[GROUP-FIC] Return Of The Shadow King (Act II : Unseen Force

[Sagasu]

As you might have noticed by now, I have consent to do this, so nobody freak out. Wait, freak out, but dont blame me for things that happen. Wait, freak out, blame me, but dont take it personally.

* * *

*Thud*

Wasp looked down at the young FOnewearl who had collided with him as he proceeded down the hallway. He picked her up by the collar and handed her back to Hornet, who in turn put her past the others who were crammed into the hallway. Not a word was passed between them. Somehow, tingle did not like the sight of the four oddly dressed hunters. Something..

It just wasn't right.

* * *

Thunk

Shadows died away as the light pouring in from the open doorway was suddenly shut off, leaving the faint image of his enemies burning in his mind. Zi'Zuku was accustomed to the darkness, fighting with limited senses.

Thunk

Still somewhat shaken from the odd encounter with.. whatever it was that had controlled his body and mind, the assassin chose a path backwards, trying to put distance between himself and whatever had just entered through one of the two doorways that led into the room.

Thu-thunk

Two large metal feet came to a halt, one following up after the other. It wasn't like him to panic, it wasn't like him to lose his mind, so naturally those where the last two mistakes the battle hardened force would make. Gliding on his heels, the sky haired man searched for any clue as to just where his new opponents were located. That they were enemies, this he assumed, but soon his suspicions were confirmed. Zi'Zuku flung himself to the floor, letting the incinerating force of a photon bullet streak overhead, harmlessly scarring the already defiled walls of the ruins. He was not a psychic, but the sound of combat was something he could deter from any situation. His acute Newman ears twitched as a shocking clash rang out through the room. No blunder had been made, no error had occurred, yet the rendering clashes continued, at a deliberate, steady pace. He was in the middle of a planned ambush, he had lost two of his senses, and now the enemy would surely press an attack.

Sure enough, the slim yellow blade of a photonic weapon was drawn, slowly beginning to circle him. The assassin clearly counted four when the light had flooded the room, the problem was, he only knew the position of two of them. He did not have much time to consider his options, for the durandel's owner seemed to have decided for him.

It came quickly, humming through the air as the energy pulsed through its blade, as it whirled in a blinding arc leaving Zi'Zuku's eyes to greedily suck in the sights that the new lights provided. His foe was face less, yellow and black pinstripes adorned the odd, custom made armor that bobbed from side to side as it moved forward, trying to provide as few openings as possible. It dawned upon him as his cacadeus countered the stabbing blade of the rapier past the right side of his face, as the fierce pair of painted eyes came close to his, that he was indeed facing a real threat. He could recall a few details about the bounty hunters that had become notorious in a short amount of time for taking down some of the biggest names on the bounty list. What did they call themselves.. Hive?

Zi whirled the other end of his bladed staff around in typical fashion, parry sweep, yet was more than surprised to find that the man had not tried to stop the counter, but instead had followed through, crouching low, stepping forward, spinning around to face his back. Bringing himself around half circle, the force was barely able to prevent the blade from slicing out the back of his neck and parry it aside once again. He needed distance between himself and this man, obviously close combat was not the best of options. Beckoning terrifying masses of chaotic energy to his will, the assassin gathered the power to his palm in the attempt to launch his signature death dealing megid. Yet again he found himself angered by his enemies tactics. Yet again his movements had been read before he actually made them, now he was facing a man who was crushing his own hand in a powerful vice like grip. He considered dropping the cacadeus to attempt a spell of a different sorts, but now the crushing force of someone slamming their helmeted forehead against his knocked him staggering backwards. Except, he still had his hand in a trap.

Letting out a little snarl of discontempt for his enemy, Zi crouched down and whipped the bladed end of his favored weapon towards the crotch area of his opponent. Grateful was he, for the fact that the man leapt backwards to avoid this, and his aching hand was released. Seemingly phased, the durandel wielding foe leapt to one side, tucking into a roll so that he might clear quite a bit of distance between himself and the assassin. The reasoning for this was abundantly apparent in a matter of moments, when a storm of fire was released upon him from a pair of gattling class mechguns.

He did not escape this unscathed, jumping to the side he avoided the first volley, except for the bullet that skinned across the side of his right foreleg, and the blast that hit him squarely in the left shoulder. In an unseen spray of crimson blood, Zi'Zuku struggled to duck and weave his way across the room. If anything was obvious at that point and time, it was the simple fact that he had to get the fuck out of there. However, upon reaching the nearest exit, instead of escaping to a calm, lighted hallway, he slammed into something large, something metal. Mentally cursing every god known to mankind, he had little enough time to roll to the side to avoid the blade of another pole arm being buried in his midsection. Frantic now, the assassin pounded forward, hating every moment of his situation. Another spray of photon bullets left him with a few more minor injuries, the wielder of the mechguns would have to get a lot closer if he/she wanted any major results.

