ASH: ASH #78 - Four to Never Lap 3: Time Slips

Dave Van Domelen dvandom at haven.eyrie.org
Wed Feb 14 08:44:52 PST 2007


     The cover shows four figures standing over the scattered and unconscious
or dead bodies of members of ASH, CSV, STRAFE and EUROPA.  The largest is a
man made of bronze, shimmering with heat.  Next to him is a man wreathed in
light and shadow.  To the other side is a gaunt woman in mummy wrappings with
dust swirling about her.  Finally, half-lurking behind the bronze giant is a
woman who looks like a mannequin.


    //||  //^^\\  ||   ||   .|.   COHERENT COMICS UNINCORPORATED PRESENTS
   // ||  \\      ||   ||  --X---------------------------------------------
  //======================= '|`        ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES #78
 //   ||      \\  ||   ||           Four to Never Lap 3: Time Slips
//    ||  \\__//  ||   ||          Copyright 2007 by Dave Van Domelen
___________________________________________________________________________

                       ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES ROLL CALL

CODENAME       REAL NAME                POWERS                   ASSIGNMENT
--------       ---------                ------                   ----------
Solar Max      Jonathan Zachary         Spacetime Control        MISSING
                 "JakZak" Taylor
Meteor         Sarah Grant-Taylor       Superspeed               AMERICA
Scorch         Scott Handleman          Pyrokinetic              CANADA
Green Knight   Salvatore Napier         Strength, Regeneration   MEXICO
Fury           Arin Kelsey              Concussion Blasts        MEXICO
Contact        Aaron Zander             Psi, Mind-over-Body      DIPLOMATIC
Breaker        Christina Li             Telekinesis              DIPLOMATIC
Essay          Sara Ana Henderson       Gadgeteer                VENUS
Peregryn       Howard Henderson Jr.     Elemental Mage           VENUS
Beacon         George Sylvester         Living Light             VENUS
Geode          Unknown                  Living Crystal           VENUS
Lightfoot      Tom Dodson               Velocity Control         TRANSIT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     [Continued from CSV #27 - be sure to read that first!]

[Monaco - April 15, 2026]

     One moment, Llyr was grabbing ahold of Tony Drake and starting to turn
away from the face of the cliff overlooking the city.
     The next, a bolt of crystalline darkness had skewered him, and his flesh
and blood body was tumbling alone through the air for a sickening second
before glancing off the cliff with an impact that jarred stone loose.
     Had the impact been the only thing to happen to him all day, he probably
would have survived it, recovering before hitting the ground and flying to
safety.  But it wasn't.  He'd given most of his power to Triton's AstroSpear
as part of the plan to unify the shattered timelines of Monaco, leaving his
photonic form a translucent ghost of itself.  And then the darkness itself
had been no lover's kiss.
     Limp as a ragdoll, his body continued its fall into the city.  Those
with the power to save him were heedless of his fate, too busy saving others
from their own perils.
     And so Llyr fell.

               *              *              *              *

[Monaco, Jardine Exotique]

     In the wake of the merging of timelines, four figures had emerged from
the mysterious sarcophagi that had appeared in each strand.  Now that the
assembled heroes had withdrawn, the foursome regrouped around the fifth, and
largest, sarcophagus.  This fifth coffin, adorned with a mix of imagery
evocative of both Pan and Anubis, had appeared next to the AstroSpear, which
still remained stuck into the ground where Triton had jammed it.
     Of Triton, and of the other three who had gone to help him reunite the
timelines, there was no sign.  He, Solar Max, Jen Kleinvogel of STRAFE and
the former EUROPAn Aegis had all vanished when the fractured strands of
spacetime had been knitted back together.
     "Hello, world!" one of the four exclaimed, making a sweeping dramatic
gesture with his cloak.  The blond-haired man with face masked in shadow had
been the one to attack Llyr, and he seemed quite proud of his accomplishment.
"I am Chiaroscuro, mystic master of light and darkness, of night and day!
And we are your doom!" he laughed.
     A woman wrapped in tattered linen like an old horror movie's vision of a
mummy cackled evilly along with him.  "I am Anhydra," she hissed, her voice
sounding like gravel and old razor blades.  "I am death that walks, the
desert amid an ocean."
     "I am Talos," a large bronze man declared simply.  Heat shimmered around
his perfectly-formed body, and the ground under his feet charred.  He wore a
tunic of bronze that flowed like silk in the rippling air.  "My silent ally
is Matrioshka," he gestured to a woman who looked to be made of porcelain,
and who had earlier demonstrated the ability to spin away duplicates of
herself, much like the Russian nesting doll whose name she bore.  One of
those duplicates held a weakly struggling Princess Ursula Grimaldi within its
translucent shell of a body.
     The blond mage took the stage back with a fluorish.  "Now that we have
introduced ourselves and demonstrated our ability to defeat your massed
forces, it is time we were off to attend to other matters of pressing
importance.  World domination, destruction of our enemies...I'm sure you
understand.  Stop us if you can!  Ta!"
     With that, he leapt atop the unopened sarcophagus and rode it into the
sky, flying towards the Italian border.
     Talos looked resignedly west, and sighed, "Such a Nice city, it's a
shame I must destroy it," and took off at a run.
     Wordlessly, Matrioshka and her captive flew south.
     Anhydra simply stood her ground, giggling disturbingly to herself and
running a dessicated finger along the shaft of the AstroSpear.

