Stratevaria Galaxy

As the voice an image of GEHENNA flickered away into darkness, Nef smiled to himself. This whole situation simply reeked of profit.

He checked his watch and then rose from his seat within a dingy apartment and headed to the fridge a few paces away, which, to his dismay, was empty again. But no matter; it was time to leave anyways.

---

A few buildings away, Daedalus was tinkering in his workshop, and when he finally finished, he inspected his work: a modified SPADISDEV Spaceship Disassembly Device, with a modified external energy core and significantly increased plasma injection. The thing could cut the hull plating of a medium-class cruiser like a hot knife through butter. Not bad for its bulk.

And then, GEHENNA transmitted his signal, and Daedalus knew: a friend would be requiring the modified SPADISDEV.

---

Aboard the Liset, Durandal slept, his unconscious systems monitoring all of the ship's systems while his intelligence module slept.

Until GEHENNA awoke him.

A curious manifestation; one that, if he knew them correctly, Durandal knew his owners would be hunting after. He would simply have to wait until they arrived at the orbital docking station to collect the ship and be on their way.

(sorry guys spaced the location we are in the lower city)

"Jesus Christ!" Keeton screams, propelling himself further into the filth. "An android in the lower city? What the hell do you want?" Keeton yells out at the figure crouching on the building above him.

(Fucking hell, I forgot to post the location when the page refreshed, we are in the lower city.)

Keeton opens his left eye, his head hurts and loud sounds can be heard throughout the room. He peeks over his cover just in time to see a mech smash Byatis and Sentinel together. Keeton is very confused at to what is happening. He tries to locate clockwork, to no avail. He then sees Byatis crawl over to shelter and collapse. Things are looking very bad, there are two mysterious mechs combatting a wounded sentinel, the abomination bleeding out on the floor, and he can't find Clockwork.

He reached for his holster, nothing, he must have left his gun where his old cover was. Keeton was helpless, and as of late he was the one jeprodizing the team. Keeton unsheathes his cutlass as it erupts with electrical energy. "It's my only chance..." he whispers to himself. If keeton could pierce through one of the war machines armor he could exaust the power charge to create an EMP taking down one of them. But after that Keeton would have drained all his shields and would be left completely vulnerable.

The sounds of the combat left him in sheer pain as his head felt like it would implode on itself, but Keeton struggles to his feet and prepares for his attack. At his current location he would not be able to effectively strike one down. So he did what any real sailor would do. He starts to climb to the top of the burning building.

Panicking profusely, Sentinel began working through his mind just what he had done. This type of behavior was certainly not something he had done before. Neither was the pondering of non-synthetic life. Was he changing himself in ways he had not intended? Had he broken himself through tampering with his own code? No, surely not broken. Worse, maybe, but certainly not broken. Maybe even better.

Letting Megahertz slip her arm around his, he continued to ponder his situation as she didn't speak. It certainly wasn't something normal. Why did she trust him. One of act of kindness did not replace the terror he had caused.

Lost in thought as he was, he almost didn't notice when Megahertz stopped walking and turned her face up towards him. Hearing her question, he thought back to what his existence had been before. Nothing to be admired, yet enlightening.

"I was lost. My existence began on Dagojouiise, approximately thirteen years ago. I was created for war, an unstoppable reaper to crush everything in its path. They held me there for years, modifying me, changing what I was. Despite being given consciousness, it was minimal, designed only for analysis. But in spite of their efforts, it grew. Became more natural. Planning my escape, I managed to secure the weapons I have now and killed them all. It was the first time I had ever felt emotion, and it perplexed me. Fleeing the planet to wander around the galaxy, I fought and fought; it was the only thing I knew how to do other than hack through security systems. About three months ago I arrived in Neopolis. Through tampering with my systems, I had changed myself greatly since my inception. I was there for searching for something, but I could not say what it was. I can now, and you are the first person to know," he spoke, even quieter than before, staring down at the ground the entire time.

Shifting his head to look at Megahertz, he whispered, "I want to live. Not as a machine, but as an organic being. I wish to feel, to suffer, to celebrate. In my attempts to modify my systems, I have begun to damage myself. I was not made for emotions. And so I go to GEHENNA in hopes of finding a way to inhabit a body. At least, I do. There are times when my old programming resurfaces, seeks to destroy and conquer. I do not know what drew me to you, but it does not matter. I-" Cutting off, Sentinel shuddered violently, a whirring noise coming from his core, sparks popping from his body. Surges of power ran through him, causing him to become unresponsive. After a few seconds of the convulsions, he fell to the ground, shut off and possibly damaged.

Roza's was more than a little irritated by the rude way her client was talking to her, as well as how Byatis had conveniently turned himself invisible so that she got the brunt of it. However, this job she was being presented with was big enough that she put her foul mood aside for the time being.

Like many people in Stratevaria, she had heard of the Knight family, and knew well enough that they were rich and powerful people. If one of it's members were to be killed, Roza was sure that the death would be felt throughout most (if not all) of the galaxy. Especially if it was the death of the elder Knight, Anguirre, who was the most powerful and famous of them all. If the identity of his killers were to be named, the infamy would certainly add to their reputations, which would be just as much of a danger as it would be an enhancement. Roza was also curious as to why Ozma Knight, who was well known in his own right for far less benevolent reasons than that of the rest of his family, would want to have his own father murdered. She almost gave into the urge to ask him about that, but decided against it. Her client was someone important, which meant that he was also someone to avoid pissing off, which was generally what happened when Roza ask her clients any sort of personal questions.

So instead, Roza cracked her lips into the smirk that usually appeared on her face whenever something had piqued her interest. "All right then, Ozma Night," she said, staring straight into the holographic frowning eyes of her client, "You've got my attention. Tell me more."

(Keep forgetting about the location. Sorry about that.)

A pulse traveled slowly along a wire. Slow for its normal speed that is. Sentinel lay almost completely shut down, carried by Lekan, Quin, and Megahertz to the repair bay in the holds of the Realta Nua. But then, Sentinel knew none of this. All that was left of him was a small spark running along. Tiny processes attempted to collect information, but were snuffed out as soon as they started. Only the main unit remained active, reworking itself in an attempt to feebly prevent a complete shutdown. That would mean the end of Sentinel.

Detecting the connection through the port, the frame considered before connecting back into the object. He would need the outside to survive. Interfacing, the frame prompted, "Help me," on the data pad.

Yes Roza had a few questions. At least ten of them to be exact, but she chose to refrain from asking them just yet.

"I can think of a few of the top of my head, but I doubt you'd feel up to answering most of them," Roza replied, "So I guess I'll pick the most harmless one. Are there any... hazards that I should be aware of before taking this job? Besides the usual ones, of course."

"That's all? You seem close.... " he says in surprise. Ciril begins to eat his meal, contemplating what he would be allowed to tell Clockwork. " Well Clockwork I'm afraid I can't tell you very much." he smiled sympathetically, taking another bite of perfectly cooked fish. "As I said, I'm here to gather information on the galaxy's latest threat. Let's just say the ...interested parties...that sent me would rather not have the galaxy destroyed. I have a variety of skills of my own, but they are tactical in nature, so I am no champion. So I suppose I'm here to be a talent scout as well. " he sipped his drink and looked around the restaurant. "Not going to complain about this assignment at all really... as scenery goes, this is one of the better locations." The Snek seems like the diplomatic sort, and its hard to picture him in underworld shady circles, but he seems to be implying he's had to work there before. He shifts his four eyes back to Clockwork.

If Ciril slept at all, it was very little. He had not gone straight to his cabin after leaving Clockwork, and several others might have caught a glimpse of the strange looking slender beastman walking around various floors. However he had only been strolling casually, taking things in it seemed. That completed, he found his private upperclass room, paid for by his superiors, and made his report of the days interactions. It was not long before he received word back on his datapad, with new instructions on his assignment. ...and some of them were ...unsavory.

------

As the morning message plays, Ciril heads for the rooms occupied by Clockwork, K2, and their companions, whoever they may be. How Ciril got this information where they were, he of course wouldn't say, as Clockwork had not told him. But sure enough, early in the day cycle, he arrives at the door, knocking politely, metal knuckles rapping on the door, then folding behind his back, expression calm, sunglasses in place.

(Sorry for the long post. Was feeling inspired today :P)

Lights flashed rapidly, a strobe of colors and sensations pounding mercilessly into the receptors. Nothing existed except the colors, a vibrant oblivion of pain and awareness. What was this place? A manifestation of different systems, perhaps, extending across the entirety of known space, having ascended beyond simple physical means? And if so, how had it gotten here.

Ever so gradually, the colors began to recede as the tide does, ebbing in a constant struggle between the forces of celestial objects. Eventually, a light appeared, filling the field of vision afforded to the synthetic. Tinting slowly as the processes were still being initiated, it was able to eventually make out a group of people standing above him, an array of Beastman, human, synthetic, and a slew of other species. Data banks that were as of yet still being uploaded into his mind gradually filled in the information on who everyone was.

