(I guess mentioning that the rule against character controlling is pretty rudimentary would be a tad late now, wouldn't it?)

My world is spinning. The punch is abnormally hard; too hard for any normal person to throw. It puts my world in a blur; all sounds go wet and with great effort I can just barely make out his whispers from behind the echo in my skull.

All kinds of profanity scream in my head. It's impossible. It couldn't possibly be him. He died; we all made sure he was dead - no survivors, no witnesess. That was the rule.

Manute...

I pull the trigger, sending sparks and led into Manute's face, hitting only metal. The bullet ricohched the metal surface with a bolt of sound that would've hurt my ears; had I been able to hear it.

I pull the trigger one more time. It scrapes the forhead of the beast, revealing the bone behind the flesh.

I manage to pull myself out of Manute's grip, only to find that my balance is no longer my ally. The world is spinning, nothing stays still. I fall to the ground. The pain from the punch returns as if he had punched me again. It works invertedly. Everything returns back to focus.

I'm not going to get a moment to shoot at Manute until he's dowm for the count. Hopefully I'll be able to take him down again. I kid myself that there's actually any hope and stand up.

"How are you still alive?"

Sylar just lay there, underneath the black man, his hand was getting closer, Sylar knew he had no chance, no hope if the hatian's hand landed on his forehead. Thinking of every solution, Sylar fought back, as hard as he could, but the black mans hand was still getting closer, but alot slower, Sylar fought him with all the power he could muster.
"look behind you." Sylar said, hoping to distract him.
"I'm not going to fall for a silly trick like that." Sylar managed to stop the hand from getting closer, but he wouldnt be able to keep it up.

(if my guess is right.... we'll see what happens.)

"SMITE EVIL!" shouted Azure, raising her katana and bringing it down through the garbage dump in one swipe. The metal box was sliced clean in two, but Belkar was nowhere to be seen.

"I still got those high ranks in Hide and Move Silently," came the Halfling's voice.

"But my Spot and Listen Checks are improved since last time," replied Azure, jumping through a broken window to land next to the stunned Halfling inside. Belkar threw a knife and leapt up through a hole in the dusty ceiling. Azure pulled out the knife, healed her wound, and followed up the stairs.

"There's no escape from it this time, Halfling!" Azure shouted. "You're going to--"

Belkar jumped down from above and gave a friendly wave. There was a faint creaking noise.

Then an ancient chandelier collapsed on top of Azure and carried her with it as it crashed through the three rotting floorboards before landing in the basement.

The grinding and groaning sounds didn't stop when the chandelier did, though, so Belkar leapt out the window and prepared for the fall while the entire building collapsed behind him.

***

"No, seriously," Sylar repeated, straining. "Look."

Haiti didn't look. And a rotting wooden board from a collapsing building thunked him on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. Sylar rolled him off.

Belkar landed at Sylar's side and adopted a combat pose as the ruins of the building began to shift.

"Dismiss... Bear's Strength..." groaned Azure, causing a blue aura around her body to dissipate. Then she healed her wounds and leapt out of the dust.

"You can't hide from me, Halfling!" she screamed.

"Stop her," Belkar said to Sylar. "Do your thing."

"I'm trying," Sylar answered. "It's not working... the Haitian's unconscious, why isn't it working?!"

"The grace of my Gods protects me from all grapple-based psychic attacks--Hold Person, Telekinesis, and whatever else you can try, blasphemers!"

Azure leapt into the fray and slashed Belkar across the face with her wakishazi, kicking Sylar in the face simultaneously.

Sylar fell to the floor, he hadn't expected the kick, she moved too fast for him. Sylar looked around and saw a trash can, fully loaded with garbage. perfect. Sylar picked up the trash can and threw it telekinetically at the woman who had just kicked him.

Bellatrix leaned against a wall, panting for breath, her chest feeling as though it was on fire. What I wouldn’t give for a broomstick, she thought. Forget the broomstick, if I had my wand I could just kill Dawlish.

Bellatrix couldn’t hear any sounds of pursuit. She looked around for anything she could use as a weapon, and noticed a cell door. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she slid the panel away from the window. Lying on the floor inside was a white-robed wizard. He sat up at the sound of the sliding panel.

Bellatrix swore softly as she heard Dawlish’s distant footsteps. She couldn’t run anymore, but maybe she didn’t have to. The wizard didn’t look like someone who would shrink from killing.

Bellatrix didn’t know who the wizard was, and right now she didn’t care. All that mattered was getting rid of Dawlish.

