The Clockwork Renegades <[Final goodbye? :(]>

((Sorry you are having trouble in real life Azure, I hope things look up for you from now on. Here's the second half of my post, I think it is about time I entered it here.))

Some knights arrived shortly to survey the damage. Some paramedics had also tagged along, but besides minor bruising and scuffing, everyone was physically fine. Punch and Vise then proceeded to try salvaging what they could from the wreckage... with Dagren insisting on helping as much as he could.

At the moment Vise and Dagren were digging out one of Vise's anvils from the surrounding rubble. Vise constantly took uneasy glances at Dagren as the formerly grumpy gremlin now was whistling a happy tune and smiling as he worked.

"Are yeh sure you are alright lad?" Vise questioned Dagren. Dagren gave a small grin and replied "never better! I don't even remember the last time I've been feeling this good!"
"That's what's worrying me..." Vise mumbled as Dagren pranced towards Punch to help him with salvaging more of their former abode.

-000-

TS13 gradually regained consciousness and stood up after its "nap". With a stretch of its wooden limbs, it scanned the perimeter and found that it was quite alone. Quite confused, it wandered around the room a bit to see if it could locate its companions. The ajar door caught its interest though, and it stumbled outside to see if it could find its companions.

It stumbled outside into the sunshine and took a curious glance at the surrounding area. Several knights did a back-take when they saw a lumber emerge from a doorway, but since it seemed to be peaceful, they let it be, albeit being watched carefully. One knight muttered something about "Haven being overrun by weirdoes lately".
TS13 didn't pay any heed to the stares from the knights and proceeded to wander aimlessly, enjoying the walk and the sunshine.

-000-

The elevator shuddered to a halt as Halcus and Fridge stepped off the lift and set foot onto a level of the clockworks. The air was thick with ambient energy as the lightning constantly streaking across the artificial sky charged the atmosphere with almost tangible amounts of static electricity. Halcus took a look around and quickly searched for signs of danger. Seeing as the coast seemed to be clear for now, Halcus motioned for Fridge to follow. Fridge was a bit nervous to be honest. He didn't think he was supposed to leave Haven at all... but the knight had been just so interesting that Fridge couldn't resist tagging along. They had only gone a short distance when a metallic claw broke through the steel-plated ground and a retrode emerged from where it had been waiting for enemies to walk by. Fridge didn't like conflict, but it seemed that they really didn't have a choice in the matter as more constructs emerged from the shadows to surround the duo.

-000-

Vise wasn't exactly sure what had happened, and Punch seemed equally as stumped. They were both sitting in reclining chairs with drinks in their hands and neither knew how their situation had degenerated into this. One moment they were clearing the rubble, and the next, Dagren insisted they took a break and had begun attempting to make them as comfortable as possible. Dagren was currently holding a pitcher, giving Punch a refill. Vise finally decided enough was enough and decided to speak his mind. He put his drink down and closed his eyes to carefully consider his words.

"Look lad, it's not that we don't appreciate this, but I'm beginnin' tae think..."

Vise trailed off as he felt someone begin massaging his shoulders in a most relaxing manner. Slowly, he opened his eyes and turned to see that Dagren was now behind him, smiling pleasantly and rubbing his back. To say Vise was creeped-out would have been an understatement.

Vise bolted out of his chair and scrambled away from Dagren with wide eyes. Dagren frowned in concern.
"Is something the matter?" Dagren asked.

Quickly, Vise began shoving at Dagren's back as Vise quickly ushered Dagren away.
"Lad, me and Punch are going tae be uhhh.... occupied with a new project for a bit." Vise lied quickly. "We would rather prefer it if yeh went out for a bit and gave us some time to ourselves."

Dagren smiled brightly, gave a small nod, and then went on his way merrily.

Vise slumped down on the ground with relief. "I didn't think we would get outta that one." He muttered.

Ouch. Tickafir gingerly prodded at the burn on his leg, trying to assess the damage done. "Oh, who am I fooling? My whole rusting job is healing, and I can't even fix myself." Wincing as he pushed himself to his feet, the pathetic excuse for a mender carefully tested how much weight he could afford to put on his leg without hurting it even more.

"The sniper was another Renegade."

"Ah, right. Why am I not surprised by that?" he muttered as Scharr walked off to where ever he was going. "Okay, you go over there and do something; I'll just be over here. Doing something."

Tickafir limped over to the idling machines, using his wand for a crutch, and began to examine the control panels on them, to try to get a basic picture on how they ran. Shoving the limp body of a Thwacker aside, he deactivated the magnetic lock on the maintenance hatch and began to tinker around inside.

((insert technical jargon that I didn't think anyone was interested in here))

"Okay, Scharr, I got all of them working except for the one hit with that blast. With the ones I found in the garage, this should be plenty."

"...Scharr?"

((yup, managed to fail you all with my super short posts again. yay for me.))

((Ninza: Nah, you're not failing with short posts. Failing with short posts is writing one line. I'm just glad you're posting.

Tear and Remilia: Next time I see you in-game, I'd like to chat about what your characters are up to.))

Ironclaw Munitions Factory

Scharr reached the balcony and took a moment to analyze the pulsing blue orb before reaching out to grab it. The thing was weak, as though the blast had been a considerable energy drain, but there was nothing to indicate the reason for is presence.

Orb in hand, the retrode made his way back to the injured mechanic. He could just hear Tickafir trying toi address him before he arrived in the bay area.

"We have more vehicles than drivers," Scharr pointed out. "Have you programmed them to follow a single unit?" He paused. "And are you functional for travel?"

There was only so much his data analysis could tell him about organic creatures.

Wolver Den ---> Treasure Vault

Fortunately, the elevator did work, and once the jumbled mess of zombies, kats, and devilites got themselves straightened out enough for someone to reach the control console, they were on their way down.

This time, the group managed to reach the Treasure Vault without incident.

"Well then," Mialii mewed once she had extricated herself. "Thank you all for your work on this mission. Let us now take a moment to turn our thoughts to those we lost in the unfortunate Wolver attack." She paused a moment, her bell tinkling as she bowed her head, and then looked up again.

"Now, if you please ... those who have lingering injuries, report to the medical tent. After that, your time is your own. Blouri, I'd appreciate it if you'd also join me there after I've made my report, and Terarr, if you could show your friend around the Vault once you've made sure you're not in need of medical attention after that explosion?"

With that, the Spookat nurse turned and headed off to make her report.

((Bye Mialii! Enjoy your return to "extra" status for now))

Emberlight

"Now. Where were we?"

Vakros seethed at Kalor as the latter repositioned his blade at Bettit's eye. The demo was trembling, managing to look both terrified and still apologetic.

Truth be told, Vakros was terrified too - he had never thought he would be glad to receive a visit from a member of the Crimson Order, but the interruption had stalled the interrogator long enough for the mender's adrenaline to kick in and allow him some measure of clear thought through the haze of pain from his broken fingers. He hadn't had time to collect those thoughts though, and it didn't look as though he was going to get any.

"We were sent for it," he gasped as the point of the knife touched his friend's eye and he could tell that she was trying hard not to scream.

"Details," Kalor demanded levelly before Vakros could say anything else, studying the other gremlin as he pressed on the blade and the young demo was unable to remain silent, struggling madly against the arm clamped around her thin torso with a shrill scream.

Starting to really panic now that the intruder had genuinely hurt Bettit and gave no indication that he planned to stop soon, Vakros' racing mind scrambled for something, anything, that would satisfy him without betraying the Renegades and getting a bunch of them killed.

"It was all very secretive; the gremlin recognized her. He must have been from the Colony around the time she was there." The fur on mender's forehead and the back of his neck was damp with cold sweat.

"I see. And where was this?" Kalor seemed to take no notice of the hoarse sobs that turned into another scream as he twisted the knife. The corner of his mouth twitched into what was almost a smirk watching the mender's face as he pulled the blade out of Bettit's eye, casually wiped it on her shirt, and passed it in front of the other eye, not yet placing it in stabbing position.

((Okay, go for it, Azure.))

Raikap

More thoughts flooded the soldier's head as he strolled through the borough. Why were they still here if the Crimson Order had gotten what they wanted? What was inside the box? He was so deep in his thoughts that he had barely noticed that he had walked into a part of Stone Field borough that wasn't occupied by his men.

He was snapped out of his reverie by a sudden scream.

His head whipped around, searching for the source. It was so sudden that he couldn't pinpoint where it came from. Another scream sounded, and he decided that it was coming from the home a few meters down. He dashed to the front door and knocked. "Open up! This is the Grand Colony army!" He shouted, trying to sound intimidating, even though he was only on his own.

Frankly, he doubted that he'd be able to do much if there were multiple perpetrators inside the house. But if someone was getting hurt, then he needed to do something quick.

The door stayed shut so he decided to break in. "Alright, we're coming in!" He shouted as he bashed the door with his body. It didn't budge. He stepped back a few more steps and prepared to ram the door. He clutched his torch tightly and sprinted. He felt the door smash against his skin.

The door broke down and he found himself greeted by a Thwack Hammer to the face. He staggered backwards; his mask had taken the brunt of the damage, but the hit was strong enough to daze him. He fell to the ground, leaning on his fuel tank, and aimed his torch upwards. He squeezed the trigger and felt a searing heat as a jet of flame shot out from his weapon. He hoped that it would stun the attacker long enough for him to recover.

He let go of the trigger and pulled himself up. He looked around, but his vision was blurred. He noticed too late a brown figure that was moving towards him. He felt a blunt pain in his chest and stumbled backwards. Raikap tripped on something furry (which he assumed was probably the victim). He fell flat again, thought quickly, and rolled into a prone position to the right just before he heard a loud smash mere inches from his head.

He aimed his torch to the right, with whatever strength he had left. He couldn't launch another flame attack; he might hurt whoever he tripped on. So instead he pressed a button and a large shot came from the end of the torch. A grunt of pain, and the sound of something toppling over, confirmed that he had hit his mark [Thank the spirits... That was a completely blind shot.] He thought, sending a silent prayer of thanks.

He stood himself up and shook his head. Once the blur had gone away, he beheld the scene.

A grey-furred Gremlin was lying, tied up and still conscious, on the floor (he was probably the one that Raikap tripped on). A small Gremlin (possibly a child) was tied up and sitting on the floor. Blood was leaking out from one of her eyes.
There were several chairs that were turned over in the struggle. An adult, female Gremlin was sprawled on one of them. She was unconscious, but still breathing. There was also an adult, male Gremlin lying on the floor behind one of the couches. He on the other hand, was dead. [Mother of Cradle... Who did this to them?] He thought, shocked.

He turned to the assailant. The Gremlin was wearing typical Emberlight clothes and held a collapsible Thwack Hammer in his right hand [That thing looks like new tech...]. He had a comm unit in his ear. Raikap picked up the comm unit and tried to activate it. The line was dead. He turned it around; it seemed to be in good condition. It was probably a fail-safe in case the assailant was taken down. That meant that he was working with others [I better watch my back] Raikap thought.

He proceeded towards the Gremlin child and pulled out a small piece of cloth from one of his pockets. He draped it around the wounded eye. "There, that should stop the bleeding." He said to her. He walked behind the child and undid her bonds "What's your name? Can you tell me what happened in here?" He asked as he fumbled with the knots.

((That's all I got for now. My next post will be covering Rultaos and Asteria again. Tev has control over Raikap for the moment. Oh and another thing, The Defiler is making a comeback >:) ))

"Never thought I'd be glad to see your 'short-circuited' face again," Elias shot demeaningly at the ethereal Flash Bang as the evil consciousness smirked at him, "though its only cuz it means my senses are back to normal <.<"
"Oh, don't you worry, not that your defensive instincts have kicked in the first time, you'll be seeing much more of me," Flash Bang scoffed with a deep, hoarse laugh to accompany his already discomforting voice.
Elias cringed. He knew that was true, unless he found out how to stop it before he dealt so much more senseless chaos. Memory of the research facility flooded back to him; the gremlin scientists strewn across the lab, flames engulfing documents and materials, equipment shredded, scorched, or still burning. He had to find a way... something... anything... "I'm going for a walk..."
"You know you can't run from me, right? I am you, the sooner you accept that, the sooner I can stop toying with you and poison our soul completely."
Elias clamped his jaw in anguish, "I'm not gonna let that happen, I assure you," and rematerialized himself into his ethereal plane to search for clue. Instead of ending up where he wanted to, he was brought before one of his very first visions.
The great sword plunged into the ground, and an inscription across the blade:

'Void is only what you make it to be.
Nothingness is relevant.
To see the void, well, whats to see?
Only creature lost of merriment.
Follow the path of dark and light,
Though trial falls on those who do,
To find a place where life is bright;
A place where wishes do come true.'

"This again? I puzzled over this for hours, what am I supposed to make of it now?"
A hollow disembodied voice echoed across the small sward ((yes, sward, not sword, look it up XD)), "Oh give it up, its not like your actually going to FIND something to get rid of me. Face it, I'm here to stay!"
"Flash, back off. Like I'd actually listen to the BAD GUY! If Morning and Noon believed there was a way, what reason do I have to doubt them? There has to be a way to deal with something like you... what happened to them... WHAT DID YOU DO!!!"
"What did I do? HAH, what did YOU DO! The second I was awakened, they had to leave your mind and enter your soul just to keep your half intact. No more counting on their guidance, its just me and you now. Admit it, your hopeless without your helping other halves."
Dread smashed down on Elias like a vilewood, but he held himself together as best he could. "I'm gonna figure this sword out if its the last thing I do!"
"Suit yourself. Load yourself up with false hopes, be my guest. It'll only make crushing our soul that much sweeter." Flash Bangs presence then faded, and the grassy sward seemed that much brighter without such an evil presence around.
Time to get to work, Elias.

((yea, a lot of dialogue. in this case, not much i could do about it. have you figured out what the inscription means yet? :3))

((I've been gone for a while, can someone please give me a recap?))

((Azure and Za-Ck: Managed to chat with both Tear and Ninza about the things we discussed for their characters, but haven't seen Remilia on for a few days. Working steadily on my post, but had a couple questions for you, Azure, before I finalized it. Also, Astoria has no tongue, so she'll have to write to Takun what's going on.

Roaku and Aerorune: We're approaching a time where your characters can be introduced; are you still around and interested in playing?

Plad: I'll sum up from your last post.

Recon Team - Elias got his ghostly blue rear captured and ended up in a gremlin test facility. There haven't been further posts from Remilia either, so you guys are still chillin' where you left off with no actual reconnaissance having been done.

