Aha, a post that's actually within the acceptable time allotment! Victory!
And so, without further ado...
*Drum-roll.*July 20th: Mission - Unfavourable
Rousing from her P.P.E.-deprived state, Eris was rather perplexed to find herself underwater. Her power armour's life support systems were functioning, however, and aside from some unaccounted-for bruises she felt forming, she seemed fine. Climbing out of the water, she found herself in a small pool of water off of the main river sheltered by a sand bar. Seeing no sign of her crew, she got her bearings and, looking upstream, guessed
[correctly 
] that the team had attempted to jump the 'falls.
Proceeding downriver in search of her D.A.R.T.s, she came across what could only be the Citadel of Diabolus, the resident Dyval Lord, though this conclusion was reached due to the bucket-line of Deevils passing her team into the building more than its' appearance. For, had she not been given other proof, Eris may not have guessed that the old, crooked, ivy-and-moss-covered tower slowly sinking into the surrounding swamp could EVER be the home of a Dyval Lord.
With the crew passed inside, Eris had little choice but to go in after them, and set about scouting the surroundings, noting the golden-hulled ship the crew spotted earlier parked just beyond the swamp. Despite Dyzonia's overcast conditions, Eris made use of the 500 foot Citadel's shadow to Shadow Meld her way up to the building, making use of a gangway of sorts from the ship's side of the swamp to the tower, and slip inside.
Once inside, and despite the castle's helter-skelter construction, Eris quickly set about trying to find her team and their equipment. Before she could get too far from the back door, however, she heard voices approaching and hid in an alcove as a procession from the ship parked outside entered, headed by a warped, hunchbacked troll-like creature radiating a sinister magic aura
[presumably Diabolus himself] and a familiar wrinkly, slightly yellow-skinned old man, the Gene-Splicer Gaphion. While not thrilled to see an old enemy, it was what came behind the two that set Eris on edge most of all, a bio-tank covered in a cloth of some kind preventing her from seeing what was inside, though an old sense that she had gone a long time without using began to grate in the back of her skull: there were living, active JENOVA cells present in that tank.
Taking a moment to steady her nerves, Eris quickly pressed on, locating the team's transports via careful exploration, and rescuing their confiscated equipment from a band of bickering imps, with a little creativity in terms of dialogue
[using the Imp's paranoia of Diabolus' majordomo O'tho'leron to her advantage], and keeping unseen. Gathering up the crew's gear, Eris began searching for the route to the dungeon to spring her fellow D.A.R.T.s...
July 20th: Magnum Opus Complete?
Beginning to rouse from their unconsciousness, the group taken into the dungeon are roused by the echoing voice in their minds,
[{Will you play with me?}] and see a hunch-backed and twisted shape conversing with a tall, thin figure
[Diabolus and Gaphion, though they don't realize this yet] in the centre of the dungeon, though it is too far for them to hear their whispered words. As they speak, they appear to be setting a bio-tank of sorts into a mounting in the centre of the room, and connecting tentacle-like tubes to it, linking the tank to the sludge-pools set in the floor around the dungeon. The pair finish their work around the green-lit bio-tank and make their way back upstairs, and those of the team who have regained consciousness begin picking themselves up. Persia and Mouse rouse first, seeing that they are chained by their ankles but otherwise unbound. Persia quickly became more concerned with the contents of the bio-tank's contents, seeing the shape within it was small enough to be a child. Slipping out of her ankle-cuff with some slight contortion of her ankle joints, she quickly moved to get a better look at the tank while Mouse slipped out of her bonds using her own special expertise and Jase began to rouse as well. Anna, however, had an ugly bruise on her head and it seemed unlikely that she would wake any time soon.
As the others picked themselves up off the ground, Persia had moved nearer to the tank and could see that the shape inside the tank was indeed a child, and she realized, after a moment, that the little boy looked nearly identical to Law! Mentioning this to the others and puzzling over how this could be, the group's speculations were interrupted by the child's appearance abruptly shifting from a tanned, jet-black haired child with striking features to a softer-faced, paler child with silver hair. Deciding that the mystery of the little boy could wait, Persia began trying to find a way to drain and open the tank. The tentacle-like attachments Diabolus and Gaphion attached to the tank chose that moment to begin their appointed task, however, pumping the sludge-like fluid from the various pools around the room into the tank. To Persia's horror, the child inside begins to change at the introduction of the sludge, his skin becoming a dull red like that of a demon's, tufts of fur-like red hair sprouting at his wrists, ankles and around his collarbone, while purple markings spread across his chest and up onto his face, which was now that of a horned skull. The child's hair, previously unable to decide between black and silver, lengthened and became a mix of the two states, primarily silver with black mixed in.
[http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll64/ThiefKeyKing/Bleach/5c7e6cec316009c9d03b54de005114a7.jpg if you ignore the sword and tattered robe 
] Near-tears, Persia collapsed beside the tank and began to apologize to the child, though it was unclear if he could hear her. Meanwhile, Mouse had picked the lock on Anna's ankle cuff and passed her to Jase while she moved to investigate the door, and heard Eris coming down the stairs to get them. Letting Eris in, the commander entered the room just in time to see the now-horned child look at Persia, who seemed to hear some unspoken request, as she moved away from the tank as the child shattered it from within. Dropping the team's equipment in horror, Eris was momentarily speechless as she beheld the child-turned-monster. Recovering quickly, a heated debate took place between Eris and Persia:
[and yes, our feline doctor purrs a bit when she talks ](Cloud): "DOC... MOVE... now please."
