Troubling Heaven

[Ninjitsu14]

"Of course, Mr. Ethian, Ms. Phera." Miranda said, bowing respectfully. She stood behind them, folding her arms over her stomach, and quietly followed them.

((((I hope you don't mind if I bring in another character.....I haven't exactly made a bio from him yet, but he DOES have a name......))))

----------------------------------

The Shadowbringer emerged from a shadow in a nearby tree. That was one of his abilities--to move to and from the Shadow World, a perpindicular plane to the one he was currently in. He looked around for a moment. Alice had told him the group would be nearby.

He started walking, although he loathed the fact that he had to walk. His travel from the Shadow world had drained alot of energy from him--he placed his hand to a nearby tree, and concentrated. The tree quickly began to wither, as it began drying into a withered, worn husk. His hand glowed with energy, and it moved up his arm, to his chest, as the glow disappeared as it moved invisibly through his body.

Suddenly, he was running, and quickly. He was very fast, as well, but he lacked real strength. The sword sheath at his hip bounced with every step, as he rushed towards the Light and Dark powers......

 

[NavyGuy7]

((I merely meant the Milky Way Galaxy. Lance's head is still pretty much in that galaxy. Think of Tek and Lance as newcomers to that galaxy.))
Lance shook his head.
"I don't know. All I know is that Hollowstar is gone, and that I accidentally killed Iban. Until I regenerated him, that is, just before Hollowstar blew up."
Tek punched Lance in the face, and sent him sprawling.
"That's just typical of you Martyr Militia types! You'll do anything to win the war against Bruthalia! You'll even sacrifice an entire planet! Did you ever think that there might still be innocents on that planet? HAVE you EVER thought for yourself?!?"
Navi chimed, before talking.
"Jerrick," said the feminine voice, "I've finished my diagnostics. There's an 87% chance your father was not alive at the time of Hollowstar's destruction. I believe he may have been involved in a coup."
Lance held a hand to his eyebrow. He was bleeding. Yet instead of feeling anger, or fear... he felt nothing.
"I'm sorry....." he whispered. "But we need to get out of here. We've been here too long."
As if to make his point, more soldiers poured out of the Grav Lift.
Tek cursed, before bringing up a 3D holographic display of the complex.
"There's another Grav Lift ahead," Tek said. "But don't think we're finished. Jerrick, we need to get your stuff."
Tek released another blast of energy with Mark II, cutting down several Imperials.
"To use Mark I, just hold the trigger until the energy has built up to critical mass, then release in the direction of your target. Don't hold it too long, or it might blow up in your face; it is a prototype, after all," Tek explained to Jerrick. "You can also use individual blasts by pressing the trigger without holding it.
Tek, still in the system, hacked a nearby door shut. The guards would be delayed for a few minutes, enough time to get to the Lift.

 

[Brilliand]

"What?" Jerrick asked dazedly, "Who could have killed him?" Then Jerrick realized the urgency of the situation and asked more alertly, "Where did you say my helmet was?"

Querrot answered before Tek could. "Down. I guess that means Grav-Lift?"

***

Aden looked past Sierra and Shimeran at the Bruthalians. "Bring one of them here. I want to hear both sides of the story."

***

Iban continued to stare at Joshua, standing in the same position that he had taken up after destroying the handcuffs. "I do not know where Alik is."

 

[TheCheat1]

"Alright, let's go." Ethian looked at Phera, then at Miranda. This is going to take too long... "Actually, Phera, you take Miranda to the battle. I've got to get there now, and I doubt I can carry both of you!" Just as Phera was about to protest, Ethian waved with a cheesy grin on his face and rushed off towards the battlefield. Phera looked at Miranda for a second before saying, "Let's... get going then." She began walking in the direction of the battle, beckoning for Miranda to follow.

***

Mel got into the next lift and tapped his foot impatiently. I hope that everybody's having a better time than me This is cruddy.

***

"You don't know..." Joshua stopped mid-sentence. "Can you take me up higher? I can show you where it is," he finished.

***

Shimeran walked over calmly, lifted a Bruthalian trooper from the ground, and carried him over to Aden. Tossing him at Aden's feet, he rejoined his wife.

