[MISSION] Smoke and Mirrors

"Hey, hey! What about my ice cream? Are you going to get me some?" Burt continued, being persistent. It was somehow even more annoying hearing him prattle on like that while dressed in nice clothes and cleaned than it was when he was dressed like a stinky hipster-hobo. Luckily, everyone's talk about Exorcist's clothing distracted him again from the ice cream float. "You like it, huh? Of course I can design nice things! I made Exorcist, didn't I? And Counterinfectualism! I made the one true religion for everyone! It doesn't get nicer than that," he boasted, crossing his arms and nodding with a satisfied smile. His wife opened her mouth to say something, then shut it again.

"Yeah, Na'im seems popular with girls... he could probably design me something sexy like what Djinni wears," Bhikkhuni responded, evidently having the opposite idea from Szand's suggestion of decency. Furthermore, anything that was sexy like what Djinni wears would be likely to slide right off of her, given that she lacked the same volume in any relevant area.

Exorcist was also surprised herself, as she had caught an important piece of information from Djinni. "Does that mean I have a DjinniCross?" she asked Burt, wondering why he hadn't told her that already. Her eyes widened; she sort of wanted to use it right away, even though there was no good situation for it right now.

"Huh? I have no idea, really! Those things seem to just activate when they want to. Only one I remember is when you turned into that guy that looked like a package delivery boy," Burt laughed, shrugging carelessly.

"Traceur was a field-medic..." Exorcist reminded Burt.

In the mean time, no one was really seeing what Stunt wanted them to, Mary included. "Don't be so fresh... I can't tell if that was one or two of you," she chuckled, while feeling along the bare wall with her hands There was actually a pretty real possibility that she could have stumbled and smacked face first into it, with how little direction Stunt had given. "Exorcist, what is our friend trying to show me? Or did he just push me from behind to be vulgar?"

"While the former is probably true, he wanted to show us that there's asecurity checkpoint up ahead. Judging by the shutter closing, though, I would say they already know we are here... so the checkpoint might not mean much," the star disciple responded, slowing to a murmur as she inspected the scene in the distance. "Burt, we should probably go help..."

"Really? There's like... one metric gangbang of Stunts headed that way. I think he's got it!"

"That's what I mean..." she whispered. "I mean, we said earlier the heelnavis are evil, but..."

"Oh. Right! Yeah, nobody really deserves the rapecloud," Burt agreed, adjusting his glasses.

Exorcist ran past the Stunts, who were raking their sweet, intimidating time smoke-crawling, and came to a stop a safe distance away from the HeelNavi, so as not to alarm him. "Excuse me! Don't run or we will use excessive force to harm you! We need to know our way through this facility and if you tell us, I will make sure you don't get burned to ashes or... worse," she sighed, realizing that she'd basically resorted to threats regardless. But it was pretty impossible not to be when the heelnavi faced a very good chance of either being caught in a fireball (intentionally or as collateral damage) or Stunt'd.

It was also a bit of a bluff, because Exorcist had confirmed earlier that she stood basically no chance of stopping Stunt from doing whatever he wanted. He could EJO, abuse, or simply tickle her into submission at his leisure, based on past experience.

Not to be left behind, Bhikkhuni grabbed Mary by the sleeve and dragged her towards the group. "Walking riiiight into a security checkpoint... it's like we're following a breadcrumb trail of HeelNavis or something," she commented. As her shakujo jingled uproariously, however, it was clear that the group never could have snuck around or used an ambush regardless.
Djinni listened to Stunt explaining their situation and her sight turned to the door as he mentioned it could not be lifted anymore. "What is stopping us from breaking through the wall though..." she whispered to herself, placing her fist firmly into her other hand while trying to stare down the wall next to the door.

"Hahaha," Szand laughed, having heard Bhikkhuni's desire for anything but decency in her attire, "Jealousy is a fickle woman." He turned to look around, also having listened to Stunt's explanation about the situation. It was at this point chaos had once again found its way into the battlefield. "Oh boy," he muttered when he saw Exorcist and the Stunt cloud force themselves a way to the lone HeelNavi. "I'd say they've got it covered," he said when he looked at Djinni.

