him for the headache he’ll have tomorrow morning, though.”  Suddenly the lighting dimmed, leaving only the warm, yellow glow of the cell’s force fields.  She added more quietly, “I wonder which of us they’ll take tomorrow…”

No one answered.


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## Agamon (Aug 8, 2003)

Jaya walked down the hallway swiftly and barely acknowledged the few people she had passed.  The calm and thoughtful demeanor she displayed belied the nervousness rumbling in the pit of her stomach.  She checked her watch and hastened her step.

_“This is insane, it’ll never work,”_ she thought as she rounded a corner.  The calm she projected began to waver.  Beads of sweat formed over her brow as she clutched a datapad tightly in her fingers. _ “They could get killed doing this, and it’d be my fault.  Hell, I could get killed, too.”_  She briefly glanced at a slowly panning security camera as she walked past it. _ “No, I’ll let it be they’re choice if they come or not.”_

She rounded another corner, her heart in her throat, but felt some relief at what she saw.  At the end of the hallway, standing guard at the door of the elite prison room was a lone guard, Michael.  He didn’t look very happy to see her.

“I think this is a really bad idea,” Michael said grimly.

“A worse idea would be to do nothing,” Jaya replied.  “I’m sorry, Michael, I have to do this, I told you already…”

“Yeah, I know.  Okay.  I know better than to try and change that stubborn mind of yours.”  Michael looked over at the empty post beside him.  “Jefferson took my suggestion to take off early really well,” he said, smiling.  “He hates the graveyard shift, every other word out of his mouth tonight was a complaint.”  He sighed as he pulled a black rod from his belt.  “Here you go,” he said, handing the rod to Jaya.

Jaya took the rod and looked at Michael worriedly.  “I don’t want to do this.”

“You have to.  I’m going to be in enough trouble as it is.  You need to make it look like I didn’t help you.  Now, it’s this button right here,” Michael replied.  He pressed the button and two small prongs at the other end jolted with electricity.  Jaya flinched.  “It’s okay, it’ll hurt a bit, but not as bad as it does because you’re leaving…” he said, looking in her eyes.

Jaya looked away from him.  “You don’t need to stay here forever.  When you leave, we’ll meet up again.  I told you, I can’t stay here anymore.”

“Oh, I’ll come looking for you, bet on it.  Now you better hurry up, you have less than a half-hour until the next shift comes on.  Good luck.”  Michael smiled, and then closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

“I’m sorry,” was all Jaya could say as she jabbed the stun baton at Michael.  His body jolted for a second and he slumped back against the wall and to the floor.  She kissed his forehead and dropped the baton.  Quickly gathering her wits, she punched a code into the door panel.  Once again, she gave a retinal scan and the door slid open.  She hurried inside.


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## Renfield (Aug 11, 2003)

Wow man, looking good so far, is this essentially the first gaming session or setting the stage for that or what? Hehe, getting giddy, escape from some high tech medical facility, doctor betraying those she works for. Good stuff. One question, is the facility so secure it needs no cameras? Just curious is all.

Renfield


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## Mimic (Aug 11, 2003)

Renfield said:
			
		

> One question, is the facility so secure it needs no cameras? Just curious is all.




They do have cameras.



> Hell, I could get killed, too.” She briefly glanced at a slowly panning security camera as she walked past it. “No, I’ll let it be they’re choice if they come or not.”


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## Agamon (Aug 12, 2003)

Renfield said:
			
		

> *Wow man, looking good so far, is this essentially the first gaming session or setting the stage for that or what? Hehe, getting giddy, escape from some high tech medical facility, doctor betraying those she works for. Good stuff. One question, is the facility so secure it needs no cameras? Just curious is all.
> *




Thanks for the props.  This was a gaming session a helluva long time ago using the Marvel Saga rules.  We only played the one session because I'm not a big fan of MS.  We're trying 'er again, this time with MnM and in Toki's world instead of Marvel.  It's somewhat modified, as a couple characters have been added or changed (as has the world), but we didn't really need to play it again, so I'm retelling it here to set the stage.

As for the cameras, yeah, there probably should have been a camera set up right outside the door, but that would have been a big headache, so there's not.


