Diomedes and Aishwarya are too busy quietly making love.

Eventually the noise fades away entirely, leaving the two of them curled up in each others arms. Pleasantly tired and relaxed. The worries of the universe can wait till tomorrow, for now Diomedes drifts off asleep and in peace.

Spooned up against each other in the quiet of the night, Aishwarya snuggles closer trying to stay warm. It is chilly in the middle of the night. Drifting in and out of sleep Diomedes reaches for the sheet to pull over them both, wondering at one deep level if he hadn't left the patio door ajar. This alone prompts him to open eye to look around.

Instinct kicks in for Diomedes as he pushes Aishwarya away hard and rolls to himself to the other side of the bed. Instantly a grey metal appendage comes chopping down in the place where they were just laying entangled. This cruel looking shaft of dull looking iron (without rivets or bolts) ends in a savage and sharp blade that literally tears the mattress and bedframe in two.

It could have easily killed them both.

Floating above the bed appears to some sort of construct of dull grey metal, exactly like the Octohedron from the Tower, only as if it had unfolding itself like some origami from Hell. Resmbling more like a large flat heavy ribbon, two stalks pivot, swivel and bend- making it all seem like two great metallic tentacles adjoined at nothing. Even still, it gives off the impression of having great strength and mass- and already, as Aishwarya screams, the thing is orienting on Diomedes.

Whether Delwin can be believed about anything else, he has not exaggerated- this thing is a straight up killing machine.

Diomedes mind races through a decision tree of options and in an instant comes the solution. Without his spells or a weapon he is helpless. There is no time for him to worry about clothes. Barsoom style, he'll have to tackle this thing skyclad.

The moment Diomedes moves, only to scramble to his feet, one of the two ends of this construct immediately orients on him. His movements are being assessed.

Diomedes' first priority, then, is obtaining Pagono. He will move as quickly as he can for his blade, shouting at Aishwarya "Stay back from it! It's coming at ME."

The entire mass of the thing turns in mid-air, so that the 'arm' that has focused on him can extend its reach. The metallic stalk, angular and flat on the sides, jabs down like a spear at a spot on the floor just a few feet in front of where Pagono lies.

It literally gouges the concrete under the carpeting, then retracting the 'arm' back with an easy jerk. Then entire mass turning again so that it can re-orient on Diomedes' new position.

Diomedes curses in a mixture of Thari, Greek and a few other languages as the Octohedron anticipates his obvious course of action and blocks him from it so violently. - Hide quoted text -

Diomedes can not tell if it has heard his words to the terrified Aishwarya, whether it understood, or if simply did not disagree with his assessment. The son of Brand does suspect this: it surmised his objective and deliberately blocked him from Pagono, or tried to use it as a means to terminate him.

Keeping the thing away from Aishwarya is his second priority. All of his possessions are of tertiary importance.

Aishwarya stifles a sob. She is crouched and cowering by the wall next to one side of the headboard of the now ruined bed. She makes one hesitant motion to bolt for the door, but the other end of the Tower's security construct silently twitches and turns. With that, and along with Diomedes' warning, she freezes in place next to the nightstand. Instead she reaches one hand toward the bed to grab a corner of the shredded top sheet and pulls it taut, back towards her chest.

A precariously perched digital clock on that same nightand reads that it is 3:55 am.

The now unfolded Octohedron makes no counter attack yet. It almost seems to be analyzing the situation.

In the space of a few heartbeats Diomedes can process more information. He was awakened by the cold, because the sliding glass door to the balcony is open, and the curtain is pulled aside. He can guess that the Octohedron must have somehow unfolded itself, drawn back the door while they slept soundly, and levitated through the doorway without a sound. Diomedes has a better look at it now as well. It is definitely still geometric, fractal. Like a giant toy puzzle, it just folds and pivots in on itself as it needs to, unwinding into the long angular ribbon shape he sees now..

Stymied and frustrated by the superior strength, and perhaps martial skill of the monstrous metal construct, Diomedes takes a little more than a second and a half to finally come to a decision on what to do to try and escape this deadly situation.

His voice holds on the knife edge of calm as he speaks.

"Aishwarya, when I say Run, Run for the door and get out of here."

Diomedes then makes a move toward Pagono again, but its a feint, designed to get the Octohedron to commit to defending his sword again. As soon as the arm moves with its incredible speed, Diomedes shouts "RUN", and changes tactics immediately. If the moving arm is high, he'll reach and briefly grab the moving arm as he moves himself, to swing himself and provide momentum for him as he heads for the open balcony. If the arm is low, he'll hurdle the arm and head the same direction. If the arm is not blocking his path to the balcony, he will just make for the balcony flat out.


