Coming Full Circle

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Sign-Up Page 21, Post Number 505

-Snowfall Island, late afternoon-

Wearing white winter camouflage gear with orange polarized snow goggles and a backpack of supplies, Victoria kept her Bandolier in her backpack and wore her Azure Armor underneath her white camouflage jacket, making her look bulkier than she actually was. She was here on Snowfall Island at the request of Franklin Kerwes, who had received information on the whereabouts of his son just four days after Victoria's adventure on Crescent Island. Contrary to what Victoria thought, Alexander Kerwes had chosen Snowfall Island as the site of their next encounter. The choice was both a poetic one and oddly appropriate... Victoria's pursuit of the rogue scientist had started on this very island a few weeks ago and with any luck it would end here.

Victoria had further reason to muse over the propriety of the choice of locale. This island was also the site of the decommissioned military base where she had discovered Alexander Kerwes' theft of Agent Lacedaemon from the island's military authorities. She wondered what he was thinking by picking Snowfall Island as the meeting place. He must have been pretty confident that today's encounter would be the last if he chose to meet her here.

Victoria crunched through the snow on her way to the dam and kept her eyes open for trouble as a light snowstorm started. She was worried that the rogue scientist had placed mercenaries, automated sentry guns, or yet another variety of mutated animal on and inside the dam to keep her from getting to him. No matter what he had put in her way, it would not stop Victoria from reaching him and ending the chase once and for all.

The Sabertooth mage reached the edge of the frozen lake that the dam had been built on to harness for hydroelectric power and stopped to take a look ahead. So far she was not being shot at or being run down by mutants, so they were either inside the dam or were just not present at all. Victoria took a breath of cold air through her face mask and recalled the briefing.

Franklin's sources had detected evidence of new construction on the side of the base where she had searched for the keycard to get into the administration building on her last visit here. She was to investigate that area and determine what kind of building project was underway. She had a feeling it was related to that sealed-off tunnel she had briefly searched, but she would not know for certain until she got there. That meant winding her way through the dam and crossing the ice that separated the administration building from the barracks.

Victoria looked one last time, then kept walking towards the dam. Her feet crunched through the snow as she started climbing the small incline that led to the top of the structure. Once on top Victoria reached out with gloved hands and gripped the top of the dam, then pulled herself up and climbed on top of the dam without any trouble. She sat on the edge and took the short drop down to reach the flat surface that she needed to traverse to reach the elevator.

The brunette looked around and saw no guards rushing out to stop her or mutants charging to the attack. She walked on top of the dam and heard the wind blow around her as snowflakes danced on the wind. The gleaming silver doors of the elevator beckoned the mage as she walked closer to them. She recalled the unpleasant elevator ride on Divide Island and hoped that she would not experience that again.

Victoria walked across the dam and noticed that just like last time the sunlight was beginning to fade fast. She reached the elevator doors and pressed the glowing button, then stepped aside and put her hands together to prepared a Beam Cannon in case trouble was waiting for her inside the elevator. The doors dinged open and nothing came out, so the mage reached the conclusion that this elevator was safe to use. She walked inside and found the control panel, then pressed the DOWN button and watched the doors DING closed.

Victoria was on her way to finding Alexander Kerwes. In order to get to him she would have to travel through some familiar territory, but that was no problem for her. The Sabertooth mage would find him and put a stop to his plans.

[Word Count: 750]
[Total Word Count: 750/12,500]

-Inside the dam, fifth floor-

The elevator door DINGed open and Victoria brought out her Light Machine Gun to be ready for any lurking mutants waiting to take a swing at her. She ignored the heat trapped by her face mask as she walked towards the door that led to the corridor that she had to turn the wheels to stop the flow of scalding steam before she could pass through to the other side and go down four more flights of stairs. Victoria hallway expected something to happen like the scientist's voice to boom on the long-dormant speakers and a swarm of reptilian mutants craving blood to break down the steel doors in an effort to get to her. Instead the place was quiet. Too quiet.

Victoria placed a gloved hand on the metal door to the corridor and pushed it open with a little bit of effort. She put the barrel through the opening in the door and listened out for hissing, the clicking of claws on concrete, or anything to let her know that she had been spotted. Instead the only noise that filled her ears was silence. Victoria stepped through the door and grabbed the vertical foregrip with her left hand, then took another few steps in and checked every corner for mutants. There was nothing here.

-In the corridor-

Victoria kept her weapon ready while walking down the concrete corridor that was broken up by the occasional stack of metal crates sitting exactly where they had been left thirty years ago. The steam had not been reactivated ever since she had turned the three wheels last time. It was a straight shot through the corridor to the other side, where she would have to go down four flights of stairs before she reached the ground floor. Victoria picked up the pace and walked through the empty hall in about four minutes of walking, grabbing the handle of the steel door and sliding it open.

-On the other side, fifth floor-

Victoria again poked the barrel of her weapon through and looked for enemies waiting to ambush her but did not see any. After a few tense seconds she stole a look behind her to check if the enemies were trying to ambush her from behind. Nothing was there except the metal crate. She let the door slide closed behind her and made her way to the staircase. It was time to burn some calories.

-First floor, ten minutes later-

Victoria had finally traversed all the staircases and was now staring at the outdoor corridor that led to the administration building that had been the focus of her last adventure here. The wind had picked up and the daylight was nearly gone, meaning that she would be out here at night yet again. Victoria was not daunted. She had been here at night before and she could do it again. Her biggest concern was crossing the open ice that separated the administrative building from the barracks and the sealed-off tunnel that she theorized was where the new construction had taken place.

Victoria dispelled the Light Machine Gun and brought out her Submachine Gun since it would be easier to aim in close quarters than a LMG while retaining the rapid-fire characteristics that made the heavier weapon her go-to weapon for most encounters. She gripped her weapon, took a deep breath, and set out into the cold night.

-Outside the dam, administrative building-

Victoria walked through the cold while keeping her Submachine Gun at the ready. It was fairly difficult to see thanks to all the snow on the wind, which would be perfect weather for reptiles or human mercenaries to get the drop on her. She made her way through the corridor flanked by chain-link fences and climbed the short staircase that led to the backside of the administration building. She looked both ways before proceeding right. She would loop around the building to check for trouble before climbing through the hole cut in the chain-link fence near the ice.

Snow crunched beneath her boots as the brunette worked her way around the building's right side and kept a watch for hidden danger. She made her way around and reached the door with the keypad and the card reader. Since she did not have the keycard this time, she could not get into the administration building even if she wanted to. Victoria glanced at the keypad with the little red light and briefly flashed back to her first visit to the base, then walked past the locked door and kept going until she reached the opposite end of the building.

Victoria turned left and saw the hole in the fence that she had used to drop down to the ice below. She looked around to make sure that she was not followed, then dispelled her Submachine Gun for safety reasons. She did not want to accidentally shoot herself in the head while climbing through the hole in the fence or when she dropped down to the ice. Even with the Azure Armor on underneath the camouflage jacket Victoria was able to slip through the hole and sit down on the ledge before gently lowering herself to the ice below.

She landed on the ice and made an inelegant four-point landing that made her look like a frog about to hop, but she did not break any limbs on landing and she did not fall through the ice. Those were two things working in her favor. Victoria stood up and balanced herself on the slick surface, facing the barracks and communications tower that bordered the tunnel that she needed to get to.