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## Agamon (Aug 12, 2003)

Jaya entered the darkened room where the walls of energy blocking the cells hummed and bathed everything in a low, yellow light.  She moved to the control panel next to the cell holding Kiro Shiantsu.  “Kiro, wake up,” she whispered.  She punched some numbers into the control panel and the glow in front of his cell dissipated.

Kiro awoke at the whisper, not with a start, but calmly, as though he had only been lying down with his eyes closed.  “Doctor?  It’s late, what are you doing?” he asked as he sat up on his cot.

“We’re leaving,” she replied.  “All of us.”

“We’re leaving?!?” a shrill voice shrieked from across the room.  Samantha was standing at the barrier of her cell, looking anxious.  The others began to awaken at the sound of Sam’s voice

“Yes, but be quiet!” Jaya spat back.  “Or you won’t be going anywhere and I’ll end up in here with you.”

“In here with us?” Kiro said as he left his cell.  “So you are an elite, just as we are.  I suspected as much.  Why, then, are you one of the scientists experimenting on us?”

“That story will have to wait.  We’re in a hurry,” she said, moving to the next cell, Tyrone’s.

“Nuh-uh,” Tyrone said, shaking his head.  “You better be telling us now, girl.  Why should we go with you?  I don’t trust you further than I can piss.”

Jaya unlocked the cell and replied, “What exactly have you got to lose?  I can tell you that, even though it may not look like it to all of you, I’m just as much a prisoner here as you are.”

“You’re right, it don’t look like that to me,” Tyrone answered back.

“Hey, man, she’s letting us out.  And we’re going to complain about it?” Miguel asked.  “Let’s just get the hell out of here and sweat the small stuff later.”  He stepped out of his cell as Jaya removed the energy field.

“What about our abilities, will they ever come back?” Sarah asked Jaya as she moved to open her cell.

Jaya stopped what she was doing for a brief moment, considering the question, and then finished opening Sarah’s cell before replying, “There is one more of you, an older gentleman named Brian, who I can’t release.  They keep him in a separate room near here, but I haven’t the clearance to enter it.”  She moved to the next cell.  “It’s his power that nullifies all of your powers while you’re in this room.”

“What?  We gotta get him out!” Sam stated emphatically as Jaya opened her cell.

“I told you,” Jaya said, briefly glancing at Sam before moving to the next cell, “that’s impossible.  I don’t want to leave him here any more than you do, but we need to be realistic if we’re actually going to make it out of here.”

Max was still sitting on his cot as Jaya came to his cell.  The large man seemed to be trying to calm himself before standing.  “When will our abilities return?” he asked Jaya as the energy field in front of him disappeared.

“As soon as we leave the room.” Jaya told him.  She turned to the others and added, “But don’t use them if they’re obvious, we’re trying to sneak out of here.  Using force from the get-go won’t get us anywhere.”

“You infer that the use of force may eventually become necessary, however?”  Kiro asked.  “You do have a plan to escape, do you not?”

“Sort of,” Jaya said as she moved to the last cell.  “Well, not really.  The hallways are relatively empty this time of night.  We just need to be careful."  She turned toward the others.  "Once we get to the entrance, however, it might get tough…I don't think they'd try to kill you.  The experiments are too valuable to shoot you and start over.  From what I understand, it'd be a waste of many millions of dollars, so I'm pretty sure they'll try to recapture you.  Me, I'm not sure what they'll do to me if I get captured.  But I don't care, because I don't intend to get caught.  So are all of you with me?”

Each of them nodded and spoke in approval, though the speech obviously caused some unease.

Jaya finally turned back and opened the last cell, entered it, and kneeled near the cot where the boy was still sleeping.  “Aaron?” she said, gently shaking his shoulder.  “Aaron, you need to wake up.”

After a few more prods, Aaron’s eyes opened.  He squinted in the darkness at the doctor.  “Huh?  What’s going on?”

“We’re leaving this place.  Are you alright to walk?” Jaya replied.

Aaron smiled faintly.  “Cool.  What are we waiting for?”


