I look left and then right.
"These guys are… Veterans, right?"
Ha, applying Warhammer 40,000 logic, eh? Even pretty close in terms of Dark Eldar units: Trueborn, who basically
are elite warriors.
"These are High Born. Augmented by Sheeda science and magic to be far greater than any man."
"But you're the only one with head cancer." I frown. "Might want to get that looked at
So, she does have the head tentacles. Good to know, if a little disturbing.
The right-hand handmaiden hisses, showing off her fangs.
…
Can I get homesick for a place I've never lived? Because if they worked a little red or blue into the monochrome colour pallet in here this could actually be Apokolips.
Amusing. I doubt they'd appreciate the comparison. though.
"Derog? Kill this intruder."
A male Sheeda in armour plucks a spear off the wall and spins-.
Not so fast, knife-ears. Critical mistake, not having a weapon in hand already.
I shoot him in the chest with an energy pulse and he slams backwards into the wall.
He drops to his feet and smiles. "Foolish, Child of Spring. My armour-"
-Isn't as invulnerable as you think it is, pretty-boy. Watch and learn.
I draw my daiklave and generate a fusion cannon construct.
"-is now impervious to-"
While I know it's not what it's meant to look like, I can't help but see Megatron about to smack down Starscream once again...
I fire, and only the photosensitive properties of my goggles allow me to see Derog parry a beam of ultra-hot high pressure ions, in a way which somehow nullified the energy therein completely rather than sending it into one of the neighbouring stations. The goggles also allow me to aim the tip of my daiklave as I make a ring-assisted lunge, shoving the point through his philtrum and into his spine. Then I swing it around to the right in an arc, taking away his body's support and causing it to collapse.
Guess it only protects against one thing at a time, huh? Bit of an oversight, but handy for you.
"That was fun." I turn away from the growing blood-pool-. I shoot Derog in the face until his head is entirely disintegrated because I don't know how well Sheeda aristocrats regenerate. "Might want to consider helmets."
"You're not wearing one."
He's tough enough to not need it against trash like you, Queenie.
"I'm not seeing anything that's actually a threat to me. You, on the other hand-."
The amulet splutters and dies.
I do hope that wasn't a
protective charm... Otherwise he's now wide open...
Wait…
Uh.
"You're not her. You're a body double." I shrug with both arms. "This is what I get for fighting idiots for so long; it confuses me when I run into someone moderately clever. Pretty good effort for someone with no direct exposure to Apokoliptian technology."
Heh. caught off guard by an enemy being genre-savvy. No doubt the Queen is hidden away in a well-protected bunker deeper within the Castle. Time to go a-roaming, then.
"Kill him."
Right handmaiden lunges for me with more than human strength and speed. Guess they don't know that much about Apokoliptian technology, then. The challenge is still in effect, and if whoever-that-is on the throne sends people at me without having the other party designate them her champions…
A Champion might be capable of harming him in this state. A mere Minion? a Peon, worthless trash to be thrown into a meatgrinder? Like rain against his face.
Fortunately, I have more than human speed too. Sword's out of position but she's not wearing a helmet either. My left fist hits her in the side of the head and sends her flying, though she's tough enough that her skull didn't shatter. In the fraction of a second when she's still in reach she tries to cut my gauntlet with her nails and.. scores a tiny scratch which doesn't penetrate. Not bad for a fingernail.
"Bored now."
Probably good she didn't hit skin. I doubt her nail polish is anything pleasant.
I raise my fusion cannon and shoot the queen in the exposed midriff. The shot bored right through her and into the throne, and almost immediately her outline changes from demon prostitute to… Humanoid insect thing.
Meeting a distraction with a distraction. I'll admit to being mildly impressed.
Assuming she actually realised it was a distraction. Now... Where's Sivana?
Wreck the Empty Throne.
The barrel of my gun widens as the Sheeda form up behind me, sword, spears and shields and I've no doubt that they're all quite good with them. Instead of fighting them I fire again, the left handmaiden diving aside as the throne and the wall behind it are annihilated.
That'll leave him with a nice boost to his Godly nature for a while. Time to go door-knocking.
And then I run through the hole, leaving the command crew behind.
"Mother Box, get me a location for Sivana."
No doubt the good Doctor has located the real Queen? I presume that's what they were planning.
"Ping."
Because now the command crew have to choose between doing their jobs-
And their fear of their Queen's displeasure...
An arrow plinks off my back plate.
-and pursuing someone who has demonstrated the ability to kill them.
Looks like they fear
her more than they do
you. Pity there's no time to
teach them otherwise.
"Ping."
"Are you sure, because-?"
Now, now, Grayven. You've worked with her long enough to trust her judgement, surely?
"Ping!"
"Okay, no need to take that tone! Boom tube."
I see she set him straight. And no need for subtlety now, either.
Shielded against Boom and Hush Tube formation? That'll be learned from that Father Box Vaermina mentioned, eh?
"Ping."
I point my fusion cannon just a little to the left of the focus of the ship's temporal manipulation effect and fire a wide beam, carving a line through the ship's internal structure. Then I fly, trusting my armour to keep the heat and poisons off me. Flying out-.
Ah, the Takamichi Nanoha method of navigating a large ship. Find the target, then
drill.
There's a green bubbling pit surrounded by some sort of ritual space. A heavily bleeding Thaddeus Sivana shoots the Queen thought the head with.. a gun that hurts my eyes to look at. She's-. Why are there arrows-?
Sivana shoots her through the heart, collapses, then props himself up just enough to shoot her through the neck, fully severing her head.
"
Decapitation!" Probably not enough to be permanent, unless his gun is is as very,
very nasty as its description implies.
Artemis drops down from a crenellation. "I was going to take her alive!"
"And I wanted her dead, so I killed her."
Besides, I doubt a few pointy sticks were going to bother her much, even with a New God shooting them.
I frown at her. "Artemis, what are you-?"
She glances at me, frustration evident though her mask. "Mister Miracle found a back door."
I assume Grayven suggested they leave this to him, and they promptly went 'lulsno, facepunching time!'
Someone else who decided to ignore my advice. "Right. I don't know…" Sivana pulls a device out of his coat and draws a rune on the floor in his own blood. "Doctor?"
"This is the centre of their time drive. The green substance is literally trans-temporal."
Timey-wimey stuff, eh? It sure looks pretty wibbly-wobbly.
"Okay, yes, good-."
His device glows.
Doctor, care to explain for those in the audience who
aren't multi-disciplinary polymaths with a dozen degrees?
"I'm going to use it to erase the ship from the present. If I'm very lucky, I'll wind back what they did on Venus-." He coughs up some blood. "But I doubt it."
"Is there a reason why you're rushing this? If we capture the ship-."
Maybe because he appears to have a fatal wound? Okay, sure, you could patch him up, but I don't think he cares.
"You're going to prevent them from ever being. I can't take the risk of this ship disappearing on us. I think I should be… Sorry, but I barely care about myself at the moment and I certainly don't care about you."
"Artemis to team, get out of here!"
Because of course the other kids are here. Why
wouldn't you send sidekicks into the flying palace of the murder-sadist future elves? Even after one of your allies says he's
got this.
Sivana smiles peacefully. "Two…"
I step forward grab Artemis and fly at-
What's your exit strategy, Grayven? Because shit is about to get trippy.
"One…"
-the pool!
"Goodby-."
Huh. Now,
where will they end up? The future of the Sheeda, Earth-16R? The past? another timeline?
