Jam gave a clumsy but passionate embrace to the groggy Rose on the small woman's back.

“Why haven’t you tried to escape?” Rose asked him.

“I could feel that you were here but they were watching me like a hawk with these cameras. The only way they could keep you here is if they incapacitated you so I needed you to be strong enough to move.”

“I felt you transmitting your love. It empowered me, they kept gassing me every few hours but you made me stronger. Thank you, my love.”

The couple touched their foreheads together and held the position for a moment.

“We don’t have much time.” Jam heard Skyfire’s voice in his head.

Jam jerked her away from her post standing watch and pulled her into a big hug, she went rigid at first not expecting it but slowly melted into it.

“Thank you for coming for me, and for saving Rose,” he quietly thanked her.

“We’re partners, it’s what we do,” she responded. She pushed him to arm’s length, “now get dressed. We need to get out of here.”

“Right.”

Jam stepped back and put his hands to his side, his fingers splayed and his feet shoulder length apart.

Black Phoenix

Darkness crept up Jam’s body and encased him before it broke apart to reveal his Black Phoenix suit.

“Mmm, looking good lover,” Rose purred.

“Thanks babe,” Black Phoenix responded. “Let’s make like a tree and get the hell out of this place.”

The four slipped out of the room and made their way down a corridor, within minutes an alarm began to go off.

“Guess they know I’m gone.”

“Shadow Stalker only left two clones up here including the one that was in there with you. He was probably nonplussed that I dispelled his clones, more than likely he contacted them and told them we were breaking you out.” Skyfire told him.

“How’d you do that?” Black Phoenix inquired.

“Light magic spell, erases all shadows within a 2-mile radius. Including shadow clones. It uses a shit ton of mana though, I can’t use it more than once before I have to wait for my MP to reload.”

“Smart. I forgot you had magic now.”

“Yeah, it’s been really weird. I have mostly support spells. Healing, light, trapping, things like that.”

“The magic system for WoH always sucked. I think it makes sense now that I know Jack made the game, he couldn’t use magic, what would he know about it.”

The group stopped cold when Audrey’s silver orb slid through the ceiling.

“The path. . .. you used to. . . to get in here is blocked,” Audrey stammered out a warning.

“Are you ok?” Black Phoenix sent her.

“Remember what I said about how this place is like a faraday cage? It’s really messing with my systems in the orb. It feels. . odd. It’s kind of hard for me to focus. Plus I can’t be too far away from you or Skyfire or the orb would disappear completely and go back to the fabricator.”

“That must be why the orb isn’t glowing. Well then stay close, we don’t know what we’ll end up being up against. Did you see any other way out?”

A blue arrow formed in the field of vision of Black Phoenix’s left eye. He motioned for the others to follow him. Down another corridor, then through a set of double doors. After hearing a set of footsteps tromping down the hallway in their directions Black Phoenix pushed the others into a supply closet. Black Phoenix reached into his inventory through his cape and pulled out his secret identity glasses. After pulling down his cowl to put the glasses on he covered himself in an illusion of a nondescript Moon Soldier. Two moon soldiers hustled up toward him, guns drawn.

"The prisoners have been sighted heading toward Sector 7. I'm supposed to let everyone who passes through here know." Jam announced as they closed in.

"Sector 7 is supposed to be sealed off for repairs, they wouldn't be able to get into there." The soldier on the left retorted.

Jam groaned in annoyance. "That's sector 9, sector 7 was finished last week. I don't know what to tell you guys. I was told to stand here and tell anyone who passed by to head to sector 7. If a freaking radio signal would work in this place maybe we could get some moment to moment information going but for now, it's word of mouth.

For a charged moment the two soldiers stared at him before nodding.

"I hear that man, so tired of this. My phone won't even work here. I haven't heard from my kids in a week." The soldier on the right agreed.

"Yeah well, I hear there's a dead spot in sector 4 that will let you get a signal through. I'd check that part out." Jam explained.

"Thanks, alright let's get going."

After watching them continue on their way Jam slid into the supply closet with the ladies. Rose, Skyfire and the mysterious pink-haired big-eyed female with them were sat on the floor. Jam sat blocking the door that didn't seem to have a lock on it.

"What was all that?" Skyfire asked.

"I didn't have anything to do but listen for these past couple weeks. With Ben amplifying my acute hearing skill I could hear almost everything on this castle. A lot of people complaining about the repair schedules making this place a maze to try to get through and the signal thing was just a lucky guess. None of them seem to be wearing radios or earpieces so no one is ready for on the moment updates."

"Who is Ben?" Rose asked.

"He's my little buddy. One sec."

Ben, I need you.