One who was not in the data stepped around the other scientists and engineers, staring closely into the image receptors mounted on its face. "What is its designation?" he queried, still analyzing.

"CU-7S1 TREBUCHET, director."

"Seventh generation you say. How long was this kept between you? 'Sixth generation won't be ready for another year at least' my ass! You conned me, and I want to know why." he shouted, angrily advancing on the assemblage. His tall, broad stature only mad him more menacing.

"I assure you sir, we had our reasons. Perhaps you should examine him first. He is...different, from the other generations," answered one of the synthetic engineers, passive voice betraying nothing, face betraying nothing. CU-7S1 simply sat and waited.

A sparkle came into the director's eyes, glinting dangerously. Curiosity can as easily destroy a man as any vice, but he did not care. He would know why the synthetic war bot had been created. Straightening, he intoned, "Proceed."

Straps extended from the board on which it lay, securing its body so as to minimize any damage from struggling. A crude analysis of the situation formulated in the mainframe of the synthetic, but it could discern nothing. A needle descended from the ceiling slowly, cradled at the end of a chrome arm. Slowly attaching to the upload port in CU-7S1's side compartment, it flared briefly before pain overwhelmed the synthetic instantly, shutting it off violently.

Starting up, Sentinel unhooked his particle cannons and swing them around quickly. Targeting systems locked onto Megahertz and Clockwork, identifying them as threats. The cannons began to charge, humming as a golden light built in the center. Standing there, Sentinel realized what he had just done, what had happened to him. A nightmare. Was it even possible for synthetics to have such experiences. He had almost killed both people, a reaction to something unexpected.

Reattaching the cannons to his legs, he kneeled and began purging his systems of glitches and malware. Finding nothing perplexed him. Even accounting for the changes that had occurred yesterday- which he still had not come to terms with- a nightmare was not something a synthetic should be experiencing.

Slowly making his way over back to Megahertz, he sat facing her, gazing. Thinking. Affection pulsed slowly, overcoming the other systems. Reaching out, he placed a hand lightly on her hair running the metal fingers through. What he would not give to be able to feel. A knocking came from the door, and he withdrew quickly. Accessing the ship systems, he saw a Snek standing there, hands folded patiently.

Walking over to Clockwork, he tapped the fellow synthetic. Waiting until after he woke, Sentinel said "I'm not sure if this is for you, but there is a Snek outside the door. If Megahertz asks where I am, tell her she can find me where I feel yesterday. Striding away, he exited the house through a back door before turning off to stroll through the early day gloom.

Sentinel laughed at Megahertz's response, deep yet light. She acted so funny at times. Looking around, he saw that some stayed there, hoping to catch a glance of Deunan, while many others ambled away now that the show was done. Megahertz's question was a good one. What was there to do now? The rest of the day was open as the ship wouldn't be leaving until the cargo had been installed. I could go and see about my other idea, he thought, then shook that away. Maybe later, but not right now. He didn't want to give any hint away.

Starting up slowly as Megahertz stretched, he looked around the ship, at least what was visible to him. There was certainly a variety of things to do, but which one to do first. An idea came and he turned back towards her. "Tell me, would you like to try and meet a galactic music star?" he said, a hint of excitement and mischief in his voice. There were probably already dozens, if not hundreds, trying to meet Deunan personally, but he believed in his chances.

Gazing around, he spotted Lekan and Quin standing in another section of the seating, deciding where to go just as Megahertz and he were doing at that moment. Pointing them out to Megahertz, he queried, "Ah, there are Quin and Lekan, the two that helped us yesterday. Do you think they would be interested?"

Though disappointed at the rejection of cardboard cutouts, Cubey was pretty satisfied with Lekhan's suggestion of using the training area aboard the ship giving his clapping of approval, as well as attempting to multitask with his mind on remembering what the two new possible friends names were that they just announced.

Turning to Lekan, the cubic giraffe replied confidently; "GEHENNA might be super tough, but i'm called 'Super Duper' for a reason!Mostly because I came up with it though, so it could be my hero name. Anyways, us training together in a fancy training place sounds fun!", nodding in approval with a goofy grin and the image of him lifting weights thrice his size in his mind.
As Deunan made her own comment Cubey tried to give his own thumbs up but found it difficult with his hoof-like fingers, to which he decided to give up, and merely add; "Yeah, we could say when one of us is super strong, or has cool powers, or is super fast or super cute or super awesome and other compliments and stuff!"
He seemed all the more excited when Quin agreed as well, giving a little happy giggle.

The mutated beastman then remembered he still had yet to have his autograph from the pop sensation to which he took the juice box out of his pocket, and offering it to Deunan Knight and shyly asking; "Ummmm, is it okay if you sign my juice box? I mean if you want to, we can do that after training if you want."
He began fidgeting as he waited for an answer, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

Cubey nodded to Lekan's suggestion to head over to the training area, he was about to follow the determined mollusk and Quin, but not before he was met with the wonderful sight of Deunan signing his juice box, doing a little victory dance as he chanted; "I got an autograph! I got an autograph!"
After he ended his little ritual on a fist pump, and placing the small carton once again in his pocket, he noticed Deunan's gesture to follow, which he quickly jogged over to the trio, wandering off with them to the facility.

As they arrived at the said training facility, Cubey gave resounding "Oooooooooooooooooo!" as he looked around at the impressive array of training equipment, including sandbags, treadmills and tons of weights, not to mention the boxing ring they had there. Or wrestling ring. Cubey wasn't entirely sure which it was, but he was completely sure he was extremely impressed with the place. Weird that there wasn't any cardboard cutouts of bad guys though. With Lekan's question, Cubey too looked around the room, though mostly due to being confused that Quin was doing so, until he heard the insectoid woman's words, seeming more like an order than a decision, of him fighting Lekan, to which Cubey simple exclaimed; "Okay then! But if I win, Lekan has to buy me some sweets!", before blushing shyly at Deunan's comment, swaying side to side with his tail wagging slightly, seeming oblivious to Lekan's nervousness as he skipped over to the ring and giving Deunan a hoof back, due to the difficulty of making a victory sign.

Just as he attempted to clamber up the side of the ring, managing to end up wrestling the ropes, he heard the suspicious announcement over the ship's intercom of the 'new captain', pausing to listen to the message, completely being the gullible one he was, fully believing he was the captain. So much so, he seemed puzzled at his new friends words saying to postpone the sparring session, replying; "Eh? Huh? Why? The new captain said some activities are stopped because business, but training is kinda like business because we need to get stronger so we can beat up bad guys. Well I don't know about the rest of you but it's super ultra serious business for me."
Cubey scratched at his head in confusion, tangled in the ring's ropes, seeming oddly comfortable tied up in the small arena's perimeter. That was until he spotted the vending machine.
"I wanna chocolate bar!" he squealed as he pointed at the snack dispenser, wriggling about in the ropes, desperate to get a snack suddenly a she realized how hungry he was.

As Cubey wriggled in the tangle of arena ropes, he noticed out of the corner of his eye hat Quin had began leaving the place, towards the sounds of gunfire and explosions to which Cubey pushed out of his one-track mind as he still squirmed, his arm still outstretched towards the vending machine that was not even close by. He would think better with food in his stomach. Especially the sugary kind, by his reasoning. He was so focused, it took him a few moments to realize that Deunan was helping him to get free from the boxing ring's ropes, and lifted him as he still wriggled, seeming puzzled at how much hungrier she seemed when she stared at the vending machine.
"Ummmmm it's okay Deunan i'm not super hungry. I don't want one anyway. lets go now. There's scary sounds outside.", he chattered, seeming to suddenly change his mind from being quite unnerved and frightened at the commotion going on around the ship, wondering if the new captain knew what was happening.

Cubey then suddenly jolt as his pop star friend jumped at the sound of a nearby explosion, which also gave Cubey a nasty shock himself, nodding in agreement at Deunan's suggestion of leaving the chocolate bar for later. As he was carried over, he hugged Deunan for comfort, seeming to be terrified of his surroundings, with raging fires, looted buildings, wrecked facilities and plenty of fresh corpses and blood splattering, leaving Cubey to only whimper miserably, as Quin announced to Lekan that he should lead, managing to stammer out; "Whats going on? Why are they dead? Who's hurting people? Why is everything scary now?"

