Beneath Ultratech:  The Dungeon
 

        Orchid and Jago watched in horror as purple energy spewed upwards from the edge of the pit.  It gushed up almost like a wild geyser, as far up as either of them could see.  Even Fulgore-X was taken aback at the display of power.
        The purple energy soon began to twist and turn, and it finally took the shape of Gargos.  This Gargos was monstrous; his waist was level to the edge of the pit, and he extended for hundreds of feet into the air.  His movements were almost ghostlike.
        Orchid grabbed Jago around the waist and draped his arm around her shoulder.  “C’mon, we can’t fight this thing!”  She said.  “We gotta get out of here, find the others, and....and....I don’t know, but staying here isn’t going to help nothing!”  They slowly began backpedaling their way to the door.
        Fulgore-X stood where he had been, looking up at the enormous Gargos.  Without taking his eyes off him, Fulgore-X reached over with his right hand and rolled up the jumpsuit sleeve on his left arm.  He pressed down on his left forearm, exposing a control panel.  Fulgore-X now brought his left arm up to his chest, and looked down on it.  The small window on the control display showed-

CURRENT ENERGY OUTPUT - MAXIMUM LEVEL

        Fulgore-X was still working his control panel when Gargos decided to attack.  The energy demon raised his right arm, clenched his fist, and slammed it down into Fulgore-X’s position.  The cyborg disappeared under the power; the stone where he had been standing crumbled like stale bread, falling down into the pit below.  Gargos left his arm there for the moment, staring at it, smiling.  He then shifted his attention to Orchid and Jago.  Without moving his right arm, he brought his left arm up, and pointed the hand at the siblings.
        Orchid looked up, and noticed Gargos preparing to attack them.  She glanced backwards, seeing that the doorway to the stairs leading out of the Dungeon was only a few feet away.
        “Damn!  So close!”  Orchid thought.
        Gargos seemed ready to fire.  Suddenly, his attention was ripped away from Orchid and Jago and directed back to his right hand.  A thin blue column of light pierced through his hand, and shot up at least as high as Gargos.  It widened, seemingly consuming the hand.  Gargos howled in pain and withdrew the arm, recreating his hand as soon as his wrist was clear of the power.
        From the center of the blue energy column, Fulgore-X rose, with his arms to his sides and head lowered.  Gargos’s eyes glowed a raging yellow.  The cyborg stopped his ascent only ten meters or so above the ground.  He slowly lifted his arms, and as he did, the energy column around him started to twirl around in a counter clockwise direction.  The spinning was slow at first; it eventually picked up speed and when it did, small energy strands peeled away from the column and shot out in all directions.
        Orchid was using the distraction as an opportunity to escape.  Still supporting Jago, she inched closer and closer to the exit, seemingly oblivious to Fulgore-X and Gargos.  Her attention was soon grabbed though as one of the energy strands slammed into the wall only a few meters to her right.  Orchid took a quick look at the impact, and then shot a look ahead.  This enabled her to catch a glimpse of another energy strand, heading straight for her and Jago.  Given it’s proximity, and it’s speed, the only thing that could be done was for Orchid to throw her arms up over her face, a futile gesture for what would appear to be a fatal blast.
        In the middle of the energy column, Fulgore-X thrust his arms outward.  The column broke off into hundreds of smaller energy strands, that strayed off in all directions.  A great many of them shot out at Gargos, striking him directly.  The demon was completely unaffected by the attacks.  Gargos raised his right hand and fired a massive energy beam at Fulgore-X.  The beam struck the cyborg’s plasma shield, and dissipated harmlessly.  Gargos frowned, put both hands together, and fired an even more massive energy beam at the cyborg.  This one was infinitely more powerful than the first, and the plasma shield buckled.  Fulgore-X put both hands forward to reinforce it, but it did little good.  The shield collapsed, and the energy beam struck Fulgore-X, sending him flying backward, smashing into the wall.  Gargos fired a bunch of small, energy balls at Fulgore-X.  They struck his position, exploding into fire and smoke.
        Gargos waited for the smoke to clear.  When it did, Fulgore-X was no longer in the wall.  Gargos knew better than to think what most would have thought.