After simply nodding, Djinni gestured towards the HeelNavi as she spoke to Szand. "How about helping them out?" From the looks of the situation she wasn't necessary to stop the HeelNavi or even question him. From past experiences Djinni knew she doesn't do well with threatening others, so she looked around for something else to focus her attention on. It was then she looked at the 'boring crates' Stunt mentioned and decided to check it out regardless. "I'm bad with orders anyway," she said to herself and raised her cape to her side as another Djinni walked out of it, "OK, so me... I get to help me go through these." The Djinni clone frowned at the original's words and nodded. Both kicked off against the floor, floating over towards the crates while turning their hands ablaze for easy crate-opening-business.

Szand, on the other hand, had walked over to Bhikkhuni's and Mary's side. "Guess I had better do something..." he muttered and snapped his fingers as sand started to form around him. The sand came together, forming a snake, and dove into the floor. The sand returned into vision again underneath the HeelNavi, taking the shape of a snake's mouth with a desert's equivalent of a whirlpool inside of it. "Better talk to the nice lady, fool," he said as they got closer to the HeelNavi.

Summary
D. Investigate crates.
S. Desert Art - Quicksand [Shot; Slow; Szand.SP Only; 1 TCD] @ HeelNavi
Stunt actually seemed to slow his roll as the others showed some interest in getting in and making threats on their own. A number of them did make a point of at least encircling their quarry: with Szand's trap beneath, Stunts all around, and Exorcist's threat in the air, it didn't seem like the guy was going to be going anywhere...


The Stunt with Mary began moving to help all of the stragglers all towards the action. "Sweet smokin' me, Sweeter, your NetPolice pals both seem like they've got a sadistic streak... It's so much more fun picking on you well-behaved types!" Stunt played with Mary's chest while he laughed, as though expecting her to join in on the chuckles.

The second Stunt walking with the group took a glance back at Djinni, raising his eyebrows at the clone she had created. He licked his lips for a moment before cupping his hand to his mouth and shouting. "That's a neat trick, but does splittin' your body split your bimbo brain, too? I told you there's gonna be jack-scut we care about in those boxes. Well, knock yourself out." By that point, the group had caught up with the menacing Stunt-mob.

Of course, it made sense that Djinni might want to check the boxes: this was a loading area, after all, and wouldn't it make sense for bugfrags to be staying here behind security shutters? And it seemed like it really was going to be that easy: with a little pyrokinetic help, the locks on the crates were easily severed by the genie Navi. However, it looked like her mission was destined to go on a while longer: what was inside the crate initially looked like the still purple-armored body of a HeelNavi, evoking the imagery of the crates as coffins. However, further inspection would reveal they seemed to be... the parts that come together to assemble a HeelNavi. However many crates Djinni chose to check from however many piles seemed to reveal the same. None of the crates had any labels to indicate any might have anything other than what she'd found so far...


The HeelNavi was clearly upset. His back was pressed against the door (the yellow sign on which read "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY: KEYCARD ACCESS LEVEL 1"). He turned his head back to that sign, as though looking for help, and then swung his head back to his keycard. He jumped and nearly dropped it, looking again as though he'd been caught doing something dirty. "H-hey! I'm just on the way, uh, late back to my post... u-uh, I didn't even see you guys, er, slaughter a buncha dudes on your way in! Honest, didn't see nothin'! I-I-I was just on my way to my desk, where I work as the level 2 security chief-" The Navi's quaking voice was uncharacteristically gravelly, like he was having a hard time choking out words. Upon finishing saying this, he slapped his hands over his mouth. He stood that way for a moment as if frozen, then suddenly seemed to come up with an idea. "Y-yeah, security chief level 2! Let me back to my desk, and I'll open up security level 2 for ya! You'll just be able to waltz in wherever you want! Trust me, security level 2 is a doozy! You do not want to, uh... eat me with a sand worm, or whatever, before I take care of it for ya!"

Most of the Stunts were sniggering to themselves, but a couple were looking at each other and whispering. One turned to the HeelNavi and asked, "What, are we seriously supposed to believe you're the mook that's guarding the higher-tier security? Somethin's really off about you. You look like the rest of these punks, but you don't sound quite right. You sound more, uh..."

"Scared? Yes. So scared, I'm about to p*ss my pants, w-with all due respect. Now how about- hrk!" the Navi began, before the Stunt questioning him rammed his elbow into the Navi's throat, pinning him against the door behind.

