Chapter 5: Power Play

Power Play is the fifth chapter of The Mazkertis Paradox. It covers four main subplots:


 * The New York City Police Department's search for Ross Mandell on the Stouttish Islands
 * Shevak's battle against Leviathan on the surface of Linkit
 * Koranis's recruitment by Viruel
 * User Kon and User MK's rescuing of Kakamu, Etende, Micros, Masaharu, and Spanha from the UG.

Summary
Power Play opens on the Stouttish Islands, which is in the process of being swept by the New York City Police Department, who have received permission to search the islands for Ross Mandell. The Tourettes Guy is nearly arrested for trying to escape police inspection, but is narrowly saved by a man named Chris. Chris pulls Danny into the shadows of a nearby alleyway, where he tells him that the only Stouttish island safe from the sweep is the dreaded Pen Island. Danny curses, and the two observe a Moonbase Alpha Astronaut run down the street, away from another approaching police car. The astronaut collapses due to exhaustion and is handcuffed. Danny makes a rude comment about the astronaut's mannerisms, which causes Chris to clap his hand over his mouth; unfortunately, this disgusts Danny due to its unwashed state, so he pulls it off and swears even louder, inadvertently alerting the nearby policemen to their position. Danny and Chris attempt to flee, but are subdued and arrested. All three mentally unstable men are put into the back of the car, and the policemen drive them through the skyward portal to New York, where they hope the joke characters will get the treatment they so desperately need.

Meanwhile, a mostly-unharmed Shevak emerges from the wreckage of his shuttle and finds himself on Linkit. When he climbs up the hill next to the crater he's in, he finds himself overlooking a gathering of Agrippa and Sahagin beside a lake with an ancient portal underneath it. Leviathan emerges from the portal, and is welcomed to Linkit by an appointed Sahagin. Sensing the fear of the Agrippa with his Force powers, Shevak concludes that Leviathan rules by fear, meaning that his armies might be willing to accept a new leader if deposed in a show of force. He creates a Force Storm with his powers, causing the lake to be struck by lightning and Leviathan electrocuted. The monster crawls out of the lake enraged and in pain, and Shevak reveals himself to them by causing more lightning bolts to illuminate his position on the hill. He projects his voice to the Agrippa and Sahagin, saying that he will free them from the tyranny of Leviathan, and prepares to electrocute the monster again. However, before he can do so, Leviathan splashes water in the air, and uses his power of water manipulation to drown Shevak with it.

Koranis wakes up on a cliffside, some time after being knocked unconscious by a strange robot on Mordor. He is greeted by the Great Being Viruel. Koranis demands to know what he is doing there, to which Viruel replies that she wished to show him something. When she shuffles out of his line of sight, Koranis sees a mostly-complete redesign of a Great Spirit Robot being operated on in the canyon beyond. Viruel says that she would like to repay Koranis for his troubles by making him the co-pilot of this new robot, which would serve as a way for the Great Beings to retake worlds lost during the Uterio War. He accepts after some consideration.

In the UG, User Kon distracts Dukamu by destroying part of his armour, then creates an air sphere around his own head so he is able to speak into his earpiece. At the User HQ, User MK receives Kon's message and opens up one of User Kon's computer programs that scans the UG and begins extracting a certain set of characters from the dimension. MK extracts Etende, Micros, Masaharu and Spanha, who disappear from their stasis pods in the UG and appear in the room behind him. Unfortunately, the computer in the control room Dukamu is in alerts him that people are going missing. Suspecting User interference, Dukamu stops Monarch from dying again by putting his helmet back on and instructs him to subdue the Users at their HQ. Monarch obeys, and teleports behind MK, where he threatens to freeze him in carbonite. User MY teleports Monarch into space before he can do so, and berates MK for allowing "characters" to enter the HQ. User Kon teleports next to them, then opens up a separate program on his computer that sends the UG into the far future so that Dukamu will not interfere again any time soon. Kon asks MY what he did with Monarch, to which he replies that he sent him into space around the orbit of Conpiom. Having a better idea, Kon locates Monarch, strips him of his suit and buries him alive at an unknown location.

After these events, Kon leads Etende, Micros, Masaharu and Spanha onto the roof of the HQ and summons a ship to take them to rendezvous with the other Claws of the Phoenix. They thank him for his help, but are forced to leave without any proper answers.

Characters

 * Serious characters
 * Dukamu
 * Etende Rhaloff
 * Koranis
 * Leviathan
 * Masaharu
 * Micros
 * Monarch (DU)
 * Spanha
 * User Kon
 * User MK
 * User MY
 * Viruel


 * Joke characters
 * Chris
 * Moonbase Alpha Astronaut
 * Shevak
 * Tourettes Guy