Welcome to Gaia! ::

DLS was still watching the monitor when Aegil finally spoke. The dragon demon queen rolled her eyes and then turned to face her ancient brother. “I am fully aware that we are not the only transdimensional beings here. That is quite obvious. But it would be nice if you could at least tell us what you are doing rather than sit there appearing to be daydreaming.” She was getting quite annoyed with her Fate brother, and were it not for Amalia, she might have said something a bit more, but refrained.

She turned to her older but younger-looking Fate sister. “Amalia, I didn't mean to upset you but you must understand that since you allowed Novus to come out, things have gotten a little bit more difficult. It seems Abaddon has now- and I still haven't completely figured out how- gotten many of Novus' fighting skills and is using them against your younger brother Draco. “ She walked over to the little girl that was cuddling next to Aegil, knelt down next to her and gave her a sisterly hug. “I am not angry at you, maybe a little annoyed with Novus, but what's done is done. What I would like is for you to just keep your mind free and if you do sense anything out of the ordinary you tell me and Aegil.”

After giving Amalia a genuine smile indicating she really wasn't upset with the little girl, she stood up. “ I have to keep tabs on Draco and our brother Fates out in Xing territory. With the addition of that pesky angel there, anything is possible. So, please don't think me too harsh. Our original plans have been totally changed and now, even I don't know how things will work out.”

DLS went over and stood between two monitor stations, patting the shoulders of the dragons at the stations, indicating she wanted them to remain seated. “Watch the fight between Abaddon and Draco carefully. Alert me if my son becomes severely injured, or if he is able to defeat that creature. As for you,” she turned to face the other monotor's dragon, “I want to know the minute that Harbinger and Sedhor are inside Ling's palace room with that damned angel. Princess Suzareigna is there, but if things with her twin get too dicey, she may have to leave. Also, if things with the homunculus that shares Ling's body attempts to harm any of our allies, let me know. The princess can easily take out almost anything in this universe, but I need to stay on top of things.”

The dragon demon queen took a deep breath and let it out. She walked away from the monitors, but then turned back. In dragon-speak, she said, “I don't trust anyone that isn't a dragon in any of these scenarios. I think it best if we have some backup close by. Send a platoon of dragons to the Xing territory, but have them remain invisible to all. Suzareigna will be able to sense them, even with their barriers up, but the others won't. Our Fate brethren are too focused on their play that they won't be looking out for our men. As for the homunculus that inhabits Ling, he will be too preoccupied with the dealings there to even notice. Have them hover in the clouds and wait for my signal before engaging.”

There were two platoons of dragons in the command center, and another four platoons hidden on the far side of the planet, way out of sight of anyone. The barriers they erected should be sufficient to hide their location. With the way they modulated, it would be hard for anyone or anything to detect. The only other thing she needed to check on was Dakra and his new satellites. She waltzed over to a vacant console and turned it on. She fiddled with some of the switches and dials until she was able to locate Dakra's ship. Telepathically she was able to find the one that created objects, satellites specifically. She probed his mind (for such advanced beings, their were so easy to read) and located the few new satellites in orbit. Knowing who was watching and where was important. She opened a com-link with the dragons at the remote locations and fed -via dragon speak coding- the information to them. As soon as the message was sent, she turned off the com. There was no need to give anyone or anything a chance to track them. And in the unlikely event that did happen, well, so much the worse for any intruders.

Dakra's intrusion into the base communication's console pissed DLS off. There was only one way he knew where she was or how to communicate with her. Turning off the volume, she yelled, “KOR! YOU SON OF A b***h!!” Yes, she was pissed off. She never completely trusted Kor and now any trust there was had disappeared.

She turned back to the monitor and addressed Dakra directly. “I have every mind to wipe you and your ship out of the multiverses, but for now, you suit a very minor purpose to our group.” She glared at the figure on the screen. “If you EVER try to communicate with this location again, that is exactly what I intend to do. You ******** jerk, if you can communicate so easily with us, don't you think that Reaper's counterpart to you is looking for us? You may have just helped that b*****d find us. Now, I have to do something to prevent that, and that is going to piss Reaper off even more.”

