Jury is striding down the hall.
"No," Travis thinks, "anyone but him!" As Jury stops next to Rebellion, the sight is enough to make Travis blood boil.
"Well, look who it is," Jury says as smugly as he can manage. "Good to see you again, cutie."
"We've got to get going," Rebellion says, turning to reenter Mission Control. "May the best hero win."
As Jury follows Rebellion inside, he winks at Travis and mouths, "You're going down."
"Oh yeah?" Travis says, he strides down the hall and leaves.
No one is taking this opportunity away from him…especially not a Victon.
They finally made it to the Splice Circle Base, they divided into two groups. Team A is the one that is going to take down all the enemies they've come across, led by Rebellion.
Team B is going to find Madame Vice and capture her, led by Black Magic. Travis is on team B while Jury is on team A. Travis is going to complain about this but Black Magic stops him.
"It's not worth your time, come on follow me." Black Magic walks towards the nearest door and opens it, after the door opens, a lot of consoles open up to them, Travis walks towards one of the consoles and tries to use it. But before he can touch something hits his head, he falls to the ground, his sight is going black, the last thing he sees is that Black Magic fighting three girls.
"Get Up..." a voice says in his head.
Travis tries to move his limbs and feel himself slide across jagged rubble. His temples pound and a sharp pain radiates through his left arm.
All he wants to do is close his eyes until the searing stops. But as a hissing sound from somewhere behind him grows louder, the world flashes white, and he remembers where he is.
"Get Up... Or you're going to die." the voice says again.
The memories whip through his mind at lightning speed, the hover-plane ride over with The Hoshi Group. Trying not to explode watching Jury chat casually with Rebellion. Sitting next to Black Magic, their knees touching.
Winking in Ellaine's direction for good measure, despite her scowl. Landing outside of Ace's High Casino, The Splice Circle's temporary base of operations. Rebellion barking orders, splitting the team into separate missions:
Rebellion and Monk went after a shady guy and his Generals. Ellaine and Fistfull went to rescue someone. Black Magic and Processor were supposed to disable the pool-killers.
"Wait a minute this is not my memories," Travis says, he tries to get up but failed to do so.
After carving through dozens of drones, Black Magic covered Processor while she shut down the mainframe, which was hidden in the VIP client lounge. Then she watched as the pool-killers fell to the ground, humming into lifelessness. It all seemed so easy…
"D*mn it Travis! get up! this is not your memories!" The room twisted and crumbled around him, thick with light.
Now, as he comes to, these memories blur together into one thought: whatever hit him must be coming to finish him off.
Travis stretches out his arms and spin super fast. As winds begin to rip away from his body, his hands generate a fury of twisting, outward blasts.
Coming to a stop, he sees the immediate area around him has been cleared…though he stand next to a puddle of burning, viscous gel.
He look across the ground and see gel everywhere, pooled around rubble, broken slot machines, and the limp bodies of Processor and Black Magic. What happened here?
Travis looks on Black Magic—he can't tell if she is breathing. He's about to rush to her side when a shriek pierces the air. He twisted around to find a trio of young girls staggering toward him. Their skin melts off of their bones in a deep-crimson protoplasm, turning into a kind of oozing goo that smells like motor oil. The girls struggle through their own drippings, as if trying to pry their way out. It looks like some twisted ballet, the girls' limbs pushing and their faces contorting into screaming scowls.
Travis watches in horror—these girls can't be much older than him and Tarana Rain. Travis had heard rumors that Madame Vice got many of her workers through…unorthodox methods, but how did these girls get like this?
When the triplets finally break free of their shedding goo, they have become entirely bare skeletons, their skin and organs oozing around them like lava.
"We are the Molten Ladies," they whisper in unison, "and you will burn with us!"
The "Ladies" then begin to scoop up the searing goo and fling handfuls of it at Travis. He tries to react quickly, but a glob grazes his arm as it flies by.
Without wasting a second, he encase the girls in a containment field—they don't need to be hurt any more than necessary. The Molten Ladies try to fling ooze to free themselves but he made the field very strong.
The Ladies scream as the walls begin to close in on them, doubling their efforts to break free. But as the black energy connects with their bare bones, two of the girls fall to the ground.
Then Travis hears a mad, hissing sound and feels something scalding his neck. Screaming in pain, he looked down to find a noose of ooze around his neck—the middle girl created a whip of the gel and managed to crack through Travis energy with it….
Travis can feel his skin bubbling under the ooze noose and his air supply quickly cuts off. He reached up to free himself, but suddenly, the gel jerks forward as the Molten Lady pulls hard on the noose. Travis slam into the ground, gasping for air.
He won't be able to take much more of this—he needs to find a way to free himself. But as the Molten Lady stands over him and tightens her grip, the edges of his vision begin to blur.
"Not again! I'm not going down for the second time!" He's about to use a dangerous move to break free when, without warning, something comes crashing through the wall next to him. He can feel the noose loosen as the Molten Lady gets distracted, so he tear it away.
Across the floor, Rebellion rolls to his feet, chunks of debris sticking out of his skin. He strides forward and brushes himself off—someone just puts Rebellion through a wall and he's not even batting an eye.
The lone Molten Lady turns toward Rebellion and cries, "The mighty will fall! I will flay the skin from your very-"
She doesn't finish, though, since Rebellion punches her across the face. As she crumples to the ground with her molten sisters, Travis can see that some of her organs have already begun to grow back.
"Wake Black Magic and follow me," Rebellion says to Travis as he runs back through the hole in the wall.
