Avatar of KillamriX88

Status

Recent Statuses

4 mos ago
Current *Cthulu will remember this*
12 mos ago
If you're buying "health food bars" make sure you check the sugar content. A little natural sugar is normal, but it ain't heathy if it has 20g added sugar.
1 yr ago
Being a small pepper.
1 yr ago
Just shout to the heavens "UWOH SEGGS" and wait for divine inspiration. Or your family's disapproval. Whichever gets there first.
1 like
1 yr ago
I love when I shovel myself out, drive through a snowstorm to get to work on time... and then my boss calls me 5 minutes after when I was supposed to arrive that he's not coming in and to go home...
3 likes

Bio

Facts about me:
1. I like writing.
2. I like cats.
3. I like RWBY. (#Yangbestgril)
4. I am 30 years old...
5. I have graduated college.
6. I'm trying to get better at drawing.
7. I'm a dude.
8. I eat far too much cheese.
9. I watched a Markiplier video once. Now I have a crippling Taki addiction. Don't send help, just more Takis.

Various, relevant links:
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1700005/KillamriX88

Most Recent Posts






Incubus had been thorough and brutal. There wasn't much resistance left for him to deal with as he made his way to regroup with the Decoy Squad.

Finally, after a slightly longer walk than anticipated, he made it to the battered hangar where the Decoy Team had planned to hit. He noticed two very important things. One, the fighting was already over when he arrived. Two, there were more people there than there should have been. He quickly recognized his fellow crew and the child soldiers... but then also a mountain of a man, some girl, and-

BOOM!

-and a sudden... meteor impact? No, actually it reminded him more of how he had entered the battlefield.

'What the hell, I just did that less than an hour ago and already I got copycats?' he mused to himself while he scanned the situation. He quickly split the visual feed on his HUD, having the Belial zoom in on the impact site while he focused on the group before him.

He also realized he should probably let John and Rachel know it was him since, now that he thought about it, he hadn't shown them his armor before the mission started...

"Well howdy boys and girls, I see you made a right mess o' things without me," he greeted them, stomping on over. His accent no doubt made his identity clear, electronically distorted by the armor or not. But who were these newcomers and why hadn't they been shot? And why did the big guy's outfit give him the nastiest deja vu, like he'd just seen something similar- "OH SON OF A-" His cannon immediately locked on. Of course, he was another member of Incubus. He had to be. At that same time, the dust in the distance cleared enough for him to make out a large mech-suit, even taller than the Belial. 'The hell...? Not Incubus, but-'

And then the whole ship started blaring alarms. He recalled the lights flickering a bit on his way through. 'That thing got loose didn't it...' He recalled the warning signs he'd seen before he'd run into Snow and the first Incubus merc.

"I swear if one more thing happens, I'm gonna lose it!" Kelan growled. "But first order of business... why aren't we shootin' him?!" Kelan pointed at Rook... though the finger on his busted arm didn't extend. "Because I just ran into one o' his friends and suffice it t' say we didn't sit down for coffee and biscuits!"

Meanwhile the mech in the distance broadcast some sort of code. In hindsight, he probably should have kept track of Moonstrike's codes. He'd normally have just radio'd Natasha to ask, but somebody had jammed the comms! Likely Incubus, which was just another reason that he really just wanted to shoot this guy!





Rurik had finished walking a line in front of the flag area, from side-to-side of the arena. It tapered off towards the flag zone, so it hadn't been a long walk. He'd then decided that since the enemy team was taking their sweet time to take a stroll over to the middle of the arena while he was still feeling helpful.

And then Bak started panicking.

"What? I'm not doing anything..." He grumbled mostly to himself. Her concern was nice, he supposed...? But why was she freaking out, it wasn't like he was going to the other side of the arena, and nothing was even happening! Wait, what? Heat? Disregarding Bak's frantic shouting, he walked closer to the dividing walls, and indeed he could faintly feel some heat radiating through from the other side of the arena. It had caused a warm breeze to begin blowing through the gap in the wall, fighting against Christine's cold.

Braving the battling elements, he stuck his head into the corridor between the dividers. At that same moment, he saw Andras enter through the other gap in the walls... with a...

"Is... that... an angel?" Rurik's eyes went wide. What exactly were this. . . girl's? Boy's? He hadn't been paying attention to the other matches so he had no idea what Andras was. But he also had no idea what Andras's powers were, but they looked annoying to deal with if she/he had that following her/him.

It was time to take Bak's advice after all. He paused for just a moment at the gap in the wall, and then half-hurried half-walked over to Christine. He hadn't been walking around seemingly aimlessly for no reason. Anyone he didn't like who stepped in the places he'd stepped was in for a surprise.

"Don't waste your strength cooling things down," Rurik told her. "Just let them come to us where you'll have the advantage." If they wanted their side of the arena to be a sauna, then they could have it. The temperature of the arena was the least of their worries right now.

Their team wasn't exactly mobile, so they'd have to be on the defense for now. It also meant he'd have more bodies between him and the enemy if they stayed together...