        The demon looked up.  Fulgore-X floated above his head, which was quite an altitude to be at.  His palms were connected, and to his right.  Blue energy streaks zipped from out of nowhere, into his cupped hands.  Fulgore-X let the energy collect for a few moments, then thrust his hands forward, blasting forth a tremendous beam of blue energy, a super plasma storm.  The super plasma storm ripped through the dense Dungeon air, firmly ramming itself into Gargos’s chest.  Gargos smiled, and proudly stuck himself out, welcoming the shot.  The attack had almost no effect, as Gargos seemed to bask in the energy.  Fulgore-X stopped firing, his eyes wide.
        Gargos opened his mouth, and spewed red energy at the cyborg.  Fulgore-X was sharply struck, and knocked backwards.  Gargos raised both hands, sending up a shower of small energy balls, which rose, then fell quickly upon Fulgore-X, who was slammed downwards.  He fell an extraordinary height, finally crashing into the stone ground, severely denting it.  Gargos clasped his hands together, brought them up over his head, and slammed them down upon Fulgore-X in a hammer like motion.  The stone flew outwards in all direction, as both sand pebbles and large chunks.  Underneath the chaos, Fulgore-X’s limp body fell down among the stone, still charged with plasma from his own super plasma storm.  When he hit the bottom of the pit, the dirt ground exploded in a massive fireball around him.
        Fulgore-X lay prone on the dirt floor of the pit.  He raised his head slowly and sat up.  The cyborg looked around, at the flames that burned around him.
        “What the hell caused that last explosion?”  Fulgore-X thought.
        Fulgore-X didn’t have much time to ponder the question, as Gargos’s foot rapidly descended down on him.  The cyborg scrambled out of the way, noticing that, although a lot of dirt was kicked up, there was no explosion when Gargos’s energy foot slammed into the ground.
        Fulgore-X retreated deeper into the pit.  He reached down and grabbed a handful of dirt.  With it in his hands, Fulgore-X examined the dirt.  Gargos annoyingly interfered, sending down a fireball.  Fulgore-X didn’t move; instead, he erected a plasma shield around himself.  This one was reflective; when the fireball hit the shield, it bounced right back to Gargos.  Fulgore-X knew that it would have no effect, but did it for show.
        Fulgore-X’s examination of the dirt was complete.  “Hmm....trace elements of...” he thought.  “Highly reactive to...plasma energy...hmm...”
        Fulgore-X activated his foot booster, and shot upwards, just as another fireball descended down on his position, exploding on contact with the ground where Fulgore-X once stood.  The cyborg rocketed up in front of Gargos, stopping ahead of his face.  He extended his left arm towards the demon; it glowed with a fierce blue color.  Gargos’s eyes grew in preparation to attack.  The cyborg had a smile in his eyes, as he activated both a teleport and a cloak at the same time.  Gargos’s eyes flared and shot a thin, yellow energy beam, but it sailed past where Fulgore-X once was, slamming into the wall harmlessly.  Gargos raised both hands, shooting off fireballs at random; none of them seemed to come in contact with anything other than the stonewalls and pillars.
        Gargos stopped his attack.  He resumed his ghost-like movements, growling with such a low base, that it shook the Earth to its very core.
        Suddenly, Fulgore-X reappeared directly in front of Gargos.  His hands were cupped at the palms and to his right again.  More streaks of blue energy shot into his hands, forming an even bigger ball of plasma energy than before.
        Gargos smiled.  “Silly, silly cyborg.  Don’t you know that that doesn’t work?”
        Fulgore-X narrowed his eyes.  “It’s not you I’m aiming at!!”  He screamed.  Fulgore-X spun on his heel in mid air, to face the wall behind him.  A flat, reflective plasma shield appeared in front of him.  Fulgore-X thrust out his hands, firing an even more powerful super plasma storm.  The blast tore forward, slamming into the shield, and bouncing right back to Fulgore-X.  The cyborg crossed his arms in front of him, and received the energy beam.
        It struck his plasma shield, engulfing it and the cyborg.  Fulgore-X, somewhere inside of the charged shield, began to zip towards Gargos, with the rest of the super plasma storm behind him.  In essence, he became a plasma comet.  Gargos tried to defend against it, but to no avail.  The comet ripped through Gargos and shot down into the pit, striking the floor sharply and causing a gigantic explosion of hot, billowy fire.  The fire mushroomed upwards, eating Gargos up hungrily.  Upon exiting the pit, the fireballs expanded, destroying and consuming the stone floor and pillars.  This explosion continued out and up, and it quickly became apparent that the confines of the Dungeon would not be able to contain this one...
 

