New Mars (1 of 2)

On the bridge of the Commander's ship, prepared for landing, Hiro and friends are strapped into their seats.

Acies: "I don't know how much you know about New Mars, but let me provide some background from the Militant Faith perspective. While my brothers and sisters of the Faith are feared as the fiercest, most skilled warriors in the galaxy, the truth is that we fight because we must. Long ago, my ancestors left their home planets, because they were persecuted, hunted down. They were only able to bring their meager funds and what little they could transport. The truth is, the only reason New Mars was available for colonization is because no one else wanted this harsh, rocky, dry, scorching during day, freezing at night planet. People here are poor, struggling to make ends meet. Farming is exceedingly difficult. At any one time, most of our able-bodied warriors are off-planet, contracted out as mercenaries. It's not uncommon for siblings to be hired out by opposing factions, finding themselves facing off against each other on opposite sides of the battle field. Even so, we need the off-world funds to purchase food and medical care in order to survive."

Hiro: "Sorry, I didn't realize how difficult life is for your people."

Acies: "No need to be sorry. My people have always known this is an aspect of God's design—a test of our faith. These hardships only serve to strengthen our people and our faith. My older sister, Pieta, is a shining example of my people's faith. She's a great musical talent, but she put her music aside to become a warrior—to protect our faith, our people ... to protect her younger brother."

Parvul: "Prepare for landing at the last known coordinates of Acies' sister Pieta."

Hiro and friends disembark from their spaceship, finding themselves in the midst of a post-battle landscape, covered in wrecked vehicles and building rubble, with mangled bodies strewn about.

Potesta, surveying the dead: "'Omnes una manet nox'—one night awaits us all."

Artifice, nodding in acknowledgement: "'It is nothing to die; it is dreadful not to live'—Victor Hugo."

Potesta, agreeing, returns her nod.

Acies: "That's odd, I don't see any enemy soldiers among the dead."

Potesta: "And some of these deaths occurred very recently, while other corpses exhibit signs of advanced decay." 

Acies, pausing: "I hear something," then dashes off, the others trailing after him.

As Acies approaches, from under the rubble comes the sound of a little girl crying out for her mother: "Mommy, mommy. Help me mommy. I'm trapped under the rocks and can't move. Where are you mommy? I'm so scared and lonely without you."

Nearby, a body's limbs poke through the heavy rubble. 

Acies, igniting his aura: "Strength," and flings several large concrete slabs away to reveal a child's hand.

Potesta: "Acies, wait. In your haste you're as likely to harm this person as save them."

Acies, as his red aura fades: "Sorry. I was just concerned I wouldn't make it in time."

Sloth, enveloped in a purple aura, pointing: "No need to apologize, you've saved her. Let us help now. We need to remove the remaining rubble in the correct order, otherwise it will collapse inward. Terridus, please raise this slab, followed by this one, and then that one."

Terridus, glowing pink: "Understood," raising her arms, "Levitos."

Terridus' magic raises the concrete slabs in the order specified by Sloth, gently setting them down off to the side. The last slab floats away revealing a barefoot, bloodied, soot covered little girl with matted brown hair in a grey, torn night gown. Artifice extends her arms out to lift her out of the rubble, but the girl pulls back.

Artifice: "It's ok little one. We're here to help. What's your name?"

Pericula: "No, you're scary, stay away from me. I want him to help me," as she points to Hiro."

Hiro, as Artifice steps aside: "Me?"

Parvul: "Who else, you big dummy. Just extend your hands out slowly and lift her up."

Hiro, boisterously: "Alright then. Time to save the damsel in distress."

Parvul: "Sheesh, can you be any louder? Keep it down, you'll frighten her."

Hiro, more softly: "My name is Hiro, what's yours?"

Pericula: "I'm Pericula."

Hiro: "That's a lovely name, I'm so happy to meet you Pericula. Tell me, are you hurt at all? Are you in any pain?"

