Bravo, bravo, best fanfiction. You talent dazzles me, your grammar shocks me, and your prose leaves me in a daze.
Spinning a yarn (fanfiction)
I appreciate it, but the best would probably be some happy-fun-time-bubbles-and-rainbow-walrus-lasers to be enjoyable for the common player. A lot of people prefer fairytales over tougher stuff. People like to be happy. I prefer more realistic series of events which form a storyline over generic hero stories which a lot of people seem to like.
I want to have the next and hopefully last part of chapter seven out either today or tomorrow, but I am supposed to be alternating updates between this thread and that one and the ball is on the other side of the court right now. Then again, I make stuff to enjoy the process and result, not as a chore.
Where are we now? It was too dark to see anything, even with the goggle piece.
“Emergency escape. The drop should have sealed by now, but we have to keep going.”
Red could hear the faint noise of footsteps. His own footsteps. They must have been running for quite a while, though he had no memory of it.
“You went quiet for a while but I continued anyway. We should be near the base by now, but we might run into trouble if they found this tunnel since I have been out of commission.”
Who? The things in the forest, with missing chunks and limbs?
“Those started appearing after the invasion. I think it has something to do with a missing experiment subject whose project went awry and they created chaos, provoking the Order further to shut us down. It was far too late to shut down what I have been cooking up back there, but knowing Izola she is probably on her way back to the new area. I think they called it Haven or something obvious. A safe haven for knights to take shelter from the rest of Cradle.”
But what are the things in the forest?
“Some kind of zombies. People who go into the forest never seem to be attacked by them, at least by the records I knew, but trespassers in the base were definitely taken down. I overheard Sylvin and Brawl back at the base a while ago.”
You were there with us?
“What do you mean, ‘us’? I am you. You are me. We are us. We are the same person, the same being. The only differences are our names and the time we lived in, but since you live in my future and Ozlo returned my consciousness to my future self I live again with you.”
Ozlo?
“Our king. You see, when knights die, th-”
Lugnut stopped running. Was there supposed to be a gap in the wall right here?
“No. They must have found it. This area of the tunnel is practically right beneath the ground overhead, meaning we must be near the base.” Lugnut continued to run.
Red felt the exhaustion of overexertion.
“I know this is straining you, but we have to get there before they or Izola does.”
What do we need there?
“Some old equipment of mine.”
__________________________________
“Congratulations, my son. You have done what countless knights have failed to do: find kinship with another knight.”
“Ozlo?”
“Calm yourself. You will return shortly, but first you must know what is happening.”
Blue was unable to see or move at all. He felt he was trapped in a white void, unable to see anything other than white. The blank world he was trapped in seemed to consume him yet keep him perched comfortably in nothing.
“Your comrade, Green, has the vigor of great knights of the past. Knights who have become corrupt long ago. Even with your narrow evasion of permanent deactivation, he stands by your side until you can walk on your own again.”
“I trust Green with my life and he proved I made the right choice.”
“Before you return, my son, I have one question. Would you do the same for him?”
Blue hesitated.
“Yes.”
The blank vacuum immediately began to drain away until blackness filled the void. Blue blinked several times and found himself in an open medical pod. Green was standing next to the pod with the medic.
“H-He is fully repaired. You two can go.” Green offered his hand to Blue. He took it and jumped out of the pod. While Blue walked out of the room with Green behind him, Green took a moment to face the medic.
“Thanks.”
The two left the infirmary and began walking to the Arcade.
__________________________________
“Give it back! I need that!” A small knight hopped and grabbed at a device with several wires dangling being thrown between two larger knights. They were laughing.
“You have to do better than that, kid!” The two knights continued their taunting.
Brawl approached the scene slowly. He felt uneasy how lax his motion was. Normally he would be in their faces by now, but he was held back by an undefinable force. As he pushed and reached, the two larger figures stopped tossing the object. One drew a blade.
“I wonder if the kid bleeds.”
To his horror, Brawl watched helplessly as the child was held down by one and torn into by the other. Wires and gears were torn out from the chest, an arm was severed and tossed aside, and a liquid began to pour from the small body. It was impossible for Brawl to stand aside as this happened. He pushed and punched at the air, the world around him melting into gray, as the figures washed into a deep black. Two kneeling figures, one pile of metal, and infinite gray. Brawl strained to bring his fingers forward, every second the two creatures becoming more ravenous until they dug their jaws into the child, ripping out metalworks until little more remained than the basic skeleton and part of the skull. With every struggled step Brawl inched closer and closer until he eventually could reach one of the figures. With a surge of fury he clawed out at the shadow, only for it to drain away as black streams along the gray nothingness into the infinite distance. The other figure began to drain away as well. With the two departed Brawl was no longer inhibited in motion and immediately jumped down to his knees before the remains. Shredded pieces of metal were scattered around it and a black liquid was approaching his knees. Only one arm was connected to the body, the other limbs torn apart and bent into unnatural positions. From the bare skeletal frame of this arm were two fingers remaining, the rest pulled from the hand and broken apart. The chest was open, revealing a smashed cylinder where the liquid seemed to be pouring from. Several other objects were crushed, bent, and damaged. The head was missing over a third in total mass, including the right eye. Before Brawl could hold the remains in his arms, the naked arm began to raise and fall on his knee. The remaining eye began to flicker to a dim white glow. Brawl began to notice around him the gray was melting into black. The black metal corpse before him began to melt into the floor beneath itself, the head turning to face him.
“You were too late.”
__________________________________
Brawl sat up in his bunk. He turned to face the table. Lugnut was still laying motionless. He gave a sigh of relief. He checked his com unit for the time. It was nearly dawn. He rolled out of the bunk and motioned for the exit, only to hear two light taps on the other side of the door. He stopped. He stood still next to his bunk for several minutes, awaiting further noise to whisper from outside. Nothing. He exhaled and approached the door. Before opening it he checked the monitor posted outside. There was a crate in front of the door. Nothing else was there. He opened the door and picked up the crate. He scanned the single hallway, expecting something to reveal itself. After a short few seconds he closed the door behind him and placed the crate on the floor to open it. When he saw what was inside he grasped the crate by the open edge and tightened his grip.
__________________________________
They seemed to have been going forever. Lugnut had become tired and eventually stopped running. Red was beyond exhaustion due to their physical strains being intertwined, meaning his exhaustion has also affected Lugnut.
“How are you holding up?”
Lugnut must have known Red was barely able to maintain a steady breath, seeing as it was dragging him down as well.
“Try not to worry about it. Our punishment may be linked, but so are our strengths.”
That explains how they managed to run so far; by combining the stamina both had they managed to travel through what seemed to be an infinite passage through near blindness, though the goggle piece helped in mapping out their path. But still, the bitter memory of Lugnut revealing himself back in that secret room...
“I would never expect you to understand. In the past I was forced into reclusion by the vultures around us. It was before the original pioneers had a law enforcement system to keep us from killing each other. Researchers would hire mercenaries to murder and loot other researchers for their own gain, though I was among the few who never went to such extremes. The few of us who remained sought sanctuary outside the original safehaven for our kind, seeing as the rest of the world has inhospitable dangers; though to stay among wolves is no better than whatever awaits elsewhere. Originally we made our own little camp out in the woods, but the Order sends its mercenaries to destroy and loot what they need.”
What did they want from you?
“Anything they could get. Resources, supplies, weapons; especially weapons and equipment developed outside the Order. They have all these rules and restrictions preventing countless advances in technology, but since our camp was outside their jurisdiction and there was no one to enforce anything we were basically an independent colony.”
You certainly remember everything clearly, as if it happened only yesterday.
“I was asleep for countless cycles within you after my death. I have been waiting to relay all I know to the future so the same corruption can never thrive again.”
What about the camp? What happened with that?
“At first it was just one camp, but mercenaries were still sent on raids. With every raid, more of our people began to flee on their own to build smaller facilities. If we go up to the surface we might find some ruins. As time passed people of the Order began to join us, people other than researchers. People who can fight. Brawl was one of the first.”
Was Brawl a mercenary?
“No. He was rejected by the Order for violent behavior or something, so we welcomed him with open arms. Anyone too tough for those cowards must have worth. He always had a strong sense of discipline in himself and others, but when it comes to someone attacking one of us there was no mercy.”
Lugnut paused. What did that mean? Was Brawl a murderer?
“Yes. No. Partly.”
What did he do that made the Order throw him out?
“He told me when he was younger and they were handing out equipment he always got stuck with the leftovers. When everyone got the fancy new Cobalt, sleek model and more mobile, all they had for him was old Plate. The worst was when they went to hand out weapons and they had literally nothing left for him. Not even a stick. He snuck into the console for the class and found he was supposed to be removed and reassigned to civilian duties such as mineral labor or metalworks repairman. A servant. Only the defective and cowardly were given such duties, as they never involved the individual being sent on expeditions or dealing with warfare, but Brawl was the burliest among the class. They must have found out he saw the file, because they started handing out shields and assigning teams after that and he was left out on everything again. All he had was that old Plate armor. No shield or weapon.”
That sounds terrible. What happened?
“He left the class on his own. At first they tried looking for him, but after the first day they gave up. It was a relief for them to not have to deal with it. Brawl went into the world and made a real knight of himself while everyone else sat comfortably playing with swords. According to the records, last I checked, Brawl is the only knight to willingly venture into the uncharted wilderness and return; alive or otherwise. He started out originally when the underground system was completed, an improvement over having little shacks scattered around the forest, and was gone for a while. He left Bunker in my care while he was gone. We made some interesting stuff together, but that kid had a talent of his own. He was at least tolerable in creating weapons and equipment, but his real passion was building machines. Robots to help us by delivering items, assist in medical practice, and even use the remains of a knight to create a new knight. The new knight was never truly alive again, though it could be controlled remotely like a puppet. It was weird.”
Who is Bunker?
Lugnut hesitated again. This time he was quiet for a long time. They continued in silence along the empty hallway until Lugnut eventually broke the void.
“No one knows.”
__________________________________
“Welcome back. I see Blue is fully functioning again.”
Green clenched his fists. “No thanks to you.”
Feron tilted his head. “What do you mean? I provided the highest medical treatment the Spiral Order can provide.”
Blue struggled to speak but could only utter static. The vocal device must still be configuring to the new system. Green took notice and spoke in his place.
“You were going to throw him away like trash.” Green turned and pointed to one of the several boxes next to the disposal chute. “He was in one of those.”
Feron straightened himself and crossed his arms. “I have no idea what you mean. Knights are never disposed of through such degrading means.”
Green stormed up to Feron and pressed his forehead against his.
“Yes you did, you worthless coward!”
Green felt his grip beginning to dig into itself, his fists straining to clench further until he could feel the metal begin to bend. He released his fists before destroying his own hands. The fur of his gloves had missing tufts with marks of damage but he was in no mood to inspect himself.
Feron stepped back, keeping his arms crossed.
“It must have been a mistake.”
Blue stepped forward.
“It was the knights who picked me up.”
Both Feron and Green turned to Blue. They were surprised by the completely different voice, the monotone and emotionless fragments of sound pieced together awkwardly. After a silent moment Feron began to weasel himself out of the situation.
“I...I have one final mission for you two before you may be promoted to Champion.”
Green turned from Blue to Feron. “You act as though your ranks have worth.”
“These are the ranks of the Spiral Order, I am merely a lieutenant.”
Green scowled. “Continue.”
“Y-Yes, well, we need you two, to...” Feron turned to the console and searched desperately. “We need you two to stop the Devilites from accessing the Underworld to bring an army of Trojans to invade Cradle, yes. And you two are the only ones for the job. They are trying to open a seal which keeps our realms apart, so we need you two to stop them. Dismissed.”
Green and Blue both stood their ground.
“Both of you two will be promoted and your equipment will be upgraded free of charge for completing this mission.” Feron was beginning to quiver.
Green spoke up. “We want our equipment upgraded now.”
“Now? But we lack the resources to upgrade everything you have. We should be able to afford your armor and a weapon or two each, but anymore than that would eat into reserve supplies.”
Green looked to Blue, expecting a response. In the same hoarse voice Blue responded.
“That should be all we need.”
Feron hastily entered a message into the console then looked up from the screen. “Please meet Jorin and Archilus at this location.” Feron handed Green a disk with a specific floor code. “Both of you go together. I already sent them the order to use Order resources for the costs. Once you two are suited begin the mission and stop the imminent Trojan army.”
Blue began walking to the elevator as Green lingered. Before joining his comrade on the platform Green gave one last word over his shoulder.
“We will.”
So our deuteragonist and tritagonist (Blue, and green finally begin to learn of the malicious "Order" or at least begin to piece it together. Excellent as always. I've been reading from the beginning.
Instead of twenty chapters this story is only going to be ten, though the other ten might become a sequel to continue the story.
At the rate this is going (about 3-5 pages per part, around seven parts per chapter) this is turning into a novel. My original plans for chapters 11+ were more of a sequel series to the original ten anyway and the current storyline will continue unaffected.
Imminent update tonight.
I literally can't wait. Yay for active-ness.
You are very active (/clap). Other fanfiction writers I see go deep into the story but, out of nowhee, it takes weeks between new chapters. But, I shouldn't complain, I should be lucky to have those fictions to read and reread.
The tranquility of slumber began to slither away as the expected comforting light of dawn failed to appear.
“Where did you get this from?”
Red noticed Lugnut was holding the pinecone bomb from his mission to find Snarbolax.
“Snarbolax? What is that, some kind of new Order section name?”
The big armored beast, I used the bomb to blast it open from the inside.
“Well, wherever you found it, this was one of my old projects: an organic explosive device which can be used as a seed to grow more. It was originally rejected by the Order for potentially creating living weapons outside metalworks. They thought the next step would be creating organic war slaves to destroy Cradle, but that never happened.”
Would you do that?
Lugnut hesitated.
“Probably not.” Another short pause. “Anyway, I kept the old recipes in my personal database so it should be upgraded nicely now. You went to sleep while we were in the hall so I continued through a hidden entrance to get in my quarters.”
Red looked around in the poorly lit room. The objects retrieved earlier were on the table and seemed to be in far better condition than before.
“I fixed them up for use.”
What about the pinecone thing?
“Right here.”
Lugnut held up the now larger spiked bomb. The pines were now black and pointing upwards.
“It still has one more stage to upgrade to but I ran out of the materials needed. These other weapons should be good.”
Lugnut dropped one hand on the purple sphere. The smooth surface had a few small spikes poking out.
“Do not turn it around.”
What?
“The purple one.”
Why? Is something there?
“Yes.”
Red was confused. What was on the other side?
“The corrupting eye of Ur. It was the only thing that would complete the item, but if gazed into for too long your mind becomes consumed by Ur.”
Ur?
“Just trust me; I mean yourself. The eye is not a physical eye, but it contains corrupting properties. Upon use it creates a vortex which pulls enemies into its field and holds them there for several seconds, then purges them.”
Lugnut moved his hand to the other bomb.
“This one is a variation of the Vaporizer using the shock status. The Order only authorized variations for fire, freeze, poison, and apparently stun as of late; shock was never cleared for use, probably because I came up with it and they wanted to bury everything I was in the past. How did they even make the stun one?”
So this one creates electricity?
“Yes. It creates a large field which electrocutes enemies, damaging and interrupting them.”
That sounds really useful.
“It lets you use bombs more practically but not all enemies are vulnerable to the effect; some are immune to having electricity used against them because their bodies are already imbued with it.”
What about the gun?
Lugnut picked up the gun and examined its sides.
“This is the only thing positive I got from the Order. A good sidearm.”
Lugnut stored the weapons in their arsenal and turned around. Red thought they were facing a door but it was completely pitch black. Is something there?
“There was no door on this room when I came in.”
There was no door now.
“The stuff sitting out on tables was looted when we got here but I kept almost everything in hidden storage.” The goggle piece indicated a trap door with a small open pocket under the metal floor. “I thought I heard something out there.”
What would be out th-
Red stopped himself. He knew.
“We need to get the last of my gear and get out. We might be able to contact Brawl if the Order has yet to get ahold of him.”
Lugnut pulled a cord and the lights shut off. Red watched as Lugnut stepped carefully around the perimeter of the room until they reached the doorway. He drew the bladed gun from their arsenal and gripped the handle. Before peeking out into the hall he began to point the chamber out, both hands holding the gun. On their left forearm was a larger version of his old Owlite shield. It seemed that two small blue lights glowed from the other side of the shield, lighting ahead of them.
“And they said this shield was a stupid idea.”
You came up with this, too?
“No, but I saw the Order come up with it when I was younger than you are now. They doubted everything we made.”
Lugnut sat the edge of the gun on the rim of the shield, the two blue lights glowing a head while the blade on the gun reflected some of the light to reveal more in front of them. The shield still had an ovular rim but was slightly larger than before. It seemed sleeker, an improvement over the rough little piece of wood it used to be.
“I only had the resources to upgrade it once but it should work for now.”
The continued along through the silent halls, the blackness looming around them wordlessly as the glowing speck inched along in an infinite maze.
__________________________________
“I think we should get Daxen here for a better opinion on equipment for you.” Archilus was digging through several emptied steel containment units. “We only have enough for one more upgrade and you still need a new shield.” Archilus stood from his kneeling position and turned to Jorin who was inspecting the gray fur coat Green was suited in. “How are you two doing, any better than us?”
Jorin shook his head. “This is really draining resources. Not every day we get knights going to the third tier. Equipment gets a lot more expensive from here out.” Jorin managed to keep his gaze away from the pair of green circles glaring down at him as he brushed through the tufts, checking for anything which can delay direct interaction. Keeping himself preoccupied, Jorin muttered under his breath hoping Green would be unable to hear.
“Not to mention that shield. We have nothing on that thing.”
Green stiffened in place. Jorin took a step back. “We got you a different shield. Something more suiting for a knight as yourself.” Jorin held a five sides, dark orange surface with a decorated gray rim. The face seemed leathery with ridges skipping downward. “But at least we were able to upgrade your two swords and his gun,” Jorin hastily stated to ensure everyone was aware. Green rested one hand on one of the two blades sheathed at his waist, the hilt of the Ascended Calibur above the Blizzbrand. Green eyed the blades before raising his attention to Blue, standing in a brown poncho with bronzed braces around the wrists and backhands. His own ashen light armor felt comfortable yet smelt of a spiced crisp. Jorin handed him the orange shield then backed away, turning away from the others and holding his wrist to his face. He began muttering to himself, then motioned for Archilus to continue before walking out of the room.
“Yes, well, uh...” Archilus stood awkwardly. Blue was sitting on a bench while Green stood aloof. “Daxen said he would come by for your shield,” Archilus was looking to Blue.
Green brought the five sided shield over his shoulder and let it attach to his back. His arms returned to their cradles, the left on the sword hilt while the other hung carelessly. Blue sat with his hands together in his lap, the Firo Driver and barely afforded Super Blaster laying on the bench next to him. Archilus began to beep. He held his wrist up to his chest, turning to one side, and activated the message. Green could hear the conversation though was not intentionally eavesdropping. A rigid yet calm voice spoke to Archilus through the device.
“This is getting too costly for us.”
“I know, but Feron said-”
“Give him this. Sending it now. Over and out.” The com unit dimmed and relit to show the mail icon. An electric spark hopped from the device up his arm, down his torso and into his arsenal. He reached into a pocket and retrieved a relatively small disk with a spiral in the center. A chartreuse spiral emitted from the shield face. Archilus held the shield up to Blue. “Here.”
Blue reached out to accept the shield, then attached it to his left arm. “It seems really light.”
“Swiftstrike has less defense than most shields, but it lets you attack faster.” Archilus bowed his head slightly and muttered, “and not to mention cheaper.”
Green stared down the Vanguard.
“B-But still a great shield for any gun user!” Archilus noticed his com unit was receiving another message so he excused himself and left the room as well. Green walked up to Blue to speak to him.
“How does it fit?”
Blue wrung his right hand around his left forearm and shook. The shield remained attached. “Seems fine.” Blue grabbed the Firo Driver and spun it in his hand once, then returned the gun to his arsenal. He picked up the other and simply stored it away before standing up. “Are you ready to go?”
“After you.” Green held the door open for his comrade.
Yes, this just gets better and better. I didn't know that they had just so much energy to waste on PROJECT COBALT and barely conserves for those actually progressing. This makes sense, with the current CE price over 9k.
My computer decided to vomit all over itself yesterday for fun. The next part might be delayed until tomorrow.
Happy Birthdays!
Happy early winter.
http://www.listenonrepeat.com/watch/?v=1x_BN_bT9OA&feature=BFa&list=UU60...
If you are still accepting characters, I would like to apply.
Name: Arzaki
Equipment: Ash tail coat and cap, vile striker, barbarous thorn blade, silversix, gigawatt pulsar, and barbarous thorn shield.
Personality: Usually tries to protect "lesser" allies from the more dangerous enemies. When I say "lesser," I mean like my teir 2 friends. Maybe lesser is a bit too rude. Anyway, other than that, he's not too reckless, usually using his pulsar or silversix, unless fighting beasts and fiends, which he usually uses his thorn blade.
And I have read everything. This stuff is so plot twistah.
Part of me says to just take character applications, but the other says to stop messing around and finish this first storyline then use applications for the sequel. A lot is going on right now, tossing more people in would get overcomplicated.
I will let you weavers know when positions are open. For now, hold onto them; one day the sun will rise as the lantern consumes the last of its oil.
Forreal dude, your metaphors are crazy. Urinating out a window cause a bomb is unbalanced XD
“What are those?”
“Stars.”
Two knights if different heights lay in the open meadow in the silence of a clear night. The smaller one pointed up to the black skies, procuring the occasional question while the other sat with his hands behind his head.
“What are stars, Brawl?”
The larger knight coughed a laugh. “Stars are the lights you see up there, all the way out there beyond our reach.”
The two sat in silence as the fireflies flickered throughout the field aimlessly. The larger knight turned his head toward the other.
“You know, Bunker, we came from a place out in those stars.”
The smaller knight rolled from his back to his side, facing the other dark figure in the night.
“Which one? Can you point it out?”
Another hearty laugh.
“No, we came from a planet out there; but we had to leave.”
“Why did we leave?”
A brief pause.
“Our home was crumbling in the same hands that outcast us on Cradle.”
__________________________________
Brawl immediately remembered what he found in the crate. It was an amateur sketch of the stars. He sat on the edge of the bunk, staring at the frailed page. There were no names, no constellations identified; just the stars. The empty crate sat next to his feet, the door resealing once again as air pressure regained its post in the valves. Gears clicked back to their ancient positions as the real prisoner found his world smaller than he previously realized.
__________________________________
“It should be around these next few turns.”
The goggle pieced identified certain directions in the near pitch black tendril walkways leading to countless different directions. At the end was a large reinforced door with several safeguards, traps, and monitoring devices.
“Due to our connections we should be safe from the automatic intruder disabling traps. Stay aware.”
Lugnut focused on the path ahead while Red listened to their surroundings. With every step Red tensed, feeling the presence of something outside of himself only to realize Lugnut is there with him; though as they are the same Red became more confused pondering this. They came to the final hallway, though it was particularly dark.
“Brawl and I made a light absorption device down here in case anyone came down with lanterns. A lot of knights are too afraid of the dark to have even come this far, but if by chance someone got this far they would think this is a dead end.”
Lugnut sheathed the gun and held his right hand out in front of them, feeling for a switch or something. His hand passed a thin fiber hanging from above. With a pinch and light pull the abyss dissipated as the pair of blue lights on their shield resumed its constant glow. Before them stared back an immense blast proof door with several reinforcement layers. Lugnut identified several activation keys in the short hall in front of the door but made no motion to activate any of them. What were they going to do, knock on the door?
