Clockwerk nervously stood in a clump of trees. The creep wave had arrived uncomfortably close to the Dire tower, and Wraith King was easily earning gold from the creeps, completely uncontested. On the bright side, Rattletrap was now more powerful than his foes.
"Benefits of a solo lane I guess." He glanced uneasily into the gloomy jungle. It was eerie, the darkness seeming to cling to the dead and broken trees. Occasionally, a glowing pair of eyes would peep out of the gloom, courtesy of one of the many creatures that lived in the place.
Clockwerk had no idea where the Bane had gone. It had left the lane, presumably to draw the creep equilibrium towards the tower by "pulling" a jungle monster into attacking the Dire forces. Deciding that experience was going to waste, Rattletrap armed his rocket, and sent it shooting into the murky forest. The bright flash that ensued revealed nothing but a startled monster, which ran deeper into the jungle, its pelt smoking from the rocket.
Deciding that Bane could not be hiding in the jungle, and banking on his cogs to protect him, Clockwerk edged his way towards the melee of Dire and Radiant forces. The Wraith King saw his approach, and gave a menacing grin.
"Come on over, pipsqueak. Plenty of creeps for all." His deep voice held a promise of painful demise.
"Did your support leave you? I can smell why!" Yelled back Rattletrap.
"Which support? Oh you mean that one?!" the Wraith King pointed behind Clockwerk and began running towards the Keen, crushing creeps underfoot.
Clockwerk's heart skipped a beat as he turned and saw Bane break from the smoke of deceit that had shrouded him. With less than a second before he would be trapped and killed, Clockwerk reacted.
Raising his hookshot, he shot it straight at Bane just as the fiend raised it's arms for some diabolical incantation. The hook smashed into it's body and stuck. Bane gave a grunting cough and vomited some black liquid. Clockwerk was propelled directly into the monster, dragged by his hook. They smashed together, rolling back. As Bane lay on the ground stunned, Rattletrap got up. He was about to run.
"Mind you, I've already knocked him down. Why not?" Turning back, with a grin at the infuriated Wraith King still charging toward them, Clockwerk tossed out his cogs and activated his battery assault. Bane tried to get up, only to receive a piece of hot shrapnel directly into it's eyeless head. It screamed, and screamed again as the rain of shrapnel was layered with savage hits from Clockwerk's hookshot. Just as the finishing blow was about to fall, Rattletrap felt a terrible impact in his side. Blasted off his feet, he was flung against the inside of his own cogs.
"Aaaaagh!" He yelled in pain as green fire flickered over him, cooking him inside his armour. The cogs expired, and he scrambled away. Wraith King's sword swung towards him. The diminutive Keen couldn't block it, and was forced to deflect it by raising his own armoured hand. The blade sheared through the armour, cutting off half of the hand. The two forefingers and the thumb. Ostarion snarled, and stepped forward after the fleeing Hero. Immediately, he was struck by a powerful blast of magic. He grunted in pain and retreated from the Tower before it shot at him again. Clockwerk slumped against his Tower, but did not sit down. He squinted back at the Dire side. Bane had retreated once freed from the cogs.
"Heh. No matter." Rattletrap said through gritted teeth. With his undamaged hand, he armed a rocket, and sent it shooting over towards the Dire Tower.
"Come on… Come on…" Clockwerk hissed. The rocket exploded. A scream of pain and a burst of dark energy flashed upwards into the sky.
"Boom. Headshot. Heh, Kardel would be proud." Grunted Clockwerk in satisfaction. He groaned as the pain of his injuries washed over him again.
"Better head back." Extricating a dusty scroll from his satchel, Rattletrap activated the rune pressed into the paper.
Furion the Nature's Prophet moved through the jungle. He had already amassed a sizeable amount of gold from the looted jungle camps. It was perhaps time to leave the jungle. The Radiant entity linked all the heroes minds, allowing them to communicate even when on opposite sides of the battlefield. As such, every hero knew of the clockwork goblin's spectacular fight in the top lane, and had applauded his cool in the face of almost certain death. Now , Furion felt that they needed to widen the gap between the two sides.
"Mangix, Io, do you require any assistance?" Nature's Prophet called.
"Ah Furion, that would be most welcome" Mangix's thoughts were somewhat slurred, but still battle-ready.