[ Skill Used: Beast Summon Lvl 1 – Successful ]

[ Skill Level Up: Beast Summon Lvl 1 has become Beast Summon Lvl 2]

A small golden ball appeared in Black Phoenix’s hand before it cracked like an egg and the golden light dissipated to show Ben shaking off the light. Ben looked up and squeaked a hello.

“Hi little buddy, this is my lady, Rose.” Ben seemed to nod to her. "And this is my friend Skyfire." Ben hopped from his hand and scurried up onto Skyfire's shoulder and nuzzled against her face.

"Hello, little friend. Nice to finally meet you." Skyfire greeted scritching him under the chin.

"You two know each other?" Black Phoenix questioned

"We do, I had to backtrace your connection to him to find you. Since he is connected to your power the mental link between you and him was far superior to the connection between us but I was able to link into it and find you."

"Thanks, Sky."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ben." Rose greeted.

"Speaking of meeting, who is your little friend there?" Black Phoenix asked, motioning to the pink-haired woman.

"Trixie Stix. She was the guard to my cell."

Trixie just nodded to him as Rose spoke.

"Nice to meet you, Trixie."

Trixie just nodded again.

"Strong silent type I see. And she is on our side now?"

"Lunar King didn't think my powers worked on women as I never told you. He was wrong and Trixie was very much into women. I know he is supposed to be you but he apparently doesn't know his subjects very well. Some king."

"He never was very much into the human resources department part of being a supervillain. As explained why he doesn't at least have an intercom system. Do you know they all have to walk to each other to communicate? So inefficient."

"Extremely. . How does that even work? Why do cameras work but not radios? Or am I being dumb." Skyfire asked.

"Cameras aren't sent through waves they're sent through physical wires which may have caused some problems but not as much. Radios might work inside but they would probably require line of sight as the walls would block out any waves being sent through. It's smart for information leaks, if no one can send a signal out then no one can be tracked to here or leak out any information. By the time the people here were able to get any information out, it'd be too late and the deed would have already been done. Even an intercom would be a potential problem should anyone with super hearing be able to listen in on it." Rose explained.

"You're sounding pretty impressed over there," Black Pheonix quipped. "Something you need to tell me?"

"Absolutely not lover, he pales in comparison to you."

"Well that's very sweet of you but if I'm going to prove you right I'm going to need to get us out of here."

"So what's the plan?" Skyfire asked. "Apparently, my plan to get out hasn't worked out since they've blocked the entrance port I came through. Not like I was able to get a blueprint of this mostly camouflaged sky castle."

"I haven't really had Ben try to scout this place out; I was too worried he'd get noticed if his route became too specific. Maybe today though, with them being so focused on finding us, they won't be looking for him."

Ben hopped off of Skyfire's shoulder onto Black Phoenix' hand.

"You know this place better than anyone, can you lead us out of here buddy?" Black Phoenix pleaded.

After a moment of contemplation, Ben squeaked his response then unfurled his wings.

"I wondered how he got around. God that is terrifying though." Skyfire commented.

"Trixie, how fast can you move with Rose on your back?"

Fast Enough

The feeling of Trixie speaking in his head with his own voice was weird and quite disturbing at first but he quickly brushed it off and nodded for the sake of the mission.

"What about the cameras?" Rose asked.

"Can you maintain an illusion over us for the entire time we're escaping?" Skyfire inquired.

"No, illusions use up a lot of MP per minute. I couldn't even cover myself with one for that long with my current MP recovery rate," Black Phoenix answered.

"What do we do then? Just make a run for it and hope for the best?"

"I think that's all we can do, but how do we get down and up from here?"

"The Skyfire cycle. While you were gone I added glider wings and flight packs to it. It'll be hard with four of us but I should be able to get us down from here."

I can get Rose down.

Black Phoenix shivered again at the alien sensation but moved on.

"Alright then, let's make our way out."

After checking the hall the group made their way down the hallway with Ben leading the way. Corridor after corridor they snuck through, stopping whenever Ben did to let any guards pass them by. Finally Ben stopped before a large set of double doors.

"Is this it?" Black Phoenix asked.

Ben didn't respond and instead disappeared into Black Phoenix's cape.

"What just happened?" Skyfire asked.

"Whatever is on the other side of these doors scared him but it's the only way out left," he answered.

"I don't like the sound of that," Rose commented.

Black Phoenix pushed open the doors and immediately cast shield as he pushed the trio out of the way. A breath later a hail of plasma shots hit the shield as he struggled to keep it solid. On the other side, a firing line of Moon Pawns continuously assaulted the shield. With his enhanced hearing Black Phoenix could hear the heavy footsteps coming toward his direction.

"We're trapped!" Rose exclaimed.

Then it's time to fight.