The sting of the pole arm glancing his back as he ran pressed himself forward. At his breakneck pace, he had to literally leap over his opponent to dodge the blade of the durandel seeking his life. He knew the second door was close by, yet as he loped towards it, it became apparent that there would be indeed someone else waiting for him there as well. The sound of clashing metal grew louder with every footstep, the nicks to his backside reminded him that if he faltered he would surely fall prey to the hunters. For the second time within the beat, he found himself scrambling on the ground after being knocked down by a rather large android. Throwing himself back and to the floor, he raised his hands and shot off a large mass of incendiary might. The rafoie scorched himself slightly, but at least it bought him some time.

Circling around again, Zi'Zuku prepared himself for another mad dash to the opposite exit.

It was at this time that the shriek of the hungry deminian could be heard vibrating through the room. From the hidden halls in the ceiling, from the passageways beneath their very feet, they came, intrigued by the noise of fighting from above. One crash after another indicated that several of them had landed, their breath rattling through unseen mouths, sending chills out to everyone within the room. War cries arose, pouring into the room. Zi'Zuku chuckled contentedly to himself, despite the situation. These blundering monsters had just saved his life.

* * *

"God damn you motherfuckers!!!" Wasp practically screamed, forcefully ramming the tip of the durandel into the 'head' of a deminian. Twisting the blade cruelly, he kicked out, freeing his blade from the beast. Not done yet, dead set determine to make these things suffer for separating him from his pray. The hot weapon severing the blade like abdomen, rendering flesh from bone, the intense heat tearing and churning up the creature's insides to be spewed out amongst the body littered floor.

"He might have gotten away Wasp, but he's hurt. We'll catch up to him after we clear this lot." Hornet said soothingly, knowing that Wasp's temper could be the death of them all. Bee used the long blade of his pole arm to smack aside the enemies, slicing clean cuts right through their faces leaving them to screech and wheel to the ground. Bumble merely stood behind the HUcast and patiently waited out the enemy swarm.

"This close! I was fucking this close!" Hive's leader hissed, driving his weapon down to the hilt into the opposing creature, reaching out, grabbing its head with his free hand, gouging his fingers mercilessly down into a wound, threw it to the ground to free his blade only to drive it in again, viciously seeking out every ounce of pain he could deliver.

It only took them a beat to clear the room, after which they proceeded to follow after the Newman assassin. Hornet paused, looking back at the trembling figure of their leader.

"Wasp, what's wrong."

"Its.. here.. turning me inside out.." falling to his knees, Wasp began a long, haunting yell. The scream of a man losing hope, the angry retribution of one who is loosing their freewill. The anguished noise continued for a while, he had removed his helmet so that he could attempt to stop the throbbing pain that resided in his head. This allowed the shout to echoe the room, the halls, the entire being of the ruins. Finally, after his will to voice his torment had broken, he collapsed to the ground, shoulder length black hair spilling out wildly, golden eyes staring blankly out into space.

Kneeling beside him now, Hornet helped him into a sitting position, and waited patiently for him to speak. After a moment, he stoped shaking, and wiped the tears away that had gathered in the corners of his eyes.

"Lets go."

"What are you talking about? We can ju-"

"What are YOU talking about!" Wasp interrupted, pushing her away. He lifted his helmet from the ground and fixed it firmly in place.

"Were going after Zi'Zuku. No matter what happens, I will have his head."

* * *

This could have been a lot longer, but I didn't feel like dragging it out. Hence, we seem to just dive into the action here. I apologize If I was not able to adapt Zi'Zuku fighting style properly, for it was a short battle, and there was little room for extensive details.

Oh, and pardon any mistakes in the naming of the pso weapons >_<




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sagasu on 2004-12-26 21:59 ]</font>

[mr_rubbish]

Jeez, I was outta action for 48 hours. Hopefully I can make up for the absence...

-------------------------------

Act II - Unseen Forces

Marla jogged effortlessly up the three flights of stairs. She was not sure why she nad not bothered to take the lift. Maybe it was just so she could get a feel for the building or perhaps she wanted to get the andrenaline flowing incase something 'exciting' happened. The residency was an appartment block, a real shithouse. The walls were either peeling or covered by a fine layer of tasteless grafitti. Litter filled the rundown corridors and the sour stench of urine pervaded the air.

The RAmarl reached the door marking her destination and drew out a Varista. Drawing a deep breath she jabbed the doorbell button repeatedly before hammering on the door.

"Meleus Hawthorn? Open up! HCIU!"

She tried twice more to get the occupant's attention the civilised way but was rewarded only with silence. She shrugged and then raised her booted foot.

"This is why I love my job..."

She hesitated when she noticed that the door was slide-type and not swing-type. Sighing, she lowered her leg again and produced an electronic lockpick.