     Still aboard Skyhaven, Grind started barking out orders.  "STRAFE,
everyone who can, get on your skycycles, we're following Matrioshka.  Meteor,
you and the rest of ASH go after Chiaroscuro...it's obviously another trap,
but whatever's in that sarcophagus is important.  Green Knight, I know you
can't keep up, you go look for Drake and Llyr...your EMT training might make
the difference if he managed to survive that.  Arc, I'm guessing..."
     "We want Chiaroscuro," Arc insisted.  "He killed Llyr!"
     "You don't have the mobility," Grind countered, ignoring the dirty "stop
hogging my command center" looks Glyph was shooting him.  "Talos is heading
for EU territory, protecting that's your mandate.  Go stop him."
     "And us?" Glyph sneered.
     "You're down to too few effectives right now," Grind pointed out.  "And
Anhydra is still a threat...the others are clearly trying to lead us away, so
she wouldn't stay here if there wasn't a reason to do so."
     "I can address the first issue," Glyph said withdrawing a small phial
from her robes.  "A portion of Myriad, with which I may summon her from
Khadam once she has finished arranging the assembly of a followup team."
     "Fine.  Good luck," Grind said as he ran for the vehicle bay where his
Tesla-branch-designed flying motorcycle was parked.

     Anhydra watched the little heroes fly off in all directions and giggled
again.  "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home.  Your house is on fire, your
children are gone."
     Once they were all over the horizon, she drifted into the air amid a
swirl of dust.  "Now to set ladybug's house on fire," she grated.

               *              *              *              *

[Maritime Alps between Monaco and Italy]

     "Come on, you can do better than that!" Chiaroscuro taunted, staying
just ahead of his pursuers.  He easily dodged the shimmering golden tendrils
that Breaker was sending his way, riding the Pan/Anubis sarcophagus as if it
were a surfboard.
     "If I'd brought my armor, you'd see better," Scorch snarled through
gritted teeth, referring to the bulky suit he'd first worn during the fight
against Rebus over a year ago.  Its thrusters were designed to more
efficiently channel his flames into propulsion...while he could fly without
it, it took most of his concentration.
     "Not necessarily," Meteor said over the comlink, careful to avoid the
villain hearing.  "I think he's going just fast enough to keep ahead of us,
but could go a lot faster.  That's why I haven't dropped Breaker to try to
catch up...he'd just rise out of my range."
     "Too bad Lightfoot's still out of it," Fury noted on-channel.  Her own
style of flight was, like Scorch's, inefficient.  And she really couldn't
attack without losing all forward momentum.
     "Something tells me that if he'd started getting up, our new playmates
would have put him back down before running," Breaker opined.  "I agree, this
is a game for him.  He doesn't want us giving up and going back to Monaco.
Whup!" she added, as Meteor jumped across a valley, her speed carrying her
several hundred meters through the air in a heartbeat.
     "And it's an exhilarating game, at that!" the mage sneered, swooping
close to Fury and then pulling away.  "Did I not mention I was the master of
light and darkness?  And what are radio waves but a form of light?  You might
as well stop trying to whisper," he grinned.  "Oh, look, a city!" he pointed
towards the river valley they were rapidly approaching.  "Let's see what kind
of fun I can find there!"

