Disclaimer: zzzzzzzzz...

A/N: To you know who, please define what you mean as "ghei". If you mean gay then I'd take it you either have homosexual desires with either of the authors or any character in the story. As such I would like to apologize. We are strictly against homosexualities so Ryden won't be sharing a bed with you, or anyone else for that matter. Alternatively if you rather old literature I'll view it as you're so frickin happy when you read this story you feel, well, gay.

If you mean the 1337sp43k version "ghey", then I'd take the actual meaning of it (meaning overpowered, buffed, or just too damn good). As such I would like to extend my gratitude to you for the compliment.

Moral of the story: If you wanna flame, do it right. You're dealing with 24/7 hardcore gamers here who've been embroiled in perpetual World of Warcraft flaming battles over forums, so we're pretty much worth our salt. If you wanna use 1337sp34k, use it right too. Its amazing despite regular usage how many people can get it wrong. All I can say is 1337 pwnz00rz j00 n00b! We r0xx0rzz j00r b0xxorrx!

P.S.: If you've read EVERY chapter in then please tell me, on the 13th of March 2007, which story was #19 in the Halo section of Video games?

Chapter 10: Radical Rescue

"Necropolis personnel have occupied Junction 21." The Dark Lord indicated a section of the map of Kerning City that was laid out across the conference table, circling it with a red marker. "They're holding Ceil somewhere in there. The way I see it, if we drop our Agents down from broadcast here, Intersect 1-53, we might be able to surprise them." He circled out a second region, pointing out the weaknesses that Necropolis had overlooked in their defenses to the other Wise Men, who were gathered at the same table and were perusing over the map.

"The Agents go first, and hammer as deep as they can to create an opening. Hopefully, we'll can maintain it long enough for..." The Dark Lord didn't get any further as Ryden burst through the doors of the meeting room. Roxi followed in behind him a few seconds later, looking exhausted, but Ryden was far too worked up to even be exhausted.

"Where's my mother? What happened? Necropolis has her, don't they? Why..." Ryden halted in mid-sentence when Dances with Balrog raised a palm up at him, indicating silence.

"They've got her held in Kerning City, somwhere inside Junction 21. We're already formulating an alternative entry plan; Necropolis has the area heavily fortified." Athena explained to him. "We had already launched an assault on the area two hours ago, but we failed. Our reinforcements and support personnel are due within six hours, and once we have gathered the necessary force, a concentrated effort should be able to break through."

Ryden definitely wasn't in the mood for this bullshit about the lack of supporting personnel and backup. The Agents could go screw themselves for all he cared; if the previous assault had failed, this one would too. "They've got my mom held prisoner in there; we can't wait six hours! Let's roll!"

Athena opened her mouth to rebuke the young warrior for his brashness, but Grendel interrupted her. "Ryden, this is loco! They've got Ceil held inside a fully occupied Necropolis building, and even if you somehow got inside, those are Necropolis Council Members holding her! Three of them. Ceil is like a daughter to me, Ryden; I want her back too, but what you're talking about is suicide."

"Screw suicide, Grendel. Nothing's gonna stop me from rescuing my mother. If you're not gonna back me up, then get the hell out of my way."

A grin spread across Dances with Balrog's face. "You're just as stubborn as your father, Ryden. Very well. Athena, get Rathias Gardner on the line. We need those reinforcements yesterday. Dark Lord, mobilise all our remaining support personnel; Ryden won't be going in alone."

The helicopter streaked across Kerning City's overcast sky, coming to land at the top of an ominous-looking building, one that was built out of concrete slabs that were as dark as night, and had utterly black windows that nobody could see into. Several Necropolis members piled out of the chopper, all of them carrying recently-acquired firearms that had been raided from Omega Sector's numerous armories, and were supposed to be superior to any other weapon in Bera. The thieves carried small, rapid-fire devices that were called 'Machine Pistols', the bowmen possessed larger versions of the Machine Pistols that the thieves carried with longer barrels and greater accuracy, called 'Assault Rifles', while the warriors hefted immense, large-bore rifles that were as long as the Assault Rifles but were at least half again as thick; these were the 'Shotguns'. Last of all, the Magicians carried an even smaller version of the Machine Pistol, but its barrel was as large as that of the shotgun, and it allegedly had more punch than all the other three weapons put together; they called it the 'Handgun'.