Another Stunt swiped the keycard the Navi dropped out of the air. "No dice, scut-head! And how about you don't interrupt us while we're talking?"

"Now that we got your keycard, what do we need to let you in for?" the strong-arming Stunt asked. "Why don't we just help you take a little day off from work, recoverin' at your PET... I have a feelin' today's not a day you're gonna want to brag about as a security mook, anyhow."

"P-please don't let him! Your life is about to get soooo much more f*ckin difficult if I'm not here! Keycard or no, there is no way you're getting farther than this door! You, talk some sense into him! Into them, whatever! Geez, which one of you is the good cop?!"
"Oh, you naughty fellow! What are we going to do with you?" Mary laughed, keeping her hands crossed behind her back and looking undisturbed by his harassment, despite her comment.

"... She can be pretty sadistic too, in her own way," Bhikkhuni murmured. "And you! I'm not jealous cause Exxy has big boobs or gets to show off her legs or anything like that. I just want Burt to make me some nice clothes too! Me and Mary are still wearing the same old junk we showed up in," she grumbled, pouting and looking away from her friend. Of course, she'd really just proven his point about the jealousy.

Exorcist seemed to be the only of her trio that was actually focusing on the task of intimidating the guy into giving them what they needed, but she was fine with that; the mood would be pretty dark if all three of them were pressing down on him... and with the Stunts doing so, that was already plenty. Really, she needed them to help her hold the Stunts back, if anything. "Stunt, what do we have to lose taking him with us?" she asked impatiently, pressing her fists to her hips in as stern a gesture as she could manage given her inherent cuteness. "If he's telling the truth, we'll be glad he did, and even if he's not, I can't think of why we'd regret our decision."

"I dunno, if Stunt's right and that guy is different from the others, he might be tricking you," Burt pointed out. "He could be tricking you just like those so called 'friendly viruses!' Acting all weak and vulnerable to make you drop your guard, then spreading his evil further across the net because you decided to spare him!"

His navi sighed; he probably just wanted to rant some more, as those two subjects weren't particularly related. "But even if we take him with us and he betrays us, what's the harm? If he was capable of doing a lot of damage to us, he would have done it earlier when he saw us trying to break in and we were distracted. I don't think we have any reason to fear him," she suggested. not wanting to watch Stunt torture anyone else any more than she wanted him to torment her... with the exclusion of Mary. It was fine if he tormented Mary, considering she seemed to like it. "But is it fine? That's really not helping her journey to rid herself of lust," Exorcist pondered. She shook her head and dispelled the thought, since if she kept on it, there was a danger that the entire group would be distracted from the goal at hand.

"Do heelnavis piss their pants? Does that mean they have... er... those parts? I guess I'm just asking cause Djinni was looking through those parts a second ago and now I'm thinking... like what if there was a box full of..." Bhikkhuni questioned, then began to shudder. "Did you see a box of... well, you know?"

Mary chuckled, raising one sleeve to her lips in a coquettish gesture. "Now what use does a little girl have with a box full of those?" she teased.

"N-No business! I just wondered, cause... cause, you know! It's so gross that I just have to know!" Bhikkhuni snapped in response. "Geez! You're the only one who'd have fun with a box full of navi penises..."
"Nothing here..." Djinni muttered as she opened another crate, finding the exact same HeelNavi parts as the previous crates. "You anything!?" she shouted while looking over the crates to her 'sibling'.

"Same as whatever you found, I think!" the Djinni double shouted back, "I don't think it'll be much use to continue searching here. Let's check with the others."

Djinni nodded and spread her cape open to a side, allowing the clone to walk into it and vanish. She walked around the crates, careful not to step on any dead or simply inanimate HeelNavi parts. "Don't you think they would vanish if they were defeated...?" she thought to herself while walking back to her comrades in arms, "Maybe it's a factory for these guys? I guess we can find out eventually." Intending to quicken her pace, she hopped into the air and floated over to Exorcist & co. "Anything new here?" Djinni asked as she settled down near them, only to see the threatened HeelNavi, a torture-hungry Stunt and... Simply Exorcist.

