Sanctuary is many things to many different super beings. To some it is a place for learning about their powers. For others it is a place to come to be treated for their abilities. And for others still, it is a place to increase their powers...
Case in point: It is mid-morning and a seaplane is maneuvering towards the dock at Sanctuary's southern-most tip. This is not an unusual occurrence as the majority of guests reach the tropical island in this manner, using one of the many private charter services on the surrounding islands. The teleportation system set up between the island and New York City is a secret known to only a few select individuals. Those belonging to major hero or villain teams usually arrive in their organization's crafts.
The dock itself was a duplicate of the one used on the old Fantasy Island television series, complete with tiki torches, tropical flowers, and lovely native girls dressed in traditional Polynesian style awaiting the guests with leis. All in all, the perfect tropical paradise setting.
The only thing that seemed out of place was Charcoal, the head of Sanctuary Security. The impish girl wore a black Def Leppard Pyromania T-Shirt, leather biker-pants and boots. She was lounging in a golf-cart, observing the arrival of the incoming seaplane. As was standard procedure, any incoming charter informed Sanctuary of their impending arrival and the identity of their passengers. It was today's guest that Charcoal was here to greet.
The seaplane taxied up to the dock and was tied off. The hatch opened a moment later and a man in silver and gray armor emerged. He deposited his luggage on the dock and stepped out of the seaplane. The native girls greeted Armadillo with leis. Picking up his bags, the armored villain made his way up the ramp and towards the waiting Charcoal.
"Welcome to Sanctuary," Charcoal announced in an unenthused tone. "You may place your bags in the back of the cart. I'll be escorting you to the Arrival Complex for registration and then to the bungalow that you've requested."
"Looks like you've been demoted, short stuff", Armadillo observed in an amused tone. "Since when have you been the welcoming committee? You're not exactly dressed for the occasion."
"Depends on the guest," Charcoal shot back. "Some people need to be watched more than others." Armadillo had caused trouble on Sanctuary before, but nothing serious enough to keep him barred from the island. Still, it was prudent to nip any potential problems in the bud.
His bags secured and Armadillo seated in the cart, Charcoal drove away from the dock and towards the Arrival Complex. "I guess I should feel honored then," Armadillo taunted. "I didn't know you cared so much. I guess there really is a romantic little girl underneath that tough, butch exterior."
"Can the sarcasm, loverboy. If I had my way, I'd be kickin' your tin-plated butt from one end of this island to the other!"
"Lucky for me you're not in charge."
Charcoal turned towards her passenger and pointed an accusing finger. "Mark my words, Armadillo. Keep your nose clean and you'll have a pleasant stay. Otherwise, I'll come down on you so hard you won't know what hit you. Got it?"
Armadillo chuckled at the prospect of being leaned on by this girl who looked like she should still be in high school. "Don't get your boots in an uproar, red. I'm here to soak up some rays and relax. Other than maybe buffing my armor, my only other plans are emptying brews. I won't be bothering anyone."
"Good. Keep it that way." However, Charcoal remained skeptical of the intentions of her unwanted passenger. He would bear close watching in the days to come.
"We're coming up on Training Town now," Tempest informed her brother. While the two were unable to physically speak, they were able to communicate telepathically with each other.
"Is anyone there?"
"Hold your horses, Jace. Let me look around first."
"Sorry." Jason couldn't recall ever feeling so helpless as he was now. Essentially a back seat driver without a window view.
"None of the others are here, but there's a woman and some guy in armor talking."
"Do you recognize them?"
"Nope," Jessica answered simply. "Think I should try and get their attention?"
"What do we got to loose?"
"Beats me." Under Jessica's control, their combined form moved towards the two supers. The man wore a red and gold armor that had a creepy look about it. The woman was dressed in what amounted to a dark blue one-piece bathing suit with matching high boots and elbow length gloves. A white cape was draped around her shoulders.
Touching ground about twenty feet from the pair, Jessica would advance the rest of the way on foot. She didn't want to startle them too much. As she approached, her body changed once more. It took on a more earthen tone and rocky appearance. Just like it had when she originally woke up in this shared body a few hours ago. "Now this is really weird..."
"What's weird?"
"Our body-- it's just changed appearance. We look like a big dirty rock!"
Jason thought about that for a few seconds. "Did you land?"