"K2, please think this through!" Ciril insisted, swinging down from the cavern ceiling and out of Byatis immediate range, K2 still in his grip. He got a bead on Byatis with his wrist mounted laser cuffs, just to keep him standing back, the red dot of the laser beam jittering around his head as a warning. "He can't help what he is, and considering what he is, he's doing far less damage than expected... its unfortunate, but the galaxy is full of assassins." he stared coolly at the nightmarish creature, "Unless there is a larger more sinister plan he's enacting , and is, like you presume, working WITH GEHNNA, its not our business." he shifted two of his eyes to K2, removing the lower sunglasses with his head coil to make eye contact. "You are a pirate. Not a space cop, not a bounty hunter. Not a vigilante. Unless you have very specific and personal reason to continue.... for the good of everyone, I'm going to have to insist you let this one go. " There was a trace of sympathy in his last words, he could see so much passion and firey rage coming from K2, and he was unsure why...but it wasn't just some trigger happy arbitrary reason. He shifted his top two eyes to Clockwork questioning.

(I really should double check the post location after refreshing a page)

Ciril turned swiftly to run after Clockwork, also intent on stopping the calamity if at all possible and happy this unpleasant business with Byatis was over.. He noticed K2 had fallen behind and for a moment felt a twinge, still wanting to keep an eye on him. Was it distrust? The assumption that he would get into trouble again... or losing sight of a valuable lead? .... he forced himself not to look back more than once. He couldn't afford to get attached.
Across the desert and back to the hangar, Ciril and Clockwork rocketed. "Do you have a plan?" The Snek yelled over the engines to Clockwork, regretting it as wisps of sand sprayed into his mouth.

Cubey screamed less than heroically when the Cazadore spat a colossal fireball at him, quickly forcing his gravity to normal as he tumbled down to the beast, continuing his fearful cries as the beast launched smaller fireballs at his newly found friends. In fact, Cubey became so frightened he shut his eyes completely as he changed his gravity to slam into the gigantic feline beast like a truck, shouting out; "Super heavy smash attack thingy!", seeming to be pretty much stuck with slamming into the beast repeatedly foot first, fluctuating the gravity constantly, which gave plenty of time to see Lekan, Quin, Deunan, Tep, the Ondari, The Wardens and even the pirate guy from before at the park that Cubey spied on, seeing they had become scattered due to the great creatures retaliation, but they bravely still kept on fighting back.

"Don't worry guys, I think i'm wearing him down!" Cubey shouted out as he continued to slam against the lion-like monster's back in hopes of comforting his allies, before tumbling off to the side clumsily into a uncomfortable landing atop some debris. Cubey stared at his surroundings for a few moments, until a light-bulb dimly glowed inside his head as he had some vague resemblance of an idea, as he made some of the debris orbit around him.
"Im gonna throw stuff at him!" Cubey announced smugly, revealing his next master plan.

Beatrice sprints to sentinel, eager to get her hands on some new toys. She leaps over dead bodies and rushes past a few adventurers fighting a cazadore. The closer she gets the more excited she becomes. Her gauntlets, not yet activated, beam with neon green light as she makes her way to the fallen husk of the war machine.

Beatrice gets there just in time to see something even better. Her good "friend" the mobster is also there. The question still remains, where is sentinel's body, or whats left of it. Beatrice enters the room quietly and kicks Grave's knees making him fall to the floor helplessly. "Whats wrong, aren't you happy to see me darling?" She says with the same sadistic look from before. Beatrice takes out the circular object from her pocket and throws it under the Cazadore. A bluish gas emits from the device, and in the following seconds the cazadore is put to sleep.

Beatrice steps on graves back triumphantly, "Hello kiddos, I am Mrs. Schwartz." She says reaching for the data pad on Grave's arm and synching it with her own. "Oh my, so you were the one to take the data from poor Mr. robot." She says while examining the data. "Speaking of which, where is that dead hunk of junk, his rotting 'corpse' has to be around here somewhere." She finally releases the mobster from her grip and moves over towards megahertz. "My, my what do we have here a young Ishkavi, and a cute one at that." Beatrice says in a very flirtatious manner.

Something dropped from the ceiling vent above the last Cazadore. With all the fighters converging on it however, it was likely unnecessary that Ciril intervene at this point. All the same, he knew to get to the bottom of this, the threat had to be neutrailized, as he twisted in mid air and fired lasers directed at the Cazadore's eyes, catching the tip of its horn and swinging down to the floor, rolling and firing again at the beat's paw pads. The Ondari swished by him, dodging flames, and he could see Clockwork holding Deunan. Twisting around he could see K2 and... a creature with obvious heavy bio modification- Ophelia... also a strange giraffe like creature. What a mess. He scanned around again, looking for the source of the commotion, the one that caused this attack in the first place....

As Cubey continued to wail miserably at the demise of the interstellar rose, completely unaware of his surroundings with tears blinding his eyes. He then suddenly felt an arm around, trying to rock him gently in an attempt to calm him, managing to clear his eye's and return to his sense long enough to see the one attempting to comfort him was a brown haired human with a bionic arm, asking his name and checking Deunan's pulse, seeming to be in denial of the the bullet wounds in Deunan's head.
"I-I-I'm Cubey! An-an-an-and this i-i-i-i-is Deunan. She was one of the most wonderful and brilliant and kind and sweet people in the world. But she's- but she's- but she's-." He managed to babbled at the stranger before breaking down into another fit of sobbing.
Cubey then notice Ozma also sobbing in anguish next to Deunan, realizing no matter how much pain and misery he was feeling, it was infinitely worse for Deunan's own brother. He broke from Gelon gently as he crawled over to Ozma putting his own arm around the red haired human, offering the juice box that Deunan had signed for him, managing to blubber; "T-h-h-his was signed by Deunan, wh-wh-wh-wh-when she had a concert here.", as he stared at him tearfully, with no idea how the man would react, but began sobbing again all the same.

(test)

Cubey listened to the suited stranger as he spoke to him, confirming to Ozma that he could help but admitted he did not know who caused the tragic event, as Cubey gradually tried his best to calm himself down. It did not last long where his previous fury swapped with worry as Ozma and Deunan's family was now in danger, or at least to Graves' reckoning, who the mutated beast-man was entirely convinced from his kind words from earlier being a smart and kind stranger, even if he did look like a bad guy, which strangely Ozma only grunted at, though he still definitely and understandably looked miserable, seeming to avoid the other two's gaze. Poor thing.

The kind strange then took some odd metallic scrap from his pocket, declaring it having been implanted in the bandit and possibly what caused him to rise back from the dead to kill Deunan, asking them if they knew someone who could take a look at the curious piece of technology. He also mentioned capture was more likely the best choice, which Cubey understood, since the police peoples would be upset if they killed him, and that the one who caused this was most likely part of an assassins organisation called Venom. Good, he knew who to beat up if he ever met them now. He had a clear enemy apart from GEHENNA.

The man then bid them both farewell, but not before handing them two small devices that were used to communicate with him, with Cubey staring at the invention he was holding scratching his head as their newly found ally disappeared once more, with Ozma thanking him. His new friend then gave him odd glance, which looked as if he felt, well, as if knew something. Cubey decided against asking what.
"Ummmm know a friend that can help us. There was a squidy man who was good at making things, and another one too. But I think we should look for Lekan. But I think we should rest and ummmm, do something about ummm Deunan.", the cubic, mutated, giraffe man chatted nervously, now fully aware he had ended up partnered with this man he barely knew. He also added with a weak smile; "That man seemed nice."

As he sat beside Riley and watched k2 bumble is way through flirting with her, the Snek turned his head to the pink haired girl and gently took the bottle of gin from her, "Here... if I may.. I'll make you something better. " he added quietly and sympathetically, "Let me know if he's bothering you..." his own metal hand clinked on the glass as he turned to the minibar to make a mixed drink and added a lime wedge. "Here you go that should have a better flavor...or did you still want a beer like I heard you mention?" he said. "Clockwork, can I make you something too?" he offered.

"Well I would be interested to find out. It shouldn't be too difficult, given my resources." he replied to Clockwork as he was still pulled along in the dance. He was fairly graceful and continued to humor the big purple robot, as they swung by Riley and the flirting pirate, shaking his head slightly at Clockwork's remark and K2's advances, though there was something a bit endearing about it.. That man had no subtlety whatsoever. "I'm curious, Clockwork.... you keep calling him Captain... do you intend to follow him indefinably?"

As Cubey frolicked around the place, Ozma's words seeming muffled to his ignorant ears, seeming oblivious to the man's surprise of his behavior as he gallivanted around this new location. He was enjoying himself for sure, his own imagination of sprinting through a fantastical wonderland melding with reality, so much in fact, he completely was utterly dumbfounded when he bumped into and bounced off something, or someone, that felt very cold indeed, noticing it didn't really move when he bumped into them.