All of the Necropolis members were armed with such new devices, except for the largest, most imposing one amongst them. This magician did not carry any one of the aforementioned devices, but his sheer presence alone radiated enough power to indicate that he was more powerful than the entire group even if they had been put together and multiplied many times over.

Sindri watched as his subordinates scrambled from the chopper and into the building; the last assault from the Four Wise Men had been beaten back, but not without great cost. A majority of the Initiates stationed here had been killed off by the assaulting Agents, while half of the Rebels had fallen alongside their guild juniors. Thankfully, only a few of the fully-fledged Hackers had perished, and a majority of the reinforcements brought in by the chopper Sindri had been riding were newbies who had just recently joined Necropolis in hopes of gaining ultimate power.

Chuckling at the foolhardiness of the Initiates, Sindri followed the reinforcements into the building. He knew that not many of those newbies would actually survive long enough to reach the third-class; Necropolis' training regimes were harsh and demanding. Over half of the Initiates that joined typically didn't even make it past the first week of training, and by the time the first month had passed, only a quarter of the original number was likely to remain. Such was the way of Necropolis, though; if you're not strong enough, then you're not meant to survive in the first place.

Sindri chucked such thoughts into the back of his mind; matters like these were not his concern. Leave it to those blokes in Administration, he had better things to do.

Like to go and see how the interrogation of the priestess was going.

"Have you ever stood and stared at it? Marvelled at its beauty? Its genius?" Dreznor murmured, staring out the window and at the metropolis of Kerning City. "Billions of people, just... living out their lives. Oblivious..."

Ceil grimaced as she tested the strength of her bonds again; the steel cuffs were as solid as ever. And with the magical wards placed around the room, she was unable to call upon any of her holy arts to augment her strength; not that it would have been of any help, though. Apart from the Council Member standing across the room at the windows, another two of them were in the room as well, the other Voidwalker overseeing the alpha patterns being displayed across the screen of his laptop, the readings being taken by sensors attached directly to the priestess' head and neck. The other council member, the Headhunter, sat at the table adjacent to her seat, tinkering with an array of vials, syringes, and needles.

"Did you know that the first server was created to be perfect world, where none suffered? Where everyone would be... 'happy'?" Dreznor finally turned to face Ceil, and asked her.

"It was a disaster. No one would accept the reality, entire crops were lost. Some believed that... the Game Masters lacked the programming language to describe our 'perfect world', but I believe that, as a species, human beings define their existence through misery and suffering. So the perfect world was a dream that our primitive cerebrums kept trying to 'wake up' from." The Voidwalker continued, walking closer to Ceil as the Headhunter drew a syringeful of a clear liquid from a vial and roughly jabbed the needle into Ceil's neck. The priestess fought to bite back the cry of pain, and she merely let out a soft grunt as the needle withdrew after several seconds.

"Which is why the server was redesigned to this..." Dreznor said as he strode behind the priestess' chair, Ceil's eyes glazing over slightly as she attempted to fight against the mind-numbing effects of the truth serum. "The peak of your civilisation. Now, when I say 'your civilisation', as soon as the hackers rise to power, it will essentially become our civilisation, which is, of course, what this is all about. Evolution, my dear priestess. Evolution. Like... the dinosaur."

Dreznor then bent down, lowering his head until it was adjacent to Ceil's, both of them facing the window.

"Look out that window. You had your time. The future is our world, Ceil. The future is our time."

Ceil knew what Dreznor wanted; he wanted to find her son so he could remove the last true obstacle in Necropolis' path to total dominance over Bera.

No! She furiously thought to herself, and shut her eyes tightly, fighting against the impulses that the truth serum was forcing upon her and steeling herself against the ardous torture that she knew awaited her. But she also knew what would happen if she were to break, and she refused to let that happen. She would not betray her son like this!

Unexpectedly, the door to the room opened, and Sindri stepped in.

"There could be a problem." He announced.