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## Agamon (Aug 12, 2003)

The door slid open with a hiss.  Jaya poked her head out into the corridor, looking down all three hallways of the T-intersection.  She then glanced down at the slumped form of Michael.  A sad look began to crease her features, but it quickly became stern as she shook her head slightly.  “Alright, the coast is clear,” she said back through the doorway.

Everyone filed out into the hallway.  Samantha stretched and said, “Finally!”  Suddenly her features began to shift into that of a cat, though her form remained bipedal.  “You don’t know what you have until you lose it.”

“What did I just finish telling you!?” Jaya screamed at a whisper.  “Turn back, right now!”

“Well, meow,” Sam responded sarcastically, as she shifted back.  “Who peed in your litter box?”

“I need you people to listen to me and do as I say if we’re to get out of here.  I hope we all understand that,” she said, looking at each one of them.

“Hey, you get me outta here, and you can do whatever you want with me, babe.  You dig?” Tyrone said with a grin.

A groan came from below, as Michael began to stir.  “Hey, this guy’s trying to get up,” Miguel said looking down at the guard.  He grabbed the stun baton lying at Michael’s side and jolted him with it.  “There, back to sleep, man.”

Jaya could only look on in shock.  “What are you doing?” she growled.  She gave another worried look towards Michael.  “C’mon, leave him alone, let’s get moving.  I need all of you to walk with your hands behind your backs, as though you’re cuffed, just in case we need to bluff our way out of a problem.”  She looked at Miguel.  “Have you ever seen Dr. McDermott?”

“Dr. who?  I dunno,” Miguel answered, shrugging.

“Older man, large chin, red hair graying at the temples?” Jaya said, exasperated.

“Wait, hold that image, doctor,” Sarah said, looking intensely at Jaya.  She then turned to Miguel.  “He looks like this,” she said to him.

“Hey, cool, man, I’m seeing things…” Miguel said before his features began to change to that of Dr. McDermott.

“Excellent,” Jaya said with a smile.  “Thanks, Sarah.  Miguel, walk with me.  The rest of you follow behind.”

“No fair, he gets to change and I don’t?” Sam said, pouting.

Jaya shook her head.  “Oh, be quiet, and let’s go, already!”


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## Agamon (Aug 13, 2003)

The group made its way down two hallways before Jaya turned at motioned for the rest to stop.  “There’s a security camera around the corner,” she cautioned.  “These hallways lead to the laboratories where the tests are taken.  A lot of information is stored there.  The labs themselves have human guards as well, but we’re not going anywhere near them.

“The camera pans sixty degrees of the hallway.  You need to approach it while it’s looking the other way, and stick as close to the wall as you can.  The intersection it’s panning leads to the labs.  We’re not going that way; just continue along the same hallway as the camera pans back this way and get around the corner quick.  Go one at a time.  Miguel and I will go first, as we don’t need to worry about the camera.  Wait for my signal before you proceed.  Alright?”

The others all nodded in understanding.  Jaya looked to Miguel and motioned for them to leave.  “Don’t look at the camera,” she whispered.  They turned the corner and proceeded down the hallway.

“Say something to me,” Jaya said to Miguel as they began to walk.

“Say something?  Like what?” Miguel answered back, as they approached the camera.

Jaya rolled her eyes.  “I don’t know, just talk about something.  We need to converse, it looks more natural.”

“We need to converse?  Well, we just did, right?” he said grinning as they rounded the corner, once more out of the eye of the camera.

“Hey, who’s there?” a voice said from down the hall.  A young man in a guard’s uniform walked out from the shadows.  “Oh, hi, doctors.  A little late, isn’t it?”

Jaya was shocked, but was ready to speak.  She didn’t speak quickly enough.

“Late?” Miguel spat in a deep, Scottish-accented voice, sounding nothing like his own.  “I’ll damn well say it’s late!  Dr. Kalam and I were discussing what we should put into our report to our superiors tomorrow, but I’m sure that whatever drivel is about to come out of your mouth is much more important!”

“Um, uh, sorry, sir, uh, doctor,” the guard sputtered.   “I was just, uh, I’ll just…” He quickly turned around and headed back the way he came.

“Hey, not bad,” Jaya said with a smile.  She looked around the corner and quickly waved at Tyrone, who was watching for her.  “Except, Alan sounds nothing like that.  He’s from Michigan.”

