Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 7 - The Devil's Yard Journey, Part 5

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The hall grew larger as they journeyed on, but the lights grew dimmer. .The crew finally entered a huge, cylindrical cavern containing a bridge that led to another tunnel mouth. . Beneath the bridge lay a pool of what seemed like water, but in the light, it was as black as ink. Perhaps more unnerving was the way the water lapped against the walls, something that, in a place like this, would likely only happen if there was some sort of current... or occupants.

The travelers looked on in awe, but their admiration of the serene yet creepy sight was soon disrupted as an explosion rang out. A wave of the surprisingly rank liquid splashed over the bridge, producing a trail of green slime in its wake as the mystery of the moving water was seemingly solved before them. Something serpent-like burst from the slimy depths, lashing a tail that could have been hundreds of feet long. . Beneath its head was a muscular, human-like torso with limbs tipped with claws. Surrounding its head was a frill like the hood of a cobra, only this seemed bony in nature. The head itself was serpentine, with large, deadly fangs and eyes that shone with a blood red glow that pierced the darkness.

"Who dares disturb Nyarlathotep?" a raspy voice rang out.

"Mommy," said Xenos and Janine simultaneously, even as the Air Pirate had once again placed himself between the lady and the horrors before them.

"Alright!" shouted Steel. "Can I stab this thing, too?"

"Knock yourself out," said Nytetrayn. "We'll just wait here."

As the creature let out a cackling noise and loomed over the group, Steel walked right up to it and said, "Hi, snake person! Can I stab you?"

The cackling stopped, as Nyarlathotep blinked and looked down upon the Digger, regarding him with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"Dear lord," said Fenix. "His naivete has rendered it powerless!"

"I'm sure it wouldn't be fun or anything, that's why I had to ask first," Steel continued.

Whether the creature didn't like that, or it was going to do it anyway, it nevertheless took the opportunity to whip its huge, bony tail at the Digger, its sharp tip narrowly missing Steel's face as he ducked with a yelp.

"Or not," said Xenos.

The wind from Nyarlathotep's swing sent Steel toppling forward, where he flipped and came back up to his feet... only to fall again.

"Think he needs some covering fire or somesuch?" Xenos asked.

"Why not?" replied Nyte, raising his Gatling Buster.

"That might be nice," Fenix added, bringing his Gatling Arm to bear.

The duo opened fire, with Janine adding a stream of her own flaming energy, as well as the artillery from Xenos' mech suit. But the creature simply cackled as their attacks all slammed into an invisible shield formed in front of its body.

"What?!" Fenix said as he and the others ceased fire.

"That's not good," said Nyte.

Meanwhile, Steel slid up alongside the beast. "I'll take that as a 'yes'!" he said, before attempting to stab at its ribcage, hoping that would negate the shield. Unfortunately, its tail once again snaked out of nowhere, this time striking Steel in the back, forcing him to fall painfully down to the bridge.

"Oww," he said after landing. "Not good..."

As Nyarlathotep slithered forward, reaching towards Steel with one taloned hand, Fenix's eyes began to take on a deadly glow as he unholstered his Plasma Caster. Xenos armed some missiles, Nytetrayn readied his Gatling Buster again, and Janine snarled and raised her hands over her head, forming a huge ball of energy between them.

"Hey, Bunky!" Fenix shouted. "Suck on this!"

With that, the group unleashed their blasts, distracting the monster enough to look their way. Before it could react, Steel drove the spear into its hand, but it was quickly torn free of his grasp as the force of Fenix and Janine's attacks was enough to throw it back, despite not being enough to penetrate the protective aura.

"We may not be able to penetrate the shield," said Nytetrayn, "but maybe we can overload it!"

Nyarlathotep screamed out as it struggled against the onslaught of attacks, a greenish-blue energy bubble flickering in and out of sight before him.

"The shield's flickering," Janine said. "Ma Hame Tsunami!" she shouted, pouring it on even more by unleashing a massive blaze of fiery energy at Nyarlathotep.

Screams emerged from Nyarlathotep as he shuddered and put his effort into keeping the shield up, the barrier blazing into view under the continued assault.

Steel dashed, rolled, and retrieved the spear. "You're a tough one," he said.

Janine let out a scream of her own, pushing more and more of her own energy into her blast as she pressed her attack. Xenos attempted to supplement it with a few arcs of plasma, and Nytetrayn kept up his Gatling Buster assault.

"This should do it," Fenix said as he raised his grenade launcher and fired.

Nyarlathotep roared as his shield shattered like glass, and immediately dove underneath the explosion, dodging it as he headed for the group at a low altitude. Janine, her powers spent for the moment, gasped as she fell, only for Xenos to quickly move in and catch her.

Switching to Nyte-Saber, Nytetrayn charged the beast and dropped to the floor underneath, slashing at it lengthwise as it passed over him. Meanwhile, Fenix rained some more grenades down upon it before Steel hurled the spear, striking Nyarlathotep in the back.