“There’s a guard coming,” Bellatrix said. “If you can at least slow him down, I’ll let you out. Agreed?”

Jason shut down the Terminal screen, sighed, and turned to face the Corinthian.

"You're going to be my bodyguard, Corinthian."

The nightmare looked perplexed. "...what?"

"There is one threat out there that I can't defend myself against. Not yet, anyway."

"Which is?"

"The man named Freddy Krueger."

The Corinthian was still confused. "How in the Dreaming would I help you against him more than someone else?"

"You don't know the full extent of Krueger's powers. The Fear could have told you, but he never had the opportunity. You see, Krueger preys on his victims through their nightmares. He has the power to inflict real damage to their bodies through their dreams. It's rather unique, really. But it's rather dangerous to me because Krueger has managed to free himself from the teleportation grid and escape into the collective dreams of this facility."

The Corinthian nodded. "I see where this is going. It won't work."

"Really?"

"You want me to be your nightmare. You want to dream me every time you sleep so that I can keep Krueger out of your head."

"Quite so."

"But it won't work," insisted the Corinthian. "I'm not designed to be a recurring nightmare. Dreaming me repeatedly would be just as bad for you as Krueger would!"

"Unlikely," Jason replied. "I have a singularly unique control of my own psyche. I once attempted to escape prison by inducing my mind with a seizure and then stopping it once I was taken to the prison hospital wing."

"Did it work?"

"That's none of your business."

"This seems like a bad idea to me, for a lot of reasons," persisted the Corinthian.

"So now you're suddenly concerned for my well-being? Be serious now," chuckled Jason. "And at any rate, I'm not going to let you contact Dream until you agree to take on the job."

"I'll... think it over," the Corinthian answered, turning away to sit in a corner of the room.

"Think quickly," said Jason. "I've been awake for the past several days, and I'm really getting rather drowsy."

***

The Enforcer felt a blast of energy strike it, and looked up to see Shriek gliding toward it.

"Subject: Frances Louise Barrison... Preferred Containment Method: Sound-Proofing Rubber Rounds"

The Enforcer's arm morphed into a cannon and blasted two horse-sized globs of molten rubber in Shriek's direction.

"Analyzing response patterns..."

***

Dear Die-ary,

Today I found some eviscerated people in my new home. One of them had his hand stuffed into his mouth. Tee hee!

I took the wheels off of the Wall and nailed it over a hallway. Then I crucified one of the surviving evisceratees on it.

Nothing else particularly interesting happened today.


Ever yours,
Johnny C.



(Polo, I do believe that's your cue, in the post above this one.)

Shriek saw with disgust and surprise the big glob of... Of -- What was it?
She intended to avoid it anyway and did so ever so gracefully by gliding over it through the air, though she hadn't taken notice of the second glob before her legs got caught in the still hot mass. With the enforcer ready to shoot at her again she was put under some pressure. In a brief moment of panic her first move was to try and fly out of the glob, only dragging the damn thing with her, so she used her powers to force the glob backwards while flying in the other direction. The Enforcer shot yet another glob after her, either making sure she would fly in a wrong direction or simply get caught in the glob. She changed the direction of the energy pressure, flying in direction with it and making sure to avoid the glob that splattered against the wall. She finally let go of the glob, leaving it to fall to the floor below her. Think, think!
She flew to the ceiling, feeling her powers had been drained. This Enforcer was not human, and she would not try and tricks on it. There was nothing to sense either. Nothing!
It worried her a bit for a moment, as it limited her. But just for a moment. She tried to send smaller waves of energy to make sure her attacks were rapid.
She was a machine on her own.
The Enforcer finally seemed to be distracted properly from hurting her, so she sent the blasts with greater force, hitting him harder. She needed him to fall over to give her a break. He finally fell after much work, and she hissed through the comlink: "You better make sure something happens fast!"

"I've negotiated a treaty with the CEO," Jason responded, through the comlink. "He's sending reinforcements, he wants this thing taken down just as much as we do. How much longer can you handle it by yourself?"

The Enforcer got back on its feet. "Subject displays high level of agility. Increasing area of attack by x5 units."

Lights flashed red all over the Enforcer's metallic frame, and then separated themselves from the metal body. Dancing red lights moved out in an orbit around the machine, forming a sphere of shimmering crimson that gradually expanded outward.

"Shriek, get away from it," Jason warned. "Stay at least fifty feet away until I say otherwise!"