               *              *              *              *

[Mediterranean Sea South of Monaco]

     "Our heading suggests she's aiming for Corsica," Grind said over the
team communicators as he, Teller, C.J. and Fadeaway gave chase on their
flying cycles.  "But there's five large private boats and two commercial
ships whose paths may intersect ours before that, so be prepared for a
rendezvous in the water."
     "So, what's the plan?" Teller asked.  "Do we...HSSSSSS," the radio
suddenly cut out.
     Jamming.
     Matrioshka turned in flight momentarily and smiled at Grind.  It was a
smile without malice, but also without much emotion of any kind.  She had
clearly decided that she didn't want her pursuers to talk to each other.
     Grind smiled back and raised a hand, flashing a quick sequence of signs.
Suddenly, Matrioshka slowed down, frowning now.  The problem with mechanical
means of flight...they were susceptible to dampening of fire, as well as to
subtle telekinetic tinkering.  Grind didn't know which had done the trick
this time, but it didn't really matter.  He'd forced a confrontation, which
is what he'd wanted.
     Four shells peeled away from Matrioshka, each heading towards one of the
STRAFE agents.
     "Be careful what you wish for," Grind muttered to himself as he dodged
the clumsy attack of his dance partner.

               *              *              *              *

[Skyhaven, over the Jardin Exotique]

     "Such a dramatic way to die!" Anhydra cackled, spinning around before
alighting on the top of Skyhaven.  "Fighting a hopeless battle atop a doomed
airship.  Why, it's almost TwenCen pulp!"
     "You might have the first part right," Burnout snarled, her eyes
flashing with quasi-elemental power as she prepared to transmute her target
into embers.  "Time for you to join ASH," she sneered as dusky red beams shot
from her eyes and lanced into Anhydra's swirling dust cloud.
     To no effect.
     "Clearly, she's elementally shielded," Glyph said.  "As I have been
since the day you joined the Conclave.  Don't get overconfident, Burnout, our
enemies have clearly planned for this encounter."
     Anhydra threw back her head.  "HHeheeheehhheee!  And there's nothing the
two of you can do to hurt me, either," she boasted.  "Your spellbook is known
to me as well, little hedge witch, while you have only tasted the merest part
of my power!"
     "Then eat this, bitch," Burnout replied, pulling a .50 Desert Eagle from
out of her waistband and pumping out three rounds of collapsinum-laced armor
piercing ammunition.  All three struck home, staggering Anhydra slightly.
     But only slightly.
     "That did hurt, but I'm hardly going to bleed to death when my veins
hold only dust," Anhydra chuckled, her voice momentarily losing its gravely
edge. 
     "Take it from someone who's spent a lot of time building a scary
persona," Burnout smiled, "yours needs work, poser."
     Then, with no warning, a fleshy mass emerged from Glyph's robes and
slammed into Anhydra, a mass of claws and tentacles and teeth and teeth and
teeth!  

     Meanwhile, below, Conflicto had regained consciousness, if not his wits,
just as the fight above was starting.
     "Easy there, Eugene," Coulter warned him.  "You've been a quarter dead
for a while, and you still look pretty shaky."
     "Yeah, I don't really feel up to storming the castle right now," he
admitted.  "I have about five headaches, at least.  What the hell happened?"
     "Someone split Monaco into four timelines.  Triton figured out how to
merge 'em back together.  It wasn't fun for any of us, but you were dead in
one of the four timelines, so was Tom over here," the cyborg gestured at
Lightfoot, who was unconscious underneath a trellised arch, next to Spiral.
     "What about An...Spiral?"
     "She was okay until the fight started.  One of the baddies dehydrated
her.  I administered the hangover cure I'd been carrying for tomorrow
morning, and it seems to have helped, but I'm getting to keep an eye on all
you downchecks while the others keep fighting."
     Conflicto shook his head, trying to rattle four sets of memories into
some reasonable shape.  "Wait...fight?"
     Coulter shrugged.  "Four new paras I've never seen before popped out of
the sarcophaguses...sarcophagi, whatever...and started beating the holy data
out of us.  I think one of the EUROPA people is dead.  Then they split up and
everyone chased after.  One of 'em went after Skyhaven, the weird mummy lady
who attacked Anya," he pointed up at the airship, where Conflicto could make
out a red flash that told him Burnout was going at it. 
     "Fine."  He tapped his golden trident badge.  "Whoever's in C&C, this is
Conflicto.  Sitrep, please?"
     "Stop pretending to be a soldier, Eugene," Sultry's voice replied.  
     "Ffff.  What's the situation, Sultry?"
     "That dried up bitch just ignored Burnout's gaze and says she's
protected from Glyph's spells.  Ooooh, that had to hurt.  And now Myriad's
attacking," she rambled.  She sounded nervous, and the roiling clouds
overhead reflected that.  "Myriad's down!  Tossed over the side!  Eugene!"
     "I see," he stood shakily, as a brownish speck fell from Skyhaven.
Reaching out with his power, he made the air gooey, slowing Myriad's fall to
a crawl.  She looked...shriveled, but had endured worse.
     "Do you think you can fry the 'mummy bitch?'" Conflicto asked.
     "I am trying.  The air stays too dry to allow a proper storm.  Should I
send you a transport?"
     Conflicto shook his head.  "No," he added.  "I'm still too messed up to
be much use up there.  I'll put my head together with Chall and see if
there's anything better we can be doing with our time."

