A day late, sorry about that. Theme 9: Advance Wars, Apocalypse Chaos Suite Yes I use Advance Wars Days of Ruin a lot. But it sounds right, so why switch to something that doesn't? Plus Turn-Based Strategy really fits with the "Mastermind" theme. :P
Among the few remaining houses of Niche: Isaac had found a mere two people since he left Marcus and Drake. Andy had been in his home, sleeping, supposedly dreaming of "hot girls". Just like him. He took the revelation of an invasion during the night fairly calmly, for what it was worth. Feriand, not so much. "Are you absolutely certain you have no clue who it is?" Isaac sighed, and was about to answer when Damien spoke for him. "Yes, we're certain, so shut up already." Feriand shook his head. "We need to know all we can. There must be something you remember." Andy rolled his eyes. "There's nothing, get that into your head. None of us were awake; we all managed to sleep through perhaps the biggest crisis ever to happen on Great Storlin. Like I said, we were likely drugged. None of us know anything." Feriand replied, "You sure? I think you're just faking it, trying to get me to be dragged along to the guy behind this. Right?" Isaac answered, "You do realize that most of the rest of the world sees the glass half full? You always have to assume the worst, don't you?" Feriand nodded. "Someone has to, and you don't appear to be stepping up to do so." "Are you still pulling that emo stunt?" Feriand jumped as Drake walked into the clearing, along with Marcus and Zack. "I thought I told you just how bad it looked on you." Feriand replied, "It beats macho murder man." Drake charged for Feriand, only to be tripped by Isaac. "None of that. The enemy's doing a good enough job of taking us out on his own, he doesn't need our help." Marcus nodded. "Agreed." Andy laughed as Drake got up off the ground and brushed himself off. Drake glared at Andy but said nothing. Zack spoke up, "Well, there's no one else here. This place is pretty must deserted. A ghost town." Damien said, "So we've seen. Not a soul remains, not that there ever was one anyway." Andy snickered. "Speak for yourself." Damien replied, "I am." Isaac said, "All right guys, I think it's about time we started thinking of where to go next. Any ideas?" Marcus volunteered, "The countryside should be safer, it's bigger, and less explored." Drake scoffed. "We've lived here for over 50 years, there's no place left to hide, it's all been explored." Marcus replied, "Tell that to the man who even now is hiding on this island." Isaac asked, "How do you figure that?" Marcus answered, "We're too far above the sea on this side of the island to just hop into a boat, not that anyone here cared to anyway. They'd have to trudge a long ways away via the northern sands, or trek a long way inland to avoid it. It's possible, but not while carrying a ton of unconscious people, they don't have the equipment." Drake countered, "What if they just have a bigger army, or bigger tools?" Isaac replied, "Then unless they could hover, which is practically impossible, they'll be leaving tracks, especially in the sand." Zack added, "Or they took the tunnel." Isaac stared at Zack. "The tunnel?" Zack nodded.' Yeah, the one I found that you said I couldn't tell anyone about." Isaac's stare got harder. "What do you think you're doing now?" Zack replied, "Searching every possible angle. You want to prove Marcus right, right? You don't want everyone dragged off Great Storlin to unknown places over the sea; you want them to be here. This should determine if you're right or not." Feriand spoke up, "Or wrong. They could possible have been dragged through this 'tunnel' to the sea, and be gone forever, right?" Andy punched Feriand in the arm. "Maybe, but then we can't do anything about it. This we can do something about. Assuming that they're gone for good does nothing for them, assuming they're still here could help." Feriand said, "But you have to keep in mind that it might be for nothing." Damien rolled his eyes. "If they're really gone and we're abandoned here then most everything we do is for nothing, we're just a lost bunch of people with no future, especially when all the people currently here are male." Marcus said, "Yes, exactly. We need to get out there and search for any trace that we can find our people. Agreed?" Everyone spoke up in agreement, even Feriand, though somewhat reluctantly. Marcus said, "Good. Now Isaac, where's this tunnel?" Isaac replied, "It's about three blocks to the south, come on."
Hidden, somewhere: It'd been an hour with her conversation with her aunt, and Donna had taken to wandering. Wandering alone had never been something she did before, but now, with most everything mixed and most of her friends gone, it was becoming more common with her then she realized. She also didn't realize that she was being followed, but that revelation came much sooner. Donna turned around again to finally catch sight of him. "Wait, who's there? I saw you!" He came out, and stopped. Donna thought of what she should do next. Run? Talk? Talk made more sense. "Who are you?" He bowed. "My name is Len. I congratulate me on taking a mere 33 seconds to catch me; the last three people I followed took over two minutes to spot me shadowing them." Donna wasn't quite sure what to say to this, and said nothing. Len laughed. "I'm not a stalker, if that's what you're asking. No, I've a different job. I work for the big guy." Donna's eyes widened. "You mean, the Mastermind?" Len raised an eyebrow in a way that sounds silly written down. "He hasn't revealed his name to all of you yet?" Donna shook her head. "No. You know him?" Len nodded. "Oh yes, quite well. But if he won't tell you his name yet I won't be the one to do so. Tell me; just what are your opinions of your host?" Donna replied, "I've not actually seen him so far. But from what I've heard, I think he's highly stuck-up, with this "I'm the only one who can save the world from itself" business. Also, his taste in decor is very bad." Len laughed. "For the latter, there was a mix-up, you got the wrong house. For the former, you'd not be the first to say so. But telling me gains you nothing; unless I bother to report such words to him they won't matter." Donna replied, "I don't care, I'm just venting." Len asked, "But wouldn't it make more sense to actually vent at the person you're mad with?" Donna looked Len straight in the eye, thinking it would be more intimidating. "You could do that?" Len nodded. "That's why I'm here. To seek out those he should speak to. People carefully selected to help him out." Donna started. "Help him? No way, not interested." She turned around and started to walk off, but Len's words halted her. "You really think you can walk off that easily?" Donna answered, "Well, yes. Is your master going to kill me so I can't spread his little story?" Len shook his head. "He won't. But the offer's gone to far to be given back, you have to come with." Donna stood where she was. "I will not help him. There's nothing he's doing that I consider worthwhile." Len shrugged. "Too late now. You're coming" Donna said, "This is the part where you pull a dart gun out and shoot me, right?" Len smiled. "You sure watch a lot of movies, don't you kid?" Donna opened her mouth to retort, but felt a pain in her back, which she hadn't been watching. She slumped over, and another person, with a dart gun of course, walked up to converse with Len.