“Look at our com unit.”
In the mapless screen, not too far in front of them past where the door was assumed to be based on the com unit facing the same direction as they were, an orange blip glowed. Lugnut held one hand up to the door and knocked twice. A brief pause. Four more knocks. Another pause. One knock. From the other side two pillars crashed onto the metal floor, then echoed up to the door. The tiny square slid open to reveal a window with two orange slits glaring through. The window sealed again and several gas valves depressurized. The door slowly creeped open. Before Red could speak, a hand took him by the shoulder and pulled him in. The door slammed and repressurized behind him.
__________________________________
“What are you doing back here?”
Brawl held one hand on Red and the other in a fist. This was no place for a kid to be wandering around, especially when they just got him out of here.
“Brawl, this is Lugnut. I came for my armor.”
Brawl huffed. “You? Do you even know who Lugnut is?” Brawl turned to the desk where the blast suit lay lifeless. He drew his hand away from Red and rest both arms on the edge of the desk.
“Izola brought Red to the underground base. When I was reassigned by Ozlo I lay dormant within this young knight until awoken by the device I kept in there. In the warehouse.”
Brawl snarled over his shoulder, his eyes burning out of the grate which covered his face.
“You thief.”
Brawl began to charge heat into his arms to rip the limbs off anyone who dared mock Lugnut, until they revealed the familiar purple sphere. There was no faking it and the eye was facing down.
“You have the eye.”
Brawl cleared his vision and noticed another familiar object: the goggle piece, three eyes. He pointed to it with a lazy hand.
“Where did you get that?”
“The tower Izola grew up in.”
Brawl nearly fell on his back. The only people who would know that are either dead or have forgotten long ago.
“Lugnut...you live.”
“Death is for the dead.”
Brawl laughed, the decrepit burns scratching at the sound as joy was transformed to agony by sound. “Good to have you back.”
__________________________________
Red may not have known their bond, but Lugnut was appreciative of his cooperation enough to share.
“When the Order decided to outcast ‘disobedient’ knights, we had to live in little bands out in the wilderness. We formed teams among military and civilian to keep ourselves protected even while dispersed. Each team made their own settlement, but ours in particular caught the attention of our past oppressor. We each began development of different utilities. Bunker, Izola, Brawl and I chose to create an emergency underground system in case the Order decided to capture us by force. Since we lacked the energy to keep light systems up, we were forced to use lanterns. We used a naturally produced material to fuel the lanterns found only out here in the wild but it lacks the brightness the Order is accustomed to; which is why you probably never noticed night while a servant to the Order.”
They have that kind of power? To stop us from seeing night?
“Your body comes from recycling.”
Red took a moment to think about this. He was made of past knights.
“Our internal workings are made of precious materials, irreplaceable due to this planet lacking what is needed to create it. When the Skylark brought the second generation of pioneers to Cradle the Order told us they had brought a machine capable of making more of us, but with its crash it has been assumed the machine was destroyed as well. We have yet to find more on that. Anyway, you probably think you crashed with that ship, the Skylark, right?”
Yes.
“They gave you a simulation of the crash process. While you were asleep, I watched as they gave you that cheap exoskeleton, threw you in a pod, placed you at the alleged crash site, then activated the simulation so you thought you just fell out of the pod. The actual crash happened a while ago when Feron was still a kid.”
But Feron is the lieutenant, he was head of the ship when it crashed; right?
“Do you think I am the only one to come back after death?”
__________________________________
“I suppose you need your old blast suit back.” Brawl braced his arms on the edge of the desk as Lugnut stared at it blankly. Maybe it was just the goggles but he seemed to be in a daze. “Lugnut? You there, boyo?” Brawl turned so he could see him. Several seconds passed without response.
“Y-Yes, I was just explaining things to Red.”
“Red? The kid?” Was he Lugnut or Red?
“The process was a little slow. The little guy was not supposed to activate before someone returned through them from Ozlo if an old knight was supposed to come back, but since I was supposed to come back and the Order has recently tried to fight Ozlo over who gets to come back I should not have come back at all.”
“Nothing can dim a good lantern , boyo.” Brawl walked over to his bunk and picked up an open crate. “What do you need?”
“Just the clunker. After that I want to check damage to the base.”
Brawl sat on the edge of the bunk. “Not good since we have been gone, boyo. Something weird has been crawling.”
“I know. Have you heard from anyone else?” Red watched Lugnut deactivate safeguards on the blast suit until its tense shape relaxed. He deposited into their arsenal.
“Not even a flare. They must have been taken out.”
Lugnut began deactivating the goggle piece. “Any plan?” With several sparks the goggle piece eventually popped out.
“Our teams are gone, our supplies were raided, but we still have Sylvin.”
“Better than nothing. Any ties?” Lugnut switched from the beige blast suit to a heavier, ashen red suit. It felt comfortable yet bulky with several unfamiliar features.
“The Order made him a Vanguard.”
“Good. We might be able to get some information from him.” Lugnut held the goggle piece in both hands and pressed it to his face. After a few seconds of complete blindness there were several clicks, a couple sparks, then light flickered back on.
“Easy, boyo. He may be grown up now but he still considers himself a kid to us.” Brawl withdrew a note from his arsenal and held it up to Lugnut. “This seem familiar?”
Lugnut took the letter and read it silently. He must have blocked Red from seeing it because his vision blacked out for a few seconds. “I remember seeing the Order burn crates full of these when they invaded. Are there more?”
“Plenty.” Brawl stood and walked up to the door. “Up top.”
Back to the best part, Red, and Brawl, and Lugnut. Bunker is a mystery! And, we have yet to hear of the other vanguards.
and i find this 'novel(?)' quite intresting. I have a few questions, are some what bonded to plater armour or something? cause most of the characters mentions have them :s. and do the main chracters (red,blue and green ( im asuming they are)) have actual names? unless Red's real name is Lugnut, but Lugnut is red's pass self....... which doesn't mean its his name. So green and blue have pass selves too? ooh, really getting on the edge of my seat.
But, nice 'novel(?)', quite a nice way to burn time while waiting for mist to regen......
P.s. i am now scared of goin to dark places (irl) thanks to Porject Cobalt
Your questions will be answered, rest assured; and try not to fall off your chair. All with due time. Especially that last part.
Actually, I should answer the questions already answered but probably too vague for some people to understand.
I have no idea. Originally there were only two people with Plate line armor, Izola and Brawl, but people with their character applications want the same thing for whatever reasons. Probably just a coincidence, not because they want those two characters to automatically befriend or be related to them, and aquatic giraffes are silly.
Red, Blue, and Green derived their names from their personal colors. Most of the other knights they interact with have actual names because they were given names. This was explained in the first chapter.
In the last couple chapters posted Red and Lugnut have had this internal dialogue where Red is still getting used to having another awareness in the same body, which Lugnut explains is the result of the Spiral Order blocking Lugnut from returning to a physical form into the body he was assigned to by Ozlo. This plot point is explored further later on along with several other plot points, tying the loose ends of this yarn. Yes, I just did that. Put your pants back on.
At this point this fiction has become a novel. Checked back where I have it saved, going by the chapter parts on this thread, this thing is a hundred and fifty pages long. I never start a new page for a new part or skip more than one line consecutively, excluding perspective splits.
The next part should be up some time tomorrow. I already have it in progress. Cue maniacal laughter and background lightning.
I bet Blue is Ozlo. Did you see how Blue was asking things in his mind and Ozlo knew? Blue is Ozlo. I KNOW IT.
Actually, no. That is because Ozlo is basically their god now. Mind reading and what not.
This is probably another one of those vague implications, though I remember writing it in, but Ozlo was once a physical knight until his death when he became the head of the Spiral Order mainframe where deceased knights are sent when their physical forms are rendered lifeless to be returned to a new physical form. Their new body is supposed to be inactive until they find it, as was the case with Lugnut returning through Red, but the Spiral Order is trying to block certain knights from returning against the will of their king. The reason Blue was talking with Ozlo is because it was his first time returning but since his body was still usable Ozlo sent him back into the same body instead of risking the Order trying to get in the way.
I almost spoiled a few things there. Walking on a road of broken glass while barefoot.
“One seven steps in and around another on the left corner, then come back.”
The small knight held two unlit lanterns, hesitating to enter the burrow. A larger knight with four orange slits glowing in the night kneeled beside him and rested one hand on a small shoulder. “I can wait for you here.”
The small knight smiled, then turned to walk down the dry slope of dirt into the darkness beneath the darkness of night. A meager voice spoke from the tunnel. “Got them on.”
The small figure emerged from the tunnel empty handed. “What do we need this one for, Brawl? The other tunnels are nowhere near here.”
“Nothing you need to worry about. We should get back before Izola wanders off again.”
The two walked together out of the thick woods until they came to an open meadow. In the distant uncovered skies a beacon glowed a muffled yellow in the thick clouds. Brawl remembered somewhere in that direction, though farther than the beacon must have been, was the Spiral Order Haven. The yellow beacon was part of an agreed system between Isorans and the Spiral Order pioneers in Haven, though the only reason a refugee camp would flash yellow would be to identify a potential threat. From what Brawl knew there were no threats in these trees. The real danger watched from outside.
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With the fiends defeated Green sheathed his Ascended Calibur as Blue approached the exit platform. As Green followed he heard a distant voice scrape at his mind.
“Return the eye.”
Green raised one hand to hold his head, only to have it grasped by an invisible force before it could reach his forehead.
“Return the eye!”
The voice clawed at his mind, every letter peeling the surface of metal as the claws left a burning sensation following every second. Each talon dripped a burning liquid as he felt the agony of mental pain becoming a false physical pain, forcing him to his knees as Blue watched nearby.
“Green? Are you alright?”
Green felt the presence of his comrade nearby though he would be unable to help. As the pain pulsated and grew, Green forced himself to respond in hopes the pressure would withdraw.
“What do you want?”
“The eye.” The burning became stronger as the voice spoke. “The eye of Ur. Bring it to me.”
“I-I wi-”
Before Green could complete his mental response, the pain was wisped away as bliss returned. Green forced himself to stand as Blue kneeled next to him, taking one of his arms over his own shoulder and carrying him to the platform. Green wanted to protest but knew his pride was less important than belittling Blue.
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“I know some of these names.” Lugnut was reading through a pile of letters on the table.
“Any of these from you, boyo?” Brawl was sitting across from him. They were both going through the letters again until a thought came to mind. “Have you seen Sylvin around?”
__________________________________
“This is the last time we are going to ask you.” Feron paced back and forth in the small, poorly lit room.
Jorin stood by the door with his arms crossed. Daxen leaned against the opposite wall, the brim of his hat tipped down. Feron halted in front of Sylvin, the only one seated, and leaned on the table in front of him. “All you need to do is cooperate so we can all go home.”
Sylvin felt a numbing pain in his head. His last memory was walking out of the base before sunset, after directing Brawl to his quarters for the night. He was going to take a walk around the forest, patrolling for any sign of unidentified life which may walk among the trees. In his childhood he was one of the lantern kids, taking a lantern and walking around alone to remind the Spiral Order to back off. Using their few militant knights would be a waste of resources. When Brawl left the Order started offering incentives to join their alleged truce with the outcasts by creating a military sect to protect their settlements.
Feron was getting impatient. He was pacing throughout the night, not that the Spiral Order slaves would know what night is. They practically reprogram new knights to never see night, keeping them in infinite daylight. If something would normally be hidden by darkness, in their distorted perception of reality, it would be blurred unnaturally. They were also reprogrammed to create their own interpretation in such events where their systems would have something to fall back on in case anyone questioned them.
Sylvin and Feron shared a long awkward stare. Sylvin attempted to stand but found himself unable to. He attempted to look down to his legs only to find a sort of brace keeping him in place.
“What is this?!” Sylvin simply sat and watched Feron pace for so long he never bothered to escape. With two other Vanguards in the room, especially two offensive powerhouses as Jorin and Daxen are, they would subdue him anyway. Not to mention the uselessness of his amassed resistance to shadow damage when no one in the room used such weaponry.
Feron backed away, taking his hands off the table. “All you need to do is tell us so we can let you go.”
“Tell you what?” Sylvin felt a small twitch of panic. Could they have known?
“Tell us where they are.”
“Who? Archilus and Zebulon? How am I supposed to know?”
Feron swung a fist at Sylvin, hitting him right on the side of his face. “Stop trying to distract us!”
Sylvin shook his head to the best of ability before responding. “What do you want from me?!”
Feron leaned in close. “Where they keep the eye.”
__________________________________
“Where do you find these?” Lugnut returned the letters to their crates and began restacking the crates on one side of the room. Brawl helped.
“Something brings them. Sylvin knows about it better, he was watching the base while we were down.” Brawl opened the door and stood in the doorway. He scanned around broadly before turning back into the room and closing the door. “He must be out picking up supplies.”
When the room was organized again Lugnut gazed blankly out a small window on the opposite side of the room. It was pitch black. The base was rarely lit more than necessary for individual knights to walk with visibility, but it was ridiculously dark out.
“Is it still night?” Lugnut walked up to the door and opened it, then walked outside and stood in front of the doorway. He heard Brawl stand.
“I know what this is.” Brawl put one hand on his shoulder. “Take a lantern with you.”
__________________________________
The bliss comfort of light without any sign of physical being nearby gave the adult knight a sense of security, though felt himself also without any physical form.
“Awaken, Feron.”
In a vain attempt to hold his hands to his face, Feron could not help but arise from the dim blur reality had become.
“You have returned to your king.”
King? “Who are you?”
“I am Ozlo, the king of the Spiral Order. On your mission to deliver a large amount of our kind the ship was damaged, forcing you and your crew to flee in escape pods. On your way down you were burned to ashes before reaching the surface.”
“Does that make me...dead?”
“That is why you have returned. You will be returned to a new body to once again contribute to the Spiral Order with your leadership. Unlike a few other knights who have returned, your efforts were not for personal benefit. Only when the last child was safely on their way to Cradle did you take your own means of escape.”
“Thank you, my king.”
“As your first time returning I must explain this to you as must be with all knights. Before you return, my son, you must know something very important.”
“Yes?”
“Since the first knight arrived upon Cradle, then returned, some have become corrupt by an unknown force. This corruption burrows into their mind, eventually worming into their system until their entire body has become corrupt by its will. This force wishes to destroy us. To destroy the Spiral Order. When you return you will be my will to cleanse our people of this disease.”
Feron felt as though he were shriveling into himself. Before his own implosion, as the light drained away to a sinkhole infinitely far from his perception, he spoke a few last words to his king. “I will, my liege.”
Oh so, it is Feron, that Ozlo is manifesting, but it seems as though Feron may have gained some free will, hmmmm?
Not quite.
I am definitely going to explain the deal with Ozlo in the next part, which should be up some time tomorrow, but he never assumes a new body. He had his original body, then he became the mainframe so other knights can return to life when he was trapped in the Spiral Order mainframe. When Feron returned after his first demise, being incinerated on his way down to Cradle because he was going down too fast, Ozlo asked Feron to keep the Isorans on Cradle safe from a corrupting force by annihilating fully corrupt knights before they are used against their own will to destroy their own people; to end their misery. The problem was Ozlo failing to specify he only wanted fully corrupt knights to be destroyed, leading Feron to believe anyone infected by the corruption whatsoever needs to be destroyed.
Never mind having historical references, that would get too complicated. Try not to worry too much, I got this.
After a painfully slow interrogation, Sylvin was tiring of the repeated assaults followed by vague demands.
“What eye are you talking about?!”
This demand was answered by another punch. “I know your past. You were with those traitors. They must have shown you where they kept it.”
“For the last time, no one told me anything about an eye.” Sylvin felt his breath drop as the pain began to take its toll. His thoughts were scattered after every hit, though with every hit recovery was further delayed. He was beginning to see static for a few seconds after every swing.
To his left Daxen peeked up a little and spoke in a calm yet emotionless voice.
“Maybe they never really took him in.”
Feron backed away from Sylvin and turned to Daxen. “What do you mean? He was practically one of their lookouts, the kids walking around with those wretched lanterns.” Sylvin noticed Feron shook his shoulders slightly as if restraining himself. “At least, before we brought him back to the truth.” He leaned up to Sylvin again. “Well? Do you know anything or are we wasting our time here?”
Sylvin looked to Daxen out of the corner of his eye. Daxen gave a slight nod, then covered his eyes with the brim of his hat again.
“No. They never told me anything.”
Jorin stiffened by the door, his shoulders lifting slightly as his arms flexed. Feron seemed to notice. He backed away again and walked to the door. After opening the door he stopped to give a final order.
“You know where to take this traitor.”
Daxen made no motion, but Jorin drew his Leviathan. As Feron exited into the outside halls, the only lighting beaming down from overhead lamps, Jorin approached Sylvin. In his voice of neutral steel, he bid his final statement to his fellow Vanguard.
“Might as well cut you down before tossing you in the chute.”
As Jorin raised the massive blade in preparation to strike, he stopped before allowing it to fall. Daxen stood behind him with his Nova Driver pointed to his back.
“Down.”
Jorin slowly returned his Leviathan to its sheath, then backtracked to the door.
“Out.” Jorin opened the door, still facing the two Vanguards still in the room, then closed it. Sylvin could hear him run down the metal hallway as Daxen unbound him.
__________________________________
“Has anyone seen Feron?” Blue searched frantically for help as Green was becoming less lucid.
At first Green was merely clutching his head as if something had hit him, but by the time they returned to the Arcade he was barely standing. Blue tried to carry Green with him only to realize he lacks the physical strength Green had to carry him with ease. As the weight seemed to grow Blue inevitably fell to the ground, Green collapsing next to him.
“Sleeping on the job?” Blue looked up to see Feron looming over them. He rolled to his side to stand, then attempted to bring Green to his feet.
“We need to get Green to a medic,” Blue struggled to pull Green up.
Feron rolled his eyes. After several wasteful moments he decided to call a few subordinates to assist, then ordered them to take the unconscious knight to the infirmary. Blue stood awaiting questions from the lieutenant, responded to by Feron walking away from him.
“W-Wait!” Blue called out as Feron had his back to him. He turned around.
“Yes?”
“He was clutching his head before we got on the elevator to come back up. On the way he started getting less lucid until he eventually passed out when we came to ground level.”
“Thank you for the information.” Feron began to turn away again, only to stop briefly. He remembered something. “See Daxen for your next assignment. Your friend will be repaired soon.”
Feron walked away as Blue stood motionless and alone.
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“Your people await, my liege.”
“Please, my friend, call me Ozlo.” A tall knight dressed in a ceremonial armor with draped cloth around his shoulder stood from a seat in his personal quarters and followed another knight out the door of the room.
Outside in the sunlight, a crowd of knights stood facing the balcony where Ozlo appeared. The metal buildings of plain gray loomed throughout the city, and in the far distance were only more of such buildings. When Ozlo leaned on the metal balcony and scanned the crowd, a mass cheer replied to his presence. Ozlo held one palm to them.
“Today we have gathered to discuss a new mission. A select group of pioneers will board a spacecraft and venture into the universe to find other people, people like us, to unite our strengths and improve our weaknesses. Together we will grow off one another, and the more the merrier.”
The crowd cheered. Ozlo held his palm up momentarily again.
“The majority of this first expedition will be military to ensure the safety of our explorers. However, they will not be present to conquer alien worlds. Their duty is to protect, not enslave. A lieutenant will be in command of every section aboard the ship: the maintenance, military, navigation, and research.” The knight from earlier approached to the side of Ozlo, holding his arms behind his back as the brim of his hat only revealed the glimpse of light from his optic lights. “With me is the military lieutenant of the first expedition, Daxen.” Ozlo took a step back, turned to the other knight and held one arm motioning him to step forward.
The knight wearing a Nameless set hesitated, but as the cheering grew louder he inevitably gave in. Unable to hide under the brim of his hat, Daxen was forced to face the crowd. His crimson eyes scattered around the mass of various colored eyes staring back at him. He took one step back and turned to Ozlo, who had one arm around his shoulder and the other open to the crowd. Ozlo brought both of them forward.
“Daxen has nothing to say at the moment, but he will be available for questions later today before supply storage begins.”
When the crowd roared again, Ozlo turned them both around and the announcement adjourned.
“My liege, I have heard threatening rumors.”
Ozlo smiled. “The troops asking for larger portions again?” He nudged Daxen with his elbow. Daxen kept a serious tone.
“I have overheard groups of knights discussing a rebellion. When they notice my presence they immediately disperse, but before then they behave discreetly.”
Ozlo accessed a large console in his quarters and opened the historical mainframe. “Have any names?”
Daxen proceeded to list the few names he could remember, though he soon realized his lack of social activity left out many faces. Ozlo searched their names and found several files.
“None of these knights are in any military section. How would they create violence without the resources to do so?”
Daxen stood in silence to ponder. He looked up at the screen. Most of them were in maintenance or research. One in particular caught his eye. Lugnut, a researcher. Daxen pointed to his mugshot.
“May I see further details of that knight, my liege?”
Ozlo opened the file. Several records opened indicating unapproved projects, mostly independent, and a few collaborations with bitter results: civilian endangerment, conspiring against superior command, and countless other offenses.
“Who is this criminal?” Daxen asked with a sneer, as though he were unwillingly facing a disease ridden vermin.
Ozlo laughed and pat Daxen on the shoulder, who was standing next to him.
“No need to make such a fuss, we caught him recently.”
Daxen realized he recognized the name from the new inmate list on the prison he ran outside town. They rarely had new prisoners, especially since they were usually reprogrammed or permanently deactivated, seeing as their law would only imprison for offenses worth death and spawning child knights was not particularly expensive. Ozlo closed the criminal file and opened something else. In it were countless names, a few of which Daxen recognized.
“What are these doing there?” Of the names he knew, all were deceased by age or war. The civil war had ended a few cycles ago but for veterans it was still emblazoned in their memories. Too many lost. As Daxen began to bow his head in sorrow Ozlo took notice.
“This is the cure to the plague of death, my friend.” Daxen looked up from his imminent tears to Ozlo, who motioned to the screen. Ozlo opened the file of Remi, a fairly young bomber before his end. Ozlo drew a cord from his back and plugged into the console. An option appeared in the file. Ozlo activated this new option which was followed by an electronic surge from his back through the cord into the console. A loading meter appeared on the screen. As Ozlo fell limp he struggled to point to a corner of the room with a pod Daxen had not noticed, seeing as it sat among many other machines. When Ozlo fell completely unconscious Daxen awaited the meter to complete, then heard a beep from the pod. Ozlo still lay motionless. The screen simply indicated something was complete. A wire among countless others along the floor from the console gave a minuscule spark, which then trailed along the cord until it reached the pod. Daxen followed the spark and stood next to the pod. A noise came from the console where he was previously standing followed by a purge of steam from the pod as it began to open. When the mist cleared a bulky figure began to stir within the pod. After several tense moments, Daxen heard Ozlo stand and approach behind him, who then stood to his side. Both witnessed the demolitionist arise, struggling to stand and readjusting to the weight he once again assumed.
“R...Remi?” Daxen held one shaking hand out to the arising figure, the large and clumsy blast suit emerging as the deceased returning to life. The dim, colorless face screen and personal areas of the torso began to flicker to a shallow green, hastening their flashing rate until they adapted to a solid chartreuse. On the face screen two bright green circles flickered for a brief moment then glowed steadily. The knight held one hand to his face, then the other.
“I... Daxen..?” He lowered his hands, out of his face, and stumbled toward Daxen. Before he could stand before him, Remi began to fall. Daxen caught him with both arms and struggled to bring him back to his feet.