The wind picked up again and threw more snow into the mix. Victoria thought that that was the worst possible time for her vision to be obscured because she was about to walk across ice that may or may not be thin. The mage simply shrugged and prepared to make the dangerous trip across the ice. No one ever said that Alexander Kerwes was going to make getting to him an easy task.

Victoria took her first step forward, then the next, then the one after that. The last of the sunlight faded and the electric lights around the base flicked to life, casting precious little light on the ice. Victoria continued her trek across the ice and hoped that it would hold long enough for her to get across.

[Word Count: 1,084]
[Total Word Count: 1,834/12,500]

-Across the ice, near the barracks-

After spending a tense thirty minutes crossing the ice and a good five minutes falling down on the slick surface, Victoria finally reached the other side of the frozen pond. She reached up with her cold arms and gripped the top of the five-foot wall separating her from the barracks. With a bit of effort and a lot of focus Victoria climbed up the wall and was on solid ground again. She looked around her to see what had changed and noticed that the chain-link fence near the tunnel had been removed. Now there was nothing between her and the tunnel.

The mage rubbed her cold hands together and began walking past the two-story communications building with the giant satellite dish on top. She walked by the first of the three barracks buildings and passed by the armory a short distance away. It was presumably full of old land mines and hand grenades... or they could have been looted and used for traps set by the scientist. The brunette opted to take a brief detour and walked over to the armory building to take a look inside and indulge her curiosity. She reached the door and peered through the small glass window. To her surprise the explosives were still sitting on the shelves... they must have been too old to use or the scientist had something worse in mind for her.

Victoria then briskly walked away from the armory and towards the tunnel that had previously been sealed off. The wooden crates dotting the tunnel had been removed and now the tunnel was open from end to end. It was a fairly long tunnel that was devoid of anything but speed bumps and the occasional reflector on the road. Florescent lights also hung from the ceiling, providing a little illumination near the middle of the otherwise dark tunnel. The Sabertooth mage had a lengthy walk ahead of her, so she carefully entered the tunnel and started walking.

-Inside the tunnel-

The tunnel was a wide one with four lanes of traffic, two to come in and two to go out. It looked like it had been recently completed because the asphalt, reflectors, speed bumps, and florescent lights looked brand new. Victoria walked through the empty tunnel and wondered what waited for her at the other end of the expanse.

It was still cold, but the walls sheltered her from direct wind and made the walk a lot more bearable. She wondered what Alexander Kerwes had transported through the tunnel. He could have brought in a literal truckload of mutants to guard his lab. He could have purchased Armored Fighting Vehicles to protect his lab and supplement his mutants with some man-made muscle. If he were truly desperate to see her dead, he could have even purchased an after-market Main Battle Tank or two for firepower that even her arsenal would be hard-pressed to match.

Victoria continued to proceed through the tunnel and watched for unpleasant surprises like land mines, packs of mutants, or automated sentry guns placed on the ceiling. To her relief none of those defensive measures were present. It was just her and a long asphalt trail to travel. The muffled howling of the arctic wind was her only companion. It was times like these when she wished that Abigail Windstrider or Umbra the zombie cat were with her... then again, the cold would not be very good for zombie cats because Umbra could freeze solid and freeing him without tearing off limbs or ripping out even more fur than he was already missing would be rather difficult.

The mage stopped to take a break and sat on one of the bright yellow speed bumps placed at intervals along the road. She stretched her legs, pulled off her backpack, set it down on the ground, and pulled out a surprisingly cold bottle of water to drink. She twisted off the cap and momentarily removed her face mask to make drinking easier. She then put the mouth of the bottle to her lips and groaned as the cold water made contact with her teeth. It was a bit too cold for her liking.

Victoria stopped drinking for a few moments to let her teeth recover from the shock, then she drank more water, being careful not to drink too much too fast and add to her discomfort. This time it was easier to bear and she did not have as much trouble with the sudden cold. She drank the bottle to the halfway point, then put the cap back on and put it back in her backpack. The brunette then stood up and put her backpack onto her shoulders, then put her facemask back on and resumed walking.

The mage's footsteps echoed in the empty tunnel as she approached the halfway point. She had expected a pack of reptilian mutants to be bearing down on her by now, but she had not seen any signs of them, not even a shadow in the distance. She would not complain about the lack of danger because she was sure that there would be plenty of fighting to be done at the end of the tunnel. Kerwes would not just let her traipse into his new base and fight him without having some unpleasant surprise waiting to make her life miserable. She would just have to wait and see what was in store for her.

Victoria kept an eye out for danger as she strolled through the tunnel and came close to the three-quarters mark. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel and saw that there was a snowstorm brewing outside. She frowned because if it was too intense to travel through she would have no choice but to wait in the tunnel for it to calm down. The brunette did not know if she would have the luxury of waiting out the storm because there was no telling what sinister experiment that Alexander Kerwes was performing now. He needed to be stopped as soon as possible.

Victoria hurried through the remaining tunnel and arrived at the mouth to find that the snowstorm had indeed picked up to the point that going out into it was suicidal. She could not see for more than five feet and she was not sure which direction to go in to find Kerwes' base. The brunette sat down a fair distance away from the exit and watched the snow fall in copious amounts. Like it or not she was not going anywhere for awhile.

[Word Count: 1,106]
[Total Word Count: 2,940/12,500]

-One hour and fifteen minutes later-

Victoria had sat in the tunnel for over an hour and she was starting to get restless. The snowstorm was still going and visibility was still nonexistent. She sighed and sat down on the next-to-last speed bump in the tunnel. It was a good position to be in because it was far enough away from the exit that if a group of mutants did charge in she would have enough time to bring out a weapon or fire a Beam Cannon spell. She then set down her backpack between her feet to fish out her bottle of water and a quick snack. The facemask was taken off to make eating and drinking easier.

Victoria listened to the howling wind outside as she pried open the stubborn plastic pack of cheese crackers that she had brought with her as a snack. She opened the bottle of water and drank from it after eating a cracker from the pack. The crackers were a bit cold, but they were a lot easier to handle than the cold water that felt like it had been harvested from a melted iceberg. Victoria watched the snow fall as she ate half the pack and waited for conditions to improve before resuming her search for Kerwes. She hoped that it would clear up soon.

-One hour later-

Victoria was starting to get impatient. The snow was still falling, the wind was still howling, and visibility was still as poor now as it was two hours ago. She was starting to get cabin fever and she was not even stuck in a building. The brunette was getting cold again, so she paced back and forth in the spacious tunnel to get warm and to ward off boredom. The weather looked like it was starting to let up a little, but it was still too early to celebrate just yet.

-One hour later-

Victoria's patience was just about gone. She had been in this place for over three hours and the weather was not improving in the slightest. It was like the weather was conspiring to protect the rogue scientist from her. She groaned as she walked back and forth for at least the thirty-second time to keep from losing her mind to boredom. She had drank three out of twelve bottles of water and had consumed three of her six packs of crackers.

Victoria rummaged through her pack and realized that she had brought enough supplies for a short journey, not an odyssey. Maybe she needed to start packing heavier so that if she got caught in another weather-induced delay she would have enough supplies to hold her over. She would have to deal with that later because she saw a sight that was enough to inspire hope. The brunette rushed to the end of the tunnel to see what was going on. The snowstorm was finally letting up!