((Collab Post between @Letter Bee, @KillamriX88, and @The Jest))

Snow prepared one of his lies and replied, "Albus! Albus Chalk!" He frowned. "Surely you know the drill by now; Secret Regiments, getting our lives spared by the Rau've, and choosing to come back here to take revenge... I just waited until I can afford these giant robots, that's all."

He didn't know about Tee's ability to communicate with Kelan, nor about 'Tee'. "Anyway," he continued, "I joined the Plenty-035 Rebels directly, that's why I don't have Moonstrike codes."




Kelan wasn't thrilled by this. It was one thing if they had to change the plan, but for some third party to be intervening was... aggravating. Well, so far he hadn't derailed anything. Yet. But he also had no codes, which technically meant Kelan shouldn't trust him.

Any other day he'd have put a bullet in his foot just to be safe, but he drew the line at roughing up kids -- even potentially super powered ones.

"Look, I'm gonna ask you real nice just this once. This is a delicate like operation we got goin' here, and you weren't part of the plan. So do me a solid and just skedaddle, we got this under control," Kelan told "Albus." Well, so far he was pretty sure they had it under control anyway...




'Albus' nodded and spoke, "All right; I and my giant robots will be off the ship; it's not as if there's any useful tech to salvage, anyway."

He was lying. Nevertheless, he, Gog, and Magog turned away to go back to one of the cafeteria doors, as if to get out of the place. But of course, Snow's plan was to resume going after Realist after this.




"Well... that was easy..." Kelan said to himself.

'Kelan, those aren't robots.' Tee spoke up as the trio headed off.

'What's that now?'

'I cannot sense robots. So they are not robots.'

'Oh... Son of a bitch.' That meant Tee could sense something, which meant they were probably Tayanen.

He'd have asked Tee why he didn't speak up sooner, but he knew better. That left him in the awkward position of having to quickly decide what to do. Did he shoot a child in the back for repeatedly lying to him? If he had alien escorts, then he wasn't just some kid. And he knew about Moonstrike, but if he was with Moonstrike, he wouldn't have lied... presumably.

"Well... this is not gonna be fun," he once more said to himself, his suit muting his voice to the outside world. The first hint that something was about to happen was the lights on the Belial's faceplate turned red. Then, with a click and a whir, the shoulder cannon cycled to grenade mode, but he aimed it to the side, blasting one of the walls, charring it black.

It was far enough from "Albus" that he would be mostly safe from shrapnel, but anyone without hearing protection in such an enclosed space would be left reeling for a moment.

The cannon then cycled back to sniper mode, he'd be needing that if he hoped to penetrate a Tayanen's shell. With both guns then leveled in their direction, Kelan spoke aloud to them.

"On second thought, I can't be lettin' a little liar like you walk around unattended!" Kelan only hoped the decoy team wouldn't be needing him any time soon. "Now, let's try this again. Who the hell are you!? 'Cause them a'int robots, so it leaves me wonderin' what else you left out." He made sure to raise his voice nice and loud so he could be heard over any ringing ears.




Snow turned around, cursing himself for not bringing earplugs. He then shouted to Kelan: "All right, fine! You want the truth you can't handle yet? I'll give you the truth! About everything! My real name is Sn -"

Then he got cut off.




What he got cut off by? A Scream a very close scream followed by the sound of a dull blade slitting through skin. The next thing any of them would know, a headless body was thrown across the cafeteria, slamming right into the wall on the opposite side of the door...Door? There wasn't suppose to be a door there on that wall. It seemed more like a man-made hole than a door.

Before either of them could figure out what was going on, the missing head seemed to be tossed into the cafeteria, landing on the floor and rolling until it stopped right in the middle between Kelan and the Boy's entourage, a distorted expression of fear and pain forever planted on the face. Slowly, another figure stepped in through the hole that was made. A man, or rather person, in black armor, stained almost completely red as a symbol of being the epicenter of a grand display of carnage. The armor was not quite as bulky as Kelan's belial armor, but it did look quite...durable. More importantly were his arms, his hands...well, they weren't really hands so much as claws. Each of his ten fingers had a long thick blade attached at their tips, connected by tubes to a knob on the back of his wrist, the rest of his arms encoated completely in perfected Electrum, the claws' bladed tips stained and dripping with fresh blood and flesh.





His helmet was round, completely covering his face in a large black visor that almost completely encompassed most of his face. More importantly, on said visor was a logo, painted a blood red...A logo that both Kelan and the boy would recognize, if they were ever in the Mercenary world for long. ...There wasn't a single mercenary who did not recognize that logo, the mark of Incubus.



The armored individualed stopped in the middle and slightly to the left of the Boy and the right of Kelan respectively, looking at the two, his focusing solely on them, and not the Tayanens beside the boy.

"I'm guessing you boys are the intruders we've been hearing about? ...I'm guessing not on the same side either...Don't suppose there's some room for one more?" The person asked, extending out his arms, the blood and flesh flying off as a result and splashing across the Cafeteria. If Tee or the Boy could, they would be able to sense something...unusual about those arms, something was pulsing with life...life other than that of this person...something vile.