“You have returned, my son.”
__________________________________
Ozlo felt the fallout of the process. His body was barely standing and his mind was flushed with static. He watched as a father and son were reunited, though it was not long before he had to return to the seat before the console. As he opened the files of several other prospects for the experiment, mentally noting whose body was still salvageable to grant the highest priority to the easiest subjects, he heard the two limp up behind him. Ozlo turned to notice Remi was leaning on Ozlo for support. Before Daxen could speak, Ozlo could tell what his question would be.
“He needs a few days to readjust, but after that he should be running around again. I should b-” A pulse of static swept through him, interrupting his thoughts and following sentence. “-e able to repeat the process for others, starting with those whose lifeless bodies are still intact.”
Daxen nodded, then motioned to turn. Before leaving the king to his business he stopped to notice his condition. “Are you sure this is safe for you to do?”
Ozlo smiled. His legs felt numb, but he had to sell the charade he was fine for Daxen to allow him to be alone. “About that researcher you were interested in,” Ozlo was hoping to find a distraction, “he was transferred over to your prison bloc, you should check him out. Maybe he can help the expeditions to redeem himself.” Ozlo knew it was unlikely, but the longer it kept Daxen at bay the more knights he could salvage.
Daxen nodded again and took Remi with him outside and closed the door. Ozlo waited until he could hear footsteps along the metal surface outside as he sat in silence. Once the footsteps became too distant to hear he stood and limped to the storage closet to store another body in the pod in spite of his own numbness.
__________________________________
Daxen struggled to open the door then flipped the lights on. He brought Remi over to a couch and rolled him onto it. Remi began to blink, the circles flickering until they tracked Daxen as he routinely checked his console for any urgent messages.
“D..Daxen..?”
“Will you be alright here by yourself for a while?” There was something important.
Remi made himself comfortable before answering. “Yeah. Be back soon.”
Daxen pulled a plug from the wall and handed it to Remi. “In case you need it.” Daxen ran out the door which closed automatically behind him. Remi lay in silence.
__________________________________
It was finally time. Daxen has been waiting for this opportunity for far too long since the latest relevant event, but now was his chance. He arrived at his prison bloc and entered the interrogation chambers below the ground floor. As he hastily dashed along countless corridors of prison cells, as few as they were, held the most dangerous knights allowed to live; the further he went, the worse the prisoners. He reached a blast door at the end of the hallway and greeted the only guard at this end.
“Anything unusual today, Brawl?”
“A little more talkative than normal, but they always mumble to themselves.” Four slits filtered an orange glow through the dim red face grate. His heavily layered armor appeared too heavy for Daxen to carry if there were three of him, but he knew Brawl well enough.
“I got your message and I came as fast as I could.”
Brawl nodded, then began deactivating the safeguards on the door. There were no cells within earshot of this particular cell for Brawl to notice without wandering, but this cell has not been inhabited for a while; at least, not until they caught a particular criminal.
As the thick section of solid metal drifted open, Brawl gave a final word.
“Stay calm.”
Daxen nodded. The last time they had someone in this cell they were too unstable to submit to interrogation, resulting in their death; by his own hand. Or, rather, by his own gun. It was a loss to the investigation though nothing of significance was at stake which was salvagable. The slaughtered children were already long gone.
“Welcome back, Daxen.” The voice was smooth yet vile, as though a prying serpent were finding a crevice to exploit. “I trust your journey was pleasant before seeing me again.”
“I still wonder why they let you live after everything you have done.” Daxen approached the seated and restricted figure on the other side of the room behind several barred walls. “Lugnut.”
The figure laughed briefly, the sound a burning feather tickling under his chin. Daxen clenched his fists. “They should have taken you down before even considering bringing you back here, you demented maniac!”
Silence. Daxen knew what he said before saying it but felt it was out of place. The figure tilted its head up from the shadows to reveal two red spirals, revolving slowly yet uninhibited by tone.
“You know as well as I do that it had to be done. Without that research there would be no new demolition based technology and our versatility would diminish, belittling our people to using sticks and rocks.”
“That was different. This was far worse.” Daxen recalled the recent event of a machine created by Lugnut which nearly destroyed the planet. “You could have killed everyone.”
“It was purely a test. No harm would have befallen us, it was simply a test to know where to stop its capability before it got out of hand. Trial and error. The worst that could have happened was for me to deactivate it and it falls into pieces, setting the project back countless cycles.”
“Why did you create that thing to begin with?” Daxen vividly remembered what it was: a machine of not particular size, but with a near indestructible design and creation which consumed sentient machines to empower itself further. “Why create something to destroy when we have no enemies?”
“It was never meant to be violent.” A brief pause. “I had hoped to give it life. A new means of exploration by creating life from machine, to have the ability to pardon my mistakes by returning the lives lost. Instead I created...” Lugnut let the sentence trail but Daxen came to a realization.
“Does Ozlo know about this?”
Lugnut lowered his eyes again, the red glow beginning to peeve Daxen. “While they hauled me away I noticed our king remove the device from the ruins of my facility.”
The two sat in silence, Lugnut behind countless barriers and Daxen in one of a few chairs near the door. Lugnut eventually spoke up.
“I know that technology was used to restore your son, recently.”
Daxen stiffened. “Why would you think that?” He tried to stay calm but could not bare staying civil in the presence of the same maniac who caused the death of Remi to begin with.
Lugnut tilted his head back again, staring at the ceiling. “My creations are part of me, as your arms and legs are part of you. I know when I am being used against my own will.”
Daxen stood. “Your war machines have been confiscated by the Spiral Order for public safety.” He turned to the door and left.
Thanks for the explanation, and for the new chapters, thank you, thank you, thank you. A way around the main drain is simple, multiboxing!
Should I reorganize the whole thing to be in chronological order, or can everyone figure out what is past and present?
It might spoil the plot points of flashing back to expand that the past is irreversible and how the present came to be rather than starting with the generic basics, but it would keep the storyline linear.
After a brief moment of thought between several headaches
Actually, now that the voic- I mean headaches have stopped for a little while, having the storyline flashback lets the timeline be expanded further without limiting it to a linear series of events.
Also, repeating this so people know, I will not be accepting character applications for this book/novel/thing which ends with chapter ten. I plan to make a sequel which will allow for character applications. Until then, stay alive long enough to see when it starts so you weavers can send in your hopes and dreams only for me to butcher them somehow.
The next update should be up within the next couple days, so keep your internal organ inside the vehicle at all times and do not throw purple pistachios at onlookers regardless of how much you want to.
Green was unable to see anything in the pitch black abyss, though when the same heated voice scraped at his mind he felt a deep violet pulsate within the void.
“You will return the eye.”
Green noticed there was no crippling pain following the command.
“What eye? What are you asking of me?”
“The eye.”
From the distance, where the washed out violet pulses originated, two thin and lighter lines of purple emerged. They slowly began to part, revealing a large purple pupil glaring back at him. The left and right ends of the two lines curled to their direction in relation to each other, the upper line curling upward while the lower curled downward, as the pupil began to glow brighter until its stare began to tremble. The pupil itself began to shake violently within its socket, shaking the alternate reality Green seemed to be standing in. The intangible surface he stood upon began to shake as the pupil convulsed, the eyelids slowly opening further and further until the eye enveloped all darkness and only the white of its sclera enveloped the world in its blinding absorption of all light. As the shaking became more violent Green noticed his hands were beginning to lose their color, draining away to black as the gray of his coat and green of his gloves was sucked into the pupil.
“Return the eye!”
__________________________________
“You tried to get some answers.” Ozlo was laying in bed. Daxen stood at his side in spite of the chair nearby.
“He might know where it went, my liege.” Daxen held his eyes down in melancholy. Ozlo seemed unable to stand by his refusals to join Daxen for another attempt, though he had no idea what would have caused such disability. “Are your legs alright?”
“Nothing significant, I simply tire from my duties. We must all have times to rest from our endeavors, including you.”
Daxen lifted his gaze. “I...I understand.”
“You should care for Remi. He still has a few days until his functionality is restored.” Ozlo drew away from Daxen and returned to slumber. Daxen left the king, closing the door behind him as he exited. He continued down a spiraling staircase to the floor beneath the tower, passing several doors guarded with two knights each in Ironmight. Each stiffened as he passed.
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Lugnut sat mutely in the cell. He felt exhausted after the constant use of his revitalization device which had been captured and repurposed by the king by unprofessional means; the device was impaired in its ability to conserve energy, which should merely flush the imported energy through the corpse then return it to the origin; instead it was shoddily reconstructed from the wreckage after those violent fools trespassed without warrant and destroyed everything and failed to correctly return the energy. Without an infinite source of energy the device would eventually drain the origin source until every miniscule fragment of life is drained from them, down to every sense of being they have.
Lugnut felt a whip lash at his back. He knew the feeling was not a physical assault, but something outside. It was still out there. They were still hunting it. Every pain he felt from its connection was linked to a modification in its emotion, though the Spiral Order claimed it to be a vile method of connecting them in case one dies to be transferred to the other; their beings were separate, yet it had none of its own within the Spiral Order. It was no one. It was merely a machine built by a criminal. A criminal to the people who asked for such defilement of technology to create. The king himself asked such a device to be attempted to explore further into the advancement of technology and its applications to living conditions, such as expanding the energy system; though such a project would require a living test subject. As a means to this trial Lugnut had planned to use himself rather than the thieves and murderers who defiled this facility in outside cells, though their placement is free compared to the accommodations Lugnut sat in, none of them were free. There was no freedom in this metal jungle. Our king may be benevolent as he is not the oppressor, but the blades and guns which bowed to him.
Lugnut imagined he heard the door opening again, looking up from the floor near him to the sealed barrier in the distance. Even in this empty shell, he was free in mind while the rest of the world was imprisoned by itself.
__________________________________
“Remi?” Daxen entered slowly. The lights had been switched off.
He first checked the couch where he left Remi, only to find it empty. The cord had been returned to the wall nearby. Daxen went around the corner and opened another door, finding one of the two pods occupied and a recording disk sitting on top. Daxen grabbed the disk then checked the pod window. Remi was laying inside. Before deactivating the hibernation it was set to, Daxen activated the recording.
‘Daxen
Ozlo sent a message to rest for a few days, so I got in one of the pods to hibernate so you can work without having to worry about me. I know your job is still more important than family, but not to the point of letting me rot. I know you care. I also know from Ozlo you have an important dedication to focus on. I hope in my absence you complete whatever it is you are doing so I can return to your life the overzealous demolitionist who locked that door before you were caught in that explosion, but without being dead. Good luck, I hope to see you soon.
Your son, Remi’
The device flickered until it deactivated. Daxen placed the disk on a table near the pod and walked out of the room. He sat down on the couch with his face in his hands.
“It was still my fault and I have to make it up to you.” He stood. “And the rest who fell before you.” Daxen stood and left, leaving the lights off.
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“I will lead the expedition as you command, your highness.”
“Thank you, Feron.” Ozlo was still bedridden but on the console several folders in the deceased listing were removed. Feron noticed the title of the folder, ‘Subjects’, then noticed several familiar names.
“My liege, these knights are deceased.”
“No. Not anymore.” Ozlo struggled to raise a hand to indicate the pod in a corner of the room, several wires leading between it and the console. Feron leaned over the pod, peeking into the window, and noticed a familiar face.
“Is...Is th..” Struggling to speak, Ozlo simply nodded to him. “C-Can I..?” Ozlo gestured to open the pod. Feron pried open the pod door to reveal an Azure Guardian armor breathing steadily. “Jorin.”
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“Back so soon, boyo?” Brawl was at the end of the hallway playing cards with one of the other guards. The two sat opposite each other around a small round table.
“I need to speak with him again.”
Brawl lay his cards face down and stood, leading Daxen to the door again. Out of the corner of his vision Daxen noticed the other guard put his own cards down and lean back in his seat. These guards needed something to do. Daxen mentally noted to create a training exercise later.
“I heard about Remi. He doing alright?” Brawl was going through the process of opening the hefty door, starting with countless devices testing various skills; strength and memory primarily.
“Hibernation until he recovers. He should be back in a few days.”
As the steam depressurized and created a fog at their feet, Brawl stood with the door for Daxen to enter. The chair he sat in before was in the same place and nothing had moved. Lugnut was still sitting in the same place with his eyes on the floor.
“You want to know why.”
Daxen sat and remained silent. Lugnut continued regardless.
“If you could have one wish, uninhibited by reality, what would you ask for?”
Still silence.
“Of all the selfish whims anyone could desire, of all the plights for power and greed infested hungers to feed, the common knight would ask for all they aspire for. To become our new king, to have an infinite supply of energy at their disposal, and all the armaments their pitiful imagination can muster. To have what they want. Do you agree?”
Daxen felt he wanted to respond but knew better of it.
“I see. What do you think I would ask?”
Another awkward pause. Lugnut raised his burning eyes to stare back at Daxen. “The happiness of others.”
Daxen stood and approached the first set of bars. “Your machines have destroyed entire cities. Your experiments have consumed and corrupted innocent knights, turning their physical bodies into mere puddles. Your hands have activated death traps which have ripped knights apart by their limbs and crushed their skulls into scrap metal.” Daxen grasped the bars. “What makes you so selfless?”
Lugnut appeared to be smiling, though it was too dark to see clearly. “You confuse innocence with murderers in disguise.”
Daxen noticed his grip tighten around the bars. “The only murderer is you.” Daxen took a moment to reflect on what he just said, knowing very well that Lugnut was just the most noticeable murderer by his head count. “You kill for pleasure.”
“Wrong.” Lugnut spoke as though he meant to interrupt, though he seemed to be holding himself back. “I kill the people who kill for pleasure. I do what your soldiers are afraid to do: end their misery.”
Daxen felt his hands shake as his grip seemed to be squeezing the metal bars until they bend. “You think you make justice? You liar!” Daxen began to lose his patience. His calm voice has grown into a hateful scream, the walls reverberating his uncontained rage as Lugnut simply sat in the shadows.
“I thought lieutenants were professional.”
Daxen released his grip and stepped back, then took the seat again. “Continue.”
“None of my work has ever been created for the purpose of death. They all have been merely tests for my last creation to ensure it would have the resources to defend others without resorting to slaughter. Since my progress was interrupted before these safeguards could be implemented, it ran rampant and did the opposite of my initial intent.” Lugnut paused for a brief second. “They brought it upon themselves.”
“Then why use living test subjects for the weaponry?”
“I have been...collecting...the scum of the cities. Thieves, thugs; that sort. Upon revealing their situation I offer them a choice: participate in the test or die trying to escape. I gave them every chance to live and walk away unscathed, but they always chose the difficult option first.” Lugnut lowered his eyes again. “When I started the process was entirely optional, though the subjects were of the same kind. I had no means to pay due to my unfortunate position, though I had the resources to progress with the project.”
“And what is this project?”
Lugnut hesitated to answer. “Under its original title, Forgiveness.” Lugnut raised his eyes to stare back at Daxen again with the red spirals. “Under your king, Cobalt.”
These flashbacks are amazing, explaining the Spiral Order before Ozlo became almighty.
“Your friend is still in hibernation. Maybe you should go back to running missions, he might be repaired by then.” The medic slouched as he stood, exhausted by the long night as Blue visits in the black skies checking in with Green again.
He has been running assignments without Green and it felt strange not having his comrade with him, though he was learning how to adapt to solo combat.
“Do you know when he will be able again?”
The medic held one hand to his forehead. “No, it could be days. He seems to be in a comatose condition, completely unresponsive. Something must have been in that mission you two were in that messed with or fried his systems because this is the worst case I have ever seen.” The medic paused, then lowered his hand. “Except...” The medic looked up to Blue, then quickly ran back inside and slammed the door.
Blue stood out in the silence for a few moments, then eventually left to the bar. He sat on a stool at the counter as the bartender wiped a glass with a cloth. When the bartender approached him Blue merely waved him away, then dropped his head in his arms slouched over on the counter. There was no one else in the bar. Eventually the bartender went into the back room, retiring for the night, and turned down the lights so Blue could stay a while. Eventually the stars began to shine outside, the peace of night returning to Cradle as the rest of the world believed it was still day; Blue noticed this with the other knights recently. Blue speculated of the pleasant calm brought by nightfall, but others believe night never falls on Cradle. This rarely evolved into argument and eventually Blue gave up on others. Maybe everyone was using a modified set of optic lenses so they would always be able to see clear as daylight, but the night brought more than eternal light could satisfy. After a while Blue eventually stood and walked away from the stool and unwittingly stood in front of a window. He was staring blankly out the window, remembering the direction as going out of Haven. In the far distance he noticed a tree slightly closer than the rest of the woods. Something appeared to move. Blue squinted in hopes to see further more clearly and noticed a shadow with two blank white orbs which appeared to be eyes staring at him, then shrink back into the trees.
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“You must be insane.” Daxen paused for a brief moment before correcting himself. “This must be a mistake in the system, my liege.”
“No. Lugnut is to be part of the expedition research team.”
Daxen was pacing in the open area of the room while Ozlo still lay immobile. Daxen noticed his legs seemed smaller than normal underneath, the shape of his feet missing and his legs appearing shorter, but he thought it rude to stare. He continued to speak to keep his mind off of it.
“Something must be missing here. No one would have clearance to move him from extreme containment to any of the expedition teams except me and a couple other high ranks.” Daxen thought for a moment. There was Feron on navigation, Brawl on military, Daxen himself on maintenance, and... “Who did you choose to lead the research team?”
Ozlo smiled. “No one was available.”
Daxen put the pieces together.
“Please tell me...”
“Lugnut is leading the research team.”
Daxen felt his arms flex on their own, then clench around his head. The very thought of that murderer being his equal in rank but superior in importance to the greatest mission of his life made him furious. He noticed Ozlo smiling again.
“Consider this his punishment, to be under constant supervision of the people who he has wronged. But you are not allowed to harm him.”
Daxen threw his arms away from himself. “He needs to be executed! After all he did!”
Ozlo began to struggle to sit up. “Lugnut is leading a vital part of the mission. He is your comrade.”
Daxen forced himself to calm down. He took a chair near the door and sat in it, his hands shaking and legs trying to twitch into standing again. Ozlo must have noticed. He began to sit up more to reveal what Daxen noticed to be correct: his lower legs appeared to be missing.
“Are...Are your legs alright, your highness?”
Ozlo looked down at his legs, then began trying to lie down again. Daxen stood and approached him, then tossed the covering layer away to reveal his legs from the upper leg down were rotting as if they were too close to an open furnace. Daxen stumbled back in horror.
“Wh..Wha...”
“Over a hundred have been returned so far.”
Daxen was at a loss for words. He had never seen such damage without the afflicted showing their suffering. “You need a medic.” Daxen almost sprinted out the door until Ozlo stopped him, grabbing him by the arm.
“I will be fine.” Ozlo gestured to the chair Daxen was sitting in. He brought it to his side. “With every revitalization I feel my own body begin to deteriorate, but the value of a life is greater than minuscule suffering on my behalf.”
Daxen was unable to stop himself from staring at the deteriorating metal. There was no liquid pouring out or pieces thrown around, just the mangled stubs that used to be the legs of the king.
“There is a meeting for the lieutenants. I recommend you attend.”
Daxen felt he was being manipulated. “Your health is more important.”
“This mission is more important.” The two sat in silence for a few seconds. “I command you to follow through with this mission. As your king.”
Daxen stood and stepped back. “As you wish.” He left.
__________________________________
“Glad you could join us.” Feron opened the door when he saw Daxen through the window but was not given the same pleasant response. Instead Daxen stormed up to Lugnut and stood only a few steps away from the seated knight in the same bulky blast suit.
“About time you showed up, boyo.” Brawl was leaning against the wall near Lugnut but not facing the same direction. “I knew you would be upset but I still called you in.”
Daxen realized he forgot to check his messages. Lugnut spoke.
“He must have had business to attend to. After all, unlike the rest of us, he still has family.” Daxen felt the snarling smile Lugnut gave dig into his mind and claw downward.
Feron spoke up unexpectedly. “The king brought Jorin back.”
Brawl uncrossed his arms and stopped leaning on the wall. Lugnut flinched, his head lashing downward as if he were hit upside the head. Daxen had no reaction. After a long silence Lugnut predictably intervened.
“Congratulations.”
Daxen clenched his fists. Lugnut was the reason Jorin was dead to begin with. Before Daxen could say anything Brawl spoke up.
“Ozlo brought us here for a reason. We need a plan.”
Feron spoke again while walking in the middle of the room. “Our mission is to find a source of energy outside our current planet. Something the energy and resources we need. Our planet has been nearly drained of its natural resources.”
Lugnut interrupted. “In other words, invading an alien planet for our own benefit. How generous of us.”
Daxen felt the urge to throw his fist through that round skull but Brawl gave him a stern look. Daxen took a chair and sat with them. Feron seemed to be leading the conversation as he sat closest to the center of the four.
“Our first decision is who else to bring outside our crews. Do we want civilians, more military, more...” Feron looked to Lugnut, “...machines?”
“I appreciate your subtlety, lieutenant.” Daxen noticed the way Lugnut turned insult to sarcasm. “The answer is simple. In a multiple choice question, if all of the above is an option, it is most likely correct.”
Daxen leaned forward in his seat. “That means to only choose one, thank you.”
Feron and Brawl eyed him down. Feron continued.
“Actually, having diversity would be helpful for morality. Everyone would think no more of themselves over others if the group counts are even.”
Daxen huffed. Feron ignored him.
“I shall coordinate the pioneering groups at once. Brawl, please announce the news to the ranks. Lugnut...” Feron trailed off for a moment before piecing together something appropriate, “gather up some teams and bring any works in progress in the blueprint or planning stages for the trip. We may as well do something on the way wherever Ozlo has us headed.” Feron looked from Brawl to Lugnut to Daxen. “Alright. Moving on.”
“Attention everyone. May I have your attention.”
Feron stood on the podium with Brawl, Daxen, and Lugnut a couple steps aside. In front of the stage was a large crowd of knights, the countless colors glowing brightly in the sunlight from their excitement. Feron continued.
“Today we have gathered here to bid farewell to Isora. We may never return, but our king has asked us lieutenants to ensure we do.”
A hollow laugh echoed through the crowd. In the midst of the crowd Daxen noticed Remi waving to him. Daxen gave a weak wave only to regain composure when he remembered what he was doing. After the crowd settled Feron continued.
“Normally our gracious king would speak for the departure but he has recently fallen ill and must rest. As he rejuvenates himself, the people of Isora awaiting our successful return, this is our turn. We must stand while those who stood before us retire. We are the future. We will bring glory and prosperity to our people!” Feron thrust his fist in the air. The crowd responded with a roaring cheer. After a long round of applause Brawl eventually stepped forward.
“Now board up!” Brawl waved one arm toward the ship while walking toward it himself, though he seemed to be scanning the crowd as it passed him for someone in particular. The other lieutenants walked along the walk elevated above the open path everyone else was taking, Brawl included, as Feron took Daxen by the shoulder and slowed him so Lugnut would pass.
“I know you two have issues,” Feron seemed to be whispering but the crowd was so loud he had to speak loud enough to be audible, “but this is too important to let him get in your way. We need all the help we can get.”
Daxen clenched the fist opposite of where Feron was standing. He seemed to have noticed.
“All we need from him is research and development. Easy stuff. The research team already knows not to let him actually lead anything, he just reports back to us what they come up with. Knowing that maniac he should go crazy by the time we land and beg us to finish him off, seeing as the king said not to let him work on anything himself.”
Daxen smirked. Feron definitely noticed. “Alright, Feron. I can play your game.”