Nyarlathotep let out a scream from the combined assault. "Ssssssstupid humansss!"

"For god's sake, kill it!" shouted Fenix.

As if he was waiting for the word, Steel gritted his teeth and unleashed the magnetic gun once more, now at full power. Waves of electricity arced through the air, finding their target square in Nyarlathotep's back. The creature convulsed as 1.21 gigawatts of raw electrical power surged throughout its body, its tail wildly whipping about as the fleshier bits started to smoke.

Soon, Nyarlathotep writhed on the ground for a few moments, before the writhing stopped.

Janine looked up from Xenos' grasp and smiled smugly. "I always hated snakes."

Black Steel, after turning off the magnetic gun, moved over to the beast in order to retrieve the spear. As he moved, a slight limp became apparent.

"Well, that's that," said Nytetrayn, as he inspected the corpse for anything valuable, or at least useful.

"I'm still thirsty," said Steel.

"Go grab a drink of water over there," Nyte said, pointing at the pool beneath the bridge.

"Great idea!"

"Nice going, Nyte," said Fenix.

"What?"

"If he poisons himself, it's your fault. And you'll have to drag the body out of here, because we'll probably need it for food."

"Ah, he knows I'm kidding. Right, Steely?"

As Nyte turned to regard Steel, he saw him turning back from the pool, swallowing a few gulps.

"Ur?" said Steel, swallowing, then smiling. "That's good water!"

Nyte just smacked his forehead. Fenix patted him on the back.

"Ya' know what they say," said Steel. "'If it's brown, drink it down!'"

"...and 'if it's black, send it back', I thought," said Nyte.

Meanwhile, Janine sat up and smiled at Xenos, and said, "My hero..."

Xenos turned beet red, as Janine slowly reached up and wrapped her arms around the Air Pirate, pressed against him, and stared deep into his eyes while giving him a sweet, seductive smile. "And you know what heroes get, don't you?"

"J-just doing my duty," he replied, though inside, he thought, "except not really, I'm usually more along the lines of a bad guy, what with stealing prescription pants and all."

Janine planted her soft, warm lips on Xenos', and slipped her tongue inside his mouth, giving him the finest French kiss imaginable. Xenos responded in kind, as he kissed back as only a rich boy with some French in him could.

A short distance away, the others watched. Though Fenix didn't react, Steel said, "I guess now wouldn't be a good time to offer them a drink."

Steel then nudged Nyte, whispering to him, "Why does he keep doing things like that with his mother...?"

Nyte was about to respond, when he suddenly got an idea, and a devilish grin spread across his face. Whispering back to Steel, he said, "Dude, you didn't know? That's not his mother..."

"Really?"

"...it's yours. We were helping her look for you."

Steel's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates.

Nyte kept going. "What, you didn't think she'd do that bit with your head to just anyone, did you?"

Eyes still wide, Steel looked at Janine, but then shook his head. "No... my mother is gone."

"Oh," Nyte said. "Uh... she's back?"

"But thanks for trying to cheer me up!" Steel said happily.

"Er, anytime, man... anytime."

It was at this point that Fenix gave Nyte a good, hard kick in the buttocks.

"Hey!" Nyte shouted.

As they're doing this, Xenos' suit reconfigured itself around the two, granting them a bit more privacy.

"Something tells me they're going to be a while," Nyte said. Turning to Fenix, he asked, "Do we stay, or move on?"

"Let's go see what's in the next room!" Steel said, skipping off to the next chamber, fancying himself a dragonslayer with the spear.

"I'd rather not be here, myself. Watching isn't really my thing," Fenix said as he went to follow Steel.

"Ah," Nyte said, before he paused as realization set in. He just shook his head and followed. "Sounds good..."

Before Steel finished crossing the bridge, he stopped. "Oh, shoot... my leg armor has come loose again," he said, placing the spear and magnetic gun next to him on the ground as he kneeled to reattach it.

As he did so, a giant hand dropped down and thumped him into the murky waters below, before rising once again and returning to the shadows above, with a faint "Jackass" heard by the Diggers.

"Odd," said Steel, as Nytetrayn and Fenix looked on with a morbid curiosity. "I seem to be immersed in water. Lots of water."

"Indeed," said Fenix.

"Hey, with this armor, I can't swim," Steel said. "Cool," he added, before sinking beneath the water's surface and bubbles rose to the top.

"Do we rescue him?" Nyte asked after a moment of speechlessness. "I think we should. His luck seems way worse than ours. He makes a good decoy."

With that, Nyte dug around in his backpack for some rope, and tossed one end to where Steel had just been... where it proceeded to float.

"Hmm, guess I should've thought of that," Nyte said, a little disappointed at the result.

With Steel gone, Nytetrayn and Fenix decided that "majority rules" is out, and began waiting on Xenos and Janine. Fenix leaned against the wall, his arms crossed as he tapped his foot on the floor impatiently.