-----------

Deuce gasped slightly as he struggled to run up the stairs in a silent fashion. Why did she have to take the stairs, ferlight'ssake? Maybe he ought to cut down on the cigars? Yeah, when Hell froze over perhaps. He had realised there was a small but ever so fatal flaw in his cunning plan. In order to get the information as Ms. Decker got it he would have to be close enough to hear and see it as well. So closer he must get.

----------

The door slid open with minimal fuss to reveal a dingy and poorly lit room. After a few moments of clumsy fumbling by the door frame she located the light switch, the illum-tec panels blinking noisely into life. The room was bathed in a dirty yellow light that gave everything a sickly appearence. Marla quickly searched the other rooms, but they were as devoid of life as the first.

The bedroom was the first indicator that Maleus actually lived here. The bed was a tangle of sheets with clothes and armour patches strewn indescriminately along the floor. It was all topped off with the stale smell of human sweat. She briefly wondered what kind of nightmares he had had in here. The kitchen was also telling. Pretty much the entire appartment was coated in a layer of dust that indicated that the owner only stopped in to eat and sleep. The bin overflowing with discarded readymeal boxes, while not necessarily nutricious, they helped keep the washing up to a minimum.

The computer terminal had not logged any accesses for three weeks, coinciding to the day when the ruins had been uncovered. On the desk there was a white cloth spread out to cover some objects. Unveiled, Marla recognised some of them. They were mainly artifacts from the ruins, a control crystal here, a wall fragment covered in alien script there and a couple of Claw parts. Pretty much every hunter who had visited the ruins took a trophy of some kind so it was nothing really out of the ordinary... except for the small glass bottle.

She picked it up and looked at it closely. It was half-filled with a viscuous purple liquid, almost pink really. It reminded Marla of Dimenian blood and there was an awful lot of that stuff around thanks to the step up in missions undertaken by the HG. But there was something else about it, the colour was not exactly right and as she stared deep into it, the liquid almost seemed to glow of its own accord...

A sudden noise startled her. Replacing the bottle back on the desk she took out both her guns and crept silently to the still open frontdoor.

-------------------

Clumsy moron! Cursed Deuce as he kicked an empty beer bottle over. It was a good thing he did not try to earn a living as an assassin or it would no doubt be shortest career in history. He was close now, close enough to overhear any insights that Ms. Decker's interogation would provide...

The HUmar was quite confused as to how his nose could have suddenly sprouted a firearm from it. Focusing beyond that he was confronted by a sight that was as enjoyable as it was depressing.

"Why, if it isn't the infamous Deuce Deckard. And I do mean that in the unflattering sense of the word. What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?"

Deuce opened his mouth before shutting it again very quickly. Somehow he knew that saying "I've been hired to kill whoever killed the guy who's murder you're investigating and I needed some clues so I thought I'd follow you" would make a bad situation decidedly worse. But he had to say something...

"I... Uh... Funny story really. I was in the... Er... Neighbourhood and... Uh..."

"Go on." Said Marla folding her arms cynically.

"I... That's is... I spotted you walking through the streets and I thought to myself 'Deuce, you couldn't possibly let such a beautiful officer walk around alone in such a dangerous neighbourhood..."

"Uh-huh."

"It's true, I said that." Protested Deuce.

"So... You're like my guardian stalker then?"

"Yeah... Er, no! No, nothing like that. I was just concerned for your safety."

"Wow. That's very touching." Said Marla as she searched the contents of her PSU. "Since you're so concerned I guess you won't mind get deputised as my bodyguard then." She finished by pinning a metal badge to his chest.

Deuce had mixed feelings about this. One the one hand, his feelings could be accurately described by several expletives. On the other hand, those same expletives also be used in a different context.

"Come on..." Said Marla as she re-holstered her guns and walked down the hallway towards the stairs.

"Where are we going?" Asked Deuce.

"Back to the Guild. This isn't over yet."

"Great! Er... I mean Damn!"

-----------

Bernie could not help but stifle a yawn. His arms were starting to ache from holding his Flame Visit for what felt like hundreds of Beats. They were baby-sitting xenoarcheologists as they rushed to catalogue the kilometres of rune-covered walls ahead of the imposing deadline. Even with the help of photographic and holographic imaging equipment it was still a slow and laborious process, their progress from room to room painfully drawn-out.

In a way Bernie was grateful for the sheer weight of hunter traffic that passed through the area. Falz maybe dead and buried and the ruins practically empty, but when the monsters decided to show up, they did so in such a way as to remind them that this was no video game.

This particular mission was at the request of the Pioneer Two University. For such an undertaking they had researchers working in 400 Beat shifts, forcing Bernie to arrange something similar with whatever hunters happened to be at the Guild at the time. The RAmar was unhappy to be working with anyone who he did not have some kind of background information on, but desperate times...