"I think you look fine as you are now," Szand said, shrugging his shoulders and looking at Bhikkhuni, "But I've got to help out a cow." With those words, he walked over to Djinni and explained what had happened while she was staring at HeelNavis' private parts. It was quick and he didn't really care for the details, but in the end she did understand the general flow of events. "That's about it. We do need to continue though."

Djinni's eyes passed over the frightened HeelNavi. "I think we should just bring him along. It's as Exorcist said, if he could really do something against us he would've done so already. With the three of us there's little he still do against us and he knows this place better than us. Besides... If he really double-crosses us, you'll still get to have fun with him." She pointed over to the opened crates with her thumb over her shoulder and smiled behind her mask. "And each time he breaks... Rebuild him. Then break him again. Then rebuild him... Over and over..." She stared straight at the HeelNavi. "I doubt he'd want that. He will tell us all the ins and outs of the security system and disable it when we get to his post. So for now, let him escort us." Djinni walked closer to the HeelNavi, careful of Stunt and his minions. "If you help us out," she spoke directly to the HeelNavi, "I'll make sure to give you a good word with the NetPolice. So don't worry about afterwards." Her eyes then trailed over to the Stunt pinning the HeelNavi to the wall, "And you. Can't you do something about the other Stunts? We don't quite need all of them right now."

Szand looked between the Navis talk and then pointed at the security door. "Isn't it about time we head on?" he asked. While he was sure that together the 3 Navis could fight pretty much anything, he was not adverse to the idea of the HeelNavi parts springing to life and start a digital zombie apocalypse.
The various Stunts muttered and grumbled, and the one pinning the HeelNavi to the wall backed off. He threw his hands up in the air before sinking into a pool of mist. "All right! We'll play it your way, then, ladies. Normally, I'd raise a point about how we're already brute forcin' through, or how it was YOUR idea TO brute force our way through, so relyin' on you for strategy is kinda silly, but it's your show tonight. Let's follow this weirdo's p*ss-trail to whatever trap he's got planned.

The HeelNavi spat and caught his breath. He ran one hand across his helmet and held one at his earpiece before straightening back up into posture. "So I'm taking it the one in yellow is the good cop? Yeah... you made a good call. I'll show you!" The HeelNavi wasted no time in swiping his card. His regained composure made it much easier than his previous attempts. The reader beeped, and he turned the doorknob in a show of good faith. "See? It's all yours. Now, in the hallway ahead, there's more of my buddies. I'll lead them to another level, and you guys can stay just around the corner. How's that? I'll have to take em into the guard station with me to open the door, and when the door's open, you can just waltz in."

"And of course you know what'll happen if you make some boneheaded move while talkin' to your buddies or jerkin' at your computer, right?" Stunt reminded him with a smile. "I don't know about the girls, but I have aaaall kinds of ways to make you my bi-"

"Yeah! Right," the HeelNavi said. "No funny business."

"Good, then we're about ready to keep this train rollin'!" The Stunt cloud became noisy again, hooping and hollering. Two on either side of Mary wrapped their arms around her and began swaying before one quickly piped up. "Hold up a sec! One thing I gotta take care of first. You, Sandsquirt!" Stunt spoke, addressing Szand directly for perhaps the first time ever. "I can't fraggin' stand this anymore! It feels like every time you open your mouth, you're popping out some half-parsed flirty scut with Shortstack! Now while I can appreciate you set your bar low..." The other Stunts took a moment to laugh at another trademarked Stunt short joke, "Let me give you some advice from some eligible men! Not because I like you, but because I'm gonna blow data chunks if I have to listen to another one of your blooming romance 'testing the water' fraggin' feelers. Ladies don't want to hear any of that! Ladies want to be handled! They want you to make them feel good. If you want to win them over, show them the kind of man you are!" The two Stunts on Mary made a show of "handling" her to demonstrate. "My good looks, rockin' body, and fun-loving personality are the reasons I've got so many ladies to hang out with right now! Start workin' on your personality, and you'll be one third of the way to Stunthood! Look forward to it."

"No rules against verbal harassment, right, Angeln?" another Stunt asked Exorcist with a toothy grin and a wink.

One of the Stunts finished up the good guffaw he was having and finished opening the door. "Hush up, scuttlebrains. You, Fire Chief," Stunt called.

The HeelNavi perked up. "Oh, you mean me. Wait, why am I 'Fire Chief?'"

