[MnM] Project: Daedalus (Prologue)

[Agamon]

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.

 

[Agamon]

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?”

 

[Agamon]

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!”

 

[Agamon]

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…”

 

[Agamon]

*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.

 

[Agamon]

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.

 

[Agamon]

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.

 

[Agamon]

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.

 

[Agamon]

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