The Janus Directive
August 2nd, 2223
Session 188: The Very Long Night of Slasher
President Slasher has just declared
a truce with the Janus Forces and Ire isn't happy about it in the least. Terra,
Dahok, and Silouette witness one of Ire's angriest moments - when he marches
right to Slasher's office for a confrontation. But Ire never does anything
without first planning all the stops - or has he? When Slasher pushes Ire too
far, he attacks the President, which brings out Cheryl to defend him - and she's
just a little bit too eager to fight. Ire brings out Eve, who battles
Cheryl and keeps her off of Ire, while Terra and Sil hold back the guards. And
when Wing shows up with a shuttle, allowing all of them escape, it becomes
obvious that there's a major split going on in the division of Mega City forces
- especially when Ire announces he's taking the war to Janus one way or another.
August 4th, 2223
Session 189: Wanted
Ire and Dahok must break back into their own building to
steal supplies for the team before they make their way out to fight Janus.
However, Kit Xeronia and recruit Nicolai are far from being on Ire's side and
remain loyal to President Slasher. And when Ire and Dahok show up, the two
aren't about to let them escape, especially Nicolai. However, Kit, sensing
adventure in Ire, joins up with him, even while Nicolai and Dahok battle their
way through the streets in vans. Ire quickly calls in Wind and him, Dahok, and
Kit jump into the shuttle, with Nicolai leaping in after them. Deciding that
these people are a lot more fun, Nicolai agrees to join them in their adventure.
The four of them, along with Eve and Wind, travel to the hanger where Altros is
kept, then steal it from Slasher. With the Altros, the team travels to the
Rainforest, intent on liberating it.
August 8th, 2223
Session 190: Lost in the Rain
Junior returns from New Parnel once more, having
needed to deal with a crisis on the planet, and learns what has taken place with
the Alternate Unit. While not approving of Ire's means, he has no love for
Slasher and agrees to join the team in their battle to defeat the Janus
Corporation. Ire has Junior lead a team down into the rainforest to do some
recon on the main city and learn what the situation is there, so Junior, Eve,
Dahok, Nicolai, and Kit travel into the rainforest during a rain shower. Once
there, they come across a rogue man named Kio Takemura who flees through the
rainforest, elluding them. Once they arrive in the city, Dahok travels to see
his fellow Brahnk Monks, only to learn that their leader is dying and the Brahnk
monks are divided. Nicolai, Kit, and Eve search the rest of the city for clues,
talking with the natives, and Junior does some searching of the premises
himself. However, Janus forces begin to notice their appearance in the city and
it's Kio who gives them the helping hand out of the city. Eve then convinces Kio
to join their group and he agrees, much to his own dismay. And a surprise visit
from Pope brings dark news - the Copycat is lose and looking to make his biggest
splash hit yet against the team. But when will he do it?
August 9th, 2223
Session 191: The Janus Directive
Ire, Dahok, Terra, Silouette, Eve, Kio, and Kit
Xeronia discover a mining base belonging to the Janus Corporation - it seems
they are mining some sort of metal from the ground that is used for strong
structures. They travel to the base and begin to work their way into invading
it, having to deal with the various mining hazards and traps there. However,
when they accidently knock out the mining structure under the base, it's only a
matter of time before the entire structure collapses. The team is then forced to
quickly yank the information out of the computer about Janus plans - which stems
from the fact that Janus hired the 5th Column to start the war between Mega City
and London the previous year and the fact that Janus got a large sum of cash
from some unknown source around the time President Slasher was dethroned by the
seven men 6 years ago. Just what is Janus? And what is the mysterious Skyhook
that Janus is building?
August 11th, 2223
Session 192: Mother Nature's Fury
With the destruction of their mining base,
it's only a matter of time before the Janus Corporation retalities, so the
Alternate Unit has to come up with some way of defending the capital city of the
Rainforest. Dahok travels to the Brahnk Temple and tries to get his fellow monks
to fight in the battle, while Ire, Eve, Terra, Silouette and Nicolai prepare to
do battle with Janus. When the battle starts, five of them battle hard while
Dahok leads the monks into battle. However, when things begin to go poorly for
the good guy's, Dahok taps into unseen force and destroys the simulated
rainforest, instantly regrowing a real one that is exactly the same as the fake.
However, the toll of doing such a thing puts Dahok into a temporary coma like
state - but allows the team to defeat the Janus forces in the Rainforest.
August 14th, 2223
Session 193: Mastermind
The time has come to put together the pieces of the
puzzle and figure out just who funded Janus and just who Janus really is.