Victoria could now see a winding road lined with electric torches that she needed to take to reach an island in the middle of a cold lake full of crystal-clear water. She was surprised that it was not frozen considering the cold. It was a strangely beautiful sight much like the frozen delta in Silent Glaciers was.

"It's about time!" Victoria exclaimed to no one in particular as she hurriedly grabbed her belongings, bagged up her trash for later disposal, and hustled through the tunnel exit before the weather changed its mind. Moving out now was a risky move because she would be trapped out in the open if another snowstorm rolled in. It was likely that she would freeze to death before reaching the next piece of cover, which was on that island in the middle of the lake. However, it was a chance she was willing to take if it meant getting out of this place and getting closer to Kerwes.

-On the other side-

Victoria was glad to hear the crunching of snow beneath her boots and glad to feel the wind on her face through her facemask, even if it was cold. She followed the lit trail but could not shake the feeling that she was being set up for a fall later. Why else would her path to the island be unopposed? The snow provided plenty of places to set land mines or other traps to stop intruders well before they got to the island. Where were all the mutants, the automated sentry guns, even the scientist himself looking for a rematch?

She had no idea what was up ahead, but she kept hearing dull noises in the distance. Dull noises that sounded like vehicles. Had she been spotted? And were the noises coming from the scientist's forces mobilizing their armored assets to stop her? Or had he called in air support from helicopter gunships?

She paused to listen and heard the noises stop almost as suddenly as they had sounded. Victoria resumed walking along the trail and marveling at the clear water that shimmered in the moonlight. If she were not here on a serious mission, she might stop to just gaze at the water for awhile and see something that she did not normally get to see in the city. Victoria kept going and listening out for the noises while heading down the trail.

Victoria was glad to see that the weather was finally starting to work with her for a change. The snow had stopped falling and now it was just cold and windy as opposed to cold, windy, and snowy. She could see further up ahead and that let her spot danger before it could spot her... in theory. She hoped that she would not be going up against a breed of mutant reptile specially adapted to the cold because they were hard enough to kill in more temperate climates. Fighting them in the cold would be more of a challenge because the cold slowed her reaction time and hampered her coordination while their speed and coordination would not suffer.

The Sabertooth mage stopped in place and listened. It sounded like those vehicles from earlier were getting closer. What could they be and who did they belong to?

[Word Count: 1,044]
[Total Word Count: 3,984/12,500]

Victoria stood in place and listened because she did not know whether she was hearing ground vehicles or helicopter blades in the distance. She did not know if she was even hearing vehicles to start with. What she did know was that she needed to get out of the cold weather, so she resumed the lengthy march on the path lit by torches and kept to the side of the road in case the vehicles she kept hearing turned out to be real and not a product of her imagination. Taking that precaution might not totally protect her, but it was better than becoming a red stain on the snow thanks to an Armored Fighting Vehicle or Armored Personnel Carrier running her over.

She reached the halfway point and was able to get a closer look at her destination. It had a triple barbed wire fence surrounding the complex, which had a few semicircular buildings with an unknown use and a large tunnel like she had found on the top of Divide Mountain. In the corners were watchtowers equipped with spotlights. The Sabertooth mage saw the tunnel entrance and immediately knew that she would have to go underground yet again. At least this time she was not going into a cave full of mutant frogs that was prone to flooding by incoming tides.

Victoria reached the curve in the snowy road that led to the island she needed to go to. She paused for a moment to listen for oncoming vehicles, then continued moving forward when she did not hear them. As she drew closer to the facility she saw more and more details through the fence.

In front of her was a striped wooden pole gate on an arm with a guard box boasting intact glass windows off to the right. There was an electricity warning sign posted on a wooden pole in front of the fence and just to the left, suggesting that the barbed wire fence surrounding the facility was also electrified. The semicircular buildings that she had spotted from a distance turned out to be old-fashioned Quonset huts. They looked to have been set up in a hurry because their layout was not orderly liked a planned base... she wondered if Kerwes had set up the base or if it was a holdover from the Snowfall Island military.

The Sabertooth mage did not have much time to ponder that mystery because when she approached the front gate she was immediately struck by the sensation that someone was watching her. She walked over to the guard box and stuck her head inside. She quickly located the control panel for the gate on the front side facing the road and pressed the OPEN button. The gate rolled open to the left and the brunette hustled inside before it could roll closed again. A minute later the gate rolled shut with Victoria inside the base.

-Inside the base-

Victoria began to look around the base while walking towards the tunnel that she would inevitably have to enter. The buildings looked like they had never been occupied because they were devoid of furnishings and there were no signs of habitation like boot marks on the floor or scuff marks left by moving furniture like beds or chairs. Maybe this was entirely new construction laid out by Kerwes and she had gotten here before he could properly staff the facility. She shrugged it off and kept walking towards the tunnel.

She spotted a square concrete building that was meant to be an armory building because of the NO SMOKING sign posted outside and a yellow triangular sign with a black border that warned of explosives being stored within the building. The door was cracked and the curious brunette walked over to it to steal a look inside. She peered through the door and saw the metal shelves, work benches, and steel lockers where weapons and munitions would be stored and worked on, but there were no munitions of any kind inside.

No small arms ammo, no grenades, no land mines, nothing. Victoria was puzzled, but figuring it out would have to wait for another time because there was more pressing business at hand. Victoria left the empty armory behind and glanced towards the watchtowers, which were like silent cyclopean sentinels watching the horizon for intruders. She then pressed onto the mouth of the tunnel and stood just outside of it.

She hesitated and waited to see if any reptiles came charging out towards her. Victoria waited in tense silence for ten minutes and stared at the dark tunnel mouth the entire time. She kept her fingers raised towards the entrance and kept her ears open for claws clicking on concrete, ready to fire a Hand Cannon or Beam Cannon the moment trouble appeared. Victoria's breathing was shallow and quiet as she waited and waited.

After five more tense minutes she concluded that nothing was going to happen, so she kept her fingers raised and slowly walked towards the tunnel entrance. Lately it seemed like all of her jobs took her underground. This would be the third job in a row where she went underground to deal with a problem.

-Inside the tunnel-

Victoria left the outside world behind and slowly made her way forward. The medium-length concrete tunnel was wide enough for ten people to walk side-by-side and at the end was an open freight elevator that descended at a slant. On the elevator were pyramidal stacks of metal crates that were three crates high. She kept an ear out for reptiles as she approached the elevator.

Victoria saw that the left side of the elevator had a control panel, so she could control its ascent and descent... in theory. Alexander Kerwes had complete control of the elevator in Divide Island's base, so the brunette did not expect any different on Snowfall Island. She would just have to be careful and hope for the best.

Victoria looked around one last time and faced the tunnel that led back to the cold surface world, then walked onto the elevator and sidled up to the control panel. She located the DOWN button and pressed it with a gloved finger. There were loud noises as the elevator whirred to life and began to descend. The brunette was on her way to whatever unpleasant surprises Kerwes had arranged for her to encounter today.

[Word Count: 1,074]
[Total Word Count: 5,058/12,500]

-On the elevator-

Victoria stood in place as the elevator descended much slower than the one in the decommissioned base. Then again, it was a freight elevator as opposed to an elevator for people to use. She stood with her hands on her hips and tapped her right foot as the platform creeped along to its final destination... wherever that was. Victoria thought she had heard hissing that was too long to be hydraulic somewhere during the ride and casually looked up. Her eyes widened and she screamed... there were reptiles crawling on the ceiling!