Pericula: "I'm ok, I just miss my mommy."

Hiro: "I understand. Alright then, I'm going to lift you up out of there now."

Hiro reaches in and lifts Pericula, still clinging to a ragged teddy bear, carefully out of the rubble. As Hiro sets her down, she begins coughing.

Terridus: "Oh no, are you ok?"

Pericula: "Momma says I'm not well, so I cough a lot."

Terridus: "You poor dear."

Pericula, smiling: "Don't worry, I'm happy. Now that you rescued me, I can go look for mommy."

Hiro's friends silently gaze at each other.

Hiro: "But how will you know where to find her?"

Pericula: "That's easy. All I have to do is meet up with my big sis. She'll know what to do, she always knows what to do. Big sis said there was trouble and gave me a list of places to find her in case I needed help."

Parvul: "Do you have any other family besides your sister?"

Pericula: "I don't, and she's not really my family sister, but Pieta ...

Acies, interrupting: "Did you just say Pieta?"

Pericula: "Yeah, she's the most wonderful big sis ever."

Acies: "Did she ever mention her family?"

Pericula, intermittently coughing: "She sure did, one of her brothers is a big bully. The other one is kind and strong, that's Acies."

Acies, proudly: "That's me, I'm Acies."

Pericula runs to Acies jumping into his arms: "Big brother!"

Acies: "Let's go and find big sis together, ok?"

Pericula: "You betcha. Big sis said this locket has instructions on where to find her," removing the locket and giving it to Acies.

Potesta: "Let's get back to the ship, where we can read in the locket's contents."

As they make their way back, Parvul notices Artifice surreptitiously glancing over at Pericula.

Parvul, to Artifice: "What's up? I notice you keep looking over at Pericula."

Artifice, eyes narrowing: "I sense something almost familiar, hovering at the surface, that I just can't quite put my finger on."

Parvul, back on the bridge of their spaceship: "I've downloaded the first set of coordinates from Pericula's locket, we can jump directly there." 

Hiro, enthusiastically: "Let's do this!"

Parvul: "Space shifting ... now."

Their ship blurs, then vanishes, reappearing in the middle of a large body of water.

Potesta: "Why are we in the middle of an ocean? You could have warned us Parvul."

Parvul: "Sorry, we were in a hurry and the ship's safeguards prevent it from going somewhere it couldn't rematerialize, so we weren't in any danger."

Pericula: "I'm scared, why are we in the water?"

Hiro, patting her head: "Don't worry Pericula, we'll be ok."

Potesta: "Something must be wrong with those coordinates. This doesn't make any sense."

Through the large viewport on the bridge a dark shadow can be seen approaching the bridge.

Hiro: "What's that approaching us?"

Terridus, as the newcomers come in contact with the viewport: "They look like little seahorses—so cute!"

Artifice: "But why are there so many of them?" 

Potesta: "They're sticking to our vessel and secreting some type of red liquid."

Just then a solitary, large, striped blur speeds past the viewport.

Hiro: "That was no baby seahorse."

Acies: "Guys, if that's what I think it is, we need to get out of here quickly."

Terridus, suddenly terrified, burying her head in her lap: "W w w what do you mean, what do you think it is? Everything's fine, there's no monster out there."

Acies: "Are you guys familiar with the Plesiosaurus from Old Earth? Well, there's an apex predator in New Mars' ocean like that, only a lot bigger – Megaloplesiosaurus ... and it travels in packs."

Parvul: "Accessing data. The liquid emitted by those seahorse creatures is a pheromone that drives the Megaloplesiosaurus into a rage."

Terridus, looking up: "But why did they attach themselves to our hull in the first place?"

Artifice: "That's not important now, we need to focus on getting out of here."

An impact to the hull jars the crew, reverberating as a shock wave throughout the ship, eliciting shrieks from Terridus and Pericula.