Nytetrayn sipped some coffee. "Sure is taking them a while. What do you suppose they're doing in there?"

Fenix paused for a moment, as he tried to think of what to tell his younger comrade that would be freakier than anything they've seen in this ruin so far, but came up blank.

Before he could come to any sort of conclusion, a giant hand suddenly dropped down from the ceiling, depositing none other than Adam Powers on the ground before them. It then promptly flipped the rest of the party off before disappearing into the ether above.

"I kinda like him... her... them..." Nytetrayn said of the hand..

"It is amusing," Fenix said.

"So, Adam, did you 'talk to the hand'?" Nyte asked with a big grin. Fenix chuckled softly.

"Shut up," Adam said as he got up and dusted himself off, looking none-too happy about the situation.

Fenix checked his watch. "Cripes, that guy has more endurance than I'd have given him credit for."

"No kidding," said Nyte, as he started to look around for any holes in the wall that might contain treasure, or something. "Maybe he's dead?"

"What's going on over there?" Adam asked, pointing at Xenos' closed-off mech.

"Don't ask," both Diggers replied simultaneously. Adam just shrugged.

"That's it," said Nytetrayn. "Unless gold starts falling from the ceiling or something, I'm feeling like we should just move on and let them catch up." The other two Diggers nodded in agreement.

Just then, some gold fell from the ceiling.

After a moment of the three staring at the pile before them with widened eyes, Nyte looked to the others and said, "Sometimes, you just don't ask questions." He then started bagging what he could, and Fenix and Adam soon followed suit.

"Y'know, if gold is going to fall from the ceiling every time those two shack up, I think I could learn to live with it," Nyte said.

"Heh, I could probably put up with it," Adam said with a smirk.

As the trio grabbed what they could from the pile, Janine walked up, adjusting her shirt, while Xenos walked alongside her, fully-armored and taking a few drags off of a cigarette.

Fenix just shook his head. "So, Xenos, how was your first time?"

"I am so not looking inside that thing," said Nytetrayn.

Adam just quietly grinned at Fenix's remark, and nodded his head at Nyte's. Janine, meanwhile, blew the lot of them a raspberry, and Xenos let out a hearty laugh at Fenix's comment.

"Seems to imply it wasn't his first," Nytetrayn said.

"No duh, Sherlock," said Adam. "Let's move on, 'k?"

The others agreed, and as Nytetrayn got his pack back on, he asked, "So, Xenos... how was your second time?"

Setting his mech to rolling mode, Xenos said as he followed the others into the next tunnel, "Second time? Wasn't so good. However, Janine's loads of fun."

Fenix snorted, while Nyte just shook his head and moved on.

"Xenos was amazing," said Janine. "But, for lack of a better point of comparison..."

Fenix stiffened slightly, then continued walking.

"If it's all the same to you," said Nyte, "I don't care."

Fortunately for the travelers, this hallway was mercifully short, ending in yet another domed room, this one larger than the ones which preceded it. Inside were a few dozen of the bizarre, squat, hybrid reptile people they'd encountered before. They paid the group no mind as they entered, instead bowing with their faces to the ground, their chants emitting a high keening wail.

"What the...?" said Janine, while Fenix just stopped short and stared at what laid before them.

"More of them," noted Xenos.

"This would not bode well," said Nytetrayn.

While the reptiles remained in their facedown positions, crying and carrying on as though they feared for their mortal lives, one stood up and reluctantly approached the intruders, holding its hands out towards the group and whining at them with a wheedling tone in its voice.

Adam put his index and middle fingers up to his ear and whispered, "Alpha-Red, are you getting this? Can you translate?"

"Don't worry, I got this," Nytetrayn said as he started to step forward, before being yanked back by Fenix. Nyte let out a quick yelp as he was stopped short, while Fenix stepped forward in his place.

"We don't mean you any harm," he told the reptile-person.

The creature nodded rapidly at Fenix, then backed away. The mass of bowed figures before them parted ways, clearing a path to the large, ornate door which sat in place on the opposite wall. The door appeared to be made entirely of gold, inlaid with numerous glittering jewels. The standing member of the reptile group gestured towards it, then towards itself, seemingly offering whatever was behind the door in exchange for the lives of itself and its fellows.

Adam continued his other conversation. "Dammit. Well, nevermind, looks like we don't need it, anyway."

"I think I may start to warm up to these little guys," said Janine.

Adam said, "I think they're more afraid of you than anything else, Janine."

"Looks good," Xenos said as he hopped out of his mech and locked it.

"Well, I say we go for it," said Nyte. "What else are we doing this afternoon?"

Slowly, the door creaked open, revealing an extremely large, yet dimly-lit room. Within, the group can see something glittering in the little light afforded, shining a glassy green, like a huge emerald.

"Is that a...?" Nyte began to ask.

"Mama-mia," said Fenix as he stared.