The red lights flickered ominously as the sphere of light expanded.

The Fear had been squeezing through the vent for some time now, he had seen several vent covers that showed a view of the outside, but it still looked like level 5. He peeked down through another cover and saw a few drops of blood. This could be level four, after all, Kyle must have run around for a while before passing out. But it could just as easily have been someone else's victim, or some accident.

His thoughts were wondering and he found that he had stopped moving. Keep going he thought no point lying here doing nothing. After what seemed like hours of sliding along, he came to a sort of intersection, three different ways.

He had left the radio on in case this sort of thing happened, he spoke, hoping that nobody could hear him from below.

"Hector, I've got to a three way intersection, any idea which way i should go?"

"Of course" Came the slightly irritated reply, Hector sounded tired, Fear couldn't blame him "take a left, and then just keep going, when you get to a dead end you're there."

"Gotcha" Fear replied.

He inched his way around the corner and carried on. He eventually reached a point where the walls arched upwards, making it impossible for him to follow, this must be it.

He saw a vent cover to his right and used his long forked tongue to loosen it, he then pushed against it with his head. With almost no momentum at all, it took some time to get it free but it soon clattered to the ground below him. Fear followed suit.

He dropped around 3 or 4 meters before hitting the ground with an ungraceful thump. He stood up and looked down at his arms, he twisted his torso and heard a satisfying click as his right arm popped back into position. He did the same with his left before taking his radio again.

"Hector" He said "I've made it to level 2"

"There's been a slight change of plans, Fear," Jason said, over the com system. "I enlisted some help from the CEO, fighting off the Enforcer. But..." Jason coughed, much to his own chagrin, "the CEO has three Elite soldiers attacking Sylar's group, and it will look rather bad if we interfere on Sylar's behalf while simultaneously united in the fight with the Enforcer. So your mission priorities have changed, at least for the moment. Finding and sabotaging the Teleporter Field controls is now your main prerogative. I've highlighted a new route on your map. And *ahem* the controls are located on Level 1. Which makes things... a bit more complex."

The Fear looked puzzled, and thought for a moment before replying.

"Complex?" He asked "As in, it's going to be too hard for me to get there? Or once i get there i'll most likely be killed?"

"As in, you'll see some things there that will divert your attention from the task at hand," said Hector. "But no matter what happens, you need to focus on your mission. All right? I'm going to be with you for as much of the remainder of this mission as I can. There, the route's highlighted... the stairs to Security Level 1 are your first objective. Try to stay invisible and avoid engagements."

Pacing in front of the bars to his cell Sweeney Todd was going to sit for a while when he heard strange sounds down the corridor. Dismissing it as the workings of this strange place he was surprised when a man jumped onto the floor from a whole in the wall near the ceiling. Thinking the man was injured the way his arms were bent, he looked on with disgust as the Fear twisted his arms back to their normal places.

Almost calling out to the strange man, he was stopped by the sounds of two different voices. Only catching traces of the conversation he heard something about a mission and security. Quickly drawing the conclusion that this man did not work here, Sweeney Todd decided to try and enlist the man's aid.

"You there! I am asking for your help in escaping this prison. Will you aide me?" he called out, hoping that he would get out and find what was taken from him.

"Ignore that idiot, Fear. We've got more important things to deal with," said Hector, noticing that Todd was trying to get Fear's attention. "Just smile, nod, and walk away."

(It's your choice to free Todd or not, Wadling. I'd advise doing it just for the sake of good companionship, but it's your call.)

The Fear considered his options before walking briskly over to the man in the cell. Without talking or looking at the man he took out a knife. He saw the man tense and tighten his grip on something behind him.

"No need for that" He hissed as he moved the knife over to the locks "Wow, this cell is far to easy to break out of, i wish i was in one of these."

The lock clicked and unlocked, as Todd attempted to push the door open Fear pushed back.

"What are you doing?" He growled

"I'm letting you go, but i don't want you following me, I don't want anyone with me right now. You are going to wait here for thirty seconds and then you will go that way"

He pointed to Todds right

"Do not follow me, understood?"

Todd nodded slowly, a little perplexed, he stepped back to a corner in his cell. Fear also stepped back and turned to Todds left, as soon as he was out of sight he switched on his invisibility and moved silently back to the cell. As he expected, Todd was already opening the door and moving quietly down the corridor Fear had just walked down.

Fear smiled and looked at his map, he turned to the opposite direction as Todd was going and set off.

