[MISSION] Smoke and Mirrors

"Hold up," Na'im whispered into his PET while Burt and his companions performed on the battlefield. With Djinni's location she had little to no issues with opposing forces, so she had the time to wait for a bit. Djinni just looked down at Exorcist move, also noticing that her SPs had decided to stay out of combat for the time being and wondered what Szand would do.

While the Operator and Navi were handling their private matters, Szand was still amongst the women but had failed his initial attempt of getting gravely wounded. "What's the matter with you goons!?" he shouted while pointing at them. He was about to provoke them further and attack them again, but then noticed Exorcist had already begun her attack on them. Once he heard Bhikkhuni's voice aimed at him, he turned around to look at her without bothering to hide his 'I'm so angry I want to die' face. But wait, there were obviously more enemies in the other direction. He ran towards the northern area of the battlefield and created a javelin made of sand in preparation. Was it just blood lust or was it his intent to protect Bhikkhuni and Mary from the other direction? Just blood lust. "Come and get me, you weaklings!" he shouted and threw his javelin at one of the HeelNavis.

"Hahahaha," Na'im laughed as a reaction to Burt's question, "In our country a woman's worth is decided by how she handles a pole... While dancing. Djinni is far from perfect." Djinni could hear some rummaging and realized what was going on when Na'im's voice sounded again. "Excuse me, I'll be in the toilet for a moment," he said to Burt but rather than hearing silence, Djinni could hear the PET was being taken along.

"Ehm..." Djinni started, "You OK, Na'im?"

The sound of someone shutting a door was heard and Djinni assumed Na'im was now in the toilet. "Oh god," she heard his voice, "Bear with it, Na'im... Bear with it..." A moment of silence fell between Operator and Navi until Na'im spoke up again, after having put his urges to clean Burt's toilet away. "What do you think of Stunt, Djinni?" he asked, although keeping his voice on a low volume.

Djinni tilted her head, curious about the question and looked over the battlefield to get the many Stunts in view. "He's plentiful? I don't think I quite like him. No elegance or kindness," she replied, "Although he did not touch me like Exorcist and Mary..."

"Not what I'm talking about... He's a criminal, isn't he?" Na'im said, "Don't you find it weird how friendly he is with Exorcist? I wonder who his Operator could be..."

"Considering you chose this subject, I assume you have an idea?" Djinni asked as she sat down on one of the meteor rods near her, kicking its base to activate it and the others again to launch meteors.

"That girl with Burt..." Na'im said, "She's suspicious. Maybe she's just here to keep an eye on Burt and make sure Exorcist does what Stunt desires."

Djinni just stared upwards with a blank expression. "I bet you're just looking too deeply into this," she replied and tapped her fingers onto the rod's gem, "But I'm feeling bad just sitting here and talking. Can you get me a chip already? You're not doing anything in particular there anyway."

"I'm still going to keep an eye on Burt's new friend," Na'im said while digging through his chips for something fun, "What does she see in him anyway?" Na'im took out their Poltergeist chip and slotted it into the PET, figuring that if they were going to have a perfect shot at using it this would be it. "Get some chaos in there," he said and shortly afterwards the sound of a zipper getting opened was heard followed by the audio channel getting muted.

Djinni frowned and looked ahead. She didn't want to think about it. "I should... Get in there..." she muttered to herself, "Yeah. Chaos." But it was no use. "Why'd he have to bring the PET there!?" she asked out loud and put her hands on her turban, "So disgusting. And it's even the toilet of 'that guy'. My PET is going to need a stern scrubbing." With a Poltergeist chip loaded, she decided that the best way to get the thoughts out of her head was to get chaos in the battlefield. She kicked off against the floor and flew over to a pile of boxes ahead of her, landing gently on top of it while her cape started to wave wildly. "Oh, that can be nice," she said and turned to look at the forklift drivers. The ruby interior of her cape flickered with an ominous light as a meteor made of metal flew out of its surface and headed straight for one of the forklifts. She faced the other forklift with a dramatic turn and raised her opened hand at it. "This'll be fun," she said and lifted the forklift into the air. Above the forklift hung a hand seemingly made of red mist, which then proceeded to fling the forklift at the forklift Djinni had already performed an attack at. Djinni turned her body to view the forklift getting flung, raising both her hands to grab two of the boxes that were positioned around the target. "Djinni smash!" she shouted and flung the boxes at the location of the first forklift, hoping the driver was going to be there to 'catch' the boxes. With the strength of her Poltergeist gone, she turned to look at Szand who was now closer than at the start of the battle. "Hi there," Djinni said with a smile.