"Cause you're the chief, and your hose is sprayin' everywhere!" Stunt allowed himself another low chuckle, looking pleased that their captive had walked right into his joke. "Get in there and draw em, okay Chiefy?"

Fire Chief, understandably disgruntled, muttered and hurried ahead.

"Now, everybody else stay quiet, all right?" Stunt spoke low. "I'm gonna be ticked if one of you farts and blows our cover."

"Hear that?" a Stunt whispered to Mary, clapping a hand over her mouth. "Stay nice and quiet!~" The other by her took to giving her some caresses in some inappropriate places.

The hallway that had opened up before the group was sparse, lit by bright industrial lamps. The HeelNavi hurried ahead, and seemed to encounter his "buddies right after turning the corner. Fortunately, by character or by fear, it seemed he would be trustworthy: he began engaging them in some ordinary conversation ("Slow work today?" "Slow work every day") and wasn't drawing them around the corner.

"This is the turning point, Angeln," a Stunt whispered in Exorcist's ear. While she wasn't looking, he had suddenly appeared, uncomfortably close.

"You really think we can trust this guy?" another, similarly huddled in by Djinni, muttered. "It ain't too late to turn the corner and turn on some of that meteor magic you like so much..."
"What are you suddenly argueing with me for!?" Szand yelled at Stunt, very obviously angry, "OK, yeah! I am interested in Bhikkhuni! Do I love her? I have absolutely no idea! But if there's one thing I do know is that I don't want to become someone like you! Eligible men!? You're only multiplying to compensate for your shortcomings! Furthermore...!" Before he could continue he was abruptly picked up by Djinni and dragged along. "What's the meaning of this!? I'm not done!" he continued to yell.

"I'm not going to apologize for what Szand said," Djinni said as she put her eyes on Stunt, "But thank you for showing what a horrible person is like." Djinni glanced at Szand with a smile and replied to him, "Hush up." She nudged towards the door that had just opened, hoping Szand took the clue of why he had to be quiet. Standing by the door, away from sight, she crossed her arms and listened in on the around-the-corner happenings. Szand simply stood by her side while muttering inaudibly to himself, Djinni's grip still on him. However, her silence was broken when she heard Stunt's whisper. "We could've busted through that door without his help," she whispered back to him, "I just wanted them together. You're fast, aren't you? You can be invisible, can't you? You're even numerous. Find a way into the guard station." With those words Djinni released Szand and beckoned him over. "Na'im."

"I guess you're eager to use force," Na'im replied, "I'm sure Stunt can handle the doors. I'll send you some chips for this scene and I guess it doesn't matter if you're seen." Na'im flicked some chips out of the pack and held them between his fingers. They were all strong offensive chips, but he felt it wasn't right for this. "The element of surprise belongs to us, but cornered mice can make quite a fuss." One chip got exchanged for a strategically right chip, however still painful to others, and slotted them all in one by one.

"Welcome to the show of fireworks," she whispered to her allies and took her first step towards the door with Szand following her.

"I guess I'm going to be doing this too, huh..." Szand said and turned to look at the others, "You're welcome to join in." He didn't make eye contact with anyone in particular, still conscious over what he blurted out towards Stunt but not quite bothered about what he said. He was supposed to say it anyway if he wanted to make progress. However, with this lifted from his mind he could focus on what was enjoyable again. "Let's do this then," he said, slamming his fists together and grinning as he walked in Djinni's steps.

Djinni's steps, however, quickly turned into a dash as she moved around the corner. "No offense!" she exclaimed as her fists turned into balls of fire, "But I'm not a patient woman!" With elegant moves she started to wave her arms around, unleashing whips of fire from her hands and repeatedly swinging them at the opponents. "I am your judge!" she exclaimed with the last swing of her whip, then immediately swung her cape to the side as fiery light emanated from within. "Jury!" she exclaimed as fierce and quick blasts of explosive fire bursted towards the group, "And executioner!" For her encore and final move, she swung her arms to the sides to open her cape as wide as possible while jets of fire burst out towards the opponents.

In the confusion of the flames and fire, Szand had taken his sand and formed them into spears. After keeping them near the intense heat of Djinni's attacks and having them turned into glass, he indiscriminately threw them into the direction of where they heard the group have their conversations.