"All right, so what do you need?" Ascion asked as he plopped himself into seat in front of the rezzing control panel, donning the headset and pulling the keyboards towards him, his hands ready to type in commands to rez in whatever Ryden needed. "Besides a miracle."

Inside the rezzing room, Ryden and Zeraion stood together, already clad in full battle gear, sans their weapons. Zeraion was clearly disturbed at going in without his trusty Olympus, but Ryden had other things in mind. He mentally apologised to Alastor for leaving the blade behind, but for where he was going having a giant sword strapped to his back wasn't going to be of much help.

"Guns." Ryden finally concluded after a few seconds. "Lots of guns."

Outside, Ascion took Ryden's instruction to heart, and he typed in, word for word, 'Lots Of Guns'. Dropping his finger down on the 'execute' button, he saw the rez room immediately fill itself with racks upon racks of firearms not unlike those the Necropolis troopers were armed with.

Zeraion watched as Ryden tentatively picked a machine pistol up from the nearest rack.

"Ryden, no one has ever done anything like this in the history of the entire world. This is crazy." The archer finally said.

Ryden looked at Zeraion with a cocky grin. "That's why it's going to work." With that, he slammed his fist against the slide of the weapon, chambering a round.

"Never send a bunch of Rebels to do a Hacker's job..." Dreznor muttered after Sindri told him that the GMs had traced their activities to their current location.

"If indeed they have launched an assault, they will place this building under siege as soon as possible, unless..." The headhunter, named Raveshaw, commented.

"Our forces have managed to repel them." Sindri finished for him.

"In either case, we have no choice but to continue as planned. Deploy the seeker teams. Immediately." Dreznor ordered.

The Necropolis guards stationed at Junction 21's central building had no idea what was coming. When the warrior wearing a long, black trenchcoat stepped through the revolving doors of the building, the guards had assumed he was simply just another ordinary player who didn't realise the GMs' Agents were already placing the whole area under siege.

Which is why the guards, acting under orders, merely went about their normal duties as though nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

But the moment the warrior stepped through the metal detector, it started beeping like nuts. Taking it in their stride, one of the guards simply walked over to the warrior with a small tray in his hand and a handheld metal detector.

"Please remove any metallic items you're carrying; keys, loose change-" The guard didn't get any further as the warrior opened his trenchcoat, revealing the massive number of firearms he had stashed beneath it.

"Holy shit!" Was all the guard could utter before the warrior folded him in half with a cobra-quick palm strike. The guard was sent flying backwards several feet, and the others that were on station glanced up from their mundane activites to see just what the hell was causing all that racket.

What greeted them was a hail of bullets from the two machine pistols that the warrior had somehow drawn from within his trenchcoat within a split-second. The guards were cut down within seconds, and the warrior's accuracy with the weapons seemed strangely as sharp as that of an assassin's. Those that didn't instinctively dive for cover were instantly ripped to shreds by the storm of lead.

The only remaining guard still alive stumbled out from behind a pillar, his crossbow drawn and held one-handed while he frantically spoke into a radio with his other.

"Backup! Send backup!" He gasped into the radio, trying to find if anybody else had survived the warrior's assault; apparently, the warrior was as accurate as he was swift. Nobody else was alive. Then, as though the gods were cursing him, another person entered the building, the metal detector beeping feebly as he passed through. The newcomer, also clad in black, but this time in bowman armor, hefted a machine pistol of his own and aimed it at the lone survivor.

The guard tried to aim his crossbow at the newcomer, but he didn't even get his arm to move more than a couple of inches before the bowman blew him to kingdom come with a volley of lead.

Zeraion cast away the empty submachine gun with a look of undisguised disdain; such weapons felt so uncivilised! Ryden though, had insisted on him not bringing along his Olympus, claiming that such an unwieldy weapon would only prove to be a hindrance in close quarters. As such, Zeraion now strode alongside Ryden, totally unarmed and only holding a large, black rucksack.

Ryden, on the other hand, had more firearms hidden beneath his trenchcoat than Zeraion could be bothered to count. Even as he discarded the empty submachine guns, he already had replacements ready, drawing two handguns from within his coat and cocking them.

