The Last Ride Of House Glitterthorn - Chapter 4

"Let's not have a repeat of that, Gryphon", muttered T'rissae as the former agents of Glitterthorn got back into the transport pod, and continued their ascent, leaving behind twenty-two bodies. "Maintain control over the elevator all the way to the top, if you don't mind."

"That wasn't a computer control issue", responded the Earth-man. "Something briefly interfered with the flow of power, and triggered an automatic safety mechanism. Nothing any of us could've done would've prevented it..."

T'rissae wasn't listening. She was concentrating on the floor number indicator. On Level Two Two Seven, they would find their target...

"Now what?", muttered Agent Red, behind his mask, as Tinashae's beacon became active again. "You really do know how to pick your moment, my dear..."

The masked man activated Warrior Two's reverse-angle visual scanners, and only just managed to dip the machine's head in time to avoid a huge tentacle, swung whip-like by the most incredible creature of all those he had so far encountered, and battled. This "monster" was an athletic human female in general form, with dark skin and long, straight white hair lashing around her, from which a number of tentacles seemed to emerge, instead of arms...

"Krakanna", murmured the pilot, again bringing the Warrior's shield into play. "Mane-of-Night submitted a report about you a while back. Wondered when I'd run into you - certainly didn't expect it to be here..."

Tentacles clamped onto the shield with a thousand suckers - two larger main limbs, and several smaller - and Agent Red pumped reserve electrical power into the shield to try and force the monster to let go.

Krakanna's eyes glowed, and the monster seemed to smile.

Several control interfaces in the Warrior's cockpit sparked alarmingly, and burned. The monster was not only weathering the electrical storm, she was returning it all, and more...

The transport pod slowed. The lights dimmed, and flickered. Gryphon could feel T'rissae's stare burning into him...

"Not me", he insisted. "External interference. A high-energy discharge from outside the perimeter - must be pretty close to get past the ship's defences."

"Agent Red?", queried T'rissae. "Can't be the Titanium Warrior's core breaching - we'd feel that."

Before any answers could be found, the elevator returned to normal, and and began to rise again. The main concern was, once again, Tinashae's predicament - the possibility of armed guards, her readiness to run... a thousand variables that each threatened to derail the mission. The last mission, and the one the team absolutely could not fail to complete.

"Stop two levels below Tinashae's location", instructed T'rissae. "Crucible, get ready to go to positive energy form, and disintegrate us a path through the bulkheads. This time, we don't go knocking at the door."

"Understood", said the E'Sholl giant. "Just stand clear, everyone - positive energy doesn't recognise who's friend and who's foe..."

Shakti was first to break the silence that had descended over the team. "So, Erostaal - your negative form... it wasn't female before, was it?"

Crucible had suffered a grievous injury on one mission - one of his elemental forms had actually died - and in order to save his life, a spell-caster of great power had been given no option but to graft onto his being the first manifestation of positive elemental power she could find. Being a woman, Overlord Mystery had "naturally" summoned up a manifestation that had been female in form...

"I'd hoped no-one would notice", sighed the giant. "That was why I was at the Temple - trying to, well, 'reboot' my connection to the negative plane..."

"Silence, both of you", spat T'rissae.

"Oh, shut up yourself", the Indian woman snapped back at the dark elf. "When we're done here, we're done as a team, and you won't be able to push us - push me - around any more. Next time you're in a lift, make sure there's not just you and me in it, 'cause I can fill up an enclosed space really fast...!"

"...and don't get me started about all those fucking spiders!", Shakti continued, letting all her frustrations pour out. "I fucking hate spiders! And I couldn't care less about whatever goddess they're supposed to represent...!"

T'rissae let the girl vent her fury, even though it was a genuine test of the elf's pride to hear her goddess being defamed by a mere rivvil. If this was truly the end of the team, a duel could be orchestrated, and the drow woman would be quite justified in calling for a fight to the death...

"Darsheeni, we're almost there", intervened Gryphon. "Better rein it in - let's keep some anger for whoever's got Tinashae. Think about her."

Shakti sighed heavily, and her head bowed for a moment. "All right - I'm okay now", she said, inhaling sharply. "Yeah - let's get the 'little' lady to safety..."

T'rissae, too, was ready to set her grievances aside for the sake of the mission, but there was no way she was going to forget.

The elevator stopped, just as T'rissae had ordered. The team hurried out, emerging into another hallway, this time thankfully free of armed guards. "Here" said Gryphon, taking station under an arch. "Environmental sensors indicate no lifeforms or other objects in the way. You're up, Crucible..."

Inside, T'rissae seethed like lava. Her authority had already been challenged by a human, and now another was impertinent enough to give orders. Another duel seemed to be on the cards...