Szand simply hissed at her with an opened mouth and turned to look at the HeelNavis angrily.

Exorcist starts this round of kung-fu fighting by pulling out a Katana. Despite that not really being kung-fu, it seems to work well enough; she closes on two of the Heelnavis-- and they shoot at her, only for two of the Stunt clones to leap into the fray and block the shots. Undaunted, Exorcist cuts into the little performance in the resulting burst of smoke-- and when the smoke clears, the counterinfectualist is the only one still standing.

She follows things up by throwing the closest (living) Heelnavi a bone-- right as it cuts down another Stunt-- before her attack cuts it down as well. In the meanwhile, Mary PRECISION-BASEBALLS a healing potion at Exorcist, who recovers as a result... after the glass kind of breaks due to hitting the back of her skull, spilling healing potion all over her outfit. Yay?

Following up that swath of destruction, Djinni heads (wafts?) to the top of a stack of crates-- and obliterates one of the Forklifts with a steel meteor, crunching it against the driver inside. The crumpled husk of the Forklift disappears from existence as the program fractures and crashes, and the driver is summarily deposited onto the ground-- as Djinni hefts the second forklift into the air along with its' confused driver, then sends it hurtling, spokes-first, at the first driver, along with a handful of boxes.

As a result, the first Forklift driver is first impaled by the forklift, then crushed by it, then crushed again as the boxes smash themselves upon the second forklift and its' driver. As if that weren't enough, several meteors come hurtling down onto the immobile pile of forklift, box, and Heelnavi, setting the entire thing briefly on fire before it disappears.

"Aaand that's why I haven't been groping you, Spitfire. Fire types. Eeeegh." One of the Stunt clones mutters, eyebrows raised underneath of its' purple hair. It and a second clone are simply sitting there, staring at the mess-- before the second one starts to clap, impressed with the carnage.

More gunshots ring out in the distance as Szand rages out and heads north, and two of the Stunt clones head north as well to aid the little jerkface-- though they won't quite make it this turn. Instead, little Szand runs up to a Heelnavi as it dispatches the Stunt clone harassing it-- and smacks him in the face. The Heelnavi recoils for but a moment before pointing his gun at the little brat-- only to be distracted by another meteor hitting him in the head.

Things on the battlefield are getting a little cleaner now.


The Enemy
Heelnavi A: DEAD
Heelnavi B: DEAD
Heelnavi C: DEAD
Heelnavi D: DEAD
Heelnavi E: 150 (Grass)
Heelnavi F: 60
Heelnavi G: 20 (Soil)
Heelnavi H: 60
Forklift Driver A: DEAD
Forklift Driver B: DEAD

The Terrain
Meteor Rod A: 100
Meteor Rod B: 100
Meteor Rod C: 100
Forklift A: MY LIFE IS SUFFERING
Forklift B: Made a nice crunch
Elsewise, Normal terrain dotted with crates; each Rockcube-sized crate is either laying on the ground by itself (single square) or part of a 2-high stack (clumped squares); Stacks are high enough to block vision from the ground, but can be climbed on top of with a movement action. Each crate has 100 HP.
ALSO TONS OF SOIL AND GRASS AND SOME SOIL MADE BY METEOR MISSES

The Good(?) Guys
BUNCHA STUNT CLONES: 5 copies
Stunt: 600
Exorcist: 140 (Barrier: 120)
Bhikkhuni: 40
Mary: 90
Djinni: 180
Szand: 80

"If you want anything to read while you're on the toilet, check the hiding place under the sink! I can't just leave them in the back of the toilet with those kids around any more," Burt called after Na'im as his partner exited stage restroom. The girl shook her head, indicating that under the sink wasn't secure enough a place either.

Exorcist jumped as something smacked her in the back of the head, knocking her cap over her eyes for a moment; she thought the enemies had finally drawn blood, but it was her own ally that had done it. "Mary?" she called back, noticing the gold cross pattern in the shattered glass.

"My, I'm sorry! Blindness, you know how it is," she called over in apology.

All in all, the fighting wasn't going so badly. In fact, it was going so well she felt a little bad about it. Between facing all of those Stunts and being involved in forklift explosions, those heelnavis were certainly the unluckiest heelnavis on the net. "I think Djinni and Stunt have it under control for the most part... I've gotten ahead of myself, actually," she muttered, increasingly quiet as she realized she was talking to herself. "Burt, could you send over the BambooKnife?"