The duo hadn't walked in further than a few steps when a storm of footfalls was heard from around the corner. A couple of seconds later Necropolis' security backup charged into the lobby, taking up defensive positions on the opposite end of the lobby. There was the sound of dozens of firearms cocking and rounds being chambered, and soon enough Ryden and Zeraion were in the sights of too many guns to count.

"Freeze!" The lead warrior, hefting a shotgun, shouted out to them.

Zeraion and Ryden glanced at each other for a split-second, and then they bolted in opposite directions, Zeraion dropping the bag as he ran.

In the next second, the entire room exploded into a hell-storm of bullets.

"Why isn't the serum working?" Dreznor wondered, pacing in front of the priestess and giving her an undisguised look of disgust.

"Perhaps we're asking the wrong questions." Raveshaw suggested as Dreznor strode past him. The Voidwalker paused in his steps, an idea striking him. He was certain for sure that his method would work, but he could not let the others see what he had in store, otherwise he would be cast down from his position of Council Member faster than he could slay a snail.

"Leave me with her." He finally commanded. The other council members looked at him as though he had grown a second head, but Dreznor paid them no heed. "Now."

As the council members left the room, Dreznor strode in front of Ceil, and sat down in front of her.

"Can your hear me, Ceil? I'm going to be honest with you." He leaned in closer, very slowly, until he was almost nose-to-nose with her.

"I... hate... this place. This 'zoo', this 'prison', this 'reality', whatever you want to call it, I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell... if there is such a thing. I feel... saturated by it. I can... taste your stink of weakness, and every time I do, I fear that I have somehow been infected by it, it's repulsive!" He tipped the priestess' head upwards until she was facing him directly, her glazed eyes however not focusing on anything in particular.

"Once the son of Dracon is dead, there will be no need for me to serve under Necropolis' guildmaster like some disgusting lapdog, I can simply overthrow him, do you understand!" He exclaimed, grabbing the priestess' head between his hands and locking his gaze with her unfocused one. "I need to find your son! I have to eliminate him to pave my way to the council! And in this mind is the key, my key. You are going to tell me where your son is. You are going to tell me, or you are going to die."

Ceil groaned, disoriented, but she continued to resist the overwhelming compulsion to spill her secrets out to the Voidwalker. Dreznor had proved far stronger than she had expected; she didn't expect to be able to hold out for any longer than a few minutes.

Yet, even as she mentally begged for the sweet mercy of unconsciousness, she continued to cling on to hope; she had just managed to extend her senses out from beyond the room and past the wards for a split-second, and what she sensed lifted her spirits.

Her son was here. Dreznor didn't need to bother with all this interrogation; he would get what he wanted all right, but not in the way he wanted at all.

Ryden darted towards his left, firing the handguns as he ran. The guards who were covering the left side of the lobby in their field of fire opened up in earnest at the lone warrior, but Ryden easily evaded their shots as he blurred sideways, tapping into his Draconic Speed with a vengeance and dropping several guards even as he skitted to the left until he hit the wall.

The guards immediately took advantage of Ryden's momentary lack of movement to unload a fresh volley of lead, but Ryden quickly ducked, avoiding a majority of the bullets. Those few bullets that did graze against him merely caused small scratches that Grendel's regeneration quickly healed. He continued firing his handguns through a hail storm of bullets, aiming easily through the cloud of dust that the firefight had kicked up with his Draconic Vision, and killing guards without pause until the hammer of the handgun in his right hand locked open, signalling an empty magazine.

One shot later, the hammer of the handgun in his left hand locked open as well.

He was out of ammo.

No matter though - Ryden simply rolled behind a nearby pillar as the guards sought to track him, Assault Rifles and Shotguns spitting lead at him from a distance. Tossing away the two empty weapons, he withdrew another pair of machine pistols from within his coat, and waited for the assault to pause.

On the other side of the lobby, Zeraion was an indistinct shape that darted about the guards' fields of vision as they tried to shoot him down. Running at full speed towards the guards, the archer sensed the bullets heading his way and, with an agility he never knew he possessed, he jumped towards the wall on his right and started to run along it in a gravity-defying display of acrobatics, kicking off after several steps and dodging safely out of the bullets' paths.