Parvul: "The ship is unable to jump, those sea horses must be interfering with the field generation. If we can rise to the surface, I'll send an electrical charge through the hull. That will send those sea horses galloping."

Acies: "But we don't have any means of propulsion."

Potesta: "'Destitutus ventis, remos adhibe'—If the winds fail you, use the oars."

Potesta glows black as she activates her Order ability.

Potesta: "I'm directing a water current to take the ship up toward the surface, but it isn't strong enough."

Three large shapes rapidly approach, and then collide with the ship sending the crew sprawling.

Terridus, thinking to herself: "I can't allow myself to be frozen in terror again. I have to be brave and help my friends."

Terridus glows pink, murmuring an incantation, followed by the feel of the ship accelerating upward. Potesta is still glowing black as she directs the current.

Terridus: "I've summoned a water demon to help raise the ship up to the surface."

Hiro, causing Terridus to blush: "That is so brave of you Terridus."

Parvul: "We're moving forward, but we've still got a lot of distance to cover."

Sloth, still asleep begins to glow purple, mumbling: "Ship too big, but will try to help by bending space-time in front of us. Snore."

Parvul: "That's it, we're picking up speed. Keep it up."

Suddenly, there's a thud, accompanied by the sound of creaking metal, as the ship lurches, their forward progress stopped.

Artifice: "What now?"

Parvul: "Our progress has stopped. One of those monsters must have latched onto the ship and is holding us back."

Hiro: "We need to boost our power. Everyone, form a connection together through me."

Alliance colored energy tendrils extend out from each of Hiro's friends, linking to him.

Hiro: "Acies, project a strength boost. Artifice, magnify our mental resolve."

Acies (red) and Artifice (blue) become encased in their alliance auras. Hiro takes this new power into him and channels it through to Terridus, Sloth, and Potesta. The intensity of Potesta's water current, Terridus' water demon, and Sloth's space-time bubble are exponentially expanded. A grinding sound ensues followed by a popping acceleration as their spaceship breaks free of their sea monster captor.

Parvul: "It worked. We should be breaking through the surface ... now."

Their spaceship bursts through ocean waves into sunlight, eliciting a hearty cheer from the crew. Their jubilation is short-lived however as the sun is abruptly eclipsed. 

Acies, astounded, watching what the viewscreen shows is intersecting with their trajectory: "I didn't know the Megaloplesiosaurus could be so massive or leap into the air like that."

Artifice: "It's going to swallow our entire ship whole."

Potesta: "Parvul, clear those seahorses off of the hull. We have to jump now."

Parvul, desperate: "There's not enough time, but I'll try."

Parvul glows metallic silver, sending a high-powered electrical current through the hull of the ship. The attached seahorses evaporate into dust that trails off into the wind. Their ship continues its arc through the air, bringing it directly into the Megaloplesiosaurus extended jaw.

Parvul: "Sorry, we can't jump from inside this creature's mouth."

Terridus, distressed: "Hiro, what should we do? Hiro?"

Hiro appears frozen in place. Reflected in Hiro's eyes are 2 rolling dice, neither coming to a resting position, instead perpetually spinning on edge. Exploding out from the surface, several colossal, seaweed tentacles pierce through the sea monster's body, wrapping around its jaw preventing it from chomping down on Hiro's crew. 

Parvul, just as their ship passes through the monster's maw: "Jumping to next set of coordinates ... now!"

There's a flurry of frenetic activity on the bridge as Hiro collapses. Artifice, Terridus, Parvul, and Acies move seemingly in slow motion to catch Hiro. Just as Hiro is about to impact with the ground, Sloth dematerializes and then rematerializes—still asleep—beneath Hiro, cushioning his fall.

Terridus, relieved: "Thank you Sloth!"

Abruptly, Pericula goes into some sort of seizure, gasping, face turning red, rolling back and forth on the floor.

Acies, changing direction, moving toward Pericula: "Pericula, what's happening to you? What can we do to help?"

