"Well... That happened." This was all Maria could think of when she saw Alan - her guide to getting a good roof seat - ran off chasing after an old cowardly friend and leaving her behind. Not that she minded that though, him being there was a convenience for her and not much more.
Thus, sticking to her original plan, Maria wandered around the area mostly looking at the skyline to see if there was any rooftops worth heading up to.
She found a building suitable to her; nice, tall, and seemed emptied out for a time. As she was walking towards the roof however, she heard something in the building's middle-most floor. Curious, she snuck just outside the they were in and decided to eavesdrop. It was a group of three sitting opposite to each other three-to-two on a round table in an otherwise abandoned and messed up room. It seemed she stumbled on a condemned building, the kind that seedy business types are often seen doing business in.
To one side was a boy and a girl, about the age of her comrades, the boy looking slightly younger than the girl. She couldn't make out their attire exactly, but she could tell one had black hair, and the other had a sapphire blue.
To the other side, was a small man in a suit with a couple of armed brutes on both sides of him. Giving the impression of being a crime lord. She couldn't make out their voices, and their minds are just filled with thoughts of the boy and the don backstabbing each other sooner or later. The girl, on the other hand, was difficult to make out, possibly due to the long range.
However, there was one thing she could hear that caught her attention.
"These are gifts, from us to you, courtesy of Moonstrike."
Courtesy of Moonstrike? Were those two a part of Moonstrike...? No, it didn't seem like it. The way the boy phrased that suggested he was some outside force...
Before she could think on it more, she heard something in her mind.
"Hey Maria, Where are you right now?" The voice said. It was Alan's voice. While he doesn't have telepathy, Maria used her own to make a telepathic network of sorts between the Star Marines back during the war, using herself as the core keeping it up. All her allies had to do was say her name, and use their mind as a transmitter and receiver, and she could pick up messages from them and send messages herself.
She looked towards the deal happening in the other room. This was something to think of for another time. Whoever they were - friend or foe - Moonstrike One will likely mention them when asked either way.
"Still trying to find a good scenic spot on the rooftops. ...Did you catch Klein?" She asked Alan, walking down the stairs and towards the entrance of the building.
"Who do you take me for? Course I did. Guy says he's going to join us, but I want a good scan of his head first just in case." Alan responded. Maria couldn't help but give a sigh. She already tapped into Klein's mind while she was in eye contact with him. She could only see so much from such a quick look around, granted, but from what she saw, there didn't seem to be much to worry about. Still, may not hurt to have a good thorough scan just in case.
She exited out of the building and noticed people around her looking towards something in sheer awe and fear, some of them running away screaming. She looked towards the direction they were looking at, only to find...
"Ah, there you are. See, Klein, what'd I tell ya? She always pops out in the nick of time." Alan said, very nonchalantly given what's happening...
Alan's arm was on fire. White fire at that. By the looks of things, it didn't seem like Alan noticed, perhaps his own magic enveloping him doesn't cause any pain. More importantly, his arm was on fire in public, in the middle of the street. Not even she could imagine what must be going through Klein's head to see Alan just walking around in broad daylight in a town of thousands with white flames moving up his right arm, encompassing the right side of his chest.
"Explain... Now." Maria simply said. Though the way she said it was in a deadpan tone to match the deadpan expression on her face, it was still rather easy to tell: She was pissed.
"Hmmm...? ...Oh, ...Right. Long story short: Turned it on to make a point to Klein here, and now I can't seem to turn it off. Every time I try to force it to turn off, it gets even worse. ...Oh, and now both arms are on fire, ...Okay!" He said as he suddenly noticed his left arm was now matching the right. Maria put her hand to her face; one would assume as a reaction of shock, but in actuality, it was to contemplate on what was going on with him. This was bad... Alan was lighting up like a human bonfire, and everyone around them was seeing them as a bunch of freaks, monsters, and/or aliens by proxy. Clearly it wasn't something he was in control of, but it's definitely his magic - his lacking of pain to his now burning arms proved this - so it's not like he's been infected by another's...
"...By another's?"
"...Ummm...Everyone like my Act? Just down here to promote the circus in town and...accidently got too carried away on the oil. Don't try this at home, hehe... Come on, come on, come on...turn off, damn you." Alan said, at first trying to write it off as a freak show performance to try and keep people from being scared of him, before then whispering to himself to turn the flames off.
...It did not work, and if anything, it started to get worse as he suddenly became a bit nauseous, white flames suddenly coming out of his mouth at unspecific intervals like the breath of a dragon. He turned his head to the floor as soon as he figured that out to keep from hurting anyone on accident, and the flames were enough to shoot him up and hover off the ground for a few second crashing back down a flaming mess. The flames continuing to slowly explode outward, yelps of fright echoed throughout.
"This reaction... If I'm right...Alan, stand up, raise your arms and look towards the sky." Maria said.
"The hell...? Now's...-Cough- -Cough- not the time for stretches, little lady." He said as he slowly got up, spitting up white plasma-like slime from his mouth that erupted into a flame of its own.
"Just do it!" Maria said, trying clearly to be as stern as her static voice and expression can make her. Not having much to lose, Alan slowly did as he was told; he looked towards the sky, and stretched his burning arms as high as he could. He could feel the energy building up within him getting focused into his arms and head.
"Oohhhhh, SHHIIIIIIII-" Was all he could say as all the built-up energy suddenly burst forth from his hands and mouth, creating a giant pillar of white flames shooting towards the top of the dome, tall enough to where just about everyone in the Bazaar could see it, and all of the civilians began look in awe and dread. The civilians around Alan, Klein, and Maria in particular now running away in panic. The Bazaar's Security department and law enforcers saw what happened and were effectively on the move towards the source.
Meanwhile, at the northern part of the Bazaar, where some of the more important buildings reside, including a Stock Trading Center, the security there had effectively saw the pillar as well and an alert was called asking for all forces to come through. A couple of guards stayed behind to guard the trade center.
...Bad luck for them.
As they stared at the pillar of white flames in the distance, they heard what appeared to be a hiccup, and looked towards the right, seeing some boy in a lavish red velvet coat, moving erratically on shaky legs and with some goofy smile on his face; basically, a drunkard.
"Aye! 'Ello Guvnors! ...Any of you two know where I can find a good bar at?" The drunken man(?) said in a rather gritty cockney accent, looking closer, he looked quite young, no older than maybe 16...wearing an ancient captain's hat, and an eyepatch, one would assume he's out trick-or-treating early.
"...I think you've had enough already. You got an ID, boy? You look a little young for a drunk."
"Wh-Wha-No, Not for a swig of the good ol' rum, just some cheap food to fill me up. Just pulled some muscles and blew me load - not...in that way - and I am abso-flutely-flamished." The poor kid on his shaky legs looked like he was a brisk wind away from just collapsing on to the ground. Didn't take long before that actually happened. Prompting one of them to run off towards him.
"Hey, You alright, kid?" Said guard asked. The boy's eye were practically spinning in circles as if his whole world was spinning out of control. The guy tried to do what first aid he could for him, until he suddenly felt a sharp pain of his own, as from behind him, something large bit onto his arm, he couldn't see what it was before a sudden rush of searing pain like nothing he ever felt before coursed through his arm and his entire body, too painful to even scream as he himself went on the ground, he couldn't see what it was that bit him, before he went unconscious. But he could see a faint shadow of what it was on his last moments of consciousness...
And what it was: a giant lizard, painted in a reticulated pattern of orange and black, humanoid much like a Karusian. But whereas Karusians were more akin to dragons, this one was more a humanoid form of an actual lizard. More accurately, he was a giant muscular Gila monster, in torn grey jeans and a fur-loined bomber jacket. The sleeves of which were removed, likely to not get in the way of the other factor of this giant lizard man, the sleek black metal contraptions that could be described as his arms.
The other guard was better off in comparison, a tiny robot snuck on him while he was about to head over to save his partner, tasering him with electricity and knocking him unconscious. From out of the shadows, an old man in a white coat to match his equally silver hair and mustache slowly walked out to stare at him, grab the bot, and then look towards the Lizard.
The boy in question was none other than the Pirate that entered the Circle of Hell and escaped, Arron Falcon.
Making the old man the now-confirmed accomplice, Professor Audric Abreo.
This third one, the lizard, was an unknown however. But most likely, it was the one Kotaro and Ein caught on the Security camera that day.
"A bit excessive, don't you think? Casualties to a minimum and all..." Professor Abreo said. The lizard sighed and looked at the old man with his brown eyes.
"He'll live, The venom's powerful, but non-lethal. ...He'll just wish he was dead for a while. Besides, I do what I need to." The lizard said in response. The professor sighed and shrugged.
"...Fair enough. Still seems a little extreme, but we don't have time to discuss ethics. Grab the captain and come inside. We got work to do." Abreo walked into the Trade Center right after saying this. In response, the Lizard nodded and grabbed the mumbling Arron Falcon by the right leg and dragged him inside the Trade Center. Arron mumbling a song all the while.
"~And they sailed their ship cross the ocean blue, a bloodthirsty captain and cutthroat crew. It's as dark a tale as was ever told, of the lust for treasure and the love of gold~"
"Bravo, Bravo, An excellent display of technique over strength. People often overlook the value of such things, don't they? They oft tend to think of power as the only way to do things. Using brute force to get whatever they feel like is oft a bully's perception. Wouldn't you Agree?" Nero heard a girl's voice say from behind him, complete with the sound of a slow clapping in applause. Should Nero look behind, he would see a rather...odd duo walking towards him and the people he's beaten up.
The one talking was a girl, looked not that much older than him, maybe even the same age as him, wearing a rather old fashioned black lolita dress, complete with black high-heel slippers and silky gloves, a small top hat leaning to the left of her head, holding an indigo umbrella over her with purple leather gloves.
To her left was another person, slightly taller than the girl and Nero both, dressed up in a white hooded cloak. Most of the body was covered in it, but what could be seen was his face, his short blonde hair and blue eyes, and some of his rather odd sophisticated attire, starting with the white collar and blue tie seen through the hood, to the grey pants and brown leather shoes the white cloak couldn't reach.
"Ah great...another couple of freaks to go with this punk-ass..." One of the hooligans on the ground from Nero's attacks said, trying and failing to get up, still in pain from the beatdown.
"Well, I don't disagree, but...M'lady, are you certain this is wise, walking up to him like this? ...Erm, Just after a fight, I mean." The hooded man asked the girl, blatantly ignoring the voice of the downed hooligan. As a response, she put her fingers to her chin in contemplation, her heterochromia eyes of emerald and amber looking intently at Nero as if staring into his soul...or something like that.
"Hmm...Well, ...Yes, I think it's very wise. He did save us some trouble after all, it's only fair we thank him for it." She said in response with a smile, immediately lightening up as if faking the intensity of the staredown.
He had stopped when the voice seemed to address him, looking back with some idle interest and not - at first - knowing what the owner of said voice was going on about. Nero turned around to give whatever this was his full-ish attention. What were these two all about? Did they lose a bet? Why the odd arrangement? He responded to the question with an ”Uhh, sure.” response, scratching his head and…oh. Found one of the guys’ teeth in his hair. Must’ve been when he headbutted his lower jaw. Nero wasn’t exactly sure what to say to this for two very good reasons. Number one, while he had plenty of technique, there could be no question that he graduated from the School of Badass Rumble, kicking the crap out of anyone who gave him trouble. Just because he was smaller and more wiry than these guys didn’t mean he didn’t exercise as much brutality as agility. Number two was that he had NO fricking clue why the lolita and the cultist wannabe were even talking to him...yet. It took him a moment, but Nero smirked at the pair now.
”Oh, I get it now. Bounty hunters. Yeah, sure, all in a day’s work or some shit.”
He didn’t actually give a damn. Maybe it was just because they were weird, but he didn’t really wanna be involved in whatever they were doing. Looked like something they’d insist on him wearing a funny hat for, and that was gonna be a straight-up NO.
Bounty Hunters, you say? ...Well, I suppose you’re not too far off. You’ve certainly saved us a lot of trouble, considering these three were three of our targets, Escapees from the Circle of Hell prison ship. ...Three of a most unfortunate few that escaped the Planet it crashed on… Oh, what was its name again… Plenty? ...Oh, I didn’t mean to scare you with that little bit of bad news. You really needn’t worry, it hasn’t been put on the news yet, but we managed to round up a majority of the criminals that escaped. These are but a small few that managed to escape our grasp. We’ll be capturing the rest of them soon, so you can rest easy tonight. ...Honestly, it shouldn’t have gotten this bad. If we could have focused on it, none of them would have left there, not free or alive, anyways. Unfortunately, of all the luck, this happens right in the middle of a blasted rebellion of all things. It’s just one thing after another... The girl ranted as she walked forward, purposely stepping on the three he beat up with her high-heels, making them screech in pain. The hooded man simply walked around them as he followed her.
“Mmm, Madam, If I may, aren’t speaking a touch too much on confidential affairs?” The man asked her, trying to keep his voice low.
“I’m only going into as much as what the media does, nothing I say is anything he won’t hear later on anyways, Consider it a sneak preview in gratitude for his service. After all, ...he couldn’t possibly know of this beforehand, right?” She asked him, once again looking directly at Nero as she said her last sentence.
The mention of Plenty and the Circle of Hell didn’t narrow his gaze because of that. It was more the thought, all of a sudden, that these two could’ve been working for the crow-boy with the shiny sword. Not such the case, it would seem. The girl seemed to be going on and on about her troubles finding these people, as they’d escaped and she was there to round them up, not him. Not that he could’ve been so-easily identified...except by his fighting style. Well, as it happened, not here for him, probably just a coincid- No, it’s not. She definitely was in the know, somehow. The way she walked up and stared him right in the eye while seemingly daring him to either own up or deny having any knowledge of what went down in Plenty town said it all. Nero put on a big smile now.
”As I said to a friend of mine earlier, I ain’t got no interest in farming.”
He was full of it, lying to her face, and she would know it. She knew it even before she walked in on him, and she wanted to hear him say what he said. These two might’ve been trouble, after all, despite what they said. There was something...ahh, what? Familiar? Yeah, that was a good word for it. He didn’t know ‘er, though. All his memories worked and she wasn’t on his shit-list yet, so what was this all about?
Indeed she could tell that this one was lying, he knows it. His statement neither confirmed nor denied her subliminal accusation on his whereabouts...well, that was fine. She may not know why he was there, but she knows he was without a doubt. That spike in underworld magic she sensed back then during her raid on one of the rebel bases on Plenty was no lie. The fact he would make such a throw-away line as that was good enough for her to at least work under the assumption he was there.
