𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐒 》 MILO THATCH

𝔄𝔴𝔞𝔨𝔢𝔰

𝗔𝗪𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗦
𖣔𖣘𖣔

DOWN BELOW, WAY DOWN BELOW, Helga grunted inelegantly, her hair was a mess and her clothes were singed, scuffed, and teared, but all that mattered to her was that she could still feel the weight against her lower back. She was still armed. Reaching behind her, she weakly grasped the handle, pulling it out from her trousers as she turned around.

She gasped for air, finding this angle much easier to breathe with, despite her obviously broken rib cage. ''Nothing personal,'' she said, hoping the ammo she was about to launch would carry her message on wards. With one last tug of effort, she pulled the trigger, needing two fingers to do so. It took out the biggest balloon there and Helga got to smile before her hand dropped completely.

Rourke smashed open an 'IN CASE OF EMERGENCY' box and pulled out an ax. Milo had questions, why any emergency on a hot air balloon would require an ax being the main one, but it turned out to be the least of his worries when it dawned on him that the ax was in the hands of a mad man.

He scurried down the chains, and then down the containment unit before his feet hit nothing but open air and he was forced to stop. Rourke followed after him, falling debris and ash only adding onto his terrifying demeanor as flames created lightning that made his features appear sharper.

''Tired, Mr. Thatch?'' Rourke asked as Milo scrambled from his left, to his right, clinging onto a different face of the cube, when he realised it wasn't the only face he was seeing. The window was still frozen over, but (Name)'s eyes could still be seen, growing brighter than Milo last remembered them. ''Well, that's a darn shame!'' Rourke swung down again, his ax breaking the window as Milo dodged with a small apology whispered towards her.

Blue mist crawled from the hole created, his entire face glowing blue. As the ax was pulled from the window, dislodging even more glass, the crystal rang and Milo paused, it sounded suspiciously like his name. Before he could scramble onto a different side of it and continue there game of 'see who gets tired first', his eyes locked onto (Name)'s again. The pupils suddenly dilating. Did they flicker to the glass, or was that his imagination?

Either way, his reactions were already kicking in. 

''Because I'm just getting warmed up!'' Rourke said through gritted teeth as Milo grabbed a shard of ice, being careful not to cut himself with it, something told him it wouldn't end too well on his end if he did. He began to climb up, allowing the commander to grab him by the throat, easily hoisting him above any sort of ground as he smirked, bringing his ax back for the final blow.

Milo grabbed the commander's hand, doing his best to continue to breathe, and with the other hand, he brought down the shard of ice quicker than Rourke even began to move the ax, slicing into his skin as though it was paper.

Scattering up the chains, Milo desperately wanted to feel solid ground again. Rourke grasped his forearm, the ax falling to the floor just like all his other options were. He looked up at Milo, scowling fiercely as he began to climb up after him.

His veins turned red and his skin blue, slowly the crystal began to take effect on his whole body, overriding any sort of genes that fought back as they began to crystallize. Rourke roared, sounding four dimensional as his eyes turned yellow. Milo grabbed the fence, but his weight only tore it in half, he stumbled forwards as the fan began to rotate again, not wanting to loose his head. Looking down,he spotted the commander - frozen just after his cry for help, yellow eyes staring up at him desperately and yet lifelessly.

''Thank heaven,'' Milo said, closing his eyes in a moment of relief.

It was a moment cut too short as a glowing blue hand grabbed the very same bar he was clinging onto. The commander's blue skin had cracks, where the yellow in his eyes came out in beams. His movements were stiff, and they were only getting stiffer, as if he was fighting to keep moving, but his physique wasn't helping him for once. He shrieked again, this time the fan getting the better of him. Milo turned away, grimacing at the very idea of it. There was a bright light, yellow mixing with blue in an explosion and the chains snapped free.

The one balloon left had caused them to steer towards the right, and thankfully too, it meant that they landed on the side of the volcano and didn't have to fall to the floor. They rolled down the bedding of soot and ash. They tumbled for a little before finally stilling on an upturned edge.

Milo's head slammed back into the metal and he groaned, rubbing it stiffly as he rolled his shoulders, looking up as he did so. ''Oh, great!'' He yelled when he saw the explosion was headed towards them. ''C'mon, (Name), move!'' With a final push, he sent them over the edge, jumping after her before taking cover behind as the explosion finally went off. 

Vinny, Sweet and Mole flew down, landing as the jumped off to help assess the damage.

Cracks spread across the floor, bright orange staring into their eyes as heat began to rise. Mole practically vibrated on the spot, flapping his arms uselessly before he finally got his words out. ''The volcano! She awakes!''

''Hey,'' Vinny said sternly as he held up a stick of dynamite. ''I had nothing to do with it.'' His eyes widened and he quickly reached over to put the flame out before it made the situation impossibly worse. Everyone began to remount their vehicles.

''This here is a good place not to be,'' Cookie said, revving his creature's engine.

''No, wait. We got to get her back!'' Milo yelled, grabbing into a chain and hook. He quickly added on the rest, not realizing he had paused. ''Or the whole city will die!''

''And if we don't get out here, we'll die!'' Sweet yelled as Audrey jumped off their shared ride to snatch the chain off Milo, not liking the slow pace he was moving at.

''It's the only way to reverse this! Just do it!''

Audrey threw Vinny the hook, who quickly threw it down the other side of the vehicle, Audrey jumped to reach it, hooking it onto itself. She reached upwards and Vinny helped her up. Milo jumped onto the back and they began to fly off.

The hook snapped. Vinny grabbed Audrey around the waist, stopping her from leaving as Milo had already done so, already three steps ahead of everybody else. Grabbing the chain and avoiding the cracks, looping the chain around the metal cube and attaching it to itself again. ''Go!'' The second it began to move, and only when it began to move, Milo moved to jump onto (Name)'s container, clinging on with dear life.

As Vinny flew, the chain dancing and Milo nearly falling off numerous times, he began to appreciate the adrenaline. It was the only thing keeping him together at this point.