(Persia): *Shakes her head* "A child and a victim. No need to worrrry." *Moving towards him.*(Cloud): "DOC! Bad idea Doc! That's no child!"
(GM_Cy): *The horned child looks at Persia for a moment as if to see if she means him harm, then turns his attention to Eris.*
{I... know you.}(Persia): "I saw with my own eyes, Ms. Errris. The child looked exactly like Law. Just about 8 orrr 9 years old. This happened when the black sludge pumped in. Therrre was an odd switch momentarrrily beforrre wherrre his tanned skin went verrry pale and his hairrr frrrom black to white...but he is a victim...can't you see that? If he meant me harrrm he would cerrrtainly have done it alrrready."(Cloud): "Gaphion was here! That's one of HIS... and... It has some of the General in him. Back when he had...
OUT OF MY SKULL! You are
NOT Sephiroth!"
Needless to say, Eris felt very strongly that the child was something they should have nothing to do with, but Persia managed to win the commander over enough to give the little boy a chance. Curious, Mouse asked the boy if he had a name, and he showed them a plaque at the base of the tank reading
“Test Subject 'Albtraum' - Magnum Opus Project.” Still suspicious, Eris stipulated that the boy was to tell them the moment his 'mommy' began scratching at his mind, and the boy responded by explaining that his mommy was kind, and gave a short description of her that sounded remarkably like Justice! Even more perplexed than before, Eris decided the boy could come along with them, but if the 'other mother' in the back of his head
[the 'J-word' as Eris referred to her 
] began to pipe up he was to inform them immediately. Albtraum, acting very much like a cheerful child, thanked the reluctant commander with an impromptu hug that nearly made her jump a foot in the air, but she composed herself enough to pat the kid on the back and shoo him along after Persia.
Deciding it was WELL past the time to be gone, the group, now re-equipped, headed upstairs and followed Eris' computer-stored path to their platforms, though Gaphion and Diabolus noticed their pet project's disappearance before they could make good their escape. Reaching the room, a group of Fiends on guard duty emerged to confront them [just a hair too fast for the group to take Mouse's suggestion and hide against the wall to let them pass by], and a desperate struggle ensued, the group tired and battered but determined to escape before the deity-level Dyval Lord could arrive on-scene against the half-dozen Lesser Deevils. Eris, particularly tired after using a great deal of her magic to infiltrate the castle, began absorbing the Deevil's P.P.E. into her Zweihander to make use of, but miscalculated the second time, drawing in too much and receiving some of the infernal's P.P.E. into herself, spurring her into a short-term rampage, during which Albtraum, determined to 'help', called upon some dormant instinct to fight. Joining them on the front line was Mouse, using her rune dagger and short sword combination to devastating effect while Jase lent support and Persia got Albtraum to calm down, and the way was soon open. Persia and Mouse quickly got the platforms ready for flight, though they had no way out and were forced to begin blasting their way free with the platform's laser turrets, while Eris tried to block the door herself.
As the laser fire from the guns began making a hole, the castle began to rearrange itself at Diabolus' whim, and Albtraum, displaying strength disproportionate to his size, jumped from the platform to Eris' side, picked her up around the waist, and leaped back onto the platform, depositing the exhausted commander safely on-deck while Persia and Mouse gunned for the exit, barely seconds ahead of Diabolus. On their way out, the group realized with Gaphion's spaceship nearby there was no way they could outrun the Gene-Splicer and Dyval Lord, and, resolving to do something about this, they did a quick fly-by. Persia, thinking fast, used her handheld computer to hack the ship's computer and command it to open every locked door within, meaning every single genetic creation Gaphion had made would be running loose, buying the team valuable time to escape.
The group's gotten out of another tight spot, but this one was certainly a close call, and now they have a true wild card along with them; Albtraum, a child made to look monstrous with a sinister voice in the back of his head constantly scraping at his consciousness. Was Eris' initial opinion of the boy correct, or could it really be true that he has the potential to be good? Time will tell, and it will probably be up to the group to help him find his way. Why them? Well, they are the PC's after all.
] Persia had the idea to lock the external hatches of the emergency airlocks open, and, via P.A. system, told the group all they had to do was open the inner hatch manually. Springing into action, Eris gave the man another Mental Blast to daze him, and threw open the nearest airlock, using her suit's foot-clamps to anchor herself. With their foe staggering towards the airlock, the team sought to further unbalance him, and Anna dashed out to position herself behind him, firing some shots into his back to give him a bit of a push. Despite her success, she had forgotten the tremendous gust of air dragging their enemy outside would also affect her, and she was soon sliding across the floor as well. Eris threw the manual control lever back the other way, but the door shut too slowly, and it was only by Mouse diving to tackle her to the side while the door shut that Anna avoided a free-fall of her own.
], the group allowed themselves to relax, Mouse finding a scrap of cloth with the name 'Hector Creed' stitched into it and the group concluding that it was likely the man's name, or at least a lead to identifying him. Turning back towards Lazlo, the group set the jet down in the ruins of the Pearson International Airport, roughly 10 miles to the west of the current city limits, and let Alice [who they had arranged to meet them there 
Well, at least Eris worked out a few ways to cause him some aches. And we certainly have to hope Thomm knows what he's doing, Lazlo's in quite the shaky state with so many non-political volunteers manning the open positions, but then, there has to be somebody to sign the papers, right? 
"