As the group walked down the aisle between the reptiles, the creatures began to chant a single word over and over. The word sounded unnervingly like human speech, as they repeated "Dagon" in a husky, hypnotic manner. While Adam and Nytetrayn took point, trying to pick up a reading with their scanners, Fenix glanced at the creatures with uncertainty as he moved.

"That doesn't sound good," Adam noted as he kept moving, his Buster at the ready and the other hand on the handle of his blade. Likewise, Nyte had his Buster ready, though he tried to walk along more casually. Janine looked around wide-eyed as she passed through the door, and Xenos just passed through nonchalantly, making a beeline for the emerald.

As the last traveler passed through the entrance, the one standing creature let out a high pitched cackle as the portal swung shut with a massive crash, instantly silencing the chanting to the ears of those now trapped within.

"Figures," said Nytetrayn. "I am so kicking some ass when we get out of here."

"I take back what I said earlier," added Janine. "Those little pukes are dead meat."

"I'll hold 'em while you fry 'em," said Fenix.

"Why didn't we leave someone to stand watch outside?" asked Nyte.

"What, and get eaten alive by those little buggers once the door shut?" Xenos said.

The room was indeed quite enormous, easily well over twice the size of the chamber in which they fought Yog-Sothoth. It was composed primarily of a strange, sickly green marsh that emitted the stench of rotting vegetable matter, and glowed with an unusual green luminescence. Contrasting this were the walls and ceiling, which seemed to be made of little more than an ordinary white stone.

The same plain white stone formed a pathway which ran from the door to a large island in the middle of the bog, upon which stood a tall green monolith at its center, the giant emerald.

Adam frowned as he moved towards the emerald, looking around cautiously. "What is this place?"

Nyte readied his Buster behind him. "Keep your eyes peeled."

"The 'Moon-Bog,'" said Janine. "Don't you remember the poem?"

"And what did the poem say about the Moon-Bog?" asked Adam.

"...that, I don't remember."

The island was made from dirt and stone, and was strangely dry for something sitting in this marsh. The monolith at its center was full of odd, almost hieroglyphic designs carved all across it. However, the symbols all seemed to be strangely wavy, many of them resembling fish or other aquatic animals.

Perhaps the most prominent of all the carvings was one of a humanoid creature, tall and lanky, possessing thin, spider-like limbs, covered in its entirety by scales, with webbed hands and feet ending in vicious-looking claws. Its head bore a wide, grotesque mouth with needle-sharp teeth and huge, lantern-like orbs where its eyes should be. It was clearly a legendary creature, shown as being the size of a whale – too big for any normal bipedal being.

"So, it's not a refractor," said Fenix.

"Damnation!" Nyte said.

As Xenos felt the carvings, Adam walked around the emerald, scanning it up and down, taking in all of the hieroglyphs.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," said Janine.

"You have a bad feeling about this?" said Nyte. "At least you have all these wicked lasers and stuff."

"At least you have armor. I'm in a sports bra here!"

"Yeah, and you're the walking armory," Adam said as he scanned.

"...fair enough."

"I... really should not have left my mech behind," Xenos said, still continuing to run his fingers along the carved lines.

"Expect it to be on concrete blocks when you get back," Nyte said.

Xenos said, "Amazing what that thing can do, really–"

Suddenly and without warning, the water began to churn and foam, causing waves to thrash against the bank of the island. A whirlpool appeared several meters out, and glowing golden eyes could be seen shining out of the water as whatever was there began to emerge. The whirlpool disappeared with a massive sucking sound, leaving in its place a behemoth of nightmarish stature – none other than the very being carved into the idolic green pillar of stone.

It lumbered towards the short of the island.

"Shit!" yelled Janine.

"That pretty much covers it," said Fenix.

"Damn, that's big," said Adam. "And ugly, too!"

"I'm dead," said Xenos, who then performed a sweeping bow to Janine. "I'll always remember our time together, m'lady."

"It was sweet, Xenos," Janine replied. "I'll remember it in Robot Hell."

"Well, damn," was all Nytetrayn had to say as the creature approached.

He then opened fire on it with his Nyte-Buster.

Dagon roared balefully as the shots bounced off his scaley hide.

Following Nyte's lead, Adam opened fire on the creature as well, and hucked a grenade at its open maw as it roared, while Fenix pulled out his Plasma Caster and opened up.

Together, the attacks scorched Dagon, forcing it to stagger a bit. "Fffooooolsssss...!" it bellowed.

"Oh, look," said Adam. "It talks."

"Oh, great," said Nytetrayn. "It talks. Now it can not only kick our ass, but tell us why while it's doing it."

As Adam kept peppering it with shots from his Buster and Nyte opened up with his Gatling Buster, Janine held out her hands with her palms a few inches apart, as a tiny pinprick of light appeared between them.