Once they boarded and the last passenger was settled the lieutenants entered their respective sections and the launch sequence began, followed by their flight from the planet surface.
__________________________________
Brawl managed to keep his walk calm but was unable to bear what was on his mind. He checked in with the troops first then announced he was going to check on the civilian area to make sure no one was going crazy yet. He got a laugh out of most of them but they were all equally aware of how significant that would be.
“Brawl? What are you doing down here?”
Brawl recognized that voice. “Remi, I heard you were back.” He was unable to fully accept the defiance of death yet was standing face to face with the living dead. He seemed perfectly healthy, as though the incident never happened, though they both knew exactly what happened.
“Yeah, Ozlo fixed me up really well. For some reason he cringed every once in a while. When I came out of hibernation to rest he asked me to help him out with other knights getting the same treatment I got, so I did.”
“Did you notice anything strange?”
Remi held one hand to his chin. “Well, after a knight was able to walk a little on their own Ozlo would seize up a little. He told me it was nothing but the more knights got on their legs again the more in pain he seemed.”
“Was there anything strange about the knights who came back? Do you feel any different?”
Remi shrugged. “Nothing. They all seem like nothing happened, except the part where everyone remembers being shredded alive by a blast of hea-”
“I know, I was there.” Brawl turned away for a moment. “Sorry.”
“No need to apologize. You stopped Daxen from opening the door before the fallout kicked in, though I was mostly blocking the doorway..”
They let it stay at that. Remi continued.
“Is Daxen doing alright?”
“A lot more agitated than normal. If you see him try not to bring up...”
Remi nodded. He knew.
“Anyway, I better get back to the ranks. They probably need something to do before they get bored.”
“Alright. If you see Daxen be sure to send him down here for a break, whether he thinks he needs it or not!” The two laughed a little then parted.
__________________________________
“Lieutenant, we are under strict orders not t-”
“Who is your lieutenant?”
“You are, sir.”
“Who thought of, created, designed, and started this project?”
“You did, sir.”
“Who knows every detail that could possibly exist with this project?”
“You do, sir. Bu-”
“Blowtorch.”
“Certainly, here. Now, Feron sai-”
“Does Feron know how to do any of this?”
“Well, he migh-”
“No. And I know. Back when we were kids he used to make fun of me for being in the lab all the time while he went out and played with sticks and rocks out with the other primitive idiots.”
“But the king said-”
“The king has been using my technology since my first major project and tinkering with them to make them significantly less efficient, safe, and practical.”
“What?”
Lugnut slammed his fist on the thick metal table. There was a small dent when he relaxed.
“R-Right, never mind. I can just...” The knight fled from the room, leaving Lugnut alone in a small room with a few tools and various metal pieces on the tables. In front of him was a small, relatively flat triangular metal frame.
__________________________________
“Whah can’t we go’n ‘ere?”
“This area is restricted.” A guard in Ironmight stood in front of a door labeled ‘RESEARCH’. A relatively young adult knight in Plate looked up to the guard. A small knight wearing a very light set of armor with a welding mask covering the top of his head took the other by the hand.
Izola huffed, standing her ground for a moment, then looked to the other knight. “Fine, Bunker.”
“You two better run along,” the guard hoped they would leave so he would be at peace again. This place was a little too hectic for his taste, crowded with curious civilian knights everywhere. Next time he would stay up in the barracks and play cards with everyone else instead of taking a stupid guard job, though it paid well. Maybe if some of the other guards came down he would have someone to talk to without getting unanswerable questions.
__________________________________
“What about this planet, lieutenant?”
Feron leaned back in his seat surrounded with screens and walked up to the massive window but made no response. Another knight spoke to detail information on the planet Feron already read from his own screens.
“Scanners indicate plentiful variation in life forms, superstandard intelligence, areas of fairly advanced technology...and an extreme abundance of gaseous energy throughout the atmosphere.”
Feron kept staring at the roughly shaped sphere. On its surface were countless terrains of varying climates and form. There must be enough life here to develop two or even three planets into fully intelligent systems of power. Then there was the energy abundance. Feron noticed the entire planet seemed to be coated in a light blue hue, the raw power engulfing and coexisting with the life within which must have adapted to live under the breathing conditions. Such a massive amount of energy would require immense amounts of collection over time to prevent damaging native lifeforms, though normally this form of energy has very little effect on organic beings. With a faster process, perhaps condensation for smaller packaging with larger quantities, and they would be cleansing the planet of this strange cloud for the betterment of its inhabitants as indicated by the lower surface activity as underground while serving their purpose of expedition. This would work perfectly.
“Lieutenant Feron, we have a problem.” Feron turned to face a hyperventilating research knight on his knees. Feron helped him to his feet again. “Lugnut has been in the maintenance rooms. Near the engines. He was working on something after isolating the rest of us to the main facilities, but he kept his own blueprints in the room he was working on some projects. We tried to stop him, but..” The knight collapsed. Feron noticed a small device with several small legs attached to the back of his head which shortly after fell off and curled its legs into itself. Feron crushed it under his boot.
“Call Brawl.”
__________________________________
“ ‘xcuse me ‘gain, I need yer help with somethin’.”
The same guard bearing Ironmight groaned. This knight again.
“Y’remember th’kid I had with me?”
No answer.
“He’s gone missin’. I need help findin’ ‘im.” Izola frowned. “Are you even listenin’ t’me?”
“Miss, please return to civilian quarters. Lieutenant Feron has requested all passengers prepare to land.”
“I ain’t goin’ ‘till I find my li’l brother!” Izola stormed away, leaving the guard again.
__________________________________
“I win again!”
The guard in Ironmight laughed and bounced in his seat, the metal frame squeaking as if it were asking him to calm down. A knight in Volcanic Plate with thick metal greaves threw down his cards and checked his com unit.
“What?!” With a growl in his voice, Brawl immediately stood. His size tossed the table to discontent of the guard.
“Hey!”
Brawl ran for the blast door, threw it open, and continued without stopping. He ran through countless halls, jumped over several staircases creating massive dents in the metal floor beneath him, and eventually reached the massive thick door to the engine room. As the massive door of metal and bolts came into view, Brawl tackled through the door nearly taking the surrounding wall down with it leaving a gaping hole.
Lugnut prepared the finishing touches to his latest project, a small assistant with a form similar to that of a knight. It lacked the intelligence and self awareness his last project, but since the Spiral Order decided it was too dangerous to create he decided to make a far simpler version. Fortunately there were enough raw materials to roughly create something remotely similar to the original schematic.
To his back Lugnut heard the door open and someone enter.
“I told y-” Lugnut turned to stand face to face with Daxen. “Well, how pleasant to see you again. Have you come to step on my children again?”
“I heard from Feron you have been tampering with the engines. Brawl has gone to destroy whatever you set up down there.”
Lugnut turned back to his project. “I have done nothing outside this room. I have locked myself in here since our departure and have refused to leave to so much as speak to anyone else.” He heard Daxen approach.
“Your lies bear no weight to my mind.”
“Ask any of the guards anywhere, no one has seen or even heard this door open until your pleasant intrusion.”
Daxen stood next to Lugnut, staring intently. “For your own sake,” Daxen held his Nova Driver in the hand opposite of Lugnut, “you better be right.” Daxen fired on the small metal skeleton, the brittle frame deteriorating under the intensity of the bullet. Lugnut simply watched it melt away as Daxen exited and closed the door behind him.
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The engine room had countless energy containment units filling the room. There was barely enough room for Brawl to walk through, his massive size adding to the difficult situation. In the distance Brawl heard a low humming noise along with a repeating blips. As he ventured through the maze of metal and dim orange lights, his own orange optics became blurred. After stumbling through the room he eventually came to an open area. He noticed a large panel on the face of a wall with the shape of a knight and a foreign device being manipulated by their hands.
“Hey! What are you doing!” Brawl snarled at the figure. It responded by turning to him for a brief moment, then fled. Brawl immediately took pursuit, speaking into his com unit as he crashed around.
“All units, we have one in the engine room.” His heavy breathing was interfering with his ability to speak. “Send...reinforcements.” After this Brawl decided his breath would be better spent on the task at hand. When they reached a corner of the massive room and turned right when their option to go forward came to an end Brawl took the same turn before approaching the corner, then caught a glimpse of the same figure trying to cut around him. Brawl immediately got the jump on them and pinned them to the floor, his unbearable weight forcing them to choke. When the knight seemed to be rendered unconscious Brawl threw the knight over one of his shoulders and returned to the panel. The lights must have been modified to interfere with certain signals, more specifically guard sensors. Most guards have orange to darker yellow coordination colors and the light blurred that range of optics. The device appeared to have bright yellow symbols changing every couple seconds. Eventually the blurry screen lost shapes. Brawl realized it was a countdown.
__________________________________
A small knight with a rectangular welding mask lowered over his face wandered along the grated walkway surrounded with massive cylinders. Bunker heard energy flowing through countless pipelines throughout the room beneath the walkway. Bunker readjusted the mask, the two purple circles flashed, and he continued.
__________________________________
Brawl struggled to see what he was doing, but most of his actions included ripping wires from the device and punching screens in. The main screen which appeared to have the countdown was half shattered, the devices beneath blurred to nothing dripping a dimly colored liquid. In the distance he heard very light footsteps in quick succession as though something with short legs and light weight was approaching.
__________________________________
Lugnut heard countless sirens screeching outside the room. Looking down at his ruined progress, Lugnut decided to leave his safe haven to enter the chaos outside. Countless knights were scattering outside. In spite of the pandamonium, Lugnut decided to see for himself what was going on with the engines below. If Daxen not only showed up, threatened him, and also destroyed his work again; it must be important. The knights who called themselves his protectors were the same who stepped on his hands and shut him down on multiple occasions. As he approached the engine room, having memorized the ship layout cycles ago when he was part of the development team for designing the ship before the mission was even thought of, he noticed the door he was sure to be blast proof was broken down and laying on the floor. He muttered to himself.
“Brawl.”
Stepping over the wreckage, Lugnut continued.
__________________________________
Struggling to stop the flashing symbols he was unable to identify, Brawl turned away from the device to the unconscious knight he set against the wall nearby. The knight was missing. He could now hear two sets of footsteps, one the same small approaching character and the other large enough to match the disabled knight fleeing toward the exit. If Brawl chased the escaping knight he would be gone too long to stop the countdown. The other knight was probably a curious child who accidentally walked in with the door he knocked down.
__________________________________
The engine room was larger than Lugnut remembered. What were all these extra tanks for, colonization? Most of them were not even connected to anything. What was with the lights? Why were they orange and why are they emitting a scrambling signal to certain fields of transmission?
Lugnut mentally noted all the changes made from his original design as he proceeded toward the control panel to diagnose the problem.
__________________________________
As Brawl began to panic, the countdown entering its final series, his only remaining options were to brace for impact. He immediately noticed a few steps away stood a small knight with two purple lights glowing from a relatively box shape where their head probably was. As the device began to sound faster and sharpen. As the countdown came to its end Brawl jumped into the child and shelled it with his own body.
__________________________________
As Lugnut continued down the hall he heard a sharp screech from the direction of the panel. A sound wave surged through him, temporarily scattering his sensors and thought, then passed through the rest of the ship.
Lugnut recognized the signal as a memory scrambling pulse from his own lab, back when he used to work with others; before realizing they were stealing his projects for their own personal use. He felt immobile as the wave passed. Though they were mere seconds of suspension they felt like days as Lugnut continued to reminisce through his memory of how this entire scenario was possible.
The scrambling signal was originally a short term memory disruption system designed for trespassers in his old facility, until that technology was stolen by a rat in his old team who brought it to the Spiral Order. By the looks of it the transmission was modified to only stun within a certain radius and wipe entire memories for everyone outside; by the density of the signal the safe zone must end around the exit doorway. Then there was the lights. They were also part of a defense system, ruined by another pillage and raid. The extra fuel containers must have been for warfare or to power entire cities judging by the amount condensed in them.
As time began to return to its normal speed, Lugnut fell to his back as the ship shook violently.
__________________________________
Brawl began to bring himself up. Only a few moments have passed. He noticed the child in his arms rendered unconscious, probably by his weight and sudden apprehension, so Brawl carried the young knight with him out of the engine room. The floor was shaking and he was nearly tossed several times, but he managed to use his greaves to stabilize himself as he stomped back to the demolished doorway. Overhead he heard a message on the intercom.
“This is Feron. Everyone to the escape pods immediately. Prepare for emergency touchdown.”
What happened? The energy containers were fine. Then again, that pulse might have messed with the teams up top. Brawl immediately noticed the common area was completely devoid of civilians. He opened communications and called to the barracks.
“This is Brawl, status report.”
No answer.
“Brawl here, call back.”
Still no answer. He dropped his wrist and looked to the knight cradled in his other arm. Sound asleep. Someone approached from the engine room.
“Glad to see you still alive.”
“Lugnut.”
“I see you have a survivor. Mind helping get the rest together, maybe wake some up?”
Brawl growled, then brought the child to the center support beam to the civilian chamber, then placed him against it. He turned and noticed only a few knights laying around and began to collect and bring them to the same area. Lugnut was checking consoles around the area.
“That pulse should have only been strong enough to disrupt screens. By my readings everyone outside a safe zone within the engine room should have their memories wiped from then all the way back to creation. No memory of events. They still have the skills they developed in their lifetimes, but memories on Isora and the ship are gone.”
Brawl looked down to the child he brought from the engine room. Lugnut took notice.
“You know that kid?”
“He was with me when the pulse went off.”
“I was down there, too. When he gets up he should have full memory of what happened here. The ship is still in orbit, think we should land or just wait for some passing space pirates to give us a ride back to Isora?”
Brawl grunted. Lugnut started toward the bridge as Brawl lingered, looking down at the kid.
__________________________________
Lugnut mentally went through the emergency landing sequence. There was an override program that would initiate under circumstances of an energy transference failure, but since energy readings were fine it must have been a false alarm. Who was driving this thing, Daxen? While blindfolded?
As he accessed the ship mainframe he found countless false files and warning systems intertwined with everything. The changes in the engine room and now this; there was only one knight with the competence to do any of this. Only one knight who would have the audacity to not only take his projects but use them against the Spiral Order to this degree. And they must have still been on board.
Then what happened?
“Not too sure, the memory scrambling device gave a second wave after that. All I remember is waking up somewhere in the woods with Brawl, and a couple kids on his shoulders, one the kid from the engine room and another in Plate around her teens. Then we were setting up camps out in the woods trying to find survivors.”
Do you remember where the ship went?
“Not at all. It could be anywhere. All I remember is hearing a transmission from Ozlo, I think Brawl also heard it, then flash forward to sitting around in the woods. It was probably the memory scrambling device again, but that fails to explain how we got out there.”
Maybe it was an emergency acceleration. What happened first after blacking out?
“I remember the kids calling Brawl their dad, though I distinctly remember Brawl having no family since he was disowned by his parents back on Isora. I heard through the guards outside, seeing as they are too incompetent to realize when a door is not soundproof, that his parents were slaughtered by one of my earlier experiments.”
You only used criminals for your testing, though.
“From the records I found, they died before I even started using experiment test subjects. Before my main project could so much as beep.”
What was your main project, anyway? Everyone called it a war machine and said it killed countless.
“I told you. Ozlo asked a few independent research teams to build certain projects for him, most of them war machines like Project Roarmulus; I know the gremlins of this planet have stolen the blueprints from one of the camps when the Spiral Order tried to build it themselves. I was never part of that project and never wanted to be.”
Why? I thought you were into building robots.
“Not for war. I only build to create. They wanted machines to fight their battles, I wanted to create life where none could exist. When I was successful Ozlo wanted to protect my progress by ordering military teams to guard my facility, but someone in the ranks gave another order.”
Was it the same person who messed with the engines on the ship?
“Possibly. I know they never caught them or they would have had me in a different box before we came here.”
Why did they lock you away if you were just obeying the king?
“There must have been others. In my original research team most of them went crazy trying to get ahead of each other. Blueprints were shredded, mechanisms were melted down, and heads rolled. Eventually the others either left or...left.”
Sorry about your team.
“They were never my team. They were selfish traitors who wanted to overthrow the king for their own benefit. When they found it I had plans otherwise they tried to break into the section of the facility I kept to myself, so I had to build some defense systems.”
Like the memory scrambler and optic distortion.
“Those were mainly for bribed guards who patrolled too close.”
They were traveling through the woods. The sun was beginning to rise. The unlit lantern dangled at their hip.
“We better get back to the base.”
I have another question. Those things walking around out here, what are they?
“I wish I could give you the answer, but all I have is a theory. Remember the other knights on the ship when we landed or crashed?” Lugnut was silent for a few steps as they continued through the fogged forest. “The signal that knocked them out may have interfered with the signal Ozlo sent, causing them to become corrupt by countering commands. The two signals probably tried to fight each other, destroying their target, resulting in...”
Zombies?
“Possibly.”
As the two approached the front gate they heard Brawl call out to them from inside.
“You might want to see this, boyo.”
__________________________________
“Can anyone hear me?”
There was a faint sound of metal being kicked against.
“Anyone! Help!”
Dusk began to flicker into consciousness, finding himself in an empty room braced against a wall by his wrists, shins, torso and neck. Completely immobile.
“Are you awake?” Someone to his left was panicking as they struggled to speak coherently. “Listen, can you reach my brace?”
Dusk looked to his left where the voice cried from. They were too far away to reach even without his own bindings, but the room was also too dark to even see anything more than the pair of cyan circles staring at him.
“I...your arm is too far, no way I can reach you.”
The other knight began to mope. “Th-then this is it. I always knew I would regret going through that console in the Arcade, but I-I never thought anyone else would be here, too.”
“What? Where are we?”
A door opened on the other side of the room. A knight walked in, the coned face and single tailed helmet indicating a familiar Vanguard. Behind him followed a hooded knight with a bright yellow ring floating above their head.
“What is it you wished to show me, Jorin?” The hooded knight with red eyes stood in the doorway, probably unable to see through the impenetrable darkness.
“Glad you asked, Archilus.” Jorin approached. “I would turn on the lights but it may offend your sensibilities. Come over here.” Archilus stood next to him. “You see these prisoners?”
“Did Feron approve of this?”
“Never mind that. These knights have been caught with treachery against the Spiral Order.” Jorin walked along the wall, passing each hanging knight. When he came to the knight Dusk was speaking to they started to cry out.
“P-Please! Just let me go! I promise to never do it agai-”
Jorin grasped the knight by the throat, the large hand stopping the knight from continuing.
“These are the cowards who dare stand against us. The traitors who Daxed asked be brought in for interrogation upon capture to obtain information for Feron to use in his database on information of the rebellion t-” Jorin paused, then looked to Dusk. “Well, I would hate to spoil the surprise.”
“I have nothing to say. I have no ties to any rebellion, I just want to know the truth.” Dusk watched as Jorin stepped away from the other knight and stood in front of him.
“The truth, you say. That reminds me of someone.” Jorin continued his march along the wall. “A major enemy to the Spiral Order.”
“What does that make us? Traitors for wanting to know what you Vanguards keep behind your backs?”
Jorin stopped, his back already to Dusk. “You may soon find out.”
__________________________________
Feron leaned over his console, his head bowed down to the screen. He watched through the eyes of a primary gunner unit recently deployed to a retrieval mission for a significant knight among the guards through the optic display unit Daxen gave him. The newly found Trojan faced this knight in battle, using the blade once designed for the Spiral Order to defend themselves to a corrupted gray.
“How does it feel, child, to face the power of Ur in the hands of one of the greatest warriors of the Spiral Order?” Feron recognized the knight as Arkus, or at least the Trojan who used to be.
__________________________________
Blue held his left shoulder with his right hand. “Why? Why would you leave the Spiral Order?”
Arkus laughed from his crystal choked throat. “I was unable to protect the people I lived for. Why would I return only to be disappointed further?”
Blue struggled to lift his gun. “There are more than those we know by name.” Blue began to stand after having been thrown to a wall. “We may never meet or see them, but they still live by your hand. Would you be willing to throw them away?”
Arkus let the tip of his sword fall to the ground by no effort. It crushed the stone beneath it forming a small crater. “Everyone I knew has been lost. If I was unable to save those I cared deeply for, there is nothing left to live for.” Arkus began to lift his blade over his head for a finishing strike to end the pitiful existence of a child too naive to know his end. “Do you have any final pleas to change my mind, child?”
As his hands passed past his eyes, Arkus noticed the knight was missing. From behind he heard the flare of an energy projectile shattering the crystal in his back and through his chest, the liquid of his own life beginning to pour from their veins as his senses began to blur and the ability to stand became distant.
“Silence speaks louder than words.”
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A sharp screech pierced the silence. Green felt himself jump awake, yet was still unconscious and felt the dream outside his own being. The massive eye reformed but kept itself distant in the lightless void.
“It may appear I require your contributions, my servant.”
Green struggled to become fully lucid as the staring eye seemed to force him to his knees.
“A previous servant, Arkus, has become unusable. I now require the assistance of another follower to follow my bidding. Are you prepared to return to the world you once assumed to serve your master?”
Green began to stand only for the eye to push him to his hands and knees. “Y...Yes.”
The pressure began to melt away. Green could stand, but the eye itself began to draw away into the distance again as light drowned the darkness and Green felt himself returning to the physical realm.
__________________________________
“You failed to recover Arkus.”
“He was too far gone to do anything.”
“Your efforts may have been in vain but to stop a powerful force from growing stronger under fiendish influence.” Feron looked down upon the knight as the brim of his hat was bowed downward. The knight was familiar as though a vague memory of a distant passed wished to resurface, though a blurring wind blew through his mind and swept the thought to oblivion. “Regardless, your valiance has unquestionably served the Spiral Order for a greater cause than the significance of one.”
The knight bowed. “Thank you, lieutenant.”
Feron smiled. “In honor of your achievement today your armaments will be upgraded for following assignments. You will be promoted to Champion.”
Blue looked up to match his eyes. “What about Green?”
Feron hesitated to answer. It took him several seconds to recall the name and recent events relevant. Green was the one this knight brought in for medical treatment, apparently submerged in a comatose state unable to be recuperated or revived. “Upon his reawakening he shall share the same reward of your efforts. You are dismissed until further notice to receive your advancements.”
As Feron watched Blue leave the Arcade, Feron turned to his console again. “We may have lost a powerful warrior, but we gain a gunman of merciless precision.” Feron opened the information file on Green. “And a warrior without patience.”
Brawl held the item in his hands closely to himself. As Lugnut came into the room he placed it on the table he was sitting in front of.
“Is...Is that...”
“Yes.”
The rectangular frame curved as though designed to match a small skull. Two small optic lenses peered through the mask along two of the lines forming a triangular shape on the face surface, a corner pointing upward. Both sat staring at the welding mask with full knowledge of what was before them.
“I never thought I would see it again, especially without the rest of him.”
“Something must have happened to him.” Lugnut began to reach for the mask but felt unable to. Brawl stood, deposited the mask in his arsenal, began for the door, and while passing Lugnut patted him on the shoulder.
“I think we have a few questions for our buddies in town, boyo.”
Lugnut stood. “For Bunker.”
__________________________________
The two heavily armored knights walked through the forest. The warm afternoon sunlight struggled to worm through minuscule crevices throughout the leaves overhead, so they instead cheated by shining through the leaves themselves. A luminescent green glowed from above on the soil as metal boots stepped through.
So Bunker was that kid on the ship, one of the two Brawl took with you two?
“Yes.” Red noticed the response had a tinge of emotion. Maybe it would be better to not ask about Bunker for a while.
What happened after that? Was that when camps were getting set up?