Ironclaw Munitions Factory - Scharr had just made contact with Tickafir. At this point, they've come to an understanding and have found the same war machines the recon team ran into, which they plan on stealing for use by the Renegades. After a fight with aforementioned mechs, Tickafir has a leg injury but has successfully reprogrammed the machines, while Scharr is in possession of Elias' orb.

Moorcroft Team - After the run-in with the Rabid Wolvers, the group of undead and fiends made it out of the Den and have since returned to the Treasure Vault.

Haven - Dagren has escaped the furry-loving Knight in Haven by meeting up with old acquaintances from engineering school, Punch and Vise. An exploding gadget has left him with an opposite personality from his own, and he has creeped the other two gremlins out with his cheerful helpfulness. Meanwhile, Fridge has headed down into the Clockworks with the Knight Halcus to be surrounded by hostile constructs, and TS13 has just awakened from a recharge.

Firestorm Citadel - Rultaos has met with Hatetia, the leader of the Phoenix Ash, and asked for their assistance in the assault on the Grand Colony in return for assistance from the Renegades on their ventures. After some thought, Hatetia agreed to the alliance with the stipulation that Rultaos beat her in single combat. Rultaos emerged victorious.

Emberlight - A Colony detachment led by a member of the Crimson Order has occupied Stone Field Borough, the section of Emberlight that Bettit and Vakros had travelled to in order to collect an item from Bettit's home for Torx. Meanwhile, the situation in the household of Bettit's parents has gotten more dire: after Teret was killed and Vakros dazed, Kalor attempted unsuccessfully to extract information from an addled Gista and ended up shoving Muren in a closet. Once Vakros and Bettit had both awakened, Bettit smudged the truth to say she had brought the box with her but was too young to remember who gave it to her in response to Kalor breaking four of Vakros' fingers. At this point, the member of the Crimson Order showed up alone to retrieve the box. When he was gone, Kalor resumed the interrogation, gouging out Bettit's eye while Vakros supplied that they'd been sent to retrieve the item by a mysterious individual who had recognized Bettit and so must have been from the Colony The interrogation was interrupted by Captain Raikap, who had been suspiciously following the CO member with misgivings about the mission, breaking down the door and subduing Kalor. Meanwhile, Astoria, one of the gremlins who had been in Emberlight on the recruitment mission is on her way to let Takun know what's happening in the city.

OOC - Things have been pretty slow, as we've been averaging maybe a post a week during the past couple of months (and not all of those posts have progressed the story). Treaman was on a short hiatus, and Windsickle just returned from his. Faronal has been MIA for some time, and after a period of non-posting, Isis has let us know that he likely won't be returning to the forums, let alone the thread. We're currently hoping to re-energize the game just to finish up the story so that all the characters aren't left hanging. I think that's about it.

EDIT: I should probably add that we're currently under hurricane watch, so if you don't hear from me for a bit it's likely because we have no power. It's only a little one, though, so it may not be a big problem.))

Apologies. Be away for several weeks on a mission. May your swords and pens never break.

I'm still here and I'm ready for my cue.

((Apologies for the length, everyone ... I've had much of this planned out for months now, and it was supposed to be several scenes back and forth. I hadn't really expected to be writing the whole thing myself, so here it is all at once.

Azure: Got to talk to Remila, so she's in the know. Also, I find it continuously hilarious that you keep referring to Bettit as a child (or a possible child) due to her size; she's actually the gremlin equivalent of about 19. Just wanted to share that 'cause it had me giggling at inappropriate times when reviewing posts. Apologies if I didn't do Raikap justice; let me know if something needs to be changed (or entirely rewritten, as the case may be).))

Vakros was grateful for the second interruption, even if it did come in the form of the Grand Colony Army ... he just hoped it wouldn't mean things were going from bad to worse.

As the intruder, who he blearily recalled the Crimson Order member calling 'Kalor', stood and approached the door with his thwackhammer at the ready, the mender studied Bettit to see how she was faring. Her jaw was clenched and her eyes, or what was left of them, were squinted, but after a moment of quiet during which the gremlins on both sides of the door seemed to be waiting to see what the other would do, she raised her brows at Vakros as if to say "now what?" He had no response for that, and turned around as best he could to see what was going on just as the door crashed open.

There was a brief scuffle, in which Vakros managed to be tripped over and very nearly singed before the new intruder emerged victorious. The mender painfully attempted to right himself as the scorcher collected his wits and surveyed the scene, not quite managing a sitting position until the other had moved to kneel next to Bettit.

***

Bettit flexed her arms as they were released from their bonds.

"What's your name? Can you tell me what happened in here?" the Colony scorcher asked from behind his mask.

"Uh ... Bettit." The young demo was having a difficult time thinking; it felt like the pain in her eye was in her whole head. "I don't really know about the beginning ... I got hit in the head and didn't wake up until right before that guy started interrogating us." She started to indicate the thwacker on the floor with a nod of her head, winced, and thought better of it. Instead, she leaned forward to work on the knots around her feet. "Could you go get Vakros?" she asked distractedly. "He's got some broken fingers and won't be able to do any untying by himself."

Raikap nodded and moved to untie the mender. "What was he interrogating you about?" he asked as he got to work on the knots around the grey gremlin's wrists, frowning at the four mangled fingers on one hand. Bettit and Vakros both remained staunchly silent at the question.

"Who are you?" Vakros asked after a moment, at the same time that Bettit gasped, having realized the implications that this Colony gremlin might have nothing to do with the one who had broken in the first time.

"You ... don't know what he was up to?" She asked suspiciously. "So there's more than one group from the Colony here? Is there more than one Crimson Order member here too?"

"My name is Captain Raikap. I-" the Captain started, interrupting himself at Bettit's third question. "You saw a member of the Crimson Order?" Things were beginning to make sense.

"He showed up to talk to that Kalor guy," Vakros answered in a strained voice, stretching his freed shoulders out of the cramped position they had been in. He hissed in pain as he used his uninjured hand to set the bones as best he could on the other.

Raikap gritted his teeth as he finished up with the mender's ankles and moved to efficiently bind the disguised thwacker. "A box. Is that what this is about?" he asked urgently.

"... he took it with him." Bettit hesitantly answered after a moment's pause, not sure whether she should. "And told Kalor to stay here."

Raikap's face became grave beneath the mask. So the Crimson Order member was up to something ... but why would he need to interrogate the whole town if he had not only already gotten the box, but may have even known who had it before they arrived? The Captain intended to find out, and these two gremlins were his best leads at the moment. If they stayed here, though, they were as good as dead.

"Do you know what's in the box?" he asked after a moment's contemplation as he put the last knot in Kalor's bonds.

"No," Bettit answered weakly. "We've had it for a long time, but never opened it."

That opened up all sorts of new questions, but it was unlikely that they would have time to explore them here. "They'll be back around," Raikap began, standing. "Especially once they discover his comm unit isn't functioning." He nudged Kalor with his toe. "We'll need to get you out of here."

Panic began to well up in Bettit's chest again. "But my family ... I need to find out where Patter and Muren are," she countered in a shaky voice, unsteadily getting to her feet.

"NO!" Vakros barked quickly, even startling himself in his alarm. Bettit froze, stunned at her friend's vehemence, and even Raikap stared.

The mender coughed and cleared his throat. "I mean: No, Bettit. You need to stay put and keep your good eye closed. The eyes move together, so you'll just hurt yourself more looking around," he supplied, more calmly this time. "I'll find your Patter and Muren."

Bettit sat obediently, mildly perplexed as Vakros leaned over to whisper to Raikap, looking uncomfortable. "She doesn't know her father's been killed; she was unconscious when it happened. I want to break it to her gently, at the same time as her brother, if I have to." Truth be told, he felt a little sick having to be the bearer of such bad news ... he certainly wasn't looking forward to it.

Raikap nodded. "You should hurry," he said simply.

Vakros started across the room, wondering just what had become of the young gremlin and bracing himself for the worst. "There's not a lot of doctoring I can do with only my off hand, and Bettit is essentially blind for now; we're either going to need another mender, or the going will be slow and we'll probably stick out," he told the Captain as he looked around an archway into an unoccupied kitchen.

"Mitter's friend T'Keva lives two doors down," Bettit volunteered. "The rust-colored house if you turn right from our front door."

Raikap snorted in frustration, but had to admit that the grey gremlin had a point. "Alright, I'll go."

"Tell her to come to Gista's house," the younger gremlin added through gritted teeth.

The Captain nodded and fit the door back into its frame on the way out so that it looked fairly correct to anyone who might wander by.

The house Bettit had described was not difficult to spot - it seemed to be the only house of that color on the block. Raikap knocked on the door, which was opened by a tall, thin gremlin wearing spectacles, who scarcely looked up from the paper he was reading as he mumbled a greeting.

"I'm looking for a T'Keva," Raikap stated.

"Oh, I though everyone knew she and Kex finally got together by now," the other gremlin said carelessly, finally looking up. "She lives with him n- What do you want with my sister?" he interrupted himself, having apparently just noticed Raikap's Colony uniform.

"She's needed at Gista's home," Raikap answered with a touch of impatience.

"Oh. Well then. Hmm." The other gremlin scratch his head. "In that case, to to the end of the block there, two streets that way and across the plaza; it's the grey house at number 523." He indicated the direction the Captain should go.

Raikap nodded, turned on his heel, and hurried off toward his new destination at a goodly enough clip to cover the ground quickly, but in a way that made it seem he wasn't actually in a hurry. He wondered whether "Kex" and "Kexed" were the same gremlin, and if it were so, whether having the Foreman's mate there would simplify matters or complicated them further.

***

After a few moments of searching, Vakros managed to locate Muren in a clothes closet. The child was bound and a bit battered, but to the mender's immense relief, alive and sleeping.

Hefting Muren as best he could with one arm - he was blessedly light - Vakros managed to maneuver him so that he was lying next to his mother on the bench.

"Your brother's here," he told Bettit, who was still sitting with her eyes closed and her jaw clenched. "He's asleep."

"What about Patter?"

It was the question Vakros had been dreading. He cleared his throat a few times and rubbed the back of his neck, stalling for an instant, before dropping down to sit down next to his friend on the floor."

"I'm really sorry," he said quietly, draping an arm around her shoulders as he cradled his injured hand in his lap. "Your Patter was killed fighting with Kalor."

The young demo was still for a moment, as though she hadn't yet comprehended what she had been told, before her face crumpled and she began to cry.

Vakros felt helpless while she vented her grief, shaking has she sobbed hoarsely into his jacket. It was better she got it out while they had a few moments of quiet and someone was on their way to help, but it still hurt to watch.

***

It hadn't taken Raikap long to reach the new address he had been given, and when he knocked on the door, a slim, pretty female answered. Her milky grey eyes told the Captain that she was blind.

"Hello," she greeted him pleasantly, sniffing the air experimentally. "You're not from Stone Field, are you? If you're looking for the Foreman, he hasn't come home yet," she added with knitted brows.

So she was the Foreman's mate. He would have to keep that in mind. "I'm looking for a T'Keva," Raikap told her, getting straight to the point. "She's needed at Gista's home."

"Oh! Let me get my things then." T'Keva seemed at the same time worried and surprised; she wondered if this had to do with her friend's missing daughter, who they were fairly sure had last been seen with a group of creatures from somewhere else.

The mender clipped a lead onto the tiny harness worn by a silkwing that fluttered over in response to her summoning click, then took up her bag and wrench staff before joining Raikap at the door.

"What's going on?" she asked her visitor as she closed up, settled a pair of dark glasses over her eyes, and set off at a fast walk, not needing the silkwing's guidance on the familiar route.

"Better you find out when we get there," Raikap answered gravely. T'Keva frowned at that, but didn't press further.

When they reached the house, Raikap moved the damaged door aside to admit the mender, who gasped upon stepping inside. She could barely smell that there was at least one other person here she didn't know, and possibly two, under the heavy scent of blood. Someone was sobbing, and it sounded like Gista's daughter, Bettit.

"What's happened?" T'Keva asked in alarm as the silkwing, Usumas, tugged her toward where the sobbing was coming from, drawn by the injuries there.

Raikap noted the two gremlins sitting on the floor, as well as the child laying, still bound, next to his mother. He went to untie them both while the mender did her work.

"Someone broke in," Vakros answered for Bettit, who seemed hardly aware that the other mender had arrived. "She was stabbed in the eye."

"And you have some broken fingers, but they've already been set, I see; Usumas can fix you up," T'Keva replied, deftly feeling the digits of the injured hand. He groaned to himself a little upon seeing the silkwing flap over to hover next to him and fought the urge to swat it away. Nothing would ever make him like being healed by a silkwing, and if this weren't urgent he would have declined.

"That doesn't explain the blood though; there's too much of it in the room for an eye wound," the other mender continued, looking intensely worried as she gently coaxed Bettit's head from Vakros' shoulder so she could clean the injury. "What about the rest of the family?"

"Gista and Muren were mostly unhurt, but they're out cold," Vakros told her quietly as Bettit sniffed and tried hard not to move. He reached over and took one of his friend's hands with his unbroken one. "Teret was killed, though."

T'Keva froze for an instant at that news, then heaved a sigh as she went back to work. "That's ... I'm so sorry," she directed toward Bettit. "They're expecting, you know," she added sadly for Vakros' benefit.

Vakros hadn't known, but it explained a few things. He squeezed Bettit's hand, flexing his newly-healed one as the silkwing fluttered off. "Here, let me help with that."

Bettit remained silent as the two menders did what they needed to, the pain in her eye subsiding but the knot of grief and guilt remaining firmly lodged in her throat. She managed to swallow it, after some time, but it stayed there roiling in her stomach. She knew it was going to be a long time before it was really gone.

"Bettie dear, I'm sorry, but we're not going to be able to restore this eye," she heard T'Keva say as through a fog, and blinked away her dark thoughts, looking from one mender to the other with her remaining eye. Vakros was wrapping that side of her head so that he could get everything smoothed over later.

"I suppose being three quarters blind won't be much worse than half," the young demo mumbled, glancing over at her mother as she stirred awake, then over at Raikap. "So now what?"

((Updated the title and character list. I'll upload my next IC, covering Rultaos, Asteria, Raikap and possibly Defiler soon as well (Though not necessarily all in the same post).

