AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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That would be the yellow ring user in the last interlude chapter. He didn't give his actual name, just that moniker.
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The Way of the Blue [Lantern OC]
- Thread starter AverusBlack
- Start date
That would be the yellow ring user in the last interlude chapter. He didn't give his actual name, just that moniker.
Not All That Chitters Is Gold - 05
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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I suppose it was a bit much to ask, really.
It turns out the 'large building' is actually the side-gate to what seemed like an endless maze of corridors until I came out into a massive open space. The ring mapping my path as I go along is the only thing keeping me from getting lost and the enhancement to my low light vision is helping, but if it came down to it I'm sure the ring would come up with something to replace my eyes. The cavern I'm standing in is large enough I can actually scan its internal dimensions. From what I can tell it's half a kilometer wide and the bottom of it is mostly filled with water.
I've come upon an underground lake with a city built into the walls around it.
It doesn't look to be in good shape, though. The buildings are intact but I can clearly see things are a mess. There's debris and crap strewn along the bridges and ledges serving as the 'roads'. I'm seeing bodies too. Looks like some kind of civilized mantid-spider combination of several various types but there's humanoids with black skin as well. None of them have any hair anywhere.
Ring, what killed these people?
A combination of blunt force trauma, acid damage and consumption.
Con-? They were eaten?
Affirmative.
Right, that's not ominous at all. Not seeing any movement right now though. Any hopes around?
My eyes flare blue as the ring shows me the wisps of hopes in the area overlaying the brightened ones of still-living people. There's pockets of them around. But only pockets.
Time to see what's going on here, I think. I snap forward out over the water and have the ring navigate my way to the first one, deciding I can fix any damage later and opting for forming a sphere around myself, shrinking it down and using it to disintegrate my way through the walls towards my target. When I burst through into the corridor I'm confronted by more of the mantids but they're covered in some kind of crystal which is glowing faintly with a yellowish-green light. It's almost sickly-looking.
Which probably explains why they're all focusing on me and clambering to reach me and why the walls of this chamber have so many scratch marks on them. Ring, are they alive?
I pull backwards as they spill out of the room into the hole I've made -
Subjects are being compromised by a silicon based filament system spread throughout their body.
- and back out into the main thoroughfare.
Can we remove it without killing them?
Large sections of their brains have been consumed and replaced by silicon matrices.
Fuck. Living zombies. The worst kind.
If I don't have scans of living, baseline members of their species I can't restore their brains but even if I did there's so much of them being autopiloted now that they're basically a husk. Whatever this crystal is, it's spreading filaments through them like-
Like Cordyceps. Ugh and now I'm remembering those ants.
I generate a construct cable and then another dozen after it, threading them through and splitting the cable off at each one into the next, and the next, and the next...
Free them from the prison.
The cables twist, expanding and burning the insectoids apart as they swarm me. I follow in the wake and let the ash be pushed aside by my environmental shield, then burn through the final wall into the next room.
There's more of the mantids and a couple of the humanoids. The largest of the mantids is wearing robes different from the rest. None of them are moving, just sort of staring at me.
"Hello there, anyone call for a rescue?"
"Many have prayed. How is it we understand each other?"
"Explanations later, salvation first. There's other's still alive down here and I intend to collect them as well."
"The crystal infects. It digs into you with physical contact. Makes more of itself out of you."
"Yeah I saw the end stages of that a moment ago. My environmental shield should protect you but if you could...?"
I get a nod and that's all the signal I need to tag them each with a thread of blue light, transitioning us back out to the water, then to the other side of the dwarven bridge.
"I need you to stay here while I collect the others. Don't go down the tunnel until I come back, there's others down there I need to talk to before you come back with us."
"We must retake the city."
"Yeah, look, that's probably not going to happen. Not with little flakes of that stuff all over the place. I'm going to get your people out, then recommend they collapse this tunnel and then maybe brick it up a few times."
"What do you want in return?"
"Be reasonable. We'll work that out later, but right now what I want is co-operation and a willingness to play nice. Now sit tight."
"I do not unders-"
I'm already transitioning back into the city and heading for the next pocket of them. There's no hesitation this time but some of these looks relatively recent. They're not quite so crystallized.
Subjects brain stem is intact. Muscular systems compromised. Nervous system partially compromised.
Can you remove the silicon lattice without killing them?
Yes. Baselines provided by the previous subjects allow for body repairs.
The ring threads out, picking them up and hovering them behind me as I head down the corridor towards the broken bridge, on the other side of which a small bastion of the survivors is waiting for me.
I'm going to have to work something out with the dwarves because there's no way they're going to want to come down here, mithril or not. Shit, that means I'm probably going to have to spend time actually doing manual labor for these people to get them to agree to help the bugs and whoever those humanoids are.
Maybe I can get Elise to organize cultural interviews or something?
It turns out the 'large building' is actually the side-gate to what seemed like an endless maze of corridors until I came out into a massive open space. The ring mapping my path as I go along is the only thing keeping me from getting lost and the enhancement to my low light vision is helping, but if it came down to it I'm sure the ring would come up with something to replace my eyes. The cavern I'm standing in is large enough I can actually scan its internal dimensions. From what I can tell it's half a kilometer wide and the bottom of it is mostly filled with water.
I've come upon an underground lake with a city built into the walls around it.
It doesn't look to be in good shape, though. The buildings are intact but I can clearly see things are a mess. There's debris and crap strewn along the bridges and ledges serving as the 'roads'. I'm seeing bodies too. Looks like some kind of civilized mantid-spider combination of several various types but there's humanoids with black skin as well. None of them have any hair anywhere.
Ring, what killed these people?
A combination of blunt force trauma, acid damage and consumption.
Con-? They were eaten?
Affirmative.
Right, that's not ominous at all. Not seeing any movement right now though. Any hopes around?
My eyes flare blue as the ring shows me the wisps of hopes in the area overlaying the brightened ones of still-living people. There's pockets of them around. But only pockets.
Time to see what's going on here, I think. I snap forward out over the water and have the ring navigate my way to the first one, deciding I can fix any damage later and opting for forming a sphere around myself, shrinking it down and using it to disintegrate my way through the walls towards my target. When I burst through into the corridor I'm confronted by more of the mantids but they're covered in some kind of crystal which is glowing faintly with a yellowish-green light. It's almost sickly-looking.
Which probably explains why they're all focusing on me and clambering to reach me and why the walls of this chamber have so many scratch marks on them. Ring, are they alive?
I pull backwards as they spill out of the room into the hole I've made -
Subjects are being compromised by a silicon based filament system spread throughout their body.
- and back out into the main thoroughfare.
Can we remove it without killing them?
Large sections of their brains have been consumed and replaced by silicon matrices.