The green and white RAcast, Eric, was competant enough to oversee the operation while Bernie got the requisite shut-eye, but otherwise he had to deal with an ever changing cast. This time out no FOrces to back them up and only a cold and aloof HUmar by the name of Hawthorn for melee support. This were made worse because the leader scientist would jump at every sound, making them all jittery. The man was so scared of shadows, he would probably die if he saw something really scary...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: mr_rubbish on 2004-12-27 08:52 ]</font>

[WraithVerge]

"Hmmm... Oh! Hehe! Ah! This is great!" BOC cried.

"You think so? Let me go a little lower..." Zenja replied, adjusting the position of a datachip and sliding it into a space deeper in the recess of BOC's arm. "There! How does it feel now?" she asked, closing the panel door.

BOC rotated his arm in a fashion that only robots can accomplish. "Much better! No sluggish reaction, less chance of accidental brain bashing when I... do this!" BOC raised his arm and flexed it like a champion body builder. He continued to pose for Zenja in various forms.

Zenja laughed, slapping BOC on his metallic back. "You sure know how to make a girl laugh."

"Trust me, I know what the ladies like!" He chuckled. "Hey, by the way... where'd you learn to do that?" BOC asked, pointing to his arm.

"Oh, well... ya know, I worked for Doc Stone for a while as an assistant. That didn't work out very well though as the doc kinda had a little... obsessive fixation for me. Anyway, I picked up a few of the tricks of his trade before I left."

"Nifty. Now... OH damnit!" BOC slapped his metallic head a little too hard, jarring some bolts and hardware loose. His right eye suddenly lost illumination.

"What's wrong?" Zenja inquired, slowly coming to the same realization as BOC.

"Did I just tell a little girl to run off by herself and go play in the Ruins? Damn! How could I be so... so..."

"Stupid? Idiotic? All brawn, no brain? A little airy up in the attic? Mentally challenged? Lacking in..."

"Awww... thanks for pointing out my strengths, cat-beast!

"Don't mention it, now let's go find..."

"SUUU~!!" Tingle burst out of nowhere and quickly climbed up the black tower, trying to hide behind its massive head.

The droid patted the little girl as softly as he could. "One little lost and frightened child - check!"

"What could have frightened her so badly?" Zenja spoke to no one in particular. "Hmmm... let's get to the bottom of this."

"I like it when you talk dirty to me!" BOC chuckled.

"Are...are we talking about guns again?" Tingle asked, completely forgetting her recent fright and flight. Their voices faded as the trio continued to walk down the corrider, heading into who knows what sort of mess...

-------------------------------

(something at this point, IRL, annoyed the shit out of me and snatched my attention away. Now, I can't remember what I had so carefully planned to write. *sigh* Wonderful... needless to say, the show must go on.)

Somehow I lost my way in this darkness,
But now it is so clear to me.
All I had fought so long and hard to keep
Is all that I had to leave.

I feel hollow... again.

Voshay opens his eyes once again to life. Darkness once again greets him. He feels as if he hanging in the air, he realizes his ankles are bound together and wrists are bound sperately, both engulfed in a strange mucus. He gazes into the darkness for some time, thinking of things well out of reach of his physical body. A shiver runs through his body. He senses the hallowness approaching, a black hole tearing at his soul.

Welcome once again, my guest, to the land of the living. Breath in the ashes, taste the sweet smell of death, see the magnificant sights of decay!

Voshay groans as a stinging pain, starting at the back of his head, grows. The pain spreads quickly to his neck and chest, travelling to his legs and feet. A cry erupts from his throat, he thrashes about in a vain attempt to break his bondage.

Pain. Life's gift, death's embrace. Your mind cries for death, yet your soul still wishes to live.

"Who are you?" Voshay cries, the forcing an eye open in spite of the pain. "Dark Falz?!"

Me? Oh no, not I. I am merely a servant of the Great One, but it does not concern you to know who I am.

"Right-ngh. How bout... Where the h-nggh...ell am I."

That is not your concern either.

"Well then..."

Silence, you fool. I know your questions, and they are fruitless. I have other, more pressing matters to attend in these... ruins, as they say. Many more minds to tease, to twist and bring out those dark, inner desires and fears.

"Damn you to..." The words die on his lips. The hallow feeling leaves him, and he is alone again, the darkness his only companion. Voshay focuses his eyes on nothing in particular, his thoughts drifting once again.

Some time later, a cry erupts, echoing up and down the lonely corridors of the Ruins.

-------------------------------

Zi'Zuku leaned heavily against the wall, wincing against the pain in his shoulder. He cast a quick glance down the left and right corridors, then over his shoulder. Zi'Zuku tore pieces from his cloak and began to bind the more serious wounds while casting Resta to seal up the smaller ones and ease the pain in the larger ones. He left one wound open, however, and it was here he placed one hand over it for a moment. After collecting some blood, he pressed his palm against the corner to his right. A slight handprint of blood was left behind when the assassin pulled his hand away. Using his other hand, he repeated the process once again, but this time he stepped to the opposite wall and placed a larger, more defined blood print. Zi'Zuku splattered whatever excess blood he had onto the floor before producing a small object from his person and tossed it a slight distance down the corridor.