@Tev: Is Bettit really that big? Whoops, sorry. I guess I'm starting to forget the more finer details of the Roleplay characters XD. Also, you used Raikap just fine :). What I would've made him do is barely different from what you did

@Roablade: You're Roaku right? Ok, your slot is still reserved. Also, if you haven't noticed the title, the story is getting close to the end. Sorry if you wont be in it for very long :/. I really appreciate the length you've waited for your turn though.

@Windsickle: Good luck on your mission soldier :salutes:

@Plad: Is Swillkitch-engage your permanent name? If so, I'll change it in the character list.

@Treaman: Not sure what message you're trying to give with the inscription. But maybe I'm just not imaginative enough (or just too tired XP) to make it out.))

((Azure .... are we really going to be able to weave yet another character into the story should we accept a new player? We had a bumpy enough time discussing how to integrate the unintroduced characters we already have.

And yeah ... she is that old. I keep describing her as "young," but what's over a decade younger than me is actually older than many of our players, so I'm sure it's a perception thing.))

((I guess it would be pretty tough :/. I'll remove it then, since it really would be better to not accept at all, rather than accept and have them play for a short time. I guess I felt that I was just being fair to others since I already removed someone.))

Rultaos

Rultaos was busy, polishing his Great sword with a small stone used for sharpening. He admired its high-quality material, it light weight. It was crafted by the finest smithies in the Grand Colony as a gift for him, since he had led an outfit of Citadel forces against a Gremlin rebellion. Rultaos saw his reflection in the shining metal of the blade. He reminisced about how it came into his possession; and about the men who fought beside him during the uprising...

----------

"Rultaos and his men were assigned to help protect a deconstruction zone, that The Colony was taking apart in order to create a weapons factory to aid in the battle against the Gremlin freedom fighters. Without the construction of the factory (and the maintenance of a key position there) The Grand Colony would come dangerously close to defeat, something that King Tinkinzar didn't plan on risking. As expected, the place came under attack, but by an overwhelming number of rebels. Numbers that neither Tinkinzar, nor Vanaduke, had anticipated. The rebels obviously wanted that territory.

...

The Trojan commander kept his shield up as rogue Scorchers, Demos, and Mortafires rained bullets and explosives down on Rultaos and his allies. The Trojans had formed a defensive "wall" (called a phalanx) to protect their Gremlin allies as the latter returned fire into the rebel lines. The battle-scarred deconstruction zone seemed to be in a greater state of disarray as compared to the havoc caused by the Knights. "Commander! The left flank is faltering! The rebels are focusing their fire on a single Trojan and he's not going to stay standing much longer!" An Almirian crusader reported, as he was crouching behind the lumbering Trojans.

"We need to send soldiers to take down the gunners. Take a some Slag-walkers with you, and a squad of Ghostmane Stalkers. Distract the gunners and bombers while the Ghostmanes take them out. Go!" Rultaos ordered. "Yes commander!" The undead crusader replied as he ran off towards their Gremlin allies, dodging a stray bullet from an enemy Scorcher. Rultaos held steady against 3 bombs erupting simultaneously in front of his shield, throwing shrapnel everywhere. [We can't allow the phalanx to fall. The moment we have a hole in our defense, the rebel forces will rush through. It will be a massacre...] Rultaos thought. He knew that the rogue Gremlins outnumbered the combined forces of Rultaos' soldiers, and the Colony troops. They needed a tactical advantage, and the wall of Trojans was all that was keeping them alive.

Rultaos turned to his right. Stamatios, a scarlet Trojan who was a little way down the phalanx, was starting to lose his footing as Mortafire rounds pummeled his shield. The Trojan was gritting his stone teeth and was gripping his shield too tightly for a battle stance. The commander knew that they needed to turn this battle around fast, or they all wouldn't live to see another cycle.

Rultaos thought of something, it was a risky move, but the Ghostmanes were taking far too long in eliminating the rebel gunners. "Everyone! On my command, push forward! Attack anything that gets in front of you, and stay aligned with the phalanx!" He shouted over the chaos of the battle. The Trojan on his left looked as if he had just seen Firestorm Citadel get flooded. "Push forward?! That's suicide! There's no telling how many rebels there are behind their gunners; we could get slaughtered!" The Trojan said in a panic. "If we don't move now, we WILL get slaughtered! Now do as I say, and if you dare break your formation, I will personally kill you before the rebels do! Are we clear soldier?" Rultaos said assertively. Time was running out and this Trojan was not making things easier.

The Trojan was silent for a while as the explosions and gunfire continued. "Y-yes sir." He said, nervously. Rultaos could only hope that the Trojan would not break formation. If he did, then the phalanx would fall in a matter of millicycles. "Gremlins! Keep moving with us and stay close behind the wall. Scorchers, keep them away from us by laying down a wall of fire once we get close!" Rultaos ordered. An Ironclaw Scorcher nodded as he gestured for his troops to take position directly behind the Trojans. "Demos and Mortafires, keep shooting at their lines! Kill as many as you can before they can get close!". The Demos began winding up their bombs, and the Mortafires loaded their rocket launchers. "Thwackers, Menders, Ghostmanes, Walkers, and Crusaders. Make sure that none of the rebels get behind us! If any of them do, then that's going to be it for us.". The soldiers formed a defensive perimeter around the array of troops that Rultaos had organized for the final push.

Rultaos turned towards the rebel lines; there was an immense number of them. [Did they get reinforcements while I wasn't looking?] Rultaos thought; the rebels looked as if their numbers had increased. There wasn't time to hesitate though, they needed to act now. Rultaos raised his standard, stone sword, and put on a determined look on his face. He swiftly lowered the sword to point at the rebel army.

"Attack!" He shouted as the phalanx began moving forward. Battle-cries erupted from all around as they began closing the distance between them, and their enemies. A Thwacker emerged from the rebel lines and attempted to attack Rultaos. The Trojan raised his sword and brought it down upon the Gremlin. The Thwacker barely had time to react to the expanding shadow of the sword that smashed him into the ground. The final stage of the battle had begun.

...

Rultaos found it hard to remember much of the chaos that ensued after that foolhardy Thwacker had tried to attack him, but they had emerged victorious. While they too had suffered their share of losses, they managed to hold the deconstruction zone for the Grand Colony. It was a crucial battle that the Gremlins believe, would not have been won without Rultaos' assistance. They created a specially crafted Great sword for the Trojan Commander. It was made with a lightweight steel that did not dull easily. The sword has constantly given Rultaos an advantage over his fellow Trojans, and so he makes sure to keep it in peak condition.

----------

Rultaos was snapped out of his reverie by a sudden rapping on his door. "Enter." Rultaos said. Zaalthan appeared in the doorway. "Hatetia and her commanders are waiting to speak with you. They are in the war room, whenever you are ready." The Slag-walker said. Rultaos put his sentimental sword in the weapon rack and turned to Zaalthan. "I am ready, let's go." He said. "Come, I'll lead the way." Zaalthan said.

...

Zaalthan ushered Rultaos into the war room, but waited outside. "I'm not a commander. And so Hatetia does not allow us to interrupt a meeting unless it is of utmost importance. I'll wait outside." Zaalthan said. Rultaos nodded at the Slag-walker and entered the room.

Hatetia stood directly opposite of Rultaos. To the Trojan's left was an Almirian Crusader. And to his right was a Trojan Knightmare. "Alright, now that you've arrived, let us discuss the matter of war." Hatetia said to Rultaos. "You've said that you need our assistance in an assault on the Grand Colony. Where are you and your allies planning to strike exactly?" Hatetia asked. Rultaos eyed the other commanders for a moment, before responding. "We are planning to strike at the heart of the Grand Colony itself: The Grand Palace. We are going to launch a diversionary assault, in order to keep their forces occupied, while a small team of Renegades conducts an important operation." He said, careful not to give too many details unless asked.

"The Grand Colony? I admire your spirit Rultaos, but isn't that a little too ambitious, even for your group?" Hatetia asked, quite surprised at their target. "The Palace will be well defended, even our forces combined wouldn't put a dent in their defenses." The Knightmare interrupted. "Our mission is not to defeat them, but rather make enough noise to get their attention, and last long enough against their forces. We just need to stay standing until the other mission is completed. Afterwards, we can fall back." Rultaos explained. "About how long will this 'other mission' take?" The Almirian crusader asked. "The exact time is not known, but we believe that it will take less than a cycle to complete." Rultaos answered. "Less than a cycle... That's reassuring." The Knightmare replied sarcastically. "Silence Mikhael!" Hatetia told the Knightmare before turning to Rultaos.

"I don't know what you and your allies are trying to achieve with this attack, but if you went through the trouble of finding us, and fighting me, just to gain our help, then it must be important. As I have said before, you have our allegiance. But I do not want my men to be treated as cannon fodder." She said to Rultaos. "Everyone will play an equally important role in the battle; every able soldier counts. I assure you that your men will be treated as brothers, and not expendables, by me and my allies." Rultaos told her.

"We shall discuss more of this back in my home camp. I will need one of you to come with me as a representative." He continued. "I'll go." Hatetia volunteered. "I want to make sure that my soldiers will be treated fairly. And that your organization does have enough supplies to give to me and my men." She said. "Mikhael, Konstantinos. You two will stay behind with Zaalthan and keep things organized while I am gone." Hatetia ordered the 2 commanders. "Yes ma'am!" The Almirian crusader (named Konstantinos) replied. "Everyone will be in top shape when you get back." Mikhael, the Trojan Knightmare, said as he crossed his arms. Hatetia turned to Rultaos. "Gather your things, I shall await you at the entrance." She said as she retreated behind a doorway, with red drapes, n the other side of the room.

Rultaos exited the war room and was greeted by Zaalthan. "I heard everything. And I think it'll be exciting to face off against the full might of Tinkinzar's army." The Slag-walker said. "I need to go though. There are a few things I need to take care of first. Have a safe journey Rultaos." Zaalthan said as he sped off into a different hallway.

The Trojan entered his room and sat down on the chair. He looked at the fake Owlite feather. There was no point in writing another letter since Rultaos was heading back anyway (and there wasn't really anyone left in Firestorm Citadel who could deliver it. Except Achilles maybe, but Rultaos didn't want to endanger his friend's reputation). He thought back at what Zaalthan said ["It'll be exciting to face off against the full might of Tinkinzar's army..."]. Rultaos had a grave after thought [It might not really be "Tinkinzar's" army, if the rumors are true...] He thought, remembering that the Crimson Order, and The Swarm, could be controlling everything. And that was a level of danger that Rultaos didn't feel comfortable sending anyone into.

((I'll get more IC uploaded soon. Sorry that these are taking a while to upload :( ))

((I was supposed to do this last weekend, but was going to wait until my next actual post ... only I figure I had better not wait longer in case I happen to talk to him again this weekend. Isis says "Hi" to everyone and sends his love; apparently he's now super-busy with a new school.))

((Sorry that my next IC has taken WAY too long. I'll have it up by the morning tomorrow (at least by my time standards). Things have just been pretty stressful lately, in between a writing competition, a school project, and some other more personal problems :/. Anyway, it should be up soon though. Again, my apologies, even though I've probably said this a million times already :(.

@Tev: Tell Isis that it's nice to hear from him, and that I (and perhaps everyone else in the roleplay) wish him luck on his new school :D. I know how it feels to be the new kid :)...))

((First of all, no this isn't morning for me. There was a slight delay. Anyway, here it is. I'm already working on the next ones.

By the way, why is no one else posting? Are you all waiting on me? If so, you don't have to. As long as it doesn't affect my posts of course.))

Raikap

The captain felt pity for the family that he had encountered; the Crimson Order had put them through so much. There was no time to be wasted however. These people were a target, and he had to get them somewhere safer. "The next order of business is to get out of Stone Field. The people who were after the box will most likely come after you too, to clean their tracks." Raikap said in response to Bettit's question. He then turned to T'Keva, the foreman's mate. "Ma'am, once you're done with her, I'll need you to go to the foreman and tell him that the Crimson Order has already found the artifact, and that one of their agents has endangered a family just to get it." He told her. Raikap decided to let Kexed decide on the best course of action.

"Alright." T'Keva replied, gesturing to Bettit and her companions. Raikap nodded. "I'll head out and try to contact some of my soldiers. I'll return with some help as soon as I can. Hopefully, a squad wont be too far from here" The captain said, as he headed for the door.

Raikap stepped outside. It seemed too quiet, but perhaps it was just paranoia getting to him. [There's no telling who else is on the Crimson Order's side...] He thought as he walked down the street. After a few microcycles of walking, he stopped abruptly; he had a feeling that he wasn't alone. [Come on Raikap, you're starting to lose it.] He urged himself to continue, but kept his finger on the trigger of the torch.

Then he heard a faint footstep.

There was no denying it, someone was following him. And whoever it was, it didn't want Raikap to know that he was being followed. "I know you're there. Show yourself." Raikap challenged. In front of him, a female Gremlin in a Ghostmane uniform materialized out of thin air, pointing a blade at his face. "Weapons on the ground, now." She said. Raikap paused out of confusion before speaking. "Lieutenant Bafthalia? What in Cradle's name are you doing?" He asked. "You're obviously well-informed. But you're not fooling me. Drop your weapons and tell me where the Captain is; I might let you live." She said assertively.

Riakap did not understand what was happening. "Bafthalia, I don't know what you're talking about. I AM the captain!" He said. Bafthalia approached him and inserted the blade underneath the mask, just barely touching his skin. "Lie to me again, and I wont hesitate to kill you. Now tell me where he is!" She commanded. Raikap needed to think fast, he needed to prove to her that he wasn't an impostor as she seemed to think he was.

"The battle at Deconstruction zone #43, we were cornered. I saved your life by blocking an attack from a Knight. And you saved mine by lighting the sparks from my fuel tank and driving the Knights back. We were the only people who knew what had happened." He said as fast as he could. He raised his mask, revealing his brown-furred face underneath "Bafthalia, it's me." He said pleadingly.

They stared at each other for a few microcycles, barely an inch away from each other, with a blade touching the Raikap's neck. He was afraid that she would slit his throat if she still didn't believe him [Please spirits, don't let me be killed by a friend...] He prayed silently. His call was answered when The Ghostmane lowered her blade. "I don't know what's going on. But I do know that you're not a fake. I'm sorry sir, I had to be sure." She said apologetically.