"Sure, sure," Burt responded, still distracted. "By the way, I have a present for guy after the battle! I've been thinking about the time we've spent together and I know I've made a big mistake or two in the past. This will help fix that!" her operator encouraged her.

Exorcist was the type to get excited about gifts and secrets, so her eyes shined in spite of her attempts to keep focused on the battle. "That is surprising! Is it related to Counterinfectualism?" she asked curiously. She was already wondering how many hints she could get away with demanding from him (the answer was probably something approaching infinity, because he'd never denied her anything that wasn't related to appearing decent in public before).

"Always! You're my star pupil! How could anything related to the perfect navi not be relevant to her perfect religion?"

"Oh, right... Is it another SP?"

"We're doing that later. It's something else!" Burt chuckled.

"Is it something cute?"

"Of course~" he cooed, as if that was as inevitable as the mystery present's connection to Counterinfectualism.

"I still need my bamboo knife, by the way..."

"No, it's something way better than a bamboo knife!" he responded, getting carried away. Exorcist repeated the request, bringing him back to his senses. "Right, yeah..."

Now armed, Exorcist surrounded one hand with green, luminescent particles, which seemed to solidify into a neon green, glowing blade at her fingers. With the power of Sword Hands manifested, she picked a target from the crowd and reeled him in using her catching circle, which she scribbled quickly with her free hand. Once the enemy was within reach, she'd work on cutting him up, then dispel her blade. A short moment of therapeutic breathing exercises would help her recover the life force she'd bled. She also kept in mind the necessary degree of footwork to ensure she didn't just end up embarrassing herself drawing the guy in.

With all of that mysticism going on, Bhikkhuni remained perfectly content staying back, even as Szand had run forward. Everyone has their own place in battle, right? She didn't have a bodyguard now, but no way was she going to go ask the raunchy duo of Stunt and Mary to protect her. "Aaaany second now," she murmured, clutching both hands to her shakujo in a stationary action pose. She needed the fight to hurry up and end before she had to admit that her "Buddhist Blast" was a hand me down chip from Exorcist.

Mary decided that, with Djinni having adopted that position, the best thing she could do would be making sure that she was well protected (and blessed!) if enemy attacks came that way. Mary readied and chucked another healing vial for her ally to catch... before pondering the ramifications of throwing a mythologically evil fire creature a container of holy water to recover health. "Well, I'm sure it will be fine, if it is God's will," she assured herself. "I hope it won't be too much, pouring it over those white clothes... I'm sure it will be fine, if it's God's will," she sighed, smiling all the while and almost certainly talking to Stunt.

Exorcist
1) Catching Circle @ HeelNaviE [15 HP sacrifice, gravity, 1 TCD]
2-4) Bamboo Knife @ HeelNaviE [80 boosted wood slashing, B accuracy] x 3
5) Borrowing Life @ self [45 HP heal, 2 TCD]
*) Sword subtype Swordplay [Dodge]

Mary
*) Recovery subtype IV @ Djinni Szand [+5 HP recovery per action, 10 HP object attached]
1) Fool around
2) Shenanigans

Bhikkhuni
1) CHARGE BUDDHIST BLAAAAST
2) Stay back

The carnage, the explosions and the fire. It made Djinni just feel at home. "Now this is what I'm talking about!" she exclaimed, "But let's not end there!" The magnificent flames flowing from the earth made her entirely forget that she was operated by a guy sitting on the toilet.

Na'im, having done his business on the toilet, got curious at what Burt remarked about the reading material. Having an adventurous spirit, Na'im decided to check the secret area knowing exactly what to encounter. "Yeah..." he said as he picked up the magazine and flipped through its pages, "It's Burt after all." Without a single flinch or moment of hesitation, he took out a match, lit it and set the magazine on fire before tossing it into the toilet. A satisfying press on the plunger later, he returned to the living room with his PET. "Did I miss anything?" he asked, looking at those present.

While Djinni was enjoying the carnage, Szand was still not enjoying anything at all. The filthy touch of Stunt still lingered on his soul and he simply couldn't take it anymore. "Djinni!" he shouted out loud as he pointed at her, "You go handle this, I'm-" His voice stopped the moment he saw a glistening vial fly through the air, as if it was slow motion. In a quick moment, he dashed into the air and snagged it straight out of its course.

"Hey, that was for me," Djinni shouted at Szand, putting her fists against her sides.