He landed deftly behind a pillar, and the guards foolhardily continued to pummel the pillar with bullets in vain hopes of penetrating and nailing the bowman behind it. The foremost guard, a large warrior wielding a shotgun, pulled the trigger and realised with a dismayed click! that he was out of shells. He reached down towards his belt for the reloads, and Zeraion took advantage of that brief moment of vulnerability.

With a cry, the bowman burst from behind his pillar and kicked the warrior twice across the face to knock him unconscious, but not before kicking the shotgun out of his hands. The remaining guards tried to fire upon him as the warrior fell, but Zeraion had vanished behind his pillar as abruptly as he had appeared.

Back on Ryden's side, the young warrior was very rapidly losing his patience. The rain of bullets had not abated so far, and Ryden was on the verge of charging out of cover and into a storm of lead simply out of impatience.

Finally, after several seconds, the bullets stopped flying for just a split-second; the guards were reloading.

But a split-second was all Ryden needed. Roaring a battle-cry, he charged out from behind the pillar, raising the machine pistols and letting loose a rain of lead of his own. The world around him slowed down to a crawl, and everything suddenly seemed to move in slow-motion. The only things he could hear was the thundering of his machine pistols, drowning out his own battle-cry, and the loud clanging of several dozen spent bullet casings falling onto the floor. Aiming and shooting his machine pistols with pinpoint accuracy, he stitched his lines of fire across the guards' heads almost effortlessly, gunning down a dozen guards with a single volley and cutting down those that emerged from cover almost instantaneously.

The guards on the right side of the lobby finally realised that their buddies on the left were having trouble, and they momentarily diverted their attention from the hidden bowman to the charging warrior, attempting to gun down the latter now instead of the former.

Zeraion took this as his cue to emerge from cover. Swiftly but silently running out from behind the pillar, he approached a bowman who was sending several dozen rounds at Ryden but paid absolutely no attention to the archer sneaking up from behind him.

With a lightning-fast kick, Zeraion knocked the Assault Rifle out of the bowman's hands, and the weapon sailed through the air to land right in Zeraion's grip. The guard had only a moment to realise that his weapon was gone before Zeraion shot him in the back, sending him sprawling across the floor. The guards finally realised that they were under attack, and they shifted their focus towards Zeraion.

The hunter quickly unloaded the rest of the magazine into the congregation of guards, mowing down several of them, and he dropped the empty weapon, retreating behind another nearby pillar as the guards opened fire.

Ryden charged through the hail storm of lead, running through it as though there weren't any bullets present at all. The guards continued to shoot at him in a vain attempt to gun him down, but Ryden didn't stop moving forward even as the bolts of his machine pistols suddenly locked open. He discarded the empty weapons and pitched himself into a forward cartwheel, grabbing a fallen guard's dropped Assault Rifle. A second cartwheel forward, and Ryden was firing the rifle one-handed at the guards he had came all the way next to, in the middle of the cartwheel.

None of his shots missed, and three guards fell to the floor, riddled with bullet holes. The two remaining guards opened fire at him, but he had already rolled behind a pillar, discarding the empty assault rifle. Reaching into his trenchcoat once again, he pulled out his last pair of machine pistols and cocked them.

One volley of fire later, he wheeled out from behind the pillar, letting fly with both guns. One of the guards immediately ducked behind cover as Ryden opened fire, but the other wasn't so lucky. He was stepping out just as the warrior pulled the triggers, and he was instantly mowed down by the hail of lead. Emptying the last of the magazines, he tossed away the depleted weapons and leapt into the air just as the last guard stepped out from behind his pillar. Ryden immediately lashed out with a vicious double-kick that sent the guard flying, and his weapon clattered to the floor with a satisfying clang, signifying the end of the battle.

The entire firefight had lasted only three minutes.

Ryden looked back as he heard footsteps, but it was only Zeraion. The hunter strode over to the black bag, which throughout the entire battle had somehow gone miraculously untouched.

Dropping his stolen assault rifle, Zeraion picked up the bag and entered the elevator with Ryden, leaving in their wake several dead bodies and a completely demolished lobby.

The door to the interrogation room suddenly opened, and Dreznor shot up from his seat, abruptly releasing his hold on the priestess' head. Sindri and Raveshaw stepped in, and the headhunter looked confusedly between the Voidwalker and the priestess.