Pericula manages to wave Acies off with one arm, sitting up, although she is still flush in the face and gasping for breath. 

Pericula: "I'll be ok, the excitement was too much, and it triggered one of my seizures."

Terridus: "Are you sure?"

Pericula, smiling: "Yes, I feel much better now."

During all this time, Potesta has been staring straight ahead at the viewport.

Terridus: "Potesta, why were you staring at the viewport instead of trying to help?"

Potesta: "Hiro's skull is quite thick, so it will take more than a mere tumble to do any serious harm to him. Also, I was confident all of you were up to the task. Besides, see for yourselves ..."

Displayed on the viewscreen is an idyllic paradise with endless fields of sunflowers, roses, daisies, tulips, orchids, poppies, carnations, and more. 

Terridus: "So pretty!"

Acies: "But no such place exists on New Mars."

Parvul: "According to the ship's instruments we haven't left the planet."

Artifice: "Let's go out and explore then, shall we?"

Terridus: "But what about Hiro?"

Artifice: "I'm feeling rather thirsty. Terridus, would you mind conjuring a glass of water?

Terridus: "umm, sure, ok."

The glass appears in the air before Artifice who takes hold of it, takes a sip, and then ostentatiously pretends to fumble with the glass, pouring the contents onto Hiro's face.

Artifice: "Oops, my bad."

Hiro, jumping up and sputtering: "What's going on? Where's the sea monster? Am I dead?"

Parvul, cackling with laughter, sputters: "What a dummy, he faints from fear and then thinks he died. And people think I'm a little girl. Too precious."

Artifice, thumb pointing to the viewscreen: "Everything's fine Hiro. Go dry yourself off and we'll fill you in on the details as we explore Paradise."

Hiro, chagrin transforming into wonder as he looks up: "Woah."

Potesta: "Woah indeed."

Hiro and friends are delightedly walking through the flower fields. Pericula is wearing a breathing mask.

Pericula: "Thanks again for the breathing mask big brother Acies. Mommy always warns me about my allergies."

Acies: "Of course, we don't want you to get sick. It's just too bad you can't smell all of these beautiful fragrances. I still can't understand how such a fertile place exists here on New Mars."

Hiro: "Sloth is missing out, staying back at the ship."

Parvul: "He'd just sleepwalk through it all anyways."

Terridus: "Now that we're at the coordinates, what's next?"

Potesta: "Given our last experience, we must remain vigilant."

Potesta pauses, shakes her head slightly, then: "Hiro, Acies, and I will explore the north. Terridus, Parvul, and Artifice will explore the South."

Unbidden, thoughts start to echo through their minds.

    Acies: "This is your planet and your sister who's missing. Why is she telling you what to do?"

    Terridus: "She's trying to take Hiro away from you."

    Parvul: "Who does she think she is, treating you like a child."

    Artifice: "She's underestimating you as usual. She thinks her alliance ability is superior to yours."

    Hiro: "She thinks you're not good enough for her. She probably arranged all your accidents."

Potesta takes a step back as dark clouds of animosity darken her friends' countenances.

Potesta: "What's wrong? Why are all of you looking at me like that?"

Acies, to Potesta: "This is my home planet and my sister who is missing. I should be giving orders, not you." 

Terridus, to Potesta: "Why did you put all the girls on the other team? Afraid of a little competition?"

Parvul, to Potesta: "I'm not a little kid, so stop treating me like one all the time."

Artifice, to Potesta: "Maybe someone needs to take you down a peg. You're awfully full of yourself."

Hiro, to Potesta: "Don't think I haven't noticed those suspicious side glances you send my way. Why should I trust anyone from the Order Alliance?"

Potesta, holding her head: "Wait, that's ..."  

Potesta's expression undergoes a sudden metamorphosis, giving her the demeanor of a malevolent, despotic, queen.

Potesta: "You dare to challenge me? Wretched ingrates, blind to the providence of my exalted leadership."