“Everyone in the escape pods managed to redirect their com link signal among the pods by their own system. Maybe those idiots we brought with us were useful for something after all.”
You said it yourself. King Ozlo requested those specific scientists come. They must have been selected for certain reasons.
“Mostly to take up space in the labs.” Lugnut growled as he muttered, though both Red and Lugnut were aware their conversation was completely internal and Brawl was probably wondering why they were being so quiet. Lugnut decided to speak up so Brawl knew they were still alive.
“How long until we reach the wall?”
Brawl blocked Lugnut with one arm, then motioned for him to crouch down. Brawl crouched himself then began to sneak through the deforested perimeter. They had to stay down to stay out of sight, especially by the visible guards every few steps apart. Feron must have ordered heightened security.
“They must have heard about the reunion.” Brawl spoke quietly though his hoarse voice made every word a scratching audio reception.
Lugnut followed closely behind as the powerhouse had to resort to stealth, assumably struggling to resist the urge to charge through that wall and crush the skull of anyone who dared stop him with a single hand. Lugnut knew Brawl well, even before coming to Cradle.
You knew Brawl before Skylark?
“We have quite the history. I can explain later.”
__________________________________
The medic nonchalantly walked along the hall, going through the patients to check in with today. Door after door, the medic eventually came to the emergency revitalization chamber and entered. There was only one patient in here, the only patient in this room for a particularly long time, but this room was only used for knights who should be dead anyway. This particular patient also has a history of coming in either knocked out or falling apart. These field knights need to take better care of themselves. What do they think this is, a repair shop? No one in the ranks had that kind of training. At least, not that we knew of; there might have been that one rogue Feron mentioned, but they were indicated as too dangerous to interact with. The medic flipped the light switch and approached the occupied pod.
“Alright, time to check ou-”
When the medic peered into the window there was no one in the pod. It was closed, as all the others, but there was no sign of a patient in stasis within. Behind him the medic heard the door open and close, turning only to see nothing again. After a moment of shocked disbelief the medic straightened himself.
“Well, that takes care of that.”
__________________________________
“You may be no guardian, nor a veteran of worthwhile experience, but resources are becoming scarce.”
Green felt the presence of the massive eye pressuring around him, as though the compression of his surroundings were trying to crush him from all directions. “You infect knights and use them to do your bidding, then toss them aside when they are no longer of use to you.”
The presence pulsated once, sending a quick yet painful tension throughout his entire body.
“There are countless under complete control. However, none are within your ranks as unsuspecting snakes.”
Green cringed. “You need someone to act without being noticed by the Spiral Order.”
“Correct, my servant. You have but one goal but with countless obstacles. Failure is not an option.”
“Obstacles?” Green was walking through an empty hallway, the lights mostly asleep along with everyone else sleeping in through the dim morning.
The pressure returned momentarily.
“They will not stop you.”
“But what i-”
The pressure returned for another moment, severe enough for Green to collapse to his hands and knees.
“They will not stop you.”
__________________________________
“Are you prepared for your next assignment, Champion?”
“Yes.”
Feron stood and walked away from the console to face Blue and properly address him. “A challenge has been issued. You have cleared lairs of the undead and fiends of Ur without question. Your dedication will not be without reward. Your comrade has been checked out of the infirmary and has been confirmed as fully functional. He has received the same assignment and is on his way.”
The door swung open and a figure entered. A haze seemed to envelop them but quickly vanished. “Reporting for duty.”
“Green?” Blue approached him. He noticed small tendrils of ashen purple in crevices of his armor, snaking through tufts of fur in the coat and openings of the armor. “Are... Is everything alright?”
“The mission will be completed.” Green left the room, leaving the door open.
Blue turned to Feron.
“He must be feeling an after effect from treatment.” Feron returned to his console and waited for Blue to leave as well.
“The challenge will be answered.” Blue followed after Green.
__________________________________
“You may have heard how his childhood went.” Lugnut whispered to Red needlessly seeing as their conversation was still completely internal. Brawl and Lugnut were crawling through a pipeline which was open on the outer wall. Nothing was in the pipe, but they felt threatened by the possibility of something rushing from the other direction to flush them out.
Lugnut shared memories with Red, who watched what Lugnut knew. Brawl was part of the Spiral Order military as a child in training to become a standard unit, but when equipment was delegated he was always the odd one out. When everyone else received the new Cobalt armor, a lightweight yet sturdy set, all that was left for Brawl was an old Plate armor set in a corner of the storage building. He had worse luck with shields and weapons. When teams were formed he was alone because no one wanted the clunker slowing them down. With every haunting memory witnessed, Red came to realize Brawl is the result of vengeance. Vengeance against those who mistreated and belittled him. That explains his brutal combat tactics.
If the Spiral Order did all of that to him, why did he go back to them?
“They made a deal. Brawl became a guard unit instead of external military. Guards were in low supply at the time because everyone wanted to fight the wars instead of sitting around at home. Little did they know what lurked within their walls.”
What do you mean? When was there a war?
“It was not so much a war among nations, but a hunt for rogues. Thieves, untrustable mercenaries-”
The people you used as test subjects.
“More or less.”
If you were doing the same thing as the Spiral Order, why were you considered a criminal?
“Normally the enemy of your enemy is your friend, but in their case it was your competition. My activities were never strange to their records. That was where Brawl came in.”
Did he hide you?
“No. He assigned himself to be my house arrest officer. Fortunately his fury is well known among the ranks, seeing as no one refused his request. Under his watch I continued my research after the individual mechanism tests were complete. All I needed was isolation from prying eyes and unwelcome armaments.”
So while Brawl guarded your facility, you were able to complete..
“My greatest creation.”
Brawl stopped them short, holding one arm to block Lugnut from continuing along the pipe. A few steps ahead was a grate. Brawl turned to Lugnut, pointed to the grate, and continued. When the two were directly beneath the pipe Lugnut began detaching it from the pipe. Brawl would have broken it open, risking detection by anyone near the opening. Lugnut poked his head through the opening, using the goggle piece to scan the area. The room was completely pitch black aside from a small window indicating a doorway. The goggle piece indicated reverberating sound from outside the door moving away, as if someone was in this room and left very recently.
“Clear.”
Brawl lifted Lugnut onto his shoulders then pushed him high enough to crawl out. Lugnut reached in and helped Brawl out. The two stood in complete darkness, their optic lights shifting around the room.
Lugnut shifted the goggle piece into night vision, only to find a horrifying sight on the wall opposite the door.
__________________________________
Daxen and Sylvin carefully walked down the hallway, every step a reminder of the metal grating beneath their feet. Daxen held his gun in both hands while Sylvin peeking into windows as they passed.
“Daxen, where are we?”
“An unapproved prison complex.”
“The east base?”
“No.”
The two continued mutely again until Sylvin noticed orange and red lights in one room.
“I see lights in this room.”
Daxen stopped and stood in front of the door. He glared into the window around the corner, then motioned for Sylvin to step aside. He grasped the door handle and began to open, keeping his gun poised in preparation to fire.
__________________________________
While Lugnut was staring at the wall opposite the door, Brawl began blindly searching the room for something to activate the lights. The room was unfamiliar to Brawl, meaning it must have been built when he was gone.
The sound of metal scraping against the doorway drew his attention. Brawl immediately dove toward a corner, then turned to Lugnut and indicated something was coming. The three small red dots dimmed until they fell inactive, a trick he has used a few times before in such circumstances.
A familiar figure entered the room with his gun drawn. Brawl stood and matched gazes. With the Nova muzzle pointed toward him, Brawl spoke out in the dark.
“Daxen.”
The figure lowered the gun then stored it in his arsenal. Another figure entered and switched on the lights. While Brawl kept his attention to the two knights at the door, he noticed Daxen turn his attention to the wall opposite the doorway and gasp in horror.
__________________________________
Wh... What is this?
On the wall opposite the doorway hung several knights; or at least what remained of them. In the corner opposite Brawl was a chute, no doubt an incinerator as indicated by a small sign hanging above its entrance.
“The skeletons in their closet.”
There was no doubt the knights were all deceased. Those who were not cut in half were headless or have stopped leaking energy. Brawl approached and stood beside Lugnut.
“We may have been too late for them, boyo, but we still have business.”
The goggle piece indicated the majority of damage being caused by a large and wide blade, no doubt a Leviathan. The clean cuts in non-vital points indicated the process was intended for interrogating live prisoners, but the knights appeared too young to know anything significant.
“Good to see you again,” Daxen muttered, though he knew everyone was focused on the wall of corpses.
“Come with.” Brawl forced himself to look away and started for the door, but stopped next to Sylvin and turned to face him. “You knew.”
“No, I-”
Brawl turned back to the door and exited, then stormed audibly down the hall. Lugnut followed after him. Daxen approached the door to join them, but spoke to Sylvin before going.
“You were never supposed to know about this place. Come.” The two followed after the furious tank and demolitionist, the noise echoing throughout the halls. They were certainly going to be noticed.
__________________________________
Feron sat in his quarters in a large chair, his back to the door. He was leaning back casually while looking up to a wall of screens. Each had a view of a commonly active area of Haven. The upper left corner watched over the square, upper right watched over the Bazaar, lower left watched over the Arcade, and the lower right watched over restricted areas. Feron leaned forward when he noticed a few familiar knights running down a hall in the Haven prison system outside common grounds.
He knew Sylvin was taken there for interrogation due to suspicious activity, Daxen was part of the interrogation, but what were those two other knights doing there? Feron leaned in closer until his face was enveloped in light from the screen. The lighting was too dim to tell, but he knew very well what he was watching. He jumped out of the chair, flipped a switch under his desk which deactivated all the screens, and ran for the door. Before his hand grasped handle, the door swung open and Feron was knocked onto his back. A large figure stood in the darkness of the hallway. Four orange slits burned behind a grate.
__________________________________
Brawl stepped toward Feron, who scrambled away with every step. When Feron backed himself into his own desk Brawl reached down and grabbed him by the face.
“Speak.”
Feron struggled to release the grip, clawing desperately at the thickly armored hand and forearm. Knowing he was not going to get a response, Brawl tossed Feron into the screens on the other side of the desk, destroying most of them. Feron stood from the countless shards of glass.
“What is it?”
Brawl grabbed Feron by the arm and tossed him overhead, landing him flat on his desk.
“This place.”
Feron coughed, the liquid energy dripping from his cracked face screen beneath his helmet.
“When you traitors broke ties, we needed another prison. We have everything you would never do.”
Feron began rolling himself off the desk and fell on the floor. Brawl stood over him. Feron felt unable to speak so he merely lay motionless, hoping Brawl would be impatient enough to leave. Combat was not an option. There were no available units, though there were two high rank knights who would be able to deal with the menace. While the four knights left the room, Feron activated a private distress beacon to other Vanguards and the two on one of the few working screens coming back to Haven.
__________________________________
“You deviate your objective, my servant.” Green felt a small amount of pressure push him down, but he managed to keep himself standing to not upset Blue again. Green answered the voice.
“I have other duties.”
The pressure released from the surface of his armor, only to continue on his internal workings. The moan of moving metal parts being pressed out of place echoed within him. Blue must not have noticed. The voice continued.
“You have four nights before my presence will consume you from within. I shall remain until the eye is returned.” The voice dissipated in his mind and the pressure released again.
Green clutched at his chest. Physically he felt no different, but he knew the threat was sincere. The tendrils still held root throughout his inner workings and snaked a short distance out from crevices throughout his armor. Every attack he had received since this presence has been partially absorbed by the tendrils. He could feel the pain absorb from his own armor to the other being, then consumed and transformed into aggression. Green backed away from the rail he was leaning against and turned to face Blue. They were staring at each other.
“Blue, I..” He wanted to speak but found no words to convey what he thought. Their recent battle drove them closer together but Green lacked the heart to tell him about Ur. They were brothers in arms. It would only worry his comrade needlessly. All Green needed to do is find some eye to satisfy it, then everything would be fine.
Green began to speak again but was interrupted by an incoming message. He activated his com unit on speaker so Blue could listen at the same time.
“A distress signal from Feron.” Green was relieved by the distraction. Maybe he could ask their lieutenant about the eye Ur seeks while they help him.
The platform raised to the Arcade and the two proceeded to the distress location.
__________________________________
“The area ahead is heavily guarded.” Daxen grasped his Nova firmly at his belt, walking backwards in the back.
Sylvin held his purple ovular shield layered with ribs closer to himself, turned slightly to the right. To his side Lugnut sat the barrel of his Valiance on the rim of his shield, keeping his shield faced slightly to the left. In front of everyone Brawl walked firmly, the large purple blade still on his back and the purple shell over it, with his fists clenched. His eyes burned stronger through the grate over his face. The party entered a wider hallway large enough to travel in this formation. When they approached a corner they stopped, Sylvin shifted to watch their backs, and Daxen peeked around the corner. This particular corner was not void of protection.
“You there! This is a restricted area!” Two knights armed with Valiances and bearing Mighty Cobalt began approaching them.
Daxen shrunk back. The four waited until they could hear the two pairs of footsteps come around the corner. Brawl massaged his left knuckles before engaging them. While the carnage of slaughter echoed down the hall, a voice called out from a distant path.
“What was that noise?” More footsteps.
Daxen nodded to Sylvin and gestured to advance. Lugnut began to prepare a Voltaic when Brawl was satisfied with his response to the two units who once guarded this corner. When Lugnut fully prepared the bomb he tossed it to Brawl, who drew his shield and bashed it down the hallway. It nailed another knight in Mighty Cobalt, one of at least ten who came down the path on the right, and knocked them to the ground. While Sylvin kneeled with his shield active and Daxen stood behind him, he stood and fired a bullet directly onto the bomb, catalyzing an enhanced explosion of electricity and energy. The team returned to their positions and continued along the same hall the now disabled group of knights had come from.
__________________________________
“Feron? Are you in here?” Blue walked with his Firo Driver in hand while Green held his Ascended Calibur. If Feron sent a distress signal it must be something dangerous.
In his offhand Blue kept his com link up to constantly monitor the signal in case it moved or disappeared. They were automatically given clearance when the Ironmight guards at the gate of a building out in the Bazaar checked his own com link to confirm the legitimate message. Blue always thought these buildings were where the Strangers took occupation, but realized his mistake when passing through the small doorway. Normally Greave and Kragen stand outside the doorway so no one pries, but they were absent today in place of the guard.
Blue stopped in front of an open doorway, noticing Feron laying on his side in the middle. He rushed in with Green behind him, not in a particular hurry. Blue dropped to his knees and turned Feron upright. A blue liquid dripped under the outer layers of his helmet.
“Feron, help is here. We need to get you to a medic immediately.” Blue looked over to Green. “Come on, we have to move!”
Green was leaning against the doorway. Blue pleaded again.
“Green!”
Blue could tell something was wrong between them. “Whatever happened, we can get through it later. Feron might die if we leave him.” Blue struggled to get Feron to his feet on his own until Green eventually gave in and helped him up. The two shouldered Feron and began to limp out into the hallway back up to the exit. Blue checked his com unit again.
“The infirmary is closer the way we came in. If we can get Feron to the guards there they can probably get him there quicker.”
A single lantern lit the overwhelming darkness of night held by a child. The light reflected off his helmet, a small welding mask with two purple dots glowing in submission to the yellow light beaming from the device he held in one hand. He reached into his arsenal pocket and withdrew a small communications device. He clicked the button.
“Bunker here.” A short pause. “Uh, Brawl? I think I went out too far.”
Bunker stood several paces away from the edge of a massive canyon. It was too dark to see the bottom, though visibly there were large pieces of metal debris mangled and smashed into the shadow. Bunker brought his lantern slightly closer hoping to reveal more, only to find the canyon was far deeper than he could see before daybreak. The radio puffed a static spasm before the voice of Brawl spoke.
“We have your location. Stay where you are, Lugnut is nearby to pick you up.”
“Copy that.” Bunker pocketed the radio and found a fallen trunk to sit against. He was too small to actually sit on it so he simply sat on the floor with his back leaning against it.
His attention wandered between the abyss and the night sky. Overhead were countless stars, as Brawl explained to him earlier, shining brightly and welcoming all eyes. Below was a new world of unknown form. What was down there? Maybe it was a part of the ship with other survivors, like when he woke up being carried by Brawl through these trees. Brawl always said a major goal of our camps was to find survivors of the crash, whether they came down in a pod or not. As fascinating and bright the stars are, Bunker hoped to make the adults proud by finding a camp of survivors hiding out down here. They were on an alien planet with no means of direct contact unless you were in a detected escape pod or were near one of the lieutenants, not that there were many of either. A brief walk down the left side of the cliffside was a hill into the canyon. Bunker tried the radio again but no one responded other than static.
Unable to resist the tempting curiosity, Bunker ventured down the modest slope only to find it became steeper the further he went. Eventually it became too steep to even walk straight, making him eventually roll down the hill until he fell flat on his back in the dry surface. There were no trees, grass, or even moss in the light of his lantern which fell near him. Fortunately Lugnut and Brawl managed to modify their lanterns to be sturdy enough to fall for a while. Bunker rolled over on his side and began to stand, then grabbed the lantern and looked around. There was less wreckage than he thought he saw from above, though there appeared to be several large beams broken creating the pillars he saw earlier. Though the area was too ravaged to assumably have been inhabited, something was definitely living down here at some time. There were tables and roughly constructed machinery laying around, covered in displaced dirt splashed out from a force which must have been a large object landing in the distance. Rather than try to call in again, Bunker continued in the darkness passing several ruined collections of metal parts and large chunks of what appeared to have been a ceiling. When he began to reach out for a particularly interesting object, he felt a hand pull his shoulder around to face behind him.
“What are you doing down here?” Lugnut stared down at him, the three eyes on the triangular goggle piece glowing intently. He began to pull Bunker to the direction he came, but Bunker resisted.
“I think there might be someone over here.”
Lugnut stopped. He still held onto Bunker, but scanned the area. Bunker could hear small gears moving and focusing several lenses within the device. Eventually Lugnut was staring in the direction Bunker was already headed, staring for several seconds. Lugnut let go of him.
“Stay here.” Lugnut looked down to him for a moment. There was nothing to hide under around where they were and the lantern would have given away their position to any wildlife who may be watching hungrily from above. Lugnut brought him over to a corner and dimmed the lantern. He then handed his Valiance over to Bunker, nodded, then continued along the trench.
Bunker could hear the sound of metal moving in the distance, around where he came from the slope, and it was coming closer. He picked up the lantern and followed after Lugnut in fear of what might be approaching.
Lugnut held his Valiance with both hands and a relatively medium sized shield with a single beacon light illuminating the shadows. As he proceeded, the shield in front and the barrel of the gun resting on the rim, he continued cautiously; until he heard Bunker running up to him.
“I..I heard something back there.” Bunker was whispering in case it was close enough to listen.
Lugnut nodded. “Watch my back and stay close.”
The two continued, though Bunker had to walk backwards with the lantern in hand. They both heard another commotion as if chunks of metal were pushed out of the way as a second figure began to stalk them. Both remained silent in hopes of going unnoticed, though the lantern still revealed their location.
Lugnut stopped. Bunker bumped into him. Lugnut ran up to what was ahead of them. Bunker turned to the same direction and saw the escape pod, fully intact but smashed open upon entry. Bunker heard several other resounding noises, each closer than the last, followed by debris being pushed aside as several things came ever closer.
“L-Lugnut?”
Lugnut was in the escape pod. After several daunting seconds he came out with the upper half of a knight in his arms with several wires and a couple metal structures dangling out. The brimmed hat covered their face. Bunker thought to shine the lantern to see more, but knew better than to illuminate the body. Lugnut stared back to whence they came.
Lugnut flinched, taking a step back to stop himself from losing balance and falling over. He frantically scanned the area, then locked his gaze in one direction toward their left.
“That way.”
Lugnut ran as quickly as he could with the extra weight with Bunker ahead of him into what appeared to be a wall. Lugnut lay the unconscious knight behind a thick but short section of wall and withdrew a Big Angry from his arsenal, charged it, and tossed it over the barricade. Bunker expected the sound of stone and soil being shaken from its cradle, but heard the sound of metal being blasted open. Lugnut picked up the knight again and urged Bunker to go ahead. The two proceeded into a hallway, hearing the shadows behind them following persistently.
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Green, Blue, and Feron between them continued along the empty hallway. They passed several closed doors until they eventually came to a wider hallway.
“We should be almost there,” Blue forced himself to say. His breathing was heavy and Green distinctly noticed signs of fatigue.
“Let him go. You need to rest.” Green recalled their recent battle having already taken a toll on their energy, but if helping Feron meant something to Blue it was worth the effort.
Blue coughed. “N-No, I can go a little further.”
Green pulled more of the weight onto himself. A pressure grasped him mentally.
“What are you wasting my power on?”
“My lieutenant,” Green responded in thought.
“You are wasting precious time. There are still three nights remaining.” Ur paused. “This lieutenant of yours. He knows of the eye and its location.”
Green felt renewed. “Then by helping him I will get that much closer to helping you.”
Ur growled. “Very well then, but I will not be extending your time.” The pressure relieved again and Green felt his strength replenished.
The two continued, though Green knew he was carrying most of the weight, but had no complaint.
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“Where did you find him?” Brawl stood across Lugnut over the table, the unresponsive half of a knight laying face up.
Lugnut kept his three eyes on the cutoff point while the rest of him was turned to a table to his right reconstructing from armor blueprints memorized long ago the lower half. The upper body was attached to a device with several wires connected through several points; head, chest, back, side, neck, arms. A constant pulse blipped from the device, though it was very weak. The knight was still wearing the large black hat, its brim, tilted down over their face. Bunker watched from the doorway. Brawl noticed.
“Bunker, go ou-” He stopped. “Stay in the camp.” Brawl looked back to Lugnut, nodded to him, then approached Bunker. “He should be fine. Lugnut can fix him.”
Brawl walked so he took up the whole passageway of the hallway, forcing Bunker down the hall and into his quarters. The building was only a couple rooms side by side with a back door on each going around to a back area against a cliffside, but the trees around it were too thick for anything to come through; not to mention Brawl and Lugnut built some layers to make it like a hallway. When they got to the door of the other room Brawl filled the doorway.
“You did good, boyo. Now you need to rest for tomorrow.”
Izola was on her bunk with her face to the wall, motionless. Bunker set his lantern on a metal containment box next to the doorway Brawl was standing in, then jumped on his own bunk.
Brawl turned off the lantern. “Lights out. See you two in the morning.” Bunker was still sitting on his bunk but Brawl walked back to the other room. The wall between them was thick enough to muffle the sound of Lugnut piecing together a new lower half of that knight, but it was too exciting to know they must have found someone who will eventually be walking around and helping them rebuild.
“Y’awake?” Izola rolled over, her orange eyes glowing behind a face plate. “I heard y’found a lieutenant out there.”
Bunker remembered what he thought was just a corpse that Lugnut brought only because there might be helpful memories in their hardware, seeing as the head was undamaged, but it was now a high possibility of survival and repair.
“I wanted t’see for m’self, but Brawl just wants us to rest.” Izola rolled on her back. “What’s he look like?”
Bunker hesitated. “Uh... Actually, when we found him he was just the waist up.”
“Oh.” Izola turned to the wall again. “Hope Lugnut fixes ‘em. Never met a lieutenant before.”
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Bunker blinked awake. Izola was still asleep and neither Lugnut or Brawl were in their own bunks. Bunker hopped to his feet, careful not to make any noise to wake up Izola, and started for the door to the hall. When he slowly closed the door behind him he noticed the stars still shining brightly overhead, though the light of dawn was approaching. When Bunker opened the door to the other room he expected Lugnut or Brawl to look over, but no one was awake. Lugnut was still standing but his arms cradled his head on the now empty table, the lower body partially attached to the rest of the knight. The life indicator was better than before, though not strong enough to fully function. Bunker approached the table, careful not to wake Lugnut, and looked around the room. Where was Brawl?
