Wheua Mīti [Dark Data]

[Skeletor]

Skeletor refocused his attention on the threat, away from his allies unnerving new eyes. The situation had gotten bad quickly. Their best efforts had done little more than irritate the monstrous serpents, King Hiss himself would have been pleased with the creature’s ferocity, and the Darkling forces were beginning to stumble their ways out of camp and repel the intruders. They needed to get into that portal and quickly. The heroes had thrown away any attempts at a subtler approach. They were going to ruin everything with this kind of lax strategy.

“We need to get through the portal!” The Warlock shouted, closing the distance between himself and the giant skeleton.

He made sure not to make himself too tempting a target, only firing at the snakes to keep Wiess from meeting a sudden end in a serpent’s jaws. The Huntress was doing a surprisingly good job at staying alive all things considered, but she was still burning through a short rope, and it wasn’t going to be long before the girl made a mistake.

“Quickly! Forget about those blasted snakes, the darklings are going to be ready to attack in force soon!”  

There was no time, they had to get through the portal. For all his pretentious parading, the Toa of Ice refused to keep a tight enough reign on his soldiers. Without some focus, there was no chance they would even reach the portal, much less find the time to close it. If the Bio-mech was not going to do his job, then he supposed that someone would have to. The Bionicle started to speak up but Skeletor rolled right over him. It was time for a real leader to take charge.

“Robot! Use your ice powers to slow down the serpents, pin them to walls and floors. Aim for the head and the tail, limit their movements.  Ballet girl, whenever they’re stuck hit them hard. They won’t be trapped long so make every shot count. Focus on the weaker one first, and destroy it. Pull the fighting back to the portal. I will deal with the Darklings myself. Nyeheeehee!”

Skeletor didn’t wait for an objection, moving towards the camp and charging his eldritch powers. Kopaka was clearly not pleased with the mage’s sudden attitude, but he did as Skeletor had ordered. Even here inside the mountain, his elemental powers were at their peak, and large shards of ice burst into being, snaring the serpents where their writhing forms stayed put for more than a second.

The Schnee girl seemed much more open to the change of plans, immediately springing into action. Good, she’s used to taking orders at least.
Leaping far into the air, the huntress did an excellent job of maintaining the serpents’ attention while Kopaka trapped them. As he watched she landed lightly on one of Nebula’s trucks, waiting there for the briefest of moments, then leaping straight up and away from the lunging fangs of one of the serpents. Kopaka’s ice did not hold the beast, but the sudden halting of the momentum threw its aim off. As the snake crashed headfirst into the vehicle, she pushed off an outcropping of ice and drove the rapier’s point into the top of its head.

The shriek echoed through the cavern, and Wiess was flung off the beast as it thrashed about in rage, black fire spewing out of its mouth. She managed to land on her feet then dove again almost immediately, barely evading the other serpent as she regained her footing. The Toa of ice rushed in temporarily attempting to draw fire, but Skeletor could not spare any more attention to their battle, instead turning to unleash his magic on the rapidly assembling Nebula forces. “FOOLS! Your friends didn’t stand a chance when they could see me coming! You won’t be able to stop me with this kind of effort!”

To their credit, the Nebula forces weathered his magical onslaught with a surprising amount of discipline, but every moment that Skeletor was keeping them pinned was more time for them to reach the portal. Skeletor fired with abandon, aiming for flammables and buildings, anything to disrupt the camp from following them through the portal.

A dwarf rolled out from behind cover and there was a bang as blunderbuss shot sprayed Skeletor, shredding holes in his cape and tearing along his arm and side. Skeletor whirled in a rage and unleashed a torrent of eldritch magic at the offending creature, blasting straight through its cover. “The Portal!” Skeletor shouted, “NOW!”

With another volley of missiles to cover his retreat, Skeletor turned and started to sprint the remaining distance. Arrows and bullets skipped and pinged around him as he neared the giant’s skeleton. Wiess and Kopaka were close, but one of the serpents continued to hound them.

“Here, you overgrown slinky!” Skeletor shouted, distracting the beast with a blast from his staff. It wasn’t powerful, but it got the snakes attention, and it turned around to face Skeletor. Kopaka and Wiess had reached the portal, and they paused at the entrance, attempting to cover Skeletor’s retreat with what shards of ice and orange crescents of flame.

The snake lunged and Skeletor leapt, far higher than any normal man should have cleared. Even so the snake’s fangs caught his trailing cape, tearing it free and halting his momentum. His sword clattered to the ice a short distance away, but there was no time for him to reach it. With a cry of rage and dismay, Skeletor sprinted full speed towards the portal. The snake was close, he could hear it, as he raced up the steps, Skeletor pointed up at the Skeleton, using his magic to pull on the honored corpse of the long-dead king. He had little power left, but he managed to nudge the skull loose. With luck, it might bring the rest down with it. As the frost-rimed bone started to tip, Skeletor dove desperately for the glowing portal.