"Yeah, I did. Say, do you think our body looks like whatever element we're currently in contact with?"
"That's extremely possible," Jason answered in agreement. "Like air in air, like earth on the ground. Like you said, weird. What are the couple doing? Have they seen us yet?"
"Yeow!", Jessica silently screamed. "Get your hands off me, you creep!"
"What?", Jason asked. "What's going on out there?"
Unexpectedly, a painfully piercing shrill filled the twin's ears! The woman in dark blue had opened her mouth and screamed. It made nails on a chalk board sound good.
"Allow me to assist you, Daigon," spoke a woman with an incredibly sultry voice. "Let us defeat this robot and then we can continue with our negotiations."
"They're attacking us!", Jessica yelled telepathically. "I'm trying to fight back, but it's not working! Nothing's happening! Help me, Jason! Help me!"
"You're out of your element," Jason realized. "Just like I was while in mid-air. You've got to let me take control!"
"Okay, okay. I'm letting go."
There was a tingling at first as Jason started to be able to feel again. The transference into the 'driver's seat' was becoming easier and easier each time the twins attempted it. In a few seconds, Jason's once-dulled senses were filling him with information on the world around him.
He could see his attackers. The man in the red and gold armor looked like one of those martial artists' types. He connected with a flying kick that sent the combined elemental form flying backwards. Jason hit the ground with a thud. The attack, while powerful, didn't really do any harm to his rock-like body. The woman in dark blue hovered high overhead, well out of normal reach. She screamed once more, a piercing shrill that shook the twins to the very core of their being.
Jason wasn't sure how much more of this pounding they could take. Should he fight back or simply flee?
"You better fight back!", Jessica sent to Jason. "No one attacks me and gets away with it."
"But there's no point in fighting them, Jess. The reasonable thing to do is withdraw and find someone who can help us."
"Come on, Jason! Don't be a wuss all your life! This is your element, or so you told me. Show me you can kick their butts! Or else let me back in there!"
Another punch from the armored man settled the issue. While Jason wasn't the most violent of people, even he could only take so much punishment. "Okay, okay, I'll see what I can do."
The combined elemental body had been knocked back once more. Jason landed, facing away from the man in armor. "Not much of a fight in this robot," a woman's voice announced. It didn't sound like the woman with the sultry voice at all. That was one voice that Jason would never forget. Could it be that there was another woman inside the manly looking armor?
"Get on with it!", Jessica urged from the back seat. She was irritable from being helpless, her body felt numb.
Jason concentrated. As he did, he was able to sense the world around him and all those in contact with the earth. His earthen sense was working perfectly, just like it did while he was a separate entity. The person in armor was picked up immediately. He-- She was approaching once again. "I'll give you a fight..."
At his command, the ground around the armored attacker began to rise. In seconds, Daigon was buried up to the waist in dirt. "Now, I didn't see that one coming," Daigon casually remarked.
"Let's finish this thing off," Howler advised. If it was truly an alien operative out to retrieve her amulet, the source of her sonic powers, then the villainess was eager to see it defeated and destroyed. "Before it pulls out any more tricks."
With Daigon checked for the moment, Jason turned to locate Howler hovering in the sky. His earthen sense couldn't pick her up since she was not in direct contact with the ground. "You're next, screaming mimi."
Concentrating once more, Jason willed a gigantic earthen fist to shoot up from the ground underneath Howler. Jason had done this before, but even he paused in amazement. The earthen fist was far larger than any he had ever created before and its reach was much further.
The giant fist slammed into Howler like a freight train. The sonic villainess plummeted to the ground, dazed and disorientated from the assault. "Wha-hoo!", Jason yelled. "You would have loved seeing that one, Jess!"
"What happened?! Tell me!"
"I swatted the woman in blue with a giant fist. It's like our combined form is more powerful than either one of us individually. If this experience wasn't so weird, this might actually be cool."
"Don't get any fancy ideas, Jace. I'm kicking you out of my body the first chance I get!"
"No argument there, Jess. I certainly don't want to stay like this for the rest of our lives either."
Jason turned back to Daigon once more. The armored villainess had pulled herself free from the ground while he had dealt with Howler. Daigon was clearly torn on what to do. "This robot-- provided it even is a robot-- is a lot tougher than I gave it credit for," Daigon pondered aloud.