Djinni loaded the final chip and realized what Na'im was thinking or was afraid of. They had no idea of the strength of these enemies and despite the bravado and the flames, they could come out of this with their own attacks. She pulled one side of the cape over her body, like a shield, in order to deflect any attack and return with her own attack at a moment's notice.

Summary
D = Djinni.EXE [Fire/Shadow] [Knockback Buster] [AirShoes/FloatShoes] [4 Actions] [Fire Chips - Single Target: +25 FIRE; Multiple Targets +15 FIRE]
S = Szand.SP [Null/Bug] [Wood Attack] [2 Actions]

D1. FireArm2 [20+15 FIRE; 4 Hits; FighterSword Range; B Accuracy; Ranged] @ Around-The-Corner Group
D2. Magnum1 [120+15 FIRE; Breaking; Panel Breaking; 3 Targets; A Accuracy; Ranged] @ Around-The-Corner Group
D3. ElementFlare [40+15 FIRE; Line Attack; Ground Attack; User On Fire Terrain: +60; B Accuracy; Ranged] @ Around-The-Corner Group
D4. Counter1 [1-Hit I-Field; Special: Status Guard; S Accuracy | Counter: 70 DMG; Impact; Break; A Accuracy; Melee]
S1. Attack [40 WOOD; Ranged] @ Around-The-Corner Group
S2. Attack [40 WOOD; Ranged] @ Around-The-Corner Group
In spite of all of the creepy Stunt happenings, Exorcist and Mary both couldn't help giggling at Szand's reaction to Stunt's lecture on how to bag ladies. "The two of them really are similar," Exorcist sighed, enjoying a rare moment of light-hearted amusement at the expense of the SP.

"N-No way! They're not similar at all! Szand's a way better guy than any number of Stunts will ever be, because he's smart and he has good taste!" the Shortstack defended in a hushed, but still loud, whispering rant.

"I meant you and Szand," Exorcist corrected her. "I'm just glad the two of you get along so well." Bhikkhuni blushed and looked at her feet, which kicked the air awkwardly. "The two just met, so it's way too early for either of them to be talking about love. But I think both of them live surrounded by a lot of sexual tension... so, even if it's a little rushed, they probably clung to each other naturally because their situations are so similar. And when I compare it to some... other people... they're not really taking it too fast at all," Exorcist thought to herself, allowing her eyes drift over to where Mary was erotically gasping. Her voice was being muffled by the hand of one of the Stunts, while all the other hands of the Stunts were busy doing other unsavory things. She reflected to herself, with just a hint of jealousy, that Bhikkhuni and Szand had fallen for each other before she'd ever managed to find anyone of her own.

Stunt's whisper soon reminded her that they had more important issues to worry about than any budding SP romance. She felt deflated to learn that so many Heelnavi guards just around the corner; the one they'd allowed through didn't seem like he was going to immediately alert them, but on the other hand, it was highly suspicious that he hadn't mentioned there would be so many of them here. At this point, there was nothing stopping him from strolling past them, then running for the hills, leaving the huge clump for them to take care of themselves. As she pondered over whether she could afford to take the chance or not, Djinni made the decision for her. That decision was "gratuitous violence," which she'd expected, since both of her partner groups for the mission seemed to be highly capable in that respect. Djinni took the lead, as expected, with her usual fondness for fire attacks.

Seeing that Szand had already joined in, Bhikkhuni ran forward to assist in the best way she knew how. "Wait for me!" she shouted, running to meet Djinni's group. "Leave this to my Buddhist mysticism! Oooooowooooh... NIRVANA GROUND WAAAVE!" she announced, bringing down the butt of her shakujo to the floor with a strong clap. A wave of light radiated out from the point of connection, creating soil beneath their feet and grass beneath that of the enemy group. "You'll find that this burns a lot better than the office floor would," she boasted, pressing her hands to her hips confidently and grinning at Szand. Of course, Djinni would be the one doing most of the burning... "I've also got this! Haaaaha! BUDDHIST BLAAAST!" she cried out, pointing her shakujo forward and releasing a blast of explosive, deadly corn in the enemy area. She forgot to pantomime being knocked back by the force of her attack, which made it lose some of its visual impact.