Dagon opened its mouth and shrieked, seemingly warping reality itself as a shockwave of compressed air blasted towards the group. Janine screamed as the sonic blast collided with her own forcefield, the force of the impact sending a wave of water upwards. After Dagon's unstoppable force met Janine's immovable object, Xenos grabbed Janine as he dove for cover.

As the others ducked out of the way, Nytetrayn leaped up high and fired back at Dagon. Adam continued firing, while Fenix staggered slightly and returned fire with his Plasma Caster.

"Dammit, now I really wish I'd brought the Sniper Cannon," Adam said while hurling another plasma grenade at the monster's head.

Xenos pulled out his dragoon pistol, pointed it at Dagon's eye, and let a shot ring out. The creature snarled as it clutched its wounded eye, and flailed its arm at the Diggers, which hurled a tidal wave at them.

"Xenos, hold on to me," said Janine, before she imbedded her fingers into the ground. Xenos grabbed hold and kept his pistol pointed at Dagon, while Fenix planted his feet, Adam climbed to the top of the monolith to return fire, and Nytetrayn just grabbed whatever he could and took a deep breath before it hit.

Dagon cackled as a torrent of water crashed into the group, hitting them like a brick wall moving at high speed. Janine held on for dear life, as Xenos held on to Janine. Fenix was blown backwards, where he slammed into the monolith and was knocked out cold, slumping down with his mechanical eyes darkened. Nytetrayn ended up washed up against a wall, and Adam's attempt to clear the wave by jumping as high as possible nevertheless saw him engulfed and knocked back as well, sending him back several meters along the pathway..

Dagon placed one giant, scaled foot on the island with an earthshaking thud. "Hoooomanssss... diiiieeee!!!"

Nytetrayn resumed firing at Dagon's face with the Gatling Buster. Xenos let go of Janine and stood, pointing the pistol at Dagon's other eye, while she unleashed a wave of fire at the beast.

Adam got to his feet and drew the large sword from his back, and it began to emanate a blue glow, the runes brighter than the rest. As this happened, his eyes began to glow red through his shades.

Dagon let out another roar, stopping the attacks short with a barrier of sound energy, forcing the Diggers to grit their teeth and cover their ears as they tried to withstand the sonic attack, save for Adam, who stood still as his eyes glowed even brighter. Once it had dissipated, Xenos fired again at Dagon's eyes, while Nytetrayn resumed his own attack.

Dagon blocked the shots with one hand, and while his scales took the brunt of the assault, he aimed a kick at Xenos... but was interrupted by a blast to the groin from Janine. It let out a thunderous "Oooomph!" as he doubled over, his eyes bulging more than one would think possible in normal circumstances.

"Wow," Janine said, a little impressed with her own handiwork.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Nytetrayn and Adam rushed Dagon and leaped into the air, going for his face with Nyte-Saber and sword, respectively, the latter letting out a fierce battle cry.

As thick, green ichor bled forth from its wounds, Dagon reared back with an earth-shaking roar that sent a bone-crushing wave racing across the chamber. Xenos and Janine were knocked off their feet, while Nyte and Adam were blown back by the soundwave, the latter managing to backflip and land gracefully as he sheathed his sword. With no hesitation, he deployed another plasma grenade and let it fly at the creature's groin. Meanwhile, Nytetrayn landed on his back and tried to target the wounded area of Dagon's face with his Gatling Buster.

Unfortunately, Dagon quickly grew wise to this trick, and now protected that region with one hand, glaring down at Adam all the while before he charged the Digger, screaming and ignoring Nyte's energy rounds as they chewed into his flesh.

Adam grinned evilly at Dagon, eyes still glowing as he once again opened fire with his Buster, aiming for the torso and damaged face. Xenos added a little more injury to insult by firing another shot up at Dagon's eye. Together, they made him stagger to a stop, now both singed and pissed beyond all rational thought.

"Had enough yet?" asked Adam.

Janine got up, and asked, "Hey, Nyte, do you still have that spear and lightning gun?"

Nytetrayn dug it out of his backpack, and started to hand them to Janine.

"No, I have an idea," she said. "He'd probably block the spear, so we have to distract him. Just get ready." And with that, she flew towards Dagon.

Meanwhile, Dagon blasted Adam with a soundwave, which sent the Digger tumbling backwards until he hit the pillar. Slowly, Adam got back up and continued firing. The impact was just enough to stir Fenix for a moment, as he raised his head slightly and his eyes cracked open for a moment before shutting and again as he slumped back down. As that was happening, Dagon waded through Adam's attack, hissing daemonically as he reached up and prepared to smash him into the dirt.

Before he could do that, however, Janine landed between his feet, crouched down, and built up a head full of steam before rocketing first-first skyward.

Nyte winced at the sight, but didn't let himself get distracted from launching the spear right into Dagon's back as he was dealing with... other issues.

"Yeah! You like that do ya!?" shouted Janine, landing back on the ground as Dagon made some unsettling noises. "Oh my god, it's slimy! Nyte, fry him!"

