Even the first Finale part, which is, as it usually is just a setup piece, has plenty of action!

There's also a dramatic recap. Special thanks to my friend Audrey for helping with the Jake / Katlana cameo. This was a fun, action heavy mission with a nice super-hero style vibe to it, so dig in.

 
The goal was simply to find and rescue three princesses -- Arieala, the Princess of the Ninth sea, S'vette, the princess and mayor elect of Vikiceland, in the Furthest Reaches and Princess Kimmy of.. er... who knows where? It had taken our heroes across the oceans to Honorburg, a city far more technologically advanced than the Kingdom Proper.

Catrina Whiteclaw and Sebastian Dash found themselves in the uncomfortable position of both gaining rides to the same pirate ship, owned and ran by the very same Captain Morgan whom Cat and Dash had relied on for support from the Chrono Dragon incident, which seemed like a pure lifetime ago. Along with the two came their respective allies. They'd encountered one of the city's heroes, Cyber Sunset, as soon as they got off the pirate ship in Honorburg. As they tend to do when supers are involved, the two sides got into a misunderstanding which resulted in a brief but exciting brawl before realizing they were on the same sides. (Well, more or less on the same side, for the time being, in this case.)

As it turned out, Cyber Sunset had gathered a little information on the arrival of the kidnapped princesses as well! More specifically, he'd gathered it from Fifth Column bases, and suggested they set out to try to get a little more information on the Column.

They quickly split up and went their own ways. Aleena and Dash got to business pretty quickly, making their way to an underground Fifth Council hideout. Cyber Sunset joined them with some new information, but as soon as he and Aleena got distracted trying to crack the Fifth's code in separate rooms, Dash got ambushed and captured, with Aleena quickly joining him in captivity.

Becky Joy and her Knob Goblins had been sent to scout out a less dangerous Fifth Column hideout, with the hopes of keeping her out of the way without putting her into too much danger. Becky, of course, ended up doing her own thing for a while, eventually running across her old KOKOL ally, Zanther Wolf. Despite early tensions, the two teamed up for multiple battles, before running across Cattaras Whiteclaw; the three and Becky's four Knob Goblins proceeded to their next target, with Catrina Whiteclaw, the Jester King of Beasts, Vixen, Todd Blackpaws, The Black Paladin, and Fahari staying closer to the ship for the time being.

Seeking to find information on the kidnapped princesses took Cattaras's forces to an old abandoned warehouse in the Maliciousmomento section of town! Cattaras and Zanther decided to lead a stealth entry into the building, sneaking in through a side door rather than simply crashing in at the main door like most heroes would.

Unfortunately, they didn't get far in before being noticed! Cattaras reacted with predictable violence, setting the tone for Zanther Wolf and Becky Joy, along with her Knob Goblins, who fought their way deeper into the building, taking the offense against the surprised Fifth Council!

Cattaras slammed the head of an oversized thug into the wall, then let his unconscious body drop. Blood dripped off Cattaras's fangs and claws, representing the often fatal danger of crossing the big cat's path. Becky Joy frowned as they rounded another stairwell, coming up to another floor.

"This building maker was silly!" Becky complained. "How come they don't put all the stairs together?! We gotta run across the whole floor every time we wanna go up a floor!"

"It is annoying," Cattaras admitted as they rounded the corner only to be confronted with another dozen Fifth Column members, plus a handful of another criminal group, the so called Freaks of the Week.

"And we keep runnin into enemies!" Becky complained.

"I don't mind that part," Cattaras said as he pounced and literally tore into the enemies. Wolf growled and joined in, helping him fight, with Becky giggling in appreciation and leading her four Knob Goblins, Red, Green, Goblina and Darson, into battle!

 
* - * - *

 
Aleena had found herself in a predicament.

She'd gotten some information on the princesses she, Dash and the others had been seeking. She nearly went into a trance searching for the information on the wireless computer systems, trusting Dash to keep her safe and stay out of danger. As soon as her attention returned to the world around her, she found Dash being dragged off by a pair of guards, while two other guards starred her down.

It seemed like the worst case scenario until, of course, it got worse. Barely a moment after registering the situation, she found herself captured in the very-same smoke suit magic dress she'd gained only weeks earlier! This time, however, dark magic bound her freedom, leaving her unable to defend herself. She wasn't even able to pull her arms free from the mage holding her from behind, although she was able to twist her body.