“Yeah, well, he sure didn’t seem to have a clue,” Miguel replied with a grin.

The others carefully made their way past the camera before they all continued skulk down the hallways.  They made their way past two more cameras without incident before coming to an elevator.

“Yo, that was too easy,” Tyrone said as Jaya swiped a card through a slot beside the elevator doors.  “And you got us all worried about gettin’ caught.”

“We’re not done yet,” Jaya replied as the doors opened.  They all moved into the elevator, which quickly became somewhat cramped.  “This level doesn’t have much security.  No one’s supposed to be able to get down here…”


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## Agamon (Aug 15, 2003)

*Ding* 

The elevators doors slid open, revealing a hallway similar to the others the group had traveled through already.  As everyone was leaving the elevator, Jaya told them, “I really have little reason to be up here; neither does Dr. McDermott.  The fact that you are all with us wouldn’t help make the explanation become any easier.  I don’t see us getting out of here without a fight, so be on your guard.”

“So, there will certainly be a fight, then?” Max asked, his brow furling.

Jaya sighed and nodded.  “Yeah, I don’t think they’ll just let us stroll out the front doors.  This situation could get messy, but try not to lose your cool.”  She looked down the corridor.  “Hmmm, it’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure its this way,” she said, and began to walk in the direction she was facing.  The others followed, though some anxious looks were exchanged.

They followed the hallway past an intersection and rounded a corner.  Three armed men, facing each other and talking, stood in front of a red metal door.  They turned in unison at the group’s appearance.  “Hey, who are you?” one of them asked.

“We’re under orders to move these subjects,” Jaya responded quickly.

“What?  Move them where?  Why’d you bring them up here?”  The guard made a move to grab his communicator.  The other two went for pistols at their belts.

“Yo, I don’t think so,” Tyrone said, raising his hand.  Suddenly, it was as though reality began to ripple around the guards.  As the ripple hit each of them, they stood rigid in their tracks.  The strain of holding all three men motionless was apparent on Tyrone’s face.  “Little help for a brother?” he asked through clenched teeth.

Before Tyrone even finished speaking, Kiro leapt through the air, swinging his leg around as he did, his foot connecting with two of the guards’ heads.  As he landed, he turned and punched at the third’s chest, sending him back into the wall.  In a matter of seconds, all three were slumped on the ground, Kiro standing over them.

Before anything could be said, however, a wailing alarm began to sound.  “Dammit, that camera!” Jaya exclaimed, looking up at the camera pointed at the door.  “Let’s get outta here, fast!”  She nearly dropped her card as she hurriedly slid it in the card pass beside the door.  But the door didn’t open.

“My cardkey doesn’t work!” she said, throwing the card to the ground.  “We need through this door, now!”

Kiro attempted to force it open, but the metal door wouldn’t give.  Jaya turned to Max.  “We need you to change, Max,” she said.

“No,” he replied nervously.  “There must be another way.”

“Listen, we need to get out of here, now, don’t you understand?” Jaya yelled at him.

Max’s face turned grim.  “No, I won’t do it!”

“Change, damn you!” she said, as she backhanded him in the head.

As Max flung his head back, his eyes became a deep yellow and the muscles in his face looked as though they were straining to burst the skin.  He staggered back a few feet, as he began to grow in height and proportion, his clothes tearing as he did.  He gave out a bellow that resonated above the blaring alarm as large horns began to protrude from his head and his form began to cover itself with brown hair.  I moments, where Maxamillion Romanoff once stood, there was now a hulking beast of man with the head of bull.  It leaned in towards Jaya and snorted.  Jaya stumbled back a few steps.

“Aye carumba, what the hell is that?” Miguel shouted.

“It’s Max…” Jaya said, the luster gone from her voice.

“Not Max,” it rumbled in reply.  “Call me Minotaur.”

“Uh, okay, Minotaur,” Jaya said.  “Can you open this door for us?”

It looked at the red door and seemed to smirk.  “To get out of this hole?  My pleasure.” It took a single stride towards the door and kicked at it with its other foot.  The door burst open and flew ten feet down the hall on the other side.

Everyone stared at the doorway momentarily before regaining their senses and rushing through it, hoping the way out was not far behind.