New York: Central Park
 

        Young lovers Scott Marshall and Eliza Winters sat on one of the benches in the middle of central park.  Scott was of an average build, with deep blue eyes, dirty blond hair, and an overall boyish look.  Eliza was very slim, and looked to be athletic.  She had long, brown hair, brown eyes, and strong jawbones accented with full red lips.  Both were in their twenties.
        The two looked somewhat disturbed in the crisp, chill air of a winter New York night.  City sounds pulsated all around them, from engines roaring by, horns crying their call of the annoyed, and the voices of thousands of people jumbled together, intertwined like the blending of the sunlight and the night above in the sky.
        Eliza took Scott’s hand.  “I’m sorry...but this isn’t working out for me.”
        Scott’s face twisted.  “What?  What’s wrong? Please tell me, and I’ll change, I swear!”
        “I don’t think you can consciously change it.  I just feel like you’re not as committed to me as I am to you.  Like you’re not always there.  I just can’t be in a relationship with someone who can’t return my feelings.  I’m sorry.”
        “Well...what do you want me to do?  I’ll do anything!”
        “Please, don’t make this worse.  I think we’d make good friends.  But that’s it; good friends.”  Eliza dropped Scott’s hand, and looked away.  Scott prepared for another round of pleading, but then his attention was turned to the ground below him.
        Eliza caught the shift.  “What’s going on?”
        Scott continued to stare.  “Don’t you feel that? It feels like the ground is...shaking...”
        Suddenly, the pavement a few meters ahead cracked, and fire spit upwards.  Eliza screamed; Scott leaped off the bench.
        “What the hell...?”  He asked in amazement.
        Another crack opened up in the ground, and more fire shot up.  Other patrons began to flee the park, and bystanders on the street started to gather around the perimeter to watch the explosions.
        Scott grabbed Eliza by the hand.  “C’mon, we gotta get out of here!”  He yelled.  He led her by the arm as he made a made dash towards the nearest street.  They hadn’t gone far when another crack violated the pavement, accompanied by another fire geyser.  Scott stopped abruptly, and Eliza bumped into him.
        “We gotta find another way out!”  He said at the top of his lungs.  He was about to turn when the Earth between him and Eliza split.  She fell down on her side, as the chunk of the pavement she was on seemingly retreated into the sea of flames.  Scott watched in horror for a few precious seconds, then turned away and leaped through a firewall in front of him.
        The next few moments were very hazy for Scott.  He could recall moving his legs, possibly running, but he couldn’t remember any ground on which to run.  There was nothing ahead of him but milky blends of gray and orange color, through which Scott barreled through until finally crashing into something soft.  He remembered hitting the pavement, which is where he currently resides.  Sitting up slowly, he looked at Central Park; or at least, where it used to be.  All that could be seen was huge fireballs, rolling upwards, and a lot of gray and black smoke.
        “Eliza...”  He said softly.
        A dark silhouette emerged from the main body of the catastrophe.  Although his vision was blurred, Scott could tell that this shadowy figure was a man, with some object draped over his shoulder.  Scott wondered if he was seeing things, or if some lucky soul had actually survived the hell on Earth.
        As the figure neared, Scott could see that he was badly mistaken.  It wasn’t a man.  It was a...robot of sorts.  It had a black head and hands, with piercing red triangular eyes.  There was a yellow ponytail oddly protruding from the back of its head.  This robot wore a gray jumpsuit that had red shoulders and sleeves.  It had a black belt around its waist, and it wore bright red boots, the same red as the red on his jumpsuit.  Furthermore, the object draped across its shoulder was Eliza.  The crowd that had gathered behind Scott gasped in awe and horror at the sight.
        The robot stopped directly in front of Scott.  In a motion that was barely noticeable, it lowered its shoulder, dropping Eliza to the ground.  It looked at her for a few seconds, and then turned its attention to Scott.
        “You dropped this.”  The robot said, in a deep, frightening baritone voice.
        It spun around on its heel and walked slowly, but surely, right back into the hell from whence it came.  Scott was still trying to figure out if the smoke had caused him to hallucinate the whole scene, when Eliza began to stir.  Scott was quickly to her side, so that he was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes.  Her skin was a dirty gray, but other than that, she appeared to be fine.
        Upon looking at Scott, Eliza’s eyes lit up, and she managed to crack a smile.
        “Scott...did...did you save me?”  She whispered.
        Scott took her hand.  He looked up, and watched the dark outline of the robot, as it disappeared into the smoke.  He then looked back down at Eliza.  He smiled as well.  “Yes honey.  I got us out of there.  I saved us both.”
 