Not waiting for her to attack, Jason willed another giant fist to rise from the earth directly behind Daigon. Somehow, the villainess sensed the action and avoided being grasped by the giant fist. "Enough of this foolishness!" Daigon activated her jet pack and boots and rose into the sky. Pausing only to collect a still woozy Howler, Daigon streaked away from Training Town.
"It's over," Jason informed his sister. "They've flown off."
"Not bad, Jace. Not bad at all. Looks like you're really getting the hang of your powers."
"That is why we are here, after all."
"But we're no closer to getting help," Jessica lamented. "If only we could talk out loud!"
"I know. It's a big handicap to overcome...." Jason paused as a thought crossed his mind. "I've got it. I know who can help us. I'll take us there right away!"
Concentrating once more, Jason willed the combined elemental to sink into the ground. He was more comfortable traveling via the ground than flying anyway. Since he had control for the moment, he wasn't so eager to give it back. Jess seemed more reckless than Jason. She could play back seat driver for the time being.
A few moments later, the lithe form of the Tigress hit the ground of Training Town, barely raising dust. She had been watching from a hidden vantagepoint in the buildings surrounding Training Town's main street. Howler and Daigon seemed to be up to something, so the Tigress had tried to get close enough to listen in. Then unexpectedly, that-- thing-- came in from the sky.
"I'm not sure just who-- or what-- that was, but the things that creature did sure looked like some of Jason's stunts. I better let Sarge know about this..." With that, the Tigress bounded away.
"Ahh-- This is the life." The man better known as Armadillo kicked back on his beach chair and took another gulp of his cold beer. With his bags unpacked, his armor removed and now stripped down to his swimming trunks, Armadillo was content to relax. For now anyway.
"This'll make those suckers think that I'm just here to relax," he thought to himself. Randall Gordon had never planned on being a supervillain. It just seemed to work out that way. He always was a man who made the most of his opportunities and becoming Armadillo was a great opportunity.
Before his life as Armadillo, Randall was a engineer working on a secret government project. The Man Amplifier Program was an attempt to create a suit of armor that could stand up to those with superpowers. It was probably meant to be used by PRIMUS or some other government group. Maybe SAT. Randall didn't know for sure. It really didn't matter to him.
One day, the lab was raided by VIPER Agents out to get to the suit. Thinking fast, Randall donned the prototype suit and used it to fight off the snakes. The power he now possessed was a rush! He knew exactly what the suit could do, at least in theory. But now using the suit became far more interesting than designing it.
During the battle the plans for the MAP suit had been destroyed. The chief scientist laid on the floor, dying from his wounds. Randall felt some gratitude towards the man. He did give him a job after all. While he bent down to inspect his wounds, the scientist told Randall to use the suit to fight evil with his dying breath.
"Fight evil?", Gordon thought to himself. "Yeah, right! In today's world, you gotta grab what you can get. Right now, I can get a whole lot of things I've always wanted!" Randall Gordon may have entered the project, but it was Armadillo who tunneled away.
Since that day, Armadillo occasionally worked as a villain for hire, but freelanced primarily. He was always looking out to acquire new parts and equipment to upgrade his armor. It was just this very thing that had brought Armadillo to Sanctuary.
A few months back, Armadillo had learned of the location of one of Mechanon's secret restoration bases. While the delusional Pulsar tried to uncover the base and fight off heroes and VIPER Agents, Armadillo tunneled in virtually unnoticed. Apart from a minor scuffle with a hero Armadillo later identified as Spectrum, the whole thing went off without a hitch. (Editor's Note: As seen in Spectrum #9)
Using spare Mechanon parts, Armadillo upgraded his own armor. He was more powerful now than ever before. But even at this impressive power level, Randall only wanted more. Here on Sanctuary he would get it.
In addition to parts taken from the Mechanon lair, he had gotten his hands on data files as well. Armadillo painstakingly scanned the files, hoping to locate other Mechanon bases. Instead, he discovered data about other scientists who dabbled in robotics and battlesuits. Seems that Armadillo wasn't the only one who would steal what he needed to upgrade himself.
One of the files mentioned a series of secret labs that Dr. Destroyer had buried on his Island of Destruga. These labs were sealed environments with no direct physical access. Not a surprising development, since Destroyer's pet mentalist, Menton, could teleport by will. It was just another layer of security for Destroyer.