Between his feint and his dash for the balcony, Diomedes' goals are to see to Aishwarya's escape, and get him out of the deadly trap that his room has become.

The metallic arm holds his weight easily, the construct's levitational properties easily compensate for it's own weight and mass as well as his. Diomedes swings across the room, and its not till after that he lets go does he sense that the unfolded Octahedron is reacting. Reacting too late that is.

If Aishwarya draws the guardian's attention for split second, Diomedes doesn't have a chance to see it, but he can hear it moving and 'folding' behind him.

Dashing towards the open doorway to the balcony, Diomedes can see out of his peripheral vision both 'arms' converging to grab him like a giant floating claw. They clang ominously together, missing the fleet footed son of Brand slipping through the door, sans clothing. Turning around, Diomedes can see poor Aishwarya pulling the door open and darting out as fast as her long smooth tanned legs can carry her.

A brief moment of regret goes through Diomedes mind. His course of action worked...but it was not heroic. And Diomedes is once again a failed hero.

On the other side of the door to suite is Random, standing in nothing more than underwear. With one look at her face and her obvious distress, Random catches her in his arms. "Hey, hey, what's wrong?" he asks with concern.

Then with one look across the suite, and Random *knows* what is wrong. Numbly and without a word he lets Aishwarya slip out of his grasp to run out of sight.

"Get a weapon Random!" Diomedes shouts. "Or get out of here and save yourself! It wants ME" he adds.

"Kid!" Random starts to say...

Having only moments before the Octohedron will arrive and kill himself, Diomedes prolongs his life by beginning a rapid climb up and over the railing of the balcony, and down. His goal is to get to the balcony of the apartment below him, and, if possible, get the Octohedron into a chase.

With ease, Diomedes flips one leg over the railing and then the other. The Octohedron is still in the hotel room reconfiguring itself even as Dio lowers, swings once and then falls a small distance down to the balcony below.

Without much thought he decides that the door is unlocked. Pushing it open with the palms of his hands, Diomedes brushes his way past the drapes.

The occupants sit up in bed. An older couple, perhaps in their early forties as some mid-shadow dwellers age. The woman screams, and her husband or lover demands. "Who are you? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!"

"Stay in bed. It's after me!" Diomedes commands, panting, as he runs across the room, reaching for the door to the hallway on the fourth floor.

The glass of the sliding balcony doors is thick and not easily broken. When thick glass breaks and shatters, especially under sudden and violent conditions, the sound is absolutely deafening in the instant.

With a backwards glance, Diomedes will see the angular ribbon of iron forcing its way through the now shattered balcony door. Even as the son of Brand sets aside subtlety, so does the monstrosity. The unfortunate male occupant, confronted by a nude stanger streaking across his hotel bedroom shouting orders, ignores Diomedes' command. Possibly to his doom. Out of bed, he is confronted by the Octohedron and raises his arms in front of his face to ward off thing.

With careless ease, the construct swings its front section at the man, and the unfortunate vacationer is thrown more than a half dozen feet to slam against a nearby wall like a rag doll.

The screaming from the woman just doesn't stop.

There are shouts of alarm and panic from up on the fifth floor from where Diomedes came. Right now Diomedes has a good twenty to 30 foot head start, and the Octohedron is not small. Fast and graceful in an open room, Diomedes can tell that getting through doorways and small corridors is going to slow it down, not to mention that he thinks he is faster in a dead run.

The hallway on this floor is clear for the moment.

"Come on after me you bastard spawn of Hephaestus' laboratories." Diomedes says in a taunt behind him. Diomedes eyes turn around and register for the stairs. An elevator up a floor will take too much time.

Diomedes might also reckon that it could tear open the elevator doors and attack the cabling system.

Furthermore, Diomedes has decided there will be firefighting supplies in the stairwells between floors, including a handy crowbar that he will be able to grab once he reaches the stairs and begins to take them...

...back up to the fifth floor, expecting the clumsy but deadly Octohedron to follow him all the while.

It is not exactly clumsy, but it is big. Were it to refold into an octahedron it would be knocking aside furniture as it spun after him (which it could do), but it would still have to unfold when it came to a doorway.. unless it bashed right through the drywall and concrete (which it could do, at the cost of valuable seconds). So follow Diomedes it does, but in the form of a fractal metal serpent levitating off the ground.