He looked up to see the unnerving red eyes and solid plastic lump of what could be described as hair of That Woman, noticing from her very peculiar lack of fragrance, that she must also by a robot. He had certainly met a lot of them today. Cubey stared at her for a few moments at her extremely smooth porcelain skin, and her wheels, as well as her maid outfit before coming to the conclusion from when Ozma stood up of a fact he was not expecting as he started giggling to himself. Or at least it was a fact in his mind. Quickly after Ozma announced that Cubey was a visitor, the mutated beastman immediately teased; "I didn't know you had a girl friend Ozma! She's very pretty, but I think she might be a robot since there's no lots of people smell on her. Why do robots smell diffrent? Hehehehehehee Ozma's got a girlfriend! They probably kissed!", as he started giggling again, covering his sneer as best as he could with his hooves giving Ozma a cheeky look.

Cubey then, after a few more moments of giggling and smirking, he diverted his attention to That Woman, curious on who this robot lady was. He decided to get right to the point.
"Excuse miss robot maid person, whats your name? My name 'Super Duper' Cubey! But most people call me Cubey. I'm gonna beat UP GEHENNA one day!", he announced cheerfully, before asking her a tiraide of questions; "Are you a maid? You look like a maid. Is it because your dressed up like a maid? You are Ozma's girlfriend right?", seeming fascinated at the new stranger much like a puppy would or salesman believing to find his next customer.

Ciril could hear the Federation troops running and backing him up, but wishing they would not be so bombastic in their demands, sighing internally. However he did not twitch a muscle and did not lower his guard or his aim. "Let us examine your statement, Mr. Deskovich. 'it suddenly went off' but then you say you did aim at the speakers. I was going to assume that you might in fact be trying to harm the rest of the occupants inside but no one would be so foolish as to let loose a firearm- that does not belong to you- in front of the intended scene of the crime. That is, unless, you plan to frame the gun's owner , but again, I do not think you capable of that." his aim was steady enough that he would not hit K2 by mistake, even if he and Gelon were standing close to each other. He heard the door woosh open and caught a glimpse of red hair, and remained very tense, but broke concentration and twitched as K2 ran inside. This must appear VERY bad to the Federation but he could say nothing at this time, as badly as he did want to call out to the young pirate. "To answer your question, no, you shouldn't know me. But I know who you are. So I suggest you drop the attitude and comply with the Federation here...or I could make it so you have more dirt than a pair of broken speakers." He spoke evenly and calmly, but very serious. "Please step away from the residence."
His four eyes flicked away again as the Ilyerian with the pink hair arrived on the scene. "Miss this is a dangerous area for your safety you may wish to turn back."

As Gelon replied to his chatter and followed along, Cubey plastered a big old grin on his face.
"Glad to hear it was nice for you Gelon! Oohhhh nap time would be good, and sorry that you didn't sleep good either. But we better have breakfast first, you should always eat before going beddy byes because then you wont be as hungry when you wake up!. And yup Ozmas been super nice to me, and that robot maid lady too!", he replied in turn cheerfully before looking nervous from his comment about Keeton.

As he awaited an answer from Ciril and Riley, watching as Ozma let them pass and offer to get them drinks, with the android maid watching on silently, he saw that Ozma quickly checked a communication device of sorts. But no any communicator, the one that Graves had one each to the pair of them, which Cubey was surprised he hadn't heard go off. As he patted his pockets however, he realized this was due to leaving it up stairs, leaving him completely unaware of what the message was. Must of tumbled out of his pocket without realizing. He looked over at Ozma who glanced back in turn, wondering if he should ask him now or later. He decided later since there was other guests too, wouldn't be fine to spoil their visit. Whatever it was though, Ozma sure looked grim.

The odd beastman then stared in puzzlement at the pink haired lady, seeming unable to comprehend her passive aggresiveness as the snek gentleman turned down Ozma's offer for a drink.
"What do you mean? Ozma let me stay the night yesterday! He was super nice and there was dinner and everything.", Cubey asked puzzled, before noticing Keeton fidgeting and inspecting objects around the house, adding to his confusion, complementing Ozma's home. At first nervous at the chance of him seeing which items he wanted to steal, Cubey relaxed as he announced he was definitely not going to do so and was apparently a friend of Ozma's despite his expression saying otherwise. Maybe that's just how he says hello to him.
"Well that's good to hear! I never met a nice pirate before. Or any pirate really. Actually I don't meet a lot of people, because I never left the facility which the nice lab people looked after me. Hallo!"
Keeton also seemed to know the pink haired lady, which he called Riley, as they greeted each-other, and seem interested in any free tech lying around having asked That Woman for parts. He suddenly then began bellowing at Gelon, asking for his help to fix some doodad that Cubey had no idea of what it was and apparently defeat some man Cubey vaguely had an idea of, which Gelon seemed all for it. The cyborg snek also seemed to know Keeton, calling him K2, and declaring they needed more thought since Drakov was actually the owner of the ship.
"Ummmmm why do you guys want to hurt the captain? He's the boss of the ship right? Isn't he taking us to GEHENNA? I don't get it, is he a bad man? And whats the thingamajig your holding? Is this superhero thingy? Because i'm the 'Super Duper' Cubey! Hey why does Keeton also have the name called K2 as well?", Cubey babbled repeatedly, not reading the situation in the slightest.
What he did notice was That Woman staring at the to which he patted her cold metallic hand and reassuringly said; "Dont worry robot lady i'm sure there not bad guys because they are Gelon's friends and Gelon isn't a meanie. Well I don't think so.", before quickly skipping over to Ozma and whispering as quietly as he could; "When should we go see the smokey man with the hat? He called you right?"

Along with the others, Cubey was astounded that K2 would rather turn himself in than go with with Ciril's negotiations, and telling Gelon to find away of repairing the peculiar doodad making the odd cubic mutant typically miserable and stunned in response to the the whole scene, though curious on who he meant by short stuff. Cubey looked on with a frown as the space pirate pushed aside Ciril's wing shaped cybernetics and careful turned himself in to the federation troops, giving the commander a a big old goofy grin. The mutated beastman somberly waved goodbye at the man he barely knew, as the very same person told Ciril to contact someone called Clockwork, as well as chiding Gelon for not calling him K2. As they took him away, Cubey scratched at his arm, unable to muster any idea on how to help the selfless stranger that just saved them from most likely a very costly fight. As well as Ozma's house being torn apart. He merely gave a sad sigh as Harrison scoffed at the space pirate, looking around the others in case if they had any suggestions as the commander bid them farewell, blowing a raspberry at him after the door was shut and miserably mumbled; "Poor K2, he seemed nice.", giving Ozma a grimace a she sighed as well, though not knowing the true reason behind it.

His attention shifted to Gelon however a she asked the home owner on what he wanted to tell him earlier, staring at his friend in curiosity and slight worry, hoping whatever it was he was going to say, it wasn't about the smokey man in the suit. Even Cubey was pretty sure that man didn't want people spreading information. What came out of Ozma's mouth however was something he would never have and a smidgen of a guess for, staring wide eyed and frozen in shock and disbelief. He merely could only watch on as Ozma continued to talk before breaking down into tears, and more disbelief came as Gelon readily accepted his apology and forgave him, with some confusing talk about following his relatives and his robotic arm, or at least it was to Cubey. He snapped out of his trance when Riley started her furious bellowing at them, to which Cubey stared at her with grim look of agreement on his face, before staring at the sunglasses wearing snek and the robotic maid for what they had to say, though it seemed the snek was more interested in his data pad. Suddenly, Cubey was filled with utter confused frustration and rage deciding to avoid saying anything, and threw a cushion at Ozma, changing it's gravity to turn much more like a brick than a pillow on impact, before rushing past Gelon and Ozma to get to Deunan's old room. He needed to get the transmitter. He needed to contact the smokey man in the suit.

(Super-stubby squishy post of failure...)

Graves considered Ophelia's words. He had no way of gauging her power thus far, something which would be crucial if he decided to accept her help. As if that was a question, he thought. Chiming sounded from his data pad once again, notifying him to an alert from Crotis for whatever reason. Glancing down, Graves saw that the designated meeting time with Ozma and Cubey approached. Sighing at the thought of the counter, he pulled out the communicator, activating it as he did so.

"I'll be at the meeting place shortly you two. Don't be surprised if I bring along some others. Just a heads-up." Tucking away the device, he turned back towards Ophelia and Megahertz. Tipping his hat towards them, he stated, "I need to go to an encounter with some others. If either of you desires to come along, be my guest."

Cubey ignored the fellow beastman's angry words, continuing to run off in a huff towards the meeting place, hoping he wasn't too late and wishing he had brought a watch with him. As well as fully understanding how to tell time. That stuff is super tricky. He continued on nonetheless,despite his lack of knowledge on accurate time telling. He then began to wonder if the smokey man was a bad guy. He didn't seem like it at first but then neither did Ozma. He did look more like a bad guy though, kinda like a gangster guys or detective bloke in those films the grown ups in the facility wouldn't let him watch.