Three of them dropped onto the platform and landed in unison on all fours, trapping her in the middle of their triangular formation. Victoria aimed her fingers at the one that landed in front of her and fired a Beam Cannon that punched through its skull and dropped it to the metal. The reptile on her right side jumped at her with muscular arms propelling sharp claws that could cut through body armor like cloth. The mage jumped backwards and avoided a slash that would have cut her down the middle of her left arm all the way to her wrist. The reptile on her left faced her and jumped with both clawed hands raised above its head.

She stepped back again, but it was not quite far enough to avoid this attack. Its claws ripped through her white camouflage jacket near the shoulders and barely missed the part of the arms that the Azure Armor's pauldrons did not protect. Victoria staggered back and aimed a Beam Cannon at it, but its teammate leaped in for another attack. She fired at the reptile in mid-air and hit it in the chest, then had to roll to the side to avoid being crushed by the mutant when it fell towards her.

The last remaining reptile looked her in the eyes and screeched, then crouched down and jumped at her with an arm raised back to deliver a diagonal slash on landing. Victoria was ready and stood her ground. She fired a Beam Cannon that hit it in the chest in mid-air. The body's momentum carried it into a stack of crates that fell over with a loud commotion, burying it beneath a heavy metal crate.

Victoria took a moment to calm down and check herself for wounds resulting from the brief but intense clash with the mutants. Aside from her jacket and her piece of mind, the brunette was unharmed. She was keyed up for a fight and carefully watched the ceiling for mutants as the elevator continued its slow descent. She wondered what else the reptilian mutants were capable of doing.

-Five minutes later, bottom of the shaft-

The elevator finally rumbled to a stop and let out a screech that was disturbingly similar to the one emitted by reptiles ready to attack. Victoria felt it shudder and stop, then waited a minute before disembarking to give herself time to adjust to level ground after descending at a slant for five minutes. She was also waiting for more mutants to show up and give her a hard time. Her hands went to her shredded jacket... she really liked that jacket and those reptiles ruined it. On a more serious note, its ability to keep out the cold was compromised by the tears inflicted by the claws.

Victoria stepped off of the platform with wobbly legs and looked down a hall lined with metal crates stacked two high. She frowned as she saw bulky shadows in the distance and heard clicking on concrete. More of the mutants were here to play. She brought out her Grenade Launcher and readied herself for combat.

She aimed and fired a grenade that landed at the feet of a mutant leading the pack of five mutants towards the elevator and towards their next meal. The grenade rolled to a halt and detonated at its feet, making a lot of noise and tearing its legs off. Its badly wounded torso landed a short distance away from Victoria's feet, causing her to scream and lose focus as it clawed at her legs in a vain attempt to get revenge. She now knew that the reptiles were vulnerable to high explosives because two of them lay dead and in pieces where the grenade had went off, but the remaining two were still intact and still a threat.

They started running towards her and she switched to her Light Machine Gun. Her only hope of stopping the armored creatures with small arms fire was to aim for the soft tissues like the head or mouth, but hitting them would be hard because the target points kept moving with every step the mutants took. However, when faced with that choice or certain painful death, she would take the chance that gave her the possibility of survival. She brought the stock of the LMG to her shoulder and aimed carefully.

Victoria fired a Five-Round Burst and watched as the lead mutant's lower jaw was nearly torn off and blood began to spill on the floor. She fired again and brought it down, but it thrashed about in an effort to regain its footing. Meanwhile the second one rushed past its downed packmate and tried to get to its meal. Victoria steadied herself and aimed for its head, then fired another Five-Round Burst that somehow punched through the roof of its mouth and reached the brain.

The reptile toppled over instantly and lay motionless on the floor. Its packmate was still trying to get up when Victoria aimed her weapon to the top of its head and held down the trigger. Blood spurted from the reptile's head as its misery was ended in a burst of gunfire. If it was once a human, she hoped that who it used to be had found peace at last.

The reptile whose legs had been torn off by the Grenade Launcher blast had expired from its wounds. Victoria carefully walked by the corpse and walked through the blackened crater on the floor before passing by the other two deceased mutants lying scattered on the floor. Up ahead was a metal door that led deeper into the base. That was the door Victoria needed to go through to get closer to confronting Kerwes and ending his unethical experiments for good.

[Word Count: 1,070]
[Total Word Count: 6,128/12,500]

Victoria dispelled her Light Machine Gun, carefully walked over to the metal door, grabbed the handle, and pulled it open. On the other end was nothing but a long hallway lined with still more metal crates and a few looming shadows in the distance. More of the reptiles were trying to bar her path, but they would be doomed to failure just like their predecessors. As Abigail had not-so-eloquently put it back on Crescent Island, Victoria was "a walking arsenal." The Sabertooth mage had a weapon for almost any situation and she knew how to use them all.

-Inside the next hallway-

Victoria quickly entered the room and brought out her Grenade Launcher, aiming towards the shadows in the distance that were slowly approaching her. She heard the telltale screech and watched all four of them pick up speed and quicken to a running pace, meaning that she had been spotted. She had seen them too and knew exactly how to dispose of them. Victoria aimed carefully and fired a grenade that rolled to a stop near the feet of the leader.

The first ran by it but two of its fellows were not able to get by it in time before it went off. Their legs were blown off and they collapsed to the floor in pain, screeching and trying to crawl towards her with their arms as their lower halves poured blood onto the concrete floor. The other two continued to run towards her with murder on their minds. They were getting too close to use the Grenade Launcher, so she fired off a Bean Bag round that hit the first reptile squarely in the chest, staggering it just long enough for her to aim and fire a Beam Cannon at its skull.

Blood spurt into the air as its skull was pierced. It swayed for a moment before falling to the right and twitching out of reflex. Its packmate paused and leaped towards her with both arms raised, bringing them down in front of her and ripping her jacket to shreds. Only the Azure Armor prevented her torso from being cut in the attack, but the force of impact was enough to knock her into the metal door and throw her aim off. Her Beam Cannon grazed its right shoulder, drawing blood and only pissing it off.

Victoria panicked as it lumbered towards her with its mouth full of curved teeth wide open. She could not think straight because her chest and back were hurting from the force of its last attack, so she was acting solely on instinct. The brunette formed her shaking hands into a gun and focused on powering another Beam Cannon... golden energy glowed on her fingertips and she carefully aimed at its face.

It drew close enough for her to feel its breath on her face and paused, drawing a muscular arm back with the intent to remove its quarry's head from its shoulders with one forceful swing. Victoria fired the beam and watched it punch through its skull with a puff of blood leaping into the air. It looked at her with yellow eyes and wobbled, then fell backwards. Its feet shot up like something out of a cartoon when it fell, but Victoria was not laughing. She had come very close to disaster and only a lucky shot from her big-ticket spell had saved her from losing her head.

A shaking Victoria slowly forced herself to get up and continue the journey through the base. Her chest hurt from the claw attack and her back hurt from being slammed into the metal door she had used to enter the room. Victoria had been through worse, but seldom had she come this close to disaster, not since the encounter with Infernal Lord Zupazu under Hargeon Town in which he barred the way to a book her client wanted.