               *              *              *              *

[Nice, France]

     The mighty bronze man methodically tore into the street of the Promenade
des Anglais, reaching for utility lines and rupturing them.  Water splashed
off him and turned to steam, electricity arced over his body with no visible
effect...but as yet, he had not found a gas line.
     "Any luck?" Arc asked, turning to Rasputin.
     The Russian illusionist sat in his flying chair, scowling.  "I'm not
sure.  His mind is too strange, too machinelike.  I think I might be
distracting him a little, but that is all."  Paralyzed from the waist down,
Rasputin lacked his namesake's legendary durability, and dared not get too
close to Talos.  Rubbing her burned hand, Arc sympathized.  She'd tried
ripping up part of the beachfront railing to use as a weapon instead of
risking physical contact again, but it had been like hitting the mechanoid
with a noodle for all the good it had done.
     "Oni?"
     The magnetic ghost shimmered in her equivalent of a shrug.  "he is
metal," she whispered.  "but not magnetic.  i have tried induced currents,
but he is protected from surges, as you can see."
     "Ymir, Hotspur, get it in gear!" Arc shouted over her shoulder, using a
phrase she'd picked up from her American lover, Jason Teller.  The
Scandinavian giant of a man and the hothead from England weren't as fast as
the other three, but they made up for it in raw power...if they could get
into range.
     Finally, the two rounded a corner and came into view.  It was almost as
if Talos was waiting for them, though, as his motions had become practically
leisurely. 
     "We know he's already hot, try cooling him down!" Arc shouted.
     Ymir nodded, taking a moment to catch his breath before sending a wave
of cold at Talos.  The chill seemed to break around him like waves about a
mountain, and even the frost that formed on the ground nearby vanished like a
distant memory within seconds.
     "See if'n er gusta th' heiss!" Hotspur shouted in his preferred
"Eurolac" patois, firing several spikes of searing fire into the metal skin
of their foe.
     Talos grunted, as if absorbing a light punch, then smiled.  "I am glad I
practiced so thoroughly," he said.  "I was actually worried you would find a
way to surprise me, but my preparations have been quite sufficient."
     Then he found the gas main.

               *              *              *              *

[Imperia, Italy]