The desired effect was to have his pursuers believe he had gone that way while he disappeared down the other hallway. It was a crude set-up and, recalling the armor-suited bounty hunters in his mind, probably wouldn't throw them off at all, but it was really all he could think of to lose those bastards. Zi'Zuku cursed to himself and quickly ran down the opposite corrider.

Unknown to Zi'Zuku, a dark hand reached towards him as he ran. The hand touched deep into the recesses of the assassin's mind, tapping into his desires and planting one simple and solid word: KILL. The hand buried this word deep into the assassin's mind where it will activate one day and dominate the person's mind for a short amount of time, and when that word springs to life--be it an hour or many decades--he can only obey what the word commands.


Once again, the puppet becomes bound to the strings of his destiny...


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: WraithVerge on 2004-12-27 14:00 ]</font>

[Solstis]

Cyrus apprehensively looked at the gloomy walls that seemed to loom in on him. Why? He was bored, and had an odd longing for a burger.

"Why are we here again?" the over glorified android technician asked Alpha.

"Montague wants the... left arm of a Delsaber. The shield arm, if my databanks are correct." Alpha felt an urge to add "which they always are," but decided against it.

If Alpha had spoken as intended, Cyrus would have replied that he, in fact, was the one who had designed Alpha's original chassis (with the assistance of Dr. Liap, of course).

Both android and engineer were lost in ruminations as a "Fzz" noise was accompanied by a Delsaber teleporting in. This would typically be a convenient situation, if it was not for the fact that its arms appeared to be switched.

"What do we do now?" queried Cy. "The prick of a newm clearly asked for the LEFT arm."

Alpha shouldered his photon launcher, and, without speaking, charged the Delsaber. The monstrosity leapt into the air to attack the bot, but was met with a crushing blow. Alpha had turned the Photon Launcher into a bludgeoning device, only denting it slightly. He wiped the purple ooze off of the weapon with care, stomping on the "bizzaro" Delsaber for effect as he did so.

"Simple!" the android stated, using his "cheerful" voice. "We bring him the whole thing!"

Somehow, Alpha 360 managed to fit the creature into a little red box, and fit said box into his inventory. An explanation of the technology involved would be tedious and rather long, so it won't be done.

Cyrus shrugged and walked into the next room, Alpha in tow.

[TheOneHero]

Sorry for being late, was...a little delayed.
__________________________________________________ ___

Thunk, clunk, tap, tap.

Closing his eyes in frustration, Valen, a black haired humar, stopped and turned around to face a terrified fonewm.

"Do you really have to make so much noise?" He said in frustration as the darkness from the ruins gathered around him and his companion.

"Well yes, you see." The fonewm paused, tilted his head in thought and continued after a beat, "The more noise we make, the more the monsters will think we have a big army and won't came and attack!"

"Look Tinker, that's not how it works." Valen tightened his grip on his katana Kamui. "They...or something wiped out nearly everyone from the Pioneer 1 Army. Remember? Or should I recite the stories?"

"No!"

"Shut up Tinker." Valen turned around and continued walking into a large room. A cascading waterfall poured down in the distance. He walked across the ground almost gliding, being trained as he was; an assassin for the Guild. Slowly the room went dark, leaving Valen in total shadow save for a small red light in the distance. It was pulsating and advanced slowly. Suddenly it flew up and vanished, Valen felt a gust of wind blow past him. He gripped his Kamui and strained his eyes in the dim light. He was used to the darkness, often using them as his ally and being able to see quite clearly even when his enemies could not. But this...this blackness was different. It was unearthly...ungodly...

"Tinker!" Valen spoke aggressively in a hushed whisper.

No reply.

"Tinker?" Valen turned around slowly, his black, braided hair barely moving. He couldn't see anything, and the flickering red light had vanished. Pulling out his Bravace, and using the thin band of light placed on it; he made his way back to where he had last saw Tinker.

Nothing.

Except darkness...

Valen couldn't help to have a small amount of fear.

* * *

"Whenever I get afraid, I only let it take me for five seconds." Smiling the green eyed, black haired humar continued, "I count: to five. Then move on."

"I'll remember that." Replied the small fonewm.

"Do well to Tinker." Valen paused before the teleporter leading down to the planet. "You remember why we're going down there?"

"Of course." Tinker tilted his head, looking into the false sky of Pioneer 2. "Some scared guy named Mome wanted stuff."

* * *

"One."

Valen gripped his Bravace tightly with his left hand, and his Kamui with his right.

"Two."

A sick rattling of breath came from the other end of the room. Louder even than the pouring waterfall.

"Three."

Come...let me hold you...close...myself...

"Four."

Valen felt something move behind him, coming closer. Near the waterfall he caught a glimspe of dimly lit photon arms.