The demon lord had promised her safe passage out of his den if she forfeited all rights to the book. Victoria refused and fought the lord for the book. It was a tough battle in which Infernal Lord Zupazu eventually gained the upper hand and bound Victoria in place with shadows generated from his sword. Zupazu had inflicted a few serious wounds on her and would have killed her had she not used her power of control over shadows to turn the tables and defeat him with a Bunker Buster rocket, banishing Infernal Lord Zupazu from the mortal plane... for awhile, anyway.

That job was the same job that had earned her the Azure Armor as a reward for bringing back the book the client had hired her to get. Victoria was glad that she had opted to stay and fight the demon lord because the Azure Armor had paid for itself many times over. It had saved her life too many times to count and she had missed it when she went into Mermaid Cove alongside her job partner, the mage from Oak Town named Abigail Windstrider. From now on she would find a way to wear the armor whenever possible.

Victoria's hands had finally quit shaking, but her heart was still beating fast as she walked down the hallway. She had a long way to go before the job was finished and many more enemies to fight through before she could deal with their creator. She took deep breaths as she leaned on the stacks of crates for support when the pain got to be too much to bear. Victoria did not feel like she had sustained any internal injuries from the fight, but without visiting a hospital for an examination she had no way of knowing for certain. All she knew was that she was in pain in one of the worst possible places to be in pain.

The Sabertooth mage kept going because she had no other choice. No one was coming to help her and no one else could do the job that she had been hired to do. No one else should have to risk their life to stop the rogue scientist. Victoria should be the only one to bear the burden of going into harm's way.

After a few breaks to let the pain subside, Victoria finally reached the end of the hallway and grabbed the handle of the metal door. Clenching her teeth and pulling sharply to the right, she yanked it open to find another wide room with an elevator that she needed to ride to get to the next floor.

-Inside the elevator room-

Victoria frowned because this elevator was another freight elevator that went diagonally down. There was no option to take the stairs, so the mage sidled up to the control panel and pressed the DOWN button. The platform shook and rumbled to life as if it were a giant waking up from a long slumber. Soon Victoria was on her way down to face the next challenge set in her path.

[Word Count: 1,167]
[Total Word Count: 7,295/12,500]

-On the freight elevator-

Victoria clutched her right side with her left hand as the platform rumbled to its destination. The reptile attack may have hurt her a lot worse than she had imagined. The fact that the elevator ride was not a smooth one did not help matters at all. The platform jumped and jolted the brunette about and made her take a knee for stability more than once. Mindful of the unpleasant surprise she had received the last time she took an elevator, Victoria kept an eye on the ceiling and her hands ready to use a Beam Cannon.

-Five minutes later, on the next floor-

Victoria took a knee to keep her balance as the elevator rumbled to a halt, then stopped completely with a loud HISS of hydraulics and a final jolt that nearly threw the kneeling mage onto her face. She slowly stood up and looked around for the door to leave the area. Around her was nothing but stacks of metal crates and three metal doors. One was in front of her while the other two were on the left and right side of the room. With no prior knowledge of the facility, Victoria had no choice but to try each door and see which one of them opened and where it led to.

Victoria made her way over to the left door first. She grabbed the metal handle with both hands and sharply pulled to the right, but it refused to budge. She tried again and again she could not move it. Victoria made one last try and met with failure... she then concluded that it must have been locked.

She gave up on the left door and walked to the right door to see what was behind it. Victoria grabbed the handle and pulled to the right. It slid open without resistance and the brunette peeked inside the room. It was a miniature warehouse of some sort with small cardboard boxes neatly stacked on metal shelves and larger metal crates placed on higher shelves that were reinforced to bear the weight without collapsing. She had no idea what was being stored here and could not read the worn labels on the boxes nor the faded stencils on the metal crates.

Victoria left the room alone and went to the center door. She grabbed the handle and turned it right.

-Past the central door-

It opened to show a wide hallway that could easily fit four people walking side-by-side. Victoria walked in and gently shut the door behind her to reduce the chances of alerting nearby enemies to her presence. The hallway was probably a bit wider than it needed to be and the overhead lights flickered, but of greater interest was a warning painted on the gray concrete walls in bold red letters.

"WARNING: RESTRICTED AREA AHEAD"

Victoria was puzzled. If the area ahead was restricted, why was the door leading to it so easy to open? Why was it not secured by a keycard, handprint scanner, a retinal scanner or even an old-fashioned lock and key? Victoria did not know why such a sensitive area was easy to access and she kept wondering why as she strolled up to the metal door at the end.

To the left and right of the door were white metal signs with black letters warning of dire legal penalties should she proceed beyond the door without authorization. The penalty was a 100,000 Jewel fine and a minimum of twenty years in prison. Victoria was not too worried because the base had been decommissioned by the Snowfall Island military and it belonged to a rogue scientist, not an official government body. She walked up to the door and noticed that it had a simple keycard system with no number pad, meaning that the card itself had the number and authorization information on it.

All she needed to do was find the keycard and swipe it, but she doubted that the military or Kerwes would leave one lying about for her to claim and use. She would need to look around for the card. Victoria turned around and walked back down the hall and exited the central hallway. Her best bet was to search the miniature warehouse for a card.

-In the miniature warehouse-

Victoria opened the room door and peered inside to check for waiting mutants before going all the way in. She listened for them and did not hear anything, so she went in and quietly closed the door behind her. She then walked quietly among the towering shelves and passed by rows and rows of shelves arranged with military precision; the shelves were all perfectly aligned and placed the same distance apart where three people could comfortably browse the contents and walk down the aisles without crowding one another. The shelves were arranged much like the parts storage section behind the counter of a civilian auto parts store.

Victoria found the display of military order to be somewhat impressive, but she was searching for a keycard. She had a feeling that one would not be lying out on the shelves but would instead be found on a shelf behind the counter or in a warehouse office. The Sabertooth mage walked briskly through the maze of shelves and eventually located a wooden counter with a chain-link fence blocking off access except through a gate in the fence which was wide open. It looked like a counter where one would requisition something from a quartermaster, a theory which was supported by a clipboard with a paper that looked like a supply form clipped to it.

Victoria walked through the gate and began to look on the shelves under the counter to try and find a keycard. She lowered herself onto both knees and began searching more thoroughly. She was finding odds and ends like unopened packs of cigarettes, unopened packs of chewing gum, individual Meals, Ready-To-Eat in brown wax paper packages with black letters stamped on them detailing contents, and even an open pack of playing cards.

She gave up on finding a card there and was pulling herself up when her left hand touched something metallic. Her fingers fumbled for the object and found a single silver key on a large ring. Victoria grabbed the ring and she stood up to examine her prize. She looked to the right and spotted a metal office door that was presumably locked. Chances were good that she had just found the key to the office.

[Word Count: 1,094]
[Total Word Count: 8,389/12,500]

-Inside the warehouse-

With the key ring in hand, Victoria walked over to the office door she spotted from the counter and inserted the key into the lock installed in the metal doorknob. Victoria turned the key left and twisted the knob. It did not open. Victoria turned the key right and twisted the knob, but still no dice.

After another unsuccessful try the brunette came to a conclusion. Either this was not the key to the office door or she was overlooking something important about the door she was trying to get into. She looked above the doorknob and spotted another lock a short distance from it. Maybe the key she held was the one to the top lock.