"Bafthalia, what did they tell you? Why did you think I was an impostor?" Raikap asked urgently, although he was afraid that he already knew the answer. "It came from the Crimson Order representative himself. He said that you went missing, and that a rogue Gremlin may be using your uniform to infiltrate our ranks and sabotage us." She explained. "This is bad..." Raikap muttered quietly. "Captain, tell me what's going on. What have you been doing?" Bafthalia asked. "I'll explain it in a bit. Right now, we need to get indoors. There's no telling who else might be here." Raikap said as he led her to the Gearthwaite residence.

...

"Don't worry everyone, she's a friend." Raikap explained to the people inside the house when they reacted to Bafthalia's appearance. "These people were attacked and tortured by an agent of the Crimson Order, Kalor I think his name was..." Raikap said to Bafthalia, looking at the body of the dead spy. "Kalor? I know that name." Bafthalia said. "He was Thwacker, promoted to Ghostmane Stalker, who specialized in 'internal affairs' as they called it. His job was to weed out traitors and spies from within our ranks. Then, the Crimson Order said that he would report to them, and them only. That was the last anyone had seen of him." She recounted.

"You seem to know an awful lot about him." Raikap said, with a hint of jealousy. Bafthalia smiled "He was a heartless killer who didn't care about anything but his mission. Nobody really missed him." She said. "Moving on. They were after some sort of box, which was inside this house. I don't know what was in it, but the Crimson Order did, which was why they wanted it badly." Raikap sighed before continuing. "And probably why they want me out of the picture now. I got in the way and killed one of their men. Chances are, they believe that I know everything, and that I'll jeopardize their entire operation." He said.

"Then it's a good thing I found you first then, sir." Bafthalia said approaching Raikap. She hesitated for a moment, as if contemplating if she should say what she was about to say. "Our orders were 'kill on sight'. But I wanted to be sure that the person I had found wasn't really you. The other soldiers might not have been so lenient." She said. Raikap had understood the implications of what she had said. He was now a target too.

He patted Bafthalia on the shoulder and said "Thanks. That the 2nd time you've saved my life." He said. Raikap then turned back to the people inside the home. "We have to get of Stone Field borough now. There's no telling how long we'll be able to evade their patrols. Pack what you need, and let's go." He ordered the gremlins, who began moving as fast as they could. "T'Keva, you should return to foreman Kexed right now, and tell him all you know. If you're seen in our company, you might be hunted down as well." He said to the foreman's mate. "Of course. We will help if we can." T'Keva replied as the Silkwing led her out of the home.

"Bafthalia, are there any exits out of the city that aren't guarded." Raikap asked. It was a foolish question (since he knew about standard protocol), but it was worth a shot. "No, the whole place is under wraps. However, there are exits that aren't very well guarded. There's a path that goes through a Jelly farm area that should lead to an elevator. I saw it a while ago, the guards were few, and didn't seem to pay much attention to their surroundings." She answered. "That'll have to do." Raikap said.

Bafthalia nodded and headed for the doorway. "I'll keep watch outside, and try to keep any patrols that come around away from the house." She said, as she prepared to activate her cloak. "Wait, Bafthalia." Raikap said. "Yes sir?" She asked. "Are you sure you want to help us? You don't have to do this. You might end up making enemies in high places." Raikap said in a worried tone. "Sir, I'm no stranger to putting my life on the line. And I know that what the Crimson Order is doing isn't right. I'm standing with you, even if the rest of your men don't." The Ghostmane said firmly.

"... Thank you." Raikap said, moved by her loyalty. Bafthalia nodded and activated her cloak, making her disappear into thin air. He turned back towards the other Gremlins who were packing items for the journey, waiting for them to finish. [Fate is the only thing that's going to protect us from such powerful enemies...] He thought, as he looked once again at the body of Kalor.

((I'm back. You two are certainly cracking out creativity.))

((Haha, I'm not posting because I actually do have to wait for you. And Ninza. Who I think has been rather busy lately. Not sure what Ebil has been up to, but he hasn't been on in-game, either. I believe Remilia is waiting on Plad, who seems disinclined to post, and everyone else is essentially waiting on Asteria to get back to the Treasure Vault.

Also, welcome back, Windsickle, even though I already said it in-game. Hope everything went well.))

Bettit and Vakros

Raikap was out for the moment, and T'Keva was trying to comfort Gista, who had just awakened. The latter was still stunned and sat, silent and unmoving, her friend's gentle words falling on deaf ears. Usumas had settled on Muren, and was patching up the child's hurts as he slept.

Bettit had gotten up to fetch a couple of bags to put Gista and Muren's things in, but now stood gazing down at Teret's body, having seen her father for the first time after his death.

"What about Patter?" she asked quietly. "We won't be here to ..."

"I'm sure your Mitter's friend will take care of things," Vakros answered as he stepped up behind her. "He'd rather you get to safety." Bettit turned around to look at the mender, her eye wet. "You know, while the two of you were pulling that box out of the floor, your Patter told me that he was holding me responsible if anything should happen to you." Vakros lowered his voice. "I said it was a responsibility I was willing to take, and it still is, even if he can't hold me to it."

The young demo's lower lip quivered, and she sniffled a few times as she hugged her friend, burying her face in his chest as he put his arms around her shoulders and gave them a squeeze. She pulled away after a moment, managing a weak, crooked smile as she wiped her eye. "Thanks," she murmured, not knowing what else to say as Vakros returned the smile as comfortingly as he could.

Raikap returned then with another gremlin, and everyone turned in worried startlement upon seeing a Ghostmane Stalker enter the home. They relaxed slightly when the Captain assured them it was alright, but the news wasn't good.

With Gista still unresponsive in her grief, it was Bettit that galvanized the packing effort, finishing fetching the bags and shoving things into them as Vakros fetched some of the items she indicated. She was practiced at fitting many things into tight spaces, and most of the necessities were packed fairly quickly.

Shortly after hearing T'Keva leave, Bettit could hear that Muren was waking, and handed his bag off to Vakros. "I need to talk to Muren ... the second door over there is his room; can you get all the things out of the drawer in the bedside table?"

Vakros nodded and headed off, while Bettit stepped over to take a knee next to her brother as he rubbed his eyes and slid off of the bench. He stared intently at the blood spattered on her shirt for a moment until she gently took him by the chin to redirect his gaze to her eye and clasped his small shoulders.

"Muren, I need you to listen to me and understand something," Bettit told him gently but firmly. "Things are going to have to be a little different for awhile. We have to take a trip - you and Mitter and me, with my friend Vakros, and the nice Captain here, and his friend - and you might not get to eat things that are the color you like or do things in the order you usually do them. Can you be brave and do that for me?" The child stared at her for a moment, then slowly turned to look at the body of his father in the corner. Bettit swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry Muren, but Patter can't come with us," she told him, choking on the words and starting to tear up again. "We have to go away to be safe, like he'd want us to, but we won't be able to see him anymore."

Muren looked for a moment as though he didn't quite understand, then threw himself into his sister's arms. She clasped him with a sob, glancing up at Vakros as he returned with the bag.

"I think that's it," Bettit said, still holding onto Muren, who was shaking, and hoping he wouldn't start to wail. "I've still got the bag I came with, and anything I'd change out is at my apartment anyway." She turned to Raikap. "We're ready to go."

* * * * *

T'Keva and Kexed

T'Keva hurried through the streets to the Foreman's office; with Colony forces in the borough, it was no wonder that Kexed had yet to return home.

Kexed was not in his office, however, and the mender stood thinking a moment about where he was the next most likely to be in this situation before heading toward the Patrol headquarters. T'Keva knew her mate liked to be able to consult with those who had more expertise than himself (which was more than could be said of the last Foreman), and would probably have wanted to discuss the occupation with Captain Ziftadrine.

"T'Keva! Why aren't you at home?" She had hardly pushed the door open before Kexed was by her side, slipping an arm around her waist to hurriedly draw her in and close it again. "I'm sorry I couldn't send a message; things have been ... tense."

"So I've heard," the mender answered, returning Kex's nuzzle of greeting. "I've just come from the Gearthwaite's, actually."

Kexed paused at T'Keva's tone. "What's happened?"

"They were apparently the family with the box that the Colony was looking for; an agent had gotten into the home, killed Teret, and tortured Bettit and a friend she had brought home with her," she began gravely, then recounted the story in full detail to both Kex and Captain Ziftadrine, who had stepped away from the radio long enough to listen.

"So much for your agreement," Ziftadrine commented when T'Keva had finished, frowning. "What do you want us to do?"

Kexed was silent for, clutching T'Keva tightly. She could feel his heart racing as he thought. After a moment, he heaved a sigh and turned to look the Captain in the eye. "Get the rest of your people together: every officer who isn't out with a Colony team, anyone off-duty, and all the reserves. It's time to ask the Crimson Order to leave, and I'd like to have some good gremlins at my back."

((Can one of you guys take over Tick for a bit? I'm getting kinda swamped with school and work and my older brother moving out, I haven't had much time to even check these forums. You can do whatever you want with him, I can pick up where you left off.))

((It's alright hon; these things happen. Hope everything settles in and calms down soon! I'll go ahead and grab Tick for now, since I'm playing Scharr and it'll speed things up a bit if I do both.))

Asteria

Asteria walked through the Colony's forward base. There were so many guards patrolling the encampment that she had a terrible feeling that someone would speak to her. The moment somebody did that, it would be all over. She didn't stop, she just kept walking. The makeshift tents would obscure her from the guards for a few moments and, although not an entirely safe area, being out of view certainly made her feel safe for a few seconds.

Getting closer to the outer areas, she overheard 2 soldiers talking leisurely with each other. "I can't believe it, they actually found some members of the Clockwork Renegades in this town" A mender said. "I'm not surprised, Emberlight would be a hotspot for me too if I was looking for Gremlins who would fight The Colony." Replied the Thwacker.

Asteria felt her stomach drop. Some of the Renegades had been found. She could only hope it wasn't her group. Still, there was no time to check. If she wanted to help them, she had to tell Takun the situation.

She forced herself to continue walking onward. The elevator could already be seen in the distance; she quickened her pace. Just as she was leaving the camp someone called out to her. "Hey you!" a Gremlin shouted. Asteria stopped as to avoid suspicion. "What are you heading out for soldier?" an Ironclaw Demo asked her. Without a tongue, Asteria couldn't really reply, so she just stood there. "Didn't you hear me? I asked you what you were doing out here!" The Demo said, getting closer to her. The albino Gremlin tightened her grip on the Thwack hammer, she knew what she had to do.

"Are you deaf? Tell me what your business is right now!". The Gremlin grenadier was barely inches from her now. She reeled back the hand which held the hammer and swung as hard as she could towards the part that wasn't protected by the helmet. The hammer hit the Demo's cheek and knocked him to the ground. He was still conscious however. As the Demo tried to get up, Asteria raised the Thwack Hammer and smashed it into the unfortunate Gremlin's head. He moved no more.

Asteria didn't enjoy killing, but she wasn't left with any other choice. If the Demo awakened, he would've alerted all of the Colony forces in Emberlight. She grabbed the body, and hid it behind some metal debris. With luck, no one would find the dead Gremlin. She almost felt sorry for the Demo's family, if he had one back at the Colony, but she couldn't afford to show any sympathy for her enemies; she might be the one dead if she had.

Seeing no one else in her immediate area, she made a dash for the elevator. It was still a good ways off, and the run was exhausting. She was panting heavily by the time she reached it, and she barely remembered pressing the button with the golden gear through her tired haze.

...

Asteria wasn't surprised when she was greeted with weapons pointed at her the moment she reached Renegade vault. After all, she was wearing a Colony uniform. To explain the situation to the guards, she took of her goggles, and gestured a a sign of peace. Some of the people who met her at the elevator were Gremlins who recognized her, and immediately brought her to Takun.

The moment Takun saw that one of his own was wearing a Colony uniform, he knew that something was wrong. "What happened?" he asked in a grave voice. Asteria took a piece of parchment, and wrote down what had happened.

The Colony had occupied Stone Field borough, their teams were trapped, and some have already been captured. Takun knew that there was only one thing that could have sparked such aggressive actions from the Colony. "They know that the box is there... Bettit and Vakros must have went for it." He said to himself. Asteria didn't understand what he meant by this, but she urged Takun to take immediate action. "Yes, this has to be taken care of at once." The Stranger told the albino Gremlin. "Wogdred!" Takun shouted.

A Pit Boss approached them. "What's up boss?" Wogdred said. "Gather every Renegade who is battle-ready. Tell them to meet each other at the central area, where the meetings are usually held." Takun explained. "What is it for?" Wogdred asked, since he usually questioned the logic behind an order before doing it. "I'll explain it to all of you soon. Just get everyone who is capable of fighting at the central area as soon as possible. Understood?" Takun commanded. "Yes sir." Wogdred said, realizing that there was no point in pushing it.

Once the Pit boss was gone, Takun turned to Asteria. "You should get some rest little one. You've earned it. I promise you that we will get your friends back." The Stranger said. Asteria shook her head, she refused to let her friends' lives be in the hands of others, at least without her help. Takun gave her a pat on the shoulder "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I don't think you are fit for battle in your condition." He persisted. Asteria crossed her arms and glared at the Stranger in response. "I guess there's nothing I can do to stop you. Fine, you may come along." Takun said, defeated. The two of them exited the tent together.

Rultaos

The Trojan stood next to Hatetia as the elevator ascended. He had spent most of the journey towards the vault telling her about the Clockwork Renegades. At least the information that wasn't confidential, such as the sources of their weapons etc. "Your group is certainly better off than mine. I do not understand why your people felt the need to recruit us, weak as we currently are." Hatetia said. "What we are planning is massive, and we need as much help as we can get. It would be foolish to turn down even the smallest possibility of assistance." Rultaos replied. Hatetia saw the logic in that.

The elevator stopped and they emerged into Renegade Vault. Hatetia shielded her eyes for a moment. "I never get used to being in so much light." She explained. "When you've been living outside the Citadel for many cycles, you learn how too adapt quickly to surroundings." Rultaos said. "I'm assuming that you're bragging in front of me Rultaos." Hatetia said humorously. "I am simply stating what I know." Rultaos said. He found himself to be talking to Hatetia much more leisurely than he usually does with others.

They were interrupted by a Yes-man who spoke to Rultaos. "Sir! The leader has called for a meeting. He wants everyone to gather in the central area of the vault immediately!" The green Devilite said. Rultaos recognized him.

"Understood. Also, may I know where you've left my shield?" Rultaos asked. "It's in your tent sir. Some of the others pointed me in the right direction. It was certainly heavy though." the Yes-man said, whining a bit at the end.