"Prepare to target the enemy mech-unit", ordered Reignstorm, quite unexpectedly. "We enter the end-game, and it's time to make my move..."

Reality seemed to crack like a whip, a shockwave coursing through the air, making ears pop and the unsuspecting stumble. Reignstorm had vanished...

...only to reappear just where he needed to be, concealed from sight and sensor by a wrinkle in the fabric of space-time. Already, the floor nearby was glowing, bright as a star, its substance unable to resist that purest of energies, beyond sunlight or the life-force of a billion souls. A great power, that Reignstorm knew - but then he had a power, too, all his own. Not the power of the dragon-mask, but one he had been collecting, symbols of which he now wore, in secret...

"I really don't like hitting a lady, my dear", Agent Red muttered to himself, "but you really must learn to let go..."

Warrior Two drove its right fist over the top of the shield "grown" out of its left forearm, and metal struck flesh and bone. Stunned, blood the wrong side of blue-green streaming down her face, the octopus-woman broke her hold, and howling angrily, staggered backwards closer to the tower.

"Now let's see if we can't get you to dance to my tune, and help out my friends", said the war-machine's pilot...

A suitable hole disintegrated through to Tinashae's floor, Crucible ascended as a man-shaped mass of flame, ready to incinerate any enemy personnel. The chamber was empty, not even furnished - except for a tall, long-haired figure, dressed only in long, jewelled gloves and thigh-length boots, the jet-black of it all softened by desert dust. "C-Crucible?", she murmured. "You came...?"

"All of us", replied Erostaal, shifting to air form and producing an updraft in the shaft he had just created that allowed the others to ascend. "All, plus one, it seems - we have a friend outside."

"Now that's all very interesting..."

The voice from nowhere startled even T'rissae. Before any of the team could react otherwise, they were pinned to the walls and floor by something truly strange - it was as though the air had suddenly become incredibly heavy, and viscous like thick mud. Even Crucible seemed powerless to free himself, unable to switch forms for more than a fraction of a second, and only once everyone had tried to escape, and failed, did the architect of their predicament step out of thin air and reveal himself to all.

The dust still hanging in the air parted as Reignstorm emerged into the world again, not one particle of fine sand daring to cling to him. The gleaming, horned mask was the centrepiece, an elegant metallic representation of the head and neck of a dragon, the segments of the neck extending down onto the chest and back as articulated armour plates, and across the shoulders as curving "wings"; under that, the man wore a long black satin gown, open at the front and covering much of a body-suit of what appeared to be fine silvery chain-mail. Completing the outfit were thigh-high boots and gloves of dark red synthetic leather - and attached to the backs of the gloves were long, many-faceted splinters of ice or glass, which contained a flickering glow that was far more than more reflected and refracted light...

"And... and here we were ex-expecting something cool", snorted Shakti, even though it made her ribs ache to find against the force pinning her down.

"I'll stop you right there, girl", replied the man behind the mask, his voice a thunderous echo. "Do you really think I'm going to fall for the 'make the enemy angry enough to make a mistake' ploy? If so, you truly know nothing about me..."

The dragon's head of the mask turned, whilst the wearer remained motionless. "I, however, know plenty about you - House Glitterthorn, spoken of in whispers, but more famous than you imagine. I am well aware of your actions against my interests - and that's why I was happy to let you get this far."

The mask turned to stare with jewelled eyes at T'rissae - and her invisible bonds melted away, dropping her to the floor again. "You hate the humans", Reignstorm told her, coldly. "Kill them - and I may just let you live. Don't try and deny your darkest, innermost thoughts, for nothing in this place is a secret to me..."

T'rissae's eyes glittered amber in the half-light as she glared at Shakti, and then Gryphon. Someone powerful enough to read thoughts could also interfere with them... she couldn't be sure her rage was truly her own - and that kind of uncertainty was something she could not bear...

Her hands slipped behind her, taking another two throwing spiders from her belt...

One turned to glittering confetti before it could touch Reignstorm. The second weapon described several perfectly circular orbits of the armoured figure before flashing back to the one who had launched it - and plunging deep into her chest.

"I've had my fill of traitors", growled Reignstorm, the head of his mask snapping round to stare at Tinashae as the lifeless form of HG-1 slid to the floor. "I'll get round to dealing with you later..."

Agent Red received another burst from Tinashae's rescue beacon. This time, it was on constant transmission - it was, it seemed, no longer necessary to keep it secret...

Forcing Krakanna back with a volley from Warrior Two's "eye-beams", he quickly sent the Hyrkulean woman a brief message through the rescue beacon implant concealed under the skin of her neck. Get ready to jump.