Pericula: "Please stop arguing. Why is everyone being so mean all of a sudden? Potesta can't help it if she's the best leader."

Potesta: "Do you see? It's so obvious even a child can grasp it."

Terridus, glowing pink: "I'll prove I'm better than you."

Parvul, enraged, glows silver metallic: "So now I'm even less than a child?"

Acies, glows red: "You've got a lot of nerve. The only leader I follow is the Lord. Perhaps you need some divine punishment to help you mend your sinful ways."

Artifice, glows blue: "What would I see if I tear down that façade of confidence?"

Hiro: "I have to protect my friends from threats, even if they're internal ones."

Potesta, glowing black: "Go ahead and try. All of you combined are no match for me."

In response, Acies pounds the ground with his fist sending debris flying Potesta's way.  Potesta shields her face with her arm, which suffers a deep cut. She holds it up to inspect it and it heals instantly.

Potesta: "Not bad, but you'll have to do better than that."

Hiro, suddenly concerned: "No, wait. Something's wrong. This isn't right."

Potesta: "Hiro, they're ganging up on me. You'll help me, won't you?"

Terridus: "That's it," as she starts throwing fire balls at Potesta who stays one step ahead of them.

Parvul, machine guns sprouting from the arms of her AI suit: "Take this."

Acies, throwing stars appearing in his hands: "And this."

Amazingly, Potesta is able to weave a dance-like tapestry around and through all of their attacks. Knives appear in her hands as she starts moving closer to her attacking friends.

Artifice: "That's right, come in closer. Once I touch you, you're mine."

Unexpectedly, Hiro springs up, intercepting Potesta, wrapping his arms around her until he slowly starts to slide down to the ground with one of Potesta's knives protruding from his abdomen. Potesta, frozen, stares expressionlessly down at him. Watching, Artifice replays her memory of Hiro standing in front of that soldier and taking a bullet to protect her. 

Artifice, thinking: "Hiro is right, something is wrong."

As she scans her own mind, she becomes aware of a disturbance in one region.

Artifice, thinking: "Partitioning off that region ... done. Whew, that's better. Now for the others."

Artifice leaps into action, brushing her hand against Potesta first, followed by the rest of her friends. As she does so, their alliance auras fade. Each of them appears to be waking as if from a dream.

Potesta, confused, shaking her head: "What?"

Artifice, her blue aura dissipating: "Heal him!"

Potesta, looks down, drops to her knees, reignites her black Order aura, placing one hand on Hiro's wound as she removes her knife with the other. Within seconds, Hiro's wound is healed, his skin regenerating, leaving no sign of injury.

Hiro, opening his eyes, to Potesta: "Are you alright?"

Parvul, leaping into the air, and coming down with her fist on top of his head: "Dummy, you almost died. What's wrong with you?"

Hiro, abruptly sitting up: "Owww! What's that for?"

Artifice: "I think he has a death wish or something."

Terridus, clasping her hands together, in tears: "Oh, Hiro."

Acies noticing Pericula rolling on the ground, as she experiences another seizure, runs over to her.

Acies: "Pericula, can you hear me? Are you ok?"

Pericula, gasping for breath: "Yes, don't worry about me, the worst of it has passed. You all started acting strangely, and when you began fighting, it triggered another seizure."

Potesta, looking directly into his eyes: "I was trying to manipulate you into taking my side Hiro."

Hiro: "That doesn't matter. What matters is that we're all ok now."

Artifice: "There's some psycho-active chemical playing havoc with the aggression region of our brains. Fortuitously Pericula—glances her way—is wearing a mask and she wasn't affected, so it's reasonable to say that the fragrance of these flowers is the cause. I've blocked the affects for now, but we should get back to the ship. It appears this is just another trap."

Potesta, head down: "I failed. I take pride in being unflappable, composed. But when it mattered most my emotional equilibrium shattered."