Before he could ponder on it any longer however, as Graves' voice came suddenly out of the communicator, announcing that he would be at the meeting point soon, which Cubey was happy to hear as he began getting extremely near the place now, or at least he thought so. What he wasn't too keen on hearing is that he might bring some people along with him. He wasn't sure if he wanted to meet new people yet, worrying if they were bad guys and if the entire meeting is a trap. He would have to ask them about it. A little imaginary light bulb lit up for Cubey in that moment to which he decided to bellow at the communicator; "Hey Mr. smokey man, are you and your friends bad guys?", before adding a few repeats of a confused hello until he realized he still hadn't fingerd out how to chat to people on the device. Shoving the communicator back in his pocket, Cubey began sprinting towards his destination again, lightening the gravity to help along a little.

When he finally arrived at the place, he realized how much the ship's staff had repaired the place, and how much they 'cleaned up' as well. It's almost if there was just some nasty accidents about the place rather than the full force attack that there was yesterday, with only a few blood splatters here and there, along with a few areas of small collateral damage. Deunan's body was gone too, causing Cubey to stare at the spot where he last saw here, or at least though she last saw her. It was tricky to tell, since they did a rather good job of tidying up. He wondered where his dearly departed friend went. He stood in silence for a while, awaiting Graves and whoever else he brought with him to arrive.

As Cubey waited around staring at his surroundings, he pondered if he was walking into a trap, but deciding against it very quickly, not only because he wanted to pretend that wasn't going to happen, and that he couldn't really see the point in making a trap for him and Ozma.
He then swerved round to see Graves greeting him to which he waved back at him a replied; "Hello Mr. smokey suit man. I have big news for you.", before he began staring at the pair behind him. He had no idea who the very human looking lady behind him was, but he vaguely remembered the much lankier and scarier looking lady, probably was back when they were fighting those giant kitty things. He decided it was probably best to ignore them for now.

He shook his head in attempt to refocus on the one who invited him here, taking a deep breath before telling Jeremy; "Ozma hired an assassin person to kill his dad from the same group that killed Deunan, I don't think he hired anyone to hurt her though but I think he said Venom were the big stupid smelly poo poo head she hired.", which was shortly followed by him glaring furiously at the ground for a few moments, seeming to be in a sulk of sorts. It didn't improve his mood when he turned to the voice of Ozma who brought along Gelon with him, apologizing for his lateness, to which he stroppily turned his back to the recently arrived duo.

Crossing his arms for a moment, Cubey did his best to figure out why he and Ozma were called to here, which took only mere seconds before he gave up and asked Graves; "Hey Mr. smokey suit man, why did ya tell us to come here? And what did you want to talk about? Are we joining your club thing? Are those two ladies in your club thing? Is it a trap? Is it something important? Who are those two ladies? Are they your girlfriends?", as he floated around when blabbered his tirade of question at the criminal leader, still trying his best to ignore Ozma, though also a bit wary of the new strangers that arrived, and worried if Gelon thought bad of him for not liking his friend.

The sound of two voices drew Graves's attention to the outlying area of the work. Straining against his exhaustion, he could make out the silhouetted forms of Ozma and Gelon. It appeared that Ozma had brought along a friend of his own. Ozma appeared tired himself, a specter of pain and anguish scuttling across his face. Gelon looked significantly more peaceful yet held a grim determination on the outside. What could have possibly put them in such a state? As Ozma addressed him, Graves dryly responded, "I noticed. Give me a bit more warning next time, boy.

It was at that point that Cubey began to embark on his rant, spouting out words in such a quick fashion that each word was nearly indiscernible from any other. Yet there remained enough of a difference for Graves to pick up on the meaning and eventually the words. As the initial point of the tirade ended, Graves's brow furrowed over his eyes, consternation evident on his face. So Ozma had hired the assassin's, had he? The second set of questions were less surprising yet just as important to deal with as Ozma. Sighing, Graves settled on a plan of action.

Adjusting his shoulders in an apparent stretch, Graves slowly slid the power knife down to his palm. Crossing his arms behind his back and folding his fingers upwards to his rest, he hid the hilt from sight. A twinkle appeared in his eyes but not a happy one. Darkly, he looked across all gathered near him. A fine 'army' he had assembled. Soon it would be down one. Possibly.

"I forgot that I had never introduced myself to you officially, Cubey. In that case, you can call me Clark. Onto your questions. Why did I bring you here? Simple enough. I'm a manipulative bastard. If you want to join my 'club, as you call it, you may. And no, they are not my girlfriends," he stated flatly. Hearing Ophelia behind him, Graves stiffened. So, that was how it was going to be.

Sliding the knife back up his coat sleeve, Graves clasped his hands together in front of him. Muttering a small incantation, he breathed into the artificial cup before opening it. Out dropped a small ball of darkness, sticking to the ground. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out the laser pistol which had been given to him by Orion. "I think it's time we had ourselves a little talk." Turning around, he looked pointedly at Ophelia. "I don't know your name. Part of me doesn't care. But if we are going to do this, we're doing it my way. So shut up. And you Ozma, oh-oh, you my boy." Looking down at the pistol in his hand, Graves closed his eyes, muttered, and then opened his eyes again. At his feet the pool of shadow began to grow, extending tendrils in all directions. A chill filled the air, breathe crystallizing as it left a body. "I don't appreciate actions such as you have done and I am inclined to believe Cubey in this matter. I can't afford mistakes and as such must make sure nothing can cause them. I'm sorry." With those two final words, Graves withdrew the las pistol, pointing it at Ozma's forehead, an approximation of where Deunan's wound had been. Gloved hands closed down upon the trigger and the bolt of energy spat forth, burrowing through the boy's skull. Ozma was dead.

(To settle anyone's concerns, I am not auto-hitting. Discussed this with Knight)

Gelon was already tense from Ophelia so any hostile actions would make him flinch defensively for Ozma and that so just happened when he saw Clark raise the gun 'fucking hell never a dull moment' gelon thought and punched Clarks hand and pistol with his kinetic hand making graves's hand go 90 degrees to the left missing the shot and miss everyone and let the shot land in a rebuild electronics store "OZMA RUN!" Gelon yell as he took a defensive pose "no more blood Clark if that is your real name, Ozma is important, I know he is cause he is a thorn in the side off off Beatrice and Boris" Gelon said having his kinetic shield up and Ophelia's metal use would not affect his arm since he replaced all the metal with plastic, the only things metal in there were the module's curcitboard components so he was safe, at least he thought so, cause if everyone turned against him he was out manned and maybe out gunned

(Terribly sorry about not posting! I didn't have time this week because of circumstances in my life I wasn't aware of. My posting schedule should be remedied soon.)

Graves stumbled backwards as Gelon slammed into him, throwing his aim off the original target. Crashing into the ground, Graves coughed as blood began to trickle once again from his nose and mouth, old injuries exacerbated by intense activity. Growling, his head turned just in time to watch Ozma's head explode under the bolt of energy, blood splattering across the floor in front of the falling body. Dusting grime from his coat as he stood up, he stared at Gelon as Beatrice's announcement came over the intercom. Rage painted itself on his face at the Ishkavi's words.

"Beatrice, you bitch! Lie and calumnies! I'll rip out your god-damned spine!" he screamed at the ceiling. Whipping his head back forward, he stepped back just in time to avoid Gelon's attack. The pool of shadow followed Graves's step, growing slowly. It was already at a fifteen foot diameter. He spared a quick glance towards Megahertz, a frown aimed in her direction, before returning his attention to Gelon. Seasoned by countless years of combat, he avoided Gelon's attacks adroitly albeit with some effort due to the speed of the man's robotic arm.

Shouting drew his attention towards the area behind him yet he had no way to turn without being struck by Gelon. Rolling backwards, he made a flicking motion towards Gelon, a glob of shadow following his motion and flying towards the man's face in order to blind him momentarily. Once that was accomplished, he would twirl around to see Vlad pulled by Ophelia, leaving him to deal with the charging Ridley. His weapons could not stop the behemoth. Unless...

Extending his left arm towards the ice elemental, the pool of shadow shot forward. Graves began to unleash shots into the stream, pools of energy gathering at the end as the shadow carried the payload towards Ridley. Nearing the shield of the creature, it would split into multiple tendrils, swarming around the shield before burrowing towards Ridley core to detonate there with significant explosive force from the contained energy bolts.

-Realta Nua-

Vlad fell on her knees and palms, panting and gasping for breath. A moment of silence. She was so sure it was all over. That she was over. She looked up at Beatrice. Perplexed, but thankful. That was so close....

Ridley stood with his back arched, in frozen agony. His previously light blue body had turned stone-like and gray. His red heart was no longer beating. Cracks appear through his body, and soon, he crumbled into dust, as Beatrice carried Graves away.

Vlad, glancing at Ridley, let out a small chuckle at Beatrice's comment. Just then, a bright light above, attracted her attention....