Ire, Junior, Dahok, and Sil have to put together their heads and figure out just
what is really going on. The facts are there: Janus came into creation a little
under six years ago, just a few months after President Slasher went missing. The
Janus Corporation intentionally hired the 5th Column to start a war between Mega
City and London one year ago, which allowed them to sell more weapons and
eventually sent themselves up for world takeover. However, it's obvious in that
time, Janus and the 5th Column had a falling out. And it seems when Janus was
created, a large sum of funding went into them. Junior has Ire contact Vice
President McCabe in Mega City and asks him questions, suspecting that the only
person capable of funding such a corporation would be President Slasher himself.
And when McCabe checks, it turns out to be true that the funds did come
from Slasher's accounts, shortly before his disappearance, and then replaced
shortly afterwards. However, only three people have access to it: Slasher,
McCabe, and Chip - Slasher's personal computer. Junior realizes that Chip is
capable of doing such a thing and if he is, then he already knows that they all
know he did it. And indeed, it seems Chip is infact Janus, running the entire
operation - in order to achieve what he believes is "Slasher's ideal world."
Junior and Ire quickly destroy the Altros' controls and evacuate everyone to
shuttles as they send the Altros crashing into the ocean. Now that they know the
face of their enemy, the treat factor just went up: Chip has been installed into
just about every computer on Earth. Plus, the fact, they know that Chip plans to
use the Paradise Program on Earth once again to achieve his ideal world for
Slasher. But if the Paradise Program is used, it could mean disasterous effects
for everyone.
August 15th, 2223
Session 194: Dead Like Me
Having made their escape to the Siberian Nation, the
team must now decide their next course of action. Ire, Junior, Dahok, Silouette,
Terra, Eve, and Wind travel to an old abandoned communication tower in which
they find more than they bargained for. The old tower, once Tsivrixsh belonging,
is now run down and out of use --- except for a hidden area under the tower.
There they find young girls in tubes who have black oil with them in it. It
turns out this is the lab in which Silouette was infused with the black oil and
brought back from the dead, all in Chip's process of learning on how to bring
back the dead in order to save Slasher when he dies in sixteen years. The team
activates the self-destruct sequence for the lab to destroy the horrifying
process, when Nyssa shows up and battles Silouette once again, intent on killing
her. However, Silouette prevails and beats Nyssa, saving her life once again and
letting her go. Now that they have learned more about Chip's plans, the team
agrees it's time to go back to Mega City and confront Slasher.
August 17th, 2223
Session 195: Dangerous Days Ahead
Wind brings the team back to Mega City, where
Ire, Dahok, Pope, Silouette, Terra, Eve, and Kio launch an attack against
Slasher's main building. However, Chip isn't about to let them in without a
fight and launches everything he has after the group. While the team is
fighting, Shadow Mardonas witnesses the fighting from his lonely spot in the
city and rushes to join them. As the team defeats a gear and other outer
defenses, they head into the building, where Cheryl attacks the team. Eve takes
her on, allowing the rest of the team time to find Slasher. When they do, it
seems Slasher is trying to stop Chip as well, but the aggrevated group will have
none of it - it's too little, too late. And Slasher seems incapable to them of
stopping Chip at this point. Death Star arrives as Ire sets up a bomb to destroy
the building, in an attempt to destroy Chip's main hub of activity and
momentarily stun him. He convinces Slasher and Cheryl to join the others,
telling Slasher it's time he got a change. Teleporting the two onboard Junior's
personal shuttle, DS leaves. Now the team has to decide how to find the Paradise
Program before Chip does.
August 19th, 2223
Session 196: Pope Fiction
Ire, Pope, Dahok, Silouette, and Terra investigate the
gift that Copycat left behind for Pope at their old building. Once there, they
find a box with Ayn's fingers inside it. Enraged, the team begins a game of cat
and mouse with Copycat in an attempt to kill him for good and end the wicked
legacy of Ghoul. And Shadow Mardonas joins Ire in an attempt to show him he can
be useful.
Session 197: Search and Destroy
Junior, Slasher, Cheryl, Kio, Kit Xeronia, and
Eve investigate a possible location of the Paradise Program when they find a
large number of Chiere/Human hybrids heading there. However, once there, they
are put through the ringer only to discover they have stepped into a trap by
Chip, one in which Charon - who has switched sides - is there to kill them for
good. Kit attacks Charon and in return, loses his eye just like he made Charon
lose his eye a while back. And Eve is kidnapped by Charon in the end. Now the
team has to find a way to stop Chip for good, no matter the cost - and it seems
Slasher is beginning to relearn just what it takes to fight again.