Artifice: "That's not true. You were able to resist the effects of the air borne toxins the longest Potesta."

Potesta: "It's just my nature to reject irrational emotional feelings, but you were the one who overcame it and saved us all."

Artifice: "Still, I should have reacted faster."

Terridus: "I'm so sorry for how I acted."

Acies: "It's inexcusable, I let my anger overshadow the Lord's path of light."

Parvul: "I claim to be grown-up, but I acted like a child throwing a temper tantrum."

Hiro: "We all lost sight of our friendship. Let's never let that happen again."

Acies, dejected: "My sister isn't here. Let's head back."

Back on board their ship, the friends confer on next steps.

Artifice: "Now that we've stopped breathing in unfiltered outside air, the effects of the toxin have worn off, so I've released the regional block I set up in our minds."

Potesta: "There's only one set of coordinates left from that device. What should we do?"

Terridus: "We barely survived the first two coordinates. How do we know we'll make it out alive again?"

Artifice: "I have to agree. Someone set us up. Probably the same people who are after Hiro."

Pericula, to Artifice: "You're a stupid head. My big sis gave that locket to me, are you calling her a liar?"

Acies: "No need to get upset Pericula. No one is calling big sis Pieta a liar, but it is possible that someone tampered with your locket. Even so, it's our only lead, and I'm not abandoning her."

Hiro: "Acies needs us, we have to be there for him."

Terridus: "I'm worried about what we'll encounter next, but you're right Hiro."

Parvul, sighs: "You guys are all nuts, but I'm in."

Artifice: "As Dumbledore said, 'It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities'. Well, here we go again."

Potesta: "'Alea iacta est', the die is cast."

Sloth, momentarily awakening before dozing back off: "huh, did I miss something?"

Their ship phases into the final set of coordinates, in view of a raging battle with an army laying siege to a fortress of defenders.

Hiro, from the ship's bridge: "Zoom into some of the attackers, let's see what we're up against."

The ship's view screen zooms in and starts to slowly pan around.

Acies: "Those look like my people, but they're ..."

Terridus: "Zombies. The undead. Someone cast a very powerful resurrection spell and is controlling them."

Parvul: "But how did they get those weapons?"

Acies: "I can explain that. It's a custom of my people to be buried with our weapons, so they already had them with them. That building they're attacking is used as a last resort gathering place to defend ourselves in case of attack."

Artifice: "I saw energy beams directed at the structure's base when we first materialized. Zoom in to that area so we can have a closer look."

Acies: "They're concentrating their fire on the front gates. Those gates will eventually fall if we don't stop them."

Terridus, fervently: "This is so cruel. Forcing the souls of the dead to attack their loved ones. It's inexcusable."

Acies: "Parvul, can you try to contact my people within the fortress? We should coordinate our strategy with them. And also, can you ask if my sister Pieta is in there with them?"

Parvul: "On it, but how will the seven of us make enough difference to defeat an army of the undead, and Sloth's asleep as usual."

Artifice: "Well then, that's two more than we need."

Parvul: "Huh?"

Artifice: "'There are not more than five musical notes, yet the combinations of these five give rise to more melodies than can ever be heard. There are not more than five primary colors, yet in combination they produce more hues than can ever been seen. There are not more than five cardinal tastes, yet combinations of them yield more flavors than can ever be tasted.'—Sun Tzu"

Acies: "Whoever is controlling them is not expecting an attack from behind."

Terridus: "If we take out the spell caster, the undead army will fall, releasing their souls so they can rest in peace once again."

Hiro, pulling Potesta aside: "Potesta, you're uncharacteristically disengaged from our strategy planning. What's wrong?"

Potesta, softly spoken: "It's what just happened at the flower meadows. Everyone's resentment of my assumed leadership came out in full force. I don't want to overstep my bounds again."

Hiro: "That was the drug talking. It affected everyone, including me."