The woman from the room Diomedes came through can still be heard to be screaming. Guest room doors open as men and women peek out in the hallway. Some brave souls even walk right out to find out what is going on. With one look at the monster, doors slam as people retreat back to their rooms.

On the landing of the fire stairs Diomedes finds a glass cabinet built into the concrete with a fire hose, pick-axe, and crowbar. "Alarm Will Sound" cautions the print on the glass. Yanking it open, he can take the crowbar if he chooses, or even the pick axe.

Confronted by a surplus of weapons thanks to his slight use of Pattern, Diomedes decides to take both the crowbar and the pick-axe.

Instantly the hotel is filled with a cacophony of alarms. No one will be awake in this hotel in a few moments, and the whole building is going to be in absolute pandemonium.

Diomedes doesn't hesitate and doesn't care. With a deadly construct behind him, no one should be sleeping anyway, if they want to live.

Diomedes sprints up one landing, heading back towards the fifth floor when he sees two scantily clad women in not much more than panties and t-shirts, and a third draped in a bathrobe run down the staircase at him. Dio's brain barely has a chance to process that the one in the bathrobe is Aishwarya, who sees him as well; all three women look terrified. Random comes into view on the steps above them, wearing blue jeans but is otherwise shoeless and shirtless. With a hand gun drawn in both hands he fires back up at the fifth floor fire door. Looking back down the stairs he sees Diomedes on the landing below.

Diomedes doesn't drop his crude weapons in surprise, but he blinks and stops his ascent.

"Down!" he waves, taking one hand off the gun. "Those guys from the Tower coming down this way after us! Trying to draw cover" he shouts as he fires off another round. Needless to say, Random can be heard, barely, but the fire alarms are only made worse by the sounds of gunshot on these fire stairs. The sound echoes off the concrete walls with no acoustical dampening whatsoever.

Diomedes realizes immediately that the Octahedron is going to be trying to get on the staircase from the fourth floor any second now... and Random and these three co-eds are running right into its path with the horny-handed thugs behind them. If Diomedes jumps down one landing he can get to that steel door before the metallic monster has a chance to open it.

Diomedes curses as he realizes the box the foes have put them in.

"The metal monster is right below us. It's the greater threat!" Diomedes shouts at Random and the girls. He winces and then jumps down to the next landing and is moving as soon as he lands.His intent is to reach the steel door and seal or bar it, perhaps with the help of the crowbar or the axe so that they can buy time on one front so as to be able to deal with the humanoids.

Grasping the railing, Diomedes half leaps and half swings back down to the railing that he just came ran up from.

There is no wired safety glass window in this door, so there is no telling what is happening in the hallway. The door is constructed of solid metal; and as a fire door, it is intended to withstand high temperatures for a prolonged amount of time. It also opens in towards Diomedes in case there is a panicked rush from the occupied area. The metal hinges are on his side, and the door rests in a solid metal frame. Finally, the door's opening arc would not obstruct orderly traffic on the landing. Except for the lack of a lock, all the advantages are in Diomedes' favor, this time.

Diomedes is no sooner at the door when he can see the door knob slowly turning of its own accord. It takes less than a second for Diomedes to realize that his hand doesn't have the traction to hold the door this way. He can almost imagine the Octahedron folding an appendage into a socket wrench and turning it with pneumatic ease.

Instead he drives the crowbar into the small seam between the door and the frame, and then with the superhuman might of the blood of Amber... he starts to bend that crowbar over.

Diomedes groans as he forces the crowbar into an unnatural shape.

Everything remains in utter chaos. The fire alarm continues to drown out most every sound, except for the gunshots. The spur-handed men must have firearms as well, as a few stray shots come ricocheting off concrete and steel down the stairwell. Luck is on their side as no one is struck, and Random stays where he is, providing cover fire and keeping the Tower guards pinned where they are.

Dio's palms hurt as he twists metal with his bare hands, and his biceps stand out from the effort. The girls are darting past him behind his back, and if they notice what he's doing there is no way to tell. That is when the clanging on the door begins. The first two times is not so bad, but then small dents appear on the surface of the door and the noise is fantastic. There is no way to describe it other than to say it looks and sounds like some giant robot is pounding on the door with all it's might.

Random moves along the wall and down the steps to where Diomedes is, keeping his gun trained to snap off a shot if anyone comes into view on the stairs. The pounding on the door stops.

"We gotta get out of here! I've only got so many shots" he shouts to Diomedes in order to be heard over the fire alarm.