August 23rd, 2223
Session 198: Eve
When Slasher and Cheryl get a false call for them to return to
Mega City, Junior's shuttle is invaded by Chip, who promptly begins to drain the
oxygen from the shuttle and attempts to crash it. Kio and Shadow and Junior help
those more dependant on oxygen out of the shuttle and back to Mega City. Once
there, the question becomes - who installed Chip into the shuttle? But there's
no time to ponder it when Wind shows up and informs they has located Eve. The
team travels to the capital of the Siberian Nation, where they have to battle
their way through Chip's base of operations, working their way down to where
they find Eve, who's been taken over by Chip. As Chip uses Eve's body to battle
the others, Slasher and Cheryl work on a way to free Eve from her control while
Junior battles her. And Kio has to deal with a crazy Dahok and Kit under Eve's
control. In the end, they free Eve, but Chip elludes them once again.
August 27th, 2223
Time
Out
As the team heads for the location of the Paradise Program, they
take a moment to rest and reflect. Just how much of Kio's cold demeanor is an
act? Just how emotionless are Ire and Silouette? And just how good is Pope's
whiskey? All these must be answered before they can fight the good fight.
August 29th, 2223
Session 199: Paradise Lost
The team arrives at the location of the Paradise
Program, meeting up with Death Star, who is waiting for them there. He informs
them that this is the location, then opens up a secret passage for them to
enter. Ire, Junior, Dahok, Kio, and Slasher travel into the depths of the old
Tsivrixsh holdout, where they are faced with armies of Chiere/Human hybrids,
intent on stopping them. Raven shows up and aids the team in their battle
against Chip, but when they arrive at the computer console for the program, they
find it's gone. A machine leaps down and Raven sacrifices his life to save
Slasher from it. Kio, Ire, and Junior work together to destroy pieces of the
machine while Dahok keeps it busy. Once they finish, the entire area begins to
shake and they are forced to escape out of the mines - where they find a space
station errupting from the mountain. Wind and Eve help the team out of the mines
as they watch Skyhook - and it is heading into space and it has the Paradise
Program onboard.
Session 200: Rise and Fall
The team comes up with the definitive plan to stop
Chip. Now that Chip has centralized himself on Skyhook, Slasher will use a virus
to weaken Chip and prevent him from leaping to another computer. Then the team
will destroy Skyhook and Chip in one decisive attack. However, the plan rests on
them reaching Skyhook in one piece, which is where Wind comes in - he'll have to
fly them into Skyhook.
Ire, Junior, Dahok, Terra, Silouette, Kio, Slasher, Shadow, and Phirax (who
has returned) will have to hit Skyhook and hit it hard. As they travel into
space, Wind plays his part and uses the old Death Star hyperspace trick to get
them into the station, where Chip begins to suck all the oxygen into space. Kio
and Dahok throw Shadow across the hanger to the controls, which close the hanger
doors and stop Chip's first plan.
From there, the team travels further into the station, where they come across
an elevator that cannot be powered without the generator being started, and
that's in a room full of radiation. Junior travels into the room and powers it
up, then is helped out by Shadow, but both are radiated. The team quickly moves
down a level and sends the two into the showers to get fixed, when an army of
Chiere/Human hybrid soldiers attack the group. The team is forced to hold them
back as Slasher discovers where Chip is located.
Once together again, the team heads down where Chip's next line of attack is
even more vicious. A laser flies out and hits Silouette, causing massive head
trauma to her body. Then drones mimicing Snipe and Dias show up. The team
manages to defeat them and carry Silouette into the next area, where they find
the controls to launch the Paradise Program to Earth. But Chip has created the
ultimate body made up of Chiere, Human, and Eve's DNA. Once entering the body,
he attacks the group with full viciousness, stabbed Silouette through the
stomach with his sword and batting the others around. The team is forced to come
together in order to bring Chip down, but Charon, who had been hiding,
activiates all the missiles to fire at Earth in five minutes, then breaks the
controls. After escaping, Ire attempts to stop the attack, but cannot - so his
plan is to initiate the self-destruct sequence to blow Skyhook up before it
attacks. However, this means the team will not have the time to escape. But
before he can do it, Chip gets back up and shoots Ire through the stomach,
giving him a fatal blow. Slasher is then forced to turn on the self-destruct
sequence while Junior uses the Emerald Sword for a massive attack against Chip,
along with Dahok and Kio. Kio then takes Chip's sword for his own use.
As Ire dies in Shadow's arms, Wind arrives in the shuttle and the team barely
escapes Skyhook before it is destroyed, but the explosion accidently knocks the
missile with the Paradise Program lose, sending it spiraling towards Earth. Wind
reveals himself to be Death Star, who then attempts to stop the missile, but is
at a loss. Dahok Fyro realizes his destiny, then puts on a space suit, jumping
out onto the missile. Then, using his nature abilities, he begins to terraform
the Earth with the missile, just like he did with the Rainforest. As Earth is
finally restored, the process kills Dahok, taking too much energy from him.
Now, with Ire and Dahok dead and Silouette's body destroyed except for the
black oil, the Alternate Unit's final mission has been completed. But now what?