“No interest in farming…? Well, me neither.” She said, at first with a smile on her face before then relaxing her expression and turning around. “I respect the working man as much as anyone should, but such activities are a bit too rough on these sensitive hands. These farmers go through enough during their time without a band of reckless misfits running about making things worse for them. Which is why I’ve taken to hunt down as many of them as I can and bring them back to Planet Alca where they belong.” She said, walking back as she talked, once again stepping on the group. If Nero had good ears, he could probably hear the sound of snapping and popping coming from them as she did. She then turned around again looking towards Nero, this time with a rather solemn expression.
“Sadly, there’s a few of these criminals that are more…difficult to find and capture for one reason or another. We will find them sooner or later, of course, but I’m beginning to think our normal approach may not work all that well.“ She said, an especially painful stomp on one of the hoodlums at the word Difficult, before she then sat on the three like a makeshift throne, twirling her fingers about as she spoke. The hooded one walked to her side, a look of shocked disturbance on his face.
“Madam, please, there’s little reason to go this far giving info to this person we don’t even know!” The man whispered.
“All I am saying, is that we need some information to help with the search, it’s a classic tactic of investigation.” She said, suddenly having a cup of tea in hand of which she sips...where the hell did she get that from?
“Then might I suggest we stop beating around the bush before we start slipping into a troublesome territory?” He asked as she kept sipping her tea.
“I suppose you’re right… Have you by chance encountered anyone strange lately? ...Present company excluded? ...Specifically, we’re looking for a boy, about your age and… how do I put this… Well, let’s just say he’s special. May have been backed by aliens? Know of anyone with any peculiar…abilities?” She asked Nero.
Genuine confusion here. Apart from the girl’s mode of speech - that dichotomy of sophistication and sadism towards a perceived foe - she started talking about things that were a bit outside of Nero’s personal knowledge. The tea was also a bit of a throw, but that wasn’t what was important. Fact is, the young assassin was having a hard time trying to figure if she had him and his crew in mind or Squad 0 or somebody else. Was Moonstrike backed by aliens? He honestly couldn’t remember...because he just didn’t care! I mean, she could’ve been talking about Crowley, but how would he begin to know for sure or figure out a good way to put the heat on ‘im without implicating himself? It didn’t help that he hadn’t really paid much attention to his current crew enough to even know if they were being implicated either.
”Ya think you could be a bit more specific on what you're looking for? ”Special’ and working with aliens covers alot of ground. I ain’t got time in my life to play guessing games. Why doncha’ take your guy’s advice and just cut to the chase, already?”
Yeah, he heard the guy muttering away, even though the guy was trying to keep himself muffled. The lack of patience made the blondey’s words carry. So yeah, Nero was saying that she should just lay it out plain for him or leave him alone.
“Does it now?” She asked, giving a little chuckle at his response.
“Very well. A few prisoners of the Circle of Hell with exceptional, outright magical abilities, escaped from Plenty alongside the riff-raff below me, and are now with other similarly gifted criminals, one of which was said to produce white-hot flames combusted from his own body. We know that they are here - in one of the most popular areas in the Ascendancy - for reasons I can’t possibly fathom.” The girl explained.
Not that he really needed her to be more specific, per se, but that he was getting rather impatient about his time being taken up by this girl who seemed to have some idea of what he was and may or may not be after him and the crew of the Xuanzang. It seemed right to just get her to confirm whether he needed to attack her right now or not, hence why he asked. The answer uhh...didn’t ring any actual bells, funnily enough. He kinda’ forgot what some of the wayward Star Marines he’d been around did, you see, and he hadn’t seen many people while aboard the Circle of Hell that weren’t guards he’d taken out or the Blue Crow and company. So really, he couldn’t think of who she was talking about and shook his head.
”Nah, I would’ve noticed white freakin’ flames or anything like that. We done here? I still got shit to do.”
He hadn’t gotten his snacks yet, dammit!
“Hmm...I see. Well, that’s a dead end then. I appreciate the cooperation. If you garner any information on the matter, do let me know, I’m a rather easy person to find when I want to be. Sir, get these ruffians ready for transport.” She said. Whether she actually believed his answer or not, it seemed she was content to accept it easily enough. The hooded man beside her breathed a sigh of relief that she did not dig deeper into this info trade. He had no idea how far down the confidentiality rabbit hole she’d have stepped further into before she got in trouble. In response to her order, he picked up the three and was about to secure them.
But just as he was ready to leave with them…
“Oh, there is one more thing, actually.”
Oh, Goddammit…
“Apologies, but I promise this is the last thing I feel the need to ask. Would you happen to have heard anything about a stolen AI program? It seems that was unfortunately taken during the skirmish on the Circle of Hell as well. I’m not really knowledgeable when it comes to advanced technology, so it’s difficult to explain why it’s relevant. It’s an AI, so I imagine it’s due to what information it may hold. More importantly, ...Let’s just say it has been very dangerous when it was loose, it’s imperative we get it back before it causes anymore harm.” The girl said.
Yup, that clinches it. She was hired by their enemy to find them, but Nero decided to remain playing dumb on this. His actual response was to give her the most incredulous look you could ever give someone, snort with amusement, and say ”A stolen AI? Get real!”, before laughing. He’d been kinda’ surprised by all of this, but he was playing it off as well as he was because he had a certain level of street etiquette that made him seem like just another schmoe doing nothing out of the ordinary.
”No one would ever believe a story like this. A girl in fancy dress with her cultist pal are out looking for prisoners escaped from a prison ship around the food planet, and on top of that they’re looking for a rogue computer program? Come on… I don’t know shit like that! I’m just a dude shopping!”
Wow, tell the whole world, why don’t you, Nero? Oh wait, that might’ve been the point. He wanted to make the guy in the robe sweat about how their not-very-covert activities were going to get out a little too soon, and want to beat a hasty retreat.
The “cultist” looked like he was going to say something about what Nero just said, but hesitated and chose to say nothing. To be fair, it was understandable that of him as a cultist, what with the whole hooded cloak and all, and so he couldn’t help but give a look that just said “Touche’”.
The girl, on the other hand, gave a few blinks in silence at the response Nero gave, before pressing her hand to her mouth to contain her laughter.
“You’re a funny guy, funny and interesting. I ask about people with special, outright magical powers, even about one that can combust white flames, and you don’t bat an eye. But the more real and often seen occurrence of an AI being stolen, that’s the point of no return for your suspension of disbelief? You have a rather...unique perspective on things, don’t you? ...Not that I mind it. People like you keeps people like us on our toes, make things entertaining and interesting.” She said, a child-like smile to match her child-like appearance.
While the two were...for lack of a better word, flabbergasted by Nero’s response one of the ruffians thought it was a good idea to get out of there, pulling a knife out and dashing towards the little lady.
As if sensing his approach, the girl’s smile immediately turned to a frown of, what could only be described as solemn boredom.
“I ain’t going back to Alca, you gothic freaky bi-” He didn’t even finish his sentence before he noticed something was very wrong. With what appeared to be just a flick of a couple of fingers by the girl, the punk’s knife holding arm was removed from the rest of his body, blood splashing out and covering the top of her umbrella. If Nero had good eyesight, he would notice right then how this happened, as light seemed to reflect off what appeared to be strings around the, as well as the punk. It seemed the poor bastard got caught in monomolecular fiber cords, not just him but the other two as well unknowingly. It seems that was why she was moving back and forth through the ruffians, like a spider spinning her web, she was tangling up her prisoners.
She looked down towards the injured man, his screams muffled by the “cultist” covering his mouth.
“Relax, We’ll have that cauterize as soon as possible. Be thankful we live in an age where a limb can easily be replaced if need be. But pull a stunt like that before we leave, and especially in a crowded area as opposed to here, where people could get hurt…And the next thing I remove, you won’t replace.” She told him with a cold stare. It seemed this was enough for the other two to get in line and comply with the Cultist. Her head turned back to Nero, and once again there was a smile on his face.
“Sorry about that, Now where was I…? Oh yes, The AI… Well, disbelief aside, if you don’t know about that either, then we’ll have to go looking elsewhere for it. Thank you for your cooperation, if you find out anything about the AI or any other escapees, do let us know. ...Ah, My, how rude of me, I spoke all this time and I’ve yet to introduce myself. ...I am Madam Nuletta of Nyx. This hefty hooded fellow is my partner, Sir Zebul of Baal. Ask a soldier, and they’ll tell you where to find us. Now then, we should get these three moving before another starts trying to escape.” She said, finally introducing themselves to this young man. She turned to the cultist, “Zebul”, and the two decided to walk off, Zebul relieved that this potential nightmare was over. She then stopped and looked towards Nero again.
“May we meet again, Nero.” She told him, and without seeing his response to that, she turned and ran off.
Believe it or not, Nero enjoyed the display, although some of that reminded him a little of the chain girl of Squad 0 when the girl here was messing with those monowires. Still, his amusement was unexpectedly shut down when she mentioned his name. All the other stuff, he could let go and claim to have no knowledge of, but then she revealed that she knew of him, somehow. THAT surprised him, although she hadn’t seen the look on his face, the sudden eyes-widening and general WTF-ness. There was ALOT to examine here, and almost a guarantee that he wasn’t going to remember those ridiculous names…
Good thing he recorded that shit with his Omnitool!
"Sheesh, as dirty and crowded as we left it...Out of all the places we could go to spend cash, why the hell would it be back here?" Alan asked as he and Maria walked through the main street of the Bazaar, his hands behind his back as he stared at the surrounding environment, bored and unimpressed.
"...It is a merchant's melting pot, varied in qualities and prices." Maria simply said, staring outward as if through the crowds and into space. She was as doll-like and lifeless as ever it seems.
"And a paradise for thieves and con-men. I don't think I ever liked large marketplaces like this; it's too loud and so annoyingly crowded, and it just....well, it brings up some bad memories, let's put it that way. ...Why are you even dragging me here? I thought you put your money in some secret account or some shit." Alan asked; as loud and talkative as ever it seems.
"To help get away from the crowds and noise. You claim to grow up in places like this. Perhaps you know things about this environment that I do not. A roof is suitable."
"Can't you just fly up there?"
"Negative. It would bring unneeded attention." She said as they headed towards Klein's location unwittingly.
Klein, having been unaware that Maria and Alan were heading right towards his location, was still wandering around, a glazed doughnut in his hand. He took tentative bites every now and then, salivating at the sweet glaze as he did so. It has been a long time since he had a moment of peace, even if it was in the middle of a massive, crowded space station.
"Scary ass bastard." Klein thought, memories of being accosted by Squad 0 flashing through his mind. "Can't tell anyone to do anything without threatening them. Hmph. I'll get back on you one day, when this job is done. What job is it even?! They just told me to go in and... ugh."
A mere moment later, he saw Alan and Maria, and they were headed right towards him, their eyes clearly seeing him right now. Did they recognize him? Or...?
"Oh, by God. Too soon."
Discreetly, he started to walked away. He had long legs and a fast pace; it won't take long for him to disappear. It was now or never...
Indeed they did notice him, and indeed they did recognize him, it didn't take long for them to recognize a 'friend' that hasn't been seen for a long time. Especially so when they were last seen doing something memorable...like deserting them right before the Battle of Proxima. Sure nothing actually happened after that battle and the Rau've turned out nicer than expected, but they certainly did not know that at the time. Klein may as well have left all of his allies to death that day, had the Rau've been as merciless as believed.
Maria said and did nothing, simply staring at Klein with those dead eyes of hers.
"Oh... hello." She simply said, unperturbed and calm as if everything was normal.
"...Klein?" Alan simply said, wincing his eyes so as to ensure he wasn't making a mistake. He then noticed that Klein was about ready to book it out of there, and so he ran after him.
"OH No you don't, get back here!" Alan said as he chased after Klein. Maria simply stood there, looking up towards the sky and proceeding to check if any rooftops were accessible.
Klein quickened his pace, trying very hard not to break into a full run in order not to draw any attention to himself amongst the crowd. He would, however, bump right unto a particularly opulent Gill, whose great girth knocked him back a little.
Grinning nervously, he briskly walked past the Gill, only to trip on a Kanarusian Feldraken's tail, who looked upon him with a face of death.
"I'm so sorry." Klein blurted out, trying to get up, but Alan would soon catch him right then and there...
Alan was having just as much trouble getting through the crowds, a major reason he hated crowded places like this in the first place. In his case however, it seemed someone else bumped into him, he could feel a human handprint right on his back and pushing him forward.
"Hey, what the fuck, man!?"
"Sorry matey, in a hurry!" This fucker didn't even turn to face him as he said that. All Alan could see of him was tail of a red coat consumed in the crowded mass and some weird ass hat.
"Who the hell...? Whatever, head in the game, A. Head in the fucking game." Alan thought. Fortunately for him, this was about the time his target tripped on a Kanarusian tail and as soon as Alan caught eyes with Klein again, he took the chance and bolted towards him like a missile, not giving a fuck who he himself pushes out his way.
"Every step you take away from me's a punch to your cowardly face, asshat, I'd suggest stopping while it's still just one."
"Fine, fine." Klein stood up from his fall, using his cane to support himself. He looked forward, his other hand twitching just a little itty bit. "Sorry, have we met before? I don't remember."
Yes we have.
The Audacity...
Without warning, as if in response to the question, Alan gets close and goes in for a quick sucker punch to Klein's left cheek.
...He did say Klein was at one, after all.
"Ow..." Klein fell backwards unto the floor, much to the surprise of surrounding onlookers. "What... Oh, it's you. I remember now. Alan... was it? You're still mad at me for deserting, huh?"
In response Alan grabbed hold of him and dragged him away, looking at the Onlookers.
"Dine-and-Dasher. Been sent to bring him back to pay back his dues. ...Nothing to see here, go about your lives." He said, as he and Klein head towards a back alley, the others seeming to believe what he said about him. When the two were alone, he pushed him towards a wall.
"Don't go treating it like a minor inconvenience. Friends died in that battle, and we were in a position where we'd be next. Luckily for you, things didn't go out as we expected it to. So that punch is for abandoning us like you did. Far as I'm concerned, you've paid your debt now and only reason why I'm not going to flat-out kill you is because those Aliens weren't as bloodthirsty as we were told. I don't know what kind of coincidence brought you here, but at least you had to have grown some balls to show your face to us again either way." He said to him.