Fuck. Living zombies. The worst kind.
If I don't have scans of living, baseline members of their species I can't restore their brains but even if I did there's so much of them being autopiloted now that they're basically a husk. Whatever this crystal is, it's spreading filaments through them like-
Like Cordyceps. Ugh and now I'm remembering those ants.
I generate a construct cable and then another dozen after it, threading them through and splitting the cable off at each one into the next, and the next, and the next...
Free them from the prison.
The cables twist, expanding and burning the insectoids apart as they swarm me. I follow in the wake and let the ash be pushed aside by my environmental shield, then burn through the final wall into the next room.
There's more of the mantids and a couple of the humanoids. The largest of the mantids is wearing robes different from the rest. None of them are moving, just sort of staring at me.
"Hello there, anyone call for a rescue?"
"Many have prayed. How is it we understand each other?"
"Explanations later, salvation first. There's other's still alive down here and I intend to collect them as well."
"The crystal infects. It digs into you with physical contact. Makes more of itself out of you."
"Yeah I saw the end stages of that a moment ago. My environmental shield should protect you but if you could...?"
I get a nod and that's all the signal I need to tag them each with a thread of blue light, transitioning us back out to the water, then to the other side of the dwarven bridge.
"I need you to stay here while I collect the others. Don't go down the tunnel until I come back, there's others down there I need to talk to before you come back with us."
"We must retake the city."
"Yeah, look, that's probably not going to happen. Not with little flakes of that stuff all over the place. I'm going to get your people out, then recommend they collapse this tunnel and then maybe brick it up a few times."
"What do you want in return?"
"Be reasonable. We'll work that out later, but right now what I want is co-operation and a willingness to play nice. Now sit tight."
"I do not unders-"
I'm already transitioning back into the city and heading for the next pocket of them. There's no hesitation this time but some of these looks relatively recent. They're not quite so crystallized.
Subjects brain stem is intact. Muscular systems compromised. Nervous system partially compromised.
Can you remove the silicon lattice without killing them?
Yes. Baselines provided by the previous subjects allow for body repairs.
The ring threads out, picking them up and hovering them behind me as I head down the corridor towards the broken bridge, on the other side of which a small bastion of the survivors is waiting for me.
I'm going to have to work something out with the dwarves because there's no way they're going to want to come down here, mithril or not. Shit, that means I'm probably going to have to spend time actually doing manual labor for these people to get them to agree to help the bugs and whoever those humanoids are.
Maybe I can get Elise to organize cultural interviews or something?
Last edited:
Bloodalchemy
Versed in the lewd.
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Sadly I dont think death is in the cards. Yellow dude wants people to be afraid of him. And it's hard to be afraid if you're dead.
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
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Interesting, I was thinking drow but they like mantiss not spiders? But seeing some mantis people, perhaps the drop are their slaves?
Also do the mqnris people look like thri-kreen?
Also do the mqnris people look like thri-kreen?
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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"mantid" is really an approximate term to give people something to visualize. Think drider, but the top part isn't humanoid, it's a bit like a mantis. There's a couple different types there as well as the humanoids so they're not all the same.
Mr Zoat
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AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
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I am interested! They don't eat thsir partners heads do they?
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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Bit like that, yeah. Never heard of them before.
You say that like everyone doesn't love getting some head
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
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I mean thats true but necrophilia, post coital killing and severing heads are less universally desired.
I mean someone kinky bitches would love a painful swift death after a good snu snu. But not most people.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
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It's a valid opinion. I mean call it deviant or perverted but I like living, consenting lewds where no one kills anyone and they hold hands hands say I Love you After.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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You monster.
Not All That Chitters Is Gold - 06
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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I'm sitting on a small ledge just outside the dwarven city while the humanoids - actual humans as it turns out, altered by magic to be able to see down there - are blinking in the bright light. I needed a break, negotiating with the dwarves is proving a bit tiresome. It's like dealing with a salesman, only it's all of them. Having spent half the day underground I decided I needed to get out of there for a bit.
The mantids are being... well, not exactly excited or anything, but for a culture who just experienced what is essentially a genocide they're handling it pretty well. This is the closest they've been to the surface in a long time and it's making some of them a little twitchy but once the dwarves agreed to lend them a hall and they were allowed to turn out most of the torches they were happy enough. Right now the eldest of them is inside working out trade skills with the dwarves. Something about weaving.
I can't say I've honestly been paying attention because once they started negotiating directly with each other, I stopped. There's only so much I can do and eventually the best I can manage is to put the pieces together in a reasonable assortment and hope it all works out. Besides, I needed to eat dinner at some point today and the meerkats in the city actually have a variety of stuff from across Skal so I'm munching on a salad of some kind. I could probably find out what's in it but once the ring told me it was okay to eat I decided I'd ask after it's gone so I don't gross myself out accidentally.
Pretty good, actu-
Alert. Fear detected.
Hm? WheARGHBELGHEBLGHE!
I'm flying off the ledge! Correcting my trajectory I spin in midair. Ring, target lock. The yellow lightsmith is hovering just above where I was, holding...
He's got Elise. Ring, is she okay?
Subject is physically whole. However, endorphins and hormone levels suggest she is extremely worn out and she is currently unconscious.
Tearing through the air towards him I form construct armor and melee weapons, swinging an axe at him as I charge! He simply leans out of it, dodging it and forming a gun, prompting me to put up a shield between us. When he fires it the shield collapses - ow - and the shot knocks me flying backwards.
"Well, at least you're willing to fight back. Not that you're any good at it."
I'm sent flying into the ground as soon as I correct my tumble in midair, landing hard - ow again - and having the ring fix me up but he's already on top of me, pinning me in place with some kind of giant, construct insectoid. I can see him above the construct, still holding Elise.
No. This needs to be gone.
The destructive pulse tears through the construct, making the yellow guy raise his eyebrows. "That was almost good. Not quite enough to actually reach me, but you get points for trying."
And then I'm surrounded by a column of yellow light.
The pressure forces me to kneel, struggling to hold myself upright before I'm kicked out of the column and sent flying into the gates of the city, impacting a wall hard enough that I sort of stick into it. Growling to myself I pull my arms out-
And then he's in front of me, construct gun pointed at my face.
"Mmm, no. This has been amusing but beating the shit out of you only helps me so far. Stop fighting or I stop ignoring your little friend here."
"What did you do to her?" For a second my anger gets the better of me, my ring flickering.
"Ah ah ah. Letting your anger get the best of you? Tch, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead. Pathetic. Pull yourself out of that fucking hole, you're coming with me."
"What makes you think I won't just attack you again to get Elise back?"
"Oh, probably the charge I have strapped to her back. I knew you wouldn't listen without an incentive. Now, are you going to stop pontificating so we can get on with this, or do I have to tear off your arm and take your ring before you'll listen?"