When the Yes-man left, Rultaos turned back to Hatetia. "We shall speak more later. Find a tent to rest in for now. There are some matters that I need to attend to." He said. "Allow me to come with you. I should like to see how your group operates." Hatetia replied. Rultaos considered it for a moment. "Very well." He replied. Rultaos began walking in the direction of the central area with Hatetia following suit.

The radiant sunlight glaring down on the vault contrasted the grave matter that was at hand.

((Time for the players in waiting to start Roleplaying :D))

TS13 was pleased to once again feel real sunlight. It was much more pleasant and invigorating than the small lamps of the laboratories, the candles of Moorcraft Manor, and even the artificial light of the Treasure Vault. It felt good... It felt right... Wonderful... Pea- something scurried past its leg. A small avian creature, a Snipe, waddled away and through a group of Knights staring. TS13 stopped focusing on the sunlight and lurched after it, not waiting as the line of Knights parted to let it through. It walked past a pool of liquid and saw the small, blue bird trot into a hole in a wall with several others. Walking to the wall and squeezing through the doorway, it found itself in an enclosing of grass, Snipes, and a familiar figure.

Scharr and Tickafir

"We have more vehicles than drivers," Scharr pointed out. "Have you programmed them to follow a single unit?" He paused. "And are you functional for travel?"

"As long as I don't have to run," Tickafir answered the construct, gingerly prodding his injured leg with a slight wince. "I'll be fine to drive. And the 'mother snipe' protocol is standard; they don't want to have to abandon these single-gremlin units on the field, even temporarily, if a driver is killed."

The gremlin threw a sideways glance at Scharr, who was stowing a pulsing blue orb in an internal compartment, before paintstakingly climbing into the cockpit of one of the machines. It took some work; he couldn't use the crutch while climbing and had to put a lot of the strain on his upper body. He made it in, though, starting it up and entering the codes to make this the lead unit as Scharr took a seat in one of the others.

It took a few moments for the mech to warm up and the unmanned units to respond to the signal that Tickafir's console sent them, during which the mender realized he didn't know where he was going.

"Where are we headed?" he called after debating which was worse; shouting or using a comm signal that would probably be intercepted within the Factory.

"The Quadrant C, Sector 17 elevator," Scharr responded. "It does not lead directly to our destination, but is the only one sizeable enough to accomodate the machinery."

The elevators being too small hadn't actually occurred to Tick; he supposed he hadn't really thought this through. Still, he set the mech into motion, heading toward the elevator that Scharr had indicated. The way held no obstacles this time, and the construct was able to disembark to program a location into the elevator that would, presumably, take them at least somewhere close to the Renegades' headquarters.

It was a bit more of a hassle actually getting the mechs into to headquarters, but they managed, only to be met by a group of vigilant guards who were both surprised at the arrival of the machines and on their way somewhere else. In fact, there were many people headed toward an open area; it seemed that something had the Renegades riled up.

"Oh, it's you," a Mecha-Knight guard said upon seeing Scharr approach from behind Tickafir and recognizing him as the construct that had made a mess of the practice area not long ago. "Come on then; all able bodied fighters are supposed to be meeting."

The gremlin and the retrode climbed down from their cockpits, Tickafir hobbling after scharr toward the meeting area. He wasn't combat ready now, except in his machine, but there were sure to be ready healers her to remedy that, and whatever the commotion was should be an excellent way for him to gain the Renegades' trust.

((Ahhhh ... I glossed over the "how" of getting there; you'll have to forgive me. :P))

((I'd upload my IC today but... I'm going to a writing competition (News Editorial) to represent my school. And after that I'll be going to watch a play. Add some more, uh, "personal" problems in the mix and I'll be pretty busy for the weekend :/. I just wanted to let you guys know when my next IC will be up since I've delayed it for far too long already.))

The Defiler

The chimera barely flinched as a Lumber hammered his chest with its long, half-mech half-wooden, arm. The Defiler grinned maliciously as he pointed the barrel of his construct gun at the offending Lumber. Light erupted from the cannon, and nothing but leaves and scrap metal was left from where the Lumber used to stand.

Behind the wreckage, a wounded Wolver was crouched next to some bushes. The powerful rays of sunlight that bore down on them heavily contrasted the vile intents of the gigantic, malformed creature. The Wolver growled and barked in defiance, but it did not stop The Defiler, he only approached and released a cloud of gas upon the unfortunate Wolver, causing it to go unconscious.

After a few moments, the Wolver reawakened, but much more dead than alive. It was covered with a sickly green hue (much more sickly than that of a rabid Wolver), and salivated a foul liquid. "Go and serve me, my new soldier." The Defiler said as he pointed behind him.

A battle was erupting between his assimilated army, and the creatures of the Aurora Isles. Heavily outnumbered, and severely outgunned, the local creatures were quickly losing ground to The Defiler's forces. The newly assimilated Wolver barked and made the green liquid from his mouth fly out in droplets, before running off into battle.

The Defiler saw an assimilated Gremlin knocker being smothered by a Jelly cube, unable to bring his twin wands together. The chimera aimed his construct arm, and fired a devastating laser that reduced the Jelly cube into purple drops. He didn't save the knocker out of sympathy, he did it because he needed as many soldiers as he could get for his next move: An assault on Haven.

He was going to end the Spiralians (The society that had exiled him), and then begin a conquest of the Clockworks themselves. [If no society can accept me, then I shall make my own... From their remnants] The Defiler thought. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of an elevator arriving. He decided to investigate.

The grass which were hit by the drops of the assimilated Wolver's saliva had began to blight as The Defiler walked away.

Rhinegord

The knight brandishing a set of Dragon Scale armor and shield had drawn his Furious Flamberge as he emerged from the elevator. He had heard that the Defiler was here on this depth, and this time he knew it was true. All around him, sickly green versions of clockwork creatures attacked the inhabitants of the Aurora Isles such as Chromalisks and Wolver packs.

"Everybody split up. If you find our target, do not engage until you have alerted the entire squad. The Defiler is far too dangerous to confront alone. Understood?" Rhinegord said to his team of bounty hunters. "Yes sir!" They replied.

Selvores, wore a Gunslinger Sash and a Sunset Stetson. His weapons of choice are a dual wielded Blackhawk and Silversix. Triporoz, wore a Heavy Demo suit with a bomb bandolier, and a Heavy Plate Helm. His shield is a Heavy Plate shield, and he carries Heavy Deconstructors and Freezing Atomizers. Davara, wears a Seraphic set. Her weapons include an Ascended Calibur, and Wise Owlite shield.

They were all ex-military, and had been through hellish situations together. As far as Rhinegord was concerned, his team was ready for anything.

The team began splitting up into the fray. Selvores started firing rounds into the crowd, killing two enemies before they realized he was there. Triporoz tossed his Deconstructors at a group of assimilated mechs, destroying most of the group. What was left started to go after him, but they were cut down by Davara, before she headed off into her own direction.

As the leader watched his team in action, an assimilated Droul leaped from higher ground and attempted to attack Rhinegord. The Knight jumped backwards, and thrust his Furious Flamberge into the Droul's torso. Sparks of flame erupted from the wound and caused the Zombie to burst into charred remains. An assimilated Wolver then jumped at the Spiralian as he was off-guard and knocked him on his back. The Wolver tried to bite into his neck area, but Rhinegord was able to jerk his head out of the way. Some bits of stray saliva dropped on his armor, and he heard the drops sizzle as it melted the skin of his armor like an acid.

He thought fast pierced his sword into the side of the Wolver. The creature whimpered, the sword was pulled out, and Rhinegord kicked the limp body off of him. "I'm getting too old for this..." He grumbled as he stood himself up. He reacted quickly as a green pitchfork came flying at him. He managed to deflect it with his shield, causing the pitchfork to pierce into the ground instead. He saw the offending Devilite (who looked even more sick than a Blarful) and began running towards it. Before he had completely closed the distance however, he was thrown backwards towards the elevator by a giant, Jelly, battering ram that struck him in the face.

Rhinegord shook his head to clear the daze, and saw The Defiler standing before him. He pushed the left side of his helmet to activate his comm unit. "Everyone head back to the elevator. The Defiler is here, I repeat The Defiler is here!... Hello? Somebody respond!" He shouted. He quickly realized that his comm unit was broken by The Defiler's attack. "This is not good..." Rhinegord said as he stood up. He assumed an attack position, in the hopes that he could fend off The Defiler until his team had arrived.

"You're right, this isn't good at all. Not for you at least." The Defiler said as he fired a small swarm of mini-missiles at the Knight. Explosions had rattled the soldier and forced him face down into the ground. The shrapnel from the missiles had also made it too painful to even move. He could barely raise an arm without feeling a shockwave of pain run through him. "Argh!" Rhinegord exclaimed as he tried to stand up. He knew it was over.

"Go ahead and kill me you freak. I'll have died a hero to the Spiralians!" He shouted at The Defiler. "No, you will die a traitor to your kind." The chimera replied. "What makes you think I'd betray my people?" Rhinegord asked aggressively. "This." The Defiler said as he began releasing his toxic gases. Rhinegord began to realize what was happening as his Helmet display started to go crazy.

"WARNING: FOREIGN AIR BASED SUBSTANCE DETECTED. ACTIVATING AIRLOCK SECURITY MEASURES."

The gases began to corrode into Rhinegord's mist tank.

"WARNING: MIST TANK IS SUSTAINING DAMAGE. POWER FAILURE IMMINENT."
"AIRTIGHT SECURITY MEASURES DEACTIVATING TO CONSERVE MIST ENERGY."

"No, No! Override that command, maintain security measures!" Rhinegord commanded his armor A.I.

"COMPLYING...
...
...
...
ERROR. MIST TANK HAS SUSTAINED DAMAGE TO ENERGY DISTRIBUTORS. INSUFFICIENT POWER TO MAINTAIN AIRLOCKS. TOTAL SECURITY SYSTEM SHUT DOWN IN 5 SECONDS."

"Reroute what power is available to the airlocks. Search for alternatives to maintain the security measures!" Rhinegord said as The Defiler continued to excrete more gas.

"INVALID COMMAND. INSUFFICIENT POWER TO BE REROUTED INTO THE AIRLOCKS. SECURITY SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN..."

The Helmet display went dead as the gases began to fill up inside of Rhinegord's helmet. "Cough, cough, ack...". There was no fresh air left for him to breathe. The Knight went unconscious in seconds. The Defiler crouched close to the Knight and said "You and your team will be the first ones to attack Haven." He said.

Rhinegord reawakened. But it wasn't him, not anymore.

((Warning: Long post ahead XD. I decided that it was only fair to make it long with all of the time it took to get it up. Mostly due to real-life responsibilities.))

Rultaos

The Trojan and the Slag-guard walked up to the sun-bathed, center of the treasure vault. The Renegades were gathered around the podium, where Takun stood. They were talking with each other. "Why'd we get asked to gather here again?" A Gremlin Mender asked a Devilite. "I don't know, but they said that we had to hurry so it must be important at least." The Devilite answered. Rultaos could not see any of his friend's casual aura, Takun looked dead serious; something was wrong. "Do you always gather like this when you plan something?" Hatetia asked, interrupting Rultaos' thoughts.

"Not for every mission, only when it involves a large group." Rultaos answered briefly; he was anxiously awaiting what Takun was going to say. The Stranger gestured for the crowd to be quiet. Once the Renegades had settled down, their leader spoke.

"I'm sorry to have gathered all of you here on such short notice, but time is a luxury that we cannot afford right now. As we speak, we have comrades in Emberlight that are being hunted down by The Colony. Yes, they've found us. And more importantly, they've found the reason why we're launching this attack. The box that contains the last key to Sanctuary Vault; the place that houses the weaponry needed to combat the Swarm. As you all know, the Crimson Order are puppets of the Swarm, which is why we cannot allow it to remain in their hands." Takun paused for a moment to catch his breath, then continued.

"I'm ordering an attack on Stone Field Borough. We will assault the area, rescue our comrades and any other citizens who need us, find the box, and escape. We cannot allow this attack to falter which is why I need only Renegades who believe that they are battle-ready to participate. Can I trust all of you with this duty?" Takun asked the crowd.

In response, many Renegades (including Rultaos) drew their weapons and raised it. "Thank you. All Renegade commanders are to report to my tent immediately. Everyone else, prepare for battle. Once I give the word, all attack parties will gather at the elevators. Renegades, dismissed." Takun concluded.

The crowd began to disperse. Rultaos talked to Hatetia "I need to report to our leader's tent. Will you be coming with me or will you rest?" He asked. "I may be a female, but do not think I tire so easily. I will come." Hatetia said humorously. This procured a smile from Rultaos' face for a moment. "Very well, follow me." He said.

...

"Ah Rultaos, glad to see that you have finally returned." Takun told the Trojan that had just entered his tent. He then spotted the Slag-guard next to Rultaos. "Who is your friend?" Takun asked. "Her name is Hatetia, she is the leader of the Phoenix Ash separatist group in The Citadel. She asked to accompany me to our meeting, if that is alright." Rultaos answered. "Ah, the female warrior that you had told me about. A pleasure to meet you Hatetia." Takun said. "A pleasure to meet you as well, sir..." Hatetia trailed off, not knowing Takun's name. "You may call me Takun. Now, onto more urgent matters. Both of you please have a seat." The Stranger said, returning his attention to the commanders gathered around the table.

Among the commanders was Yazarot, a wiry Gremlin mechanic who specialized in Construct warfare. Being used to mechs however, meant that he was used to having his troops not questioning his orders. Then there was Burgund, an exiled Jelly nobleman who claimed that he had led "Great parties of Jelly Knights" into battle. Whether this was true or not, they didn't know. He was however, skilled as a field commander. And then there was the eye-bagged Graftorog, a Pit boss who, although shouted at his men a lot, was a capable tactician off the field. In the heat of battle, he sometimes lost his better judgment. There was also Tarazov, a female Statikat who many regarded as a "necromancer" of sorts, because of her proficiency in leading hordes of undead creatures. She could be a little hotheaded whenever she is provoked, which sometimes clouds her ability to make tactical decisions.

And at last there was Torx (who usually gave advice to their Gremlin forces) and Rultaos (who commanded the Almirian soldiers).