     "Dante Square," Chiaroscuro sighed as he brought the flying sarcophagus
in for a landing in the commercial center of the Oneglia district of the
small Italian port city.  "Not how I remember it, but it's...been a while.  I
definitely don't recall *that* restaurant," he frowned, extending a hand.
"It'll simply *have* to go!"
     In a flash of light, the building started to crumble into dust, as if
shot through with a million tiny holes.  "Do you think I should have warned
the people inside?" he smiled crookedly to ASH as they entered the square and
came to a wary halt.
     "Fry," Scorch said, unleashing a gout of flame that quickly surrounded
the murderous mage.  But, when the inferno subsided, he could see that a
shadowy mass had surrounded Chiaroscuro like a cocoon.
     The shadows flew apart as Fury added her rather destructive opinion to
the argument, twin bolts of channeled explosive force slamming into the
darkness and rending it apart, to reveal...nothing.
     "My, you're jumping at shadows!" Chiaroscuro laughed, becoming visible
as if dropping a cloak from around himself, and standing meters from his
previous position.  
     "Mine," Meteor said simply, rushing straight at the self-proclaimed
master of light and darkness.
     Chiaroscuro laughed again as she passed through him.  "Haven't you
figured out that you can't trust anything you see when I'm around?"
     "Don't *you* know that the hand is quicker than the eye?" Meteor
replied, straining slightly as she held the sarcophagus above her head.
"Mine now.  Breaker?"
     "Three meters to the left," she nodded to Scorch and Fury.
     "DAMN!" Chiaroscuro spat just before his image vanished and a new shield
of darkness sprang up in the path of the howling torrent of flame and force
being aimed at his true location.  "Forgot about your telekinetic radar," he
sighed, seemingly under no particular strain in resisting the combined
attacks of two of ASH's most potent blasters.  "There goes my bonus.  Still,
I can at least rack up a few points," he sighed.
     Crystalline darkness shot out around the shield in multiple directions,
arrowing towards each of the four Combine heroes.
     Meteor dodged easily.
     Breaker dodged as well, if not with quite the ease.
     Fury redirected her blasts at the last moment and tore the arrowing
tentacle apart.
     Scorch fell, screaming.
     "It's a pity Beacon isn't on Earth right now," Chiaroscuro sneered, his
shield dropping momentarily, now that the attacks against him had ceased.
"It'd have been particularly fun to get the two of you at once.  But I
suppose one photonic is all I can really expect for the day, yes?"

               *              *              *              *

[Mediterranean Sea]

     Grind managed to slice the left arm from his sparring partner with his
monofiber dagger, revealing that the copy of Matrioshka was indeed hollow.
But the loss of bodily integrity didn't seem to otherwise slow it down,
suggesting that the shell was really just a projection of some sort, not a
machine in the traditional sense.  Unless it was nanotech on a level that no
one he knew of had come close to developing yet.
     Unfortunately, in his line of work, technology beyond the cutting edge
was just part of the daily grind.
     He spared a glance to see how the others were doing, and it wasn't
great.  No one had been unseated yet, but no one had managed to get close to
the real Matrioshka yet either.  The remote dolls were fireproof, which was
giving C.J. a hard time.  Jason's telekinesis was just strong enough to hold
his at bay, though, and only a few hits had landed on his skycycle.  Lana,
for her part, seemed to be mostly playing cat-and-mouse with her opponent.
     Something clicked.  Not only was Matrioshka clearly just playing with
them in general, but she was treating Lana with kid gloves in particular.
Lana couldn't ghost her cycle, it was a bit over her mass limit...so why
hadn't her opponent simply disabled the cycle?  The other three were
certainly trying that tactic.
     Matrioshka didn't want to hurt Lana, for some reason.  Maybe it was tied
into the reason she wasn't trying very hard to escape, or the reason she had
taken Ursula prisoner.  But it gave him an idea.
     "Jason!  Chamberlain for three!" he shouted, using his helmet's
microphone to boost the volume to the point that he could be heard over the
noise of battle.  
     Teller nodded, swooping close enough to Fadeaway to abandon his damaged
skycycle and jump to hers.  As his cycle limped off on automatic, the two
arrowed towards Matrioshka, but at the last moment veered to one side.  Lana
jumped, thrust forward and guided by Teller's telekinetic talent.
     Surprised, Matrioshka peeled off another duplicate to defend herself,
but Lana suddenly jinked right and passed through the doll holding Princess
Ursula captive.  In the blink of an eye, the doll was empty and both Lana and
the princess were landing gracefully on Lana's now rather crowded cycle.
     Matrioshka scowled, her mask resembling a child's drawing of a "frowny
face."  Almost petulantly, she had one of her duplicates smash Jason's
unattended skycyle, and fired a bolt of cyan light into C.J.'s, disabling it
as well.  Grind was just able to get to his teammate in time to grab her
before the engine died and the cycle plunged into the Mediterranean below.
     Oddly, despite this obvious display of power, Matrioshka didn't press
her advantage.  Instead, she shot straight into the sky too quickly for the
eye to follow.  Her remaining dolls crumbled to dust and blew away in the
wind.  
     "What the hell was that all about?" Jason asked.

