NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5112455" data-attributes="member: 3285">The Jaded Temple: Part 3 – KABOOM!They were in the city’s sewer system. The walls and floor were covered with slime, which made footing treacherous. Jim-Bean led the way.He stopped at a door.  "They're behind here."  "Can you unlock it?" asked Hammer.Jim-Bean shook his head.  "I don't think so. It's an electronic lock.""Guppy, you're up," said Hammer.  "Open those doors."Guppy pried open the control panel, spliced some wires, and hooked his cistron up to them.  The door whisked open.There was another door at the far end of the hall. Jim-Bean stalked forward. "That's the computer room." Jim-Bean blinked.  "More ninjas.  Lots of them.""This is suicide," said Archive.  "We don't have much room to maneuver in here and they're waiting for us."Jim-Bean smirked.  "Don't worry.  I'll stand in front.""Guppy, you've got one job – hack that terminal.  I want names, addresses, any information we can get our hands on," said Hammer. "Jim-Bean, your job is to make sure Guppy does what he does best."Jim-Bean nodded. "Caprice, this door's yours.  Go."Caprice set to work hacking the second door."Get ready," said Caprice.  "In three. Two. One…"The door whisked open.This room was filled with a small but complete computer system, video monitors, alarm systems, and main overrides for the hydraulic lift systems and the lower level door locks. There were two chairs, one facing a one-way mirror and the other on the monitoring screens. Throwing stars flashed through the air.  Jim-Bean held out one hand and they clattered to the ground. Behind him, the agents returned fire with crossbow bolts. Then it was a swirling melee.  Caprice stabbed one of them with his makeshift bayonet, who went down writhing and foaming at the mouth. Archive's gun had switched to a knife – not a penknife, like he usually carried, but a big, wicked knife with blood grooves in it.  Guppy hung back."You want to get to those computers, right?" shouted Jim-Bean over his shoulder.  "Well come on!"His grip on Guppy's shoulder was inhumanly strong.  Dragging him along with one hand, Jim-Bean extended his other, and White Shadows parted involuntarily from a wave of telekinetic force.   He charged forward with a shout.Behind them, Caprice stabbed another White Shadow clean through his chest.  The man's mask fell to the ground, revealing a noseless, grinning face dripping bloody saliva.  He pulled himself forward on the blade, jaws champing inches from Caprice's nose. He was so close Caprice had a moment of clarity: pupils dilated, breath coming in gasps…they were high on something!Caprice twisted the knife in the White Shadow's gut and hurled him away.  He was still in his final death throws when Caprice picked up the Shadow's sword just in time to block another attacker."There's too many!" shouted Caprice.Jim-Bean loomed over Guppy protectively, but somehow it didn’t make Guppy feel more secure.  Occasionally a White Shadow would come too close, only to be hurled away by Jim-Bean's telekinetic shield."Take your time," he said calmly.  "I'm in no rush.""I'm typing as fast as I can!" Sweat dripped from Guppy's forehead onto the keyboard.  Jim-Bean's unnatural calm only made him more nervous.There was a grunt behind him. Guppy spun in the chair just in time to dodge a blade smashing through one of the monitors. On the other end of the blade was Mok Bin Tau, the heavily muscled Tcho-tcho leader of the White Shadows.  A few feet away, Jim-Bean got to his feet."Wow."  Jim-Bean cracked his neck.  "I actually felt that.""You're goin tah feel ah laht morh," snarled Tau. Guppy guessed Tau's accent had more to do with the old bullet scar through his cheek than his ethnicity. Tau withdrew his sword from the monitor, ignoring Guppy for the moment.Guppy ducked beneath the console. He didn't need the monitor – his cistron, still connected to the Tiger Transit mainframe, was doing all the work.Tau faced off against Jim-Bean as the White Shadows pressed their advantage.  One of them tripped Hammer and he went down hard.It was a reflex.  Surrounded by enemies, blades bristling everywhere, Hammer did what he did best.He drew his pistols and fired. And the room exploded.</blockquote>

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