Victoria withdrew the key from the bottom lock and placed it in the top lock, then turned the key left. She heard a dull THUNK as the bar holding the top lock in place was moved. Victoria left the key in place and turned the doorknob left. This time she got the result she desired and the office door opened without further problems. The mage peered inside and when she saw no danger she went in and shut the door behind her so that she could search it in peace.

-Inside the office-

Victoria found herself in a dark office. Her left hand fumbled for the light switch and she eventually found it near the doorway. She flicked it up and the fluorescent lights hummed to life in a blinding flash that caught her off guard because she had neglected to close her eyes. Her vision was blurred by a dull white light for about twenty seconds and once her vision recovered she looked at her surroundings.

The office was small and unremarkable except for the fact that it was cluttered with papers that threatened to spill off the wooden desk and spill out of the desk drawers that had been left wide open. It was a typical bare-bones military installation office complete with a brass nameplate standing on the desk noting who the occupant of the office was. Victoria could barely see the nameplate under a pile of what appeared to be old requisition forms. She grabbed them up and formed a neat stack of papers, then set them aside in the bottom right desk drawer. Now she could read the nameplate.

SGT. RAGLAN

Victoria now knew that the office belonged to a sergeant, but that little piece of trivia brought her no closer to finding the keycard needed for access to the restricted area. The brunette eyed the awful mess that had consumed the desk and decided that a little cleaning might be in order. She started cleaning off the top of the desk by gathering all the papers in a large, neat stack and setting them in a nearby chair also overflowing with old papers that had not been filed and were never going to be filed. Once the top of the desk was cleaned off she looked over it again and did not find anything that would be helpful.

She then turned her attention to the bottom left desk drawer and began digging papers out of there with both hands. She made an orderly stack out of them and gathered up all the papers, then set them in the chair. She then began digging through the drawer and found a glass bottle with a black-and-white label filled with a dark brown liquid. Victoria fished out the bottle and read the label. It was a half-empty bottle of Wild Crow bourbon.

Victoria had tried that drink before and did not care for it because like with CEIL vodka, the alcohol content was through the roof. It was geared more towards getting the drinker intoxicated as quickly as possible than it was geared towards having a good flavor or being a pleasant drinking experience. A few of her customers at the Red Dragon Inn liked the strong bourbon, but the brunette herself did not.

She gently set the empty bottle on the desk and turned her attention to the right drawer. She repeated the organizing process and set the resulting paper stack on the floor under the chair to avoid an avalanche. Victoria then dug through the drawer and found five magazines, but they were not made for weapons. They were "gentlemen's magazines" with scantily clad models and racy centerfolds of female movie stars and singers from thirty years ago.

Victoria quickly put them back into place and was about to give up on finding anything useful in the office when she spotted a middle drawer that had not yet been opened. The brunette put her fingers under it and gently pulled it open. Inside the drawer was a note scribbled in pencil and a white plastic card with a Snowfall Island military emblem of crossed swords over an ice blue shield on the front. On the back was a black magnetic strip. Victoria had finally found what she needed.

She quickly pocketed the keycard and began to read the note for anything that could help her up ahead.

"Dear 2nd LT. Barnes:

Dammit Ted! You've gotta quit losing your keycard! It took some doing and a lot of talking, but I managed to smooth things over with the base commander and he's arranged for you to get another keycard, but he emphatically told me that this was the last time he'd do it. If you lose your keycard again the commander's gonna kick your ass! Get it together Ted!

Sgt. Raglan

P.S. You owe me a bottle of Wild Crow for this!

Victoria left the note in place and walked towards the door. She turned out the light and shut the door to the office behind her. Now it was time to see what was behind the locked door in the central hallway.

-Central hallway, four minutes later-

Victoria had made her way back to the door to the restricted area and sidled up to the card reader. She fished out the keycard and carefully placed it in the card reader. After a few seconds the little light near the top flashed green and she heard an audible CLICK as the door was unlocked. Victoria withdrew the keycard and put it back in her pants pocket.

The Sabertooth mage put her left hand on the knob and took a deep breath before turning it. She had no idea what was on the other side of the door. She was about to find out.

[Word Count: 1,098]
[Total Word Count: 9,487/12,500]

-On the other side of the door, Restricted Area-

Victoria stepped through the door and heard a CLICK as it locked behind her when it shut. In front of her was a long, narrow hallway with a doorway-sized metal detector and a miniature conveyor belt at the end plus a metal desk. Behind the security measures was another door with a sign that she could not read from this distance. Victoria listened for approaching mutants and watched the ceilings as she strode down the hallway that was just wide enough for two people walking side-by-side to pass through.

When she reached the end of the hallway Victoria passed through the metal detector and held her breath when she stopped on the other side. It sounded a brief alarm and a bell rang at the desk... the metal zippers on her backpack had set off the metal detector. There went any chance at stealth. Victoria held her breath and waited for mutants to swarm her position or for something bad to happen like automated sentry guns drop from concealed panels in the ceiling or pop up from concealed panels in the floor. After two minutes passed and nothing had happened the mage walked over to the metal desk and began to inspect it.

On the desk was a clipboard with a paper detailing the names and ranks of visitors. The paper also listed dates and times for both arrivals and departures. There must have been something special behind the door to warrant such security measures and for visitors to be recorded on paper.

Victoria looked to the left side of the desk and found a control panel with two circular buttons about the size of a quarter; the one to the left was green and the one to the right was red. She pressed the green button and heard a DING behind her. The mage spun around and saw the door slide open to reveal a standard elevator. Victoria frowned. Not another elevator!

With no stairwell nearby, the brunette had no choice but to board it. She stepped inside and turned around to watch the door close.

-Inside the elevator-

Victoria looked at the control panel and saw a card reader just above the panel with the usual buttons that controlled an elevator. She wondered if she needed to insert the card that she had found to get the elevator going. She fished the card out of her pants pocket and was about to slip it into the slot when a male voice came on the overhead speakers.

"How lovely of you to join me today, Miss Sheridan!" A familiar voice greeted her warmly. The brunette groaned when she recognized it. It belonged to Alexander Kerwes!

"I know you're not happy to hear my voice, but I'm glad to see you again! I couldn't stop thinking about our fight on Divide Island and how it made me feel alive. I haven't felt that alive in a long time. I'm normally busy in the lab and don't get out very much, so when I do get a chance to exercise I enjoy it... perhaps a bit too much." Kerwes went on with his cheerful conversation like he was talking to an old friend. Victoria was a captive audience and she had no choice but to grin and bear the conversation. She could only hope that he would get bored soon and send her to fight more of his creations.

"I'm sorry, Miss Sheridan. Sometime I ramble on and on. I'm bringing you straight to me this time. No games." He said to Victoria with an audible grin. The brunette was surprised that he would cut straight to the chase instead of "testing" her with another gauntlet of creations. The elevator started moving at a normal pace and the brunette braced herself against the railing inside to avoid falling over from the sudden movement. It was around this time that her chest and back started hurting again after a reprieve during the search for the keycard.

She could do nothing but wait for the elevator to reach its destination and face Kerwes when she got there. She wondered why he decided to skip the games and bring her straight to him instead of taking the chance to drop her into a trap or simply crash the elevator with her inside. Maybe he really did like fighting her. Or maybe he just liked having a mobile punching bag. Either way Victoria would face him and try to put up more of a fight this time than she had done last time.