               *              *              *              *

[Skyhaven]

     "Something's wrong here," Conflicto frowned.
     "No kidding," Coulter replied, checking Spiral's pulse.  "Anhydra's
mopping the floor with...you guys."
     Conflicto ignored the almost-spoken "us" and shook his head.  "No, she
isn't.  This fight could be over in a half second if she really wanted it to.
She's bulletproof, shielded from Burnout's and Glyph's main powers, she's
keeping Sultry from calling any serious lightning down on her, and she took
Myriad out without even trying.  If she really wanted us down, we'd be down.
And if she wanted to leave, she'd be gone."
     "Distraction."
     "Bingo.  And from what you've told me about the other three running off,
I think it's all a big red herring.  They want us paying attention to them,
not to what's really important."
     "So, what's really important here?" Coulter asked, looking around.
"Specifically, important that we have to be distracted from, rather than
something they could do themselves?  IR doesn't show anyone invisible lurking
about, but I suppose they could by psi-inviso."
     Conflicto stared at the AstroSpear, jammed into the ground where Triton
had left it.  "Can you still link into SkyHaven's sensors?  Good.  Get with
whatever doohickey Triton was using to scan the time bubbles earlier, and
take a good hard look at the 'Spear."
     After a short pause, Coulter's human eye blinked.  "Great Machine," he
swore.  "It's starting to unravel again.  I dunno what all the numbers mean,
or how long we have before time splits, but this can't be good."
     "Bingo.  Distract us from THAT," Conflicto pointed at the AstroSpear.
"Sultry, how you holding out?" he asked over the commlink, then winced as he
saw Skyhaven rock.
     "BAD!" came the snarling response.  "And *no*, I still can't get
lightning anywhere near that piece of mummy meat!"
     "You don't have to, I sussed it," Conflicto replied.  "She's trying to
keep our attention off the AstroSpear...take a look at the time/gravity/
whatever sensors."
     Sultry's hiss was all the response he needed before continuing, "I don't
think Llyr's energy was quite enough to seal the deal.  I need you to hit the
AstroSpear with the biggest lightning bolt you can manage, okay?"
     "How...how do you know that will work?" she asked, dubious.
     "Come on.  Derek is married to you, and you know he plans five steps
ahead.  He's got to have set the 'Spear up to absorb lightning by *now*," he
grinned.
     The sky rumbled.  Anhydra's power over moisture was keeping the clouds
from building up in her immediate vicinity, but there were limits.
     "Um, maybe everyone with metal in them should start running now?"
Conflicto suggested, before diving into a nearby ditch.  Coulter scooped up
Spiral and headed for cover just in time.
     KRAAAAK!
     As lightning bolts go, it wasn't terribly impressive, but that's like
saying that as migraines go it didn't hurt too much.  The world went white
for a moment and Conflicto was blinking away afterimages despite having
buried his face in his arms.
     "Breach sealed," Coulter said, sounding miles away over the roaring in
Conflicto's ears.  "And it looks like TerraStar's body just popped out.
She's not moving, though."
     Conflicto stood, his vision slowly clearing.
     Then he kinda wished it hadn't, because he could see Anhydra floating
right in front of him.
     "Clever little man!  I should have paid heed to her warnings and made
sure you'd stay down," she rasped.
     Desperately, Conflicto coagulated all the fluid in his own body, hoping
it would prevent her from drying him out like she had Myriad.  Unfortunately,
he realized as everything went black, her power didn't seem to work that
way....

               *              *              *              *

[Nice, France]