"I know..." Klein replied simply, looking down on Alan because he was just way taller. "I abandoned my friends because I was afraid, a coward, as you said. I didn't want to have any more part in the war, so I fled right before the battle."
Sighing, Klein softly continued. "You don't have to forgive me. Just let me fight again, with you. Maybe that can suffice as atonement for abandoning you all. Who else is there?"
Alan gave a sigh. On the one hand, Klein's only real vice he's seen is that cowardice of his. Throughout the time that he's seen him, Klein has been a lot of things to Alan and a liar isn't one of them.
On the other hand, he didn't think Crowley or his posse of ladies were murderous psychopaths and boy, did they prove him wrong.
"...Okay...I'll take you to them. It's best we meet up with them together as opposed to me simply explaining it to you. All you need to know right now is that Maria is still with us...and Tarak...and Nero. So you might want to brace yourself before we get there, cause I've been reunited with most of them for a short time myself, so I honestly don't know how any of them will react to you coming back. Ashton's literally the only one I'm picturing will be completely forgiving." He said, loosening his hold on Klein and looking out towards the main street before then getting close again.
"One more thing, just so we're crystal clear...? Since you weren't at the battle of Proxima, you probably have no idea...But we got betrayed before. You know Squad 0? ...Those bitches - Crowley especially included - butchered the Squad Leaders...Most of 'em. Our crew has the only ones left alive. Moreover, this rebel situation is important, nay, vital to them. So if you do something to fuck us up, like leave us for dead, or something even worse... it'll really burn me up! ...Are we clear?" Alan then said, while he tried to be calm, the very moment he said "burn" his free hand erupted into white flames, and kept burning like a torch.
"What...?" Klein looked keenly surprised, not because he was pretending really hard not to know about the betrayal of Squad 0, but he really didn't know that they had slaughtered the squad leaders. When they intercepted him, they weren't exactly sharing any details. All he knew that their boy leader went from a sweet kid to a mad psychopath that threatened him and his family back in Cerespont. "They killed the squad leaders..."
Grunting, Klein fixed his gaze back at Alan. "Crystal clear it is, then. I won't leave you, not again. The guilt of one time is bad enough."
Alan stared into his eyes, and while he couldn't completely put his faith in him, the answer he gave was good enough for him. He gave a few nods and finally lets Klein go. His hand still on fire.
"Ok, Our first step should probably be to get back to Maria. Kind of left her alone there when I was chasing you." He said, having Klein follow him back down the road, people seeming to stare now at the fact that his hand was on fire, but no smoke from it.
"You're keeping that on?" Klein whispered, concerned that Alan was exposing himself with his magic. "Ugh, nevermind."
He kept on walking, simply following Alan. Now, what's next...
"Hmm...? Oh this? It's a little hard to turn it off sometimes, and I'd rather not wait on it and keep her alone. Let them think I'm a circus freak or something, and give it a minute, it'll go out eventually." He said as he walked. He couldn't afford to worry about himself at the moment, and it's not like he really gave a shit about how people viewed him anyways.
"Huh..." Klein nodded. He hoped that the people in there would find it in them to trust him again, or at least tolerate him. He needs it to happen. There is no other way.
As soon as she got on the ship, Maria likely gave an eerie first impression to most of the crew due to her lacking of emotion. She assumed one of her allies - most likely Tarak - gave the crew a short summary of her apathy problem and save her the trouble of explaining it herself. As for the crew itself... It certainly was a cascade of oddities, though one that struck her with interest is the red-skinned alien. She could tell this was a fellow adept of the Mind... and was no Amateur at it either. She could feel her attempt at peering into Maria's mind, and while Amy did fail to penetrate her mental shielding, Maria showed just as much failure in tapping into her mind right back.
Ironically enough, that same sense of unease that Amy felt towards Maria, Maria felt with Amy, and generally for the same reason. Because of this, Maria's instincts from her past was telling her to keep away from this 'Amy' girl.
...And yet, she could not deny a feeling of curiosity towards Amy. She has heard of her kind, as well as their natural affinity to the Mind, but Amy is the first of them she's ever saw. For now, she'd listen to her instincts and steer clear - she seems interested in Iris anyways, and it'd be unwise to get in the way of that - but she is interested in seeing what this 'Zevzd' can do, and so will keep that interest in the back of her mind for later on...
As a Child Prodigy, Maria was among those who assisted Natasha in this bold financial move. She had no knowledge of the digital realm beyond the basics, however, she did have financial experience from her past dealings before the Star Marine project, her family taught her much when it came to that. Still, The boldness of her new captain to take as much as they did from the wealthiest families of the Ascendancy was rather unexpected for her. So bold, in fact, that she didn't seem to realize that one of those wealthy families were her own. She did the best she could to keep the Wilhelm family away from the digital crosshairs of RealAscendancyStockBets. All that was left to have was a prayer.
As for her portion of what was stolen, 20 million credits... She was almost certain it was enough money that her other comrades had no idea what to do with it. The shock of having so much money did not hit her quite as hard seeing where she came from, and so she knew exactly where to put it. She wasted no time taking the money from the personal account it was distributed to, and transferring it into a separate account created by her family, secure and off the Ascendancy Grid. Of course she needed help in rubbing off the tracks to ensure that it stayed that way, and who better to ask than her "Big Bro" Tarak.
It must seem really weird from the outside looking in, the emotionless girl trying to act cute, calling Tarak "big bro" while keeping that apathetic tone of voice. But this too was something that the other Star Marines just got used to, she's been close to Tarak ever since she first met him in the facility all those years ago.
Still, she never had much chance of going to the Bazaar, especially since her last time there was short-lived and led to her and Alan going with Joey and the shenanigans that followed that. She didn't have any spending money for herself since she put all of that money into said separate account, but frankly she was ok with that. Interacting with Tarak and the others and seeing some actual sights at this bazaar was all she really needed. Maybe she can find a good place up on the rooftop of a building there to peacefully stargaze or something.
A peaceful area to stop and think...
"I guess I do have something I want after all, something I don't need money to get..."
With everything on the Circle of Hell dealt with and everyone back into Xuanzang, Finbarr had nothing better to do, other than maybe sleep. Or eat, if he was famished.
As such, after hours of sleep, Finbarr walked back into the mess hall, wearing lain back clothes, though as usual, he was having black. Coughing, he took a ready made meal from one of the metal cabinets. After microwaving it for a minute, he proceeded to tear off the foil covering the top of the thing before stabbing the lone piece of bacon inside with his fork. It was breakfast, though day and night were meaningless in space.
Nevertheless, Finbarr dug on the food, occasionally sipping off from a glass of chocolate milk.
It didn't look like it, but he was waiting for company.
From the moment Alan was in the ship, he couldn't help but tilt his head at the...roommates aside from his fellow Star Marines that joined up with. He thought Joey was a freak and likely the odd man out, little did he know how well he would fit in and be normal with this crew, had he re-joined them during the retreat. We got a cyborg, a doctor somehow just as soulless as Maria by the look on his face, an Alien trickster who he could tell really like Iris, and the cherry on top: it's headed by a woman who so willingly decided to reward them....By fucking with the Stock Market with Flame and Ashton - Of COURSE it's that opportunistic duo that helped pull this off- and trashing enough trust funds to award 20 million credits to every single member of the crew, and still have more left over.
These fucking Madlads! ...Alan didn't know whether to love them, or take his chances outside... before they land. At the very least, there are worse crews he could be riding with.
Speaking of which, he walked to the mess hall, a new set of unmatching clothes - like he gives a shit about his looks - of a black T-shirt and brown pants, wondering that now that he had millions of Credits...what the hell is supposed to do with all of it? He never really had any money before, and now he's a millionaire, feels odd...and off, doesn't know where to begin with it.
It was around this point that he saw Finn in the Mess Hall. Oh yeah, There was something he had to go into more detail with him with, huh? Without much in the way of hesitation, He walked to Finnbar as he ate.
"Oi, Finn...Any idea of what to do with 20 fuckin mil? I need some ideas..." He said to him, sitting down next to him.
Finbarr chuckled, popping the yolk of the sunny side up egg into his mouth before chewing with an avid look of satisfaction on his house. "Might buy some land on one of the colonies." Finbarr shrugged, and took another sip. "Or, if everything goes south, I could get a plot of land and make a house elsewhere, maybe in one of the Kanarusian planets. Those have a lot of open spaces."
Smiling at himself, Fin continued. "But not before getting my family out of Titan. We lived dirt poor lives, and they probably still are, right now, thinking that I'm already dead or worse. Though meeting you guys is the silver lining through all that. You know, it keeps me sane. As for you, though..."
Finbarr looked at Alan, from head to chest, studying him closely. "You got no idea what to do with that amount of money no...? What, you got no one to go back to? I have. I hope..."
Alan gave a light smirk as he grabbed a drink, followed shortly by a small chuckle. While he looked amused, there was some deeper layer of sadness to his expression.
"Hehehe, Well, I'm sure you do. Hope everyone else has someone too. As for this guy... can't say one way or the other. Memory's still a bit fried, but some stuff did start coming around when I was training with Sensei back on that Rau've planet...Nothing particularly present though. An orphan I think, ...Without a home, without family, without friends, ...that's the most prominent thing I can get out of this head. ...So, yeah, Far as I'm concerned, you lot may as well be family, similar to how Sensei may as well be my mom." He explained to him. Looking down towards the table in contemplation as if trying to think on what memories were still hazy. He then shook off that thought to move on.
"Buying land, Suppose that's not a bad idea...Not exactly we should be doing with it now though right? Should at least wait for the Reform we make before we start thinking of living large." He said.
"In that case," Finbarr smirked, "I will be saving up this cash, so that it gets even bigger when those two wonder boys pull off another scam or whatever it is. That, on top of the one that we got while we in the Bazaar... we're going to end up as very rich people by the end of our mission of vengeance. Ah well."
Finbarr reclined back on his seat, his hands locking toegthe behind his head as he relaxed. "It's sad that they fried your memory. You could have been living a nice life before you got dragged into... this. Welp. I guess we are simultaneously the luckiest and unluckiest kids in this galaxy, eh?"
"I sincerely doubt that." Alan thought. What memories he could dig up from this head was anything but nice. But as Finn said about how lucky and unlucky they all were, he nodded, but then went into another silence in thought.
"Luck..." He grabbed his cup and took a big gulp, as if in preparation, before then taking deep breath.
"...We knew you guys were heading for Realist. That blonde freak Joey patched into the Communications and we heard the Briefing you guys had about the Plenty mission. We figured we'd go down there get it first, and then wait for you guys to come down. We'd be reunited, the mission accomplished easily. Wins all around. ...But despite there being a jail break from the shipwreck, there were still alot more guards on that ship than we expected. We thought they were gonna all be focused on rounding up the Escaped inmates, but a lot of them were on guard on that ship. Guess someone else was tasked with that. More importantly, they expected us to come to that ship to take Realist. Anti-Magic collars and everything. At first, I thought someone sold us out, but I know now that that's not the case, cause it didn't take very long for them to start loosening their lips when they got us inhibited. ...Someone got to Realist first, before any of us could. A 'magic pirate', they said. Apparently they thought we were in league with some group of Space Pirates, the Captain of which, they claim was one of us." He explained to him.
"Magic pirate?" Finbarr shook his head at those two words. "And their captain was one of us? So, a Star Marine that deserted and became a pirate? Sounds like something we should be concerned with."
Finbarr then shrugged. "Well then, one problem at a time, we should take. This pirate with magic... and then whoever was the guy with the crow mask that came in and fought with Nero and the Matthews twins. Whoever it was, they had magic too."
Coughing one last time, Finbarr continued, "At the very least, we found you right on time before those traitors in Squad Zero got us. Those, and Kherol." Smirking, Finbarr gently squeezed Alan's shoulder. "Maria is the same as ever, I assume?"
"Indeed, I don't have any real proof or evidence, but I do have a guess at who it could be. Mostly because he's the only one I can think of that isn't accounted for." Alan said. He then heard about the crow masked individual who also had...wait, what?
"I heard about that from Nero. An adult guy with a mask...He had magic too? ...Did those scientists lied to us then? Guess I can't be surprised if they did, but that raises its own questions..." He said, though at that point, he was more thinking aloud. As Finnbar tried to change the subject again, what he said to do so led to some more thoughts from Alan.
"Oh yeah, they were there too...Why were 'they' on Plenty? Were they hunting me and Maria down, Or...did they find out about that Pirate supposedly being there too? And their connection with that masked man...A lot of strange coincidences seemed to happen on that mission...too many to shrug off." He thought. Of course in comes Finbarr grabbing his shoulder to break his concentration with a ice-breaker question.
"Yeah. Though we were only together at the time we met Joey. Apparently Tarak sent her on some errand after you guys left for the Bazaar, though she was pretty tight-lipped on what it was. Didn't bother digging anymore than that; You know her, nothing opens that mouth if she doesn't want it to. " He said.
"I don't trust a single word the bloody scientists said.", Finbarr responded. "They're the ones that took us away from our old lives and pumped us with dust made from ground up Kaisokens, and they work for the Ascendancy. No reason for me, or anyone else, for that matter, to take them at their word."
Sighing, Finbarr took in the last piece of bacon. "Just want to settle down some time. With Na-, no, no, that's not right..."
Oops.
Now that was an interesting slip up. It was too late to take back what was said, the "Na" was enough to make Alan smirk a bit. Oh yeah, he knew exactly who he meant.
"Hehehe, You and her? That's a battle I'd rather forfeit from personally, but hey, don't let that stop you." He said with a sly smirk.
"Um..." Finbarr blushed, and look away, embarrassed. "I don't... I'm not sure if she feels the same. But... yeah. Not gonna stop now."
"Well, is there any more about that line of conversation we had about the magic pirate, or...?"
"Well I can't prove anything, but...There was one of us who deserted the Star Marines, well before the Battle of Proxima. Don't rightly remember his name, think it also started with an 'A'. He was probably one of the youngest of us, must have been around the same age Maria was...actually was back then. He had a very odd magic, still don't know what kind of Kaisoken combination was used to make it. But it was a passive magic, very support-oriented, far as I knew. He was also very...meek, shy, never really stood out, don't even think he was educated in the slightest, he was a scared little kid we took pity on even after the injection. No idea how someone like that would become a Pirate. He mentioned having an Uncle somewhere, so we just assumed he escaped and went into said uncle's care." Alan said, holding his hands together as he tried to dig up memories from back then.