I'm going to kill this fucking guy.
"Good. I can see you're coming to your senses. Far faster than the green one did, in any case. Now come along, boy." A construct clamp grabs me and... I... can't break it. Ugh.
Torn out of the wall he transitions us up into orbit above the planet, then again to the 4th planet out. When we reappear again we're in front of a asteroid in a stable orbit around the planet and it's opening up. The rock is folding inward somehow as an aperture appears and I'm tossed through it with him flying in after me. The room we end up in is large, spartan and gray.
"What's the meaning of all this, who the fuck are you?"
"Now now, don't be impatient. I know you tend to favor immediate solutions but in this case, you're going to have to wait. Here, you can play with your little friend while I make preparations." He drops Elise, prompting me to make a construct bed for her to land on so he doesn't break anything. "Now sit tight. We'll talk when I'm done making sure we won't be interrupted."
He vanishes in a transition. Hm, there's a faint yellow line for half a second after he does that. Getting up I move over to Elise and subspace the charge on her back, grimacing. It dug hooks into her skin so I repair the damage and tap her cheek. "Elise, wake up. C'mon."
She slowly comes around, opening her eyes and now I have a ferret enveloping me. "Ainsley! OhthankthegodsI'msogladtoseeyou."
I help her up but she's really clinging to me and we're not going anywhere so I sort of let her hug me and extend my environmental shield around her. "You're okay. What's going on?"
"I don't know! He just... showed up back at Durjak and... he..." She shudders, making her fur ripple. "He m-made me relive things. Stuff I'd tried to forget. I think he just wanted me to be afraid."
"It makes his constructs stronger."
"He's evil, Ainsley. Where are we?"
"His home base, I think."
"Shit. You didn't...?" I shake my head. "Get us out of here, please please get us out of here."
"While I probably could, he seems to have gone after you just to get my attention. If we bust out of here, he might go for Durjak next. I need to deal with this now. I want to take you -"
"No I... I get it." She nods. "You're right. The good of the whole is more important than the good of the individual. Can you make me some armor or something? I feel naked."
I quickly fabricate a copy of her usual combat outfit and she goes about checking herself over, falling into routine to comport herself.
Whoever this guy is, he's on my shitlist now.
The mantids are being... well, not exactly excited or anything, but for a culture who just experienced what is essentially a genocide they're handling it pretty well. This is the closest they've been to the surface in a long time and it's making some of them a little twitchy but once the dwarves agreed to lend them a hall and they were allowed to turn out most of the torches they were happy enough. Right now the eldest of them is inside working out trade skills with the dwarves. Something about weaving.
I can't say I've honestly been paying attention because once they started negotiating directly with each other, I stopped. There's only so much I can do and eventually the best I can manage is to put the pieces together in a reasonable assortment and hope it all works out. Besides, I needed to eat dinner at some point today and the meerkats in the city actually have a variety of stuff from across Skal so I'm munching on a salad of some kind. I could probably find out what's in it but once the ring told me it was okay to eat I decided I'd ask after it's gone so I don't gross myself out accidentally.
Pretty good, actu-
Alert. Fear detected.
Hm? WheARGHBELGHEBLGHE!
I'm flying off the ledge! Correcting my trajectory I spin in midair. Ring, target lock. The yellow lightsmith is hovering just above where I was, holding...
He's got Elise. Ring, is she okay?
Subject is physically whole. However, endorphins and hormone levels suggest she is extremely worn out and she is currently unconscious.
Tearing through the air towards him I form construct armor and melee weapons, swinging an axe at him as I charge! He simply leans out of it, dodging it and forming a gun, prompting me to put up a shield between us. When he fires it the shield collapses - ow - and the shot knocks me flying backwards.
"Well, at least you're willing to fight back. Not that you're any good at it."
I'm sent flying into the ground as soon as I correct my tumble in midair, landing hard - ow again - and having the ring fix me up but he's already on top of me, pinning me in place with some kind of giant, construct insectoid. I can see him above the construct, still holding Elise.
No. This needs to be gone.
The destructive pulse tears through the construct, making the yellow guy raise his eyebrows. "That was almost good. Not quite enough to actually reach me, but you get points for trying."
And then I'm surrounded by a column of yellow light.
The pressure forces me to kneel, struggling to hold myself upright before I'm kicked out of the column and sent flying into the gates of the city, impacting a wall hard enough that I sort of stick into it. Growling to myself I pull my arms out-
And then he's in front of me, construct gun pointed at my face.
"Mmm, no. This has been amusing but beating the shit out of you only helps me so far. Stop fighting or I stop ignoring your little friend here."
"What did you do to her?" For a second my anger gets the better of me, my ring flickering.
"Ah ah ah. Letting your anger get the best of you? Tch, if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead. Pathetic. Pull yourself out of that fucking hole, you're coming with me."
"What makes you think I won't just attack you again to get Elise back?"
"Oh, probably the charge I have strapped to her back. I knew you wouldn't listen without an incentive. Now, are you going to stop pontificating so we can get on with this, or do I have to tear off your arm and take your ring before you'll listen?"
I'm going to kill this fucking guy.
"Good. I can see you're coming to your senses. Far faster than the green one did, in any case. Now come along, boy." A construct clamp grabs me and... I... can't break it. Ugh.
Torn out of the wall he transitions us up into orbit above the planet, then again to the 4th planet out. When we reappear again we're in front of a asteroid in a stable orbit around the planet and it's opening up. The rock is folding inward somehow as an aperture appears and I'm tossed through it with him flying in after me. The room we end up in is large, spartan and gray.
"What's the meaning of all this, who the fuck are you?"
"Now now, don't be impatient. I know you tend to favor immediate solutions but in this case, you're going to have to wait. Here, you can play with your little friend while I make preparations." He drops Elise, prompting me to make a construct bed for her to land on so he doesn't break anything. "Now sit tight. We'll talk when I'm done making sure we won't be interrupted."
He vanishes in a transition. Hm, there's a faint yellow line for half a second after he does that. Getting up I move over to Elise and subspace the charge on her back, grimacing. It dug hooks into her skin so I repair the damage and tap her cheek. "Elise, wake up. C'mon."
She slowly comes around, opening her eyes and now I have a ferret enveloping me. "Ainsley! OhthankthegodsI'msogladtoseeyou."
I help her up but she's really clinging to me and we're not going anywhere so I sort of let her hug me and extend my environmental shield around her. "You're okay. What's going on?"
"I don't know! He just... showed up back at Durjak and... he..." She shudders, making her fur ripple. "He m-made me relive things. Stuff I'd tried to forget. I think he just wanted me to be afraid."