"That was unnecessary" Came Hectors voice

"More trouble for the corporation is good for us right?"

There was no reply, Fear shrugged and kept going.

(That was a stroke of genius there, Wad.)

Azure raised her sword as Sylar hurled a trash can at her, and sliced the metal barrel in two with one blow, sliding between the pieces and continuing her charge.

"In times like this," said Belkar, "my team has always relied on one simple, effective, and reliable strategy."

"What's that?" asked Sylar, nervously.

"RUN AWAY!!"

The Fear had a fairly uneventful journey through the corridors of level 2. He passed the odd security officer hurrying to his destination or another member of staff, fretting over their day. But Fear took Hectors advice and stayed out of their way. He followed the directions on the map until he came to the stairs located on the map.

"I'm at the stairs now" He reported, as he waited for the answer he couldn't help noticing the feeling of dread building up inside him. Like he had swallowed a glass of napalm which was now burning his insides. He took a few deep breaths and tried to calm his nerves, focus on the mission he told himself, focus!

"Start heading down," Jason said. "The stairs will go down for... quite a while. And you may see any number of things on the way. I can't predict exactly what you'll find... hang on, I have to deal with Shriek's reinforcements. Go ahead and start heading down, I'll be back as soon as I can."

(would my telekinesis work on Azure's sword?)

Sylar started running, Belkar in tow, shortly after Sylar tripped on something. It was the gun the man had wrestled out of his hand before. Sylar helped himself up before pulling the gun towards him, it would be too much of a risk if he turned on his attacker now. Sylar ran towards where he heard the gunshots earlier, it could possibly serve as a distraction.

Shriek was in loss of what to decide this Enforcer was doing at the moment.
All she knew she could do was to follow Hector's advice, as she flew backwards to the end of the hall in the direction she had come from. Was it attacking? Exploding?
"...Hector, what is going on?" She called with a sweet, yet menacing voice.
It was frustrating her greatly not being able to answer her own questions.

"You'll get your answer in a minute," Hector replied, ominously. "Stay clear!"

The spinning red lights suddenly came alive with white-hot energy and sparked brilliantly. Electricity crackled in a near-perfect spherical shape before turning into flame and then into an all-consuming white flash.

When the flash cleared, the hallway was dripping with molten slag that melted down from the walls and ceiling. The Enforcer stood in a massive puddle of the material, unfazed by the heat.

"Terrain advantage acquired. Manipulating now..."

An enormous scythe-like device folded from one of the Enforcer's arms. It hummed with power and began to glow blue.

A flow of molten metal followed wherever the Enforcer directed it with the device. The machine hovered into the air and sent a tidal-sized wave crashing in Shriek's direction with a flick of its wrist.

"Take cover!" Jason's voice insisted.

***

Goldeye hit Dwight again, punching him across the face. Dwight dropped to the ground like a rock and spat blood on the asphalt.

"It's been a real pleasure, McCarthy," Goldeye said amicably, gripping his foe by the neck with one beefy hand and lifting him into the air. Dwight struggled to break free but Goldeye only tightened his grip, slowly crushing Dwight's throat...

..until an unseen hand ripped Dwight out of Goldeye's fist forcefully and pulled him into a back alley.

Furious, Goldeye charged into the alley too, and saw Sylar and Belkar both standing by Dwight's body. Dwight still breathed, and slowly started getting to his feet.

"Ha, same man as always, aren't you, McCarthy?" laughed Goldeye. "You can't fight me alone. You always have to bring in your friends."

Sylar thrust out a hand to throw Goldeye backward, but Goldeye was remarkably heavy... still, he moved back a few feet. But Goldeye grinned.

"Come now, Sylar. You didn't think that Haiti was the only safeguard we brought, did you?"

The golden eye began to glow with a reddish hue in the giant man's head, and a golden aura appeared around his body. Suddenly Sylar's power had no more effect, and Goldeye began to walk toward them again, baring his fists in preparation.

Okay, it was an attack. -- TURN LEFT!
Shriek went down the hall by her side only to find herself trapped by a dead end longer down. The molten metal splashed to the hall towards the Core Terminal, and to the left -- Towards her like a wild, red glowing river.
She would be dead if she hadn't been able to fly. -- And she still had the Enforcer to distract her from flying if he attacked right.
She had turned left to distract him. It had been an idea of leading him away from the Core Terminal for long enough to sort this out.
So hot... The molten metal below her used up all the moist in the air, making breathing become an uneasy process, plus it was almost unbearably hot. It was nothing compared to sitting too close to a fire for too long. She briefly remembered a life many, many years ago on the streets. Memories of something that broke down long ago to become the foundation of Shriek.