"Shut uuuuup, you ignorant cow!" the SP replied with his voice breaking in anger, "You have no idea how much I'm in pain!" Without having his mistress have another word, he ripped the top of the vial apart and poured Mary's holy water over his face. No matter how awkward it would be to pour her water over him. Anything was better than Stunt's touch.

Djinni just frowned as she looked at the scenario. "Maybe... It's better this way..."

"Shall we end this?" Na'im asked as he thumbed through his chips. Eventually he took out two chips that would take care of the group and slotted them in. "I'll leave this to you, Djinni," he said before turning his attention to his hosts, "Would anyone like something to snack? I'm sure I can whip something up."

Djinni made a playful salute at Na'im's general direction, then turned to look at the glorious mess she had made earlier with the forklifts. A playful grin spread across her face as she entered her battle routine. "Let us show you...!" she exclaimed as she jumped off of the crates, facing the three enemies in the vicinity. A ring of flames revealed itself in front of her and as she fell through it, her entire outfit was changed to that of a proud, yet battle hungry, street fighter. "...The soul of a man!" Her landing was met with a strong gust of smoke in all directions, before she dashed out of it with her eyes on the first opponent. A line of flames spread behind her steps while collecting around her boots, giving her even more speed. Without warning, she lashed out in a kick at the first opponent to produce a wave of fire. Turning on her heel in the kick, she immediately made a second dash for the next opponent while leaving the third to only gaze at her motions. Djinni jumped into the air, lashing out another fire propelling kick at her new target. For her next attack Djinni plummeted her leg into the ground during her landing. A thick crust of earth surrounded her boot as she took it out, with only the bottom being opened for fire. After aiming at the third opponent with her leg, a burst of lava and fire was launched from her volcanic boot. The exterior crumbled, yet the fire remained surrounding her boot. "If any of you survive," she said with a playful grin, raising the leg to the height of her hips, "You'll perish to something even worse."

Brutal beatdowns, Buddhist Counterinfectualist Blasts (She wishes), and tons and tons of Knife Fighting later-- our heroes(?) overwhelm nearly all of the foes, dispatching them one after the other after the other-- until only two remain. Then a meteor falls from the sky. Now there's just one. What seems to be a Stunt clone chases after him as he tries to run off, running directly AWAY from the building-- but when the clone catches him, it sticks what is very-obviously one of Stunt's trademark bombs to his back, and lets him go.

A few moments later there's an explosion, and then zenny falls into their pockets.

YOUR MOD SUCKS!

Rewards:2200z. 8 FXP
Djinni Rewards: PhoenixShot1
Exorcist Rewards: Sword
Mary/Bhikkhuni rewards: 40 Bugfrags (each)
Szand rewards: 80 Bugfrags

As the party gathers up their rewards-- a siren rings out from the building, and a massive, blast-proof shutter starts to come down over the glass doors. Before it can finish its' descent, though-- two of the Stunt clones throw themselves under it, holding it up. Then a third. Then a fourth. Finally, all five of the living Stunt clones are holding the doors open-- and they manage to hold rather well, keeping the shutter from locking them out.

"Last chance to back out, chickies." Stunt chortled, walking towards the door to the Thugs 'R' Us building. "Once we go through that door, we won't be able to get back out until we unlock it from one of the terminals in there. That shutter's chip-proof. ...Mostly. So if you wanna chicken out now..."

He turned to the group as the Stunts behind him yelled. "Get on with it!" "Hurry the frag up!" "Don't fragging let those glitches bug around, get in here!" "I forgot to change my pants before he used Decoy!"

"So what'll it be? Are you in, or are you out?"

"No thanks," the young girl replied to Na'im; after all, he'd fixed her brother and her a nice snack a little while ago and she also didn't want to subject their guest to Burt's kitchen twice in one day.

"I'm fine, thank you," Burt's wife / home-invader responded with a smile, happy to see that Burt had such a nice friend.

"I do! I want an ice cream float! Get some me some lemon ice cream and pour Net-Cola over it, but don't stir it, cause I like to eat the ice cream!" Burt butted in, although he was probably the only one Na'im didn't want to treat to anything... and his request was pretty immature, and probably difficult to fulfil, unless he happened to regularly stock the fridge with lemon ice cream.