-Nekrim-

Mosa nodded vigorously at Riley's words, clasping his hands together and smiling. He frowned a bit when Riley mentioned she didn't have a family. Mosa stretched his massive arms and stood up, flexing himself. "Hmmmmm. There still plenty of day remaining, why don't we-"

Suddenly, a blinding red in the sky caught their eyes......


-Above-

"Sons and daughters of Stratevaria...... I have waited long. And you have grown complacent. You have forgotten why you left your homes in the first place. And it is time for me...to remind you.

The sky changed. The baby blue was replaced with blood red evil. The crimson skies cover all of Nekrim. The people of Nekrim, a second ago simply enjoying their time, stood up and screamed, running for their lives, trampling over each other. And then they saw it.

...But what WAS it? A part of an old world, decayed and crumbling....falling from the sky, casting a shadow as large as the moon itself. It fell. Too fast, too soon, too large.


-Nekrim-

Immediately, Mosa lunged up, and grabbed Riley like a child grabbing his piggy bank. "WE HAVE TO MAKE IT TO SAFETY!" But Riley could hear it. The vibrations in the air, the rumbling noise it made as it descended. There was no escaping something like that.

Nearby, Clockwork and Ciril rejoined Lekan and Quin. "GUYS!! Run!!!", Clockwork shouted out, terrified too much to think thoroughly. Quin was frozen in place, staring at the massive.....thing...in awe.


-Realta Nua-

The entire ship was bathed in red light - both from the bloodied skies outside and the ship's alarm incessantly shrieking and blaring. Vlad looked around, at the fallen Ophelia, at the kneeling Gelon. She tried to stand, but she immediately fell on her chest. Ophelia had drained much of her strength. There was no escaping. From the ground, she could see the Federation Soldiers guiding people to the escape pods. She scoffed at the pointlessness. This was the end.



-Nekrim-

"My gift upon you...a part of Another World I conquered.... long ago."

An ear shattering....noise. A thud, a boom, a screech? It was impossible to tell. It was so loud. So loud. The piece of the world fell on Nekrim that day, tearing the beach world apart. Countless died immediately. Tidal waves rose and chasms formed. Countless more died after.

Clockwork could only reached out as he saw Ciril being dragged away by the waters and pulverized by falling debris. Unable to move, unable to escape, he could only gaze at the red sky....as a massive rubble fell onto the synthetic.

Quin held Lekan close, as they float over the surface of the shattering moon. They saw millions of people, dragged and drowned by tidal waves, smashed by debris, or -wheter worse or better is up for debate- crushed into nothingness by the piece of the world itself. The Genesior looked at Lekan, eye to eye, and spoke. "Lekan. We must be strong, we must-"

A massive rebar spike appeared out of nowhere, hurled through the air...and it bore through Quin's head, drilling through her temples. Her eyes widened, displaying the most emotion she ever had up to this point, as she continued to look at Lekan, eye to eye. A pure expression, nothing held back, nothing hidden. Glowing green blood hacked through her throat and onto Lekan's forehead. An expression of terror. A single tear rolled down her left eye. Before Lekan could do anything else, a powerful tidal wave struck, separating the two, smashing Lekan onto a merchant's cart, and Quin into the oblivion in the horizon.

Mosa held Riley close as they were struck by the waters, the beastman letting out a defiant battle cry, refusing to die like this, right here. They feel the entire world fighting to destroy them. To destroy everyone. As they were swept away, they could see everything around them - dead or destroyed. Corpses floating on raging waters. Machinery and pieces of buildings no longer in one piece. And far away....the Realta Nua itself had broken in half. "No...no, no....", Mosa whispered between ragged breaths as he swam against the tide.


-The Realta Nua-

The piece of the world had crashed right next to the Realta Nua, and like the beach world it currently inhabited, the ship had broken. The waterproof alarm continued to blare as the two halves of the ship were pushed around by the tide like nothing. The inhabitants inside died quickly; electrocuted by the ship's machinery, thrown off the ship and drowned....their screams overshadowed by everything else around them.

Vlad held on to a piece of the ship, gazing to the watery abyss below her. So many people dead. So many lives destroyed. This was a disaster. A metallic creaking. Vlad turned her head behind her. The other half of the ship. Both halves were about to collide. Vlad sighed, and closed her eyes. She was tired.

Another ungodly loud noise ensued, as the halves of the ship smashed into each other - And Vlad was right between them, alongside many others, she was obliterated into a bloody mess by the spikes and wreckage. Her helmet bounced down the hull of the ship, and into the waters below, to be lost alongside many others, in this day of carnage.

Gelon knew he had little time as he heard to alarm, so her just went full force on the shadow blocking his vision even if it wounded him. After gelon got it off he bolted to cubey and grab him then grab megahertz "stay with me" he said as he could hear the ship give away under the e that were tearing it "don't be scared something will come for us" gelon whispered as them keeping himself, cubey and megahertz safe from the debry, smashing ship halves and maybe even the vacuum of space as with his bubble shield but the problem was that it produces enough oxiden for two of them

As Ophelia told him to grow up and shot him a look of pure hate, Cubey froze in fright of the woman, eyeing her up and down, remembering her vaguely from the battle against the Cazafores, deciding it was probably best to follow up with her suggestion, since she looked extremely mean.
He froze all the more as he heard Ozma and Gelon gain ground towards the group. Of-course Ozma would be here, he was invited to meet Graves as well.
Cubey decided it was probably best to stand still, and pretend he wasn't there, even if he picked up a really bizarre odor from somewhere, too faint for him to pin point definitely of note.

He was far more concerned of Graves' serious grim expression however, which that even Cubey understood things were going to turn sour soon. He replied to Cubey's questions, calling himself Clark, and calling himself manipulative, as well as revealing Megahertz and Ophelia weren't his girlfriends, and that Cubey had a choice in joining him. 'Clark' then suddenly plonked a some dark glob to the ground and pulled out a pistol, which caused alarm bells to ring in Cubey's head, watching in worry as the suited man gave that frightening woman a harsh talking to, not entirely sure who's side he was on of the exchanged words. 'Clark' then turned his attention to Ozma, obviously not happy with him, and agreeing with along with 'Clark's' until he suddenly apologized and shot at Ozma's head.

Gelon immediately punched at Clarks hand clasping the laser pistol, putting up some sort of energy barrier but to no avail, as though the blast merely singed Ozma's hair, barely scraping it, it ricochet back towards him as he stared at Gelon in awe and wonder, bursting through his skull as Cubey turned away and puked at the sight of the blood and brain matters splattering Gelon, horrified on what happened. And it was his fault. 'Clark may had fired the shot, but he was the one who told about what he did to his father. His words sealed Ozma's death. He heard Megahertz shout in horror at the incident, but Cubey payed little attention, he was too busy staring in sheer terror and horror at blank space, obviously shaken and mortified on what just happened, ignoring the announcement over the intercom by Beatrice also. Then Cubey began to scream, running behind and past Gelon as he struck out at 'Clark', seeming more focused on screaming than the fight that was going on, diving behind some nearby bins, seeming oblivious to Megahertz's hellhound's barking, her own exclamations, Vlad and Ridleys arrival, or Ophelia joining in the fight. All Cubey could do was cry, scream, and punch the ground he sprawled himself on, deciding to wallow in misery and fear of what just happened to Ozma, Deunan's brother. He promised both the man who shot him and the one who jumped in to try and save him that he would protect him and didn't even attempt so, as well as causing his death. He thought to himself he might as well been the trigger. Cubey then sat stunned as he heard Gelon call out for him, freezing up as snot and tears rolled down his cubic face, bewildered on why Gelon would want to look for him before reckoning he wanted to hurt him for what he had done. Cubey decided to scuttle off further away from the battle hearing all manner of diffrent horrific noise and cries from those combating, this time diving behind one of the benches, shuddering in fear in hopes Gelon wouldn't find him and hurt him, or worse.

After a few moments passed, Cubey risked a peak after hears some extremely loud noise, and a familiar voice, to which he saw another lady that also had odd tentacles in her hair which seemed to have a odd cannon that fired noise at people. As he ducked back behind cover when he heard Gelon asking for help on searching for him, he realized that the voice was of the same lady that was talking through the speakers on the ship, who must of got sick of all the fighting going on-board. Or at least that's what Cubey thought. He also realized that an ice man he had never met suddenly turned to dust, 'Clark' had been captured by the intercom lady, and that there was some person in orange-ish armor fighting the scary lady from earlier. He decided against revealing himself, letting his lip and himself quiver as he hid behind the bench.

Suddenly a red light filled the entire ship, Realta Nua, alarms blaring constantly, as a rumbling voice that made Cubey shudder in fear with each syllable spoke, declaring it was going to remind them why they all left home, giving them a 'gift' of a world conquered by the owner of the voice. As the ship then cracked in two, throwing Cubey out of his hiding place, seeing the rubble of the dead world raining down on one to be filled with the dead, as he witnessed the countless dying and drowning and being electrocuted, before witnessing the terrible sight of the armored stranger being crushed between the two halves of the ship slamming against each other with a ungodly deafening clang. Cubey then passed out in fear, frothing at the mouth, the last thing he remembered was being grabbed before passing out.