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## Agamon (Aug 17, 2003)

The hallway beyond was more brightly lit, both from the additional florescent lights and the bright white walls.  The group moved quickly through, soon coming to an intersection.

“Left, go left!” Jaya blurted out to those in front of her.  As they turned the corner, a door at the end of the hall slid open and number of human-sized metal beings rolled through it eight in total.  

In a computerized, monotone voice, the lead robot ordered, “Cease and desist this escape attempt.  Failure to comply will necessitate the use of force to ensure…”

“Comply this, you pile of scrap!” Sam shouted, as she leapt through he air, her form changing as she did.  Long, razor-sharp claws shot out from her knuckles and she slashed deep gouges in the lead robots armor, causing tiny sparks to fly.  The robot spun to meet the charge, a pair of wires shooting out from its mid-section.  Sam barely jumped out of the way of the attack, landing as the wires fell and zipped back into the robot almost as quickly as they were released.

“Stick by me, doc, I gotcher’ six,” Tyrone said, grasping Jaya’s shoulder.  As he did, the air rippled a few inches out from around both of them for a moment.  He raised his other arm up and a large wave shot out from him, striking another robot in the head, causing it some damage and nearly knocking it over.  He looked down behind her and added with a grin, “and a nice, tight six it be, too, girl.”

Sarah aimed a hand at a different target, and moved it in an upward motion.  The robot she pointed at began to rise in the air until it touching the ceiling.  The machine swiveled its head her way and raised its own arm, firing a laser blast that struck her in the shoulder.  She gasped in pain and lost her concentration, causing the robot to fall to the floor, prone.

Aaron, still feeling the effects of the drugs administered to him earlier, appeared somewhat shaken at the events.  But he quickly steadied himself, and his body was suddenly covered in flames.  Rising a few feet off the floor, he flew forward and shot a stream of flame from his hands at the robot Tyrone had damaged.  It made little sound as it fell over, half-slag and smoking.

Before he could even smile at his handiwork, however, another robot shot its laser back at Aaron.  It struck him full in the chest, sending him reeling back into the wall, where he fell, slouched over and no longer moving.

Kiro, seeing this, jumped forth, a golden light covering his body.  As he leapt forward, his arm shot out and a bright, sword-shaped object that looked to be made entirely of light sprung forth from nowhere into his hand.  He brought the light-blade down on a robot, carving it nearly in two.  It gave off a shower of sparks as it fell over.

As Kiro landed, another robot shot at him with its laser weapon.  The blast struck him in the leg, but it didn’t appear to harm him.

At the same time, Minotaur charged forward.  He ran to the nearest robot and grabbed him.  The robot shot its twin wires at the beast, which struck him in the shoulder.  A powerful jolt of electricity shot through into him, causing him to howl.  Angry, he picked the robot up, and swinging it by its head, smashed it down on the robot that lay prone from Sarah’s attack.  The two collided, causing a small explosion.  Bits of metal flew everywhere.

Miguel watched as Minotaur attacked.  “Hey, that looks like fun,” he said, concentrating on the beast.  As he did, he began to change form, from that of Dr. McDermott, into that of another Minotaur, though far less massive.  He charged forward, his head down and crashed into the robot that Sam had hit.  One of his horns impaled the machine, which caused it to sputter into stillness.  Miguel tried to remove himself from the robot, but couldn’t, his horn stuck in the machines torso.  “Aw, man, this sucks.  Little help?”

Jaya, witnessing the carnage around her, winced.  She looked at Tyrone.  “We need to finish this,” she said.  Her eyes gained a swirling sheen, like pools of mercury.  Tyrone began to glow a similar color.

“Whoa, what are you doing to me?” Tyrone shouted.

Jaya frowned impatiently at him.  “Come on, I said let’s finish this!”

Tyrone aimed at one of the remaining robots and shot a wave of kinetic energy at it.  The wave seemed much larger than the last, knocking the robot back into the wall and crushing it into pieces.  “I’m super-charged!  Right on!” he exclaimed with a grin.