"You will never touch Tinashae again, monster", spat the magnificent female, edging back towards the balcony. "She would rather die..."

Reignstorm rose from the chamber floor, the eyes of his mask glowing fiercely. "Oh, we'll get round to that eventually, I assure you", he snarled back. "When I get bored with thinking up ways to pay you back for your deceit - so many... radical ideas I dared not try out on dear Mane-of-Night..."

Tinashae tilted her head to one side, almost as though listening to a voice only she could hear. "Rule Number One - if you have your enemy at your mercy, do not gloat..."

Under his mask, Agent Red smiled. Firing up Warrior Two's foot mounted thrusters, he charged at Krakanna, and tangled together by the monster-woman's tentacles, they smashed into the foot of the tower; thousands of tons of flesh, bone and metal...

Now.

The tower shook, violently. The great structure began to tilt wildly - and Tinashae ran for the balcony. House Glitterthorn watched, as one, in absolute horror as the exquisite Hyrkulean leapt over the railing, no more than knee-high to her, and dived into the swirling dust-clouds...

Reignstorm's concentration wavered, genuinely surprised that the girl would indeed prefer to take her own life. The "solid air" became just a little less solid, and those who could slip their bonds did so - and rushed at their former captor. Bloodhowl had fought the masked man before, but Shakti got to him first, her ballooning body, criss-crossed with strips of super-stretched pale blue synthetic leather, blocking their opponent into a corner. "Give the signal!", she shouted to the others. "Let's get out of he..."

No-one who experienced it was ever likely to forget the wave of heat, carrying with it the awful smell of searing flesh, and burning fat. Screaming, Shakti staggered backwards, her body acting solely on reflex to reabsorb its added mass - including that tissue that Reignstorm's energy beams had burned clear through. Crucible, in fire-form, tried to set up a barrier of living flame to give his team-mate a chance to get clear, but their masked adversary simply walked straight through the flames, completely unscathed.

"Don't make this any more... unpleasant than it needs to be", he advised them. "I'm far stronger than when we last met, on Fortain's World. I..."

Reignstorm's gaze went past the team, to the balcony. He murmured one word. "Interesting..."

The sandstorm was subsiding, the dust settling into a gently-stirring layer of cloud - and rising through that cloud was a gigantic hand, open, palm up, with a majestic female figure standing upon it. "Are we leaving yet?", Tinashae called out to them. "Hurry!"

The floor tilted sharply away from the giant hand as the tower began to fall. Reignstorm's gaze making the backs of their necks prickle, House Glitterthorn ran for their lives - they knew this enemy could strike them down with next to no effort; so far, he had barely been trying. Gryphon dragged a barely-conscious Shakti onto Warrior Two's palm just as the balcony fell away, the glow from their enemy's eyes vanishing into the dust-cloud...

Warrior Two began to rise at once, on twin columns of fire, thrusters kicking up the dust again - but the machine suddenly stopped. One leg was wrapped in tentacles, those powerful limbs crushing that more lightly-armoured part of the battle-suit.

HOLD ON, warned Agent Red, communicating through the data-display in Gryphon's goggles. GETTING RID OF UNWANTED ADMIRER.

The propulsion units in Warrior Two's feet howled at an even higher pitch as they delivered even greater thrust, searing Krakanna's tentacles and forcing the monster-woman to let go. The fighting machine, no longer weighed down, hurtled skyward, leaving behind flashes of flame as the tower struck the ground, and the shrill roars of an enemy denied her victory...

BETTR FIND OTHER TRNSPORT, advised Agent Red. FLIGHT SYSTMS DMGED.

CAN I ASSIST?, offered Gryphon.

ILL B OK, the pilot replied. GET 2 SAFETY. U DONE UR PART, AN ME MINE. TAKE CARE OF LTL LDY.

"Danshu! We need a rendezvous stat!", Gryphon called out over the team's comm-link. "Pick us up, and ready the medical bay - we have wounded!"

"On my way, HG-4", the Lu'Khian responded. "What's your status? Did you get her?"

"Objective achieved", answered Gryphon. "HG-3 has severe burns and body mass loss... HG-1 is declared lost, killed in ac--"

Gryphon found his attention diverted as the whine of Warrior Two's engines suddenly changed pitch, and flames began to erupt from the damaged plating of the machine's right leg. LOOSN IT, reported Agent Red. GET RDY 2 JUMP. DANSHU WIL CATCH U.

"Crucible! Another lift if you please!", shouted Gryphon. "Keep us airborne until Danshu gets here - looks like we're parting company with our good friend here..."

GD LCK, he said to their pilot. C U AGAIN?

WIL TRY, said Agent Red. NOW GO - DNT WRY BOUT ME.

