((Well I was hoping Sunburn noticed my predicament and unleashed a lot of flame.    We'll see what Kaster Ordo says tomorrow.  When I said he was gone I was refering to Jack as in unconscious.  But I guess this works.  Another villain with a hunger for revenge.  I'm signing off for the night.  Quite late for the Pacific Time Zone.))

"Flame! FLAAAAME! COME ON MAN, WE'RE WASTING OUR TIME!!! Tsk, meshuggener still can't hear me. Guess we'll just wait and let him find out for himself."

Tanis had been waiting for Haze to wake up for some time now. He was growing somewhat impatient. He would not wake her up himself however, she should get the rest she needs. He sat in his ornate, throne like chair smoking his pipe in semi-darkness. Several beams of light shown from behind him from the holes in the old cathedral bell tower door. The smoke from his pipe swirled upwards and around his siloutte. He had been hearing some distant sounds of commotion, yet had been discarding it for too long. He rose and made his way to the other side of the bell chamber and opened another door slightly and looked towards the direction the noise was coming from. There were people running from the mall, and police cars at bay surrounding the entrance.

"Creating more havoc Oni? Or...perhaps there is another." He muttered to himself. He took his seat on his ornate throne and decided to wait a little longer for Haze to wake up before going to investigate the Mall disturbance.

Flame looked back "Where to?"

"To the max-security prison, were gona break out Voidhunter."

((Ready when you are.))

Many images flashed through Haze's thoughts. So many of pain, suffering and death. There were images of many people she didn't know which only confused her. Something wasn't right. These weren't her memories. She tried to see past the images to her own memories. What had happened to her? She remember going after Oni with Chromium. There'd been the fight with the biker. Then where had she gone?

Haze's hand tightened and she felt something soft in her grasp. That wasn't right. She should have been somewhere where everything was hard. Like scales, she'd seen Flame. He'd warned her and then the pain had come. "No!" Haze shouted bolting upright, her psy-blades activating in her hands. Their light blinding her slightly.

Haze squinted and deactivated the blades. Then brought her hands to the sides of her face as she propped herself up. She was in bed, but it was not her own.

"So you're awake." Haze looked up to see Chromium.

"What happened?" She asked, still fighting to remove the foreign images that had been thrust into her mind.

"I was going to ask you the same thing. I leave you for a minute and find you unconscious while you're scaly friend, a telepath and Jericho are playing war games." Chromium said, his pipe now in his hand.

Haze's brow furrowed. "Only Flame was there when I arrived. He gave me a warning about something I wouldn't like. Then someone invaded my mind. I thought it was him but he looked confused. You said something about another telepath?"

"Yeah, there was a woman in black. She had dark hair and a bright red fringe." Chromium said.

Haze let out a groan, "That would be Vandal. I thought she was out of the game."

"So is she part of Oni's gang?" Chromium asked, sitting forward in his chair.

Haze shook her head, then wished she hadn't.

"You don't look so good, do you need something for the pain?" Chromium inquired as he rose from his chair.

Haze raised her hand, "No, it'll pass. I've got complacent. My defences were dropped lower then they should have been. I trusted Flame, I didn't realise there'd be another telepath around to abuse that trust. Mind you it's strange, I always thought that Vandal was with the heroes."

Chromium rubbed his chin. "Perhaps she is, she was attacking both Flame and Jericho with some vigour."

"That makes sense. Jericho broke her leg some time ago. She must have assumed I was with them." Haze said as she shifted her legs over the side of the bed.

"You should rest." Chromium told.

Haze stopped herself from shaking her head, "No I've got to find Starbright." She tried to stand but sank back to the bed. Her head hurt worse than she'd initially thought.

Tanis saw Haze nearly fall back into bed and he decided that he was for sure not going to let her go anywhere. He quickly rose form his seat to assist her back in bed and he lowered her down. It may have been to forward of a move, but she was in no condition to be physically moving. She hesitantly got back into bed and looked back at Tanis as he sat back in his chair and took a puff of his pipe. He took the opportunity of her being awake to talk to her.

"Haze, you are most likely wondering why I have brought you here. Well, I saw it as common curtousy of course. You were in dire need of assistance obviously, that is why I went with you in the first place. I wasn't sure we would succeed however, yet I knew you needed to at least know that Starbright was alive. However, there is another reason I brought you here. I've been meaning to speak to you. I believe that we live by similar ideals. I do not wish to side with the heroes or the villains, I simply do what I alone feel is right. I think that you may feel the same way. I would like to know how you feel about this entire situation. Are the Heroes right in that they stop Oni and the others from killing innocents and wreaking havoc? Or are the villains right in that they strive for equality for the supers? Your mind seems to be ahead of most others, and I must admit, I need a second opinion on this matter."

"Something troubling you? Besides the headache that is..." Tanis asked her.

Flame could hear muffled voices from the inside of the tower. He didnt know what they were saying, and he partialy considered reaching out with his mind. They wouldent know anything about who he was looking for, but he was getting bored. He decided not to "read" the other person. He reached out, there was somthing familliar about him, images he knew, a voice.

Haze looked up suddenly. She turned to look behind her and immediately strengthened her mind's defences. Someone was definitely there, she suspected it was Flame. She hoped he was alone, if it was Vandal she planned on showing her just how skillful she was with her psy-blades.

"What's wrong?" Chromium asked.

"We have company," she replied quietly.

Tanis did not say another word. He stood from his chair and placed his still smoking pipe on an ashtray that was on a small table he had. He lowered his cowl and relaxed his body. He forced the metal liquid through his pores and it covered his body. His eyes lit up until his pupils weren't able to be seen and all that was behind his eye lids was pure white light. His brown hair gently fell from his face and scalp. This process was not as nearly painful as bringing it back in, so he was relatively quick when he did this. He levitated to the door Haze was looking at stood in front of it. Chromium placed his ear against the door and listened quitely. He did hear a small rustling. Perhaps he was followed? He stepped back and morphed his left arm into a giant shield and his right into a huge sword and he adopted a defence position facing the door.

"SHOW YOURSELF!"

Some one yelled somthing from inside the tower, this time Flame did draw the sword. He backed off the ledge, floating, and lighting the sword. He knew who was in there, but he didnt know how to get in, short of making his own door.