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: 5397053" data-attributes="member: 3285">Fear of Falling: Part 1 – Free FallingThey plunged toward the Earth, the wind shrieking all around.  Hammer could see the other crewmembers and agents' parachutes open, barely visible in the flickering lightning from above.  Another flash, and he could distantly hear the screams of Agent Pope, the navigator.  Whatever the thing was on the plane, it caught up with them.Hammer removed his hand from the ripcord with some effort.  Once he pulled the cord he would be at the mercy of the wind. He pressed his arms as his sides and dove for Pope.  As he got closer Hammer could see that Pope's head lolled to the side, his primary parachute ruined. The thing's tentacles tensed around the navigator's body.  Hammer slammed into Pope's body, causing it to temporarily slacken its grip. Hammer fumbled for the cords on Pope's emergency parachute, darting his arms through the sticky tendrils that coiled around Pope's ribcage like pythons. Safe within the pressurized containment of his HALO suit, Hammer was oddly disconnected from it all – the screaming of the wind was merely a whisper.Then lightning flashed and Hammer was jolted back to reality.  Pope was still very much alive, eye sockets bloody and crusted over from the frigid cold.  He was mouthing something.  Screaming.  Hammer's external microphones were off, but he could guess that the agent was screaming for help.Instead Hammer was using him as a weapon.  "Sorry," he whispered to himself.Then, kicking off Pope and pulling as hard as he could on the emergency chute's release, he let go.Tendrils snaked for him, but the emergency chute caught the eye thing full in its torso.  It blasted it backwards, caught in the wind.  Hammer wondered how many times he could keep this trick up.The altimeter in his suit flashed a warning. He was getting too close to the ground. If he didn't pull his chute soon…More lightning.  The eye thing disengaged from the parachute, flowing like a jellyfish down through the wind, tentacles trailing lazily behind it.  For all its gas-bag like qualities it darted and flowed like a squid through the maelstrom. And it was heading right for Caprice. Caprice had pulled his chute. He was at the mercy of winds and the things from beyond."Caprice, look out!"The thing, agitated now, tore right through Caprice's parachute.  For a second Hammer thought it had dropped him, but then he saw a body in its tentacles, like a tiny fish trapped in a man-o-war.  Hammer dove down again, arms at his sides.He hit the thing hard, landing on a part that was away from its tentacles – Hammer wasn't sure if the thing had a back.  Tentacles flailed at him.  Hammer couldn't see inside Caprice's helmet but he wasn't reacting to his mic.  He hung limply in the things grip, sharp tendrils ever-probing for those delicious eyes…It hadn't yet tightened its grip. Hammer twisted Caprice around, turning his back to the thing.  Third time's the charm, thought Hammer.For a moment Hammer hallucinated that Jim-Bean was there next to him, floating without a parachute. He fastened something to the thing and gave Hammer the thumbs up.Hammer pulled the release on Caprice's parachute.  The remains of the parachute caught on the thing's tentacles, ensnaring it just as it had captured Caprice.  It was only a seconds away when Hammer pulled Caprice's emergency chute.  Caprice was yanked upwards, out of the thing's reach.  In the distance, whatever was attached to the eye thing exploded.So I wasn't hallucinating, was Hammer's last thought as he realized he'd run out of time to pull his own chute.</blockquote>

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