One of the remaining robots turned towards Samantha, and fired a small object at her that burst open to reveal a net.  Sam spun and summersault back-flipped over the flying net, landing on the robot’s shoulders.  She then jammed both sets of her claws into its metal head and pulled her hands apart, causing another shower of sparks to erupt from the now destroyed machine.

The final robot charged forward.  “Cease and desist!” it demanded.  “Cease and de…” before it could finish, Kiro swung his sword around slicing the robot’s head clean off its body.

As the last robot fell, Jaya ran over to Aaron’s slumped over form.  She knelt beside him and checked his vitals.

“Is he okay?” Tyrone asked, still giving off a silvery glow.

“He’s alive,” she said relieved, “but he’s pretty badly hurt.  Minotaur, can you carry him?” she asked.

Minotaur rolled his eyes.  “Yeah, whatever.”  He effortlessly lifted the boy off the ground and cradled him in one massive arm.  “Damn kid.”

Miguel, now in his own form and no longer stuck, looked at Sarah.  “You gonna be okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, let’s just get out of here,” she said in response, her face showing some discomfort.

Kiro moved towards the door and thrust his light sword through the control panel, and a small explosion erupted from it.  Minotaur, using his unburdened left hand, grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it open.  “Ladies first,” he said to Kiro with a smirk.


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## Agamon (Aug 20, 2003)

As Krio sprang through the door, he stopped suddenly looking out before him.  In a large area that looked like lobby, nearly two-dozen guards stood facing him, each training an assault rifle or handgun in his direction.  As Minotaur began to squeeze through the doorway, one of the guards shouted, “Stop, or we’ll shoot!  Surrender now!  Lay down with your hands behind your heads immediately!”

“They gotta be kidding,” Minotaur said with a smirk.

Kiro glanced at the large man.  “Minotaur, do not forget the boy.”

“Oh, yeah.  Damn,” he said looking down at Aaron.

“Do it!  Now!” the guard shouted.

“Doctor, can you help me like you did Tyrone?” Sarah asked Jaya, both standing in the doorway.

“Of course,” Jaya replied.  She grasped Sarah’s arm, her eyes becoming like liquid metal once more, and Sarah began to glow with a silvery aura.

Sarah nodded, “Good, I’ve never tried this before.” She began to concentrate, staring out amongst the armed men.  Suddenly, all of the men cried out in unison, dropping their guns, clutching their heads and screaming.  Then they all fell to the floor, unconscious.

Sarah gripped the doorway, her legs giving way beneath her.  Jaya and Tyrone were there to catch her before she fell.  She steadied herself as trickle of blood dripped from her nose.

“Daaaamn, girl.  Remind me never to piss you off,” Tyrone said, looking Sarah up and down.

Jaya gave Sarah a quick inspection.  “Are you okay, Sarah?”  Sarah nodded.  “Good,” Jaya said to everyone.  “Now, quick, let’s get out of here.”

As the group made their way across the lobby, Sarah knelt down, grabbing a couple of the guards’ handguns.  “Whatcha need those for, chica?  Just make their brains ooze out of their heads again,” Miguel suggested as he passed her.

“Yeah, well my brain’s feeling like ooze right now, too.  Besides,” Sarah said cocking the guns, “they’re Berettas, my favorite.”

Miguel raised an eyebrow.  “Aw, man, you ain’t a cop, are ya?”  Sarah, moving to catch up with the others, just turned her head to him and smiled.  “Madre de Dios,” he added rolling his eyes.

The escapees made their way outside.  The air was crisp cool, and the scenery was breathtaking.  The doors opened immediately into a parking lot with a few cars.  But, beyond that, a steep escarpment gave way.  Tree-lined mountains surrounded the place, a lone gravel road leading down.  Mist clung to the dark morning air, the sun only beginning to rise behind the tall mountains.

“I hope my car’s still here,” Jaya said looking around.

“You hope…?” Sam replied incredulously.

“It’s been a while…there!” Jaya said pointing down a row of vehicles.

Suddenly, bullets began to rip through the air, cracking against the pavement around them.  “Let’s go!” Jaya shouted, running. 

The rest followed, Minotaur and Tyrone taking up the rear to protect the others from the gunfire coming from the entrance, they had just left.  Of the complex they had just left, only the lobby could be seen as jutted out from the side of the mountain.  To their right was another building, this one plainer looking and free-standing.  Dozens of armed men began to stream from the new building, and began shooting.

