Colonel SlashFirestorm calls Private First Class Peregrinus on his phone.
"...Operator," says Peregrinus.
"Peregrinus," replies SlashFirestorm.
Grinning, he replies, "Goddamn, it's good to hear your voice, sir."
"We need an exit..."
"Got one ready! Clubs and Crews, by the NG Mafia HQ."
Colonel SlashFirestorm, Colonel EagleRock, and Lieutenant Colonel Major_punk head towards the phonebook at that location.
-----
"The trace was completed," said a voice.
"They're not out...yet," said another voice.
-----
The three Elite Guards get down to the corner and to the phone booth.
"You first, Slash," says Colonel EagleRock.
SlashFirestorm enters the phonebooth. A vagrant BBS user looks on as SlashFirestorm vanishes from the BBS and returns to the Elite Guard Barracks.
Lieutenant Colonel Major_punk is about to answer it himself when he says, "Look, EagleRock, something's been bothering me, but I'm afraid of what it would mean if I say it..."
Colonel EagleRock just looks on, puzzled.
"Everything Supreme Commander Nimmer has told me has become true...everything but this."
As he changes his mind, he walks into the booth and picks up the phone. He turns and sees Brigadier General Ghost_Phantom aim a gun at the phone booth. As Major_punk is pulled back into the Barracks, the telephone is destroyed.
Major_punk sits up as Peregrinus stares at him.
"EagleRock!" yells Major_punk.
"What the hell just happened?" questions Peregrinus.
"It was the agent, Ghost_Phantom! Send me back!"
"I...I can't!"
Colonel EagleRock stares at Brigadier General Ghost_Phantom as he approaches, smirking.
"So, Mr. Marks...we meet again..."
SlashFirestorm, Major_punk, and Peregrinus all watch on the monitor.
"Dammit, run, EagleRock!" yells Peregrinus.
Colonel EagleRock gets the same thought in his head, but just as he is about to do so, he spins around and stares at Ghost_Phantom right in the eye.
"What is he DOING???" yells Major_punk.
After a half-grin and a pause, SlashFirestorm answers, "He is beginning to believe..."
EagleRock and Ghost_Phantom stare at each other for a second. Then they both lunge at each other, Blam Pistols in hand. They each unload their pistols until they land near each other, pistols at each other's heads.
"You're...empty..," teases Ghost_Phantom.
"...So are you," replies EagleRock.
After a pause, EagleRock gets up, flipping in the air many times. Then, as if all at once, they both attack each other, fists blazing, punches and counters aplenty. Ghost_Phantom manages to get a staggering blow to EagleRock, but is quickly countered with a punch to the face that breaks his sunglassess off.
Taking the glasses off, he scowls and says, "I'm going to enjoy watching you DIE, Mr. Marks."
He then attacks EagleRock voraciously, beating him up as if he was a rag doll. Blood starts to come out of his mouth both in the Barracks and in the BBS.
Ghost_Phantom throws him into a spam thread nearby.
As Ghost_Phantom holds EagleRock in a headlock, they both see a moderator's thread deleter rolling through.
"Do you hear that Mr. Marks? That...is the sound of inevitability. That...is the sound of...your death. Goodbye...Mr. Marks."
Just as he was choking, EagleRock barely says to Ghost_Phantom, "My name...is...EAGLEROCK!"
He then manages to push Ghost_Phantom in the air and slam him back on the thread. EagleRock runs out of the way of the spam deleter just in time for it to capture Ghost_Phantom as it rolls by.
-----
Back in the Barracks, Peregrinus yells at SlashFirestorm.
"Moderators! How long till they get here?"
SlashFirestorm replies, "Five...maybe six minutes. Peregrinus...charge the firewall."
"You can't use that thing till EagleRock's out!" says Major_punk.
SlashFirestorm replies, "Don't worry, he's going to make it."
-----
EagleRock sees Ghost_Phantom come back at him just after the spam deleter flattened him, so he turns to run. He runs down the forum and sees Dream_of_Duke using a phone. As he runs by, he grabs the phone from him.
Dream_of_Duke yells, "Hey! I was talking to hot_and_charming!"
EagleRock takes the phone, realizes he has to turn it on, then does so. He phones up Peregrinus immediately.
"Peregrinus, get me the hell out of the BBS!"
Peregrinus replies, "Got a patch on an old exit, near the WWE Thread!"
EagleRock hangs up and walks into an old pathway towards the WWE Thread. He finds himself climbing through staircases and eventually finds the door towards the phone.
-----
Just when he reached the door, Moderators start banging on the doors of the Elite Guard Barracks.
"Here they come," says SlashFirestorm, holding the button to activate the firewall in his hand. "He's GOING to make it."
-----
Just as EagleRock opens the door to the room, he finds Ghost_Phantom staring at him, blam pistol in his hand.
Blam.
EagleRock looks down and realizes he's been shot. Just then, Ghost_Phantom hits him 5 more times in the chest.
Colonel EagleRock falls back against the wall in the hallway, and slowly slides down. He then breathes his last breath.
All of the Elite Guards in the Barracks look at the monitor in shock.
Ghost_Phantom checks for a pulse and finds none. To himself, he says, "Goodbye, Mr. Marks."
Major_punk thinks for a minute, and realizes something.
"I realize what's going on. I'm not afraid anymore. Supreme Commander Nimmer told me that the One Elite Guard that would lead us to victory is the one that we would trust in, no matter what. I trust in you..."
The rest of the Elite Guards listen, and then lower their heads as if to say they believe, but are not so sure anymore.
It is at this point that EagleRock jumps to life. His eyes open and he sees the BBS differently than ever before. Before his eyes are the code behind the whole BBS, and he can see a person by what he B/P's not how he would appear normally.
"You're right," says SlashFirestorm. "Now, EagleRock, get the hell up!"
EagleRock stands up and looks at Ghost_Phantom, who was walking away. He quickly realizes that EagleRock is alive and spins and shoots the rest of his Blam Pistol clip at him.
"...No," says EagleRock. The blammuntion slows to a halt, as if EagleRock had complete control over the BBS. He then looks at one of the pieces of blammunition, and the rest fall to the ground. Ghost_Phantom takes a step back.
"...HOW?" yells Peregrinus.
"He is..," replies SlashFirestorm, "...an Elite Guard Brigadier General."