The dragon demon queen cut the transmission then turned to her operatives. “Realign all of our frequencies. Locate that Dakra vessel and jam them from contacting us again.”

She turned to Aegil. "Well, it seems we have a traitor in our little group. Our secret base has been compromised by Kor. He has allowed Dakra to locate him via a GPS transmitter.”

DLS motioned to two of the dragon soldiers guarding the entry into the inner sanctum of the base. “Locate Kor and bring him to me. Alive if possible, but if he resists, kill the traitorous b*****d.”

With that, the two men ran down the hall and into one of the weapons room. They came out transformed into dragon mode. “I don't care if he is in the middle of a fght or out taking a stroll, bring him to me-NOW!” The two dragons phased out to find Kor's location.

DLS took what Dakra told her to heart. Thinking aloud, she stated, "We have to locate Ed Elric and see if he is still able to function. If his injuries are serious, I will have to bring him here to heal him."

She walked over to Aegil, purposely not paying Amalia any attention. "Dakra advises that Ed Elric is seriously injured., I need to find his location and if necessary, bring him here. Don't argue, it won't change my mind. You may be in charge of the overall mission, but I am in charge of the safety of the allies. Oh, and Kor is being brought here as a prisoner. He has allowed Dakra the ability to locate this installation and hack into our communications. This is the final thing that proves to me he cannot be trusted."

As the smoke and dust cleared from Kor's furious attack on the android, Mira stood there with his arms crossed, slight scuff marks were shown across his frame but nothing serious to mention.. His expression was emotionless to say the least, but he smirked faintly at the two.

"Your power is impressive, but it pales in comparison to my own"

With movements that seemed other-worldly, Mira spun and slammed his leg into Kor's chest and sent him crashing into Scentrus at hyper-sonic speeds, forcing them both into the ground below.

"Hmph.." He replied. Just then, Towa appeared, holding a strange looking fruit in her hand, throwing it up and down casually.

"Come Mira, our plans are already under way" She said with a cool demeanor. Mira's eyes gave off a dark and eerie glow before vanishing along with his creator to only the gods knew where.

Scentrus dusted himself off with a growl, clenching his fists. "You okay Kor?" He asked, cracking his neck and stiff shoulders.

Taking the senzu bean Kor offered him, Scentrus ate it quickly after reverting to his base form. "Yeah, he's a hard guy to figure out.. I know he likes fighting.. But that's not important right now, I'm getting a bad feeling about this whole situation, we should check on the situation inside.. Who knows what those two could have done to mess things up in this world.." Scentrus explained as he started heading towards the hole in the wall from earlier. Already he was feeling an immense dark pressure of sorts coming from within the confines of the fortress.

Fighting off all the Briggs soldiers was getting tiring. It was obvious that their new boss's brilliant plan to win over the soldiers was not going to work. Although the 3 homunculi had done quite a bit of damage to the soldiers they had encountered, they were being chased by more and more of them.

“At this rate, they will surround us and even with our new strengths, there is no way it will end well for us. We might have had a chance to complete the mission had that freak of nature Abaddon had been with us like was originally planned.” Lust was pissed, as she should be. She and her brothers were sent into this barren wasteland to take over the military and all they had from the time they got here was fight for their lives. “If we get out of here and back to wherever that a*****e boss of ours is sitting, I plan on running several of my nails into his head, eyes, mouth and heart. He got us into this mess and he hasn't sent anyone or anything to help us. I say we find a room with windows to the outside and we make a run for it.”

Gluttony grunted. Pieces of flesh and tissue were all around his mouth from snacking on the soldiers the had dispatched. Lust looked at him with a certain amount of disgust. She ripped the bottom of her dress and wiped the mess off her little companion's mouth. “For all that is unholy, Gluttony, at least wipe your mouth when you are done eating. It's disgusting looking at it hanging off your lips and tongue.”