"It makes his constructs stronger."
"He's evil, Ainsley. Where are we?"
"His home base, I think."
"Shit. You didn't...?" I shake my head. "Get us out of here, please please get us out of here."
"While I probably could, he seems to have gone after you just to get my attention. If we bust out of here, he might go for Durjak next. I need to deal with this now. I want to take you -"
"No I... I get it." She nods. "You're right. The good of the whole is more important than the good of the individual. Can you make me some armor or something? I feel naked."
I quickly fabricate a copy of her usual combat outfit and she goes about checking herself over, falling into routine to comport herself.
Whoever this guy is, he's on my shitlist now.
Last edited:
Assblaster5000
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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Small correction.
*our shitlist
None may harm the Waifu and live.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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Assblaster5000
I trust you know where the happy button is?
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You know it to be true in your heart of heats Komrade!
Not All That Chitters Is Gold - 07
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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Ring, scan this room.
Unable to comply.
Why?
Although this room appears to be made of mundane metals, scans do not extend past them. Probable arcane interference.
Ugh. Of course he made the room out of arcane metal. It's exactly the kind of thing I might do if I wanted to stick somebody where I wanted to keep them.
Which raises an interesting question. "Elise?"
She looks up from where she was checking over her boot skids. "Hm?"
"Does this guy remind you of me?"
She frowns. "He kind of does? But when I thought that I just chalked it up to all humans kind of looking the same to me sometimes. I can tell the difference between like, somebody from Africa as opposed to someone from the American Empire or the United States of Europe but unless I know the person really well..." She shakes her head.
"You'd have trouble picking me apart from someone else?"
"No, you glow blue. But if you didn't have the ring on? Um, maybe. He kind of reminds me of you if you were totally heartless and really wanted us to be afraid of you."
"I got that impression too. Like... a reflection?"
"Heh. 'For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.'"
"What's that from?"
"Christian bible, Corinthians 13:12. Jesus not a thing on your world?"
"Fuck if I know."
"Heh, lucky." She's quiet for a moment, which is fine with me. "What do you think he wants with us?"
"Well, if he wanted me dead, I think I probably would be. He's clearly had his ring longer. He's better with it, frankly. I'm having trouble coming up with reasons why he'd want us alive myself."
"Hm." She's looking thoughtful, pacing slowly. "Let's assume he's listening to everything we say. It wouldn't be smart to discuss any plan against him in that case. We'll have to wing it. Can you fabricate me a weapon?"
"Yeah, but its not going to help against him."
"It's not for him. Something small?"
It doesn't take long. A quick ring-fabrication later and she's got a knife and a grenade. "Good, this is perfect. Think you can keep his attention?"
"I don't think I have a choice. You got something in mind?"
Elise just smiles, putting both weapons away. "Maybe. I'm just a helpless little ferret, remember? Let's not do anything to convince him otherwise."
I nod slowly and then turn as something clicks and hisses, a part of the wall opening where there was no seam before. Elise turns to look with me but no sign of yellow. "Hmm."
"Hmm indeed."
"Let's go have a look."
I pick us both up, floating us through the opening into a corridor lined with pipes and cables. A utility corridor, then. "Hey Ainsley, put me down?"
"Okay?"
"I want to split up." I give her a what-the-hell look. "No, seriously. I want you to go make a nuisance of yourself. Not enough to really piss him off but enough to make him focus on you."
"Okay. He mentioned a 'green one' earlier, before you woke up. Keep an eye out, would you?"
"Gotcha." She hugs me suddenly, making me blink in surprise before she takes off down the corridor ahead of me.
Hmm. Where to go? A four way split just up ahead and Elise turned left, so... right it is, I guess. I head down that way, having the ring scan everything around me as I go. Anything interesting?
Runic markings detected. Unknown function. Exotic matter detected.
Exotic matter?
Most likely probability is that this facility is powered with esoteric technology.
Hm. I suppose that would make sense if he's been around longer and had time to scan more examples of technology than me. Any computer systems?
Confirmed.
I stop cold. Can you scan them?
Confirmed.
And now I know the layout of the entire base. Oh shit, the ring was right. It's some kind of generator at the center of the asteroid. I have no idea what the hell the Bleed is but whatever it is, it's doing a great job of powering this place. A three petawatt reactor isn't anything to laugh at. It could power Durjak for years.
What the fuck does he need that much power for?
Ring, contact Elise and send her this information.
Affirmative.
Good. Now, lets go make a nuisance of ourselves.
Following the map I head to the 'bottom' of the facility, following the utility tunnels. If planetside is down, anyways. Directions are a bit subjective in space. It seems like the most heavily industrialized area so maybe I'll find something interesting down there.
When I exit the utility corridor I find myself in a white corridor curving 'round, making me unable to see the ends of the hallway. That's fine, though. Picking myself up I head left, let's see what-
The wall unfolds in front of me, flipping as a turret appears! A single construct barrier fell pretty hard to Yellow, so lets try ablative barriers instead. A series of them appear in front of me as the turret opens fire with some kind of -
Turret is using a positron beam.
-okay, that. It knocks out the first two barriers while the ring scans it, then I creative a plasma gun construct around the side of the barriers and fire. The turret takes a few hits, a small shield rippling around it before that collapses and it's reduced to smoking slag.
Great, this asshole has static defenses. Can we compromise them?
Negative. Defense systems are not routed to the main computer and appear to be running independently.
Damnit. That makes my job a little more difficult. I hope Elise will be alright but I need to do my part so she can do whatever it is she has in mind, so. Ring, fuck up the computer.
Commencing upfuckary.
The lights flicker, then go out, leaving me in the dark for a few seconds before the emergencies kick in and a dull red glow fills the corridor. That should do the job nicely. If yellow doesn't know we're out yet, he does now.
Let's go see how much of a mischief I can make of myself before he comes looking for me.
Unable to comply.
Why?
Although this room appears to be made of mundane metals, scans do not extend past them. Probable arcane interference.
Ugh. Of course he made the room out of arcane metal. It's exactly the kind of thing I might do if I wanted to stick somebody where I wanted to keep them.
Which raises an interesting question. "Elise?"
She looks up from where she was checking over her boot skids. "Hm?"
"Does this guy remind you of me?"
She frowns. "He kind of does? But when I thought that I just chalked it up to all humans kind of looking the same to me sometimes. I can tell the difference between like, somebody from Africa as opposed to someone from the American Empire or the United States of Europe but unless I know the person really well..." She shakes her head.
"You'd have trouble picking me apart from someone else?"
"No, you glow blue. But if you didn't have the ring on? Um, maybe. He kind of reminds me of you if you were totally heartless and really wanted us to be afraid of you."
"I got that impression too. Like... a reflection?"
