TAPSLAUGHT: Smoke and Mirrors

Magik smiled, "Yes. Right where you're needed most."

Lyss shook her head, trying to figure out why there was a double meaning in that, then shrugged and stepped through.

Immediately, she sank to her waist in a yellowish, thick fluid. Cursing, she grabbed a handhold on the side of the tunnel, conductor, vent, whatever the hell it was. The others tumbled through the disk, and cursed as well. Lyss glared up at the Demon-Sorceress, "Where the crukking bloody hell are we?"

Illyana smiled evilly, "Were you're most needed. Good luck." The disk and the sorceress were gone in a flash of multicoloured light. Lyss cursed some more as the turgid current caught at her legs.

{{Bloody ^&%#$%ing #$%^&}}

Her only response was a muted growl from Captain as the Muse anchored herself across from Lyss on another protruberance.

Lyss took stock of their situation. The tunnel stretched out dark and dank to both ends, folded over and over itself in some places. The thick fluid coated the walls as well, and moved along, carrying unidentified bits of {{Laptop??}}

Captain swore, "We're inside Tapslaught??"

"Bloody--" Lyss started again, then stopped, "Wait, if we're in Tapslaught, and her digestive track--as it appears--why aren't we being dissolved by the corrosive effects of the juices?"

Captain grimaced as she dipped a hand in them, "Because they're not digestive juices, more some sort of--"

"Biochemical fluid?" Lyss finished.

"Yeah." Captain looked at her a little oddly, but went on, "I think we need to attempt to find the 'center' or, brain--if you will--of Tapslaught."

"Wait, what are you two getting at?" Lia demanded looking from one to the other, suspiciously.

"What was Tapslaught created for?" Captain demanded.

"And, what has she done?" Lyss asked, "Other than absorb as many Writers as she could get her grubby little hands on."

"I think we know why Sinister helped." Captain stated, grimly.

The entire 'Coterie was looking back and forth between the two Muses, bewildered. "Wot then?" Corin demanded, "What was worth all of this stuff and nonsense??" "D-" Captain started.

"N-" Lyss interrupted.

"A," they chorused together.

Lyss grimaced again, "Can the rest wait till were out of this?? I promise either Captain or I will explain everything." She shifted, squelching slightly, "I HATE getting my jeans wet, dammit."

"Well, which direction shall we go?" Captain asked, "We've two choices."

Lyss inspected both directions, "Well, if I remember anything about intestinal tracts correctly, at all, we go this way," she gestured to the right. "Of course, the fact that that's the way the stream is coming from is helpfull." She added, wryly.

-----------

Twenty minutes of slogging through waist-deep, thick yellow sludge, they emerged into-- "What the -?"

It was huge, cavernous, large, white, high, every thing that describes something big, the chamber they were in, was. It was also dotted around with some sort of capsules that looked very small until viewed up close, then-- "Coffins? No! Kielle!" Captain gasped as she approached one, "And, Laersyn, Dex, Indigo, They're all here!"

"In cryogenic containment." Lyss added, "Which, of course, confirms our suspicions." She stepped up to the face-plate of one, "Can we wake them, d'you think?"

They stared around, attempting to take in the shear size of the task. "We can but try," Red said softly, sounding awed, and scared.

"The power of one that could do this.." Lia breathed, staring about herself in shock.

Lyss shrugged, "Let's try with Kielle, first." She inspected the controls on the side of the capsule, "Hmm.. Looks like something out of an old SF show," she twisted two knobs and pushed a lever down. The capsule gave a low hum and began *thrumming* and turning pink. Five seconds later, the front of the capsule lifted out and up, and Kielle spilled out onto the deck--or would have if Captain didn't have such fast reflexes.

She was gasping for air, panting even, "Oh, god," she moaned, "What the hell?"

Lyss directed Captain to do what she was already doing--lower Kielle to the deck. She peered at the Writer's face, "Are you okay? Do you think you can walk, or at least sit there, while we get the rest out?"

Kielle glared at her, "I want a piece of whoever did this, too."

"Your wish, milady," Lyss stood and swept her a bow. "Right," she turned to the 'Coterie, "Let's get the rest of them uncorked."