 

[NavyGuy7]

((I edited, Brilliand, both Navi and the pistols. You DID have Mark I... lol.))
Tek got into the Grav Lift, and when everyone was inside, he hit the correct floor button. It took only a few seconds to reach the next level.
"Your helmet should be close by. It's in a containment chamber, in one of the experimental labs. They're trying to reverse-engineer it," Tek said to Jerrick. "While we're down here, once we get the helmet, feel free to destroy anything that looks like it could be used for the benefit of the Empire. I've blown up a lab before, and I'll do it again before I'm dead."
Tek stepped off the elevator, and disabled the security systems through his link to the systems. He was still connected.
"To the left, in that room, is the helmet," Tek said, pointing in the correct direction."
Guards filled the hallway, in front of the helmet room.
"Dang! They must be tracking us through my link to the systems..." Tek said. Tek readied Mark II. Then he realized there were a lot of guards.
Grabbing Mark I from Jerrick, he began to assemble the pistols together. It took only a few seconds.
"Say hello, to my LITTLE FRIEND!!!" Tek shouted, charging up the newly assembled Mark III. He released a machine-gun like burst of highly charged plasma bursts at the guards. The room was cleared in seconds.
Tek disassembled the pistols, and holstered them.
"I have to let them recharge now. They're useless. And don't go touching them, or you'll burn your hands off. My gloves keep me safe, however."
Tek rushed over to the door.
"Stand back," Lance said, as he placed a small charge onto certain parts of the door.
"Oh, right!" Tek shouted, getting away from teh door. The small explosion destroyed the door, creating a way into the lab.
"Let's find your helmet," Lance said, entering the Lab.

 

[Brilliand]

As the door slid open, Querrot blanched and fumbled in his mind for a spell, but it proved unnecessary. Jerrick let the gun be snatched out of his hand, and both of them watched in amazement as Tek mowed down the Bruthalians.

After Lance walked into the lab, Jerrick followed him, looking about for his helmet without touching anything. Querrot waited outside, preparing a spell so that he wouldn't be surprised again.

***

In the blink of an eye, Iban grabbed Joshua around the waist and shot into the sky, using the maximum acceleration that a human could withstand. After less than a second, Iban stopped and hovered a mile above the ground, holding Joshua facedown above his head.

***

Aden looked down at the unconscious Bruthalian trooper. It looked like the Bruthalians had already lost, but since Aden had already set himself up as judge, he may as well follow through. Raising his staff, he sprayed cold water into the trooper's face, hoping to wake him up.

 

[NavyGuy7]

Tek gasped when he saw the more familiar side of Jerrick.
"Found it!" Tek shouted, busting the glass. Another alarm went off.
"Yah, I know, that was dumb. But we haven't got the time for me to hack into EVERYTHING!"
He tossed the piece of technology to Jerrick.
"Let's get back to the Grav Lift, and.... uh oh!"
Tek's radar program went off.
"They're in the Grav Lift. We'll have to find another way down. If we can get to the underground hangar, I can call my ship in remotely and get us all out of here, excluding Lance, of course. He has his own ship down there."
Lance nodded.
"Yah, that's probably the best plan. Let's see... what's the best way down? I'm sure Jerrick can help now, since he has his stuff."

 

[TheCheat1]

(eek)

Mel pointed down, ice particles forming and twirling around his index finger. "I can blast a hole in the floor if you want me to, and then make an ice slide for us," he announced. Mel then knelt down and a small fire formed around his hand as he placed it flat against the floor. "Whenever you're ready," he said quietly.

***

Joshua had no time to gasp until he found himself staring at the ground from far higher than was comfortable for him. "Um, y-y-yes," he stuttered, trying to think, "Alik is in th-that direction, over there," he said, pointing to Iban's right. "Keep going until you see a small castle." Joshua shut his eyes and prepared for the trip.

***

The Bruthalian trooper yelled out in terror as he felt water splash his face. The man sat up and looked around, silently amazed that the battle had stopped. "Captain..." he mumbled, "Did we win?"

***

Ethian nodded in response to Miranda, then zipped around behind her and Phera and wrapped his arms around both of them. "Hang on," he said as he took off at seven hundred miles per hour towards the battle. Dodging trees and rocks and animals, Ethian quickly made his way out of the forest back into the battlefield, where he saw (much to his enjoyment) that the army of Alik was pushing back the Bruthalian forces. Ethian backpedaled to the edge of the woods and placed Miranda down with a "Be right back", then took off into the woods again. Stopping four hundred feet in, he sat Phera down and shot off into the battlefield without a second glance to her.

 

[NavyGuy7]

Lance thought it was a good plan.
"If you do that," Tek said, "We'd have to go sliding down 20 floors or so. We're only about halfway down. Better make it a spiraling slide, so we don't run into a wall at the bottom. And careful with the blast! You don't want to damage Lance's dogfighter."
Tek walked a few feet away, comparing a spot to his map.
"Blast here. There's nothing here for 20 floors, or so..."
Tek pointed to the spot, then backed away.