Exorcist didn't waste time waiting for get operator to decide on whether to continue or not; she urged the rest of the gang to continue and dived under the shutter, worried that it would close in dramatic movie fashion. Bhikkhuni did a baseball slide under as well... Mary walked over more slowly, felt around the shutter, then placed each hand on a different Stunt as she limbo'd under. "There we are," she chuckled, emerging on the other side.

"Alright, before you girls go any further: Exxy, you've got to get out of those clothes!" Burt warned his group. Exorcist opened her mouth to complain, hardly seeing how the situation called for her getting naked. "It's the gift I mentioned earlier! Don't worry!" he explained, calming her down... slightly. With what she knew, she would not be surprised if he was putting her in a bikini or something of that sort (her imagination was not good enough to think of the myriad costumes Burt might want to see her wear).

Burt initiated the override of his navi's old costume, first of all plucking away her old hairband. Her hair fell down,then flared outward at the tips, giving it a wild, wing-like look. Next, her hat changed from its esoteric old blackcap design to... another esoteric design: a yellow cap with a black border and black button up top. She covered herself as her outfit began to come off, but in a rare twist, Burt hadn't made her naked; her undersuit changed slightly in shape and her robe was replaced with a more elaborate design, knee length with fancy tassles and partially attached sleeves. Finally, gloves and boots encased her arms and legs. While these were commonplace on most navis, they were a rare experience for her. "Wow! When did you design this?" she asked, feeling especially pleased that she had ended up with a full outfit.

"Ah, it was 5:30 last night... morning, whatever... I was having a fever dream and woke up... Now the first thing I did was walk to the bathroom, but once I was done in there, I designed it before inspiration left me!" he announced proudly. "Don't you like the legs? I like that I can see your thighs now!"

Exorcist nodded, feeling chipper despite the creepy endnote; that was relatively not worth worrying about compared to her operator's usual fare. "Now I feel ready for battle!" she declared, posing with her hands on her hips.

"Hey... Is she the only one who gets a new costume?" Bhikkhuni asked, crowning.

"Yup. Well... Mary might get one too! We'll see," Burt laughed.

Bhikkhuni stomped her feet, rattling her shakujo rings in a noisy mess of guard-alerting anger. "What about me!' I want cool tassles and armor!" she complained.

"Exorcist only gets one because she's the star disciple! Keep- well, start- working hard and maybe you'll get one too! It's looking like Djinni will get one before you do, though! Maybe even Szand! Nyahaha!" he guffawed, seeming to take it as a given that Na'im would allow him to design clothes for his navi and SP.

As those scenes played out, Mary tapped the nearest Stunt on the shoulder. "Which direction are we headed next?" she asked, patiently crossing her arms behind her back. A patient, sweetly smiling nun, ready to commit a breaking and entering along with more armed assault.

After having heard everyone's replies, Na'im nodded and looked at Burt after he explained his edible desires. "OK, that's fine. If you guys do want something, let me know," he said and sat down with the others, completely ignoring Burt had even said something.

"Szand, we're moving!" Djinni shouted at her companion and disengaged her Cross, reverting to her regular form. After kicking off against the floor, she flew behind Exorcist to enter the building. She had assumed that if she kept herself as straight as possible, she'd have no issue entering below the shutter. However she had to grit her teeth as she got too low and her massive breasts scraped against the floor. No words were shared with Stunt, assuming it was logical for them to continue now they've gotten this far and she was quite in pain.

Behind her Szand was running towards the door, but before entering below the shutter he just looked at the Stunts trying to keep it up. A simple mocking smile spread across his face after which he quickly dove under the shutter before they changed their minds.

While Szand was in later, Djinni was already looking at the fashion show as Exorcist changed to a GMO. Having no directions inside the building yet, she just stared at Exorcist's new outfit and nodded approvingly. "Come to think of it," she said as an idea sprang up in her head, "Maybe I should initiate my ExorcistCross for a next fight." She then looked around, wondering if there was anyone left for fighting. Aside from Exorcist and Stunt.

Szand had moved to stand near Bhikkhuni after he entered the building, figuring he'd be safer with her than Mary. "Maybe you can ask Na'im to design something for you," he said after hearing Bhikkhuni complain about the lack of a cool outfit for herself. And if lucky, he could help with the design. Maybe even a matching outfit for himself? "At least you can trust he won't come up with..." he simply nodded at Mary, "Something decent."

"Now now," Na'im started, hearing his SP, "This here is proof Burt can think of something nice..." He spoke with truth, although he had to do his very best to block out Burt's comment about Exorcist's thighs. "But it might be interesting to try," he continued, turning his eyes to Burt for approval or disapproval.