Theme 10: Advance Wars, Andy's Anthem (More light-hearted, which is better here) On the beaches: Finding the others wasn't really that difficult, especially when Thern decided that standing out on the sand was a worthwhile risk it made things a bit more obvious, despite the fact that Lore knew where the others had been left. "You idiot, what are you doing prancing around? That's my job; I'm the guy with a gun." Thern snorted at Lore's comment. "Good for you. Now you just need to know how to use it." Lore considered pulling it out and shooting him to make his point, but it wasn't worth the wasted ammo. Besides, more sarcasm on the team is always a good thing. He instead just pulled it out and smacked it against Thern's stomach. "Still not quite got the hang of it, I guess." Thern replied after about two seconds, "No, I think you're doing just fine." Smirking, Lore headed forward, the others trailing after him. By now Ellen and Carla had come out. Lore was glad to see they'd not gotten misplaced by Thern's lack of caring. "Good, you're still here. Come on, time to move, you've rested long enough." Ellen replied, "I wanted to watch the ocean a little longer though. Could we please stay?" Lore answered, "The view where we're going is even better, endless yards of grass and trees." Ellen said, "Goody! Let's go." The two started in the direction of the beach as Carla looked from one, to the other, than back at Martin as he walked up. "Are they always like this?" Martin laughed and replied, "Exactly this way? No, not quite. But they're quite good at blending satire and sarcasm into normal conversation, sometimes to the point that you can't tell what's what. Unless you're Thern of course, putting the three of them together can cause either one of the most sensible conversations of all time, or one of the most pointless arguments." Thern snorted (he likes doing that apparently) and added, "And when Martin joins in the world has much to fear." Martin tried to put an innocent expression on his face. "Who, me? Never." Thern nodded most seriously. "'Tis true, I've lived with it for long enough." Brock chose that moment to interrupt. "Are we just going to let them wander off ahead like that?" Martin and Thern turned at the sound of Brock's voice. "Spoilsport," they said in unison, than they headed after Ellen and Lore. Carla shrugged and followed, while Brock wandered behind, asking himself, "How come I'm always the punch line of a joke I never get?"
At Bill's cave (Bill not included): Flore knocked on the door of a cave buried within a range of good-sized hills. Most of them were natural, leftovers from when this island was submerged quite likely, and seeded with grass when their ancestors came to live here. A few though were built into the hillside, looking fairly natural but really there as houses. Over the years most were abandoned in favor of the cities, but one recluse stubbornly stayed, enjoying the solitary. That would be Bill. Dean exclaimed, "Okay, I get it. I just wanted to know who Bill was; I don't care about a discussion on hills and hermits." Flore replied, "But what fun is that?" Dean rolled his eyes and said nothing. After about a minute of waiting (and knocking twice more) Flore decided that no one would be coming to the door, so he just went in. Dean asked, "Are you sure that's okay?" Flore replied, "Relax, Bill's a friend, and he owes me. I'm sure he won't mind too much." Inside the place was fairly neat, with the humming of electronics coming from the back, and a note on what looked like an icebox. Dean grabbed it before Flore could and started reading. "To whoever drops in, I'm out camping for the week with a few friends. If you need something to drink help yourself to the water, just pull the handle when you're done so it can fill up again. Flore, if you're here asking about the "favor", forget it. I found the cats were in no way deadly, you liar. And my computer's off-limits, so go away! Thanks!" Dean looked up at Flore. "Friends, huh?" Flore replied, "At least we're still on speaking terms, which is better then I can say for half my other friends." Dean rolled his eyes. "You sure have a way with people, don't you?" Flore replied, "Just some of them. So, where should we start?" Dean stared Flore right in the eye. "You still want to redo this place as a hideout type thing after being told by the owner to get out of here? You've got guts." Flore answered, "Yeah, and I would rather keep them inside me rather then spilled out across a field here. Come on, his "secret" weapon stash is this way." Dean sighed and said, "If you must. But if he kills you, I won't avenge me." Flore replied, "And I'd do the same for you, my friend." Dean said, "I know." Dean followed Flore to a checkered floor, where Flore put his feet on two red steps at the same time, revealing a passage leading into an underground location, which the two promptly headed down. Part 2
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