Operation Phoenix: Turning Point Battle, Pt 2

        by CyberPyro (cybrpyro@iac.net)

        A tremor ran through the briefing room of the TRES Corps HQ.  The
assembled officers present looked up in unison from their status reports.
        "What was that?" asked Commodore Yearnshaw looking up in mildly
alarm.
        "I don't know," said CyberPyro as he stood up, grabbed an XRifle[tm]
and headed for the door.  The noise of cocking weapons, shuffling feet, and
his fellow Officer's mutters followed him to the door.
        The Jihaddi burst out into the debris littered corridor, their
weapons training on anything that could be a target.  But there was nothing.
Admiral Piper made a motion with his head towards the Ellipsoid and Jaina,
CyberPyro, Yearnshaw, Trooper Aphrodite, and other fell in behind him.
        The Jihaddi entered onto the main floor of the ruined Ellipsoid.
Everyone gasped, for they saw what was wrong immediately.  The Sky was
*PURPLE*!  Aphrodite twitched and just managed to avoid discharging her
weapon.  Piper shoot his head as though someone had just punched him in his
jaw and looked around dazed.  CyberPyro snarled as heat began rolling off of
him Jaina jumped back, her uniform hotter than when came out of the dryer.
        "Our minds are being assaulted," said Jry, rubbing his temples like
he had a massive migraine.  Jaina hummed agreement as she began meditating to
resist the continuous wash of spongification thoughts hitting her mind.
        "Oh, no," said CyberPyro the Jihaddi broke out their emergency supply
of Pez.
        "What?" asked Admiral Piper as he ground an orange Pez between his
teeth.
        "You don't know what's going on?"
        "Would I ask?"
        "This Purple Cloud is a world-wide psionic assault device."
        "WHAT?!?" asked Ensign Weekley.
        "It seems - almost - to have been conjured by the Hell Wyrm.  It's
War Chant keeps hitting my mind.  Resisting it is tiring; I won't be able to
hold out against this thing for ever."
        "So what do we do?" asked a TRES Marine.
        "This is magic," CyberPyro said, "it will be most effective to attack
it with what created it: magic.  I..."
        "Does anyone want to give me some carrots and milk before I splatter
their innards with this super special rifle?" asked the TRES Corps Marine,
his mind obviously corrupted by the Purple Cloud.  He waved his gyrojet rifle
at Commodore jry, demanding his snacks.  A blur of motion at the edge of his
vision made him turn, target CyberPyro, and discharge the weapon.
        A deafening bang told him the round exploded in his enemy's chest,
but the eyes told a different story: CyberPyro was simply no longer there.
Where had his enemy gone?  He had to...
        The marine jerked violently forward to the ripping sound of fabric.
He looked down, a stream of crimson blood flowing from his mouth, and saw a
thick, sharp Jihaddium Claymoor protruding his chest.  As the Marines'
consciousness fled him, he reached for the blade, his instincts demanding he
remove the offending object.
        The sponge minion's 6'4" frame jerked, the sword sliced upwards,
cutting its heart neatly in half, as it let out a dying wheeze.  CyberPyro
pulled his sword sharply backwards while thrusting the corpse forwards.  It
collapsed with a wet thump onto debris littered floor, a thick red pool
spreading quickly about it.
        "Remind me never to point a gun at you, CP," said Admiral Morgenna,
stepping from the shadows into view.
        "MORGENNA!" everyone said in shock.
        "We'd heard you were dead ... what happened to you? ... wtf? ..."
said the assembled crowd all at once.  Morgenna made an attempt to answer
everyone's shocked questions, but quickly had to wait for everyone to be
quiet so she could speak.
        "Tasha died in Scotland at the hands of the X'hirjq because she left
the protection of the House of Eternal Night," sadly recounted Morgenna, "I
left in grief, wanting to be away from the place, and the X'hirjq pursued me.
Somewhere along the line, those scaly murderers enlisted the aid of Lyrans
necromancers to hunt me.
        "I fought them across the Scottish country-side for weeks.  Dodging.
Laying traps, avoiding traps.  Killing at night.  Hiding during the day.
Fighting them claws to claws, spell to spell.  Eventually, I won, but at a
heavy price."
        "Let's get you inside," said CyberPyro as he threw one of Morgenna's
arms across his shoulders and helped her walk.  Her exhaustion was extremely
obvious to all who saw her.
        More ominously, a former TRES Corps Marine could be heard screaming
the Dark Hymn in the distance.  Her rendition, awful and off-key, was cut
short by the noises of her peers quickly silencing her.

        The Purple Cloud was spongifying the world faster than anyone cared
to think about.

...

        In Singapore, riots broke out between Luv Squads armed with whatever
they could find for weapons and the police.  New York City saw a complete
overthrow of the City Government, Mayor Spongy promised to replace the
Statue of Liberty with a replica of the Hell Wyrm.
        In Paris, milling hordes of minions demanded the President surrender
to the X'hirjq.  London, Berlin, Moscow, Cairo, Rio De Janeiro, Washington
DC, Beijing, and every other major city encountered similar demands.
Throughout America, Law and Order broke down as every human fought to retain
control of their minds, but ultimately failed.
        The business district of New York City, ignoring the Purple Cloud,
considered it be an aspect of pollution.  By lunch no one remained to do
work, but went into the streets to worship b'harnii.

...
        Admiral Morgenna awoke with a start.  Alarms were blaring throughout
the TRES HQ, louder than normal.  She moved to grab her uniform and stopped.
Her head felt awful, like someone had tied a thick rubber band around her
skull.  She quickly donned her uniform and ran for the briefing room.
        A visibly stressed CyberPyro stood in front of a series of monitors,
looking grim.  Admiral J-Rock and Centurion Cerberus of the Doberman Empire
stood beside him.  J-Rock kept sucking down Jolts, with a visible edge to his
actions: the Cloud was starting to wear him down.  Cerberus, the half-Q, was
finding just how strongly human he was in situation like these.  The empty
Doritos bags and Pez wrappers testified to how much he had to fight the
influence of the Cloud.
        "Good lord, we're boned," said J-Rock looked at the X'hirjq landing
stats from satellite recon.  "Two _million_ BattleArmored X'hirjq on the East
and West Coasts backed a million more.  A million BattleArmors North and
South backed by the same number of regulars...."
        "...millions of spongies swarming around them.  We'll all be dead
inside of a few days," said Cerberus turning a shocked white.  "We can't..."
        "Fight them until we're out from under this frecking Cloud," growled
CyberPyro.  "Pull yourselves together, because we're going to need all of
you."
        "all right," said the three other Jihaddi in the room, visibly
straightening themselves.
        "Morgenna: You try to contact Windigo.  I'll try for Owsen.
Cerberus: Try for J. FoxGlov.  J-Rock: Have the tech crews in the hangar prep
fighters for our immediate departure."
        "And where are we going once we contact everyone?" asked Morgenna.
        "Des Moines, Iowa.  We're going to make a shot at dispelling this
damn cloud."

								CP

Copyright Pyrokinetic Productions, Inc.  (1996)