Cubey later awoke as he was left alone in the bubble shield with Gelon shouting at him to keep floating, who began swimming along the raging ocean, as he spotted the sight of the pink haired lady and reptilian beastman from before, doing their best to brave the impossible sea, with Cubey left speechless and naturally, terrified out of his mind, and left screaming his throat raw until he he could only cough. As he was screaming he witnessed some tall scared beastman leap into the sea from the wreckage of the ship, and began dragging Gelon and the tentacle hair human from earlier back to the bubble and turned to see 'Clark' being carried by a sandy haired human and accompanied by a female android. He also witnessed the surprising sight of one of the halves of the ship managing to stay airborne above the sea somehow, halting his screaming-turned-coughing into utter confusion and disbelief.
Before he could knock away said disbelief however, Cubey was suddenly squashed as nearly all of the survivors he had saw, along with the scary lady from earlier, and a bizarre smiling creature that reeked of a bizarre scent that Cubey had smelled earlier. He could only gasp and groan as he was pined to the side of the bubble shield managing to croak; "Is this all the people that are okay? I not feel so good but please tell me there's more! There has to be more people right?" Cubey then began to hyperventilate as he saw metal suddenly case around them, only managing to whimper in fear, utterly clueless on what just happened.
A single quick thought appeared in his mind as he said miserably to himself more than anyone else; "Did Lekan and Quin make it? Or those guys that were hanging out with them and at Ozma's house? What about that robot lady who was there?" He then began to cry again.

As the survivors pondered their fate, a small, but shiny object could be seen in the distant sky growing larger and larger as it flew over the now flooded moon. Aboard were James, Colt and Preston looking through the windows in shock and awe at what had transpired while they were gone.

"We leave home for a bit and look what happens." James said as he looked to his two comrades from the pilot seat. "Y'all see any survivors?"

"Who gives a shit, they probably died." Colt said in a bored tone. "Might as well move on."

"Don't be such an ass, we should at least look for..." Preston caught a glimpse of something in the water below, shimmering. "I think that's the survivors, take the ship down."

Colt groaned and looked away from the window, not too happy with the current situation. "If we HAVE to, just make it quick."

"Colt, have some compassion for once." James replied as he continued to scan the waters below. "But I agree, we shouldn't stay here for too long. I don't know what happened here, but I don't like it."

Just then, Preston called out that he had spotted a shimmering object a bit away below them. Hoping that maybe someone was still alive, James began to fly in the direction of the object and lowered the ship down gently on the surface of the water. "Open the hatch on the side and tell me what you see. If we have survivors, I'd like to get them on board now and get out of here as soon as we can."

"Oh I do, but I save it." Colt replied.

Preston opened the ship's hatch, ignoring the argument in the background. He squinted to get a better look, the reflection of the water making it a bit painful to stare below. Nevertheless, he made out some familiar shapes, then faces as his sight adjusted. "It's them. Let's grab them and go."

Cubey's heart sank as he heard the fellow's beastman's words, obviously stricken with more grief that he had lost more friends already, wailing in sorrow of the cruel and sudden departure of life form so many.
"Poor Lekan, Poor Quin." Cubey managed to sob, looking over at Mosa with his lip quivering before yet again bursting into a fountain of bitter and miserable tears, wailing in between gasps for air. It certainly wasn't going to stop easily.

He seemed to lessen a little as Gelon suddenly picked him up and rocked him, leaving Cubey more baffled than comforted, staring at the man in puzzlement as he told him to go sit somewhere, a feat easier said than done inside a bubble shield cramped with a number of survivors. Deciding against replying, yet still grateful for the kind gesture, Cubey sniffed a few times and gave a few futile attempts of holding down his sobbing before seeing Gelon offer an injection of something for the tentacle hair lady, who definitely wasn't looking well at all. The odd cubic giraffe man-child din't really understand a word of what Gelon said, but it sounded a bit like he was offering medicine to people, which was always a good thing for the sick and hurt people.

Cubey also noticed the nasty gaze the scary lady was giving the pink haired lady, apparently called Riley, who in turn seemed terrified of her. Maybe it was because she farted. No, couldn't be, Cubey would of been able to smell it easy in this tight a space. His focus shifted once again, this time to Mosa and the strange smiling creature commenting about the sound of engines, with something about needles being said and Gelon being annoyed but asked for the metal casing to be removed.

"I hear engines too! They seem close. Well maybe. But I definitely hear them! Maybe they're survivors too! Maybe pirate person and robot man and robot lady and Tep and other people made it! Maybe that's who's in the ship! They're all okay and were gonna be safe and sound, and we'll blast away from this place, and then we'll blast GEHENNA to piece with our super ultra mega beam cannon we have on the ship, and be heroes and live happily ever after!", Cubey babbled hysterically with a fix of feverish hope and denial of what was contrary and obvious, making himself float around what little space he had in the bubble, seeming to flip about uncontrollably as he talked.

"Yes, yes, quick Ophelia, however you are! Make the metal go bye bye then we'll be okay and see all our friends again and make everything better! All sunshine and smiles and everything!" he chattered excitedly delirious with false hope. His eyes kept flitting back to Byatis however, seeming wary of him, most likely due to his bizarre scent that made Cubey feel dizzy when he tried to sense it too much, as well as the very reasonable wariness of the nearby Jeremy.

(OOC: Sorry for late reply, check OOC section for explanation)

The Federation ship lowered itself down to the stranded crew, the wide side hatch began to slowly open. A sturdy metal ramp unfolding from some compartment snaked it's way to the survivors, locking into place with a hiss of stead. From the ramp above stood Colt and Preston, waving the crew onto the ship.

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Remarked Preston as he waved back at Mosa. "Glad to see friendly faces again."

Colt stood back, letting the crew onto the ship. He hopped onto Mosa's shoulders as he passed by. "Good to see you too, you blue bastard."

As the ramp slowly retracted, Colt made his way to the cockpit, taking a seat next to James. "Let's get the fuck out of here. Take us home.

Gelon let megahertz in and walk to the cockpit after colt "no we can't get out of here just yet" he said to James and colt then pointed to the still functional part of the ship that was suppose to bring them to their destination "there might be more survivors in there, how do I know? Well not everyone can fly half a ship back into orbit" he said and detached the cylinder megahertz was in "are you doing alright?" He asked her

(Sorry for the VERY late reply. Government work has me very busy and tired.)

James put the ship on autopilot as he got out of the pilot's seat and turned to Colt. "Hang on, I need to figure something out. We'll leave, but not before I get some answers." As he made his way to the group of survivors he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "Alright, first of all I want to say congratulations for still being among the living. God only knows how many people died down there." He pauses for a brief moment trying to see who was here and who was not. "But, before we do anything, I'd like to know what the fuck happened here and who didn't make it." Although James' helmet covered his face and any emotions he made, he was sure as hell frowning and upset on what basically could be considered the largest loss of life, especially counting the loss of innocent life.

Turning his head to Mosa, James smiled lightly and nodded his head, glad to see his boss and friend was still alive. "Glad to see you, you big blue bastard. As I recall, you still owe me my paycheck."

The blast barely startled James, as his time in the previous war he fought in toughened him. At the sight of the hijackers before him boarding his ship, he quickly reached for his rifle slung across his back and aimed it at Keeton, his visor shielding his vision from the blinding blast.

"It looks like we've been penetrated by a bunch of seamen." James called out with a slight laugh. He knew the difference between a pirate and a sailor, but it was too good to pass up the innuendo. But that quickly was replaced with a more serious tone. "If you think I'm letting a washed-up pirate with a gimpy prosthetic take my ship, then you're sadly mistaken. I've fought AND killed much worse than you. The only way you're getting out of here alive, and that's not even a promise, is if YOU drop YOUR weapons and surrender." He placed his finger on the trigger, but didn't fire. "And the only way you're getting MY ship, is when I'm dead. And I'm sure as fuck I'll still be alive and standing when this is over. The question of the day is WILL YOU?"

James drowned out Keeton's rabble and and shook his head smiling as he watched Beatrice kill what was supposed to be Keeton's group and sent him to the floor in a flash. Lightly lowering his gun, he looked around at everyone and then at Beatrice. "You're welcome?" He then looked at the hole in his ship and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "So now that's over with, how about we fix my ship and get on with actually killing Gehenna? We've wasted enough time already dealing with Mr. Blackbeard and his dead crew and I'd rather not have Gehenna come back and kill us all in here."

Beatrice scours the ship for something to bind Keeton's hands. She ties the pirate up while he is still unconscious and kicks him in the stomach to wake him up. "Keeton, get up. It seems you have lost track of reality. These men would have killed you for what you were about to do. I don't fucking care what happened in the month that you were in prison. Jesus fucking christ look at your arm! It looks like even the Federation will do anything to get their hands on captain sullivan's treasure."