She could clearly smell he wasn't of this world.

"There's your missing princess, colonel," the magical figure had said as he pushed Aleena forward into hallway.

Aside from the brutes, there were some more normal looking Fifth Column soldiers too. Normal in this case meaning absurdly bad ass and elite. The one that stood out wore more medals than the other, and a fierce looking and obviously ancient scar over his right eye. It was enough for Aleena to silently be grateful her cyber suit would have dealt with any such scars almost immediately. Aleena struggled to move, but found herself bound tight, barely able to do so much as twitch her muscles. She tried calling her cysuit to rally against the magic, but those efforts were equally and inexplicably futile.

"Take her to the dark room of dark summoning rights and summon the dark beast!" the colonel demanded.

"Who are you?" Aleena demanded to know. If they were going to cast her into the role of a princess, she'd damned well play one. "Those actions against myself and my ally are unacceptable!"

"Oh, you've no choice but to 'accept' them, otherworlder," the mage holding her declared. Two of the brutes laughed, confused.

Aleena did her best job to remain convincing. After all, she was the queen of the space elves! "Release me and my allies at once, and I can assure you no harm will come from my army for this."

The mage spun her around and starred into her eyes. She was, again, powerless to fight his movements. The tingling sensation made it clear to Aleena that magic must be the cause of her inability to move. The mage's eyes lit up with untold millennia of dark, nefarious knowledge.

"She lies!" declared the mage in a nearly demonic voice. "Her army holds us no threat."

"Your 'allies,' you say?" the colonel said. He pulled a strange walkie talkie looking item from his outfit. "Scan the area from the entry to my position for others. It would seem we've unfound intruders."

Aleena's lip curled as she realized she should have watched her words more carefully.

 
* - * - *

 
[Katlana's lines by her handler]

 
Cattaras put one last burst of energy into squeezing the life out of another Fifth Column enemy then, satisfied with the slight sound of ribs cracking under pressure, threw the Column member into a wall, as two of his fellow soldiers fell to hypothermia, thanks to a powerful, vicious storm courtesy of Becky.

Even so, Becky's attention, along with that of her Knob Goblins and Zanther Wolf, were on computers far too advanced for them to process, and a stack of written information.

"Man, this stuff is cool!" Becky said, her eyes wide. "But I don't think I know what to look for!"

Cattaras sniffed the air, and then, convinced they'd taken care of any problems for the time being, turned his attention to Wolf and the others.

"We need any information on the location of the three missing princesses," Cattaras explained. Wolf looked over at him and nodded.

Cattaras pointed to a nearby computer. "Is anyone familiar with these.. things? They should have the information on the missing princesses."

"If yer fightin' Council members," a strange new male voice called out. "We could probably help ya with whatever, right babe?"

Cattaras looked up to see two new strangers eyeing them, both with a faint glow of energy. The first was a handsome young male, with a dark golden tank top, dark blue jeans, a thin black belt and short black boots. The other was clearly female, and young and beautiful at that. As she walked up you could tell there was an air of spunkiness about her- that bounce in her step, her mouse brown hair moving up and down with each bounce. As she came closer her bright blue eyes sparkled and her white tank top glowed against her tanned skin. As always, she had army green cargo pants on and her favorite lace up black combat style boots.

She turned to her male counterpart with a grin he knew all to well and said giggling. "Go ahead...show me what ya got?"

Cattaras wasn't amused.. although he clearly appreciated her looks. "Who are you two, and why shouldn't I be ripping you apart right now?"

"Well, one, you don't wanna try," he said. "And two, we could help out."

"Can we be buddies with them?!" Becky said, eyes wide, as the Goblins and Wolf watched silently. "Plllllease?!"

He just blinked.. "Ahh.. do you want help with the tech, or do you want a fight?"

The winged wolf walked up to the two, sniffed the air, then rubbed up against her in a manner that suggested he thought they'd be better allies than enemies. She glared at him, a not so subtle hint that he should back away slowly. Wolf looked hurt and took the hint. "Nothing personal. Just don't trust myself when I'm too close to people or anyone that might 'rub' up against me," she let him know as her skin began to glow. Wolf nodded to show he understood what she meant.