"Five." Spinning on his heel Valen threw his Kamui at an approaching Delsaber. The beast spurted out purple blood, coating Valen's front. Reacting isntantly, not heeding the goo on him; Valen struck again. Turning around with lightning fast but graceful reflexes he shot off several photon bullets from his handgun at oncoming Dimeins. Bits and pieces of them burst throughout the air like small explosives.

come...into me...

__________________________________________________ ___

Yes, not much. I apologize for that. I'll be in sometime tonight/early morning to fix this up.

[KTani]

Pfft...Well, it should be obvious who I am, and that I'm not new. I just got my new computer (it's teh 1337) but I forgot my password, and PSOW's password mailer thing doesn't work. Feh.

On a related note, why the fluff did y'all forget about me and my character? FEH!! ;P

EDIT: Are most of the posts on this board in bold, or is it just my browser being weird? o_O

----

K'Tani jogged through the hallway in the ruins. She had followed Boc and Zenja at a distance for a time, but now she had gone off in a different direction.

Twin saber drawn and activated, she entered the empty, silent room at the end of the hall. She cautiously moved towards the center of the room, suspicious of the calm. Suddenly, the room became pitch dark, and suddenly cold. Even her weapon faded. K'Tani froze, eyes widening in a vain effort to see better. Unable to see, she twitched her ears, straining to pick up any sounds, and sniffed the air. Nothing. She fumbled to call up a telepipe from her PSU, but its screen was dark, and didn't respond. She swallowed nervously, and strained to see in the darkness. It wasn't unusual to have the lights go off on you here, and when that happened there was always a glowing red swich nearby to turn them back on. K'Tani turned in a slow circle, scanning for anything in the perpetual blackness.

Nothing.

A chill gust of wind blew past K'Tani's feet.

"Closer..."

K'Tani jumped and tried to activate her twin, but discovered, much to her confusion, that it wasn't in her hand anymore.

"Come...stronger..."

K'Tani's heart began to pound as panic set in. Her mind was racing, as primal instinct began to take over.

"Change...Stronger! Bigger! Feircer!" Adrenaline coursed through her veins. "Strong! Fight! KILL!"

"NO!" She screamed, falling to her knees and shutting her eyes. She felt the cold ruins floor under her hands.

She slowly opened her eyes, and saw the room as it was before, empty and silent. Her twin was deactivated and still in her right hand. Cold sweat dripped from her brow.

She sat back, gasping for breath, unable to move or think.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KTani on 2004-12-27 22:32 ]</font>


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: KTani on 2004-12-27 22:33 ]</font>

[EphekZ]

uh Sorry I took so long and ill explain my role in this fic a bit more in this post.

-------------------------------------------------

They, They killed my babys they killed them all. Not one left, my specail babys They will pay!

******


Where am I, The mines? No its too bright here my body it feels so weak, why is everything white?

"Zero?"

Zero opened his eyes and tried to get up, but fell down."Jenn, is that you?"

"yes, everything will be ok your in the hospital and I completed our quest we got a lot of meseta."

"haha thankyou Jenn you did good, Whats our next quest?"

Jenn looked down" Uh well its not really done we have more to do that was half our payment, We shouldnt be talking about this get your rest."

Zero sat up in the small bed" no Im fine I want to complete this quest. Lets go." He got out of bed and walked out of the hospital with ignoring the nurse's call for him to sign out, but Jenn took care of that.

"SO Jenn do we meet him at the hunters guild?"

Jenn pondered for a bit" No we meet him at the shops."

"The shops? Thats an odd place to dicuss a quest. Well lets go." They ran to the shops in sheer eagerness to see their quest details.

Zero stopped in at the door looking around for a doctor."uh Jenn hes not here all I see is this fat RAmar that looks like he just came out of the Hunters Academy." Zero stared at the man and came up with a conclusion that almost put him in shock. "Wait is that...The doctor?" Before he could continue the RAmar walked over to Zero and Jenn.


"HELLO! Zero Im not good with guns can you tell me is better, A rifle or a handgun.

Zero sighed "go with the rifle, wait how do you know my name?"

The RAmar took off his helmet and revealed himself.

"Dr. Montuague, but wait arent you a force? why are you in the RAmar uniform!"

The doc looked stupidly at Zero "am I not allowed to wear this?"

Zero smiled "no. anyways whats our quest?"

"O just go into teh ruins and take me to a certain place thats all"

Zero sighed" I know theres more but I wont bother to ask."

"Great! lets go" The three walked out of the shops and headed for the transporter.

*woo woo woo woo woo woo woo* the three watched the blue rings surround them in the darkness and waited patiently for them to meet their destination.
The three materialized into the start of the ruins.


The Fonewm ran ahead" Lets go!"

Zero turned around and looked at Jenn"Whats wrong?"

Jenn looked up" O its nothing im fine lest go" She ran ahead follwing the doctor.

"I know there is something wrong with her." He drew his weapons and ran after them.