 

[TheCheat1]

Mel skipped happily to the spot that Tek pointed to and got down on his knees. His hands had already lit up with flames, and he placed them flat on the floor. "Hang on to something," he said. "I've never done something this big all at once before!" Mel stared at the floor before lifting his hands into the air. At the same time he shouted, "Flames of Parduaess!" and slammed his hands onto the floor. He lifted his body and did a hand-stand, and flames two feet wide gathered around him, forming a large ring two feet away from him, and descended through the twenty floors below. The circular metal panels left in the middle of the ring, the top of which Mel was balancing on, fell down to the final floor, where the flame ring had also stopped and disappeared. Mel levitated upside down in the air for a few seconds before murmuring, "Glaze of Parduaess." He did this because when he focused on the spell out-loud, it would help him to better focus.

Ice shot from Mel's hands, going straight down to the bottom floor and, just as it was about to hit the wall, twisted to the side to keep whoever went down it from colliding with the wall. "Ready to go," he said as he stopped floating and went down the slide.

 

[NavyGuy7]

"I'm getting too OLD FOR THIS!" Lance shouted, as he slipped while trying to figure out the best way to land on the slide.
Tek laughed.
"Watch your step!" Tek shouted after him, before sliding down himself.
As he slid down, he could hear all teh alarms from the other floors.
"If they didn't know we were here before, they sure do now!" Lance shouted.
"Quit yer bellyachin'!" Tek shouted after him.

 

[Brilliand]

Jerrick put on the helmet and pulled something out immediately, eager to see his favorite sword again. What he found was disappointing. What he found was a porous sword blade, with a burnt lump where the hilt used to be. He could still remember the nearly invisible switch that caused flames to shoot out of the blade... but this burnt blade would never be useful. Jerrick returned it to his helmet and jumped onto the slide, pulling out an umbrella in case he wanted to brake. But the burnt skeleton of an umbrella that came out wouldn't be much use.

Querrot looked dubiously at the ice slide, then shut his eyes and went down headfirst. He didn't like the idea of falling, but his armor would protect him from any harm.

***

Iban turned in the direction that Joshua had pointed, then shot off, accelerating smoothly. Two seconds later, Iban slowed to a stop in front of the castle. He set Joshua down in front of him.

***

Aden ignored the Bruthalian's question. "What are you trying to accomplish here?"

 

[TheCheat1]

Mel jumped down the hole, ignoring the slide and stopping in midair, upside-down, seconds before hitting the bottom floor. He turned himself right-side-up and dropped to his feet with a quiet thump.

***

Joshua stood, barely able to keep from vomiting. And I thought space-flight was sickening, he thought to himself. "Thank you," he mumbled to Iban as he stumbled forward towards the castle. Instantly a herd of guards descended upon he and Iban, surrounding them and pointing their swords, spears, and other assortments of weapons at the pair in seconds. Joshua froze. "Please, listen to me. Lower your weapons. My... acquaintance here is very dangerous if provoked. Please."

"Listen to him, we don't need any more deaths today," a voice announced from behind the guards. The crowd slowly lowered their weapons and parted so that the captain of the guard could come through. "Joshua," he said as he stepped into the broken ring, "It is good to see you." The captain was a very tall human covered in thick armor. He held in his right hand a long steel blade with a hook at the end, and in his left he held a small dagger useful for parries and stabs. Joshua smiled, "It's good to see you as well. Shall we go inside?" The captain nodded and walked towards the castle, motioning for Joshua to follow. Joshua started walking but soon stopped and turned to Iban, "You can come too, if you like." He then went inside after the captain.

***

"We... we were ordered to overtake this area for the Empire. His Lordship assigned us this task himself." The Bruthalian soldier cowered before Aden, his head bowed slightly and his shoulders hunched. "Please, do not kill us, we were only following orders!" Shimeran suddenly reverted to his beastly form and rushed at the soldier, roaring, "You will pay for you crimes against us! You will die by MY hand if at all possible!" Sierra lunged forward, wrapping her arms around Shimeran's chest from behind, lifting herself up to his neck and whispering, "Please don't do this now. We'll get them, I promise you. Please..." she dropped to the ground and stepped backwards. With a smile, she motioned for him to come back over to where they were standing. Shimeran stood still, glaring at the soldier, but then became human once again and rejoined Sierra.