"What were you doing?" Raveshaw asked. Dreznor remained silent.

"He doesn't know." Sindri muttered to Raveshaw.

"Know what?" The Voidwalker finally asked, regaining his composure.

Inside the elevator, Zeraion set the bag on the floor, unzipping it and taking out what was being hidden inside it; a large bomb device loaded with C4. Ryden depressed the Emergency Stop button on the elevator's control panel, and the elevator abruptly halted.

Zeraion continued to work on the bomb, inputting the commands for an on-impact fuse. As Zeraion was inputting the commands, Ryden reached up to the ceiling of the elevator and pulled open the emergency escape hatch. Zeraion removed the safeties on the 'Arm' button, and Ryden slipped through the hatch.

Sindri looked down at the priestess, finally realising why they had suddenly lost contact with the lobby guards.

"I think they're trying to save her."

Ryden and Zeraion quickly secured their harnesses to the lift cables, and Ryden pulled out another handgun from the recesses of his trenchcoat. He aimed it at the link that connected the cable to the elevator, and fired once.

The link gave way partially, and the elevator swayed unsteadily. The duo tightened their grips on their respective harnesses, and Ryden glanced upwards, towards the upper floors where his mother was being held hostage.

Dreznor... I've got a present for ya. He thought to himself before he fired the handgun again.

The link shattered from the force of the bullet, and the elevator plummeted downwards while the duo shot skyward, being pulled up by the counterweights, which shot down and past their sight after a few seconds.

There a loud ping! from the lobby's elevator door before it vanished in a tremendous explosion. A humoungous plume of flame shot out from within the elevator, and the ensuing firestorm engulfed the entire lobby.

Upstairs, the lights in the room where Ceil was being held suddenly shorted out, and a moment later, the ceiling sprinklers were activated.

Utterly enraged at this indignity, Dreznor ordered Sindri to "Find them and destroy them!"

The Chaos Sorcerer tilted his head towards the ceiling, sensing a disturbance, and he already knew where the son of Dracon was.

"I repeat, we are under attack!" The pilot of the chopper shouted into his mike as he watched his comrades get massacred by the two mysterious assailants who somehow had managed to overpower an entire platoon of Necropolis troopers.

Outside the chopper, Ryden repeatedly unleashed kicks at the pair of guards who he had held together in an arm-lock. The guard on the left immediately fell when Ryden delivered a crushing boot to his head, and the warrior snatched the assault rifle out of the remaining guard's hands, knocking the guard out with a hard upward smash to his chin with the butt of the rifle.

Spinning around, he aimed past Zeraion, who was currently disarming one of the guards of his Field Knife with several well-placed chops, and mowed down the Necropolis troopers who were rushing up to assist their comrades.

Inside the chopper, the pilot's body convulsed as a foreign presence invaded it, and suddenly Sindri materialised in the pilot's place.

Not noticing the presence of the Council Member inside the chopper, Ryden continued to gun down the Necopolis grunts, not noticing the guard he had knocked out earlier with a boot to the head was slowly getting up and hefting his shotgun at him.

Zeraion though, didn't fail to see that. Throwing the field knife with all his strength, he watched as the weapon embedded itself in the forehead of the guard, and his limp body toppled to the floor.

Ryden discarded the empty assault rifle onto the floor, and he was about to turn around when he saw Zeraion stare over his shoulder with a look of utter dread. Ryden knew what it was, though. He didn't even need to turn around to see what it was; he recognised the scent of a Necropolis Council Member through his sense of Draconic Smell.

In a flash, he drew two handguns from within his trenchcoat, and proceeded to unload both clips into the waiting Chaos Sorcerer.

A cocky grin, and the sorcerer's upper body suddenly became an indistinct blur that quickly seperated into several indistict blurs that shot around in dodging movements, and all the while his lower body didn't budge an inch.

Frustrated, Ryden continued firing, determined to gun down the headhunter, but Sindri continued to dodge the bullets in a seemingly effortless manner.

Suddenly, two dull clicks sounded from Ryden's handguns; he was out of ammo.