        Orchid awoke laying on a curved surface.  Her eyes opened very slowly, and it took even longer for her vision to focus.  At first, her world was nothing more than blotchy jumbles of blue and red, with gray and black streaks running though the blur.  When Orchid’s vision returned, the colors finally made more sense.
        “Plasma shield...”  She thought.
        Orchid was lying on the inside of a plasma shield.  The last thing she remembered was being inside of the Ultratech Dungeon, when a large energy strand headed directly for her.  Orchid guessed that Fulgore-X had extended a shield around her before the strand impacted.
        “But why...why would he save me?”  She thought.
        The plasma shield fell, and so did Orchid, abruptly to the ground.  At this time, she realized where the red, gray, and black blotches were coming from.  She was in the middle of a sea of flames.  To her right, was what appeared to be a charred water fountain.  Even though the whole scene was on fire, she recognized it to be Central Park.
        Quickly, Orchid jumped up to her feet, and ran straight through the flames, putting her arms over her face and letting the near indestructible material of the jumpsuit shield her.  She ran until she could no longer feel smoke penetrating her lungs.  Orchid stopped running, and opened her eyes.
        She was in the middle of a squad of firemen and fire trucks.  In their bright yellow outfits, they held the giant hoses which spit out brilliant streams of water, which hopelessly plunged themselves into the fire ocean.  Beyond the fire squad, a large group of New York citizens gathered around to watch the events unfold.
        A fireman quickly came up to Orchid.  “Hey sister, are you okay?  I don’t know how the hell you survived in there so long...”
        Orchid coughed.  “I’m fine.”  She said.
        Another fireman approached her.  “Damn.”  He said to the first fireman.  “This chick’s wearing the same thing as that other guy that came out a few minutes earlier, what’s up with that?”
        Orchid let the words tumble around in her head for a few seconds.  “Other guy? ...Jago!  Where did he go?”
        The first fireman scratched his chin.  “He went back thataway...”  He pointed behind him, through the crowd.
        Orchid turned quickly and ran right through the crowd, who parted like a grass field in the wind for her.  The second fireman called after her to come back, but to no avail.
        Orchid cleared the crowd, out onto the city street.  It was total chaos.  More onlookers stood around, surveying the damage.  At least three police cars had parked themselves in the middle of the street, with the officers gone to some unknown location.  Down the sidewalk, a large, narrow chunk of pavement extending about twenty feet far had been burned out.  Two cars on the other side of the street had been overturned, and were burning fiercely.  A mailbox had been decimated, with blue residual energy still crawling all over it.  All of the windows on the side of the street Orchid stood on had been shattered, with the fragmented glass strewn all about on the charred sidewalk.
        “They’ve been here.”  Orchid thought.  She once again started to run down the street, fighting her way through the horde of onlookers.
 