Despite their flaws, Takun trusted these people to assist him in leading the Renegades. "Torx, what defenses do you believe will be there to meet us when we arrive in Stone Field?" Takun asked the half, swarm-infected, Gremlin. "If the procedures are still the same, then they will have Thwackers guarding the exits, assisted by Demos, and covered by Ghostmane Stalkers. Scorchers will most likely be the ones patrolling the streets, along with the other types of troops, and Menders will almost always be within every squad. I doubt that they'd bring in Mortafires, since they're usually used for sieges, and the Knockers probably wont be called to arms until a large-scale battle breaks out. Also, I don't think I need to go into detail about how outnumbered we will be once the Colony sends in backup when they realize what's happening." Torx explained.

"Then we need to keep the element of surprise." Said Graftorog, sipping from his mug. "I say we focus our efforts one a single entrance, neutralizing them before they can send a distress call. Then, we leave behind some men to pose as guards in case they come to investigate. Once all of our troops are in the right positions, we begin the attack, and destroy their defenses from within. With luck, they'll be too surprised to call for help quickly enough, and we'll have ample time to escape before more Colony troops arrive." The Pit boss suggested. "An excellent plan, my fellow Renegade." Burgund exclaimed. "Now the question is, where shall our men await the coming of the battle? I will however, gladly lead my forces from anywhere I am asked to, and I believe everyone else in here shall do the same." The Jelly continued. Rultaos spoke up "I suggest we scatter our troops in a circle within Stone field borough. Half of us will deal with the guards outside, and the other half will deal with the inner patrols. We don't know where they'll be keeping any prisoners, but whoever finds them has to bring them to the nearest, safe elevator back to Renegade Vault. Any of our free allies in the city will also join us in arms once they realize that we have begun our attack" The Trojan said. "We will be encountering heavier resistance among the outer guards. Our Constructs will be better suited to deal with them, since they don't feel fear or loss of morale." Yazarot said. "I can have my Zombie forces burrow through the ground and catch the inner patrols by surprise. They will also be able to move around the borough a lot quicker than most others because of their jumping capabilities." Tarazov suggested.

Takun thought it over for a moment. "It is a sound plan. Very well, begin organizing our available men into squads and gather them at the elevators as quickly as you can. I want our people out of there." The Stranger said. "Yes sir!" All of the commanders in the room said. Before they left however, Takun gestured for a Devilite within the tent to bring him something. The Devilite dashed into a room within the tent, and then emerged a few milli-cycles later carrying a large stack of boxes. The boxes were then put on the table. "Distribute these comm units among the members of your squads." Takun told the commanders. "Being coordinated will be very important in such a large battle." He continued. Each of the commanders took a box (or had somebody carry it for them) and began leaving the tent.

Before Rultaos left, he was stopped by Takun. "Rultaos, if you see Bettit or Vakros. Don't remind them of their mistakes on my behalf. What's done is done." The Stranger told the Trojan. "Yes sir. I'll get them out of there and nothing more." Rultaos said in response. He then left the tent(carrying the box), followed by Hatetia. "I'm sorry Hatetia, but I cannot allow you to come with me on this mission." Rultaos told the Slag-guard. "Why? Do you doubt my abilities?" Hatetia asked, a little hurt. "No, you are a very skilled fighter. But not everyone survives a battle, and I cannot allow you to die while you still lead the Phoenix Ash. Your commanders wont be happy with it." Rultaos explained. Hatetia was a little sad at this statement, but understood it. "Very well, I shall wait here and speak to Takun about the Phoenix Ash's involvement with The Renegades." She said.

They continued walking towards the Almirian tents in silence before Rultaos spoke again. "Can you make me a promise?" Rultaos asked. "What kind of promise?" Hatetia questioned. "If I do not return alive, then will you promise me that you will take command of the Almirian soldiers among The Renegades as my replacement?" The Trojan asked. "You will return alive. You were able to defeat me after all." Hatetia said, trying to lighten the mood. "But if I don't, will you promise to lead my men in my absence? My soldiers are like younger brothers to me, and I cannot imagine leaving them alone. You're the only one I trust who has the ability to lead them as I did." Rultaos said. Hatetia thought for a couple of centi-cycles. "Yes, I will lead them. And... thank you for telling me that you trust me with such a job." She replied, somewhat humbled. Rultaos did not realize that he had said that last part.

Rultaos looked at Hatetia, and for a brief moment, his vision flashed white. He found walking next to a living, female Almirian, who wore ivory-colored armor, and had a pretty face underneath her helmet. Rultaos looked at his hands and saw that they weren't made of stone, but rather covered in ivory gauntlets. His vision flashed again, and he was once again a Trojan walking next to Hatetia. "Is everything alright? You acted strangely for a moment." She said. Rultaos shook his head slightly to clear some of the daze that lingered on his vision. "Yes, I'm fine. I just blacked out for a milli-cycle."

...

When they had arrived at the tents, they were greeted by Hanaphs, who was colored green with joy. "I'm glad you finally got back! I was worried that you might have been caught or something." The male Slag-guard said. Hanaphs then noticed Hatetia. "Who is that?" He asked. "She is Hatetia, the leader of the Phoenix Ash. She has agreed to form an alliance with the Renegades." Rultaos told Hanaphs. "Wait- a she? I didn't think The Citadel had female warriors." Hanaphs said, turning yellow from confusion. "I didn't think so either. But she's different." Rultaos answered, turning to Hatetia. "This isn't the first time I've heard someone say that, so don't worry to much." Hatetia told Hanaphs. The latter nodded, and then turned to Rultaos.

"So, is the attack about to happen? I heard everything in the meeting." Hanaphs asked the Trojan. "Yes it is. And you can help me by giving these comm units to the Renegades who will be joining the attack. I need to get ready myself." Rultaos told the male Slag-guard. "Oh, sure! You can count on me." Hanaphs said, turning green again. He snatched the box from Rultaos' hands and began going around the tents, giving a comm unit to each soldier.

"You have very interesting friends Rultaos." Hatetia teased. "They're not so bad when you get to know them." Rultaos answered back. "I need to return to my tent, grab my shield, and rest while I wait for everyone else to prepare themselves." He continued.

The two of them entered Rultaos' tent, and saw the shield leaning against the wall. Rultaos put away the Knightmare shield, and equipped the Renegade shield. "I will allow myself some rest before the attack. Wake me up once everyone else is ready." He told Hatetia. "Of course." She answered. Rultaos stood in the middle of the tent for a few centi-cycles, before he stiffened and he turned once more into an immobile statue. Hatetia stood sentry for a moment, watching the glow of Rultaos' crystal. She thought that she could make out some shapes within it, when suddenly her vision flashed.

She saw a male Almirian Crusader wearing ivory armor, lying on the grass within the tent. His face under the helmet was sleeping peacefully, but would cringe at times as if he was troubled, or having a nightmare. She felt as if she should try to comfort him, but her vision flashed again and she found herself staring at the statue version of Rultaos. Hatetia put her hand on her forehead, trying to figure out what had just happened.

She decided to dismiss it for the time being and keep watch outside. Rultaos had asked her to awaken him one his soldiers were ready, and that was what she was going to do.

((Phew, finally got it done XD. I'll get my next post as Captain Raikap up as soon as I can so that Bettit can finally get around to doing something. Sorry if this is taking too long Tev :/.

Oh, and I didn't check if I had made any spelling/grammar errora in this post, so excuse me if you see any and I'll try to correct them as soon as possible.))

((I'll see if I can get this ball rolling again. Oh, and somebody, there's a possible way to get involved in that attack I want to discuss with someone, just to make sure it's okay. I'm online right now..?
Or by mail, anyway...
Oh and Plad (whatever alts you have, I'll stick to that) you're back, right? >.>))

The quicksilver was nowhere to be seen. Watching the gremlin, Netlom began to advance.
He acted quickly, eagerly firing from that firey-spiky gun. Netlom crouched, then sprang, so quickly the gremlin had time only for a half-hearted swing at her with the heavy sword. She latched onto one leg, barely holding on with her blunt claws.
A piercing pain immediately hit her as her side shook with the impact. She lost her hold and slipped to the ground. The gremlin aimed the spiky blade at her, and stabbed.
Since Netlom was already scrambling back up the leg, the blade just managed to stab through her tail.
I'm such a horrible fighter! she thought angrily as the blade swung up until she was dangling helplessly in front of the gremlin. This is so embarrasing.
Netlom realized that the sword was through the very tip of her tail. She could escape if-
The gremlin was talking. "...thought you could beat me, eh?" He sounded terribly evil. Were they trained to sound-
She snapped back to reality as the blade shook her, apparently intending to drop her to the ground. She glanced down. Such a landing would be painful.
She swung up, grabbing the blade with her paws, just in time as the blade managed to release her. From here, she made a dive at the gremlin.
The gremlin didn't realize his danger until it was almost too late.

((Phew.))

((@Azure: It's fine; I know you're busy. I've got a lot on my plate and I've been frequently ill lately anyway, so even if it were my turn to post, I'd still likely be a bit slow.

@Remilia: Plad seems to have returned for all of five minutes and then disappeared again .... you may as well continue without him. Would you like a mod to write opposite you as the gremlins, or would you rather just handle it yourself?

@All: I'll try to get a post up in the next few days with Scharr and Tick (so that someone can perhaps be dispatched to rescue our recon team and Elias can wake at his convenience) are up to, as well as Kexed and his Stone Field crew trying to kick out the Colony gremlins.))

((I wont be able to post for the next 3 days, due to examinations. Just thought of putting it out there now. Oh and, Aeorune and Roablade, I'm still waiting to see your next IC. The meeting was supposed to be your cue.

See you guys in 3-4 days :) ))

How long has it been... seems like forever, but anything seems possible in these realms... minutes that felt like days? days that felt like hours? Elias couldn't be for sure, each plain he entered messed up his internal clock that much more, and some of which he could tell were literally on fast-play or slow-motion.
He gazed out over the terminal he was in and the occasional blurred figures of knights as they streaked from the back of the room to the next elevator in a sped up pace, another fast-play realm. It was his only lead so far... it was the only thing that sounded remotely like a sanctuary after trials, but there was nothing here. Only the regular 2 elevators, 1 of which broken beyond re...pai..r... As Elias thought about it, his crossed arms slowly fell to his sides... "What are you, my mangled friend? Could it be you've been the answer this whole time? Your the thing seen as nothing, aren't you? HAH, well I sure hope that nothingness isn't relevant to me!"
The phantom paced over the the broken platform and tried to peer through the cracks. Nothing... just blackness... He decided to try and remove it. He grabbed his Triglav and began to pound on it powerfully, sending ice bursts across the floor. When the platform would not move and was covered in ice, he melted in with his newest addition, the pepperbox. "Maybe this'll weaken it..." After a few times repeating the process, the mangled elevator finally collapsed into the empty space below it. Elias went to investigate, stuck his head by the hole, and saw yet again... nothing. A box flashed down a set of bars from behind the terminal... an elevator?? He stuck his head down the hole and looked toward the back of the room. "No way... NO WAY!!! How long have those been here???" Behind the terminal was a large t-section with 4 new elevators leading from them down into the clockworks, down deeper than any elevator he had ever inspected. "Maybe my 'nothingness' is on the other side of that wall..." He passed through and examined the 4 elevators, 1 he assumed was full of wolvers, which he could not bring himself to kill, another was frozen... he didn't care what enemies were down there, no way he'd be going into another frozen hell, 1 had the almirian crest... he was scared to death of Vanaduke... not like he wasnt dead already ¬.¬ ... and the last had the same symbol as his pulsar. Considering all the other routes were out of the question, and each of the elevators were locked in place, Elias stood at the corner of it and phased through the floor, grabbed the pole before he fell away, and began a slow descent into a world unknown...

Void is only what you make it to be.
Nothingness is relevant.'

"Here I come 'void'. Now show me what ya got!"

((I'm so sorry this took so long. Some unexpected things popped up, and I couldn't get this uploaded at the time I promised. Unfortunately, this may be my last post for the week as well :(. I'll explain more with some OOC at the bottom of my post.))

Raikap

"We're ready to go." Bettit told the captain. The latter nodded "Alright everyone, let's go. We can't afford to waste time." He announced. Everyone emerged from the house one by one and soon disappeared into the streets of Stone Filed borough.

...

The small group moved silently through the tight corners of Emberlight. Raikap stayed at the head of the group, while Bafthalia scouted ahead with her cloak. Whenever a patrol passed by a street that they had to cross, Raikap would order the group to stop, and wait for the soldiers to walk away. They would then wait about 10 milli-cycles after the troops disappear from view, to make sure that they were indeed gone. It was a tense and repetitive strategy that they used to make it all the way to the road that led to the local Jelly farms.

At first, they stuck to the shadowy sides of the path that were full of discarded parts, fearful that a patrol should pass by, but none did, and they eventually began following the path itself. However, Raikap was still paranoid about the resources that the Crimson Order could employ against them. A Scorcher, a Ghostmane, two traumatized Gremlins, a finger-less Mender, and a half-blind Demo wasn't exactly Raikap's vision of an ideal fighting force. After about 5 centi-cycles of walking, Bafthalia reappeared in front of the group.

"The roadblock is just up ahead." She announced. "What defenses do they have?" Raikap asked. "They have 4 Thwackers guarding the path, 3 Demos setting up remote mines, 3 Scorchers on different rooftops ready to snipe escapees, and 2 Menders moving around." She reported. Raikap allowed the information to sink in. "I guess this means that a head on attack is out of the question." He said. "Yes captain, it is." Bafthalia replied. "Then we will have to get around them without direct confrontation. Bafthalia, me and the others will make some noise, then you will head behind them while they're distracted and take them down as quietly as you can. I'll take care of any stragglers that remains standing." Raikap said, preparing his torch. Bafthalia nodded, and then disappeared into the air.

Raikap then turned to his motley team. "Vakros, You're going to have to stay behind with the mother and the younger child. I don't think any of you three will be of much use in a fight, given your current conditions." He told them. Raikap looked at Bettit and kneeled down to her level. "Bettit, you're going to have to come with me. Your skill with bombs is going to be useful in causing a distraction. But I promise that if any of them try to hurt you, I'll stop them before they get close. I just need you to be a soldier for now and do as I say. Do you understand?" Raikap asked her.

Her mother was livid about it. "No! I'm not letting her get hurt anymore than she has already." She said, coming closer to Bettit. Raikap turned to Gista. "I don't want her to be put in the line of fire as much as you do, but we don't have much of a choice right now; we need every able Gremlin we've got." He said before returning his gaze to Bettit. "So, are you ready?" Raikap asked the young Demo once more.

