Serve the Hive

Jade had followed Treguard and Mary-Lou until they approached a bridge over the race track. She dodged behind a wall of tires and waited as the race began. When the racers began to morph into death machines her eyes opened wide with fright and she hid further behind the tyre wall.

"That's it my little peanut." Treguard gloated from his position on the bridge, watching the Dwarfers below "All we need to do now is call in the Masters."

"Yaaay!" Came the disturbing voice of the little girl.

"Come, we can have some fun whilst we wait." Treguard smiled.

"Oh! Oh! Can I push the red button!" Mary-Lou chirped happilly as she skipped along beside the bearded figure.

"Hmm... Only if you are good." He said, placing a hand on her head.

She followed Treguard and M&M till they reached a central control room overlooking the track. Treguard instantly initated several steps, opening up a doorways in the side of the 'world' to let something in and then activated several trap mechanisms on the track. She noticed on the giant flickering map, in the very centre of the track, right in the middle was a large, royal blue, holly tree. It was out of place, not made of sweets, or metal or anything out of the ordinary. It was a beautiful, organic, holly tree, except for the fact it was blue.

This seemed important, but she couldn't remember why.

"Hey! Kid! You shouldn't be here!" A voice echoed down the hall from where Jade was peeping in the doorway.

"Eep!" Jade squeeked, turning and ducking under the fist that tried to grab the scruff of her neck. Treguard spun on the spot fixing her with a stare.

"She should be on the track with the others!" He growled, facing Mary-Lou who shrank away.

"I thought she was! I didn't know! Jade Blackjack should be racing!" The girl protested.

"Incompetant sprite!" He growled, backhanding the child across the room. "Stop her! She can't be allowed to reach it. If she activates the failsafe it's all over." Treguard lunged for Jade as he spoke, as did the guard again. As they banged heads, Jade dropped to the floor and skuttled between the legs of the guard and ran full pelt down the coridor.

She lost them in the massive pitt complex, and wandered the halls till she eventually found a door that led back outside. She emerged in the centre of the race track, the expansive landscape spattered with cliffs and chasms around the edge, obsitcles for the racers to overcome. Even as she watched, one of the dwarfers, she couldn't see who, was catapulted over the edge, only to be retrieved by a fluffy white cloud and returned to the death track. She spied the tree in the distance and made for it.

It felt important.

*****

Swarms of creatures began to pour into the Sweet Racing world. Larger than a dog with six legs and festigal wings they seemed to leap and then glide to the ground, making hissing clicking noises that sounded vaguely like keh keh keh. Several other monsters came with them, huge beasts that slithered with jaws that seperated in a wide slavering vertical pincer like movement. Wicked looking spines that adorned their bony heads looked ready to be expelled and shot at their victims. As they came, so too did the monsterous flying things, cries like a dying angry horse echoed across the skies as the jellyfish like monsters followed the Swarm.

Jade paniced seeing the onrushing monsters aproaching the track and ran to the tree, falling at its base exhausted. Carved into the very base of the tree, etched into the very being of the Holly tree was the following words in famillier writing. Jade couldn't place it, it was like she should know the person, someone missing. Someone who should be there but who wasn't. The feeling was fleeting and passed as Jade traced the words with her small child like fingers.

F.A.I.L.S.A.F.E.

As she finished a female voice boomed through the air.

"I warned you not to fuck with my code. Get out of my ship you mother fuckers." The language made Jade blush. Cass' voice was loud, angry and clear. Obviously she had placed some back door protections into Holly when she coded him again. Damned super genius had thought of almost everything. Bunkers popped out of the ground around the tree a distance out. A small base of operations began to assemble around the tree, barracks, factories for war machines, a starport and other buildings. Three marines, armored in massive exoskelletons and a man in red power armor armed with what looked like duel flame throwers emerged from the barracks.

"Need a light?" The massive Firebat asked Jade as she walked over and looked up at the massively tall figure.

She felt taller, older, more like her old self again but the memory of why they were there was still fuzzy. Still not quite there. She knew that they had to protect the tree, to rescue her friends and protect the tree. More men trooped out of the baracks and set up in the bunkers. Looking into the reflective surface of the metal baracks she saw herself and instantly recognised her new avatar as that of a Ghost. An elite sniper able to cloak.

<Tag!>

OOC - What does Cass' failsafe do for you? Obviously there is still time for sweetie hijinks as Jade is inside the complex running away.

Oh, if you hadn't guess btw I'm referencing Starcraft. So Zerglings, Hydralisks, Overlords, Marines and a Firebat are the referenced dudes here. :)