New York City: A Cross Street
 

        “They’ve been here.”  Jago thought, as he stood in the middle of a ravaged New York City street.  At least three-fourths of the street was on fire.  All of the cars had stopped abruptly, and some had wrecked themselves on the sidewalk, on the center divider, and on top of other cars.  Some of the motorists began slowly migrating out of their vehicles, cussing at each other and the situation in general.  Patrons of the adjacent shops had also wondered out into what was left of the street, muttering in awe at the devastation.  Ahead of Jago, a newspaper stand had been completely decimated, it’s few remains smoldered amidst the rest of the fires.  A streetlight had been sliced width wise about five feet up from it’s base; the top half tipped over into the street, the top of the pole resting on top of a car.
        “And they’ve been here recently.”  Jago said to himself.  Ignoring the pain in his ribs and his upper right thigh, he raced down the street in pursuit of the battle.
 

New York City: Theater of the Performing Arts
 

        The Theater of the Performing Arts was a grand facility.  The stage was extraordinarily large, and very well polished.  Seats and musical ring stands were arranged on stage, as there was to be a performance tomorrow night.  Dim stage lights provided faint illumination over the stage, and the band pit, which contained a few loose drum sets and folding chairs.  There were many plush, red seats that extended at least two hundred rows back.  Over the last fifty seats was a balcony, approximately fifty feet above the main floor.  The edge of the balcony was draped with fine red silk.  Yes, this theater was a fine facility.
        It was.
        Fulgore-X came crashing in through the right wall.  He sailed backwards for a few feet, and then hit the ground sharply, skidding for a few more feet.  He remained on the floor, prone, as Gargos came in through the hole Fulgore-X created.  Like back in the Dungeon, he was still completely composed of energy.  Unlike his previous form, he was only a mere ten feet tall.
        “Idiot robot.”  Gargos muttered.  “That pathetic explosion you caused back in the Dungeon took away a great deal of my power.  Fortunately, I still have more than enough to dispose of you.”  Gargos threw his right arm forward, releasing a crimson red fireball, which struck Fulgore-X and sent him sliding backwards.  Fulgore-X stopped, and turned his back towards the demon.
        “You will be the first to perish by my hand; but many others will follow.  This world will slowly but surely be remade over into my image, my vision of perfection, where the strong rule all...”
        Gargos continued on, but Fulgore-X ignored him.  “I’d pay good money to shut him up.”  The cyborg thought.  Behind the cover of his back, he opened the control panel on his left arm and began to play with it.  After a while, a set of messages appeared in his eyes-

REMOTE ACCESS CHANNEL OPENED - ES CONSTITUTION
POSITIONING ES CONSTITUTION OVER NEW YORK CITY, NORTH AMERICA
OPENING ATTACK LASERS 1, 2
POWERING UP
AWAITING FINAL ATTACK COORDINATES

        Fulgore-X shot a glance back at Gargos.  As he expected, the demon was still ranting, approaching ever so slowly.  Fulgore-X input a final set of commands into his arm, then closed the panel and spun around to face Gargos, on one knee.
        “You talk too damn much.”  Fulgore-X said, cutting Gargos off.
        Gargos’s eyes widened.  “Oh!  And here I thought you were enjoying yourself.  I thought that maybe you would like to experience life for a few more moments.  Guess not.  Oh well, I’m more than happy to oblige...”  Gargos pointed both hands at Fulgore-X.
        Fulgore-X cut his eyes.  “Sucker.”  He said sharply.  Gargos caught the look in Fulgore-X’s eyes, then took a look upwards...
 

Above Earth: The Earth Satellite Constitution
 

        ES Constitution opened its three attack panels, which spread out from the base of the satellite unit like wings.  Red electrical energy flowed from the base unit out to the panels, charging them.  The charge continued to flow, while the wings glowed brighter.  Suddenly, the panels jerked upwards, as all three fired rectangular shaped beams of red lasers.  The beams converged about twenty meters away from the ES Constitution, forming one very large laser blast, which rapidly descended down to the Earth...
 