Having a jump on the enemy in this battle was perfect, Exorcist realized, because it meant that they would have little time to spread out. The cramped space of the hallway meant that she and Djinni could maximize the efficiency of every attack they launched. "Sorry about this! It's just exorcism! You'll feel better when it's all over!" she called out to the Heelnavis, as if that would alleviate their worries as various sources of fire burned them alive. "Djinni, I'm going to give you some of my chi... I have a feeling you'll be their top priority target," she called over, then began channeling her energy into Djinni. A faint green glow would overtake her ally, warding off a great deal of damage if the Heelnavis chose (or even managed to) retaliate. She quickly inscribed two of her large talismans after pulling them from her sleeves, then bent them to 90 degree angles. She held one in each hand, then crossed her arms in a scissor motion, flinging them both towards her enemies to pincer in on them from either side.

Mary was content to stay back and let the others handle the violent aspects of the business; she was a firm believer in the old slogan, "Make love, not war." That said, she recognized a certain responsibility to keep her master alive in a battle situation, so she readied one of her healing vials and tossed it over to Exorcist, who caught it in her newly freed hand.

"Are you alright over there?" Exorcist asked, ironically more worried over the fate of her nun companion than anyone participating in the battle.

"Dandy~" Mary called back, waving idly with a small smile.

Worrying only slightly less, the star disciple of Counterinfectualism focused her attention back on the enemy and prepared to get out of the way if any attacks came her way. After all, they were in a cramped area themselves... the heelnavis might realize that and decide offense is the best defense. Unbeknownst to Exorcist, Mary was thinking the same thing and would be ready to respond by setting her body into motion, Stunts be damned.

Exorcist
1) Chi Barrier @ Djinni [120 HP barrier, 15 HP sacrifice]
2) Boomerang1 @ Heelnavi group [70 wood + group attack (Arc)]
3) Boomerang1 @ Heelnavi group [70 wood + group attack (Arc)]
4) Dodge
5) Dodge

Bhikkhunni
1) Nirvana Ground Wave [large soil terrain under allies, large grass terrain under enemies]
2) Cornshot2 @ HeelNavi group [100 wood damage + trick spread 1]

Mary
*) Recovery subtype IV @ Exorcist [+5 HP recovery per action, 10 HP object attached]
1-2) Stay back and dodge
Stunt(s) made his (their) best "ooh, so scary" face in response to Szand, and just had a snorting laugh for Djinni's chiding. The Stunts next to Mary and Exorcist took a moment to whisper into the ears of their respective partners. "These guys don't seem to appreciate my little matchmaking opportunity, huh? I throw my good character on the line to make a situation for Sandsquirt to stand up for his lady... Oh well." Of course, it was up to interpretation as to whether Stunt was just making stuff up, and if not, whether that made him any less of a jerk. Those stunts disappeared, and suddenly Stunt was nowhere in sight... although his mist was quickly and silently creeping along the walls of the hall toward the door at the other end.

---

"Y'know, how come I never sees you come in, man?" one of the HeelNavis asked the security chief in good humor. "The rest of us stiffs are here on the clock, what's the deal with you?"

"I think he's always here doin' late shifts, boinin' the midnight oil," another chimed in. "I dunno what he'd be doin', though. Not like anyone would be dumb enough to attack this place."

"Yeah, that's-" Fire Chief began to chime in, before Djinni's voice suddenly began challenging the group from behind. Immediately, with surprising reflexes, the Navi shouldered through his coffee mug-wielding compatriots and began bee-lining for the door at the other end of the hall.

"Wait, what? You're not supposed to-" one of the HeelNavis who'd caught sight of Djinni began. The HeelNavis were indeed a large throng, ten heelnavis strong, but they barely even had time to feel the grass that had just sprung beneath their feet before Djinni's relentless assault began. Before any of them realized what was happening, the HeelNavis in the center of the hall had eviscerated by Djinni's firey lashes, which scorched the grass beneath them and turned them into Navi torches. The two closest to the intruders cried out in terror, one spitting out his coffee and another falling on his butt onto the ground, as Djinni's next shots smashed into them and wrecked the floor of the corridor ahead. Two HeelNavis attempted to cram themselves into the left side of the hall to escape her final wave, ending up badly singed as a result. One of them didn't even see what was happening as Bhikkuni's Buddhist Blast pegged him dead on, wiping him from the Net in a hit the little Counterinfectualist would surely be proud of. As a bonus, the blast continued on, slamming into the farthest HeelNavi. Szand's spears flew in, too, managing to hit stick into the far-left Navi still huddled into the corner. Yelping, this one first scampered and then, managing to get to his feet, began to run from the group.