Kelan turned, standing at an angle to both parties. His rifle was left aimed at Snow, but his cannon turned and locked onto the newcomer, center mass. There was no question, moral or otherwise, here -- this was a hostile.

"OK, I've about had it here. Y'all got five seconds to give me a reason not to put a hole in your ass!" Kelan warned the newcomer.

'Wait... shit... that armor. Oh you've gotta be kidding me...' Of course they would be here.




Gog and Magog had turned their own bulky Gauss guns - Super-Railguns that only their giant shells can support - on Kelan and the newcomer, respectively. But Snow realized the danger they were in more than the Tayanen did, and so he told them, "You two! Get out of your shells and retreat back to the ship! This is not someone you can take alone!"

He turned to the Incubus man and spoke, "However, if my speculation about his employer is right; he's been ordered to keep me alive and not permanently injured."

A revelation that he was probably with the Ascendancy, albeit one who bucked the Ascendancy's xenophobia by working with Aliens and actually caring for their lives. Gog and Magog obeyed, taking a second of hesitation before chrome fluid dripped down from the backs of their shells, causing them to collapse inward. These streams of fluid then split into several smaller flows that headed for various vents, holes, and doors.

Snow then faced the Incubus man defiantly. "The code I do have is," he then said a long string of seemingly meaningless numbers and letters. "These ought to make sense to your employer. Now leave my assets alone."

He knew the seeds of mistrust he was unwillingly planting in Kelan. He knew that he was revealing that he was an agent of some sort for the enemy. At worst, said enemy would learn that he had his own purposes, and discard him. But if that happened, he had taken precautions to reveal everything at the moment of his death.




The man looked at the two he was now staring down in this little mexican stand-off. He first looked towards Kelan.

"Hmmm...? Oh, I know you, aren't you that one merc asshole that got FUBAR'd on some godforsaken hellhole and decided to take on bestiality with a slime to save your life? Good to see you're still around, we should hang out sometime, I can show you some of my toys, see how well you can deal with getting filleted alive, see how much of your body is still kicking, and how much damage I can throw before it's utterly fucked." The man said casually to Kelan, as if everything he just said was considered normal conversation for any ordinary man. He then saw the other one, the boy, as he started mentioning their client and stated his Codes.

Needless to say, he went silent, placing his pinky blade to his left temple as if impersonating the act of cleaning his left ear with it.

"...I have no idea what you're talking about, ya little shit. I don't know about the others, I certainly don't pay much attention to what's asked of them, but I got no such orders. I was ordered to just slaughter every ascendancy soldier, any farmer, hell, anyone that so much as moves, really. No where in MY orders did it say anything about sparing anyone. Just the way I like it. ...Besides that, if you really do know our client, then you know why we're here. So my Question is, What in the wide, wide, world, of sweet, FUCK, are YOU doing here, if you value your life? The way I see it, you came to this shit show on your own knowing the risks, so I don't think neither us, nor our client are held responsible for what happened while you're here. So, if you value your little shit life, make like the blob's incestous children and get the fuck out, or fight me, give me a good time, or stand there let me cut your blonde block off. But most importantly..." Before he finished, He immediately turned the knobs on the back of both of his hands, and suddenly the man was irradiating an intense heat, his claws becoming white-hot, as if being under flame for a long time.

"DON'T, TELL ME, HOW, TO, DO, MY, FUCKING, JOB!!!" Demon said, with every pause, he slammed his claws down onto the metal chair and table, cleanly cutting through them like butter, a scorch mark left with each cut. By the time he was done, the table and chairs were in pieces.

"...Now, Any of you want to give me a good time, or would you like me to start off this bloody fuckfest?" He asked them, his arms extended outwards and his knees slightly bent, as if he was ready to make a dash.




'Kelan... would you call me a slime?'

'What? Nah, pal, 'course not...' Kelan answered as the other merc's crude ranting faded into background noise. 'More importantly, has it been five seconds yet?' Still the merc ranted and raved on in the background.

'It has been many more seconds than five.'

'Thought so. Think you can hold him still for me? Little gravity should do it.'

'Yes.'

The nice thing about mounted weaponry was that there was no tell. No twitch of a finger, no pull of the trigger. It just went- BOOM!

'Which direction?' Tee asked as the cannon fired, and there was a notable lack of gravity shifting.

Kelan would have sighed if he had time to. Suddenly he was less optimistic about this shot finishing the job...




And BOOM it went, unfortunately it happened right about the time that he made a lunch table into a little pile of metal. Whether it was by sheer luck or perhaps the madman intended on this guy firing at him - he was clearly the most threatening thing in the damn room between himself and the kid - The pile of metal blocked the bullet, at least enough to let the Demon dodge out of the way towards the other side of the room. As soon as he landed, he slashed another table in half and kicked one half it towards Kelan, while throwing the other half right at the boy on the opposite side of the room to Kelan.

