Fire.

There was so much fire all around Sid. In the midst of it was a young girl. She reached her hand out, but before Sid could even respond, the hand crumbled away like ash.

Suddenly Sid was surrounded by cold. Ice covered the floor, walls, and ceiling. Another girl was there. She was shivering like crazy. As she reached a hand out towards Sid, she froze solid.

As the area around Sid began to change, the machine turned man mused, "Curious."

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

"Uhh...should we do something now?" Og'drimun asked.

Death stared up at the shifting tide of battle, and said. I mean, has anything really changed? They're still fighting.

"Yeah," Og'drimun nodded. "The ball is kinda a big monster now. And the wolf is sort of...uh...yeah..."

Death shrugged, which lifted the tiny demon in his ribcage up a little bit. But they're still just going after each other right? They're kind of staying away now, right?

"I..." Og'drimun paused as he seemed to mull things over in his head. "I mean, I guess that's fair enough."

Sweet, now let's watch these awesome guys trade blows. Death cheered.

BOOM!

The wolf had freed himself from the grasp of the robot. But, in the process his sword had been torn apart until it was just a hilt in the wolf's mouth.

Unlike the wolf, the machine was in excellent form. It looked far more humanoid than it had. With the glass dome split apart and turned into transparent armor over its vital parts. It was still fairly blocky, and now almost looked like it was wearing platemail over its body with a fierce looking helmet that had two red eyes glowing from underneath.

The robot's arms were massive with hands that rivaled the size of its head. It's legs were short and stocky as it crouched down and faced off against the wolf. And with a slight flick of its hand, it flung out the mass of spider-bots that still clung to the remains of the ice sword.

Blood dripped down the wolf's side from a fresh cut it suffered when he was trapped in the robot's fist.

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The wolf glared at the machine and his anger was almost palpable in the air around it. The mist of ice crystals seemed to thickin in tandem with his rage.

Kssshh!

In a flash, the sword sprung forward from the hilt just as big and vicious looking as before. His eye scanned the machine ahead of him. But something seemed to grab his attention, and he turned his eye to his side.

As the wolf's attention turned from the robot, so too did the machine turn to its side.

Uhhh...what do you think they're looking at? Death asked as he took a single step back.

Og'drimun grabbed ahold of Death's ribcage with both hands as he pressed his little head up against the bones as his eyes peered through the gap. He sat there for a brief moment before he pulled back with eyes wide open.

"Run." Og'drimun said softly.

Death looked down at his own chest and asked, Huh? Did you say something bro?

"I said, RUN!" Og'drimun shouted as he began to wave his arms around to cast a spell.

Death turned to his side and began to pick up his feet to run. Man, I forgot just how much moving on my own sucks.

"Don't you dare try to teleport and leave me here all alone!" Og'drimun threatened. "Or I will one-hundred percent come back and haunt you!"

Come on bro, Death scoffed. You think one of us would let someone slip through? I know I wouldn't. The cycle, remember?

WHAM!

Death was flung upward with a teary eyes Og'drimun inside as the robot's giant hand slammed down just beside them. The fleshy room was also knocked away as it went spinning through the air.

Oh, you wanted me to run from the robot. Death nodded as he casually spun his scythe around in a single hand, while his other stroked his chin thoughtfully. Not just for the sake of looking busy.

"Not just the robot!" Og'drimun gasped as he held out his hands, and a red bubble surrounded Death.

The bubble arrived not a moment too soon, as the wolf slashed his sword right at them. As it hit the bubble, it sent Og'drimun and Death flying around the chamber like a billiard ball.

"Hey!" Narissa hissed as she stuck her head out of the room that was now lying on its side. "I thought you two were supposed to be protecting us here?"

BANG!

A bullet skimmed right past Narissa ear. It continued moving, and was going to his the robot's hand, but a small spider robot was fired out from under an armor plate, and intercepted the bullet. Though the poor machine was obliterated in the explosion, the larger robot was completely unharmed.

"Seems a new card has changed the game." Sentenza chuckled as he casually walked closer. "Might want to hold of on repairs to take care of the bigger problem."

Narissa let out a sigh and pulled her head back into the room. "Any chance you two could hop out and help? I'm so desperate your attempt at a speech doesn't sound like suicide."

Ted seemed to have been thrown around the room, and was in a strange position with his back on the floor, his arm under his back, and his leg above his head with his other arm under his foot. He quickly straightened up at Narissa's words and nodded.

A moment later, the pain of the crash all came tumbling down onto Ted's shoulders. He let out a low groan, but managed to keep from falling back over again.

"Watch his back, woll you?" Narissa asked Lulu.

The girl looked over at Ted, who was clearly struggling to keep his back straight from the pain of the tumble. She looked back after Narissa and raised her eyebrow as she tilted her head forward. Then, a small smirk crept onto her face and she held out a hand as she started to rub her thumb against her pointer finger on her other hand.

"You know," Narissa said with a domineering glare, "when you're a freelance mercenary you can take on whatever jobs you want and expect to get paid at least some of your worth up front. But, once you join a company. Well, sure you get security and a bigger cut; but that cut often comes when the treasure is being split. You can't just wait to do your job until that treasure is found, you have to help everyone make their way up to it."

Lulu frowned as she retracted her hand. "A partner wouldn't expect pay, but I'd bet you the grunts sure would. Especially if they were getting such a small cut of the treasure."

"What are we talking about?" Ted asked.

"Blood money by the sound of it," Lulu smirked. "But, money is money, now come along. It's time for your big show. Better knock 'em dead."

And with that, Lulu grabbed Ted's shoulder, and shoved him out of the room. As gravity shifted for Ted, he tripped almost immediately, hut as Lulu followed behind him, she tumbled rather gracefully to his side.