A hand swung off the table. The indicator began beating more steadily as though a sudden influx of life returned to the knight. Bunker stared at the dismembered knight in horror, as if he were watching former life return from beyond.
“K...Kid.”
“Y-Yes?”
The knight struggled to prop himself upward with his shoulders, but found himself unable to stand. He looked down and noticed his legs were not actually attached.
“Wh-What happened to my legs?” The knight frantically looked around the room, quickly locating Lugnut. “Him!” He began reaching out for Lugnut, as though attempting to grab him, but was unable to. He fell onto his back again.
“W-We found you in an escape pod in a canyon, it looked like someone ripped your legs off.” Bunker came slightly closer to the knight after having jumped away when he noticed movement. “Lugnut brought you back,” Bunker pointed to the legs, “and started building all night since we brought you back.”
The knight was still sitting up slightly, his breathing beginning to calm. “Lugnut...saved me?” He turned to Bunker. “I am Daxen. I was a lieutenant on the Skylark before..” Daxen stopped.
“It crashed?” Bunker continued.
“Yeah.”
“In the canyon we found you it looked like something used to live there, using metal and machines to build. Do you remember what was down there?”
Daxen lay down again. “All I remember is getting in the pod, coming down, blacking out, then waking up without legs.”
“What about when we took you from the pod? Was there anything you remember?”
Daxen propped himself up again. “What do you mean?”
“Well, when we were searching the canyon we heard...something...a bunch of things...moving in the dark. We got out fine, but there were definitely things in the debris of your crash site.”
Lugnut mumbled something. Daxen looked to Lugnut then back to Bunker.
“Are you sure Lugnut was the one who brought me here? Is Feron or Brawl around?”
“Brawl was here when we brought you here, I think he went out while I was asleep.”
“Good, when you can talk to him, tell hi-” Daxen stopped himself. “Wait, both Lugnut and Brawl know who I am. That must be why Lugnut brought me back.” Daxen clutched at his chest. “I...need to rest.” He lied down again.
Bunker went back to the other room.
Alright weavers, it looks like chapter nine is going to be done either around Halloween or maybe a day or two after. The plan is to only have seven or eight parts this time around to save some climactic parts for the final chapter. You can smash your face in a bucket of candy while reading and crying. What a wonderful way to spend an evening.
Actually, I have something else for you weavers, too. Every once in a while when I jump in the game to derp something up in crafting or whatever, I find some pleasant mail commenting on this story. A couple times people asked about things indirectly relevant to the story, like character inspirations, so I have a few bonus treats I can do at the end of the tenth chapter for all of you who have questions:
- Basis for characters
- Making characters relevant to each other in one or multiple plot strings
- Constructing a plot skeleton
- Drama versus comedy
- Heroes and villains
- Perspective
- Q and A (submit your own questions)
Point out anything you want me to blather on about, or none if reading is not your thing; in which case why are you reading this long fiction? Silly. Also, if any of you weavers have anything else you want up there, throw it on the table. I promise the table is clean. I washed it with the blood of chi- I mean, soap and water. Yes. Bubbles and liquids. Not any red liquids. If no one asks for anything I can just do none of them. No problem. I can take my newly red painted table somewhere else and hit people wi- I mean, gamble illeg- I mean; never mind, back to whatever I was doing. Working on the next part.
The target came into view, but there were several Ironmight guards. The four hid around the corner preparing to advance.
“Do we draw one out at a time?” Sylvin was intimidated by the elite guard units. Some of them were taught by Brawl himself.
“No, they know how to counter that.” Brawl thought for a moment. “Follow my lead.” He went around the corner and called out to the five guards. “Stand aside.”
Lugnut cringed, him and the other two were still around the corner.
“Yes, sir.” The sound of the heavy knights moving echoed down the hall.
“That actually worked?” Sylvin whispered.
Brawl turned to the other three and waved them to follow. When they came out of hiding Lugnut expected the guards to notice who they were, but there was no response. The four continued past the guards and stood in front of the door to the data vault. If anyone knew what happened to Bunker, even if they kept it to themselves in guilt, it would have been logged against their will. This system was one of the few things the scientists on board did right, though it only worked with knights connected to the Spiral Order after the crash; everyone had to be reconnected, meaning the knights who were never found or refused to submit were free. By searching the database they would know if someone from the Order did it or if it was one of their own.
“How do we get in now?” Sylvin asked.
Brawl placed one hand on the massive door. “A preapproved lieutenant or higher ranked unit.”
“You and Daxen are both lieutenants, right?” Sylvin seemed more hopeful.
“Feron is the only lieutenant according to their ranks, now,” Daxen muttered. “When we landed we were considered out of commission due to our pods being unresponsive.” He activated the map on his com unit. A cyan blip was slowly approaching a nearby hallway.
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Blue checked his com unit. They were near the exit. Around this next corner should be an outpost of guards, who should be able to continue with Feron so he and Green can rest a little.
“Just around this corner,” Blue panted.
Green grunted.
When the two pushed around the corner, the last of their strength quickly dwindling, they found several guards laying with signs of explosion on their bodies and the walls. Blue collapsed to the floor. Green quickly pulled Feron completely onto himself, only to remember his own exhaustion, and fell nearby with Feron falling over his back.
“Looks like we still have a ways to go,” Green muttered. Neither were prepared to continue or attempt to encourage the other, so they stayed there for a little while hoping someone would come help them.
“This place is pretty big, huh?” Blue was having difficulty breathing but felt the need to converse to take up time.
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Sylvin and Brawl stayed behind at the door to the vault while Daxen and Lugnut went to retrieve Feron. After the condition they left him in, someone must be carrying him, but since the blip stopped moving that must mean they stopped.
Lugnut?
He was too focused on scanning for any signs of ambush, but Red continued.
A lot of knights have names. Real names. I mean, not that your name is fake, it just seems out of place with everyone else. Where did you and Brawl get your names from?
Lugnut kept the majority of his attention on his preoccupation while responding with another question. “Why is your name Red?”
Well, a while ago when I met Blue and Green, we just...called ourselves our personal colors.
“Same idea.”
But your color is also red.
“Brawl and I were among a few...different..knights.” The scan was complete so Lugnut could continue undistracted. “In our time children began training to decide their role in our society before being given a name. The military program was completely optional, but it was during a civil war; those unable to fight contributed less, meaning less resources for them to live. Some kids starved as laborers.”
That sounds awful. Why did the king allow children to starve to death?
“That was the problem. There was no king at the time. The military controlled cities, the opposing factions abusing the people as they wished. When cities were captured their citizens were enslaved.”
The war has been over for a while though, right?
A delayed response. “Sure.”
Okay, but how did you become Lugnut?
“As part of the few in the demolition sect, members of which were not in high demand but of painfully low supply, we were divided into on site support. If something broke, we had to fix it. When everyone else from my sect was gunned or cut down I was the only one left and the enemy started using the advantage. Eventually we were forced to barricade ourselves in an underground bunker. Fortunately it was well supplied and prepared for such an occasion, so while everyone else was shaking in their boots with their guns and metal sticks I was reinforcing the walls and door with layers of metal; every layer being bolted down, and every bolt reinforced with a lugnut. Those lugnuts collectively stopped us from being crushed by the superior firepower and brute strength that awaited outside.”
Amazing. Something so small mattered so much. What happened after that?
“We were down there for days, burning through the supplies. Eventually my captors became stir crazy and tore each other apart. In the end I was the only one with both life and sanity, and soon enough the siege retreated outside and we were able to escape to a refugee base. Eventually after wandering around outside I ran into Brawl.”
Was there anyone else who had to go through something like that?
“Some. I have no idea how many there are or how many are still alive, but there are definitely other knights out there who survived similar strife.”
Lugnut and Daxen came to the hallway Feron was located. There were three new knights on the floor from when they were here earlier. Daxen approached them. There was a knight in Sunset with a Swiftstrike on his back, a knight in Ash Tail with two swords on the same side of his belt in their sheaths, and between them Feron.
Daxen rolled the two smaller knights aside and began to lift Feron. Lugnut assisted and they hauled him away.
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Green felt something squeeze his head for a moment.
“Awaken.”
He immediately sparked awake, immediately noticing he was laying on the floor and two knights were carrying Feron away. Green struggled to claw himself forward, his leather gloved hands barely catching friction on the grated floor, leaving Blue to deserved rest. Losing Feron may not be important to himself, but it was important to both Blue and Ur. One of the two knights carrying Feron away appeared to be Daxen. He reached out to him.
“D...Daxen..”
He stopped. The other in a red blast suit took a moment to follow then turned to him. “What is it?” They stopped and leaned Feron against the wall.
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While Lugnut applied first aid to keep Feron alive a little while longer, though the damage from Brawl was far from lethal and simply appeared to have broken something significant, Daxen turned to deter the guard from attempting to fight again after they cleared this hall not too long ago only to find something unexpected. A relatively young knight in Ash Tail, likely an unprepared swordsman among countless others the Order has been promoting as of late. Decent gunners and bombers are becoming increasingly scarce and the few who make it through the ranks are often discouraged by being under appreciated minorities. At first Daxen thought to put the knight out of his misery by firing a round through his central processor, but a short distance past them he noticed another knight wearing Sunset; the armor of aspiring gunners.
“Daxen.”
Who was the gunner? They seemed familiar, the blue decorative areas and tiny shield only select gunners and swordsmen used, though being a gunner alone was enough to hold his attention. Swifstrikes were only approved by himself and Echo, but the latter has been missing for several days and all approvals go through public transmission on the Vanguard channel.
“Daxen, we have to keep moving.”
Daxen forced himself away from the two knights on the floor, who were not present in their previous occupation of this area, meaning they must be the ones who were moving Feron in his unconscious state. Daxen returned to Lugnut and they continued to move Feron to the vault door, the dripping liquid under his helmet and a gash on his side patched.
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Whatever happened to Brawl?
Lugnut and Daxen were still carrying Feron to the vault door, quickly approaching.
“What do you mean?”
While you were captured and under siege. You said you met Brawl after the siege lifted. What was he doing before then?
“What he does best.”
“So, the door needs a lieutenant to open.”
“Yeah.”
Sylvin looked up from the floor to Brawl. “But you should still be able to open it, right?”
“Maybe by force. I was..expelled long ago.”
“What? When?”
Brawl sat on a metal outcrop low enough to work as a bench. “Not too long before they thought they killed me.”
“We have Feron,” Daxen said while he and Lugnut hauled the still unconscious lieutenant to them.
“Over here.” Brawl activated the booth used to open the door.
This was the hard part: getting Feron awake to activate the controls. Brawl knew there must be passwords and safeguards to protect the precious Spiral Order database, though this was only a hub to the mainframe; all they needed was access to view files which was all that was behind that door. The booth was still open meaning it has not yet accepted Feron.
“Wake him up.” Brawl sat back down on the ledge. Lugnut withdrew Feron from the booth and lay him on the opposite wall to Brawl and began sparking him awake.
Lugnut withdrew several small tools from his arsenal, many of which should have been locked away in that old underground storage room hidden deep in the woods, but Brawl knew Lugnut well enough to know why he brought them out again. They may not have been approved by the Spiral Order, but Lugnut was not the kind of scientist to allow others to suffer if there is a device to help them.
“There seems to be internal damage. Will someone help me with this?”
Brawl stood and walked up to him, then sat on his forelegs on the opposite side of Lugnut while both kneeled over Feron.
“I have made the incision. I need you to carefully open the chest.” Lugnut pointed to a barely visible seam. When Brawl reached for it Lugnut stopped him. “Use these.”
Lugnut handed him two thin yet solid pieces of metal, trimmed to a round shape. Brawl took one in each hand and slowly opened the cut until it was open enough for him to grab with his bare hands and open. Lugnut stopped him when Feron was open too small for a full hand to reach in.
“This should be fine. I need light.” Lugnut retrieved more tools from his arsenal and handed them to Brawl, who kept both hands open and fingers together to act as a sort of table. Some of the tools were too small to place on the grated surfaces around them and would fall downward. Fortunately Brawl was used to holding a position without becoming stiff or uncomfortable, though the thought of helping Feron after everything between them pained him. In recent days his memory throughout his life has been slowly returning, including the days of their childhood when Feron bullied him for being the only one without the premium armaments and having no family to help pay for a new set to be made for him.
“Brawl, I said I need light.”
Brawl snapped his attention back to what he was doing. Lugnut picked all the tools off his hands and returned them to his arsenal. “Never mind, I can use my shield.” Lugnut retrieved the shield off his back and placed it tilted downward into the opening. “Hold this steady.” Brawl held the shield in place, noticing the discomfort Lugnut showed through his unsteady hands; this was not his normal shield, it was a Spiral Order standard shield.
“Did you find your old shield down there, boyo?”
Lugnut stopped what he was doing and looked up to him. “It was confiscated during your absence.” He returned to business.
His old shield was a custom design, built during their time as scientist and guard, for every personal utility it could possibly hold: a light with various options, a barrier with a seat for his gun to mount, a blast shield, something to hide behind; a shield which was more than a shield.
Brawl could hear and see small sparks in Feron where Lugnut was bringing his fingers in. When he withdrew and returned everything to his arsenal he withdrew medical repair and patching equipment and began resealing Feron.
“A couple chambers were dented and this,” Lugnut showed a small bottle with a bright yellow liquid, “was about to mix with his natural energy.”
“What is that?”
“Unknown to my knowledge. It must have gotten in his system after arrival to Cradle.” After Feron was repaired Lugnut held the tiny cylinder close to his face.
“From what I can tell it seems to be a sort of poison, a dormant liquid until activated by a certain temperature which would cause it to burn through metal.” He looked up to Brawl. “Even you.”
They stood. Brawl hauled Feron upright and brought him near the booth, sitting him on the other ledge. Lugnut stored the cylinder in his arsenal and approached them.
“Lugnut.” Daxen was standing on the corner, keeping watch for anyone who might be coming. “I trust that liquid will be disposed of.”
He nodded. They both knew that was a lie, but at least it was contained for now. Sylvin was sitting on the ledge next to Daxen between the gunslinger and the vault door.
Brawl took Feron by a shoulder and began to shake him a little. “Feron. Feron, wake up.”
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Blue slowly flickered into consciousness. He was laying on a grated surface, his chest to the floor. He rolled over on his side and began to stand. As his optics refocused to adjust to the light he remembered Green and Feron were with him. He looked around. There were only guards as far as he could see. He checked his com unit. Green was moving very slowly towards where Feron was. Feron was stationary at what appeared to be a dead end; not at the end of it, but past the point on his map where a hall was supposed to end.
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“Your health seems to be failing.”
Green continued relentlessly, his exhaustion and pain keeping him down, as Ur spoke down to him.
“Consider abandoning your lieutenant to search for the eye before your time depletes. My time is far more precious than yours.”
Green ignored the voice and continued.
“I know you can hear me. Leave this place at once to continue the search.”
No reply.
Green felt his entire body be squeezed, as though the entire building decided it was its turn to crawl on him rather than the other way around.
“Obey your master.”
In spite of the pain Green urged himself to continue, his vision slowly blurring and fading until he could only see directly in front of his face. He felt the pain consistently grow, his senses distorted and blurred, but nothing short of death would stop him.
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Daxen watched as the knight in Ash Tail crawled towards him. He pushed away from the corner he was leaning against and walked up to him just out of reach.
“You have spunk, I have to give you that.” He pointed his Nova down to his head. “Pity you wasted it serving a tyrant.”
“Wait!” The gunner from before was running to them. There was a limp in his step but he managed to keep himself standing.
Daxen lowered his gun. “What is it, gunner?”
He kneeled next to the crawling knight and pulled him onto his own lap. “He needs medical attention. Can you help us out of here?”
Daxen looked around the corner. He could hear locks being deactivated. He turned back to the kids. “Fine, but only to take you two to the exit.”
Daxen helped the gunner raise the knight to his legs and carried him to another hallway to the exit.
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The clear night sky gave the air to the tranquil sounds of nature while Izola walked through the woods alone. She had given up trying to stop Lugnut from escaping an old warehouse with weapons, though the fond memories of him as a faux uncle came back to her after he disappeared which overshadowed an unnatural sense of aggression. She must be getting tired from skipping sleep all the time. She was on her way back to the base, or at least the standing outpost on the way which was still inhabitable. Most of these old places were destroyed when the Spiral Order set a warrant to capture rebel refugees out in the woods by force, usually resorting to burning down homes to get their way. Whenever she reveled in these memories she suddenly felt a headache come and the thoughts washed away with blind aggression. What was causing it?
Izola opened communications to the base. “Sylv’, I’m comin’ up.” There was no response. “Sylv’?”
He was probably asleep; but that made no sense, Sylvin was nocturnal. If it were daytime he would sleeping, and at night he camps out in the base.
“Sylv’, come in.” There was still no response.
Maybe he was in town. Even he gets bored sometimes. Izola tried his personal com unit.
“Sylv’?”
Silence.
This was getting serious. Sylvin never muted anything, even when Archilus was giving him a hard time. One thing was for sure, he would never leave the base unlocked; meaning if Izola got to the front gate before complete nightfall it would be locked anyway and she would be out in the open. The outpost was almost in line with the direction of the base anyway, and she should be getting close to it from memory. Normally the Order asks all landmarks to be mapped on personal com unit maps in case knights forget, but Izola knew she would never forget this one in particular. It was the one Brawl assigned to Daxen when he recovered after being repaired by Lugnut a long time ago. She used to always visit him asking how being a gunslinger is like since they were scarce in the Order, bombers even more so, and as an excuse to go exploring outside. Brawl never let her too far from their camp unless he needed help with something like delivering message disks or moving some supplies.
As the modestly small shack came into view Izola noticed something move from the doorway around the corner, then towards the base. When she ran up to the door it was open.
Feron slowly flickered awake. He was close to ground level and being shaken by something.
“Feron.”
That voice was familiar. Feron jerked away from it and attempted to get to his feet to show at least some remaining dignity. His vision slowly readjusted to the lighting until he could recognize his surroundings. They were at the vault to a Spiral Order intelligence hub with a few familiar knights standing around him.
“Feron, open the door.” Brawl was the closest to him sitting on an outcrop of metal where Feron was probably sitting.
“N-No!” Feron rolled to his side to stand, only to find a crippling pain in his side.
“Your body is still recovering from the procedure,” Lugnut commented.
Feron felt the patching. “What did you do to me?” He was beginning to stand.
“A yellow toxin was about to mix in your natural energy. Extensive activity or heat would have provoked it to destroy you from the inside out.” Lugnut withdrew a small glass cylinder with a neon yellow liquid nearly filling it completely. “I managed to extract it from a damaged container before it could do any damage.”
“So you cut me open?!”
Lugnut returned the tube to his arsenal and remained silent. Sylvin continued for him.
“Lieutenant Feron, we need you to open the vault so we can...” Sylvin turned to Brawl. “What are we doing again?”
“Getting information.” Brawl seized Feron by the shoulder and threw him to his feet. “Open it.” Feron could tell by the growl in his tone it must be important.
“What exactly are you looking for? I could tell you right n-”
Brawl grabbed Feron by the sash over his shoulder and pulled him close enough to bash heads.
“Open it.”
Brawl let go and stared down at Feron. Lugnut and Sylvin were a few paces away but would undoubtedly do nothing if Brawl became hostile again.
“Very well, then.” Feron entered the authorization chamber and began deactivating safeguards and passwords. The massive wall of metal began retracting away, identical squares folding into each other until a large square opening allowed them to enter.
Brawl took the purple shell off his back and slid it along the floor, face up, into the blacked out room. The sound of energy building followed by a bright blue light fired upon the shield. After several seconds of continuous firing the beam stopped and the sound of a machine powering down echoed in the room. Brawl opened the door to the booth Feron was in, pulled him out, and threw him into the room next to the shield. Nothing happened. Brawl entered the room and retrieved his shield, tossing it onto his back again.
“Move up.”
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How did he know that would happen?
“Brawl has been around long enough to know what the Order would be willing to use.”
Lugnut held his Valiance in both hands, his right holding the handle while the left kept his shield ready and held the side of it in his left palm with the thumb around the top. Sometimes his fingers twitched or squirmed a little.
“My old shield had a notch to sit this old gun in.”
You must miss it.
Lugnut entered the booth and found the light switch. He flipped it on, walked out of the booth, and bumped into Feron. Lugnut pointed the Valiance at him. Feron complied, raising his hands and turning to return to the now lit room.
The room itself was large but mostly empty as if it was supposed to be a warehouse. Lugnut could see in from outside, one thought holding him in hesitation.
“Has anyone seen Daxen?”
“He went to help a couple kids to the exit,” Sylvin answered.
“Who could possibly be in h-”
Blue and Green.
“Sylvin, watch Feron.” Lugnut started running down the other hallway after a quick map check. A blue, green, and crimson blip were slowly moving toward an exit. At the doorway were at least twenty cobalt blue blips.
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“Thanks for helping us,” Blue uttered while his exhaustion was beginning to return. A few moments of powering down was not nearly enough to recover.
“We should be near the exit.” Daxen spoke calmly but he seemed to be staring ahead with anguish.
They continued down the hallway for a while until reaching a large door. They set Green against the wall nearby so Daxen could open it. Once it was unlocked Daxen looked back to Blue.
“Tell them you two were responding to the distress signal.”
“What?” Blue was sitting next to Green, resting as often as he could to recuperate.
Daxen drew his Nova, then swung the door open and sprinted out.
“Halt!”
“Stop right there!”
“Stand down, Daxen!”
Several voices called from outside. A couple rounds were fired and the sound of metal singed blew into the hall, but Blue stood and walked to the doorway out of curiosity. There was a large group of knights wearing Mighty Cobalt with standard Cobalt guns and swords, about half of them on the ground and the others helping them up or facing away from him in the back.
“What happened out here?” Blue began helping a knight to sit upright.
A knight in Azure Guardian brought the knight Blue was helping to his feet. “Daxen defied arrest. What are you doing here, civilian?”
Blue stood up straight. “I-” He looked back to the door to his back. “We were responding to a distress signal from Feron.”
The commanding knight looked over his shoulder. “You and that Ash Tail knight over there?”
“Yes.”
When the knight he was helping up was standing on his own he gave him a slap on the back and ordered him to help the others, then walked up to Green.
“He needs help right away.” The knight was kneeling next to Green, Blue standing in the doorway. “I am Jorin, second to the lieutenant.” He picked up Green and slung him over his shoulder. “We have to move.”
When Jorin, with Blue following not far behind, came to the center of the other Cobalt knights he gave another order. “All able hands, start picking up wounded and follow me.”
When everyone started packing up and following Jorin, forming a crowd, Blue stepped aside to see the remaining. Two knights. One had a hole through his chest, the other through his forehead.
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“So, did you find the lieutenant?” Jorin and Blue were in the front of the group, getting close to the infirmary building.
Blue was hesitant to respond. “He was...damaged.”
Jorin stopped. “Where is he now?”
“I-I have no idea, Green and I were trying to carry him out when I passed out and they were both gone.”
Jorin hastened his pace. “As soon as your friend is set up I have to go back for him. You could use some rest, too.”
“Maybe I can help you, I can show you where we w-”
“No.” Jorin interrupted him, but followed up with a more respectful response. “If you received the distress signal from Feron you must be trustworthy. I am putting you in charge of this team until I get back. Make sure everyone gets treatment no matter how stubborn they are.”