*****

in the darkness a small red light turned on the light was being generated from a flase eye in a human
The voice gasped

[/i]one, one is here one of my babys but she is not alone...that does not matter I will still get her here. Yes finally my wait is over[i]

----------------------------------------------------

is that a bit better? I would write more but I must go

[-Z]

"Target identification 'Zi'Zuku' not found. Life signs: negative." Bee reported after chasing the newman as far as they could.

"Goddamnit! We had this all fucking figured out- what happened!? Someone tell me how he got away, and who let him!"

"Sir, he ran past every one of us. We couldn't have possibly predicted monsters would re-enter the room."

"Thermal equipment trace target until .247 meters north. Use of ryuker or telepipe: probable."

"It wasn't a telepipe or a ryuker. Telepipes stay open until the owner comes back through it."

"He used a sparker. They're one way telepipes that uses the extra energy saved from the return trip to send its user to a more specific location. They're going around on the black market nowadays, I wouldn't be surprised if he has a few. Sir, I suggest you calm down, he isn't going anywhere soon."

"Well then where do you suggest he is?" Wasp spat in frustration.

"Where else? He's run back home to his bar in the slums. He probably figures if we havn't chased him there already, we wouldn't know where he lived. And with all do respect sir, shut the fuck up. I'm not exactly happy about his escape either."

* * *

"'Variagrated peperomia'... I think he said those grow best under indirect sunlight."

The android gently potted the small plant beside a larger specimen, who's large leafs provided an additional protection for the semi-tropic peperomia. Her master, though she really thought of him as more of a companion than that, and she had created a small forest of their own on Pioneer 2. The warm rays of artificial sunlight amplified by the glass walls of the greenhouse always gave the room an appearance that just made you feel good. It was their own little oasis of natural color amidst the harsh steel buildings of pioneer 2.

"Heh, its nice to know that there are still some places technology hasn't-"

*Fwwwwwp*

Galatea spun around at the sound of a closing telepipe. Her eyes widened in sheer horror to find the assassin which had sought her owner's life for so long standing but a few feet behind her. It was only after she overcame the shock that she realized how serious his condition was.

"Is Nasca here?

"N-no, I don't think he's back from a mission yet."

"Good. I don't exactly want him carving the symbol for angel on my cheek in retaliation..." he said humorlessly.

"What do you want?" Galatea demanded, cautiously walking around the assassin in a wide arc as to keep as much distance as possible.

"Nggh-...*sigh* Well if you wouldn't mind, anything medicinal might help. The pain's starting to throb; I think it might be a sign that I've lost a lot of blood."

"..."

"Come on Galatea. I spared Nasca on that hospital bed. Can't you at least cut me some slack for that?"

...

"... Wait here."

As she began to scavenge for where Nasca kept his previously made hearb remedies, Zi'Zuku took a seat on the grass and accessed his BEE communications link. Typing with one hand and clutching his wound in another, he collected his thoughts and began to weed out what needed to be told and what he best leave to himself.

"Who did this to you?" Galatea asked curiously. She had failed to recall more than only a handfull of hunters who were capable of doing such damage.

"Bounty hunters. Four of them. They kicked me while I was down and caught me while I was in a shit of a mood to fight. I don't think anyone would expect me to flee to the lion's den, so I hope you don't mind if I rest here for a little while..."

"Only until you're able to get up and defend yourself. Don't think that this is a hotel."

She kept a stern eye on him as she applied the aid. The one she had just applied normally stung tremendously yet Zi'Zuku made no acknowledgement to the pain other then a brief pause in his ceaseless typing. She became worried about his motives.

"What do you plan to do now?"

"Retaliate. Zi'Zuku stood.

"Wait! It'll take some time for-"

"I'll be fine."

...

"I think my opponent's have become a little too comfortable with me staying on a constant defensive." Taking a few steps back, he withdrew a small green box from the depths of his cloak. Throwing it to the ground, it exploded into a warp tunnel. He tapped the last button on his BEE link, sending the message off.

"I think it's time to go on offense."

*Fwwwwwp*

* * *

"You. Said. He'd. Be. In. There." Wasp said through a wall of grit teeth. Once confident that there was nobody in there other than the bartender and several customers at the counter at the bar across the street, he deactivated his thermal visor.

"Before you lose your temper again, I suggest we stop wasting time and retrack him. He'll come through here sooner or later."

"Eh heh heh! I don't think that's going to happen."

Hornet spun around, leveling her gatling with the source of the voice only to find she had held up a hobo sitting against the wall of the alley. He just seemed so natural and blent into the enviornment that they must have ignored him before.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well havn't ya 'eard? Words out all ovah. The black Shadah that lives across the street in that there bar's out a hunting. They say some~badahs gone 'n pissed him off. Yup. I sho' would hate to be them. Gonna be hunted, that's what they gonna be."

Wasp and hornet exchanged glances.

"Woooo, boy! Last time he's a gone a hunting, they said he di'n't sleep. He waited until the fellar wasn't ready, 'n that's when he got 'im I thinks. They found the fellar tied to his bed. No legs 'r skin 'r eyes 'r organs 'r nothin'. You 'eard about that, di'n't ya?