New York City: A City Street
 

        Jago stood somewhat confused in the center of another chaotic street.  It was obvious that Fulgore-X and Gargos had been there.  What wasn’t so obvious was what direction they went in, as the aftermath extended outwards in all directions.  People were just starting to emerge from their cars and the local stores, suggesting that Jago was only a few minutes behind.
Jago wondered where to go when the question was answered for him.  In the sky, there was a bright red flash, the light of which softly blanketed the mess of the street.  Upon looking up, Jago saw a small red light, which resembled a large star.  This light grew larger and larger, until it became a large beam of energy, which descended down to some location only a block away from Jago.
        “There.”  He thought, and he turned and headed off in the direction of the blast.
 

Theater of the Performing Arts
 

        Gargos looked up, directly into the massive laser blast that pounded through the ceiling of the theater, crashing down on the demon.  Gargos apparently exploded; the laser hit the floor and promptly destroyed it.  The finely finished wood floor buckled and shattered under the blast, and a few flames shot outwards from ground zero.
        Fulgore-X rose to both feet, staring intently at the site of the blast.  He didn’t bother to wipe away any of the plasma that now flowed freely from somewhere atop his head.  When all seemed calm, Fulgore-X displayed a small expression of relief.
Unexpectedly, purple energy around the blast site began to gather together.  Forming a ring around the site, it dashed forwards, clear of the explosion.  When all of it had met, it rose, forming Gargos, who stood proudly with a smile when the process was complete.  Fulgore-X’s eyes widened.
        Gargos rapidly shot forward a large red fireball, which hit Fulgore-X in the stomach and exploded.  The force launched Fulgore-X midair and backwards.  Before the cyborg could make his inevitable crash into the far left wall, Gargos appeared behind him, opening his mouth and firing a large red energy beam at the helpless cyborg.  Fulgore-X was jerked forward, awkwardly tumbling back to his previous location.  He landed on his stomach like a dirty, tossed rug.  Gargos disappeared and reappeared in between Fulgore-X and the stage.  He let Fulgore-X slowly get back to his feet.  While that went on, Gargos brought both hands back to his waist, gathering energy.
        Fulgore-X got back up to his feet, and turned around slowly to face Gargos.  Immediately afterwards, Gargos thrust his arms forward, firing a double energy beam at the battered cyborg.  The blast slammed into Fulgore-X, exploding on and around him, and propelling him up and backwards, on a painful journey that would eventually lead up to the balcony.  Fulgore-X landed somewhere in the middle, along with the energy that carried him there.  The energy beams expanded outwards upon contact with the balcony seats, spreading debris everywhere.
        Jago threw open the front door to the building where the laser blast from the sky had descended upon.  When the doors were fully opened, exposing the inside of the building to him, Jago quickly recognized it as some sort of theater.  He also recognized a much smaller Gargos, standing in front of the band pit, and firing a double energy blast into Fulgore-X.  The cyborg was carried upwards by the blast, into the balcony above Jago’s head.
        “Bingo.”  Jago thought.
        Gargos cocked his right arm backwards, like a spring.  He gathered concentrated, powerful red energy in his hand.  The air could be heard searing around his hand.  In a violent motion, Gargos ripped his hard forward, launching a massive crimson fireball at the balcony.  It pushed its way forward and up, on a collision course with the balcony.  The fireball bullied its way into the balcony, ripping it apart.  Sparks and flames shot out as the fireball cleared its path.  Eventually, the entire balcony erupted in flames, and the structure began to cave and fall down to the floor below.
        Jago looked up to see the balcony quickly advancing on him.  With absolutely no time to panic, he dashed forward, hit the aisle, and rolled as fast as he could.  Behind him, the balcony crashed down into the floor, kicking up more building granite, dust, and flames.  Slowly, the rest of the balcony descended, falling upon the existing rubble.