-------

Time passed, or seemed to. In the vast, white cavern, it was difficult to tell. Writers sat around, having been revived, and attempted to come to terms with having been eaten, then put in cryogenic stasis. "For our genes?!"

Lyss grinned at Kielle, "That's what we've figured, yes. Sinister wants to create the Ultimate Writer--you know how he is with Mutants, well.."

"And, Poccy wants one that can survive anything. Hence, their collaboration." Captain inserted.

"But, what I still don't understand--and, correct me if I'm just being seriously dense here--but where did Tapestry become Tapslaught???" Kielle paused and wiped a hand across her face, "She's my little sister, what caused her to do this??"

{{I don't think we should tell her.}}

{{She needs to ask Tapestry herself, methinks.}} Lyss nodded at her sister Muse, "We can't tell you that. It's something you'll have to ask Milady Tapestry."

A voice cleared over their heads, Captain looked up at Red, "Yes?"

"We're done. We've gotten them all awake, even the fictives that were caught."

Lyss jumped to her feet, clapping her hands, "Splendid! Now, to find that damn Canadian." She started to go looking for him when Red stopped her.

"We looked for the one--Abyss--he wasn't there. Anywhere." Red informed her.

"What??" Lyss blinked, "That's impossible! We know he was taken! Hell, he used me as a channel!!"

Captain grabbed her arm, "Yes, I wonder how he did that?"

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think so, Lyss, but where are we going to find a taxidermist at this hour??" Captain quipped.

The two Muses laughed and turned to Red, "Did you happen to find Tapestry?" Lyss asked.

Red shook her head, looking at them oddly, "Why would we have? Isn't she Tapslaught?"

"I think not." Lyss shared a conspiratorial smile with Captain, "And, let's go find her, shall we??"

------

Captain had pointed out to the 'Coterie that, as Tapestry's Muses, they should be able to find her. She'd been right. "Okay," Lia whispered, "Up there, in that little alcove is where she is." Her forehead wrinkled, "And, she's not alone, either."

They approached, Writers, Muses and fictives. A sound was heard from the alcove. ~A laugh?~ Lyss wondered. She stepped around the corner, "Hello Tapestry, Abyss."

The two Writers looked up from the laptop, guiltily, "Oh! Drat." Tapestry sighed, "Hullo. We were hoping it might take you a little longer."

"Why?" Lyss asked, stepping closer to them to allow Kielle to run past her and hug Tapestry.

Tapestry's reply was muffled, so Abyss answered, "Well, Tapchanty and I were having such fun, playing everything."

"You could have done a lot of damage, dammit!" Captain snapped, Lyss nodded.

"Well, I *did* need a break, you know." Tapestry replied, sitting down again. "I mean, I guess I'm sorry and all, but, really," she rolled her eyes, "You all did fine without me, didn't you?"

"Fine?" Lia demanded of her Writer, "How can we be doing fine without you??!"

Red grinned, "We miss you, you little--"

"Oh, hush Red," Cherie admonished, she turned to Tapestry, "it's good to be home, is all I can say."

"Um, before we get all lovey-dovey and stuff, aren't we forgetting something?"

They all looked at Abyss, "What?" Lyss asked, before Captain could.

"Your Writers. They've formed an Amalgam. It's out there fighting us as we speak," They all blinked as suddenly everything swayed around them. "And, they're getting more cohesive. I think."

Captain and Lyss looked at each other, "Leave them alone and what do they do?" Captain muttered.

They sighed, "I guess we could just destroy this construct, would that work?" Lyss demanded.

Abyss shrugged, "Whatever you say, Lysistrata."

"Explosive." Captain agreed.

"I've always liked blowing things up." They glanced at each other, "ACE!"

"You called?" The young woman looked at them speculatively, the badges on her jacket standing out amidst the black of her pants and shirt.

"Ace," Lyss said, "Tell me you have some of that Nitro9 you're not supposed to be carrying around."

Ace smiled, wickedly, "I've something even better." She held up a gumball, "NitroPlus."

------------------

All the Writers and fictives had moved to lower levels of the construct, Lyss and Captain were taking Ace to what Abyss said was the most vulnerable spot. As Tapestry had agreed with him, they both believed it. Still...