As unnecessary as it might have been, Nyte took aim with the magnetic gun before he pulled the trigger. Lightning arced out of the gun and across the room, straight into the spear sticking out of Dagon's back. The creature let out one final, horrible scream as it was charred to a crisp.

Xenos pulled out a towel and a bottle of water as he went to assist Janine, while Adam lowered his Buster and his eyes quit glowing before he went to do the same for Fenix.

"So much for him," Nyte said as he walked up and put the gun away. "What now?"

"We get Janine's hands clean," said Xenos. Nyte pulled out some wet naps he had in his backpack, and handed them to Janine, who accepted both the towel and the wet naps, and set to work scrubbing the congealed slime from her hands.

Nearby, Adam shook Fenix's shoulders in the hopes of getting a response. "Hey, Fenix, you okay?" Fenix didn't respond. "Dammit, Fenix is hurt!"

"For god's sake don't rock him around, his neck might be hurt!" said Janine.

"Fenix?" Nyte said, as he walked up. He tapped on Fenix's head, and after twitching a little, the Digger's mechanical red eyes glowed to life again.

"You okay?" asked Adam.

"Anyone... get... the number... of that airship?"

"Ah, he's alright," said Nyte. "Jeez, I almost thought we might've lost you there, bud." He pulled out his energy canteen and handed it over to Fenix.

"Fenix, how many fingers am I holding up?" asked Adam, as he held up two fingers.

"How is it possible for you to have ten fingers?" Fenix asked. "On the same hand?"

"Crap."

"I didn't know you could see quintuple," said Xenos.

Fenix shook his head, then immediately grabbed it as he groaned in what appeared to be intense pain.

Janine knelt down beside him, and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, just calm down," she said. "We need to get that helmet off, first of all."

Slowly and carefully, Fenix, still a bit wobbly, sat up.

"Easy there," said Adam.

"Dammit," Xenos said, "I knew we shouldn't have pushed it."

Janine gingerly removed his helmet, and Fenix gasped, his eyes closed tightly. "I think I'm gonna throw up," he said.

"I think we'd better stop and rest a bit now," said Adam.

"No," said Xenos, " we need to get out of here now, more than ever."

Adam let out a curse as he stood up, as he creaked as he moved and a strange scraping sound seemed to come from inside his armor. "Oy," he said. "Well, I'm gonna hafta stop soon and fix up my legs."

Fenix took notice of Nyte's canteen as he started to droop, and took some slow sips from it.

"Easy there, big guy," said Nyte.

"Mom always said I'd end up getting my brains beaten out on this job. Hell of a thing for her to be right about." Nyte gave a brief chuckle in response.

Xenos gave out a big sigh, and headed back towards the door they'd entered through.

"I wonder if that door will open now?" Nyte wondered.

As if on command, the door swung open with ease.

"That's a good sign," said Adam.

"Thank god," said Xenos, as he rushed back to his mech and rolled it back in, parking it next to the group.

"Okay, let's get moving," said Nyte. "You ready, Fenix?"

"I... think so," he said.

Fenix tried to get to his knees, but stumbled, catching himself on his hands. Nyte picked him up and draped him across his shoulders in a fireman's carry to move him over to Xenos' mech, with only a little pained anguish in protest from Fenix.

"Guys, I've got an extra seat in this thing," said Xenos. "Let's get him into that."

"Alright," said Nyte. "So long as Janine doesn't get jealous."

As Adam dragged himself over to the mech, he creaked and scraped, and seemed to have a limp, too.

"I don't mind," said Janine. "Adam, you okay?"

Xenos popped open the cockpit, and a second chair opened up. Looking at Adam, he said, "Need some oil there, rusty?"

"I'll be fine once I get a chance to stop and fix one of my legs. Fishface there busted a minor actuator. I'll be fine."

"You have 'borg legs?" asked Xenos.

"Yep," said Adam.

"Ouch."

"Arms, too."

"Double ouch."

"Ain't too bad, once you get used to it."

"Hey," said Janine. "For the record, being mechanical ain't bad at all."

"Losing limbs sucks ass, that's all," said Xenos.

As Nyte gently placed his older companion in the spare seat, Fenix settled back into it, and Janine placed his helmet in the cockpit beside him. Turning his attention to his new passenger, Xenos said, "He better not have a concussion."

As he said that, Fenix started to drift slowly into something like sleep.

"Uh,guys?" said Nyte. "Isn't it a bad thing to sleep when you have a concussion?"

"Yeah, it is," Adam replied. "Can slip into a coma and die."

Upon hearing that, Nyte shook Fenix, quick-like. "Fenix! Don't sleep!"

Fenix let out a shout at the rude awakening, and his eyes almost sparkled as he glared balefully at Nyte. "Why... the hell... not?"

"You may have a concussion," said Xenos. "You sleep, you die. Mmm'kay?"

"Yeah, you tell me if it's worth it," Nyte said, before turning his attention towards the room through the now-open door. "Now, where are those little... things...? It's ass-kickin' time!"