Possibly without much thought, he immediately then rushed towards Kelan. With any luck, Kelan would have blasted away or dodged the metal half he kicked towards him, which would give Demon the chance to get in close to give him a nice "Hello there" slash diagonally across the torso from Kelan's upper right to his lower left. Demons' claws this close to him, Kelan would feel the intense heat coming off his claws, as if standing next to a furnace.




Bullet Time, Snow thought as he activated a spell that allowed him to gallop sideways and dodge the table with time to spare. Ducking behind the cafeteria's food distribution desk...thing, Snow's next move would be to set up his miniature holocamera, recorder, and player. With a push of the button, multiple Kelans would then appear, all looking as real as the actual one. However, there was an obvious limit: These holograms only showed Kelan's current actions. Nevertheless, these ought to afford the Moonstrike merc some battlefield advantage...




The bullet punched through the debris the enemy merc sent flying like tissue paper, but it was enough to change the bullets course just enough, glancing off the man's armor in a shower of sparks, but doing no harm.

The table thrown in retaliation was just as harmless in and of itself, but it did block Kelan's view for just a second. The cannon shifted to burst-fire mode, but with no target Kelan could only snatch the table out of the air with his right hand, but by then Demon was upon him. He stepped back, swinging the table to block the claws...

The table fared about as well against the claws as the last had against Kelan's bullet. The claws still scraped against the lower torso of the Belial, putting a noticeable scratch in the armor, but at least not disabling anything.

Kelan held up the table for a moment, observing the massive rend now in it.

"Well sheeit.." He muttered worriedly before throwing it back at Demon, but now able to lock on once more. Both cannon and rifle opened up, firing volley after volley of high-caliber metal the Incubus merc's way.

'Kelan, why are there so many of us?'

'Not now!' Kelan would worry about the holograms later. For now, he was fairly certain his opponent knew who was real.




"Ruh-roh!" Demon said as he noticed the two cannons pointed at him. Backflipping away from Kelan before noticing Kelan throwing the table right back at him. Seems the guy was about to employ the same attack on him that he did on him...Fun!

He used both claws to slice and dice the thrown table to pieces, but did not stop moving knowing what was likely to happen next. As Kelan fired volley after volley at him, Demon moved his claws in such a way so as to cut through the bullets that were aimed directly at his torso and head. Course, they were goddamn bullets and even cut up, they were gonna probably hit. Regardless, he ignored as the bullet started cutting little tiny scratches on his armored one by one, some of the cuts even drawing some blood, yet he was able to block and cut through the blasts that were unluckily aimed towards his most vital spots. Once Kelan stops firing - assuming he ever stops firing, but it's not like he has a bandanna of unlimited ammo or something, that'd just be silly - He took a minute to take a deep breath, before looking at himself. The metal of his claws touching the scraped armor, as if trying to feel the pain.

"Gah...Hahahaha....Ehhh, I've had better." He said, before looking at Kelan....Suddenly lots of Kelans....He slapped his helmet as if to make sure what he's seeing wasn't some hallucination, before realizing by the unsual actions of some of them that they were clearly...

"Holograms? .....REALLY!? ....Fucking, Seriously!? Oh, come the fuck on, Those aren't fun. I can't Gut a hologram like a pig man...They can't even do shit to me, what the fuck help do you think this is gonna do? ...Can't even give me clones or something physical I can cut...What a fucking Buzzkill." He said as he arms went limp, bending his arms upward in a shrug as he looked around the area, before then bending both his arms and his neck down disappointingly.

"...I was about to get excited too....Ah well. Alright Slime-lover, let's have some fun..." Demon said. Showing off just how fast he was, he jumped back a few times before landing on a table, stomping on the round tip of a spoon before catching it in his hand.

"I'm gonna cut your heart out with a spoon!" He said as he then jumped into the air and through the spoon right towards Kelan, landing on another table to grab more utensils to throw at the holograms. Normally, said utensils would even be worth the distraction, Except that, by the looks of those white-hot tips, , it's likely he heated them up before throwing them. Beside that, it was far from the point, as those hologram would at least flicker or the utensils would go right through the holograms, whereas they wouldn't go through the real deal. As soon as he spots which one is the real deal, he once again heads up close to him, attempting a barrage of savage slashing, it didn't even look like human action, it was more as if Kelan pissed off a Grizzly Bear.




By this time, Snow Cecil had also recorded the fight using a secondary function of his camera, and had managed to use a spell of 'fast learning' to copy what Demon and Kelan were doing, with Kelan's 'Exceptional Aim' being easier to copy as it won't mangle his body to do so. Not that he couldn't copy some basic agility and evasion skills; those would just tax his body. But with only one pistol and one knife, he could not take on either of the combatants. More to the point, if he backed Kelan too much, Snow's treachery would be made plain. Same for if he backed Demon.

So he, at great cost to Mana, decided to help both. Placing his hand on the floor, Snow said, "Enchantment!"

A pulse of magic would then transfer his spell of 'Project Senses' to the combatants; giving them both the ability to hear, see, smell and otherwise sense anything in a six-foot sphere around them. This might disorient Kelan and Tee while empowering Demon...