"Heh. 'For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.'"
"What's that from?"
"Christian bible, Corinthians 13:12. Jesus not a thing on your world?"
"Fuck if I know."
"Heh, lucky." She's quiet for a moment, which is fine with me. "What do you think he wants with us?"
"Well, if he wanted me dead, I think I probably would be. He's clearly had his ring longer. He's better with it, frankly. I'm having trouble coming up with reasons why he'd want us alive myself."
"Hm." She's looking thoughtful, pacing slowly. "Let's assume he's listening to everything we say. It wouldn't be smart to discuss any plan against him in that case. We'll have to wing it. Can you fabricate me a weapon?"
"Yeah, but its not going to help against him."
"It's not for him. Something small?"
It doesn't take long. A quick ring-fabrication later and she's got a knife and a grenade. "Good, this is perfect. Think you can keep his attention?"
"I don't think I have a choice. You got something in mind?"
Elise just smiles, putting both weapons away. "Maybe. I'm just a helpless little ferret, remember? Let's not do anything to convince him otherwise."
I nod slowly and then turn as something clicks and hisses, a part of the wall opening where there was no seam before. Elise turns to look with me but no sign of yellow. "Hmm."
"Hmm indeed."
"Let's go have a look."
I pick us both up, floating us through the opening into a corridor lined with pipes and cables. A utility corridor, then. "Hey Ainsley, put me down?"
"Okay?"
"I want to split up." I give her a what-the-hell look. "No, seriously. I want you to go make a nuisance of yourself. Not enough to really piss him off but enough to make him focus on you."
"Okay. He mentioned a 'green one' earlier, before you woke up. Keep an eye out, would you?"
"Gotcha." She hugs me suddenly, making me blink in surprise before she takes off down the corridor ahead of me.
Hmm. Where to go? A four way split just up ahead and Elise turned left, so... right it is, I guess. I head down that way, having the ring scan everything around me as I go. Anything interesting?
Runic markings detected. Unknown function. Exotic matter detected.
Exotic matter?
Most likely probability is that this facility is powered with esoteric technology.
Hm. I suppose that would make sense if he's been around longer and had time to scan more examples of technology than me. Any computer systems?
Confirmed.
I stop cold. Can you scan them?
Confirmed.
And now I know the layout of the entire base. Oh shit, the ring was right. It's some kind of generator at the center of the asteroid. I have no idea what the hell the Bleed is but whatever it is, it's doing a great job of powering this place. A three petawatt reactor isn't anything to laugh at. It could power Durjak for years.
What the fuck does he need that much power for?
Ring, contact Elise and send her this information.
Affirmative.
Good. Now, lets go make a nuisance of ourselves.
Following the map I head to the 'bottom' of the facility, following the utility tunnels. If planetside is down, anyways. Directions are a bit subjective in space. It seems like the most heavily industrialized area so maybe I'll find something interesting down there.
When I exit the utility corridor I find myself in a white corridor curving 'round, making me unable to see the ends of the hallway. That's fine, though. Picking myself up I head left, let's see what-
The wall unfolds in front of me, flipping as a turret appears! A single construct barrier fell pretty hard to Yellow, so lets try ablative barriers instead. A series of them appear in front of me as the turret opens fire with some kind of -
Turret is using a positron beam.
-okay, that. It knocks out the first two barriers while the ring scans it, then I creative a plasma gun construct around the side of the barriers and fire. The turret takes a few hits, a small shield rippling around it before that collapses and it's reduced to smoking slag.
Great, this asshole has static defenses. Can we compromise them?
Negative. Defense systems are not routed to the main computer and appear to be running independently.
Damnit. That makes my job a little more difficult. I hope Elise will be alright but I need to do my part so she can do whatever it is she has in mind, so. Ring, fuck up the computer.
Commencing upfuckary.
The lights flicker, then go out, leaving me in the dark for a few seconds before the emergencies kick in and a dull red glow fills the corridor. That should do the job nicely. If yellow doesn't know we're out yet, he does now.
Let's go see how much of a mischief I can make of myself before he comes looking for me.
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Radiant Knight
Phoenix Fire
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2014
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- 761
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- 6,020
Interesting. So I guess we'll find out shortly if the other guy is another version of the SI (who has been around longer), or they're just some other random human-shaped guy with a yellow ring.
he's got yellow quotation marks, which is definitely indicative of something, but idk if the OP is using them to mean the same thing Zoat does or not.
he's got yellow quotation marks, which is definitely indicative of something, but idk if the OP is using them to mean the same thing Zoat does or not.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
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He's not enlightened, but his ring put him through mental reconditioning to align him better with his fears. It changed the way he thinks about things.
Lord_0f_Winter
Hippity hoppity, your arsehole is my property
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2019
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- 41,683
OK, this AI is one of my favourites now
AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
- Joined
- May 22, 2016
- Messages
- 670
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- 7,665
That ring seems pretty sassy. I love it!
Also yeah pissing off yellow may not be a great idea.
ProfessorP.Hardraad
Thread Necromancer
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2019
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- 250
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- 4,781
k, this makes me think that your OC got all 7 rings and fractured into many persons.
Not All That Chitters Is Gold - Interlude (Elise Goes For A Walk)
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
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- 555
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- 6,928
So many tunnels and so easy to get lost. The only reason she wasn't already was her suits HUD mapping her progress as she went, until Ainsley somehow updated it. Now her map was blue but it had been a dull green before and she sort of liked the change.
Following the utility tunnels was the easy part. When she popped out into a hallway she almost immediately came under weapons fire and had to duck back into them again. She desperately wished she'd asked Ainsley to fabricate her a ranged weapon earlier, but the silly dope went and gave her melee-range stuff instead. She strongly suspected it was because the world they'd found themselves in was a bit like a fantasy novel and he was doing the very human thing of getting stuck on preconceptions. Something to talk to him about later when they're not in enemy territory.
Since nothing was chasing her in the tunnels she stopped for a moment to consult the map, flipping through it and checking what was where. She could probably make problems if she went to the main reactor, but Ainsley had asked her to 'keep an eye out' for a green ring user and since she didn't have any objectives beyond that and 'make trouble for the asshole', she might as well see what she could dig up.
Following the map she looked up when the lights flickered and her suits night vision kicked in. The view turned from dim to a greenish-blue, like seawater. Probably Ainsley again, doing what he can to make life interesting.
Turn, turn, straight, turn, follow the slope down, turn. It wasn't long before she found herself underneath the room she wanted. Thumping her boots she charged upwards, crossing her arms and smashing the grate above out as she came up through the floor, then landed next to the maintenance vent. Knife out, look around -
Nothing. No threats. Lucky her, really. It seemed the defenses were limited to the hallways so that nobody could use them to immediately murder the crew while they worked. Someone went and cut corners. It offended her sense of professionalism despite the fact it benefited her right now.