"What?" said Adam, as he looked at Nyte.

"You know, the little ass-munchkins who lead us here?"

"Oh, them little twips," said Adam as he hopped atop the mech, wincing as he landed. "Assholes gonna catch hell when we get through with them."

"They're gone," said Xenos, gesturing to the corridor, which was even more abandoned than before, and silent as a tomb. "We can kill them later. Anybody remember what came after the bog?"

"Oh, indeed," said Janine. "It shall be fun to tear off their tiny, shriveled pinkies."

Nyte looked at Jan with stunned silence, while Adam's eyes widened at the remark.

"That's a lovely image," said Fenix. "Thank you for that."

"Try to fall asleep with that image in mind," Xenos told Fenix.

"I'd rather not, thank you. I'm in enough pain without waking up screaming from a nightmare."

"Good," said Nyte. "Keep it that way."

Xenos turned on the mech's floodlights and rolled out, while Adam put his damaged leg out in front of him on top. "Hope you don't mind me catching a ride while I fix my leg, Xenos," he called down to the driver.

"S'okay," said Xenos.

"Thanks."

With that, Adam removed his backpack and he rifled through its holding compartment before pulling a toolkit out. He gingerly took the armor casing of his upper leg off and placed it aside, then began work on the leg's internal mechanisms.

As Nytetrayn scouted ahead a bit, Fenix started talking to his driver. "Y'know, Xenos, you seem like an alright guy. It's just a shame you're a effing Pirate. I really don't like effing Pirates..."

"Sucks t'be you, don' it?" said Xenos.

"If you'd seen pirates doing what I've seen them doing, you'd drop the job like a hot brick."

Adam kept quiet as he put down his tools and test-flexed his leg, but his eyes glowed red for a moment at the mention of pirates. His leg seemed to be functioning normally again, and after another quick test with the armor plating back in place, he put his tools away and hopped off the mech, continuing the journey on foot.

Or so he thought. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the giant hand returned and spirited him away as he shouted, "Aaaaaaaaahhhhh, not again!!!"

Nyte turned and looked back, almost speechless. "Alrighty, then. I guess we'll see him later."

Xenos and Fenix, on the other hand, didn't even seem to notice.

"In favor of this?" Xenos replied. "Not likely. I've seen enough demons for my lifetime."

Muttering to himself, Fenix said, "Well, you wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for him, so thank your own wretched ilk for that..."

"...come again?" asked the Air Pirate.

Fenix sighed, and said, "You don't want to know, I'm just rambling... stupid concussion."

Janine glanced back at the two in the mech, a little worried about where this might be going.

"I'll have you know, there's nothing wretched in the Geist family. We may be pirates, but we have always been civil in our dealings, never harming anybody and never taking more than people could afford to lose. We used to be bank robber-- ahh..."

"Never taking more than people could afford to lose," Fenix said as he shook his head. "You self-righteous son of a bitch."

Adam's eyes glowed once again at Xenos' self-description of his chosen profession.

"You make a living by stealing things from people who actually have the gumption to work for their own living," Fenix continued.

"Family pride, my man," Xenos said with a grin. "And have you ever considered that I had to build everything I own and use? I'm nowhere near as honorable as, say, a policeman or a carpenter."

"But," he continued after a slight pause, "I'm certainly on par with a grave-robber."

Fenix clenched his teeth, and his body trembled from something more than just physical pain.

"Everything you've 'built' is made from materials bought with stolen money," he said. "Or did you steal the supplies, too?"

"What makes my theft so much worse than yours?"

"What need do dead people have of possessions?"

As the two continued on, Janine came up beside Nytetrayn. "I don't think this is just from his head injury," she said in a low voice.

Nytetrayn responded in kind, "I guess he's just in one of those moods."

"It's more than just stealing from someone," Xenos continued. "It's just wrong to break into a tomb and take everything from a corpse."

"Actually, corpses are pretty rare," Nyte called back. "We mainly go for the refractors the rest of the people need for energy." Xenos didn't seem to hear him.

"Do you know why he hates pirates so much?" Janine asked.

"Y'know, I don't think he's ever really brought it up."

Fenix slumped in his seat, massaging his forehead. "I've never encountered anything but Reaverbots before." Drumming his fingers on his armrest, he continued. "Tell me one thing: when you rob people, they resist sometimes, right?"

"Yes. And you'd be surprised how often they've won out."

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

"Never."

Fenix smiled. "Well, that's one point for your favor. Do you know why my eyes are red?"

"A Pirate took your real ones, right?"

"Astute," Fenix said with a chuckle. "Got my arm, too."

"Guess that explains that," Nyte said in a low voice.

"That's the thing I never do," Xenos said. "I may take what spending cash someone has on them, but I won't try to take their livelihood."

"Have you ever heard of a Pirate called 'Creed'? He's been active for quite a while. Since... before I was born."

"Yeah, I did."