Potesta: "Are you so sure? There must have been a seed of doubt for the drug to nurture. I'm experiencing new emotions. I'm not used to feeling this ... vulnerable."

Hiro: "All I know is we're still alive because of you, and we can't make it through this without you. I wish we had time to work through this, but we don't. Your friends need you, including your leadership. Please be there for us."

Potesta, nodding, resigned: "'Factum fieri infectum non potest'— it is impossible for a deed to be undone. Very well then, no point in dwelling on the past, let's win this."

Hiro and Potesta rejoin their friends.

Parvul, eyes narrowing: "What were you two chatting about?"

Hiro: "Potesta just needed ... a little pep talk."

Potesta glares at Hiro.

Hiro, nervous giggle: "Heh, heh."

Acies: "Guess what? Parvul made contact with the command center inside the fortress. They said Pieta is alive and well." 

Potesta: "And?"

Acies: "Oh right. We've asked them to ramp up their weapons fire to coincide with our attack."

Potesta: "Acies, Sloth, Terridus, Parvul, and I possess the most effective Alliance abilities against this particular foe, so we should be on offense. Still, we need to locate the spellcaster to win. Artifice will use her psychic abilities to detect any living, non-Militant Faith individuals in the area. Hiro will focus on protecting Artifice and Pericula ... agreed?"

Artifice, smiling, to Potesta: "Yes. Welcome back."

Parvul, walking over to the lounge Sloth is sleeping on: "Time to wake up sleeping beauty."

Parvul's fist swings in an arc on an intercept course with the crown of Sloth's head, but just prior to contact, Sloth momentarily glows purple, disappears, then reappears at the ship's exit hatch.

Sloth: "Well, what are all of you waiting for? Let's get this over with as quickly as possible so I can go back to napping."

Hiro and friends are gathered at the base of their spaceship, looking out at the expanse of the undead army.

Parvul: "I signaled our allies within the fortress to ramp up their attacks."

Hiro: "How are we supposed to locate the ring leader? We can't just waltz up to the zombie's and ask them where their master is."

Terridus: "No you can't, but I have an idea that should give you free reign to explore."

Terridus, glowing pink, conjures a black, conical witch's hat, encircled by a pink ribbon at its base. Holding the hat inverted in her left hand, she reaches in three times with her right hand, encountering resistance each time to retrieve seemingly ... nothing.

Hiro, confused: "ummm, thanks for the pantomime performance?"

Terridus: "They're invisibility cloaks, silly—so no one will see you."

Hiro, not convinced, but nodding his head in agreement: "Right."

Artifice, sighing: "Perhaps a demonstration will help convince Hiro."

Terridus: "Sure thing."

Terridus bends down, appears to grab hold of something in both hands, raises her arms and ... disappears.

Hiro, eagerly: "It's true, it really works. Gimme gimme gimme."

Terridus: "First, the three of you will have to hold hands so you don't lose track of each other."

Pericula, looking at Artifice: "I don't want to hold her hand."

Hiro: "OK then Pericula. You hold my left hand and Artifice will hold my right hand."

Pericula, chin up, looking defiantly over at Artifice places her hand in Hiro's. Artifice turns and stares directly into Hiro's eyes with a sultry smile as she traces her index finger down Hiro's extended open palm, prior to interlacing her fingers with Hiro's. 

Artifice: "According to Mrs. Dalloway, 'What does the brain matter compared with the heart?' Wouldn't you agree Hiro?"

Hiro's face turns flushed red as he sputters incoherently, eliciting an outburst of laughter from Artifice.

Parvul grits her teeth as she looks over at the two of them: "Really? We're about to go to war, we don't have time for such frivolous fraternization."

Terridus, flustered, tossing the invisibility cloaks on each in turn: "Off you go. Good luck." 

Artifice, disembodied voice: "You too. I'll reach out to all of you with any updates. Well, we're off."

Hiro, voice trailing off: "Don't worry Acies. I know we'll save your sister."