 

[NavyGuy7]

Ein received the transmission mid-flight. He had been inspecting the damage to his ship with a Bruthalian Dart prototype, when the call had come in.
"What is it?" Ein said, more of a demand than a question, even if his voice sounded bored and detached.
"Sir! A special forces group of about twenty stormed Outpost Zeta-B! We were no match! And they've taken the prisoner with them!"
Ein cursed. He knew who he meant.
"Stall them! I shall deal with them personally. And then, Captain, you will have a great deal of explaining to do..."
One could almost sense the panic just before the transmission cut off.
Ein put in the new destination, and at record dogfighter speeds rocketed towards the outpost. He would be there in minutes.
****************
Tek landed on Lance before he could move, then instantly got up.
"I think I have frostbite on my BUTT!" Tek shouted.
"Quit yer bellyachin'," Lance said, chuckling. "Besides, it's just ice. So is this the place?"
Tek looked around, then nodded.
"Yup, it's the hangar. But why is it so empty...?"
Tek instantly dodged to one side, getting behind cover.
"I don't like the looks of this... I'm gonna try to get to my ship and lay down some cover-fire, if those guards start pouring in through the doors..."
Lance nodded.
"I'll get to my ship, then. You can open the hangar doors from the Stargazer."
Tek inched his way over to the ship, and remotely opened up the hatch. Just as he entered the ship, Imperials started pouring in.
"I count about forty. How about you guys?"
Lance took his gun out of the holster on his back, then began picking off guards one by one. He was an expert marksman, and was especially lethal with his sniper rifle.

 

[Brilliand]

Jerrick tossed aside the useless umbrella and pulled out the teleporter cube. It looked a bit scarred, but it had survived. As his feet touched the ground, Jerrick clutched it in his fist and gave a mental command. It teleported him upward, allowing him to land less awkwardly. A moment after landing, he had to teleport upward again, to dodge over a hundred pounds of diamond.

Querrot struck the floor with a loud bang, then spent a few seconds getting his bearings. After fifteen seconds (which gave Jerrick plenty of time to get out of his way), Querrot clambered to his feet and peered at the enemy, trying to remember his spell.

***

Iban followed Joshua inside.

***

"That's a terrible reason." Aden shook his head. "I'd like to let you live, but if I do, you'll just go fight for the same empire again. What empire is this, anyway?"

 

[NavyGuy7]

"Hey guys and girls, I like to call this little ditty "I've Got My Eyes On You." Hope you enjoy it!" Tek said over the intercom of the ship. A turret popped out of nowhere, and began laying down cover fire. It sent the soldiers sprawling.
"Querot, Mel, get on the ship. Lance, can you get Jerrick out of there? I believe you have a co-pilot seat in your dogfighter."
Lance gave a thumbs up to Tek, who he could see in the cockpit.
"Get aboard, you two. Jerrick is with me," Lance said, proceeding to snipe some more.

 

[TheCheat1]

Mel rushed to Tek's ship after blasting three soldiers with fireballs. "I'm ready to go!" he announced nervously as he ran up the ramp and went inside.

***

Joshua and Iban were soon led to a war room, where a group of soldiers was standing in the doorway. "Attention!" the captain said, sending the guards sprawling inside and to a single side of the room. The captain walked into the room and offered Joshua and Iban seats at one end of a large table. As Joshua sat down, the captain walked to the other side of the room where a drawing board was hung on the wall. The table took up only about a quarter of the room, as the room was a good size.

"I'm going to be frank with you, friend," Joshua said to the captain, "The world has been exposed to the secrets outside." The captain frowned as he drew on the board. Without turning around, he replied, "You knew this day was coming. We all did." Joshua sighed, "Yes, we couldn't hide it forever. We knew something like this was going to happen eventually." The captain turned around, a drawing of Aragithia's four territories on the board behind him. "That we did. And now we need the help of your people to fix it."

Joshua shrugged. "There isn't much that I can do. I have no power." The guard shook his head, "You don't think you do. You created this world, which in a strange sort of way, makes it yours. Threaten to cut off the resources your people take from here. Convince them that this world needs to forget the outside. That is what you must do." Joshua leaned forward on the table and answered, "I won't."

***

Vangel stood from the bar, as did his friend. "I will see you then, whenever the counter-strikes begin?" His friend shook his head, "No, no you will not." Vangel rolled his eyes. "But you said--" His friend put up a hand to stop him. "You need to learn to listen, Vangel. I said that I will be seeing you." Vangel sighed and nodded, and the two went their seperate ways.