"He's probably got my hand mounted on his wall somewhere."

Xenos paused before speaking. "That's not all he did, is it?"

"No... see, he didn't cut it off because I wouldn't hand over my wallet. I've been hunting him, or I was, anyway, before I met Nyte. He got my arm the first time I caught up with him. The second time, he hit me in the face with his flamethrower and flash-burned my eyes."

After a beat, Fenix continued. "But you probably want to know why I was after him in the first place."

"I want to know the real reason you hate him."

"Same thing."

Fenix combed his hair back with his fingers. "A long while ago, Creed attacked a small town on an island called Gaius. The villagers didn't have many weapons to speak of, and even then, he was outfitted with some of the most powerful armor and weaponry available. He wiped out the entire place single-handedly."

"The only survivor was a young woman, and you can guess why he let her live."

Xenos grimaced at the thought.

"Anyhow, she made it to the next town, and got medical treatment. She survived, though she was badly scarred emotionally from the experience."

Fenix's voice tightened. "The physical implications played out nine months later."

Janine covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide. Nytetrayn was stunned, speechless, a scowl emerging on his face, but he said nothing.

"...that's not right," Xenos finally said, breaking the silence.

"That's putting it mildly."

"A man should be able to be proud of his–"

"Don't," Fenix said, cutting Xenos off. "Don't call him that."

This time, it was Xenos who was speechless.

"I'm proud of these wounds," Fenix said, clenching his mechanical hand. "This damn arm, those metal parts in my eyes and my head. They're only a tenth of what my mother went through."

Fenix lifted his head again. "And less than nothing compared to what I'll do to him."

Nyte finally turned back to Fenix. "Why did you never tell me?"

Xenos looked at Nyte, surprised that even he didn't know.

Fenix chuckled. "You never asked."

"Yeah, I had a feeling that's what you'd say..."

Suddenly, Fenix was overcome with a fit of giggles.

"There's our concussion," said Xenos.

"Sorry that I've... well, gotten in your way..." Nyte said, his tone regretful.

Fenix quickly calmed down. "No, don't apologize. Hell, you've probably saved my life. Considering what he's done to me so far, I'd have probably gotten killed if I had kept at it."

Nyte kept silent, as he still felt uneasy about this.

"And for the record, this is partially why I didn't tell you. Crap like this always freaks people out."

"That's putting it mildly," said Janine.

"Maybe we can... help?" suggested Nytetrayn.

"You want to lose a limb too?" asked Fenix. "Creed is one of the most dangerous criminals on the planet. He took my arm off with his bare hands."

Nytetrayn lowered his head a bit. He didn't really have an answer for that.

"How... did he..." Janine began to ask, before thinking better of it. "Wait, nevermind. I don't want to know."

"I'd still like a crack at him," Nyte said, looking back up.

"Well, I'll be going after him again eventually," Fenix said.

"Then so am I," said Nyte.

"Honestly, the two of us might have better luck," Fenix said as a smirk crept across his face. "He wouldn't expect me to have help. Thanks, partner."

"After you heal up," Xenos said pointedly.

Glancing at Xenos, Fenix said, "Yes, sir."

"Heh, no problem," Nyte said, his voice lightening up a bit. "You don't have much left to lose, anyway."

"Thank you for bringing that pleasant thought back up."

Trying to take his mind off of the unsettling things he'd just heard, Xenos looked over the little data record he had of the message, the poem, trying to remember what came after the Moon-Bog. "Well, anyway, after the next one, we'll be almost halfway out."

"That's good to know," Nyte said, as he continued to lead the way back to the central hub area, Xenos rolling himself and Fenix along. Janine quietly walked along between them, looking down at the ground.

"You alright?" Nyte asked her.

She nodded, slowly. "I just... had no idea. Gods, and I thought he was just shy, but... no wonder."

Nytetrayn nodded, while Janine shuddered and hugged herself. "And meanwhile, I'm running around like this, and what Xenos and I did..."

While Xenos had fallen stone silent by now, Nyte found it up to him to try to comfort Janine.

"Um... there, there?" he said, patting her on the back awkwardly.

Suddenly, there came a rumbling. Everyone stopped to look around, wondering what brand of unearthly horrors manifested from within this hellish pit they'd have to deal with next.

Everyone but Nyte, that is.

"Uh... maybe we should stop for a bite to eat?" he said.

Janine was the first to stop staring at him. "Hmm, I wonder..." she said, as the others looked at her inquisitively. She flew off down the tunnel, and soon returned with the body of one of the little creatures they'd fought earlier.

"We're close to the entrance," she said. "This is one of the first of those little things we got."

"So let's hurry up and get out of here," Xenos said. Nyte's stomach made another sound. "Then we can eat," he added.

This was good enough for Nytetrayn. The central chamber wasn't exactly a fancy hotel, but it sure beat the smelly tunnel. He took off down the tunnel towards the entrance, with the others close behind.

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