        Jago watched the collapse for a short time, and then directed his attention to Gargos.  The demon was still frozen in pose, with his right arm extended towards where the balcony used to be.
        “Now’s my chance.”  Jago thought.  He took off down the aisle, running as hard as he possibly could.  When he was even with the first row of seats, Jago jumped up, turned his right shoulder towards the demon, and extended his right leg towards Gargos, bringing his left under the right.  Jago sailed gracefully through the air, coming in contact with Gargos.  Instead of hitting him, Jago went right through him.  He emerged from behind Gargos, and continued to sail and descend, finally falling down into the band pit.  The drums and folding chairs made an awful clatter as Jago disturbed their peace.
        Gargos looked down at his chest, at the point where Jago went through.  He stared vacantly at the disturbed energy for a few moments, and then slowly turned around to face Jago, who was pulling himself out of a grave of drum sets.  Gargos’s eyes shone the bright light of realization, as he smiled his biggest smile of the night.
        At the back of the theater, a few loose pieces of brick fell down from the balcony’s former location, joining the small pyramid of wreckage.  A few small pieces rolled childishly down the structure.  Only a few more brick fragments fell from above, then it stopped.  Soon, the other small pieces stopped their roll, and there was total peace.
        The peace was quickly and rudely interrupted as Fulgore-X’s black hand emerged from the top of the debris pyramid, his claw unsheathed and glowing fiercely.  The light from the claw flared out, obliterating the top of the pyramid.  Fulgore-X pushed his head and torso through the opening.  He pulled his other arm up and out, and grabbed some of the wreckage around him, using it to pull the rest of himself up.  When Fulgore-X’s feet had cleared the mess, he released the debris, allowing himself to tumble down the makeshift pyramid.  Fulgore-X landed lamely on his right side at the base of the structure.
        The cyborg corrected himself, and then brought himself to his feet.  He took a moment to clear away stubborn brick powder and small fragments that clung to him.  As he did, Fulgore-X quickly realized that he shouldn’t even have that opportunity.  He glanced down towards the stage; Gargos wasn’t there.
        Fulgore-X half expected the demon to reappear behind him, but that never happened.  In fact, the entire theater was oddly silent.  It was very disturbing to the cyborg.
        Suddenly, the silence was violated by a strange sound.  Laughter.  Only, it wasn’t Gargos’s.  It was a man’s voice, somewhat deep, but an overall average pitch.  The worst part of it all was that the voice sounded like Jago’s.
        Fulgore-X’s eyesight was a little blurry, so he couldn’t see well enough to determine the source of the laughing, but his ears could tell that it was coming from the direction of the stage.
        “Jago?”  Fulgore-X called out, a little nervously.  He began limping his way to the stage.  The laughing continued, perhaps intensified a bit.  It was genuine too; there was nothing fake or generic about it.
        “Jago?”  Fulgore-X said again.  He held his stomach with his left arm, and ignored the blue liquid plasma streaking down his right arm.  He also didn’t bother to get rid of some of the hair from his ponytail that had strayed in front of his face.
        The laughing continued steadily.  “What the hell is so damn funny?”  Fulgore-X thought, a little annoyed.  He continued his slow tread towards the stage.  Nearing it, he could see the outline of a man, about Jago’s height and build, with Jago’s hairstyle, sitting on the edge of the stage, his legs dangling above the band pit.  His chest shook, and it was obvious that he was the source of the laughter.
        “Jago?”  Fulgore-X said again, but only received more laughter in response.  Fulgore-X got to the front row of the seats, and then limped in front of them, so that he could shakily stand in the center of the row, and directly face the mad man.
        Fulgore-X had to admit that, having never felt fear, he wouldn’t know when he did feel it.  However, if he had to guess, what he was feeling now must be pretty close to being scared.
        “Jago?  Is that you?”  Fulgore-X asked one final time.
        The man let his laughter die out, as he looked up at Fulgore-X.  “No...not quite...” he responded.  Fulgore-X’s eyes widened as they met Jago’s eyes.  Jago’s completely white eyes...