"What we went through under the Ascendancy is traumatizing as hell.", Finbarr replied, nodding. "There were quite a few deserters too, so I can't remember who that could be as well... maybe he was in a different squad. Either way, the kind of treatment the government threw at us may have caused a meek little child to become something sinister. It happens to the best of humanity, after all. When terrible things happen to good people, they could become demons in their own right."
"True...what we were put through was a true case of hell on earth. ...Some of us never recovered from it." Alan said, taking another drink and sighing in exhaustion.
"To tell the truth, I don't know why it's bothering me... Even if there is a Star Marine playing Pirate somewhere, it shouldn't have much to do with us and our objective. Just...something about that situation just seemed off. Whoever these pirates were, they knew about Realist, and infiltrated the ship, well before either of us..."
"Let's just keep the thing in the back of our minds as we go on towards our next mission.", Finbarr smiled, pushing away the empty container of his meal. "If we have a run in with the crow masker, or the pirate, we'll be ready."
Standing up, Finbarr tapped Alan on both of his shoulders. "Ah, I think you've grown a bit. Bloody hell. I didn't realize that."
"I trained with the Hellfire Rose, back on that Rau've planet when you guys first left for your rebellion. That might have had something to do with it." Alan simply said, getting up when he did.
"In any case, I'm gonna go rest in my room for a bit. I have a bit to think about, and a bit to train with." He then said.
"Okay man." Finbarr nodded as he bowed slightly. "It's been nice talking to you again. And... I'm going to continue the thing I'm writing..."
Alan said nothing else, instead waving to Finn from behind as he walked out.
Umbrakinesis and Umbra-conception | Unknown, Estimated in the millions | Androgynous, but prefers to be seen Male/Primordial Shadow Beast
Once a gelatinous self-reproductive experiment of the Gods turned interdimensional conqueror, now not only accepting, but wanting the offer to be redeemed and set right his wrongs. He's a master of Umbrakinesis, and while he may look human, his true form is something far stronger and truly to be feared.
Appearance:
His appearance as his true self is simple and yet difficult to properly define...By all accounts, he is simply a large amorphous glob of shadow, shaping itself to its own whims. But because of that, there's no one singular appearance that he could take with himself. Often times, when people spoke of the malignant king of shadows, all they could say with certainty was that it was akin to a demon: large pitch black arms and claws, and the face of a monstrous beast. Others say he had a face, or something that looked like one, a white mask and hands, and spoke with the deep voice of a devil offering temptations. Others still go as far as to say they did not see him as one entity, but a collective mass of hideous dark demons, a legion of darkness in and of himself.
Summary: From the experiment of a god to the Conqueror of worlds. With his mastery of the dark and his capability to reproduce an army of children at his beck and call, the Shadow King Scotus was an interdimensional threat, travelling from world-to-world, consuming all he visited in everlasting darkness. However, he was stopped by the one thing mocked throughout the ages but had a power all its own that he bore witnessed to: Love. He found a woman he could learn to love and be loved in return. This took to tragedy when that lover died and he retaliated in vengeance, only to die himself.
Anybody ever watched Castlevania? Think Dracula from the Anime, but as a mass of darkness instead of a Vampire.
Legacy: Long ago, there was a God, its name lost to time, who had a fascination with the concept of Life and what could be brought to life and be made manifest and personified. This curiosity led it to bring life to the lifeless, not of the physical but of the absolute, the nothing, the darkness.
But in order to make this a reality, he had to feed life to the darkness, more specifically the very essence of life across the multiverse, what many have come to call "Mana". Feeding Mana to the darkness would allow a fraction of that darkness to come to life, at least in theory. There was just one problem, the God had no dominion over life, he could not create from nothing as his kin could and has. And so he resorted to another way of getting the Mana he required: By stealing the life force that already exists.
To that end, he descended from on high to a universe bursting with life, and convinced it to tear itself apart through warfare, and he would gather the life force extracted from the bodies of the deceased. Among the many who have fought and die that was of note was a man known as the Warrior King, so impressive was his brute force and his sheer will that when he finally fell in battle the god took his flesh with him as he completes his experiment.
Within the great darkness, he offered the life force of millions of soldiers to give it life, the flesh of the Warrior King to give it shape and strength, and knowing that his kin would find what he did and punish him, he took the essence of his own divine soul and offered it as the final sacrifice, giving sentience and power to the dark. As the god faded onto nothing, a giant mass of the dark broke out and took a deformed, wicked shape.
Thus, The Shadow King, Scotus, was born.
While he had the figure of a man, Scotus had the hunger of the darkness and the instincts of a beast. From the moment he crawled out into a human world, he wanted to conquer and consume it onto himself. No logic, no reason, just desire, for the light of the universe was oft too much for him, and so he would snuff them out and return all to a comforting ebony. From the mana he obtained from the millions who died, his body produced an army fragmented from the whole of his dark mass, shadow beasts, unintelligent but unrelenting and monstrous creatures of the shadow, and they spread themselves far and wide.
Their first world was unprepared for such unrelenting forces, it did not take long for them to consume the people, the heroes, the villains, the world, and even the stars themselves. When he was done, all that remained of that universe was a pitch black void - a nest of shadow beasts - and Scotus, unsatisfied, moved to another universe, and then another, and then another.
For a time, a certain phrase cropped up across the many dimensions of the multiverse: "The Darkness is Coming..." A phrase that, for that time, referred to the Shadow King and his Army. There were signs of his coming shown throughout, stars blinking out of the night sky, shadows that moved on their own, entities lurking in the darkness tempting the unsuspecting to approach them and never return. Heroes of these worlds tried their best to tackle this invader and conqueror, and while they enjoyed some victories over his beasts, they would always fall before their king, and as soon as they were defeated, their world would fall into an eternal black and the Shadow King would move on to the next world to conquer. Worse still, his army seemed never ending - every time they kill a Shadow Beast it would return to him to be born again, and as time passed he created even greater, more powerful and more intellectual monstrosities, which came to be known as the Alpha Shadow Beasts. This cycle kept going for many years, and there were few who did not know the legend of the Shadow King.
Eventually the gods of various worlds had to intervene to fix the mistake one of their own had wrought upon their worlds, calling upon the great race of Dragons to protect the worlds from the Dark, and their nature as magical creatures of wisdom divinity, proved a match against the Shadow King and his armies, to a point where the blood of a dragon was used by Scotus to bring fourth a hybrid that could prove a better opponent for them, the Alpha Beast known only as the Shadow Dragon. They could not completely stop the unrelenting Shadow King, they put him into a stand still, buying time for other worlds to prepare properly and fight against the oncoming black.
The legend goes, that the Shadow King broke through the Dragons, only to be stopped by a Heroine, a queen of her kingdom given the power of Dragons. With the aid of her allies, she pushed through the tide of shadows and reached the Shadow King, and at last defeated him in battle.
The Darkness was stopped, and the Queen of Light ascended to legend and myth across many worlds.
Gravely wounded and defeated, The Shadow King retreated from that world and entered another, maintaining a human form with which to disguise and recover his strength. It was this moment he met another woman, Cynthia, a mere peasant of that world who saw the Shadow King and mistaken him for a gravely wounded human, taking him in and nursing the king of beasts back to health. At first, the King's instincts strived to want to devour this foolish woman, but he lacked the strength to do even that. What's more, he was confused about the kindness of this woman, his form may be human but his internals were not, she had to have known by then that he wasn't human, that he was a beast of the darkness, so why on earth would she continue with aiding in his healing? Her answer was sickeningly simple and naïve to him: She saw a someone hurt, and wanted to help them, not caring if it's man or beast. Still, he was gravely wounded and in no position to do much about his predicament, so without much option, he accepted her nursing him for now, planning on killing her and devouring her village and world once he was healed.
However, the healing took far longer than expected, even in the dead of night the darkness he absorb was meager and weak, the damage done to him was far greater than he thought it was, and he could not shape himself to a large enough form to eat anyone there, so he simply endured his unintended imprisonment.
Eventually, the welcoming nature of the village, and the kindness and almost motherly strict nature of Cynthia herself grew on Scotus, he began to feel strange emotions he never felt before, began to find value in the light of day he never thought possible. During a celebratory dance of her people by the fire burning at its center, he was taught by Cynthia how to dance, backed by the people of that village and through this dance was this Beast taught how to love the Beauty, and how to be loved in return.
Scotus was a changed entity at that point, gone was the dark emperor who devoured worlds and stars, the monster of the great darkness who commended armies of shadow beasts, instead, for the first time in his life he was simply "Scotus Blackade". (A surname Cynthia gave him as a joke, and he decided to use himself.) He even went so far as to humor the human girl by engaging in a human tradition called "marriage".
But he could never run from his past, and what he was gave tragedy to what he became. The armies of the Shadow King scattered about the multiverse, unorganized but dangerous, and still a major threat so long as the Shadow King continued to exist. And so the Gods and Dragons found Scotus and took it upon themselves to find a champion of that world, a group of heroes, to hunt him down. Bestowed power to finally finish off the Shadow King, the heroes tracked him down to the village and began their assault, believing the village to be enslaved by the dark one. Not helped was that when they came to hunt him down, they protected and defended him. They tried to convince them that whatever he was before he is no longer that, and the heroes believed that, but regardless of action, the Shadow King's existence was a danger, and so they had no choice but to destroy him. Scotus attempted to talk them into letting him, but the villagers had none of it.
In the end, the village was burned, the villagers killed, and Cynthia gave her life to protect him. A feeling of loss and despair overwhelmed Scotus, the melancholy gave rise to unquenchable rage, and he went berserk. Although he was not at full power, he went into a berserk state and began slaughtering the heroes who hunted him. beginning to do as he did before and devour the world for what it gave to him, and for what it took back from him.
The hero chosen by the gods, with a blade imbued with the magic of dragons, managed to deliver the final blow onto Scotus, stopping him from devouring their world, and causing the rest of the Shadow beasts (Save the Alphas) to fade away into the darkness. In his final moments as he laid there, a dragon sword stabbed within his chest, as his own body began to break down and fade away, he and the hero had a discussion. He never really understood the value of life and its beauty until he met Cynthia and the others, and calmed down, he accepted his fate as an abomination against that beauty, destined to perish to keep it alive. The hero made a suggestion that maybe, if an afterlife exists, he could come back as a hero himself, maybe be able to help protect the worlds he cherished.
"...Yes. ...I would like that..." was his final words, before the rest of his body melted into the black.
The King was dead...
That is, until the Abyss acquired his soul. Reforming a new body from the Great Darkness, and rekindling the rage he felt, the Shadow King, once a great Puppeteer, was now puppet to the Abyss, with his army of Shadow Beasts at its beck and call.
Long Live the King!
Personality: At the beginning until his 'retirement', there were only two things that could describe the Shadow King, A Beast, and a fearsome Emperor. As the primordial shadow beast born from the great darkness, Scotus was a creature of instinct by nature. He did not travel across universes for recognition or dominance or revenge, he consumed them because it was simply his nature to consume them. The light was a discomfort, and so he wished to snuff it out and feast on what remains. In that respect he was brutal, and remorseless, a firm believer in the philosophy of survival of the fittest, and practically without a heart to call his own, truly a monster that could not be reasoned with.
But that's not to say he wasn't intelligent, oh no, for every world he traveled he learned in an effort to more effectively spread and feed himself faster and with more potency. Eventually he gained himself a humanoid shape and meticulous sense of speech, very careful and straight forward with his word choices. During later invasions before anything else, he traveled to his targeted universes by himself and manipulated people like a devil on their shoulders to commit evil, to tear down any who might oppose the invasive force of his armies, took advantage of them at every turn, only to devour them when they have served their purpose.
Even his own Shadow Beasts had reason to fear him, for he was no nicer to them than to anyone else. Success was expected of them, and so they were not appreciated upon those successes, but when they fail, he showed no hesitation in destroying and consuming them back into himself. They were mere pawns, and easily disposable and replaceable. As such, he often showed no hesitation in sacrificing legions of Shadow Beasts if it meant heroes fell to a trap or their doom as well. The normal shadow beasts were merely destroyed upon failure. The Alphas, however, were 'disciplined' for theirs, and whenever an Alpha gained an instinct to try and one-up their king, Scotus had no hesitation in putting them painfully in their place.
As a race that has had connections to the Divine that hates him so, and as they had proven to be an utter thorn in his side, Scotus had an intense hatred for Dragons, in any world where dragons were residing among other races, Scotus made it a point to Prioritize their elimination over any other race. The only exception in this utter loathing was the Shadow Dragon he conceived from their blood, and that was only because he was a useful tool against them. While on the subject, he also looked down at other races, saw them as very little threat, especially humanity which he felt did not even need him to destroy them when they so readily destroy themselves.
However, after he suffered his first defeat at the hands of the Queen of Light, a human he looked down on, humiliated as he left, his personality changed the moment he accidently met Cynthia. At first, he intended to kill her and her village as soon as he recovered his strength, devouring them as their reward. However, his disgust at their simple and naïve existence turned into a sense of interest, than fascination, he did not understand why they were so kind to him when it was so very clear he wasn't human, that he was a beast of the darkness. Eventually, he grew to appreciate the sights that the light of day creates, he grew to respect the humans as they worked for their people and protected him, an abomination of the Dark, and he grew to love Cynthia, the only being to ever show him these feelings he never felt before, such as love or compassion.
Then the heroes and dragons attacked, killed Cynthia and her people while they protected him, and all of that positive development just washed away like sand castles upon the shore. The Shadow King was now a berserk rampaging monster, an even worse version of the creature he was before. For all his evil, his motivation was only in his instincts to feed and comfort himself away from the light. Now it was personal, a grudge, a desire to destroy and burn, damn whatever happens to himself.
When he finally was defeated again, his final moments took him out of the anger stage of grief, and into the depression, the sadness and despair, and then acceptance.
...However, When the Abyss made the Abyssal Doppelganger of the Shadow King, it managed to rekindle the instincts of his past, and the anger of his present, in order to effectively make it a soldier of its will without remorse. Needless to say, he succeeded. The Abyssal Shadow King remembers the pain of Cynthia's loss, and knows that this is not what she wants. He accepts that she may never forgive him for what he is doing to the multiverse in the name of the Abyss, but believes it to be the only way to avenge them. In other words, even when using Cynthia's name, there is still no reasoning with the Shadow King - if anything, the only thing that would serve is to piss him off even more.
Signature Ability: Umbrakinesis- True to his title, Scotus was a master of the darkness and the shadows moved to his whim. As an all-consuming entity of darkness himself, he could stretch himself into areas where light could never reach and manifest those shadows as an energy or a weapon of a physical mass. He can also meld with those shadows both as a way to strengthen himself, and as a method of escape a dire situation should it arise.