Then a very high pitched metallic whine starts from the fire door. Diomedes can sense the cause from not only from the sound, but the vibration coming from the door.

The Octahedron is somehow drilling through the door now.

"That won't hold long, Uncle!" the still unclothed Diomedes says matter of factly. "You're right, we've got to get out of here."

He pauses and then adds. "If we can lead them away from the inhabitants here, so much the better. Even if none of our family comes again here in a generation, I don't want to leave them to the tender mercies of those things and that construct."

"We'll do better once we're outside the Hotel and we can shift shadow effectively for our purposes." Diomedes adds, and starts heading for the stairs to follow the women.

Random nods curtly, and follows Diomedes down the steps with his gun still drawn. No more shots are fired down the stairs, and Random saves his remaining shots as well.

"They're either trying to double back down another way," Random shouts over the fire alarm. "Or they've called it off to avoid the cops and set up another ambush." Once they get down another landing, he adds, "Then again, I'm not sure the Kill-a-tron 2000 really gives a damn about local authorities."

"It merely wants us." Diomedes agrees.

They pass at least one wide eyed couple peering through the fire door on the second floor, but otherwise Diomedes and Random are able to jog all the way down to the main floor. Bursting into first floor corridor they pass a housekeeping cart and Random tosses his nephew a large towel to wrap around his waist.

Hotel staff, flunkies, and assistant night managers and the like are buzzing around the front desk and almost everyone is on a telephone. The girls are huddled to the side and haven't noticed them yet. Then the fire alarm abruptly cuts off.

"Thank god," mutters Random in a normal tone of voice. "Look, this place is going to be swarming with fire trucks, and cops, and the Unicorn help us- EMTs." He motions towards Aishwarya still motioning frantically to her friends. "I think the sensible thing is to just cut our losses. We didn't leave 'em to the mercy of the flying Cuisinart or anything. Once we're gone, they should be fine. We can run for the car," he motions towards the parking lot, "and make for Rebma."

Random starts to say something else then stops abruptly. "But I won't tell you how to manage your own affairs," he adds grudgingly. "But either way, you got less than a minute, as in 60 seconds, before I'm pulling out of here."

"You'd not get 15 shadows before the Melusine Curse struck you. But I will be right with you." Diomedes agrees.

Random grumbles, but his lack of intelligible reply can be taken as conceding the point.

Diomedes runs over to Aishwarya, and settles her frantic motions with hands on her shoulders.

Her eye's widen in surprise at seeing him.

"Those men, and that thing, will follow Random and me. You'll be safe, soon enough."

"But.." Aishwarya starts to shake her head, "what are you going to do?" Her companions merely watch the two of them in stunned silence.

"Keep moving. And keep them away from you and yours." Diomedes responds. He regards those eyes that he had so easily fallen into for a moment before continuing.

"Good luck. With everything. And thank you." Diomedes adds calmly, looking into her eyes, and then kisses her.

Aishwarya turns her head and pulls away for a moment. When Diomedes steadies himself and leans forward to kiss her on the cheek.. she changes her mind. Like the first time, their lips touch tentatively..

..and a heartbeat later she kisses Diomedes deeply, like she will never see him again.

Diomedes releases the kiss with reluctance, but finally he does.

"Don't forget me Aishwarya!" Diomedes shouts once he breaks away and runs for Random, and the waiting car to Rebma.

"Sir! Sir!" Calls out a female manager from out behind the desk, a phone still cradled on her neck. "Sir! We need you to remain here until the police arrive... Sir!"

Random leads Diomedes out the hotel's side entrance.. The two of them cross the parking lot without incident. Turning the car engine over, Random hits the accelerator and the two of them leave the sights and sounds of sirens and flashers behind in the dark.

Random is loathe to stop, and Diomedes' attempt to shift their clothing leaves Random in denim cutoffs and himself in swim trunks. Rolling his eyes, Random urges his nephew to just concentrate on the road and to bring them to a strip mall that is likely to have appropriate clothes, and in the early morning.

When Diomedes complies and they come to such a place, Random pulls alongside the shop's entrance. Looking like he might just open fire at the door, he pounds on it hard, loud enough to get some attention. A sleepy eyed woman mouths that 'we're not open yet', and Random pulls some cash from his remaining pocket.

"Look! We got our clothes ripped off! I'll pay you to just open up and let us buy something."

"I can't!" she shouts back. "Come back later!"