Travis can't help but smile—that's why Rebellion is the best.
He flew to Black Magic's side and put his ear to her lips—thankfully she's still breathing, but just barely. The initial explosion from The Molten Ladies' entrance must have hit her hardest. He needs to heal Black Magic with his energy Power, so he take her hand.
As he pours energy into Black Magic, it feels like he's lying on a bed of needles.
Then one thought rings in his mind like an alarm, "I'm so lonely. Someone takes care of me, please, the burden is too much…." the voice earlier speaks again.
Suddenly, Black Magic's eyes flutter open and the thought fades. Wait, that thought wasn't his—it was someone that Black Magic knows….
Travis look down at her and brush a strand of hair away from her face. She's so beautiful, it makes him ache someplace deep in his chest.
Black Magic looks up at him and for a moment the world drains away—she seems so vulnerable.
"Thank you," Black Magic whispers, their eyes locked together.
"We had better go help-" Before he can finish, Black Magic pulls his head down and kisses him.
As their lips meet, something stirs inside of Travis—something he haven't ever really felt before.
It feels like fireworks.
But as another explosion rocks the room, he remembers there's a whole different kind of fireworks going on all around them. He break apart from Black Magic—this is insanity.
"We need to get back in the game," Black Magic says, hopping to her feet. "Are you good to go?"
"Good to go," Travis says.
Travis and Black Magic run into the base lobby to find Rebellion facing off against Madame Vice. Surrounding her are dozens of guards, all firing at Rebellion. The ground is strewn with destruction, bodies splayed everywhere (Travis can make out some Splice Generals and Group members amidst the chaos).
Then, out of nowhere, a deranged-looking crocodile-woman comes bounding at Rebellion.
"You help Rebellion," Travis shouts at Black Magic. "I'll handle Vice!"
Launching into the air, he pushed his flight Powers into overdrive. The surrounding air begins to whine and he feel he lips peel away from his face. Madame Vice is before him instantly, ready to blast again—but he's moving too fast.
As he passed Madame Vice, he gave one hard push to his flight Powers and felt a sonic boom burst around him(this is the move that he's about to use against the molten girl earlier)
Smiling at this impressive display, his muscles instantly stop his flight. But he's moving too fast in an enclosed space—before he knows it, he's careening into a solid wall….
Then he finds that he has to peel himself out of a pile of plaster "Sh*t, that hurt."
He stand up shakily and walk back into the lobby. As he reenters, he find Madame Vice groaning on the floor. Black Magic and Rebellion have also already taken out the croc-lady and the guards.
"A bit overkill, no?" Black Magic says to Travis, suppressing a smirk.
"Well it worked, didn't it?" Travis say, trying desperately to stop from turning bright red.
"That was way tougher than any of us expected. We really needed all hands on deck there," Rebellion says. "Very impressive work, Gravitate."
As battered and exhausted as he is right now, he still feel invincible. He just successfully fought a mission alongside The Hoshi Group. And Rebellion just said he was impressive.
Now that is awesome.
Even better, it appears he just effectively shut down The Splice Circle, which will do more good for the Fringes than he can begin to imagine.
"I'm going to check that all Group members are all right," Rebellion says. "You two make sure Vice and the rest of her goons are detained."
As Rebellion gets to it, Black Magic waves her hands and mutters, "Talme Sesca." Immediately, metal cages begin to erect themselves around the unconscious bodies of The Splice Circle.
Is there anything Black Magic's Power won't allow her to do?
"I can help, you know," Travis say, stepping forward.
"I got this, Gravitate," Black Magic says, moving in front of him. "You've already done more than enough for me tonight."
As Black Magic keeps erecting containment cages, he can't help but detect the edge in her voice—she must not be very used to being vulnerable.
Travis watch in silence as Black Magic finishes erecting the cages. He went above and beyond to save everyone today, especially her. So if she isn't going to be thankful, that's not his problem.
"Well, look at this, Gravitate and Black Magic caught in a lovers' quarrel?" Madame Vice says, gripping her battle wounds. "I can't imagine a more repulsively pathetic pair."
"Says the witch about to spend the rest of her life in jail," Black Magic snarls, hatred burning in her eyes. "Don't think I forgot for one second what you made me do all those years ago."
"Oh dear little Black Magic, no one ever forgets," Madame Vice says, smiling. "Or don't you know, what goes around comes around? You've had your revenge today but I'll have mine another…."
Madame Vice then turns to Travis, the cruelty in her voice doubling, "And as for you, Gravitate, there's a rather wicked lady out there coming for you. I wouldn't want to be in your boots, oh no I wouldn't…."
"What on earth is that supposed to-" Travis start, but are interrupted as Jury comes running into the room.
"I'm here! What do you need me to-" But Jury stops in his tracks as he sees the finished battle.
"Did you enjoy your nap while the grown-ups wrapped things up?" Travis says.
Black Magic stifles a chuckle and Jury glares at Travis, his hands curling into fists.
"I'm going to make you eat those words."
"I'd like to see you try," Travis says, smiling widely.
Jury opens his mouth to fire back, but before he can, Madame Vice lets out a blood-curdling scream.
Travis, Black Magic, and Jury all spin to find Madame Vice's body limp in the cage, her limbs splayed open. Blood trickles down her ample chest from a gaping slash across her throat.
"What?!" Black Magic gasps. "We only turned around for a second. Who could have-"
But Black Magic doesn't have to finish as her eyes travel up to Madame Vice's face…
Where the letter S is burned into her forehead.