She had to get away. Now!
Instead of turning towards the Core Terminal to escape from the Enforcer, she turned back towards the molten bits of hallway left he was placed in. He was unchanged from the sets of events he had triggered. Unbelievable.
She wasn't sure how fast the Enforcer could react, but she knew she would have to fly past him to lead him back. Hopefully it would work. She only had one chance to lead him away from the hall in one piece after all.

(Varth, your choice of what to do. -- But if you do wish to take control of Shriek for a moment, then she is planning attacking weakly to get his attention.)

She wasn't sure how fast the Enforcer could react, but she knew she would have to fly past him to lead him back. Hopefully it would work. She only had one chance to lead him away from the hall in one piece after all.

(Varth, your choice of what to do. -- But if you do wish to take control of Shriek for a moment, then she is planning attacking weakly to get his attention.)

"Ms. Barrison!" called a voice from the other end of the hallway. "Get the Enforcer over here! We can take it from there."

Shriek saw troops coming in from another corridor. The same people who had kidnapped her in the first place... no matter. The Enforcer was a greater threat.

She launched herself at the machine, felt heat singe her side as hot metal splashed her, ignored it and continued. The force of the strike moved the Enforcer in the direction of the other soldiers. The Corporation task force wheeled a giant metal disk from the hallway and switched it on.

"Magnetic field detected. Repulsing now..." bleeped the Enforcer.

"It's activating its magnetic repulsor field," said an officer who appeared to be in charge. "Hit the EMP, Switch."

A shock wave erupted from the magnetic drum, blasting clean through the Enforcer and shutting off all of its systems. With the repulsor field deactivated, the Enforcer was pulled into the magnetic drum like a pin into a vacuum cleaner. The surface of the drum rippled and sucked in the Enforcer immediately.

"Primary Objective is complete," reported the officer. "Secondary Objective is now commencing..."

"Shriek, return to the Terminal now! Their new objective is to recapture you!"

More soldiers began to swarm into the hallway. The hallway vents released liquid nitrogen, cooling the molten metal and making the air safe for crowds again... the soldiers were able to take up combat positions.

"Give it up, Ms. Barrison. You're surrounded."

"They're weak at the back entrance, Shriek. Punch through their lines, I'll seal the gate behind you!"

(hmmmm, difficult situation)

Sylar ducked, the punch thrown was aimed at him and Sylar managed to just dodge it. Sylar turned around and punched with the full force of his telekinesis, falling short of breaking his hand, had he not used telekinesis he would have broken it. it seemed the man had become denser, making his telekinesis altogether useless. whatever he did was certainly not through naturally born abilities, since his nullifying ability wasnt working. there was only one thing left, Sylar ducked yet again, only the blow landed on his shoulder, sylar fell to the ground in pain.
"AHAHAHAHA, you think you can rely on you powers completely?"
Sylar slowly inched backwards as the man moved in for another blow.

Shriek had been amazed of how swift and easily they had captured the Enforcer. It had still been a great machine to have up in sleeve if Jason had found a way to work out it's brain.
Not a good time for wishful thinking.
She had wanted to stay for a bit, though Jason telling her he would close the gate made her do nothing but turn her back and fly towards the Core Terminal in some hurry to avoid any attacks. She heard the gate closing and was soon back, though running now. It had taken a lot of her strength away, and she would like to keep some if she happened to be attacked on her way back. She was panting, she was not used to using her powers or her body this much. She would have to work some to retrieve the glory of her past. Hopefully this was all over soon...

(JUST TO BE CLEAR--no Elites are going to die in this fight, and neither are they going to be permanently put out of commission. In all likelihood the only way to survive this fight will be the way that Belkar described. "RUN AWAY!!")

***

"Boss," said Herald, "we've retrieved the Enforcer."

"Intact?" asked the CEO, with mild interest.

"Yes, Sir."

"Excellent. Tell the new Head of Engineering to start replication immediately. I want my army up and running as soon as possible."

"Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir."

The Fear lingered at the top of the stairs, looking down. He had been told that there was going to be some seriously weird stuff on the way down there, but nothing specific. His heart was pounding and he could hear the blood rushing past his ears. How hard could it be? He asked himself, knowing full well that it could in fact be very bad.

He shook his head and cleared his thoughts, breathed in heavily and set off down the stairs.