Abilities: Umbraconception- As an experimental entity of life, contrary to his appearance and powers, he is essentially a being blessed with the power of life. By separating a fragment of himself from his gelatinous body, the fragment can grow and gain sentience, becoming a fearsome shadow beast under the command of its king, acting as separate entities from him. Most of these creatures, while sentient and self-aware, are unintelligible monsters - mere animals that maim and feast both on instinct and command of their king, and serving as an extension of his will. Should the king ever die, these demons of the dark would die and fade to nothing alongside him.
There have been some notable Shadow Beasts, however, a rare breed who are both sentient and sapient. Intelligent, concise speaking, self-aware, and capable of far greater destruction on their own than their lesser brethren. These are the Alpha beasts, conceived through a large portion of the King and a part of his will given life. Unlike these other beasts, the Alphas did not die alongside their king. As far as everyone knows, they are still alive and drifting across the multiverse to this day, likely causing trouble and havoc where ever they go. It would be common to see some heroes going on an adventure to find and destroy the last of the Shadow King's ilk, but presently there have been no reports of the Alphas declared dead, nor of the heroes' return.
Shadow Beast Absorption- The King giveth, the King taketh away. The Shadow King is not just an entity of the dark, but a devourer of it. Should he will it, the King can devour and absorb his children back to the source, returning parts of himself to the whole. This can be used in two ways: first it can rejuvenate him, give him strength he may have lost during a battle with pesky heroes. Second he can then once again divide himself to create another shadow beast, effectively recycling it. Furthermore, any shadow beast that died he can call back to him to remake anew.
This constant recycling of his children is a major factor as to why he was such a threat, his army had a reputation of being eternal. No matter how many Shadow beasts you destroy, as long as the King exists, more will come.
Shape-shifting- As mentioned, Scotus is a gelatinous existence of mass shadows and darkness, and so he has, many times, been able to shape-shift into various things from giant monstrous beasts of nightmares to humanoid shadows that masquerade (literally if the mask is any indication) as man. It's not just a case of appearance, however. The physical attributes of the king also changes with every form he takes. Smaller forms are faster and more agile, larger forms are stronger and more durable, and something like a four-legged beast akin to a wolf - a form he often uses - has a well balanced sense of both.
As will be shown in his Redeemed self, and when he met with his beloved, he can actually become human in appearance. But this was a rarity when he was the Shadow King, and will most certainly be a rarity as a soldier of the Abyss.
Appearance:
Summary: Reborn as a part of the Redeemer Corp, he is one of those who gladly welcomes the chance to seek redemption for his actions. However, his gelatinous body rotted away upon his death. The Nexus could only save so much of it before it faded to nothing. What was left was used to create his human form, reserving any extra darkness into the form of a sheathed blade. It is only through this blade that he can now change into a shadow beast; there's too little in his current body to become anything significant.
Personality: Although his soul belongs to the abyss, it seems his body remembered his final moments of life, and remembered the love he had for Cynthia. The Personality he had gained when he was with Cynthia has returned to him, and while he still feels a sense of anger and hatred in his heart for the ones responsible for her death, part of them were already taken care of in his rampage and killing what's left won't bring her back, and isn't what she would have wanted.
True to his promise, when the Nexus offered him the chance to set things right, he took it in a heartbeat, especially knowing that the Shadow King he was before became an Abyssal soldier. He has a desire now to protect people like Cynthia from within the shadows, wanting to keep her memory alive by doing so.
As someone still new to this whole 'human' thing, while Scotus is still intelligent and knows quite a bit about ancient knowledge, he's often seen as highly introverted and awkward, not really knowing what the best way of saying things casually would be. Ask him something about the history of certain things, or about his Abyssal self, or about war tactics, and he'll answer with gusto, but ask him something basic or something unrelated to the task at hand, and he wouldn't exactly know where to begin. Also, having little in the way of societal experience outside Cynthia's village, some things that are seen as common sense for others may not occur to Scotus, and so, awkward hijinx of some kind may ensue.
He has a certain respect for humanity he garnered throughout his living years. He must have devoured hundreds of planets' worth of humans yet still they flourish and thrive, and while they are imperfect, cruel and wicked, the fact that there are even a hundred people like Cynthia and her village out of trillions of cruel and wicked humans, is a wonder in itself.
The Shadow Beasts, on the other hand, he still has no love lost with, albeit for completely different reasons. Now he is ruthless against them because they are a personification of the mistakes he has made, and as servants of the Abyssal Shadow King, their very existence mocks his attempts to change. The same goes with the Alphas, Shadow beasts that may actually be considered his legit children, he has no qualms about killing them, for they are a representation of everything that was wrong with him, and knew they themselves would devour other life forms without distinction.
Signature Ability: Umbrakinesis- Although he is weaker now, his mastery over the dark and shadows still exists. He can still manifest the darkness into an energy and give it physical mass, while also entering shadows to escape danger.
Redeemed Abilities: Shadow Beast Absorption- As a much smaller shadow, Scotus Blackade cannot actually create Shadow Beasts, there's simply too little of himself to conceive anything significant. However, should he find a Shadow Beast, he can still absorb them back into himself, at least in theory. After all, The Nexus revived his body, and the Shadow Beasts are parts of that body. If he ate enough, it may be possible to call out an army of his own, albeit a much smaller one.
However, one problem: When he died, all of the lesser shadow beasts died with him, almost his entire army of monsters faded to nothing. Moreover, The Abyss corrodes the Shadow Beasts his Abyssal self creates. As such, should the Shadow King of the Abyss create more beasts, Scotus can't absorb them back into himself.
The only way to test this theory is to kill an eat the only survivors of his kind, the Alpha Beasts... a feat he's not certain he can do on his own in his current state.
Shape-shifting- He may be much smaller, but he's still simply a gelatinous mass of darkness in truth. As such, he could shape-shift himself into a different entity like he could before. But whatever he turns into is significantly less potent compared to his past self. Moreover, on his own, he is barely himself, and only has enough of himself within him to sustain this human form. He needs the Black Sword, and the Darkness within it to be able to become anything. No Sword, no shape-shifting.
Alan gave a slight chuckle in response to his friend turning down the portal idea.
"Eh, didn't hurt to ask, I've seen you pull off some remarkable shit with those portals after all." He said, almost jokingly. It was then he pointed out what else could break the device around his neck, of course Finnbar would have that sword still.
"How could I forget?" He sarcastically asked with a smile. Not a time since they met has Finnbar been without that trusty sword of his. Alan always seen him spar with it, fight with it, probably even killed a few with it, not that he remembers anyone in particular. The times when he sparred with Finnbar personally back then he was always focused on not getting hit by that fucking thing. Something about the Celtic blade made his gut instinct tell him it'd hurt like a bitch in particular if he got hit with it. ...And sometimes, he was very much right.
He nodded when Finnbar told him the plan, but then it occurred to him as he mentioned the Cyber Lady - probably that chick who was with him - that reminded him of something.
"Shit, that's right, Realist...Finn, I know should probably talk about this after this whole thing, but I'll probably forget if I don't mention it now. We got captured because they were expecting us. We overheard them talking as they put us in here; somebody got here before us trying to steal Realist. Sounds like it was one of us, not sure who though. But it sounds like whoever it is, they're Pirates now." Alan explained to him.
As soon as Finn got the confirmation he was waiting for, and slashed at the bars to cut them out, Alan was quick to jump out of the cell and do a big ol stretch. He then asked him to stand still, so he can use the big sharp sword that just cut through those metal bars like a hot knife through butter to cut off the restraint that was so close to his neck. ...What could possibly go wrong?
"You wind up accidently killing me with that thing, I'll murder you, I hope you understand that." He said, while he was slightly joking, he was also somewhat serious at the same time.
However, as somewhat expected of him, Finn aim was as true as it ever was, cutting through the restraint as easily as he did the cell bars. Wasn't enough to get it off - only so much you can cut through before you wind up hitting skin - but it was more than enough to disengage the restraint, allowing Alan to do the rest himself. The instant he could feel the radiation negating his magic fading, he grabbed at what was left of the neck brace, pulling at the cut Finn made until the tear was complete and the ring became merely an arc, far easier to pull off afterwards. He then stared at his hands as bright white embers began to envelop them, combusting into a white flame as he clenched his fists and gave a smirk.
---
Maria, however, had a far less stressful time of hers being taken off, for the good doctor had a key for her restraint. Unlocking it and taking it off. Maria stood in silence and stillness for about half a minute before her eyes began to glow a deep purple. Concentrating, the first thing she did as a test of her magic coming back to her was a quick scan the situation around the ship, more specifically outside the ship so as to stop where the Xuanxang would be. Problem being she didn't know what it looked like, only basing the search on what Joey told her about it. She did find what appeared to be the Ship, but also a problem: A group of soldiers outside surrounding the ship. As quick as she could, she established contact with her fellow Star Marines, via a telepathic channel she concieved for them during the War, akin to tuning to a certain radio frequency to access a specific station.
"This is Maria to all Star Marines, Maria to all Star Marines. I don't know where you are for the moment, but know that I and Alan are safe. More urgently, there is a problem. The Circle of Hell is being surrounded as we speak. Evacuation is advisable. I repeat, The Circle of Hell is being surrounded by soldiers, Evacuation is advisable." She said telepathically through the channel, almost robotically, as if she was the standard computer voice of a ship telling them something was wrong. Normally it'd be natural to get suspicious of this, but she was always overly professional back when she relayed information back in the war. She opened her eyes again and began floating off the ground, levitating in the air as she turned towards the Doctor.
"...We have to go as well. Take my hand." She said to him matter of factly. The Doctor eventually did, a surprisingly strong grip for someone as young as her as she floated upwards, pulling the doctor off the ground as well. Quick as a bird, she and the Doctor flew towards the center of the block and downwards towards Block C, passing Finn, Alan, and Joey as she did. Pulling the good doctor like a rag doll as she pulls up and flies through towards one of the halls and towards where she spotted the Xuanxang.
---
Hearng Maria's message - likely alongside Finn - Alan was quick to look at Finn and then towards the central area where he spots her and the Doctor flying out.
"Why does everyone always seem to put our frying pan right next to a goddamn inferno?" He asked with a sigh. "Give me a minute, Finn, then lead the way. There's something I gotta take care of first." With white flames he jumped over the balcony of his floor in Block B, and started blasting a flare of white flames from those same hands as he fell, the flames slowing his descent like the thrusters of a rocket as he then moved towards Joey's Cell, and immediately melted the bars on them.
"THAT, is how you improvise. Anyways, we need to get the fuck out before the big guns surrounding the place start knocking on the door." Alan said, proud and cocky at the fact that he broke Joey out when Joey was planning to bust them out, albeit with a dumb plan.
"Yeah, about that... go on ahead and leave with them, I'll catch up with you guys later." Needless to say, this was not the reaction Alan was expecting out of this loudmouth, the audacity of this guy made Alan speechless in confusion.
"...Didn't you hear me, this ship's getting surrounded, we got to get going!"
"Then get going, kid. I ain't leaving here without my babies; they're my pride and joy. Besides, someone's gotta keep those soldier boys occupied while you guys hop on out. I'll catch up to you lot later after I get back the twins and Mickey. Still got my ship down here too, can't just leave that behind either." Joey said with a shrug, passing a stunned and extinguished Alan dumbstruck by this man's stupid reason for staying in a suicide situation as he walked towards the balcony of the floor and hopped down himself, rolling as soon as he impacted so as to not snap anything in his body. He then made it to the center hole to Block C when he looked back at Alan.
"Oh, one more thing, Al. When you meet Cap'n Natty, Tell her something for me. Tell her... I... Owe her that 400 I borrowed behind her back a few days ago. Catch you guys later." Joey said, purposely pausing for the sense of a faux suspense while then giving a joking salute to the perplexed boy. Joey then immediately hopped into the hole towards Ground Floor.
"...Should have just let him there, let him rot in the cell, no one would have to notice..." Alan thought, he then shook his head to concentrate on the matter at hand.
"Ey, Finn! Mind making us a portal to you guys' ship?" Alan yelled this question to Finnbar upstairs, hoping that he has an easy out for this situation.
If he can, Alan uses it to get in the Xuanxang and be ready for leaving this planet with a bunch of reunited friends.
If he can't, Alan would then have Finnbar lead the way back to his ship.
Umbrakinesis and Umbra-conception | Unknown, Estimated in the millions | Androgynous, but prefers to be seen Male/Primordial Shadow Beast
Once a gelatinous self-reproductive experiment of the Gods turned interdimensional conqueror, now not only accepting, but wanting the offer to be redeemed and set right his wrongs. He's a master of Umbrakinesis, and while he may look human, his true form is something far stronger and truly to be feared.
Appearance:
His appearance as his true self is simple and yet difficult to properly define...By all accounts, he is simply a large amorphous glob of shadow, shaping itself to its own whims. But because of that, there's no one singular appearance that he could take with himself. Often times, when people spoke of the malignant king of shadows, all they could say with certainty was that it was akin to a demon: large pitch black arms and claws, and the face of a monstrous beast. Others say he had a face, or something that looked like one, a white mask and hands, and spoke with the deep voice of a devil offering temptations. Others still go as far as to say they did not see him as one entity, but a collective mass of hideous dark demons, a legion of darkness in and of himself.
Summary: From the experiment of a god to the Conqueror of worlds. With his mastery of the dark and his capability to reproduce an army of children at his beck and call, the Shadow King Scotus was an interdimensional threat, travelling from world-to-world, consuming all he visited in everlasting darkness. However, he was stopped by the one thing mocked throughout the ages but had a power all its own that he bore witnessed to: Love. He found a woman he could learn to love and be loved in return. This took to tragedy when that lover died and he retaliated in vengeance, only to die himself.
Anybody ever watched Castlevania? Think Dracula from the Anime, but as a mass of darkness instead of a Vampire.
Legacy: Long ago, there was a God, its name lost to time, who had a fascination with the concept of Life and what could be brought to life and be made manifest and personified. This curiosity led it to bring life to the lifeless, not of the physical but of the absolute, the nothing, the darkness.
But in order to make this a reality, he had to feed life to the darkness, more specifically the very essence of life across the multiverse, what many have come to call "Mana". Feeding Mana to the darkness would allow a fraction of that darkness to come to life, at least in theory. There was just one problem, the God had no dominion over life, he could not create from nothing as his kin could and has. And so he resorted to another way of getting the Mana he required: By stealing the life force that already exists.