After a few minutes the elevator came to a halt on the seventh floor and the doors opened for her.

"Right this way, Miss Sheridan. I'm not too far from your position." Alexander told her. Victoria stepped out of the elevator and listened to the doors shut behind her. There was only one way forward.

-On the seventh floor-

Victoria found herself standing at the end of a long hallway that was empty of any sort of decoration. No helpful labels. No warnings against trespassing. Just a long, empty concrete hallway with a metal door at the end. It was a straightforward path to the scientist himself.

The brunette did not keep him waiting for very long. She walked down the hallway and arrived at the door in about a minute of brisk walking. She checked her gear and took a deep breath to get mentally ready for the fight against Alexander Kerwes and his teleporting abilities. The key to winning would be to take away or curtail that mobility, but that was easier said than done because every time she aimed at him he disappeared before she could take the shot. He made each miss costly with his punishing physical attacks that hit as fast as he could teleport to her to retaliate.

She reached out to touch the metal door when it slid open of its own accord. Victoria stepped into a circular command center much like the one on Divide Island and found Alexander Kerwes dressed in his outfit of white lab coat with white long-sleeve button-up shirt and red tie with blue jeans and brown dress shoes standing with his back to her facing a monitor that showed a map of the base. An array of other monitors showed live video feeds of key points in the base. He had been tracking her the entire time she was in the base!

He was facing away from her when she entered, but when she stepped into the room he turned to face her with a wide smile.

"Welcome, Miss Sheridan! Please, do come in!" Alexander Kerwes greeted her with a veneer of courtesy. Victoria was not fooled by it for a moment. He wanted her dead and she knew it.

[Word Count: 1,156]
[Total Word Count: 10,643/12,500]

"How was your excursion to Crescent Island?" Kerwes asked her with mock concern. She knew that he could care less about her well-being, but she kept up the charade of faux friendship to buy time to get ready for the fight.

"It was dangerous. And wet. And dark." Victoria answered tersely. The blond man smiled again.

"I see that you met my creations on the island. If I may be frank, they weren't my best work. They weren't nearly as tough as the basic reptiles you've been fighting. Their hide's thin enough to be pierced by small arms fire, so even a pistol could kill it if a shot or two hit vital organs. Still, even failures like that have their uses." He said to Victoria. She was somewhat intrigued. What did he mean?

"Their deployment bought me some much-needed time to get closer to my goal. While you and your friend were exploring the cave in search of my creations, I was busy refining the formula for my magnum opus. Soon it'll be complete, but I've got something I need to do first." He explained. Victoria had a feeling that getting rid of her was what he needed to do before continuing his research. He would not have it so easy this time because she knew about his teleportation trick.

"I guess that means you're gonna try to get rid of me?" She asked him point-blank.

"Exactly!" He answered cheerfully like his victory was already assured. Victoria got ready to shoot at air for half the fight and maybe get a hit every tenth try. Kerwes' outline began to glow red.

"There's no more need for words. We both know what's at stake here. So let's have some fun!" Alexander Kerwes exclaimed before disappearing. Victoria braced herself. This was going to be a rough fight.

Victoria blinked and Kerwes was gone. She looked around to determine from which angle he would attack. A second later Kerwes appeared in front of her and threw a straight punch to her face. She blocked with her arms and was pushed back a few feet by the force of the punch. The brunette's small frame and slender build worked against her in hand-to-hand combat... it was difficult for her to hold her ground against someone with a foot's worth of height advantage and at least sixty pounds over her.

The scientist vanished before she could aim a Derringer at him. Moments later she saw him materialize out of the corner of her eye. She ducked under the punch aimed at her right temple and fired a Derringer that him him in the left thigh. Kerwes laughed it off and kicked her in the side of the head, sending her sprawling onto her back.

"I'm surprised you managed to hit me this early in the fight, but it'll take more than that to stop me!" He crowed. The scientist vanished again as Victoria was left to fight back pain and try to get up before he attacked again. She rolled over to her stomach and was on all fours when his foot appeared and punted her into a bank of computer consoles on the other side of the room. Victoria felt the heat of the sparks on her neck as broken monitors gave a protest before dying.

She rolled off of the consoles and onto the ground, landing on her stomach. Kerwes appeared in front of her and put the sole of his right shoe onto the back of her head, then applied hiss body weight to force her head to the concrete floor. Victoria's face was soon touching the floor and her lips were involuntarily kissing the concrete.

"You piece of trash. Someone should have swept you away a long time ago!" Kerwes taunted her before increasing the pressure on the back of her head. She tried to think of a way out of this predicament, but it was hard to think when one's face was being crushed against an unforgiving concrete surface. What could she do?

"You could have been my enforcer. I needed someone with your tenacity to help me reach my goals. But that time's long gone. You came out here to kill me, but instead you'll be the one to die here!" He lectured her. Victoria used her left hand to form a Trench Knife. While he was busy lecturing her on her inferiority she would stab a leg to free herself and use the resulting distraction to try to hit him at least once.

"My father's too cowardly to face me himself, so he sends pawns to fight for him. It's a shame, really. You could have served me and profited immensely, but instead you had to pledge yourself to a wrinkled old man who won't even acknowledge the potential of his own research. He's a foolish man, but I'l deal with him once you-AAAAAAAH!" He shouted as Victoria cut his lecture off with a stab to the left shin. He removed his right foot from Victoria's head and the brunette jumped to her feet. She quickly aimed and used a Shockwave Punch to buffet the wounded scientist with a concentrated cone of air and sound that made him clutch his head in agony.

Victoria hurried over to him and punched him in the face with a set of Brass Knuckles, then followed up with a bare-knuckle punch to the stomach. She did not know how long he would be dazed, so she had better give him both barrels while she had the chance. After the first two punches she brought out her Tranquilizer Rifle and fired a Slow Down dart to take away his immense speed. The dart landed on the right pectoral of his chest and dispensed the chemical sedative, then disappeared.

Kerwes stood up straight and pushed his hands out in front of him to make a crimson red dome of energy push her back. Victoria was knocked back but not down and stood up straight, dispelling the Tranquilizer Rifle since it had served its purpose. The scientist looked her in the eyes and spoke.

"Do you think your little tranquilizer rifle will stop me? Do you really think that I'm a common animal to be sedated and tagged? You're dreadfully mistaken!" He said to her before raising a palm towards her. He then disappeared from sight. Victoria panicked because one Slow Down dart might not have been enough to help her. He reappeared in front of her and drove the heel of his right hand into her chest, sending her flying backwards into another computer bank.

Victoria felt glass shards embed themselves in the back of her Azure Armor before she rolled off of the computers and flopped onto the floor. Kerwes soon arrived to deliver a kick to her stomach that punted her into a concrete wall. Victoria hit the wall hard and landed on the floor, losing her breath. The brunette was really getting her ass kicked.

[Word Count: 1,200]
[Total Word Count: 11,843/12,500]

Victoria lay on the floor after being kicked like a football and slamming into a wall. It was a struggle to breathe, let alone get up. Kerwes was getting the upper hand and she was running out of clever tricks to use against him. She needed to end this fight and fast. Kerwes appeared in front of her and used both hands to grab her by the front collar of her jacket and raise her face to his eye level.