Sindri, however, didn't have that problem at all. His upper body finally stopped moving, and he drew his own weapon, an ebony staff that was surrounded by a black aura.

"Zeraion..." Ryden shouted out as Sindri pointed the staff at him, and he dropped both his handguns. "Help!"

Sindri unleashed several bolts of dark energy in rapid succession.

Once again, the world around Ryden slowed down to a crawl. Sinking into his Draconic Speed like never before, instinct moved his arms and body of its own accord, and he automatically dodged out of the way of the energy bolts that were being sent his way at supposedly supersonic speeds, though to Ryden it seemed as though they were travelling at half-normal speed. The bolts whizzed past his limbs just as he pulled them out of the way, and then Sindri somehow managed to get the brains to aim at Ryden's chest. So, Ryden proceeded to bend backwards in response to the bolts.

By the time Sindri had finished casting, Ryden was already bent backwards 90-degrees at the knees in an extreme acrobatic dodging maneuvre. The world suddenly returned to normal speed, and Sindri released two last bursts of energy in a last-ditch Magic Claw. The attack grazed across Ryden's left shoulder and right thigh, and the warrior lost his balance, tumbling to the ground.

Panting and gasping for breath, he glanced upwards as Sindri stood over him, his staff pointed threateningly at Ryden.

"Only human." The sorcerer muttered, raising his weapon in preparation for the final blow. He was about to cast the spell when the barrel of a handgun was suddenly pressed against his temple.

Glancing to his right, he belatedly realised that in his pursuit of Ryden, he had forgotten all about Zeraion.

"Dodge this." Was all the young archer said before he pulled the trigger.

Sindri's body flew backwards as the round exited through the other side of his head, and it was enveloped by a bright flash of light before it was replaced by the chopper pilot's corpse.

Groaning, Ryden attempted to get to his feet as Zeraion offered a hand to help him up. Ryden gratefully accepted it, and was pulled roughly to his feet.

"How did you do that?" Zeraion asked as Ryden discarded his trenchcoat, revealing the black armor underneath.

"Do what?"

"You moved like that sorcerer did. I've never seen anyone move that fast."

Ryden glanced at his wounds, which already in the process of healing, and then at the corpse of the pilot. "It wasn't fast enough." The warrior then glanced at the chopper, a plan formulating in his head. "Can you fly that thing?"

Zeraion glanced at the chopper for a moment, and then replied, "Not yet."

He snapped out his PDA and dialled in the number for the GMs' armory.

Ascion picked up the call to the armory the moment the headset started beeping. "Operator."

"Ascion, I need a pilot program for a B2-12 helicopter." Zeraion's voice came over the headset. "Hurry."

Ascion didn't waste any time. His fingers flying over the keyboard, he quickly input the commands into the rezzing program, and the moment the program was ready, he sent the attachment to Zeraion's PDA.

Zeraion's eyes fluttered opened and closed for several moments as he assimilated the information very much in the same manner Ryden had learned his Kung Fu, and they finally snapped open after a few seconds.

He glanced towards Ryden, then at the helicopter. "Let's go."

The two strode onto the helipad and into the chopper, Ryden loading in his last clip into his final handgun and cocking it.

Sindri stepped back inside the room; he had failed in stopping the son of Dracon from occupying the roof, and now only the Balrogs kew what he had in store for them; there was an unoccupied chopper on the rooftop!

A sudden racket issuing from outside the windows caught their attention, and they looked outside.

A helicopter descended into their view, and they saw Ryden at the side of it, aiming the helicopter's massive mounted chaingun at them.

Dreznor stared at the chopper, and uttered a single word.

"No."

Ryden slammed his finger down on the chaingun's trigger, and Dreznor raised his claw in response.

Raveshaw and Sindri fled from the room, several Dreadlords charging in in their place. Dozens of shurikens were sent flying at the lone warrior who was letting loose a hell storm of lead into the room, but most of them pinged harmlessly off the inside of the chopper as they flew past Ryden.