By this point, the other HeelNavis had come to enough of their senses to realize they needed to either fight for their pay or run for their lives. The three remaining still looked game, particularly the two who had been in a line by themselves in an open area of the hallway and had plenty of room to fall around Djinni's considerable blasts. "F*ck, who invited you?" one shouted, forming a bomb in one hand and lobbing it at Djinni. The bomb was a dead-on hit, but thanks to Exorcists' Chi Barrier, Djinni remained completely unharmed. Taking his cue, the one to his right created a bomb of his own and tossed it at the smallest disciple of Counterinfectualism. While this bomb wasn't on target, it was close enough for horseshoes and hand grenades, as the saying goes. The force of the blast slammed into Bhikkuni, leaving her holding on by the skin of her teeth.

The HeelNavis had been pretty well wiped out at this point. While Exorcist still had a chance to throw her boomerang talismans and try to avenge her little buddy, the narrow hallway and their haphazard spacing made it difficult to line up a shot. The couple of HeelNavis that were in danger of being hit managed to duck below with precise timing. One of them, the one who had successfully hit Bhikkuni earlier, had a nasty laugh about it. The one in the back who hadn't run seemed encouraged by this, and formed a bomb of his own to chuck. Unfortunately, it seemed as though the group had chosen to take a particularly mean approach, aiming for the smallest targets first. He didn't need great aim to hit Szand and end the other half of the Net's latest budding young romance.

The remaining HeelNavis looked unduly smug and would probably be enjoying a high five by now if they didn't need to fight to protect the corridor. "Don't fall back, guys! Take a look," he said, indicating the nearly wrecked floor before him. It seemed like some sort of jump would be necessary to clear over all the wreckage Djinni's Magnum had left without getting stuck in a pit. "Just keep on your toes and dodge their attacks, and we'll hold 'em off! There ain't no other way through here!"

---

Stunt might otherwise have been a great help in that battle, but he had already found his own way through. After seeming to dissipate into the wall, he and two other Stunts had appeared at the end of the hall, surrounding the fleeing security chief before one grabbed him in a headlock.

"Let me go, dammit! What's the big idea? I was doing what you guys said!" the victim sputtered.

"Yeah, well you were making an awful lotta chummy conversation and takin' your sweet time openin' doors for us! I think I'll just help myself to that card of yours and turn you into a smear across the Net!"

"No, wait! You can't! Without me, you won't be able to access the elevator, even with the key! Tell him to lay off, girls! I was just doin' what you asked and tryin' not to get burned to a crisp! You really wun't mmk't any farther w'out mmm!" The man's gravelly voice began to get harder to understand as Stunt intensified his headlock.

The other two Stunts turned to see the action behind them. A whistle was released by one, and "Ah dammit," by the other. "We got the little scat runner over here! I'll get his card and get rid of him. See what you can do to clean up the rest of these little fraggers!"

[Front of hall]
Exorcist: 140/140 [IV]
Bhikkhuni: 1/40 [Second chance activated]
Mary: 90/90
Djinni: 180/180 [30/120 HP Barrier]
Szand: EJO

HeelNavi A: EJO
HeelNavi B: EJO
HeelNavi C: EJO
HeelNavi D: EJO
HeelNavi E: 150/150 HP [On grass]
HeelNavi F: 150/150 HP [On grass]
HeelNavi G: EJO
HeelNavi I: 50/150 HP [On grass]
HeelNavi J: EJO

[Middle of hall]
HeelNavi H: 15/150 HP [Running]

[Back of hall]
Stunt: 600/600 HP
"Fire Chief": ???/??? HP

Environment:
Nearly empty hallway. Broken terrain the width of the hallway between the good guys and HeelNavis. Most of the ground is otherwise dirt with small patches of grass left on the other side. HeelNavi E and F are side by side, closer to the group, with HeelNavi I behind.
((Shur smokebombed this mission for himself a while back and I am doing the same thing for Exorcist, i.e. retconning it))