Vangel walked outside for a moment, taking a deep breath of the city air. He felt trapped here, and he remembered his home. He felt sad... and then, he felt pain. Excruciating pain. Vangel gasped as he looked down as his shoulder, someone had stabbed him with a dart from behind. As he ripped it out, he felt himself become drowsy, and so he immediately began to focus on stopping whatever was injected. Poison wouldn't kill him, any professional would know that, and so he knew it was a sedative. Feeling the strange liquid in his veins, he pulled on the atoms, ripping the liquid apart into useless compounds. He lifted his hand and looked at it, the multiple liquids coming up through the pores of his skin and dripping to the ground.

Vangel glanced around for the person who had stabbed him, but there were too many people walking the streets. Quietly, he hurried back inside the bar.

***

"The B-Bruthalian Empire..." the soldier stuttered. Litra looked at the soldier in disgust. The coward! "He's not worth anything! This is a major waste of time. Kill him already, sheesh." she mindspoke to Aden.

 

[NavyGuy7]

Tek rolled his eyes. He'd forgotten Querot wasn't FAST fast, not like Mel and him. But he could probably hold out until then.
"You better get your diamond butt on board, or I'm gonna have to leave you behind!"
Tek, of course, was bluffing. He never would have left him behind unless he had absolutely no other choice.
Lance slowly made his way to his dogfighter.
"C'mon Jerrick. I'm getting you out of here."
Lance activated it remotely with Navi. The ship roared to life, and proceeded to lift off and make a beeline towards him. Hovering in front of him so as to shield against the bullets, Lance opened the cockpit.
"Get in!" Lance shouted, hopping into the pilot seat. The co-pilot seat was behind him, and slightly higher.

 

[Brilliand]

Jerrick ran for the dogfighter, using the teleporter cube to travel faster. Upon reaching the dogfighter, he didn't bother to go through the doorway, but teleported straight through the wall. "I'm in!" he shouted, in case Lance had been watching the doorway.

Querrot ran toward Tek's ship. After what looked like a long walk, he stumped up the ramp and stood panting inside the ship.

***

Aden whacked the soldier on the head with his staff, knocking him unconscious again, then sighed and looked at Shimeran. "You wanted to kill them yourself? Go ahead."

 

[NavyGuy7]

((Sorry for not clarifying. Teh cockpit door is merely a glass window like thing that slides over the pilot. Kinda like a jet fighter.))
Lance closed the cockpit.
"Alright, let's get out of here. Tek, start hacking those doors, and--"
A light above them began to grow brighter.
"Nice job, Tek."
"That wasn't me!" Tek said over the intercom. "A ship is coming in! ETA 3 minutes! We gotta get outta here, NOW! Punch it!"
Lance immediately began the launch sequence, lifting off vertically. He then set it out of hover mode and into thrust mode, then pointed up before he crashed into the wall.
Tek shut the door of Stargazer, and lifted off slower than Lance's ship, but after he was going his acceleration was outstanding. Lance and Tek were soon neck and neck.
"Push it for all she's got!"
Lance nodded, putting on his air mask. He didn't want to pass out.
"Be prepared to pass out!" Lance said, hitting a button on his ship. He boosted, and scraped by the Stargazer. Shooting out of the hangar, he slowed down slightly to recover.
Tek's ship shortly appeared.
".....thought....."
Tek readjusted the Comm systems for both Lance's ship and his.
"Repeat that. You weren't coming in clear."
"I thought you might have something to do with this, Tek. And Lance! What a delightful surprise!"
"You know him?!?" Lance and Tek said to each other at the same time.
"Of course," Tek said first. "Ein Yamamoto is a Bruthalian officer, after all. Though I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him.... and possibly rain hellfire upon him."
"If you think you can...." Ein laughed.
Tek turned to Mel.
"Watch the screens, and whatnot. If you need help, cry "Assistance!" and an AI will appear to help you in doing anything you need. And don't crash my baby!"
Tek rushed to the hangar of the ship.
Moments later, a sleek fighter shot out of the ship.
"I've been practicing, Ein. Let's see what you've got!"
((I basically left Stargazer under Mel and Querot's control. LOL, Myself and I are fighting Me! Though Jerrick is a copilot, so he has a few weapons capabilities himself, like missiles (which are limited) and a second less powerful laser auto-turret.))
Ein charged up his weapon systems.
"Death approaches. Pray to whatever deity you worship for mercy, because I surely will not show it."
Ein fired a laser out at Stargazer, but the shield prevented any hull damage.
"If you so much as a put a scratch on that...!" Tek shouted, charging up his systems.