Stitching his fire across the room, he mercilessly mowed down the Dreadlords who had chosen to die alongside their lord, methodically slaughtering them one by one, and in the process completely demolishing the windows. After several seconds, the only people left alive in the room were Ceil and Dreznor. His features contorted into a mask of rage, Dreznor continued to fling shurikens at the chopper, and he didn't pause even as the rounds from the chaingun nearly cut off his left arm.

He didn't scream as the bullets penetrated his armor, but he finally realised that this was a fight he could not win. Staggering out of the room, he flung a final pair of shurikens at the chopper in a Lucky Seven attack before retreating.

The barrel of the chaingun stopped spinning, and Ryden was able to get a clear look inside the room. His mother sat handcuffed to a chair in the center of it, and as he watched, she slowly lifted her head up, blinking her eyes slowly to clear her system of the effects of the serum. The cold water from the sprinklers helped a lot, and she suddenly felt her mind clear.

Focusing her energy, she let out a shout of effort as she tore the handcuffs apart, using magical energy alone to enhance her strength. She ripped off the sensors attached to her head and neck, and was about to dash for the chopper when the door to the room swung open again.

Dreznor, apparently recovered from his wounds, immediately summoned a Shadow Partner and flung several shurikens at Ceil at once.

Now running even faster, the priestess moved her legs as fast as she could will them to, dashing towards the chopper at maximum speed. A stray star tore past her right calf, gouging out a chunk of flesh, and she cried out in pain, stumbling as she ran.

She's not gonna make it on her own! Ryden realised, and without hesitation, he leapt for his mother, who had jumped from the building at the same time. The two slammed into each other in mid-air, and they plummeted downwards until the cable connecting Ryden's harness to the chopper snapped taut. Ceil nearly lost her grip, and she was kept from plummeting to the ground several dozen stories below only by Ryden's death-grip on her robe sleeve.

"Gotcha!" The young warrior proclaimed, and he glanced up to the cockpit, where Zeraion was piloting. The archer immediately pitched the joystick forward to get the chopper to move, but Dreznor was too fast for them. Even as the chopper was yards away from the demolished windows, Dreznor sent a pair of shurikens flying with such accuracy that two adjacent holes were made in the helicopter's fuel tank.

Cursing, Zeraion attempted to regain control of the chopper as it threatened to gyrate out of control. Alarms and warning lights started blaring and blinking, and the young bowman wrenched the joystick to the side as he spotted a nearby building which seemed to have a rooftop high enough for them to land safely on. Jamming the joystick to the right, he dashed out of the cockpit and rappelled down his own cable, coming down next to Ryden. The moment they passed over the rooftop, Zeraion pulled out a small dagger and severed both cables with a deft flick of his wrist.

The helicopter passed over their heads, billowing smoke from its leaking fuel tank, and the three landed and rolled on the rooftop as they watched the chopper crash against the side of another nearby building, exploding in a gigantic fireball. They shielded their eyes against the flash of light, and waited until the ringing in their ears had subsided before they got to their feet.

"Operator?" Ascion said as he picked up the call. His mouth spread into a wide grin as he heard who was on the other side of the line, and he quickly patched the call in to Grendel.

The elder magician put on a headset of his own. "Goddamn, it's good to hear your voice, Ceil. I guess your son isn't so unskilled after all."

"We need an exit, Grendel."

"Got one ready." Ascion piped up from his station. "Subway station: State and Balboa."

The Council Members burst through the doorway to the rooftop, intending to catch the escapees while they still could, but all that greeted them were two discarded sets of harnesses. Dreznor reached down and picked up one of the harnesses, squeezing and twisting it in his grip.

"Damn it!" He cursed under his breath, his grip tightening.

"The search is complete." Raveshaw said after a moment.

"We have their position." Sindri stated.

"The seeker teams are standing by." They then both looked at Dreznor, who was still staring at the harness in his hands. "Order the strike."

Dreznor finally looked up, and his eyes blazed with certainty of vengeance.

"They're not out yet."

A/N: Ok, I'm really out of stamina here. I really want to continue and I already have the whole part of it all lined out, but I just can't type any further. Besides, I'm sure you all want an update after two weeks of waiting. To Kasumi7112, the updates are really slow because schoolwork is really bogging the Master and I down. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, though. Damned graduation exams, remedial lessons in school and tuitions have been wasting so much time...