Erostaal wrapped his air-form around Tinashae and the rest of the team, becoming a living tornado to carry them away from Warrior Two. Swirling around and around, and peering into oncoming night, they caught only glimpses of the burning machine soaring skywards, then disappearing in a final flash of fire...

It could have been moment - it could have been hours. Time didn't seem to matter as the team waited for Danshu, and the stealth ship. These were the last moments for House Glitterthorn; a team without a master, a team now without a leader - a team, it seemed, without purpose, but none of them wanted it to end. Not when there was one thing left unfinished...

The stealth ship slid in beneath the team, a hatch on its upper surface opening to receive them. Leaving the vessel on auto-pilot as it headed for space, Danshu helped Gryphon take Shakti to a medical couch, and the others strapped themselves into whatever seats they could find - not exactly the easiest of things for Tinashae, but she had other things on her mind than comfort.

As her rescuers settled down, the last thing they expected was for the Hyrkulean to speak."I have a proposal for you..."

The members of House Glitterthorn exchanged astonished glances, and Razor was first to respond in any way. "You... you said 'I'", murmured the Dy'Maan female. "You've never done that before. It's always 'Tinashae' this, 'Tinashae' that..."

"Third person", corrected Gryphon.

"There no longer is a Tinashae", the woman said coldly. "That life is over. Just as... as his life is over. Over, but never forgotten. Not as long as its ending remains to be avenged."

She now had everyone's attention. "I cannot do this on my own", she continued. "Do you want to continue to serve Glitterthorn, in spirit if not in the flesh? Would you see his name remembered, carved into the very fabric of the universe, for all time...?"

The team didn't respond immediately. A wish had just been granted - they had purpose again, and a reason to exist as a team - but they had no idea exactly where saying "yes" would take them.

It was Bloodhowl who spoke first. "We haven't destroyed Reignstorm yet", she snarled. "That's what I want..."

That was the closest she, or any other member of her species, was ever going to come to saying "I can't do it on my own". That would have shaken the gods themselves in their lofty towers - and the woman formerly known as Tinashae was, her allies knew, only starting to work up to something of that magnitude...

To say "yes" was to book a place in the eye of the storm. It was the logical place to be.

Bringing Warrior Two back into its universe of origin, key systems failing, Agent Red wrenched the form-fitting mask from his face, and Glitterthorn looked at his reflection in tone of the polished sections of the control panel. "If Mane-of-Night knew you were doing stuff like this, she'd kill you", he said to himself. "Just better make sure she never finds out..."

He had barely managed to keep the ejection system operational, and it only just managed to punch him clear of the crippled machine before it belly-flopped into the upper atmosphere of Medvarb Minor. He didn't wait around to see the fireworks.

Glitterthorn had places to be, things to do.

"There better be a quite exceptional reason for you to intrude upon my meditations, Lord Bleeding-Sky."

The man swallowed, almost audibly. It wasn't healthy to be around Reignstorm when he spoke like that. "My Lord, we are secured from transdimensional drive, and I can confirm we have reached Waypoint Seven-Five-Six without any signs of detection or pursuit. I can also confirm that the recovery team have your pet, and are delivering her to medical personnel as we speak. Based on their initial analysis, she is expected to make a full recovery."

The dragon-mask nodded. That was no guarantee that the man underneath was in anything other than a mood of seething displeasure. "And the other matter?"

"The... biological material has been secured, and is on route to us", replied Lord Bleeding-Sky. "I must, however, admit that I don't quite see what value it might have. We may be able to piece together a viable genetic sequence, from whatever tissue..."

"I have something quite different in mind", interrupted Reignstorm. "Something more... radical. No-one takes from me without giving something back, my friend..."

The masked man slipped back into one of his trances, which were becoming more and more frequent in recent times. Lord Bleeding-Sky did not linger - he felt so very uncomfortable when the crystal fragments Reignstorm wore glowed as they did when their master dreamed...

And behind the mask, the man who had assumed the name Reignstorm listened ever more intently to the song of the crystals, and now, he knew for certain that they were connected somehow. Something was making them seek out others like them...

Reignstorm had long ago learned how to use the crystal shards, but only now did he understand.

Posted at 23:06 on 01.01.2012


~ o O o ~


Previously...
The Last Ride Of House Glitterthorn - Chapter 4 - 01.01.2012
The Last Ride Of House Glitterthorn - Chapter 3 - 01.01.2012
The Last Ride Of House Glitterthorn - Chapter 2 - 31.12.2011
The Last Ride Of House Glitterthorn - Chapter 1 - 25.12.2011
Choices, Choices - A Prequel... - 02.10.2011