The room she found herself in appeared to be a round chamber, some kind of laboratory. At one end of it was the most sophisticated, hack-and-slash improv engineering job she'd ever seen. It looked like a russian and a mad scientist had a very angry baby and turned it into a platform, wires running throughout the room like vines to every kind of port she could possibly think of. She couldn't even begin to make heads or tails of it, especially considering what it was doing.
In the middle of it, suspended in the air was a man. He appeared to be in the middle of a full-body charge to throw a punch, his clothes tattered and a portion of his midsection simply missing. It appeared to be a desperate last charge, frozen like an insect in a drop of amber.
On his hand was a green ring.
The field surrounding the man was a faint red but she was fairly sure it wasn't the emergency lights because her HUD wouldn't have bothered including the color difference if the computer system could make any sense of it. Radiation appeared the same way, like TV static in her helmet. This wasn't radiation. It was something else.
Looking around she began going over the terminals but they seemed to be offline along with whatever powered most of the stations systems. She turned to look at the platform. If the reactor was offline, that wouldn't be on, so there was clearly power going somewhere. What...? Ah. Ainsley didn't cut the power, he ruined whatever computer system was controlling power distribution and the platform must be connected directly to the reactor. Running that on an independent control system would ensure the platform never ran out of power unless the reactor was destroyed and whatever this bullshit was, it clearly needed a lot of power.
Be a real shame if somebody were to ruin that.
Following the cables to the ends of the room she found they were hooked into the wall by fasteners which forced her to undo a clip before being able to unscrew them. Simple enough and would work well to keep them stuck to the wall, but easy to undo if you have three seconds. She began circling the room and unhooking cables, ears swiveling around as she listened for noises.
The faint hum of the platform began to die out and by the third cable the field was beginning to flicker. On the fifth it visibly dimmed and on the eighth it cut out entirely and the remaining four cable sparked violently, began to smoke and then went dead. The field cut out and the man surged forward with Elise scrambling to catch him before he hit the ground.
She managed to slide under him just in time for him to land on her, catching him as dead weight. Sitting up with him he seemed barely coherent and looking closely at him... yes, but no. Not like Ainsley but similar, like a less idealized version of her friend. She brought out her scanner and began to look him over.
"Oh, that's not good." The man was dying. Fast. Suspended animation? A slice of time held still? No way to guess but whatever it was that had been keeping this guy alive clearly wasn't anymore.
When he spoke his voice was weakened. "Who are you?"
"My name is Elise. I was brought here by the yellow ring user with my friend, who has a blue ring."
"Blue appeared. Fuck." He brought up his hand, the ring-hand. "Take it."
"What?"
"Take. It. Take the ring. Can't... do it alone. Too strong. But together..." He exhaled slowly. "Ring, go to her. You're hers now."
"I understand, Engel. I will remember."
The ring flew up from his hand as he closed his eyes and gave it up. She bowed her head, punching the floor next to her. She HATED not being able to help, not even to do first aid, something. Then she snapped her hand up and grabbed the ring from midair, jamming it on her finger. The next second she brought her hand up to her head as the ring slammed her mind with information, triggering an instant headache, like a dentists pick but in her brain.
And she knew what she had to do.
Following the utility tunnels was the easy part. When she popped out into a hallway she almost immediately came under weapons fire and had to duck back into them again. She desperately wished she'd asked Ainsley to fabricate her a ranged weapon earlier, but the silly dope went and gave her melee-range stuff instead. She strongly suspected it was because the world they'd found themselves in was a bit like a fantasy novel and he was doing the very human thing of getting stuck on preconceptions. Something to talk to him about later when they're not in enemy territory.
Since nothing was chasing her in the tunnels she stopped for a moment to consult the map, flipping through it and checking what was where. She could probably make problems if she went to the main reactor, but Ainsley had asked her to 'keep an eye out' for a green ring user and since she didn't have any objectives beyond that and 'make trouble for the asshole', she might as well see what she could dig up.
Following the map she looked up when the lights flickered and her suits night vision kicked in. The view turned from dim to a greenish-blue, like seawater. Probably Ainsley again, doing what he can to make life interesting.
Turn, turn, straight, turn, follow the slope down, turn. It wasn't long before she found herself underneath the room she wanted. Thumping her boots she charged upwards, crossing her arms and smashing the grate above out as she came up through the floor, then landed next to the maintenance vent. Knife out, look around -
Nothing. No threats. Lucky her, really. It seemed the defenses were limited to the hallways so that nobody could use them to immediately murder the crew while they worked. Someone went and cut corners. It offended her sense of professionalism despite the fact it benefited her right now.
The room she found herself in appeared to be a round chamber, some kind of laboratory. At one end of it was the most sophisticated, hack-and-slash improv engineering job she'd ever seen. It looked like a russian and a mad scientist had a very angry baby and turned it into a platform, wires running throughout the room like vines to every kind of port she could possibly think of. She couldn't even begin to make heads or tails of it, especially considering what it was doing.
In the middle of it, suspended in the air was a man. He appeared to be in the middle of a full-body charge to throw a punch, his clothes tattered and a portion of his midsection simply missing. It appeared to be a desperate last charge, frozen like an insect in a drop of amber.
On his hand was a green ring.
The field surrounding the man was a faint red but she was fairly sure it wasn't the emergency lights because her HUD wouldn't have bothered including the color difference if the computer system could make any sense of it. Radiation appeared the same way, like TV static in her helmet. This wasn't radiation. It was something else.
Looking around she began going over the terminals but they seemed to be offline along with whatever powered most of the stations systems. She turned to look at the platform. If the reactor was offline, that wouldn't be on, so there was clearly power going somewhere. What...? Ah. Ainsley didn't cut the power, he ruined whatever computer system was controlling power distribution and the platform must be connected directly to the reactor. Running that on an independent control system would ensure the platform never ran out of power unless the reactor was destroyed and whatever this bullshit was, it clearly needed a lot of power.
Be a real shame if somebody were to ruin that.
Following the cables to the ends of the room she found they were hooked into the wall by fasteners which forced her to undo a clip before being able to unscrew them. Simple enough and would work well to keep them stuck to the wall, but easy to undo if you have three seconds. She began circling the room and unhooking cables, ears swiveling around as she listened for noises.
The faint hum of the platform began to die out and by the third cable the field was beginning to flicker. On the fifth it visibly dimmed and on the eighth it cut out entirely and the remaining four cable sparked violently, began to smoke and then went dead. The field cut out and the man surged forward with Elise scrambling to catch him before he hit the ground.