“Looks like you were wrong about them trying to kill us, doc,” Sam said as a bullet bit the ground near her feet.

Jaya didn’t answer not stopping until she reached a minivan.  She unlocked the doors.  “Quick, get in!”

“Your ride’s a Windstar?  The hell were thinking, girl?” Tyrone stated disapprovingly.

Jaya rolled her eyes, “Don’t complain, at least we’ll all fit.”

Minotaur, getting riddled in the back with bullets, but not seeming to car, said, somewhat peeved, “Uh, excuse me?”

“Oh, right,” Jaya replied.  “Can you turn back into Max?”

“Yeah, right.  That loser’d be Swiss cheese the second I changed.  Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve been able to stretch.  No dice,” Minotaur growled.  “Wait, I can work this,” he said with a menacing grin.  He handed Arron to Tyrone, opened the back of the van and ripped the back seat out, tossed it aside, and climbed in, the back of the minivan sinking under the weight.

“You stupid…we could have rolled it out!” Jaya yelled.

Minotaur grabbed the door to swing it down.  “Whatever, like we have time, let’s go.”

More bullets began ringing around them, a few hitting the van.  Everyone piled into the vehicle, Jaya in the driver’s seat.  The van backed out of the stall and quickly made its way to the winding mountain road.


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## Agamon (Aug 20, 2003)

Darkness and quiet were suddenly disturbed by the sounding of an alarm.  Dr. McDermott awoke with a start, grabbing his glasses.  Noting the time on his alarm clock, he pressed the com button on the desk beside his bed.

“What’s going on?” he demanded.

“A voice from a nearby speaker replied.  “The subjects are escaping, sir.”

A bewildered look overcame the doctor.  “What?!  Escaping?  How is that possible?”

“It appears that Dr. Kalam is assisting them, sir,” the voice replied.

“Jaya?  What in the hell…I’m on my way!” Dr McDermott shouted, rising from his bed.  He quickly dressed, and soon made his way to a room filled with computers and people working them.  “Where are they?” he asked.

A man wearing a headset replied, “They’ve escaped the building, sir.  They’re in the parking lot.”

“Goddammit, tell me what’s going on out there!  No one had better be firing on the subjects!” he said, his face turning red with anger.

The computer operator turned to the doctor.  “I believe Colonel Borowski has engaged his troops, doctor.”

“You tell the Colonel that if even one of those subjects dies, his ass is finished, understand?” the doctor spat loudly.

“Yes, doctor,” the man replied.  He hit a few buttons on the keyboard before him and spoke, “Col. Borowski?  Dr. McDermott is here and he…”  The doctor tore the headset away from the man and put in on his own head.

“Borowski? Damn it, you know that we can’t afford to lose even a single subject.  Both your government and my company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on each one of those elites, and I’ll be damned if I let you harm a hair on their heads!” McDermott blared into the microphone.  “Of course, you capture them, but do it without killing them.  And if the chips are damaged, they’re as good as dead to us, so the less harm done, the better…I don’t care how you do it, just do it!” he ripped the headset off and threw it back at the operator in anger.  Finally he sat down, removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes.  “God almighty, what a mess…” he muttered.


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## Agamon (Aug 23, 2003)

The van began to make its way down the mountainside road, a fairly sheer rock wall on its right and a long, steep drop to the left.  The morning haze still clung to the ground, the summer sun still looming behind the eastern mountains.  The van slowed to round a particularly tight corner.

“Hell, woman, can’t you go any faster?” Tyrone belted out from behind Jaya.

Jaya didn’t dare to glance back.  “No, not with all the weight in here.  I’m not too keen on finding out how aerodynamic this thing is.”

“So where exactly are we?” Sarah asked from the passenger seat.

“Colorado.  About forty-five minutes northwest of Colorado Springs,” Jaya answered.

“What are we going to Colorado Springs for?” Samantha asked, squished in between Tyrone and Miguel.

Jaya sighed, “We’re not going to Colorado Springs.  Well, not to stay, anyway.  Friends of my family have a ranch near Trenton, Nebraska.  I’m going to try to get us there.”