Lieutenant Garatol

The Darkfang Thwacker walked next to the Crimson Order member as they approached the foreman's office. "Sir? What exactly is the plan here? Do we just confront them about their rebellious actions that led to the death of Captain Raikap?" Garatol asked. " Yes, we shall. And if they do not agree to my terms, then we shall perform a military occupation of the borough. No more of the leeway that I have promised the citizens." The robed Gremlin replied. The lieutenant wasn't too happy about the answer. "But sir, this will cause lethal confrontation between the soldiers and the locals. Troops will die, and neutral civilians will wind up getting killed by both sides." Garatol reasoned. "An unfortunate cost. But remember, it is the locals that started this dispute, and what happens to them is their responsibility." The Crimson Order Gremlin said.

Garatol opened his mouth to speak, but he shut it before any words were out. Although he shared Raikap's resentment for such atrocious actions, he had none of the captain's bravery.

The two of them, along with a small squad consisting of 2 Thwackers, a Mender, and a Scorcher, broke into the building of the foreman. "Foreman Kexed! There is something that we must speak about." the Crimson Order member announced. They received no answer. "Search the building." Ordered the robed gremlin to his soldiers. Garatol led the team into the other rooms of the office. Surprisingly, he wasn't there. "Sir, he's nowhere to be found." Garatol shouted through the rooms. "Perhaps he has run from his crime..." The Crimson Order member thought out loud.

Suddenly, a male Ghostmane Stalker entered the building "Sir! The foreman is outside in the construction area. He's asked to speak with you, and he has almost the entire borough guard with him." He reported. The Gremlin in blood red robes seemed to consider this for a moment, but then he spoke. "Very well, tell him that we shall speak. But gather our forces first, and be prepared for an ambush. Understood?" He said. The Ghostmane saluted "Yes sir." He said, before disappearing once more.

"Lieutenant, get your men together and follow me outside. We have a foreman to confront." Said the Crimson Order Gremlin. The troops followed their commander outside. Garatol tightened his grip on his hammer, should things go awry.

((Ok the thing is, I'll be heading away for about 4 days. It's an annual workshop our school is participating in this year. Basically, we head out into a province (where the workshop is held) and stay there for a few days, making new friends and honing our talents. While we will have some free time, I doubt we will have an internet connection where we're going :/. But on the off-chance that we do have an internet connection, I'll let you guys know.

@Tev: You can control how the next scenes of Raikap and Kexed are gonna go.

@Everyone Else: Where the heck are you guys? Only a handful of players have posted :(.))

((Aerorune and Roarke!! If you're going to play, now is the time to join the action! Ebil! You still around? I know you had plans for Terarr in this next conflict ...))

Bettit and Vakros

Bettit reached out to squeeze Gista's hand. "It'll be alright, Mitter," she said hoarsely, then cleared her throat, and nudged her mother toward the mender, and transferred Muren's hand to hers. "You stay here with Vakros."

"I probably could fight, but either way, I should make sure these two are alright," Vakros answered Raikap as Gista withdrew into herself once more. He glanced down at his newly-healed fingers and flexed them a bit before turning his gaze to Bettit, who was visibly trembling despite the grim determination on her face. "Don't worry, I'll take care of them," the mender added, furrowing his brow.

Bettit nodded, looking Raikap in the eye. "I can be a soldier," she told him with only a slight falter in her voice, sliding her backpack from her shoulders so that she could get to her equipment. "Just tell me what you need me to do.

Foreman Kexed

It seemed that the Crimson Order member had been looking for Kexed at the same time that Kexed had been looking for him, as when they caught up to him, he was occupying Kex's office building.

Standing next to Captain Ziftadrine in front of the Patrol, the Foreman eased his nerves by doing what he did best as they waited for a reply; going over numbers. The full extent of the Patrol plus the Reserves was about 10% of the population, so when the
Reserves met up with them, there would be about 500 gremlins here; nearly 100 of those, he knew, were actual Patrol officers. According to Ziftadrine's rundown as they had traveled over here, another hundred or so were fairly experienced fighters who just happened to be in other professions right now. The other 300 were a mix of trainees, gremlins who were a bit past their prime but still able fighters with some experience, and emergency medical staff. They also estimated that should it come to a real confrontation (and they hoped it didn't), there would be another 1500 able adults who could and would pick up weapons to defend their homes and families.

The thought of that last possibility made Kexed's stomach roil; he had only been anywhere near this nervous three times before, and in none of those situations had so many lives depended on him. He was going to have nightmares about this for decacycles, no matter the outcome.

The Crimson Order member and his men emerged from the building some time after a Ghostmane had relayed the message that he would come out and speak; Kexed could see the Colony forces moving into the area. A glance backward showed him his Patrol troops eyeing the interlopers as they stood at the ready.

"Foreman Kexed!" The Order member spoke first. Kexed just nodded; he had no notion what to actually call the Crimson Order member without a name, and wasn't about to show him the deference implied by using an honorific.

"We're asking you to leave," the Foreman said bluntly by way of reply, stepping forward and holding himself as tall as he could. "My sources tell me that not only are you already in possession of the item you've been looking for, but you've violated our agreement by killing one of our citizens and permanently maiming another. This is in addition to reports of brutality I've received from my Patrol members accompanying your men."

The Crimson Order member sneered. "It's your people who have violated our agreement, causing the death of Captain Raikap through your rebellion."

Kexed raised a brow; this was an interesting turn of events. He glanced over at the Lieutenant at the Order member's side, who seemed torn about the whole business. "I find that hard to believe," he answered evenly, working hard to keep the steel in his voice. "My eyes in the city have said that it was a Ghostmane that attacked the Captain. Stone Field has no Ghostmanes." The Foreman couldn't help one corner of his mouth twitching into a near smirk; perhaps it belied confidence on his part (he hoped so), but he honestly just found it amusing that his "eyes" were his blind mate. And if the Crimson Order member was working under the assumption that Raikap was dead, Kexed was not about to let slip anything that might clue him in on the possibility that the Captain and the "attacking" Ghostmane were escorting what was left of the Gearthwaite family and their guest out of the city as they spoke. "You've gotten what you came for. I'm going to ask you again, for the last time, to leave."

Meanwhile, in the Treasure Vault ...

Once he had heard all he needed to hear, Scharr broke off from the group and headed toward the medical tent that indicated it was for the undead; here, finally, was an assignment that virtually guaranteed that he would not be exposed to Knights before his reprogramming could commence, but first he would have to get rid of this Phantom ball.

"Greetings!" mewed Mialii as the Retrode slid inside, cocking her head at the oddity of having a construct in her tent. "Can I help you?"

"I found this in the Munitions Factory," Scharr commented simply, taking the ball from where he had had it stowed and setting it down in front of the Mewkat nurse before heading out again to join the fighting forces.

Mialii mewed again in surprise and was ignored. "But ... wasn't this Phantom on the reconaissance team?" she asked aloud, floating out of the tent to ask the retrode whether he had Snarp as well. He had already disappeared into the crowd, however, so she fretfully floated the ball into her back to take to Takun.

* * * * *

Takun had just finished speaking with Rultaos when Mialii floated up to him in a bit of a tizzy, floating a blue ball out of her nurse's bag.

"Takun!" she mewed, giving the impression that she would be out of breath if she had had any in the first place. "I was just given half of the recon team by a construct who said he found it in the Munitions Factory, but didn't mention finding the other half." Her ghostly feline brow furrowed as her ears twitched erratically, making her nurse's hat dance on her head in a way that would have been comical under other circumstances.

Takun regarded the ball calmly for a moment. "I'll send a few non-combatant scouts out to see if they can discover what happened," he assured the Mewkat. "Take Elias back to your tent until he awakens."

Mialii nodded and headed back to her station, intent on dropping the pulsing blue ball into an ecto bath until Elias regained consciousness.

((Sorry things are short; I didn't know where to go with either of the Stone Field crews, since I didn't know what you had planned, Azure, but this should set up decently (although ... did anyone ever tell Raikap that Bettit was a Demo? it's not as though she's actually outfitted like one. XD). I'm still a bit on the fence about how to deal with Tickafir right now, so since he's not holding anyone up, I figure I'll take a bit more time with him. Remilia, I'll get the scouts out to you and Snarp in the next post.))

"Dang, thought this ride would never end..." In his altered consciousness, he could tell time had slowed down the second he grabbed the pole and began the descent. Though he knew it couldn't have been more than a centicycle in reality (every depth he saw on his way down moved so slowly, monsters barely took 2 steps before he passed the depth and couldn't see them anymore), it had felt like 2 whole cycles in his mind. "My mind is messing with me :I. That metaphor it gave me was ridiculous -.- 'delving deep into your mind'... I officially hate my head..."
He jumped down the last dozen-foot drop and alighted into a familiar looking facility, full of pulsing electrical coils and arching blues jumping across large generators. "Perfect... finally I'm in my element >:3," Elias exclaimed wickedly, drawing his loyal companion its new sidekick, pulsar and the pepperbox, now newly dubbed N-Star (Polaris is the north star, compass north is an N) and Blazeblitz.
"Munitions factory, huh. Last time I was in one of these, I was almost filled with holes. About time I returned the favor." He stepped towards the room at the end of the corridor and glanced in, a large assortment of gun puppies and retrodes awaited him. This could get tricky... He fired a few low-charge N-Star rounds the back corner of the room to draw the retrodes away, then snuck in, making himself as invisible as he could muster... about as invisible as an ice sculpture on the beach, but at least there was enough machinery and gears spinning around that nobody would notice a translucent blur from across a big enough space. He snuck behind the closest gun puppy and tazzed it before it ever noticed. He continued the process across the room, making sure none of the puppies were facing him as victim after victim went limp.
Elias did not kill them, merely overloaded their power temporarily... the retrodes on the other hand... he would have to decommission them since, unlike the puppies, retrodes could reach the alarm levers... With less to distract him, now that the puppies were out of his mind, he was able to better cloak himself, and snuck up to the slowly disbanding bunch he had summoned together with the charges. Taking his Blazeblitz, he quickly worked toward the corner, popping a round into the energy lines of each retrode right above the waist until none of them remained standing. Elias quickly piled them all together near a smelting pit attached to the previous corridor, and disposed of the now scrap metal.
"So, my cute little snipe... should big bad brother tell mother birdie on you for breaking all these toys?" the voice of Flash, sickening as it was, came as a slight relief against all the silence and solitude Elias had been suffering from.
"What do you want this time, you monster. Haven't you already caused me enough grief?"
"Careful what you wish for. Some parts of the mind are never meant to be uncovered, and your getting too close to that for my displeasure!"
At that moment, alarms flared all around Elias in a loud red cacophony, "OH, WHY'D YOU GO AND DO THAT FLASH?!?!" Elias exclaimed as a hoard of mechs of all types and forms flooded around him. With nowhere else to run, "This is gonna sting *-.-", he dove through the genarators and electricity of the equipment around the elevator and just hoped there was a 'back exit' somewhere along the cramped spaces between the machines. After many head-bangs and blue flashes across his vision, he emerged into a small openning... a closet maybe, or boiler room. "Ow-w-w Th-th-that-t-t s-uck-ck-ed-ed." After much (supposedly) cursing and terrible stuttering, Elias gave up trying to talk or hold his weapons. His whole body was shaking violently; he had not expected electicity to have such an effect on a phantom. He concluded that aside from the face-print he had left on Snarp's back in that icy hell of a Dark City, this was his most comical experiment yet. Elias decided HE would be his next research project... that is, if he ever got out of this as himself and not Flash Bang. He shuddered at the thought of being possessed by his own subconscious.
Still spasming, he exited the small room and jittered down the empty corridor to an unguarded elevator. He assumed the reason was that every guard around was looking for him at the elevator back up. Elias slapped the elevator keypad, there was no sense trying to see where he was or where he was going, his hands were trembling too much to work the display. "If-f-f thi-i-is dont-t let up-p soo-on... I-I could-d b-b-be in troub-b-ble..." What worried Elias the most was... if he was in his orb in reality when he sustained massive injury... what would happen to him if he 'died' in his consiousness?
Suddenly the surroundings changed slightly. He wasn't on the elevator anymore, he was staring at a long suspended pathway lined with...............
Oh Spiral.... he had never seen gun puppies this huge before... gun Great Danes on dark matter 0.o ((HAH, steroids))
Elias could not fight them in his condition, but as 2 of them reared up to attack, he could think of 1 fatal 'self-destruct'. All he had to do was magnetize their jaws shut with N-Star and let them blast themselves apart... "Heh, th-i-is is to-oo eas-y-y," he forced himself to say, right before collapsing into intense spasms. "Thi-s-s su-ck-ck-s -.-"

Follow the path of dark and light,
Though trial falls on those who do.

((@Tev: Whoops, I forgot to mention that Raikap learned that Bettit was a demo during their short, casual stroll XP. My bad. I'll edit it if you guys think I should.))

Raikap

"I can be a soldier. Just tell me what you need me to do." Bettit told Raikap. The latter spoke. "Good. For now, just follow me and be ready to do as I say." He said. The duo walked up farther down the path, leaving the rest of the group behind. Raikap went over the plan again and again in his head.

He would have Bettit set up loud bombs a good way down the road from the roadblock. He would then hide in the shadows and wait for Bafthalia to take out the Scorchers on the rooftops. Once the lookouts were down, He would finish off what was left of the guards, with some help from Bettit and/or Bafthalia.

Once the captain could see the outpost, he cautioned Bettit to stop, and then the two of them retreated to the right side of the path, behind a relatively large shack (which might have been part of the farms). "Bettit, I'm going to need you to arm the loudest bomb you have, and then set it off somewhere around here. Don't be afraid when the guards start coming. Just hide somewhere, and I'll take care of them. Understand?" Raikap told the young Demo. Bettit nodded, and sped off to the other side of the path. Raikap moved forward and hid behind some more makeshift, farm buildings closer to the roadblock. Then, he waited for the explosion.

He waited, and waited, and waited. But it seemed to never come. [What is taking her so long? Did something happen?] Raikap thought nervously. He felt his stomach turn when he tried to think of a backup plan. Plus, it wouldn't be good for his conscience to have the blood of a young Gremlin on his hands. He waited a few more tense Centi-cycles, until the explosion finally came. Raikap felt incredibly relieved.

He peeked out from the corner of the shack and, sure enough, the roadblock patrol was caught off-guard by their plan. 2 Thwackers, 1 Demo, and 1 Mender went to investigate the disturbance. Raikap stuck to the back of the building as he listened to their footsteps against the ground. The steps were weak at first, but gradually, they became louder, signalling that they were getting closer. Raikap moved to the side of the building and waited for the guards to pass by.