"But before that..." Djinni started, looking at Mary who had already attracted the attention of Stunt, "Yeah, where now? Or should we just search around?"

The myriad stunts continued to complain and bicker as Team Counterinfecutalism made their way through, stopping at least long enough to agree on the collective response of wolf whistles to Mary's considerate touch. A couple of them tapered off early, as apparently the door was indeed becoming rather heavy. The three on innermost Stunts holding up the door also took interest as Djinni passed by and faced her peculiar dilemma. "You want a little help there, Spitfire? Maybe I could-" "Hades, no, jack-port!" "You let go of this fraggin' door and all six of us are about to get flatter than Shortstack!" As that opportunity finally shimmied past, the rest paid no attention as Szand finally got in. The main man himself finally made it under. As he did, the other Stunts hurriedly let go of the shutter. The second-to-last panted as he released his grip, leaving the first holding it alone... on the wrong side of the door. "Oh, you datawipes can all suck-" he began before succumbing to the power-locking door's force in a sad puff of smoke.

Looking around would reveal the interior of the building to be... rather boring as well. As evidenced by all the forklifts, the inside was very industrial. So industrial, in fact, that all there was to see was more shutters along the walls, and plenty of heavy, sealed crates of... whatever. The ceiling in this area was high, and metal building frames could be seen overhead, along with some cranes supported by beams. None of the cranes were currently active. Annoyingly bright fluorescent lights provided light, but only at intermittent points, which might make the area a bit spooky for those unnerved by the dark. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anything moving in the shadows: besides them, the area was completely quiet.

Notably, there were strobe lights on the wall, but even though the shutter had come down to lock them out, the strobe lights weren't going off.

With not a thought nor a prayer for their fallen brethren, the remaining Stunts idled around, throwing arms around shoulders and waists as they let their partners have their conversation. A few of them made a show of considering Exorcist's new outfit, placing hands to chins and walking around to some other angles. "Eh, no big whoop to me, Angeln," one finally declared, as the others turned back to what they were doing. "I've already seen you in the best number you're ever going to wear!" "Or not wear, that is," another piped in.

"Anyway, as much fun as a mission where we all get to sit around and take in Angeln's curves would be, I think we ought to put the fashion show on hold," said one of the two Stunts who had taken to hanging around either side of Mary. "You all should already know, but for the benefit of you slower types, I'll make it clear: even all of us working together probably can't lift that thing back up. Only way to go is forward. I think I'm gonna skip the part where you guys stroll around and check out... whatever the frag is in these boring-parse crates. That ain't gonna be what we're here for, anyway. Check this out!" Both Stunts gave Mary a goose on the behind, one hand on each cheek, propelling her towards a wall where letters were painted in white.

Of course, Mary was blind, so she might not get as much use out of it as the rest of those gathered. Basically, bold white letters were painted, with arrows in corresponding directions.

<--- EXIT
PRE-TRANSIT HOLDING
SECURITY CHECKPOINT --->

Obviously, "EXIT" pointed where they had just come from.

If they all cast their eyes in the "SECURITY CHECKPOINT" direction, they would eventually come to rest on a door. Way over, all the way on the other end of the warehouse. It appeared to have a yellow sign on it, but what that said was unclear from here.

What was clear was that there was a heelnavi standing at the front of it, who seemed to be trying to fiddle with a device on the side. He glanced over his shoulder once, seemed to jump, and frantically began working at whatever he was doing some more.

A wicked smile spread across Stunt's face. "Running Away in Fear" appeared to be a favorite of his. "Well, well. Looks like we've got another runner." As that one sat back and crossed his arms, another shouted from Mary's side. "Where ya goin', friend?" The others joined in, building up so all five were taunting at once. "Got some place to be?" "I'd work that faster, if I were you!" "We got a couple of questions for ya!" "Running from a bunch of girls, three of em' nuns and one of 'em a little brat? You pansy." "You'd better hope they get over there before I do!"

With that, mist began pouring around the floor, and the various Stunts vanished into it... Except one, who was too busy breathing on Mary's neck and talking dirty into her ear to be bothered. Djinni and Exorcist had seen Stunt's dispersal before, so they surely knew what was coming: pretty soon, whoever that was in the distance was going to be having a very bad day. If the group had any sympathy, maybe they really should try and get over there before Stunt did? He seemed to be taking his sweet time being theatrical, and who knows when the guy in the distance would stop fumbling.

"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.

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.

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))