She managed to slide under him just in time for him to land on her, catching him as dead weight. Sitting up with him he seemed barely coherent and looking closely at him... yes, but no. Not like Ainsley but similar, like a less idealized version of her friend. She brought out her scanner and began to look him over.
"Oh, that's not good." The man was dying. Fast. Suspended animation? A slice of time held still? No way to guess but whatever it was that had been keeping this guy alive clearly wasn't anymore.
When he spoke his voice was weakened. "Who are you?"
"My name is Elise. I was brought here by the yellow ring user with my friend, who has a blue ring."
"Blue appeared. Fuck." He brought up his hand, the ring-hand. "Take it."
"What?"
"Take. It. Take the ring. Can't... do it alone. Too strong. But together..." He exhaled slowly. "Ring, go to her. You're hers now."
"I understand, Engel. I will remember."
The ring flew up from his hand as he closed his eyes and gave it up. She bowed her head, punching the floor next to her. She HATED not being able to help, not even to do first aid, something. Then she snapped her hand up and grabbed the ring from midair, jamming it on her finger. The next second she brought her hand up to her head as the ring slammed her mind with information, triggering an instant headache, like a dentists pick but in her brain.
And she knew what she had to do.
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Not All That Chitters Is Gold - 08
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
- Joined
- Jan 26, 2019
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- 555
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- 6,928
Yeah, okay, I suppose I should have seen this coming after the static defenses. If this guy is some kind of other version of me when I should have known I wouldn't be satisfied with a defense system that passive. The turrets are dangerous, no doubt. But they're not that difficult to beat if you're mindful and taking your time because you're not in a rush.
Which is probably why I'm fighting a seemingly endless stream of drones.
I've found myself in some kind of recreational hall. I think I've finally breached the part of the facility where this guy actually lives because we've gone from utilitarian, spartan design to wood and stone and simulated sunlight. I honestly almost feel bad about ruining the place during this fight because as easy as it is to make something with a ring I'm having a minor guilt pang over just straight up wrecking somebodies home, no matter who it is.
Only a minor one. I jink to the left as a drone fires some kind of iridescent beam through the space I was just occupying, a construct blade swinging through it as another fires from the right, forcing me to bring up a shield and then drop down through the air hard and slam into the floor in a three-point superhero landing, buckling the wooden finishing as a third drone fires and catches the drone I was shielding against in the crossfire, allowing me to launch myself off the floor and swing a construct sword upwards through it, then forming four more and turning myself into a blender for a moment as I take out another three drones and miss two more as another six pour into the room.
A construct mech forms around me and I start opening fire with machine gun turrets, firing at the choke point the door represents. I'm definitely tearing them up but I'm not really making any headway, just holding them. Then the drones suddenly stop and I pull myself hard across the room out of the space I was just occupying, not because there's a present threat but simply because I'd been standing in place for more than three seconds and there's the reprisal as a massive construct sandworm mouth tears through the floor where I was to try and swallow me.
Oh good, looks like I have his attention, finally.
Ring, what's our remaining charge?
Current charge level is 43%.
Well, okay. I don't have time to stop and recharge though, there's too much pressure right now. Whatever Elise is doing I hope she does it soon because I can't keep this up forever, all I'm really doing is being a distraction. I dive down chasing the construct, pointing my fist down and hoping as hard as I can that I can punch through that construct and anything else until I've made a proper hole through this fucking station.
The blue beam that fires from my ring is strong enough to stop my descent and level me out, the flash of blue bright enough that my ring has to compensate for it and correct my vision for a couple seconds. The construct sandworm buckles, collapsing inwards and then crumpling in on itself as the beam exits out the side of the asteroid and air begins to tear its way out of the station. Debris is whipped up around us, lots of loose crap and drone parts mostly. Instead of bracing against it I go down with the flow of stuff, using it as camouflage as Yellow comes flying out of the vertical tunnel my beam created in construct armor.
He orients on me immediately and forms guns to begin firing at me, forcing me to create ablative shield layers above myself before I can form my own guns to fire back on him. He's bearing down on me while doing it too, increasing his rate of fire while I'm making barriers behind my barriers and pushing forward the breaking layers while moving backwards outside of the station, giving myself a little more room to move.
Then he's on top of me, tearing through the shields himself and breaking them down! I'm forced to move to the side and create a tower shield as he reorients his guns, swinging midair to the side and strafing him without facing away to fuck with his firing solutions as I form my own positron cannon and fire back -
Alert! Thirty percent charge remaining.
- and fuckfuckfuck I need to get this guy the fuck off me -
And then he's off me, a massive green hand grabbing him and swinging him so hard into the side of the asteroid that I can see the surface buckle and form a small crater. Ouch.
Elise comes flying out of the asteroid, glowing green. Yes! YES! She did it! Now we're getting somewhere!
Synergy detected. Synchronizing.
"Synchronization successful." / "Synchronization successful."
My ring begins to glow furiously and my environmental shield brightens as I feel the surge of hope and determination that I see in Elise as she begins to burn with green light, matching my own incandescent blue light. I feel my mind sharpening, my focus narrowing as the rest of the universe drops away and Yellow becomes the only thing that matters. The rest is just details.
I don't have to ask Elise what to do, she just knows. The pressure she's bringing to bear down on Yellow is a thing to behold as she tries to turn Yellow's crater into an even bigger crater. Apparently she feels he could be a little more enthusiastically fucked up but it's the break I need to recharge.
I quickly pull out my lantern, holding my ring up.
"In darkest day, with dauntless might
Face down despair, continue to fight
Stand tall against the blackest night
You will not fall, for hope burns bright!"
The surge of blue light from the lantern to my ring is blinding for half a second, then it's back into my subspace pocket and it's fuckin' go time. Yellow -
Subject's given name is "Nemesis".
- it tearing through the side of the asteroid next to Elise Crater, trying to flank her but I'm already there, forming barriers and taking defense while Elise takes offense. Each time he tries to attack us with constructs, she focuses on them directly while I work on severing the filaments and cables of light he's using to control them. His fear doesn't touch us and Elise's guns sing as Nemesis is pushed back, forced back, his offense turning into a controlled retreat as he begins trying to use the terrain of the asteroid to tank shots and dodge better.
Not acceptable.
The two of us surge forward as he catches a shot and is knocked spinning for a second, bearing down on him hard and forcing him to burrow down into his own facility and cause even more damage to get inside it and hide from us. Elise surges to follow and I'm forced to interpose myself between her and Nemesis for a moment, arms spread. Because I know what's on the other side of this part of the rock.
She slams into me and I form the hardest construct bubble around us that I can, reinforcing it with transmuted layers of diamond and sand before the damage he's done to his own reactor and secondary power systems goes critical. It's not even the reactor itself that does it - it's the magnetically contained antimatter used for scuttling charges. Which he's just detonated.