"You've pushed me far, Miss Sheridan. No one's ever pushed me this far before. I haven't fel this alive since our last meeting. I must thank you for the fun time I've had." Kerwes said with mock gratitude.

"You're welcome." Victoria snarked back. Kerwes laughed, then his hands glowed red. He held onto her collar with one hand and picked her up, then chokeslammed her into the floor. The Sabertooth mage felt intense pain in her back as the glass shards embedded in her armor threatened to break through the protective plates. To her relief the protective plates were thick enough to prevent the glass shards from punching into the flesh of her back.

"Unfortunately, as the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end." The blond man said to her while stretching his arms out in a show of dominance. Victoria could hardly muster the strength to move. Her back, chest, and stomach were in such pain that it was difficult to even focus long enough to hear him gloat. The only thing that had kept her alive was her Azure Armor.

Kerwes started to walk over to her when his legs buckled and he pitched forward, barely regaining his footing in time to avoid falling on his face. Victoria craned her head forward to watch the proceedings and began to laugh. Kerwes' eyes met her own.

"What... what did you do to me?" He asked her.

"You're the smart guy. I'm just trash on the floor that someone forgot to sweep up. You figure it out!" Victoria shot back. If snark was the only weapon left in her arsenal, she might as well use it. Kerwes looked towards her and quickly began to put the pieces together. He raised a finger at her and jabbed it repeatedly.

"You! You and your tranquilizer rifle! THAT DART YOU FIRED!" He shouted in, short, barely complete sentences, jabbing his finger accusingly. Victoria mockingly clapped her hands in applause.

"Heh heh. Guilty as charged." Victoria admitted to him before laughing again. The Slow Down dart was taking effect. Kerwes' good cheer evaporated when he heard the mage laugh at him. The angered scientist clenched his teeth together and balled his hands into fists.

"SHUT UP, YOU FILTH! I'LL END YOU!" He yelled. Victoria watched him approach at a fast walk. He did not seem to be able to teleport ever since the Slow Down dart worked its magic. It was either that he could not teleport or that he was simply moving so fast that it only looked like he could teleport.

Victoria raised her hands to fire a Beam Cannon, but Kerwes thrust his open hand towards her and a red copy of his hand slammed into her and sent her sliding on her back until her head hit the wall. She could hear him approach and saw him grab her by the feet. She felt herself being lifted and held by the feet as she was thrown onto the ground.

She hit it hard and nearly blacked out, only avoiding that fate because she used her left arm to shield her face. Kerwes lifted her again and slammed her again, then threw her aside with one hand, where she slid to the middle of the room. Victoria's left arm was barely able to be moved and she was in really bad pain. Victoria had one last trick to play... she put her right arm at her side and put her hand underneath her body, then formed a Flashbang.

"Not laughing now, are you?" He asked angrily as he lifted her up by the shirt collar. Victoria laughed slightly.

"Do you have any tricks left to save you? Or have you run out?" He asked. Victoria held up her right hand to show the Flashbang about to detonate.

"One." Victoria snarked, letting the device fall from her hand right in front of his face. She saw a shocked Kerwes let her go the second before she closed her eyes. A moment later she heard an agonized scream after the BANG. The mage opened her eyes, forced herself up and willed her left arm to work.

She put her hands together for a Beam Cannon. She focused the magic onto her fingertips, then aimed for his head and fired. He was doubled over when she fired, but in the throes of pain he jerked his head up and she hit his right pectoral muscle instead. He screamed and clutched his chest with his left hand.

"Damn." Victoria remarked on her bad aim as she dropped to one knee and her left arm hung limply at her side. Kerwes flashed a look of anger and fear as he backed away from her. The red glow enveloping his body faded as he hurried towards a computer control panel and slammed his right fist onto it. A hidden door next to the console opened up to show a hidden hallway. The wounded scientist hurried onto it and faced her.

"This isn't over, Miss Sheridan! You've won today, but we'll meet again! The next meeting will be our last!" He vowed before punching a button hidden from her view. The hidden door closed and Kerwes was on his way to another location. Victoria wanted to chase him and finish the job, but she was so badly hurt that giving chase was a laughable impossibility. All the brunette could do was drop to both knees and kneel in a place that felt like it just might become her tomb.

Victoria did not want to die in a hole in the ground, but she might not have a choice. She could hardly move and she certainly could not fight. She could not even focus enough to cast a healing spell to get her on her feet. Alexander Kerwes might have had too high an opinion of himself, but he was a good fighter who had done a number on her. Victoria's thoughts trailed off as she heard the door to the command center open.

Was it a random lizard who had somehow gotten through the security checkpoint? Or was it a clean-up crew of mercenaries sent to kill her after Kerwes himself had failed? Victoria laboriously turned herself toward the door and looked at someone standing in the doorway, someone female. Was that... Florence Manderley?

"VICTORIA!" Florence screamed. The blonde woman was clad in white arctic camouflage just like Victoria wore. On her side was a black satchel with a red cross in a white circle.

"I didn't expect you to show up here." Victoria replied dryly. This was unexpected, to say the least.

[Word Count: 1,206]
[Total Word Count: 13,049/12,500]

-On the surface, Snowfall Island-

Victoria had to guide Florence out of the base and endure more elevator rides, but eventually the pair reached the outside world. The gate to the base had been blown open and standing outside was a large group of eight dozen people garbed in winter camouflage and armed with assault rifles, shotguns, and light machine guns plus a few people carrying grenade launchers. Behind them was a sizable motor pool of ten Armored Personnel Carriers, ten Armored Fighting Vehicles and at least four Main Battle Tanks. Overhead hovered three helicopter gunships painted in winter camouflage paint schemes equipped with chin-mounted chainguns and air-to-ground rockets on wing-mounted pylons.

They must have been the vehicles that she had heard earlier before she ventured into the base. She was pretty sure that they were.

Victoria noticed that all of the vehicles bore the same emblem on their sides that the keycard had on the front. They must all be part of Snowfall Island's military. Florence helped Victoria past the men who were moving into the base. Victoria hoped that she had killed all the mutants or they would be in for a rough time.

Florence then helped Victoria into the back of the APC at the rear of the formation and the door closed. The taller blonde helped her remove her backpack, then took off the shredded jacket. Next came the Azure Armor. It took a lot of effort for Victoria to raise her arms enough to take off the protective gear, but she eventually raised them and Florence helped her remove it.

Once the backpack, jacket, and armor were removed, Florence eased Victoria onto a cot. The brunette groaned because her back had taken a pounding. Florence leaned over her and took off facemask.

"Everything's gonna be OK, Victoria. The Snowfall Island Special Forces will take it from here." Florence assured her. Victoria bolted upright.

"Does the military know how to fight the mutants?" Victoria asked in a panic. If they did not know how to fight the threat, there would be at least eighty dead men lying in the underground base before the day was over.

"Yes. Franklin Kerwes got in contact with their top brass. He told them what to do and where to aim. They were quite receptive to his advice." Florence assured her again. Victoria relaxed a little and reclined on the cot.

"Now, let's get out of here and get you treated." Florence said as the APC rumbled to life. They were on the way to civilization again. Victoria wondered where she and Alexander Kerwes would meet up next. No matter where they met it would be their last meeting. She would make sure that it was.

[Word Count: 462]
[Total Word Count: 13,511/12,500]