“Okay,” Miguel said, “so why are going there?  I can think if a hundred better places to be than some farm in Nebraska.”

“We need to get to a safe place to remove the chips,” Jaya responded.

“Chips?  What chips…?” Sarah asked before being interrupted by Minotaur.

“We gotta problem, kids!” he bellowed from the back.  “Have a look behind us…”

Sarah poked her head out the window and looked back.  Flying towards the van were two military helicopters.

She swung her had back inside, her face lit with shock.  “Choppers!  Two of them!”

“Choppers?  Now how’s that fair?  We got a freakin’ Windstar!” Tyrone bemoaned.

Beads of sweat began to appear on Jaya’s forehead.  “Okay, this is not good…” she muttered to herself.

But before she could decide what to do, each helicopter launched a single missile.  The first crashed into the mountain wall behind the speeding van, creating a small rockslide that covered the road behind them.  The second streaked past the van, slamming into a bridge that lay ahead of them, its destroyed remains crumbling into the deep chasm.

“Think they want us to stop?” Miguel joked nervously.

“Not until we clear that chasm.  Sarah, you up to this?” Jaya asked, sparing a moment to glance at her.

Sarah’s eyes widened.  “The whole van?  I dunno…”

“Do or do not, girl, there is no ‘dunno’,” Tyrone stated, looking straight ahead a the oncoming drop.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Sarah said readying herself.  Jaya removed one hand from the wheel long enough to touch Sarah’s leg to boost her telekinetic powers.  As the van came to the bridge, Sarah, glowing silver once again, closed her eyes and raised her hands before her.  As the van reached the edge of the smashed bridge it began to rise in the air.  The van propelled forward through the air, landing less than gracefully on the other side, bouncing slightly before skidding to stop as it bumped sideways into the guardrail along the other side of the road.

“Alright, target practice,” Minotaur said as he opened the hatch and climbed out.  He leaned over and ripped a girder from the guardrail and threw it hard at the closest copter.  Much to his chagrin, however, it sailed short of its mark.  “Hmmm, looks like I need practice, actually,” he quipped.

As the helicopters moved closer, the other began to file out of the van.  Sarah looked up and pointed at one of the advancing choppers, “I’m going to try and make on hit the other,” she shouted.  The helicopter wavered slightly, but continued on its path.

“Lemme give you a hand,” Tyrone said, joining Sarah.  The helicopter began to swing a bit as the pilot tried to keep control of the machine, but it continued to come.

Suddenly, it swung hard in one direction and began to lose control.  As it spun around, both pilots ejected from their vehicles.  The out of control copter slammed into the side of the other, rotors tearing into each other.  Seconds later, the mass crashed into the mountainside, exploding.

“They really should watch for those sudden drafts of wind…” a weak voice said from the side door of the van.  Everyone looked back to see a conscious Aaron poking out the side door, grinning.

“Hey, way to go, kid,” Miguel said to Aaron.

“Okay, let’s get going…” Jaya said, still in the van, as her door was pinned closed from the railing.

“Do you believe they’ll continue to follow us, doctor?  They’ve both cut off the road and destroyed the bridge, making it very difficult for them to do so,” Kiro said as he returned to the van.

“That might slow them down, but they won’t stop.  You’re too valuable to them,” Jaya responded.

“Yeah, but how will they find us now?” Sam said.

“As I was saying, the chips we have implanted in our necks; among other things, they’re homing beacons.  They can easily track our exact location by satellite.” Jaya said as she pulled the van away from the railing and down the road once more.

“What?  We have chips in out necks?  And they can find us with them.  Aw, man, this just keeps getting better,” Miguel moaned.

“But you mentioned that you can remove them, right, doctor?” Kiro asked.

“Yes, I helped put them in, I think I can remove them,” Jaya said.

“Well, damn, let’s get to that farm then.” Tyrone said emphatically.  “In the meantime, sugar, wontcha play something funky that a brother can drive to?” he added leaning in to turn on the radio.

Music began to play, “…song sung blue, sleeping on my pillow…”

As the van makes its way down the dirt road, all that can be heard is, “Damn, girl, what the hell is that…?!”

End Prologue

Issue One


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