The ring compensates for us so we don't get disoriented but the construct barrier itself cracks instantly, the transmuted material between us and the blast scoured away and taking the worst of it. We're launched out into space away from the rock at a speed I can only describe as terrifying, the bubble flaking away as we slow down to admire the cloud of debris that used to be yellows home.
I look over at Elise, who's grinning manically at me, holding up her hand. I can't help but laugh and give her a high five.
"Durjak one, asshole zero. Don't fuck with genkits."
Which is probably why I'm fighting a seemingly endless stream of drones.
I've found myself in some kind of recreational hall. I think I've finally breached the part of the facility where this guy actually lives because we've gone from utilitarian, spartan design to wood and stone and simulated sunlight. I honestly almost feel bad about ruining the place during this fight because as easy as it is to make something with a ring I'm having a minor guilt pang over just straight up wrecking somebodies home, no matter who it is.
Only a minor one. I jink to the left as a drone fires some kind of iridescent beam through the space I was just occupying, a construct blade swinging through it as another fires from the right, forcing me to bring up a shield and then drop down through the air hard and slam into the floor in a three-point superhero landing, buckling the wooden finishing as a third drone fires and catches the drone I was shielding against in the crossfire, allowing me to launch myself off the floor and swing a construct sword upwards through it, then forming four more and turning myself into a blender for a moment as I take out another three drones and miss two more as another six pour into the room.
A construct mech forms around me and I start opening fire with machine gun turrets, firing at the choke point the door represents. I'm definitely tearing them up but I'm not really making any headway, just holding them. Then the drones suddenly stop and I pull myself hard across the room out of the space I was just occupying, not because there's a present threat but simply because I'd been standing in place for more than three seconds and there's the reprisal as a massive construct sandworm mouth tears through the floor where I was to try and swallow me.
Oh good, looks like I have his attention, finally.
Ring, what's our remaining charge?
Current charge level is 43%.
Well, okay. I don't have time to stop and recharge though, there's too much pressure right now. Whatever Elise is doing I hope she does it soon because I can't keep this up forever, all I'm really doing is being a distraction. I dive down chasing the construct, pointing my fist down and hoping as hard as I can that I can punch through that construct and anything else until I've made a proper hole through this fucking station.
The blue beam that fires from my ring is strong enough to stop my descent and level me out, the flash of blue bright enough that my ring has to compensate for it and correct my vision for a couple seconds. The construct sandworm buckles, collapsing inwards and then crumpling in on itself as the beam exits out the side of the asteroid and air begins to tear its way out of the station. Debris is whipped up around us, lots of loose crap and drone parts mostly. Instead of bracing against it I go down with the flow of stuff, using it as camouflage as Yellow comes flying out of the vertical tunnel my beam created in construct armor.
He orients on me immediately and forms guns to begin firing at me, forcing me to create ablative shield layers above myself before I can form my own guns to fire back on him. He's bearing down on me while doing it too, increasing his rate of fire while I'm making barriers behind my barriers and pushing forward the breaking layers while moving backwards outside of the station, giving myself a little more room to move.
Then he's on top of me, tearing through the shields himself and breaking them down! I'm forced to move to the side and create a tower shield as he reorients his guns, swinging midair to the side and strafing him without facing away to fuck with his firing solutions as I form my own positron cannon and fire back -
Alert! Thirty percent charge remaining.
- and fuckfuckfuck I need to get this guy the fuck off me -
And then he's off me, a massive green hand grabbing him and swinging him so hard into the side of the asteroid that I can see the surface buckle and form a small crater. Ouch.
Elise comes flying out of the asteroid, glowing green. Yes! YES! She did it! Now we're getting somewhere!
Synergy detected. Synchronizing.
"Synchronization successful." / "Synchronization successful."
My ring begins to glow furiously and my environmental shield brightens as I feel the surge of hope and determination that I see in Elise as she begins to burn with green light, matching my own incandescent blue light. I feel my mind sharpening, my focus narrowing as the rest of the universe drops away and Yellow becomes the only thing that matters. The rest is just details.
I don't have to ask Elise what to do, she just knows. The pressure she's bringing to bear down on Yellow is a thing to behold as she tries to turn Yellow's crater into an even bigger crater. Apparently she feels he could be a little more enthusiastically fucked up but it's the break I need to recharge.
I quickly pull out my lantern, holding my ring up.
"In darkest day, with dauntless might
Face down despair, continue to fight
Stand tall against the blackest night
You will not fall, for hope burns bright!"
The surge of blue light from the lantern to my ring is blinding for half a second, then it's back into my subspace pocket and it's fuckin' go time. Yellow -
Subject's given name is "Nemesis".
- it tearing through the side of the asteroid next to Elise Crater, trying to flank her but I'm already there, forming barriers and taking defense while Elise takes offense. Each time he tries to attack us with constructs, she focuses on them directly while I work on severing the filaments and cables of light he's using to control them. His fear doesn't touch us and Elise's guns sing as Nemesis is pushed back, forced back, his offense turning into a controlled retreat as he begins trying to use the terrain of the asteroid to tank shots and dodge better.
Not acceptable.
The two of us surge forward as he catches a shot and is knocked spinning for a second, bearing down on him hard and forcing him to burrow down into his own facility and cause even more damage to get inside it and hide from us. Elise surges to follow and I'm forced to interpose myself between her and Nemesis for a moment, arms spread. Because I know what's on the other side of this part of the rock.
She slams into me and I form the hardest construct bubble around us that I can, reinforcing it with transmuted layers of diamond and sand before the damage he's done to his own reactor and secondary power systems goes critical. It's not even the reactor itself that does it - it's the magnetically contained antimatter used for scuttling charges. Which he's just detonated.
The ring compensates for us so we don't get disoriented but the construct barrier itself cracks instantly, the transmuted material between us and the blast scoured away and taking the worst of it. We're launched out into space away from the rock at a speed I can only describe as terrifying, the bubble flaking away as we slow down to admire the cloud of debris that used to be yellows home.
I look over at Elise, who's grinning manically at me, holding up her hand. I can't help but laugh and give her a high five.
"Durjak one, asshole zero. Don't fuck with genkits."
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Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
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I don't believe that's the correct use of the word 'occlude'. Returning it to subspace could be described as 'occluding', as he would be blocking the passage from normal space to subspace, but you can't use 'occlude' to describe opening.
AverusBlack
AKA Aisling
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AngelicKnight.
Lewd demon of negotiable affection
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Another interesting update, action packed and full of Nemesis getting a beard own. Though I suspect he isn't dead yet and will crop up again. Maybe wirh a red buddy.
Also I feel like Ainsley is included in that last line. Is he an honorary Genkit?