They reached the medical facility. Blue held the door open for everyone else to enter, Jorin first followed by the crowd of Cobalt knights. It only took a few seconds for Jorin to be rushing back out. Before he ran out of audible range he turned for a moment and shouted back to Blue.
“Keep everyone here until I get back!” Then he was headed back to their previous location.
“What are you doing, servant?”
Green was barely conscious but he knew he was laying in a medical pod again. He had to get out. He had to keep searching while he still had time.
“Your first night is wasting away.”
He tried to move his fingers, to move anything, but was too exhausted to continue.
“My patience is dwindling.”
Green tried anything and everything. He tried to move his arms, legs, body, head, until he eventually felt like he was having a seizure without moving. It only exhausted him further. He felt Ur becoming less tolerant of his failure, the pressure returning again in what may be his end. Was this how he would fall? After the promise of time, a mere delay means surrender?
The pressure lifted. “You are fortunate my task is more important than removing a wasteful resource.”
Green felt Ur return again, but not through pain; the tendrils were weaving through his wires and pieces of his armor, taking root in every point of motion. Underneath the external layer was a muscle structure entirely formed by unseen tendrils stretching and pulling until they made their way to the final uncovered area: his eyes. The blurs of light he was staring at were engulfed by darkness then returned through a grayscale veil, which then drained back to color.
Green tried to move his fingers again. Fully functional. He moved his legs a little. Complete control. He tried to move his arms to open the pod, but they were locked in place.
“Your newfound range of motion is a temporary gift which shall be removed upon completion of the task. I have ultimate control of your movement. The exomusculature will act as inner armor but does not react well to the atmosphere. Keep your armor well fortified.”
Green felt his arms released and movement returned, then opened the pod by his own will. The medic seemed not to notice. He could feel the tendrils move in sync with his own motion, as if there were two systems controlled by the same mind, but the external layer was far more flexible and endurant. Normally he would have fallen out of the pod onto the floor due to the design of his armor interfering with mobility, but this time he was able to jump out of the pod and walk to the door without making a sound. When he opened the door it began to creak, to which the medic looked up and around the room, then back to his work. Green exited.
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Jorin had his Leviathan in one hand and his Aegis in the other, charging through the halls. He only needed to check where the signal was once to know what was going on. Feron was healthy, but he was in an area never intended to be opened.
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Izola entered the building. It was pitch black. She flicked up the light switch, not expecting the solar panel on the roof to still work, to find two ceiling lamps spark active. How was this outpost still intact? She thought the Spiral Order found their map when they ransacked the one she used to live in where Brawl and Lugnut kept the command post and broke into every one of them. Maybe they were too busy stealing energy units to notice this one. It was just an observatory, after all, though it had a nice view of the night sky in a small clearing. When she was outside she noticed the roof deck was destroyed, so the Spiral Order must have been here at least once. The room was too small to be inhabitable, there as a table and chair then a staircase up to the roof, but other than that this building had very little use. Why was this here? Who built it?
The door slammed behind her. Izola grasped the handle of her Sudaruska only to find no one had entered before relaxing again.
“Must be th’wind.”
She knew that was a lie.
She approached the table, noticing several illustrations of the stars. She picked up one of the sheets and turned to the stairs. There was no telescope anymore, but the deck was still solid enough to walk on. The balcony had been broken off with a few posts still struggling to stand. She lay on her back and held the illustration over herself. It was completely different. At first she thought it was a faulty representation, but then she remembered that Cradle is a planet which spins on an axis. She would have to know at which point in the spiral the stars on the map were drawn and where the planet was at that moment. Among the stars on the illustration, as many as there were, one was marked with a question mark.
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Lugnut was returning to the corner after the army waiting outside was dispatched by a crimson signal. That explained where Daxen went. At the vault the rest of the crew was probably going into the console and may have found the information sought. Feron would have found a way to flee or has an obedient servant on their way to intercept. Lugnut walked carefully down the hall to mind any sound of approach and keep himself covered in case anyone was doing the same. He only had a couple more corners to turn when he heard loud and uninhibited sprinting coming from behind, which only led to the exit. Someone was coming. Lugnut decided to hide around a corner, a metal archway down an alternate hallway providing ample cover for anyone coming down the current hall, and catch the runner when they pass by. He crouched in the corner and held his Valiance just out of sight in case they were paying attention.
A knight adorned in full Azure Guardian ran down the hall with sword and shield poised to attack. Lugnut returned his Valiance to his arsenal knowing the situation. Direct confrontation would lead to a brute force almost comparable to Brawl, but without the benefit of comradery before aggressor. Lugnut remembered Jorin from before arriving to Cradle. As he continued down the hall again, careful not to alert Jorin of his approach, Lugnut remembered the child who admired Feron as a leader since childhood after his own family was brought into the war. Even less fortunate was their demise. From what Lugnut remembered, Feron blamed Lugnut for the loss of his family as test subjects. He has always been the scapegoat for such unforgiving acts. This was likely due to his survival during the event after the Spiral Order had outcasted him since childhood along with Brawl and a few others in various cities. The truth behind the tragic loss was the civil war among these cities where those who could not fight up to the expectations of their military were reduced to servants. When the war was ended by Ozlo who brought the leaders of each city to form a peace treaty everyone wanted to blame everyone else for the loss of all. Unfortunately the casualties were many and unexplained. Who would want to admit to killing the children of their newfound friend? In the end they decided to blame those who lost nothing to make their lack of grief an excuse to bring grief to others. Jorin may not be too much younger than Lugnut, but the propaganda spread had already convinced him age was no excuse.
At the final corner Lugnut peeked around in case conflict had already begun. Jorin was lifting Feron to his feet. Lugnut checked his com unit again. Everyone was still nearby. They must be hiding in the room. Brawl must also remember the situation with Jorin and came to the same conclusion, to avoid conflict. There was no point fighting when the aggressing cause has always been a lie. It would be worse to reveal the truth when Jorin is still under their thumb of cold steel.
When Lugnut could hear Jorin approaching with Feron, he had to hide to not be noticed. If he ran back to the corner he was hiding in before he would hear him. If he simply flees he would be heard. There was one hallway nearby but it may be occupied by guards. It would be better to sit among the underlings of Brawl than face a knight who has been told all their life he was the cause of misery.
A knight in Ironmight came from around the other hall.
“Lugnut, over here,” he whispered. Lugnut walked over, careful not to make noise again. When he came around the corner several other Ironmight guards came into view. The one who called him over spoke again.
“Brawl told us the details. We have a secret exit in our barracks nearby to hit the bar on break nights.” They had a low and brief laugh. “Hang here, we got you covered.” The front one went around the corner as Jorin passed.
“Sir, may I help you?”
“Yes, take his other arm.” They stopped in the hall in visible range, but Lugnut was squatting behind a couple Ironmight guards sitting around a table. He was watching over one of their shoulders as the guard helped Jorin carry Feron down the hall. He moved when they were out of sight. The guard he was watching over stood and walked over to the vault.
“All clear,” he heard him call out. A drop pounded into the floor was followed by one only loud enough to come from Brawl. The guard returned with Sylvin and Brawl.
Lugnut was confused. “Why would you help us?” After a moment of thought, “not that I have a problem with your assistance.”
“We know what the Order did to you and Brawl. We may not have the option to escape the ranks, but at least we can help end the hate.”
The guard still sitting and a couple sitting in another table on the other side of the room stood and walked over to the back room. One of them stood at the doorway until Lugnut, Sylvin, and Brawl entered. They were in the bunk room. The room was notably smaller than the barracks designed for Cobalt units, Lugnut remembering the layouts from his last connection to a console, and the pipes were open in the room instead of behind the wall. There were a couple shoddily attached sheets of metal over a corner where the pipes descended, but one side was unbolted and appeared to have been bent open.
“Fight on.” One of the guards began bending the metal layer back. “For the rest of us.”
Brawl patted him on the shoulder. “Keep your shield up, boyo.”
The trio descended a ladder into the underground tunnels.
Feron awoke in a medical pod. Through the pod door he could see Jorin sitting nearby and a medic tending to infantry who appeared to have undergone treatment recently. There was a pain in his side, but he had to get back to his duties. Feron began to sit up and open the door, the pain constantly interrupting him, until Jorin helped get him out.
“Are you feeling well, sir?” Jorin took his arm over his own shoulder and brought Feron over to the chair.
“I will be fine,” Feron assured. The pain was beginning to dissipate anyway. “Please. Tend to the troops.”
Jorin joined the medic in repairing a few dents. Feron began to stand, the pain only a minor itch, to return to his duties.
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The underground tunnels were dark and moist. Brawl could feel the humidity ally with his own heat start to form moisture which dripped from his armor. While he, Lugnut, and Sylvin walked in silence a constant dripping sound kept their auditory senses occupied.
“Never knew this was here,” Sylvin whispered. The three were walking through a shallow puddle which followed along their path endlessly. It was too dark to see what it was or if anything was in it but if it was something hostile it would have reacted already.
“It was created by refugees trying to escape the Spiral Order a while ago,” Lugnut whispered in response. “Those Ironmights must have been..” He stopped it there. Nothing more needed to be said.
“Brawl?” Sylvin asked, as though the previous question was to both of them.
He made no response. He knew what happened all that time ago. In that intelligence room he found all he needed to know.
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Sylvin felt distanced. When they were in the secret room earlier Brawl had told him to stay away from the console, a restrained rage struggling to escape from within him to the outer world. He knew that console was updated in real time. Anything that happened and was known by the Order was in there. Feron never wanted the other Vanguards to know, let alone anyone besides himself, and his own knowledge of it has been kept hidden for too long. When Feron awoke to lower the defenses of the vault he knew the lieutenant would remember the treachery. Sylvin would no longer be welcome in the Spiral Order. Not again. His original transition from innocent refugee to a servant of the Order has been a long and gruesome process. Countless times has the task of removing an unruly member from the ranks have left their marks on him. Every infuriatingly obnoxious child surrendered, another lash of a flaming whip to his back. The spiked armor may have countered the assault, but as time continued and the method shifted from discreet disposal to servicing an unknown being to ease his own thoughts, life has become but a manageable resource.
“Stop.” Brawl was in the front and had stopped short.
Sylvin was directly behind him but barely managed to not bump into him. Lugnut was behind Sylvin, Valiance in hand. The trio stood still. The dripping sound had stopped. Brawl motioned for them to stay while he continued ahead. If a trap had been lain ahead, he planned to trigger it himself so they could continue. It was still too dark to clearly see the path and they lacked sufficient light to illuminate the tunnel, so Brawl was going in blind. Their collective optic lights had at least shown them the direction of the tunnel but beyond that they were lost.
The sound of dripping water in the distance where Brawl had ventured began to grow until it became a steady flow. A series of loud pounds echoed down from above until it reached their ground level when it splashed; not in the shallow puddle they were standing in, but an audibly deep form of water. Sylvin heard what he assumed to be Brawl remove the object from the water, the minuscule drips trailing away from its area of descent until it entered the tunnel Brawl had entered.
Silence.
Slowly, something dragged through the water back to where Sylvin and Lugnut crouched. Sylvin turned to Lugnut, who was pointing his Valiance to the incoming sounds. Sylvin began to activate his shield until the figure came into view.
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Brawl slowly weaved through the tunnel, the water becoming deeper as he went further. In his extensive experiences he learned how to move through water without making alerting noise, so his substantial size and weight was of no issue to stealth. He kept both arms on the walls since he entered the smaller pipe. They were walking through a large pipe until reaching the blacked out area where he passed by an alternate path which appeared to go above, but their goal was to find their way out of town. Several moments after passing the ladder which ascended to the surface he heard something descend. The lack of metallic noises indicated it could not have been a knight. Perhaps a gremlin too curious for their own good. Brawl remembered the last time gremlins ventured into Haven, when the Spiral Order asked him to exterminate them, until Lugnut invited them to a private research facility far from Haven. The Order thought he exterminated them after escorting the stray gremlins away, but in truth he was helping organize Emberlight. Oddly enough when Emberlight began to grow the Order found possible allies, only to be disappointed by their refusal to fight. Little did they know those same gremlins were the alleged vermin who found home in their slums.
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It appeared to be an organic being, standing on two legs with two upper limbs which may have been arms. Its size was attributable to an average knight, but the external surface convinced Lugnut otherwise. It appeared to be a musculature structure, every fiber tensed and pulsed rhythmically as though a vital fluid pumped throughout its grotesque systems. At first Lugnut through it to be a knight covered in a strange costume, only to realize its body was too condensed to be wearing armor underneath or be armor itself. No armor was like that, especially nothing created by the Order.
The area which appeared to be its head was shrouded in the shadows, the rest apparently a near black layer, until Lugnut remembered his goggle piece includes night vision for such an occasion; he forgot to use it while they were moving along the tunnel because Brawl was in front and in the way of his vision. There was also the issue of his armor creating a field of interference to the device. If it worked now, that meant Brawl must be further away than he hoped.
The being before them appeared to be organic, yet at the same time a knight; the goggle indicated a knight underneath the outer layer which was of unknown origin. Sylvin activated his shield and the shadow resistant dome bubbled around him, a couple steps in front of Lugnut. The being simply approached slowly, dragging its feet through the water to demonstrate its lack of care if caught. No doubt from above passing knights could hear something beneath. Sylvin seemed to be distracted by the horror of such an abomination, but if only he knew.
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Green felt encumbered by an overwhelming sense of comfort. His body was completely limp but his mind was elsewhere. He felt his limbs move but was unable to control himself.
__________________________________
“Wh-what is that thing?!” Sylvin was unable to restrain his voice. It appeared to be some sort of fiend, though he heard it come down from the surface of Haven. Shadow dealing enemies were his specialty, but it was completely alien to him.
__________________________________
When it came close enough to see more clearly, Lugnut recognized the features on its face. A spark flashed through him in memories of the horror from a distant past buried by countless other mistakes.
The being stopped only a few steps away from Lugnut and Sylvn and spoke in the familiar, raspy, ragged voice.
“I see you still live,” it uttered. Every sound scraped his thoughts as a single neglected talon drew along a surface of firm stone. A shiver slowly dropped from the back of his neck down his central nervous system. His entire body felt numb. He knew all too well what it was and why it was here, escape was a waste of effort. Brawl was probably too far by now to help them, though even he would probably be unable to help.
Lugnut struggled to respond, his own verbal mechanisms struggling to function. It seemed to smirk in response. It continued to approach until it was next to Sylvin, completely immobile, and was soon moved aside while still locked in place. Lugnut stared directly at it. The muscles were thickening, pulsing, and shifting to make room for more of itself. The face changed the least but the horror held its strength. Though its face beared only one feature, a single closed eye, it appeared to be the source of every tendril which branched out until it covered the entire creature. Once it came too close for comfort, its face nearly pressed against his own, the eyelids parted to reveal an empty void; the folds of tendrils curled back further until the entire circle emptiness had his full attention, staring into the completely black void until he heard its voice in his mind.
“Return the eye.”
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Blue was carrying a canister of reserve medical energy, modified from normal crystals of energy for more careful use. When he entered the room he noticed no one was there.
“They must have returned to their business,” Blue said aloud. No one was listening but he felt comfort in his own words. He was helpful to Jorin, a Vanguard no less.
“Ah, there you are.” Feron was out in the hall. “I have a special assignment for you.”
Blue placed the energy container on the counter along the near wall and stood in the doorway. “You need me, sir?”
“Yes, my boy.” Feron approached him and lay one hand on his shoulder. “You see, you and your comrade were recently assigned to a gauntlet challenge. It was issued by a vile being which reigns over a ravaged land of flame and death. This beast, Lord Vanaduke, threatens the very existence of all life on Cradle. It is time to end the tyranny.” Now his other hand was on his other shoulder. “The Order needs you to accompany a Vanguard party to provide support.”
“Vanaduke, sir?” Blue has no memory of the name ever arising, nor any threat. They must have kept their identity secret to keep awareness of the threat low so he could work uninhibited by the Spiral Order.
“Jorin, Archilus, E-” Feron cut himself short, “Remi, and yourself are officially assigned to defeat the lord. I trust your abilities shall prove...excellent.”
“Yes, sir.” Blue stood up straight and saluted. After a brief moment of pride a thought arose. “Have you seen Green?”
The lieutenant paused. “He had other business to tend to.” Before Feron could walk away, Blue interrupted again.
“Did you have a mission for him?”
“No, I- I mean, yes, I gave him a mission.” Feron seemed nervous. “Y-You should report to the Arcade. The rest of your team is waiting.”
Without hesitation, Blue left the facility and ran toward the Arcade. Feron stood at the front gate to the infirmary.
“Hopefully this one will prove more obedient than Daxen.”
“Someone go check if they are still out there.”
A veteran knight stood with his back to the wall peeking around a corner into a short hallway which ended with a metal door. On the door was a tiny window barely large enough to see through. He was motioning for another knight to go down the hall.
“Wh-Who, me?”
“Yes, you!” The knight at the wall rushed over to the other knight crouching behind a table set on its side as a barricade. Several other crippled knights were crouching behind various forms of debris nearby.
“What are we? Knights or cowards?”
One of the cowering Might Cobalt infantry stood from their cradle. “We are the greatest the Spiral Order has to offer.”
The others began to stand. Together they left their fallen comrades to pursue the team which wiped them out with vengeance.
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Blue had entered the Arcade and found the three Vanguards conversing near one of several platform ports. He ran up to them breathing heavily. As he tried to catch his breath again Remi interrupted.
“Where have you been? We were waiting fore-”
Archilus cut him off. “Glad to see you could make it, friend. Are you prepared for the mission?” The bright yellow halo atop his head glowed with a welcoming warm shine, his red eyes looking back at his own with a hint of innocence.
“Y..Yeah.” Blue felt himself miraculously calm down. His breathing quickly returned to normal and his weariness was overwhelmed by a benevolent presence.
The third Vanguard straightened himself. “Then let us proceed, men.”
As the four gathered on the platform and Jorin entered coordinates, Blue reminisced in the sweet memories of his all too distant youth; traveling with Green and Red through bright and happy fragments of fields with mere infants to stop them. Their travels have made him more welcoming to others but their absence has made him cold. Today a new light has illuminated the shadows of his isolation, and that beacon in the night was an organized force. A united cause.
Archilus took Blue by the shoulder. “Are you well? You seem ill.”
“No, I..feel fine.”
The platform began to reach their destination and an overwhelming air of molten ash swept upward into the terminal as the displaced heated air finally found an exit, fleeing desperately from its home. Blue noticed several large red wheels gliding toward their beginning destination, only to shatter upon a wall of gates.
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The flick of a switch.
One small lamp began to flicker on. The beacon glowed in the black world, illuminating nothing; there was no world. It was simply emptiness.
The sound of a voice mumbled. It was a familiar voice. Every time the voice spoke it seemed to be communicating, but created no intelligible ideas. The sounds were muffled as though blocked yet emanated from the same object: a figure which approached following every activation of the same light, which appeared for an extended time fiddling with things nearby until it eventually withdrew and disappeared, taking the light with it.
In the distance a small object approached. The large figure nearby pulled something, the air clearing until sound was refined.
“You should now interpret sound properly with this device no longer necessary.” The figure held a small, articulate object and placed it further away. “How are you today, Omega?”
Omega? Who is Omega?
“One more thing.” The figure came close, blacking out my vision. When it retracted the form of a hand held a semi-transparent ovular object with several sparks flickering along with several wires. “Your vision should be developed enough to function independently now.”
The figure came close again, their hands reaching around.
“Now we shall see if you are ready to stand independently.”
I felt myself lifted from the familiar surface, being brought to the now clearing world below. There appeared to be a dull colored surface where the other two were on.
The arms retracted from around me.
At first I felt myself stumble, though it only took a few moments before completely collapsing. I felt myself being raised again.
“Your legs still need work.” The figure turned to the other. “Epsilon, bring Delta and Omicron.”
The other object, which appeared to be a machine, exited through a doorway with no light outside, either. The only light sources were the lamp and the large figure, the two bright red eyes glowing from its face screen.
The small semisphere soon returned with a tall and thin machine with a beetle shaped machine, several unidentifiable metal parts scattered atop a large surface on top of it.
“Omega, you may have noticed you are capable of independent thought. I am in no way commanding your actions.”
Omega felt its own hands. They were thin yet solid.
“I am Lugnut. Your creator.” The figure appeared to be wearing a large and thick blast suit, with red and black symmetric areas. “You are Omega.”
Omega felt the urge to speak but was unable to. It reached out to Lugnut while laying on the table.
“Yes, Omega?” After a few silent moments Lugnut turned to the other two machines. “Omicron, set up here.” Lugnut pointed to an open space on the floor, to which the beetle moved and settled so the supply of parts was available. “Delta, come over on this side.” The small tower moved along the floor and stood stationary at the foot of the table. “Gamma, Omega still has unstable legs.”
Delta was silent for a moment, then moved one of several thin arms to retrieve a device from the central pillar in a compartment. Lugnut grabbed the device, placed it next to Omega on the table, and began sorting through the various metal parts on Omicron. When he found a worthy object he held it behind himself and Delta grabbed it, then held the item near the foot of the table.
“Do you feel unstable anywhere else, Omega? Vision scaling well? Hearing fluently? Can you move your arms freely?”
Omega held up both arms, clenched both fists, then released and let his arms drop down again.
“Very good.”
While Lugnut worked, Omega felt consumed by the silence. It turned to stare back at Lugnut who was focusing on its legs.
“Yes, Omega?”
No response. Simply staring.
“You must be wondering where your names came from.”
Omega held one hand in the air then lowered it again. Lugnut began to give a lengthy explanation while Omega watched him work.
“The first was Alpha, the pride of my youth. An application designed to make even the smallest coward a powerhouse in the fray. It was originally designed for a war machine to fight in the war.” Lugnut coughed. “A war which ended a long time ago. Anyway, when Alpha was nearing completion it was...stolen.”
Omega reached out for Lugnut for a moment, then retracted.
“By the Spiral Order. I never found what happened to Alpha, but I think I have an idea when four knights formed Alpha Squad with unnatural abilities. Alpha was designed to be divisible upon completion for multiple hosts, but I never thought they could figure out how to finish it.”
Lugnut took another piece of metal from Delta and continued.
“After Alpha was Beta. Funny thing, Beta was just Alpha again, but before I could even get close to completion they sent a squad in to destroy it. They left me unharmed by destroyed countless days and nights worth of progress. After that I gave up trying to make patches and made Gamma, an assistant for future work.”
Lugnut nodded over to Delta.
“Gamma is the mechanical brain which keeps Delta functioning. Delta is great around the lab, a reliable assistant in the middle of a difficult procedure and an extra few hands.”
Lugnut was looking away from Delta at the moment, to which Delta responded by tossing three chunks of metal into the air and juggling them. When Lugnut looked back to get something Delta grabbed two of the objects but one fell to the floor. Lugnut huffed, then held out his hand above the floor where it fell. The object was raised by an arm which ascended from below, delivering it to Lugnut personally.
“Thank you, Epsilon. Epsilon down there dabbles in cleaning up after Delta and Gamma if something drops, hopefully nothing explosive, but its dome shell protects it well against anything that may fall. An assistant for an assistant, if you will.”
Lugnut pointed the piece of metal delivered by Epsilon at Delta and Gamma. “Were you two doing something when I was looking away?”
Its arms straightened and organized the metal in ascending sizes. Lugnut turned back to working on Omega.