To that end, he descended from on high to a universe bursting with life, and convinced it to tear itself apart through warfare, and he would gather the life force extracted from the bodies of the deceased. Among the many who have fought and die that was of note was a man known as the Warrior King, so impressive was his brute force and his sheer will that when he finally fell in battle the god took his flesh with him as he completes his experiment.
Within the great darkness, he offered the life force of millions of soldiers to give it life, the flesh of the Warrior King to give it shape and strength, and knowing that his kin would find what he did and punish him, he took the essence of his own divine soul and offered it as the final sacrifice, giving sentience and power to the dark. As the god faded onto nothing, a giant mass of the dark broke out and took a deformed, wicked shape.
Thus, The Shadow King, Scotus, was born.
While he had the figure of a man, Scotus had the hunger of the darkness and the instincts of a beast. From the moment he crawled out into a human world, he wanted to conquer and consume it onto himself. No logic, no reason, just desire, for the light of the universe was oft too much for him, and so he would snuff them out and return all to a comforting ebony. From the mana he obtained from the millions who died, his body produced an army fragmented from the whole of his dark mass, shadow beasts, unintelligent but unrelenting and monstrous creatures of the shadow, and they spread themselves far and wide.
Their first world was unprepared for such unrelenting forces, it did not take long for them to consume the people, the heroes, the villains, the world, and even the stars themselves. When he was done, all that remained of that universe was a pitch black void - a nest of shadow beasts - and Scotus, unsatisfied, moved to another universe, and then another, and then another.
For a time, a certain phrase cropped up across the many dimensions of the multiverse: "The Darkness is Coming..." A phrase that, for that time, referred to the Shadow King and his Army. There were signs of his coming shown throughout, stars blinking out of the night sky, shadows that moved on their own, entities lurking in the darkness tempting the unsuspecting to approach them and never return. Heroes of these worlds tried their best to tackle this invader and conqueror, and while they enjoyed some victories over his beasts, they would always fall before their king, and as soon as they were defeated, their world would fall into an eternal black and the Shadow King would move on to the next world to conquer. Worse still, his army seemed never ending - every time they kill a Shadow Beast it would return to him to be born again, and as time passed he created even greater, more powerful and more intellectual monstrosities, which came to be known as the Alpha Shadow Beasts. This cycle kept going for many years, and there were few who did not know the legend of the Shadow King.
Eventually the gods of various worlds had to intervene to fix the mistake one of their own had wrought upon their worlds, calling upon the great race of Dragons to protect the worlds from the Dark, and their nature as magical creatures of wisdom divinity, proved a match against the Shadow King and his armies, to a point where the blood of a dragon was used by Scotus to bring fourth a hybrid that could prove a better opponent for them, the Alpha Beast known only as the Shadow Dragon. They could not completely stop the unrelenting Shadow King, they put him into a stand still, buying time for other worlds to prepare properly and fight against the oncoming black.
The legend goes, that the Shadow King broke through the Dragons, only to be stopped by a Heroine, a queen of her kingdom given the power of Dragons. With the aid of her allies, she pushed through the tide of shadows and reached the Shadow King, and at last defeated him in battle.
The Darkness was stopped, and the Queen of Light ascended to legend and myth across many worlds.
Gravely wounded and defeated, The Shadow King retreated from that world and entered another, maintaining a human form with which to disguise and recover his strength. It was this moment he met another woman, Cynthia, a mere peasant of that world who saw the Shadow King and mistaken him for a gravely wounded human, taking him in and nursing the king of beasts back to health. At first, the King's instincts strived to want to devour this foolish woman, but he lacked the strength to do even that. What's more, he was confused about the kindness of this woman, his form may be human but his internals were not, she had to have known by then that he wasn't human, that he was a beast of the darkness, so why on earth would she continue with aiding in his healing? Her answer was sickeningly simple and naïve to him: She saw a someone hurt, and wanted to help them, not caring if it's man or beast. Still, he was gravely wounded and in no position to do much about his predicament, so without much option, he accepted her nursing him for now, planning on killing her and devouring her village and world once he was healed.
However, the healing took far longer than expected, even in the dead of night the darkness he absorb was meager and weak, the damage done to him was far greater than he thought it was, and he could not shape himself to a large enough form to eat anyone there, so he simply endured his unintended imprisonment.
Eventually, the welcoming nature of the village, and the kindness and almost motherly strict nature of Cynthia herself grew on Scotus, he began to feel strange emotions he never felt before, began to find value in the light of day he never thought possible. During a celebratory dance of her people by the fire burning at its center, he was taught by Cynthia how to dance, backed by the people of that village and through this dance was this Beast taught how to love the Beauty, and how to be loved in return.
Scotus was a changed entity at that point, gone was the dark emperor who devoured worlds and stars, the monster of the great darkness who commended armies of shadow beasts, instead, for the first time in his life he was simply "Scotus Blackade". (A surname Cynthia gave him as a joke, and he decided to use himself.) He even went so far as to humor the human girl by engaging in a human tradition called "marriage".
But he could never run from his past, and what he was gave tragedy to what he became. The armies of the Shadow King scattered about the multiverse, unorganized but dangerous, and still a major threat so long as the Shadow King continued to exist. And so the Gods and Dragons found Scotus and took it upon themselves to find a champion of that world, a group of heroes, to hunt him down. Bestowed power to finally finish off the Shadow King, the heroes tracked him down to the village and began their assault, believing the village to be enslaved by the dark one. Not helped was that when they came to hunt him down, they protected and defended him. They tried to convince them that whatever he was before he is no longer that, and the heroes believed that, but regardless of action, the Shadow King's existence was a danger, and so they had no choice but to destroy him. Scotus attempted to talk them into letting him, but the villagers had none of it.
In the end, the village was burned, the villagers killed, and Cynthia gave her life to protect him. A feeling of loss and despair overwhelmed Scotus, the melancholy gave rise to unquenchable rage, and he went berserk. Although he was not at full power, he went into a berserk state and began slaughtering the heroes who hunted him. beginning to do as he did before and devour the world for what it gave to him, and for what it took back from him.
The hero chosen by the gods, with a blade imbued with the magic of dragons, managed to deliver the final blow onto Scotus, stopping him from devouring their world, and causing the rest of the Shadow beasts (Save the Alphas) to fade away into the darkness. In his final moments as he laid there, a dragon sword stabbed within his chest, as his own body began to break down and fade away, he and the hero had a discussion. He never really understood the value of life and its beauty until he met Cynthia and the others, and calmed down, he accepted his fate as an abomination against that beauty, destined to perish to keep it alive. The hero made a suggestion that maybe, if an afterlife exists, he could come back as a hero himself, maybe be able to help protect the worlds he cherished.
"...Yes. ...I would like that..." was his final words, before the rest of his body melted into the black.
The King was dead...
That is, until the Abyss acquired his soul. Reforming a new body from the Great Darkness, and rekindling the rage he felt, the Shadow King, once a great Puppeteer, was now puppet to the Abyss, with his army of Shadow Beasts at its beck and call.
Long Live the King!
Personality: At the beginning until his 'retirement', there were only two things that could describe the Shadow King, A Beast, and a fearsome Emperor. As the primordial shadow beast born from the great darkness, Scotus was a creature of instinct by nature. He did not travel across universes for recognition or dominance or revenge, he consumed them because it was simply his nature to consume them. The light was a discomfort, and so he wished to snuff it out and feast on what remains. In that respect he was brutal, and remorseless, a firm believer in the philosophy of survival of the fittest, and practically without a heart to call his own, truly a monster that could not be reasoned with.
But that's not to say he wasn't intelligent, oh no, for every world he traveled he learned in an effort to more effectively spread and feed himself faster and with more potency. Eventually he gained himself a humanoid shape and meticulous sense of speech, very careful and straight forward with his word choices. During later invasions before anything else, he traveled to his targeted universes by himself and manipulated people like a devil on their shoulders to commit evil, to tear down any who might oppose the invasive force of his armies, took advantage of them at every turn, only to devour them when they have served their purpose.
Even his own Shadow Beasts had reason to fear him, for he was no nicer to them than to anyone else. Success was expected of them, and so they were not appreciated upon those successes, but when they fail, he showed no hesitation in destroying and consuming them back into himself. They were mere pawns, and easily disposable and replaceable. As such, he often showed no hesitation in sacrificing legions of Shadow Beasts if it meant heroes fell to a trap or their doom as well. The normal shadow beasts were merely destroyed upon failure. The Alphas, however, were 'disciplined' for theirs, and whenever an Alpha gained an instinct to try and one-up their king, Scotus had no hesitation in putting them painfully in their place.
As a race that has had connections to the Divine that hates him so, and as they had proven to be an utter thorn in his side, Scotus had an intense hatred for Dragons, in any world where dragons were residing among other races, Scotus made it a point to Prioritize their elimination over any other race. The only exception in this utter loathing was the Shadow Dragon he conceived from their blood, and that was only because he was a useful tool against them. While on the subject, he also looked down at other races, saw them as very little threat, especially humanity which he felt did not even need him to destroy them when they so readily destroy themselves.
However, after he suffered his first defeat at the hands of the Queen of Light, a human he looked down on, humiliated as he left, his personality changed the moment he accidently met Cynthia. At first, he intended to kill her and her village as soon as he recovered his strength, devouring them as their reward. However, his disgust at their simple and naïve existence turned into a sense of interest, than fascination, he did not understand why they were so kind to him when it was so very clear he wasn't human, that he was a beast of the darkness. Eventually, he grew to appreciate the sights that the light of day creates, he grew to respect the humans as they worked for their people and protected him, an abomination of the Dark, and he grew to love Cynthia, the only being to ever show him these feelings he never felt before, such as love or compassion.
Then the heroes and dragons attacked, killed Cynthia and her people while they protected him, and all of that positive development just washed away like sand castles upon the shore. The Shadow King was now a berserk rampaging monster, an even worse version of the creature he was before. For all his evil, his motivation was only in his instincts to feed and comfort himself away from the light. Now it was personal, a grudge, a desire to destroy and burn, damn whatever happens to himself.
When he finally was defeated again, his final moments took him out of the anger stage of grief, and into the depression, the sadness and despair, and then acceptance.
...However, When the Abyss made the Abyssal Doppelganger of the Shadow King, it managed to rekindle the instincts of his past, and the anger of his present, in order to effectively make it a soldier of its will without remorse. Needless to say, he succeeded. The Abyssal Shadow King remembers the pain of Cynthia's loss, and knows that this is not what she wants. He accepts that she may never forgive him for what he is doing to the multiverse in the name of the Abyss, but believes it to be the only way to avenge them. In other words, even when using Cynthia's name, there is still no reasoning with the Shadow King - if anything, the only thing that would serve is to piss him off even more.
Signature Ability: Umbrakinesis- True to his title, Scotus was a master of the darkness and the shadows moved to his whim. As an all-consuming entity of darkness himself, he could stretch himself into areas where light could never reach and manifest those shadows as an energy or a weapon of a physical mass. He can also meld with those shadows both as a way to strengthen himself, and as a method of escape a dire situation should it arise.
Abilities: Umbraconception- As an experimental entity of life, contrary to his appearance and powers, he is essentially a being blessed with the power of life. By separating a fragment of himself from his gelatinous body, the fragment can grow and gain sentience, becoming a fearsome shadow beast under the command of its king, acting as separate entities from him. Most of these creatures, while sentient and self-aware, are unintelligible monsters - mere animals that maim and feast both on instinct and command of their king, and serving as an extension of his will. Should the king ever die, these demons of the dark would die and fade to nothing alongside him.
There have been some notable Shadow Beasts, however, a rare breed who are both sentient and sapient. Intelligent, concise speaking, self-aware, and capable of far greater destruction on their own than their lesser brethren. These are the Alpha beasts, conceived through a large portion of the King and a part of his will given life. Unlike these other beasts, the Alphas did not die alongside their king. As far as everyone knows, they are still alive and drifting across the multiverse to this day, likely causing trouble and havoc where ever they go. It would be common to see some heroes going on an adventure to find and destroy the last of the Shadow King's ilk, but presently there have been no reports of the Alphas declared dead, nor of the heroes' return.
Shadow Beast Absorption- The King giveth, the King taketh away. The Shadow King is not just an entity of the dark, but a devourer of it. Should he will it, the King can devour and absorb his children back to the source, returning parts of himself to the whole. This can be used in two ways: first it can rejuvenate him, give him strength he may have lost during a battle with pesky heroes. Second he can then once again divide himself to create another shadow beast, effectively recycling it. Furthermore, any shadow beast that died he can call back to him to remake anew.
This constant recycling of his children is a major factor as to why he was such a threat, his army had a reputation of being eternal. No matter how many Shadow beasts you destroy, as long as the King exists, more will come.
Shape-shifting- As mentioned, Scotus is a gelatinous existence of mass shadows and darkness, and so he has, many times, been able to shape-shift into various things from giant monstrous beasts of nightmares to humanoid shadows that masquerade (literally if the mask is any indication) as man. It's not just a case of appearance, however. The physical attributes of the king also changes with every form he takes. Smaller forms are faster and more agile, larger forms are stronger and more durable, and something like a four-legged beast akin to a wolf - a form he often uses - has a well balanced sense of both.
As will be shown in his Redeemed self, and when he met with his beloved, he can actually become human in appearance. But this was a rarity when he was the Shadow King, and will most certainly be a rarity as a soldier of the Abyss.
Appearance:
Summary: Reborn as a part of the Redeemer Corp, he is one of those who gladly welcomes the chance to seek redemption for his actions. However, his gelatinous body rotted away upon his death. The Nexus could only save so much of it before it faded to nothing. What was left was used to create his human form, reserving any extra darkness into the form of a sheathed blade. It is only through this blade that he can now change into a shadow beast; there's too little in his current body to become anything significant.
Personality: Although his soul belongs to the abyss, it seems his body remembered his final moments of life, and remembered the love he had for Cynthia. The Personality he had gained when he was with Cynthia has returned to him, and while he still feels a sense of anger and hatred in his heart for the ones responsible for her death, part of them were already taken care of in his rampage and killing what's left won't bring her back, and isn't what she would have wanted.
True to his promise, when the Nexus offered him the chance to set things right, he took it in a heartbeat, especially knowing that the Shadow King he was before became an Abyssal soldier. He has a desire now to protect people like Cynthia from within the shadows, wanting to keep her memory alive by doing so.