"Oh, joy. Intestinal biomechanical fluid again," Captain muttered, sloshing through it behind Lyss and Ace. They turned a corner, and she waved an instrument at the wall, "Here. Right here," she scowled, "Below the..water line."

"Right." Ace nodded and carefully took out a few little balls of what appeared to be sweets. She popped them in her mouth, "How long?" She asked around them.

Lyss looked at the stream, "Better make it thirty seconds."

The girl nodded and sucked for a bit longer, then spit them into her palm and carefully felt for the little shelf beneath the surface that Abyss had said would be there. "Done it."

The three turned and began to swim downstream, away from the section, using the current as a help, Lyss decided, she *really* was going to kill Abyss after this, It was so unMuse-like. Swimming in someone's, well, a construct's anyway--intestinal tract. "I feel like I'm in a remake of--damn, my memory, I can't recall the name.. Voyage, or Journey, or something.." her voice trailed away as she grumbled incoherently.

The explosion rang out behind them, rippling the walls and jarring the current. And then something really odd happened. The walls grew..bigger. And, they *kept* growing. "What the--"

Captain yelped as the fluid abruptly got over her head, "It's--" {{expanding!}}

{{I know!}} Lyss snapped in reply, fishing for Ace as the current swept them downstream. {{The question is, why?}}

Everything abruptly shuddered to a halt. There was an odd poofing noise, and Lyss and Captain found themselves covered in gunk, lying in the ruins of the hospital. Ace coughed next to them, "Remind me never to go to a party with you two."

Lyss watched Ace run off as Captain stood, dusting herself off. "Did we do it, d'ya think?"

Captain shrugged, "I think so. Oh, damn." She looked over at the figure looming above them, "This is going to hurt."

"Fekt."

The Amalgam was tottering. Tapslaught's odd explosion had sent it off balance, and it was dancing around, shifting from foot to foot, attempting to regain that balance. It was failing as Captain and Lyss noted to their horror. And it was falling. On them.

"Oh, c'mon, it'll take a little longer for something that large to fall," Illyana stood there, a teleportation disk at her feet, "Are you coming, or aren't you?"

The two Muses looked at each other and dove through the disk without a backward glance.

----------------

And, the Amalgam crashed.

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!

It was an overwhelming consensus.

It lay there, attempting to come to terms, to be itself, to stand up.

Okay, we're lying down, now what?

I don't want to stand up, it's too hard!

Is Tapslaught gone?

How should I know???

Something is really odd, here.

Hey, watch what you're doing with that arm, dammit!

What the--

It's red. And, pretty.

Yes.

Can we play with it?

Ooo.. It's shiny!

Ooo.. Purple!

What's it doing? Hey, don't put that on my--Ouch!

That was my arm, dammit!!

"No, it was mine!"

"Oh, hush, you don't even know what you're talking about."

They froze. "Alan?" Yasmin looked at the lapine Writer in surprise, "What did you do? We're--" she looked around herself, Azzy, Mitai, Fancy, Rowan, Frito... All of them. The whole Amalgam.

Alan grinned and held up a purple crystal, "A little bird--well, she was possibly a Shi'ar/Mutant hybrid, I don't know--came and woke me. Nightcrawler 'ported us here." He paused, "We've actually been here for a while, but I was told to wait to use this." He shrugged, dislodging the red cloak from his shoulders, "Oops. I'm never going to get used to that, best leave it for someone else." He looked back at them, "So, as I was saying--"

"Hello Bunnyman," Tapestry greeted, "Did you enjoy the romp?"

Kielle sighed, rolling her eyes, "Romp?"

"Well, Sribalicious, it was somewhat fun," Abyss pointed out.

Kielle gestured around herself, at the dazed Writers, Muses, and fictives alike, "Yes, but what about them?? And what about the 'Cafe???" She wailed. "It's destroyed! Again!"

-----------

META: *pant*pant*pant* There. Happy? Anyone NOT happy may take it up with Illyana and Sabretooth!

Oh, and, the Muses--unless you want them adventuring otherwise, Yasmin--are just safe and fine and dandy as can be..

Oh, and thank you goes to SabreBabe and Rami.. I've nicked you're idea... *eg*

hugs, Ana/Lyssie, who is bloody well going to bed NOW.