“Anyway, where was I... After Epsilon proved successful, I was still getting annoyed by trespassers. Knights poking in all the time asking me to work on favors, fixing any stupid chunk of metal they brought in, so I built myself a trio of guards: Zeta, Eta, and Theta. Unfortunately their size and threatening appearance resulted in returned violence. Needless to say there was metal everywhere. At least I found a few rare materials, but when the Spiral Order found out they sent elites to dispose of my guards.” Lugnut sneered. “Did I ever send them to attack those idiots in their stupid towns? No. But they had the ball bearings to come in here and bother me.”
Omega felt one leg detach. Lugnut supplied Delta with more metal and continued again.
“Iota was a great help, more tools in one device than Gamma would understand, until the same knights came in one day and decided to poke around when I was out gathering resources. When I came back and found out Iota was missing those thieves were already long gone. After that happened I built Kappa, a humble companion based on a canine form. When I went out Kappa would get trespassers out of here before they could even see inside the door. When I made Pi, the sentient doorway to catch intruders and tranquilize them so I can deal with them when I got back, I started taking Kappa out with me to see the world. Unfortunately it was another one of those days a group of drunks decided it would be fun to throw scrap metal at me again. I tried to keep Kappa calm, but when circuits were getting shredded I knew it was too late for poor old Kappa.”
Omega felt his other leg detach. He was now legless, not that he planned on walking around at the moment.
“After that was Lambda. Around this time I needed unstable materials, too unstable to safely approach, so Lambda handled hazardous materials. One strange evening, not too long after sunset, Lambda came home with what should have already decayed enough to be stable, only to find a completely different substance in its container. When exposed to certain gases in the laboratory normally harmless, it reactivated the substance and began deteriorating poor Lambda into nothing. It was able to flee with the substance before it did any more damage, but never returned.”
Lugnut stopped what he was doing for a moment and took a few seconds to breathe, then resumed.
“Mu and Nu were my liquid handling crew. Mu did the grunt work, carrying the units, while Nu did the stirring and what not while I was busy. Unfortunately in an experimental energy source, Nu misinterpreted a formula which caused an unstable reaction. The liquid began to boil sporadically until it eventually overwhelmed Mu and completely disintegrated the machine. When Nu attempted to find me, the liquid began to spread and soon found Nu. When I came wondering what was taking them I found the destroyed machines melted into liquid mixed with the chemicals in the room and flushed them away.”
Lugnut stopped again and held one hand to cover his face. He was breathing heavier a couple times then resumed again.
“Xi was created when I started using test subjects. Unfortunately they were not always...cooperative. Xi was little more than a table with eight legs, but was more than enough to do its job well. There was a particular subject, Rampage, whom the Spiral Order condemned to death. I was able to retrieve him from their pathetic escort party which was transferring Rampage from the point of capture, which took them far too long to complete, to containment. Rampage was the feistiest subject I ever had.” Lugnut uttered a dry and brief laugh. “He was also the most difficult. I left Rampage with Xi, restrained of course, only to find its remains and signs of Rampage having escaped. Unfortunately I was retrieving the stabilizing program which was supposed to be deployed already, but I have no idea what happened to him.”
Lugnut looked up and turned to the doorway. “It seems we have visitor. I shall return shortly.”
Omega lie silently while Delta and Omicron were completely still. Why were they so alert? Why were they unable to move or think? Were they silently thinking as Omega was?
Lugnut returned. “My apologies, a trespasser was caught trying to sneak in. Another pillager bribed to visit unwelcome territory.”
Omega reached out to Lugnut again.
“Is something wrong?”
Omega reached out to Delta, then over to Omicron.
“Yes, I shall resume immediately.”
Omega wanted to ask what was wrong with them, why they seemed to lack the same life as his own, only to be answered by the flame and tool returning.
“Where was I... Of course, Omicron. An improvement from Xi, since I no longer use my creations to satisfy such menial tasks, Omicron combines mobility with practicality. A mobile side table and a decent place to load up materials before applying them to a project. Built after the...unwelcome disclosure...of my previous laboratory. I have the Spiral Order to thank for that and several other events.”
This Spiral Order must be horrible. They seem to attack and destroy what Lugnut works so hard to create, only to have him rebuild so they can destroy it again. Savages.
“After Omicron I built Pi, the one who caught the trespasser a moment ago. Originally I planned to make Pi as a guard or program, but after past events I thought it would be more clever to have it as the doorway itself. No one would suspect an entrance to be their captor.”
A door? Like the one in the distance where Delta and Omicron entered previously? What was outside the doorway? What was out there? Omega was staring at the closed door and began to attempt to reach out for it, only to feel a spark burn through him and his body fell limp.
“I am going to run a few diagnostic tests in case of possible malfunction. You should be immobile at the moment and completely numb to any sort of pain.”
Why would that be necessa-
Omega looked down and noticed his chest cavity had been cut open. Several sparking wires were pulled out and being reconnected and Omega could feel other mechanisms being shifted around inside.
“Anyway, after Omicron I started running low on supplies. Before then I relied on what garbage I could find. I was never welcome in any city, no traveling camps who knew my name would dare let me stand in the rain in their sights, not even the outcasted rogues evading the law wanted my company. I have been alone for far too long. I needed supplies and I had mechanisms the Spiral Order believed to be valuable due to their less than stellar technology, so I sold the trinkets for what I really needed. Rho was a great middleman. Never missed a delivery or forgot a single bolt.”
Lugnut withdrew from Omega.
“Until one night when I was late with a shipment, I already sent a message informing the delay and the items being sent immediately, only to notice the connection between Rho and myself snap. Something happened. I never found any remains, only the signal suddenly shutting down, and the shipment was missing as well. They sent a group of soldiers to demand their missing payment. I tried to tell them it was stolen, but they thought otherwise.”
Lugnut placed the tools he was holding on the table next to Omega and took a couple steps back, then turned away.
“The connection system included surveillance. The final frame Rho saw was a shadow the size of a standard knight.”
Lugnut walked up to a table on the other side of the room, his back still to Omega lying on the table.
“With standard cobalt blue eyes.”
Omega noticed Lugnut tighten up, his arms tensed and his fists clenched.
“After...that...was Sigma. Sigma was the eye in the sky to watch over Rho in case...that...happened. Unfortunately Sigma was shot down the same night Rho went missing.”
Omega noticed Lugnut seemed to be tensing more. His arms were shaking a little and his shoulders raised slightly.
“Unlike what happened with Rho, the only feed from Sigma before losing contact was...being shot. By a projectile only our technology could create, at least on this planet.” He calmed down a little. “After those two I decided this planet is a hindrance to progress. I needed to get off this mass of metal. I created Tau to search the stars for somewhere to settle, whether inhabited or not, to be in peace. While I was working on Tau an unusual event happened. I encountered a knight truly worth the title of knighthood. Brawl.”
Lugnut eased again and returned to his work.
“From what I have gathered, Brawl was part of the Spiral Order as a joke. In his youth, his time going a while before mine, the Spiral Order created an equipment set to suit their massive military: Cobalt. Armor and weaponry worthy of its wielders, or rather the other way around. The only thing I found useful of it was the gun seeing as they attached a blade to it for versatility, though according to their rules using the blade as a weapon is disallowed. What was the point of attaching a melee weapon to a long range weapon if no one is allowed to use it?”
Lugnut began resealing Omega and returned to working on the legs.
“Eventually Tau was captured, as usual. They came one night when my progress of mapping potential destinations was nearly complete, and made off with everything. I still have the maps memorized but with Tau missing I am unable to pinpoint exact coordinates if I were to acquire the means of space travel.”
Lugnut stopped speaking to focus on a detailed procedure, followed by Omega regaining feeling in a new pair of legs. They felt heavier but far more powerful; capable of sprinting with enough force to break through any wall and resist any repelling force.
“You were not the first attempt to create a complete mind. Upsilon was the original design, but lacked far too many intellectual features: balancing right and wrong, prioritizing, and mercy a few of them. I only created it for basic thoughts. This world was far too complex for Upsilon to handle. By the time I found the destroyed bodies the Spiral Order had already sent a militia to counterattack. The worst part was how it dealt with them; I remember watching as Upsilon transferred itself as a virus, infecting the bodies of knights, only to destroy them from within. Their minds were scrambled into gibberish until nothing more than a body charged with energy remained. In their final moments Upsilon had their final action be to transfer it to the next victim. To prevent the Order from stealing the technology, seeing as they would attempt to recreate it on a larger scale and possibly doom the universe, I dealt with it personally.”
Lugnut withdrew again and began reorganizing items.
“Omicron, the base endoskeleton is complete. Omega is prepared for secondary defenses.”
Omega heard Omicron dump the supply on its back onto the floor then watched it scurry to the door to retrieve its tasked supplies. Lugnut pulled up a chair from the middle of the room and brought it up to the table, then dropped himself into it.
“Following that incident I was running out of energy since my last transaction with Order merchants. Evidently they dispatched an embargo in hopes to starve my progress until I crawled out and found another hole to hide in. At the time I noticed the Order was dumping deceased knights in a large ditch within walking distance of this laboratory, seeing as they still have no idea where I am out here, when I had an idea: knights contain precious materials which the Order believes to be unsalvageable. With Phi all I had to do was toss the mangled corpses in and I got an enormous amount of energy and rare materials.” Lugnut leaned back in the chair a little. “What did they care? They were literally throwing out their deceased, what is wrong with recycling?”
He leaned forward again and ducked his head down a little. “You can...probably guess what happened. Someone saw me tossing what looked like a living knight and juiced them into energy and scrap. Not even a single day after being spied on and Phi was shut down. I would have had Phi indoors, but it was too large and emitted hazardous gases as refuse from the supplied resources.”
Omega watched Omicron return with different kinds of parts. Instead of metal, Omicron carried countless rolled blueprints. Lugnut grabbed one and unraveled it, holding it in front of his face with the back to Omega.
“This one requires more metal than we have.” He rolled it back up and tossed it onto a counter on the opposite side of the table Omega was still lying on. He grabbed another. “This one still has problems with upper support, it hunches over.” To the counter. He took his time staring down the third one, while doing so continued.
“Following Phi was Chi, a mapping system for times the stress of being hunted interferes with my thoughts. I would never forget to track machines, seeing as there were only a few remaining when Chi was complete, but Chi was also capable of relaying communication among us. I also made Psi to stay in the shadows to keep prying optics away, but the same savages eventually lured it out and ended their worries with the same violence which has repeatedly provoked such fears. When Phi went missing the Order must have tracked through its remains to find out about Chi, suspecting it to be a spying system. As if their pitiful existence mattered to me.”
Lugnut rolled up the blueprint he was holding and set it beside Omega, then grabbed another off Omicron.
“A while after losing Chi supplies were scarce. I managed to gather what I could, but this is the end. Omega. You are the final machine by my hands. You will do what none of the others have ever been close to, and all the losses and endeavors built up to: the perfection of a final end result. You are the output to all my strife.” Lugnut placed the unrolled blueprint on Omicron and stared down at Omega. “You are alive. And will survive.”
I love this fanfiction. However, there are things I'd like to know.
What happened to Red? What's happening to Green?
Thanks, I try. And do. I do the writing stuff.
Check this for Red, but with Green we shall soon find out. Snort snort.
Sylvin threw himself into the creature shield first and both fell to the floor.
“Get out of here!”
Sylvin was trying to use his weight combined with the repelling force of his shield to keep the strange being at bay while Lugnut ran through the shallow pool of liquid after Brawl. His goggle piece allowed for better visibility but he had the forceful urge to turn back and bring Sylvin with him. He could hear as he fled the two struggling in the liquid, splashing around, until eventually Lugnut could hear the sound of metal being thrown against other metal. The splashing died where Lugnut attributed to their struggle. When the cover of conflict dissipated Lugnut began to slow to ease his own sounds to avoid being detected, but he could hear something following nearby. He checked his com unit. The chartreuse signal was immobile a while back, but a green signal was approaching.
__________________________________
Blue led the small masked creature over to the dried wells in a tiny patch of green in the middle of the singed surface. Seven green versions of the same fairy wandered innocently within.
When the purple fairy Blue was leading entered the area the two pools replenished with orbs of water. Archilus stood beside him.
“Excellent work, my friend. Now that the springs are active we can reach the treasure blocked off by the flames.”
While Archilus and Jorin each grabbed a bubble and rushed over to collect, Remi approached Blue.
“Something wrong, kiddo?”
Blue stared at the little fairies. “What will they do now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Outside their little haven is death and anguish. How will they escape to a happier place?”
Remi met his gaze, watching the sprites. “These little things? They should be fine.” Remi walked away to join Jorin on the east side. Blue squatted down next to the lush patch and continued watching the sprites, knowing he would be unable to help them escape this doomed kingdom. They would be trapped here forever.
Archilus returned to the center. “No need to worry, with our departure the elevator shaft will remain open for their escape.”
Blue looked up to Archilus. “They will?”
“Yes. Now come, we must clear the path to the elevator so we may all continue.” Archilus grabbed another bubble and awaited Blue to do the same.
The two began clearing the burning path until Jorin and Remi returned to assist. When the path cleared Blue stared at the sprites standing in their tiny safehaven. Archilus whispered to Blue.
“We may see them in Haven one day.”
As the platform lowered Blue could only continue staring until the platform lowered beneath the floor surface, when he stared upward hoping to catch them ascending. They never came.
__________________________________
Brawl checked his com unit. His map said an exit was directly in front of him, yet several chunks of sheet metal were layered against the wall. There was no other way out for a while and staying in these pipes overnight was not particularly appealing. A red beacon was approaching from where he had come. He turned around.
“Lugnut? That you?”
No response. Brawl could hear something shifting through the water. He reached for his shield with his left hand.
In the dark distance he could see three small red lights in a triangular formation approach at head level. The closest part of the figure was a familiar arm waving to go forward. Brawl responded with a hushed voice.
“The exit was patched.” He indicated the former exit, current dead end.
As the figure came into view, of what little light went astray from the occasional openings overhead significantly higher than they could reach, Lugnut withdrew Voltaic. As he prepared the bomb for deployment Lugnut waved for Brawl to jump on the small ledge along the wall with a pipe running above it. Brawl jumped up onto the ledge, holding onto the pipe with both arms, and brought himself close to the wall. When the Voltaic was placed next to the wall, slightly submerged in liquid, the fuse was beginning to descend. Lugnut frantically charged to join Brawl. When the bomb detonated a surge of electricity began charging the liquid visibly. Brawl brought one arm over to reach for Lugnut as the wave was quickly coming close. Lugnut took the offer and Brawl brought him onto the ledge less than seconds before the current found an object to discharge into. The two watched as the wave swept down the path they had come from until they heard a loud sparking sound echo in the distance. The bright green glow which momentarily inhabited the liquid quickly moved to the same direction until the liquid was neutral again.
Lugnut lowered himself from the ledge and let go of the pipe. He checked his com unit. Brawl was looking over his shoulder as he brought himself into the liquid once more. There was no signal where the sound seemed to have come from. Brawl turned around to see what happened to the shoddily built wall. A relatively small opening was created but outside was a hill going upwards to prevent the liquid from leaking out. Lugnut looked to Brawl.
“After you.”
__________________________________
Green felt as though his entire body was numb, as if something had took hold of him and threw him against a wall until they heard something crack inside. He struggled to move to spite the pain until he realized he was laying in a strange thick liquid. His optics activated. It was a dark cavern. The walls were strangely smooth. What kind of cave has such smooth walls? They seemed to form a large pipeline shape, though that failed to explain what the liquid was. Rather than find out for himself, Green picked himself up and began to interpret his environment.
“Stinks in here.”
A sliver of light reflected off a turn in the distance. Maybe that was the exit.
__________________________________
“Lieutenant, you are in no condition to move around. You need your rest.”
“I am grateful for your medical assistance but I must return to my duties.”
Feron returned to the facility to inventory the damage done. It was bad enough Brawl was here, but with Lugnut no less; not to mention they were accessing a Spiral Order intelligence hub. If a corruption attempt was made Feron would be able to disengage the hub to solve it, but upon returning to the room he found nothing was altered. In fact, only viewing mode was active. They needed Feron himself to search for whatever they were looking for to have administrative access. Feron found the last searched information.
“No.”
Feron backed away from the console. If that information were to be released to the public, the knights set into place would collapse onto each other, then back onto their lieutenant. Maybe he could intercept them, erase the memory of accessing the databa-
Feron remembered. Brawl was expelled from the program. He had no control.
It was too late.
__________________________________
The party entered a long room with an enormous surface of spikes covering the middle area. There was a small open surface ahead, a gate blocking off the exit, and a party button on their side. Remi jumped onto the button. Jorin walked onto it and pulled Remi to his feet. Archilus walked beside Blue to join them.
“Is something wrong?”
“I...” Blue was unable to find the words to describe his thoughts.
“Are the sprites still bothering you?” Archilus stopped him. “They fled to the surface. To their families above.”
Blue pulled away from him and ran up to the others on the button. Archilus sighed and joined them.
__________________________________
Was Omega the one sent into space?
“Yes.”
Lugnut and Brawl were dragging themselves into the woods again, then settled a few steps in in a small clearing surrounded by a few sturdy trunks looming over them reaching skyward.
“What did you find?” Lugnut was curious.
“Everything.” Brawl stood up from the rock he was sitting on momentarily and continued towards the base.
Lugnut did the same and began to follow. “Did you find anything on Bunker? Where he may have gone, or if they took him somewhere?”
Brawl remained silent. The two traveled deeper into the forests, past the point where the leaves became too thick for sunlight to shine through to the surface, when they began to slow down to diminish noticeable sounds. Lugnut could see a few moving silhouettes through the goggle piece but was unable to identify form or pattern. They could be anything. He thought to ask Brawl what he thought of it, only to remember Brawl lacked the same vision capabilities. He would probably find whatever the objects were and crush them personally if Lugnut asked what they were.
The silence was daunting. Lugnut knew they were out there. Waiting. Watching. What were they waiting for? This would be their best opportunity. They were definitely aggressive, yet seemed to keep their distance. Whenever the duo would proceed closer to one the further they fled. Maybe they were something completely different than what Lugnut thought. He had no visual or silhouette. They could easily by spies dispatched by the Order. More and more similar life signatures began appearing nearby. They seemed to rise from the soil after prolonged hibernation, their energy slowly rising to functional levels until they could move around. They seemed to be following where Brawl was leading but Lugnut had no idea where they were going.
“Brawl, where are w-”
Brawl stopped and muffled Lugnut. They both stood still for several mute moments. Brawl withdrew and continued.
The two came to the end of identified territories Lugnut could remember. There must be something out here, but all Lugnut could see was thicker and damper forest.
Brawl stopped them again and stared back at Lugnut, who checked his com unit map again. The energy signals, though faint, were definitely following them and have formed a massive crowd hidden in the trees they walked by not too long ago. Brawl looked over Lugnut and scanned the area. Lugnut noticed the signals stopped moving when they stopped. Brawl began continuing into the thicker woods, Lugnut not far behind keeping the map open, as he watched the crowd of signals continue to follow.
Blue could see nothing, not even his hands in front of his face. He fumbled around in the closed space and noticed his face was covered with a rag. He tossed it off but was still barely able to see anything; it was pitch black. In this prison Blue struggled, punched, and kicked at the walls and various objects he was sitting in. Eventually he fell over.
“What was that?”
There was a familiar voice.
Blue continued to struggle but was unable to speak.
Blue felt his prison being lifted and set on its base again, then the top was pried open. Green peeked in from above.
“What are you doing in there? These are the disposal boxes, only scrap and waste should be in here.” Green paused. “Feron.”
Green took Blue by the hands and pulled him out of the garbage, pieces of metal falling from their cradles on his shoulders and the brim of his hat. When Blue tried to speak a small spark squeaked. Green was staring at his chest.
“Are you alright, buddy?”
Blue felt the gap was still there.
“What happened? What do you remember?”
Blue began to raise a hand but stopped. He was unable to speak or remember what happened after passing out while being carried around after being shot or before meeting their king. To communicate he would have to find other means to detail his experience. The first thing he had to take care of was this hole poking through him. Blue held the palm of one hand over the front gap and looked to Green again.
“Do you want to patch that up?”
Blue nodded.
“The medic should be back now. Can you walk by yourself?”
Blue nodded. Blue kept his hand over the wound while Green slung an arm over his shoulder, holding him up slightly.
__________________________________
“Izola, I mean no harm to you or our brethren.”
Red knew Lugnut would be unable to convince her. They would have to take the weapons which were still usable or at least repairable and get out of there before Izola cut them down to size. Lugnut responded to his thoughts again.
“Everything here is repairable, the only problem is getting the parts and time to work on them. This is just the storage room for what was done or nearly complete. My greater inventions of mass destruction are back in the base in a building next to the prison, but the Order probably came in and did their usual destruction. Since we lack both the resources and time required to take even half of these, just take the four things over there.”
Red noticed through the goggle piece several objects were highlighted: the purple orb, a cylindrical base with four smaller cylinders of varying heights seated in the base, a small containment unit, and a handgun. The gun had a small blade along the chamber though it was too small to use as a melee weapon efficiently.
“Grab those. We need to get back to the base to pick up something else.”
Lugnut allowed Red control of his arms to snatch the selected objects and deposited them in his arsenal. Izola stood her ground with the giant sword in hand. She seemed surprised yet combative, hesitant to strike but still holding her ground. Lugnut gave another order.
“Punch there.”
Red noticed a highlighted area appear on the wall. There was nothing there, but Red punched it anyway. Immediately after hitting the wall the floor beneath him opened, dropping him into darkness again. He could hear Izola run up to the opening but not follow.
__________________________________
“Oh, my. How is your friend still alive?”
Green was quickly becoming impatient.
“He lived, now fix him!”
The medic jumped a little and nearly dropped the roll of sheet metal he was holding. Fumbling to keep it in both hands, the medic hesitated to wrap up Blue. Green immediately took notice.
“What are you waiting for? Fix him now!”
The medic shivered while turning to Green.
“H-He has no speech mechanism in here. If I patch him up now he will remain unable to speak.”
Green jerked his attention from the medic to Blue.
“Is it true? Are you unable to speak?”
Blue nodded.
Green turned his back and began to become aggravated.
“What do we do about it?”
The medic had already started going through a container of spare parts. It was a metal container like the ones in the Arcade.
“I h-have a spare speech mechanism here, b-but it sounds-”
“Will it fix him?”
“Yes!” The medic yelped.
Green grabbed the medic holding the small device and pushed him over to Blue who was laying on a medical table. “Fix him!”
The medic began attaching the device to countless miniscule wires inside Blue. Green glared intently at every motion. At the instant of mistake Green felt as if he would apprehend the medic and rip him in half. Blue was the only friend Green had left and no one was going to take him away. When he trusted Feron, Blue was about to be destroyed. When he trusted Red, he completely disappeared. When he trusted Korin and Amber, they were reassigned to a completely different area. Was this some kind of test? To see how quickly a knight can murder his fellow knights in blind fury?
The medic stopped and lay his tools near a sink. Green immediately ran up to him.
“Is he going to be alright?”
“He should be fine. Oddly enough, there was a vital device completely destroyed, but he seems perfectly fine without it. A medical miracle. The speech device should start working tomorrow, but until then he needs to rest so his body can adapt to having a different design in him. That was an old model, but the only one we have.”
Green was rejuvinated.
“So Blue is going to be alright?”
The medic uttered a forced laugh.
“Alright? He survived without a standard Spiral Order device that practically makes us live! He should be completely deactivated without it. Go see Feron for an assignment or something while you wait for your friend to recover.”
The medic finished cleaning his tools and walked out of the room. Green turned to Blue, laying within a large sealed pod. Through the window Green could see Blue inactive.
Green took one of the chairs from the other side of the room, brought it next to the pod, and sat next to his real friend.