But this had been nearly a decade ago. Destruga ended up the property of UNTIL for several years, before eventually being handed over to Sanctuary. While Destroyer's island villa had been thoroughly searched, Armadillo was confident that these secret labs still remained. Each cache untouched, just waiting for his arrival. The file provided a rough location for one of these buried workshops. It should be found about fifty feet below the bungalow he was currently occupying.
"I'll just wait until nightfall," Armadillo mused to himself. "Climb into the armor and do some digging. In no time at all, I'll be able to augment my suit with Destroyer technology! Then the Armadillo will be unstoppable!"
Firestar happily whistled to herself as she entered the classroom area inside the island hotel. Several rooms had been specially set aside to be used for the various courses and discussions that were available on Sanctuary. Being one of the famous Avengers, Firestar had access to the teleportation system and made the trip from New York City in seconds. Handy, as she was now traveling to Sanctuary every weekday for her classes.
The young heroine was particularly looking forward to her studies on this day. Not because of her subjects, but rather because of her co-student. Even though they had just met yesterday, Firestar found that she had a great deal in common with Terra Fire.
While in school in St. Louis, Cassie tended to keep to herself. She was all too well aware of the danger of her fire powers. Not wanting to hurt anyone, she distanced herself from the other students, never getting involved in school activities or even dating. You could count those she considered to be friends on one hand.
But that had changed. Terra Fire had some fire-based powers as well and was greatly resistant to burning. Plus he was handsome, down to earth and had a pleasant personality. He was smart too and did well in school. "Cassie, my girl, your luck has changed. Brains and looks too-- all in one package!"
Firestar felt an attraction right off the bat. Unless she was completely misreading his reactions, he felt the same way. It was as if they were kindred spirits. Similar powers, similar temperaments. She had to wonder if Nightingale had deliberately tried to play matchmaker.
"Hi, 'Gale," Firestar stated as she entered the classroom. To her disappointment, Terra Fire wasn't here yet. Only the girl called Jennifer was present, and she was being personally tutored by Nightingale.
"Hiyas!", Jennifer said with a wave.
"Good afternoon, Firestar. You're looking pretty chipper today," Nightingale observed.
Firestar just smiled. "It's a lovely day in paradise. What could be better?"
"I've put some new problems on the board. Why don't you work on them until Terra Fire arrives?"
"Sure thing..." Firestar stopped in mid sentence. "Uhm--, 'Gale? Are you expecting another new student?"
"No." Puzzled, Nightingale stood up and looked at her fellow Avenger. "Why do you ask?"
Firestar didn't answer. She was too surprised to speak. Instead, she pointed towards the entryway. Nightingale turned to find something standing there that vaguely resembled the Thing, but not as well defined. It was earthen brown in color and seemed to be composed of rocks. The creature was huge, well over six feet tall.
"I see what you mean..." 'Gale concentrated, trying to pick up the thoughts of the strange creature. The thoughts of some beings were more difficult to pick up than others. Finally, she made contact. Her eyes opened wide in surprise. "Oh my! This is incredible! I'll see what I can do, I promise."
"Thanks," Howler said to Daigon. "That-- that thing caught me off guard." Carried by Daigon, the pair had flown to another part of the island. The strange earthen creature chose to not pursue them.
"My pleasure. It's bad business to get your employer injured before they pay you," the armored mercenary noted. The pair had already discussed Howler's offer and what the mission entailed. "This job sounds like it could be really interesting. Or very boring."
"Agreed." Howler was still a bit shaken up inside. The alien operative was very powerful, far more than it had first appeared last night on the beach. Normally, she would have just fled the area to get away from the creature. But now she couldn't. The possibility of finding the People of Azkan and even more alien technology guaranteed that Howler would be sticking around. Even if it wasn't in her best interests.
"You think that thing we fought is somehow tied up in all of this?" Daigon could sense that there was something about the creature that unnerved Howler. Maybe it was a competitor of hers.
"Not that I am currently aware of. Nonetheless, your suspicions may be correct. I must locate others to join our expedition. Unfortunately, I have found precious few candidates here on the island."
Daigon considered for a few moments. "I've seen Panda and Raccoon a few days back. They may still be here."
The pair of mutants were known to Howler. Both were fairly competent mercenaries and neither were particularly bloodthirsty. "Excellent suggestion. I shall see if they are still on Sanctuary."