     Rasputin was afraid.
     It was something he was all too used to, being the most physically
fragile member of the team, but that didn't mean he liked it.
     Arc was barely moving, badly burned by the gas explosion.  Oni's
magnetic ghost form had been dispersed by the blast, and while Rasputin knew
she would be back, it would likely take too long for her to matter again in
this fight.  Ymir's cold simply wasn't enough to do more than annoy Talos,
and Hotspur was currently getting beaten savagely by the bronze man's fists.
The only saving grace for Harry was that he wasn't also being burned in the
process, thanks to the immunity granted by his own fiery power.
     "Damn it, there has to be an opening!" Rasputin spat.  "He has a mind,
he is not a drone or a remotely controlled extension.  I can feel it," he
hissed.  "The joy of combat, the grim satisfaction in the damage he is doing
to Hotspur.  He is like a child, but a changeling child."
     Wait.  There.  A small handle, but one he could use.  But he needed to
be closer.  Dangerously closer.  He had to overcome his own fear.
     "Must needs when the devil drives," he gritted his teeth and urged his
damaged hoverchair forward.  Talos spared him a glance, but smiled and went
back to Hotspur.  Rasputin could hear something snap in the Englishman's
arm.  
     "This is much more diverting than the simulations," Talos said.  "Why,
I'd give an arm and a leg for such an experience.  Not my own, of course," he
tossed Hotspur away.  "Now, I suppose I should deal with Ymir before he finds
some new application of his powers or somesuch."
     "No, monster, you will deal with me!" Rasputin challenged.
     "Why?  I can discern your illusions from reality easily enough.  At best
you can distract me a little.  And you are hardly a physical challenge,"
Talos gestured at the hoverchair.  "There is nothing you can make me see or
hear or smell that will even slow me down."
     "But I can make you FEEL!" Rasputing shouted, grabbing that small
"handle" in Talos's mind and turning as hard as he could.  Then he poured all
the memories of that horrible day in December into the bronze figure's mind.
The feeling of Triton's crackling electric trident forcing its way into his
stomach, burning and tearing and the pain and the smell and oh GOD the
pain....
     "RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Talos screamed,
doubling over.
     "Never felt pain before, have you?" Rasputin sneered.  "An invulnerable
metal child is all you are.  Pain is life...so drink it in and *live*!"
     "MAKE...IT...STOP!" Talos demanded, reaching out with inhuman swiftness
and placing a searing hand around Rasputin's throat.
     There was a short, sharp burning sensation, and then the pain stopped
for Rasputin.  Forever.

               *              *              *              *

     A woman sighed.  "A pity.  I'd hoped at least one of my proteges would
have earned their bonus points.  They lost both prisoners, TerraStar's body
has been freed, and Talos had to lose his cool and kill someone.  Still, an
otherwise acceptable showing, and no irreparable damage.  Cronyx, send out
the recall signal and take the yacht in."
     "Certainly, madam.  It has made for interesting viewing, has it not?"
     "Oh, of course," she nodded to the small holographic daemon.  "Although
it does lack a certain climactic event, to cap off the day of general death
and destruction.  Something to really make the news cycle."
     "Shall I implement contingency Gamma-Three?" Cronyx suggested.
     She tapped a finger on her chin for a moment.  "Yes, I believe that will
do.  The fall of Skyhaven will certainly make for compelling historical
footage.  I pity I won't be there to see it in person, but such is life...."

               *              *              *              *

[Skyhaven, over Monaco]

     "She just flew off?" Sultry asked over the commlink.
     Coulter's image on the screen nodded.  "She didn't even try to attack
me.  Could you send something down so I can bring up the woun..."
     The screen went blank.
     "Robert?" Sultry asked, tapping the control surface.
     Then, for what seemed like the tenth time that day, alarms sounded.
     "EMERGENCY!" an automated voice declared.  "LOSS OF POWER TO PRIMARY
ANTIGRAVITY SYSTEMS.  SECONDARY THRUSTERS OFFLINE."
     "Don't let us crash!" Sultry shouted at the computer.
     "UNABLE TO COMPLY.  INSUFFICIENT POWER TO PREVENT IMPACT."
     "Then steer us into the water!"
     "ALREADY ATTEMPTING."
     Seconds later, the bridge filled with impact foam as Skyhaven hit the
waters of Monaco Bay at a higher speed than Sultry wanted to contemplate.
The foam was air-permeable, and would dissolve soon enough, but for now she
couldn't move more than a little bit within its cushioning embrace.  Still,
she took some comfort in knowing that her babies had not only the benefit of
the foam in their creche, but also the best defensive systems her husband
could design...with power systems independent from the rest of Skyhaven.
     After all, Eugene had been right...the man *did* plan ahead.
     "I hope you planned for whatever happened to you in the Jardin," she
whispered. 