Cattaras tilted his head, deciding this wasn't worth a fight. "If you can help us, I'd be honored. As you might know, we're after the three princesses last seen in the faraway Kingdom of Loathing."

"Katlana and me heard a few things," the male said. "Let us get to work and see what we can't do."

At Cattaras's instructions, the others moved back to let Katlana and the man get to work. Elsewhere, we had a couple of new arrivals in the city as far above, flying a newly 'tamed' zombie dragon, Sir Fumblies and Kadlin Bearsmasher descended upon the city, having detected some serious magical buildup. With that kind of magic, Kadlin knew, Catrina and the others were going to need some serious help dealing with the princess crisis...

 
* - * - *

 
Sebastian Dash awoke without giving any indication he was no longer unconscious. Dash's mind rushed to put together recent events, realizing on an instinctive level he was in grave danger. He could hear Aleena behind him as the memories of entering the base, meeting up with Cyber Sunset, and eventually being ambushed filled Dash's mind. Somehow, Dash's grip had remained tight on his longsword.

"Where are you taking us?!" Aleena demanded to know in a voice that sounded far away to Dash's just recovering ears.

"You, my princess of another world," the strange voice said, "will be the final ingredient for our domination of this world."

"Unlikely," Aleena responded. Dash could tell from the sound of her voice and movements that she was being forced along unwillingly.

"Oh, but you won't have a choice."

"Let GO of me!" Aleena called out. Dash suddenly became aware Aleena's voice was starting to get more distant. Realizing it was now or never, Dash struck out violently, pulling himself free, then reorienting himself and springing into battle in the same breath.

"About time you woke up," Aleena quipped. She swung her foot at the mage holding her, but the magic still kept her mostly under control; it connected with virtually no impact. "Dash, lil help here?"

Dash looked, not quite understanding why she wasn't fighting back. Hopefully it wasn't any more of that mind control crap. "Coming," Dash said, jumping forward, sword over his head, ready to cut the mage's grip if required. The mage shook his head. As if swatting at an annoying bug, the mage blasted Dash with a powerful surge of wind; the force threw Dash back into the far wall.

"Dash!" Aleena screamed. She tried to run to help but the mage simply cupped his hand over her mouth, mystically preventing her from even attempting to break his grip.

 
* - * - *

 
A large dragon swept down on the city, flying awkwardly and almost out of control. The magic of one of the almost unseen passengers kept it out of sight, both cloaking the creature in mist and clouds and keeping it as dark as night. Quite an impressive feat for a dragon so large.

Somehow, Kadlin, Fumblies and Bones had gotten control of the dragon, using magic to grow it.. once it was safely under their command. The zombie dragon constantly fought their control, however.. and matters got worse when they had to shrink themselves and their eight allies - four Knob Goblin soldiers and four Knob Goblin altered brutes- in order to fit them and supplies on the dragon's back, neck and head.

It was a bumpy ride to be sure, but Kadlin's magic and the necromancy skills of Bones had ensured they'd all made the ride across the ocean to the town. They landed a couple hundred meters outside town in a thick forest that gave off definite supernatural vibes.

Kadlin was panting, almost sweating and exhausted; she'd spent the most effort on protecting them and guiding the dragon, though the desperate operation was easy on none of them. She used a powerful magic to pull the dragon into a bottle, which she slipped into her backpack.

Kadlin waved him forward. "Leave two brutes for me and head to the coordinates we sensed the magic coming from. I'll join you when I can."

Fumblies nodded to her, assigning her the two most capable brutes and turning to Bones. "You know where we need to head?"

Bones just nodded.

"Then lead on," said Fumblies. "I have a feeling we had better keep our pace."

"And hurry!" Kadlin called out after her. "After approximately forty eight hours, I'll have to set the dragon free to reapply the mind control and the bottle is a one use trick. I'd rather not have the dragon constantly fighting my control until we're ready to head home."

Fumblies nodded, realizing now he was under a serious time limit.

And we're underway! This puts the major players of the mission into play although leaves out a few who were less active like Vixen, Fahari and Todd.

In part II we'll bring 'em all together and have, no surprises here- more battles. How exciting!

It's always fun throwing in indirect references to City of Heroes gangs, too.