Inside the examining room of Dr. Angelique Marin, a small group of people had gathered around the composite body of the elemental twins. As Jason had hoped, Nightingale's telepathic powers were able to pick up their thoughts, finally giving them a way to communicate with the outside world.
"Now this is a very surprising development," Dr. Marin remarked. "I've seen cases of one being splitting off into duplicates, but two separate people merging to make one is a new one on me."
"Can't you separate them?", Firestar wondered out loud. There was a noticeable trace of concern in her voice. It was just her luck to find a boy she was attracted to and have him wind up merged with his sister! Three was definitely a crowd in this case.
"We don't even know just how they were able to merge," Nightingale noted, "let alone how to undo the process."
"Dr. Marin, why didn't you project this as one of their possible abilities?", Gladiator questioned. The Tigress had informed him earlier of the strange creature that seemed to possess Jason's powers. He had been skeptical at first, but even his normally stoic nature was surprised to see that it was true.
"How could I? Tempest refused to complete the majority of my testing. I can only speculate that somehow the twin's DNA is identical with the obvious exception of gender and base appearance. Somehow their bodies were able to do this-- fuse into one being who still maintains their individual powers."
"And amplify the strength of their powers as well," Nightingale added. She had been acting as the twin's voice during this examination. "You have their permission to perform any test you think is necessary to undo this condition."
Dr. Marin gave a helpless shrug. "I really don't know where to begin. This is far beyond anything I've ever dealt with before. We're in uncharted waters here."
"Let's take a DNA sample and compare it to the one you took earlier from Jason", Nightingale suggested. "Perhaps that'll give us some answers."
"It's a start, anyway," Dr. Marin answered with a nod.
"Keep me advised of the situation, doctors," Gladiator stated. "I'll inform security that our missing twins have been found." Turning, Gladiator exited the examination room.
The two doctors went to work. After a few minutes, Nightingale noticed that Firestar was still present. "You don't have to stay here," she informed her teammate. "We might be at this for quite a while."
"S'okay, 'Gale. I want to stay. For a little while, anyway." Firestar took a seat in one of the chairs along one wall of the room. She wished there was some way she could help, but there was nothing she could do except wait and hope.
Jason tried not to stare at Firestar. While he was happy to see the concern she had over his condition, he also despaired that they might be like this forever. There was no way that either he or Jessica could ever hope to have any normal relationships while in this state. He couldn't imagine a more horrible fate.
"I'm not exactly pleased with this situation either, you know," Jessica offered from the back seat. Some of Jason's more intense thoughts filtered into her mind as well. "So you've got a girlfriend now, huh? Is she cute?"
"Jess, please..." Were it able, Jason's face would have shown his embarrassment. "We've just met. Calling her my girlfriend is premature."
"Maybe. You may not realize it, but you're an attractive guy now. Not like you used to be. You're going to have to get used to the idea of being eyed by the girls."
"Thanks, Jess." Jason did a mental double take as he thought about her words. "At least, I think so." He couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. But her words made him feel better for the moment. "Yeah, she's cute."
Night had fallen on Sanctuary. As he had planned, Randall had donned his armor, grabbed his bag of tools, and was ready to begin his true mission on Sanctuary. After making sure that there was no one else in the immediate vicinity, Armadillo began to tunnel through the earth. He burrowed through the sandy topsoil like a hot knife through butter. The bedrock underneath was a sterner test, but it too failed to contain the Armadillo.
"I've got to get some kind of sensors in this suit," Armadillo mused as he worked. He was essentially tunneling blind. While he had done this many, many times before, he usually had a known destination in mind. Trying to find a target whose location he had only guessed at was a very inexact way of doing things. "Maybe I should get a sonar attachment or something. This could take all night!"
Armadillo mentally counted off the feet as he drilled deeper into the earth. Twenty feet. Thirty, forty, and finally fifty feet. Armadillo paused at this depth. He had tunneled straight down and found nothing out of the ordinary. "Big deal," he thought to himself. "I was just speculating that it was directly underneath the bungalow anyway."
Just to be on the safe side, Armadillo dug down another ten feet. Still no hidden lab. From there, he climbed back up to a depth of fifty-five feet. Turning northwards, Armadillo tunneled along at this new depth. After reaching a distance of what he guessed to be thirty feet, he turned to his right and started to tunnel in a gentle circle. He would circle around his original descent tunnel at this distance. Perhaps he would run into the lab then.