He looked over at the roadblock and saw that the guards there were still alive. [Where's Bafthalia? She was supposed to eliminate them by now...] He thought. Just the possibility of Bafthalia getting killed made him shudder.

The guards investigating the explosion were now walking away from Raikap. The captain knew that if he didn't act now, they would find Bettit, and he could not break his promise to the young gremlin about keeping the soldiers away. He decides to risk it and moves up behind the patrol. He aims his torch at the mender on the back of the group and fires at his target. The Mender yelps before dropping to the ground in a lifeless slump.

The Thwackers and the Demo take notice of their fallen ally and turn to Raikap. "There he is, the rebel!" One of the Thwackers shouted. Raikap splattered oil all over them, causing the group to stagger. Although Raikap's motive was to simply stun them before knocking them out, and not burn them to death, the Demo did not know this and primed a bomb from his pack, through his oil-covered eyes.

The Demo believed that it would only harm the captain because he had set his allies as "friendlies". What he failed to realize in his panic was that the sparks from the explosion would set the oil (which they were covered in) ablaze.

"No! Don't do it!" Raikap shouted when he saw the Demo about to toss the bomb at the captain's feet, but it was already too late.

Raikap dived out of the way before the bomb exploded, igniting the oil that he had scattered, and consequentially burning the patrol as well. "Aaaah!" The guards screamed as their fur became covered in flames. The captain could do nothing but watch in horror as the soldiers turned into smoldering remains. At first, he could only stare in shock at what had happened. But he was snapped back into reality by the feel of a blade on the side of his neck. "Don't you dare move, you monster." A male voice said into his ear.

Raikap's eyes turned to his assailant, and he saw a male Ghostmane Stalker pressing a blade against his neck. this time, it wasn't a familiar face. He then turned to the path he had traveled on and saw a terrible sight.

Gista, Vakros, Muren, were being pushed towards them by 3 Scorchers, who had their torches against the hostages' backs. "Yes, that's right. we've captured your accomplices. We also have that female traitor who tried to blindside us." The male Ghostmane told Raikap. Bafthalia emerged from the corner of Raikap's vision; she had her hands tied behind her back, and was held hostage by another Ghostmane. "We're going to find out what you're up to, and who you work for. Even if we have to beat it out of every single one of you." The male Ghostmane who was behind Raikap said.

He could not allow Bafthalia, or anyone else, get dragged into whatever torture he was about to be taken into. "Ok ok. I'll tell you everything. But you have to let the others go, they have nothing to do with any of this." Raikap negotiated. "Sorry, but that's not going to happen. We have orders to bring ALL of you into custody, and get any information we can out of each and every one." The Ghostmane said coldly.

Raikap knew that there was no way out of this. He could either play along, or get everyone killed right now. The former was obviously the smarter choice. And besides, they didn't capture Bettit yet. the former captain didn't know where the young girl was, but he could only hope that she would find another way out, or come back with help. There was no telling what the Crimson Order had planned for them.

Construction site

The darkfang Thwacker was taken aback by the statement. [A Ghostmane attacked the captain? Why would that happen?] Garatol asked himself. The Crimson Order member however, seemed poker-faced. But, there were many things running through his mind such as: How did the foreman know? Who were his "eyes"? What was his next move?

The Crimson Order member, responded with a statement. "Do not try to cover your citizens' dirt with lies. We both know the truth. One of your people has killed my field commander, and is now assisting known enemies of the Colony escape Emberlight. I cannot allow this to happen Foreman." the gremlin in red robes paused for a moment before continuing. "We refuse to leave until our ENTIRE business here is done. If you step aside now and let us do as we please, there will be no further argument. But should you stand in our way, I promise you that you will have the entire might of the Colony bearing down on your people. So what shall it be, Foreman Kexed?" The Crimson Order member challenged.

Garatol could not remember a time where he held his weapon tighter than he did now.

"No." Kexed answered firmly. There was no point in trying to argue the truth, and he was done with having his people be pushed around.]

"Then it is settled..." The Crimson Order member replied. He snapped his fingers and Soldiers began appearing from the shadows. "Stone Field borough is to be occupied by force. Local officials and patrols are considered hostiles, effective immediately!" He ordered, as he walked back to the forward base. The soldiers immediately began to arm their weapons. Garatol turned towards Kexed and his small army of patrolmen. "Get them." He said into his comm unit.

---

Suddenly, Scorcher rounds and Demo bombs were flying around the construction area. Thwackers tangled with Stone Field patrols. Skirmishes were breaking out in every corner of the city. Captain Ziftadrine grabbed Foreman Kexed and threw him into a patrol officer. "Get the foreman out of here! Bring him back to Patrol HQ, now!" She ordered the officer over the sound of gunfire, metal clanging, and explosions. The young patrolman nodded and began pulling Kexed. "Wait! What about the rest of you?" Kexed asked worriedly. "We'll handle the situation outside Foreman. We'll be fine, just stay in a safe location until everything calms down. Now, go!" Ziftadrine replied. Kexed stopped resisting the officer's pull, and the duo began dashing off towards patrol HQ at a dizzying pace.

With the superior weaponry and numbers of the Colony however, they would easily win the battle unless help arrived. Yet, Stone Field had no allies. At least none that Kexed knew about.

((I'm just waitng for Aeorune and Roa to start posting before I begin the Renegades' attack on Stone Field borough.

Also. For those of you living in the United States, I heard about the typhoon Sandy. It seems to be going strong there. Just know that I'll be praying for your good fortune should things take a turn for the worse :/ ))

((I'll be posting my next IC soon unless somebody posts. It may end up in taking control of some people's characters though :/.

P.S. I understand if you are living in America and conditions are stopping you from keeping up, so don't think I'm trying to rush you guys or anything. I'm just trying to keep it alive. Don't rush, take your time, and I'll just make-do))

((Am I really so important that I have to leave for a couple months and come back to find this on the fourth page? Well, I'm back now, if that means anything. :P))

((And the Thread is Dead. Oh dear. Well, Lets just going to try to start this again... I will take over the Defiler's role again, if you dont mind Azure))

Hello everyone. Long time no see, huh? Unfortunately I don't know if I'll ever come back to this RP, but Azure needed me to post for him due to him for some reason being unable to post in this thread. So here's his long awaited IC post, enjoy!

Rultaos

"We're in position. Rultaos, once we give the signal, all of your men need to rush through that entrance." The comm said in Rultaos' stone ear. "Understood, Graftarog." The Trojan replied. Behind him, stood a mismatched bundle of Trojans, Almirian crusaders, Slag-walkers, and a squad of Gremlins. The contingent stood a good distance away from the roadblock, but they could just make out the Jelly farms that stood behind it.

No one spoke, the tension in the air was suffocating. Every man knew that they had a job to do, and failure to perform it may result in the death of comrades, or worse, mission failure.

The comm unit crackled to life. "Go." It said.

At that moment, dozens of pitchforks and other Devilite weaponry went sailing through the air, and into the Gremlin barricade. The few guards that were standing there were genuinely surprised, and the rain of death took out two of the defenders while the rest were forced indoors. "Charge!" Rultaos commanded as his small army fell upon the roadblock.

The Trojans acted as the first wave, charging quickly into the Gremlin fortifications, knocking down the barricades, and generally causing mayhem. The Slag-walkers would leap from the above and take out priority targets (such as the commanding officer of the roadblock, whom they would have to identify). And the Crusaders would clear out any stragglers or flankers.

Rultaos led the party of Trojans and felt one Gremlin collide with his shield. Their surprise attack was working for the moment, seeing all the guards in disarray. But they had a small window of opportunity before the defenders alerted the main force. They could continue the chaos if they managed to kill the commanding officer, but the Slag-walkers needed to be fast.

Rultaos noticed a Ghostmane appearing behind one of the Trojans, and stabbing the warrior through the crystal; the victim fell to the ground in stone form. The same Ghostmane then barked orders at the roadblock guards. A Thwacker began scrambling for one of the empty farms in the midst of the skirmish, probably the place where they kept a radio or communicator system. Rultaos activated his comm unit.

"The Ghostmane is their commander, take him down!" He said to the Slag-walkers on the receiving end. They did not respond orally, but they surely received his message, because within 5 milli-cycles, a Slag-walker had pinned the Ghostmane to the ground. The gremlin attempted to cloak and escape, but the heat from his assailant had fried his suit's systems, and he would soon meet the same fate.

Rultaos charged towards the fleeing Thwacker, determined to stop him before he sounded the alarm. The Trojan managed to knock the Gremlin down a few feet from the empty farm's entrance. Rultaos raised his sword. “Why are you doing this?! We’re allies, we all want the same thing!” The Gremlin pleaded. "No, we don’t. You may think that you are doing what is right, but you are not." He said as he brought down his Gremlin-made great-sword and slew the fallen soldier.

When he turned his eyes back to the battle, it was already over. The Gremlin squad that they had brought along were already putting on the uniforms of the defeated guards.

“The roadblock is clear, tell your men to move in.” Rultaos said in his comm unit. “Roger that Rultaos, the rest of the troops are coming in. Get your men into position; Takun wants this over with as soon as possible.” Graftorog replied. “Understood, we’re moving out now.” Rultaos answered. The Trojan then turned to face his men.

“Start creating the perimeter within the borough, but do not engage unless necessary, before the attack command is given. Gremlins, stay here and do your best to convince the main force that nothing is amiss.” Rultaos commanded. “Yes sir!” They replied as the group began to divide.

Rultaos joined his squad (consisting of 3 Slag-walkers, 1 Trojan, and 2 Crusaders) as they prepared to depart (they would be the last team to leave).

At first, the groups walked together, giving them a sense of strength and safety. But as they headed deeper into the city, they began to separate, and each man realized the size of their situation; they were outnumbered and outgunned. And there were allies in this city that needed their help,fast.

@Dyrus: If you are still here, Azure just told me that if your writing skills have improved in this time, and you are willing to follow the rules, he is willing to let you take over that character again. He does have plans for the character though, and wants you to communicate with him about what he has in mind. He wants you to add him on Skype, his username is l_azarus, look him up.

((Still trying to finish it up, huh? Don't know how well that's going to work when it's just Azure and myself (I had actually rather let it go and had made plans to let this be an AU to my Stone Field stories so I could continue writing). -.- I'll see if I can get some IC up, I suppose, although it's not likely to be any time soon.))

((... Should I write something? Been wondering where everyone's been...))

I have edited the front page of the thread with a final message to everyone. Bumping this thread up may be against the rules, but I wanted to make sure that you guys saw my message, or I will feel that it was effort wasted :(.

After you read it, feel free to post your own final messages here as well, and once everyone has done so, we can let this thread die in peace.

I also invite any readers of this thread (if there are any) to post what they thought of the roleplay, along with the participants' messages. I want to know what you guys thought of it before I let this thread rest. Just a simple request :)

I can safely say that not trying to keep this thread up is one of my biggest regrets. How it slipped my mind, I honestly don't know.
Thanks, Azure. It was a fun trip.
/curtsey
~✘plad

While it lasted, this roleplay was great fun, and I really enjoyed seeing all of the character interaction. It's a shame about the busy schedules and all the things that took our players away, usually without any of their control, and I'm a bit sad we weren't really able to finish ... but without players, it's less a roleplay and more a story written by the one or two people left. I'm sorry to say that when they're not my characters, I'm not one of those people who can effectively write that story.

The game will be ... has been ... missed.

Thanks to everyone who played and watched and moderated and to Azure, who created and didn't give up.

@Xplad: Don't worry, we all forget things from time to time :)

@Tevokkia: Ditto. And thanks for the compliment. It's kind of my personal principle to always finish what I start. Although I wasn't so lucky with this one XP.

Anyone else care to give a final word?

((Huh. It was actually getting pretty heated at the end, hm? Tis always hard to leave something unfinished but I suppose it's for the best at this point. Twas a pleasure, folks.))

It has been 1 month now exactly since the last post in this thread... I had all but forgotten about this tale until I accidentally stumbled on its bookmark once again in a stray folder. I know I shouldn't be pushing this thread back up to the top of the list... but I never got my 1 last post. Though I hate to leave Elias trapped... alone and forgotten in the clockworks of his own mind, and even more-so to never see what becomes of the Spirilians and Renegades alike... I feel a sense of duty throw 1 last post... to lower the casket of this story slowly into its grave.
To the characters... many never accomplished their goals. Will they? Won't they? We may never know what truly happens, but all is not totally lost. The mind is our greatest story, so let yourself finish it however you want. Think to yourself, 'What would Elias do? What would Bettit do? What would Vakros, Tickafir, and every1 else (heh, you too Tanks).... what would they do? This thread may be gone and lost, but for those who read its pages, those who let the words flow around them like a torrent, let THEM decide the fate of the story in their OWN hearts and minds so that this story may never truly die.
To the writers... like me and tev and especially our lost members who did their best to try but couldn't go on, isis and nec... its been fun... its been great workin with you guys this past year or so... but i guess this is farewell. We may never work together again, but i can say it is quite an honor to work alongside people like you guys. Its just a bit of a shame that time had to be cut short.

Farewell, Clockwork Renegades.

Seal of the Rebellion: T... C... R.

I don't think that I've really spoke on how much this roleplay has truly changed my entire experience with the vault, the game, and honestly life itself.
I had entered the vault as green as some vibrant emerald, and I think this might have been the first thread I had stumbled upon. I won't go into the details, but I was astounded that such wonderful things even existed, and that I had not yet found one.
And it was you amazing people who accepted me and made me feel welcome. To all of you, especially Azure and Tev, but also the handful of others, I give you most sincere thanks.

It really is sad to have see this majestic thread die, especially considering it was partially my fault. It is a sorry fate to see something you know and love slowly drop off the front page, and to realize that though you can blame the remaining members, it's really your fault.
It has been amazing fun working with all of you guys, and I hope that this story may live on in both our hearts and minds, and also in those who stumble upon this wonder tale in the future.

((To Fleet down there: I don't think this is as much necroing as it is giving this thread some well deserved love, and saying final goodbyes while it's already up front, as to not completely necro it. Don't get me wrong, you're entitled to your own opinion, but I don't believe that your word holds much power here. Have a nice day.))

You nasty necromancers should stop necroing!

((I'm here to say my post my last goodbye, and to make The Clockwork Renegades have 800 pages. The last time I played as Terarr was, like, a year ago, and still I remember the double parentheses rule. Farewell))