"Please?" Random says just once. "Look hon, if I was gonna rob you, I'd do it with a gun, not with lots of money!" He motions her with one hand to stand fast. "Here, look! Two hundred.. for you," he points at her. "Just to let us in to *buy* something.."

She stares at Random.

"Come on," Random says in a normal tone of voice.

There is a click as she turns the lock, and Random motions for Diomedes to get out and join him.

The sales associate turns on some more lights, as she pockets the money. They have a good 30 minutes before the store opens for normal trade; and it carries a fair assortment of menswear that fits them both.

"This will suit for the moment." Diomedes says, looking at the dark blue shirt and the black jeans that he has wound up in.

After they're appropriately garbed, its back on the road again.

Random drives for hours, only stopping to use the restroom, stretch, and fuel up. Diomedes shuffles through a thousand universes, weeding them handfuls at a time, narrowing it down to the one.

Never does Pagono present itself. Neither do they spot their adversaries again, but Random refuses to slow.

When they start to get closer, small obstacles present themselves. Highwaymen on motorbikes, mechanical car eating monsters squatting on the road, traffic jams, and a lonely gallows by the side of the road where a lone skeleton is suspended by the neck.

Diomedes lets Random do the physical driving, concentrating on the shadow shifts to get them past, by or through the obstacles.

"Someone is closing the roads," Random observes, but doesn't seem the slightest bit deterred. Diomedes is able to thwart all these with his own wit, or even with a suggestion from his riding companion. Indeed, Diomedes tweaks the oxygen level, the gravity, and drives through towns of rocking horse people and on through canyons of onyx. Past another barren desert patches of grass start to appear..

...and then trees. And more trees.

Such trees!

"We're closing on Arden at last," Random remarks. "We'll be relying on your wits and determination to keep this heap moving," he says referring to the car. It has seen many transformations on this journey.

"I think we've done particularly well getting the car as far as here." Diomedes adds, as the trees grow larger, denser, and more mythic. "Probably, the changes are going to have to be subtle, so that the car still functions. I think its running on a steam engine by now." Diomedes points out.

"Uncle." Diomedes begins. a few minutes later. He is still shifting with small, subtle, careful, and unrelenting changes to keep the car working and moving. "All of this Road closure that we've seen, that takes a lot of effort working from the center to cover the available paths. It bodes ill, Uncle, for what is happening in Amber right now."

"You're not kidding," Random agrees. "Of course, we're not sure who is intended to be locked out. We had a standing invitation depending on whose side we chose. I know how you feel about that, considering how they played you on this whole trump deal.. but given that and a choice of being dead on the roadside.."

Random shrugs, apparently not desperate enough to consider that yet. "Go on, you were saying?"

"Arden's roads might be physically blocked by patrols of troops." Diomedes says. "*I* would put them there, if I were seeking to limit access to Amber. We need to get to the Beach as fast as we can."

"Patrols we might be able to dodge or outrun," Dio's uncle points out. "It might depend on who is riding with those patrols."

And he returns to the subtle shifts required to keep the car moving as long as possible toward that targeted goal.

They continue driving, moving along on a hard, dirt roadway through a cathedral of enormous trees. It seems to go on forever and ever. Occasionally, they startle a deer, or surprise a fox crossing or standing near the side of the road. In places, the way is marked with hoof prints. Sunlight is sometimes filtered through the trees, angling like tight golden strings on some Hindu musical instrument. The breeze is moist and speaks of living things.

The forest seems at peace.

"We're being paced," Random suddenly announces, shattering that illusion. "If he's out there, he hasn't sounded the horns yet. Not sure what that means. Maybe we should step on it."

Unfortunately, Diomedes is not sure that pushing the car any harder is such a good idea, especially on this road...

"He knows that we're here. And I am disinclined to believe that we can outrace him." Diomedes says. "The car is close to its limit, given that we're no longer on flattop."

"Random. I have an idea, if you trust me." Diomedes says. He spares looking at the road as much as Random.

"If and when hear the horn or definitive signs of pursuit and chase." Diomedes begins. "We should stop. Just stop. We've been chased by humanoids, fractal Octohedronal constructs, and the ghosts of our past. I tire of being prey, and I do not wish to give Julian and his own sport. So when he sounds that horn of his, I say that we stop and let him come."

"If HE is truly on our scent, and makes sure sign of it, we're unlikely to escape a pursuit anyway, and we might cause collateral damage to his forest or his minions that will just make him unhappy. So we simply stop, let him reach us, and dicker."

Diomedes regards Random speculatively.