... err, say, where'd ya'll go?"

[Solstis]

Cyrus' BEE communicator suddenly beeped rapidly, flew off of his left wrist, and exploded mid-air.

"That's odd." Cy scratched his head. "Such a reaction could mean only one thing... Montague is somewhere nearby."

The engineer slapped on another BEE communicator, tying it securely about his recently bared left wrist.

Alpha didn't respond. The android was busy scanning the area, his sensors detecting trace amounts of... something

"There!" Alpha pointed to their left and activated a shoulder-mounted headlamp, its beam only slightly piercing the shadows.

*SLAM!*

A 3-pronged claw punctured the wall.

*SLAM!*

Another joined it.

*SLAM!*

"Alpha... do your databases contain any information on any Ruins creatures with claws like that?"

Alpha slowly shook his reflective head, not bothering to check them.

*SLAM!*

*SLAM!*

The ancient wall finally gave in, clouds of murky dust swirling out of the new hole. Small orange string-like objects floated in and out of the light beam... objects only seen in the deepest reaches of the area. Alpha’s scanners also revealed a high amount of D-Cell contamination in the area - levels that nearly overwhelmed his processors.

Swiftly, Alpha 360 slung Cyrus over his metallic shoulder and ran, hoping to find safety in the next room.

As the door lazily slid open, the two heard a resounding "Rourk!" emanating from what seemed to be dozens of monsters.

"Shit!"

Neither of them knew who had said cursed, nor did they particularly care at the moment.

[BOC]

K'Tani yelped as a heavy object fell upon her shoulder, crouching and activating her twin saber in one swift move, closing her eyes and holding her weapon up to protect her.

"By the light that bathes us all in its warm glow, shes a jittery one." An unknown female voice said.

"Suu?" another said another more idealic voice said.

"Yo, K'Tani chill! Tis only the MyTea B.O.C. and his band of perky female assistants!!" a third, robotic male voice said, the owner of the heavy object that had attacked her.

K'Tani opened her eyes to see the giant droid offering his hand to help her back onto her feet. She smiled, sighing with relieve. "Only you Boc. *Phew* for a minute there thought it was someone dangerous." K'Tani said as the rusted one helped her to her feet.

"Hey, come on K.T., you know i can be dangerous!" the droid said, flexing in the way that made zenja weak at the knees.

"...To yourself" K'Tani said, smiling for the first time since her dark experience.

"Amen to that." Tingle said, clunking her hand against Boc's metallic hide.

Zenja eyed K'Tani up and down. "You okay? You looked like you where spazing out when we came in." she said.

"Spazing out?" K'Tani said.

"Wouldn't be the first time one of old Boccie's friends was a few feathers short of a rappy." Zenja said.

"Come on Zenja, play nice. Quira only had that mental breakdown because her boyfriend decided he liked other men better. But you did look a little b'fucked in the crainium there K.T., you been drinking Deuce's special brew?" The MyTea one said.

"I dunno, it was dark, and a voice.. that horrible voice." She said, shivering a little.

"Tingle hear it too big rusty and feline friend." Tingle said.

Zenja searched the room, and looked at Boc. "Hmmmmmm. You thinking what I'm thinking?" she said.

"I'll ring ahead to the motel." Boc said in his barry white voice.

"Boc" Zenja said in a serious tone.

"Oh okay, wrong time to be joking (humph that voice usually makes Michelle's eyes twinkle). Something, as always, seems to be seriously wrong here." The droid said.

"Boy, took your superior android CPU this long to figure that out?" Tingle said.

"Well i reckon whatever badness is lurking in these damn ruins will come for us soon enough, rather than us going looking for trouble, as per usual, we wait for it to show its face. Or ass. Or whatever evil prefers to show bastions of light such as ourselves! So my superior droid cpu is telling me the best course of action would be to try and find Voshay before this thing gives you the hebigibbies again." Boc said, his blue visor flarring a little.

"I agree with El Chrome-Dome." K'Tani said, prepping her twin saber. "The hebigibbies aren't pleasent."

"I think i ate a hebigibbie once. Tasted like Nasca's homemade stew." Zenja said.

"I think it would be best if we got our assess in gear amigos." Boc said.

"Why suu?" Tingle said.

"Cause my scanners are picking up at least 36 monsters two rooms over." The rusted one replied cocking his Yas, beginning to run.

"Boc I know you ain't the brightest bulb in the box, but the ruins are full of-"

"...With one human and one droid signal. And I recognise the droid one... And i think i need pull his ass outa the fire, just to piss him off." The droid said with glee, pratically skipping off.

"How could pulling his ass outa fire be bad? wouldnt all the flame burn?" Tingle said.
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alcohol fuelled post? me? never! if i double post its probably because i am seeing double ;P

PEACE!!!