The rifle clicked empty, the Belial's hud showing that it had run out. The cannon had plenty of ammo left, but this psycopath was apparently amped up enough to catch bullets... kind of. For good measure, he reloaded the rifle, but then holstered it back at his hip.

"Girl's tough, she can take it..." Might have been time for a more... direct approach.

'All right Tee, you need to focus, got it? I say a direction, you hit him with gravity!'

'Y-yes.'

'Do or die time!'

'Yes!'

And so Kelan planted his feet, or rather the Belial's, ready to go when... suddenly the world got a whole lot more overwhelming.

"That... little shit..." He was suddenly far too aware of everything. Was he trying to help? Obviously this Incubus Merc wasn't his friend, but... This was a little much.

Kelan took a breath, seeing Demon now had honed in on him. A spoon had bounced off his armor -- a dead giveaway.

"You know... it's a lot like having the old sensor suite back when you think about it," he said to himself. He remembered the first time he'd fired up the Belial, the rush of information that had flooded the HUD. Pilots in fighter-craft had a name for the phenomenon -- helmet fire.

And so, the Belial had ground to a complete halt as Demon surged forward... But then suddenly, an armor plate peeled back on the Belial's left arm, revealing what was once one of it's integrated weapons, but now was just an empty slot.

As Demon clawed at Kelan, he suddenly threw his arm up, letting him hit the exposed slot on the Belial's arm, the claws digging into the arm. He then twisted his arm, trapping the claw in his armor, if only for a short time. The HUD flashed red, reporting severe damage to the Belial and Kelan's own arm beneath, but he stayed focused.

"Straight up, pal!" Kelan spoke aloud in the heat of the moment. He pulled his right arm back, aiming a punch at open air... but for once, Tee was ready. Gravity folded in on itself and reversed, attempting to launch Demon upward and off his feet... right into the path of one of the galaxy's most brutal right straights.




Demon's senses were also enhanced, not that it helped him at the moment with his claws currently trapped by a frankly clever move from Kelan.

"Huh...Well, shit." He said. All of a sudden the Gravity began to causing Demon to be lifted off his feet.

"Oh, what fresh hell is this? You trying to fly me off the planet? ...Well it's not gonna work that easily!" He said, twirling afterwards as he did, his claws, somehow, managed to slice through the field of gravity around him, as if he was cutting straight through Tee's Magic. After which, he tried to dive right towards Kelan for another assault.

And...Well....He did indeed dive right towards Kelan....unknowingly and unwittingly right into a very, very, VERY hard right punch, right to his chest, causing the psychopath to fly off before landing on the ground and rolling as he did. The force of the blow was so powerful, it managed to break open a part of his visor as he landed.

That wasn't just some super-powered punch, that cybernetic arm probably could punch through magic fields like paper if he wanted to...any normal man would probably be dead after something like that.

But as Kelan was about to find out, this madman was far from ordinary. Though struggling, clearly in utter pain, he managed to pick himself up and stand.

"...It hurts....It hurts....Ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts....He...Hehehehehe....Hehehe." He was mumbling, then chuckling as he grabs hold of his chest and sees blood on his hand....his blood.

Eventually, That chuckle, turned into a raving, manaical laughter.

"Ohhh....THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! ...Oh, god yes....I think I actually felt some bones break, my ribcage must be so fucked right now...at this rate...I might....-plgggh- Yep, definitely blood vomit...Hehehe...How long has it been since one attack did so much damage? I haven't felt this fucked over one strike since the Boss wrecked my shit...3 years ago? ...Or was it 2? ....Ah, who the fuck cares?, I can't even breathe right at the moment...that's all that matters right now." The Demon said as he looked towards Kelan, his hands and legs clearly trembling, as if he's barely able to keep himself standing. The cracked visor showed a part of his face, that being one of his eyes and a part of a bloody, sickening grin, and in that, that red, dilated eye, in what little he could see of his face, Kelan would be able to see an abyss, swirling with hatred, and a lust for blood.

"Ohhh, you're gonna be fun, I can already tell. Guess I should have expected as much from a lone merc. -Cough, cough- ...I'm gonna enjoy, watching you and your slime buddy die." He said. Despite what he said, he's for the moment, simply standing there, likely a result of his body assessing the damage before he attempts to do something again.




"Oh that a'int right," Kelan didn't like that one bit. Without a second's more of hesitation, he cycled back to his impact launcher, shooting an explosive round directly at the psychopath. "DOWN!" Right as the shot fired, Tee attempted to shift gravity directly down on the man, hoping to keep him in place to get blown to bits.




Turning the knob on the back of his hands again, Kelan could hear the sound of...well...what sounded like the ignition of flames, as the gravity field Tee made broke once again, he then outright grabbed, grabbed the explosive round before it could detonate in front of him, the Claws that were once just heat to a white-hot, were now practically radiating with an intense energy akin to fire, as if each finger was now a flame-thrower.

Course, this practically inhuman moment was brief as fire coming into contact with an explosive would naturally explode as a result. However it seemed his arm felt the worst of the impact as the rest of his body flew off further. His body span around like a ball before landing feet first on the wall, immediately jumping off before making yet another dash towards Kelan.

"DiediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediediedieDIE!" He said constantly as he ran towards him, his evasiveness still going strong as he jumped from one table to the othe to dodge whatever Kelan might throw at him to keep him far away.

Just as he was about to go for another strike, the flames looking as if his claws stretched even further, he stopped, as if time froze over for him as he lands on the ground. Kelan would be able to feel the intense heat of the flames touching his Belial armor as if standing very close to a river of lava.

"What? .....WHAT!? ...Bullshit, Come on, Knight, I found one of the Interlopers I was just about to.....WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? If the boss needs time then let me just kill this one guy, and I'll be on my...Why...B-BUT THIS GUY IS CLEARLY ON THEIR SIDE, Just let me do a quick gutting first and I'll..........Fuuuuuuuuuuck.....Fine, FINE! I'll deal with them. ...You really can't send any of the others for this? ...Oh, Fuck you too!" He started jabbering nonsense, as if talking to someone else who wasn't there. Either he was mentally losing it, or someone on their side knew telepathy. Either way, Demon stayed his hand and reversed his knobs' turn, causing the flames to stop and the claws to emit large amounts of steam and smoke as it cooled down. He gave an unearthly yell of rage, loud enough to likely reverberate across the whole of the ship, before jumping back, venting his rage on the walls and the tables as he left constant claw marks all over the place. He then looked towards Kelan and pointed his claw at him.

"...This isn't over, slime-lover...I ever see your face again.....Hehehehehehe......I'LL CARVE IT OUT AND MOUNT IT ON MY FUCKING WALL!!!" He yelled before then hopping out, leaving a trail of his own blood behind him.




Snow, meanwhile, was sneaking off once he had packed up the holograms; he had failed utterly. Using a convinient back door and a kid-sized air vent, he sought a way outside of the ship.

He couldn't fight Incubus. He couldn't rescue Realist. He couldn't manipulate things to his benefit.

But it wasn't the end. He now had a better grasp of Incubus' capabilities. He now had recordings of how they and the Xuanxang's crew fought. He still knew what Realist knew; he had found that out without his help. But it was clear this was not the time to reveal the Ascendancy's secrets; Snow was not completely free from any hold, not completely free from the Fourteen Lovers.

Nevertheless, he left one memory stick for Kelan to find, a memory stick shining on top of the 'prison buffet's' trays. This memory stick would contain this message and this message alone:

"The foundation of knowledge is to know that you know nothing. You have the foundation of knowledge. Connect the dots."




Kelan stood there, panting from the stress, now suddenly alone. He honestly wasn't sure how that fight would have ended had he been forced to see it through. He quickly refocused himself. He went to put his rifle back in his hand, only for the whine of tortured servos to reach his ears along with a horrible grinding noise. His left hand wouldn't close. Neither would the hatch he'd opened shut again.

"Dammit..." The fingers on his right hand split from three to six, and he was able to manipulate the hatch shut manually, so at least he didn't have a gaping hole in his armor anymore. He then manually closed his left hand into a fist. Better that than open fingers that could get snagged or broken.

He saw the memory stick, putting it into a small compartment in the armor, though he didn't dare plug it in mid mission. That was a recipe for disaster.

'Well, we're alive, so I'll chalk that up to a win for now. You good, Tee?'

'Yes. I can shift gravity at least two more times without resting.'

'Not quite what I was gettin' at, but good to know.' It seemed Tee was now in one of his rare, hyper-focused moods. Perhaps the fight with the psycho had spooked him.

"All right. Onward," he then said aloud to himself. At least the rest of the Belial was still working. At this point, maybe the Decoy team was already in the ship and it'd just be a matter of regrouping. One could hope. And so he stomped on to the next hallway...





"Ah, relax cap'n. You're just mad Tee had one o' his slow moments on you up there," he waved off Natasha's criticism of his plan, assuming it was nerves from the drop. Obviously he couldn't have just walked to the ship. One stray scanner sweep would have picked him up and they'd have been dodging heavy artillery every step of the way thereafter.

---

Each stomping footstep echoed through the ship. There was no point in even trying to tiptoe in the Belial. The ships internals were a mess. Bodies and debris everywhere. It had definitely been a hard landing. He'd already had to make a detour. The most concerning part was that some of the bodies clearly weren't from the crash landing.

At this point, unsurprisingly, he had his rifle in hand.

The strangest thing he saw was some hastily put together signs directing toward a high security area. Something called the "Vault". Something to check out later then, but right now he had more important things to do than facilitate a prison break. That could be done when the shooting was over with. That said, he had to wonder what could be considered extra dangerous on a prison ship named "Circle of Hell."

In the end, his path led him to a cafeteria. He wasn't alone.

"Oh good, company..." He muttered to himself, muted to the outside world by his suit. Not that it mattered, no doubt they'd heard him coming for quite some time. The strange part was that two of them were mechanized being of some sort, or so they seemed. And the other one was human and... small. Young? "All right, gonna need you to identify yourself 'fore I get all trigger happy here." He finally said aloud to them.





