Mission 9: A cold day in hell.

Having just broken out of the Lubyanka building with the shadow crystal and Deathrow, the Amber City Squad began to formulate a plan. Deciding that brevity took precedence over subtlety, the group elected to drive right through the checkpoint out of central Moscow using the car they acquired from the security guard in Vladikavkaz.

Starting a miles long, high speed chase toward the Estonian border, the squad was forced to act against their KGB pursuers. Heat melted the engines of four of the five cars in pursuit, allowing the fifth one to come into shooting range. With cover from Deathrow's shadow, Hound leaped into the open top jeep and disabled three of the men in the car. He striggled with the driver for control of the car until Deathrow decided to shoot him, ending the car chase. However, multiple KGB helicopters had been dispatched.

In only a few minutes, three helicopters converged on the squad. Thinking quickly, Glare and Hound were able to trick two of the helicopters into leaving the scene by faking their credentials over the radio. Deathrow tasked Glare with shooting the pilot of the third helicopter. With the pilot dead, Kalkin gently lowered the helicopter to the ground. The squad qucikly jumped on board and flew west toward Estonia, where Deathrow promised a connection that would allow them to retireve the next crystal.

Upon their arrival to the port town, Toila, Deathrow left to bribe his way onto the NS Yamal while the party rested, recuperated, ate, and restocked on supplies. After a night's rest, the sailed north into Nordic winter waters.

As they approached the southern coast of Svalbard, a few of the crew members noticed a number of arctic whale and narwhal corpses will large circular wounds floating up behind the boat as it cracked the sea ice. Kalkin's instincts immediately told him to prepare for "a Kraken."

After three days of sailing, Kalkin and Heat, who were monitering the fire crystal, noticed that the crystal began to point down into the ocean. The ship was brought to a halt, and Hound, Kalkin, and Heat dove down in single man submarines to find the crystal. Kalkin led them to a large air bubble on the sea floor. In it stood a giant statue of the Norse god, Ægir, with his hand outstreched. At his feet lay golden coins from various nations and time periods. The submarines fell into the bubble and crashed on the ocean floor, dropping nearly 100 feet. Noticing the reasonable air pressure in the bubble, Hound encouraged the others topressurize their cabins and leave their submarines.

Once out onto the ocean floor, the group set about finding the exact location of the next crystal. Discovering it in the statue's outstretched hand, Kalkin lifted Hound's submarine magnetically to retrieve it. The moment the crystal was removed the statue's palm, the bubble on the ocean floor collapsed. Scrambling back into their submersibles,  the three were swept up by the currents as the air escaped to the surface.

The water calmed in after a brief time, and the three began their ascent to the surface. Heat's vehicle began reading anomylous pressure reading and could not seem to climb. Kalkin investigated, discovering that Heat's submarine had a massive tentacle attached to it. Further struggling prompted another two tentacles to shoot out from the depths, attaching themselves to Kalkin and Heat's vehicles. On Hound's advice, Heat released his ballast and shot toward the surface, dragging a massive squid with him. Kalkin and Hound made it back onto the ship, though Heat's submarine was cracked open by the squid and flung onto the sea ice.

Hound ran to the ship captain and ordered the ship to ram the beast with all the speed they could muster. While the ship turned into position, Kalkin shot lightning, singing off tentacles with each blast. The electrical bombardment, combned with the ship's charge cleaving the squid in half, was enough to sink the creature back underneath the ice, with naught to show for the crew's efforts but three charred tentacles.

Heat was recovered from the ice, suffering from severe hypothermia. Kalkin, thinking quickly, returned the fire crystal to Heat, caussing an apparent hour long immolation of the ill hero on deck. When the flames subsided, Heat appeared to be in good health once again.

Returning to port, the Amber City Squad flew west toward Berlin, the last city on this hemisphere that the group had heard from the mysterious alternate Heat. Leaving Luǎn behind, they walked into the city, only to be arrested by JUSTICE. Some overly enthusiastic help from Glare resulted sneak attack on Deathrow that caused him to vanish into shadow.