"Very well, signal when the opportune time would be"
"Ah, well, could you come help now? We have engaged the foe! Hahaha ow!" Mangix's eager voice was accompanied by a pained undertone.
Rolling his eyes, the voice of the woods channelled his powers. Trees grew around him in a tight grove. At the apex of their growth, the entire group of trees disappeared.
Brewmaster and Wisp were hard pressed. Nyx and Magnus seemed eager for blood, and were attempting to corner the Wisp. Mangix ran forward to help his ally. He raised his cask high and brought it crashing down. Immediately, a shockwave blasted outward. Just as it was about to hit the dire enemies, the Nyx Assassin gave a laugh. Spikes popped from its carapace.
"Oh oh" thought the Brewmaster. Magnus was struck by the slam, and bellowed. However, Mangix himself felt his own blast, as the reflective properties of the carapace sent the spell right back at the Brewmaster.
"Prepare for your audience with Nyx." Hissed the scarab. It raised it's claws and once more sent it's earthen spikes at the Brewmaster. As the spells took effect, Wisp tethered itself to Mangix, zooming towards him. It's four spirits were once more being summoned. Magnus however, shook off his pain and ran around to the side of the Radiant companions. Just as Brewmaster cleared his head, he and the Wisp were bowled right over by the Magnoceros' charge. They crashed in a heap in a group of trees, destroying them.
"Mangix! Wisp!" The voice of Xin was heard "Queen of Pain has disappeared from the middle lane!"
Magnus raised his spear, intending to kill the Wisp. A grove of trees sprouted out of the ground, blocking Magnus and preventing the blow. Nature's Prophet had arrived.
"Come friends! Rally!" Shouted Furion, now turning towards Nyx Assassin. The beetle chittered, and using it's predatorial abilities sent a psychic discharge at Nature's Prophet. Furion retaliated, sending blasts from his staff to strike the creature.
Brewmaster, spurred on by the arrival of his ally, leapt up.
"Try some of this then!" He laughed, and broke straight through the trees, colliding with Magnus. As they struck, the Brewmaster initiated his Primal Split. The three spirits surrounded the Magnoceros, beating him mercilessly with flame, stone, and wind.
Wisp extricated itself from the debris as Mangix charged. It was wounded, and decided heal before re-entering the fray. It moved into the jungle, intending to use a tango, when a soft whump noise was heard.
"Mmm, do you even have the nerves to feel pain?" asked Akasha. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter in the end. A death is a death."
Furion called upon nature to help him, and from behind the Nyx Assassin, a group of treants burst from their roots. Caught by surprise, the Nyx Assassin was grabbed and struck repeatedly by the sentient trees. Hissing in pain, the insect went invisible.
Cautious now, Furion stalked over to Mangix, his trees following him. As the Brewmaster reformed, Magnus lay on the ground. Dead.
"We won the fight, Mangix." Said Furion gravely. "But I Fear the Wisp was defeated in it's retreat."
"Ah" said the panda sadly "It is a shame."
They contemplated the Magnoceros's body grimly. Suddenly, it grew bright, too bright to look at.
"Wha-" said Mangix, but the body disappeared.
"What does this mean?" Frowned Furion. "Aaaaaagh!" He screamed in agony. Nyx had reappeared and dealt a devastating blow to his back.
"You are not dead!" it chittered angrily, before scuttling away.
Nature's Prophet growled. "After it!"
The two heroes gave chase. All three heroes were wounded, so they struggled along in some gruesome parody of a race.
"Almost got you bug!" The Brewmaster called, angry at the death of the Wisp.
Bizarrely, Nyx gave a cackle and turned around. It activated it's carapace and stood there.
"We know your trick. Did you really expect us to attack anyway?" Growled Brewmaster readying himself to crush the bug as soon as the spikes retracted.
Then Magnus charged in.
"Reverse Polarity!" he bellowed, moving too fast for the Radiant to react. The two friends were smashed together, buffeted by the gravitational change . The Queen of Pain blinked in. Without wasting any time for words, she arched her back and screamed. As the dust settled, two prone forms were revealed, those of the Brewmaster and Nature's Prophet.
Queen of Pain smiled at Magnus.
"A good buyback." She purred.
Magnus grunted "The Tower?"
Akasha's smile widened. "Why not?"