As the device was planted and activated, a small light began blinking intermittently. It was surprisingly bright, perhaps especially so for Stella depending on the functionality of her eyes. A few seconds passed... and still, it just sat there -- blinking.

Eventually, a full minute passed...

. . .

THUNK, THUNK! Heavy, metal legs shifted impatiently in the ships loading bay/garage. There was some sort of interference blocking communications. It made it hard to keep tabs on what was happening down there, but he'd tapped into the ship's sensor array and was streaming a visual scan onto his HUD. Finally, he saw it -- the blinking of the high intensity UV beacon. Anything tuned to pick up those wavelengths would easily see it, like a small sun. But that was fine, things were about to get real loud anyhow.

"All right, here we go," Kelan radioed up to the bridge, giving the exact flight path the ship would have to take. "If we're doing this cap'n, you'd better hurry down here!" In about fifteen seconds, he was disembarking, whether Natasha was there or not. He set his feet as the loading bay ramp lowered, wind suddenly gusting into the ship still in flight. All one could see past the ramp was clouds and open sky.

"Five... four... three-" The door to the garage opened and and the sound of boots sprinting across the metal floor was barely audible over the whipping winds. Kelan lunged forward, diving out of the ship as it suddenly pulled up hard, practically catapulting him out into the sky. At the same moment, the three fingers of his oversized right arm clamped down on Natasha as she too leapt from the ship.

Tiny thrusters flared to life, angling the suit into a nosedive toward the ground. They weren't nearly strong enough to push the suit into flight, but in a free-fall they could just barely keep him on course. Honestly, they weren't meant for this. They were supposed to be used in a vacuum, but it was what he had to work with at the moment.

As they broke through the cloud layer, the Circle of Hell came into view, a dot in the distance. With the clouds out of the way, the could track the beacon himself, using the thrusters to keep himself angled directly at it. As they got closer, he could zoom in to see the rest of the area. There was already gunfire. Welp, it looked like the party had started without him.

'Kelan!' Tee spoke up.

'Yeah?'

"Something's happening down there already!'

' . . . You're right. Good call pal.' Kelan decided to let him have this one. 'By the way, you remember the plan, right?' They were getting awful close now.

. . .

Awful close.

. . .

'Pal?' Kelan swallowed hard. "Uhh, cap'n, we might have a probl-"

'Yes!'

"Never mind!" Thrusters on the front of the suit blasted to life and Kelan spun around, tossing Natasha behind him, moments later a gravity shift hitting her to slow her down enough to safely maneuver herself with a jetpack. He completed his spin, pulling up and putting his legs in front of him. All that was visible before him was the ship -- and the tiny hull-breach, approaching fast.

"Lock down... lock down... lock down!" Kelan frantically flitting his eyes across the HUD, sending the suit commands.

The landing site was upon him.

The HUD flashed red.

. . .

Meanwhile, it had been nearly two full minutes since the device had been planted.

And moments later, for a moment, it was nothing but noise. A tremendous impact hit the ship, nearly buckling the thick, metal floor. There was a thunderous boom that reverberated through the space as dust and sparks flew with the grating noise of metal grinding across metal. When it was over, a large, metal figure sat hunched over in the corner of the room, having nearly careened all the way into the far wall.

A second later, Natasha also flew in through the breach, though making a much more graceful landing.

Then with a clicking noise and the whine of servos, the metal figure stood up, its legs which had compressed under the impact extending back to their normal length. The lights on its faceplate flickered back to life, turning green as the suit turned to face the group in the room.

"Well hell, we made it!" Kelan laughed and turned to find Stella. "Good work, Darlin'! Now, how about we get to work!" Inspecting the room, he found a bulkhead door sealed shut. It explained why this breach had been left unguarded. They'd almost completely emptied the room and then just locked the door. That wasn't going to cut it any longer.

He stomped over to the door and pulled back his right fist. In one, mighty blow he caved in the front of the door. He then clawed his fingers into the gap he'd created and tore one, then both halves of the door open.

"And we're in," Kelan stepped through first. They weren't exactly making a quiet entrance and if there was going to be shooting, it might as well hit him instead. He was the most bulletproof person present at the moment.

He led them down a hall, just big enough for even him to maneuver somewhat comfortably, until he picked up footsteps and voices.

"What the hell, they're over here now?!" He heard a voice echo down toward them. "It's like they're everywhere!" It was coming from another hallway, coming up on their right. Kelan lifted his left fist, motioning for the group to halt. He then shifted his weight forward. Two Ascendancy troops rounded the corner just as Kelan burst into a run.

"OH FU-" They barely even had time to lift their weapons before Kelan was upon them. BANG! The gun on his shoulder punched clean through the helmet of one while his oversized right arm swung and slammed the other into the wall. He then grabbed hold of the soldier, the three fingers wrapping around their torso like a vice. The whine of servos was heard, followed by the crunch of crumpling metal as the soldier's armor gave way beneath the incredible pressure, literally squeezing the life out of him.

Kelan dropped the crushed soldier and then turned back to the group.