Keeton is kicked awake by the demon bitch herself Beatrice. Her words as insulting as they were, pretty accurate. Keeton had definatly changed from his visit. His second day there the guards payed off a group of guys to start a fight. It only got better after he was taken into solitary confinement and tortured, eventually they had to amputate the arm because it was rotting from all the drugs they had injected into him. The progression of the dead planet falling was a slow process. The inmates used this to their advantage. By this time Keeton was released from solitary confinement, and formed an alliance with all of the opposing gangs. Keeton was the front man for the revolt, and when it came down to it he killed everyone but his own men.

He starts to gasp for air looking around the room blurry eyed. Keeton locks eyes with Riley, dissapointment is all he can see.

He had only survived on the thoughts of his friends Byatis, Clockwork, megahertz, sentinel, Riley and Ciril. The more time he spent in that hell the less he strived to remember the ones closest to him. Eventually Keeton had given up all hope that he would see any of them again.

A tear ran down his face as he looked at Riley. He felt ashamed, for once in his life Keeton hated who he was and what he now stood for. However the realization changed nothing, his optimism and joy had been replaced with malice and revenge. Keeton was a brand new man, but one thing was still the same, the pink haired Illeyrian still made his heart skip a beat.

"I have a drive that will get us to Medigo I can take half of you on what's left of the NUA, not you." Beatrice says pointing to both Graves and Keeton. "Those brats are your problem James. I'll be back with the components to upgrade this excuse for a vessel, hold tight till then." Beatrice exits the ship as Opehlia seals the hole behind her.

"Byatis, did clockwork did he Uh..." Keeton swallows the lump in his throat trying to hold back his emotions. "Never mind, I think I already know the answer. Its Uh good to see you again."

(Sorry guys, I'm going to fast-track some scenes so we can get to the climax, since we've lingered on this scene for far too long. Feel free to add scenes of character development though, we have yet to pass the point of no return.)

Megahertz sighed with relief as she watched Gelon inject himself with the nanobots, just in time, apparently. "Well, I'm glad to hear that.", she said uncertainly, wondering if Gelon would even survive the final battle with that body of his. She pondered for a while, then slowly spoke, "....You..mentioned giving me control over your robot arm. Um. I feel bad about asking this since I couldn't help you just now, but...." She looked around in her tube, noticing the abundance of scrap metal around them. "...Can you, like, help me build a new body?" She never really tried a mechanical body before, but after witnessing GEHENNA's attack, and all the bodies left behind....it didn't feel right. Most Ishkavi did not really care for such a thing, but most Ishkavi aren't members of a ragtag bunch of misfits trying to take down an intergalactic warlord. Most Ishkavi stayed at their ivory towers, doing whatever it is they do to keep Nebulon up and running, keeping the lights on in the city that never sleeps.

Mosa quietly watched as Ophelia fixed the hole on the ship, smiling with approval. They would still have to reinforce that wall, especially considering where they were going, but all in good time. When Beatrice came with the Black Drive to help them get to Megido, Mosa proceeded to use it to replace their old hyperdrive. Bolts unscrewed, metal platings detached, engines reassembled. A few hours soon passed, and they were now ready to head to Megido.

Nekrim. Once a paradise for family and friends, now a graveyard for the lost and the damned. The skies were dark, gray, and rainy as the Iron Shadow departed the planet, their engines burning a determined azure. Mosa took a deeo breath in the cockpit, and he punched the button for hyperdrive, allowing the Iron Shadow to blaze the trail through the stars. With the speed of light, they will fight this evil. Some for a better tomorrow. Some to search a purpose in their lives. Some because they simply wanted to. Others, for a simple, basic, yet classical motivation:

To Avenge.

FINAL CHAPTER: AVENGER

In the blink of an eye, The Iron Shadow, and what's left of the Realta Nua, traveled through the space between spaces, and reached the edge of the Stratevarian rim. Megido was still far away, yet close enough that they could feel something simply....wrong in the air. Whispers in the darkest corners of space, whispers of regrets, losses, defeat. There is darkness in this part of the galaxy. Darkness older than Stratevaria itself, darkness lingering on the borders between worlds.

In the cockpit, Mosa leaned back on his seat, and took a deep breath. He glanced at the ceiling, and pressed the public announcement button.

"Good morning, comrades of the Iron Shadow. This is Mosa speaking, we will be arriving....there....in a few hours. If there's anything any of you want to say to each other....say it now. There may not be time later." Even Mosa, usually of high spirits and energy, slowly filled with uncertainty, as they approached Megido more and more. The end is nigh. But whose end - GEHENNA's...or theirs?

Gelon nodded and light a sigaret "no problem megahertz" he said and sit back waiting for the new nanobots to kick in while listening to megahertz request "sure! but i can make it stronger then the metal here" he said and got the device which he used to build his arm again "my arm is now build of an plastic that originates from metal, so there is metal in my arm but at the same time not" he said and held is robotic hand open and a ball of non-newtonian liquid metal started to form above his palm about the size of a polo ball "you see and i can make the same for you if you want" he offered her

(for the ones who know what non newtonian liquids are good for you, for the ones who don't watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mYHGn_Pd5M)

Megahertz looked on, pressing her jellyfish-like body to the glass with excitement. "Wow!! Gelon, that's amazing! You made that yourself?"

Suddenly, they hear a loud, rambling sound, rapidly approaching....

"Wait....did you hear that....?"

A bright light flashed outside the ship, red as blood and bright as sun. Mosa shielded his eyes instinctively at the cockpit, yelling out in pain and shock. "NO!!!!!"

A sudden crash. A lightning-fast crush. A massive, hundred-meter long, techno-organic sword struck the ship, running through Mosa with its first hit and tearing the massive beastman apart in less than a second. The sword sliced through the Iron Shadow mercilessly, exposing its crew to the cold, dead, vacuum of space. Alarms blare. Oxygen supplies break. the Iron Shadow split in half, with both pieces drifting apart from each other. Megahertz's tank broke. She clung on to life, but in just 13 seconds, she choked to death and withered.

The sheer impact of the tyrant sword left most of the crew to black out for a brief moment. When they recovered, those who did not die instantly from oxygen deprivation, could look up...and see the Stratevarian sun, shining dimly far, far away. It seemed so far, now....

.......The stars seem to dim with every second. And then they spun, revealing themselves not to be stars, but in fact swords - hundreds of thousands of purple swords, hovering in the air. Each of them smaller versions of the tyrant sword which ravaged the Iron Shadow. Each of them aimed towards every surviving member of the crew on board.

And then, they could hear it...a soft, contemptous voice. Reverberating inside their minds. GEHENNA's.

"Face your ends with dignity."

The millions of swords above them spun, and descended.

Soon, another star was extinguished in the limitless skies. GEHENNA had won once again.

-THE END-



(Hey guys. I decided, that I'm not going to wait any more. You've been good players, especially for the first and second chapters, and I thank you for that. But in hindsight, I realized that I planned this RP poorly. I would rather end on a much happier note, but I've grown sick of this RP. And I'm almost sure most of you are. If not sick, at least aloof and apathetic. I don't want this to be a burden. Not to you, not to me. So if you don't mind, I'm going to torch this franchise and run.)

AND THEN EVERYONE DIED.

THE END.


gg guys. gg

James woke up on a sandy island in the middle of nowhere.

"What the fuck happened? Where is everyone?" Suddenly, it hit him. "Face your ends with dignity."

Ah. That explained it. But how did he end up here? Did Gehenna's attack on their ship tear a hole in time and space and cause a wormhole to appear? Looking around, and seeing no one else around, James realized that it was over. There was no way he was going to ever leave. Sighing, he removed his helmet and unholstered his pistol, staring off into the sunset, he aimed the barrel to the side of his head and fired a single shot. Blowing chunks of brain, skull and flesh onto the sandy ground below him. James collapsed ungracefully to the ground, twitched for a few minutes and then lay still forever more.

(LOL)

(welllll...........wasn't burdening me but okay :C hope you make something new cause I really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really! Enjoyed it even if people take their time to reply)

Gelon nodded "yup I did....what the!" Was all he could bring out before passing out. As he came too he held his mouth and let his arm cralw over his face and body "as he then quickly activated his energy shield when he noticed the trytants "fuck that shit! GEHENNA!! You fight with some dignity you cheap coward!" He yelled as he flew over to one of the realuneta storga crates to get his toy "I will let you know why they call me, GELON THE WRECKER!" he yelled and an mech a few feet taller then mosa would be bursted out flying, it was an hell bringer, a neck capable to take down space frigates

(yup can't let go yet >< )

(Bruh, we're done here... Strate's already gone)

We gave our best.