She turned to Envy, who was leaning against a wall. He was exhausted. “Even our enhanced bodies can only take so much abuse Lust. We need some rest, someplace safe.”

Lust knew he was right. She was about to collapse herself. Her hands were bloodied from all the soldiers she had impaled and he feet hurt from running on these cold, metallic floors. She leaned against a wall and peered around the corner. There were finally no soldiers following them, but she knew that wouldn't last long.

As she was perusing the corridor, she saw a door that was partially open. From what she could see, there were no lights on. Slinking around the corner, she slid over toward the door and with a speared finger, gently opened it a bit wider so she could see in.

They needed a miracle to escape this hellhole and she thought they had just found it. She looked around for more soldiers and there were none, so she opened the door a bit wider and peered inside. It was an empty room with just a few tables and chairs. From the look and smell of it, it must be where the soldiers ate. On the opposite side of the room was a medium sized window. She carefully and quietly entered the room and peered out the window. It lead to the back of the building. There was a lot of ice and snow, but no one was outside.

Lust walked back to the door, checked to be sure they were still not being pursued and motioned for the others to quickly enter the room. Once all were inside, she closed the door and locked it. Next she put one of the chairs and jammed it under the door handle which would prevent the soldiers from entering too quickly,

Gluttony could smell leftover food and headed for the back of the room but Envy grabbed him by the collar and stopped him. “You've have enough to eat for now, we have to get out of here. Once we are clear of the building and can find a way out of this fort, you can find some nice juicy people or animals to munch on. For now, pay attention to what Lust is saying. She is our only hope of getting out of here."

Lust ignored the two behind her. She opened the window but found it wouldn't open far enough for all of them to fit through. Gluttony was just a little too … fat. She motioned for the two to come over. “Listen, it's going to be difficult to get through this window. Envy, you have the added strength. Can you break this window off the hinges so we can get Gluttony through?”

Envy snickered. “No problem.” He walked over, stood on a nearby table and got some leverage. A few moments later, the window was off the hinges and he placed it carefully next to where he was standing. He knew if he dropped it, the noise would attract the soldiers that they knew were not far behind.

Not taking chances he would get caught up in the window, Gluttony was pulled up on the table next to Envy and pushed head first through the opening. With some help from Lust, they forced his obese body all the way out and he fell about 25 feet onto the snowy ground. Next Lust jumped out. Before he left, Envy went back and unlocked the door and move the chair. He opened the door to the exact amount it was opened when Lust first saw it. He raced back to the window, picked up the glass he had removed and headed out the window. Just before he jumped, he managed to get the glass almost completely back in place. Once that was done, he sprinted off the small sill and jumped down.

Once all three were safely outside and Gluttony and Lust had regenerated from the bones in their legs that broke when they jumped outside, they made a dash away from the building. Their mission had failed so far, and they needed a safe way out of this place. Lust thought, “If the boss doesn't get us safely out of here soon, we will all die from exposure, if not by the hands of everyone hunting us."

For now, they ran as fast as possible, Gluttony just barely keeping up with the others.

They were several meters from the building when they heard someone shout, “There they are!”

Not wanting to encounter more soldiers in this hostile terrain, the three just ran back towards Fort Briggs in the direction of what they thought would be the are the barracks were located. Maybe if they could get inside, they would at least not freeze to death before engaging the others again.

Lust Envy and Gluttony barely made it back inside the wall/building. They slammed the door just as the tank fired upon them. Running as fast as their tired legs could carry them, they made a dash not further from where they had come, but back toward where they had been. The humans would continue to think they were trying to escape further down the walled building.

They didn't get too far when they heard the yells of oncoming troops. There was just no way to escape them. If they went back out the way they just came, the tanks would get them. If they ran in either direction, the foot soldiers were going to get them. It seemed all was hopeless.

Lust sank to the floor, her legs giving out from the constant running. She may be able to regenerate quickly, but she needed time to do so. The same for her companions.