"All right, here we are. This is where we part ways. Natasha'll lead you lot into the ship to find Realist," he told them, pointing farther down the hall. "Meanwhile, I'll be headin' over to meet up with the Decoy squad and bring 'em back with me. All goes well, we'll all regroup in the Realist's holdin' chamber," Kelan told them. "By the by, those troops were talkin' like someone else is already in here. Keep your guards up extra." It didn't track with them talking about the Decoy Squad. Something didn't seem right, but for now all they could do was continue to follow the plan.

With that, he gave them a quick, two finger salute and then stomped off the way the two soldiers had come.
Weird. As far as I can tell all the character sheets are still there. Who is missing? Maybe I can fill you in from memory or something. @Crazy Scion





"You got it, kid. It'll take a minute to kick in, though, so make sure you're safe when you use it," he told her. He was then caught off guard by her next concern. Apparently she hadn't brought a spare change of clothes? Or at least nothing to fight in. So not only were the super-soldiers children, but they weren't even all that well equipped. His faith was waning, but he supposed he'd reserve judgement for now. He had seen her literally turn invisible, so hope wasn't lost just yet.

"Gear lockers in the garage, farthest one t' the left near the door. If some idiot locked it and you can't find someone to unlock it, just take a hazard suit from the maintenance room. It's at least better than a skirt." he told her. He then turned to his own locker in his room, opening it and pulling out a bandolier. "And consider this a welcome gift from me in return for volunteering. It'll hold your knives and just about anythin' else you want. It'll at least tide you over til' you find something more your style." Indeed the bandolier had enough hooks, pockets, and pouches to hold a good number of small objects, including the mag-sphere.

"Once you're all set, I suggest you go find Reisus, take a minute to get used to each other 'fore you get to sneakin' about out there," he suggested.





The door slid open, revealing Kelan's room. It was somehow a mix of messy and empty at the same time. The furniture comprised of one bed, just big enough for him, a large two-door locker, and then multiple workbenches lining the walls. There was nothing much in the way of clutter, but the room had a metallic, greasy smell. The ventilation system in the room sounded like it was working overtime.

When Stella would have stepped into the room, she would have noticed something suddenly touch her shoulder. It was Kelan's disembodied right arm, atop one of the workbenches, one of its fingers poking at her curiously. Or was it caressing her affectionately like a dog happily greeting someone new? It was hard to say. Meanwhile, Kelan stood at one of the workbenches, setting down the tool he'd been using before turning to Stella.

"Whoops, sorry 'bout that. Come on, pal, leave the girl alone," he said. The arm slowly pulled away, as if ashamed or embarrassed. "He says hi..." Kelan rolled his eyes. Despite the containment unit crawling about on its own, Kelan still had two arms. He now had a right arm that much resembled his left.

"Catch," he paused for just a moment after giving the warning before tossing a small, metal sphere at her. It had one clear panel, and the rest of it was solid, riveted and welded metal. It had a reinforced band running along its circumference, which also held two buttons, one bigger than the other. "All right, here's your present. We'll call it our lil' equalizer. This is what you'll be deliverin' to that hull breach. Now I'm gonna run you through how this is gonna go from best to worst case scenario, all right?"

He leaned against his work bench before beginning. This might take a bit.

"So, I dunno how much you been told so far, but we got two teams. Decoy and infiltration. You're obviously on the latter. Now it's up to the cap'n, but I reckon we'll be sending Reisus with you to keep you safe til' you reach your destination. So best case scenario, you make it there all quiet like and get into the hull breach with no one firin' a shot, not even the decoy team. Realistic scenario is you scope it out and tell the decoy team when t' start shootin'. Either way, hopefully you an' whoever's with you make it inside and deliver the package," he told her. "However, if it's real bad, you might have t' sneak on board alone to avoid bein' seen. And then we get t' the real ugly possibilities. If they have some way t' detect you when invisible, like maybe thermal scanners on them tanks, you might have t' deliver the package early. Don't worry too much about that. You need to, you go right ahead and chuck that sum' bitch at a tank and just stand clear. Right, probably shoulda said that sooner. Wherever you end up droppin' that thing, you stand nice and clear from it, ya hear?" He stared her down to make sure she understood that part. He didn't want her blood... or whatever... on his hands.

"Last thing ya need to know is how to work it. It's pretty simple. Big button turns it on, small button magnetizes it so it'll stick to anything metal. Don't worry, magnet's only on one side and it's on a delay, so you shouldn't have to worry about it stickin' to ya," he smirked and held up his own, mechanical hands. "I know t' think 'bout those kinda things. So hit the button and toss it, or wait a second an' stick it somewhere all precise like. Ideally, right in that breach. Any questions?"

If all went well, Stella and her escort would get on board without anyone knowing they were there. Once she delivered the device, then all havoc would break loose, but by then everyone would have had time to scope things out and get into position. Otherwise, the decoy team would do their job and hopefully make an opening for her.
I have shit to do before we officially hit the ground, but arriving at the planet and stuff is fine.
© 2007-2024
BBCode Cheatsheet