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Message: <blockquote data-quote="talien" data-source="post: 5136927" data-attributes="member: 3285">Grace Under Pressue: Part 4 – Knock, Knock…They swam into darkness through weird black coral, rising up in tightly clustered poles that hindered their progress.  Hammer gasped out of the pool, sucking in a stale lungful of air.The other agents emerged behind him in a massive chamber.  The ceiling, if there was one, was concealed by mist.  At the center was a subterranean dome. Before it were five oddly shaped tombstones, each with a symbol in Aklo engraved upon it.  A raised altar with an Elder Sign at its center pulsed in time with the glowing symbols. A huge doorway jutted from the surface of the dome. It had the features of Cthulhu's head, a skull-faced beast with tentacles for a mouth. Three figures stood at the portal. Cho Chu-Tsau, arms raised, was chanting in time with the pulsing symbols. Next to her, reading aloud the chants from a book and swathed in ceremonial robes, was the frail Dr. Ko.  But the third figure was what disturbed the agents most.It was a fish that walked like a man.  Its giant, catfish-like head was somehow part of a purplish, malformed humanoid body.  Two of its whiskers rose up over its head like horns, and two others dropped like a moustache over its gaping mouth.  It had a distinct oriental cast, stripped to its waist in pants and sandals.  A huge cannon was strapped across its back, a wicked-looking sword dangling from its belt.Hammer called them all to a halt.  The room's darkness was complete.  The agents had an advantage, as all eyes were trained on the portal."Archive, Hammer, you take out Chu-Tsao.  Guppy, Caprice, you're on Ko. Jim-Bean, you and I will take out…"Jim-Bean was gone.  Hammer swore.  "Move!"The agents spread out."Alright people, on my mark.  One, two…GO!"Gunfire flashed.  Cho Chu-Tsao turned as bullets sparked off the back of her head.  Eyes blazing, the petite tcho-tcho shifted her chant, pointing at Guppy, Archive, and Caprice.Hammer aimted at Ko, but the fish-thing stumped into the line of fire.  Bullets thumped into its flesh but if it had an effect, its swollen purple body didn't show it.Cho Chu-Tsao picked up some dust and smiling with perfectly normal teeth, blew a kiss at the agents.  A shrieking wind of greenish dust closed the distance between them, transforming into a flesh-ripping dust storm.  Guppy and Caprice dove in different directions."Split up!" shouted Hammer.  "Don't cluster together!"Hammer fired again.  Cho Chu-Tsao held up one palm and the bullets deflected off of it. Archive, squinting and bloodied by the jade storm, pointed at Cho Chu-Tsao and chanted back.  She felt it.  Eyes blazing with rage, Chu-Tsao started another chant.Unbeknownst to anyone, Jim-Bean was already standing atop the giant doorway.  From his vantage point he could see that Ko was still chanting, picking up where Cho Chu-Tsao had left off, reading from the book.Jim-Bean took aim and fired.  The fish-thing shoved Ko out of the way, but not quite in time.  It nicked Ko's arm.  He yelped and crumpled, still managing to continue his chant."You know that ritual probably doesn't even work, right?" shouted Jim-Bean down at the two figures.  "I mean, you can't trust a Portuguese translation of anything…"The fish-thing unslung the cannon on its back.  "BOOM!" it bellowed.  Then it fired.Jim-Bean took the blast head on. Despite the protection afforded by his telekinetic screen up, there were limits to his powers.  His head rang from the impact, and blood trickled from his nose and ears.  Down below, Ko slumped over the altar, still chanting.  "That's what was missing," Ko whispered to himself, blood dripping down one arm.  "Blood!" The pulsing of the Elder Sign and the runes reached a fever pitch.Archive's own chant matched Chu-Tsao's cadence.  They seemed to be locked in a power struggle.  Archive held up the Elder Sign before him and chanted louder still.Jim-Bean almost lost his balance, his protoplasm-infused body struggling to mend his broken bones before another blast finished him off. The big fish-thing reloaded its pistol and took aim…"BOOM!" came the rumbling laugh.Jim-Bean was smart enough to duck, but the rocket struck close enough to sting him with debris.  His telekinetic shield was fading. If he didn't do something fast, they would all be dead.So Jim-Bean did what he always did when the going got tough.  He had brought with him a satchel full of explosives, originally intent on destroying the Horseshoe with them.  But he had a different target now.Jim-Bean tossed the satchel down below and telekinetically fired all the detonators simultaneously.</blockquote>

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