Gluttony sidled up next to Lust, placing his head on her shoulder, like he did so may other times. He was really just a big baby with an enormous appetite.

Envy leaned against the wall and looked up. They he looked down the hall and then up to the ceiling . He almost laughed but didn't for fear of attracting the soldiers' attention and Lust;s wrath. He poked the female homunuclus on the arm and pointed upward. There, on the ceiling were grates, probably for the ventilation and heat distribution in the walled fort.

Lust just nodded and Envy became, himself. He grew to an enormous size, reached up and grabbed onto the grate, holding it after it was detached from the ceiling. He took his other hand and Lust stood on it and hoisted herself through the opening and into the shaft. She could feel the wind blowing through it, moving toward the place they had already been. She peered down at Envy and whispered, “Shove Gluttony up here. It's plenty big for him to crawl through.”

Envy grabbed Gluttony by the hand and have him a hardy shove and forced his fat body through the opening. Since he hadn't eaten anything in over an hour, his body was fairly pliable. Once Gluttony was in the shaft, Lust started moving toward the direction the air was coming from. She deduced that there had to be some outside air circulating and they would find out where it was coming from. That would be their way out of the fort.

As she slowly crawled along the shaft, she motioned Gluttony to follow. A few moments later, Envy hoisted his body up and as he entered the shaft, reduced back down to a more human size. He pulled the grate up and positioned it exactly how it was before he pulled it down. There would be no mistakes this time in covering their tracks.

The three crawled for quite some time and the closer they came to their objective, the harder it was to move. The air was blowing quite hard, so they had to crawl on their stomachs and stay close to a wall to avoid being blown backward. Finally they came to a junction. Ahead, they could see giant fans which were blowing the air toward them. It would be suicide to try and continue toward those gigantic blades. But to the left, there was somewhat warmer air, so they decided to take that route.

The strength of the wind was diminished in this tunnel, but the further they went, the hotter it got. After a short while, they came to what they thought was a dead end but Lust crawled a bit further and realized she was kneeling on something moveable. She motioned Envy to join her and as he came up, she slid back. “Can you open this? From the feel of the metal, it must lead to the source of the heat.”

Envy's hand grew about three times its normal size and he grabbed the metal and pulled it up. He started to toss it aside when Lust grabbed his hand. “No noise. Just hold it until I see what's down there.”

Lust stuck her head down through the opening and sure enough, it was a huge room with several furnaces blasting. It was hot, hotter than she had ever experienced, but she knew they needed to get in there. Before going down, she turned her head from side to side and up toward the ceiling of the vast room. There she saw their way out of this hellhole

She pulled back into the shaft and told Envy to gently put down the metal. He did so with not so much as a creak to be heard. She motioned Gluttony closer. Ever so quietly, she whispered what she saw and a plan was formulated.

Gluttony was big, and for once that was a good thing. He would be pushed down into the room first and create a cushion for the others land upon. He didn't mind, he had great affection for Lust and he would do anything for her. So, down he went. His girth making almost no sound since it was all flesh covered fat. Lust went next and landed right on his belly, then slid off to the side. Envy was last, only this time, he wasn't going to leave a calling card for the soldiers to follow. He pulled up the metal plate and as he jumped down, pulled it behind him. It fell into place with just a little 'plunk” sound.

Once the three were safely in the room, they made their way over to the outside wall. When she placed her hand on it, Lust found the wall to be unusually cold, considering they were in a room full of furnaces. That was where they needed to go, through that wall.

She motioned to Envy, who looked up to see thick glass window. That would be the way out. But it was too high and there was nothing to stand on to reach it. Even in his natural state, it was too high to reach. The only answer was... Envy became as big as possible and from half-way across the room, he ran full speed into the wall, directly under the window.

There was a mighty crash and Envy tumbled out the hole he created and onto the hardened snow. He was outside the wall. Lust made a dash for the hole followed by a lumbering Gluttony.

Once outside, and with no sight of the soldiers, they ran as fast as they could away from the fort.

Now all they needed was for their so-called boss to send someone to get them.