Terminus Part I: The Journey There (Draft)

Chapter 67: Virtual Capacity

 Before they made it much further, Salvador recalled his earlier intention to trap all of the Vanguards in their own Virtual Hells. He wondered to himself if five at once would strain his capacity but decided that the risk was worth the reward. Having already discovered the locations of each of them, he concentrated, putting his energy into creating portals that would suck each of them into their new accomodations.

Vanguard Wicket awoke restrained to a hospital bed dangling from a wire. Below him, a dark void from which animalistic screams echoed out.

"Sam the Scholar has forgotten himself..." rang a voice.

Vanguard Jumper struggled to stand as he found himself dizzy and near-sighted. He had entered a bizarre place: a perfect sphere surrounded him, comprised of animal faces. Thousands of unique species, their faces forming an unlikely pattern that left him awestruck. A physician emerged from a lion's mouth somewhere to the left of him.

"It's time for your physical examination, Warren," said the physician, as if he were talking to a child.

Vanguard Morose wandered through a fog, stumbling onto a tombstone. The name read 'Azibar Morose'. A pale figure drifted into view in front of her. By all accounts, this seemed to be the ghost of this dead man.

"The dead live their best lives, my child," said the apparition.

Vanguard Wildfire awoke in a bed in a familiar town. A man who looked identical to him frowned in disapproval.

"You're a pale imitation," said the man. "I wouldn't even know what to call you. So here's how this is going to work..."

Vanguard Tambourine was having tea in a palace. It seemed she was accompanied by many dignitaries and noblemen.

"Oh my, did you hear about her latest fashion faux pas?" said one of her guests to another.

"Oh, I did Richmond, clearly her head is not fastened upon her body like the rest of us," said a female guest before snorting with laughter. "Perhaps our kingdom needs someone who knows how to look the part."

Zephyr smiled as he now understood that the breakout was moving into its second phase.

"I need to make things more interesting," he said cryptically to no-one in particular, eagerly anticipating his next move.

The breakout crew continued to weave their way through the prison, now having a much better idea of where to go thanks to Salvador's techno-map. Their destination was the only way in or out of the prison: the entrance. The prison was designed so that it was a long, twisting complicated journey from the cells to the entrance. They made it through this labyrinth, in part thanks to Gate bending reality. They reached the entrance, unsurprised to find it guarded by the majority of remaining staff, which still numbered in the hundreds.

"Pfft, as if these guards could stop us now," said Gate.

"Wait, let me take care of 'em!" said Alexander Timothy.

Gate was about to object, but Patricia said to give the guy a chance, after all, he was one of the few to survive the super-riots and so must be a capable fighter.

Alexander thanked Patricia for her defence and wandered out to face the guards. He began to play the accordion.

"Oh, the sunrise o'er the ocean blue..." he sang. A guard rushed at him ahead of the others, unsure of what to do about the accordion player. As he finished the lyric, the guard had come up just in front of him and he flung his leg upward. He kicked the guard in the chin, and caught his head as he began to do a backflip, bringing the guard over his body and forcing him into the ground face-first.