"It's got to be here!", Armadillo yelled in frustration. He had completed an entire circuit and was now back at his starting point. Still the secret lab of Dr. Destroyer remained hidden to him. Cursing to himself, Armadillo tunneled thirty more feet to the north and started a new, much larger circuit.
"Come on... Come on... Where are you?!" The minutes slowly passed as Armadillo worked. He diligently kept an eye on his internal oxygen supply. If he didn't find something soon, he would be forced to return to the surface and try again after re-filling his oxygen tank.
This circuit also proved fruitless as well. Armadillo tunneled out another thirty feet and started on an arc roughly 180' wide. About halfway through this third circuit, Armadillo found something.
"It looks like a formed steel wall," he mused to himself. His gauntleted hands worked to clear the dirt away to get a better look at the barrier he had discovered. "It is! This is it! Mechanon was right! That beautiful hunk of machinery was right!"
Armadillo began to dig into the wall with his armored gauntlets. The material was very strong, almost stronger than his ability to dig through solid objects. It was torturously slow work. But finally, there was an opening large enough for the armored criminal to crawl through.
The chamber was pitch black, but this was easily rectified. The eyes of the Armadillo armor worked like miniature headlights, giving him enough light to tunnel by. The floor was a mere three feet below the hole Armadillo had punched through the wall. As gently as he could, Armadillo lowered himself into the floor. "Destroyer could have laid traps in here," he reasoned to himself. "Caution is best at this point."
Reaching into his tool bag, Armadillo pulled out a halogen flashlight. While his eye-lights were adequate enough to tunnel by, he needed better illumination to search the lab. The light flared to life at the touch of a button. Armadillo could now see that he was in a large, rectangular chamber. The lab stretched some forty feet away from him and about ten feet to either side.
Several workbenches were filled with parts and pieces, of what Armadillo couldn't be sure. Another held a number of large spherical shaped objects, all in various stages of completion. "Hard to say what all this stuff is at first glance. Knowing Destroyer, it could be just about anything."
At the far end of the room, there was an area devoid of benches. "Must be a teleportation arrival area," Armadillo considered. "Makes sense as it would suck to teleport into a solid object."
Close by was what appeared to be the electrical box for the lab. Opening the door, Armadillo found all the breakers, including the main, to be in the 'off' position.
"Let's see if this stuff still works or not." He flicked the main into the on position. Next Armadillo started on the upper left column of breakers and worked his way down.
The overhead lights were the first to come on. "Much better," Armadillo commented to himself. He shut off his flashlight and stowed it back in his bag. Flipping more breakers caused other lab devices and equipment to burst to life. None of it seemed to be immediately dangerous, so Armadillo left all the breakers in the on position.
On his first pass, Armadillo failed to notice a separate table that held a single, apparently complete version of the spherical devices that were scattered on the other benches. "What the hell are these things supposed to be?" The completed sphere was about five feet wide. "Could be sensors, or bombs, or some kinda weapon. If Destroyer made them, then they have to be useful."
As he contemplated, Armadillo became aware of a dull humming sound. Examining the sphere closer, he noted that it was now being charged by equipment behind and under the device. It was apparently resting in a re-charging station. "This can either be very good for me, or very bad. Given I'm dealing with Doc D, I think I'll error on the side of safety."
Retracing his steps back to the electrical box, Armadillo intended to shut off all the power save the overhead lights. He had only taken half a dozen steps before a blue flash filled the chamber. Looking back, he could see raw electricity playing about the sphere. "Oh-my-God...", Armadillo mouthed to himself. He never imagined finding anything like this.
Breaking into a run, Armadillo rushed towards the electrical panel as fast as his armor could carry him. Electricity and the magnetism that accompanied it could play havoc with his armor's functions. Behind him, the sphere silently rose into the air, electricity still crackling about it.
Reaching the breaker box, Armadillo simply hit the main, plunging the entire lab into darkness once more. Looking back, he realized that he was too late. The energy sphere was still active and gave the chamber a bluish glow. It hovered in the air for a few seconds, then suddenly it rapidly accelerated towards Armadillo!
"NO!", Armadillo screamed. The sphere was fast-- too fast for him to outrun or out tunnel. The last thing Armadillo would see was the energy sphere bearing down on him and making contact....