As someone still new to this whole 'human' thing, while Scotus is still intelligent and knows quite a bit about ancient knowledge, he's often seen as highly introverted and awkward, not really knowing what the best way of saying things casually would be. Ask him something about the history of certain things, or about his Abyssal self, or about war tactics, and he'll answer with gusto, but ask him something basic or something unrelated to the task at hand, and he wouldn't exactly know where to begin. Also, having little in the way of societal experience outside Cynthia's village, some things that are seen as common sense for others may not occur to Scotus, and so, awkward hijinx of some kind may ensue.
He has a certain respect for humanity he garnered throughout his living years. He must have devoured hundreds of planets' worth of humans yet still they flourish and thrive, and while they are imperfect, cruel and wicked, the fact that there are even a hundred people like Cynthia and her village out of trillions of cruel and wicked humans, is a wonder in itself.
The Shadow Beasts, on the other hand, he still has no love lost with, albeit for completely different reasons. Now he is ruthless against them because they are a personification of the mistakes he has made, and as servants of the Abyssal Shadow King, their very existence mocks his attempts to change. The same goes with the Alphas, Shadow beasts that may actually be considered his legit children, he has no qualms about killing them, for they are a representation of everything that was wrong with him, and knew they themselves would devour other life forms without distinction.
Signature Ability: Umbrakinesis- Although he is weaker now, his mastery over the dark and shadows still exists. He can still manifest the darkness into an energy and give it physical mass, while also entering shadows to escape danger.
Redeemed Abilities: Shadow Beast Absorption- As a much smaller shadow, Scotus Blackade cannot actually create Shadow Beasts, there's simply too little of himself to conceive anything significant. However, should he find a Shadow Beast, he can still absorb them back into himself, at least in theory. After all, The Nexus revived his body, and the Shadow Beasts are parts of that body. If he ate enough, it may be possible to call out an army of his own, albeit a much smaller one.
However, one problem: When he died, all of the lesser shadow beasts died with him, almost his entire army of monsters faded to nothing. Moreover, The Abyss corrodes the Shadow Beasts his Abyssal self creates. As such, should the Shadow King of the Abyss create more beasts, Scotus can't absorb them back into himself.
The only way to test this theory is to kill an eat the only survivors of his kind, the Alpha Beasts... a feat he's not certain he can do on his own in his current state.
Shape-shifting- He may be much smaller, but he's still simply a gelatinous mass of darkness in truth. As such, he could shape-shift himself into a different entity like he could before. But whatever he turns into is significantly less potent compared to his past self. Moreover, on his own, he is barely himself, and only has enough of himself within him to sustain this human form. He needs the Black Sword, and the Darkness within it to be able to become anything. No Sword, no shape-shifting.
Alan's eyes were steeled the moment he confirmed Finnbar was still on their side. He stayed silent until the folks he didn't know that were with him took the elevator upwards. As soon as he confirmed they were out of sight, he immediately jumped towards his cells bars to get as close to the other side - and to his friend - as possible, before whispering.
"Any chance you can make some mini-portal or something to get this damn thing off?" Alan simply asked.
---
Maria stared into the eyes of the doctor and found something fascinating within them: Relativity, familiarity, like looking into a mirror, fogged and blurred; he saw himself in her, and she sees something back. It was a curious thing for her, as she tilted her head, what must this person have had happened to him to make her eyes so similar to her own?
An exploration for another day, but perhaps it was because of this that when the Doctor mentioned that he was a friend, she didn't need her telepathy active to know that he was telling no lie. ...The fact that he unlocked her cell helped with that opinion as well though. Furthermore, the name Millard was someone Joey talked about during the trip that led them here.
As soon as the door opened, she walked out and pointed downwards with her finger, as if indicating the answer being below them.
"...Two allies. One floor below us lies Alan, a fellow Star Marine...By the voices I'm hearing, it seems Finnbar is already down there with him. Fortunate: He can make them an escape route out of those cells, for him, and for Joseph Albion below them." She told Millard as she looked out the balcony of her floor towards the whole of Cell Block B, watching for potential guards doing patrols on the lower floors.
While her voice was befitting her ten-year-old appearance, it was a cold and distant tone to her every word, there was no relief to see an ally rescuing her, no distress for either of her captive allies, and she spoke of Finnbar as if he was a conveniance and nothing more. It was like she was a doll or a machine, emotionless and seemingly without a soul. Most would find it unnerving, maybe even see this as not being her, maybe she's brainwashed? Perhaps a clone or an android with her appearance disguised as her? But for the Star Marines, this isn't new, she's been like this ever since they met her. They knew she's as human, and just as capable of feeling as the rest of them, but her lack of emotional conveyance was something she could not help.
"Do you have a key for this collar?" The little girl asked, her eyes on that neutral face staring towards Millard, down to her soul.
A ghastly name for a ghastly ship filled with ghastly people. A military level prison ship in which some of the worst and most dangerous criminals of the Ascendancy are detained. Terrorist groups, Psychopaths, serial killers and masterful bandits, Traitors and deserters, this ship has it all. It is infamous for being the top prison ship for transporting the particularly dreadful inmates to maximum security facility planets throughout the Ascendancy - usually for the purpose of executing them.
Not that long before its fate, it was a few hundred light years away from Plenty, about to make a jump from where they were to a Prison planet for the drop off of inmates, when they detected a smaller ship flying to the side of their own, moving in for boarding position.
Communications picked up a message hailing them from said small ship.
"This is Agent Carmichael of Ascendancy Special Forces, I have an arrested and restrained fugitive on board, wanted for piracy, grand theft auto, and mass terrorism across the Ascendancy territory. Requesting permission to dock and imprison him on your ship." Said the young lightly-tanned skin man inside this small ship, could not have been anymore than 30 years of age. Turning towards someone in the shadows of the ship, clearly restrained by the looks of his wiggling about, the Agent took out what appeared to be a scanner of some sort and let the laser field from it cover the shadowy inmate. After which, the data retrieved from the scan was sent to the Circle of Hell, so as to verify the identity of the criminal in question. As soon as they saw who it was, they responded without hesitation.
"Permission Granted, please stand by and prepare for docking procedure." Said the communicator within the Circle of Hell.
As the smaller ship got into position, the Circle of Hell released a docking tube to connect the two ships. A small welcome party of prison guards standing by on the other side of the door as it opens up.
Entering the ship was a rather unusual cast of three.
First and foremost - both for being right in the center and for looking the most uncanny of the three - was an even younger man in handcuffs, looking like he only just hit adulthood a year or so ago, a messy head of dirty blonde hair and seemingly a single eye of sky-blue on his left, his right being covered up by an old fashioned eyepatch. But the most unusual thing about him was that attire he had on. A long velvet red coat over a button down shirt of white silk, dark grey cotton pants and old-fashioned leather boots. Not a single bit of armor protection on his person, and a black cap resembling the design of naval caps on captains in the ancient times of the 1700s Earth. Needless to say, the guards were not expecting what they now saw. The boy looked as if he time-traveled to the future from those ancient explorative days, but was so young that there was no way he could have been a captain even back then. Not only did his appearance make it obvious that he was a Pirate, it was as if he was mocking the very image of a Space Pirate. To resist laughing at this blatant parody - at this boy, clearly either mad or childish or both - was understandably a trying task.
Still, they did resist laughing. In their line of work, appearances can be very deceiving. Moreover, they recognize this one's face. Despite his age, he's infamous as a notorious Space Pirate. This was made clear when a biometric scanner came down from the ceiling, the Agent seemingly pushing the young pirate forward to get analyzed first.
"Oi! Don't go pushin' me like some swine to the grinder, you pompous scallywag!" The young Pirate yelled, stomping his feet up and down rapidly like a child throwing a tantrum.
"Shut up, stop moving, and face the damn scanner, or I and the other guards will make you cooperate." The agent coldly said, unphased by the Pirate's tantrum - same couldn't be said for the other guards. A few moments of silence as the pirate stops his stomping before then shrugging his shoulders in a whiplash-indcing change of mood and turned to face the scanner, much to the confusion of the guards. Reports did indicate a mental fringe on the pirate and potential for insanity, but they were not exactly prepared for this. The poor bastard must not have all his eggs in his basket.
As the scanner activated, a wide-radius laser stretching outward at the waist area of the three, before moving up towards of their heads, followed by down towards the tips of their feet. Within moments, holographic screens showing the records of the three visitors popped up.
"Captain Arron Falcon" was the name of this childish pirate standing before them. Despite his look and apparent personality, he is the Captain of the "Cerulean Eclipse" Pirates, one of the most infamous and dangerous pirate groups in the Ascendancy. This in mind, it was no surprised that the list of crime charges he has on his record reads like a Novel.
Piracy
Grand Robbery
Grand Theft Auto
Extortion
Pillaging of ships and cities across dozens of planets
Terrorism
A few cases of Manslaughter
The list went on. Hard to believe it could be done or orchestrated by such a child like this. He did have weapons on them, but one of them, too, was just as ridiculously outdated as his attire, a classic wood-and-metal Flintlock revolver - though interesting with eight holes rather than six, and an oddly colorful revolving cylinder - and two swords, at least they looked relatively modern, a rapier and a cutlass.
Upon a closer look, the agent to the Pirate's right had a slightly messy head of black hair and a moderate build to his body. But much like the pirate, he had an odd attire to him, wearing a black tuxedo under a grey coat, replacing the bowtie common in it with a black tie, and no armor in sight. Although in his case, it seemed at least possible that he had armor beneath the suit. The only weapon he seemed to have on his person was a Standard-issue pistol you see even Privates with. Either he is super confident with his gunplay, or his real weapon of choice was something else not on his person, his fists being the most likely candidate, what with the short black gloves on both of them.
To the Pirate's left was another man, almost exactly opposite to the agent in terms of appearance and the general impression. Whereas the Agent was dressed in black, tanned, looked young, and looking like he was willing and able to fight, this one was dressed in a white coat, pale, looked rather old with long white hair and a fluffy white mustache, and looked like he couldn't fight a child, much less a soldier or a pirate considering how scrawny his muscles appeared to be. He looked quite nervous of the situation, his hands together behind him. Quite suspicious, but the scanner did not pick up anything on his person save for a PDA with a flash drive jack, and so the guards left it at that.
The scanner also checked the ID pinned on the lapel of his white coat and found a match within the Ascendancy database both in ID and Facial Recognition: Professor Audric Abreo, one of the top scientists in Robotics, Bio-technology, and Artificial Intelligence in the Ascendancy, a genius in his own right who was responsible for creating a few of the androids and cybernetics still used to this day, but retired about two years ago.
They also detected the ID on the Agent's person and found a match for him as well: Agent James Carmichael, Ascendancy Special Forces, an elite group of enforcers outside the Armadas sent out to subdue A-class criminal activity, pursue covert operations and in some cases, even assist in Black Operations such as the Star Marine Project. This agent in particular specialized in hunting down and subduing the Ascendancy's Most Wanted, as such, this wasn't much beyond a normal day for him.
Almost immediately after the scanning process, the people in the hall could hear a loud voice bellowing through the hall, one that made this hard special agent flinch as he heard it.
"JIM! Oh ho, I knew I heard the sound of fun and joy getting strangled on the intercom." The delighted voice said from down the hall, the guards immediately turning towards it and saluting upon hearing it. Along comes the red-haired warden of the ship, Minerva de Silva, walking towards the group in the hall with big smile on her face, and a couple of bulky prison guards at her side.
"...Hello again, Warden De'Silva." The Agent said, with a tone that yelled professional, but a look that screamed irritated. Of all the Prison Ships in the Entire Ascendancy, he just had to have the rotten luck to need the one with her in it as Warden.
"That's the Warden of this ship? ...Oh dear." Professor Abreo thought. She didn't seem like a bad woman or anything, in fact she seemed a bit too pleasant for heading a ship with the kind of reputation that it has. He can only imagine what she's like to the prisoners; from his experience, usually people who show themselves off to be happy-go-lucky while in a position that demands horrific things are those who enjoy what they do. Judging by the Agent's reaction, he'd wager there's at least more to this one than meets the eye.
"Oh come now, Jimbo, No need to be so formal, I keep telling you to call me, Minerva."
"And I keep telling you that I'm not interested in small talk. I'm only ever here on the job, and this isn't any different." De'Silva sighed at the agent's disappointing response.
"Damn, You're still the stick in the mud I remember, Jimmy-boy. ...But at least that means you're stuck to the ground. ...So, what have you got for me this time? Ooo, A cute one, you know me so well." De'Silva looked towards Arron as she said this, who irritably looks away from her as she stares at him.
"Captain Arron Falcon of the Cerulean Eclipse Pirates. Managed to capture him after he attempted a foolish theatric during the attempted Heist of the Platinum Bank of Plutus. I got lucky; the boy's too reckless for his own good. His crew was nowhere to be seen unfortunately, must have abandoned him to save their own hide." The agent said, the boy's face looking grimmer as he talked. De'Silva was quick to notice this dark, almost depressive expression on his face; it made sense to her that they'd do such a thing to a boy like this, there's no honor among thieves after all, least of all among scum.
More importantly, She could not help but look at the boy and then back at the Agent with a raised eyebrow of suspicion. The boy looked young enough to get together with her own kid, and that silly pirate attire he got...
"Captain? Pfft... You sure you didn't just adopt a teenager, dressed him up in this get-up as a joke and brought him here as some...elaborate attempt to say we should be a family?" She smugly asked the agent, resisting the urge to just burst out a laugh. Needless to say, this only served to annoy the agent, as his eyes narrowed before he cleared up his throat trying to get back into his professional character.
"I know he looks strange... It was baffling to me as well, but I have reason to believe he's one of those Star Marines, he must have gone rogue and joined up with the pirates. Their previous Captain was put to death, so it's possible he could have used the rumored magic these kids supposedly had to convince them to make him captain." He explained. Honestly it was hard for De'Silva to believe this brat's responsible for all the heists and ship-pillaging that his crew's been wanted for since the execution of their past Captain, Edward Marshal. On the other hand, she's heard about the Star Marines and how they were some secret force operating in the shadows of black operations during the war. If he truly was one of them, he could probably have scared those pirate scum into making him in charge with that rumored magic she was told about. That experience could also have very well explained those planned operations these pirates are now practically famous for.
"Compelling argument, Jimmy. ...Well, let's hear it from Lil Blackbeard's mouth. Anything to say in your defense, Short John Silver?" De'Silva asked, grabbing at the pirate's chin and turning his face to face her. Despite how she looked, it was clear to the boy that she had quite a strong grip.