               *              *              *              *

[Skyhaven, Monaco Bay]

     "Face it, they were playing with us," Jason Teller spat disgustedly as
the deck rolled gently under his feet.  The four teams had regrouped on
Skyhaven, which now floated in Monaco Bay, finally level after hours of
damage control by the teams that had arrived from Khadam.  It might even fly
again once the computers were repaired.
     "Rasputin and Llyr are *dead*, and you say they were *playing*?" Arc
replied in disbelief.
     "He's right," Meteor sighed.  "If those four had been willing to accept
a little more risk, we might all be dead or seriously injured.  And they gave
up and ran way too easily once we'd accomplished some minor victory."
     "Bullies?" Burnout suggested.  "I've seen the type, but..." she trailed
off dubiously.  But she knew, as did everyone else, that none of their foes
had run off in fear.  They'd simply left as if they had somewhere better to
be.  
     "It was a game," Grind nodded grimly.  "There were several references to
bonus points and the like.  And to having practiced against us in
simulations.  This was a test, and they passed it, if not with flying
colors.  We, however, didn't do so well.  We have four missing, two dead, and
several others who will be out of action for at least a while," he pointed to
the monitor screen, showing the sickbay where Myriad, Conflicto and Spiral
were hooked up to IVs.  "And some who should be out of action," he shot a
look at Arc, who was still heavily bandaged and had salve over some
unpleasant looking burns.
     "I felt Rasputin die," Ymir all but whispered.  Then he added, more
loudly, "I pity Rasputin's children.  Now they will never know their father,"
he said in a tone that suggested he didn't think they had much chance of
knowing him even had he lived.
     "Children?" Lightfoot quirked an eyebrow.
     Ymir nodded.  "After his brush with mortality in '23, he was determined
to ensure that his legacy would be maintained, and not left to the vagaries
of romantic fortunes.  So the Russian government found him a number of
patriotic volunteers to bear his children."  He paused, then answered the
question that seemed to be hovering politely on many lips, "Through
artificial means, given his disability."
     "Llyr had no such legacy," Arc frowned.  "EUROPA has much to pay back." 
     "We can start by trying to figure out what was going on here, and why
there's still time portals popping up all over the world despite Conflicto
and Sultry getting the time strands sealed," Meteor interjected.  "Of all the
bait these newcomers used today, this sarcophagus was the only mystery," she
gestured to the object she'd brought back from Italy, currently being scanned
mystically by Glyph and technologically by Coulter.  "The sooner we can get
it opened, the happier I'll be."
     "What about your husband?" Sultry demanded.  "What about *my* husband?"
she added, barely holding back hysterics.
     "There's an old saying," Meteor replied, coolly, "don't trust a
superhuman is dead until you see the body, and even then it's not a sure
thing.  There were all sorts of time and gravity warps involved here, I don't
think they were simply disintegrated.  They may be lost somewhere, somewhen,
but even if you don't believe your husband can bring them all back, I know
*mine* can."
     "And if they're not just lost, but gone beyond the ability to come
back?" Ymir asked.
     Meteor sighed.  "We had the last few weeks together after we both
thought I was as good as dead.  Not everyone gets even a second chance...if I
don't get a third chance?  Well, that's part of the life I agreed to live."

=============================================================================

Next:

     It's time for revelations as Lap 4 wraps up "Four to Never" in CSV #28,
"Time Flies!"
     Then come back here as "Timequake" starts in ASH #79, "Divine Wind"!
April 15, 2026 is certainly a busy day in the ASH Universe....

=============================================================================

Author's Notes:

     I didn't really intend for this to be an oversized issue (it's about 20%
bigger than normal), but juggling four fight scenes will do that.  :)  One of
the benefits of online "publication", though, I don't need to worry about
fitting into a particular pagecount.
     I was going to call the next arc "Time Out Of Joint," but we already
used that for the title of LNH2024 #2.  Ah well.
     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperia_%28city%29 was used for getting
details of the ASH/Chiaroscuro fight.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nice was
used for Nice.  
     I should probably point out that Tony came up with Chiaroscuro, but *I*
got to be the one to type his name over and over.  :)  He also created
Matrioshka and Anhydra.  I created Talos after he decided he wasn't happy
with his original fourth villain.  More about their backgrounds will be
revealed in future installments of ASH and CSV.
     The "Chamberlain for three" bit is a battle code devised by someone in
STRAFE who's a sports history fan.  You see, Wilt Chamberlain was reknowned
for, among other things, a sort of jump shot called a fadeaway, which is
notoriously had to block.  "Chamberlain for three" specifically means to
throw Lana (Fadeaway) at a hostage or bystander for rescue purposes.  For two
means to throw her at the enemy as an attack.
     Rasputin's crippling injury was sustained in the Battle of Haven during
DEEP ARMAGEDDON in STRAFE #5 and CSV #5, on December 31, 2023.

============================================================================

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and more, go to http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH !

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