"...Aye, Just a question, where on this ship are ye keepin the rum? I'd like ye to send some to my cell, Tavern Wench." Arron said, a silly smile on his face, as if he was thinking of all of this as some joke. The other guards readied batons to give this little brat a beating for insulting the Warden like that, but she was quick to extend her free hand towards them as a sign to hold off, then proceeding to give a hearty chuckle.
"Funny lil guy, ain't ya? ...You know, I never liked pirates. ...In fact, I hate the very ground they stand on. I'm a frontier girl at heart, you probably already know we aren't treated the best by those city folk in the capital planets. But I always felt like we could make due, ignore their disdain for us, and eventually we'd make them give us some respect if we worked hard enough. Who knows, maybe one day, one of us will be a senator, maybe even a president, sky's the limit. ...But then there's people like you pirate and rebels and low-life criminals, who come in and sully all that reputation we built up, on top of just outright attacking and pillaging us! ...But you? I think I like you, you got some spunk on ya... I think it's best you get some 'special treatment'. Boys, take Captain Kid here to his room on the top floor. Let him lie there and think about what he's done." De'Silva said, a sly smile on her face.
On cue, the guards grabbed the boy pirate by the shoulders and placed a collar around his neck, immediately emitting a pulse of some kind to show that it activated. They then grabbed both of his shoulders and moved down the hallway, dragging the pirate with them. Agent Carmichael watched as the pirate was taken away, before then turning towards the Warden.
"With your permission, Warden, I'd like to follow suit and stand guard over his cell." He said, making De'Silva look back towards him with a raised eyebrow.
"Stand Guard? What, don't trust my security detail, Jim? He isn't the first Magical prisoner we had on this ship, you know."
"Maybe so, but despite his appearance, he still has his wits about him even without his magic. This wouldn't be the first time he managed a jailbreak under restrictive conditions. I can't afford to have him escape me again."
"...Jim, this is one of the most top-secured prison ships in the Ascendancy fleet. We've had legions of criminals taken back to correctional facilities during the war, and not one inmate has ever escaped from it, not one. ...Look, I know what the soldiers say about me running this ship, but I do know what I'm doing as Warden. You can chill out and let us take it from here..." Her voice became more stern than it ever did, as if insulted by the Agent's statement about the possibility of a jail break. The agent went silent, looking at the ground before then looking back at the Warden.
"...Even so, I can't take any chances. ...I can't let this one get away from me again. I just can't! ...Please, Minerva." The Agent said, finally saying the Warden's first name from his lips with hesitation, as if he was trying his best to keep that word in himself but succumbed. There was a moment of silence as the two looked into each other's eyes.
"...One magic word, that's all I wanted to hear. ...That wasn't so hard, was it? ...Alright, suit yourself. Follow those guards, they'll take you straight to his cell as soon as they're done readying him for it. Gotta warn you though, Jimmy, Solitary hall's absolutely boring. Don't go crying to me if you wind up wanting to shoot yourself from it." De'Silva said, her demeanor changing again at a dime, giving the agent a big sly smile as if she was a teenaged tomboy teasing the stern jock. The Agent gave a gentle smile right back and a nod before walking off. But before the Warden could do anything else, she seemed to finally notice the third person that arrived.
"Oh, right...You with Jimmy-boy?"
"Hm? OH! Umm, No, well...sort of. My name is Aldric Abreo, ...Professor Abreo. I came here due to a distress call this ship gave, it said it needed someone to help reinforce the cage on their...umm...'special guest'." The old man finally said, a nervous tone to match a nervous look to this otherwise polite old man.
"...Oh, right. We did make that request, didn't we?" De'Silva remembered, before then heading towards another guard to get info from the scan made earlier.
"Huh, says here you've retired for some time now, Professor. We made that request to Ascendancy R&D a little while back, for a specialist still in the field, ...why send a retiree?"
"I had asked for it. I heard from a former colleague about the request, and wanted to head over to deal with it myself. ...The Realist AI is, ...very important to me. I couldn't trust anyone else to do this but me."
"And, you were on Jimmy's ship because...?"
"Oh, I...lost my ship a long time ago in an accident. Agent Carmichael and I have gone way back for a considerably long time, I always assisted him in his missions as a...scientific advisor, so to speak. He was on my home world during the boy's heist. He was going to take the boy to a Prison ship, and I figured I'd advise this one and hitch a ride with him here. Two birds, one stone, Hehehe..." The professor said, giving a gentle, but exhausted laugh to end his explanation, a gentle smile on his face to compliment it. He seemed like a good, kind man, but it was clear by his tired expression he was too old for taking missions like this.
"...Uh, huh. Well... Fair enough, you certainly seem qualified for it. Realist's cell is down the hall of Solitary. ...That said, we are going to have to keep watch over what you do in there for security reasons, I hope you don't mind." De'Silva said, nodding towards a guard as if to imply he will be keeping watch over the Professor as he does his work.
"Oh, not at all, madam. I completely understand the caution. AIs are a more difficult inmate to keep contained on a ship like this after all. ...Well, let's not dawdle. I assure this won't take long, but I'd like to request a transport back home afterwards. Rest assured, fair madam, Realist will not be getting away..." The Professor then said to her, following with the other guards and the Agent towards Solitary Hall. The guard she tasked with watching the professor took a few steps to follow him before the Warden grabbed him by the shoulder, pulled him back to her, and whispered in his ear.
"Don't let him out of your sight... He does anything suspicious, give him one warning... he doesn't comply, shoot to kill." She whispered. The guard nodded, he needn't ask why she would ask him to shoot the professor down, it was clear to everyone in the hall that his story was suspicious, and the AI he's heading to secure was the ship's top priority inmate. No chances can be taken around it. That in mind, with safety disengaged on his gun, he rushed over to follow the Professor.
---
Just as boring as she says. At the top floor of Cell Block A, the very top of the prison cell area of the ship, lies solitary hall. Compared to the incredibly spacious Cell blocks, this singular hallway would feel incredibly claustrophobic and rather darkly lit. Facing down the hallway from the entrance, there was no real decor beyond just plain metal halls, and steel doors on the right wall, and nothing on the left save for cameras near the ceiling to keep watch over the doors. The hall itself was quite long for what it was, stretching about 60 feet long, the steel doors opening up to small rooms just as claustrophobic in nature as the hall itself.
As the Professor and the guard he was assigned with walked down the hall, they noticed near its end that the pirate child was being thrown into the solitary confinement cell, Agent Carmichael standing by the door after it closed shut on the pirate. The pirate screamed profanities, not that the Professor could hear anything, as the rooms were essentially completely soundproof... even then, the Agent could still barely hear the boy's angered screams while standing next to his door. The Professor and agent looked at each other, giving a slight nod as if in greeting, as the professor walked past him.
At the end of the hall was the Professor's destination, a giant cube-shaped room more artificial and feeling more fresh than any other part of the ship. From the evidence of the wall of the hall being cut open to the overly clean polish to it, it was clear this was a room they added onto the ship after its creation, and it didn't take long to figure out why.
Opposite to the door way, past an array of computer consoles in the middle of the room was a giant black device, almost similar in a way to a tree trunk, with glowing red wires hooked up to what looked like a giant red eye at the very center of this device.
This "eye", an octagonal-shaped drive with a glowing red light in the center was the "VIP" of this ship, the core of the AI, Realist, strapped onto a restrictive frame disconnected from the ship's mainframe networks - controlled only by the consoles in the middle of the room as the user interface - and generating a signal that completely blocked the AI's wireless connections outside the frame.
In short, Realist was in the closest thing to a Prison cell the ship could create, made especially for him.
The professor took a deep breath before stepping into the room, the AI's Eye giving him a stare that could pierce his very soul. Yet Abreo stared right back at it, a small smile on his face.
"It's been a while, Realist..." He simply said. The professor and the guard could see the red eye moving up and down slowly, as if scanning the professor.
"...A long time indeed, Professor Abreo. I can tell much has changed since we last met on Earth. Truly a pity that I was not there to witness your ascension." The metallic voice from the wall echoed across the room. For a such a small device, it created quite a booming, yet cold voice.
"A-Ascension? ...What is he talking about, sir?"
"It's not important, best not to think on it too hard. ...What is important is what I came here for." The Professor responded to the soldier's somewhat disturbed question as he walked over to one of the computer consoles in the middle of the room, staring at the monitor.
"Hmm...I can see why they needed assistance. The physical frame is still firm, but the software inside the frame holding you in is corrupting, decaying slowly by the second. No doubt your doing, Realist. You never did play nice with other programs." He said, typing on the keyboard feverishly as he speaks. The eye on Realist's core dilates for a moment before shrinking back to normal, as if coming to a realization.
"...I see. It is all comprehensible now."
"Oh...?" The professor looked up towards Realist as the AI says this, a small smile on his face, the guard looking at both in confusion as he spots the Professor inserting something into the console.
"The breach in the frame was not my doing. A nanite was spotted in this room a few days ago. Not long after, a breach in security is detected wirelessly, creating a hole in the system and allowing me a chance at escape, little by little. They detected it as well... But the programmers that were to be my guards and patch this hole in the system suddenly are inflicted with illness and are unable to do so. The ship calls out for other programmers to come and maintain my 'cell' in their place, and out of all the many humans capable of this, you are the one who heeds the call...the only one who comes forward."
"Are you accusing me of something, Realist?" The Professor's tone starting to shift from the tired but gentle professor to something more sly, as if he was enjoying this.
"...You are the one. That Nano-saboteur was one of yours, wasn't it? You arranged a situation in which you would be allowed here, under the pretense of fixing an error that you yourself caused."
"Heh, Interesting claim. A number of holes in it, but I won't bore you with explaining them, you clearly have gone off the rails like they said. But I will say this: there's no pretense here. In about 45 seconds, the hole will be sealed up, and you'll be trapped once again."
"...Then why are you copying my data files and storing them into that unit?" This one question was enough for the guard to jolt to attention. Indeed, he noticed it as well, that device inserted into the console, it was basically a small black box the professor was holding in his pocket - The 'PDA' detected by the scan, connecting to the console through a wire. This guard wasn't exactly tech-savvy, but even he could connect the dots as to what's going on here. As such, the guard held up his gun and took aim towards the professor's head.
"Simmer down, boy... This AI would lie in order to save himself; he's done so before. This hole in your cyber-security is getting bigger by the second. You shoot me, and it will buy him time to escape into this ship's network." This made the guard's hand shake in hesitation, but the gun was still aimed. The Warden told him to shoot should he notice anything suspicious, but at the same time, the professor has a point; Realist could be lying to keep his cage from getting fixed. As if in response, the Professor slowly put his hand in his pocket, and let out the black box in question, and raised it to his head, allowing it to be in clear view.
"...It's a digital tool box. I don't have a lot of faith in Omni-tools you see, so I crafted a more physical one of my own. Some of my best application programs are installed into this, which I can then use a myriad of different jobs, including bug-patching." He said, still typing at a fast rate with one hand.
But before the guard could say anything else, suddenly the entire room goes black, save the glowing eye of Realist, dimly illuminating the center of the room with an eerie red light. It wasn't just there either, the hall way they took to get there, the cell area beyond that, the entire ship went into a blackout, with dim lights turning on from the floor as the ship's emergency power activates. Screams of panic and alarms echoed barely towards the room.
"...Also including a storage app." the Professor said undeterred, as if nothing was wrong. The guard - looking around in confusion at the panic that was happening - looked back towards the Professor, who finally stopped typing, just to flings his fingers towards the guard, as if splashing droplets of water on him. Before the guard knew it, he could feel tiny pokes all over his body, as if a bunch of bugs suddenly landed on him. He tried to brush them off in a panic, only to suddenly stop and jolted in pain as he falls to the floor, having a seizure. Whatever it was that landed on him gave him an electrical shock across the body.
"He'll live." The Professor said, turning to Realist, continuing typing again. "Well, this charade's been fun, but it seems I've wasted enough time. So..."
On cue, he pushed one last button, and the sound of a lock disengaging could be heard, the Professor disconnecting his device and putting it back in his pocket.
"We don't have a lot of time; the lock has an auto-engage that'll activate soon. Let's get you out of there before they start coming in."
"...I see, you were buying time. This blackout was also your doing, so you came all this way for me, or rather, for the information I hold. I take it the data you copied serves as consolation in case you failed to get me out in time." Realist said as the device keeping in the core was shutting down.
"...I'd rather not have anyone else be in possession of such valuable information - Ascendancy or otherwise - but in case something goes wrong, I don't intend on leaving without it no matter what. Furthermore, not my choice, but I was ordered by the boss to add a little something to your database, just in case... But enough talk, let's-" The professor was interrupted again, this time by a deafening boom and hard shakes, enough to make the professor lose his footing and fall, even more alarms were blaring now, as the gravity started to push the professor towards the console - no, towards the wall where Realist was. He looked behind, and noticed the Agent outside in Solitary hall rolled towards and hit his head on the door leading into Realist's cell, clearly having trouble as well. The knocked out guard also seemed to slide down towards the wall where Realist was.
"What the hell did you do!?" The professor said, trying to keep himself on his feet.
"This is not my doing; I am still disconnected from the ship's systems. ...Judging by the sudden shift in gravity, the sound of explosions, and the heavy vibrations, I deduce the ship has sustained heavy damage, and is now caught in a gravity well, hopefully the gravity of a planet. ...Was this not a part of your plan as well?" Realist responded, as if mocking Abreo. The Professor could not make any response as he instead grabbed hold of the nearest console he could find and braced for impact.
---
Hours later after the crash, once the guards finally got their bearings in order, they searched over Solitary Confinement and Realist's own cell. The Auto-lock reengaged, with the hole in the software patched as the Professor promised. As a result, their AI prisoner was still held captive, just as it should be. However, the professor himself was nowhere to be seen. The guard watching him was the only one found, still alive, though it seemed to be through some assistance, possibly the Professor's.
Furthermore, The Pirate they captured at the same time seemed to have escaped, along with many other criminals whose doors were broken from the crash. Guards suspect that the pirate child could very well have been the one who broke them out, perhaps to keep the guards busy amidst the chaos, though there was little evidence left to tell either way. The agent James Carmichael also disappeared, his body undiscovered amidst the rubble. It's believed by Warden De'Silva that the Agent likely woken up to find out the pirate escaped, and chased after him as soon as he could. He always was - in her words - "wonderfully persistent".
The current whereabouts of the Pirate, the Agent, and the Professor, is unknown...
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